Finding Needles in the Right Haystack: Double Modals in Medical Consultations

In this paper we present a case study of a syntactic sociolinguistic variable that has resisted previous attempts at quantitative analysis of usage, the double modal construction of Southern United States English (e.g., You know what might could help that is losing some weight). While naturally-occurring double modals have been exceedingly rare in sociolinguistic interviews, our study represents the very first corpus investigation of double modals through a search of the right ‘haystack’: the nationwide Verilogue, Inc database of recorded and transcribed physician-patient interactions (~85 million words). As a vast source of potentially face-threatening negotiations, the Verilogue corpus provides the ideal speech situation in which to search for low frequency, non-standard syntactic features like the double modal. A quantitative analysis of the 76 tokens extracted from doctor-patient consultations in the US South revealed that double modals are favored by doctors, especially women and those with many decades of professional experience. Among patients, those not currently in employment use double modals more frequently than the employed. We interpreted these findings with reference to the literature on the pragmatics of physician-patient talk, arguing that the double modal is used to negotiate the imbalanced power dynamic of a doctor-patient consultation. In general, the greater use of double modals by doctors shows that the construction is an active part of a doctor’s repertoire for mitigating directives. Collectively, we present a complex socio-pragmatic picture of double modal use that could not be seen without a corpus of naturally-occurring speech in a potentially face-threatening speech situation

FPGA-Based Tracklet Approach to Level-1 Track Finding at CMS for the HL-LHC

During the High Luminosity LHC, the CMS detector will need charged particle tracking at the hardware trigger level to maintain a manageable trigger rate and achieve its physics goals. The tracklet approach is a track-finding algorithm based on a road-search algorithm that has been implemented on commercially available FPGA technology. The tracklet algorithm has achieved high performance in track-finding and completes tracking within 3.4 $\mu$s on a Xilinx Virtex-7 FPGA. An overview of the algorithm and its implementation on an FPGA is given, results are shown from a demonstrator test stand and system performance studies are presented.Comment: Submitted to proceedings of Connecting The Dots/Intelligent Trackers 2017, Orsay, Franc

Characteristics of 3D solid modeling software libraries for non-manifold modeling

The aim of this paper is to provide a review of the characteristics of 3D solid modeling software libraries – otherwise known as ’geometric modeling kernels’ in non-manifold applications. ’Non-manifold’ is a geometric topology term that means ’to allow any combination of vertices, edges, surfaces and volumes to exist in a single logical body’. In computational architectural design, the use of non-manifold topology can enhance the representation of space as it provides topological clarity, allowing architects to better design, analyze and reason about buildings. The review is performed in two parts. The review is performed in two parts. The first part includes a comparison of the topological entities’ terminology and hierarchy as used within commercial applications, kernels, and within published academic research. The second part proposes an evaluation framework to explore the kernels’ support for non-manifold topology, including their capability to represent a non-manifold structure, and in performing non-regular Boolean operations, which are suitable for non-manifold modeling

Addressing pathways to energy modelling through non-manifold topology

This paper presents a comparison of different pathways for the energy modelling of complex building geometry. We have identified three key modelling questions: first, how can the spatial organisation of the building be appropriately represented for energy analysis? Second, how can curved building geometry be post-rationalized as planar elements given the planar constraints associated with energy simulation tools? And third, how can an exploratory design process be supported using a 'top-down' rather than a 'bottom-up' modelling approach? Using a standard office building test case and EnergyPlus, the following three pathways were explored: (a) OpenStudio using a non-manifold topology (NMT) system based on an open-source geometry library, (b) OpenStudio using the SketchUp 3D modelling tool and (c) through the DesignBuilder graphical interface. The efficacy of the software used in these pathways in addressing the three modelling questions was evaluated. The comparison of the pathways’ capabilities has led to the evaluation of the efficacy of NMT compared to other existing approaches. It is concluded that NMT positively addresses the three key modelling issues

Topologic: tools to explore architectural topology

Buildings enclose and partition space and are built from assemblies of connected components. The many different forms of spatial and material partitioning and connectedness found within buildings can be represented by topology. This paper introduces the ‘Topologic’ software library which integrates a number of architecturally relevant topological concepts into a unified application toolkit. The goal of the Topologic toolkit is to support the creation of the lightest, most understandable conceptual models of architectural topology. The formal language of topology is well-matched to the data input requirements for applications such as energy simulation and structural analysis. In addition, the ease with which these lightweight topological models can be modified encourages design exploration and performance simulation at the conceptual design phase. A challenging and equally interesting question is how can the formal language of topology be used to represent architectural concepts of space which have previously been described in rather speculative and subjective terms