Nonverbal Vocalizations as Speech: Characterizing Natural-Environment Audio from Nonverbal Individuals with Autism

The study of nonverbal vocalizations, such as sighs, grunts, and monosyllabic sounds, has largely revolved around the social and affective implications of these sounds within typical speech. However, for individuals who do not use any traditional speech, including those with non- or minimally verbal (nv/mv) autism, these vocalizations contain important, individual-specific affective and communicative information. This paper outlines the methodology, analysis, and technology to investigate the production, perception, and meaning of nonverbal vocalizations from nv/mv individuals in natural environments. We are developing novel signal processing and machine learning methods that will help enable augmentative communication technology, and we are producing a nonverbal vocalization dataset for public release. We hope this work will expand the scientific understanding of these exceptional individuals’ language development and the field of communication more generally

Nonverbal Vocalizations as Speech: Characterizing Natural-Environment Audio from Nonverbal Individuals with Autism

The study of nonverbal vocalizations, such as sighs, grunts, and monosyllabic sounds, has largely revolved around the social and affective implications of these sounds within typical speech. However, for individuals who do not use any traditional speech, including those with non- or minimally verbal (nv/mv) autism, these vocalizations contain important, individual-specific affective and communicative information. This paper outlines the methodology, analysis, and technology to investigate the production, perception, and meaning of nonverbal vocalizations from nv/mv individuals in natural environments. We are developing novel signal processing and machine learning methods that will help enable augmentative communication technology, and we are producing a nonverbal vocalization dataset for public release. We hope this work will expand the scientific understanding of these exceptional individuals’ language development and the field of communication more generally

Swift Observations of GRB 050603: An afterglow with a steep late time decay slope

We report the results of Swift observations of the Gamma Ray Burst GRB 050603. With a V magnitude V=18.2 about 10 hours after the burst the optical afterglow was the brightest so far detected by Swift and one of the brightest optical afterglows ever seen. The Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) light curves show three fast-rise-exponential-decay spikes with $T_{90}$=12s and a fluence of 7.6$\times 10^{-6}$ ergs cm$^{-2}$ in the 15-150 keV band. With an $E_{\rm \gamma, iso} = 1.26 \times 10^{54}$ ergs it was also one of the most energetic bursts of all times. The Swift spacecraft began observing of the afterglow with the narrow-field instruments about 10 hours after the detection of the burst. The burst was bright enough to be detected by the Swift UV/Optical telescope (UVOT) for almost 3 days and by the X-ray Telescope (XRT) for a week after the burst. The X-ray light curve shows a rapidly fading afterglow with a decay index $\alpha$=1.76$^{+0.15}_{-0.07}$. The X-ray energy spectral index was $\beta_{\rm X}$=0.71\plm0.10 with the column density in agreement with the Galactic value. The spectral analysis does not show an obvious change in the X-ray spectral slope over time. The optical UVOT light curve decays with a slope of $\alpha$=1.8\plm0.2. The steepness and the similarity of the optical and X-ray decay rates suggest that the afterglow was observed after the jet break. We estimate a jet opening angle of about 1-2$^{\circ}$Comment: 14 pages, accepted for publication in Ap

Galactic populations of radio and gamma-ray pulsars in the polar cap model

We simulate the characteristics of the Galactic population of radio and $\gamma$-ray pulsars using Monte Carlo techniques. At birth, neutron stars are spatially distributed in the Galactic disk, with supernova-kick velocities, and randomly dispersed in age back to $10^9$ years. They are evolved in the Galactic gravitational potential to the present time. From a radio luminosity model, the radio flux is filtered through a selected set of radio-survey parameters. $\gamma$-ray luminosities are assigned using the features of recent polar cap acceleration models invoking space-charge-limited flow, and a pulsar death valley further attenuates the population of radio-loud pulsars. Assuming a simple emission geometry with aligned radio and $\gamma$-ray beams of 1 steradian solid angle, our model predicts that EGRET should have seen 7 radio-loud and 1 radio-quiet, $\gamma$-ray pulsars. With much improved sensitivity, GLAST, on the other hand, is expected to observe 76 radio-loud and 74 radio-quiet, $\gamma$-ray pulsars of which 7 would be identified as pulsed sources. We also explore the effect of magnetic field decay on the characteristics of the radio and $\gamma$-ray pulsar populations. Including magnetic field decay on a timescale of 5 Myr improves agreement with the radio pulsar population and increases the predicted number of GLAST detected pulsars to 90 radio-loud and 101 radio-quiet (9 pulsed) $\gamma$-ray pulsars. The lower flux threshold allows GLAST to detect $\gamma$-ray pulsars at larger distances than those observed by the radio surveys used in this study.Comment: 38 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication v565 n1 Ap

Can HbA1c detect undiagnosed diabetes in acute medical hospital admissions?

Objective: to study hyperglycaemia in acute medical admissions to Irish regional hospital.Research design and methods: from 2005 to 2007, 2061 white Caucasians, aged &gt;18 years, were admitted by 1/7 physicians. Those with diabetes symptoms/complications but no previous record of hyperglycaemia (n = 390), underwent OGTT with concurrent HbA1c in representative subgroup (n = 148). Comparable data were obtained for 108 primary care patients at risk of diabetes.Results: diabetes was diagnosed immediately by routine practice in 1% (22/2061) [aged 36 (26–61) years (median IQ range)/55% (12/22) male] with pre-existing diabetes/dysglycaemia present in 19% (390/2061) [69 (58–80) years/60% (235/390) male].Possible diabetes symptoms/complications were identified in 19% [70 (59–79) years/57% (223/390) male] with their HbA1c similar to primary care patients [54 (46–61) years], 5.7 (5.3–6.0)%/39 (34–42) mmol/mol (n = 148) vs 5.7 (5.4–6.1)%/39 (36–43) mmol/mol, p = 0.35, but lower than those diagnosed on admission, 10.2 (7.4–13.3)%/88 (57–122) mmol/mol, p &lt; 0.001. Their fasting plasma glucose (FPG) was similar to primary care patients, 5.2 (4.8–5.7) vs 5.2 (4.8–5.9) mmol/L, p = 0.65, but 2hPG higher, 9.0 (7.3–11.4) vs 5.5 (4.4–7.5), p &lt; 0.001.HbA1c identified diabetes in 10% (15/148) with 14 confirmed on OGTT but overall 32% (48/148) were in diabetic range on OGTT. The specificity of HbA1c in 2061 admissions was similar to primary care, 99% vs 96%, p = 0.20, but sensitivity lower, 38% vs 93%, p &lt; 0.001 (63% on FPG/23% on 2hPG, p = 0.037, in those with possible symptoms/complications).Conclusion: HbA1c can play a diagnostic role in acute medicine as it diagnosed another 2% of admissions with diabetes but the discrepancy in sensitivity shows that it does not reflect transient/acute hyperglycaemia resulting from the acute medical event.</p

The Holistic Impact of Classroom Spaces on Learning in Specific Subjects

The Holistic Evidence and Design (HEAD) study of U.K. primary schools sought to isolate the impact of the physical design of classrooms on the learning progress of pupils aged from 5 to 11 years (U.S. kindergarten to fifth grade). One hundred fifty-three classrooms were assessed and links made to the learning of the 3,766 pupils in them. Through multilevel modeling, the role of physical design was isolated from the influences of the pupils’ characteristics. This article presents analyses for the three main subjects assessed, namely, reading, writing, and math. Variations in the importance of the physical design parameters are revealed for the learning of each subject. In addition to some common factors, such as lighting, a heavy salience for Individualization in relation to math becomes apparent and the importance emerges of Connection for reading and of Links to Nature for writing. Possible explanations are suggested. These results provide a stimulus for additional finesse in practice and for further investigation by researchers

Toward a global reference database of COI barcodes for marine zooplankton

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Bucklin, A., Peijnenburg, K. T. C. A., Kosobokova, K. N., O'Brien, T. D., Blanco-Bercial, L., Cornils, A., Falkenhaug, T., Hopcroft, R. R., Hosia, A., Laakmann, S., Li, C., Martell, L., Questel, J. M., Wall-Palmer, D., Wang, M., Wiebe, P. H., & Weydmann-Zwolicka, A. Toward a global reference database of COI barcodes for marine zooplankton. Marine Biology, 168(6), (2021): 78, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-021-03887-y.Characterization of species diversity of zooplankton is key to understanding, assessing, and predicting the function and future of pelagic ecosystems throughout the global ocean. The marine zooplankton assemblage, including only metazoans, is highly diverse and taxonomically complex, with an estimated ~28,000 species of 41 major taxonomic groups. This review provides a comprehensive summary of DNA sequences for the barcode region of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) for identified specimens. The foundation of this summary is the MetaZooGene Barcode Atlas and Database (MZGdb), a new open-access data and metadata portal that is linked to NCBI GenBank and BOLD data repositories. The MZGdb provides enhanced quality control and tools for assembling COI reference sequence databases that are specific to selected taxonomic groups and/or ocean regions, with associated metadata (e.g., collection georeferencing, verification of species identification, molecular protocols), and tools for statistical analysis, mapping, and visualization. To date, over 150,000 COI sequences for ~ 5600 described species of marine metazoan plankton (including holo- and meroplankton) are available via the MZGdb portal. This review uses the MZGdb as a resource for summaries of COI barcode data and metadata for important taxonomic groups of marine zooplankton and selected regions, including the North Atlantic, Arctic, North Pacific, and Southern Oceans. The MZGdb is designed to provide a foundation for analysis of species diversity of marine zooplankton based on DNA barcoding and metabarcoding for assessment of marine ecosystems and rapid detection of the impacts of climate change.Funding sources for authors of the review paper are described here: Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR), and a grant to SCOR from the U.S. National Science Foundation (OCE-1840868). Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) Vidi Grant/Award Number: 016.161.351 to K.T.C.A.P. European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 746186 (POSEIDoN) to D.W.P. The work of K.N.K. was performed in the framework of the state assignment of IO RAS (Theme No. 0128-2021-0007) and partially supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research grants No. 18-05-60158 and No. 19-04-00955. The work of A.W.Z. was supported by a grant from HIDEA—Hidden diversity of the Arctic Ocean (No. 2017/27/B/NZ8/01056) from the National Science Centre, Poland, and a Fulbright Senior Award. The Norwegian Taxonomy Initiative of the Norwegian Biodiversity Information Centre provided funding for A.H. and L.M. (Project Nos. 70184233/HYPNO and 70184240/NORHYDRO), and for T.F. (Project Nos. 70184233/COPCLAD and 70184241/HYPCOP). The work of R.R.H. and J.M.Q. was supported by Census of Marine Life and NOAA Ocean Exploration and Research (NA05OAR4601079 and NA15OAR0110209). The work of S.L. was conducted at the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity at the University of Oldenburg (HIFMB). HIFMB is a collaboration between the Alfred-Wegener-Institute, Helmholtz-Center for Polar and Marine Research, and the Carl-von-Ossietzky University Oldenburg, initially funded by the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony and the Volkswagen Foundation through the Niedersächsisches Vorab’ grant program (Grant No. ZN3285)

GRB Radiative Efficiencies Derived from the Swift Data: GRBs vs. XRFs, Long vs. Short

We systematically analyze the prompt emission and the early afterglow data of a sample of 31 GRBs detected by {\em Swift} before September 2005, and estimate the GRB radiative efficiency. BAT's narrow band inhibits a precise determination of the GRB spectral parameters, and we have developed a method to estimate these parameters with the hardness ratio information. The shallow decay component commonly existing in early X-ray afterglows, if interpreted as continuous energy injection in the external shock, suggests that the GRB efficiency previously derived from the late-time X-ray data were not reliable. We calculate two radiative efficiencies using the afterglow kinetic energy E_K derived at the putative deceleration time t_{dec}) and at the break time (t_b) when the energy injection phase ends, respectively. At t_b XRFs appear to be less efficient than normal GRBs. However, when we analyze the data at t_{dec} XRFs are found to be as efficient as GRBs. Short GRBs have similar radiative efficiencies to long GRBs despite of their different progenitors. Twenty-two bursts in the sample are identified to have the afterglow cooling frequency below the X-ray band. Assuming \epsilon_e = 0.1, we find \eta_\gamma(t_b) usually 90%. Nine GRBs in the sample have the afterglow cooling frequency above the X-ray band for a very long time. This suggests a very small \epsilon_B and/or a very low ambient density n.Comment: 43 pages, 10 figures, ApJ, in pres

Swift and XMM-Newton Observations of the Extraordinary GRB 060729: An afterglow with a more than 100 days X-ray light curve

We report the results of the Swift and XMM observations of the Swift-discovered long Gamma-Ray Burst GRB 060729 ($T_{90}$=115s). The afterglow of this burst was exceptionally bright in X-rays as well as at UV/Optical wavelengths showing an unusually long slow decay phase ($\alpha$=0.14\plm0.02) suggesting a larger energy injection phase at early times than in other bursts. The X-ray light curve displays a break at about 60 ks after the burst. The X-ray decay slope after the break is $\alpha$=1.29\plm0.03. Up to 125 days after the burst we do not detect a jet break, suggesting that the jet opening angle is larger than 28 degrees. In the first 2 minutes after the burst (rest frame) the X-ray spectrum of the burst changed dramatically from a hard X-ray spectrum to a very soft one. We find that the X-ray spectra at this early phase can all be fitted by an absorbed single power law model or alternatively by a blackbody plus power law model. The power law fits show that the X-ray spectrum becomes steeper while the absorption column density decreases. In Swift's UV/Optical telescope the afterglow was clearly detected up to 9 days after the burst in all 6 filters and even longer in some of the UV filters with the latest detection in the UVW1 31 days after the burst. A break at about 50 ks is clearly detected in all 6 UVOT filters from a shallow decay slope of about 0.3 and a steeper decay slope of 1.3. In addition to the \swift observations we also present and discuss the results from a 61 ks ToO observation by XMM. (Abriviated)Comment: Accepted to be published in the Astrophysical Journal, 28 pages, 10 figure

A 'Different Class'? Homophily and Heterophily in the Social Class Networks of Britpop

Social network analysis is increasingly recognised as a useful way to explore music scenes. In this article we examine the individuals who were the cultural workforce that comprised the 'Britpop' music scene of the 1990s. The focus of our analysis is homophily and heterophily to determine whether the clusters of friendships and working relationships of those who were ‘best connected’ in the scene were patterned by original social class position. We find that Britpop's 'whole network' is heterophilic but its 'sub-networks' are more likely to be social class homophilic. The sub-networks that remain heterophilic are likely to be united by other common experiences that brought individuals in the network to the same social spaces. We suggest that our findings on Britpop might be generalised to the composition of other music scenes, cultural workforces and aggregations of young people. Our study differs from research on, first, British ‘indie music’ and social class which focusses upon the construction, representation and performance of social location rather than the relationships it might shape (such as Wiseman-Trowse, 2008) and second, the pioneering social network analyses of music scenes (such as Crossley 2008; 2009; 2015; Crossley et. al 2014) which currently lacks the explicit emphasis on social class