Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Conversations with Experts – In Conversation with John Levis, Editor of Journal of Second Language Pronunciation

John Levis is Angela B. Pavitt Professor of English. He works in Applied Linguistics and Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL) at Iowa State University, where he is also the Director of the undergraduate Cross-Disciplinary Linguistics Program. His main interest is teaching of second language pronunciation. He co-edited Social Dynamics in Second Language Accent (De Gruyter, 2014), the Handbook of English Pronunciation (Wiley, 2015), and Pronunciation: Critical Concepts in Linguistics (Taylor & Francis, 2017). His most recent book is Intelligibility, Oral Communication, and the Teaching of Pronunciation (Cambridge University Press, 2018). He initiated the Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching Conference in 2009, has helped edit its electronic proceedings for 11 years, and is founding editor of the Journal of Second Language Pronunciation (2015–present).
Secondary education students’ self-assessment: the effects of feedback, subject matter, year level, and gender

ABSTRACT The effects of relevant factors related to self-assessment have not been systematically investigated. We explored four factors and their effects on self-assessment and self-efficacy: (1) feedback (with vs without), (2) subject matter (Spanish vs mathematics), (3) year level (K7 vs K10 vs K11), and (4) gender. The participants included 64 secondary education students who self-assessed during a set of Spanish and mathematics activities while being video-recorded. Data came from think-aloud protocols, direct observations, and self-reported instruments. The use of self-assessment strategies and criteria was more frequent and advanced without feedback and in females. There were differences in the self-assessment of Spanish and mathematics. As for year level, results showed more similarities than expected, though the use of advanced strategies and criteria varied across levels. Additionally, none of the factors had significant effects on self-efficacy. This study opens a new avenue for self-assessment research, unveiling the black box of self-assessment.
Vibration analysis of stiffened plates with initial geometric imperfections

This paper presents the vibration analysis of stiffened plates with initial imperfections, using both conventional and super finite element methods. Von Karman theory was utilized so as to formulate the plate element. Eccentricity of the stiffeners is also taken into account and they are not limited to be placed on nodal lines. Consequently, any configuration of plate and stiffeners can be modelled. Nonlinear finite element equations are solved using arc-length method and backbone curve is extracted accordingly. The accuracy of proposed methodology is established in comparison with previous results. Finally, the effect of geometric imperfection on vibration characteristics of stiffened plates is studied extensively.
Use of mobile phone among patients with HIV/AIDS in a low-middle income setting: a descriptive exploratory study

ABSTRACT The use of mobile phone and factors influencing usage have least been explored in spite of its relevance in mHealth adoption. We conducted a descriptive exploratory study to evaluate the use of mobile phone alarm application, text messaging and voice call among HIV positive clients. We randomly selected 362 respondents who were 18–65 years and receive care from two health facilities in Accra, Ghana. Questionnaires were administered and data analysed to describe and predict mobile phone use. SPSS version 20 was used to process data for analysis. Findings revealed respondent (n = 338, 93%) did not share their mobile phones. Voice call was predominantly used (n = 227, 63%) while text messaging and mobile alarm functions were sparingly used. Majority (n = 285, 78.9%) did not use the mobile phone application to support adherence. Age and employment predicted the use of mobile phone alarm (OR ± 1.56, p < 0.05), test messaging (OR ± 1.48, p < 0.05) and voice calls (OR ± 1.25, p < 0.05). We observed that younger age and employment influence the use of mobile phones. Voice calls are more acceptable because it is simple and easy to use. Knowledge and persuasion are fundamental to mobile phone literacy skills development and should be integrated in mHealth interventions.
Deposition of Ultrafine Aerosols in the Head Airways During Natural Breathing and During Simulated Breath Holding Using Replicate Human Upper Airway Casts

Natural breathing and simulated breath-holding techniques have been used to measure inspiratory and expiratory head deposition of inhaled particles in human subjects. Because the simulated breath-holding path, in which the aerosol is drawn through the nose and mouth, differs from the natural path where inhaled particles enter the nose and penetrate through the larynx and trachea, the present study was undertaken to compare the deposition of ultrafine aerosol between these two experimental methods. Two replicate human upper airway casts containing a nasal airway, an oral passage, and a laryngeal-tracheal section were used to measure the head deposition efficiencies of monodisperse silver or polystyrene latex particles. Particles whose thermodynamic diameters ranged from 3.6 to 150 nm were drawn through the casts at constant flow rates ranging from 4 to 30 L/min. For the inhalation study, test aerosols were drawn into the nasal airway and directed either through the laryngeal-tracheal section or through the.
Integrating Computational Thinking Concept Into Digital Storytelling to Improve Learners’ Motivation and Performance

This paper examines a method which can be used by instructors pursuing innovative methods for language teaching, which expands learners’ motivation in second language learning. Computational thinking (CT) is a problem-solving skill which can motivate students’ English language learning. Designing a learning activity which integrates CT into English language learning has been considered in only a few academic studies. This study aimed to explore whether integrating CT into English language learning can be useful for improving learners’ motivation and performance. The method of “present, practice, and produce” was applied as a method of presenting computational thinking in the English language learning classroom. Fifty-two elementary school students (52) participated in the experimental study. Following an experimental design, data were collected and analyzed from a combination of knowledge test scores, storytelling, motivation, and anxiety surveys. The experimental results indicate that the CT strategy improves students’ language learning and raises their motivation in the two dimensions of extrinsic and intrinsic goal orientation. These results imply the positive effect of CT strategy on strengthening problem-solving skills of students participating in digital storytelling and increases their motivation and performance in English language learning.
Latest Therapies for Type 1 Diabetes: Exsisting Setup and “Post-Insulin” Standpoints

Type 1 diabetes affects millions of people globally and requires careful management to avoid serious long-term complications, including heart and kidney disease, stroke, and loss of sight. The present standard-of-care for type 1 diabetes is exogenic insulin substitutional therapy. The most advanced stretegies in this area is the development of hybrid-closed loop system and the producing of long-acting insulins. Progresses in stem cell therapies have started to revolutionize the care of patients with type 1 diabetes; however, significant challenges remain including the limited islets availability, difficulties in maintaining the viability, the heterogeneity within a complex pathology and in patients’ responses to treatment. On the way, a considerable amount of efforts in maximizing the islet transplantation effectiveness by controlling the advantageous of different stem cell approaches. With the availability and the use of big data, the concept of precision medicine is gaining wide attention worldwide and could bring the dream of “presonlaized” therapies as a reality in the near future. Here we review the current range of treatments available as well as recent pre-clinical breakthroughs in the field of personlaized medicine for type 1 diabetes.
UNDERSTANDING ANTECEDENTS TO THE SATISFACTION OF USING LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY OF ACCOUNTING STUDENTS

This research was aimed to identify the factors affecting the Accounting students' satisfaction of using Google Classroom as one of the Learning Management System (LMS). This research analyzed the effect of perceived enjoyment, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness on the students' satisfaction. The sample in this research was 108 Accounting students. The data were analyzed using PLS-SEM with SmartPLS 2.0. The research results showed that the level of satisfaction of the Google Classroom was affected positively and significantly by the perceived enjoyment, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness. Moreover, this research also discussed the impacts of the results both theoretically and practically. ASSETS Jurnal Akuntansi dan Pendidikan Vol. 9 No. 2 Page 109-120 Madiun, October 2020 p-ISSN: 2302-6251 e-ISSN: 2477-4995 Article History Submitted: August 13, 2019 Accepted: August 31, 2020
Fostering 21st Century Skills of the Students of Engineering and Technology

: Employment opportunities are scramming from the reach of Indian engineering graduates due to their inadequate skills set. This evinces the skills gap prevailing between the workplace preparedness of the students of engineering and the exigencies of global workforce. 21st Century Skills are the competencies required from the students of present era to succeed in their life and career, in the absence of which the students encounter major employment deficit. Although, studies have been conducted on the need for 21st Century skills and on training teachers to instigate students' skills set, the inevitable focus on students' perception towards their need for career prospects has been left unexplored. Hence, the paper prospects the preparedness and potential of the students of engineering with respect to Learning and Innovation Skills and Life and Career Skills of 21st Century Skills. An online survey with self-rating questionnaire has been administered using random sampling technique among 111 final year students of Tamil Nadu, between December 2018 and January 2019. Descriptive analysis, and parametric tests have been computed to investigate the data using SPSS. The findings have indicated the dearth of students' skills set in employing 21st Century skills set. The results imply the desideratum of enhancing the students' skills set that the study eventually recommends the integration of 21st Century skills set in English classroom of engineering and technology to meet the demands of the workplace.
Synthesis and Spectroscopic Characterization of New Ligand and Its Pd(II), Cu(II) Metal Complexes

A novel Schiff base ligand containing nitrogen and sulfur donor atoms was synthesized by condensing thioamide (TA) with imidothioic acid (IT) to form 1, 4 dithiane-2, 3-diamine (TAIT). Metal complexes of this ligand were prepared using Cu (II) chloride dihydrates and Pd (III) chloride. These complexes have been characterized using various physico-chemical and spectroscopic techniques. Based on physico-chemical and spectroscopic analyses, the structure of Cu (II) complex is expected to be octahedral, while Pd (II) complex is proposed to be square planner geometry. Schiff base and its metal complexes were expected to show strong bioactivity against microbes and cancer cells.
Electroencephalogram (EEG) Signal Classification Using Artificial Neural Network to Control Electric Artificial Hand Movement

All due to the complex nature of the electroencephalography (EEG) signal, it is a challenge to be able to use it as the driver of an electric artificial hand. By using EEG signal, the command for artificial hand movements becomes more intuitive and natural. This study aims to classify EEG signals to serve as electronic hand control. Classification is conducted using artificial neural networks (ANN), in which EEG signal datasets are obtained from a commercial brain computer interface (BCI). The ANN model obtained is expected to be able to determine that the EEG signal is one of the five EEG signals generated from five predetermined hand movements. This study proposes feature extraction and processing that is very simple but performs well, indicated by its small error value. The results show that ANN can classify five hand movements tested with an overall accuracy rate of 80%.
Common Mechanism for Interannual and Decadal Variability in the East African Long Rains

The East African long rains constitute the main crop‐growing season in the region. Interannual predictability of this season is low in comparison to the short rains, and recent decadal drying contrasts with climate projections of a wetter future (the “East African climate paradox”). Here, we show that long rains rainfall totals are strongly correlated with 700 hPa zonal winds across the Congo basin and Gulf of Guinea ( r=0.73 ). Westerly anomalies align with more rainfall, with the same mechanism controlling covariability on interannual and decadal time scales. On both time scales wind anomalies are linked to geopotential anomalies over the Sahel and Sahara, and warming there. Rainfall and wind are significantly correlated with the Madden‐Julian Oscillation (MJO) amplitude, and around 18% of the decadal drying can be explained by MJO amplitude variability. This work shows that predictions of East African rainfall across time scales require robust prediction of both zonal winds and MJO activity.
Language of sexuality of gay men in pursuing hookups through online dating applications

This paper looks at the language of sexuality among gay men discussing sensitive and intimate topic of hooking up. The study adopts a qualitative research framework that particularly explores gender and sexuality expressions. Three self-identified gay men participated in a focus group interview session. A focus group interview was performed with a prepared set of questions and some follow-up discussion questions. The interview was recorded and transcribed and analyzed thematically. The results showed that even though there were general differences between how they pursued hookups, there were more determinants other than gender expression, such as role, tribe, and nature. More masculine presenting gays are likely to be more direct, while more feminine presenting ones are more likely to be less direct. Additionally, certain phrases are used to specify the directness of their intentions in pursuing hookups. The results indicated that issues in the community are often a complex mix of factors beyond masculinity and femininity and are still closely tied to heteronormative and patriarchal values.
Opinion mining in higher education: a corpus-based approach

ABSTRACT Student recruitment and retention heavily depend on student satisfaction and word of mouth voiced through surveys, social media, and review websites. The amount of online reviews makes their manual analysis intractable, revealing the need for automated approaches. The paper presents the first Serbian language corpus manually annotated for opinions in the domain of higher education. Agreement among annotators was calculated using the Fleiss’ kappa and agr metrics. Statistical and linguistic analyses of the corpus revealed information useful for hand-crafted rules for sentiment analysis. Using developed corpus, dictionary- and machine learning-based approaches to sentiment analysis are benchmarked. Both exhibit high performance.
Dynamical study of diatomics : applications to astrochemistry, quantum control and quantum computing

In this work, we theoretically study the properties of diatomic molecular systems, their dynamics, and the control thereof through the use of laser fields. We more specifically study three compounds::• HeH⁺, a species of great astrochemical importance which is thought to be the first molecular species to have formed in the universe; :• CO²⁺, a metastable dication of particular interest in quantum control experiments due to its long-lived lowest vibrational level;:• ⁴¹K⁸⁷Rb, a polar molecule that can be formed at very low temperature and trapped, making it a good candidate for quantum computing schemes.First, we use ab initio methods to compute accurate potential energy curves for the lowest singlet and triplet states of HeH⁺ as well as the potential energy curves, transition dipole moments and nonadiabatic radial couplings of the ground ³Π state of CO²⁺ and of its 11 lowest ³Σ⁻states.In a second step, we use this ab initio data to compute the photodissociation and radiative association cross sections for the a and b ³Σ⁺ states of HeH⁺, as well as the values of the corresponding rate constants for astrophysical environments. The photodissociation cross sections from the lowest vibrational level of CO²⁺ is also determined.Going one step further, we optimize laser control fields that drive the photodissociation dynamics of HeH⁺ and CO²⁺ towards specific channels. We compare two field optimization methods: a Moller operator-based Local Control approach and Optimal Control Theory. In both cases, we add a constraint that minimizes the area of the optimized fields.Finally, we focus on one of the potential applications of high-fidelity laser control: the use of small molecular systems as quantum computers. We more specifically study the potential implementation of both intra- and intermolecular logic gates on data encoded in hyperfine states of trapped ultracold polar ⁴¹K⁸⁷Rb molecules, opening interesting perspectives in terms of extensibility.
Surgical aspects in craniopharyngioma treatment

Abstract Objectives Total surgical resection is the gold standard in the treatment of craniopharyngioma. However, there is concern that aggressive surgical resection might result in high rates of endocrinologic, metabolic, and behavioral morbidities. Subtotal resection (SR) with subsequent radiation therapy (RT) may reduce surgical complications, but it may also increase the risk of tumor recurrence and radiation-induced side effects. Therefore, the optimal surgical strategy remains debatable. Methods To determine the optimal surgical strategy, we assessed the clinical courses of 39 patients (19 male patients and 20 female patients) with newly diagnosed craniopharyngioma who were treated at our institute. The median age at diagnosis was 34 years (range: 0–76 years). The median follow-up period was 8.5 years (range: 3–160 months). Our treatment strategy comprised gross total resection (GTR) for craniopharyngioma in patients that were not at surgical risk. Conversely, after adequate tumor decompression, we used RT, mainly Gamma Knife radiosurgery, in patients at risk. We divided the patients into the following three groups depending on the treatment course: GTR, SR with RT, and SR with staged surgery. We compared tumor characteristics, as well as patients’ conditions at the preoperative stage and last follow-up, among the three groups. Results There were 8, 21, and 10 patients in the GTR, SR with RT, and SR with staged surgery groups, respectively. There were no differences in the maximum tumor diameter, tumor volume, composition, and presence of calcification among the groups. Among the 39 patients, 24 underwent transcranial microsurgery and 15 underwent trans-sphenoidal surgery as the initial treatment. No cases involving surgical mortality, cerebrospinal fluid leakage, severely deteriorated visual function, or severe hypothalamic damage were observed. No tumor recurrence was noted in the GTR group. One patient required additional RT, and one patient underwent second surgery for tumor recurrence in the SR with RT group. In the SR with staged surgery group, 8 of the 10 patients eventually underwent RT, but tumor control was achieved in all patients at the latest follow-up. In this group, the third trans-sphenoidal surgery caused a severe vascular injury in one patient. At the final follow-up, 33 (85%) patients were undergoing anterior pituitary hormone replacement, and the rate of diabetes insipidus was 51%. There was no significant difference in the pituitary dysfunction rate among the groups. Conclusions We observed a low rate of surgical complications and a sufficient tumor control rate in response to our treatment strategy. Despite attempting preservation of the pituitary stalk, we found it difficult to rescue anterior pituitary function.
Genetic diversity assessment in selected genetic resources of Gmelina arborea Roxb using RAPD markers

The genetic diversity and relationship among the fourteen accessions of Gmelina arborea were assessed using Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. The RAPD profiles of all the accessions were compared and a total of 262 scorable bands were produced with fifteen primers, out of these 243 bands were polymorphic. The highest number of amplified products was observed in primers OPJ-19, OPM-02, OPN-02, OPN-05, OPN-16, OPN-18 and OPC-10 showed a lowest level of the polymorphic band. The similarity coefficient values were ranged from 0.58 to 0.74. The highest value similarity coefficient was found between the progenies of CPTs selected in Vazhachal and Kulathupuzha and the lowest values found between Vazhachal and Rosemala. Geographically closely related Gmelina accessions were also found to be related at the molecular level. A sizeable amount of inter-population diversity recorded, the Vazhachal and Rosemala accessions can be used as a parent in the Gmelina breeding program for improving productivity and wood quality.
Effectiveness of Performance Management System for Employee Performance Through Engagement

This article seeks to explore the effectiveness of a comprehensive performance management system in terms of employee performance. Besides, the mediating effect of work engagement was also examined. The performance management system effectiveness (PMSE) was determined by the extent of its accuracy and fairness, as recommended by previous researchers. A sample of 285 employees was selected from various branches of private banks located across Pakistan. A structured questionnaire was used, which was validated through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in the Pakistani context. The results indicated a significant impact of PMSE and work engagement on task and contextual performance of employees. Also, complementary mediation of employee work engagement in the relationship between PMSE and employee performance (in terms of task and contextual performances) was also supported. The findings of the research are helpful for the development of HR and PMSE strategy in the private banks of Pakistan. The study also suggests that a comprehensive PMSE model including the perception of fairness as a mandatory part, may be introduced for employees’ enhanced work engagement and task/contextual performance. The mediating relationship of work engagement has established the process of PMSE for the task and contextual performances of employees, which is a valuable contribution of the study.
Capital Market Frictions, Leasing and Hedging

This paper examines the hitherto unexplored effect of lease intensity on hedging. Using a sample of 218 small and large non-financial firms drawn from 2006 to 2010, we find that firms leasing more of their Property, Plant and Equipment (PPE) use less financial derivatives, consistent with the theoretical predictions of Rampini and Viswanathan (2010). Further, using broad market microstructure based measures of information asymmetry, we offer empirical evidence consistent with theory that firms with higher information asymmetry hedge more. These results are robust to several alternative measurements of key variables, different regression specifications, estimation techniques and corrections for endogeneity.