Third Conference on Artificial Intelligence for Space Applications, part 1

The application of artificial intelligence to spacecraft and aerospace systems is discussed. Expert systems, robotics, space station automation, fault diagnostics, parallel processing, knowledge representation, scheduling, man-machine interfaces and neural nets are among the topics discussed

Variation and change in the vowel system of Tyneside English

PhD ThesisThis thesis presents a variationist account of phonological variation and change in the vowel system of Tyneside English. The distributions of the phonetic exponents of five vowel variables are assessed with respect to the social variables sex, age and social class. Using a corpus of conversational and word-list material, for which 32 speakers of Tyneside English were recorded, between 30 and 40 tokens per speaker of the variables (i), (u), (e), (o) and (3) were transcribed impressionistically and subclassified by following phonological context. The results of this analysis are significant on several counts. First, the speakers sampled appear to differentiate themselves within the speech community through the variable use of certain socially marked phonetic variants, which can be correlated with the sex, age and class variables. Secondly, the speakers style shift to a greater or lesser degree according to combinations of the three social factors, such that surface variability is reduced as a function of increased formality. Third, the overall pattern among the sample population seems to be one of increasing uniformity or convergence: it is speculated that social mobility among upper working- and lower-middle class groups may lead to accent levelling, whereby local speech forms are supplanted by supra-local or innovative intermediate ones. That is, the patterns observed here may be indicative of change in progress. Last, a comparison of the results for the (phonologically) paired variables (i u) and (e o) shows a strong tendency for Tyneside speakers to use these 'symmetrically', in that choice of variant in one variable predicts choice of variant in the other. It is suggested that the symmetry in the system is exploited by Tyneside speakers for the purposes of indicating social affiliation and identity, and is in this sense an extra sociolinguistic resource upon which speakers can draw. In addition, the variants of (3) are discussed with reference to the reported merger of this variable with (a); it is suggested that the apparent 'unmerging' of these two classes is unproblematic from a structural point of view, as the putative (3)—(o) merger appears never to have been completed.UK Economic and Social Research Council (award number R00429524350

Affective Computing

This book provides an overview of state of the art research in Affective Computing. It presents new ideas, original results and practical experiences in this increasingly important research field. The book consists of 23 chapters categorized into four sections. Since one of the most important means of human communication is facial expression, the first section of this book (Chapters 1 to 7) presents a research on synthesis and recognition of facial expressions. Given that we not only use the face but also body movements to express ourselves, in the second section (Chapters 8 to 11) we present a research on perception and generation of emotional expressions by using full-body motions. The third section of the book (Chapters 12 to 16) presents computational models on emotion, as well as findings from neuroscience research. In the last section of the book (Chapters 17 to 22) we present applications related to affective computing

Identity In The Wake Of The State: Local, National, And Supranational Dynamics Of The Syrian Conflict

While much of the civil war literature considers the impact religious or ethnic identities have on the character or duration of conflict, scholars have failed to address why different identities become salient in territories outside the state’s control. Using subnational case studies from the Syrian conflict, I claim that we must consider the interests and character of those actors who strive to attain authority and build governing institutions in the absence of the state. I find that civilian actors are more likely to promote local identities, such as clan, tribal, or city-based identities. Armed groups, however, are more likely to choose more abstract or space-based identities, such as ethnic or national identities. The three cases vary in terms of the involvement of civilian and armed actors in institution building. The first case study analyzes an area where civilians played the primary role as institution builders, the second case study describes two areas in which armed groups served as the primary institution builders, and the third case covers an area in which civilian and armed actors controlled different aspects of public life. External actors can also play a supporting role in the development of institutions by local actors or a negative role by destroying groups’ capacity for institution building. The project leverages the availability of materials created by local authorities and disseminated over social media to evaluate identity promotion in dangerous areas. It also uses photos and videos of protests to evaluate the effectiveness of local identity promotion efforts in shifting the salience of civilians’ identities. This work joins an ongoing conversation on the character and effects of rebel governance as well as debates on the relationship between local dynamics and national/international cleavages in times of civil conflict. It also adds to a growing literature on Syria by illustrating the variation of local institution building and identity promotion and by problematizing the emergence of particular cleavages

Turn-Taking in Human Communicative Interaction

The core use of language is in face-to-face conversation. This is characterized by rapid turn-taking. This turn-taking poses a number central puzzles for the psychology of language. Consider, for example, that in large corpora the gap between turns is on the order of 100 to 300 ms, but the latencies involved in language production require minimally between 600ms (for a single word) or 1500 ms (for as simple sentence). This implies that participants in conversation are predicting the ends of the incoming turn and preparing in advance. But how is this done? What aspects of this prediction are done when? What happens when the prediction is wrong? What stops participants coming in too early? If the system is running on prediction, why is there consistently a mode of 100 to 300 ms in response time? The timing puzzle raises further puzzles: it seems that comprehension must run parallel with the preparation for production, but it has been presumed that there are strict cognitive limitations on more than one central process running at a time. How is this bottleneck overcome? Far from being 'easy' as some psychologists have suggested, conversation may be one of the most demanding cognitive tasks in our everyday lives. Further questions naturally arise: how do children learn to master this demanding task, and what is the developmental trajectory in this domain? Research shows that aspects of turn-taking such as its timing are remarkably stable across languages and cultures, but the word order of languages varies enormously. How then does prediction of the incoming turn work when the verb (often the informational nugget in a clause) is at the end? Conversely, how can production work fast enough in languages that have the verb at the beginning, thereby requiring early planning of the whole clause? What happens when one changes modality, as in sign languages -- with the loss of channel constraints is turn-taking much freer? And what about face-to-face communication amongst hearing individuals -- do gestures, gaze, and other body behaviors facilitate turn-taking? One can also ask the phylogenetic question: how did such a system evolve? There seem to be parallels (analogies) in duetting bird species, and in a variety of monkey species, but there is little evidence of anything like this among the great apes. All this constitutes a neglected set of problems at the heart of the psychology of language and of the language sciences. This research topic welcomes contributions from right across the board, for example from psycholinguists, developmental psychologists, students of dialogue and conversation analysis, linguists interested in the use of language, phoneticians, corpus analysts and comparative ethologists or psychologists. We welcome contributions of all sorts, for example original research papers, opinion pieces, and reviews of work in subfields that may not be fully understood in other subfields

Academic integrity : a call to research and action

Originally published in French:L'urgence de l'intégrité académique, Éditions EMS, Management & société, Caen, 2021 (ISBN 978-2-37687-472-0).The urgency of doing complements the urgency of knowing. Urgency here is not the inconsequential injunction of irrational immediacy. It arises in various contexts for good reasons, when there is a threat to the human existence and harms to others. Today, our knowledge based civilization is at risk both by new production models of knowledge and by the shamelessness of knowledge delinquents, exposing the greatest number to important risks. Swiftly, the editors respond to the diagnostic by setting up a reference tool for academic integrity. Across multiple dialogues between the twenty-five chapters and five major themes, the ethical response shapes pragmatic horizons for action, on a range of disciplinary competencies: from science to international diplomacy. An interdisciplinary work indispensable for teachers, students and university researchers and administrators

TIPS, Volume 20, No. 4, 5 & 6, and Volume 21, No. 1, 2000/2001

• Reading the Signs of the Times • The Culture of Modernism as a Great Disruption • The Materialism of Mammon • Individualism • Sensualism/Hedonism • The Youth Cult as a Form of Hedonism • Here-and-Now-ism & Time Illiteracy • Externalism • Externalism: General • Externalism: The Please, Please, Please Look at Me Phenomenon • Externalism: Celebrititis • Segmentation & Divisioning • Mundality • Combinations of Elements of Modernism • Miscellaneous Other Peculiar Events & Developments of Our Time • Computerization • Miscellaneous Noteworthy, Strange or Bizarre Computer or Net Phenomena • Computer Ubiquitization • Replacement of Real Reality With Virtual Reality • Computer Technology Aggrandizement, & Even Idolatry • Doing Low-Tech Things Hi-Tech • Net Addiction • The Human Becoming Part of, or Utterly Dependent on, the Computerized Communications Net • Cyberromance • Cyberporn • Other Documented or Asserted Negative Effects or Drawbacks of Computerization • Hackery, Virusery, & Other Net Sabotage • Problems of Technologization & Scientific Arrogance Not Directly Related to Computers • The Media in Modernistic Society, & Their Mind Controlling Impact • Ubiquitization of Western Media & Media Images • People\u27s Environments Filling Up With Media Gadgets • People Imitating Unworthy Things Glimpsed From the Entertainment Media • People\u27s Minds Becoming Dominated, Controlled or Possessed by the Media • Image Replacing Substance & Even Reality On, or Because of, the Media • Miscellaneous Destructive Elements & Impacts of the Entertainment & Related Media • The Creep From Computer & Media Mind Control to Surveillance & Tyranny • Reading the Signs of the Times in Its Art • Music • Representative & Miscellaneous Arts • Concluding Comment on the Signs of the Times • Miscellaneous Human Service News • Other Newshttps://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/wolf_tips/1076/thumbnail.jp

Buildings for Education

This open access book presents theoretical and practical research relating to the vast, publicly financed program for the construction of new schools and the reorganization of existing educational buildings in Italy. This transformative process aims to give old buildings a fresh identity, to ensure that facilities are compliant with the new educational and teaching models, and to improve both energy efficiency and structural safety with respect to seismic activity. The book is divided into three sections, the first of which focuses on the social role of the school as a civic building that can serve the needs of the community. Innovations in both design and construction processes are then analyzed, paying special attention to the Building Information Modeling (BIM) strategy as a tool for the integration of different disciplines. The final section is devoted to the built heritage and tools, technologies, and approaches for the upgrading of existing buildings so that they meet the new regulations on building performance. The book will be of interest to all who wish to learn about the latest insights into the challenges posed by, and the opportunities afforded by, a comprehensive school building and renovation program