Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Historical text comprehension: design of experimental tool for students' cognitive profiles

Presents an experimental approach to student modelling of historical text comprehension. The proposed student model represents the observed characteristics and attitudes of the student when he comprehends a historical text and reflects the student's historical profile and his cognitive model. The student model was based on the Model Of Comprehension Of Historical Narration (MOCOHN) and on an experimental study of students' historical text comprehension. The experimental tool we have designed, considered as the core of the student diagnosis module of an intelligent tutoring system, can be exploited for inferring a student's cognitive state from his performance. The generalisation of the student model gives evidence for the dynamics of the constructed student model that can affect educational decisions in supporting individualised history teaching and tutoring.
Single-Side Two-Location Spotlight Imaging for Building Based on MIMO Through-Wall-Radar

Through-wall-radar imaging is of interest for mapping the wall layout of buildings and for the detection of stationary targets within buildings. In this paper, we present an easy single-side two-location spotlight imaging method for both wall layout mapping and stationary target detection by utilizing multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) through-wall-radar. Rather than imaging for building walls directly, the images of all building corners are generated to speculate wall layout indirectly by successively deploying the MIMO through-wall-radar at two appropriate locations on only one side of the building and then carrying out spotlight imaging with two different squint-views. In addition to the ease of implementation, the single-side two-location squint-view detection also has two other advantages for stationary target imaging. The first one is the fewer multi-path ghosts, and the second one is the smaller region of side-lobe interferences from the corner images in comparison to the wall images. Based on Computer Simulation Technology (CST) electromagnetic simulation software, we provide multiple sets of validation results where multiple binary panorama images with clear images of all corners and stationary targets are obtained by combining two single-location images with the use of incoherent additive fusion and two-dimensional cell-averaging constant-false-alarm-rate (2D CA-CFAR) detection.
ON-LINE MINIMIZATION OF TRANSITION SYSTEMS ( Extended Abstract )

We are given a transition system implicitly through a compact representation and wish to perform simultaneously reachability analysis and minimization without constructing first the whole system graph. We present an algorithm for this problem that applies to general systems, provided we have appropriate primitive operations for manipulating blocks of states and we can determine termination; the number of operations needed to construct the minimal reachable graph is quadratic in the size of this graph. We specialize the method to obtain efficient algorithms for extended finite state machines that apply separable affine transformations on the variables.
Fast OLAP query execution in main memory on large data in a cluster

Main memory column-stores have proven to be efficient for processing analytical queries. Still, there has been little work in the context of clusters. Using only a single machine poses several restrictions: Processing power and data volume are bounded to the number of cores and main memory fitting on one tightly coupled system. To enable the processing of larger data sets, switching to a cluster becomes necessary. In this work, we explore techniques for efficient execution of analytical SQL queries on large amounts of data in a parallel database cluster while making maximal use of the available hardware. This includes precompiled query plans for efficient CPU utilization, full parallelization on single nodes and across the cluster, and efficient inter-node communication. We implement all features in a prototype for running a subset of TPC-H benchmark queries. We evaluate our implementation in a 128 node cluster running TPC-H queries with 30000 gigabyte of uncompressed data. Currently, there are no official cluster results for more than 10000 gigabyte of data, where we achieve up to one to two orders of magnitudes better performance than the current record holder.
Shear-horizontal surface waves on piezoelectric ceramics with depolarized surface layer

Theoretical analysis and numerical results describing the propagation of SH (shear-horizontal) surface waves on piezoelectric ceramics with a depolarized surface layer are described. SH surface waves propagating in piezoelectric ceramics with a depolarized surface layer are shown to be a mixture of the Bleustein-Gulyaev surface wave, electrical potential, and the Love surface-wave mechanical displacement. Depolarization of the surface layer in piezoelectric ceramics produces strong dispersion and a multimode structure of the SH surface wave. The penetration depth of the SH surface waves propagating on an electrically free surface of a piezoelectric ceramic with a depolarized surface layer can be significantly smaller than that of the Bleustein-Gulyaev surface waves propagating on a free piezoelectric half-space. It is concluded that piezoelectric ceramics with a depolarized surface layer can be used in hybrid piezoelectric semiconductor convolvers of reduced size. <<ETX>>
Video-educazione: nuovi scenari per la formazione degli insegnanti

La formazione degli insegnanti deve affrontare la sfida di sostenere lo sviluppo di pratiche di insegnamento efficaci attraverso la crescita delle competenze degli insegnanti rispetto ai numerosi settori che caratterizzano il complesso lavoro dell’insegnamento in classe (Borko, 2004; Seidel, Blomberg & Renkl, 2013). In tale ottica, il video e diventato un importante strumento per l’apprendimento da parte dei docenti, che facilita la connessione tra teoria e pratica (Brophy, 2004; Gomez, Sherin, Griesdorn & Finn, 2008). Il video rappresenta la complessita delle situazioni reali in aula (Goldman, 2007), costituisce uno stimolo contestualizzato per l’attivazione delle conoscenze sull’insegnamento e sull’apprendimento (Seidel & Sturmer, 2014; Kersting, 2008) ed offre esperienze d’insegnamento indirette, permettendo agli insegnanti di essere immersi in un’aula senza la pressione di dover interagire (Miller & Zhou, 2007; Sherin, 2004). Tuttavia, per quanto riguarda l’utilizzo efficace, il video deve essere impiegato avendo obiettivi chiari in mente perche e uno strumento per la distribuzione di contenuti, piuttosto che un contenuto in se (Brophy, 2004; van Es, 2009). A seconda degli obiettivi di apprendimento degli insegnanti, si possono distinguere tre principali approcci all’uso del video: (1) l’illustrazione di pratiche d’insegnamento, (2) lo sviluppo di capacita di interpretazione e di riflessione che fanno si che gli insegnanti diano un senso alle pratiche didattiche e (3) la guida e il mentoring per facilitare il cambiamento e il miglioramento delle pratiche didattiche (Blomberg, Sherin, Renkl, Glogger & Seidel, 2014). Durante gli ultimi 20 anni, sono stati raggiunti risultati significativi nella ricerca sull’utilizzo del video all’interno di questi tre approcci. I dati raccolti supportano l’uso del video nella formazione degli insegnanti per lo sviluppo di conoscenze e competenze relative all’analisi del pensiero degli studenti e dei processi di insegnamento-apprendimento (Santagata, 2009; Santagata & Guarino, 2011; Sherin & Han, 2004; Star & Strickland, 2008).
ITS-WP-02-09 The Theory of Constraints ’ Thinking Process Approach to Developing Growth Strategies in Supply Chain

Many attempts have been made to study factors influencing the performance of supply chains. These studies are generally quantitative and involve rigorous statistical analyses. This paper describes an application of a system approach known as the thinking process (TP) of the theory of constraints (TOC) not only to identify critical success factors in supply chain management, but also to understand causal relationships between these factors. The study was conducted in a group-based model building environment with a group of students who specialised either in logistics management or e-commerce. The results suggest that understanding the dynamic nature of supply chain through cause and effect relationships is critical to the formulation of supply chain growth strategies.
Equatorial jets in the dusty Martian atmosphere

We investigate the production of equatorial jets which demonstrate strong local superrotation in an atmospheric general circulation model of Mars. These westerly jets are driven by diurnal thermal tides, and their strength is shown to be closely related to the amount of dust in the atmosphere. The superrotating jets are strongest near to equinox and under conditions of high atmospheric dust loading. If there is sufficient dust, in amounts corresponding to dust storm conditions, the westerly equatorial jets can occur at any time of year and reach speeds of over 40 m/s, peaking between 10 and 20 km altitude. For more moderate dust amounts, typical of background levels on Mars, the jets are still strong when the subsolar point is close to the equator and latitudinally symmetric tidal modes are forced. Strong easterly retrograde winds are also found high above the equator, and it is shown that the thermal tides play a major role in their formation. This process is especially relevant close to equinox when the cross-equatorial meridional circulation is weak.
Convergence or divergence?: A comparison of acceptance and use of technology for smart phones and tablets

The market position of smart phones is similar to that of tablets, since many similar new products co-exist in the market, i.e., the “phablet. ” Therefore, we applied the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology 2 (UTAUT2) model to explore the differences and similarities between smart phones and tablets. Six hundred and seventy questionnaires, including 365 for smart phones and 305 for tablets, were collected. The result shows that these two devices differ in some aspects. For smart phone users, the factors Facilitating Conditions, Price Value, Hedonic Motivation, and Habit affected Behavioral Intention and Use Behavior. For tablet users, the factors Performance Expectation, Hedonic Motivation, and Habit affected Behavioral Intention and Use Behavior. The no significant effects were seen for any moderating variables (i.e., age, gender, experience). Finally, we concluded that mobile device users choose a device on the basis of different needs. People who use smart phones need more software resources and capabilities and tend to compare prices before purchasing a smart phone. However, tablet users tend to consider how the device can help them improve work efficiency or the quality of their daily life. The results can serve as a reference for manufacturers of these devices to improve their products and services.
Budget distribution strategies for scientific workflow scheduling in commercial clouds

Scientific research is increasingly reliant on big compute and big data, the fusion of which is known as data intensive science. Large scale scientific analyses are typically represented as workflows which are the typical model for characterizing e-science experiments in distributed systems. Workflows with a large number of tasks are distributed in parallel across computing resources to speed up analyses. The provision of compute capabilities is undergoing a rapid migration from dedicated infrastructure to the cloud. This migration is fuelled by dynamic infrastructure scalability with changes in demand. Cloud instances incur different costs and execution time with different configurations. A key concern for workflow scheduling is to make an appropriate trade-off between these two factors. In this paper, we introduce the Budget Distribution with Trickling (BDT) algorithm that presents new notions for distributing budget based on the dependency structure inherent in workflows. In addition we propose several new strategies for sharing or distributing the budget, and propose trickling to redistribute unspent budget down to other levels. Our results show that biasing the budget distribution to the earlier computation within a workflow will generally produce a lower makespan within budget.
Distributed Model Predictive Load Frequency Control of the Multi-Area Power System After Deregulation

This paper proposes a distributed model predictive control scheme for the load frequency control (LFC) problem of the deregulated multi-area interconnected power system with contracted and uncontracted load demands. The traditional LFC of the interconnected power system is modified to take into account the effect of bilateral contracts on the dynamics. The concept of the distribution company participation matrix and area participation matrix are introduced to simulate these bilateral contracts and reflected in the multi-area block diagram. The distributed model predictive controller is designed by posing the LFC problem as a tracking control problem in the presence of both external disturbances and constraints that represent generation rate constraint and load reference setpoint constraint, respectively. Analysis and simulation results for a deregulated three-area interconnected power system show possible improvements on closed-loop performance and computational burden, while respecting the physical hard constraints.
ANGPLT3: A novel modulator of lipid metabolism

Angiopoietin-like proteins (ANGPTLs) have emerged as an important regulator of lipid and glucose metabolism as well as insulin sensitivity. ANGPTL3 plays a key role in regulating circulating triglycerides (TG) and cholesterol levels through reversible inhibition of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and endothelial lipase enzymes activity. Loss of function mutation of ANGPTL3 gene has been identified in many subjects with familial combined hypolipidemia. ANGPTL4 produces irreversible inhibition of LPL activity, while ANGPTL8 enhances the activity of ANGPTL3, which highlight the interplay between the different ANGPTLs in a coordinated manner to regulate lipid metabolism during different nutritional states. This new class of lipid modulators may serve as potential novel therapeutic target for reducing plasma lipoprotein and treatment of metabolic syndrome.
Stress‐ and mitogen‐induced phosphorylation of the small heat shock protein Hsp25 by MAPKAP kinase 2 is not essential for chaperone properties and cellular thermoresistance.

Small heat shock proteins (sHsps) show a very rapid stress‐ and mitogen‐dependent phosphorylation by MAPKAP kinase 2. Based on this observation, phosphorylation of sHsps was thought to play a key role in mediating thermoresistance immediately after heat shock, before the increased synthesis of heat shock proteins becomes relevant. We have analysed the phosphorylation dependence of the chaperone and thermoresistance‐mediating properties of the small heat shock protein Hsp25. Surprisingly, overexpression of Hsp25 mutants, which are not phosphorylated in the transfected cells, confers the same thermoresistant phenotype as overexpression of wild type Hsp25, which is either mono‐ or bis‐phosphorylated at serine residues 15 and 86 within the cells. Furthermore, in vitro phosphorylated Hsp25 shows the same oligomerization properties and the same chaperone activity as the nonphosphorylated protein. No differences between phosphorylated and nonphosphorylated Hsp25 are detected in preventing thermal aggregation of unfolding proteins and assisting refolding of denatured proteins. The results suggest that chaperone properties of the small heat shock proteins contribute to the increased cellular thermoresistance in a phosphorylation‐independent manner.
Efficient Spatial Data Structure for Multiversion Management of Engineering Drawings

In the engineering database system, multiple versions of a design including engineering drawings should be managed efficiently. The paper proposes an extended spatial data structure for efficient management of multiversion engineering drawings. The R-tree is adapted as a basic data structure. The efficient mechanism to manage the difference between drawings is introduced to the R-tree to eliminate redundant duplications and to reduce the amount of storage required for the data structure. The extended data structures of the R-tree, MVR and MVR* trees, are developed and the performances of these trees are evaluated. A series of simulation tests shows that, compared with the basic R-tree, the amounts of storage required for the MVR and MVR* trees are reduced to 50% and 30%, respectively. The search efficiencies of the R, MVR, and MVR* trees are almost the same.
Evaluation of information in nanomaterial safety data sheets and development of international standard for guidance on preparation of nanomaterial safety data sheets

Abstract Safety data sheets (SDSs) and labelling are the basic hazard communication tools for hazardous chemicals as regards their manufacture, storage, transport and other handling activities. Thus, in the context of the growing use of nanomaterials and nanomaterial-containing materials, this study evaluated the information provided in 97 nanomaterial-related SDSs according to the criteria set by the GHS (Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals) and found that most of the SDSs did not include sufficient information on the safety of nanomaterials, such as their toxicity and physicochemical properties. The reasons for this lack of information in the nanomaterial SDSs can mainly be attributed to (1) a lack of toxicity and physicochemical property information on nanomaterials, (2) unawareness of the effectiveness of conventional exposure controls, such as local exhaust ventilation and encapsulation, and personal protective equipment (PPE), in protecting against nanomaterial exposure, (3) a lack of information on emergency and firefighting measures and (4) a lack of knowledge on how existing regulations apply to nanomaterials. Therefore, to create a consistent standard for the information provided on safety, health and environmental matters for manufactured nanomaterial-containing products, guidance for the preparation of nanomaterial-specific SDSs, including both nanomaterials and mixtures of nanomaterials with conventional non-nanoscale materials, was recently initiated by the ISO TC 229. Their guidance, in the form of a technical report, recommends that nanomaterial-related SDSs should be prepared based on a precautionary approach in terms of the toxicity and other risks associated with the nanomaterial contents within the mixture in question. One of the key recommendations in the technical report is to include additional physicochemical properties, including the particle size (average and range), size distribution aggregation/agglomeration state, shape and aspect ratio, crystallinity, specific surface area, dispersibility and dustiness, which help to distinguish the characteristics of nanomaterials from those of non-nanoscale materials. The technical report also recommends the preparation of SDSs for all nanomaterials and mixtures that meet the GHS criteria for physical, health or environmental hazards, and for all mixtures containing nanomaterials that meet the criteria for carcinogenic, toxic to reproduction or specific target organ toxicity in concentrations exceeding the cut-off limits for an SDS specified by the criteria for mixtures. Finally, the technical report recommends that SDSs be prepared for all nanomaterials, unless there is evidence that they are not hazardous.
On Reduced Convex QP Formulations of Monotone LCP Problems

Techniques for transforming convex quadratic programs (QPs) into monotone linear complementarity problems (LCPs) and vice versa are well known. We describe a class of LCPs for which a reduced QP formulation|one that has fewer constraints than the \stan-dard" QP formulation|is available. We mention several instances of this class, including the known case in which the coeecient matrix in the LCP is symmetric.
In situ identification of polyphosphate- and polyhydroxyalkanoate-accumulating traits for microbial populations in a biological phosphorus removal process.

Polyphosphate- and polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA)-accumulating traits of predominant microorganisms in an efficient enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) process were investigated systematically using a suite of non-culture-dependent methods. Results of 16S rDNA clone library and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) with rRNA-targeted, group-specific oligonucleotide probes indicated that the microbial community consisted mostly of the alpha- (9.5% of total cells), beta- (41.3%) and gamma- (6.8%) subclasses of the class Proteobacteria, Flexibacter-Cytophaga (4.5%) and the Gram-positive high G+C (HGC) group (17.9%). With individual phylogenetic groups or subgroups, members of Candidatus Accumulibacter phosphatis in the beta-2 subclass, a novel HGC group closely related to Tetrasphaera spp. , and a novel gamma-proteobacterial group were the predominant populations. Furthermore, electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis was used to validate the staining specificity of 4,6-diamino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) for intracellular polyphosphate and revealed the composition of polyphosphate granules accumulated in predominant bacteria as mostly P, Ca and Na. As a result, DAPI and PHA staining procedures could be combined with FISH to identify directly the polyphosphate- and PHA-accumulating traits of different phylogenetic groups. Members of Accumulibacter phosphatis and the novel gamma-proteobacterial group were observed to accumulate both polyphosphate and PHA. In addition, one novel rod-shaped group, closely related to coccus-shaped Tetrasphaera, and one filamentous group resembling Candidatus Nostocoidia limicola in the HGC group were found to accumulate polyphosphate but not PHA. No cellular inclusions were detected in most members of the alpha-Proteobacteria and the Cytophaga-Flavobacterium group. The diversified functional traits observed suggested that different substrate metabolisms were used by predominant phylogenetic groups in EBPR processes.
Revolutions in development inquiry

The Provocation: Dinosaurs. Rural Development Tourism: Poverty Unperceived. Microenvironments: Observing the Unobserved. Rapid Rural Appraisal: Origins, Rationale and Repertoire. PRA: Pathways, Practice and Principles. Who Counts? Participation and Numbers. Whose Space? Mapping, Power and Ethics. Traps and Liberations. Participatory Methodologies: Drivers for Change. Index
Complementary Strategies: Why we use our hands when we think

A complementary strategy can be defined as any organizing activity which recruits external elements to reduce cognitive loads. Typical organizing activities include pointing, arranging the position and orientation of nearby objects, writing things down, manipulating counters, rulers or other artifacts that can encode the state of a process or simplify perception. To illustrate the idea of a complementary strategy, a simple experiment was performed in which subjects were asked to determine the dollar value of collections of coins. In the no-hands condition, subjects were not allowed to touch the coin images or to move their hands in any way. In the hands condition, they were allowed to use their hands and fingers however they liked. Significant improvements in time and number of errors were observed when S's used their hands over when they did not. To explain these facts, a brief account of some commonly observed complementary strategies is presented, and an account of their potential benefits to perception, memory and attention.