Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
“I couldn’t play in it, but I loved it.”: Teachers’ Views on Participating in English Drama Performances

This study is an attempt to explore the teachers’ views on their participation in the English Drama Performance (EDP). Employing a qualitative approach, this study was conducted by selecting three English teachers from three different levels of education, who have been taking part in the EDP for a minimum of two performances. Data were collected through a one-on-one interview with each participant. The finding revealed that the teachers, at first were doubtful in participating in the EDP, however, after many rehearsals, they found enjoyment. In addition to their feelings, the teachers expressed their likes and dislikes in participating the EDP too. They also mentioned about the effect of their participation in the EDP towards their English skills. It turned out that by participating in the EDP, the teachers can express the English language function, enhance their pronunciation skill, practice communication skill, ease reading, and improve vocabulary. In addition to the effect on their English skills, their participation in the EDP contributes to the way they teach English to their students. Keywords: drama in education, English drama performance, teachers’ view
2 Calculi of Effective Potentials in Light-Front Formulation

We calculate effective potentials in scalar field theories on the maximally supersymmetric pp-wave background in ten dimensions. For this purpose we have to work in the light-cone formulation, and hence we introduce two methods to compute them in the light-cone frame. One is to use the Yan’s formula for evaluating one-loop correction terms. The other is to introduce a cut-off for the light-cone momentum. These methods are also confirmed in the case of Minkowski spacetime.
A comparative study of Gaussian geostatistical and Gaussian Markov random field models 1

Gaussian geostatistical models (GGMs) and Gaussian Markov random fields (GMRFs) are two distinct approaches commonly used in modeling point referenced and areal data, respectively. In this work the relations between GMRFs and GGMs are explored based on approximations of GMRFs by GGMs, and vice versa. The proposed framework for the comparison of GGMS and GMRFs is based on minimizing the distance between the corresponding spectral density functions. In particular, the Kullback-Leibler discrepancy of spectral densities and the chi-squared distance between spectral densities are used as the metrics for the approximation. The proposed methodology is illustrated using simulation studies. We also apply the methods to a air pollution dataset in California to study the relation between GMRFs and GGMs. H.R. Song is a Ph.D. student at the Statistics Department, North Carolina State University (NCSU), Raleigh, N.C. M. Fuentes is an Associate Professor at the Statistics Department, NCSU. S. Ghosh is an Associate Professor at the Statistics Department, NCSU. Contact author’s email address: fuentes@stat.ncsu. edu. The research conducted by Fuentes has been partly supported by a National Science Foundation grant DMS 0353029. Song has been supported by a cooperative agreement (CT829562) with the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards/U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Hearing aid processing changes tone burst onset: effect on cortical auditory evoked potentials in individuals with normal audiometric thresholds.

PURPOSE The validity of using the cortical auditory evoked potential (CAEP) as an objective measure of hearing aid outcome has been questioned in the literature due to stimulus modifications caused by hearing aid processing. This study aimed to investigate the effects of hearing aid processing on the CAEP elicited with tone bursts that may have altered onsets. METHOD CAEPs to unprocessed and hearing aid-processed tone bursts were obtained from 16 individuals with normal audiometric thresholds when the onset time, level, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) were matched between the 2 conditions. Tone bursts processed by the hearing aid were recorded in an anechoic box and were presented through insert receivers. Unprocessed tone bursts were superimposed with hearing aid noise floor to match the SNR of the hearing aid-processed tone bursts. RESULTS Shortening of rise time and overshoot at the onset of the tone burst were evident in the hearing aid-processed stimuli. Statistical analysis of data showed no significant effects of hearing aid processing on the latency or amplitude of CAEP peaks (p > .05). CONCLUSION The changes in rise time occurring in the tone bursts due to hearing aid processing may not confound CAEP measures that are used to validate hearing aid fitting.
GoGo Board: Augmenting Programmable Bricks for Economically Challenged Audiences

The Programmable Brick, a small autonomous computer with sensing and control abilities, has been a topic of educational research for almost two decades. The use of this tool has now reached beyond research projects through its commercial availability. However, high cost has strictly limited its audience to only well-funded schools and institutions. Can learning activities involving Programmable Bricks take place in an economically challenged context? In this paper, we present an attempt to challenge this question by presenting a new framework that turns the acquisition process of Programmable Bricks and its necessary materials into a rich learning process. We present the GoGo Board, a low-cost Programmable Brick that allows the user to actively participate in its production process. We discuss the use of found and broken materials as sources of construction supplies. We analyze two case studies from projects developed in Brazil from 2002 to 2003. Specifically, we discuss the design aspect of the GoGo board framework that allowed for diverse and socially relevant learning projects to take place.
Recognizing Subtle User Activities and Person Identity with Cheap Resistive Pressure Sensing Carpet

We demonstrate through a pressure sensor matrix, that weight distribution on feet is influenced by body posture. A small cheap carpet equipped with low precision pressure sensor matrix is already sufficient to detect subtle activities and identity of the person on the carpet. By a 0.4 m2 matrix of 32 × 32, 12 bit pressure sensors, we achieve 78.7% accuracy for 11 test subjects performing 7 subtle activities (open 7 different drawers or cabinet doors) and 88.6% accuracy in recognizing who has performed the activities. We thus see the potential of using a single carpet as a unified approach in houses to detect how inhabitants interact with the furniture without attaching different sensors onto each single furniture.
SYNTHESIS, CHARACTERIZATION AND BIOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF BINUCLEAR Fe(III), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) AND Zn(II) COMPLEXES WITH SCHIFF BASE (E)-4-[(HYDROXYL PHENYLIMINO)METHYL]BENZENE-1, 2-DIOL

Schiff base ligand (E)-4-[(hydroxyl phenylimino)methyl]benzene-1, 2-diol (H3L) was prepared from the condensation reaction of Protochatechu aldehyde (3, 4-dihydroxybenzaldhyde) with 2-amino phenol. From the direct reaction of the ligand (H3L) with Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) chlorides and Fe(III) and Zn(II) nitrates in 2M:1L molar ratio, the five new neutral complexes were prepared. The characterization of the newly formed compounds was done by HNMR, UV-Vis and IR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. The in-vitro antibacterial activity and antifungal activity of the metal complexes were studied and compared with that of free ligand. The Cupper complex shows the higher biological activity. INTRODUCTION: Some Schiff bases were tested for fungicidal activity, which is related to their chemical structure , there metal complexes are important in biochemical process. For example, the transamination reactions are catalyzed by metals ions through the formation of intermediate Schiff bases containing vitamin B6 . In the area of bioinorganic chemistry, interest in Schiff base complexes has centered on the role of such complexes in providing synthetic models for the metal containing sites in metallo-proteins and enzymes . Schiff base ligands are potential anticancer drugs 4 and the anticancer activity of this metal complex is enhanced in comparison to the free ligand . 3, 4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde, (Protocatechuaaldehyde, PCA) derivatives were evaluated and showed inhibition for bacteria growth , antioxidants , antitumor , anticorrosion 9 and reagent in simple, rapid and highly sensitive analysis of Cr(VI) and (V) 10 . In the present work, new Schiff base derived from condensation of PCA and 2-amino phenol and its complexes are prepared and investigated using the elemental analysis and UV-Vis, IR, HNMR spectra as well as TGA and the biological activities also are studied.
Can the socio-economic status of young children influence their language performance? An Indian study

Background: Language development during early childhood is crucial to a child’s overall development. The socioeconomic status (SES) is a major contributing factor to development, whose impact on language is less explored in young children especially in a multicultural country like India. This research focussed on assessing the semantic language of children from lower socio-economic (LSE) and higher socio-economic (HSE) status. Method: Sixty typically-developing Kannada speaking children between 2 and 5 years of age were classified into 3 groups (Group I: 2.0 – 2.11, Group II: 3.0 – 3.11, and Group III: 4.0 – 4.11 years), with each group being further divided into HSE and LSE subgroups. Language samples were collected using a picture description task and were analyzed for the semantic (total number of words and different words-TTR) measures. Descriptive statistics was done to determine mean and SD of both measures for each of the participants of the HSE and LSE subgroups. Nonparametric tests determined the level of significance between and across the HSE and LSE subgroups (between each of the 3 groups). Results: The results indicated a significant difference (p<0.05) across the HSE (I-HSE, II-HSE, and II-HSE) and LSE (I-LSE, II-LSE, and III-LSE) subgroups for the semantic measures. Comparison between the HSE and LSE subgroups indicated a significant difference (p<0.05) only between the 3 year-olds. Conclusion: These findings provide an insight into how early and to what extent SES impacts language development in 2, 3, and 4 year-old children.
Testing the neoclassical migration model: overall and age-group specific results for German regions

This paper tests the empirical validity of the neoclassical migration model in predicting German internal migration flows. We estimate static and dynamic migration functions for 97 Spatial Planning Regions between 1996 and 2006 using key labor market signals including income and unemployment differences among a broader set of explanatory variables. In addition to an aggregate specification we also estimate the model for age-group related subsamples. Our results give empirical support for the main transmission channels identified by the neoclassical framework – both at the aggregate level as well as for age-group specific estimates. Thereby, the impact of labor market signals is tested to be of greatest magnitude for workforce relevant age groups and especially young cohorts between the ages of 18 to 25 and 25 to 30. This latter result emphasizes the prominent role played by labor market conditions in determining internal migration rates of the working population in Germany.ZusammenfassungDieses Papier untersucht die empirische Validität des neoklassischen Migrationsmodells zur Erklärung interner Migrationsströme in Deutschland. Die Schätzungen basieren auf Daten für 97 Raumordnungsregionen im Zeitraum 1996 bis 2006. Neben einer aggregierten Migrationsgleichung werden auch disaggregierte Modelle für verschiedene Altersgruppen geschätzt. Sowohl die aggregierten als auch altersgruppenspezifischen Resultate bestätigen den durch das neoklassische Migrationsmodell vorhergesagten Zusammenhang zwischen interner Migration und regionalen Arbeitsmarktungleichgewichten. Dabei zeigen die Ergebnisse, dass insbesondere junge Alterskohorten zwischen 18 und 25 sowie 25 und 30 Jahren stark auf Unterschiede im regionalen Lohnniveau und der Arbeitslosenquote reagieren.
Environmental Surveillance. An Additional/Alternative Approach for Virological Surveillance in Greece?

The detection of viruses in the sewage of an urban city by nucleic acid amplification techniques allows the identification of the viral strains that are circulating in the community. The aim of the study was the application of such detection which gives useful data on the distribution, spread, and frequency of these viruses, supporting epidemiological studies of the related viral infections. A two year (2007–2009) survey was conducted in order to evaluate the presence of human adenoviruses (hAdV), hepatitis A viruses (HAV), hepatitis E viruses (HEV), noroviruses (NoV), and human polyomaviruses (hPyV) in sewage samples collected from the inlet of a municipal biological wastewater treatment plant located in southwestern Greece. PCR methods were used for this survey. In total, viruses have been detected in 87.5% (42/48) of the analyzed sewage samples. Analytically, DNA viruses, hAdVs and hPyVs have been detected in 45.8% (22/48) and 68.8% (33/48) of the samples, respectively. As it concerns RNA viruses, HAV was detected in 8.3% (4/48), NoVs in 6.3% (3/48), while HEV has not been detected at all. After sequencing, AdVs were typed as Ad8, Ad40 and Ad41, while both JC and BK hPyVs have been recognized. All NoVs have been identified as GII4, while HAV was typed as genotype IA. Similar long-term studies could be undertaken in countries such as Greece in order to offer a valuable and complementary tool to current problematic epidemiological surveillance systems. This study demonstrates the advantages of environmental surveillance as a tool to determine the epidemiology of viruses circulating in a given community. To our knowledge this was the first of its kind study performed in Greece in order to establish this new way of surveillance.
On the possible triple central star system of PN SuWt 2: No m\'enage \`a trois at the heart of the Wedding Ring

SuWt 2 is a planetary nebula consisting of a bright ring-like waist from which protrude faint extended lobes - a morphology believed to be typical of progenitors which have experienced a close-binary evolution. Previous observations of NSV 19992, the star at the projected centre of SuWt 2, have found it to comprise two A-type stars in a 4.9 day eclipsing orbit, neither of which could be the nebular progenitor. Radial velocity studies provided a hint that the systemic velocity of this double A-type binary might be varying over time, suggesting the presence of a third component hypothesised to be the nebular progenitor. Here, we present an extensive radial velocity monitoring study of NSV 19992, performed with the high-resolution echelle spectrograph UVES mounted on ESO's VLT, in order to constrain the possible variation in the systemic velocity of the A-type binary and its relation to the progenitor of SuWt 2. The observations, acquired over a period of approximately one year, show no evidence of variability in the systemic velocity of NSV~19992. Combining these new observations with previous high-resolution spectroscopy demonstrates that the systemic velocity is also stable over much longer periods and, moreover, is distinct from that of SuWt 2, strongly indicating that the two are not associated. We conclude that NSV 19992 is merely a field star system, by chance lying in the same line of sight as the nebular centre, and that it bares no relation to SuWt 2 or its, as yet unidentified, central star(s).
Implantation Site and Lesion Topology Determine Efficacy of a Human Neural Stem Cell Line in a Rat Model of Chronic Stroke

Stroke remains one of the most promising targets for cell therapy. Thorough preclinical efficacy testing of human neural stem cell (hNSC) lines in a rat model of stroke (transient middle cerebral artery occlusion) is, however, required for translation into a clinical setting. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) here confirmed stroke damage and allowed the targeted injection of 450,000 hNSCs (CTX0E03) into peri‐infarct tissue, rather than the lesion cyst. Intraparenchymal cell implants improved sensorimotor dysfunctions (bilateral asymmetry test) and motor deficits (footfault test and rotameter). Importantly, analyses based on lesion topology (striatal vs. striatal + cortical damage) revealed a more significant improvement in animals with a stroke confined to the striatum. However, no improvement in learning and memory (water maze) was evident. An intracerebroventricular injection of cells did not result in any improvement. MRI‐based lesion, striatal and cortical volumes were unchanged in treated animals compared to those with stroke that received an intraparenchymal injection of suspension vehicle. Grafted cells only survived after intraparenchymal injection with a striatal + cortical topology resulting in better graft survival (16,026 cells) than in animals with smaller striatal lesions (2,374 cells). Almost 20% of cells differentiated into glial fibrillary acidic protein+ astrocytes, but <2% turned into FOX3+ neurons. These results indicate that CTX0E03 implants robustly recover behavioral dysfunction over a 3‐month time frame and that this effect is specific to their site of implantation. Lesion topology is potentially an important factor in the recovery, with a stroke confined to the striatum showing a better outcome compared to a larger area of damage. STEM CELLS 2012; 30:785–796
Mouse models of autism spectrum disorders: The challenge for behavioral genetics

Autism is a severe neurodevelopmental disorder, which typically emerges early in childhood. The core symptoms of autism include deficits in social interaction, impaired communication, and aberrant repetitive behavior, including self‐injury. Despite the strong genetic component for the disease, most cases of autism have not been linked to mutations in a specific gene, and the etiology of the disorder has yet to be established. At the present time, there is no generally accepted therapeutic strategy to treat the core symptoms of autism, and there remains a critical need for appropriate animal models and relevant behavioral assays to promote the understanding and treatment of the clinical syndrome. Challenges for the development of valid mouse models include complex genetic interactions underlying the high heritability of the disease in humans, diagnosis based on deficits in social interaction and communication, and the lack of confirmatory neuropathological markers to provide validation for genetic models of the disorder. Research focusing on genes that mediate social behavior in mice may help identify neural circuitry essential for normal social interaction, and lead to novel genetic animal models of the autism behavioral phenotype. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Shortage of Medical Workers in Sub-Saharan Africa and Substitution Policy

Substitution policies are strategies sometimes chosen in Sub-Saharan Africa for curtailing the shortage of health professionals especially caused by the outflow of medical personnel. The aim of our contribution is to propose a way to assess the merits and drawbacks of substitution policies by developing a simple growth model of healthcare productivity with medical brain drain. Within this framework, we use a medical care production function of the CES type which aggregates low and high specialized health workers. We then run simulations which compare scenarios with and without substitution strategies by using data from the Ghana’s medical sector.
The Performance of Finding Eigenvalues and Eigenvaectors of Dense Symmetric Matrices on Distributed Memory Computers

We discuss timing and performance modeling of a routine to find all the eigenvalues and eigenvectors of a dense symmetric matrix on distributed memory computers. The routine, PDSYEVX, is part of the ScaLAPACK library. It is based on bisection and inverse iteration, but is not designed to guarantee orthogonality of eigenvectors in the presence of clustered eigenvalues. We use our validated performance model to conclude that PDSYEVX is very efficient for large enough problem sizes, nearly independently of input and output data layouts. However, efficiency will be low if interprocessor communication is too slow, such as on conventional workstation networks, or if per processor memory is too small, such as on the Intel Gamma. Modeling also helps us choose the appropriate algorithm to deal with clusters.
FIRST DETECTION OF GLYCOLALDEHYDE OUTSIDE THE GALACTIC CENTER

Glycolaldehyde is the simplest of the monosaccharide sugars and is directly linked to the origin of life. We report on the detection of glycolaldehyde (CH2OHCHO) toward the hot molecular core G31.41+0.31 through IRAM PdBI observations at 1.4, 2.1, and 2.9 mm. The CH2OHCHO emission comes from the hottest (⩾ 300 K) and densest (⩾ 2 × 108 cm−3) region closest (⩽ 104 AU) to the (proto)stars. The comparison of data with gas-grain chemical models of hot cores suggests for G31.41+0.31 an age of a few 105 yr. We also show that only small amounts of CO need to be processed on grains in order for existing hot core gas-grain chemical models to reproduce the observed column densities of glycolaldehyde, making surface reactions the most feasible route to its formation.
Coproduction as an Approach to Technology-Mediated Citizen Participation in Emergency Management

Social and mobile computing open up new possibilities for integrating citizens’ information, knowledge, and social capital in emergency management (EM). This participation can improve the capacity of local agencies to respond to unexpected events by involving citizens not only as first line informants, but also as first responders. This participation could contribute to build resilient communities aware of the risks they are threatened by and able to mobilize their social capital to cope with them and, in turn, decrease the impact of threats and hazards. However for this participation to be possible organizations in charge of EM need to realize that involving citizens does not interfere with their protocols and that citizens are a valuable asset that can contribute to the EM process with specific skills and capabilities. In this paper we discuss the design challenges of using social and mobile computing to move to a more participatory EM process that starts by empowering both citizens and organizations in a coproduction service envisioned as a partnership effort. As an example, we describe a case study of a participatory design approach that involved professional EM workers and decision makers in an effort to understand the challenges of using technology-based solutions to integrate citizen skills and capabilities in their operation protocols. The case study made it possible to identify specific roles that citizens might play in a crisis or disaster and to envision scenarios were technologies could be used to integrate their skills into the EM process. In this way the paper contributes to the roles and the scenarios of theory-building about coproduction in EM services.
Oil Boom and Public Investment in

This paper deals with the issue of natural resources management in Chad. Using a CGE model, I analyze the impact of public investment in irrigation and road infrastructures. Suggesting di¤erent uses of the oil revenue expected for the next ten years, this study compares several agricultural policies in terms of economic growth. Taking into account the integration of markets, it explains why the improvement of water access prevents the gap between urban and rural areas from growing, reduces the Chadian dependence on food aid and entails a substantial growth in rural household welfare. J.E. L. classi.cation : O110, O130, Q18