Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Possible selves as a source of motivation for musicians

Music can be a core element of the sense of self. Integration of the future, possible musical self within the self-concept helps to account for the enormous investment of time and energy necessary to become a musician. In this qualitative study, we explore the motivational dimensions of the possible musical self. Possible selves exist in multiple domains with both positive and negative elements. Respondents from a diverse, snowball sample (N = 204) of musicians completed an online survey describing their hoped for, expected and feared musical selves. Coding of the responses identified major themes. The ‘hoped for’ selves yielded four main themes among 171 responses: improvement, social connection, success and enjoyment. The ‘feared’ selves yielded a total of five main themes among 160 responses: being a poor musician, injury/illness, financial difficulty, lack of knowledge and lack of social connection/recognition. The ‘expected’ selves yielded only one additional category, negative expectations. The balance or tension between the positive and negative elements of possible selves is analysed to produce a composite description of the possible musical self. Limitations of the study and links between the present results and possible selves theory are discussed.
A FORMULA TO CALCULATE PRUNING THRESHOLD FOR THE PART-OF-SPEECH TAGGING PROBLEM

The exact tagging of the words in the texts is a very important task in the natural language processing. It can support parsing the text, contribute to the solution of the polysemous word, and help to access a semantic information, etc. One of crucial factors in the POS (Part-ofSpeech) tagging approaches based on the statistical method is the processing time. In this paper, we propose an approach to calculate the pruning threshold, which can apply into the Viterbi algorithm of Hidden Markov model for tagging the texts in the natural language processing. Experiment on the 1.000. 000 words on the tag of the Wall Street Journal corpus showed that our proposed solution is satisfactory.
Long-term durability tests of andesite aggregates from Hungary

The Micro-Deval test method is used for testing of aggregate durability. The present paper focuses on two Hungarian andesites obtained from the quarries of Recsk (Matra Mountains, Hungary) and of Nogradkovesd (Cserhat Mountains, Hungary). The aim of this study is to find a simple test method based on the original Micro-Deval test method to assess the long-term durability of aggregates. An additional part of the research was to develop suitable mathematical models that can describe the behavior of the andesite aggregates under continuous abrasive impact. The relevant standard (EN 1097-1:2012) recommends 12,000 rotations to determine the Micro-Deval coefficient required for classification of the aggregates. Within the framework of this research, a modified Micro-Deval test was applied: the number of rotations was increased in several steps and the degree of abrasion was measured afterwards. Regression analyses were used to outline mathematical forms which characterize the dependence between the number of rotations and the degree of abrasion. According to the results, the long-term Micro-Deval tests significantly modify the assessed durability and thus provide information on the long-term abrasive impact. The degree of change depends on the studied material: the ratio of the long-term Micro-Deval coefficients of the two studied andesite types is larger than 3. The regression analyses of the measured Micro-Deval coefficients revealed that quadratic curves are suitable to describe these tendencies for both andesite aggregates.
CAN TOOTHFISH CATCHeS be uSed TO PRedICT THe PReSeNCe OF VuLNeRAbLe beNTHIC INVeRTebRATe TAXA

Accurate estimation of the impact of bottom fishing on vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) requires knowledge of the distribution of those communities relative to the fishing footprint. If high target species catch rates are associated with habitats where VMEs are found, impacts from fishing would be higher than if VMEs are distributed randomly with respect to fishing locations. This study used the catch of the six most common vulnerable invertebrate taxa reported by observers on New Zealand vessels during the 2009/10 Ross Sea longline fisheries to correlate toothfish catch rates and benthic invertebrate catch rates at the scale of a longline segment, ~1 200 m. Analysis of the data available showed no evidence that the presence of any of six VME indicator taxa was informative in predicting Antarctic toothfish (Dissostichus mawsoni) catch at the scale of a longline segment. This supports conclusions of previous work finding no relationship between aggregate VME indicator taxa weight and toothfish catch at the scale of a longline set, ~7 km. Further studies at intermediate scales (10–100 km) would be useful to determine if both toothfish and individual VME indicator taxa have regionally concentrated distributions, showing a high degree of spatial overlap with the fishery.
The influence of the Calbuco eruption on the 2015 Antarctic ozone hole in a fully coupled chemistry‐climate model

Recent research has demonstrated that the concentrations of anthropogenic halocarbons have decreased in response to the worldwide phaseout of ozone depleting substances. Yet in 2015 the Antarctic ozone hole reached a historical record daily average size in October. Model simulations with specified dynamics and temperatures based on a reanalysis suggested that the record size was likely due to the eruption of Calbuco but did not allow for fully coupled dynamical or thermal feedbacks. We present simulations of the impact of the 2015 Calbuco eruption on the stratosphere using the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model with interactive dynamics and temperatures. Comparisons of the interactive and specified dynamics simulations indicate that chemical ozone depletion due to volcanic aerosols played a key role in establishing the record‐sized ozone hole of October 2015. The analysis of an ensemble of interactive simulations with and without volcanic aerosols suggests that the forced response to the eruption of Calbuco was an increase in the size of the ozone hole by 4.5 × 106 km2.
A Study on the Relationship between Celebrity Endorsement and Purchase Intention of Malted Milk Powders Special Reference to Trincomalee Divisional Secretariat Area in Trincomalee District

Advertisement by Involvement of celebrities becomes an essence in modern competitive marketing environment for high recognition and creation of strong purchase intention. Nowadays it has become a pervasive element of advertising industry in Sri Lanka. Malted Milk Powder marketers use celebrity endorsers to influence the purchase decision of consumers in order to increase their sales and extend their market shares. This study specially focuses on examining the Relationship between Celebrity Endorsement and Purchase Intention of Malted Milk Powder. The descriptive research was used with 200 respondents who resided in Trincomalee Divisional Secretariat Area as the convenient sample. Data was collected through closed ended questionnaires and the analysis was conducted by SPSS Statistics, which are Univariate, Bivariate, and Research Hypothesis. The findings of the present study suggest that the Celebrity Endorsement is having the strong positive relationship with Purchase Intention of Malted Milk Powders
Travels with my trombone : a Caribbean journey

From the siesta to fiesta, the lifeblood of the Caribbean is in the rhythms of the salsa, calypso and zouk. The author of this book left London for Trinidad seeking to tap some of this bravura by joining a salsa band - the heart of the islands - and this book tells of his experiences. Caught in the exhilaration of carnival in Port of Spain, jamming with a police band in Grenada, witness to the thunderous drumming in the invocation of the god Shango in Trinidad and learning an unfamiliar style of zouk for a one-night stand in Dominica, Shukman's quest to share the musical roots of the people of the islands uncovered a world of powerful eroticism, ritual and mysticism. And on the mainland, the then travel-hardened Shukman was hurled into another world of carnival in the Colombian salsa capital Cali, sang the vallenato in the plaza of the northern town of La Gloria and was awoken in Cartegena to the nightmare of being falsely arrested as a supsected drug trafficker.
Ecophysiological and Metabolic Adaptations to Sulphide Exposure of the Oyster Crassostrea gigas

Abstract The purpose of this study is to examine the response of the oyster Crassostrea gigas to sulphide at different biological scales. A first experiment was designed to measure for 20 h the clearance (CR) and oxygen consumption (OC) rates of oysters exposed at different concentrations of sulphide (0, 3, 6, 12, 20, and 40 μM). The second experiment was carried out to evaluate the metabolic adaptations to chronic sulphide exposure for 10 days by measuring PK and PEPCK enzyme activities, succinate and alanine content, the adenylate energy charge (AEC), and the activity of the electron transport system (ETS) in whole oysters at above 20 μM. PK and PEPCK mRNAs and enzyme activities have been measured in adductor muscle. When exposed to sulphide above 20 μM, CR stopped, whereas oyster maintained their average OC rate between 1 and 2 mg O2 h−1 g−1 dw. In the second experiment, sulphide exposure of oysters resulted in higher mortality, reduced the glycolytic flux by inhibiting the PK activity and decreased the ETS activity leading to a lower AEC. At day 10, a kind of recovery took place: the ETS activity and AEC of oysters exposed to sulphide increased to the level of the control oysters. In the adductor muscle, sulphide did not affect the transcriptional level of PK; PK was only regulated at enzyme level. Conversely, PEPCK was regulated only at transcriptional level. Nevertheless, muscle exhibited a wholly anaerobic metabolism by the significant increase of alanine and succinate contents followed by the significantly decrease of the ATP content during the 10 days of the experiment. This experiment showed that sulphide involved partially the whole oyster and wholly the adductor muscle in an anaerobic pathway of energy production; but oxygen was needed for the detoxification of the organism.
Development Crisis of Power Supply and Implications for Industrial Sector in Nigeria

Abstract Development crisis affecting Africa is often anchored on poor industrial development and technological infrastructure. Technology infrastructure is a vital prerequisite for economic, industrial and technological development and growth. Technology infrastructure comprises power supply, energy, transportation, communication, water supply, etc. Most of these are lacking in the continent. Focusing exclusively but critically on the power supply situation in Nigeria, the paper argued that despite huge funds government had committed into the power sector in the past eight years (1999-2007), Nigeria with population of over 140 million was only able to generate less than 3,000 MW as against over 10,000 MW needed to transform the economy of the country. The paper identified several causes of this inadequate power supply and argued that this precarious situation has serious negative implications for the operations of industrial sector in the country, as most organizations spent fortunes generating their own power. This situation represents a major set back on the country’s quest for industrial development. Against this backdrop, the paper suggested that there is urgent need to overhaul completely the power sector in Nigeria so as to place the country on the pedestal of economic and industrial development.
Human mnesic performance in a survival scenario: the application of the adaptive memory concept in ethnobiology

Evolutionary psychologists suggest that the human brain has evolved to retain information of greater adaptive value in a differentiated manner, being this information relevant for survival. These premises are part of a research field defined as adaptive memory . This article reviews the main studies related to adaptive memory , indicating its recent findings, as well as discussing the possible applications of the theme to studies in evolutionary ethnobiology.
Efficiency and Stability of Housing Finance Systems: A Comparison of the United Kingdom and the United States

Abstract The U.K. and U.S. housing finance systems are two of the world's most efficient. Yet both systems exhibited instability during the past decade, as reflected in high rates of individual borrower and lending institution default. The difficulties stemmed primarily from the combination of macroeconomic policy instability and preexisting housing or financial market constraints. In the United Kingdom, volatility in monetary and fiscal policy interacted with constraints on housing supply and tenure choice to produce a speculative boom and bust in house prices. In the United States, constraints on mortgage contracts led to the insolvency of specialized housing lenders when there was an abrupt change in monetary policy. Three important lessons can be learned from these events. First, important linkages exist among housing markets, the housing finance system, and the broader economy. Second, although liberalization benefits the financial system, it can exacerbate preexisting market distortions. Finally, th.
Micropropagation of Helianthemum lippii L. var Sessiliforuim (Cistaceae) an important pastoral plant of North African arid areas

Helianthemum lippii L. is a perennial, little brush distributed in sandy regions of southern Tunisia as well as of Mediterranean basin. It presents an important ecological, economical and pastoral interest. All these characteristics encourage us to try the in vitro propagation because it is a feasible alternative for the rapid multiplication and the preservation of plants. A very high frequency of sprouting and shoot differentiation were observed in the primary cultures of nodal explants of H. lippii on MS medium, without growth regulators or with a lower concentration of 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP, 0.5 mg L -1 or 1.0 mg L -1 BAP). In vitro proliferated shoots were multiplied rapidly by culture of shoot tips on MS medium free or with BAP (0.5 to 2.0 mg L -1 ) which produced the greatest multiple shoot formation. BAP had a positive effect on multiplication and on growth, but a concentration that exceeds 2.0 mg L -1 decreased the growth. A high frequency of rooting (71%) with development of healthy roots was observed with shoots cultured on MS/8 medium hormone-free. After in vitro rooting, and transfer to soil, a number of plantlets suitable for reintroduction in nature were produced. Key words : Helianthemum lippii , axillary buds, micropropagation, plant conservation.
Reforming Vocational Didactics by Implementing a New VET Teacher Education in Denmark: Tensions and Challenges Reflected in Interviews with Vocational College Teachers

A new education program, Diploma of Vocational Pedagogy, has recently been implemented in Denmark to upskill vocational college teachers and improve didactics at VET colleges in general. Among many challenges, vocational college teachers have to adapt their pedagogy to a large number of students from backgrounds with no tradition for education. Despite historical changes, the education as vocational college teacher also struggles with the interplay between theory and practice in the program and great diversity among vocational college teachers. Based on empirical data from focus group interviews with students from the Diploma of Vocational Pedagogy program and concepts developed by Bernstein and Bourdieu, the article analyzes how these aspects might affect the development of new vocational didactics. We know that it is not easy to change the culture of educational institutions, and the analysis uncovers several factors that are expected to hamper the development processes.
THE EFFECT OF THE APPLICATION OF PROTEIN AND CELLULOSE PREPARATIONS AS IODINE CARRIERS ON STABILITY OF THIAMINE IN PROCESSED MEATS

Summary. Fortification of processed meat with iodised table salt was shown to increase thiamine losses, both during thermal processing and storage. Taking into consideration the fact, as well as the recommendation for reduction of consumption of table salt, alternative iodine carriers need to be searched for. Thus the aim of the study was to determine the effect of soy protein isolate (SPI) and wheat fibre (WF) as iodine salts’ (potassium iodide and iodate) carriers on thiamine stability in selected processed meats (steamed meatballs and burgers). The results were compared to the effect of iodised table salt. The highest thiamine losses were found in the presence of iodised table salt, both in the form of iodide and iodate. The application of iodised WF and SPI significantly limited thiamine losses in the course of steaming. It also made possible to reduce thiamine losses during storage in relation to iodised table salt. It was found that the application of WF and SPI as iodine carriers facilitates increased stability of thiamine in relation to table salt during processing and storage of the meat dishes.
Weather Radar Estimations Feeding an Artificial Neural Network Model

The application of ANNs (Artifi cial Neural Networks) has been studied by many researchers in modelling rainfall runoff processes. However, the work so far has been focused on the rainfall data from traditional raingauges. Weather radar is a modern technology which could provide high resolution rainfall in time and space. In this study, a comparison in rainfall runoff modelling between the raingauge and weather radar has been carried out. The data were collected from Brue catchment in Southwest of England, with 49 raingauges covering 136 km 2 and two C-band weather radars. This raingauge network is extremely dense (for research purposes) and does not represent the usual raingauge density in operational fl ood forecasting systems. The ANN models were set up with both lumped and spatial rainfall input. The results showed that raingauge data outperformed radar data in all the events tested, regardless of the lumped and spatial input.
Selecting a Suitable Methodology for Designing InnovativeSolutions to Support Capability Improvement in aComplex Organisational Context as part of an Industry-Academic Collaboration

This paper describes the process of investigating a number of different research methodologies in order to select a suitable approach for an effective Industry-Academic collaborative research project. The research project in question is a 15-month research partnership between a global financial organisation and a research team from a university institute. The aim is to collaboratively design innovative solutions to support the company’s programme to improve their Information Technology (IT) capabilities using the IT Capability Maturity Framework (IT-CMF). A number of potential approaches were investigated, including Action Research (AR), Canonical Action Research (AR), Design Science Research (DSR), Design Thinking/User Experience (UX) and Action Design Research (ADR). Having discussed these approaches, this paper then explains why ADR was chosen as the approach for this project and examines its validity in practice throughout the first half of the project. The key contribution of this paper is a critical discussion of a decision-making process around methodology selection in a current Industry-Academic research project that aims to produce innovative solutions based on an organisational intervention. This problem is relevant to any discipline that engages in Industry-Academic collaboration, particularly with regard to socio-technical problems, including, for example, Information Systems (IS), Management and Organisation Studies.
Subjective Evaluations with Performance Feedback

type="main"> Firms use subjective performance evaluations to provide employees with both incentives and feedback. This article shows that if an objective measure of performance, however imperfect, is available, subjective evaluations with incentive effects can be sustained even without repeated interaction. Although full efficiency cannot be achieved in general, it is achievable if the firm can commit to a forced distribution of evaluations and employs a continuum of workers. When the number of workers is small, a forced distribution is useful only if the objective measure is poor. The model also shows that a leniency bias in evaluations can improve incentives.
Calculating resonances (natural frequencies) and extracting them from transient fields

Mathematical formulation and analysis of numerical methods for calculating the natural frequencies (resonances) are given. Stability of these methods towards roundoff errors and small perturbations of the obstacles is established. Some formulas for the variations of the natural frequencies due to small perturbations of the surface of the obstacle are given. A simple new method for extraction of resonances from transient fields is given.
Recursive Asymptotic Hybrid Matrix Method for Acoustic Waves in Multilayered Piezoelectric Media

This paper presents the recursive asymptotic hybrid matrix method for acoustic waves in multilayered piezoelectric media. The hybrid matrix method preserves the numerical stability and accuracy across large and small thicknesses. For discussion and comparison, the scattering matrix method is also presented in physics-based form and coherent form. The latter form resembles closely that of hybrid matrix method and helps to highlight their relationship and distinction. For both scattering and hybrid matrix methods, their formulations in terms of eigenwaves solution are provided concisely. Making use of the hybrid matrix, the recursive asymptotic method without eigenwaves solution is described and discussed. The method bypasses the intricacies of eigenvalue-eigenvector approach and requires only elementary matrix operations along with thin- layer asymptotic approximation. It can be used to determine Green’s function matrix readily and facilitates the trade-off between computation efficiency and accuracy.
Research on Image Recognition Based on Deep Learning Technology

Nowadays image recognition technology is widely used, and plays a very important in various fields. Deep learning technology uses multilayer structure to analyze and deal with image features, which can improve the performance of image recognition. The popular models of deep learning contain AutoEncoder, Restricted Boltzmann Machine (RBM), Deep Belief Network (DBN), Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) and other improved methods. The applications of image recognition based on deep learning technology including image classification, facial recognition, image search, object detection, pedestrian detection, video analysis. We believe that in the future deep learning will develop rapidly in theory, algorithm, and application and they will make our lives more intelligent.
Applications of the Sparse Hough Transform for laser Data Line Fitting and Segmentation

This paper proposes a novel algorithm called the sparse Hough transform, which is shown to have better performances than the standard Hough transform for sparse input data collected from a laser on a mobile robot. In the context of laser sensing and perception for autonomous ground robots, this paper studies performances of the sparse Hough transform and compares it with other segmentation and fitting algorithms. Pseudo-code for the algorithm, theoretical analysis, computer simulations, hardware experiments, and experimental analysis of the sparse Hough transform are presented.