Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Population Invariance and Chain versus Post-Stratification Methods for Equating and Test Linking.

The Non-Equivalent-groups Anchor Test (NEAT) design involves two populations, "P" and "Q," of test takes and makes use of an anchor test to link them. Two observed-score equating methods used for NEAT designs are those based on chain equating and those using the anchor to poststratify the distributions of the two operational test scores to a common population, i.e., Tucker equating and frequency estimation. This paper introduced a method that can be used in the NEAT design to study the population invariance of equating methods. The method is applied to study the relative population invariance of Chain and Post stratification equating methods. It combines self-equating (equating at test to itself) with the root mean square difference (RMSD) measure of the population invariance of test linking methods introduced by N. Dorans and P. Holland (2000). The method is illustrated using data from the Advanced Placement examinations. (Contains 1 table, 2 figures, and 14 references.) (Author/SLD) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. EnTSfde, PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY
Weed Science Society of America Comparing Invasive Plants from Their Native and Exotic Range : What Can We Learn for Biological Control ?

This article reviews and summarizes data sets that attempt to compare performance, population dynamics, and herbivory of invasive plant species. Specifically, we review results from studies comparing (1) individual and population parameters of plant invaders in their native and exotic range, (2) herbivore pressure and natural enemy guilds associated with plant invaders in their native and exotic range, and (3) performance and defense levels of native and exotic populations of the invasive under standardized conditions and the performance of selected herbivores. We found a total of 39 published and 2 unpublished studies, investigating 40 plant species. The majority of studies within the first category showed that invaders form larger populations, grow denser, have higher reproductive output, larger seed banks, and higher regeneration rates in the exotic compared with the native range. In contrast, plant vigor was not always greater, presumably because of increased intraspecific competition. Nearly all studies within the second category showed that herbivory (percentage of attack, species number and load) was reduced and, if investigated, that the herbivore community shifted from specialists to generalists and from endophagous to exophagous species in the exotic compared with the native range. Under standardized conditions (category 3), an equal number of studies found increased vigor or no significant differences between plants from the exotic and native range. In a few cases, plants from the exotic range grew less vigorous. Specialist herbivores generally preferred or developed better on plants from exotic compared with native populations, which were also better defended. Studies comparing plant invaders at field sites in their native and exotic range or under standardized conditions can help identify factors facilitating successful invasions, which in turn can improve the selection and efficiency of biological control agents and the development of integrated management strategies. We therefore suggest to include comparative studies more frequently in biological control programs and to extend them to include manipulative experiments and comparisons of control agents. Additional index words: Biological weed control, comparative studies, enemy release hypothesis, evolution of increased competitive ability hypothesis. Abbreviations: EICA, evolution of increased competitive ability; ERH, enemy release hypothesis.
Predicting Agricultural Education Student Teachers' Intention to Enter Teaching.

The purpose of this study was to explore how the student teaching experience and other variables influenced student teachers’ intentions to teach. Data were collected from 80 student teachers at three universities—a land grant/research I institution, a non-land grant/doctoral degree granting institution, and a comprehensive regional institution. Data were collected longitudinally at four points during the student teaching semester. The typical student teacher in this study was a 22-year-old, white, male undergraduate who had been enrolled in agricultural education courses in high school and who had worked full time in agriculture. Intentions to teach did not change during the student teaching experience but did differ by university. The best predictor of a student teacher’s intent to teach after student teaching was their intention to teach before student teaching. Differences in intentions to teach were observed at the three universities, and thus university was also predictive of final intent to teach.
Collaborative Filtering Algorithm Based on Trust and Information Entropy

In order to improve the accuracy of similarity, an improved collaborative filtering algorithm based on trust and information entropy is proposed in this paper. Firstly, the direct trust between the users is determined by the user's rating to explore the potential trust relationship of the users. The time decay function is introduced to realize the dynamic portrayal of the user's interest decays over time. Secondly, the direct trust and the indirect trust are combined to obtain the overall trust which is weighted with the Pearson similarity to obtain the trust similarity. Then, the information entropy theory is introduced to calculate the similarity based on weighted information entropy. At last, the trust similarity and the similarity based on weighted information entropy are weighted to obtain the similarity combing trust and information entropy which is used to predicted the rating of the target user and create the recommendation. The simulation shows that the improved algorithm has a higher accuracy of recommendation and can provide more accurate and reliable recommendation service.
Recognition of human front face in Grayscale Images

We propose a new technique to recognize the unknown person in grayscale face images for which the position, scale and image-plane rotation of the face are unknown. The proposed system detects the iris of both eyes and normalizes the position, scale and image-plane rotation of the face using iris positions. The algorithm measures the degree of matching between the image and the face template of each person using normalized cross- correlation value. Recognition of a human face is done using the highest degree of matching.
How to Make a BLT Sandwich? Learning to Reason towards Understanding Web Instructional Videos

Understanding web instructional videos is an essential branch of video understanding in two aspects. First, most existing video methods focus on short-term actions for a-few-second-long video clips; these methods are not directly applicable to long videos. Second, unlike unconstrained long videos, e.g., movies, instructional videos are more structured in that they have step-by-step procedure constraining the understanding task. In this paper, we study reasoning on instructional videos via question-answering (QA). Surprisingly, it has not been an emphasis in the video community despite its rich applications. We thereby introduce YouQuek, an annotated QA dataset for instructional videos based on the recent YouCook2. The questions in YouQuek are not limited to cues on one frame but related to logical reasoning in the temporal dimension. Observing the lack of effective representations for modeling long videos, we propose a set of carefully designed models including a novel Recurrent Graph Convolutional Network (RGCN) that captures both temporal order and relation information. Furthermore, we study multiple modalities including description and transcripts for the purpose of boosting video understanding. Extensive experiments on YouQuek suggest that RGCN performs the best in terms of QA accuracy and a better performance is gained by introducing human annotated description.
Creating a Classroom Culture That Supports Productive Struggle: Pre-Service Teachers' Reflections on Teaching Mathematics.

The purpose of this instrumental case study was to examine pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) reflections on mathematics teaching and learning as it relates to the practice of supporting productive struggle. The research team created a framework aligning instructional features/teacher strategies that support productive struggle with related perspectives, organizing these by classroom culture/environment, treatment of content, and communication to support reasoning. The current analysis reports on PSTs perspectives related specifically to classroom culture/environment. Findings show the variant ways in which PSTs perspectives are both aligned and misaligned as well as considerations for leveraging these perspectives in mathematics teacher education.
An Examination of Challenges and Prospects of Microfinance Sector of Pakistan

The aim of this study refers to highlighting the key challenges and prospects for the microfinance sector of Pakistan. This study has been carried out using the following four steps: present scenario of microfinance in Pakistan, identification of internal and external challenges, prospects in microfinance, and policy recommendations to boost microfinance sector in Pakistan. In this research, microfinance framework has been used to better understand the process of building a sustainable microfinance institution. The findings have been obtained through Primary data, which has been collected through questionnaires. The participants are banks and other financial institutions. This research contributes in three ways: First, microfinance institutions will be facilitated in highlighting the challenges and prospects that are being neglected in the process of analyzing the problems and
A Novel Approach to Integrate Multiple Film Bulk Acoustic Resonators (FBAR) with Different Frequencies in a Single Chip

An approach of integrating multiple film bulk acoustic resonators (FBAR) with different frequencies is presented. Conventional FBAR structures were modified by adding a patterned tuning layer on top of Metal/AlN/Metal film stack. By controlling the dimensions of the periodic tuning pattern, resonance frequencies can be modulated due to mass loading effects. As a result, multiple-frequency resonators can be lithographically defined by a single deposition/patterning processing sequence. From finite element analysis, it was found that the pitch of the periodic tuning layer pattern had to be smaller than the characteristic dimension of the resonator, the membrane thickness, to avoid distortion of the resonance peak and to maintain resonator performance. This approach may lead to a viable solution for future integrated multi-mode radio RF front end.
A Novel Model for Multi-label Image Annotation

Multi-label image annotation is one of the most important open problems in machine learning and computer vision. In this paper, we propose a novel model for image annotation. Unlike existing works that usually use conventional visual features to annotate images, this paper adopts features based on convolutional neural network (CNN), which have shown potential to achieve outstanding performance. In particular, we use CNN to extract image features with higher semantic meaning and apply them to the image annotation method – Tag Propagation (TagProp). Experimental results on four challenging datasets indicate that our model makes a marked improvement as compared to the current state-of-the-art.
Suggesting an Informative Order of Bangla Followup News on a Specific Issue from Several Days Newspapers

Now-a-days, different online news portals publish different news regarding a specific topic. Some of that news contain vast information whether some contain less on the same issue. A reader always wants to know much information about a whole issue by reading less. In this paper, we have described a technique to suggest an order of informative news from two or three days on a specific issue. The pieces of news from several days on different issues are collected from different online news portals. After applying some pre-processing tasks, similarity among all these news documents are measured by applying some scientific approaches to find the clusters of similar issues. Then we have calculated the distance or dissimilarity among the pairs of all news on the same cluster. On the basis of the distances between pairs of news, we have found the news with the most unique information than others and also a descending order of informative news. The most informative news is at the top and so on.
Development of Adaptive E-Learning Course in Moodle System

E-learning has been actively developing recently. To date, there are a large number of platforms and developed courses. The main drawback is the lack of adaptability. This paper presents the results of developing an adaptive e-learning course on the Moodle platform. The course is based on a tree of concepts and discipline operations; the course content is based on different standards. Training takes place along various trajectories depending on the characteristics and level of the student’s preparation, which will improve the learning achievement of students. The results of the development and implementation of an adaptive electronic course designed for students of the second year of full-time education are presented. In the process of learning, students follow a certain trajectory; on each trajectory, different material is represented.
Surface Plasmons for Probing Optical Data of Multi- Layered Thin Films

In this paper, we show how optical excitation of surface plasmons (SPs) can be used to obtain optical and geometrical parameters of specific layers in multi-layered thin film systems. The optimum coupling phenomenon between incoming p-polarized light and SPs appears as a minimum in the reflectance that is calculated using a standard matrix formalism. The sensitive dependence of the reflectance minimum on optical and geometrical parameters suggests that they can be determined accurately by fitting the measured attenuated total reflectance (ATR) to the matrix-calculated reflectance using the Simplex minimization method. The procedure is applied to the multi-layered system: Prism / Air gap / Al-oxide / Al / GaAs. At fixed incident light wavelength, the fitting parameters are the Al-oxide optical constant and the thickness of the air gap, Al-oxide and Al layers. Fortran codes are implemented for the reflectance calculations and the fitting procedures. The results show that the theoretical reflectance fits well the measured ATR at 633 nm wavelength. Moreover, the modeled Al-oxide optical constant at this wavelength agrees well with the literature. However, the reflectance fits are less good at 590 nm and 458 nm wavelengths and their modeled Al-oxide optical constants show a dispersion effect in disagreement with the literature. The modeled geometrical parameters are consistent with the nominal values.
Using Nd Isotopes to understand changes in continental weathering flux in Mid-Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian) carbonate cycles

Decades of study on Phanerozoic sedimentary deposits indicates that changes in Earth’s orbital parameters are one of the main drivers of climate change on the 10 4 -10 5 yr time scales, however understanding the relationships between climate change on coeval marine and continental deposits is difficult due to post-depositional erosion and tectonic processes. Nd isotopes measured in marine carbonates are a proxy for regional-scale continental weathering flux (CWF) and can help resolve these difficulties because its short residence time (less than ocean mixing times). This study focuses on cyclic Middle Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian) marine successions from the Pedregosa (Arizona) and Bird Spring (southern Nevada) basin to address the interbasin and intrabasin response of Nd. Two types of orbital-scale subtidal cycles (1-7 m thick) are observed. Transgressive-regressive (TR) cycles (44%) are characterized by basal transgressive shallow subtidal deposits, deep subtidal deposits and capped by shallow subtidal deposits. Regressive (R) cycles (56%) are composed of basal deep subtidal deposits capped by shallow subtidal deposits; approximately 55% of T-R and R cycle caps show evidence of subaerial exposure. Due to the interpreted large magnitude sea-level changes and the iv position of study areas along the inner/middle platform, the cycles are dominated by highstand (or interglacial) deposition. Seventeen cycles were sampled (<0.5 m sample resolution) for Nd-isotope analysis of whole rock limestones. εNd values for all three locations range between -12.3 to -5.95 and two contrasting orbital-scale єNd trends are recognized. Trend 1 (30%) is characterized by low єNd (high CWF) during sea-level highstands (interglacial stages) and trend 2 (45%) is defined by high єNd (low CWF) during sea-level highstands (interglacial stages). The absence of fluvial deposits within either studied basin combined with previous reports of thick Pennsylvanian loess deposits throughout the U.S. Southwest suggests an eolian source for the observed CWF. If an eolian interpretation is correct and we utilize recent climate modeling results for the late Paleozoic from Horton et al. (2012), which incorporates glacial-interglacial pCO2 changes which influences the position of the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) and low-latitude precipitation changes, then cycles that record high CWF (low єNd) during interglacials (trend 1) represents drier/more windy climates in upwind source areas, whereas low CWF (high єNd) during interglacials (trend 2) implies wetter/less windy climates in upwind source areas. This study illustrates the use of Nd isotopes in marine carbonates as novel proxy for detecting orbital-scale CWF changes in ancient marine
Gaining Deeper Insights into RFID Adoption in Hospital Pharmacies

RFID holds the potential to fulfill more completely what is known as the five rights of medication management (right medication, right dose, right time, right route and right patient) and strengthens the security of patients. By automatically tracking and tracing in real-time medicines and doses, RFID also improves the pharmacy efficiency and accuracy, increases inventory visibility, reduces inventory costs, ameliorates the readiness of purchase orders, decreases supply cycle times and reduces manual labour. Moreover, it supports reverse logistics activities. Despite these alleged benefits, RFID adoption in hospital pharmacies is slow and remains under investigated in previous research. The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to seek further explanations in the rate of RFID adoption in the specific context of the hospital pharmacy; second, to identify and analyze the critical factors that foster or hamper such adoption. The empirical evidence gathered from a field research conducted in six hospitals, shows that nine factors emerge as most critical. The paper adds elements of explanation for the slow rate of RFID adoption and underlines the overriding issues related such adoption.
Removal Of Contaminants From Aqueous Solutions Using Hop (Humulus Lupulus L.) Agricultural By-Products

Abstract Agricultural wastes can be used as an alternative to the existing sorbents for the removal of metals or synthetic dyes from contaminated liquids. In this work, the fine powdered biomass of the hop (Humulus lupulus L.) variety Osvald's clone 72 and variety Bohemie as a sorbent for the removal of Cd from aqueous solutions of CdCl2 spiked with radionuclide 109Cd and synthetic dyes thioflavine T (ThT) or methylene blue (MB) from single dye solutions under conditions of batch systems was used. The maximum sorption capacity Q = 264 µmol Cd/g (d.w.) was found in the case of the leaf biomass of hop (H. lupulus L.) variety Osvald's clone 72 at the initial concentration of CdCl2 10,000 µmol/dm3, whereby the sorption capacity decreased in the order Qleaves : Qstems : Qroots = 1.0 : 0.8 : 0.7. The sorbed amount of Cd was removed from the hop biomass with the following increasing desorption efficiency of the extraction reagents: deionised H2O << 0.1 mol/dm3 HCl ≤ 0.1 mol/dm3 EDTA-Na2. Similarly as in the case of Cd sorption, the kinetics of ThT and MB sorption by the leaf biomass of the hop (H. lupulus L.) variety Bohemie were also showed as two-phase processes. The maximum sorption of ThT approx. Q = 19 mg/g (d.w.) and MB approx. Q = 70 mg/g (d.w.) were found within the range of the initial values of pH 4 – 7. The sorption of both dyes by the leaf biomass from single dye solutions decreased with increasing biomass concentration and on the other hand increased with increasing the initial concentrations of ThT or MB. The process of ThT and MB sorption was better described by the Langmuir model than the Freundlich model of sorption isotherm. From the obtained values of Qmax, it was found that in the case of MB the dried leaf biomass showed more than 2-times higher sorption capacity (Qmax = 184 mg/g; d.w.) in comparison with the value predicted for ThT. Obtained results suggest that dried plant biomass of hop (H. lupulus L.) as agricultural by-products can be used as a potential sorbent for both types of studied contaminants.
Dynamic key generation according to the starting time

The article analyses the problem of data persistence while transmitting the messages and looks into possible solutions. The central part of the article describes the algorithm of data encryption and digital signature algorithm according to the starting time of the session. In the algorithm the session key is symmetrically generated for each pair of subscribers; further the data are encrypted with this key. In its turn the session key is also encrypted with a public asymmetric key of a recipient and with an asymmetric encryption algorithm. Then the decrypted session key with the decrypted message are sent to the recipient. This client employs the same asymmetric encryption algorithm and his/her secret decryption key to decrypt the asymmetric session key. The decrypted session key is used for decryption of the received message. Thus, every time new symmetric keys are generated according to the starting time of a session, which enables high speed of encryption along with an open to public temporary encryption keys transmitting. Besides, the article contains examples of Diffie-Hellman protocol work and the hash-function algorithm MD5. They are used for encryption of generated temporary keys and for transmitting common private key to both clients. According to the suggested algorithm, the prototype of key and signature generation has been created and probated. The article illustrates the stages of Diffie-Hellman and MD5 protocol work. The prototype was tested with the help of a computer and two phones (2013 and 2015 production years).