Two applications of twisted Floer homology

Given an irreducible closed 3--manifold $Y$, we show that its twisted Heegaard Floer homology determines whether $Y$ is a torus bundle over the circle. Another result we will prove is, if $K$ is a genus 1 null-homologous knot in an $L$--space, and the 0--surgery on $K$ is fibered, then $K$ itself is fibered. These two results are the missing cases of earlier results due to the second author.Comment: 17 page

Support for Language Learners by Designing a Personalized Voice Assistant

This study analyzes the learning experience of studying foreign languages (FLs) and designs a personal voice assistant to support users. Learning FL is a big challenge. The challenge of learning a new language including how language is used is ‘influenced by’ or is a direct result of the context in which communication takes place. The author\u27s self-experience as an international student informs this study and provides access to a broad range of peers at the institution who have similar experiences. On the other hand, by utilizing voice assistant (VA), users build a relationship with VA and learners can understand multiple language backgrounds and cultures. Through in-depth interviews, participants—recruited from campus—were asked questions about why one wants to learn FL, how one learns FL, which tools one used to support learning, the challenges one meets with this experience, etc. This research asks about one’s learning experience and shares the researcher idea with VA utilizing it in supporting learning FL. This study does two sets of interviews with same group participants in order to collect interviewees’ experiences and feedback through the design process. In a sample size of 18 participants, this research understands how culture, background and environment influence FL learners’ experiences during studying a new language. Some interviewees live in foreign places and feel anxious using FL to communicate with native speakers. Some interviewees live in native and want to know more about FL’s different cultures locally. With this study, this author designs a personal voice assistant and supports learners with learning foreign languages

Humility and competence: which attribute affects socialrelationships at work?

Between likability and competence, people value likable colleagues (regardless of their competence level) more than competent colleagues. If humility replaces competence, the preference might be different since humility is not always associated with positive outcomes. Humility and competence form four archetypes: humble star, humble fool, competent jerk, and incompetent jerk. This study examined the personal and professional preferences for these archetypes in the workplace and how the preference is moderated by colleagues’ seniority. There were 475 working adults aged between 21 and 77 (M = 40.34, SD = 11.32) recruited to complete an online survey. While humble fools were more likable than competent jerks in personal interactions, competent jerks received more cooperation than humble fools in professional interactions. Seniority did not affect these findings. Our findings shed light on whether, and when, humility should be highly valued in organizational settings. Promoting humility in the workplace setting might require more caution

VARIABLE SELECTION FOR CASE-COHORT STUDIES WITH FAILURE TIME OUTCOME

Case-cohort design is widely used in large cohort studies with failure time data to reduce the cost associated with covariate measurement. Many of those studies collect a large number of covariates. Therefore, an efficient variable selection method is needed for the case-cohort design. In this dissertation, we study the properties of the Smoothly Clipped Absolute Deviation (SCAD) penalty based variable selection procedure in Cox proportional hazards model and additive hazards model in a case-cohort design with a diverging number of parameters. We prove that the SCAD penalized variable selection procedure can identify the true model with probability tending to one under Cox proportional hazards model. We then establish the consistency and asymptotic normality of the penalized estimator. We show via simulation that the BIC-based tuning parameter selection method outperforms the AIC-based method under typical case-cohort study settings. The proposed procedure is applied to the Busselton Health Study (Cullen1972, knuimanserum2003). Additive hazards model is a useful alternative to the Cox model for analyzing failure time data. In the second part of the dissertation, we extend the SCAD-penalized variable selection procedure to the additive hazards model with a stratified case-cohort design and a diverging number of parameters. We again establish variable selection consistency, estimation consistency, and asymptotic normality of the penalized estimator under this setting. We propose a new tuning parameter selection method and evaluate its performance via simulation. We show that the proposed tuning parameter selection method outperforms the conventional k-fold cross-validation method. The proposed procedure is applied to the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study (ARIC2004). Tuning parameter selection is critical to the success of a regularized variable selection method. A consistent tuning parameter selection method has not been established for the SCAD-penalized Cox model with a diverging dimension. In the last part of the dissertation, we propose a generalized information criterion (GIC) for tuning parameter selection and establish conditions required for its variable selection consistency under this setting. Simulation study shows that GIC performs well under the required conditions with finite sample size. It is then applied to the Framingham Heart Study (Framingham).Doctor of Philosoph

Voice Analysis for Stress Detection and Application in Virtual Reality to Improve Public Speaking in Real-time: A Review

Stress during public speaking is common and adversely affects performance and self-confidence. Extensive research has been carried out to develop various models to recognize emotional states. However, minimal research has been conducted to detect stress during public speaking in real time using voice analysis. In this context, the current review showed that the application of algorithms was not properly explored and helped identify the main obstacles in creating a suitable testing environment while accounting for current complexities and limitations. In this paper, we present our main idea and propose a stress detection computational algorithmic model that could be integrated into a Virtual Reality (VR) application to create an intelligent virtual audience for improving public speaking skills. The developed model, when integrated with VR, will be able to detect excessive stress in real time by analysing voice features correlated to physiological parameters indicative of stress and help users gradually control excessive stress and improve public speaking performanceComment: 41 pages, 7 figures, 4 table

CNARA: reliability assessment for genomic copy number profiles

BACKGROUND DNA copy number profiles from microarray and sequencing experiments sometimes contain wave artefacts which may be introduced during sample preparation and cannot be removed completely by existing preprocessing methods. Besides, large derivative log ratio spread (DLRS) of the probes correlating with poor DNA quality is sometimes observed in genome screening experiments and may lead to unreliable copy number profiles. Depending on the extent of these artefacts and the resulting misidentification of copy number alterations/variations (CNA/CNV), it may be desirable to exclude such samples from analyses or to adapt the downstream data analysis strategy accordingly. RESULTS Here, we propose a method to distinguish reliable genomic copy number profiles from those containing heavy wave artefacts and/or large DLRS. We define four features that adequately summarize the copy number profiles for reliability assessment, and train a classifier on a dataset of 1522 copy number profiles from various microarray platforms. The method can be applied to predict the reliability of copy number profiles irrespective of the underlying microarray platform and may be adapted for those sequencing platforms from which copy number estimates could be computed as a piecewise constant signal. Further details can be found at https://github.com/baudisgroup/CNARA . CONCLUSIONS We have developed a method for the assessment of genomic copy number profiling data, and suggest to apply the method in addition to and after other state-of-the-art noise correction and quality control procedures. CNARA could be instrumental in improving the assessment of data used for genomic data mining experiments and support the reliable functional attribution of copy number aberrations especially in cancer research

Is Malaysia ready for sustainable energy? Exploring the attitudes toward solar energy and energy behaviors in Malaysia

To meet the larger demand for electricity supply, Malaysia needs to achieve two main psychosocial conditions, among others—having the awareness of renewable energy and demonstrating energy-conserving behavior. To examine whether Malaysia has met these two conditions, we recruited 225 participants (n = 109 women, n = 113 men, n = 3 did not indicate) to complete a series of questionnaires. The results showed that the public was aware of the option of solar energy but was not ready to install solar photovoltaic panels after being told the cost incurred. Furthermore, the public did not show satisfying energy-conserving behaviors. To boost the installation of solar power, increasing the public’s energy knowledge and implementing policies to reduce the installation cost might be helpful. These findings highlighted Malaysia’s low readiness for solar power and shed some light on what needs to be done to be better prepared for solar power

Some Locally Tabular Logics with Contraction and Mingle

Anderson and Belnap’s implicational system RMO can be extended conservatively by the usual axioms for fusion and for the Ackermann truth constant t. The resulting system RMO is algebraized by the quasivariety IP of all idempotent commutative residuated po-monoids. Thus, the axiomatic extensions of RMO are in one-to-one correspondence with the relative subvarieties of IP. An algebra in IP is called semiconic if it decomposes subdirectly (in IP) into algebras where the identity element t is order-comparable with all other elements. The semiconic algebras in IP are locally finite. It is proved here that a relative subvariety of IP consists of semiconic algebras if and only if it satisfies x ≈ (x → t) → x. It follows that if an axiomatic extension of RMO has ((p → t) → p) → p among its theorems then it is locally tabular. In particular, such an extension is strongly decidable, provided that it is finitely axiomatized