Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effectiveness of PowerPoint presentation and conventional lecture on pedagogical content knowledge attainment

AbstractIn English language teaching settings, the type of lecture is important since students should be exposed to instantly recognisable linguistic features in the target language through interaction. This quasi-experimental study was designed to compare the effectiveness of PowerPoint presentations (PPP) and conventional lecture/discussion sessions on the pedagogical content knowledge of the student-teachers of English. PPP were used in the experimental group and conventional lecture/discussion sessions were employed in the control group (CG). The findings revealed that the treatment process was effective on both groups, but the CG achieved better in the post-test. Following the treatment process, the efficiency of the applications was also tested by means of a questionnaire. The CG reflected more positive attitudes towards the conventional lecture/discussion in terms of the quality of instructional strategies, academic language use, professional development, professional perception and problem-solving.
Inward Foreign Direct Investment and National Innovative Capacity

A remarkable increase in the attention devoted to national innovative capacity (NIC) has been noticed over the last decades. There is a strong debate whether a country’s national innovative capacity is entirely determined by local effects or it is also influenced by global network position and international economic activities. Furthermore, despite its’ importance, there is a lack of studies which take the variables of non-technological innovation into account. This paper aims to fill the empirical research gap by focusing on inward foreign direct investment as an input of NIC and engaging non–technological innovation as an output in NIC models. An investigation of 28 European Union (EU) Member States in the period of 2013-2016 shows that EU has a great intellectual capacity of human capital which drives both technological and non-technological innovation. The regression analysis revealed that the international transmission of knowledge through inward FDI and import boost the employment in knowledge-intensive sectors and has a positive effect on trademark and design applications. The findings thus help to better understand the role of international economic activities in enhancing national innovative capacity and facilitate EU efforts to catch up with the strongest innovators in the World.
Sales estimations in the book industry – comparing management predictions with market response models in the children’s book market

ABSTRACT Estimating the demand of books is an important business-planning task for publishing companies. This study identifies, quantifies, and generalizes the sales drivers of children’s and young adult literature books and investigates whether quantitative prediction models improve prerelease sales predictions. We compare the model-based predictions with prerelease management sales predictions of a subsample provided by a large German publisher. Based on a sample of 542 titles that were published in Germany, we examine (a) the relevant drivers (elasticities) for economic success and (b) analyze the prediction performance of the models using two specifications of multiplicative market response models for this highly relevant market. The quantitative model approach outperforms management heuristics, reducing the prediction error by up to 45%. We further highlight the practical feasibility of simple market response models.
INSTRUMENTOS DE POLÍTICA CIENTÍFICA , TECNOLÓGICA Y DE INNOVACIÓN EN AMÉRICA LATINA . PRINCIPALES TENDENCIAS EN ARGENTINA , BRASIL Y MÉXICO

Este trabajo tiene como objetivo describir las tendencias principales de las políticas en ciencia, tecnología e innovación en Argentina, Brasil y México a través del análisis de su operacionalización llevada a cabo por medio de instrumentos y programas. Asimismo se busca identificar la importancia que se le otorga a los sectores estratégicos en los marcos normativos de estos países y cómo esto se constata a través de los programas implementados en cada caso. Para lograr este fin se hace uso de un sistema de información dedicado a la recopilación de normativas, políticas e instrumentos aplicados por los países de Iberoamérica, denominado Políticas CTI.3
Comparative Solutions of Numerical Oscillations in the Trapezoidal Method used by EMTP-based Programs

-This paper presents comparative solutions of different algorithms to the problem of numerical oscillations, which are caused by the trapezoidal integration rule, used by EMTP-based programs. These numerical oscillations emerge mostly from the abrupt variation of the voltage between the terminals of a capacitor, or from the abrupt current change in inductors, or even when non-linear elements, with piece-wise linearized models swap among linear regions. The importance of this review work stands on the exact understanding of the numerical oscillations problem and the evaluation of different methods proposed to solve this problem. Indeed, several approaches have been developed, but not all of them are really effective and only someones have been implemented in public or commercial software to eliminate numerical oscillations.
BEAM DIAGNOSTICS FOR THE APS MBA UPGRADE*

The Advanced Photon Source (APS) is currently in the preliminary design phase for a multi-bend acromat (MBA) lattice upgrade. Beam stability is critical where the requirements are driven by beam size which is expected to approach 4 μm vertically at the insertion device (ID) source points. AC rms beam stability requirements are defined as 10 % the minimum source size at the ID in the band 0.01-1000 Hz. The vertical plane stability goal is the most ambitious requiring a stability of 0.4 μm at the ID source point. In addition, long term drift defined as motion over a seven day period can be no more than 1 μm. In order to achieve these demanding beam stability requirements, a suite of beam diagnostics will be required including rf BPMs, X-ray BPMs, a mechanical motion measurement system (MMS), beam size monitors and a real time orbit feedback system. In addition, a tune measurement system, transverse multi-bunch feedback system and current monitors are planned for the upgrade. We report on the beam diagnostics design and APS storage ring R&D results used to inform the design.
Wine Index of Salubrity and Health (WISH): an evidence-based instrument to evaluate the impact of good wine on well-being

Wine, as any other alcoholic drink, should be consumed in moderate dosages. The scientific literature reports a huge number of articles describing the various health benefits of moderate wine drinking, but none have so far summarized the different types of evidence supporting these effects. Furthermore, there is no proof that any specific wine might be more or less beneficial than any other according to its content of specific nutrients and components. The aim of this article was to identify the individual components of wine that are known to have a potential to effect on health, in order to create a wine-specific index to grossly estimate the impact of moderate wine drinking on well-being. A deep search was performed on the medical literature to choose those articles that could explain the role of the main components of wine on health. The proper dosages and the instruments to evaluate the quality of wines were identified and are described herein. Evidence supporting the role of alcohol, acidity, sulfur dioxide, malic acid, metals, polyphenols, and other components of wine on health was identified and summarized, and the various links with health benefits are described. Then a Wine Index of Salubrity and Health (WISH) was developed which, as a rapidly available and effective instrument, will help to understand at a glance the potential beneficial effect of a specific wine.
Tactile mouse generating velvet hand illusion on human palm

To enhance virtual reality (VR) generated by tactile displays, we have focused on a novel tactile illusion, called the Velvet Hand Illusion (VHI). In VHI, moving two parallel wires back and forth between the two hands leads humans to perceive a velvet-like surface between their hands. In earlier studies, we revealed that the intensity of VHI could be controlled by a ratio (r/D), where r and D are the wire stroke and wire distance, respectively. According to these findings, we investigate in this study whether a common tactile display is able to produce VHI, and whether the ratio can also control VHI intensity. We prepare a dot-matrix display as a tactile display in which moving one line of the display’s pins is considered as a wire pattern. We investigate the VHI intensity with regard to changing the stroke r and the line distance D using paired comparison. Experimental results show that the VHI intensity is increased or decreased by changing r and D. We conclude that VHI can be created by the tactile display, and the intensity of VHI is controlled by changing the ratio of r/D.
ISOLATATION , AUTHENTICATION AND EVALUATION OF SYMBIOTIC EFFECTIVENESS OF ELITE INDIGENOUS RHIZOBIA NODULATING PHASEOLUS VULGARIS L . IN HAI DISTRICT , NORTHERN TANZANIA

The application of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) through rhizobia inoculums is promoted as a solution to solve the problem of poor soil fertility in areas where legumes are cultivated. This is due to the fact that, rhizobia enhance nitrogen fixation, induce disease resistance, reduce levels of heavy metals in the soil, facilitate bioavailability of iron in soil and is environmental friendly. To get rhizobia strains which are suitable for inoculants production, isolation and molecular characterization of elite rhizobia is needed. Molecular characterization act as a spark plug for discovery of many microbes including Rhizobia. Multi Locus Sequence Analysis (MLSA), 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, DNA-DNA hybridization and SDS-PAGE analysis of the wholecell proteins are the molecular techniques mostly used in characterizing rhizobia. But before deciding to use or not to use rhizobia inoculants in certain areas, knowing the population size of indigenous rhizobia found in that area is very important, because this is a major factor which determine inoculums responses as well gives clues on which areas need or do not need inoculation. The most probable number (MPN) method is mostly used in enumerating rhizobia population of the soil. Given that, most of the developing countries, including Tanzania, Biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) technology is not fully flourished; more efforts in isolation, molecular characterization of elite rhizobia and estimation of indigenous rhizobia population in various areas are required.
Number : WUCSE-2013-1 2013 Scanner : An Efficient and Accurate Trimming Tool for Illumina Next Generation Sequencing

Recent advances in High-Throughput Sequencing (HTS) technology have greatly facilitated the researches in bioinformatics field. With the ultra-high sequencing speed and improved base-calling accuracy, Illumina Genome Analyzer is currently the most widely used platform in the field. To use the raw reads generated from the sequencing machine, the 3’ adapter sequence attached to the real read in the process of ligation needs to be correctly trimmed. This is often done by some inhouse scripts or different packages with various parameters. They either use the Smith-Waterman algorithm or search for an exact match of the 3’ adapter sequence. In this report, I investigated methodologies as well as the strengths and weaknesses of five representative mainstream adapter trimming tools in order to suggest a direction for other researchers. Furthermore, four sets of detailed analysis were performed to evaluate the performances of these tools. I demonstrated that my adapter trimming method is flexible, accurate and efficient for Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) analysis. Type of Report: MS Project Report Department of Computer Science & Engineering Washington University in St. Louis Campus Box 1045 St. Louis, MO 63130 ph: (314) 935-6160 Master’s Project Report LCScanner: An Efficient and Accurate Trimming Tool for Illumina Next Generation Sequencing Reads by Xiang Zhou Master of Engineering in Computer Science Washington University in St. Louis, 2012 Research Advisor: Professor Weixiong Zhang
SYNTACTIC PROCESSING OF SUBJECTS IN DIFFERENT WORD ORDERS IN ARABIC : DO ARABIC HERITAGE SPEAKERS DIFFER FROM NATIVE SPEAKERS WHEN PROCESSING SVO / VSO ?

The aim of this study is to investigate the preference and processing of Arabic word order, namely, Verb-Subject-Object (VSO) or Subject-Verb-Object (SVO) by heritage speakers of Arabic (HSs) living in Ottawa, Canada. In Standard Arabic (SA) and in a variety of regional dialects in the Arab world, two different word orders can be used: VSO or SVO with a noticeable preference for VSO; see (1) for VSO and (2) for SVO.
1980: THE PROBLEM OF NORMALITY IN STATISTICAL INFERENCE FOR SAMPLE SURVEYS

The sampling distribution of an estimator that subsumes all the estimators considered in the literature of sample surveys is defined. A new expression for kurtosis which is much simpler than the usual one based on the central moments or the conditional central moments is presented. In general the attainment of approximate normality of distributional form or otherwise, depends on all features of the sampling design of which overall sample size is one. More caution, and less reliance on asymptotic normality, is suggested by this ~ result in making probability statements about the characteristics of a finite universe.
Correlation of gamma emitting radionuclides and radiological health hazards indices around Lancaster dam

Background: All human beings and living organisms are exposed to natural radiations on daily basis, which is mainly due to the activity concentration of primordial radionuclides Th, U and their products of decay together with the natural radionuclide K present in the earth’s crust. Materials and Methods: A total of 59 soil samples were collected around the banks and surroundings of the Lancaster dam using an auger at a depth of about 0.75 meters from the top surface. The samples were analysed using low background co-axial n-type High Purity Germanium (HPGe) detector of high-resolution and the resulting spectrum were analysed using Canberra Genie software. Results: This study revealed that the activity concentration values are in the order of Th <K<U in all sampling sites. A statistical analysis based on Pearson correlation showed a positive correlation between the radiological parameters and the two primordial radionuclides Th, U and the natural radionuclide K. Conclusion: This implied that the two primordial radionuclides Th, U and their products of decay including the natural radionuclide K contribute to the emission of gamma radiation in all the locations of the study area. The calculated U/Th concentration ratio in soils of present study was almost six times higher compared with different countries of the world.
Political connections and household access to bank loans: evidence from China

Abstract Using data from a large household survey among 8,438 households in China in 2011, we analyse whether the fact that a household head is a member of a political party in China increases the probability that the household has access to a bank loan. We investigate how these connections influence the decision of households to apply for a bank loan (i.e., the demand side) and the decision of the bank to approve the loan (i.e., the supply side). We show that political connections are positively associated with both the households’ willingness to apply for a loan, as well as with the probability that they get a loan from the bank. We make two contributions to the literature on the determinants of households’ access to credit. We are the first to analyse the role of political connections as a determinant of households’ access to bank loans. Second, we analyse the role of political connections throughout the process of allocating bank loans, i.e., we decompose the loan application process into the households’ self-selection process and bank’s selection process.
Effects of Tirofiban combined with Betaloc on serum P-selectin , BNP levels , and cardiac function in patients with acute myocardial infarction after PCI

Objective: To investigate the effects of tirofiban combined with betaloc on serum P-selectin, brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels, and cardiac function in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods: Ninety-five patients were randomly divided into the observation group and the control group. The control group was treated with betaloc alone, while the observation group was treated with tirofiban and betaloc. Patient serum P-selectin and BNP levels, hemodynamic parameters, cardiac function indexes, troponin T (TNT), and C-reactive protein levels were observed and compared. Results: The total effective rate of the observation group was significantly higher than that of the control group (P=0.015). Parameters were significantly lower in both groups after treatment, and there was significant difference between the two groups (both P=0.000). P-selectin and BNP levels in both groups significantly decreased after treatment, and there was significant difference between the two groups (both P=0.000). LVEF was significantly increased in both groups, with significant difference between the two groups (P=0.000). The LVEDD and LVESD of the observation group were significantly lower than those of the control group after treatment (both P=0.000). Both TNT and hs-CRP were significantly reduced and with significant differences between the two groups (all P=0.000). Conclusion: Treatment with tirofiban combined with betaloc after PCI in patients with AMI can improve clinical outcomes and has a high clinical value owing to its ability to reduce P-selectin and BNP levels and to improve cardiac function and hemodynamic status.
Hypoxia and Trypsin enhance the Proangiogenic Properties of human Adipose-derived Stem Cells

IX Abbreviations . XI 1 Background . 1 1.1 Diabetes Mellitus and Chronic Foot Ulcers . 1 1.1.1 Diabetic Foot Ulcers . 1 1.1.2 Wound Healing . 1 1.2 Angiogenesis and VEGF . 3 1.2. 1 Angiogenesis . 3 1.2. 2 Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor . 5 1.3 Adipose-derived Stem Cells and Wound Healing . 6 1.3.1 ASCs and Hypoxia . 7 1.3.2 VEGF and Trypsin . 8 2 Aims and Hypotheses . 11 3 Materials & Methods. 13 3.1 Cell Cultures . 13 3.1.1 Human Adipose-derived Stem Cells . 13 3.1.2 Human Dermal Microvascular Endothelial Cells . 13 3.1.3 General Conditions . 13 3.1. 4 Standard Incubation . 13 3.1. 5 The BioSpherix Glove Box . 14 3.1. 6 Verification of Incubator Systems . 14 3.2 Hypoxicand Trypsin Treatment . 14 3.2. 1 Hypoxic Treatment . 14 3.2. 2 Trypsin Treatment . 14 3.3 Combinational Treatment . 16 3.3.1 Response Time of Trypsin Treatment . 16 3.3.2 Investigation of an Additive Effect . 16 3.4 Expression of VEGF . 17 3.4.1 RNA Extraction . 17 3.4.2 cDNA Synthesis . 17 3.4. 3 Quantitative real-time RT-PCR . 17 3.5 Secreted VEGF . 18 3.5.1 Best Time to Harvest . 18 3.5.2 Additive Effect of Trypsin and Hypoxia . 18 3.5.3 Enzymed-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) . 18 3.5.4 DNA . 19 3.6 Activation of Hypoxia Inducible Factor-1 . 19 3.6. 1 Harvest of Nuclear extract . 19 3.6. 2 HIF-1 Activation . 19 3.7 Migration of Endothelial Cells . 19 3.7. 1 Transfection of Cells . 19 3.7. 2 Ring Assay . 20 3.8 Statistical Analysis . 21 4 Results . 23 4.1 Investigation of ASC’s Response to Hypoxia and Trypsin through VEGF . 23 4.1.1 The Time-Dependent Effect of Trypsin Treatment . 23 4.1.2 Optimization of ASCs Treatment . 23 4.1.3 Response Time of Trypsin Treatment . 26 4.1. 4 Hypoxic and Trypsin Treatment – an Additive Effect? 28 4.1. 5 Secretion of VEGF. 29 4.2 Endothelial Cells . 30 4.2. 1 Migration Assay. 30 5 Discussion . 33 5.1 Hypoxia increases VEGF Expression and Secretion. 33 5.2 Trypsin increases VEGF Expression and Secretion . 33 5.3 The combination of Hypoxicand Trypsin Treatment has an Additive Effect on the Expression and Secretion of VEGF . 34 5.4 ASCs and Endothelial Cell Migration . 35 6 Prospects . 35 7 Conclusion . 36 8 References . 37 9 Appendix I: Verification of Incubator Systems . A 10 Appendix II: Results of Migration Experiment . B
Financial Advisor Centrality in Mergers and Acquisitions

This paper examines the role of the social network hierarchy of financial advisors in a mergers and acquisitions framework. Our findings indicate that more centrally located financial advisors are more likely to be involved in higher M&A activity, more likely to advise bidders, large and complex deals and require more time to complete the deal. Central financial advisors fail to create value for both bidders and targets while they charge higher advisor fees. Our results highlight that financial advisors exploit their relative power in their network to undertake takeover deals and pursue private benefits.
Correlation between the Pressure Pain Threshold and Sonography and Spontaneous Electrical Activity in Myofascial Trigger Points

Purpose: This study was designed to investigate possibilities for quantitative analysis using the electromyography and sonography. For better understanding, we evaluated the correlation between the pressure pain threshold and sonography, spontaneous electrical activity in trigger points located in the upper trapezius muscle. Methods: Thirty three active subjects volunteered to participate in this study (n=33). They had a palpable taut band, exquisite spot tenderness of a nodule in a taut band, spontaneous pain, referred pain, jump sign, local twitch response, and a painful limit to full stretch range of motion. We measured Pressure pain threshold, density, white area index, root mean square, and reaction. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was calculated to estimate the relationship between the pressure pain threshold and other variables including density, white area index, root mean square, and reaction time. Results: There were significant correlations between pressure pain threshold and density (r= ‑ 0.75, p<0.01), and between pressure pain threshold and white area index (r= ‑ 0.74, p<0.01). A significant correlations between pressure pain threshold and root mean square (r= ‑ 0.59, p<0.01). The significant correlation was found between pressure pain threshold and reaction time (r= ‑ 0.64, p<0.01). Conclusion: These should indicate whether quantitative analysis can be done using the characteristics of electromyography and sonography
BoWs : An End-to-End Bag-of-Words Model via Deep Convolutional Neural Network

Traditional Bag-of-visual Words (BoWs) model is commonly generated with many steps including local feature extraction, codebook generation, and feature quantization, etc. Those steps are relatively independent with each other and are hard to be jointly optimized. Moreover, the dependency on hand-crafted local feature makes BoWs model not effective in conveying high-level semantics. These issues largely hinder the performance of BoWs model in large-scale image applications. To conquer these issues, we propose an End-to-End BoWs (EBoWs) model based on Deep Convolutional Neural Network (DCNN). Our model takes an image as input, then identifies and separates the semantic objects in it, and finally outputs the visual words with high semantic discriminative power. Specifically, our model firstly generates Semantic Feature Maps (SFMs) corresponding to different object categories through convolutional layers, then introduces Bag-of-Words Layers (BoWL) to generate visual words for each individual feature map. We also introduce a novel learning algorithm to reinforce the sparsity of the generated EBoWs model, which further ensures the time and memory efficiency. We evaluate the proposed EBoWs model on several image search datasets including CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100, MIRFLICKR-25K and NUSWIDE. Experimental results show that our method achieves promising accuracy and efficiency compared with recent deep learning based retrieval works.