Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
USING CONCEPT MAPPING TO IMPROVE READING COMPREHENSION By Bustami

This study was done to find out if reading comprehension ability of students from class X at SMAN 1 Sawang could improve significantly by using the Concept Mapping technique in teaching-learning reading EFL. True experimental design was employed in this study in which the sample 25% (30 students) was chosen by random sampling from the total population (118 students). The sample was divided into an experimental group (EG) and a control group (CG); each with 15 students. The EG was taught reading comprehension using the Concept Mapping technique, whereas the CG was taught using a conventional teacher centered approach. Tests were used as instruments to collect data which was analyzed using SPSS version 16. A questionnaire with a Likert scale was used to find out the students‟ responses toward the use of Concept Mapping for learning reading comprehension. The t-test scores for the results from the pre-tests compared to those from the post-tests for both the EG and the CG were significant (p=0.006) which was lower than the degree of significance (0.05). The results indicated that the alternative hypothesis can be accepted and the null hypothesis rejected because the students of the EG achieved significantly better scores than those in the CG. Therefore, it can be concluded that using the Concept Mapping technique significantly improved the reading comprehension ability of students from class X at SMAN 1 Sawang.
Riikka Pietilä ANGIOPOIETIN-1 AND-2 REGULATED TIE 2 RECEPTOR TRANSLOCATION IN ENDOTHELIAL CELLS AND INVESTIGATION OF ANGIOPOIETIN-2 SPLICE VARIANT 443

Angiopoietins 1 and 2 (Ang1 and Ang2) are the ligands of the Angiopoietin/Tie signalling system, which is a binary pathway offering mechanisms for healthy vessels to reach and maintain their quiescence but also to rapidly respond to activating stimuli leading to a remodelling of endothelium. The latter is linked to disease settings such as inflammation and cancer where endothelial cell (EC) integrity is compromised and is often related to an increase in Ang2 expression. This study focused on the mechanisms enabling Ang1 to mediate both EC stability and migration and molecular and cellular determinants for ligand-specific functions of Ang2 and its isoform Ang2443. The findings revealed that Ang1 induces differential signalling depending on whether it anchors and activates Tie2 in cell-cell junctions in quiescent ECs, or in cell-matrix contacts in mobile ECs, thus leading to cellular phenotypes characteristic of resting and mobile ECs, respectively. In the second part of the thesis Ang2-Tie2 specific cell-extracellular matrix (ECM) contact sites were studied. Formation of Ang2/Tie2 EC-ECM contact sites was dependent on the collagen I and IV matrices, low Ang2 oligomerization state, α2β1-integrins, and intact microtubules. In the third part of the thesis the comparison of Ang2 mRNA splice variant Ang2443 with full length Ang2 (Ang2FL) revealed both redundant and ligand form–specific effects, expression of Ang2443 increased the amount of monomeric ligand forms due to proteolytic processing and promoted transendothelial migration of cancer cells in vitro. On the other hand, both Ang2443 and Ang2FL were stored in endothelial Weibel-Palade bodies (WPBs), similarly induced Ang2-specific Tie2 cellular redistribution, and were mostly comparable in developmental angioand lymphangiogenesis.
Forecasting US Output Growth With Mixed Frequency Data

This paper shows forecast results of the US output growth using the leading indicators. The output growth is sampled in quarterly data and the leading indicators are available in monthly frequency. Here I use a mixed frequency regression models to forecast the US output growth at forecast horizons up to one year. This approach is called MIDAS. Two kinds of data vintages are used in this research, the real-time and the end-of-sample vintages. My findings are that the forecast accuracy of MIDAS regression is significantly better than the autoregressive model and other competitors. In most cases, using the real-time vintage had better forecast performance. keywords: MIDAS, leading indicator, US output growth, real-time vintage, end-of-sample vintage, RMSE. I want to thank professor Philip Hans Franses for the weekly support and motivation for this research.
How information around acute events comes into being on social media

In this digital age, as social media is emerging as a central site where information is shared and interpreted, it is essential to study information construction issues on social media sites in order to understand how social reality is constructed. While there is a number of studies taking an information-as-objective point of view, this proposed study emphasizes the constructed and interpretive nature of information and explores the processes through which information surrounding acute events comes into being on micro-blogs. In order to conduct this analysis systematically and theoretically, the concept of interpretive communities will be deployed. This research investigates if or not micro-blog based social groups can serve as interpretive communities, and, if so, what role might they play in the construction of information, and the social impacts that may arise. To understand how this process is entangled with the surrounding social, political, technical contexts, cases from both China (focusing on Sina Weibo) and Australia (focusing on Twitter) will be analysed.
I MAGE SEGMENTATION TECHNIQUES FOR RED BLOOD CELL : O N OVERVIEW

Image processing technique applies in different domains, such as medical, remote sensing and security. This techniques Aims to get a simple image called -image processedshould retain maximum useful information. The sensitive step in image processing is segmentation of image. Segmentation is first stage in medical image analysis seeded to two categories supervised and unsupervised technique. Accuracy of this stage affects the whole system performance. This paper present some methods applied for blood cell image segmentation and compares previous studies of overlapping cell division method. The common goal about this area is accuracy of counting the number of red blood cells (RBC) or white blood cells (WBC), which decrease with effect of some diseases such as anemia and leukemia. And makes it a critical factor in patient treatments.
Performance of Multi-Purpose Cooperatives in the Shiselweni Region of Swaziland

A multi-purpose cooperative is a business that is a mixture of two or more different types of cooperatives. The study examined the performance of multi-purpose cooperatives in Swaziland. The objectives of the study were to; establish the performance of multi-purpose-cooperatives, identify factors influencing the performance of multi-purpose cooperatives, and identify constraints faced by multi-purpose cooperatives. A descriptive research design was used where quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to collect and analyse data. The target population was all registered and active multi-purpose cooperatives in the Shiselweni region. A sample (n=120) was drawn using a two-stage stratified random sampling procedure and it comprised of 80 cooperative members, 35 committee members and 5 cooperative officers who were purposely selected. Face to face personal interviews were used to collect the data. Data were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 20). The study found that the performance of multi-purpose cooperatives was influenced by gender and accountability. The study further found that cooperative officers educated and trained cooperative members once a year. Major constraints included poor capital base, most members being too old to perform cooperative activities, and poor record-keeping. The study concluded that cooperatives were not performing well financially, since there were making losses. It is recommended that cooperatives should ensure the financial statements were prepared on time and audited. There is need to encourage young farmers to join multi-purpose cooperative since most of the farmers were old. The frequency of training provided to members need to be improved. The study also recommends that other studies be carried out to cover the whole of Swaziland in order to generalise the findings.
Public Service Motivation Measurement : A Test for Perry's Proposed Scale in China

This article proposes and tests a shortened instrument for public service motivation based on Perry’s (1996) exploratory 24-item scale according to the investigation of Chinese civil servant in Kunming city. Results show good support for the shortened scale compared to Perry’s original work through investigating the PSM of Chinese civil servant in Kunming city. We got a 14-item scale for three factors, but the CIP dimension has not been emerged in the present study. At the same time, the results show that the total level of PSM for Chinese civil servant who was drew from the basic level of city government in Kunming, Yunnan is higher. Of three dimensions, the Mean of compassion is highest with a M=4.0871, the Mean of self-sacrifice is relatively low with a M=3.7328.
Working Papers in Economics and Statistics Mr. Wicksell and the Global Economy: What Drives Real Interest Rates? University of Innsbruck Working Papers in Economics and Statistics Mr. Wicksell and the Global Economy: What Drives Real Interest Rates?

We use a Bayesian dynamic latent factor model to extract world, regional and country factors of real interest rate series for 22 OECD economies. We find that the world factor plays a privileged role in explaining the variance of real rates for most countries in the sample, and accounts for the steady decrease in interest rates in the last decades. Moreover, the relative contribution of the world factor is rising over time. We also find relevant differences between the group of countries that follow fixed exchange rate strategies and those with flexible regimes. * We would like to thank the participants of the seminar at the Oesterreichische Nationalbank for helpful comments. We would also like to thank Grzegorz Saletra for obtaining part of the data. Any opinion expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily of the represented institutions. The study was written while Michaa l Brzoza-Brzezina was visiting the Oesterreichische Nationalbank.
Probabilistic global well-posedness of the energy-critical defocusing quintic nonlinear wave equation on ^3

We prove almost sure global well-posedness of the energy-critical defocusing quintic nonlinear wave equation on R 3 with random initial data in H s ( R 3 ) × H s − 1 ( R 3 ) for s > 12 . The main new ingredient is a uniform probabilistic energy bound for approximating random solutions. R´esum´e. On consid`ere l’´equation des ondes critique d´efocalisante dans R 3 `a don´ees ini-tiales al´eatoires dans H s ( R 3 ) × H s − 1 ( R 3 ), avec s > 12 . On ´etablit que ce probl`eme est globalement bien-pos´e presque sˆurement. Le principal ingredient nouveau de la preuve est une estimation probabiliste uniforme de l’´energie des solutions approch´ees.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) The Amsterdam autoimmune thyroid disease cohort

There is room for immune markers other than TPO-Abs to identify an increased risk to develop autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD). Our aim was to test the hypothesis that activation of CD4+ T cells is such a marker in relatives of AITD patients, who have an increased risk to develop AITD. We established a controlled study on 20 TPO-Ab positive and 20 TPO-Ab negative euthyroid female relatives. All these cases had at least one 1 st or 2 nd degree relative with a documented autoimmune hyperor hypothyroidism in whom we studied the percentages of circulating subsets of activated (MHC class-II, CD25 (Il-2R), CD71, CD69+) CD4+ T cells and the level of the soluble (s)-IL2R in serum. We found that euthyroid female relatives did not show an activation of their T cell system, but a reduced expression of CD25 on CD4+ T cells. The level of the shed IL-2R in serum was also lower in comparison with levels found in healthy control females. A reduced T cell activity was found in both TPO-Ab positive and negative relatives. In conclusion, female relatives with at least one 1 st or 2 nd degree relative with an AITD show signs of a reduced expansion capability of their T cell pool. It is hypothesized that this reduced expansion capability may affect T cell tolerance mechanisms more than T effector
Influence of grid aspect ratio on planetary boundary layer turbulence in large-eddy simulations

Abstract. We examine the influence of the grid aspect ratio of horizontal to vertical grid spacing on turbulence in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) in a large-eddy simulation (LES). In order to clarify and distinguish them from other artificial effects caused by numerical schemes, we used a fully compressible meteorological LES model with a fully explicit scheme of temporal integration. The influences are investigated with a series of sensitivity tests with parameter sweeps of spatial resolution and grid aspect ratio. We confirmed that the mixing length of the eddy viscosity and diffusion due to sub-grid-scale turbulence plays an essential role in reproducing the theoretical −5/3 slope of the energy spectrum. If we define the filter length in LES modeling based on consideration of the numerical scheme, and introduce a corrective factor for the grid aspect ratio into the mixing length, the theoretical slope of the energy spectrum can be obtained; otherwise, spurious energy piling appears at high wave numbers. We also found that the grid aspect ratio has influence on the turbulent statistics, especially the skewness of the vertical velocity near the top of the PBL, which becomes spuriously large with large aspect ratio, even if a reasonable spectrum is obtained.
A Comparative Study of Government Surveillance of Social Media and Mobile Phone Communications during Iran’s Green Movement (2009) and the UK Riots (2011)

In many contexts, social media has been considered as a group of tools that facilitates people's access to freedom and democracy. But this view is challengeable. In this study, two different aspects of social media are examined. The first aspect examines social media’s use by protesters in two completely different contexts—Iran and the UK. The second aspect, on the other hand, investigates how the two governments, who have very different approaches to governance, exploited social media in an attempt to control the two protests. The main question addressed in this study is: “What are the differences and similarities between government surveillance of social media and mobile communications during Iran’s Green Movement (2009) and the UK riots (2011)? ” The findings of this study suggest that social media and mobile phone communications were both important to protesters. Furthermore, this research illustrates that governments monitor the protesters on social and mobile media in different ways, and justify their actions by mainly saying that they do so in order to protect public order and national interests.
(GRANT AGREEMENT: 661880)

CO Confidential, only for partners of the MIND project Editors: L. Abrahamsen L, T. Arnold, H. Brinkmann N. Leys, M.Merroun, K. Mijnendonckx, H. Moll, P.Polvika, A. Ševců, J Small, M Vikman, K. Wouters 1. National Nuclear Laboratory, UK 2. Belgian Nuclear Research Centre (SCK•CEN), Mol, Belgium 3. Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR), Germany 4. University of Granada, Spain 5. Technical University of Liberec, Czech Republic 6. Research Centre REZ, Czech Republic 7. Teknologian Tutkimuskeskus(VTT), Finland
ASSOCIATION FOR CONSUMER RESEARCH

This research tested whether self-regulatory resources affect passivity. Study 1 showed that initially controlling one’s attention, as opposed to not controlling attention, increased passivity during a physical learning task. Study 2 also used an attention control manipulation but measured passivity by time spent watching a television that showed no picture. As predicted, controlling attention led to more passivity than not controlling attention. Study 3’s participants first suppressed emotional responses or responded naturally; then they built a structure with Lego blocks. Participants who earlier stifled emotional reactions used fewer blocks and were less creative, relative to those who responded naturally.
UAVs in Context: Archaeological Airborne Recording in a National Body of Survey and Record

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) is the lead public body which investigates, promotes and cares for the historic environment in Scotland. It undertakes a range of archaeological airborne work from detailed documentation of individual sites to extensive national programmes of prospection. In undertaking this work HES draws on a variety of aerial platforms to collect imagery, including light aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV—used throughout this paper as an umbrella term). In all cases, the archaeological questions at hand are the key driver for choice of methodology and platforms, recognising that different types of survey and documentation demand different responses. Differing strands of aerial work will be briefly described, followed by short case studies that illustrate the range of our activities, concluding with thoughts on the context of UAV work for archaeological applications.
Physicochemical typology of water of a middle atlas river (Morocco) where the common trout (Salmo trutta macrstigma , Duméril, 1858) live: Oued Sidi Rachid

For every live being, ecological conditions greatly influence biology. In the case of a fish, these conditions may be responsible for its presence or absence in the medium, its development and its population size. This work studies the characteristics and physicochemical typology of Sidi Rachid River, known by its wealth of the Salmonidae fish: Salmo trutta macrostigma (Dumeril, 1858). The results show that apart from the appearance of nitrates, whose high levels indicate an organic pollution, during some times of the year, coming seemingly from the Ras Elma fish farm waste water, the water quality is good. The results also show that the physico-chemical typology of the watercourse is mainly influenced by the "season" factor and that among the studied variables, only the pH does not influence the spatial and temporal variation of the medium studied characteristics. Key words: Sidi Rachid River, physicochemical typology, Salmo fario, Morocco.
MEMORANDUM No 29 / 2000 FX Trading ... LIVE ! Dealer Behavior and Trading Systems in Foreign Exchange Markets

The introduction of electronic broker systems in the foreign exchange (FX) market at the end of 1992 changed the structure of the market and opened new channels for trading. We study the impact of these systems on dealer behavior, using a unique data set on the complete transactions of four FX dealers. We find some support for an information effect in incoming trades conducted directly (bilaterally). For trades executed by electronic broker systems we find no information effects, but we find that sequences of trades in cumulative flow may be informative for prices. The new electronic systems have changed how dealers control their inventories by introducing new channels for this purpose. We find that dealers now control inventory by outgoing trades on electronic brokers, while outgoing trades earlier was regarded as unattractive for inventory control. Comparing our results to previous research indicates that the introduction of electronic brokers have changed the behavior of dealers.
STRATEGIC RESPONSES ADOPTED BY SACCOS TO THE CHANGING OPERATION ENVTIlONMENT 1 N THE KENYAN FINANCIAL SECTOR . A CASE OF NAIROBI BASED SACCOS WITH FRONT OFFICE SERVICE ACTIVITY BY ROSALINE WAMBUI

The alignment between strategy and environment lies at the centre of strategic management. Organization is faced with turbulence and stiff competition in their external environment. Hence need to be conscious of the changes in the environment in which they operate and respond to ~ various factors in the environment in order to remain relevant. Businesses are facing stiff competition today and they are going to curb this by continuously scanning the environment and delivering the greatest value to customers with the view that as the operating environment changes, a more pronounced transformation of the business landscape lies ahead. The purpose of the study was to investigate the strategic response adopted by SACCOS to the changing operating environment in the Kenyan financial sector. The literature covered is on strategy, organizations and their external environment, factors influencing the strategic responses and strategic responses to dynamic environment. The study used descriptive survey. The researcher examined a sample of staff drawn from the population of 273 managers in Nairobi Based SACCOS with front office service activities. A sample 0[30% from within each group was taken using stratified random sampling. This generated a sample of 82 respondents for this study. The study used both primary and secondary data. It used primary data collected using questionnaires to carry out the study. After collecting data responses from the questionnaires, the researcher analysed the quantitative data using descriptive statistics by applying the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS. 17.0) and presented through percentages, means, standard deviations and frequencies. The information was displayed by use oftabJes, graphs and in prose form. The study concludes that the Saccos use restructuring strategies most in responding to the changing operating environment most followed by Differentiation strategies, then diversification strategies while monitoring and evaluation strategies are the least used. The study recommends that the management should look for alternative sources of funding in order to overcome the challenges of finance related to restructuring strategy, economic recession and liquidity and solvency. The Saccos should also seek for ways of keeping overheads lower than others by use of knowledge from past experience. The Saccos should be focused in achieving the goals of growth and development that are important for the company such as survival in market, market diversification/differentiation, product development, market development, profitability and growth (gain in market share). v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION. 11 DEDICATION : :. 1ll ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ~. IV
The Robust Nash Equilibrium and Equilibrium Selection in 2x2 Coordination Games

We propose an equilibrium concept, the Robust Nash equilibrium (RNE), that combines the best-reply rationality and the "first mover invariance" condition. The single-stage 2x2 symmetric information game G is transformed into sequential two-stage games with two sub-trees: STA has the row player starting and STB has the column player starting. A profile in G is robust if it is the strict SPNE of the two branches; it is ephemeral if it is not the SPNE of any branch. We show that every strict dominant strategy equilibrium of G is robust but not every strict Nash equilibrium of G is. We show further that every robust profile of G is always a strict Nash equilibrium of G. A Robust Nash equilibrium (RNE) of G is any robust profile of G. The RNE of G is unique. We show in particular that the payoff dominant strict Nash equilibrium of a coordination game G is RNE while the strictly payoff-dominated Nash equilibrium of G is ephemeral. The original Harsanyi-Selten preference for payoff dominance over risk dominance is supported by robustness without invoking collective rationality.