Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mathematics teaching efficacy among traditional and non- traditional elementary pre-service teachers

This study examined the mathematics teaching efficacy of traditional and non‐traditional elementary pre‐service teachers enrolled in a three‐course, three‐semester mathematics sequence. Self‐efficacy scales were administered at the beginning of the three‐course sequence and at the end. The three‐course mathematics sequence was taught from a constructivist approach and emphasized a socio‐constructivist learning environment in which the pre‐service teachers were challenged to construct their own meaning of mathematics. Results showed that for the non‐traditional pre‐service teachers, self‐efficacy levels for teaching elementary school mathematics were significantly different at the end of their enrollment in the three‐course mathematics sequence than at the beginning. This study also revealed that for the traditional pre‐service teachers, self‐efficacy levels with regards to affecting student success regardless of external factors remained the same or were not significantly different, suggesting the need for further research in this area.
Free vibration analysis of functionally graded quadrangle plates using second order shear deformation theory

A general approach for free vibration of functionally graded materials (FGMs) plates based on second-order shear deformation theory (SSDT) is presented. Material properties are assumed to be graded in the thickness direction by power law distribution in term of the volume fractions of the constituents. The equilibrium equations are derived by energy method and then solved analytically by applying Navier's method for a plate with simply supported boundary conditions. It is found that the fundamental frequencies versus side-to-side ratio for FG quadrangular plates are between full-ceramic plate and full-metal plate. It is shown that for the grading index smaller than two (p<2) the decreasing slope of the frequency is greater than that in other parts for all values of side-to-thickness ratio in square FG plate. Natural frequencies for different mode shape are compared and verified with the known results in the literature. It is seen that the results of the second-order theory are very close to the third-order reported in the literature.
Driving the Modern Dream: Contemporary Japanese Modernity in Theoretical Perspective

Modernity is as much a state of mind as it is a material condition. As such its quality can most clearly be described as a transformative ethic that has as its engine pushing it forwards and outwards the positivist and economist rationalism that is capitalism. That is to say, with capitalism as its mechanism and its fuel, modernity seeks a progressive and linear transformation of the human experience into a rationally and reflexively ordered life-scape that can be pro-actively controlled and manipulated for the purposes of providing an ever more comfortable, fulfilling, liberating, challenging, and complex life for its human architects. Mediating the mental and the material aspects of modernity are the institutions and organizations which individuals and groups construct in order that they might express their consciousness through the process of creative adaptation. In other words, institutions and organizations are the social mechanisms by which people not only create their environment out of the mental images they have developed but also are the method by which people accommodate themselves to the circumstances of their lives. For at the heart of modernity is the individual's moral responsibility to discover his or her authentic inner consciousness and substantiate it in lived experience.
MAJOR MERGERS WITH SMALL GALAXIES: THE DISCOVERY OF A MAGELLANIC-TYPE GALAXY AT z = 0.12

We report on the serendipitous discovery of a star-forming galaxy at redshift z = 0.116 with morphological features that indicate an ongoing merger. This object exhibits two clearly separated components with significantly different colors, plus a possible tidal stream. Follow-up spectroscopy of the bluer component revealed a low star-forming activity of 0.09 M⊙ yr−1 and a high metallicity of 12 + log(O/H) = 8.6. Based on comparison with mass–star formation-rate and mass–metallicity relations, and on fitting of spectral energy distributions, we obtain a stellar mass of 3 × 109 M⊙, which renders this object comparable to the Large Magellanic Cloud. Thus our finding provides a further piece of evidence of a major merger already acting on small, dwarf-galaxy-like scales.
STATISTICAL METHODS FOR VARIABLE SELECTION IN THE CONTEXT OF HIGH-DIMENSIONAL DATA: LASSO AND EXTENSIONS

With the advance of technology, the collection and storage of data has become routine. Huge amount of data are increasingly produced from biological experiments. the advent of DNA microarray technologies has enabled scientists to measure expressions of tens of thousands of genes simultaneously. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) are being used in genetic association with a wide range of phenotypes, for example, complex diseases. These high-dimensional problems are becoming more and more common. The “large p, small n” problem, in which there are more variables than samples, currently a challenge that many statisticians face. The penalized variable selection method is an effective method to deal with “large p, small n” problem. In particular, The Lasso (least absolute selection and shrinkage operator) proposed by Tibshirani has become an effective method to deal with this type of problem. the Lasso works well for the covariates which can be treated individually. When the covariates are grouped, it does not work well. Elastic net, group lasso, group MCP and group bridge are extensions of the Lasso. Group lasso enforces sparsity at the group level, rather than at the level of the individual covariates. Group bridge, group MCP produces sparse solutions both at the group level and at the level of the individual covariates within a group. Our simulation study shows that the group lasso forces complete grouping, group MCP encourages grouping to a rather slight
Marriage Dynamics, Earnings Dynamics, and Lifetime Family Income

We examine what determines the family income that men and women experience over their adult lives. To this end, we estimate a dynamic model of earnings, nonlabor income, fertility, marriage, and divorce. We use the model to address a number of important questions in labor and family economics, including the effects of education and unobserved permanent characteristics on marital status and on spouse characteristics conditional on marriage. We estimate the dynamic response of wage rates, work hours, earnings, marriage and spouse characteristics and family income to various shocks. Marital status has a much larger effect on family income for women than men, while labor market shocks to men are more important than shocks to women. Marital sorting plays a major role in the return to education and permanent wages, especially for women. We use the model to provide gender-specific estimates of the contribution of education, permanent wages, labor market shocks, spouse characteristics, and marital histories to the variance of family income at a given age and over a lifetime.
Improving Salesperson Recruitment: Examining Practices of Screening Candidates for Potential Success versus Potential Failure

Salesperson recruitment efforts largely target identifying candidates who appear to possess ‘sales success traits’. However, success traits may differ from failure traits. Theory and practice both devote low attention to understanding the unsuccessful salesperson, and how to incorporate sales failure into the recruitment process. This paper reports the results of an exploratory study that examines salesperson recruitment, tests the notion that recruiters ‘overlook’ failure issues, and develops variables that should motivate failure probing, which should be useful for theory and practice.
Cytotoxic effect of soil cyanobacterial extracts to mammal cell lines YAC-1 and WEHI

The cytotoxic effects of ten methanol extracts obtained from soil filamentous cyanobacteria (Anabaena, Calothrix, Nodularia, Cylindrospermum, Tolypothrix and Trichormus) were studied. Two different mammal cell lines (YAC-1, WEHI) were selected for cytotoxicity testing using the MTT test and flow-cytometry (FC). For comparison, the brine shrimp assay (using Artemia as a testing organism) was performed. The composition of extracts was studied using HPLC-MS. Both MTT and FC found the cytotoxic effect in 6 of 10 tested cyanobacterial extracts, but these results did not correlate with those obtained by brine shrimp assay. In Anabaena torulosa and Cylindrospermum sp. the most severe damage was recorded by both methods. In cells treated by the extract of Anabaena torulosa, 100% inhibition was found already after 60-minute exposure. Induction of necrosis was revealed by FC, since all tested cells were marked by propidium iodide indicating disruption of the cellular membrane. Surprisingly, no effects associated with this extract were found for Artemia. In Cylindrospermum sp. both necrotic (80%) and apoptotic (20%) induction was found by FC. The presence of microcystins in these extracts was not proved by HPLC-MS, but several peaks with unknown molecular masses were observed. Thus, the production of new cytotoxins with cytoxicity comparable to microcystin can be expected. 80 Hrouzek et al.: Cytotoxic effect Abbreviations: FC – flow cytometry, m/z – molecular mass divided by charge of molecule, LB – lyophilised biomass, PBSphysiological buffered solution
The Use of Eclectic Method in Teaching Turkish to Foreign Students

Although there are debates in the post-method era, it is seen that the traditional methods used in teaching foreign languages continue to be used persistently in Turkey. It has been observed in the literature review that there is a method problem in foreign language teaching of Turkish; and studies have been conducted in limited number on the methods. The main purpose of this study is to present theoretical knowledge on the eclectic method considered as a method that could be used in teaching Turkish as a foreign language. The target group of this study consists of practitioners (teachers) and field experts (academicians). The practical studies conducted by the researchers on the eclectic method and the use of this method by the practitioners in Turkish lessons are considered as the contributions made to the field of teaching Turkish as a foreign language. Keywords: Turkish as a foreign language, method, eclectic method
Habitat availability does not explain the species richness patterns of European lentic and lotic freshwater animals

Aim In Europe, the relationships between species richness and latitude differ for lentic (standing water) and lotic (running water) species. Freshwater animals are highly dependent on suitable habitat, and thus the distribution of available habitat should strongly influence large‐scale patterns of species richness. We tested whether habitat availability can account for the differences in species richness patterns between European lentic and lotic freshwater animals.
Tree species identification in aerial image data using directional reflectance signatures

Tree species identification using optical remote sensing is challenging. Modern digital photogrammetric cameras enable radiometrically quantitative remote sensing and the estimation of reflectance images, in which the observations depend largely on the reflectance properties of targets. Previous research has shown that there are species-specific differences in how the brightness observed changes when the viewing direction in an aerial image is altered. We investigated if accounting for such directional signatures enhances species classification, using atmospherically corrected, real and simulated multispectral Leica ADS40 line-camera data. Canopy in direct and diffuse illumination were differentiated and species-specific variance-covariance structures were analyzed in real reflectance data, using mixed-effects modeling. Species classification simulations aimed at elucidating the level of accuracy that can be achieved by using images of different quality, number and view-illumination geometry. In real data, a substantial variance component was explained by tree effect, which demonstrates that observations from a tree correlate between observation geometries as well as spectrally. Near-infrared band showed the strongest tree effect, while the directionality was weak in that band. The gain from directional signatures was insignificant in real data, while simulations showed a potential gain of 1–3 percentage points in species classification accuracy. The quality of reflectance calibration was found to be important as well as the image acquisition geometry. We conclude that increasing the number of image observations cancels out random observation noise and reflectance calibration errors, but fails to eliminate the tree effect and systematic calibration inaccuracy. Directional reflectance constitutes a marginal improvement in tree species classification.
Comparison of Different Modeling Techniques for Robust Prototype Matching of Speech Pitch-Contours

In verbal interactions between humans (HHI), and between humans and computers(HCI), a multitude of information is being transmitted. Speech conveys, besides the pure textualinformation, additional details regarding the speaker’s feelings, believes, and social relations.Intonation reveals functional details about the speakers’ communicative relation and theirattitude towards the ongoing dialogue, such as affirmation, disagreement or the wish of turn-taking. Since the intonation of full words is influenced by semantic and grammatical information,it is advisable to rather investigate the intonation and corresponding functional meaning of so-called discourse particles (DPs) such as “hm” or “uhm”. They cannot be inflected but can beemphasized, and the interlocutors are able to differentiate the functional meanings of DPs solelyfrom their intonation. To take advantage of this relation in automatic dialogue processing, thegoal of this investigation is to enable an automatic classification of the functional meaning ofthe DP “hm” from its intonation. The acoustic intonational curve can be represented using thepitch-values extracted from the raw speech material. Three different classification methods willbe presented and compared to evaluate the best one. Furthermore, to ensure the reliability ofthe classifier both for HHI and HCI, and to gain more training data, cross-validating tests werecarried out on two publicly available datasets containing HCI and HHI.
Function of Prion Protein and the Family Member , Shadoo

Lowering cellular prion protein (PrPC) levels in the brain is predicted to be a powerful therapeutic strategy for the prion disease. PrPC may act as an antiapoptotic agent by blocking some of the internal environmental factors that initiate apoptosis. Prion protein (PrP)-knockout methods provide powerful indications on the neuroprotective function of PrPC. Using PrPC-knockout cell lines, the inhibition of apoptosis through stress inducible protein1 (STI1) is mediated by PrPC-dependent superoxide dismutase (SOD) activation. Besides, PrP-knockout exhibited wide spread alterations of oscillatory activity in the olfactory bulb as well as altered paired-pulse plasticity at the dendrodendric synapse. Both the behavioural and electro-physiological phenotypes could be rescued by neuronal PrPC
Detection of methanotrophic endosymbionts in Sphagnum sp. originating from Moszne peat bog (East Poland)

Wetlands are one of the major sources of atmospheric methane. However, not all methane produced by methanogens reaches the atmosphere as a substantial amount of CH4 (1 to 90%) is recycled in soil aerobic zone by methanotrophic bacteria. It was found that methane oxidation is also conducted by methanotrophic bacteria endosymbionts of Sphagnum mosses. The aims of the study were to examine Sphagnum-involved CH4 oxidation in transition moor in Eastern Poland and the molecular studies of methanotrophic communities inhabiting Sphagnum recurvum. The identification of endosymbiotic methanotrophs was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) techniques. The methanotrophic activity of submerged and non-submerged Sphagnum mosses was determined at the level of 7.6±0.1 and 2.5±0.1 M CH4g -1 DWday -1 for complete plants from pool and lawn mosses, respectively. The highest activity was found in the top plants parts. On the basis of genomic analyses, it was found that endosymbionts belonged to methanotrophs of type I and II. The spread of Sphagnum species in peat bogs and the contribution of methanotrophic endosymbionts to methane recycling, (very important in relation to expected climate warming), could be greatly important in predicting the methane fluxes from wetlands.
The Effect of Context (Humorous vs. Non-humorous) on Vocabulary Acquisition and Retention of Iranian EFL Learners

For almost four decades, ESL/EFL scholars have been trying to find which learning type, contextualized vs. decontextualized, leads to better vocabulary acquisition and retention. In an attempt to solve this problem, this study tried to examine the possible effectiveness of using humorous context on vocabulary acquisition and retention. Another issue that was undertaken in the present study was comparing the efficiency of contextualized and decontextualized vocabulary learning and retention. For this purpose, 58 Iranian EFL learners were categorized into 3 groups: a) humorous, b) non-humorous, and c) decontextualized. The findings were analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Tukey post hoc test. As the results revealed, the participants in decontextualized group outperformed the participants in both humorous and non-humorous groups. However, it should be noted that the performance of humorous group was significantly better than the performance of non-humorous group.
The Influences of University Interns’ Job Characteristics, Work Value, and Job Performance

In modern leisure and tourism industry, interns have become part of indispensable human resources. In internship, interns’ external job characteristics and internal work value are the main factors of their future career selection and development. This study conducted a questionnaire survey on interns of the tourism and leisure department in technological and vocational schools of Taiwan, in order to evaluate the relationship among job characteristics, work value, and job performance in internship from the perspective of interns. A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed, there were 445 valid samples, for a valid return rate of 89%. The results suggested that interns’ job characteristics have partially significant difference on work value and job performance. Interns’ job characteristics and work value have significant and positive correlation on job performance. Based on the findings, this study proposes suggestions and future research directions for academia and business circles.
An application of the KMT construction to the pathwise weak error in the Euler approximation of the geometric Brownian motion

It is well known that the strong error approximation, in the space of continuous paths equipped with the supremum norm, between a diffusion process, with smooth coefficients, and its Euler approximation with step 1/n is O(n −1/2) and that the weak error estimation between the marginal laws, at the terminal time T , is O(n −1). An analysis of the weak trajectorial error has been developed by Alfonsi, Jourdain and Kohatsu-Higa [1], through the study of the p−Wasserstein distance between the two processes. For a one-dimensional diffusion, they obtained an intermediate rate for the pathwise Wasserstein distance of order n −2/3+e. Using the Komlos , Major and Tusnady construction, we improve this bound in the case of the geometric Brownian motion and we obtain a rate of order log n/n. MSC 2010. 65C30, 60H35.
Theory of Superfluidity

We propose a new description of superfluidity based upon the fact t hat Bogoliubov¹s theory of superfluidity e xhibits some so far unsuspected macroscopic quantum waves (MQws), which have a topological nature and trave1 within the fluid at subsonic velocities. In the presence of a MQW, besides the usual phonons, there exists also a new type of quasi - particles, which are bound in the wave and have no counterpart in Bogol iubov's original theory. The spectrum of these new exc i tat ions looks much l ike the l iquid 4~e observed in neutron scattering experiments. To quantize the bound quasi - particles we employ the field theoretic version of the Bohr-Somnerfeld quantization rule, andalso resort to a variat ional computation. At any instantaneous conf i gu ra t i on the MQWs cut the condensate into blocks of phase, providing, by analogy with ferromagnetism, a nice explanation of what could be the X-transition. A crude estimate of the critica1 temperature givesTc = 2-4 K. An attempt is made to understand Tiszals two - fluid model in terms of the MQWS, and we conjecture that they play an important role in the motion of second sound. We present also a qualitative prediction concerning of the behavior of the "phonon-roton" peak below 1 . OK, and propose two experiments to look for MQWs . A teoria da superfluidez de Bogoliubov descreve certas ondas quant i cas macroscopi cas (U&Ms) de natureza topolog i ca, que se inovem no fluido a velocidades subsonicas e eram,ate o presente, desconhecidas. Com base nesse fato, propomos uma nova descricao da superfluidez.Na presenca de uma O@', alem dos fonons usuais, existe tambem um novo tipo de
State-dependence vs. Time-dependence: An Empirical Multi-Country Investigation of Price Sluggishness

In this paper we empirically investigate the time- and state-dependent behavior of aggregate price setting. We implement a testing procedure by means of a nonparametric representation of the structural form New Keynesian Phillips curve. By means of the so-called functional coefficient regression we allow for potential dependence of the Calvo (1983) parameter on inflation and inflation uncertainty. Thus, we can test for state-dependence of the Calvo parameter in a straightforward way. To address residual heteroscedasticity in the inference process regarding functional dependence, we make use of the factor-based bootstrap. We confirm that the Calvo scheme is a rather restrictive model of aggregate price setting. Moreover, it is documented that a number of shortcomings of empirical NKPC model representations in explaining inflation data may be addressed by means of a state-dependent pricing rule. In particular, problems of insignificant or even implausibly negative estimates of the relation between inflation and marginal costs are considerably reduced in the framework of our more general NKPC specification.
Crisis "Shock Factors" and the Cross-Section of Global Equity Returns

We study stock returns over the period of the global financial crisis of 2007-2008 and identify three crisis "shock factors" related to unique features of the crisis: (1) the collapse of global demand, (2) the contraction of credit supply, and (3) selling pressure on firms' equity. All three of these "shock factors" are reflected in large and statistically significant influences on residual equity returns during the crisis period (after controlling for normal risk factors that are associated with expected returns). Similar analysis for the placebo period of August 2005-December 2006 shows that the influences identified during the 2007-2008 sample period are unique to the crisis. A month-by-month analysis shows that the time variation of the importance of each of the shock factors tracks related changes in the global economic environment.