Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Literature and Language Teaching: Contents

Literature and Language Teaching is for teachers and trainers who want to incorporate literature into the language classroom. It is suitable for teacher trainers, teacher development groups or teachers working on their own. This book contains tasks and activities which encourage reflection on some of the issues and debates involved in using literature in the language classroom and explore different approaches to using literature with teenage and adult learners at all levels. It suggests criteria for selecting and evaluating materials for classroom use and identifies some of the distinctive features of novels, short stories, poems and plays so that these can be successfully exploited in the classroom. A wide range of practical ideas and activities for developing materials is provided. Tasks also encourage the observation and assessment of lessons using literacy texts, and draw on English language material by a variety of authors from all over the world.
Collecting behavioural data using the world wide web: considerations for researchers

Objective: To identify and describe advantages, challenges, and ethical considerations of web based behavioural data collection. Methods: This discussion is based on the authors’ experiences in survey development and study design, respondent recruitment, and internet research, and on the experiences of others as found in the literature. Results: The advantages of using the world wide web to collect behavioural data include rapid access to numerous potential respondents and previously hidden populations, respondent openness and full participation, opportunities for student research, and reduced research costs. Challenges identified include issues related to sampling and sample representativeness, competition for the attention of respondents, and potential limitations resulting from the much cited “digital divide”, literacy, and disability. Ethical considerations include anonymity and privacy, providing and substantiating informed consent, and potential risks of malfeasance. Conclusions: Computer mediated communications, including electronic mail, the world wide web, and interactive programs will play an ever increasing part in the future of behavioural science research. Justifiable concerns regarding the use of the world wide web in research exist, but as access to, and use of, the internet becomes more widely and representatively distributed globally, the world wide web will become more applicable. In fact, the world wide web may be the only research tool able to reach some previously hidden population subgroups. Furthermore, many of the criticisms of online data collection are common to other survey research methodologies.
One-Year Follow-Up in Stroke Patients Discharged from Rehabilitation Hospital

This study was designed to evaluate functional status at a 1-year follow-up in consecutive first-stroke patients after discharge from rehabilitation hospital and to identify reliable prognostic factors associated with changes in their abilities. Functional evaluation was made of consecutive patients 1 year after discharge to their own homes. Two multiple logistic regressions (forward stepwise) were performed using both improvement and worsening of the Barthel Index score between discharge and follow-up as dependent variables. Independent variables were medical, demographic and social factors. The final sample included 157 out of 172 patients. During the follow-up, 10 patients (5.81%) died because of a new cerebrovascular event, 1 patient died of myocardial infarction, 2 patients had new strokes and 2 fractured their paretic legs. Functionally, 43.3% of the patients maintained the level they achieved during inpatient rehabilitation treatment, 23.6% improved and the remaining 33.1% worsened. Patients with hemineglect and aged ≥65 years had a higher probability of functional worsening (odds ratio, OR = 3.77, 95% confidence interval, CI = 1.42– 10.0 and OR = 3.93, 95% CI = 1.72–8.95, respectively). Postdischarge rehabilitation (performed for 46.5% of the final sample) was significantly and positively associated with functional improvement (OR = 7.23, 95% CI = 2.89–18.05), and its absence with functional worsening (OR = 12.32, 95% CI = 4.47–37.01). In conclusion, in nearly half of the cases, functional status was still not stabilized at the time of discharge from the rehabilitation hospital. Postdischarge outpatient treatment was useful for preventing worsening of the functional ability achived during inpatient treatment and increased the possibility of further functional improvement. Age ≥65 years and hemineglect were predictors of functional worsening at follow-up.
The Reference Interview Revisited: Librarian-patron Interaction in the Virtual Environment

This paper examined the reference interview literature over the past 10 years to determine how thinking has changed regarding the process. The ten-year window was chosen to roughly measure the impact of the internet on reference (specifically, the RI) since its introduction in the early 1990s. The paper was divided into two parts–the RI in the traditional (electronic) reference setting; and the online RI in the virtual setting. The thinking of reference personnel has come full circle–to an understanding that the basic tenets still hold true. To the extent that reference workers provide the “human touch” in the “high-tech” setting is the extent to which they will, not only survive, but thrive in modern libraries.
Internal and External Frames of Reference for Academic Self-Concept

Frames of reference play an important role in the development of academic self-concept because students' judgments of their own achievements have to be made against some frame of reference. Students use multiple frames of reference in making self-judgments. In this article we first distinguish internal and external frames of reference. We then identify four possible frames of reference related to external comparisons: (a) school-average ability, (b) class average ability, (c) selected students in class, and (d) selected students outside of class. We also propose four types of internal comparisons related to schoolwork: (a) comparison of achievements in different school subjects at a given time, (b) comparison of achievements in the same subject across time, (c) comparison of achievements with goals and aspirations, and (d) comparison of achievements in different school subjects with applied effort in those subjects. By analyzing the eight frames of reference in relation to five sources of information, we illustrate the complexity of internal and external comparisons students make and suggest directions for future research.
Commentary on “Eileen: Treatment of a Foster Child”

S UJATHA SUBRAMANIAN’S DESCRIPTION OF HER TWICE-WEEKLY WORK in psychotherapy with Eileen over a period of two years highlights for me some particular characteristics of fostered children. Eileen has suffered repeated losses in her short life. We do not know anything about the death of either her mother or grandmother. Were they sudden and unexpected, or after long illnesses, which could have meant the fading away and increasing lack of availability of each of her caregivers? I suspect the latter, certainly with the grandmother. We see Eileen repeatedly projecting into her therapist a sense of hopelessness of ever being able to pull her object/mother/therapist to her or to sustain her interest for more than a flicker of time. It seems that Eileen really wants her therapist to know what that experience feels like, to hold it, and explore it in herself before attempting to return it to her patient. Eileen needs this experience sufficiently often to know that she has an object/therapist capable of Bion’s reverie and alpha function. I think this is why the early phase of the therapy proceeded so slowly. Eileen needed that time before she could involve her therapist in the mazes of her life. The slow process of the work is a frequent feature of work with fostered children who are not yet permanently placed. They have been abandoned by their birth parent(s) and, in Eileen’s case, by death twice and by the sudden accident and disappearance of her father. The abandonment is real. Eileen was showing both her foster mother Jane and her therapist that she had come close herself to abandoning hope of finding an object capable of surviving her anger and omnipotence; losing hope of a secure attachment. Journal of Infant, Child, and Adolescent Psychotherapy, 3(3):398–401, 2004
Environmental Cognitive Sets

This article reports the results of a longitudinal experiment exploring environmental cognitive sets (ways of perceiving or thinking about one's surroundings) that were designed especially to promote awareness of environmental problems and possibilities but also to induce aesthetic experience, environmental understanding, and a playful and creative orientation toward environmental experience. The results of our project indicate that (1) imagining improvements in an environment (the "IMG" set) led subjects to notice and remember more human-induced environmental problems than did normal viewing; (2) although IMG tended to be rated as more interesting and enjoyable than normal viewing for filmed scenes, subjects who were instructed repeatedly to use IMG seemed to tire of its imposed use over an extended period of time; (3) nevertheless, a much higher proportion of these subjects than of subjects with less experimental exposure to IMG reported using this set on their own after the conclusion of the experiment; (4) our specially devised instructions "for being more creative" in imagining environmental changes were very effective in helping college students imagine changes of higher (blind-rated) quality; (5) our research procedures at this stage of development had no discernible systematic effects on overall environmental concern, ability to devise new cognitive sets, or feelings of perceptual control; (6) subjects who freely chose several cognitive sets to use at visited locations showed a highly significant tendency to find at least one experimental set for each location that was more interesting and enjoyable than normal viewing (even though normal viewing at these locations was itself rated as both interesting and enjoyable and as significantly easier than the experimental cognitive sets).
Comments on supergravity description of S-branes

This is a note on the coupled supergravity-tachyon matter system, which has been earlier proposed as a candidate for the effective space-time description of S-branes. In particular, we study an ansatz with the maximal ISO(p+1) × SO(8−p,1) symmetry, for general brane dimensionality p and homogeneous brane distribution in transverse space ρ⊥. A simple application of singularity theorems shows that (for p ≤ 7) the most general solution with these symmetries is always singular. (This invalidates a recent claim in the literature.) We include a few general comments about the possibility of describing the decay of unstable D-branes in purely gravitational terms.
Managing Sense of Self

Despite an increasing interest in the experiences of people who have been diagnosed with dementia, there is still a dearth of research into how people cope with the onset of the illness. This study uses qualitative methodology to examine the appraisals and coping processes of 20 men diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer’s disease. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the men and their wives. These were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. The men’s accounts suggested that they attempted to manage their sense of self by balancing their wish to maintain a prior sense of self against their need to reappraise and construct a new sense of self. This seemed to be an ongoing, circular process. Ways in which services can assist men in the process of managing their sense of self are explored.
How to Construct a Mobile Botnet ?

Botnets are one of the most serious security threats to the Internet and the personal computer (PC) world, but they have not yet caused major outbreaks in the mobile world. Nevertheless, attacks on mobile networks and devices have recently grown in number and sophistication. With the arrival of smartphones such as the iPhone and Android-based phones, there has been a drastic increase in downloading and sharing of third-party applications and user-generated content, making smartphones vulnerable to various types of malware. Smartphone-based banking and payment services have also become popular without protection features comparable to those on PCs, enticing cyber crimes. As smartphones handle more personal data and gain more computing power and capabilities but have little security protection, early naive attacks targeting mobile devices have become more sophisticated. Since the appearance of the first mobile worm, Cabir, in 2004, we have witnessed a significant evolution of mobile malware. The early malware performed tasks, such as infecting files, replacing system applications and sending out SMS or MMS messages. One malicious program is usually capable of only one or two functionalities. Recent mobile malware demonstrates more sophisticated behavior. SymbOS.Exy. A trojan was discovered in February 2009 and its variant SymbOS.Exy. C resurfaced in July 2009. This mobile worm, which is said to have “botnetesque” behavior patterns, differs from other mobile malware because after infection, it connects back to a malicious HTTP server and reports information of the device and its user. The recent Ikee.B worm appearing late November 2009 targets jailbroken iPhones, and has behavior similar to SymbOS.Exy. Ikee.B also connects to a control server via HTTP, downloads additional components and sends back the user’s information. With this remote connection, it is possible for attackers to issue commands to and coordinate the infected devices to launch large-scale attacks. Considering this potential, botnets will likely soon become a serious threat to smartphones. In this paper, we propose the design of a mobile botnet that makes the most of mobile services and is resilient to disruption. The goal of our work is to shed light on potential botnet threats targeting smartphones. Since current techniques against PC botnets may not be applied directly to mobile botnets, our proposed design makes it possible for people to investigate and develop new countermeasures before mobile botnets become a major threat. Within our mobile botnet, all C&C communications are done via SMS messages since SMS is available to almost every mobile phone and can delay message delivery for offline phones. To hide the identity of the botmaster, there are no central servers dedicated to command dissemination that is easy to be identified and removed. Instead, we adopt a P2P topology that allows botmasters and bots to publish and search for commands in a P2P fashion, making their detection and disruption much harder.
An as-rigid-as-possible approach to sensor network localization

We present a novel approach to localization of sensors in a network given a subset of noisy inter-sensor distances. The algorithm is based on “stitching” together local structures by solving an optimization problem requiring the structures to fit together in an “As-Rigid-As-Possible” manner, hence the name ARAP. The local structures consist of reference “patches” and reference triangles, both obtained from inter-sensor distances. We elaborate on the relationship between the ARAP algorithm and other state-of-the-art algorithms, and provide experimental results demonstrating that ARAP is significantly less sensitive to sparse connectivity and measurement noise. We also show how ARAP may be distributed.
Experimental results : Reinforcement Learning of POMDPs using Spectral Methods

We propose a new reinforcement learning algorithm for partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDP) based on spectral decomposition methods. While spectral methods have been previously employed for consistent learning of (passive) latent variable models such as hidden Markov models, POMDPs are more challenging since the learner interacts with the environment and possibly changes the future observations in the process. We devise a learning algorithm running through epochs, in each epoch we employ spectral techniques to learn the POMDP parameters from a trajectory generated by a fixed policy. At the end of the epoch, an optimization oracle returns the optimal memoryless planning policy which maximizes the expected reward based on the estimated POMDP model. We prove an order-optimal regret bound with respect to the optimal memoryless policy and efficient scaling with respect to the dimensionality of observation and action spaces.
The Multi-Objective Optimal Design of Flow Sensor on Heat Meter

A flow sensor and two temperature sensors are included in a traditional heat meter. But in heat exchanger based heat meter, if the temperature of water is measured, the flow value can be obtained according to the mathematical relationship between flow rate and water temperature at inlet and outlet of heat exchanger. Thus the inaccuracy of flowmeter measurement caused by water quality in the traditional heat meter can be effectively avoided. Because of the complexity of the heat exchanger structure, it is difficult to obtain the analytical solution between the flow rate and the temperature of water. Such problem can be effectively solved by CFD fluid numerical simulation. The optimum structure of heat exchanger can be found, the relationship between flow rate and temperature of water can be obtained and the pressure drop of heat exchanger is minimized through the process of numerical simulation and Powell method.
Hot-Carrier Degradation in GaN HEMTs Due to Substitutional Iron and Its Complexes

We report the experimental data, quantum-mechanical calculations, and engineering-level modeling that provide insight into the atomic-scale processes that underlie the hot-electron degradation of AlGaN/GaN high-electron-mobility transistors during electrical stress at moderate drain bias. There is relatively large degradation (up to 20%) of the peak transconductance (gm) in the semi-ON state, along with a small shift of the threshold voltage (VT). The VT shift and gm degradation increase with temperature. A model of the degradation is presented, based on the hot-carrier-induced defect generation. The model considers carrier energy distributions for different temperatures obtained using an ensemble Monte Carlo (EMC) approach. The Ensemble Monte-Carlo results show that the concentration of energetic carriers is maximum at the end of the gate on the gate-drain access side in the semi-ON state of operation. The degradation is directly related to the number of carriers with sufficient energy to generate defects, and the carrier energy distribution depends strongly on the device temperature. The first-principles density functional theory calculations and the analysis suggest that the dehydrogenation of substitutional iron and its complexes is the dominant cause of the observed degradation in these devices.
In Search of Excellence – Google vs Baidu

— This paper compares the search engine marketing strategies adopted in China and the Western countries through two illustrative cases, namely, Google and Baidu. Marketers in the West use search engine optimization (SEO) to rank their sites higher for queries in Google. Baidu, however, offers paid search placement, or the selling of engine results for particular keywords to the higher bidders. Whereas Google has been providing innovative services ranging from Google Map to Google Blog, Baidu remains focused on search services – the one that it does best. The challenges and opportunities of the Chinese Internet market offered to global entrepreneurs are also discussed in the paper.
[Effect of selenium on the protection of myocardial cells from injuries induced by overloaded reactive oxygen species, and on the expression of actin in myocardial cells].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the effect of selenium on the protection of myocardial cells from injuries induced by H2O2 and on the expression of alpha-actin and beta-actin in myocardial cells. METHOD Myocardial cells of suckling mice in the culture were divided into six groups: Controls group (without H2O2 or Se), H2O2 group, Se 0.05 micromol/ L group, Se 0.5 micromol/L group, Se 1.0 micromol/L group and Se 5.0 micromol/L group. The ultrastructure of myocardial cells was observed by transmission electron microscope (TEM), and the LDH and MDA contents in the culture media were determined by colorimetry. The expression of alpha-actin and beta-actin in myocardial cells was detected by Western blot. RESULTS The injury of myocardial cells observed under TEM was attenuated in the 0.5 micromol/L Se group. The LDH and MDA contents in the culture media of the Se groups was higher than the control group (P < 0.05), but lower than the H2O2 group (P < 0.05). The LDH and MDA contents in the 0.5 micromol/L Se group were the lowest in all Se groups. The expression level of alpha-actin and beta-actin in the 0.5 micromol/L Se group is higher than that in the H2O2 group, even higher than the control group. CONCLUSION The protective effect of Se on myocardial cells damaged by H2O2 was better in the 0.5 micromol/ LSe group, which could maintain the expression of alpha-actin and beta-actin, even induce the remolding of cytoskeleton proteins.
Rule Usage in Children's Understanding of "Big" and "Little.".

RAVN, KAREN E. , and GELMAN, SUSAN A. Rule Usage in Children's Understanding of "Big" and "Little. " CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1984, 55, 2141-2150. How children interpret dimensional terms (e.g., big, little) is important to theories of semantic development. However, previous studies have yielded inconsistent results. The present study provided a more thorough test of this issue by examining 5 possible rules that children might use to interpret big and little. As shown in previous research, 4and 5-year-olds interpreted big to mean "greatest height"; also, they interpreted little to mean "least height. " Contrary to past claims, 3-year-olds used a height rule (for big and little) or a rule based on the most salient dimension (for big only). Increasing consistency in rule usage appeared to be the most significant developmental progression for children between the ages of 3 and 5 with respect to these size terms.
Genetic diversity of an Azorean endemic and endangered plant species inferred from inter-simple sequence repeat markers

Picconia azorica is an endangered endemic species of the Azores whose hard and high density wood is very appreciated for the production of toys, agricultural tools, furniture and religious statuary. Its renewed economic interest represents a good opportunity for establishing conservation programmes. To contribute with information useful for the decision making we performed the genetic analysis of 230 samples from 11 populations collected in three Azorean islands. The majority of the genetic variability was found within populations and no genetic structure was detected between populations and between islands, indicating that the oceanic barriers do not greatly affect gene flow.