Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Teacher Candidates Implementing Universal Design for Learning: Enhancing Picture Books with QR Codes.

The purpose of this study was to investigate if teacher candidates could gain knowledge of the principles of Universal Design for Learning by enhancing traditional picture books with Quick Response (QR) codes and to determine if the process of making these enhancements would impact teacher candidates' comfort levels with using technology on both students with and without disabilities. Participants were undergraduate students seeking teacher certification for children from birth through grade six. Data sources included a pre and post survey, discussion forum, final presentations, and the enhanced picture books. Results indicated that the process of using QR codes to adapt a book resulted in candidates being significantly more comfortable in using technology with students with disabilities although there were no significant differences on their comfort level using technology for students without disabilities. In addition, teacher candidates were able to identify ways to use QR codes to adapt picture books for literacy development, but were limited in their ability to link text enhancements to the principles of Universal Design for Learning. Suggestions for using QR codes in teaching these principles to teacher candidates are offered as well as suggestions for future research.
A Comparative Study on Power and Solidarity in an EFL Classroom Based on Turn-taking Theory

Based on turn-taking theory, this paper makes a comparison between intensive reading class and oral class respectively in an EFL classroom from the perspective of teacher-students' power and solidarity relationship. Furthermore, some pedagogical implications to facilitate the teaching and learning performance are proposed from this perspective. The terms and related concepts about POWER and SOLIDARITY were firstly introduced into sociolinguistics by the social psychologist Roger Brown (Brown & Ford, 1961). Interpersonal relationships have been described as varying along both vertical and horizontal dimensions (Hall et al., 2005). The vertical dimension of relationships refers to the power or status differences between individuals (Hall et al., 2005). The horizontal dimension means the solidarity, which refers to the degree of interpersonal closeness between individuals and is a function of factors such as perceived similarity, liking, and time spent together. These two relationship dimensions are believed to impact a variety of interpersonal perceptions and behaviors. It is well-known that in the classroom, teachers have strong power on students, especially in Chinese culture. The aims of this study is to find out the differences of the characteristics of the language between English majors and their teachers on two different types of class: intensive reading class and oral class based on the turning-taking theory and disclose the power and solidarity relationship between them; furthermore, to make pedagogical implications on these two types of classes.
Consensusverklaring voor de toepassing van rtms bij depressie in nederland en belgie

BACKGROUND: Since 2017, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has become eligible for reimbursement for the treatment of therapy-resistant depression in the Dutch healthcare system. AIM: To initiate a guideline in the Netherlands and Belgium for the safe and effective application of rTMS for the treatment of depression. METHOD: Based on literature review, existing guidelines and consensus among Dutch rTMS experts, recommendations were developed regarding the implementation of rTMS as a treatment of depression. All available evidence was weighed and discussed among all co-authors and recommendations were reached by consensus among the group. RESULTS: rTMS targeting the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) should be seen as a first choice in the treatment of depression using high-frequency rTMS (left) or, as an alternative, low-frequency rTMS (right). Stimulation protocols should use more than 1000 pulses per session for an average of 20-30 sessions, offered in 2-5 sessions per week. Contraindications for rTMS include epilepsy, intracranial presence of (magnetisable) metals, pacemaker and cochlear implant. CONCLUSION: rTMS, performed by competent professionals is an effective and safe treatment for depression.
Influence of air-cooled blast furnace slag aggregate on sulfate attack resistance

This study evaluated the effect of the use of slag, metakaolin and air-cooled blast furnace slag aggregate on sulfate attack resistance by preparing six mixes. Air-cooled blast furnace slag was used as an aggregate in three of these mixes, each of which contained 20% metakaolin, 10% slag, 10% metakaolin and 100% cement. Three other mixes contained natural aggregate with the above ratios of binders. Slump and compressive strength tests were performed, after which the mixes were immersed in a 3% H2SO4 solution. The compressive strength loss and the concrete mass change rate were then measured after 28, 56, and 91 days. The microstructural properties were studied via SEM and EDAX. Based on the results of the above tests, it can be concluded that metakaolin improves sulfate attack resistance and air-cooled blast furnace slag aggregate shows better sulfate attack resistance compared to natural aggregate.
Age at arrival, parents and neighborhoods: understanding the educational attainment of immigrants’ children

This article documents how children of immigrants cope in early adulthood in Finland. We first show that, on average, they have dramatically lower educational attainment than children of natives do. This difference can be attributed to age at arrival, parental income and neighborhood quality. In fact, Finnish-born children of immigrants obtain more education than children of natives growing up in the same zip codes and in families with similar parental income and family structure. Sibling comparisons suggest that age at arrival has a causal impact on educational attainment. The results are very similar for the likelihood of being idle and having been convicted of a crime, but are starkly different for the likelihood of having been reimbursed for psychotropic medication.
Capital and new product quality in high-tech startups - an examination in two environmental contexts

ABSTRACT Based on the resource-based view (RBV), we investigated the effects on new product quality exerted by various types of capital, including human capital, innovation capital, and process capital, as well as their complementary interactions, and whether high or low technological turbulence in the environment moderates these effects. We collected data from 126 high-tech startups, and the results indicated that the effect of deploying human and process capital on new product quality is greater during periods of low technological turbulence, whereas that of deploying innovation capital remains the same regardless of turbulence. In addition, the results showed that high-tech startups that exert substantial effort in integrating finite resources create competitive advantages in highly technologically turbulent environments, but not in environments of low technological turbulence. Therefore, in circumstances in which resources are limited in a high-tech startup, managers should consider the influence of environmental contexts. Managers should not neglect the properties of a firm and its competitive position in the market during resource allocation.
Ultralow-voltage RAM technology - current status and future trends

This paper reviews leakage current reduction circuits for ultralow-voltage DRAMs and SRAMs. First, it discusses general features of leakage currents (especially, gate tunnel current and subthreshold current), their detrimental effects on RAMs, and the current status of leakage-current reduction. Second, it summarizes useful concepts to reduce subthreshold currents that can even be applied to the active mode. Third, the advantages of RAMs over random logic gates with respect to reducing subthreshold currents are clarified, and the above concepts are applied to RAM cells and peripheral circuits to reduce standby as well as active current. Finally, a perspective is given with emphasis on needs for new devices and circuits to reduce active-mode leakage currents, and for high-speed simple non-volatile RAMs.
Confluence of Vision and Natural Language Processing for Cross-media Semantic Relations Extraction

In this dissertation, we focus on extracting and understanding semantically meaningful relationships between data items of various modalities; especially relations between images and natural language. We explore the ideas and techniques to integrate such cross-media semantic relations for machine understanding of large heterogeneous datasets, made available through the expansion of the World Wide Web. The datasets collected from social media websites, news media outlets and blogging platforms usually contain multiple modalities of data. Intelligent systems are needed to automatically make sense out of these datasets and present them in such a way that humans can find the relevant pieces of information or get a summary of the available material. Such systems have to process multiple modalities of data such as images, text, linguistic features, and structured data in reference to each other. For example, image and video search and retrieval engines are required to understand the relations between visual and textual data so that they can provide relevant answers in the form of images and videos to the users’ queries presented in the form of text. We emphasize the automatic extraction of semantic topics or concepts from the data available in any form such as images, free-flowing text or metadata. These semantic concepts/topics become the basis of semantic relations across heterogeneous data types, e.g., visual and textual data. A classic problem involving image-text relations is the automatic generation of textual descriptions of images. This problem is the main focus of our work. In many cases, large amount of text is associated with images. Deep exploration of linguistic features of such text is required to fully utilize the semantic information encoded in it. A news dataset involving images and news articles is an example of this scenario. We devise frameworks for automatic news image description generation based on the semantic relations of images, as well as semantic understanding of linguistic features of the news articles.
SWOT analysis of Jamaican academic libraries in higher education

Purpose Academic libraries do not operate in a vacuum; they must co-exist with change and competition on all levels. In order to succeed, they must know their internal strengths in order to take advantage of opportunities, whilst avoiding threats and addressing weaknesses. A SWOT analysis of Jamaican academic libraries can yield strategic insights for academic library praxis in Jamaica, the Caribbean, and the globe. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach Survey and discussion group were engaged for the five local academic libraries in higher education in Jamaica. Findings Human resources and support are the most recurrent themes in the reported strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Research limitations/implications This paper focused on local academic libraries in higher education (university level) in Jamaica. A survey of academic libraries at all levels, and using more detailed strategic analytical tools, would be a useful follow up. Practical implications This paper provides academic library managers and the national/regional library associations with a situational analysis of Jamaican academic librarianship, which can be used to inform future planning and management of library and information services. Additionally, the findings can inform the Latin America and Caribbean section of international library documents on trends, issues and future position of academic libraries globally. Originality/value This paper is of value as it is the first published scholarly documentation on the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in academic librarianship in Jamaica. In this regard, it makes a useful contribution to the dearth of literature on SWOT analyses of academic libraries per country. It may also represent a starting point for looking at solutions and emerging challenges in a Caribbean academic library environment and should help to focus on the need for continuing innovation.
Analysis of Employees Compensation and Performance Appraisal Policies in Oromia, Ethiopia

Compensation includes salaries and benefits in financial and non-financial forms. The compensation policy was highly linked to that of performance appraisal result. Hence, equitable salary and benefits schemes are prerequisites to effective retention of employees. The aim of the study is to assess the human resource for health compensation and performance appraisal policies and practices. The study employed qualitative case-study design and in-depth-interview and document review data collection methods. The study found base salary and benefits namely incentives package (professional hazards/risk, top up, duty, house allowance and position fee), compensatory leaves, per diem pay, training and education opportunity, promotion, transfer, job injury benefits, compensatory leaves, medical benefit, social security and uniform allowance were enforced. And also it found that the employee appraisal activities intended to be 3600 evaluation: manager, self, team members and customer performance evaluation dimensions. However, organization cars, mobile phones, cheap loans, extra vacations, gifts, travel expenses, vouchers, saving schemes, holiday expenses, and paternal leave were not in practice. Finally, it is recommended that Oromia National Regional State Policy makers should amend the civil servants proclamation to meet the nowadays circumstance. Along with the proclamation, it should formulate regulations and directives on compensation and performance evaluation to enhance consistent decision making at all levels.
Microstructured optical fiber high-temperature sensors

At the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia, we are utilizing the unique optical and material properties of microstructured optical fibers for new and challenging sensing applications. I will present our recent progress in using pure-silica microstructured optical fibers with femtosecond laser ablation fiber Bragg gratings (FBGs) for high temperature sensing up to and beyond 1000°C. In this project we are working with our industry partner, local engineering company SJ Cheesman, to develop multipoint sensors for pyrometallurgical applications.
Creating Customized Data Files in {E}-{P}rime: {A} Practical Tutorial

There are packages that simplify experiment generation by taking advantage of graphical user interface. Typically, such packages create output files that are not in an appropriate format to be directly analyzed with a statistical package. For this reason, researchers must complete several time consuming steps, and use additional software to prepare data for a statistical analysis. The present paper suggests a particular E-Basic technique which is time saving in data analysis process and applicable to a wide range of experiments that measure reaction time and response accuracy. The technique demonstrated here makes it possible to create a customized and ready-to-analyze data file automatically while running an experiment designed in E-Prime environment.
Taking the Models back to Music Practice: Evaluating Generative Transcription Models built using Deep Learning

We extend our evaluation of generative models of music transcriptions that were first presented in Sturm, Santos, Ben-Tal, and Korshunova (2016). We evaluate the models in five different ways: 1) at the population level, comparing statistics of 30,000 generated transcriptions with those of over 23,000 training transcriptions; 2) at the practice level, examining the ways in which specific generated transcriptions are successful as music compositions; 3) as a “nefarious tester”, seeking the music knowledge limits of the models; 4) in the context of assisted music composition, using the models to create music within the conventions of the training data; and finally, 5) taking the models to real-world music practitioners. Our work attempts to demonstrate new approaches to evaluating the application of machine learning methods to modelling and making music, and the importance of taking the results back to the realm of music practice to judge their usefulness. Our datasets and software are open and available at https://github.com/IraKorshunova/folk-rnn.
The Relation Between Work Stress, Work-Family Life Conflict and Worker Performance: A Research Study on Hospitality Employees

One of the issues that has an impact on the business world is the relationship between employees’ work and family life. This study investigates the relationship among work–family conflict, family–work conflict, and work stress and occupational performance that hotel employees experience. A three-scale questionnaire form has been used for this research. Further, this study has been conducted on three-, four-, and five-star hospitality business employees in the Eastern Black Sea region. The fact that family–work conflict has an impact on employee performance and that work–family and family–work conflicts have an impact on work stress are concluded as a result of analyses. In addition, it has also been realized that work stress has a full mediating role in influencing the employee performance of the work–family conflict, and that work stress has no mediating role in influencing the employee performance of the family–work conflict. According to some demographic variables, it is ascertained that work–family conflict, family–work conflict, work stress, and employee performance are different.
Robust and unobtrusive algorithm based on position independence for step detection

Running is becoming one of the most popular exercises among the people, monitoring steps can help users better understand their running process and improve exercise efficiency. In this paper, we design and implement a robust and unobtrusive algorithm based on position independence for step detection under real environment. It applies Butterworth filter to suppress high frequency interference and then employs the projection based on mathematics to transform system to solve the problem of unknown position of smartphone. Finally, using sliding window to suppress the false peak. The algorithm was tested for eight participants on the Android 7.0 platform. In our experiments, the results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve desired effect in spite of device pose.
Leveraging Circular Economy through a Methodology for Smart Service Systems Engineering

Product Service Systems (PSS) and Smart Services are powerful means for deploying Circular Economy (CE) goals in industrial practices, through dematerialization, extension of product lifetime and efficiency increase by digitization. Within this article, approaches from PSS design, Smart Service design and Model-based Systems Engineering (MBSE) are combined to form a Methodology for Smart Service Architecture Definition (MESSIAH). First, analyses of present system modelling procedures and systems modelling notations in terms of their suitability for Smart Service development are presented. The results indicate that current notations and tools do not entirely fit the requirements of Smart Service development, but that they can be adapted in order to do so. The developed methodology includes a modelling language system, the MESSIAH Blueprinting framework, a systematic procedure and MESSIAH CE, which is specifically designed for addressing CE strategies and practices. The methodology was validated on the example of a Smart Sustainable Street Light System for Cycling Security (SHEILA). MESSIAH proved useful to help Smart Service design teams develop service-driven and robust Smart Services. By applying MESSIAH CE, a sustainable Smart Service, which addresses CE goals, has been developed.
The Challenges and Risks facing ICT in the Management and Operation of the Smart Grid

The Smart Grid integrates the traditional electrical power grid with information and communication technologies (ICT). Such integration empowers the electrical utilities providers and consumers and improves the efficiency and the availability of the power system while constantly monitoring, controlling and managing the demands of customers. Through the Smart Grid, the power system becomes smart by communicating, sensing, controlling and applying intelligence. It also keeps the environment free from pollution; minimizes the cost; and ensures effective operations against all types of hazards and danger. Smart Grid is a huge complex network composed of millions of devices and entities connected with each other through wireless communications techniques including Home Area Networks (HANs) and Wide Area Networks (WANs). Such a massive network comes with many security concerns and vulnerabilities. This paper highlights the complexity of the Smart Grid network and the challenges that exist in securing the smart power grid and the countermeasures and solutions applied for information and communication networks to secure Smart Power Grid. The paper concluded by overviewing the key functions and benefits of using the Smart Grid technology and how this affects human livelihood, economy and the environment.
UMA DISCUSSÃO TEÓRICA ACERCA DOS FATORES QUE INFLUENCIAM A SOBREVIVÊNCIA DOS CLUSTERS DE NEGÓCIOS

A busca pelo aumento da competitividade por meio da participação em Clusters de Negócios (CN) tem na literatura a constatação da eficiência desse modelo. Contudo, identificou-se uma lacuna teórica com este enfoque, em particular uma que identifique estratégias que culminam em ameaças para o modelo. Com base nestes aspectos, o objetivo desse estudo foi apresentar uma discussão teórica acerca dos fatores que ameaçam a sobrevivência dos CN. Desenvolveuse um levantamento bibliográfico no âmbito da competitividade e do ciclo de vida dos CN. Como resultado foram identificados 14 fatores que ameaçam a competitividade sustentável dos CN.
A FORMAÇÃO CONTÍNUA DE PROFESSORES EM MATEMÁTICA: O CONHECIMENTO E A SUPERVISÃO EM SALA DE AULA E A SUA INFLUÊNCIA NA ALTERAÇÃO DAS PRÁTICAS

Neste artigo e apresentada uma pesquisa desenvolvida no âmbito do Programa de Formacao Continua em Matematica para professores do 1.o ciclo do ensino basico (PFCM), que tem vindo a ser desenvolvido em Portugal desde 2005. Comeca por fazer-se uma apresentacao do PFCM, os seus objectivos, principios e linhas orientadoras e uma clarificacao de alguns dos termos utilizados. Atraves dos casos de duas professoras participantes no PFCM e da analise dos relatorios das instituicoes de formacao procura-se compreender como o aprofundamento do conhecimento matematico, didactico e curricular dos professores em conjugacao com a supervisao em sala de aula contribuiem para a alteracao das praticas de ensino da Matematica.