Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
L1 PHONOTACTIC CONSTRAINTS MEDIATE PHONOLOGICAL AWARENESS OF NON-NATIVE GEMINATION

Previous studies have revealed that L2 learners whose L1 has contrastive gemination may produce long consonants in an L2 which does not have gemination, due to orthography (e.g., in words with double consonants, such as ‘Finnish’ vs ‘finish’). For the same reason, learners may reject rhymes such as ‘very’ and ‘cherry’. In this study, we confirm that gemination affects the phonological awareness of L1 Italian learners of L2 French, but we find that it is mediated by L1 phonotactics. 24 Italian learners of French and 24 French control speakers participated in a discrimination test where the duration of target consonants was manipulated. Italian learners tended to rate stimuli with a lengthened consonant as different (non-)words, but only in contexts where gemination is licit in Italian. Vice versa, in contexts where gemination is illicit, responses by Italian learners do not differ from those of control French native speakers.
TOWARDS SPEAKER-INDEPENDENT ULTRASOUND TONGUE IMAGING-BASED ARTICULATORY-TO-ACOUSTIC MAPPING

In this paper, an articulatory-to-acoustic mapping task is studied, which aims to predict the mel-spectrogram of the audio signals using midsagittal ultrasound tongue images of the vocal tract. Despite of sustainable efforts been made, most previous attempts have been constrained to the speaker-dependent scenario, and the performance is greatly decreased for unseen speakers. Here, a novel approach is proposed for the speaker-independent scenario, using domain-adaptation and adversarial learning. To validate the performance of proposed method, objective evaluation is conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. The quantitative results indicate our method can achieve superior performance.
Progressive Web App Based Wi-Fi Network Strength Mapping and Network Traffic Monitoring (Case Study at Faculty of Engineering Unsrat)

— The network administrator must ensure that the Wi-Fi network is evenly available to all users. To achieve this, the network administrator needs a tool to map the strength of the Wi-Fi signal, in order to identify areas with a weak or no Wi-Fi coverage. However, such a tool is not available in existing network monitoring applications. Therefore, in this study, an application is developed to map the strength of the Wi-Fi signal and simultaneously monitor network traffic. App development will be using Extreme Programming development method. The research began with the creation of an Android-based Wi-Fi signal scanner application, followed by the development of a web application that displays the Wi-Fi signal strength map and monitors network traffic. The map creation utilized the Leaflet.js library, while network traffic monitoring was implemented using Cacti. After testing the developed applications, the scanner application successfully captured and stored data in the database, and the web application successfully displayed the Wi-Fi signal strength map and presented network traffic monitoring with graphical representation.
French Rhythm in Read Speech by French Natives and Chinese L2 Learners

This study examines rhythmic patterns in French sentences read by 10 native French speakers and 21 Chinese learners of French (with different levels of proficiency). We used 9 metrics, both normalized and non-normalized, to compare the rhythmic patterns between natives and learners, and between the 3 groups of learners. Overall, results from normalized metrics suggest that the rhythmic patterns of natives and learners are rather similar. Indeed, while raw metrics, %V, ∆ V , ∆ C, and rPVI-C, show significant differences both between natives and learners, and among learners, normalized metrics, VarcoC, VarcoV, and nPVI-V, show no such differences. These results suggest that traditional metrics may not capture changes over stages of rhythm acquisition, especially when L1 and L2 belong to the same rhythm typology. In addition, the CCI (Control/Compensation Index), well-distinguished among learners, shows that as acquisition progresses, learners gain a better timing control ability, and rhythmic pattern becomes more stable.
DURATIONAL ADJUSTMENT IN CANTONESE FOCUS MARKING OF NATIVE AND NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS

The speech production of non-native speakers usually differs from that of native speakers, but very few investigations on the prosody of non-native speech have been conducted. Although duration has been regarded as an important acoustic cue for focus marking in Cantonese, precisely how native Cantonese speakers manipulate duration in different types of syllable structures remains to be explored. This study aims to fill these research gaps by examining how native and non-native speakers of Cantonese mark prosodic focus via durational adjustment. The native speakers demonstrated an asymmetrical effect of focal lengthening in different types of syllable structures in Cantonese, and the word-final nasals were expanded substantially. The non-native speakers revealed different patterns, which was attributed to their failure to fully acquire Cantonese focus marking. Discussions about the amount of focal lengthening in Cantonese and the acquisition and learnability of second language (L2) prosody are provided.
The influence of syllable structure on lexical tones in Croatian: no effect?

Tonal contrasts in many languages are restricted to syllables with overall greater sonority (i.e. syllables containing long vowels or sonorant codas). However, studies to date have tended to focus on languages with relatively restricted syllable structures. In this study we focus on Croatian (Split variety), where both falling and rising lexical pitch accents are possible on all syllable types (unlike many Western South Slavic varieties that restrict tonal contrasts to long vowels), including those containing short vowels and those with an obstruent coda. We examine the timing of pitch peaks and troughs in recordings from 13 speakers who read a list of words varying in lexical pitch accent (rising or falling), vowel duration (long or short) and syllable type (Open, Closed-by-an-Obstruent or Closed-by-a-Sonorant). We find that although relative timing of pitch events varies according to lexical pitch accent, it is remarkably stable across syllable type for a given accent.
EVALUATING FORCED ALIGNMENT FOR UNDER-RESOURCED LANGUAGES: A TEST ON SQULIQ ATAYAL DATA

Trainable forced alignment offers feasible solutions to document under-resourced languages. This study aims to assess the performances of a Montreal Forced Aligner (MFA) trained model using a small scale of phonetically transcribed field data in Squliq Atayal, an endangered Austronesian language spoken in Taiwan. Evaluations were implemented by comparing MFA outputs with manual annotations based on (1) the accuracy measurements on the interval boundaries of each segment, and (2) the acoustic measurements, by fitting the formant trajectories through the most common vowels [a, i, u] with generalized additive mixture models (GAMMs). The results showed that the general agreement reached 73.23% of accuracy when with a tolerance of 30 ms misalignment, and no statistical significance was found between the formant trajectories except for F1 trajectories of [a] and F2 trajectories of [u] , revealing that MFA outcomes were fairly consistent with manual annotations when little but comprehensively labeled data were provided.
SPEECH EMOTION RECOGNITION FROM GLOTTAL FLOW SIGNALS USING 1D CONVOLUTIONAL NEURAL NETWORKS

Speech emotion recognition can enhance machine-human interaction. While traditional speech emotion recognition systems tend to use prosodic features for analysis, recent studies show glottal features can provide valuable insight into distinguishing different types of emotional expressions. This paper presents a preliminary investigation into the effectiveness of employing the glottal waveform for speech emotion recognition tasks. The JL corpus, a strictly-guided, simulated emotional speech corpus in New Zealand English is used for this study. The modelling and classification tasks are conducted using 1D convolutional neural network. The results show that glottal signal enhances emotion classification accuracy compared to raw audio signals, even with data augmentation. This suggests the glottal source can serve as better alternative input to speech emotion recognition models, particularly when limited training data is available.
Super-stretchable and negative-Poisson-ratio meta-aerogels

Highly stretchable aerogels are promising for flexible electronics but their fabrication is a great challenge. Herein, several kinds of unprecedented intrinsically highly stretchable conductive aerogels with low or negative Poisson’s ratios are achieved by uniaxial, biaxial, and triaxial hot-pressing strategies. The highly elastic reduced graphene oxide/polymer nanocomposite aerogels with compressed and folded porous structures obtained by the uniaxial hot-pressing method exhibit record-high stretchability up to 1200% strain, significantly surpassing all those of the reported intrinsically stretchable aerogels (usually ≤200%). In addition, the meta-aerogels with reentrant porous structures that combine high biaxial stretchability and negative Poisson’s ratios have been obtained by the biaxial hot-pressing method for the first time. Furthermore, the never-before-realized meta-aerogels combining high triaxial stretchability and negative Poisson’s ratios have been achieved by constructing the reentrant porous structures via the triaxial hot-pressing method. The wearable strain sensors based on the resulting aerogels exhibit a record-wide response range (0-1200%). In addition, they can be applied for smart thermal management and electromagnetic interference shielding, which are achieved by regulating the porous microstructures simply via stretching. This work provides a versatile and simple strategy to highly stretchable and negative-Poisson-ratio aerogels promising for various applications including but not limited to flexible electronics, thermal management
Review Reliability, Accuracy, and Time Efficiency of Digital vs. Analog Bite Registration Technique

Prosthodontic rehabilitation hinges upon establishing an accurate and stable occlusal relationship, making accurate bite registration paramount. This process ensures optimal oral function, mastication, and speech, while also contributing to the longevity of prostheses and enhancing aesthetic outcomes. Various bite registration techniques are available, including analog methods like wax and silicone
Park or bark ? VoT Production of English Bilabial Stops in Arabic Learners of English

This preliminary study compares VoT patterns of word-initial English /b/ and /p/ in three groups: Omani undergraduate students, Omani professors and English native speakers (ENS). It also compares VoT patterns of these sounds in two phonetic environments: CV and CCV. Words containing initial /b, p/ were elicited using a reading task. The results revealed a significant difference in VoT patterns of /p/ between students and ENSs, but not between professors and ENSs. Students’ /p/ was characterized with shorter lag compared to professors’ or ENSs’. Variability in the production of /b/ existed among Omani speakers. While ENSs’ VoT productions were characterized with short lag, students’ and professors’ productions were characterized sometimes with voicing lead and others with short/long lag. VoT values of /b/ and /p/ were not significantly affected by whether the sound was in a CV or CCV syllable. The findings are discussed in relation to speech learning research.
L2 SPEECH SEGMENTATION FOR WORD RECOGNITION: THE ROLE OF LEXICAL STRESS AND SYLLABLE STRUCTURE

Current understanding of speech perception suggests that the routines that listeners use to segment the speech signal for word recognition are language specific. English speakers exploit stress patterns for lexical segmentation whereas Spanish speakers use syllable structure. This study investigated L2 lexical segmentation and specifically examined whether L2 learners with a syllable-based L1 (Spanish) exhibit stress-based segmentation in L2 English. 81 English– Spanish learners and 72 Spanish–English learners completed a word-spotting task that manipulated lexical stress and syllable structure. Participants aurally identified English monosyllabic words embedded in disyllabic pseudowords. Results showed that Spanish-English learners transferred L1 segmentation routines to L2 English. Spanish-English learners exhibited syllable-based segmentation of English regardless of differences in lexical stress, which was more prominent as L2 proficiency increased. English-Spanish learners showed stress-based segmentation regardless of differences in syllable structure. This study suggests that listeners develop only the segmentation routines that correspond to the phonological composition of their L1.
of good and bad player momentum between games in basketball

The existence of streaks in basketball has been studied for teams (team momentum) and players (hot hand/player momentum) using disparate methods and reaching some conflicting results. However, recent empirical research shows these types of streaks are real and not an artifact of perception. In this research, we analyze a form of player streak that has not been considered before player momentum between games. Using a sample of 39 players and 3483 games of the 2016/17 and 2017/18 NBA regular seasons, we studied the distribution of points scored per minute focusing on both tails of this distribution for each player, i
Efﬁcacy and safety of iodopovidone in chemical pleurodesis: A meta-analysis of observational studies

Summary The search for an ‘ideal’ agent for pleurodesis continues. Iodopovidone is a topical antiseptic and has been shown to be safe and effective in many studies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efﬁcacy and safety of iodopovidone as an agent for chemical pleurodesis. We performed a systematic review of all the observational trials which have used iodopovidone for chemical pleurodesis. Six studies including 265 patients who had undergone chemical pleurodesis with iodopovidone were included for this analysis. Iodopovidone was used for variety of indications, which included pleural effusion (157 patients), and pneumothorax (108 patients). Pleurodesis was performed through tube thoracostomy in 144 patients and through thoracoscopy in 121 patients. The success rate of pleurodesis varied from 64.2% to 100%, and summary success rate of all the studies was 90.6% (95% conﬁdence intervals [CI], 86.4 – 93.8). The success rate was independent for the procedure (tube thoracostomy [126/144; 87.5%, 95% CI 80.9 – 92.4] or thoracoscopy [114/121; 94.2%, 95% CI 88.4 – 97.6]) used for performing pleurodesis or for the indication (pleural effusion [139/157; 88.5%, 95% CI 82.5 – 93.1] or pneumothorax
Phonetic integration in Heritage Korean language-mixing

Phonetic integration, the application of native phonological features to non-native utterances, is frequently operationalized to differentiate between loanwords and other categories of language mixing. Amongst bilingual communities however, recent studies have reported variability of phonetic integration across all types of language mixing, arguing that factors such as phonological segment serve as stronger predictors of integration. This study analyzes social and linguistic factors which motivate phonetic integration amongst Heritage Korean-English bilinguals and explores the interaction between phonetic integration and speaker identity. Counter to previous studies, a linear regression model shows language mixing type to have the greatest effect on integration, with social factors such as speaker generation, language preference and cultural identity also surfacing as significant. These findings suggest that rather than merely linguistic diagnostic, phonetic integration can also function as an indicator of the unique identity and culture of bilingual speakers.
Vowel duration before a geminate in children and adults: is lexicality important?

The phonetic realization of Italian vowels includes shorter vowel durations before geminate consonants compared to singleton consonants but only in stressed syllables (/p ˈ ɛttine / , comb). Previous research using nonword repetition showed that Italian children reach adult-like mastery of the vowels production in such contexts after 4 years of age [7] . We investigated whether this developmental trajectory holds when children produce familiar words. Italian children (3-6 years old) and adults performed a picture naming task, eliciting productions of familiar words. Stimuli were two and three-syllable words labelling familiar objects or people, with medial singleton or geminate consonants, and with stress on the initial or penultimate syllable. Acoustic analyses showed overall longer durations of vowels preceding the medial consonant (V1) for young children compared to adults. In contrast to the previous study of nonword production, even the youngest children were able to produce the appropriate adult-like variation in V1 duration in singleton/geminate contexts.
HOW DOES FOCUS-INDUCED PROMINENCE INFLUENCE REALIZATION OF EDGE TONES AND SEGMENTAL ANCHORING IN SEOUL KOREAN?

This study investigated how focus-induced prominence influences the global F0 contour within an Accentual Phrase (AP) embedded in an Intonational Phrase in Seoul Korean. Since an AP typically contains edge tones (#LH. . . LH#), it was tested how realization of underlying LH is conditioned by focus. Monosyllabic target words occurred phrase-initially/finally, and the coda sonorancy was varied ( pam vs. pap ) to examine whether/how the tone bearing ability would influence tonal realization. Results showed that focus on phrase-initial words induced pitch range expansion (LH), evident in H-peak anchored early in the post-focal word. But phrase-finally focus induced no F0 expansion but slightly delayed L%, showing an interaction with boundary tones. The coda sonorancy yielded local F0 perturbation, but not global F0 modification. Our results suggest that the segmental anchoring and range of phonologically-defined tones are systematically modulated by prominence, illuminating an interplay between tonal and segmental realizations in reference to information structure.
Creativity in Mathematics and the Supervised Internship: implications for teaching practice

The research aims to analyze the perceptions of teachers’ trainers concerning the practices that occurred during the Supervised Internship in undergraduate courses in Mathematics about the development of the student's creative process. It is qualitative research, the research subjects are teachers from public higher education institutions in Goiás and the Federal District, and the information was analyzed through content analysis, constituting the case study. Among the results obtained, it stands out that the term creativity is understood in the dimensions of originality and flexibility of thought, that most teachers identify themselves as creative teachers, and that they recognize the creative process in developing their activities. According to the research, the Supervised Internship in Mathematics is a phase of fundamental importance in teacher training, and that can provide an environment for raising students' creative potential
The annual update GLODAPv2.2023: the global interior ocean biogeochemical data product

The Global Ocean Data Analysis Project (GLODAP) is a synthesis effort providing regular compilations of surface-to-bottom ocean biogeochemical bottle data, with an emphasis on seawater inorganic carbon chemistry and related 35 variables determined through chemical analysis of seawater samples. GLODAPv2.2023 is an update of the previous version, GLODAPv2.2022 (Lauvset et al., 2022). The major changes are as follows: data from 23 new cruises were added. In addition, a number of changes were made to data included in GLODAPv2.2022. GLODAPv2.2023 includes measurements from more than1.4 million water samples from the global oceans collected on 1108 cruises. The data for the now 13 GLODAP core variables (salinity, oxygen, nitrate, silicate, phosphate, dissolved inorganic carbon, total alkalinity, 40 pH, chlorofluorocarbon-11 (CFC-11), CFC-12, CFC-113, CCl 4 , and SF 6 ) have undergone extensive quality control with a focus on systematic evaluation of bias. The data are available in two formats: (i) as submitted by the data originator but converted to World Ocean Circulation Experiment (WOCE) exchange format and (ii) as a merged data product with adjustments applied to minimize bias. For the present annual update, adjustments for the 23 new cruises were derived by comparing those data with the data from the 1085 quality-controlled cruises in the GLODAPv2.2022 data product using 45 crossover analysis. SF 6 data from all cruises were evaluated by comparison with CFC-12 data measured on the same cruises. For nutrients and ocean carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) chemistry comparisons to estimates based on empirical algorithms provided additional context for adjustment decisions. The adjustments that we applied are intended to remove potential biases from errors related to measurement, calibration, and data handling practices without removing known or likely time trends or variations in the variables evaluated. The compiled and adjusted data product is believed to be consistent to better than 50 0.005 in salinity, 1 % in oxygen, 2 % in nitrate, 2 % in silicate, 2 % in phosphate, 4  mol kg -1 in dissolved inorganic carbon,
Mechanics of

under different demagnetization conditions. The simulation results show that the performance and efficiency of the motor in the demagnetization mode is significantly reduced. Also, the increased current in demagnetized motors causes a further decrease in the magnet's properties. This effect is progressively repeated many times until the property of the applied permanent magnet is lost. Finally, an analytical model for examining and designing electric motors, considering the effects of demagnetization, was presented. The results showed that the use of the analytical model of motor design considering the effects of demagnetization can be a suitable alternative to the use of conventional methods in the design of electric motors.
Designing a double deep reinforcement learning selection tool for resilient demand prediction

Supply chain optimization has attracted many scientiﬁc studies for decades. This topic continues to evolve due to the increasing worldwide commercial interactions and the recent progress of artiﬁcial intelligence. Artiﬁcial intelligence models have emerged as competitive forecasting methods for several years and consumer demands of goods remain a hot topic in supply chain optimisation. However, the process of selecting an appropriate forecasting solution becomes a daunting task, particularly for non-experts because they exhibit a strong dependency on databases. Even specialists face potential errors, considering that each model aligns better with a speciﬁc set of problems. This complexity arises due to the distinctive features inherent in each dataset, such as high seasonality, substantial bias, noise, volatility, intermittence, and more. This research endeavors to construct a double deep reinforcement learning model, enabling the automatic selection of a forecasting model from the forecasting committee at the time of prediction. The set of forecasting methods available to be selected in this research holds various neural network based forecasting approaches which have been proven to perform well each one in diﬀerent dataset conﬁgurations; such as feed forward neural networks, recurrent neural networks, convolutional neural networks, boosting ensemble neural networks and stacking ensemble neural networks. To assess the model’s performance, an empirical study is conducted using two distinct datasets selected for their diversity in order to ensure robustness to variations of the overall solution approach. The results of experiments demonstrate the resilience of the proposed approach when compared to the state-of-the-art methods.