Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Transition in modern foreign languages: a longitudinal study of motivation for language learning and second language proficiency

Abstract The current longitudinal study examines the similarities and differences between primary and secondary foreign language curricula and pedagogy along with the development of motivation for language learning and second language proficiency. Data from 26 English learners of French (aged 10–11) were collected across three times points over a 12-month period. The study employed the use of lesson observations, along with questionnaires and focus group interviews to examine the development of attitudes and motivation. To measure linguistic progression an oral role play task, an oral photo description task, and a free writing task were administered at each time point. The results show that an abrupt shift in pedagogy may negatively influence learner attitudes and motivation in early secondary and, while early language learning does appear to generate positive attitudes to language learning, questions remain as to its effectiveness over the longer term when learners encounter language teaching that appears incongruous with their aims. Learners did make significant linguistic progress across the transition phase as measured by objective and fine-grained measures, which raises the question as to whether it may in fact be assessment practices that account for the reported ‘hiatus’ in progression across transition rather than lack of actual progress.
FACTORS INFLUENCING STOCK PRICES FOR FIRMS LISTED IN THE NAIROBI STOCK EXCHANGE

This paper analyzes factors influencing stock prices for firms listed in the Nairobi stock exchange covering the period the period from January 2008 to December, 2010 using inflation, exchange rates, interest rates and money supply. The period is selected so as to use the most recent data, to make the findings more current. The study uses secondary data the main source of which is the NSE and the Central Bank of Kenya statistics. Multiple regression formula was applied to estimate effect of the selected factors on stock prices. The regression results show that the factors of inflation, exchange rates, and interest rates were significant except money supply which although it had a positive correlation, the relationship was not significant. The result shows that exchange and interest rates had negative correlation to stock prices whereas inflation and money supply had a positive correlation. Factor models observe the sensitivity of an asset return as a function of one or more factors. To formulate appropriate investment strategy, investors constantly review current financial and economic conditions, based on which future trends can be forecast considering the needs of the investors. However the financial market expectation will determine the investment strategy to be chosen. Financial markets are dynamic, and affected by various macroeconomic factors. The result of the study may offer investors and policy makers a basis upon which to make strategic decisions.
Evaluating the Conditionality of Judgmental Forecasts

We propose a framework to evaluate the conditionality of forecasts. The crux of our framework is the observation that a forecast is conditional if revisions to the conditioning factor are faithfully incorporated into the remainder of the forecast. We consider whether the Greenbook, Blue Chip, and the Survey of Professional Forecasters exhibit systematic biases in the manner in which they incorporate interest rate projections into the forecasts of other macroeconomic variables. We do not find strong evidence of systematic biases in the three economic forecasts that we consider, as the interest rate projections in these forecasts appear to be efficiently incorporated into forecasts of other economic variables.
TESTING THE LAW OF ONE PRICE: COTTON MARKET INTEGRATION IN PAKISTAN'S PUNJAB

Regional market integration in many agricultural commodities has been extensively studied for the insight it provides into the functioning of such markets; such studies provide valuable information about the dynamics of market adjustments, and whether there exist market imperfections, which may justify government intervention. This study empirically estimated the degree of integration in cotton markets of Pakistan’s Punjab using the law of one price (LOP) framework and cointegration analysis. Cointegration Results show that all seed cotton markets are highly integrated in the long run. Regression results show that government intervent ion in terms of seed cotton procurement negat ively inf luenced the degree of market integrat ion. The high degree of market integration observed in this case is consistent with view that Punjab’s seed cotton markets are quite competitive and provide little justification for extensive and costly government intervention designed to improve competitiveness to enhance market efficiency.
Effects of Vitamin K on Glucose Homeostasis in Women with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Insulin resistance (IR), a dominant feature of metabolic syndrome, accompanies most of inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis (RA) which is the most common inflammatory arthritis [1]. It is postulated that a state of chronic inflammation and inflammatory mediators are involved in insulin resistance [2]. In support of this correlation, several lines of evidence found an improvement in insulin resistance following anti-TNFα therapies in such inflammatory disorders [1,3-7]. Therefore, antiinflammatory agents may mitigate inflammation and consequently insulin resistance in these diseases. Meanwhile, there is a great attention to anti-inflammatory effects of vitamin K recently [8,9], in addition, the increasing body of reports underlined its direct beneficial role in glucose homeostasis [10,11].
LONG-RUN PERFORMANCE OF STOCK RETURNS FOLLOWING JUNK BOND

This paper examines the long-run, post-issue stock price performance of 377 firms that issued below-investment-grade bonds during the 19761989 period. Three different methodologies are used, that control for the usual sources of bias affecting long run performance studies (new listing bias, rebalancing bias, skewness bias, and non-random sampling bias). The three show very similar results. The buy and hold abnormal returns are significantly different from zero and negative starting from the fourth year after the issue, supporting to what we have called the cyclical over-optimism hypothesis which basically states that there is a cycle in financing, and that in some phases of the cycle investors will be willing to accept paper that is overpriced.
STRATEGIES OF MEMORIZATION AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE LEARNING PROCESS AMONG INDIVIDUALS WITH BORDERLINE INTELLECTUAL FUNCTIONING

Borderline Intellectual Functioning (BIF), or borderline intelligence, is defined as an intelligence quotient from 1.01 to 2.00 standard deviations below average, that is, a level between average intelligence and intellectual impairment. This level of mental functioning may still belong to a broadly understood norm. The purpose of the present study is to present the current state of knowledge on the subject of memory-related processes in persons with BIF, and in particular schoolchildren. Children with borderline intelligence are at risk for chronic educational failure, absence from school, repetition of grades, and dropout or expulsion from school. We have concen trated primarily on discussing the relationship between me mo ry-related processes and the characteristic thought processes of these individuals, including a preference for operating with concrete material, rigid and insufficiently critical thinking, and difficulties in organizing and generalizing knowledge, all of which cause serious deficits in academic achievement and effective learning. The article begins with an introduction to the problems of borderline intelligence, including the differential diagnosis, classification, and cognitive functioning of these persons. Then, based on the results of national and international research, we discuss the deficits of short-term and working memory that cause difficulties in processing and organizing, impair the effectiveness of long term memory, and thus cause specific learning strategies to be adopted. Pupils with BIF most often master their school knowledge by using rote memory, the functioning of which is discussed at the end of the article.
Robust exponential stability and L2-gain for switched discrete-time nonlinear cascade systems

The robust exponential stability and L2-gain for a class of switched discrete-time nonlinear cascade systems are considered in this paper. Firstly, the exponential stability for switched discrete-time nonlinear cascade systems affected by norm-bounded time-varying uncertainties is studied. With an inequality of the inverse matrix and other matrix inequalities, the uncertainties in systems can be subtly handled. Using the average dwell-time method and piecewise Lyapunov function approach, a sufficient condition of the robust exponential stability for switched systems in this case is given. Then, the L2-gain of switched discrete-time nonlinear cascade systems with the externally disturbed input is analyzed. The sufficient conditions of the exponential stability and L2-gain for switched nonlinear systems are obtained under the designed switching law. Finally, the simulations are given to show the validity of the results.
Copula-based Structural Limited Dependent Variable Models: Application to the Effect of Female Labor Force Participation on Fertility

We propose a general framework for analyzing structural limited dependent variable models where an endogenous regressor is also limited in range. A copula-based modeling of structural joint distributions permits us to implement a full information maximum likelihood estimation of parameters. We apply this modeling strategy to the March 1992 and 2002 CPS data for estimating the average partial effect of women’s labor force participation on the number of their children, a count outcome. Our empirical result shows that ignoring endogeneity yields a substantial bias on the negative labor supply effect on the distribution of fertility.
Spanish Journal of Finance and Accounting / Revista Española

The recent financial crisis shows that failure of some financial institutions can cause other banks to fail and ultimately cause damage to the financial system worldwide. Eurozone banks that experienced either liquidity or solvency problems during the financial markets turmoil were bailed out by their national governments with the financial support and supervision of the European Union. This paper applies the boosted classification tree methodology to predict failure in the banking sector and identifies four key scorecard variables that are worth tracking closely in order to anticipate and prevent bank financial distress. The data used in this study comprises 2006–2012 annual series of 25 financial ratios of 155 banks in the Eurozone. The findings indicate that the greater the size and the higher the income from non-operating items and net loans to deposits, the more likely is bank failure; conversely, the higher the Interbank ratio the lower the chances of bank financial distress. For the sake of their own financial soundness, banks should fund lending activities through clients’ deposits and should avoid relying excessively on non-recurring sources of income. RESUMEN La reciente crisis financiera muestra que el fracaso de algunas instituciones financieras puede producir la quiebra en cadena de otras entidades financieras y, en última instancia, originar graves problemas al sistema financiero mundial. Los bancos de la zona euro que experimentaron problemas de liquidez o solvencia durante las turbulencias de los mercados financieros fueron rescatados por sus gobiernos nacionales con el apoyo y la supervisión financiera de la Unión Europea. En este trabajo se aplica la metodología Boosting Classification Tree con el objeto de predecir el fracaso en el sector bancario identificando cuatro indicadores clave, cuyo seguimiento es primordial para anticipar y prevenir problemas financieros en dicho sector. La muestra utilizada en este estudio se compone de series anuales de 25 ratios financieras de 155 bancos de la Zona Euro para el período 2006–2012. Los resultados indican que a mayor tamaño, mayores ingresos extraordinarios y mayor ratio préstamos/depósitos, más probable es el fracaso de un banco. En cambio, cuanto mayor sea ARTICLE HISTORY Received 3 February 2015 Accepted 9 November 2015
Physics teaching assistants’ views of different types of introductory problems: Challenge of perceiving the instructional benefits of context-rich and multiple-choice problems

Given a physics scenario, different problem types presenting that scenario in various ways can emphasize different instructional goals. In this investigation, we examined the views of physics graduate teaching assistants (TAs) about the instructional benefits of different types of introductory problems based upon the same problem scenario. Here we report on TAs' views about two of these problem types that were regarded by TAs as the least instructionally beneficial of all problem types--the context rich and multiple-choice formats. Many TAs listed no pros at all for these problem types, despite being explicitly asked for at least one pro. They viewed multiple-choice questions nearly exclusively as tools for high-stakes summative assessment rather than their possible use as formative assessment tools, e.g., as clicker questions even in large classes. Similarly, TAs viewed context-rich problems as overly challenging, unnecessarily wordy, and too time-consuming to be instructionally beneficial to their students. While TAs' concerns have obvious validity and value, the benefits of well-designed multiple-choice questions as a formative assessment tool was not readily identified by them, nor did the TAs recognize the learning benefits associated with solving context-rich problems. Given the powerful ways multiple-choice and context-rich problems can be used for active engagement and formative assessment in different instructional contexts to meet diverse instructional goals, the lack of enthusiasm for these types of problems has implications for future TA professional development programs.
DNN-Based Feature Enhancement Using Joint Training Framework for Robust Multichannel Speech Recognition

Ever since the deep neural network (DNN) appeared in the speech signal processing society, the recognition performance of automatic speech recognition (ASR) has been greatly improved. Due to this achievement, the demands on various applications in distant-talking environment also have been increased. However, ASR performance in such environments is still far from that in close-talking environments due to various problems. In this paper, we propose a novel multichannel-based feature mapping technique combining conventional beamformer, DNN and its joint training scheme. Through the experiments using multichannel wall street journal audio visual (MC-WSJAV) corpus, it has been shown that the proposed technique models the complicated relationship between the array inputs and clean speech features effectively via employing intermediate target. The proposed method outperformed the conventional DNN system.
WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM STRINGY BLACK HOLES?∗

In their article on singularities and black holes in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Peter Bokulich and Erik Curiel raise a series of important philosophical questions regarding black holes, including the following: “Black holes appear to be crucial for our understanding of the relationship between matter and spacetime. when matter forms a black hole, it is transformed into a purely gravitational entity. When a black hole evaporates, spacetime curvature is transformed into ordinary matter. Thus black holes offer an important arena for investigating the ontology of spacetime and ordinary objects. ” [1] This paper aims to address these issues in the context of string theoretic models of black holes, with the aim of illuminating the ontological unification of gravity and matter, and the interpretation of cosmological models, within string theory. §1 will describe the central concepts of the theory: the fungibility of matter and geometry, and the reduction of gravity and supergravity. The ‘standard’ interpretation presented draws on that implicit in the thinking of many (but not all) string theorists, though made more explicit and systematic than usual. §2 will explain how to construct a stringy black hole, and some of its features, including evaporation. §3 will critically examine the assumptions behind such modeling, and their bearing on Curiel and Bokulich’s ontological questions.
Duration Risk Versus Local Supply Channel in Treasury Yields: Evidence from the Federal Reserve's Asset Purchase Announcements

The FOMC's announcements of Treasury purchase programs and the subsequent or contemporaneous statements by the New York Fed about the programs' operational details provide a sequence of natural experiments with the potential to shed light on the relative importance of the duration risk channel versus the local supply channel for the transmission of supply effects to the term structure of interest rates. Using intraday security-level data on Treasury securities, we conduct five event studies to document the presence of local supply effects and duration risk effects. Further, using our new measures of local supply surprise and duration risk surprise we quantify the average impact of these two supply channels on nominal Treasury yields for each of the five events. Finally, we also try to determine how the importance of these factors has changed over time and relative to the first Large Scale Asset Purchase program in 2008-09. We find that: first, once the pre-announcement market expectations are carefully controlled for, the duration risk and local supply channels together are responsible for a decline in yields averaging about 9 basis points per $100 billion over the course of these announcements; second, these two channels are almost equally important for the transmission mechanism of purchases, as on average each of these channels accounts for about half of the yields decline; third, the efficacy of these two channels does not seem to have declined over time; and fourth, the purchase and sale price reactions to the announcements are quite similar, a result potentially relevant for the unwinding of these programs.
What are the safety implications of dynamic fire behaviours ?

Many firefighters in the world have been injured or killed due to a forest fire entrapment, caught by the fire heat or smoke. Some case studies have pointed out that dynamic fire behaviour may have played a role. We investigate here how changes in wind direction, channelling (i.e. vorticity-driven lateral spread on a leeward slope) and long distance spotting could contribute to entrapments through a process model, simplified in Figure 1. There are three situations likely to entrap firefighters: • S1. Facing a violent fire front either because of a change in wind direction or not • S2. Fire channelling, i.e. fire developing an atypical lateral spread • S3. Fire developing at a long distance because of mass spotting. We review fire agencies archives in Australasia and Europe from 1979 to 2017 and retrieve 106 entrapments, investigating weather, terrain and location of fire front during entrapment. We also compare the Australasian subset with fires without entrapment using a binomial regression function. In Australia, changes in wind direction induced by cold front passes is the main factor contributing to entrapment. These sudden changes in wind direction switch long smooth burning flanks of fire in violent fronts and lead to S1 situations. S2, sudden lateral spread, occurs in rough terrain. There, leeward slopes may generate channelling, causing entrapment several hundred meters far away from the fire flank. S3 appears when fire danger index reaches highest values. When fuel drought combines with adverse weather conditions, mass spotting propagates fire at long distance. Then, firefighters may be entrapped whatever the terrain. This work improves our understanding of the process from dynamic fire behaviour to firefighter entrapment. Identifying three different situations, the model should help fire agencies to adapt their safety warnings regarding the local daily conditions. Figure 1. Simplified process model of entrapments.
Proteomic Analysis to Identify Breast Cancer Biomarkers in Nipple Aspirate Fluid

Purpose: Proteomic analysis of breast nipple aspirate fluid (NAF) holds promise as a noninvasive method to identify markers of breast cancer. The objectives of the study were to: (a) describe the NAF proteome, (b) identify candidate markers of breast cancer in NAF by using proteomic analysis, and (c) validate the markers identified by using a quantitative, high-throughput ELISA analysis. Experimental Design: For proteome analysis, NAF proteins from a single subject without breast cancer were separated by two-dimensional PAGE and were subjected to matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight mass spectometry identification. A total of 41 different proteins were identified, 25 of which were known to be secreted. To identify breast cancer markers, we separated 20 NAF samples (10 normal, 10 cancer) by two-dimensional PAGE. Three protein spots were detected that were up-regulated in three or more cancer samples. These spots were identified to be gross cystic disease fluid protein (GCDFP)-15, apolipoprotein D (apoD), and α1-acid glycoprotein (AAG). To validate these three potential biomarkers, 105 samples (53 from benign breasts and 52 from breasts with cancer) were analyzed using ELISA. Results: Among all of the subjects, GCDFP-15 levels were lower (P < 0.001) and AAG levels were higher (P = 0.001) in breasts with cancer. This was also true in premenopausal (GCDFP-15, P = 0.011; AAG, P = 0.002) but not in postmenopausal women. GCDFP-15 levels were lowest (P = 0.003) and AAG levels highest (P < 0.001) in women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Menopausal status influenced GCDFP-15 and AAG more in women without breast cancer than in women with breast cancer. apoD levels did not correlate significantly with breast cancer. Conclusions: Our study revealed that the NAF proteome, as defined by two-dimensional PAGE, consists of a limited number of proteins, and that the expression of AAG and GCDFP-15 correlates with disease presence and stage.
Problems with estimation of ancestral frequencies under stationary models.

1Centre for Comparative Genomics and Evolutionary Bioinformatics Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia; 2Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia; and 3Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 4H7 ∗Correspondence to be sent to: Edward Susko, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada B3H 3J5; E-mail: susko@mathstat.dal. ca.
Anaerobic ATP production and accumulated O2 deficit in cyclists.

Anaerobic ATP production in skeletal muscle and the accumulated oxygen deficit (O2D) incurred during an exhaustive cycle bout (duration = 173 +/- 24 s; intensity = 112 +/- 3% VO2peak), were determined in 10 male cyclists (mean +/- SD: VO2peak = 69.8 +/- 4.2 ml.kg-1.min-1). Anaerobic ATP production (mmol.kg-1 d.w.) was determined from changes in lactate, phosphocreatine, ATP, and ADP in vastus lateralis. Muscle buffer value and the activities of glycogen phosphorylase (PHOS), phosphofructokinase and citrate synthase (CS) were also determined. The anaerobic ATP production determined from measured muscle metabolites was 202.7 +/- 46.9 mmol.kg-1 d.w. and was correlated (P < or = 0.05) with muscle buffer value (r = 0.81), PHOS (r = 0.69) and the ratio of PHOS to CS activity (r = 0.77). The O2D was 55.2 +/- 10.3 ml O2 Eq.kg-1, but was not correlated (P > 0.05) with anaerobic ATP production (r = -0.38), buffer value (r = -0.50) or PHOS (r = -0.39). These latter findings could be explained by error in measuring the O2D and/or muscle anaerobic ATP production in well-trained cyclists.