Recognizing Speech in a Novel Accent: The Motor Theory of Speech Perception Reframed

The motor theory of speech perception holds that we perceive the speech of another in terms of a motor representation of that speech. However, when we have learned to recognize a foreign accent, it seems plausible that recognition of a word rarely involves reconstruction of the speech gestures of the speaker rather than the listener. To better assess the motor theory and this observation, we proceed in three stages. Part 1 places the motor theory of speech perception in a larger framework based on our earlier models of the adaptive formation of mirror neurons for grasping, and for viewing extensions of that mirror system as part of a larger system for neuro-linguistic processing, augmented by the present consideration of recognizing speech in a novel accent. Part 2 then offers a novel computational model of how a listener comes to understand the speech of someone speaking the listener's native language with a foreign accent. The core tenet of the model is that the listener uses hypotheses about the word the speaker is currently uttering to update probabilities linking the sound produced by the speaker to phonemes in the native language repertoire of the listener. This, on average, improves the recognition of later words. This model is neutral regarding the nature of the representations it uses (motor vs. auditory). It serve as a reference point for the discussion in Part 3, which proposes a dual-stream neuro-linguistic architecture to revisits claims for and against the motor theory of speech perception and the relevance of mirror neurons, and extracts some implications for the reframing of the motor theory

Teaching Children with Reactive Attachment Disorder: A Review of the Literature

Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) has been examined by the psychological community for many years, but only in recent years has it entered the realm of education and recognizing students with RAD has occurred. Disagreements continue to take place over what types of assessments or interventions may work for children with RAD. Often children with RAD are not diagnosis [sic] because the symptoms reflect other dysfunctional behaviors and teachers reject these students as unwilling to accept instruction. This paper is a literature review of professional articles available with bearing on teaching children with RAD. In addition, this article presents behaviors of RAD and describes recommendations in dealing with students with RAD that teachers may use. Lastly, the article briefly summarizes the content of several research articles

An Interactive Augmented Reality Alphabet 3-Dimensional Pop-up Book For learning and Recognizing the English Alphabet

This document describes the process developing an Augmented Reality (AR) alphabet book mobile application. Using only an android phone camera, the child could view the superimposed virtual alphabet 3 dimensional objects in a fun and interactive manner using the marker-less physical alphabet book as the interaction tool. The reason behind choosing alphabet teaching as the topic of the book is that the Alphabet knowledge is the core knowledge of any language. It is a jump-start for children to start reading and recognizing words and sentences, thus learning the alphabet is extremely important, for many researchers, emphasizing on how early, child’s education shapes the child’s successful future. Though there are, a great deal of technology based alphabet books; parents still prefer buying the old style physical books or some might use a virtual technology based book application. The problem is that though the physical book possesses many benefits, that our generation and the generations long before us, have experienced, yet from the current generation children’s point of view, they may in fact find it dull and boring. For, it is commonly recognized, that the current generation children are surrounded all around by technology and gadgets, that can make them board, easily distracted, and may refuse to willingly use a plain non-technology book to learn, and if using a virtual application, they will lose the benefits offered by a physical book. Knowing this, the use of Augmented Reality should solve such a problem. For Augmented Reality (AR) is considered the best of both worlds, where, real and virtual objects are combined in the real environment, that will allow the use of both technology based application and a traditional physical book, combining the benefits of both and meeting the child and the parent midway. Although AR technology is not new, its possible potential in education is just beginning to be investigated. The main aim of this research is to develop an interactive 3-Dimentional alphabet pop-up book, and using digital storytelling, to help teach children to learn and recognize the alphabets. The objectives of the study are to enhance the interactions of the alphabet book, by creating an android application that contains animated interactive 3-Dimentional models, interactive sounds, songs and music. Furthermore, to investigate the use of digital storytelling (music, sounds), interactions and animation effect in learning engagement, through using the augmented reality technology. The scope of this project and research is very wide, it includes the 3D modeling, texturing, rigging & animation, book design and content decision research, furthermore, Augmented Reality and Android applicatio

Towards a Cloud-Based Service for Maintaining and Analyzing Data About Scientific Events

We propose the new cloud-based service OpenResearch for managing and analyzing data about scientific events such as conferences and workshops in a persistent and reliable way. This includes data about scientific articles, participants, acceptance rates, submission numbers, impact values as well as organizational details such as program committees, chairs, fees and sponsors. OpenResearch is a centralized repository for scientific events and supports researchers in collecting, organizing, sharing and disseminating information about scientific events in a structured way. An additional feature currently under development is the possibility to archive web pages along with the extracted semantic data in order to lift the burden of maintaining new and old conference web sites from public research institutions. However, the main advantage is that this cloud-based repository enables a comprehensive analysis of conference data. Based on extracted semantic data, it is possible to determine quality estimations, scientific communities, research trends as well the development of acceptance rates, fees, and number of participants in a continuous way complemented by projections into the future. Furthermore, data about research articles can be systematically explored using a content-based analysis as well as citation linkage. All data maintained in this crowd-sourcing platform is made freely available through an open SPARQL endpoint, which allows for analytical queries in a flexible and user-defined way.Comment: A completed version of this paper had been accepted in SAVE-SD workshop 2017 at WWW conferenc

Elementary Teachers’ Ideologies On The Experience Of A Mixed-Race Student

With bi/multi-racial students existing within a nebulous racial categorization that has been historically defined to support an economic agenda, creating a positive self-identity for students in this group can be challenging. This article examined those challenges by exploring the reflections of elementary level teachers’ classroom practices and perceptions of the collective elementary educational experience of one bi-racial student in a southeastern U.S. public school

E-strategy in the UK retail grocery sector

After a decade of Internet trading, retailers in the UK have experienced mixed fortunes with their Internet-based ventures. Online shopping success stories include; Tesco’s, which has positioned itself as a world leader in online grocery retailing by providing an Internet-based home delivery of over 40,000 products and making the service available to almost 95 per cent of UK residents. Similarly, Sainsbury’s offers 71% per cent of UK residents the opportunity to shop online however the company does not have the same international recognition. Waitrose too has expanded its Internet-based shopping services, aided by its acquisitions in OCADO. By contrast, Somerfield, and more recently Iceland have stopped their Internet shopping operations due to poor trading results and economic difficulties, despite the fact that Iceland was the first grocery retailer to offer online shopping to the majority of the UK mainland. The key aims of this paper are to explore how major grocery retailers coming to the one line market; to consider why some are more successful than others and to develop an understanding of the role of strategic thinking in online retailing. More specifically, the paper will initially, investigate the strategic options open to retailers developing activities online and finally, discuss the extent to which e-strategies represent a long-term approach to planning. The paper presents a literature review, which provides the conceptual foundations for investigation of the significance of e-strategy development within retailing. This model is then compared with evidence from secondary data sources and business results from leading UK grocery retailers in order to debate and analyse the likely importance of e-strategies in the success of online grocery retailing in the UK

Complete LibTech 2013 Print Program

PDF of the complete print program from the 2013 Library Technology Conferenc

Logic programming in the context of multiparadigm programming: the Oz experience

Oz is a multiparadigm language that supports logic programming as one of its major paradigms. A multiparadigm language is designed to support different programming paradigms (logic, functional, constraint, object-oriented, sequential, concurrent, etc.) with equal ease. This article has two goals: to give a tutorial of logic programming in Oz and to show how logic programming fits naturally into the wider context of multiparadigm programming. Our experience shows that there are two classes of problems, which we call algorithmic and search problems, for which logic programming can help formulate practical solutions. Algorithmic problems have known efficient algorithms. Search problems do not have known efficient algorithms but can be solved with search. The Oz support for logic programming targets these two problem classes specifically, using the concepts needed for each. This is in contrast to the Prolog approach, which targets both classes with one set of concepts, which results in less than optimal support for each class. To explain the essential difference between algorithmic and search programs, we define the Oz execution model. This model subsumes both concurrent logic programming (committed-choice-style) and search-based logic programming (Prolog-style). Instead of Horn clause syntax, Oz has a simple, fully compositional, higher-order syntax that accommodates the abilities of the language. We conclude with lessons learned from this work, a brief history of Oz, and many entry points into the Oz literature.Comment: 48 pages, to appear in the journal "Theory and Practice of Logic Programming

Dagstuhl News January - December 2002

"Dagstuhl News" is a publication edited especially for the members of the Foundation "Informatikzentrum Schloss Dagstuhl" to thank them for their support. The News give a summary of the scientific work being done in Dagstuhl. Each Dagstuhl Seminar is presented by a small abstract describing the contents and scientific highlights of the seminar as well as the perspectives or challenges of the research topic