Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self-Organised Learning Environments (SOLEs) in an English School: an example of transformative pedagogy?

Self-Organised Learning Environments (SOLEs) are models of learning in which students self-organise in groups and learn using a computer connected to the internet with minimal teacher support. The original ‘hole in the wall’ experiments in India are now applied to classrooms around the world. The idea of SOLEs is a social innovation that is inspiring educators (in schooling and also business contexts) everywhere, as demonstrated by Mitra’s award of the 2013 TED prize. However, when SOLEs are located in classrooms, a number of questions arise. Are SOLEs easily adapted for the classroom context? Is the impact on learning as transformative as suggested by the original ideas? This paper considers in detail the application over two years by one teacher, using SOLEs in a Year 4 classroom in an urban North East England primary school, in partnership with university researchers Dolan, Mitra and Leat. Issues of innovation and transformation are discussed, informed by the ideas of Bernstein, Engestrom, and Giroux. The SOLE concept, although flexible, has the potential to offer a divergent, radical transformative pedagogy. This sits somewhat uncomfortably alongside more convergent approaches which position the learner as subservient to the curriculum, with the task of merely mastering subject matter prescribed by the teacher. However, what is notable from this analysis is that transformative pedagogy seems to be positioned alongside, rather than in conflict with, the dominant educational framework.
Effects of an upstream triangular plate on the wing-body junction flow

The use of a short triangular leading-edge plate at the base of a wing-body junction is experimentally evaluated as a passive control method to eliminate the horseshoe vortices or at least to subdue their strength. The impact of the plate geometry on the efficacy of the control is assessed by considering triangular plates that have a length of 1T, 2T, and 3T, a width of 0.1T and 0.2T, and a height of 1.5T, where T is the maximum thickness of the wing. The wing model is a NACA 0020 airfoil. The Reynolds number based on the chord length is varied from Rec = 25 000 to 75 000. The incoming boundary layer is laminar in all experiments. Particle Image Velocimetry is utilized to characterize the temporal behavior and circulation strength of horseshoe vortices. The λ2-criterion is used as the vortex identification method. All the triangular leading-edge plates investigated in this study are found to decrease the circulation strength of the horseshoe vortices in the symmetry plane, although by varying degrees, com.
A cross-cultural study on the usage of cooperative learning techniques in graduate level education in five different countries

The purpose of this study was to examine graduate students’ experiences of cooperative learning in higher education in five ethnically, culturally and geographically different countries. This research was an attempt to understand how a culturally distinct instruction and academic environments influence their learning processes and implications for better instructional designs. Graduate students from Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Korea, Turkey and United States are surveyed and analysis of variance and factor analysis techniques are used in statistical analysis. Results revealed that culture did not have effect on learning preferences. Graduate students made conscious choices whether to be involved or not in cooperative learning in their educational environment.
Medical X-Ray Image Enhancement Based on Kramer's PDE Model

The purpose of this study is to present an application of a novel enhancement technique for enhancing medical images generated from X-rays. The method presented in this study is based on a nonlinear partial differential equation (PDE) model, Kramer's PDE model. The usefulness of this method is investigated by experimental results. We apply this method to a medical X-ray image. For comparison, the X-ray image is also processed using classic Perona-Malik PDE model and Catte PDE model. Although the Perona-Malik model and Catte PDE model could also enhance the image, the quality of the enhanced images is considerably inferior compared with the enhanced image using Kramer's PDE model. The study suggests that the Kramer's PDE model is capable of enhancing medical X-ray images, which will make the X-ray images more reliable.
Fifteen Years Controlling Unwanted Thoughts: A Systematic Review of the Thought Control Ability Questionnaire (TCAQ)

Thought control ability is a vulnerability factor implicated in the etiology and maintenance of emotional disorders. This manuscript aims to systematically review the use and psychometric performance of the Thought Control Ability Questionnaire (TCAQ), designed to assess people's ability to control unwanted thoughts. Three electronic databases were searched for papers administering the TCAQ published in indexed peer-reviewed journals. Data (participants characteristics, country, study design, etc.) were extracted from the results for qualitative synthesis. The TCAQ's content validity, dimensionality, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, convergent/divergent validity, floor/ceiling effects, and interpretability were summarized. Two reviewers independently screened articles and assessed quality taking COSMIN criteria into account. Finally, the review included 17 papers. The TCAQ has been administered to healthy individuals, students, and adult patients, in six languages from nine countries. We found that the TCAQ, and its shorter versions, demonstrate robust reliability and adequate content validity. Of interest is the TCAQ's capacity to predict performance in diverse experimental tasks focused on thought control. The TCAQ unidimensionality has been supported in exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Regarding construct validity, the TCAQ is significantly related to a wide range of psychopathological measures of anxiety, worry, depression, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, etc. However, as only a few of the included studies had a longitudinal design, we are unable to draw firm conclusions about the measure's temporal stability. Moreover, psychometric aspects such as factorial invariance across different samples have not been analyzed. Despite these limitations, based on available psychometric evidence we can recommend using the TCAQ for measuring perceived control of unwanted thoughts.
A model study on changes of European and Swiss particulate matter, ozone and nitrogen deposition between 1990 and 2020 due to the revised Gothenburg protocol

Abstract. We report a study of changes in air quality due to emission reductions using the chemical transport model CAMx. The model domain includes all of Europe with a nested domain over Switzerland. The model simulations were performed with emissions for 1990 (the reference year for the Gothenburg Protocol), 2005 (the reference year for the revised Gothenburg Protocol), 2006 (for model validation) and 2020 (the target year for the revised Gothenburg Protocol) using three emission scenarios prepared by IIASA/GAINS. Changes in ozone, particulate matter and nitrogen deposition are the central theme of the study. The modelled relative changes in the annual average PM2.5 concentrations between 1990 and 2005 look reasonable based on various PM10 and PM2.5 observations in the past. The results obtained in this study suggest that annual mean concentrations of PM2.5 decreased by about 20–50% in Europe. Simulations using the baseline scenario (BL 2020) suggest that PM2.5 concentrations in 2020 will be about 30% lower than those in 2005. The largest predicted decrease in PM2.5, based on the MTFR (maximum technically feasible reduction) scenario, was about 60% and was located mainly in the eastern part of Europe. In the case of ozone, both model results and measurements show an increase in the mean ozone mixing ratios between 1990 and 2005. The observations, however, suggest a larger increase, indicating the importance of background ozone levels. Although emission reductions caused a decrease in peak ozone values, average ozone levels in polluted regions increased due to reduced titration with nitric oxide (NO). This caused a change in the frequency distribution of ozone. Model simulations using emission scenarios for 2020 suggest that annual average ozone mixing ratios will continue to increase. Changes in the levels of the damage indicators AOT40 for forests and SOMO35 are reported as well. The model results suggest that nitrogen deposition has decreased by 10–30% in the eastern part of Europe since 1990, while it has increased by about 20% in the Iberian Peninsula. The decrease is mainly due to the deposition of oxidized nitrogen species, whereas deposition of reduced nitrogen compounds increased. In Switzerland, nitrogen deposition is larger in the northern part of the Alps, where ammonia emissions are the highest. Applying the baseline scenario, we found that the deposition of oxidized nitrogen compounds will have decreased by a further 40% by 2020, whereas deposition of reduced species will continue to increase. This will lead to a 10–20% decrease in the total nitrogen deposition in most of the model domain, with a 10% increase in the eastern part of Europe.
Master ’ s Degree Project in Marketing & Consumption “ I expect to get free shipping ” What effect do shipping-and handling costs have on the consumers shopping decision ?

Online shopping is today a very popular way of purchasing goods in Sweden, and two out of three Swedes are actively shopping online. When purchasing goods from a web shop, one important part of the process involves the delivery and potential return. There are in many cases delivery and return fees, also called shipping & handling costs, which the consumer sometimes must pay. These costs effect the consumers shopping behaviour in a way that they either can increase the amount of goods in the shopping cart or make the consumer reconsider the purchase. The aim of this paper is to get a deeper understanding of how the shipping & handling costs may affect the consumer’s decision when shopping online. The research was conducted through a mixed-method, combining both interviews and surveys. Our findings imply that shipping and handling costs do affect the consumers decision making online, and that the cost per see can determine whether or not they will go through with a purchase. Surprisingly, almost none of the consumers are interested in returning goods that they are unsatisfied with and especially not if there is a return fee. The majority of the consumers are aware of how it is possible to act sustainable, however, this is something that they almost never act upon when shopping online.
The species paradigm in bacteriology: proposal for a cross-disciplinary species concept

For centuries species concepts for living organisms have been proposed, modified and rejected over and over again. In bacteriology consensus has been particularly difficult to reach. This is partly due to the nature of the bacteria to be sorted into species, but partly to the nature and various needs of man. We argue that so far, prokaryotic taxonomy had no philosophical concept or theoretical framework. New scientific and theoretical approaches and new methods for the dissection of cells and genomes have led to proposals of new species definitions, but the search for a unified species concept seems to have remained a “mission impossible”. The first part of this essay is a review of the philosophical, biological, technical and social basis of species concepts and definitions in bacteriology. Our conclusion is that there are conflicting views between a search for the evolutionary truth and the practical needs in the various fields of applied bacteriology. This conclusion is further elaborated in the second part of the essay, which deals with a specific kind of prokaryotes, the symbiotically nitrogen fixing rhizobia. Finally, we propose a new, cross-disciplinary species concept in bacteriology. This concept accommodates both the nature of bacteria and the nature and needs of man, and incorporates bacterial evolution, biodiversity, population genetics and bioinformatics. In addition, it emphasizes the role of social learning. It thus combines philosophy, biology and social sciences – a combination we think revitalises the field and gives it a proper theoretical framework within which to develop further. Edited by: Dr Ipek Kurtböke, University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia WORLD FEDERATION OF CULTURE COLLECTIONS http://wdcm.nig. ac.jp/wfcc/
Earnings quality measures and excess returns: A case study of Tehran Stock Exchange

A B S T R A C T This paper presents an empirical investigation to study the relationship between earning quality measure and excess returns on selected firms trading on Tehran Stock Exchange. The purpose of this study is to find the relative advantage of income figures reported in formal financial statements. The study uses hedge return, six accounting ratios and three market ratios and performs the study over the period of 2001-2011 using 56 firms whose shares were traded on Tehran Stock Exchange. The proposed study uses regression analysis as well as structural equation modeling. The results of this study indicate that market based figures are more influencing than accounting based ratios on hedge return. In other words, hedge return for persistency index was more predictable than smoothness and abnormal accruals. However, on the contrary to what we expected, hedge return for accruals was not more than other accounting based figures.
Arabic Sign Language Recognition Using Kinect Sensor

This study introduces a Real Time System for automatic Arabic sign language recognition system based on Dynamic time warping matching algorithm. The communication between human and machines or between people could done using gestures called sign language. The aim of the sign language recognition is to give an exact and convenient mechanism to transcribe sign gestures into meaningful text or speech so that communication between deaf and hearing society can easily be made. In this study we introduce a translator based on Dynamic Time Warping, where each signed word is coordinating and matching among database, then display the text and the corresponding pronunciation of the income sign. We using the Microsoft’s Kinect sensor to catch the sign. We have built our data using a large set of samples for a dictionary of 30 isolated words homemade signs from the Standard Arabic sign language. The system operates in different modes including online, signer-dependent and signerindependent modes. The presented system allows the signer to do signs freely and naturally. Experimental results using real Arabic sign language data collected show that the presented system has higher recognition rate compared with others for all modes. For signer-dependent online case, the system achieves recognition rate of 97.58%. On the other hand, for signer-independent online case, the system achieves a recognition rate of 95.25%.
Linkage Mapping and QTL on Chromosome 6 in Hanwoo (Korean Cattle)

The QTL(quantitative traits loci) linkage mapping of Hanwoo (Korean Cattle) chromosome 6 for daily gain and marbling score was performed using 378 individuals from 18 paternal half-sib families in Hanwoo. Hanwoo chromosome 6 were mapped to total length of 394.2 cM between 28 microsatellite loci using 36 microsatellite primers of BTA 6 linkage group. The QTL analysis for daily gain in Hanwoo showed 8 microsatellite loci (BM3026-5.66, EL03-5.58, BM4311-5.29, ILSTS035-4.50, BMS1242-4.37, BM1329-3.67, BM415-3.11, BMS2460-3.03) in larger than LOD score 3.0. Based on the QTL analysis for marbling score, LOD scores of 12 microsatellite loci (BM415-8.88, BM3026-7.15, ILSTS093-5.45, ILSTS035-4.91, EL03-4.69, BMS690-4.52, BM1329-4.43, BMS511-3.74, BMS1242-3.66, BMS518-3.65, BM4311-3.41, BMC4203-3.36) were found larger than 3.0. (Asian-Aust. J. Anim.
China's financial crisis - the role of banks and monetary policy

This paper develops a model of the Chinese economy using a DSGE framework that accommodates a banking sector and money. The model is used to shed light on the period of the recent period of financial crisis. It differs from other applications in the use of indirect inference to estimate and test the fitted model. We find that the main shocks that hit China in the crisis were international and that domestic banking shocks were unimportant. Officially mandated bank lending and government spending were used to supplement monetary policy to aggressively offset shocks to demand. An analysis of the frequency of crises shows that crises occur on average about every half-century, with about a third accompanied by financial crises. We find that monetary policy can be used more vigorously to stabilise the economy, making direct banking controls and fiscal activism unnecessary.
Strengthening maths learning dispositions through ‘math clubs’

In this paper, I argue that the establishment of after-school mathematics clubs in early grades holds rich potential for supporting the development of increasingly participatory and sensemaking maths learning dispositions. Within the South African Numeracy Chair project, lead by the author, multiple after-school mathematics clubs have been set up for learners in Grades 3–6 across Eastern Cape schools. These clubs are a complementary initiative to teacher development, aimed at improving low levels of numeracy learning across the majority of schools in the province. Two sources of data, learner interviews and teacher questionnaires, from one case study club, are shared in this article to illuminate the potential such clubs hold in developing increasingly participatory mathematics learning dispositions.
How to make good use of a “bad” enzyme: utilization of efficient β-lactamases for the benefits of biochemical research

The activity of β-lactamases is easy to estimate, they often exhibit very high turnover numbers and many of them are quite stable. For these reasons they have emerged as promising reporter enzymes to study gene expression and as models to analyse proteinligand interactions. They also accept the insertion of rather large peptides without losing their activity. This has allowed the development of practically useful technologies which are described in this chapter.
Analysis of test day milk yield by random regression models and evaluation of persistency in Iranian dairy cows.

Variace / covariance components of 227118 first lactaiom test-day milk yield records belonged to 31258 Iranian Holstein cows were estimated using nine random regression models. Afterwards, different measures of persistency based on estimation breeding value were evaluated. Three functions were used to adjust fixed lactation curve: Ali and Schaeffer (AS), quadratic (LE3) and cubic (LE4) order of Legendre polynomial but for random effects, unequal order of Legendre polynomials (LE3, LE4, LE5 and Ali and Schaffer) functions were evaluated. Heterogeneous residual variance considered during days in milk and evaluation of models was based on eigenvalues and associated eigenvectors and residual variance. Model with Ali and Schaeffer function for fixed part and LE3 and LE4 for additive and permanent environmental effects was selected as the best model for random regression analysis in first parity dairy cows. The highest and lowest heritability were observed in the middle (0.29) and beginning (0.08) of lactation, respectively. Persistency measurement proposed by Cobuci (PSY1) (difference between estimation breeding value between 290 and 90 days) was preferential for using in further genetic evaluations for persistency in milk yield of Iranian Holstein cows.
Gesture tank: a gesture detection water vessel for foot movements

Computers have become ubiquitous and integrated into our day-to-day activities. Researchers have been exploring mechanisms for interacting with computers using natural means in natural environments. Water interaction is a perfect example. This paper presents our attempt to use foot gestures performed in water as an interaction mechanism. It is an extension of our previous study for detecting objects in a water vessel. An experiment was performed to determine which foot-based gestures are suitable for implementation, and we proceeded to recognize a selected set of gestures using machine-learning techniques. We present our findings regarding which algorithms provide the best recognition rates.
FINAL YEAR PROJECT PGDP-2005 The Role of Memory , Reasoning , and Perceptual Speed in Predicting the Learning of Chajei among Persons with Mental Retardation Student

Objectives. The role of memory, reasoning, and perceptual speed in learning of Chajei were studied among people with lower intelligence (i.e., mentally retarded) and those with normal intelligence. Methods. Eighty-two participants completed questionnaires that assess participants’ reasoning, perceptual speed, speed of long-term memory retrieval, speed of short-term memory scanning, and decision speed. They were also given a typing test to assess their accuracy and typing speed. Results. Results showed that working memory (both retrieval speed and accuracy), reasoning, and perceptual speed were significantly poorer in people with lower intelligence. However, for these individuals, only reasoning was correlated with their proficiency in using Chajei. On the other hand, only the speed of long-term memory access was correlated with proficiency in using Chajei for people with normal intelligence. Discussion. The reasoning threshold hypothesis is proposed, which suggest that only when one’s reasoning above a certain threshold can one be able to learn Chajei. But when one’s reasoning is above the threshold, the speed of long-term memory access becomes critical to Learning of Chajei & Mental Retardation 3 the performance in using Chajei. As reasoning is a relatively stable cognitive component, Chajei may be too difficult for people with mental handicaps. Therefore, other “easier” Chinese Character Input Method may be taught to them. Learning of Chajei & Mental Retardation 4
Reconfigurable Circularly Polarized Microstrip Antenna on a Slotted Ground

A compact square patch antenna with reconfigurable circular polarization (CP) at 2.4 GHz is proposed. Circular polarization is generated by an arc‐shaped slot on the ground plane. In order to switch the CP orientation, the current flow direction of the patch is reconfigured via the PIN diodes mounted on the slot. As the slot and bias circuit are not placed on the patch side, the proposed antenna radiates a CP wave without alteration in the main beam direction. From the experimental results, the impedance and CP bandwidths of the proposed antenna have been demonstrated for up to 80 MHz and 25 MHz, respectively.