Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Subjective Norm and Facilitating Conditions on Pre-Service Teachers' Attitude toward Computer Use: A Structural Equation Modeling of an Extended Technology Acceptance Model

This study examined pre-service teachers' self-report on their attitude toward computer use. Participants were 285 pre-service teachers at a teacher training institution in Singapore. They completed a survey questionnaire measuring their responses to five constructs which formed a research model using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as a framework. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used as the main technique for data analysis. Results showed that attitude toward computer use was significantly explained by perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, and two external variables, subjective norm and facilitating conditions. Overall, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, subjective norm, and facilitating conditions model accounts for 67.1% of the variance in the attitude toward computer use among pre-service teachers. The results of this study suggest that the TAM is a valid and efficient model in explaining attitude toward computer use among educational users.
Student support in distance education in the 21st century: Learning from service management

The popular conception of distance education is of a system in which students receive few of the consumptive service benefits of their colleagues in full‐time education. In fact, distance educators have generally been better at articulating what they mean by student service than traditional educators. Nevertheless, the rationale developed by distance educators for providing such services is less well based, making the service side of distance education vulnerable to pressures to reduce costs. With signs of a change in what traditional students, acting within a consumerist framework, want in the way of support services, and with distance education undergoing considerable changes in the wake of the development of e‐business, there is a need to reconsider the rationale for and nature of student services, drawing on some of the thinking that has taken place in the service management sector.
Last-Conjunct Agreement in Slovenian

In this paper we present a discussion of Slovenian conjunct agreement phenomena, arguing that in one of the two strategies for determining agreement, agreement is simply linear; that is, verbal forms agree with the closest nominal of the conjunct. This paper is one of the first overviews of these phenomena in Slovenian and thus we view our contribution as largely empirical, supporting our claim with a corpus study. We show that existing analyses cannot explain the Slovenian facts, in particular the cases of preverbal, last-conjunct agreement. For comparison, we will show some accounts of linear agreement elsewhere in natural language. We present an analysis which highlights a crucial role for the possibility of separate gender and number probes.
Error localization using mode shapes: An application to a two link robot arm

A technique to localize errors between two modal models is presented. Mode shape difference are calculated from each model. A global comparison of the ratios of these corresponding differences is used to identify the physical locations on the structure where stiffness differences exist between the two models. Some of the strengths and limitations of the technique are illustrated using the mode shapes of two similar finite element models with a known stiffness difference. The technique is then applied to a two link robot arm for which a finite element model exists and a modal test has been conducted. The results of the error localization aid the selection of physical parameters to be updated in the finite element model. Sensitivity methods are used to correlate the finite element model to the modal test. The results of the correlation are presented. 5 refs., 3 figs., 3 tabs.
Understanding E-Learning Adoption among Brazilian Universities: An Application of the Decomposed Theory of Planned Behavior

This study sheds light on the organizational dimensions underlying e-learning adoption among Brazilian universities. We propose an organizational e-learning adoption model based on the decomposed theory of planned behavior (TPB). A series of hypotheses are posited with regard to the relationships among the proposed constructs. The model is pretested and finally validated with the data collected from 446 Brazilian universities' faculty members. We use structural equation modeling to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that our data fit the model well, demonstrating that e-learning adoption is feasible and accepted as a teaching tool in Brazil. In closing, we draw theoretical and managerial implications, while recognizing important limitations.
Modelling the advertising‐sales relationship through use of multiple time series techniques

When time series data are available for both advertising and sales, it may be worth while to model the two series jointly. Such an analysis may contribute to our understanding of the dynamic relationships among the series and may improve the accuracy of forecasts. Multiple time series techniques are applied to the well-known Lydia Pinkham data to illustrate their use in modelling the advertising-sales relationship. In analysing the Lydia Pinkham data the need for a joint model is established and a bivariate model is identified, estimated and checked. Its forecasting properties are discussed and compared to other time series approaches.
A 2.5 Gbps CMOS optical receiver analog front-end

A 3 V, single chip optical receiver analog front-end capable of operating at 2.5 Gbit/s is fabricated in a 0.35 /spl mu/m CMOS technology. The IC contains a transimpedance amplifier (TIA) with 54.5 dB/spl Omega/ conversion gain, f/sub -3 dB/ of 2.5 GHz, and a limiting amplifier with a conversion gain of 42 dB, f/sub -3 dB/ of 2.3 GHz. The TIA is DC coupled to the limiting amplifier. The measured eye diagram meets the OC-48 transition mask. Input referred noise current is about 800 nA.
The Application of a Sequence Alignment Method to the Creation of Typologies of Tourist Activity in Time and Space

In this article we introduce the method of sequence alignment and its uses for creating tourist typologies based on temporal and spatial movements through a destination. The sequence alignment method was first developed in the 1980s by biochemists who wished to analyse DNA sequences; it was adapted for use in the social sciences towards the end of the 1990s. Unlike traditional quantitative methods, sequence alignment is concerned with the order (or sequence) of events. Thus, it is well suited for tourism research, as tourism involves the mobility of tourists through time and space. In this study, a database composed of 305 space-time sequences of visitors to Hong Kong was analysed. Data were obtained using global positioning system devices which were distributed among participants. The sequences were aligned using ClustalG, a sequence alignment computer program. The analysis resulted in the identification of various classifications of tourists in Hong Kong based on their time-space patterns.
Using Videos from YouTube and Websites in the CLIL Classroom

This paper reports on a research study that was carried out on the use of videos for task-based learning of scientific subjects through English in secondary education. It examines the potential of implementing CLIL classes in language learning contexts with the aim of improving students' competence by enhancing their motivation. It particularly describes the advantages of using technology and streaming videos in these situations as a way to engage learners. A wide range of video-sharing websites is available on the Internet, including video lessons, documentaries and educational material which can be used to facilitate students' meaningful learning. CLIL methodology involves a combination of subject and language teaching with careful attention to learners' language level and skills. Traditional language teaching largely relies on graded material and often corresponds to low levels of participation whereas CLIL employs authentic material and resources, which means creating more realistic learning opportunities but also designing specific tasks to boost students' understanding. After analyzing the characteristics of videos and describing the advantages of using them in CLIL contexts, this paper provides some practical suggestions for classroom use and discusses the results of this experience. http://dx.doi. org/10.5755/j01.sal. 0.18. 417
The component functions of the high Rise terminal contour in Australian declarative sentences

There is a peculiar sentence intonation pattern, found in English so far as I know only among women, which has the form of a declarative answer to a question, and is used as such, but has the rising inflection typical of a yesno question, as well as being especially hesitant. The effect is as though one were seeking confirmation, though at the same time the speaker may be the only one who has the requisite information. [Lakoff 1975:17. ]
Memory for Television News: Match and Mismatch Between Processing and Testing

This study tested the roles of processing goals and retrieval cues on memory for television news. Encoding goals were manipulated either by having participants rate the overall meaning of eight television news stories (conceptually-driven processing) or by having participants rate the surface features of the stories (data-driven processing). Then participants were told either to think back to the stories they saw in order to complete a memory task, or were given no such instruction. Retention was measured by one of four tests, each of which reflected different processing requirements. Results showed that performance was enhanced when there was a match between encoding and retrieval requirements in three of the four tests. The results are explained within a transfer appropriate processing model, which emphasizes a match between the processing and retrieval activities of viewers.
Newest developments of ACMANT

Abstract. The seasonal cycle of radiation intensity often causes a marked seasonal cycle in the inhomogeneities (IHs) of observed temperature time series, since a substantial portion of them have direct or indirect connection to radiation changes in the micro-environment of the thermometer. Therefore the magnitudes of temperature IHs tend to be larger in summer than in winter. A new homogenisation method, the Adapted Caussinus – Mestre Algorithm for Networks of Temperature series (ACMANT) has recently been developed which treats appropriately the seasonal changes of IH-sizes in temperature time series. The performance of ACMANT was proved to be among the best methods (together with PRODIGE and MASH) in the efficiency test procedure of COST ES0601 project. A further improved version of the ACMANT is described in this paper. In the new version the ANOVA procedure is applied for correcting inhomogeneities, and with this change the iterations applied in the earlier version have become unnecessary. Some other modifications have also been made, from which the most important one is the new way for estimating the timings of IHs. With these modifications the efficiency of the ACMANT has become even higher, therefore its use is strongly recommended when networks of monthly temperature series from mid- or high geographical latitudes are subjected to homogenisation. The paper presents the main properties and the operation of the new ACMANT.
Large-scale reliable multicast of small messages

Several applications could benefit from large-scale reliable multicast of small messages. For example, the problems of propagating invalidations for web-cache consistency, dissemination of stock quotes to traders, and propagation of information about web updates to search engines all require reliable multicast of small messages. While multicasting is itself an active area of research, and each of the problems mentioned have received attention in literature, there are no guiding principles for facilitating multicast of small messages. First, we outline a global rendezvous architecture (GRA)--an application-level architecture for large-scale reliable multicast of small messages. The main contributions of GRA are the global rendezvous point concept, the join protocol for client, and the facility for trust across AS boundaries. Second, we describe QuickFlow, an architecture for web cache consistency that utilizes GRA, and show the benefits of QuickFlow compared to previous approaches. Third, we show how FreshFlow, an architecture proposed for search engine freshness, follows GRA. We also present new results for FreshFlow that demonstrate the scalability of FreshFlow.
Approaches to Study and their Impact on the Need for Support and Guidance in Distance Learning

Interviews were conducted on 20 women distance learners from community nursing disciplines. The aim of the research was to develop relationships between approaches to study, learning styles and strategies, and materials design, and how these impact on the need for support and guidance in distance learning. The research draws on theories of learning style and strategies, as well as constructivism. The interview transcripts were analysed using grounded theory techniques of open and axial coding. This paper discusses the processes through which the coding procedures were used to develop concepts, categories and properties. Tentative links between concepts and categories are also discussed together with the emerging theory, in which it is suggested that students use different approaches to studying at a distance depending on their preferred learning style, with links between learning styles and strategies being proposed. Three approaches to study were identified: systematic wading, speedy-focusing, and global dipping. The paper suggests that systematic waders tend to be serialist learners, progressing through the materials in a sequential and rigorous manner. This involves an active engagement with learning materials, which fosters deep learning. Such learners find that closed materials, combined with passive tutor support provide sufficient guidance. Speedy-focusers take a strategic view of the materials, and take 'short cuts' to focus on what is required. They tend to be holistic learners, taking in the whole picture to get the gist of things. Their approach fosters limited deep learning. Such students prefer open materials and a passive tutor role. Global dippers tend to study in a disorganised fashion, but while they too use holist approaches, they tend to encounter difficulties that cause them to move in and out of serialist and holist approaches. Their learning style is undirected, involves a passive engagement with the materials, and results in surface learning. Such students need closed materials, dialogue, and an active tutor, to provide necessary guidance.
Finding Out: Conducting and Evaluating Social Research

Part One: Designing a research project. The scientific method of research. The research question. The sample and significance. Choosing the methods. Part Two: Methods of data collection. Indirect and observational methods of data collection. Interviews. Questionnaires and surveys. Experiments and quasi-experiments. Part Three: Analyzing the data. Analyzing the data. The significance of tests. Coming to conclusions. The consequences of research. Appendices.
Power-Gating Technique for Network-on-Chip Buffers

A new approach to reducing leakage power in network-on-chip buffers is presented. The non-uniformity of buffer utilisation is leveraged across the network and power-gating is applied to scarcely utilised buffers. Instead of turning-off the buffers completely, a buffer portion is kept turned-on. This design choice has a significant performance benefit because the buffer is always able to receive network packets. Design aspects and trade-offs in a 45 nm CMOS technology are discussed and results obtained over video application benchmarks are presented. It is shown that it is possible to reduce buffer leakage by 40% without performance penalty.
Narrative: A Critical Linguistic Introduction

Contents Series Editor's Introduction to the Interface Series Preface Acknowledgements 1. Preliminary orientations 2. Basic story structure 3. The articulattion of narrative text I: time, focalization, narration 4. The articulation of narrative text II: character, setting, suspense, film 5. The articulation of narrative text III: representing character discourse 6. Narrative as socially situated: the sociolinguistic approach 7. Children's narratives 8. Narrative as political action Further Reading Notes and Exercises Bibliography Index
Efficient grouping and ordering processing on XML data

Processing grouping operations on XML data has become an important research issue. In this article, we propose the notion of the structure group to represent a set of XML elements or attributes which are structure-related, and might correspond to the same set of answers. Such notion is used to design two indices. First, the group index is proposed to efficiently identify the structure group satisfying the value constraint. The value index can then retrieve the required value for a particular group. We also design the structure Grouping and Ordering Tree to represent the intermediate result in the properly nested and ordered structure, so that it can be easily transformed to the final result. A series of experiments have been performed, and the results show that the proposed index-based method is more efficient than the previous Scan approach, which scans the whole XML document and is based on the hashing technique.
High-speed digital image correlation: error estimations and applications

Among the different optical measurement techniques for full-field analysis of displacements and strains, digital image correlation (DIC) has proven to be very flexible, robust, and easy to use, covering a wide range of different applications. DIC measurement results, among others, are influenced by the systematic errors of the measurements system, a major source of which is due to imaging system calibration. We present a 3-D DIC system that provides online error information concerning diverse error sources, and even more important, the propagation of errors throughout the calculations to the resulting contours, displacements, and strains. On the basis of this system we discuss error sources, error propagation, and the impact on correlation results. Performance tests for studying the impact of calibration errors on the resulting data are shown for static and dynamic applications.
Why e-Service Development is Different: A Literature Review

As the importance of services in our society increases, so does the importance of systematic approaches to develop these services - commonly termed New Service Development (NSD). An increasing proportion of services are now electronic services delivered over the Internet. The purpose of this article is to derive a set of key attributes that distinguish electronic from non-electronic services and their potential influence on NSD. These key attributes are then used as a framework for analyzing NSD literature with regards to their applicability for the development of electronic services. This analysis reveals several gaps in NSD research. In particular, current NSD methods are not well equipped to address the rapidly changing nature and specific cost structure found in electronic services. Current NSD methods are also not well suited to fully exploit the various advantages that electronic services offer over non-electronic counterparts, in particular, the transparent feedback generated by service usage and potentials for continuous improvement and rapid deployment of service changes.
Advance Resource Reservation in High Speed Communication Networks: A Survey

A survey of advance resource reservation techniques for guaranteed bandwidth is carried out. A classification of these techniques, on the basis of their effect on different network functions, such as routing, resource management etc, is presented. Agent-based networks, heterogeneous networks and re-negotiations in advance resource reservations have been studied along-with some applications of advance resource reservation.
Closed-form solution of controller synthesis for infinitely large systems of resource sharing systems of a subclass of Petri nets

Little literature has dealt with infinite systems where an arbitrarily large number of resources is shared between larger systems with many stages due to the associated state explosion problem. Current most advanced controlled techniques for flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) cannot handle very large systems. We proposed earlier a method without reachability analysis to find the closed-form solutions of all reachable, forbidden, and live markings for the so-called kth-order system. This is the first reported closed-form solution of arbitrarily large systems. This paper further extends the closed-form solutions to the controller synthesis of infinite kth-order systems, which is a subclass of FMS. The place-invariant-based deadlock prevention controls are adopted to reduce the computational burden by considering only the minimal set of all first-met bad markings (FBMs). No live states are lost by considering also only the minimal set of all live markings. The above requires solving integer linear programming problems (ILPPs), which is NP-hard and quite time-consuming. By merging several monitors into a single one while not losing live states, this paper is able to achieve the same best results in the literature while avoiding the time-consuming reachability analysis and complete siphon computation which does not scale well with the size of the nets. Furthermore, closed-form solution of arbitrarily large systems can be derived, which has never been attained so far. Application to large Gadara resource allocation systems is also mentioned. Further work on handling a very large system with resources shared between more than two processes is reported. Moreover, the initial markings of the two terminal resource places are allowed to vary above one.
Evaluation of How the Blended Use of a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) Can Impact on Learning and Teaching in a Specific Module

Abstract This paper explores how the blended use of a virtual learning environment (VLE) can impact on student learning in a specific module within a small university in the UK. Students studying a module about crisis situations faced by children in different parts of the world were asked to contribute to online forums as part of their learning. Forty-seven students participated in the study. Student questionnaires, Moodle reports and student assessment grades were analysed to explore the benefits of online forums. In line with previous research, online forums were found to be popular with students and multiple perceived benefits were identified, such as flexibility, greater sense of community and enhanced higher learning skills. Analysis of student assessment grades suggests that online forums may also enhance student performance. However, a larger scale longitudinal study is necessary to determine this more clearly. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of viewing VLEs as a communication, collaboration and knowledge focused medium with the potential to enhance higher learning skills through the use of interactive online activities such as forums.
Enabling Sharing and Reuse of Scientific Data

The purpose of this study was to develop an understanding of the current state of scientific data sharing that stakeholders could use to develop and implement effective data sharing strategies and policies. The study developed a conceptual model to describe the process of data sharing, and the drivers, barriers, and enablers that determine stakeholder engagement. The conceptual model was used as a framework to structure discussions and interviews with key members of all stakeholder groups. Analysis of data obtained from interviewees identified a number of themes that highlight key requirements for the development of a mature data sharing culture.