Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Comparative Study of Language Learning Strategies Used by Monolingual and Bilingual Learners

The purpose of this research is to analyze monolingual and bilingual university students’ language learning strategies (LLS) comparatively and to determine whether students’ level of using language learning strategies in foreign language learning process changes in terms of variables such as gender, department and school type. This research was conducted among 524 university students at Yuzuncu Yil University and Bulent Ecevit University Caycuma Vocational School. Data of the study was collected by “Strategy Inventory of Language Learning” developed by Oxford (1990) and adapted into Turkish by Cesur and Fer (2007). Data collected was analyzed with descriptive statistics and parametric tests. As a result of the research, it was found that bilingual students use language learning strategies in foreign language learning process more than monolingual students. Furthermore, it was found that university students use language learning strategies at middle level; students mostly use metacognitive strategies and use affective strategies the least; female students use language learning strategies more than male students except cognitive and affective strategies; English language and literature and English language teaching department students use language learning strategies more than department of translation students; 4 years faculty students use language learning strategies more than vocational school students.
Does Stage of Pelvic Organ Prolapse Affect Female Sexual Functions? A Retrospective Study

ABSTRACT Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of pelvic organ prolapse stage on sexual function in women. Methods: Prolapse stages, muscle strength, sexual function, and pelvic floor symptoms were assessed by Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification, by vaginal pressure measurement, by the Pelvic Organ Prolapse/Urinary Incontinence Sexual Function Questionnaire (PISQ-12), and the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory-20 (PFDI-20), respectively. Results: There was no difference between pelvic floor muscle strength, PISQ-12 subscales and PISQ-12 total scores based on prolapse stages (p > 0.05). When the Pelvic Organ Prolapse Distress Inventory and PFDI-20 scores of the women with stage 3/4 prolapse were compared with Stage 1 and Stage 2, there was a difference found between them (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Sexual function and muscular strength were not affected by prolapse stages.
A pen pressure division method using personal distribution

To increase the optimal number of divisions of the pen pressure space and achieve greater pen pressure usability, we present four pen pressure division variations: division according to personal/aggregation pen pressure use distribution with/without visual feedback of uniform level widths and the traditional even division method. Two experiments were conducted to investigate pen pressure use distribution and to evaluate the performance of these methods. Results indicate that the subjects performed fastest and with the fewest errors when the pen pressure space was divided according to personal distribution with visual feedback of uniform level widths (PU) and performed worst when the pen pressure space was divided evenly. With PU method, the optimal number of divisions of the pen pressure space was 8. Visual feedback of uniform level widths enhanced performance of uneven division. The findings of this study have implications for human-oriented pen pressure based user interface designs.
Comparison of classification techniques for predicting the cognitive skill of students in education environment

The proposed methodology involves to compares classification techniques for predicting the cognitive skill of students which can be evaluate by conducting the online test. The paper focuses the comparative performance of C4.5 algorithm, Naïve Bayes classifier algorithm which one is well suited accuracy for predicting the skill of expertise by experimenting in Rapid miner.
A Graph-Theoretic Approach for Identifying Non-Redundant and Relevant Gene Markers from Microarray Data Using Multiobjective Binary PSO

The purpose of feature selection is to identify the relevant and non-redundant features from a dataset. In this article, the feature selection problem is organized as a graph-theoretic problem where a feature-dissimilarity graph is shaped from the data matrix. The nodes represent features and the edges represent their dissimilarity. Both nodes and edges are given weight according to the feature’s relevance and dissimilarity among the features, respectively. The problem of finding relevant and non-redundant features is then mapped into densest subgraph finding problem. We have proposed a multiobjective particle swarm optimization (PSO)-based algorithm that optimizes average node-weight and average edge-weight of the candidate subgraph simultaneously. The proposed algorithm is applied for identifying relevant and non-redundant disease-related genes from microarray gene expression data. The performance of the proposed method is compared with that of several other existing feature selection techniques on different real-life microarray gene expression datasets.
Impact of Organizational Change on Organizational Culture

Summary Evidence-based practice (EBP) seeks to integrate the expertise of individual practitioners with the best available evidence within the context of the values and expectations of clients. Prior to implementing EBP, it is important to understand the significance that organizational change and organizational culture play. This article seeks to explore the literature associated with both organizational change and organizational culture. The analysis of organizational culture and change draw upon findings from both the private, for-profit sector, and the public, non-profit field. It is divided into four sections: organizational change and innovation, organizational culture, managing organizational culture and change, and finally, applying the findings to the implementation of EBP. While the audience for this analysis is managers in public and nonprofit human service organizations who are considering implementing EBP into their work environment, it is not intended to provide a “how to” guide, but rather a framework for critical thinking.
A coarse-to-fine deep learning for person re-identification

This paper proposes a novel deep learning architecture for person re-identification. The proposed network is based on a coarse-to-fine learning (CFL) approach, attempting to acquire a generic-to-specific knowledge throughout a transfer learning process. The core of the method relies on a hybrid network composed of a convolutional neural network and a deep belief network denoising autoenconder. This hybrid network is in charge of extracting features invariant to illumination varying, certain image deformations, horizontal mirroring and image blurring, and is embedded in the CFL architecture. The proposed network achieved the best results when compared with other state-of-the-arts methods on i-LIDS, CUHK01 and CUHK03 data sets, and also a competitive performance on VIPeR data set.
Energy rating of PV modules: comparison of methods and approach

The Matrix and Performance Surface Methods of Energy Rating are related techniques under development for the determination of electrical yield that is intended to be a more useful predictor of performance for installers than Wp alone. Here a power matrix or performance surface as a function of irradiance and ambient temperature P(Gi; Ta) is linked to a climatic condition occurrence matrix N(Gi, Ta) for a particular location. The use of just two independent variables has the advantage of simplicity but it is important to evaluate the possible cost of reduced accuracy due to the exclusion of other variable parameters such as Air Mass for example. The power matrix may be determined by outdoor or indoor measurements, and the complete matrix may also be extrapolated from a reduced data set using models of cell behaviour thereby reducing measurement time. The present paper relates solely to crystalline Si and reports on the comparison of outdoor measurements at two sites, and their further comparison with indoor measurements.
Joint Channel Estimation for Three-Hop MIMO Relaying Systems

We propose a novel joint channel estimator for a relaying MIMO communication system. Considering a three-hop relaying protocol, our combined alternating least squares (Comb-ALS) algorithm obtains cooperative diversity by fully exploiting the tensor algebraic structures of the available cooperative MIMO links. This is achieved by coupling the tensor data for the different relay-assisted links to iteratively estimate the channel matrices. Simulation results corroborate the effectiveness of the proposed tensor-based joint channel estimator in comparison with a sequential tensor-based method and a sequential LS estimator.
Therapeutic Potential of Umbilical Cord Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Transplantation for Cerebral Palsy: A Case Report

Cerebral palsy is the most common motor disability in childhood. In current paper, we first report our clinical data regarding administration of umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) transplantation in treatment of cerebral palsy. A 5-year-old girl with cerebral palsy was treated with multiple times of intravenous and intrathecal administration of MSCs derived from her young sister and was followed up for 28 months. The gross motor dysfunction was improved. Other benefits included enhanced immunity, increased physical strength, and adjusted speech and comprehension. Temporary low-grade fever was the only side effect during the treatment. MSCs may be a safe and effective therapy to improve symptoms in children with cerebral palsy.
Gender equality and authenticity: A study of women in it leadership

This purpose of this dissertation is to understand how women senior leaders in the information technology (IT) industry experience leading with authenticity in the context of a male-dominated work environment. The IT industry has been unsuccessful in attracting and retaining women in leadership positions. For decades, women have faced challenges with gender biases in the workplace. Research has shown that in some predominantly male work environments, women experience pressures to conform to long-established norms in order to advance up the corporate ladder. Using a phenomenological methodology, this study examines how women describe their present perceptions of leading with authenticity in the IT industry. Authenticity is defined as the experience of being true to one’s self (Vannini, 2004). It represents a healthy alignment between internal values and external behaviors (Ruderman & Rogolsky, 2013). This study uses the social constructivist theory of gender as a theoretical framework to analyze the experiences women face with regard to gender equality and individual authenticity in the workplace. Moustakas’s (1994) method of analysis of phenomenological data is used to analyze the verbatim transcripts from one-on-one interviews with nine female leaders in the IT industry. Overall, the female participants epitomized authenticity at work. Based on key findings, a new definition for authenticity at work is proposed. Individual authenticity at work can be defined as understanding your core values, principles, and beliefs, and living them out every day through your actions and words, regardless of situation or circumstance. Furthermore, authenticity can be viewed as bringing your whole self to work; integrating your personal and professional self as identities that coexist. While the present study provides support for the notion of authenticity as a state-based phenomenon, a new conceptualization of authenticity as a skill-based phenomenon is proposed. The DIvA framework is introduced as a tool for developing individual authenticity
The Challenge of Enterprise Social Networking (Non-)Use at Work: A Case Study of How to Positively Influence Employees' Enterprise Social Networking Acceptanc

Enterprise social networking (ESN) platforms have been implemented by organizations to support employees' collaboration. However, there has been a reported lack of user participation on these platforms. This study focuses on interventions that can be used to overcome barriers of usage. A case study was conducted at IBM to investigate the effect of several interventions to positively influence ESN acceptance within IBM's Human Resources (HR) function. In this study we combined two rounds of interview data with activity log data. We interviewed the initiators of interventions, and we interviewed the employees targeted by those interventions. The activity logs allowed us to contrast actual usage of the ESN by employees from HR vs. other organizational functions. Compared to other ESN studies this study explicitly identifies factors driving or inhibiting ESN use, and shows how these factors can be addressed by interventions to significantly increase ESN use. Our results can inform and enable other organizations interested in the design of interventions to increase the use of ESN.
Improvement of speaker localization by considering multipath interference of sound wave for binaural robot audition

This paper presents an improved speaker localization method based on the generalized cross-correlation (GCC) method weighted by the phase transform (PHAT) for binaural robot audition. The problem with the conventional direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation based on the GCC-PHAT method is a multipath interference whereby a sound wave travels to microphones via the front-head path and the back-head path in binaural robot audition. This paper describes a new time delay factor for the GCC-PHAT method to compensate multipath interference on the assumption of spherical robot head. In addition, the restriction of the time difference of arrival (TDOA) estimation by the sampling frequency is also solved by applying the maximum likelihood (ML) estimation in frequency domain. Experiments conducted in the SIG-2 humanoid robot show that the proposed method reduces localization errors by 17.8 degrees on average and by over 35 degrees in side directions comparing to the conventional DOA estimation.
Adiponectin and Leptin Induce VCAM-1 Expression in Human and Murine Chondrocytes

Background Osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the most common rheumatic diseases, are characterized by irreversible degeneration of the joint tissues. There are several factors involved in the pathogenesis of these diseases including pro-inflammatory cytokines, adipokines and adhesion molecules. Objective Up to now, the relationship between adipokines and adhesion molecules at cartilage level was not explored. Thus, the aim of this article was to study the effect of leptin and adiponectin on the expression of VCAM-1 in human and murine chondrocytes. For completeness, intracellular signal transduction pathway was also explored. Methods VCAM-1 expression was assessed by quantitative RT-PCR and western blot analysis upon treatment with leptin, adiponectin and other pertinent reagents in cultured human primary chondrocytes. Signal transduction pathways have been explored by using specific pharmacological inhibitors in the adipokine-stimulated human primary chondrocytes and ATDC5 murine chondrocyte cell line. Results Herein, we demonstrate, for the first time, that leptin and adiponectin increase VCAM-1 expression in human and murine chondrocytes. In addition, both adipokines have additive effect with IL-1β. Finally, we demonstrate that several kinases, including JAK2, PI3K and AMPK are at a play in the intracellular signalling of VCAM-1 induction. Conclusions Taken together, our results suggest that leptin and adiponectin could perpetuate cartilage-degrading processes by inducing also factors responsible of leukocyte and monocyte infiltration at inflamed joints.
Torturing Databases for Fun and Profit

Programmers use databases when they want a high level of reliability. Specifically, they want the sophisticated ACID (atomicity, consistency, isolation, and durability) protection modern databases provide. However, the ACID properties are far from trivial to provide, particularly when high performance must be achieved. This leads to complex and error-prone code--even at a low defect rate of one bug per thousand lines, the millions of lines of code in a commercial OLTP database can harbor thousands of bugs. Here we propose a method to expose and diagnose violations of the ACID properties. We focus on an ostensibly easy case: power faults. Our framework includes workloads to exercise the ACID guarantees, a record/replay subsystem to allow the controlled injection of simulated power faults, a ranking algorithm to prioritize where to fault based on our experience, and a multi-layer tracer to diagnose root causes. Using our framework, we study 8 widely-used databases, ranging from open-source key-value stores to high-end commercial OLTP servers. Surprisingly, all 8 databases exhibit erroneous behavior. For the open-source databases, we are able to diagnose the root causes using our tracer, and for the proprietary commercial databases we can reproducibly induce data loss.
GREEDY RANDOMIZED ADAPTIVE SEARCH PROCEDURES (GRASP)

This paper is a survey of greedy randomized adaptive search procedures (GRASP). GRASP is a multi-start or iterative procedure where each GRASP iteration consists of a construction phase, where a feasible solution is constructed, followed by a local search procedure that finds a locally optimal solution. The construction phase of GRASP is essentially a randomized greedy algorithm. Repeated applications of the construction procedure yields diverse starting solutions for the local search. We review a basic GRASP, followed by enhancements to the basic procedure. We conclude by surveying operations research and industrial applications of GRASP.
Screw Instability of Magnetic Field and Gamma-Ray Bursts in Type Ib/c Supernovae

A toy model of gamma-ray burst supernovae (GRB SNe) is discussed by considering the effects of the screw instability of the magnetic field in the black hole (BH) magnetosphere. The screw instability in the Blandford-Znajek (BZ) process (henceforth the SIBZ) can coexist with the screw instability in the magnetic coupling (MC) process (henceforth the SIMC). It turns out that both the SIBZ and SIMC occur inevitably, provided that the following parameters are greater than some critical values: (1) the BH spin, (2) the power-law index describing the magnetic field at the disk, and (3) the vertical height of the astrophysical load above the equatorial plane of the rotating BH. The features of several GRBs are well fitted. In our model the durations of the long GRBs depend on the evolution time of the half-opening angle. A small fraction of energy is extracted from the BH via the BZ process to power a GRB, while a large fraction of energy is extracted from the BH via the MC process to power an associated supernova. In addition, the variability timescales of tens of milliseconds in the light curves of the GRBs are fitted by two successive flares due to the SIBZ.
Investigating the Organizational Climate for Creativity/Innovation among Librarians in Academic Libraries in South East Nigeria

Abstract Creativity/innovation of librarians is imperative for the continuing relevance of academic libraries. However, for that to happen, the organizational climate of academic libraries has to be supportive of librarians’ creativity. This study investigated the organizational climate of four academic libraries in Nigeria in relation to creativity. Using a questionnaire as the instrument for collection of data, the study sought to know from a sample size of 103 librarians their perception of the organizational climate of their libraries as it relates to creativity. Six dimensions of organizational climate were investigated: organizational encouragement, supervisory encouragement, work group support, freedom, sufficient resources and challenging work. The findings revealed that work group and organizational encouragement were perceived to be highly positive for creativity. On the other hand, the least supportive dimension for creativity was sufficient resources. These findings reflected the problems/challenges which hinder creativity/innovation in these libraries and the strategies to enhance them as well. The study has implications for management and practice. Limitations of the study were captured and some recommendations for the way forward and for further studies were made.
Activity of anti-cancer protein kinase inhibitors against Leishmania spp.

OBJECTIVES There is an urgent need to develop new and effective treatments for poverty-related neglected diseases. In light of the time required to bring a new drug to market and the cost involved (10-15 years, >1 billion US$), one approach to identifying new treatments for diseases like leishmaniasis is to evaluate drugs that are already registered for the treatment of other diseases. This paper describes the anti-leishmanial activities of 10 FDA-approved protein kinase inhibitors already available for the treatment of human cancers. METHODS In vitro and in vivo models of Leishmania infection were used to evaluate the potency of selected protein kinase inhibitors. RESULTS Sunitinib, sorafenib and lapatinib were identified as active against Leishmania donovani amastigotes in cultured murine macrophages with IC(50) values of 1.1, 3.7 and 2.5 μM, respectively, a level of potency similar to that of miltefosine (IC(50) = 1.0 μM), and were not toxic to mammalian cells. In addition, some of the protein kinase inhibitors were active against L. donovani in the BALB/c mouse model of infection; dosing on days 7-11 with a 50 mg/kg oral dose of sunitinib, lapatinib or sorafenib reduced liver amastigote burdens by 41%, 36% and 30%, respectively, compared with untreated control mice. Although less efficacious, sorafenib was also active in vitro against intracellular amastigotes of the cutaneous disease-causing species Leishmania amazonensis, Leishmania major and Leishmania mexicana. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrates in vivo anti-leishmanial activity of clinically used protein kinase inhibitors and provides further evidence of the potential of drug repurposing.