Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self-Regulated Learning and Academic Performance : a Study among Freshmen

The four studies presented in this dissertation aimed to examine which aspects of self-regulated learning (think of planning, time management, and motivation) best predict academic performance in higher education, and whether and how self-regulated learning might be improved for better academic performance. Study 1 (Chapter 2) resulted in an overview of self-regulatory processes (SRPs), such as planning, monitoring, and motivation, for effective learning in higher education. In Studies 2 and 3 (Chapters 3 and 4) a certain subset of SRPs was established that most strongly predicts freshmen retention (Study 2) and freshmen performance (Study 3; delay/leaving versus first-year completion): metacognitive strategies (consisting of planning, monitoring, and time management), attention, motivation, and effort. Furthermore, critical thinking was found to predict freshmen leaving. In Study 3 (Chapter 4), it was concluded that freshmen-rated SRPs were predictive of whether they would delay or leave the educational program during their first year of study. At the same time, mentor-rated SRPs were found to be predictive of which freshmen would complete their first year of study in time, but less of which freshmen would delay/leave. Therefore, a self-assessment of freshmen entrance-level SRPs is considered to be helpful for mentors to identify shortcomings in their freshmen SRPs, and for intervening for better SRPs, better freshmen retention, and for better freshmen performance (delay/leaving versus first-year completion). Based on the findings of Study 4 (Chapter 5), it was concluded that the degree to stay focused during training (attention) and planning, monitoring, and time management (metacognitive strategies) indeed can be improved by recommending freshmen and their mentors interventions based on freshmen self-assessed entrance level SRPs: attention and metacognitive strategies. In addition, there are indications that freshmen retention was improved by means of the intervention as conducted in Study 4.
Policy Deliberation and Voter Persuasion: Experimental Evidence from an Election in the Philippines

In a randomized experiment in cooperation with two national parties competing in the 2013 congressional election in the Philippines, we estimate the causal effect on voting behavior of a town-hall style campaign in which candidates discuss their campaign platform with small groups of citizens. Keeping the parties’ platform fixed, we find that this “deliberative” style of campaigning has a positive effect on parties’ vote shares compared to the status quo, in which voters play a passive role. Consistent with the parties’ advocacy for underprivileged groups, we observe heterogeneous effects by income and gender. We show that the larger effect of town-hall meetings on women and poor voters arises because deliberative campaigns increase voters’ attention to parties’ platforms and change their attitudes on gender discrimination and poverty.
The influence of distractor strength and response order on MCQ responding

Abstract Multiple-choice questions (MCQs) play a key role in standardised testing and in-class assessment. Research into the influence of within-item response order on MCQ characteristics has been mixed. While some researchers have shown preferential selection of response options presented earlier in the answer list, others have failed to replicate these results. This paper investigates a possible explanation for these mixed findings by assessing the influence of distractor strength on MCQ response order effects. A real-world assessment was administered to 232 undergraduates in which the response order within items was systematically varied. A generalised multilevel model was then used to show a significant interaction between distractor strength and response position with regard to response behaviour. Furthermore, the effect was found to be independent of student ability. These findings have implications for MCQ test construction, minimising the negative consequences of MCQ test exposure and promoting improved test-taking strategies.
Community reactions to tourism development: how does governmental fairness work?

Based on the elements of social exchange and organizational justice theories, a conceptual model and associated hypotheses were formulated to examine the relationship among community residents and their perceptions of governmental fairness (i.e., distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational dimensions), social capital (i.e., cognitive and structural dimensions), and support for government and environmental development. Data were collected from 496 residents in four Korean cities: Busan, Gyeongju, Pohang, and Ulsan. Empirical testing resulted in support for multiple hypotheses. More specifically, cognitive social capital was significantly influenced by distributive, interpersonal, and informational fairness. Structural social capital was significantly affected by distributive and informational fairness. Subsequently, two dimensions of social capital positively influenced two types of support. Overall, the results suggest that the interplay of governmental fairness and social capital is important in influencing residents’ support for government and environmental development.
Ethnic Variation in Inflammatory Profile in Tuberculosis

Distinct phylogenetic lineages of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) cause disease in patients of particular genetic ancestry, and elicit different patterns of cytokine and chemokine secretion when cultured with human macrophages in vitro. Circulating and antigen-stimulated concentrations of these inflammatory mediators might therefore be expected to vary significantly between tuberculosis patients of different ethnic origin. Studies to characterise such variation, and to determine whether it relates to host or bacillary factors, have not been conducted. We therefore compared circulating and antigen-stimulated concentrations of 43 inflammatory mediators and 14 haematological parameters (inflammatory profile) in 45 pulmonary tuberculosis patients of African ancestry vs. 83 patients of Eurasian ancestry in London, UK, and investigated the influence of bacillary and host genotype on these profiles. Despite having similar demographic and clinical characteristics, patients of differing ancestry exhibited distinct inflammatory profiles at presentation: those of African ancestry had lower neutrophil counts, lower serum concentrations of CCL2, CCL11 and vitamin D binding protein (DBP) but higher serum CCL5 concentrations and higher antigen-stimulated IL-1 receptor antagonist and IL-12 secretion. These differences associated with ethnic variation in host DBP genotype, but not with ethnic variation in MTB strain. Ethnic differences in inflammatory profile became more marked following initiation of antimicrobial therapy, and immunological correlates of speed of elimination of MTB from the sputum differed between patients of African vs. Eurasian ancestry. Our study demonstrates a hitherto unappreciated degree of ethnic heterogeneity in inflammatory profile in tuberculosis patients that associates primarily with ethnic variation in host, rather than bacillary, genotype. Candidate immunodiagnostics and immunological biomarkers of response to antimicrobial therapy should be derived and validated in tuberculosis patients of different ethnic origin.
A Deep Survey of H I-selected Galaxies: The H I Mass Function

We analyze the distribution of galaxy H I masses detected in a large, deep H I survey conducted at the Arecibo Observatory, and we find possible evidence of a faint-end steepening of the mass function similar to what has been found optically. This is the first H I survey with enough dynamic range to see this steepening; the results of an earlier survey are found to be consistent when the detection statistics are reexamined. We demonstrate a technique for testing and correcting source count completeness in H I surveys based on the 𝒱/𝒱max test and the large-scale structure in the regions surveyed.
Impact of International Oil Price on Energy Conservation and Emission Reduction in China

In the context of “new normal” economy and frequent “haze”, the strategy of energy conservation and emission reduction aiming to lower costs and reduce pollution is currently still a major strategic direction in China and the world, and will remain so for some time in the future. This paper uses the annual data of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil price in 1987–2014 as samples. We firstly present the direction and mechanism of the influence of oil price change on total consumption of every kind of energy by path analysis, and then consider establishing a Structural Vector Autoregression model of energy conservation and emission reduction in three statuses. Research shows that if the international oil price increases by 1%, the energy consumption per GDP and carbon dioxide emission increase by 0.092% and 0.053% respectively in the corresponding period. In the status of high energy consumption and high emission, if the international oil price increases by 1%, the energy consumption per GDP and carbon dioxide emission increase by 0.043% and 0.065% respectively in the corresponding period. In the status of low energy consumption and low emission, if the international oil price increases by 1%, the energy consumption per GDP per unit increases by 0.067% and carbon dioxide emission decreases by 0.085% in the corresponding period.
Undelayed initialization of line segments in monocular SLAM

This paper presents 6-DOF monocular EKF-SLAM with undelayed initialization using linear landmarks with extensible endpoints, based on the Plu¿cker parametrization. A careful analysis of the properties of the Plu¿cker coordinates, defined in the projective space P5, permits their direct usage for undelayed initialization. Immediately after detection of a segment in the image, a Plu¿cker line is incorporated in the map. A single Gaussian pdf includes inside its 2-sigma region all possible lines given the observed segment, from arbitrarily close up to the infinity range, and in any orientation. The lines converge to stable 3D configurations as the moving camera gathers observations from new viewpoints. The line's endpoints, maintained out of the map, are constantly retro-projected from the image onto the line's local reference frame. An extending-only policy is defined to update them. We validate the method via Monte Carlo simulations and with real imagery data.
Micro-Raman investigation of optical phonons in ZnO nanocrystals

We have measured nonresonant and resonant Raman-scattering spectra from ZnO nanocrystals with an average diameter of 20nm. Based on our experimental data and comparison with the recently developed theory, we show that the observed shifts of the polar optical-phonon peaks in the resonant Raman spectra are not related to the spatial phonon confinement. The very weak dispersion of the polar optical phonons in ZnO nanocrystals does not lead to any noticeable redshift of the phonon peaks for 20-nm nanocrystals. The observed phonon shifts have been attributed to the local heating effects. We have demonstrated that even the low-power ultraviolet laser excitation, required for the resonant Raman spectroscopy, can lead to the strong local heating of ZnO nanocrystals. The latter causes significant (up to 14cm−1) redshift of the optical-phonon peaks compared to their position in bulk crystals. Nonresonant Raman excitation does not produce noticeable local heating. The obtained results can be used for identification .
Can computers be teammates?

This study investigated the claim that humans will readily form team relationships with computers . Drawing from the group dynamic literature in human – human interactions , a laboratory experiment ( n (cid:53) 56) manipulated identity and interdependence to create team af ﬁliation in a human – computer interaction . The data show that subjects who are told they are interdependent with the computer af ﬁliate with the computer as a team . The data also show that the ef fects of being in a team with a computer are the same as the ef fects of being in a team with another human : subjects in the interdependence conditions perceived the computer to be more similar to themselves , saw themselves as more cooperative , were more open to inﬂuence from the computer , thought the information from the computer was of higher quality , found the information from the computer friendlier , and conformed more to the computer’s information . Subjects in the identity conditions showed neither team af ﬁliation nor the ef fects of team af ﬁliation .
Experiments with Diversified Models for Fault-Tolerant Planning

Autonomous robots make extensive use of decisional mechanisms, such as planning. These mechanisms are able to take complex and adaptative decisions, but are notoriously hard to validate. This paper reports an investigation of how redundant, diversified models can be used to tolerate residual design faults in such mechanisms. A fault-tolerant temporal planner has been designed and implemented using diversity, and its effectiveness demonstrated experimentally through fault injection. The paper describes the implementation of the fault-tolerant planner and discusses the results obtained. The results indicate that diversification provides a noticeable improvement in planning reliability with a negligible performance overhead. However, further improvements in reliability will require implementation of a on-line checking mechanism for assessing plan validity before execution.
Hybrid Collaborative Filtering with Neural Networks

Collaborative Filtering aims at exploiting the feedback of users to provide personalised recommendations. Such algorithms look for latent variables in a large sparse matrix of ratings. They can be enhanced by adding side information to tackle the well-known cold start problem. While Neu-ral Networks have tremendous success in image and speech recognition, they have received less attention in Collaborative Filtering. This is all the more surprising that Neural Networks are able to discover latent variables in large and heterogeneous datasets. In this paper, we introduce a Collaborative Filtering Neural network architecture aka CFN which computes a non-linear Matrix Factorization from sparse rating inputs and side information. We show experimentally on the MovieLens and Douban dataset that CFN outper-forms the state of the art and benefits from side information. We provide an implementation of the algorithm as a reusable plugin for Torch, a popular Neural Network framework.
English achievement and student motivation in CLIL and EFL settings

Abstract Motivation is a complex psychological construct regarded as one of the determinant factors in successful foreign language learning, which is why it regularly comes to the fore when trying to explain individual differences among language learners. In fact, one of the main objectives of many foreign language teachers in classrooms the world over is to increase student motivation, so that pupils may acquire a good command of English, the current main lingua franca. While many studies have been devoted to the role played by different orientations in this process, this paper focuses on the effect of the approach used in the foreign language classroom. Thus, attention is paid to the relationship between motivation and the language proficiency attained through two different approaches: Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) and English as a Foreign Language (EFL), among 191 secondary school students. The results confirm the benefits of CLIL from both a motivational and a language competence perspective.
Turbulent boundary layer control utilizing the Lorentz force

Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of a turbulent channel flow at low Reynolds number (Reτ=100,200,400, where Reτ is the Reynolds number based on the wall-shear velocity and channel half-width) are carried out to examine the effectiveness of using the Lorentz force to reduce skin friction. The Lorentz force is created by embedding electrodes and permanent magnets in the flat surface over which the flow passes. Both open-loop and closed-loop control schemes are examined. For open-loop control, both temporally and spatially oscillating Lorentz forces in the near-wall region are tested. It is found that skin-friction drag can be reduced by approximately 40% if a temporally oscillating spanwise Lorentz force is applied to a Reτ=100 channel flow. However, the power to generate the required Lorentz force is an order of magnitude larger than the power saved due to the reduced drag. Simulations were carried out at higher Reynolds numbers (Reτ=200,400) to determine whether efficiency, defined as the ratio of the p.
THE EFFECT OF CLOSURE ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ADHD SYMPTOMS AND SMOKING INITIATION: A MODERATION MODEL USING ADD HEALTH DATA

ii Dedication . v Acknowledgments. vi Vita . vii List of Tables . x List of Figures . xi Chapter 1: Introduction and Theoretical Framework . 1 Theoretical Frameworks . 5 Definitions . 9 Study model. 11 Chapter 2: Review of literature . 13 Introduction . 13 ADHD and Smoking Initiation . 15 Adolescent Friendship Networks and Smoking Initiation . 21 Adolescent Friendship Networks and ADHD . 29 ADHD, Adolescent Friendship Networks and Smoking Initiation . 34
Aspects of Visual Attention for Autonomous Mobile Robots

The deployment of technical systems in complex and unstructured everyday environments has become an essential direction of robotic research, where the limited computation capacity and the real-time requirements become the bottleneck of the system development. Cognitive abilities to interpret and select essential information from a large amount of sensory data are important and necessary, especially for a mobile robotic system. From the extensive works in biology, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience, visual attention is considered to be one of the most powerful cognitive processes dealing with visual information selection. Considering the challenges arising in the aforementioned context, both biologically plausible and technically applicable robot visual attention strategies should be developed to bridge the gap between fundamental studies and specific technical realizations. This thesis focuses on the investigation of goal-directed visual attention strategies for autonomous mobile robots, explored from three different perspectives: the stimulus-dependent aspect, the task-relevant spatial aspect, and the task-relevant temporal aspect. Two information-based metrics are proposed to enable well-timed perception of temporal and spatial stimuli, which is a critical factor for awareness of unexpected events and for ensuring the working order of robots. Integrated approaches to top-down and bottom-up attention selection are elaborated, where the determination of robot spatial attention allocation for task-relevant information is investigated. A human-inspired temporal attention control strategy is proposed, considering the challenge of a limited field of view in multi-object tasks. Evaluation and demonstration are carried out in simulations and experiments. The main contributions are qualitative improvements of sensitive awareness of environment dynamics, efficient, flexible, and adaptable enhancement of task-relevant information, as well as significant reduction of the overall perception uncertainty through temporal attention planning. In this work, application-oriented attention control considering characteristics of mobile robots functioning in dynamic environments is studied in a general and integrated manner for the first time. The contributions advance the state of the art in cognitive robot design and provide valuable insights for future research.
Exploiting adventure video games for second language vocabulary recall: a mixed-methods study

ABSTRACT Although adventure video games have been identified as effective tools for education, few studies have examined the usefulness of such games for language learning. The present classroom-based investigation, therefore, examined the possibility of exploiting commercial adventure video games for improving vocabulary recall of second language learners by designing pedagogical supplementary materials. In so doing, 30 lower-intermediate English as a Foreign Language students were randomly assigned into two control and experimental groups. Both groups took a pre-test consisting of a list of words from an English adventure game The Secret of Monkey Island – Special Edition™ to determine the words they did not know. All the students took two post-tests containing the extracted unknown words: one examining their immediate receptive and one testing their delayed productive vocabulary recall. The results indicated that the students who played the game significantly outperformed the learners in the control group on both post-tests. The players expressed positive perceptions toward the game and reported it as helpful for language learning in general, and vocabulary learning in particular. The findings suggest implications for language teachers, learners, materials writers, and syllabus designers to employ these games as interactive multimodal supplementary tools for language education.
The Market for Sweepstakes

This paper studies the market for monopolistically supplied sweepstakes. We derive equilibrium demands for fixed-prize and variable-prize sweepstakes and determine the profit-maximizing prize level and pay-out ratio respectively. It can be profitable to offer each type of sweepstake when there is a large enough number of weighted utility consumers who have constant absolute risk attitudes, are strictly averse to small as well as symmetric risks, and display longshot preference behaviour. Moreover, for the variable-prize sweepstake, the supplier will generally find it profitable to combine sweepstakes targeting two smaller populations, and offer a single sweepstake to the combined population. This implication is corroborated by the recent spate of mergers of smaller state lotteries into larger ones. Copyright 2005, Wiley-Blackwell.
IMPACT OF SLEEP ON DAYTIME FUNCTIONING AND RESPONSE TO TREATMENT IN CHILDREN WITH ADHD

42 Introduction . 43 Research Hypotheses . 47 Method . 47 Participants . 47 Procedure . 49 Screening Measures . 53 Outcome Measures. 54 Statistical Considerations . 62 Results . 63 Sample Characteristics . 64 Sleep Characteristics at Baseline . 65 Effect of Sleep Manipulation . 65 Between-Group Differences Related to Sleep and Daytime Functioning . 66 Differences in Sleep and Daytime Functioning Between Sleep Conditions and Interaction Effects Between Group and Sleep Condition . 67 Secondary Data Analyses . 70 Discussion . 72 Effectiveness of the Sleep Manipulation . 72 Impact of Sleep Manipulation on Daytime Functioning. 73 Factors that Influence Effectiveness of Sleep Manipulations . 77
A Carbon Consumption Comparison of Rural and Urban Lifestyles

Sustainable consumption has been addressed from different perspectives in numerous studies. Recently, urban structure-related lifestyle issues have gained more emphasis in the research as cities search for effective strategies to reduce their 80% share of the global carbon emissions. However, the prevailing belief often seen is that cities would be more sustainable in nature compared to surrounding suburban and rural areas. This paper will illustrate, by studying four different urban structure related lifestyles in Finland, that the situation might be reversed. Actually, substantially more carbon emissions seem to be caused on a per capita level in cities than in suburban and rural areas. This is mainly due to the higher income level in larger urban centers, but even housing-related emissions seem to favor less urbanized areas. The method of the study is a consumption-based life cycle assessment of carbon emissions. In more detail, a hybrid life cycle assessment (LCA) model, that is comprehensive in providing a full inventory and can accommodate process data, is utilized.