Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Argumentative Reasoning Online I Argumentative Reasoning in Online Discussion

This study compared the effects of three forms of online instruction on memory, belief change, and argumentation skill. Reading of a pro/con text followed by (a) online discussion in pairs was compared to reading of the same text followed by two forms of individualized study techniques derived from the cognitive memory literature: (b) selfexplanation and (c) repeated summarization and study. Across conditions, participant's argumentative reasoning improved from pretest to posttest essay in terms of both a decrease in the proportion of nonjustificatory statements and an increase in the number of metacognitive statements made; however, there were no statistical differences among conditions. Summarization produced greater levels of text recall than did selfexplanation, which in turn was more effective than online discussion. Summarization also produced greater use of evidence from the text than did self-explanation and discussion. Use of evidence within the posttest essay significantly correlated with use of evidence in a second, transfer essay, indicating that participants in the summarization condition may have gained a greater propensity for using evidence to support an argument. Though participants in the discussion condition reported greater opinion change, participants in the selfexplanation and summarization conditions exhibited greater actual opinion change. However, discussion produced greater accuracy in reported opinion change than did selfexplanation, which, in turn, was more effective than summarization. Individuals who engaged in discussion also reported greater personal contribution to the learning activity, although perceived importance of the topic and perceived ease of the technology were equal across conditions. Qualitative analysis of the transcripts from the online activities revealed that participants in the discussion condition spent more time making housekeeping statements, talking socially, and discussing tangent topics than participants in the other two conditions.
Effectiveness of ammonia reduction on control of fine particle nitrate

Abstract. In some regions, reducing aerosol ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) concentrations may substantially improve air quality. This can be accomplished by reductions in precursor emissions, such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) to lower nitric acid (HNO3) that partitions to the aerosol, or reductions in ammonia (NH3) to lower particle pH and keep HNO3 in the gas phase. Using the ISORROPIA-II thermodynamic aerosol model and detailed observational data sets, we explore the sensitivity of aerosol NH4NO3 to gas-phase NH3 and NOx controls for a number of contrasting locations, including Europe, the United States, and China. NOx control is always effective, whereas the aerosol response to NH3 control is highly nonlinear and only becomes effective at a thermodynamic sweet spot. The analysis provides a conceptual framework and fundamental evaluation on the relative value of NOx versus NH3 control and demonstrates the relevance of pH as an air quality parameter. We find that, regardless of the locations examined, it is only when ambient particle pH drops below an approximate critical value of 3 (slightly higher in warm and slightly lower in cold seasons) that NH3 reduction leads to an effective response in PM2.5 mass. The required amount of NH3 reduction to reach the critical pH and efficiently decrease NH4NO3 at different sites is assessed. Owing to the linkage between NH3 emissions and agricultural productivity, the substantial NH3 reduction required in some locations may not be feasible. Finally, controlling NH3 emissions to increase aerosol acidity and evaporate NH4NO3 will have other effects, beyond reduction of PM2.5 NH4NO3, such as increasing aerosol toxicity and potentially altering the deposition patterns of nitrogen and trace nutrients.
A TEST OF AUDIT COMMITTEE CHARACTERISTICS AND FREE CASH FLOWS

The study concentrates on audit committee characteristics and their influences on free cash flow. A panel of 120 firms from the trading and services industry from the year 2005 to 2008 is examined. The results show a significant and positive relationship between Audit Committee characteristics (size, independence, frequency of meetings) and free cash flows. These findings suggest that effective audit committee governance leads to availability of higher free cash flows. Our study draws upon the lack of understanding on the impact of audit committee characteristics on free cash flow along the two views; agency theory and pecking order/transaction cost theory and finds support for the later.
Replacement decisions on Finnish dairy farms - toward better economic performance with novel technology and sustainable herds

Competitive milk production in the northern parts of Europe and on relatively small dairy farms is challenging. The objective of this thesis was to find expedients that would improve the economic performance of Finnish dairy farms and, thus, their competitiveness on the market. Means under examination were related to replacement: replacement of old technology with novel technology and replacement of an existing cow with a new one. The theory of optimal behavior formed the basis for the methods used in solving the research problems. Empirical data originated from the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) and from the Finnish dairy herd recording system. The switch from labor-intensive tied-housing technology to capital-intensive loosehousing technology was examined using standard and random effect probit models, and with a model where the sequences of interrelated choice probabilities were estimated with Geweke-Hajivassiliou-Keane simulation technique (GHK probit model). The results of all models indicated that the young age of a farmer, a high rate of investment allowance, considerable building capital, and large dairy capacity have a positive effect on the changeover to loosehousing technology. The random effect and GHK probit models, which also control for farmer-specific individual effects, suggested that these effects are significant determinants of the switch. The GHK probit model also controlled for serial correlation of period-by-period choices. The results indicated that positive revenue shocks encourage the replacement of old technology with new technology whereas negative revenue shocks retard or delay it. Likelihood of the switch to loose-housing technology decreases very elastically with respect to the increasing investment price. The adoption of an automatic milking system was investigated as a means to improve the productivity growth of dairy farms. First, the discrete choice between conventional milking systems and automatic milking systems was modeled. Second, technology-specific production functions were estimated to derive the growth rate of total factor productivity and its components. The two-stage estimation method was applied to cater for the sample selection bias caused by the endogenous technology choice. Total factor productivity growth increased on those farms that switched from conventional milking systems to automatic milking systems. The change was linked to overall improvements in production technology and an expansion in herd size. The adoption of robotic milking intensified the positive
Selection of Strains Producing Lipase with Transesterification Activity and Its Characterization

The interest for lipase production is due to the ability of this enzyme to catalyze some reactions, such as the transesterification. Although industrial biodiesel is produced chemically, there are several problems associated with this technology that can be prevented through the use of lipases. The present work aimed to select microorganisms with potential for production of lipase with transesterification activity. The lipase from Burkholderia cepacia was the one with the most promising results for this type of reaction, showing results of hydrolytic activity at 37 °C and pH 8.0. The pH and volume of crude enzyme extract that showed favorable for synthesis of biodiesel is at about pH 6.0 and 3.75 mL, respectively, which represents approximately 42% of water in the system, ensuring the conversion of nearly 60% to biodiesel.
Simulating the complete 2014 hybrid electric Formula 1 cars

In 2014 a new powertrain specification was introduc ed in to Formula 1. This new specification changed the inte rnal combustion engine to be a 1.6 litre V6 turbocharged spark ignition engine with increased use of Energy Recove ry Systems (ERS) in the form of crank and turbo-shaft motor generators, battery and associated cooling and cont rollers. Fuel flow limits and a limit on the total amount of fuel that can be used in the race means that efficiency of th e systems has become a key focus during the development of the 2014 cars. The reduction in engine size and power from t he previous season’s 2.4L V8s means that the teams now rely much more strongly on the electrical energy from th e ERS system to make up for the reduced internal combusti on engine performance. In this work we show how a complete physical vehicle model with fully integrated subsystems (powertrain, chassis, etc) can be simulated to yield information on the consequences of a range of ERS (Energy Recovery System) configurations.
Handbook of Research on Integrating Technology Into Contemporary Language Learning and Teaching

This chapter describes the automated FLAX language system (flax.nzdl.org) that extracts salient linguistic features from academic text and presents them in an interface designed for L2 students who are learning academic writing. Typical lexico-grammatical features of any word or phrase, collocations, and lexical bundles are automatically identified and extracted in a corpus; learners can explore them by searching and browsing, and inspect them along with contextual information. This chapter uses a single running example, the PhD abstracts corpus of 9.8 million words derived from the open access Electronic Theses Online Service (EThOS) at the British Library, but the approach is fully automated and can be applied to any collection of English writing. Implications for reusing open access publications for non-commercial educational and research purposes are presented for discussion. Design considerations for developing teaching and learning applications that focus on the rhetorical and lexico-grammatical patterns found in the abstract genre are also discussed.
Where Lean May Shake: Challenges to Casualisation in the Indian Auto Industry

By analysing the industrial conflict that has affected the Indian Maruti Suzuki since 2011/2012, the article reflects on the meaning of the lean manufacturing paradigm today. It explores what continues to make it dominant, and the ultimate frontiers it has reached. It argues that its global significance could not have been established without the exploitation of local labour regimes, and without stretching their competitive advantage to the detriment of workers. In particular, the desirable condition now sought at global level is the possibility of relying on regimes based on high levels of casualisation, allowing the progressive “substitution” of permanent workers. However, as the Maruti case also reveals, working-class composition and the sustainability of the local labour process can generate mechanisms and unexpected alliances that could potentially destabilise the system. Indeed, the case shows how corporate strategies intended to fragment and depoliticise labour, inbuilt into the paradigm, were directly challenged and encountered resistance. Ultimately, though, the case also shows how, without strong legal and political support, the potential of a labour movement can be suffocated by institutionalised violence. In this sense, lean reacts, and the despotic imposition of consent becomes visible as never before.
Response to wheat dwarf virus in wild and domesticated wheat

Wild and domesticated plants are constantly exposed to a variety of pathogens, which may trigger an arms race in evolution of defense strategies in the plant and development of virulence in the pathogen. The outcome of the interaction depends on the intensity of reciprocal selection between the interacting species, which may vary over space and time, explained as the geographic mosaic theory of coevolution. While wild crop relatives may have evolved resistance or tolerance to many pathogens, the same pathogens cause damage on crops. Studies on coevolving interactions between wild host plants and pathogens can therefore provide important knowledge for identifying genetic resources for crop improvement among wild relatives. This PhD thesis focuses on an interesting interaction between Wheat dwarf virus (WDV), the leafhopper vector Psammotettix alienus and the wild and domesticated wheats (Triticum spp.). There is no known resistant wheat cultivar and severe incidences of WDV have occurred in Europe, Africa and Asia. The overall aim is to contribute to the development of improved cereal cultivars through the understanding of variation in response to WDV in wild wheat relatives (Aegilops spp., Triticum spp.), and to identify potential genetic resources. Inspired by the geographic mosaic theory of coevolution a diverse set of wild wheat relatives with different geographical, environmental, and genetic origins, directly or indirectly involved in the evolution of bread wheat was studied for response to WDV in this host plant-vector-virus interaction. Some findings are: i) wild wheat relatives had different response patterns during growth, including susceptibility, partial resistance and tolerance, ii) the response at early plant development was related to variation in onset of systemic infection and WDV accumulation in the plant, iii) differences in response were affected by the environment from which the wild relatives originate, iv) in contrast to what was expected, domestication and other genetic bottlenecks during wheat evolution have not resulted in a general increase in susceptibility in cultivated wheats, v) potential genetic resources were identified in Aegilops species carrying the D genome and of particularly interest was Ae. tauschii, one of the ancestors to hexaploid bread wheat. These findings can be directly applied in pre-breeding of wheat. This research also provided insights into a host-vector-virus interaction of interest for plant defense and coevolution.
Unveiling the United States Acupuncture Workforce

Acupuncture was first legalized in Maryland in 1973. By the end of 2009, regulatory legislation had passed in all but six states. The growth of acupuncture is most commonly measured by its well-documented demand as a treatment modality and the rapid increase in the number of licensees. Much less documented is a puzzling stagnation in work opportunities and income. As many as half of all licensees, on graduation and licensure, may be unable to support themselves by working in their chosen profession. However, unlike other well-established complementary and alternative health professions, such as chiropractic and massage, acupuncture is conspicuously absent from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics occupations manual, with only a handful of secondary and incomplete studies available, which together provide an inexact picture of the workforce. In this article, the authors review seven reports that provide limited information including hours worked, income, and practice type. Although data from these published articles are not standard, it can be reasonably concluded from the available information that, over the past decade, 50% of the licensed acupuncture (LAc) workforce is working less than 30 hr weekly; 50% are earning less than $50,000 on average; and the number of LAcs working independently in practice, either in their own office or sharing one, has increased from approximately 75% to 90%. Suggestions are presented for conducting a much needed comprehensive analysis of the acupuncture workforce.
Management and Early Treatment of Status Epilepticus in Adults and Children

155 Status epilepticus (SE) is one of the most frequent neurologic emergencies. Generalized convulsive SE, which is the most frequent and easily recognized type of SE, has the highest morbidity and mortality rates. It is important to initiate early and aggressive treatment without delay. In recent years, clinical studies have focused on the prehospital treatment of epileptic seizures. Therefore, written algorithms including prehospital settings will provide rapid application of diagnosis and treatment protocol steps. In this article, the results of the workshop on multidisciplinary treatment of SE are reported in light of new literature.
The economic and poverty impacts of maize research in West and Central Africa.

This article assembles the results of three multicountry surveys on variety performance and adoption patterns to measure the impacts of maize research in West and Central Africa from 1981 to 2005, and uses cost data since 1971 to compute social rates of return on public investments in maize research in the region. Adoption of modern varieties increased from less than 5% of the maize area in the 1970s to about 60% in 2005, yielding an aggregate rate of return on research and development (R&D) investment of 43%. The estimated number of people moved out of poverty through adoption of new maize varieties rose gradually in the 1980s to more than one million people per year since the mid 1990s. Over half of these impacts can be attributed to international maize research at IITA and CIMMYT. The article concludes with a discussion of strategic options to enhance the impacts of maize research in the region.
The 3 D Model : a Framework to Assess Capital Regulation 1

This article discusses the contribution of the MaRS WS1 cross-country project, which aims at providing a framework for the positive and normative analysis of macroprudential policies. The analysis relies on a micro-founded model that introduces financial intermediation and three layers of default (3D) into an otherwise standard dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model. A distinctive feature of the model is a clear rationale for capital regulation, which arises as a welfare improving response to excessive risk taking by banks.
Antimalarial herbal remedies of Msambweni, Kenya

Malaria is a serious cause of mortality globally. The disease is of regional concern in Africa and of national interest in Kenya due to its high morbidity and mortality as a result of development of resistant strains of Plasmodium falciparum to many existing drugs such as chloroquine. Alternative medicine using herbal remedies are commonly used to treat malaria in Kenya. However, plants used in some rural areas in Kenya are not documented. Many antimalarial drugs have been derived from plants. This study was conducted to document medicinal plants that are traditionally used by the Msambweni community of Kenyan South Coast to treat malaria, where the disease is endemic. Herbalists were interviewed by administration of semistructured questionnaires in order to obtain information on medicinal plants traditionally used for the treatment of malaria. Focused group discussions held with the herbalists supplemented the interview and questionnaire survey. Twenty-seven species of plants in 24 genera distributed in 20 families were reported to be used in this region for the treatment of malaria. Labiatae, Rutaceae and Liliaceae families had each eleven percent of the plant species reported and represented the species that are most commonly used. Thirteen plant species, namely; Aloe deserti Berger (Liliaceae), Launea cornuta (Oliv and Hiern) C. Jeffrey (Compositae), Ocimum bacilicum L. (Labiatae), Teclea simplicifolia (Eng) Verdoon (Rutaceae), Gerranthus lobatus (Cogn.) Jeffrey (Cucurbitaceae), Grewia hexaminta Burret. (Tiliaceae), Canthium glaucum Hiern. (Rubiaceae), Amaranthus hybridus L. (Amaranthaceae), Combretum padoides Engl and Diels. (Combretaceae), Senecio syringitolius O. Hoffman. (Compositae), Ocimum suave Willd (Labiatae), Aloe macrosiphon Bak. (Liliaceae) and Laudolphia buchananii (Hall.f) Stapf. (Apocynaceae) are documented from this region for the first time for the treatment of malaria. These results become a basis for selection of plants for further pharmacological, toxicological and phytochemical studies in developing new plant based antimalarial drugs. © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
Rigid matching of two 3D patellae data sets for voxel based comparison

J. G. Raya, R. Stahl, T. Mendlik, O. Dietrich, M. F. Reiser, C. Glaser Department of Clinical Radiology-Grosshadern, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany Introduction Osteoarthritis (OA) entails a global socio-economic burden. Degradation of articular cartilage is considered to be an entry point in the process of irreversible joint degradation. An early diagnostic and a close follow up are very important in order to determine the progression of disease and potential effects of therapy. Cartilage degradation can be well detected with MRI, since alterations of its matrix induce variations on the relaxation time T2 [1]. Another indicator of cartilage damage, which can be quantified with MRI, is cartilage thickness [2]. In this work we asses the question of how different 3D MRI (T2 relaxation time and thickness) datasets can be compared at a voxel basis.
Adapting the range of validity for the Carleman linearization

Abstract. In this contribution, the limitations of the Carleman linearization approach are presented and discussed. The Carleman linearization transforms an ordinary nonlinear differential equation into an infinite system of linear differential equations. In order to transform the nonlinear differential equation, orthogonal polynomials which represent solutions of a Sturm–Liouville problem are used as basis. The determination of the time derivate of this basis yields an infinite dimensional linear system that depends on the considered nonlinear differential equation. The infinite linear system has the same properties as the nonlinear differential equation such as limit cycles or chaotic behavior. In general, the infinite dimensional linear system cannot be solved. Therefore, the infinite dimensional linear system has to be approximated by a finite dimensional linear system. Due to limitation of dimension the solution of the finite dimensional linear system does not represent the global behavior of the nonlinear differential equation. In fact, the accuracy of the approximation depends on the considered nonlinear system and the initial value. The idea of this contribution is to adapt the range of validity for the Carleman linearization in order to increase the accuracy of the approximation for different ranges of initial values. Instead of truncating the infinite dimensional system after a certain order a Taylor series approach is used to approximate the behavior of the nonlinear differential equation about different equilibrium points. Thus, the adapted finite linear system describes the local behavior of the solution of the nonlinear differential equation.