Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigating The Role of Traditional Children’s Games in Teaching Ten Universal Values in Turkey

Statement of the Problem: Children are constantly stimulated in different developmental areas through playing games with other children or adults. Play can provide a context wherein children achieve deep learning through the integration of intellectual, physical, moral, and spiritual values and commit themselves to learning, developing, and growing. While playing games, children learn a wide range of social skills. In addition to being contexts in which most learning related to children’s lives occurs, games also provide children with contexts to learn about their own cultures and cultural values. Whereas values may show cultural differences, they can also be shared universally. Examining the role of children's games played in Turkey is significant in teaching universal values (achievement, benevolence, conformity, hedonism, power, security, self–direction, stimulation, tradition, and universalism). Purpose of the Study: This study was designed to determine the roles of traditional children's games played in Turkey in teaching ten universal values. Method: This study was designed as a qualitative study based on content analysis using a deductive analysis method. Pre-defined categories were identified, and these categories were identified in the texts describing the games. The present study’s evaluation includes 421 games found among the traditional games played in Turkey and analysed in previous scientific studies. Findings: The analysis revealed that all games included the value of Hedonism. Almost all games emphasized achievement as well in the form of achieving pre-defined competitive tasks masterly before rival(s) could achieve them. In third place, the value of power was emphasized in the games, and this value always occurred along with achievement. According to the analysis, power was related to the winner's earning the right to seize the belongings of others or impose a sanction to the loser(s) after success in the game. The remaining seven values (benevolence, conformity, security, self-direction, stimulation, tradition and universalism) were almost never emphasized in the games. Conclusion and Recommendations: Traditional children's games at present seem to be a missed opportunity in terms of values education. Games that encourage children to acquire more positive values should be designed. Keywords: Turkey, tradition, children’s games, universal values, values education, content analysis
Exploring EFL Learners' Self-Efficacy in Academic Writing Based on Process-Genre Approach.

This study explores the change of EFL learners’ level of self-efficacy in process-genre academic writing instruction. The teaching experiment was conducted for 14 weeks. A total of 59 graduate students participated in the experiment. Before the experiment, the results showed that the general level of EFL graduates’ self-efficacy in academic writing was relatively low. After 14 weeks of academic writing instruction conducted by the process-genre approach, participants’ self-efficacy improved significantly. In the interview, participants also reported an increasing level of confidence in academic writing. Based on the findings, implications of academic writing instruction to improve students’ self-efficacy are discussed in the paper.
Power reductivity over an arbitrary base.

Our starting point is Mumford's conjecture, on representations of Chevalley groups over fields, as it is phrased in the preface of Geometric Invariant Theory. After extending the conjecture appropriately, we show that it holds over an arbitrary commutative base ring. We thus obtain the first fundamental theorem of invariant theory (often referred to as Hilbert's fourteenth problem) over an arbitrary Noetherian ring. We also prove results on the Grosshans graded deformation of an algebra in the same generality. We end with tentative finiteness results for rational cohomology over the integers.
The VISTA Science Archive

We describe the VISTA Science Archive (VSA) and itsfirst public release of data from five of the six VISTA public surveys. The VSA exists to support the VISTA surveys through their lifecycle: the VISTA Public Survey consortia can use it during their quality control assessment of survey data products before submission to the ESO Science Archive Facility (ESO SAF); it supports their exploitation of survey data prior to its publication through the ESO SAF; and, subsequently, it provides the wider community with survey science exploitation tools that complement the data product repository functionality of the ESO SAF. This paper has been written in conjunction with the first public release of public survey data through the VSA and is designed to help its users understand the data products available and how the functionality of the VSA supports their varied science goals. We describe the design of the database and outline the database-driven curation processes that take data from nightly pipeline-processed and calibrated FITS files to create science-ready survey datasets. Much of this design, and the codebase implementing it, derives from our earlier WFCAM Science Archive (WSA), so this paper concentrates on the VISTA-specific aspects and on improvements made to the system in the light of experience gained in operating the WSA.
Popularity of e-banking in Sri Lanka

As a wave of new technology, internet provides banks a substantial opportunity to expand their customers reach beyond traditional boundaries across national boarders. Increased competitive pressures and the speed of technological changes are leading to rapid expansion of electronic banking (e-banking). This research is carried out with the objective of measuring the availability of ebanking facilities in Sri Lanka. Further this provides an analysis as to the extent to which e-banking facilities have been used by customers. Data were collected using questionnaire survey. The initial sample comprised of hundred and fifty customers who were randomly selected from five different areas in Colombo district. Majority of the customers in the country were aware about e-banking facilities but most of them had not been tried those facilities by them selves. They still pay their bills, withdraw money, check balances and deposit cheques at their bank counters, much as the traditional way. Specially in state banks, usage of e-banking facilities was not to a very greater extent. Further this study has identified some of the factors which inhibit the usage of those facilities such as confusions and delays in the system, accessing problems and security problems etc.
Nature of the crust beneath northwest Basin and Range province from teleseismic receiver function data

Received 30 July 2007; revised 12 April 2008; accepted 2 July 2008; published 14 October 2008. [1] We utilized teleseismic receiver function techniques complemented by active source refraction seismology to study the crustal structure and continental rift processes responsible for the development of the northwest corner of the Basin and Range province in northwest Nevada. Our passive seismic array of 28 short-period stations, spanning 70 km west to east, and 5 broadband USArray transportable array stations that extended our aperture to 230 km provided data on crustal properties independent of the results of our active source refraction experiment. Combining data from the two experiments provides better constraints on Moho depth, Vp/Vs ratio, and the structure and composition of the crust beneath the northwestern Basin and Range province than possible from either experiment alone. Our new data indicate Moho depths that vary from 29.5 on the east to 36.5 km in the west along the passive source array and Vp/Vs ratios that systematically span a wide range from 1.68 to 1.83. Velocity modeling of data collected from the 300 km, wide-angle refraction/reflection survey provides comparable Moho depths of 32–37 km under the same region. Decreasing Vp/Vs is correlated with decreasing crustal thickness, with Vp/Vs ratio > 1.80 in northeast California and Vp/Vs <1 . 74 in the thinner crust of the Basin and Range province. We associate the high Vp/Vs of northeast California with mafic additions to the crust during formation of the Modoc Plateau in a region of accreted Paleozoic island arc terrans similar to those exposed in the eastern Klamaths and northwestern Sierra Nevada. Unusually low Vp/Vs in conjunction with low absolute Vp and Vs is observed beneath the central part of our array and may be due to the roots of the Sierra Nevada batholith, now dismembered by Basin and Range faults. Back azimuthal stacking of our receiver function data suggests a northwest oriented crustal anisotropy fast direction beneath this region, parallel to the northwest to southeast oriented Cenozoic extension experienced by the Basin and Range province and suggestive of a similar flow direction in the middle to lower crust.
Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices on Malaria Prevention and Control Among Private Security Guards Within Kaduna Metropolis, Kaduna State-Nigeria

An understanding of knowledge, attitudes and practices among different populations such as security guards temporarily outside the home due to occupational reasons are key determinants for policy makers in designing malaria prevention and control interventions. A survey on knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) on malaria prevention and control was conducted among two hundred and sixty-one (261) private security guards in Kaduna Metropolis, Kaduna State-Nigeria using a structured questionnaire. Data were analysed using SPSS version 20 while associations between variables were tested using a Chi-Square test with the level of statistical significance set at 5%. There were 253 (96.94%) respondents with a high knowledge score about malaria, 201 (78%) of respondents with a positive attitude and there were 192 (74%) of respondents with good malaria practices score. The majority (97.7%) of the respondents have heard about malaria before while 96.9% of respondents correctly associated mosquito as malaria vector. The radio serves the majority (93.1%) as their source of information about malaria. Wearing long-sleeved shirts, trimming of bushes and use of ITNs are the leading malaria prevention methods practised by the respondents. Statistically significant association between malaria practice scores and respondent’s age (p-value = 0.022), gender (p-value = 0.002) and level of education (p-value = 0.006) was reported. Respondent’s knowledge about malaria (p = 0.008) and attitude towards malaria (p = 0.020) were found to significantly influence their practices towards malaria. For sustainable implementation of malaria intervention programmes, good malaria practices in conjunction with high level of awareness by the respondents are quite significant. One of the methods for malaria control that leads to morbidity and mortality reduction is educational based teachings on understanding individual knowledge, attitudes and practices on malaria.
RESOURCE ALLOCATION IN COORDINATED AND UN-COORDINATED WIRELESS SYSTEMS WITH GREEDY OR NON-GREEDY USERS

OF THE DISSERTATION Resource Allocation in Coordinated and Un-coordinated Wireless Systems with Greedy or Non-greedy Users by Jasvinder Singh Dissertation Director: Prof. Christopher Rose In this thesis, we investigate wireless resource optimization problems arising in th e context of unlicensed bands. The first half of this thesis assumes a multiple access cha nnel communication model (many transmitters talking to a single receiver), while the second half assumes an interference channel (a collection of multiple interfering transmitter-receiv r pairs). The problems considered can further be classified based on the level of coordina tion available among the devices, and based on the optimization objectives of the devices. The de vic s are either greedy (they choose their actions to maximize their own utility), or are non-gre edy (they choose their actions to maximize/satisfy a common social objective). We investigate four r esou ce optimization scenarios that encompass the possibilities of presence or absence of coordination infrastructure as well as the cases of greedy and non-greedy device s. As an example of the greedy uncoordinated scenario, we consider applic ation of interference avoidance algorithms in generalized CDMA systems. We introduce varia nts of standard interference avoidance procedures which produce more easily tracke d incr mental codewords, and study the response of the system to abrupt changes in the backgrou nd interference as might be encountered in a practical system. Next we consider a sensor network scenario where multiple sensors are t ansmitting correlated symbols to a common receiver, with an objective of minimizing the total mean squ re error (TMSE) in the symbol estimates at the receiver. The source-channel se paration theorem for the
A Study of Mother Tongue Interference in Pronunciation of College English Learning in China

There exists a phenomenon of pronunciation confusion of [n] with [l], which appears among the College English learners who come from the provinces along the Yangzi River regions in China and speak their hometown dialects. And something alike happens to the other dialect speakers from the south of China, who could hardly distinguish [f] from [h], or to the Zhuang dialect speakers who could hardly distinguish the aspirated sounds from the non-aspirated ones. These college students usually unintentionally transfer these confused pronunciation of their hometown dialects to English pronunciation and make pronunciation confusion when they speak and read aloud English, which is called mother tongue interference. What’s more, this phenomenon also occurs among some teachers who are from these dialect regions. This paper has discussed and analyzed the causes of these mispronunciations phonologically, and then points out some solutions to help both College English teachers and students to realize and overcome their problems. Also, this paper suggests that: first, some knowledge of phonology is necessary to tell phones apart from phonemes; second, as a College English teacher, he or she should learn something about the phonetic features of the students’ dialects so as to predict what mistakes these learners would probably make when speaking and reading English; third, helping learners with their pronunciation correction practice is an essential part of the teacher’s job, and use of learning strategies, group activities and self-directed learning or autonomous learning ideas and so on is much helpful to guide the classroom teaching and learning.
The fossil Crustacea of China: their taxonomy, palaeobiology, biogeography and phylogenetic relationships

Members of the malacostracan Order Pygocephalomorpha are among the most characteristic elements in nearshore marine and fresh water communities in Carboniferous and Permian of Europe and North America. A new family of pygocephalomorph Eumalacostraca, the Tylocarididae, with two new monospecific genera, is described from China, where it occurs in the Early Permian Tungtzeyen Formation of Fujian, and in the Late Permian Lungtan Formation of Hunan. The descriptions of Fujianocaris bifurcatus gen. et sp. nov. and Tylocaris asiaticus gen. et sp. nov. are based on dorsally preserved isolated carapaces, some showing incomplete abdominal details, but with no complete tailfans. Opinions on the affinities of Pygocephalomorpha to other malacostracans has varied but they are generally regarded as a separate order of 'mysidacean' peracarids. Hitherto the phylogeny of the group has not been considered and the current family level taxonomy remains rather artificial. A cladistic analysis of fossil and Recent 'mysidacean' and pygocephalomorph crustaceans is presented here which outlines the affinities within the group and holds promise for an eventual natural taxonomy of the Pygocephalomorpha. Introduction Little work has been done on the paleobiology and taxonomy of fossil Crustacea in China, especially with respect to global biogeography (Shen 1983), with the exception of extensive taxonomie work on conchostracans, which range from the Devonian to the Cretaceous (Shen 1978,1981,1984,1990, Zhang et al. 1990). Palaeobiological research has increased in China recently due to the discovery of such important localities as the Cambrian lagerstätte at Chengjiang (e.g. Chen et al. 1995a, 1995b), and a result has been the discovery of new crustacean species in Early Permian strata in south-east China. This paper describes the new taxa Fujianocaris bifurcatus and Tylocaris asiaticus, both apparently belonging to the Pygocephalomorpha. Whilst these two new species are only the second reported discovery of Pygocephalomorpha in China (see Shen 1983), members of this order have long been recognized elsewhere as one of the most prominent and striking crustacean groups in late Palaeozoic nearshore marine and fresh water communities, in particular from North America and Europe. However, determination of the phylogenetic affinities of this enigmatic group has remained problematical. Prestwich (1840) was the first to describe a pygocephalomorph, a carapace from the British Coal Measures; he named it Apus dubius, and believed that its affinities might be with the notostracan phyllopods. Later, Huxley (1857) described Pygocephalus cooperi, also from the
Analysis of Mixed Mode II/III Crack in Bilayered Composite Beam

Abstract Mixed mode II/III crack investigation in cantilever bilayered unidirectional fiber reinforced composite beam is reported. The crack is situated between the layers. The two crack arms have different widths. Formula for the strain energy release rate is obtained by the linear elastic fracture mechanics methods using the magnitude of the applied forces, geometrical characteristics of the cross-section, and the elastic moduli of the layers. An equivalent shear modulus of the un-cracked beam portion is used. Several diagrams illustrating the results of parametrical analysis of the strain energy release rate are presented. The paper is a part of a research in the field of fracture behaviour of composite beams.
Genetic structure of the brown bears ( Ursus arctos ) in Northern Europe

Wild populations of large carnivores in Europe were almost wiped out during the last centuries. Nowadays, the number of brown bears in North and Eastern Europe has increased, and the current situation suggests that these populations have recovered or are in the process of recovery. Knowledge of the population genetic consequences of demographic recovery in large carnivores, especially across national borders and on broader geographical scales, is still limited. In this study, we collected 3,757 fecal and hair samples as well as 881 tissue samples from brown bears across Northern Europe, with a focus on the Finnish population and neighboring areas, to investigate the population structure, connectivity, and genetic diversity on a spatial as well as a temporal scale. Bayesian clustering analysis of the population structure suggested the division of brown bears in Northern Europe into several genetic clusters, and the subdivision of the Finnish population into a northern and southern subpopulation. The estimation of gene flow pointed to better connectivity of the bears between Southern Finland and Western Russia, while migration between Scandinavia and Northern Finland as well as between Scandinavia and Southern Finland/Western Russia appeared to be restricted. Genetic clusters identified in Finland, Russia and Northern Norway displayed high genetic diversity, which was among the highest reported in wild brown bears. Recovery of the Finnish population has been accompanied by a detected range expansion towards the north, while genetic differentiation between clusters has decreased and genetic diversity has increased in the southern population, suggesting expansion from the south. Our results demonstrated that the immigration of bears from Russia still plays a major role in the Finnish bear population; however, connectivity between the Finnish-Russian population and Scandinavian bears appears to be restricted and should be improved, as well as regularly monitored.
Help-negation for suicidal thoughts in sub-clinical samples of young people

Abstract Across the popular and academic literature, it is widely recognised that young people with persistent suicidal thoughts are at high risk for suicide completion. It is also accepted that seeking and receiving appropriate help offers protection against the development of acute forms of suicidality, along with suicide completion. Yet, as promising as appropriate help-seeking appears for suicide prevention, a growing number of studies suggest that suicidal ideation itself may impede the help-seeking process. There is evidence that acutely suicidal samples will negate or avoid available help, and there are indications that the help-negation process may occur in samples before levels of suicidal ideation become acute and require clinical intervention. With implications for suicide prevention and clinical practice, findings of help-negation suggest that if the effect can be found in sub-clinical (i.e., non-acutely suicidal) samples, help-negation can be identified as a risk-factor for youth suicide. Moreover, if factors contributing to the help-negation effect can be identified, it may be possible to prevent the help-negation process from occurring. This thesis explores the help-negation effect in four studies with young people at sub-clinical levels of suicidal ideation. Two studies were conducted with university students and two studies, with high school students. The help-negation effect is indicated by negative associations between suicidal ideation and intentions to seek help for suicidal thoughts from a variety of specific sources, along with a positive association between suicidal ideation and intentions to seek help from “no-one”. Study 1 used a sample of 302 first-year university students, Study 2, a sample of 269 private high school students, Study 3, a second sample of 351 first-year university students, and Study 4, a sample of 105 public high school students. Studies 1 to 3 found that higher levels of suicidal ideation related significantly to lower intentions to seek help for suicidal thoughts from a range of sources, and higher intentions to seek help from no-one. Study 4 found that higher levels of suicidal ideation related significantly to lower intentions to seek help from family for suicidal thoughts. Suicidal ideation was measured by the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (SIQ; Reynolds, 1988) and help seeking intentions, by the General Help-Seeking
Symbolism and Becoming a Hunter-Gatherer

I dedicate this paper to the memory of Andree Rosenfeld. From the time when, as an undergraduate, I read her book with Peter Ucko (Ucko & Rosenfeld 1967) that corrected the excesses of the structuralist approach to French cave “art” to the occasion of a visit to her home only months before she passed away, I found Andree a model of good sense about all matters to do with all forms of rock “art”. She gave me and many others nothing but sound advice and managed to navigate between theory and data with more clear sight of her destination than most others. And she was, simply, one of the nicest people who ever became an archaeologist. She will be sorely missed.