Phonemic Segmentation and Labelling using the MAUS Technique

We describe the pronunciation model of the automatic segmentation technique MAUS based on a data-driven Markov process and a new evaluation measure for phonemic transcripts relative symmetric accuracy; results are given for the MAUS segmentation and labelling on German dialog speech. MAUS is currently distributed as a freeware package by the Bavarian Archive for Speech Signals and will also be implemented as a web-service in the near future

Three New Corpora at the Bavarian Archive for Speech Signals - and a First Step Towards Distributed Web-Based Recording

The Bavarian Archive for Speech Signals has released three new speech corpora for both industrial and academic use: a) Hempels Sofa contains recordings of up to 60 seconds of non-scripted telephone speech, b) ZipTel is a corpus with telephone speech covering postal addresses and telephone numbers from a real world application, and c) RVG-J, an extension of the original Regional Variants of German corpus with juvenile speakers. All three corpora were transcribed orthographically according to the SpeechDat annotation guidelines using the WWWTranscribe annotation software. Recently, BAS has begun to investigate performing large-scale audio recordings via the web, and RVG-J has become the testbed for this type of recording

Continuous matrix product states with periodic boundary conditions and an application to atomtronics

We introduce a time evolution algorithm for one-dimensional quantum field theories with periodic boundary conditions. This is done by applying the Dirac-Frenkel time-dependent variational principle to the set of translational invariant continuous matrix product stateswith periodic boundary conditions. Moreover, the ansatz is accompanied with additional boundary degrees of freedom to study quantum impurity problems. The algorithm allows for a cutoff in the spectrum of the transfer matrix and thus has an efficient computational scaling. In particular we study the prototypical example of an atomtronic system-an interacting Bose gas rotating in a ring shaped trap in the presence of a localized barrier potential

Designing intelligent support for learning from and in everyday contexts

Motivation and engagement in learning benefit from a good match of learning settings and materials to individual learner contexts. This includes intrinsic context factors such as prior knowledge and personal interests but also extrinsic factors such as the current environment. Recent developments in adaptive and intelligent technology enable the personalisation of context-aware learning. For example, computer vision algorithms, machine translation, and Augmented Reality make it possible to support the creation of meaningful connections between learners and their context. However, for successful adoption in everyday life, these technologies also need to consider the learner experience. This thesis investigates the design of personalised context-aware learning experiences through the lens of ubiquitous and self-directed language learning as a multi-faceted learning domain. Specifically, it presents and discusses the design, implementation, and evaluation of technology support for learning in and from learners’ everyday contexts with a strong focus on the learner perspective and user experience. The work is guided by four different roles that technology can take on in context-aware ubiquitous learning: For enhancing learning situations, it can (1) sense and (2) trigger in learners’ everyday contexts. For enhancing learning contents, it can (3) augment activities and (4) generate learning material from learner everyday contexts. With regards to the sensing role, the thesis investigates how learners typically use mobile learning apps in everyday contexts. Activity and context logging, combined with experience sampling, confirm that mobile learning sessions spread across the day and occur in different settings. However, they are typically short and frequently interrupted. This indicates that learners may benefit from better integrating learning into everyday contexts, e.g. by supporting task resumption. Subsequently, we explore how this integration could be supported with intelligent triggers linked to opportune moments for learning. We conceptualise and evaluate different trigger types based on interaction patterns and context detection. Our findings show that simple interactions (e.g. plugging in headphones) are promising for capturing both availability and willingness to engage in a learning activity. We discuss how similar interaction triggers could be adapted to match individual habits. In the area of enhancing learning contents, we first investigate how enjoyable everyday activities could be augmented for learning without disrupting these activities. Specifically, we assess the learner experience with interactive grammar support in e-readers and adapted captions for audio-visual media. Participants in our studies felt that the learning augmentations successfully supported their learning process. The information load of the learning support should match the learners’ current needs to maintain the activity flow. Learners may need encouragement to opt for novel concepts optimised for learning (e.g. time-synchronised captions) rather than sticking to habits (e.g. standard captions). Next, the thesis explores learner needs and preferences in generating their own personalised learning material from their context. We design and evaluate automated content generation methods that generate learning opportunities from objects in the learner’s environment. The connection to the learner’s context is established with state-of-the-art technology, such as object detection and Augmented Reality. Through several user studies, we show that learning performance and engagement with auto-generated personalised learning material is comparable to predefined and manually generated content. Findings further indicate that the success of personalisation depends on the effort required to generate content and whether the generation results match the learner’s expectations. Through the different perspectives examined in this thesis, we provide new insights into challenges and opportunities that we synthesise in a framework for context-aware ubiquitous learning technology. The findings also have more general implications for the interaction design of personalised and context-aware intelligent systems. Notably, for the auto-generation of personalised content, it is essential to consider not only correctness from a technological perspective but also how users may perceive the results.Lernmotivation und Engagement profitieren davon, wenn Lernumgebungen und Lernmaterialien auf den individuellen Kontext der Lernenden abgestimmt sind. Dieser umfasst sowohl intrinsische Faktoren wie Vorkenntnisse und persönliche Interessen, aber auch extrinsische Faktoren wie die aktuelle Umgebung. Aktuelle Weiterentwicklungen im Bereich adaptiver und intelligenter Technologien ermöglichen es, Lernen kontextbewusst zu personalisieren. So können mithilfe von Computer-Vision-Algorithmen, maschineller Übersetzung und Augmented Reality sinnvolle Verknüpfungen zwischen Lernenden und ihrem Kontext geschaffen werden. Allerdings müssen diese Technologien für einen erfolgreichen Einsatz im Alltag auch die Lernerfahrung mit einbeziehen. Diese Arbeit untersucht die Gestaltung personalisierter kontextbewusster Lernerfahrungen aus der Perspektive des ubiquitären und self-directed Learning im Sprachenlernen, einem vielseitigen Lernbereich. Insbesondere wird die Konzeption, Implementierung und Evaluierung von Technologieunterstützung für das Sprachenlernen in und aus dem Alltagskontext der Lernenden vorgestellt und diskutiert, wobei der Schwerpunkt auf der Perspektive der Lernenden und der Nutzererfahrung liegt. Die Arbeit orientiert sich an vier verschiedenen Rollen, die Technologie im kontextbewussten Lernen einnehmen kann. Um Lernsituationen anzureichern, kann Technologie im Alltagskontext von Lernenden (1) erfassen und (2) auslösen. Um Lerninhalte anzureichern, kann Technologie aus dem Alltagskontext (3) Aktivitäten augmentieren und (4) Inhalte generieren. Im Hinblick auf die erfassende Rolle von Technologie wird in dieser Arbeit untersucht, wie die Lernenden mobile Lern-Apps in alltäglichen Kontexten nutzen. Die Aufzeichnung von Aktivitäten und Kontexten in Kombination mit Experience Sampling bestätigt, dass Lerneinheiten im mobilen Lernen über den Tag verteilt sind und in verschiedenen Umgebungen stattfinden. Allerdings sind sie in der Regel kurz und werden häufig unterbrochen. Dies deutet darauf hin, dass die Lernenden von einer besseren Integration des Lernens in ihren Alltagskontext profitieren könnten, z. B. durch Unterstützung des Wiedereinstiegs nach einer Unterbrechung. Anschließend untersuchen wir, wie diese Integration durch intelligente Trigger unterstützt werden könnte, die mit passenden Lernzeitpunkten verknüpft sind. Wir konzipieren und evaluieren verschiedene Arten von Triggern auf Basis von Interaktionsmustern und Kontexterkennung. Unsere Ergebnisse zeigen, dass einfache Interaktionen (z. B. das Einstecken von Kopfhörern) vielversprechend dafür sind, sowohl die Verfügbarkeit als auch die Bereitschaft für eine Lernaktivität zu erfassen. Wir diskutieren, wie ähnliche Interaktionstrigger an individuelle Gewohnheiten angepasst werden können. Im Bereich der Augmentierung von Lerninhalten untersuchen wir zunächst, wie unterhaltsame Alltagsaktivitäten für das Lernen aufbereitet werden können, ohne diese Aktivitäten zu beeinträchtigen. Konkret bewerten wir die Lernerfahrung mit interaktiver Grammatikunterstützung in E-Readern und angepassten Untertiteln für audiovisuelle Medien. Die Teilnehmer:innen unserer Studien fanden, dass die Lernunterstützung ihren Lernprozess erfolgreich förderte. Die Informationslast im Lernsystem sollte auf die aktuellen Bedürfnisse der Lernenden angepasst werden, damit das Flow-Erlebnis nicht beeinträchtigt wird. Die Lernenden brauchen möglicherweise Ermutigung dafür, sich für neuartige, lernoptimierte Konzepte zu entscheiden (z. B. zeitsynchrone Untertitel), anstatt an Gewohnheiten festzuhalten (z. B. Standarduntertitel). Als Nächstes werden in dieser Arbeit die Bedürfnisse und Präferenzen der Lernenden bei der Erstellung ihres eigenen personalisierten Lernmaterials aus ihrem Kontext untersucht. Insbesondere werden Methoden zur automatischen Generierung von Inhalten entwickelt und evaluiert, die Lernmöglichkeiten aus Objekten in der Umgebung des Lernenden generieren. Die Verbindung zum Kontext des Lernenden wird durch aktuelle Technologien wie Objekterkennung und Augmented Reality hergestellt. Wir zeigen anhand mehrerer Nutzerstudien, dass die Lernleistung und das Engagement bei automatisch personalisiertem Lernmaterial mit vordefinierten und manuell erstellten Inhalten vergleichbar sind. Die Ergebnisse zeigen außerdem, dass der Erfolg der Personalisierung vom Aufwand abhängt, der für die Erstellung der Inhalte erforderlich ist, und davon, ob die generierten Materialien den Erwartungen der Lernenden entsprechen. Die verschiedenen Perspektiven, die in dieser Arbeit untersucht werden, bieten neue Einblicke in Herausforderungen und Möglichkeiten, die wir in einem Framework für kontextbewusste ubiquitäre Lerntechnologie zusammenfassen. Die Ergebnisse haben auch allgemeinere Auswirkungen auf die Gestaltung der Interaktion mit personalisierten und kontextbewussten intelligenten Systemen. Beispielsweise ist es bei der automatischen Generierung personalisierter Inhalte wichtig, nicht nur die Korrektheit aus technologischer Sicht zu berücksichtigen, sondern auch, wie die Nutzer die Ergebnisse wahrnehmen

Travmatični ali utopični Drugi? Pogoji emancipacije: fantazija, realnost in depresija

If political voluntarism can be considered to be one of the crucial conditions of emancipation, enlightenment, and radical politics, what then are the conditions of political voluntarism? The author argues that neither an imaginary understanding of voluntarism nor a strictly realist take on the material foundations of politics can grasp what is here at stake. Rather, the symbolic dimension of politics and voluntarism has to be addressed in order to sketch out the potentialities as well as the limitations of the specifically modern forms of politics, which fundamentally intersect with subjectivities. Methodologically referring to a post-Lacanian understanding of the symbolic order and to a post-Kleinian conception of the relation between phantasy and reality, the essay attempts to envision the possibility of a politics of the symbolic. In keeping distinct from each other utopia and trauma, phantasy and reality, such a politics would not only resist the imaginary confusion of these categories as well as a realist determination, but it would also turn against its own idea of feasibility and control. Only by shedding its own ambitions, politics and volition alike, could it achieve its goals.Če lahko politični voluntarizem razumemo kot enega izmed ključnih pogojev emancipacije, razsvetljenstva in radikalne politike, potem se moramo vprašati, kaj so pogoji političnega voluntarizma? Avtor trdi, da niti imaginarno razumevanje voluntarizma niti strogo realistično pojmovanje materialnih temeljev politike ne moreta dojeti, kaj je tu zastavek. Če pa se hočemo spopasti tako z možnostjo kot z omejitvami specifično modernih političnih oblik in voluntarizma, ki se inherentno križajo s subjektivnostjo, se moramo, nasprotno, soočiti s problemom simbolne razsežnosti politike in voluntarizmom. V prizadevanju zarisati možnost politike simbolnega se esej metodološko opira na postlacanovsko razumevanje simbolnega reda in na postkleinovsko pojmovanje razmerja med fantazijo in realnostjo. Z razločevanjem utopije in travme, fantazije in realnosti, se takšna politika ne bi zgolj izognila imaginarnemu mešanju teh kategorij kot tudi realistični določitvi, temveč bi se tudi obrnila proti lastni predstavi o uresničevanju in nadzoru. Samo z opustitvijo lastnih ambicij, tako politike kot volje, bi lahko dosegla lastne cilje

Was there really a high school on campus at one time?

Abbot Pennings answers a question about the high schools that once were on campus, archived from the SNC website

The Influence of Hierarchy Steepness on Cooperation: A Comparison Between Captive Japanese Macaques and Black-handed Spider Monkeys

Non-human primates often live in social groups that form hierarchies, which can be either egalitarian or despotic. Despotic non-human primate groups are characterized by the ability of dominant members to frequently win dyadic conflicts against subordinates, and egalitarian primate groups are characterized by an unclear ranking of dominance. Non-human primates will often cooperate with each other within their social groups. Cooperation can be defined as the sharing of food, grooming, and formation of alliances. In a comparative study between bonobos (Pan paniscus) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), it was suggested that hierarchy steepness is a good predictor of sharing between unrelated individuals, and sharing was directed more unilaterally from subordinate to dominant among the more despotic bonobos (Jaeggi, Stevens, & Schaik, 2010). In contrast, another study found that the introduction of shareable resources and induced cooperation can also reinforce rank between members and members will aggregate into groups of similar rank (Pansini, 2011). The goal of this research is to further elucidate the role that hierarchies play in forming reciprocal relationships between members by comparing two captive populations. The hypothesis of this thesis is that if the hierarchy of a primate group is despotic then there will be less cooperation between individuals, and if a primate group is egalitarian then there will be more cooperation between members. A group of despotic Japanese macaques (Macaca fuscata) was compared to the more egalitarian black-handed spider monkeys (Ateles geoffroyi). This study observed the grooming patterns, spatial associations, agnostic behaviors, and transfer of food between individuals and tested to see if there was evidence of reciprocity. The investigation also tested to see if exchanges of grooming and food were directed unilaterally from subordinate to dominant in both groups. It was expected that more despotic Japanese macaques would exchange food and grooming unilaterally towards rank, and that the more egalitarian black-handed spider monkey would provide food and grooming if they received food and grooming. It was found that there was no evidence for reciprocity or unilateral exchange of food and grooming in either primate group. Instead, it could be argued that while hierarchical steepness within a group can influence the flow of food and grooming, the environment also influences the exchanges of food and grooming between members. In environments in which members do not need to compete, there may be an absence of directionality in the exchange food and grooming

The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ecclesial Discipleship and Redemption

Vatican II greatly influenced both Catholic and ecumenical perceptions of Mary, specifically in regard to her Assumption. Once a topic that caused an enormous fracture between the denominations, Mary is seen today as a means of reconciliation. Vatican II has spurred greater understanding ecumenically and provided an impetus for the hope of future ecclesial communion

The Validation of Speech Corpora

1.2 Intended audience........................