Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Prosodic Model of Sign Language Phonology

This book is intended in part to provide linguists and cognitive scientists who do not know sign language with a point of entry into the study of sign language phonology. At the same time, it presents a comprehensive theory of American Sign Language (ASL) phonology, while reviewing and building on alternative theories. One claim of this theoretical framework is that, because of sign language's visual/gestural phonetic basis, the consonant-like units and vowel-like units are expressed simultaneously with one another, rather than sequentially as in spoken languages. A second claim is that movements operate as the most basic prosodic units of the language. The author is concerned to show both the similarities and differences between signed and spoken languages, and to indicate some directions for future work in cognitive science that can be derived from her phonological model.
Forest Structure Retrieval from Multi-Baseline SARs

The vertical structure of the forested areas has been recognized by the scientific community as one major element in the assessment of forest biomass. Dealing with a volumetric object, the remote sensing techniques that are best suited to infer information about the forest structure are those that guarantee under foliage penetration capabilities. One important, widely popular technology used to investigate the forest vertical structure from the above (typically on board aircrafts) is given by high resolution LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) sensors, whose signals penetrate down to the ground trough the gaps within the vegetation layer. In the recent years, however, the attention of the scientific community has been drawn by the use of SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) techniques. As opposed to LIDARs, for which high resolution is crucial, the signals emitted by SARs propagate down to the ground by virtue of the under foliage penetration capabilities of microwaves. This different way of sensing the volumetric structure of the imaged objects determines many peculiarities of SAR imaging with respect to LIDAR, some of which are advantages and other drawbacks. The most remarkable advantage is perhaps the one due to the ability of microwaves to penetrate into semi-transparent media, which makes lower wavelength (L-Band and P-Band, typically) SARs capable of acquiring data almost independently of weather conditions and vegetation density. Conversely, the most relevant drawback is that the three dimensional (3D) reconstruction of the imaged objects requires the exploitation of multiple (at least two, but preferable many) images acquired from different points of view, and hence multiple passes over the scene to be investigated. The aim of this chapter is to discuss relevant topics associated with the employment of a multi-baseline SAR system for the reconstruction of the 3D structure of the imaged targets, with particular attention to the case of forested areas. The first topic considered is the design of a multi-baseline SAR system for 3D reconstruction in the framework of Fourier Tomography (FT), also referred to as 3D focusing. Even though seldom used in practical applications due to poor imaging quality, FT allows to discuss quite easily the design and overall features of a SAR tomographic system, and represents the basis for all of the developments presented in the remainder of this chapter. The next part of this chapter will focus on operative methods the generation of high-resolution tomographic imaging from sparse data-sets. This is the case of interest in practical applications, due to the costs associated with flying a high number of passes and platform trajectory accuracy. T-SAR will be cast here in terms of an estimation problem, considering both non-parametric and parametric, or model based, approaches. Non-parametric 2
Spatial Determinants of Urban Land Conversion in Large Chinese Cities: A Case of Hangzhou

In this research we assessed the urban land conversion, and identified the factors responsible for the conversion, from 1995 to 2009 in Hangzhou, a large city located in the lower Yangtze River Delta of China. We mapped urban land from satellite images by using a hybrid approach of spectral mixture analysis, unsupervised classification, and expert rules. We employed binary logistic regression to model the probability of urban land conversion as a function of spatial independent variables. In recent years Hangzhou started its transformation from a compact, monocentric city to a polycentric city. We found that accessibility to the central business district, industrial centers, roads, Qiantang River, the amount of built-up area in the neighborhood, locations of markets, and spatial policies were the major determinants of Hangzhou's urban land conversion. Moreover, the availability of land in the neighborhood has become increasingly important in recent years. We identified several major institutional forces underlying Hangzhou's urban development: administrative annexation and development zones, the increasingly important role of the market, and the unique role of local government. The results from our research indicate the need for policies and plans that can better manage and reduce urban sprawl in Hangzhou.
Experimental results obtained from analog chips used for extracting sound localization cues

Sound localization, in both azimuth and elevation, using two (left and right) sensors can be carried out by extracting, from the received left and right signals, certain features known as localization cues. This paper presents the test results obtained from three cue extraction chips implemented using standard 0.8 /spl mu/m CMOS technology (threshold voltage: 0.8 V) and operating at a supply voltage of /spl plusmn/0.9 V. The chips consist of an onset detector which determines those portions of the received waveform which contain primarily incident (as opposed to echo) information, a spectral cue front-end and a time delay estimator. Some block level results are presented, together with measured cue values. To our knowledge, these are the first results obtained from such an analog localization hardware, which has been broadly inspired from the biological auditory system.
Review of the 9th International Conference on the Evolution of Language (Evolang9)

The 1990’s have witnessed a resurrection of an interest in the origins of language (in fact, such an interest had never actually faded). Although pin-pointing the exact triggers behind the initial sparkles is difficult, one may advocate for the integration of a number of scientific advances, including the first computer simulations of the self-organized emergence and convergence of linguistic conventions (Hurford 1989, Steel 1996), the significant progress in the systematic analysis of mtDNA or Y chromosome genetic distributions across the world (Cann et al. 1987, Underhill et al. 2000), the synthesis of the data from genetics, archaeology, and linguistics (Cavalli-Sforza et al. 1988, 1992), and many others. In 1996, the first Conference on the Evolution of Language (Evolang) was held in Edinburgh for the purpose of fostering a dialog between scholars of diverse backgrounds. At the center of discussions — and in opposition to a generativist framework minimizing the value of such an attempt (Chomsky 1972, Berwick 1998) — laid an effort to account for the properties of the faculty of language in light of modern evolutionary theory (Hurford et al. 1998). The 9th Evolang conference (Evolang9), which took place in Kyoto 13–16 March 2012, was once again an opportunity for scholars from a wide range of disciplines to gather and bridge their lines of arguments (McCrohon et al. 2012, Scott-Phillips et al. 2012). Since the origins and evolution of language have long been the research foci in both evolutionary linguistics and biolinguistics, we provide here a review of the variety of reports that was brought forward during Evolang9. Without being able to pay justice to the wide scope of all contributions that were made, we mainly summarize and frame the primary arguments that echoed during the conference, highlight significant evolutions of the field both in terms of methods and content, and present our opinions on future research in this line.
Teaching Archetypal Design with an Electronic Textbook

How can parallel programming be made tractable for students in high schools and community colleges, to programmers in four-year colleges, to commercial and government employees, to interested independent users learning on their own, and as CASE tools for professional software designers? The computer science community must address this question if the ability of programmers to harness the power of parallel systems is to maintain pace with technology advances forthcoming in parallel systems. This paper addresses some of the issues of bringing parallel programming to the people, ranging from newly developing programmers with little experience on any computer to seasoned programmers of single-processor machines. We aim not only to enable people to use more powerful computers, but also to enable people to use computers more powerfully, by nurturing the techniques that enable them to develop efficient, correct code with relative ease. This paper briefly presents the concept of an Archetype, a software engineering methodology developed at the Caltech for patterns of problem solving, and for providing media for quick reference and natural software reuse. We then describe eText, an interactive multimedia electronic textbook that facilitates the teaching of, navigating through, and referring to Archetypes. Initial experience with Archetypes and the electronic textbook suggests that this approach to teaching parallel programming can aid computer users in the immediate future.
From Synapses to Rules: Discovering Symbolic Rules from Neural Processed Data

The book aims to propose a theoretical and applicatory framework for extracting formal rules from data. To this end recent approaches in relevant disciplines are examined that bring together two typical goals of conventional Artificial Intelligence and connectionism - respectively, deducing within an axiomatic shell formal rules about a phenomenon and inferring the actual behavior of it from examples - into a challenging inferential framework where we learn from data and understand what we have learned. The goal is to obtain a translation of the subsymbolic structure of the data - stored in the synapses of a neural network - into formal properties described by rules. To capture this journey from synapses to rules and then render it manageable for real world learning tasks, the contributions deal in depth with the following aspects: i. theoretical foundations of learning algorithms and soft computing; ii. intimate relationships between symbolic and subsymbolic reasoning methods; iii. integration of the related hosting architectures in both physiological and artificial brain.
After Installation: Ubiquitous Computing and High School Science in Three Experienced, High-Technology Schools

There are few studies of the impact of ubiquitous computing on high school science, and the majority of studies of ubiquitous computing report on the first period of implementation. The present study presents data on 3 high schools with carefully elaborated ubiquitous computing systems, who have gone through at least one "obsolescence cycle" and are therefore several years past first implementation. Data shows how the affordances of 1:1, wireless environment are being deployed in these science classrooms, and the effects of the environment on science content, data analysis, labs and other uses for visualizations, and classroom interaction. While some positive effects are clearly seen in these classrooms, even 5 years or more into the innovation, problems remain, and school cultural factors seem to play an important role in teacher uptake and integration of the technology. Implications for teacher learning are discussed.
Characteristics of the MasPar parallel I/O system

Input/output speed continues to present a performance challenge for high-performance computing systems. This is because technology improves processor speed, memory speed and capacity, and disk capacity at a much higher-rate than mass storage latency. Developments in I/O architecture have been attempting to reduce this performance gap. The MasPar I/O architecture includes many interesting features. This work presents an experimental study of the dynamic characteristics of the MasPar parallel I/O. Performance measurements were collected and compared for the MasPar MP-1 and MP-2 testbeds at NASA GSFC. The results have revealed strengths as well as areas for potential improvements and are helpful to software developers, systems managers, and system designers. <<ETX>>
A study of the invariance properties of textural features in SAR images

Compares the performance of a number of different texture features for SAR image analysis. These features are derived from the gray-level co-occurrence matrix, local statistics, and lognormal random field models. The features are compared based on: (i) their invariance or robustness with respect to natural changes in SAR signatures; and (ii) their discrimination ability and classification accuracy. The invariance of the texture features is investigated on a set of 13 ERS-1 SAR images of the same scene, captured under different conditions. Two main conclusions can be drawn from this study: (i) the texture features are not invariant with respect to natural changes in the mean backscatter values; and (ii) texture fusion and selection by combining texture features obtained by different models significantly improve the classification accuracy.
RDMA for Multipath Multiple Access Channels: An Optimum Asynchronous Low Complexity Technique

A technique which utilizes an exponentially varying electrical signal in an inverse manner to derive the logarithm of an input signal is disclosed. In a preferred embodiment of apparatus utilizing the technique, a voltage commensurate with an input signal is compared with an exponentially decaying voltage to provide an output proportional to the time required for the exponential voltage to fall from a preset reference level to the level of the voltage commensurate with the input. This output is employed to control a pulse generator and the output of the pulse generator is averaged to provide a DC voltage which is the logarithm of the input signal.
Street Computing: Towards an Integrated Open Data Application Programming Interface (API) for Cities

This special issue of the Journal of Urban Technology brings together five articles that are based on presentations given at the Street Computing Workshop held on 24 November 2009 in Melbourne in conjunction with the Australian Computer-Human Interaction conference (OZCHI 2009). Our own article introduces the Street Computing vision and explores the potential, challenges, and foundations of this research trajectory. In order to do so, we first look at the currently available sources of information and discuss their link to existing research efforts. Section 2 then introduces the notion of Street Computing and our research approach in more detail. Section 3 looks beyond the core concept itself and summarizes related work in this field of interest. We conclude by introducing the papers that have been contributed to this special issue.
Chapter 5: Best Practices for Working in a Virtual Team Environment

The way of work in the Information Age continues to be commuted by the Internet. The interconnected, collaborative functionality the World Wide Web provides, when implemented and utilized, can help individuals, as well as working groups, achieve greater flexibility and productivity, reports Michelle Boule, the author of the first issue of Library Technology Reports in 2008. A social sciences librarian and technology trainer, Michelle Boule (Univ. of Houston) examines how technology—which in Boule's report is defined as “any tool that can be used to communicate and collaborate over the Internet”—can and has impacted libraries in her issue “Changing the Way We Work. ” Committees, task forces, and small working groups—all common ways to assign projects, divide work, and produce results in libraries—can benefit from “technology-enhanced work. ” In her issue of Library Technology Reports , Boule reports on technology-enhanced work from several library or library-related projects, including: In addition, Boule looks at the other technology-enhanced work projects/software: This issue of Library Technology Reports also delineates technology-enhanced tools, such as Web conferencing, instant messaging, and project-management tools, and it lists specific tools and “widgets” in widespread use (AOL Instant Messager [AIM], Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, Meebo, Trillian, etc.) In “Changing the Way We Work,” Boule also provides best practice tips for working in a virtual team environment as well as a list of selected references that provide additional research and analysis about technology-enhanced work in libraries. Michelle Boule's love of information and libraries started at a very young age. After she received a B.A. in English with minors in women's studies and anthropology from Texas AM serves on BIGWIG, the IG that maintains LITA Blog ( Michelle was a part of planning team of the very successful Five Weeks to a Social Library program ( Michelle can be found online in various places and maintains her own writing space at A Wandering Eyre (
Conceptual Cross-Linguistic Influence: Exploring the L1 Lemma Mediation Hypothesis in L3 Vocabulary Acquisition

An increasing number of students of various minority and immigrant backgrounds makes greater knowledge of the sources of cross-linguistic influence among bilingual students not only of theoretical value, but also beneficial for improving language teaching and instruction. The aim of this thesis has been to investigate conceptual cross-linguistic influence in functional bilinguals with a focus on investigating whether the context and frequency of the bilingual’s use of the two languages explain cross-linguistic influence towards an L3, and whether variation in acquisition could be explained by linguistic similarity, either factual or perceived. The present study replicated the results of Jiang (2002) regarding the effect of the L1 on the lexis of the L2 in terms of similarity evaluations, with the addition that this effect is also observable with two groups of language learners. Furthermore, the findings support the previous hypotheses that the lexical development in the L3 is not only guided by the mother tongue, but also by other previously acquired languages which is in line with the expectations of the L1 lemma mediation hypothesis (Jiang, 2000).
9ticks – The Web as a Stream

Abstract The Internet contains thousands of Frequently Updated, Time-stamped, Structured (FUTS) data sources. This type of information represents a different class of information that is not properly handled by existing data management systems such as databases, data warehouses, search engines, pub-sub, event processing or information retrieval systems. In this position paper, we describe 9ticks, a system we are designing to collect, parse, store, query and disseminate FUTS information. 9ticks is helping us understand that all those steps raise new challenges but also bring new opportunities. In this paper, we summarize the challenges identified and present our vision of an end-to-end FUTS management system.
Mobility modelling and channel holding time distribution in cellular mobile communication systems

In a cellular mobile communication system, the time spent by a user on a particular channel in a given cell is defined as the channel holding time. This paper aims to characterize the probability distribution of the channel holding time. Mobility of users under most generalized conditions have been formulated mathematically and based on this formulation a computer simulation has been developed. This mobility model is used to examine cell residence time distribution under generalized conditions. Given the residence time distribution, the channel holding time distribution is found. The results show that the negative exponential distribution is a good approximation for the mobile channel holding time distribution.
Mantis: A Debugger for the Split-C Language

Programming parallel machines need not be hard. A large portion of the computer science community is working to develop tools to ease parallel programming. Split-C, a language developed as part of the Castle effort at Berkeley, extends C to control parallel machines but retains the straightforward translation from source code to executable code necessary for high-performance programming. Mantis, the Split-C debugger, supports the bulk synchronous and individual node viewpoints that together dominate the design of Split-C programs. Mantis combines the flexibility and extensibility of a Tcl/Tk graphical user interface with the stability and functionality of the GDB debugger, providing a simple but highly effective tool for parallel debugging. The user can control execution for all nodes as a group or for each node individually, and can check state and invariants through a variety of methods. The graphical interface is simple enough for new users to understand with minimal effort yet powerful enough to allow experienced users to work effectively. The first version of Mantis runs on the CM-5 and made its debut in the parallel programming course at Berkeley during the Spring 1994 semester. This document describes Mantis and our experiences in designing and implementing a parallel debugger. Using a straightforward example, we illustrate the process of using Mantis to find both simple and more subtle bugs. After summarizing the features of Mantis, we discuss a range of issues in parallel debugging and our approach to those issues. We follow with our experiences in working with large software systems, in particular the GDB debugger. We continue with a discussion of user interface design, and conclude with commentary on related work and directions for future efforts.
TMK models to HTNs : translating process models into hierarchical task networks

This thesis details the translation of Task-Method-Knowledge Language (TMKL) Models to Hierarchical-Task-Network (HTN) representations. It will be shown that TMKL models are as expressive as HTNs, but have a more convenient syntax, and an equivalence theorem between the two is provided. From the results of the theorem it is clear that a translation from an arbitrary TMKL model to an equivalent HTN always exists, and the particulars of a working translator constructed for this thesis by the author are explained. A synopsis of this translation schema has been accepted for publication at the upcoming Artificial Intelligence and Interactive Digital Entertainment conference.