Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Should you be persuaded. Two samples of data-driven learningmaterials

In recent publications (Johns 1986, 1988) I have described a microcomputer-based approach to foreign language learning that takes seriously the notion that the task of the learner is to "discover" the foreign language, and that the task of the language teacher is to provide a context in which the learner can develop strategies for discovery strategies through which he or she can "learn how to learn".
The Effects of National Culture on the Design of Management Accounting Information Systems

This study empirically examined the impact of national culture on the amount of information provided by management accounting information systems (MAISs). Two very different cultures, the Korean and Australian cultures, were considered in our study. The results showed that more flexibility performance information is provided in Korean firms, while the amount of quality performance information and traditional cost control information (TCCI) produced in Australian firms is more than in Korean firms. We also investigated the effect of the three-way interactions among national culture, level of advanced manufacturing technology (AMT), and information on production performance. The results revealed a significant impact of three-way interactions on the improvement of production performance.
Embodied Energy and Cost Optimization of RC Beam under Blast Load

Reinforced concrete (RC) structures not only consume a lot of resources but also cause continuing pollution. However, sustainable design could make RC structures more environmental-friendly. One important index for environmental impact assessment is embodied energy. The aim of the present study is to optimize the embodied energy and the cost of RC beam subjected to the blast loads. First, a general optimization procedure was described. Then, the optimization procedure was used to optimize the embodied energy and the cost of RC beams. Optimization results of the cost and the embodied energy were compared. It was found that the optimization results were influenced by the cost ratio (ratio of price of steel to price of concrete per unit volume) and the embodied energy ratio (ratio of embodied energy of steel to embodied energy of concrete per unit volume). An optimal design that minimized both embodied energy and cost simultaneously was obtained if values of and were very close.
Effect of gamma radiation on dielectric properties of polyacetate polymer

A study on modification of dielectric properties of polyacetate polymer is studied in the dose range of 101 –106 Gy. It is observed that significant increase in dielectric constant takes place at the higher doses of gamma radiation. This increase is observed mainly in the lower frequency region especially in the range of 42 to 1000 Hz. The increase in dielectric constant is attributed to polarization in the polymer matrix caused due to chain scissioning and subsequent rearrangement of the polymeric chain in the matrix
Examine changes in geometric parameters of a suspension bridge using various geodetic methods

The main aim of the research was to compare and evaluate the possibility of using different survey methods used to determine changes in the geometry of suspension bridge. Three measurement methods have been tested, ie: (i) tachymetric, (ii) photogrammetric and (iii) a scanning laser (two attempts with various scanners resolution). The above-mentioned methods were tested on the main span of a suspension bridge with a span of 165 m on the Oder River. The scope of the research included measurements of changes in bridge deflection and suspension ropes by the above-mentioned methods during the operation of the conveyor and its staging. The measurements were made with the precise total station Leica TC2002. The photogrammetric method used digital photography, a camera with high resolution, GigaPan EPICPro turntable and Kolor Autopano Giga 3.X software. The combination of the equipment and software allows for precise positioning of rotation axis for the specific set of digital camera plus lens having a constant focus which allows for precise stitching of dozens shots in a vast panorama. The method of laser scanning is a relatively new measurement method allowing to obtain a quasi-continuous spatial representation of the surface of the tested object. The ideal to the research of bridges would be using all three methods simultaneously.
Comparison of OH concentration measurements by DOAS and LIF during SAPHIR chamber experiments at high OH reactivity and low NO concentration

Abstract. During recent field campaigns, hydroxyl radical (OH) concentrations that were measured by laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) were up to a factor of ten larger than predicted by current chemical models for conditions of high OH reactivity and low NO concentration. These discrepancies, which were observed in forests and urban-influenced rural environments, are so far not entirely understood. In summer 2011, a series of experiments was carried out in the atmosphere simulation chamber SAPHIR in Julich, Germany, in order to investigate the photochemical degradation of isoprene, methyl-vinyl ketone (MVK), methacrolein (MACR) and aromatic compounds by OH. Conditions were similar to those experienced during the PRIDE-PRD2006 campaign in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), China, in 2006, where a large difference between OH measurements and model predictions was found. During experiments in SAPHIR, OH was simultaneously detected by two independent instruments: LIF and differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS). Because DOAS is an inherently calibration-free technique, DOAS measurements are regarded as a reference standard. The comparison of the two techniques was used to investigate potential artifacts in the LIF measurements for PRD-like conditions of OH reactivities of 10 to 30 s−1 and NO mixing ratios of 0.1 to 0.3 ppbv. The analysis of twenty experiment days shows good agreement. The linear regression of the combined data set (averaged to the DOAS time resolution, 2495 data points) yields a slope of 1.02 ± 0.01 with an intercept of (0.10 ± 0.03) × 106 cm−3 and a linear correlation coefficient of R2 = 0.86. This indicates that the sensitivity of the LIF instrument is well-defined by its calibration procedure. No hints for artifacts are observed for isoprene, MACR, and different aromatic compounds. LIF measurements were approximately 30–40% (median) larger than those by DOAS after MVK (20 ppbv) and toluene (90 ppbv) had been added. However, this discrepancy has a large uncertainty and requires further laboratory investigation. Observed differences between LIF and DOAS measurements are far too small to explain the unexpected high OH concentrations during the PRIDE-PRD2006 campaign.
Parameter-Free Spatial Attention Network for Person Re-Identification

Global average pooling (GAP) allows to localize discriminative information for recognition [40]. While GAP helps the convolution neural network to attend to the most discriminative features of an object, it may suffer if that information is missing e.g. due to camera viewpoint changes. To circumvent this issue, we argue that it is advantageous to attend to the global configuration of the object by modeling spatial relations among high-level features. We propose a novel architecture for Person Re-Identification, based on a novel parameter-free spatial attention layer introducing spatial relations among the feature map activations back to the model. Our spatial attention layer consistently improves the performance over the model without it. Results on four benchmarks demonstrate a superiority of our model over the state-of-the-art achieving rank-1 accuracy of 94.7% on Market-1501, 89.0% on DukeMTMC-ReID, 74.9% on CUHK03-labeled and 69.7% on CUHK03-detected.
EFFECT OF DIFFERENT GROWING MEDIA ON THE GROWTH AND FLOWERING OF STOCK (MATTHIOLA INCANA) UNDER THE AGRO- CLIMATIC CONDITION OF DERA ISMAIL KHAN

A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of different growing media on the growth and development of stock (Matthiola incana). Seven different growing media including soil (100%), leaf mold (100%), coconut husk (100%), soil + leaf mold (50:50), soil + coconut husk (50:50), leaf mold + coconut husk (50:50) and soil + leaf mold + coconut husk (33:33:33) were used to check the growth of Stock plants in pots. Data was recorded for different parameters including days to flower initiation, days to flowering, plant height (cm), leaves per plant, branches per plant, flowering clusters per plant, flowers per cluster, flowers per plant and flower persistence life (days), during this course of study. The overall performance of Stock was better in media having leaf mold as it took least days to flower initiation (75.83), maximum plant height (21.43 cm), flowering clusters per plant (4.11), number of flowers per cluster (8.45 days), flowers per plant (34.66). For better growth and flowering of Stock plant, leaf mold can be used as growing media in pots.
Multi-objective optimisation algorithm for routability and timing driven circuit clustering on FPGAs

Circuit clustering algorithms fit synthesised circuits into field programmable gate array (FPGA) configurable logic blocks (CLBs) efficiently. This fundamental process in FPGA CAD flow directly impacts both effort required and performance achievable in subsequent place-and-route processes. Circuit clustering is limited by hardware constraints of specific target architectures. Hence, better circuit clustering approaches are essential for improving device utilisation whilst at the same time optimising circuit performance parameters such as, e.g. power and delay. In this study, the authors present a method based on multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) to facilitate circuit clustering. They address a number of challenges including CLB input bandwidth constraints, improvement of CLB utilisation, minimisation of interconnects between CLBs. The authors’ new approach has been validated using the ‘Golden 20’ MCNC benchmark circuits that are regularly used in FPGA-related literature. The results show that the method proposed in this study achieves improvements of up to 50% in clustering, routability and timing when compared to state-of-the-art approaches including VPack, T-VPack, RPack, DPack, HDPack, MOPack and iRAC. The key contribution of this work is a flexible EDA flow that can incorporate numerous objectives required to successfully tackle real-world circuit design on FPGA, providing device utilisation at increased design performance.
Oxygen decreases and variability in the eastern equatorial Pacific

Observations indicate increasingly large and strong oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) in the tropical Pacific over recent decades. Here we report on oxygen decreases and variability within the eastern equatorial Pacific OMZ. We construct time series from historical and profiling float oxygen data and analyze data from repeat hydrographic sections at 110°W and 85°50′W. Historical data are quite sparse for constructing oxygen time series, but floats with oxygen sensors prove to be good tools to fill measurement gaps in later parts of these time series. In the region just south of the equator a time series over the last 34 years reveals that oxygen decreases from 200 to 700 m at a rate between 0.50 and 0.83 μmol kg−1 yr−1. This strong decrease seems to be related to changes in the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO). Oscillations on shorter time scales (e.g., an El Nino signal in the upper 350 m) are superimposed upon this trend. In the section data, a general trend of decreasing oxygen is present below the surface layer. While velocity differences appear related to oxygen differences in the equatorial channel, there is less correlation elsewhere. Contrasting with long-term trend computations, the trends derived from two repeat sections are obscured by the influence of seasonal and longer-term variability. Multidecadal variability (e.g., PDO) has the strongest influence on long-term trends, while El Nino, isopycnal heave, current variability, seasonal cycles, and temperature changes are less important. Key points: - Oxygen decrease in the Pacific OMZ over the last 34 years in 200-700 m depth - Trends in oxygen and their relation to variability on different timescales - Relation between oxygen and velocity changes in the equatorial channel
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS ON SPINACH PLASTOCYANIN: MOLECULAR DYNAMICS SIMULATION STUDY

In this work, a molecular dynamics approach was used to study the thermal denaturation mechanism of spinach plastocyanin protein. Advantages of related molecular dynamics are also presented. The only significant change in Cα RMSD and Rg plot was seen at 453K. At this temperature, less stability for Met92 with respect to the other residues was found. A more flexible region was found for residues 40-56 at all temperatures. In our simulation, three steady states, including native, intermediate and denatured states, as well as two transition states ensembles have been found at 453K. Secondary structure analysis have shown that the structure of the first transition state is more similar to that of the native state, while the second transition state is more similar to the denatured state.
Career Choices and the Evolution of the College Gender Gap

We propose a complementary explanation for the evolution of the college gender gap that emphasizes the raising opportunity cost of pursuing a college degree for men, due to the increase in the rewards to becoming a superstar in men-dominated occupations, like professional sports. We support our explanation with causal evidence from a natural experiment in European soccer markets that provides exogenous variation in male earnings in a superstar path. Consistent with our story, we nd a signi cant positive e ect of an increase in male superstar earnings on the ratio of female to male tertiary enrollment in college education.
Regional inequalities: the role of intergovernmental fiscal transfers in Uruguay

In this paper we explore the bidirectional relationship between intergovernmental transfers and regional income inequalities in Uruguay. Based on the construction of a simultaneous equations model, that accounts for the joint determination of these two variables, and by using a panel of departments (regions) over the period 1990-2012, our empirical results show that the central government transfers to regional governments does not have a significant impact on regional income inequalities levels. In fact, these transfers are strongly determined by the historical validation of public expenditure executed by regional governments but not by regional income disparities levels. Our results are consistent with the lack of territorial cohesion criteria in the normative governing the allocation of these transfers in Uruguay. Finally, these results have clear policy implications based on the necessary revision of the normative scheme of intergovernmental regional transfers in Uruguay if the objective is to arrive to a country with a higher degree of territorial cohesion.
Progressive Use of Metrical Cues: A Cross-linguistic Study

Within the framework of a larger project on metrical segmentation this study presents the first results of a cross-linguistic experiment with Dutch (penultimate word stress) and Turkish (word final stress) listeners. Previous studies have shown that listeners interpret stressed or strong (non-reduced) syllables as potential beginnings of words in a.o. English [4], and Dutch [13], [22]. This is interpreted as evidence for the Metrical Segmentation Hypothesis, which predicts that listeners have and use a parsing ability based on edgealigned stress. However, evidence for a facilitatory effect of right-edge aligned stress is sparse (but see [6]). The current non-word spotting experiment was designed to find out whether listeners can anticipate a word boundary using language-specific stress patterns. The results show that this is partly the case: Dutch listeners are quicker to spot the ‘word’ when it is preceded by their native penultimate pattern; Turkish listeners are aided by their native final stress pattern as well as by penultimate stress. Turkish listeners, furthermore, make regressive use of metrical cues.
Modelling Italian Construction Flexibility with Distributional Semantics: Are Constructions Enough?

English. The present study combines psycholinguistic evidence on Italian valency coercion and a distributional analysis. The paper suggests that distributional properties can provide useful insights on how general abstract constructions influence the resolution of coercion effects. However, complete understanding of the processing and recognition of coercion requires to take into consideration the complex intertwining of lexical verb and abstract constructions. Italiano. Il lavoro unisce uno studio psicolinguistico sul fenomeno della coercion valenziale in Italiano con un’analisi distribuzionale.L’articolo suggerisce che le proprietà distribuzionali forniscano un’utile passaggio per capire l’influenza delle costruzioni alla risoluzione di effetti di coercion. Tuttavia, una piena comprensione del fenomeno richiede di prendere in considerazione la complessa relazione tra verbo e costruzione argomentale.
Simple vs. Complex Nature of Humor and Laughter in Finnish-Chinese Negotiations

This paper explores humor and laughter as sites of search for common ground and power positioning in the context of Finnish-Chinese co-operation. It is mainly based on the data obtained by interviewing individuals who work either for local governments in Finland or one of the state agencies responsible for attracting foreign investment. The study uses Positioning theory by Harré (1991) and Politeness theory by Brown and Levinson (1987) when analyzing expressions regarding humor between the Finns and the Chinese. Humor and laughter are seen as integral to co-operation and at times can assist in finding common ground and improving the atmosphere at meetings. At the same time, perceived differences in the sense of humor and the complexities of Chinese ‘face’ may render the use of humor during negotiations difficult. According to interviewees, both sides make adjustments in their humorous expressions for the sake of co-operation. However, power positioning and autonomy may also be asserted.
JournalOfBasicAndApplied---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Analysis of Malaysia Stock Return Using Mixture of Normal Distributions Zetty

In this paper, two component univariate mixtures of Normal distributions is proposed to accommodate the nonnormality and asymmetry characteristics of financial time series data as found in the distribution of monthly rates of returns for Bursa Malaysia Index Series namely the FTSE Bursa Malaysia Composite Index (FBMKLCI) from July 1990 until July 2010. Firstly, we give some basic definitions and concepts of mixtures of Normal distributions. Next, we explore some of its distribution properties. In support of determining the number of components, we use the information criterion for model selection. The measures provide supporting evidence in favour of the two-component mixtures of Normal distributions. For parameter estimation, we apply the most commonly used Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) via the EM algorithm to fit the two-component mixtures of Normal distributions using data set on logarithmic stock return of Bursa Malaysia index.
Physicochemical, microbiological and microscopic evaluation of artisanal rapaduras produced in Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brazil

The aim of this work was the physicochemical, microbiological and microscopic evaluation of artisanal rapaduras produced in Cuiaba, Mato Grosso State, Brazil. The determination of the proximal composition, pH and the microscopic analyses were made according to the Association of Official Analytical Chemists (AOAC). The concentrations of minerals and toxic metals were quantified by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The Coliforms at 45°C and Salmonella sp . were determined according to the American Public Health Association (APHA). The results obtained were: moisture (6.09 to 16.34%), ash (0.07 to 1.88%), insoluble solids (0.11 to 11.3%), pH (4.73 to 5.61), proteins (0.21 to 0.47%), sucrose (13.15 to 43.89%), and reducing sugars (10.96 to 26.28%). Significant differences were found between the samples (p £ 0.05) as well as nonconformities in relation to national regulations. The mineral contents showed significant differences between lots of samples (p £ 0.05) and some lots presented Cd and Pb concentrations above the maximum values allowed by Brazilian legislation. High quantities of unwanted materials were detected and none of the samples presented microbiological contamination. The results suggest the creation of technical standards for quality control for the production of rapaduras to ensure food safety.
Chapter 3 Application of Intelligent Systems for News Analytics

The chapter starts with an overview of existing text mining systems whose main purpose is predicting equity price movements on the financial markets. In general, these systems transform the input text to a so called sentiment score, a numerical value equivalent to the opinion of an analyst on the influence of the news text to the further development of the regarded stock. In the second part it is explored how the sentiment score relates to some of the relevant macroeconomic variables. It is suggested that raw sentiment score can be transformed to reveal sentiment reversals, and such transformed indicator relates better to future returns. As an example the project FINDS is presented, as an integrated system that consists of a module that performs sentiment extraction from the financial news, a benchmark module for comparison between different classification engines, and a visualization module used for the representation of the sentiment data to the end users, thus supporting the traders in analyzing news and making buy and sell decision.
Model-Based Quantification of Blood Flow Rate and Oxygen Consumption Rate of Biological Tissues Using Image-Guided Near Infrared Light Spectroscopy

Image-guided near infrared spectroscopy has been implemented to deduce the map of oxygen consumption rate and blood flow rate of biological tissues using a model-based method combined the noninvasive diffuse light measurement techniques. The developed method relies on optical imaging to recover the concentrations of oxygen and de-oxygen hemoglobin concentration of tissues, and the ordinary differential equations to recover the vascular parameters including oxygen consumption rate and blood flow rate. In particular, the mathematical model has been validated by both simulation and experimental tests.
Impact of Corporate Diversification on the Market Value of Firms: A study of Deposit Money Banks Nigerian

This paper investigates the impact of diversification on banks market value. Many studies have been conducted on the effect of diversification on firm value. From a theoretical view point, it is commonly accepted that if the costs of diversification exceed its benefits, the market will discount the share price of diversified firms. The paper hypothesized that diversification does not impact significantly on market value of banks in Nigeria. Adopting an Ex-post facto research design and applying OLS, the regression results at 5% significant level of significance rejected the null hypothesis and thereby accepting the alternate. This suggests that corporate diversification impacts significantly on the market value of banks, implying that diversification in Nigerian banks impacts significantly on the market value of the diversified banks. Keywords: Diversification; market value; regression; banks.