Modal System Research Articles

Feature-level fusion of face and speech based multimodal biometric attendance system with liveness detection

The rapid growth of deep learning and the Internet of Things has spurred the need for touchless biometric systems in areas where cleanliness and non-intrusive user interaction are critical. In order to authenticate seamlessly, traditional biometric methods such as fingerprint, hand, etc. recognition require physical contact and, therefore, risk hygiene issues, hence making face and speaker verification more viable alternatives. A robust Multimodal Biometric Attendance System (MBAS) is needed due to the vulnerabilities and limitations of single modality systems. In this research, we introduce MBAS using feature-level fusion of speech data with face data, combining the best of both worlds. The textural features based on a person’s facial appearance are integrated with dynamic speech information for liveness detection, followed by dimensionality reduction using linear discriminant analysis, and then incorporated into a Bi-LSTM classifier. Therefore, for better security, accuracy, and anti-spoofing attacks, this approach is proposed in addition to increasing accuracy as well as enhancing security against spoofing attacks. Two publicly available datasets, DeepfakeTIMIT and AVSpeech, are extensively explored to evaluate different fusion strategies, classifier types, and standard performance metrics. The proposed system outperformed other cutting-edge biometric based systems by exhibiting a 97.51% high accuracy rate with a precision of 99.10% and an equal error rate of 2.48%. These findings affirm the effectiveness and possible real-world applications of the MBAS concept, along with its enhancement ensuring safety. Furthermore, this study underscores the importance of incorporating advanced liveness detection into secure contactless biometrics solutions for modern attendance management in various industries that encompass both face and voice modalities.

QINGCHENG YANGGE DANCE OF GANSU PROVINCE IN CHINA: FEATURES OF THE REGIONAL MUSICAL TRADITION

The article is devoted to the yangge dance, which is a part of the ritual procession during the New Year celebration according to the lunar calendar. The history of its origin in antiquity and special agricultural dominants of the ritual are shown. An overview of sources that take into account the Gansu tradition is given, unexplored aspects are identi ed, including the peculiarities of Qingcheng yangge, its musical side. The close connection with the rituals and attributes of shamanism is emphasised through two comic characters, improvising in communication with the audience. The author of the article considers the features of the choreography of Qingcheng yangge, which relate it to the martial arts and dance culture of Gansu and China, the instrumental composition of the accompaniment, in which percussion and wind instruments predominate, rhythm with a polyphonic combination of even and dotted beats, a modal system built on the principle of adding small three-four note modes into complex ones. It is concluded that there are four functions of the ritual - magical, practical, educational and aesthetic ones, and that this type has great historical value, since it makes it possible to adapt to life’s di culties and high social demands.

An Ecological Discourse Analysis of University English Textbook Discourses

Textbooks are important carriers for knowledge construction and value penetration. In this paper, two discourses are selected and analyzed from the perspective of ecological discourse analysis. By analyzing the distribution features of transitivity processes, mood and modality system, the paper explores the implied ecological ideology in the discourses.

Modal weak Kleene logics: axiomatizations and relational semantics

Abstract Weak Kleene logics are three-valued logics characterized by the presence of an infectious truth-value. In their external versions, as they were originally introduced by Bochvar [4] and Halldén [30], these systems are equipped with an additional connective capable of expressing whether a formula is classically true. In this paper we further expand the expressive power of external weak Kleen logics by modalizing them with a unary operator. The addition of an alethic modality gives rise to the two systems $\textsf{B}_{\text{e}}^{\square }$ and $\textsf{PWK}^{\Box }_{\text{e}} $, which have two different readings of the modal operator. We provide these logics with a complete and decidable Hilbert-style axiomatization w.r.t. a three-valued possible worlds semantics. The starting point of these calculi are new axiomatizations for the non-modal bases $\textsf{B}_{\text{e}}$ and $\textsf{PWK}_{\text{e}}$, which we provide using the recent algebraization results about these two logics. In particular, we prove the algebraizability of $\textsf{PWK}_{\text{e}}$. Finally some standard extensions of the basic modal systems are provided with their completeness results w.r.t. special classes of frames.

System networks as a resource in L2 writing education

Abstract This paper argues for the value of system networks as a diagnostic tool in L2 writing education. We report on an investigation of Chinese students learning to write in English over a period of a year in Year 9 of high school, characterizing their choices in the system of modality in different writing tasks over that period, and we also report on an extension of this investigation based on two additional sampling points, Year 12 of high school and Year 3 of university. Our findings indicate that even when we sample L2 texts from three different periods in education, the expansion in the use of the meaning potential embodied in the system of modality is quite limited – as long as we focus on texts from one register. We have also seen from Xuan’s (2015. A longitudinal study of Chinese high school students learning English based on systemic functional text analysis. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University PhD thesis) study of Year 9 writing tasks from a few different registers that there was no clear sense of progression throughout the year. The results show that careful selection and ordering of texts from registers that afford learners with complementary opportunities over time to engage with and master different parts of the resources of the system of modality can be recommended in L2 writing education.

Analyzing modality-mediated ideology in translated Chinese political discourses: an ideological square model approach

This study investigates the correlation between textual ideology and the English translations of political discourse. It focuses on how the translation shifts of modality relate to the socio-political and socio-cultural context of Chinese political discourse using the modality system of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL) as the theoretical framework. Three main types of translation shifts between should and will, and their corresponding items are identified. First, the addition of modal items should and will in the TTs; second, downgrading the modality value of Chinese modality items to the lower-valued should and will in the TTs; third, upgrading the modality value of Chinese modality items to a higher-valued will in the TTs. The study attributes these findings to van Dijk’s ideological square model and the variable of tenor (the social distance between the speaker and the addresses and the social distance between the official translators of Chinese political discourse and the international audience.

Modality in SFL Revisited: Establishing Evidentiality in the System of Modality

In systemic functional linguistics (SFL), modality is seen as an extension of the semantic space of polarity. The SFL perspective provides a unique insight into the complexity of modality. However, it has received little attention in the open literature, and the SFL categorization of modality seems out of place compared to other perspectives. The purpose of this paper is to address the potential problems with the categorization of modality in SFL and to establish evidentiality in the system. To this end, the present study reviews the development of modality in SFL and justifies the need to replace usuality with evidentiality. The results show that there are four stages in the development of modality in SFL and that usuality, as a subtype of modality, faces challenges both from the later development of modality and from studies of grammatical metaphor in SFL. The paper then argues that the categorization of modality should be made along two dimensions, namely modality force and modality locus, and that evidentiality should take the place of usuality as a category in the system. The study also shows that evidentiality can be further divided into four types, and that it has eight ways of realization.

A Generic Solution to the Sorites Paradox

AbstractThis paper offers a generic revenge-proof solution to the Sorites paradox that is compatible with several philosophical approaches to vagueness, including epistemicism, supervaluationism, psychological contextualism and intuitionism. The solution is traditional in that it rejects the Sorites conditional and proposes a modally expressed weakened conditional instead. The modalities are defined by the first-order logic QS4M+FIN. (This logic is a modal companion to the intermediate logic QH+KF, which places the solution between intuitionistic and classical logic.) Borderlineness is introduced modally as usual. The solution is innovative in that its modal system brings out the semi-determinability of vagueness. Whether something is borderline and whether a predicate is vague or precise is only semi-determinable: higher-order vagueness is columnar. Finally, the solution is based entirely on two assumptions. (1) It rejects the Sorites conditional. (2) It maintains that if one specifies borderlineness in terms of the ‒suitably interpreted‒ modal logic QS4M+FIN, then one can explain why the Sorites appears paradoxical. From (1)+(2) it results that one can tell neither where exactly in a Sorites series the borderline zone starts and ends nor what its extension is. Accordingly, the solution is also called agnostic.

A Systemic Functional Linguistic Analysis of Mood and Modality in One of Metcalfe’s Novels

The study examined Gemma Metcalfe's novel A Gripping Psychological Thriller: A Mother's Sacrifice from a systemic functional linguistic approach. The interpersonal metafunction, used in this study, can aid in drawing a picture of the mother's sacrifice experience and revealing the appropriate lexicogrammatical choices to spotlight that experience. It is accomplished by detecting Mood and Modality systems in extracts from the novel representing that experience. It aims to show how mother's sacrifice is realised linguistically through the interpersonal metafunction according to Halliday and Matthiessen's framework. The study adopts a mixed qualitative and quantitative approach for analysis. The researchers discovered that the interpersonal metafunction through Mood and Modality systems divulges the experience of the mother's sacrifice as an experience of choice, and the most appropriate representative of this experience is the systemic functional linguistic approach. Moreover, the empolyment of the Mood system shows that all kinds of Mood give the full portrait of mother's sacrifice. However, not all Moods are equally effective. Further, the Modality system mirrors how the characters in the novel use various kinds of Modality with different scales, degrees, and modal orientations in order to express their attitudes, (dis) beliefs, fears, doubts, obligations, probabilities, necessities, possibilities, (un)certainties, willing, abilities, and even usualities.

Balanceando el nitrógeno en la portera del predio

Uruguay's dairy can potentially enhance milk productivity competitively, but intensification risks elevating nitrogen (N) surplus, heightening environmental concerns. This study quantified farm-gate N inputs and outputs, calculating N surplus (input-output) and N use efficiency (NUE=output/input) for 17 commercial modal dairy systems identified in the 2014 and 2019 national surveys and 6 prospective intensified systems based on experimental pastoral farmlets achieving near-maximal rainfed productivity. Current dairy systems maintained N surplus at 71 kg N ha-1 between 2014 and 2019 (range: 44-97 kg N ha-1) while improving NUE from 28.3 to 30.5% (range: 20-35%). Intensification increased N surplus without necessarily reducing NUE. Our analyses highlight three aspects: (i) comparatively low N surplus of current Uruguayan dairy, (ii) nonlinear links between N surplus and stocking rate, feed intake, milk productivity and operating profit, and (iii) inequality between dairy systems in their contribution to national dairy N surplus reflects mainly disparity in farm size. These insights underscore the crucial need for understanding the actual fate of N surpluses: nitrate leaching, ammonia volatilisation, N2 denitrification, or N accumulation in soil organic matter. This is an unavoidable requisite for designing management practices and policies able to effectively optimise the economic and environmental sustainability of Uruguayan dairy.

What can be said?

Abstract We employ a cluster approach to explore the comparative semantic maps of several markers of modal possibility – the “potential” prefix nga‑ and expressions meaning, roughly, ‘know how to’ and ‘be able to’ – in four South African Nguni languages: isiNdebele, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Siswati. We also compare the Nguni results with results from Xitsonga, a closely related language outside of the Nguni clade. The languages exhibit cross-linguistic differences in the expansion of core meanings, some of which do not appear to follow the cross-linguistically common diachronic pattern in which goal-oriented modality precedes deontic modality. In addition, the distinction between inherent and learned ability is salient in several of these languages. Semantic maps of the markers’ functional distributions further show the diversity of modal systems that can be found even in closely related languages in significant contact with one another.

Estimation of Empirical Response Spectrum and local responses of the Justicia Espada Acuña Mena building using the Mod-ζ(var) method for the 2010 central Chilean mega-earthquake (Mw=8.8)

A novel system identification technique called Mod-ζ (var) is formulated, implemented, and validated to study the seismic response of a 3D R/C shear wall building during the 2010 central Chilean mega-earthquake (Mw = 8.8). The Mod-ζ(var) approach is an evolution of Least-Square modal system identification techniques, where modal parameters are adjusted through small data windows to fit seismic data in the frequency and time domains. This technique offers several advantages over traditional methods, including the estimation of time-variant dynamic properties during seismic events and the reliable assessment of continuous nonlinear modal responses. As a result, the Mod-ζ(var) approach allows for determining empirical response spectra related to each seismic input. The technique can also compute the local response of measured and unmeasured floors as the product between the nonlinear modal responses (obtained from the Mod-ζ(var) approach) and the normalized seismic mode shapes for all building floors, which can be estimated from ambient vibration data. Finally, the seismic floor deformations can be imposed on a FEM to determine relevant engineering quantities such as inter-story drift, inter-story forces, and local demand of structural elements (e.g., drift ratios, curvatures, internal forces, stresses, strains, etc.).

Grammatical Metaphor in the C-E Translation of Jing Ye Si

In translation, translators are often confronted with the choice between congruent form and metaphorical form, which is closely correlated with grammatical metaphor theory in systemic functional linguistics. This paper attempts to apply grammatical metaphor theory to Jing Ye Si and its seven translations to assess poetry translation quality and provide guidance for translators from the perspective of systemic functional linguistics. It strives to elucidate the grammatical metaphor in the C-E translation of Jing Ye Si and the way to evaluate its seven translations via grammatical metaphor. In this context, six steps brought forward by Huang Guowen (2004) are taken in the functional discourse analysis of Jing Ye Si and its seven translations. After elaborating the characteristics of the seven translations, the study evaluates their overall translation quality. According to functional equivalence to the source text, the translations of Xu Yuanchong and Amy Lowell outperform other translations. In translation practice, translators are advised to choose between the congruent form and metaphorical form based on the context, original author, target readers, aesthetic value, translation purpose, and so on. Essentially, it is necessary to manipulate the transitivity system, mood system, modality system, and Theme system to realize the equivalence of the translations to the source text in terms of ideational, interpersonal, and textual metafunctions.

An Analysis of Student’s Recount Text: An SFL Approach

This paper reports on the results of a study aiming to investigate the student’s ability to write recount text of a university student in Bandung. The study was conducted using the theory of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), especially functional grammar, in terms of the Transitivity, Mood and Modality system. The study used a case study on text analysis. A text, which is a recount text written by a higher achiever university student, was analysed using the Transitivity, Mood and Modality system. In terms of the Transitivity system, the result indicates the writer’s adequate syntactic compression and rich lexico-grammatical patterns. Moreover, in terms of the Mood and Modality system, the text shows the writer’s ability to infuse, temper, negotiate, and constrain the experiential meanings in the Mood that is in focus. Hence, the writer is categorized as a mature and critical writer, and the text is appropriate to be used as a model text. Research on text analysis using SFL of different genres of text and how the teaching of writing should be conducted to help improve students’ writing ability is recommended.

Синтез параметрически грубых систем управления с регуляторами и наблюдателями состояния на основе грамианных технологий

Automatic control systems based on regulators with state observers are effective means to control linear and linearized objects of a high degree of complexity. One of the key problems in the synthesis of modal systems is the development of parametrically rough (robust) systems that retain their performance, as well as the main quality indicators with possible variations of the parameters of both the control object and the controller itself. The synthesis of a robust system with a state observer is carried out by the modal control method based on the matrix model of the controlled object. To ensure the parametric robustness of the system, the authors have proposed a technique which based on the mathematical apparatus of Gramians of controllability and observability as well as on the similarity transformation of observer matrices. Computer simulation of the system with state controller and observer is carried out by means of the MatLab software. The authors have proposed a method to form an observer state structure that is optimal in the sense of parametric roughness of the system, which is based on the procedure of transforming the similarity of the object model. And the transformation matrix is formed by varying the singular numbers of the controllability and observability gramians. The proposed method allows us to obtain an observer structure with a certain ratio of controllability and observability that ensures the fulfillment of the condition of parametric roughness i.e., the absence of positive feedback in the control device. The results obtained make it possible to clearly demonstrate the high efficiency of using the Gramian method for the synthesis of control systems with state observers with low sensitivity to variations of the controller own parameters.

Language consciousness and poetic reconstruction: A re-examination of goddess as a modern Chinese poetry anthology

Goddess, as the inchoation of Chinese New Poetry, has significant meaning and always attracts the attention of researchers. However, there is a lack of a practical understanding of the ontological characteristics of the goddess in modern Chinese poetry (MCP). Guo Moruo consciously uses the rich grammatical functions and means of modern Chinese to construct the textual space of poetry. The subjective, dramatic, and rich modality system of modern Chinese has created the intense lyricism and dramatic, poetic aesthetic style of goddess, which makes goddess the anthology that genuinely practices the writing of MCP. Re-examining the goddess from the perspectives of language consciousness and poetic reconstruction is of excellent enlightenment significance for understanding the linguistic properties of early new poetry.

Achieving enhanced strength retention at elevated temperatures in ultrafine-fibrous interconnected Al–Ce–Ni eutectic alloy solidified under super-gravity field

Super-gravity field was reported to strongly intensify the buoyancy-driven flow of liquid during solidification, affecting the solute convection and morphology of eutectic structure in binary alloys. In ternary eutectic alloys, certain two-phase regions with a coarse structure can usually be detected concurrently along with three-phase eutectics, leading to the formation of heterogeneous structure with limited ductility. Currently, Al–Ce–Ni ternary eutectic alloy was chosen as a modal system, which was reported for the first time to be solidified under super-gravity field with high volume fraction of three-phase eutectics. Meanwhile, the formation of ultrafine-fibrous interconnected Al11Ce3–Al3Ni eutectic clusters with more “chains” and higher spatial connectivity was detected mainly due to the relatively higher nucleation rate. The high volume fraction and refinement of interconnected Al11Ce3–Al3Ni eutectic clusters with excellent thermal stability could contribute to enhancement of ductility and tensile strength at elevated-temperature. Interestingly, the strength retention at 300 °C and 400 °C were able to reach up to ∼68.1 % and ∼33.2 %, respectively.

Genre Features of Professional Screenplays in Russia in 1910s: Theory and Practice

The article explores the genre dominants of Silver Age screenplays. Theoretical concepts of film dramaturgy are applied to the texts of A. A. Khanzhonkov’s “From the World of Mystery” (1915) and A. S. Voznesensky’s “God” (1918). The scientific novelty of the study lies in the comprehensive analysis of these screenplay texts for the first time. The relevance is justified by contemporary philology’s interest in the intermedial aspect of literature. The screenplays exhibit an orientation towards literary models: a wide range of linguistic devices (metaphors, similes, inversions), complex composition, psychological depth, and more. Cinematic expressiveness is realized through a system of modalities (real time, memories, dreams, imagination, altered consciousness, etc.), description of character movements, and “visual sound.” The study suggests that the genre of screenwriting in silent cinema fundamentally differs from subsequent eras and tends towards the epic rather than the dramatic genre. Discrepancies between directorial and literary scripts occurred early in the genre’s formation. A comprehensive examination of original realized screenplays could be key to understanding the reasons for the unsatisfactory results of writer-filmmaker interactions.

Ruth Barcan Marcus on the Deduction Theorem in Modal Logic

ABSTRACT In this paper, I examine Ruth Barcan Marcus's early formal work on modal systems and the deduction theorem, both for the material and the strict conditional. Marcus proved that the deduction theorem for the material conditional does not hold for system S2 but holds for S4. This last result is at odds with the recent claim that without proper restrictions the deduction theorem fails also for S4. I explain where the contrast stems from. For the strict conditional, Marcus proved the deduction theorem for S4 though restricted to arguments with necessary premises. I discuss Marcus's result and analyze her philosophical position on the significance of the deduction theorem for modal systems designed to express the notion of deducibility.

Raising the Roof: Situating Verbs in Symbolic and Embodied Language Processing.

Recent investigations on how people derive meaning from language have focused on task-dependent shifts between two cognitive systems. The symbolic (amodal) system represents meaning as the statistical relationships between words. The embodied (modal) system represents meaning through neurocognitive simulation of perceptual or sensorimotor systems associated with a word's referent. A primary finding of literature in this field is that the embodied system is only dominant when a task necessitates it, but in certain paradigms, this has only been demonstrated using nouns and adjectives. The purpose of this paper is to study whether similar effects hold with verbs. Experiment 1 evaluated a novel task in which participants rated a selection of verbs on their implied vertical movement. Ratings correlated well with distributional semantic models, establishing convergent validity, though some variance was unexplained by language statistics alone. Experiment 2 replicated previous noun-based location-cue congruency experimental paradigms with verbs and showed that the ratings obtained in Experiment 1 predicted reaction times more strongly than language statistics. Experiment 3 modified the location-cue paradigm by adding movement to create an animated, temporally decoupled, movement-verb judgment task designed to examine the relative influence of symbolic and embodied processing for verbs. Results were generally consistent with linguistic shortcut hypotheses of symbolic-embodied integrated language processing; location-cue congruence elicited processing facilitation in some conditions, and perceptual information accounted for reaction times and accuracy better than language statistics alone. These studies demonstrate novel ways in which embodied and linguistic information can be examined while using verbs as stimuli.