Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using asynchronous discussion tools in engineering education

This paper considers a number of uses of asynchronous discussion in engineering education, highlighting the benefits to learners and the issues which need to be considered. The main context is the use of computer conferencing by distance learners of technology at the UK Open University. The paper focuses on two courses where computer conferencing has been used in different ways: for optional peer support; and for assessed group activities. A number of questions about the use of asynchronous discussion are considered in the light of experience from these two contexts. The paper also indicates where more research is needed, considers how this research might be carried out, and discusses the difficulties involved.
Design as exploring constraints

A theory of designing is proposed, developed, and illustrated with examples from the domain of physical form. Designing is seen as the exploration of alternative sets of constraints and of the regions of alternative solutions they bound. Designers with different objectives reach different solutions within the same set of constraints, as do designers with the same objectives operating under different constraints. Constraints represent design rules, relations, conventions, and natural laws to be maintained. Some constraints and objectives are given at the outset of a design but many more are adopted along the way. Varying the constraints and the objectives is part of the design process. The theory accounts for various kinds of expertise in designing: knowledge of particular constraints in a design domain; inference--calculating the consequences of design decisions; preference--using objectives to guide decision-making; and partitioning--skill in dividing a large and complicated design into sets of simpler pieces, and understanding the dependencies between decisions. The ability to manage ambiguity and vagueness is an important aspect of design expertise. A computational model supporting the theory is proposed and its implementation discussed briefly. The constraint explorer, a computational environment for designing based on constraint descriptions is described. We see how the constraint explorer might be used in connection with a simple space- planning problem. The problem is taken from the procedures of the Stichting Architecten Research (S.A.R.), a specific architectural design methodology developed to help architects systematically explore layout variability in alternative floorplan designs. Finally, a selected review of related work in constraint-based programming environments, architectural design methods, and the intersection of the two fields is presented.
The potential of Library 2.0 for research libraries in Kenya.

iv Acknowledgments vi Table of contents vii List of tables xi List of figures xii Abbreviations xiii CHAPTER ONE – INTRODUCTION 1.0 Introduction 1 1.1 Statement of the problem 9 1.2 Objectives of the study 11 1.3 Theoretical framework 13 1.3. 1 Conversation theory 14 1.3. 2 Social network theory 16 1.3. 3 Network effect multiplier 18 1.3. 4 David Lee King’s Library 2.0 ripple effect 18 1.4 Justification of the study 20 1.5 Assumptions 21 1.6 Limitations of the study 21 1.7 Dissemination of the findings 22 1.8 Dissertation outline 23 1.9 Summary 24 CHAPTER TWO – RESEARCH LIBRARIES IN KENYA 2.0 Introduction 26 2.1 Characteristics of research libraries 30 2.1.1 Proximity 30 2.1.2 Collection 31 2.1.3 Service portfolio 34 2.1.4 Staffing 41 2.1.5 Physical space 42 2.1.6 Interoperability 45 2.1.7 Library access 46 2.1.8 Users 47 2.1.9 Budget 47 2.1.10 Position in organizational structure 48 2.1.11 Technology 49 2.2 Comparing research libraries and other library typologies 50 2.3 Research libraries in Kenya 50 2.4 The Kenya Library and Information Services Consortium (KLISC) 53 2.5 The case libraries 55 2.5. 1 AMREF library 55 2.5. 2 ICRAF library 56 2.5. 3 ILRI InfoCentre 57 2.5. 4 KARI library 58
The Effect of Word Processing on the Revising/Editing Strategies of Primary ESL Writers

The focus of this study was on the effect of word processing on the revising and editing strategies of primary ESL writers. Six year 5/6 'intensive' ESL students completed a number of written tasks, using both computer and conventional 'pen and paper' methods. Their handwritten and word processed work was analysed and compared in terms of the frequency, nature and extent of changes made. Statistical analysis of these data, as well as audio-taped verbal protocols, interviews, and observational notes, was used to determine the effect(s) of word processing on the revising/editing strategies of these students. Of the four major revision categories examined, three were found to be different both qualitatively and quantitatively (at a statistically significant level), in the word processing condition, when compared to the 'pen and paper' writing condition with the same subjects. These subjects were found to produce more large-scale meaningful revisions when word processing, in comparison to their pen and paper work. fu contrast with this, 'surface' changes (or non-meaningful revisions) outuumbered all other changes made to text in the pen and paper condition.
PLA folding by partitioning

A graph-partitioning-based PLA (programmable logic array) folding algorithm is described. It is solved as a row/column reordering problem by following the approach of F.H. Wang et al. (1987). The implementation considers the area of the folded PLA as the cost function. Many experimental results show that the tool produces results superior to those produced by the PLEASURE program. The results are also about as good as those produced by a simulated-annealing-based algorithm. <<ETX>>
The Effects of a Blended Learning Strategy in Teaching Vocabulary on Premedical Students' Achievement, Satisfaction and Attitude toward English Language.

The Effects of a Blended Learning Strategy in Teaching Vocabulary on Premedical Students' Achievement, Satisfaction and Attitude Toward English Language The current study aimed to investigate the effects of a proposed blended learning strategy in teaching medical vocabulary at Arabian Gulf University (AGU) on some outcomes of the learning process. The study attempted to assess the effects of the proposed strategy on pre-medical students’ achievement, attitudes towards the English language, and their satisfaction with the unit. The study sample consisted of 50 students who scored less than 60% in AGU English Language Entry exam. The sample was randomly divided into two groups; 22 students in the control group and 28 in the experimental group. The research instruments included: AGU English language unit exams in English 151, attitude towards English language and satisfaction with the unit scales that were developed by the researcher. Data analysis revealed that, concerning achievement and attitude towards the English language, there were no statistical significant differences between the experimental and the control group except with regard to the second midterm exam total score where the control group performed significantly better than the experimental group. The results also indicated that the experimental group members demonstrated high degree of satisfaction toward the online unit in three dimensions of the scale and medium satisfaction in one dimension. It was argued that though students were satisfied with the online unit, lack of vocabulary improvement was due to lack of administrative support.
Writing the Research Paper: A Handbook

1. BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT THE RESEARCH PAPER. Hatred of the research paper. Definition of the research paper. Format of the research paper. Reasons for the research paper. The report paper and the thesis paper. Drafts of the research paper. Writing the research paper: Steps and schedule. FAQ. 2. CHOOSING A TOPIC. How to choose a topic. Topics to avoid. Narrowing the topic. FAQ. 3. THE LIBRARY. Layout of the library. The computer. Online full-text databases. Microform indexes. Stacks. Main desk. Reserve desk. Audiovisual room. Microform room. Newspaper racks. Computer room. Carrels. Organization of the library collections. The Dewey Decimal System. The Cutter-Sanborn Author Marks. The Library of Congress Classi? cation System. Classification of periodicals. Classi? cation of nonbooks. 4. USING THE COMPUTER IN YOUR RESEARCH. Computers and the research paper. The Internet. The World Wide Web. Online resources. Databases. Electronic journals. Online public-access catalogs (OPACs). Blogs and Social networks. Researching with search engines. Finding a search engine. Usenet, Listserv, telnet, and gopher. Evaluating Internet sources. Running a search. Useful Internet sites. FAQ. 5. DOING THE RESEARCH. What information to look for. Where to look for information. Assembling a working bibliography. Selecting your sources: Skimming. Note-taking. Plagiarism and how to avoid it. 6. THE THESIS AND THE OUTLINE. The thesis: Definition and function. The outline. Choosing an outline form. 7. TRANSFORMING THE NOTES INTO A ROUGH DRAFT. Preparing to write the rough draft: A checklist. Writer's block. Writing with a computer. Using your notes in the paper. How to use quotations to explore and discover. Writing with unity, coherence, and emphasis. Using the proper tense. Using graphics in your research paper. Writing the abstract. 8. Revising Your Rough Draft. Principles of revision. Revising the opening paragraph. Revising sentences for variety and style. Revising words: Diction. Rules for Writers. Not. 9. THE MLA SYSTEM OF DOCUMENTATION. Parenthetical documentation: Author-work (MLA). What to document. Format for "Works Cited" (MLA). Content notes. Finished form of the MLA paper. Peer review checklist. Submitting your paper electronically. 10. THE APA SYSTEM OF DOCUMENTATION. Parenthetical documentation: Author-date (APA). Format for "References" (APA). Writing the abstract. Finished form of the paper. Peer review checklist. Submitting your paper electronically. 11. THE TRADITIONAL STYLE OF DOCUMENTATION (CMS) Footnotes and endnotes. Subsequent references in footnotes and endnotes. Electronic sources. Finished form of the paper. Pagination and text format. Content or reference notes. Bibliography. Peer review checklist. Submitting your paper electronically. 12. SAMPLE STUDENT PAPERS. Paper using author-work documentation (MLA). Paper using author-date documentation (APA). Paper using footnote documentation (CMS).
Between Foragers and Farmers in the Iron Gates Gorge: Physical Anthropology Perspective : Djerdap Population in Transition from Mesolithic to Neolithic

The research presented here aims at discerning possible interactions between Mesolithic hunter-gatherers of the iron Gates Gorge (Serbia-Romania) and the surrounding Neolithic farmers during the 7th and the 6th milleniums BC. In order to examine the interaction of communities with different modes of subsistence (foraging and farming respectively), the nonmetric anatomical variants of the skull and postcranial skeletons were examined on the sites with the largest number of individuals buried. Another set of analyses, aimed at discerning environmental (occupation/nutrition) changes that could have affected the population in transition was performed on metric variables of postcranial skeleton. The combination of these two sets of analyses argues for local continuity within the region, with high degree of initial heterogeneity, and temporal ordering as the most likely explanation for the pattern of change.
What Are the Barriers in the Use of Computer Technology in EFL Instruction

A lot of teachers have serious problems in the effective use of computer technology. There are many barriers facing EFL teachers to use computer technology in their instruction. This paper reviews some of the important barriers toward using computer technology in EFL instruction. They are availability of hardware and software, lack of computer knowledge, lack of computer experience, inadequate computer technology support, time factor, teacher attitudes, and lack of professional development in computer technology integration. A review of these barriers will indicate how they influence the teaching and learning processes and what could be done to urge EFL teachers to use computer technology in their instruction.
Design labs: Students’ expectations and reality

In a study reported in PERC 2004 the authors described how introductory physics labs in which students design their own experiments help them develop scientific abilities. These include the ability to design an experiment to solve a problem, to collect and analyze data and to communicate the details of the experimental procedure. The goal of the present study is to investigate the social aspect of student learning in these labs: whether students’ expectations are consistent with the goals of the labs, whether student assessment of their learning in the labs matches the goals, and whether students perceive the labs as helpful in learning useful skills.
A trace-driven analysis of disk working set sizes

An analysis of the disk working set size from three different HP-UX computer systems is presented. The data analyzed covers a two-month period and represents every disk request generated over that period on each machine. The results show that the working set size on all three systems is small by comparison to the total storage size (e.g., about 5% of the total disk storage is accessed over a 24 hour period), although the size exhibits considerable variability (up to up to 30% of the total storage in a 24 hour period), and can change rapidly over a short period of time (fifteen minutes to an hour). Most—but not all—of the large working sets are due to read activity at the disk as a result of system backup periods.
Introduction to Quantum Computation Information

From the Publisher: This book aims to provide a pedagogical introduction to the subjects of quantum information and computation. Topics include non-locality of quantum mechanics, quantum computation, quantum cryptography, quantum error correction, fault-tolerant quantum computation as well as some experimental aspects of quantum computation and quantum cryptography. Only knowledge of basic quantum mechanics is assumed. Whenever more advanced concepts and techniques are used, they are introduced carefully. This book is meant to be a self-contained overview. While basic concepts are discussed in detail, unnecessary technical details are excluded. It is well-suited for a wide audience ranging from physics graduate students to advanced researchers.
An inquiry into language-switching in second language composing

This paper aims to investigate the factors that influence the language-switching behaviour in the thinking processes of a bilingual person engaged in second language composing tasks, based on a review of related research studies and a report of an empirical case study. The study uses a multitask within-subject design. A participant is asked to do three sets of second language composing tasks which include text composition in English as a second language, written translation from Chinese (first language) into English, and problem-solving in math in English. Each set consists of two tasks: one with a low level of knowledge demands, and the other with a high level of knowledge demands. An analysis of the think-aloud protocols reveals several factors which may affect language-switching; the findings of the study suggest that levels of knowledge demands may play an important role in influencing language-switching in second language composing processes.
Pengajaran berasaskan video dalam pembelajaran berpusatkan pelajar: analisis dan kajian kritikal

Artikel ini membentangkan hasil penilaian kritikal pengajaran berasaskan video yang berperanan dalam menggalakkan strategi pembelajaran berpusatkan pelajar (SCL) di kalangan pelajar. Penggunaan video banyak membantu pendidik untuk memudah aktiviti pengajaran di samping pelajar lebih seronok untuk belajar. SCL mampu menghasilkan pelajar yang lebih aktif dan berdaya saing untuk menimba ilmu pengetahuan. Selain itu, penggunaan video ini juga mampu mempelbagaikan kaedah pengajaran guru dalam usaha memberi motivasi dan sekaligus menarik minat dalam pembelajaran. Metodologi yang diguna adalah dengan membuat carian artikel menggunakan beberapa kata kunci menerusi pangkalan data digital yang dipilih seperti IEEE, ScienceDirect, Web of Science dan sebagainya. Rumusan daripada hasil analisis dan kritis pembacaan kajian lepas telah menemui lima kepentingan video iaitu dapat meningkatkan bilangan bacaan dan bahan pengajaran, membantu dalam pembangunan asas pengetahuan pelajar, mengukuh kefahaman, meningkatkan motivasi dan semangat pelajar dan akhir sekali menggalakkan keberkesanan pendidik dalam mengajar.
An easy guide to factor analysis

List of Figures and Tables 1. A General Description of Factor Analysis 2. Statistical Terms and Concepts 3. Principal Components Analysis 4. Other Methods of Factor Analysis 5. Rotation of Factors 6. Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Path Analysis 7. The Interpretation and Use of Factor Analysis: Examples from Personality Tests 8. Factor Analysis in Test Construction 9. Factor Analysis in a Wider Context 10. Interpreting Confirmatory and Path Analyses 11. Summary and Conclusions: The Use and Abuse of Factor Analysis in Research References Index
Comparing Hybrid Peer-to-Peer Systems (extended)

"Peer-to-peer" systems like Napster and Gnutella have recently become popular for sharing information. In this paper, we study the relevant issues and tradeoffs in designing a scalable P2P system. We focus on a subset of P2P systems, known as "hybrid" P2P, where some functionality is still centralized. (In Napster, for example, indexing is centralized, and file exchange is distributed.) We model a file-sharing application, developing a probabilistic model to describe query behavior and expected query result sizes. We also develop an analytic model to describe system performance. Using experimental data collected from a running, publicly available hybrid P2P system, we validate both models. We then present several hybrid P2P system architectures and evaluate them using our model. We discuss the tradeoffs between the architectures and highlight the effects of key parameter values on system performance.
Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences

Now your students can become intelligent consumers of scientific research, without being overwhelmed by the statistics! Jaccard and Becker's text teaches students the basic skills for analyzing data and helps them become intelligent consumers of scientific information. Praised for its real-life applications, the text tells students when to use a particular statistic, why they should use it, and how the statistic should be computed and interpreted. Because many students, given a set of data, cannot determine where to begin in answering relevant research questions, the authors explicate the issues involved in selecting a statistical test. Each statistical technique is introduced by giving instances where the test is most typically applied followed by an interesting research example (each example is taken from psychology literature).
Lucene in Action

Lucene is a rare gem in the Apache Jakarta world? a highly scalable, fast, and pure Java search engine. Its initial attractions are its performance, its simplicity, and its disarming ease-of-use. But there are many caveats, best practices, and examples that users are looking for that are not yet well documented. The lucene-user e-mail list is very active and helpful, but many users seek more guidance and examples. Lucene in Action describes what Lucene is and how it works and most importantly how it can be used in a variety of real-world use cases, such at Nutch. Nutch? an open-source project designed to index the internet very much like Google? is built upon Lucene. Lucene in Action provides readers with best practices, tried and true from the field, including: * Understanding and solving ? analysis paralysis? * Advanced searching techniques, including filtering and custom query parsing techniques. * Handling document types such as Word, PDF, HTML, XML, and others.
A Concise Guide to Market Research: The Process, Data, and Methods Using IBM SPSS Statistics

This accessible, practice-oriented and compact text provides a hands-on introduction to the principles of market research. Using the market research process as a framework, the authors explain how to collect and describe the necessary data and present the most important and frequently used quantitative analysis techniques, such as ANOVA, regression analysis, factor analysis, and cluster analysis. An explanation is provided of the theoretical choices a market researcher has to make with regard to each technique, as well as how these are translated into actions in IBM SPSS Statistics. This includes a discussion of what the outputs mean and how they should be interpreted from a market research perspective. Each chapter concludes with a case study that illustrates the process based on real-world data. A comprehensive web appendix includes additional analysis techniques, datasets, video files and case studies. Several mobile tags in the text allow readers to quickly browse related web content using a mobile device.
Using SPSS for Windows and Macintosh : Analyzing and Understanding Data

For courses in Introductory Statistics and Research Methods courses using SPSS. Using SPSS guides students through the most basic of SPSS techniques usingstep-by-step descriptions, presents statistical techniques andinstruction on how to conduct statistical analyses, and explains in detail how to avoid all theobstacles common in the study of statistics. The development of easy-to-use statistical software like SPSS has changed the way statistics is being taught and learned. Students can make transformations of variables, creategraphs of distributions of variables,and select among statistical analyses all at the click of a button. However, even with these advancements,students sometimes still find statistics to be an arduous task. Theycontinue to befaced with many potential obstacles and they might feel overwhelmed and stressed rather than challenged and excited about the potential for mastering these important skills. Samuel Green and Neil Salkind have written a text to specifically address these issues.
The benefit of native language and semantic context while listening to speech in noise and the neural correlates of speech intelligibility

Native listeners can use semantic context more efficiently than non-native listeners in order to recognize words masked with noise. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data were acquired during a retroactive semantic priming task in order to investigate the neural correlates of speech intelligibility and the interaction between semantic relatedness and native language. Participants were better at recognizing words masked with noise at different signal to noise ratios (SNR) when followed by semantically related compared to unrelated words in their native language. In their non-native language, participants performed better for semantically unrelated word pairs, providing evidence for differences in semantic processing between native and non-native languages. fMRI results revealed that activation in premotor regions negatively correlated with SNR while activation in regions composing the resting state network positively correlated with SNR. I conclude that motor regions are recruited during effortful speech comprehension.