Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE EFFECT OF (NON-)NATIVE LANGUAGE AND TASK COMPLEXITY ON SPEECH ENTRAINMENT

Speech entrainment (also known as alignment or accommodation) has been documented on various linguistic and paralinguistic levels but often with complex and sometimes conflicting outcomes. Hence, the understanding of the mechanism(s) underlying this complex behaviour in dyadic conversations is still limited. In an effort to increase this understanding, the current study tests the effect of language (L1 Slovak vs. L2 English) and task complexity (easy, medium, difficult) on local and global entrainment in f0 and intensity in a within-subject design. Pairs of undergraduates played a collaborative game of giving directions structured into three levels gradually rising in complexity. The results corroborate other recent findings in yielding complex and unexpected patterns, particularly failing to show the assumed link between cognitively easier tasks and greater entrainment.
Levantamento da cobertura vegetal e do uso do solo do Bioma Caatinga

The goal of this research is to map and to quantify the remainders of the vegetation covering the Caatinga Biome, on 2002, at 1:250,000 scale. The mapping will be obtained by visual and automatic interpretation of LANDSAT satellite images, field works and analysis of previous works. Thirty eight vegetal cover sheets of the biome had been produced having for base the IBGE classification system. The survey was complemented for the use of Digital Terrene Model and for diverse thematic maps. The mapping made possible to evaluate the most recent situation of the vegetation remainders, being useful to guide the adoption of politics for the biome preservation. Palavras-chave: Caatinga Biome, geographic information system, land use, Bioma Caatinga, sistema de informacoes geograficas, uso do solo
L2 PROFICIENCY PREDICTS L1 ACCENTEDNESS AND COMPREHENSIBILITY

Learning a second language (L2) can change the pronunciation of one’s first language (L1), but its implications for communicative dimensions such as accentedness and comprehensibility remain unclear. In this study, L1 recordings of 183 Japanese learners of English living in Japan were rated for accentedness and comprehensibility by a cohort of Japanese listeners. The resulting scores were compared with those of a previous similar assessment, in which the L2 recordings of the same speakers were rated for nativelikeness by English listeners. Statistical analyses revealed that those who were judged to be more nativelike in the L2 tended to be perceived as more foreign-accented in the L1, but surprisingly, their L1 speech was also perceived as more comprehensible. Theoretical implications and future directions are discussed.
Procedures: A Review Guided Focused Ultrasound - Imaging MR Thermometry during Transcranial MR

SUMMARY: Interest in transcranial MR imaging – guided focused ultrasound procedures has recently grown. These incisionless procedures enable precise focal ablation of brain tissue using real-time monitoring by MR thermometry. This article will provide an updated review on clinically applicable technical underpinnings and considerations of proton resonance frequency MR thermome-try, the most common clinically used MR thermometry sequence.
PROSODIC PROMINENCE OF SWAHILI TU IN POLAR INTERROGATIVES

Prosodic patterns of the exclusive particle TU in Swahili polar interrogatives are examined. TU is realised with a pitch boost and appears in both sentence-final and non-final positions. Interrogatives overall display sentence-final falling intonation, resulting in a prosodic mismatch with sentence-final TU. We recorded 30 stimuli sentences with 4 or 5 words varying in the position of TU from six speakers of Zanzibar Swahili. The Praat algorithm was used to extract f0 and the duration of the penultimate syllable of each word as well as that of TU and the ultimate syllable of a final word. Results show that the prosody of interrogatives differs from declaratives by raising f0 of the final word. TU is always associated with a pitch boost regardless of its position. Longer durational cues in sentence-final TU were used by two speakers, showing inter-speaker variation.
PERCEPTION OF METAPHONY: A COMPARISON BETWEEN TWO DIALECTS OF THE LAUSBERG AREA (SOUTHERN ITALY)

In several sound changes, differences in production do not necessarily match those in perception. This study explores this relationship in two varieties (MZ: Mittelzone; MM: Mormanno) spoken in the Lausberg area of Southern Italy that differ in the degree to which inflectional phonetic cues are transferred from a suffix to a phonetically mid stem vowel. In MZ, the transfer can be complete (e.g. [m E s, mis]; cf. Standard Italian [meze, mezi], month/months), whereas in MM it is more marginal and with suffix preservation.
CREAKY VOICE IN THREE SCOTS VARIETIES: USING F0-BASED IDENTIFICATION TO CONSIDER SOCIAL AND LINGUISTIC FACTORS

While creak in American English is linked to female speakers [1], research on Scots accents using Vocal Profile Analysis (VPA) [2] has found male voices to be creakier than female voices [3, 4]. However, VPA cannot account for within-speaker variation in creak [4]. Here, I consider the potential use of the f0-based method of quantifying creak [5, 6] for examining how social factors (age, gender, area) and linguistic factors affect use of creak in spontaneous speech in Glasgow, Lothian and Insular Scots (n=95). Creak use was higher among Insular Scots speakers, but showed no difference by age or gender. It was also constrained by linguistic factors (phrase-final position, potential glottal stops, vowel onsets). This work demonstrates how f0-based identification of creak allows consideration of the role of social and linguistic factors; the potential future applications of this method are also discussed.
ORO-FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AND ACOUSTIC CUES IN GERMAN QUESTIONS

The present paper investigates acoustic cues and oro-facial expressions produced during the production of word-identical German sentences that represent eight different pragmatic uses (assertion, exclamation, and six varieties of questions). Our results based on 19 native speakers of German reveal that facial movements are sensitive to different sentence types and fine-grained pragmatic differences. Whereas exclamatives and assertions were produced with the highest raised eyebrows, incredulity, echo, and guessing questions showed the most intense eyebrow furrowing. In other question types (confirmation-seeking, relevance, and justification) the oro-facial expressions were less extreme. The data are also subject to huge inter-speaker variation.
PHONOTACTICALLY DRIVEN CUE WEIGHTING IN A SOUND CHANGE IN PROGRESS: ACOUSTIC EVIDENCE FROM WEST CENTRAL BAVARIAN

An analysis of acoustic recordings of fortis and lenis stops in pre-and postvocalic position in a variety of real words obtained from 23 speakers evenly distributed across younger and older West Central Bavarian (WB) as well as Standard German (SG) speakers showed that closure duration, the hitherto primary cue to the fortis/lenis contrast in WB becomes less important in younger WB speakers and in phonotactically previously illegal post-vocalic contexts while VOT – the primary cue to this contrast in SG – becomes more important in legal post-vocalic contexts. These results indicate that the apparent simultaneous change in acoustic cues occurs in different contexts and non-linearly at different paces. In initial position, older and younger WB speakers use VOT similarly to signal the fortis/lenis contrast but to a significantly lesser extent than SG speakers suggesting incomplete neutralization without indications of an ongoing change in this position in terms of apparent-time differences.
Being looked at in the face attenuates articulatory movements in both sighted and blind speakers

Many studies have shown that looking at the speaker’s face improves speech perception, whereas what being looked at does to the speaker’s speech production remains unclear. The current study asked both sighted and congenital blind speakers to produce vowels in face-to-face and audio-only conditions (both in a quiet and noisy background) while measuring the tongue and lip movements using electromagnetic articulography. We found that sighted speakers showed attenuated movements of the lips in the face-to-face conditions, while blind speakers showed attenuated movements of the tongue in the same conditions. These results suggest that (a) being looked at in the face may lead to attenuated, rather than enhanced, articulatory movements, and (b) this phenomenon may not only be associated with the speaker’s attempt to adjust visual speech cues, but also with other communicative factors.
Stress field and kinematics for diffuse microseismicity in a zone of continental transpression, South Island, New Zealand

We analyze shallow (0–20 km) microseismicity adjacent to the Alpine Fault in New Zealand, where there is oblique convergence of the Australian and Pacific plates. Focal mechanisms for 155 earthquakes (June 2012 to October 2013) are inverted to determine the orientation of the stress field. This yields a principal horizontal axis of compression, SHmax = 114° ± 10°, which cannot be explained in terms of the sum of stress from tectonic loading due to plate convergence, indicated by GPS observations, and gravitational stresses. The azimuth of slip vectors for individual focal mechanisms cluster perpendicular and parallel to the plate convergence vector. These faults, however, strike at ~45° to SHmax from the stress inversion, suggesting a very low coefficient of friction. The earthquake slip directions may be kinematically controlled, accommodating the plate convergence on a limited set of fractures, similar to the segmentation for neotectonic faulting along the Alpine Fault, which is partitioned into strike‐slip and thrust segments at a 1–10 km scale. We suggest two possible controls on our calculated SHmax azimuths. First, there may be a slight clockwise bias in the estimates of SHmax from earthquakes; slip may be occurring on a more limited range of fractures than assumed by the stress inversion method, although this effect is likely to be relatively small (±5°). More importantly, the components of the stress field may be relieved at different timescales during big earthquakes, resulting in a residual stress field that varies significantly (±15°) on timescales of several large earthquakes.
BOUNDARY STRENGTH AND PREDICTABILITY EFFECTS ON DURATIONAL CUES AT TONE SANDHI GROUP BOUNDARIES IN TAIWAN SOUTHERN MIN

This study examined syllable duration at the right edge of Tone Sandhi Groups (TSGs) in an 8-hour spontaneous speech corpus in Taiwan Southern Min. TSG boundaries under three prosodic conditions were compared: matching with an intonational phrase boundary (TSG+IP), an intermediate phrase boundary (TSG+ip), and neither (TSG-only). We also examined whether the correlation between syllable duration and predictability (lexical frequency, surprisal, and informativity) was affected differently at these three boundary conditions. Results showed significant penultimate and final lengthening at TSG boundaries in all conditions, with longer pre-boundary syllables in the TSG+IP condition, followed by the TSG+ip and TSG-only conditions. Analyses also revealed that the positive correlation between syllable duration and surprisal/informativity was weaker towards all three types of boundaries. To summarize, TSG boundaries exhibited durational patterns previously reported for IP boundaries, with an incremental strengthening of final lengthening when overlapping with larger prosodic breaks.
limit-Feeding distillers dried grains in replacement of forage in limit-fed dairy heifer rations: Effects on growth performance, rumen fermentation, and total-tract digestibility of nutrients

The objective of this study was to determine the effects of increasing dietary concentration of distillers dried grains (DDGS) in dairy heifer rations. A 16-wk randomized complete block design study was conducted using 48 Holstein heifers [199 ± 2 d of age; body weight (BW) 206 ± 2 kg] to evaluate effects of dietary treat-ment on dry matter (DM) intake, average daily gain, growth performance, rumen fermentation, and nutrient digestibility. Treatments were (1) 30% DDGS with the diet fed at 2.65% of BW, (2) 40% DDGS with the diet fed at 2.50% of BW, and (3) 50% DDGS with the diet fed at 2.35% of BW. The remainder of the diet consisted of grass hay and 1.5% mineral mix. Heifers were individually limit-fed using Calan gates. Heifers were weighed every 2 wk and the ration amount offered was adjusted accordingly. Frame measurements and body condition score were recorded every 2 wk. Rumen fluid was collected via esophageal tubing during wk 12 and 16 for pH, ammonia N, and volatile fatty acid analysis. Total-tract digestibility of nutrients was evaluated during wk 16 using fecal grab sampling. No treatment by week interactions were found for any of the growth parameters measured, and growth parameters did not differ among treatments. Heifer DM intake linearly decreased with increasing concentrations of DDGS. Body weight and average daily gain were similar among treatments, whereas gain:feed linearly increased across treatments, with a tendency for a treatment by time interaction. As the dietary concentrations of DDGS increased, rumen ammonia N linearly increased. Acetate proportion and acetate:propionate linearly decreased as DDGS increased, whereas propionate linearly increased. There were treatment by time interactions for propionate proportion and acetate:propionate. Increasing dietary concentrations of DDGS linearly increased total-tract digestibility of DM, organic matter, and crude protein. Limit-feeding diets with greater concentrations of DDGS improved gain:feed and total-tract digestibility of DM and crude protein, and maintained frame growth without increasing body condition score. Results demonstrated that replacing forage with DDGS at up to a 50% inclusion rate in limit-fed rations can maintain heifer growth performance.
PROSODY-SYNTAX INTERFACE AND HUNGARIAN NOUN PHRASES

We investigate the prosody-syntax interface of Hungarian noun phrases (NPs) with two types of complex modiﬁcation: a noun modiﬁed by (A) two adjectives or (B) an adjective with an argument. In Hungarian, (narrow, exhaustive) focus is typically marked syntactically in the immediate pre-verbal position. However, [1] found additional prosodic focus marking in modiﬁed NPs occupying this position. Replicating [1] with increased complexity of the modiﬁcation, our results conﬁrm that additional prosodic focus marking is present in syntactically focused NPs. However, the prosodic pattern varies depending on the syntactic structure inside the NP. In Modiﬁcation A, the prosodic pattern differs between all possible focus domains. In Modiﬁcation B, the adjective and its argument cluster together forming one modiﬁcation that mirrors [1]’s results. The variation found in prosody can hence be explained by distinct syntactic structures that match into prosodic structure.
THE RELATION BETWEEN PITCH ACCENT TYPES, HEAD MOVEMENTS AND PERCEIVED PROSODIC PROMINENCE IN L2 FRENCH

Recent research has shown the relevance of multimodal cues in the realization of prominence in discourse. Speakers may not only use prosodic cues - e.g. pitch accents - to stress important information but also visual cues - e.g., manual and non-manual gestures such as head movements - in synchrony. As part of a larger project comparing the multimodal marking of information structure by L1 and L2 speakers, this study reports on the relationship between perceived prominence in L2 speech and the pitch accent and head movement types used by 25 Catalan learners of French during a narrative task. Results confirm the relationship between pitch accents, gestural cues, and prosodic prominence in L2 learners and show that higher prosodic prominence is associated with rising, falling, and high pitch accents as well as with protrusions and nods of the head. Falling contours associated with highly prominent words were less marked by head movements, indicating potential differences from L1 speech.
Digital Triage Tools for Sexually Transmitted Infection Testing Compared With General Practitioners’ Advice: Vignette-Based Qualitative Study With Interviews Among General Practitioners

Background Digital triage tools for sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing can potentially be used as a substitute for the triage that general practitioners (GPs) perform to lower their work pressure. The studied tool is based on medical guidelines. The same guidelines support GPs’ decision-making process. However, research has shown that GPs make decisions from a holistic perspective and, therefore, do not always adhere to those guidelines. To have a high-quality digital triage tool that results in an efficient care process, it is important to learn more about GPs’ decision-making process. Objective The first objective was to identify whether the advice of the studied digital triage tool aligned with GPs’ daily medical practice. The second objective was to learn which factors influence GPs’ decisions regarding referral for diagnostic testing. In addition, this study provides insights into GPs’ decision-making process. Methods A qualitative vignette-based study using semistructured interviews was conducted. In total, 6 vignettes representing patient cases were discussed with the participants (GPs). The participants needed to think aloud whether they would advise an STI test for the patient and why. A thematic analysis was conducted on the transcripts of the interviews. The vignette patient cases were also passed through the digital triage tool, resulting in advice to test or not for an STI. A comparison was made between the advice of the tool and that of the participants. Results In total, 10 interviews were conducted. Participants (GPs) had a mean age of 48.30 (SD 11.88) years. For 3 vignettes, the advice of the digital triage tool and of all participants was the same. In those vignettes, the patients’ risk factors were sufficiently clear for the participants to advise the same as the digital tool. For 3 vignettes, the advice of the digital tool differed from that of the participants. Patient-related factors that influenced the participants’ decision-making process were the patient’s anxiety, young age, and willingness to be tested. Participants would test at a lower threshold than the triage tool because of those factors. Sometimes, participants wanted more information than was provided in the vignette or would like to conduct a physical examination. These elements were not part of the digital triage tool. Conclusions The advice to conduct a diagnostic STI test differed between a digital triage tool and GPs. The digital triage tool considered only medical guidelines, whereas GPs were open to discussion reasoning from a holistic perspective. The GPs’ decision-making process was influenced by patients’ anxiety, willingness to be tested, and age. On the basis of these results, we believe that the digital triage tool for STI testing could support GPs and even replace consultations in the future. Further research must substantiate how this can be done safely.
Effect of Processing Methods on the Physicochemical, Mineral and Carotene Content of Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP)

The effect of processing methods on the physiochemical, mineral, vitamin C and carotenoid content of orange fleshed sweet potatoes were investigated. The processing methods used were boiling, steaming, roasting, frying and microwaving. The result of the proximate composition showed that the roasted orange fleshed sweet potatoes (OFSP) had the highest ash content ranging from 0.32-0.99%, crude protein 0.96-3.12%, crude fiber 0.50-3.40% and carbohydrate content 13.98-40.10% with a decrease in the moisture content from 83.10% - 49.25%. Fat content of the fried OFSP ranging from 0.96-6.01% was higher than the other samples. Steaming method enhanced the vitamin C content of the OFSP when compared to other processing method, while carotenoid losses were higher after frying 2.59mg/g, than after microwaving 3-91%, roasting 4.73mg/g, boiling 4.60mg/g and steaming 2.68mg/g. Mineral analysis showed that the boiled orange flesh sweet potatoes (OFSP) had zinc, copper and magnesium content higher than the other heat treated samples with 6.21mg/g, 4,164mg/100g and 479.88mg/100g respectively. Sensory analysis results showed that there were no significant (p<0.05) differences in the sensory scores of the orange-fleshed sweet potatoes. The study therefore showed that roasting and frying made available more protein, fat, ash and carbohydrate content, while boiling made available more minerals.
The Power of Words: Bias and Assumptions in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan

This paper argues that genuine engagement and consultation is required where Indigenous voice is prevalent within the policy development process for true progress to be achieved in the educational attainments of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. It is important to note that there has been little critical analysis of policy discourses. More specifically, analysis of how language is used to maintain societal constructs. By providing an Indigenous standpoint, it is anticipated that this paper makes explicit to policymakers the bias and taken for granted assumptions held by those who produced it. This paper is derived from a larger project, namely my Masters of Education (Research) thesis (Hogarth, 2015). The major findings that emerged from the data included (a) the homogenous grouping of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, (b) the maintenance of the prevalent dominant ideology of a deficit view within policy and finally (c) the expectation of government of increased engagement and connections with and by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in education without consideration of the detrimental effects of past policies and reforms. The potential implications of making explicit how language positions Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students’ educational attainment can inform future policymaking and contribute to the struggle for self-determination.
PERCEPTION AND PRODUCTION OF ENGLISH TENSE AND LAX VOWELS BY CHINESE EFL LEARNERS

Dynamic spectral patterns are important in the English tense-lax contrasts for native speakers; however, researches on EFL learners focus more on duration and static spectral features. The paper, based on the Revised Speech Learning Model (SLM-r), investigated the acquisition of /i-ɪ/, /u-ʊ/, /ɑ-ʌ/, /æ-ε/ by 114 EFL learners and examined L2 perception-production relationship. Findings suggest: (1) Participants weighted duration more heavily than spectrum for /i-ɪ/ and /ɑ-ʌ/, and gave equal values for /u-ʊ/ and /æ-ε/. (2) Dynamically, Chinese EFL learners used similar vowel inherent spectral change patterns, especially the similar directions of formant movement, in realizing tense-lax vowel contrasts, which shortened the spectral distance in the vowel space. (3) The durations of /i-ɪ/ and /ɑ-ʌ/ showed consistency in perception and production, unlike /u-ʊ/ and /æ-ε/. Such findings supported SLM-r’s predictions relating to the perceived cross-language dissimilarity and cue weighting, but did not fully corroborate the hypothesis of perception-production coevolution.
An Aggregate Multitaper Test for Polynomial Frequency Modulation

—We propose a semiparametric multitaper test for the detection of modulated line components where the modulation is assumed to be created by a polynomial of degree 𝑃 . This proposed test is based on an aggregation of 𝐹 -tests, which are themselves a modification of the specific 𝐹 -test described in [2], where the aggregation is over different multitaper orders. We derive the asymptotic distribution of the 𝐹 -test statistic, and via simulation, we approximate the 𝐹 -test size needed to give a pre-specified level of the aggregated test. This aggregated test is compared to the 𝐹 -test in [2] and to our modified 𝐹 -test via simulation in terms of the probability of detecting a frequency modulated signal.