Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Highly Motivated Learning through CBI: A Case of SDCA CollegeStudents

This study intends to investigate whether or not using highly illustrative pedagogical practice, through the use of computer and related technologies can indeed motivate students to learn and put into practice what they are taught inside the classroom. For students to grow fully as human persons, they should develop their minds through effective learning. Effective learning however is possible only if students are truly motivated to learn. Computer based instruction (CBI) can help in motivating students to learn and even put into practice what they are taught in class. Following Keller’s ARCS motivational model in pedagogical practice, CBI is said to ‘intrinsically’ motivate students by drawing their attention while encouraging them to relevantly apply what they learn in class. Students also develop sense of confidence and satisfaction in their learning process through CBI. A survey of Saint Dominic College of Asia (SDCA) students was conducted. Results of the survey showed that majority of the students had absorbed better teaching materials when CBI was used than when CBI was not used. Results also revealed that CBI as an approach to teaching was preferred by students than non-CBI approach to teaching, confirming the hypothesis in this study.
Dynamic Replication based on Firefly Algorithm in Data Grid

In data grid, using reservation is accepted to provide scheduling and service quality. Users need to have an access to the stored data in geographical environment, which can be solved by using replication, and an action taken to reach certainty. As a result, users are directed toward the nearest version to access information. The most important point is to know in which sites and distributed system the produced versions are located. By selecting a suitable place for versions, the versions having performance, efficiency and lower access time are used. In this study, an efficient method is presented to select the best place for those versions created in data grid by using the users’ firefly algorithm which is compared with two algorithms. Results show that firefly algorithm has better performance than others. Index Terms data grid, data replication, firefly algorithm.
Limits of Freedom – Defining a Normative Background for Spatial Citizenship

This paper deals with the application of geomedia that are in everyday use, quoting two highly political mapping examples. These publicly accessible digital maps addressing the current refugee situation, its reception and instrumentalization in Germany are used to provide a vivid example of a practical application of Spatial Citizenship. This paper presents the theoretical framework of Spatial Citizenship. After examining questions which arise from an analysis of the maps, this framework is discussed and extended, especially with regards to the social embeddedness of its basic principles of fundamental human rights and democratic negotiation. The discussion reveals the links between approaches from social geography and central aspects of citizenship education. Finally, the educational implications of this extension of the Spatial Citizenship approach are discussed while presenting a practical example.
Styles of Interaction during a Book Reading Task: Implications for Literacy Intervention with Low-Income Families.

A study investigating how disadvantaged parents interact with their children in literacy tasks'probed the following questions: (1) what styles of interaction do young, welfare-recipient mothers display when reading a story book with their preschool-aged child? and (2) how do the styles relate to factors such as the child's age and mother's literacy level? The 290 mothers in the study ranged in age from 16 to 21 years old; the children were between the ages of 27 and 63 months. Mothers were provided with a copy of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" by Eric Carle and were asked to read the book to their child and take e few minutes to talk with him or her about it. Results showed that four distinct styles of book reading were displayed during the task: (1) straight readers, n=231, (who read the text aloud, but seldom paused to discuss the book during the actual reading); (2) standard interactive readers, n=231, (who paused during the reading and discussed the story); (3) non-readers, n=36, (who turned the pages and discussed the book, but did not actually re,d the book); and (4) recitation readers, n=9, (who asked their child to repeat the book back to them phrase by phrase). Interviews with the mothers showed that their choice of reading styles was governed by well-grounded assumptions about the reading process. In order for intervention reading programs to work, therefore, supervisors must have clear understanding of a mother's assumptions and predispositions about literacy. Also, intervention programs need to treat mothers as learners about the role of book reading in literacy development and as active participants in creating a rich literacy environment for their children. Contains six references. (TB) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. * ***********************************************************************
The 'Ndrangheta Down Under: Constructing the Italian Mafia in Australia

In the past decades, the Australian 'ndrangheta has been object of media attention, academic inquiry and growing policing concern. In Australia, however, the phenomenon is not new. Next to contemporary manifestations of mafia clans and activities, there is an historical 'ndrangheta, with families and networks in specific areas of the country. Their activities peaked between the 1950s and the 1970s and their reputation still persists and populates mafia narratives. This article will analyse historical archives broadly related to a nebulous idea of the Italian mafia in Australia. These archival sources contain both institutional documents (from police forces, intelligence services and law enforcement agencies) and, to a lower extent, media sources ranging from 1940s to 1980s. The analysis will show how Australian authorities observed, approached and attempted to fight the mafia phenomenon-and specifically that of Calabrian origin-very early and with mixed results. This article will eventually argue that also thanks to the geography and history of Australia as a country-island, the 'ndrangheta phenomenon has developed and prospered until today.
Modelling the climate response to anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions: time-dependent processes, commitment, and reversibility

This thesis gives insight into key aspects of the climate system response to anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. One characteristic is an approximately constant global mean surface air temperature (GMSAT) after cessation of emissions, but also changes in GMSAT to second order. Here it is shown that these second-order GMSAT changes are positive, i.e. there is a small committed warming from previous emissions, because the warming effect from declining ocean heat uptake dominates over the cooling effect from declining atmospheric CO2. The timing of zeroing emissions or the time horizon over which the warming commitment is calculated have minor effects on this warming commitment compared to the effect of the scenario prior to cessation of emissions. Another characteristic explored is the approximately constant ratio between GMSAT change and cumulative CO2 emissions (CE), referred to as Transient Climate Response to cumulative CO2 emissions (TCRE). It is shown that the TCRE diverges more strongly over time from a constant value under increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration than previously suggested. But it is approximately constant over time under constant CO2 concentration due to cancelling effects of changes in ocean heat and carbon uptake. Applying a wide range of sub-grid ocean mixing parameterizations does not change the temporal evolution of the TCRE significantly but leads to a wide range in the TCRE value. A third characteristic explored is irreversibility of sea level rise from thermal expansion (TSLR). It is shown here that TSLR under negative emissions does not return to pre-industrial levels for centuries after atmospheric CO2 has returned to pre-industrial concentrations. This result is robust against the choice of mixing parameter, although, generally an increased parameter leads to higher TSL rise and decline rates. The results presented in this thesis suggest that setting cumulative CO2 emission budgets in order to not exceed a certain warming target needs to be done with caution as the TCRE varies more strongly over time than previously shown and additional committed warming may lower allowable carbon budgets. Furthermore, TSLR is not linearly related to cumulative CO2 emissions and is slow to be reversed if net negative emissions are applied.
Application of thermal methods in the chemistry of cement: Kinetic analysis of Portlandite from non-isothermal thermogravimetric data

Kinetic investigations are, today, one of the most important application of thermal analysis. Under the methods summarized by thermal analysis, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetry (TGA) have outstanding significance. In present work, a procedure for evaluating the thermal decomposition kinetics of the calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2-Portlandite formed into hydrated ordinary Portland cement (OPC) paste with use of non-isothermal thermogravimetric data is proposed. The investigation was made at the temperature of the thermal decomposition of Ca(OH)2 ranging from 330-460 oC in the nitrogen atmosphere at four heating rates, β = 5, 10, 15 and 20 oC/min. The activation energy was determined by using the Flynn-Wall and Ozawa (FWO) isoconversional method. The results showed that activation energy (E) is decreasing function of conversion (α ), which is in good agreement with literature data. The E values obtained for Portlandite were compared with those for pure, analytic grade calcium hydroxide and, are discussed taking into account the complexity of the cement hydration reaction. The proposed approach is also substantiated using thermo-kinetic results on effect of pozzolanic additions (such as silica fume) on the cement hydration and is shown to be of practical importance.
Evaluation of Spatial-Temporal Variations of Water Quality and Plankton Assemblages and Its Relationship to Water Use in Kulekhani Multipurpose Reservoir, Nepal

Spatial and temporal variation in planktons and water quality parameters were investigated in order to determine the effects of seasonal water use on reservoir water quality and planktons’ diversity in Kulekhani Multipurpose Reservoir, Nepal. This study also focuses on interactions among various water quality parameters with planktons and how such interactions can affect the second major utility, the fish farming in the reservoir. The analyses of seasonal water samples collected from three different sampling locations in the reservoir showed that select water quality parameters varied significantly (P < 0.05) with sampling seasons (transparency: 30 - 250 cm, pH: 7 - 7.5, alkalinity: 30 - 120 mg/L, DO: 6 - 11.5 mg/L, CO2: 0.1 - 1.1 mg/L) and sampling locations (phosphate: 0.1 - 0.25 mg/L, nitrate 0.01 - 0.19 mg/L) in the reservoir. Three groups of zooplankton and four classes of phytoplankton, respectively with eleven and twelve genera, were identified and quantified in the reservoir. Among them, Cyclops, Asplanchana, and Keratella were most dominant zooplanktons while Synedra, Melosira and Peridinum were the most dominant phytoplankton in the reservoir water. The abundance of select zooplanktons (Cyclops, Keratella, Polyanthra), and phytoplankton (Navicula, Melosira, Amphora, Chroococcus, Staurastrum, Scendesmus) showed significant interaction between sampling sites and sampling seasons, while the other varied only with sampling seasons and/or sites. These results showed that seasonal water level fluctuations, along with the variation of water quality parameters, change the abundance and diversity of planktons’ in the reservoir. Such changes can negatively impact the fish in cage culture, affecting the livelihood of people extensively relying on these fish farming.
DEVELOPMENT, VALIDITY AND RELIABILITY OF PERSIAN QUICK SPEECH IN NOISE TEST WITH STEADY NOISE

Background and Aim: Quick Speech in Noise (Q-SIN) test has popularity for evaluating speech recognition in noise. The present study has been paid to build five new Persian lists with respect to all possible factors affecting the test, to determine validity of the test and to run five lists for normal hearing subjects and assessment of reliability. Methods: To build lists, frequent, familiar and difficult in terms of cognitive (cohort size of above three) words were used to construct un­predictable sentences. After determining the content and face validity, the 30 selected sen­tences were recorded in the studio by a familiar female speaker. The recorded sentences and prepared four talker babbling noise were com­bined in Cool Edit software. Then five test lists were conducted in 35, 18-35 year old indi­viduals with normal hearing. The reliability was assessed with the retest after two weeks. Results: The 30 sentences became valid (con­tent and face validity) with the change accor­ding to expert judges. The average Signal to noise ratio (SNR) loss of five lists was 0.35 dB. There was no significant difference between men and women in all lists except list 4 (p=0.03). The results indicate no difference in the average SNR loss between five Lists. In reliability assessment test-retest correlation coefficient was 8.0 (p<0.05). Intra-class coeffi­cient (ICC) for lists was statistically significant (p=0.00) and confirmed the lists have reliability and high repeatability. Conclusions: The Developed lists are valid, equivalent and reliable and can be utilized in clinical application.
Solving DSGE Models Without a Grid

This paper presents a global solution method to DSGE models, which does not depend on a grid and hence does not suffer from the curse of dimensionality. The method enables to approximate the Taylor series of the policy function at any arbitrary point of the state space. Once the Taylor series is approximated at a given point, the constant term of the series provides the model solution at that point. Since the solution is not based on a grid, the computational costs are significantly lower compared to grid-based methods, because the model is solved only at points of interests (e.g. along a simulation path). Accuracy is high, compared to other methods, and it improves significantly by discretizing time into short periods.
FEEDBACK LINEARIZATION FOR DECOUPLED POSITION/STIFFNESS CONTROL OF BIDIRECTIONAL ANTAGONISTIC DRIVES

To ensure safe human-robot interaction impedance robot control has arisen as one of the key challenges in robotics. This paper elaborates control of bidirectional antagonistic drives – qbmove maker pro. Due to its mechanical structure, both position and stiffness of bidirectional antagonistic drives could be controlled independently. To that end, we applied feedback linearization. Feedback linearization based approach initially decouples systems in two linear single-input-single-output subsystems: position subsystem and stiffness subsystem. The paper elaborates preconditions for feedback linearization and its implementation. The paper presents simulation results that prove the concept but points out application issues due to the complex mechanical structure of the bidirectional antagonistic drives.
Duck Feather/Nonwoven Composite Fabrics for Removing Metals Present in Textile Dyeing Effluents

In this paper, duck feather fiber was treated by alkaline solution first, then its Cu2+ sorption capacity was tested, and the sorption mechanism was studied by utilizing infrared spectrum (FTIR) and wide-angle X-ray diffraction (XRD). Moreover, desorption properties of the treated duck feather fiber were investigated in order to exploit it as a recycled industrial effluent treatment material. Finally, the duck feather fiber was air-laid and thermal-bonded into a composite nonwoven fabric by adding bicomponent low melt PE/PP binder fiber. It was found that the alkaline treated duck feather/bicomponent PE/PP nonwoven fabrics exhibit good mechanical properties and Cu2+ and Cr6+ sorption capacity is a promising material for textile dyeing effluent treatment.
3D Scene and Object Classification Based on Information Complexity of Depth Data

In this paper the problem of 3D scene and object classification from depth data is addressed. In contrast to high-dimensional feature-based representation, the depth data is described in a low dimensional space. In order to remedy the curse of dimensionality problem, the depth data is described by a sparse model over a learned dictionary. Exploiting the algorithmic information theory, a new definition for the Kolmogorov complexity is presented based on the Earth Moverâs Distance (EMD). Finally the classification of 3D scenes and objects is accomplished by means of a normalized complexity distance, where its applicability in practice is proved by some experiments on publicly available datasets. Also, the experimental results are compared to some state-of-the-art 3D object classification methods. Furthermore, it has been shown that the proposed method outperforms FAB-Map 2.0 in detecting loop closures, in the sense of the precision and recall.
Senescence in duckweed: age‐related declines in survival, reproduction and offspring quality

Summary As they grow old, most organisms experience progressive physiological deterioration resulting in declining rates of survival and reproduction – a seemingly maladaptive phenomenon known as senescence. Although senescence is usually defined with respect only to survival and reproduction, a third component of fitness, offspring quality, may also decline with age. Few studies, however, have assessed age-related changes in offspring quality using measures that truly reflect fitness. In a controlled environment, we tested for age-related declines in three demographic components of fitness (survival, reproduction and offspring quality) in Lemna minor, a small aquatic plant in the subfamily Lemnoideae (the duckweeds) with a short life span and rapid rate of asexual reproduction. Our primary measure of offspring quality, the intrinsic rate of increase, more closely approximates fitness than measures used in previous studies such as size, life span and total reproductive output. We observed strong age-related declines in all three components of fitness: old plants had lower rates of survival and reproduction, and produced lower-quality offspring than younger plants. Theoretical and empirical research on the evolutionary biology of senescence should devote more attention to offspring quality. This often unrecognized component of fitness may change with age – as we have shown in L. minor – and may be shaped by, and feed back into, the same evolutionary forces that give rise to senescence.
Catch-and-Release Mortality in Subadult and Adult Red Drum Captured with Popular Fishing Hook Types

Abstract Saltwater anglers along the entire coast of the southeastern United States target red drum Sciaenops ocellatus more frequently than any other recreational fish species. The frequency of catch-and-release angling has increased dramatically for this species in the past two decades, but little is known about the survival of released fish. This study demonstrates that catch-and-release mortality rates for subadult and adult red drum differed significantly among the most popular types of fish hooks in each fishery. To investigate the effect of hook type on anatomical hooking location and short-term (48-h) mortality, we captured subadults (339–825 mm total length (TL)) by use of 2/0 J-hooks (n = 57 fish), 4/0 nonoffset circle hooks (n = 58 fish), and 4/0 offset circle hooks (n = 57 fish). Nonoffset circle hooks penetrated shallow regions of the body (jaw, tongue, or inside of mouth) significantly more frequently (90%) than did J-hooks (60%) or offset circle hooks (80%). Nonoffset circle hooks also resu.
Awareness of the low fidelity nature of a MVP –How the initial Technology Acceptance isinfluenced

Through the years, entrepreneurship has gained a scientific perspective. Scholars around the world aim to solve the issues start-ups and scale-up face during their pursuit of growth. Within the Lean Startup, Eric Ries provides guidance to entrepreneurs in order to reduce the time a startup spends on activities which do not contribute to growth. This paper discusses the problems which may arise during early customer tests and investigates solutions in order to solve these problems without spending time on activities which do not contribute to the start-ups’ growth. Ries emphasizes that such early user tests need to be conducted with a certain type of potential customer called early adopter. By taking a look at the characteristics which describe these valuable users, the acceptance of a prototype presented is identified as a crucial factor to such testing phase. However, due to limited resources or varying business concepts, many start-ups are forced to build a low quality prototype as suggested in the Lean Startup Methodology. This study found that whether or not the user is aware of the situation, which forced the entrepreneurs to build a low quality prototype, the technology acceptance is not affected. Therefore, we are able to state that any effort in teaching the user about missing features at the current state, will not contribute to the start-ups overall learning process and can be avoided.
Labour market status of job seekers in regional matching processes

This study examines the matching aspects of local labour markets focusing on the status of job seekers in the matching process, on spatial autocorrelation in labour market conditions of local labour markets, and on differences in matching processes between areas with permanently deviating unemployment rates. The data set is temporally, spatially, and by labour market positions of job seekers highly disaggregate monthly data from 171 Local Labour Offices (LLOs) in Finland over 12 years. According to the results, an increase in the share of long-term unemployed job seekers decreases matches, and an increase in the share of job seekers out of labour force increases successful matches in local labour markets. The matching process does not work in the same way in all areas, but on the contrary its functioning is dependent on the unemployment conditions. Effects of increases in the number of inputs on successful matches depend on the proportional share of that input in the area as well as on the composition of the stock of job seekers. The results also indicate the labour market conditions and matching processes across neighbouring LLOs being spatially autocorrelated.