Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Investigating the Washback Effect of the MUET as a University Entry Test on Students in Malaysia

The influence that a test has on teaching and learning is commonly known as washback. Existing literature has acknowledged the complexity and multi-directionality of the phenomenon. This study seeks to explore the washback effect of the Malaysian University English Test (MUET), a high-stakes compulsory university entry test. Focusing on students as the main participants in this research, the issue of how Malaysian university students perceive the MUET and their own self-efficacy in relation to the test is examined. The study also investigates the washback length of the MUET, i.e. the continuation of the influence of the test even after the students have sat it. Therefore, this study aims systematically to re-examine beliefs concerning washback by investigating the relationship between the students’ perceptions of the MUET in terms of its importance and difficulty, their own self-efficacy and the language learning strategies they employ in preparing for the test. Within a mixed methods approach, a student questionnaire, student interviews and classroom observation were employed to elicit data. Data were also collected using a teacher questionnaire for triangulation purposes. In general, the findings suggest that the students’ perceptions play a major role in mediating the washback effect of the MUET, especially with regard to perceived test importance and self-efficacy. It was found that the students’ perceptions of the test shaped their goals and consequently stimulated their use of language learning strategies when preparing for the test. The findings also revealed that measuring washback length was as complicated as expected due to the difficulty of controlling for other intervening variables. It is hoped that this study will inspire more research on washback and contribute more knowledge with regard to the scarcely explored area of longer term washback.
A Bayesian Approach to Speech Production

The production of speech is one of the most widely studied topics by scientists interested in how the human mind and brain function, since it is uniquely characteristic of human cognition. Despite the everyday ubiquity of speech, the mechanisms that make it possible have proven to be extremely complex and difficult to formally model. Like other cognitive systems, the speech production system is assumed to be composed of several component stages, or levels of representation/processing. The production of a spontaneous utterance is typically described as involving first selecting a message to convey with its corresponding semantic semantic representation, encoding that message through syntax, morphology, and phonology, and ultimately creating an articulatory plan that can be used to drive the tongue and other speech organs. These different levels of processing must communicate with each other in some way, and multiple similar representations are simultaneously active during processing at each level. Beyond this basic understanding, many of the details associated with the actual mechanisms behind these levels of processing remain up for debate and experimental results collected by linguists, psycholinguists, and neuroscientists present a number of apparent paradoxes. For example, many experiments have measured the relative effect of distractors or primes on the time required to plan and initiate a target utterance. While the tasks used in these experiments appear to differ only slightly, researchers have found that high similarity between the target utterance and the prime results in faster speech planning, and in other cases that similarity is associated with slower planning. In the absence of a strong underlying theory of speech production, such apparently contradictory results have led to complicated, somewhat ad-hoc models that focus on explaining either facilitatory or inhibitory effects, but not both. In addition, while there has been some preliminary empirical investigation of the effects of distractors and primes on phonetic variation, a systematic account explaining the range of these effects has yet to emerge. This dissertation contributes to the empirical understanding of speech production by presenting novel experimental results describing how contextual competition in the speech envi-
THE SUB-PRIME CRISIS, THE CREDIT SQUEEZE AND NORTHERN ROCK : THE LESSONS TO BE LEARNT

On 14 September 2007, after failing to find a 'White Knight' to take over its business, Northern Rock bank turned to the Bank of England ('the Bank') for a liquidity lifeline. This was duly provided but failed to quell the financial panic, which manifested itself in the first fully-blown nationwide deposit run on a UK bank for 140 years. Subsequent provision of a blanket deposit guarantee duly led to the (eventual) disappearance of the depositor queues from outside the bank's branches but only served to heighten the sense of panic in policymaking circles. Following the Government's failed attempt to find an appropriate private sector buyer, the bank was then nationalised in February 2008. Inevitably, post mortems ensued, the most transparent of which was that conducted by the all-party House of Commons' Treasury Select Committee. And a variety of reform proposals are currently being deliberated at fora around the globe with a view to patching up the global financial system to prevent a recurrence of the events which precipitated the bank's illiquidity. This article briefly explains the background to these extraordinary events before setting out, in some detail, the tensions and flaws in UK arrangements which allowed the Northern Rock spectacle to occur. None of the interested parties – the Bank, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) and the Treasury – emerges with their reputation intact, and the policy areas requiring immediate attention, at both the domestic and international level, are highlighted. Some reform recommendations are also provided for good measure, particularly in the area of formal deposit protection.
An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis Of A Small Sample Of Young, Pell Grant-eligible Black Male Students' Perceptions Of Their Experiences In A First-year College Program And Their Beliefs About How It Has Impacted Them

While college enrollments in the United States increased significantly throughout most of the 20 century, graduation rates plateaued toward the end of the century and have remained relatively flat since then. Low college graduation rates are a problem and are applicable to all students in the United States, but they are particularly low for certain student groups, among them, lower-income students and Black male students. While first-year college programs are designed to actively engage students so they persist in college and eventually graduate, it is not always clear how students perceive their experiences in these programs. This thesis is an Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis of a small sample of young, Pell Grant-eligible Black male students’ perceptions of their experiences in a first-year program and their beliefs about its impact on them. The participants in this study completed the program; thus, they exhibited a measure of success by persisting through the program for one year. Their perceptions of their experiences in the program shed light on what engaged them and what did not engage them, and provide insight into aspects of the program that are strengths, as well as areas that could be improved.
Organizational Identification and User Responses to Online Organization Criticism

ABSTRACT As organizations manage their reputations on social media, the role of individual stakeholders in responding to online criticism about the organization becomes increasingly important. Building on the organizational identification literature, this study examines the role of organizational identification and organizational identity orientation in motivating stakeholder responses to organization-directed criticism on social media. Analysis of survey data reveals that organizational identification is positively related to individuals’ propensity to respond to negative content and that individuals with stronger organizational identification are likely to respond in a more cooperative manner. Organizational identity orientation moderates the relationship. The study’s implications for research and practice are discussed.
Performance as Embodied Narratives in Young Italian Muslim Women

This paper presents a theoretical framework, which conceptualizes Muslims women everyday life with particular reference to the body and the intimate sphere. The paper has two main objectives. The first, more relevant, is to clarify the concept of performance, which is described as a narrative form that primarily calls into question the body and which appears as a mimetic rather than conceptual reflexivity (Lash, 1993). The second objective, of methodological nature, implies the presentation of a tool for analyzing the documental material collected during the research and its potential in interpreting the women narratives. Our general aim is to question the concept of representation of the experience and to understand how the actors “perform” their social experience.
The Value Relevance of IFRS Earnings Totals and Subtotals and Non-GAAP Performance Measures

We explore the association between earnings and price for 400 IFRS adopting firms from eight countries (Australia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Singapore, Sweden and the UK) in their annual reports for the years 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2013 (1,577 firm-years). We find no difference in the earnings/price association for firms that present non-GAAP earnings and those that do not. However, we find significant differences based on the non-GAAP measures presented. The disclosure of non-GAAP earnings provides value relevant information for firms that provide underlying operating (also EBIT and EBITDA) earnings but not for firms disclosing underlying net profit. For the first group the adjusting items are not associated with price, providing support for their exclusion by managers. The evidence points to non-GAAP earnings being informative, but only for firms basing adjustments and reconciliations on operating profit.
Bridging the gap: Social divides and coalition building in the phosphate-mining industry in Jordan

ABSTRACT Research on coalitions mainly focuses on the formation of coalitions between well established, formally and politically organised groups. Less attention has been placed on coalitions that form between groups that are not formally organised but, nonetheless, identify themselves and others as clearly distinct social groups. Through the analysis of the coalition of employees that formed in the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company in 2011, this article argues that the study of such coalitions not only opens up new analytical perspectives for a better understanding of coalition building and its ‘transformative’ effects, but also represents an insightful analytical tool to investigate the micro-sociological dynamics of local political arenas. After examining the processes of dissociation and association that make the JPMC employees’ protest movement a coalition, the article discusses the effect of coalition building in reshuffling pre-existing divides, and the political significance of such reshuffling in the Jordanian context.
Automatic Change Detection of Emotional and Neutral Body Expressions: Evidence From Visual Mismatch Negativity

Rapidly and effectively detecting emotions in others is an important social skill. Since emotions expressed by the face are relatively easy to fake or hide, we often use body language to gauge the genuine emotional state of others. Recent studies suggest that expression-related visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) reflects the automatic processing of emotional changes in facial expression; however, the automatic processing of changes in body expression has not yet been studied systematically. The current study uses an oddball paradigm where neutral body actions served as standard stimuli, while fearful body expressions and other neutral body actions served as two different deviants to define body-related vMMN, and to compare the mechanisms underlying the processing of emotional changes to neutral postural changes. The results show a more negative vMMN amplitude for fear deviants 210–260 ms after stimulus onset which corresponds with the negativity bias that was obtained on the N190 component. In earlier time windows, the vMMN amplitude following the two types of deviant stimuli are identical. Therefore, we present a two-stage model for processing changes in body posture, where changes in body posture are processed in the first 170–210 ms, but emotional changes in the time window of 210–260 ms.
Providing flexibility in GUI-based river modelling software: Using Expression Editors and plug-ins to create Custom Functions in Source IMS

Abstract: River modellers quite often require support to incorporate their custom models into existing tools. The Source Integrated Modelling System (Source IMS) is a modelling and simulation software which allows users to directly integrate complicated expressions into its GUI-based software. Source IMS is a new generation river system modelling software package for operational and planning purposes in regulated and unregulated river systems developed by the eWater Cooperative Research Centre. One of the key technical user requirements for this software package is a framework that allows users to import customised model functionality into the Source IMS, including the user interface, via the use of plug-ins. The Source IMS allows the use of programming languages supported by the Microsoft . NET Framework to write algorithms that are executed at each time step. The Expression Editor is a GUI-based tool within the Source IMS that provides the ability to enter an equation to calculate variables such as flow volumes, capacities, losses, gains fferent river system and water demands for dicomponents. The Expression Editor allows users to separately calculate the sub-components of the main expression. This enables the use of circular references, which are commonly used in numerical modelling. Within the Expression Editor, Custom Functions can be called with the ability to accept multiple variables and parameters as objects to be used during calculation. The variables and parameters can be sourced directly from the user, calculated at each time step via expressions and/or taken from a component of the simulation. Numerical programming techniques are available using the Custom Functions plug-ins. These include the use of multi-dimensional arrays, loops, and mathematical and logical operators and functions. In addition, building the plug-ins using Visual Studio 2010 provides a platform for user-friendly debugging methods. Plug-ins, therefore, represent a powerful mechanism for end users to customise the behaviour of the system and incorporate new scientific knowledge and modelling methods. Source Rivers, which is a scenario mode of Source IMS designed to support planning and operational aspects of river system management, is used to demonstrate the Custom Functions. The daily Rainfall-Runoff (RR) model, Ge´nie Rural a` 4 parame`tres Journalier (GR4J), is imported as a series of Custom Functions in a plug-in written in the programming language, C#. The final expression requires seventeen input variables to calculate inflow at each time step. Eight of these variables are dependent on the previous time step’s values in the calculations, requiring circular references in the algorithm. Including GR4J RR model inputs as Custom Functions within Source Rivers makes it suitable for stand-alone applications without dynamic linking with the Source IMS catchment scenarios.
Am I Getting a Good Deal? Reference‐Dependentdecision Making When the Reference Price is Uncertain

Models of consumer decision making commonly incorporate reference dependent preferences. In these models, the reference point is typically assumed to be known by the consumer. However, research on price recall and the reference formation process reveals that the reference price is often uncertain at the time of purchase. Reference price uncertainty creates ambiguity for the consumer about whether they are getting a good or bad deal. This paper develops a model of consumer choice in the presence of reference dependent preferences when the reference price is uncertain. Data from two empirical studies that vary the product category and order of the elicitation of reference prices show that the new model generally outperforms conventional discrete choice models that either ignore reference prices or treat reference prices as certain. The new model provides insights into the effect of reducing reference price uncertainty on consumer choice, and reveals that high uncertainty smoothes the kink in the demand curve that is present in traditional reference‐price demand models.
Parsing Heterogenity In Non-Episodic, Pediatric Irritability: A Transdiagnostic, Research Domain Criteria Informed Approach

Background: Approximately 7% of clinically referred youth exhibit profound impairment in the ability to regulate their affect, behavior, and cognition. This phenotype – often referred to as dysregulation – has been associated with a multitude of negative outcomes. Symptom overlap between dysregulation and other psychological disorders has generated debate regarding whether DP constitutes a distinct syndrome characterized by intense, persistent irritability or is merely the combination of symptoms from disruptive or mood disorders. In order to elucidate this question, the current study examined the transdiagnostic continuities and discontinuities in three RDoC constructs (frustrative non-reward, acute threat, and cognitive control) proposed to be mechanisms of irritability Method: Participants were 294 children ages 7-17 (M=10.94; 67% male). Emotional and behavioral symptoms were measured using the Child Behavior Checklist and the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia. Frustrative non-reward was measured using a frustration-induction Go/No-Go paradigm during which heart rate variability was indexed by respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and pre-ejection period (PEP). Acute threat was measured using an Emotional Faces computer paradigm in conjunction with an eyetracker/pupilometer. Cognitive control was assessed with the Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF), Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) and Stop Signal Task (SST). Results: Symptoms of dysregulation and non-episodic irritability were strongly, positively related. Due to a lack of demonstrated construct validity for the hypothesized RDoC constructs of frustrative non-reward, acute threat, and cognitive control, two alternative mechanisms—SNS response and cognitive dyscontrol of emotion—were derived from the data. Results showed that blunted sympathetic responsivity and poor executive control in response to emotion were predictive of more severe irritability symptoms. Finally, moderation analyses showed that among highly dysregulated children, low levels of sympathetic responsiveness were associated with more severe irritability symptoms. Conclusions: Despite phenotypic overlap with other forms of developmental psychopathology, dysregulated children can be distinguished based on the severity of their irritability symptoms. This supports the conceptualization of dysregulation as a unique syndrome characterized by intense and persistent irritability and lends credence to the novel diagnosis of DMDD. Furthermore, cognitive, behavioral and physiological patterns identified in this study suggest that difficulties with processing negative emotion—as opposed to frustration or threat specifically—may constitute a vulnerability for irritabilit
Latent Feature Models for Uncovering Human Mobility Patterns from Anonymized User Location Traces with Metadata

Latent Feature Models for Uncovering Human Mobility Patterns from Anonymized User Location Traces with Metadata Basma Mohammed Alharbi In the mobile era, data capturing individuals’ locations have become unprecedentedly available. Data from Location-Based Social Networks is one example of large-scale user-location data. Such data provide a valuable source for understanding patterns governing human mobility, and thus enable a wide range of research. However, mining and utilizing raw user-location data is a challenging task. This is mainly due to the sparsity of data (at the user level), the imbalance of data with power-law users and locations check-ins degree (at the global level), and more importantly the lack of a uniform low-dimensional feature space describing users. Three latent feature models are proposed in this dissertation. Each proposed model takes as an input a collection of user-location check-ins, and outputs a new representation space for users and locations respectively. To avoid invading users privacy, the proposed models are designed to learn from anonymized location data where only IDs not geophysical positioning or category of locations are utilized. To enrich the inferred mobility patterns, the proposed models incorporate metadata, often associated with user-location data, into the inference process. In this dissertation, two types of metadata are utilized to enrich the inferred patterns, timestamps and social ties. Time adds context to the inferred patterns, while social ties amplifies incomplete user-location check-ins. The first proposed model incorporates timestamps by learning from collections of users’ locations sharing the same discretized time. The second proposed model also incorporates time into the 5 learning model, yet takes a further step by considering time at different scales (hour of a day, day of a week, month, and so on). This change in modeling time allows for capturing meaningful patterns over different times scales. The last proposed model incorporates social ties into the learning process to compensate for inactive users who contribute a large volume of incomplete user-location check-ins. To assess the quality of the new representation spaces for each model, evaluation is done using an external application, social link prediction, in addition to case studies and analysis of inferred patterns. Each proposed model is compared to baseline models, where results show significant improvements.