Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Understanding and using mathematical representations: a case study of prospective primary school teachers in Lesotho

A decade has passed since the introduction of free primary education in the year 2000 in Lesotho. Studies such as the Needs Analysis (Lesotho College of Education, 2006) that were carried out in order to inform the Ministry of Education and Training about progress made in the teaching of core subjects in schools during the decade of free primary education reveal that there are multiple problems associated with the teaching of primary school mathematics. The reality of overcrowded classrooms impinges on the effective teaching of mathematics. Overcrowding is a generic problem facing many schools in Lesotho. However, other problems are both content and pedagogically oriented. Learning to teach mathematics is a complex process. It involves among other things, gaining Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) (Shulman, 1986). The purpose of this study is to explore prospective elementary teachers’ understanding and use of mathematical representations. By mathematical representations I refer to instructional resources, through which teachers make mathematics comprehensible to learners. The three modes of representation (enactive, iconic, and symbolic) provide contexts for both learners and their teacher(s) to construct, negotiate, and re-construct meaning for mathematical concepts, procedures, and processes. The choice and use of representations is a key component of teachers’ PCK. This study is designed in four distinct tiers, spread over three years, to explore the development of understanding and use of mathematical representations for teaching, by a group of prospective elementary teachers in Lesotho. The main analytical framework was the Knowledge Quartet (KQ) (Rowland, Huckstep and Thwaites, 2005). The findings indicate that participants’ mathematical knowledge (foundation) influences their choice of representations and their use in instruction. I found that participants with strong mathematical knowledge are able to choose appropriate representations and are also able to use them effectively. It is recommended that for the improvement of mathematics teaching in Lesotho, the KQ be incorporated into mathematics courses studied by prospective elementary teachers at Lesotho College of Education. The model will assist student teachers to learn to plan and teach mathematics topics collaboratively, and therefore act as a tool for teacher development.
Top–Down Cognitive Control in Students with a Rigid Set-on Facial Expression

Top–down cognitive control was studied in students by the model of fixed set for facial expression. In subjects with errors in the set fixing, it is weakened to the greatest extent. The hypothesis about the influence on the top–down cognitive control of the functional state of subjects caused by signs of autonomic dysfunction, personal anxiety, depression and sleep quality is considered. Keywords: top–down cognitive control, emotional facial expression, errors recognition, EEG, alpha oscillations
Teacher education pedagogies and methodological constructs: or about different ways to approach teacher education

This paper plots the methodological constructs identified in different teacher education pedagogies deployed in teacher education settings of Higher Education Institutes in the province of Catamarca. The focus is on showcasing how future teachers are aided -from the methodological constructs of mentors- to make pedagogical decisions and broaden their potential for action during the educational path. The research was conducted from a qualitative approach. Three Higher Education Institutes representing different socio-cultural contexts and educational traditions were selected on the assumption that distinct pedagogies would be found; not only structured on the basis of stereotypical training, but also on the specificity of the disciplinary field. Seventeen semi-structured interviews were carried out and were accompanied by classroom observation of teacher educators in different areas, from distinct disciplinary backgrounds and varied seniority. The qualitative analysis of the data enabled the reconstruction of three typologies that explain the modes in which teacher education is pedagogically configured in the institutes under study as well as the dominant methodological construct that sets up each pedagogical approach. Thus, the pedagogy of ‘modeling’ teaching is based on methodological constructs based on the transmission of disciplinary contents and the instilment of behavior patterns; the ‘traditional’ view is built on methodological constructs elaborated on the basis of disciplinary logic; and the ‘eclectic’ approach is materialized in methodological constructs based on the synthesis of heterogeneous components or constructions grounded on pedagogical abstention.
Modulation Response and Relative Intensity Noise Spectra in Quantum Cascade Lasers

Static properties, relatively intensity noise and intensity modulation response in quantum cascade lasers (QCLs) studied theoretically in this paper. The present rate equations model consists of three equations for the electrons density in the conduction band and one equation for photons density in cavity length. Two equations were derived to calculate the noise and modulation response. Calculations in this paper focused on the effect of optical phonon emission rateτij, a number of stages and the gain coefficient on the noise spectrum and modulation response in this types of semiconductor lasers. The results indicate the strong effect of optical phonon emission rate, the gain coefficient and a number of stages on the dynamics properties of QCLs. The static properties such as the population inversion, the threshold injection current and the steady state photons density deviate from the ideal values with increasing in τ21 . The effect of optical phonon emission rateτ21 has similar effect to the effect of photon lifetime on the noise spectrum in comparison with other times.
Electronic Structure and Thermal Study of Ag 3 PS 4 and Ag 5 PS 4 Cl 2 from Direct to Indirect Energy Gap

The most critical issues which arises the energy consumption along with the environmental pollution. In traditional fossil fuel machinery, as much as 70% of the energy is wasted heat related entropy [1]. Due to this glaring, the thermoelectric material has been spread out to be a broadly researched field, with the reason that they can animate the waste heat to electricity directly. These properties (thermoelectric
Effect of ball end milling parameters on surface and subsurface of Inconel-718

Inconel-718 has poor machinability due to this; it is leading to severe low surface integrity. The paper discusses the effect of ball end milling parameters on surface integrity produced during dry and chilled machining environment. In this work, the variable depth of cut concept of Scattergood is used to describe the influence of machining process parameters on the machined surface. Taguchi orthogonal (L8) experiments were designed considering five input parameters. The surface integrity in terms of arithmetic average surface roughness Ra and the microhardness is analysed in this paper. The results show that the dry machining was beneficial for surface integrity.
Predicting Equity Markets with Digital Online Media Sentiment: Evidence from Markov-switching Models

ABSTRACT The authors examine the predictive capabilities of online investor sentiment for the returns and volatility of MSCI U.S. Equity Sector Indices by including exogenous variables in the mean and volatility specifications of a Markov-switching model. As predicted by the semistrong efficient market hypothesis, they find that the Thomson Reuters Marketpsych Indices (TRMI) predict volatility to a greater extent than they do returns. The TRMI derived from equity specific digital news are better predictors than similar sentiment from social media. In the two-regime setting, there is evidence supporting the hypothesis of emotions playing a more important role during stressed markets compared to calm periods. The authors also find differences in sentiment sensitivity between different industries: it is greatest for financials, whereas the energy and information technology sectors are scarcely affected by sentiment. Results are obtained with the R programming language. Code is available from the authors upon request.
Markery DNA oparte na retrotranspozonach

Retrotransposons – Class I mobile genetic elements, are the main group of dispersed repeated sequences in eukaryotic genomes. They transpose via RNA intermediate with the use of reverse transcriptase. Retrotransposition leads to an increase of the retrotransposon copy number in the host genome. Thus it generates genetic variation that may be revealed by retrotransposon-based DNA markers systems. The range of available techniques include S-SAP – a modifi cation of the AFLP method that shows fragments length polymorphisms between restriction sites and retrotransposon terminal sequences, IRAP and REMAP – two similar methods revealing length polymorphisms of fragments lying between retrotransposons and between retrotransposon and SSR loci, respectively. These three techniques provide dominant markers, while RBIP codominant markers show whether the retrotransposon is present or absent in the particular locus. Main applications and problems related to use of these markers are also described.
Gao, Fei and Zhang, Ye and Wang, Jun and Sun, Jinping and Yang, Erfu and Hussain, Amir (2015) Visual attention model based vehicle target detection in synthetic aperture radar images

The human visual system (HVS) possesses a remarkable ability of real-time complex scene analysis despite the limited neuronal hardware available for such tasks. The HVS successfully overcomes the problem of information bottleneck by selecting potential regions of interest and reducing the amount of data transmitted to high-level visual processing. On the other hand, many man-made systems are also confronted with the same problem yet fail to achieve satisfactory performance. Among these, the synthetic aperture radar based automatic target recognition (SAR-ATR) system is a typical one, where the traditional detection algorithm employed is termed the constant false alarm rate (CFAR). It is known to exhibit a low probability of detection (PD) and consumes too much time. The visual attention model (VAM) is a computational model which aims to imitate the HVS in predicting where humans will look. The application of VAM to the SAR-ATR system could thus help solve the problem of effective real-time processing of complex large amounts of data. In this paper, we propose a new vehicle target detection algorithm for SAR images based on the VAM. The algorithm modifies the well-known Itti model according to the requirements of target detection in SAR images.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) ‘ Poor rich fen mosses ’ : atmospheric N-deposition and P-eutrophication in base-rich fens

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Clastogenicity of Piper cubeba (Piperaceae) seed extract in an in vivo mammalian cell system

The plant Piper cubeba is widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions and is used medically for various purposes but has not yet been evaluated for genotoxicity. We used male and female Swiss mice and Wistar rats and the comet assay and micronucleus test to investigate the mutagenic potential of a crude extract of P. cubeba seeds. The rodents were administered 0.5 g kg-1, 1.0 g kg-1 and 1.5 g kg-1 of the extract by gavage. For the Swiss mice, peripheral blood was collected 24 h after treatment for the comet assay, and at 48 and 72 h for the micronucleus test. For the Wistar rats, peripheral blood and hepatic cells were collected for the comet assay and bone marrow cells were collected for the micronucleus test 24 h after treatment. At 1.5 g kg-1, the highest dose tested, the extract induced a statistically significant increase in both the mean number of micronucleated polychromatic erythrocytes and the level of DNA damage in the rodent cell types analyzed. Under our experimental conditions, the P. cubeba seed extract was genotoxic in vivo when administered orally to mice and rats.
Eye movements and attention in visual feature search with graded target-distractor-similarity

We conducted a visual feature search experiment in which we varied the target-distractor-similarity in four steps, the number of items (4, 6, and 8), and the presence of the target. In addition to classical search parameters like error rate and reaction time (RT), we analyzed saccade amplitudes, fixation durations, and the portion of reinspections (recurred fixation on an item with at least one different item fixated in between) and refixations (recurred fixation on an item without a different item fixated in between) per trial. When target-distractor-similarity was increased, more errors and longer RTs were observed, accompa-nied by shorter saccade amplitudes, longer fixation durations, and more reinspec-tions/refixations. An increasing set size resulted in longer saccade amplitudes and shorter fixation durations. Finally, in target absent trials we observed more reinspections than refixations, whereas in target present trials refixations were more frequent than reinspec-tions. The results on saccade amplitude and fixation duration support saliency-based search theo-ries that assume an attentional focus variable in size according to task demands and a vari-able attentional dwell time. Reinspections and refixations seem to be rather a sign of in-complete perceptual processing of items than being due to memory failure.
Partial consumption of different species of aphid prey by the predator Macrolophus pygmaeus (Hemiptera: Miridae)

The partial consumption of prey refers to when a predator does not consume all the digestible biomass of an animal it has killed. The frequency of partial consumption of prey by the polyphagous predator Macrolophus pygmaeus (Hemiptera: Miridae) was recorded for different species of prey and prey population structures, in single and mixed prey species patches. All the instars of the aphid, Aphis gossypii, were provided as prey alone or together with Myzus persicae or Macrosiphum euphorbiae. Numbers killed were determined when equal (10 nymphs of each instar, 40 in total) or unequal numbers (higher numbers of young nymphs but again 40 in total) of nymphs were placed on an eggplant leaf in a plastic Petri dish. In each dish a single 5th instar nymph of the predator was introduced and the numbers killed and numbers of partially consumed aphids were recorded after 24h, at 25 ± 1°C. The numbers of A. gossypii killed were higher than those of the other species of prey used. The frequency of partially consumed prey was highest when A. gossypii was offered alone in equal numbers of each instar, followed by when A. gossypii was provided together with M. persicae in unequal numbers of instars (23.6% and 11.2%, of the total mortality, respectively). Killed but not consumed prey was also recorded, at frequencies that reached 10.7% of the total mortality when A. gossypii was provided alone in equal numbers of each instar. For M. persicae and M. euphorbiae, these percentages were signifi cantly lower. The higher frequency of this behaviour when A. gossypii was the prey may be related to its lower nutritional quality for the predator. The effect of prey instar was not signifi cant. These results indicate that in determining the numbers killed by a predator, partially consumed prey may make up a signifi cant part of the total kill and thus should be taken into consideration. * Corresponding author; e-mail: dperdikis@aua.gr INTRODUCTION In predator-prey interactions prey capture most likely leads to the predator eating its prey. Predators, however, do not always consume all of the ingestible biomass of their prey. This behaviour is referred to as “partial prey consumption” (Ernsting & van der Werf, 1988), “wasteful killing” (Johnson et al., 1975) or “superfl uous killing” (Riechert & Maupin, 1998). Partial prey consumption is commonly recorded in predators (Hassel et al., 1976), e.g., in mantids (Holling, 1966), the dipteran predatory fl y Aphidoletes aphidimyza Rondani (Uygun, 1971), damselfl ies (Johnson et al., 1975), antlion larvae (Lucas, 1985), hoverfl y larvae Metasyrphus corollae (F.) (Diptera: Syrphidae) (Barlow & Whittingham, 1986), aquatic heteropteran predators (Dudgeon, 1990), anthocorids (Campbell, 1977; Meyling et al., 2003), carabids (Lang & Gsödl, 2003), predatory mites (Hoyt, 1970; Sandness & McMurtry, 1970) and spiders (Reichert, 1974; Samu & Biro, 1993). Eur. J. Entomol. 113: 345–351, 2016 doi: 10.14411/eje.2016. 045
Open Innovation in the Financial Services Sector - A global literature review

Despite the fact that it could help to overcome the current global financial crisis, the concept of open innovation is only very scarcely applied in the financial services sector. This international literature review covering the past decade provides an overview of the relevant body of literature on this topic. Two questions represent the starting point of this work: (1) Why is open innovation so scarcely applied in the banking, wealth management and insurance industries? and (2) Should the financial services sector use open innovation more widely? Our findings show that various organizational factors as well as monetary reasons prevent financial services companies from applying open innovation processes. Yet, by taking into account the potential benefits that the concept of open innovation may yield, this approach should indeed be applied more widely in the financial services industry.
THE USABILITY OF ONLINE GEOGRAPHIC VIRTUAL REALITY FOR URBAN PLANNING

Virtual reality (VR) technology is starting to become widely and freely available (for example the online OpenSimulator tool), with potential for use in 3D urban planning and design tasks on a correspondingly widespread scale. However, rigorous assessment on usability of such tools is needed to ascertain the likely effect on the profession. A previous study consulted with a small group of urban professionals, who concluded in a satisfaction usability test that online VR had potential value as a usable 3D communication and remote marketing tool but acknowledged that visual quality and geographic accuracy were obstacles to overcome. This research takes the investigation a significant step further to also examine the usability aspects of efficiency (how quickly tasks are completed) and effectiveness (how successfully tasks are completed), relating to OpenSimulator in an urban planning situation. The comparative study pits a three-dimensional VR model (with increased graphic fidelity and geographic content to address the feedback of the previous study) of a subdivision design (in a Dunedin suburb) against 3D models built with GIS (ArcGIS) and CAD (BricsCAD) tools, two types of software environment well established in urban professional practice. Urban professionals participated in the study by attempting to perform timed tasks correctly in each of the environments before being asked questions about the technologies involved and their perceived importance to their professional work. The results reinforce the positive feedback for VR of the previous study, with the graphical and geographic data issues being somewhat addressed (though participants stressed the need for accurate and precise object and terrain modification capabilities in VR). Ease-of-use and associated fastest task completion speed were significant positive outcomes to emerge from the comparison with GIS and CAD, pointing to a strong future for VR in an urban planning context.
Intra-interglacial climate variability: model simulations of Marine Isotope Stages 1, 5, 11, 13, and 15

Abstract. Using the Community Climate System Model version 3 (CCSM3) including a dynamic global vegetation model, a set of 13 time slice experiments was carried out to study global climate variability between and within the Quaternary interglacials of Marine Isotope Stages (MISs) 1, 5, 11, 13, and 15. The selection of interglacial time slices was based on different aspects of inter- and intra-interglacial variability and associated astronomical forcing. The different effects of obliquity, precession, and greenhouse gas (GHG) forcing on global surface temperature and precipitation fields are illuminated. In most regions seasonal surface temperature anomalies can largely be explained by local insolation anomalies induced by the astronomical forcing. Climate feedbacks, however, may modify the surface temperature response in specific regions, most pronounced in the monsoon domains and the polar oceans. GHG forcing may also play an important role for seasonal temperature anomalies, especially at high latitudes and early Brunhes interglacials (MIS 13 and 15) when GHG concentrations were much lower than during the later interglacials. High- versus low-obliquity climates are generally characterized by strong warming over the Northern Hemisphere extratropics and slight cooling in the tropics during boreal summer. During boreal winter, a moderate cooling over large portions of the Northern Hemisphere continents and a strong warming at high southern latitudes is found. Beside the well-known role of precession, a significant role of obliquity in forcing the West African monsoon is identified. Other regional monsoon systems are less sensitive or not sensitive at all to obliquity variations during interglacials. Moreover, based on two specific time slices (394 and 615 ka), it is explicitly shown that the West African and Indian monsoon systems do not always vary in concert, challenging the concept of a global monsoon system on astronomical timescales. High obliquity can also explain relatively warm Northern Hemisphere high-latitude summer temperatures despite maximum precession around 495 ka (MIS 13). It is hypothesized that this obliquity-induced high-latitude warming may have prevented a glacial inception at that time.
A Note on Nominal and Real Devaluation in Laos

In this article, we investigate whether or not nominal devaluation leads to real devaluation in Laos by using autoregressive-distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing and the Granger causality test in a vector error correction model (VECM) framework. Our empirical evidence shows that nominal devaluation Granger causes real devaluation in the short run and the long run. This finding implies that nominal devaluation leads to real devaluation.