cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
A Defense of (s)crappy Robots
Creators: name: Jenkins, Ryan
name: Hurley, Mairéad
name: Durall, Eva
name: Martin, Sebastian
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2020

description: Constructionist education philosophy suggests that learners develop understanding about science, art and technology by creating physical artifacts that strengthen the connections. As makerspaces and STEAM learning environments have become more and more common, many commercial kits for robotics, electric circuits and digital technology have been created for schools and individual learners.
 While these kits might lower the threshold for entry in a tinkering activity, we believe that the “polished” qualities of most commercial kits or products can work against constructionist educators. When the parts of a kit fit together perfectly, learners are less likely to develop skills around iteration, problem posing, collaboration and development of understanding. We’re also concerned with the possibility that the approach and aesthetic qualities of these products tend to be directed to specific groups thus creating a less inclusive environment.
 We propose a more scrappy, playful approach to thinking about engineering and robotics that relies on learners manipulating recycled containers, cardboard, vegetables or other everyday materials to create unique and whimsical designs.
 We are inspired by the “shitty robots” made by Simone Giertz and the Hebocon robot sumo contest from Japan to create workshops where learners need to embrace frustration, celebrate moments where things don’t work as planned and taking risks with designs.
 In this hands-on workshop, participants will engage in making scrappy DIY robots out of everyday materials that are not designed to work perfectly. We’ll use recycled materials, hobby motors, batteries and homemade switches in the construction process and show some possibilities for adding programming or digital tools to the mix. Participants will collaborate with others on the design of the machine and share their prototype with the rest of the group.
 The experience of trying the activity as a learner will inform a discussion about the qualities of learning that we noticed in the workshop. We’ll reflect on the value of creating robots from scratch and working with unexpected scraps. The workshop leaders will share practical tips and frameworks for running these workshops, discuss how the SySTEM 2020 project is developing principles for the design of inclusive non-formal learning activities and we’ll think together about the ways that unexpected materials can replace or augment commercial, polished robotics kits to create more valuable learning experiences.
The determinants of banking sector performance in Tanzania: A pre-post Treasury Single Account analysis
Creators: name: Mkaro, Goodhope Hance
name: Lau, Lin Sea
name: Choong, Chee Keong
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Medicine
subject: Cell Biology
subject: Ecology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Mathematical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Cancer

description: This study examined how the Treasury Single Account (TSA) policy, aimed at withdrawing government deposits from commercial banks, impacted the Tanzanian banking sector’s performance in relation to ownership concentration, bank size, and macroeconomic variables. Balanced panel dataset comprising thirty (30) banks, from 2010Q1 to 2020Q4, was analyzed. Regression results revealed that, while foreign and state-owned banks were more resilient, private and domestic banks’ performance deteriorated after TSA adoption. Small banks survived the negative TSA shock while the performance of the larger ones was negatively affected. The effects of interest rate, GDP, and exchange rate turned negative whilst the inflationary effects on bank performance were enhanced after TSA. The study enhances comprehension of the relatively new TSA system in Africa while addressing a literature gap by exploring its influence on banking sector’s performance across various bank classifications. Following TSA adoption, regulators should strike a balance between tightening or relaxing regulatory limits while enforcing banks’ compliance to ensure the sector’s stability. Government support for key economic growth-driving sectors potentially attracts more deposits into the banking system, thus promoting the sector’s stability. Banks are encouraged to innovate strategies to attract deposits from the general public, while deviating from dependence on government funds.
Italiano per Cinesi – Didael. Corso di lingua italiana online.
Creators: name: Bosc, Franca
Publisher: name: Italiano LinguaDue
Year: 2009

description: Per gli apprendenti sinofoni la lingua italiana, con la sua complessità e fragilità morfologica, rappresenta  un ostacolo notevole. Il corso  pone attenzione alla lontananza tipologica delle due lingue con schede grammaticali in cinese e, soprattutto, i livelli A1 e A2 hanno una progressione molto controllata per fissare le basi della lingua italiana. Sono disponibili un Glossario, tre diversi tipi di dizionario (il dizionario automatico, il dizionario, visuale e il dizionario fraseologico) e approfondimenti culturali.
  Si tratta di un corso completo che consente di sviluppare le competenze previste  dal Quadro Comune Europeo; il modello formativo è flessible e prevede varie opzioni di erogazione.

For Chinese speakers Italian, in all its complexity and morphological fragility, represents a great obstacle.  This course takes into careful account the distance between the two language types, with grammar fact cards in Chinese and, above all, progression at levels A1 and A2 which is very carefully controlled in order to establish the bases of the Italian language.  A Glossary, three different types of dictionary (an automatic dictionary, a visual dictionary and a dictionary of phrases) and cultural details are available.

This is a complete course which makes it possible to develop the competences foreseen by the Common European Framework; the teaching pattern is flexible and can be provided in different forms.
description: Italiano LinguaDue, Vol 1, No 1 (2009)
title: Must to remember the Ependymomas - A practical review
Creators: name: Oliveira, Thais
Publisher: name: European Congress of Radiology
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Education and training
subject: Diagnostic procedure
subject: MR
subject: CT
subject: CNS

description: Learning objectives Background Findings and procedure details Conclusion Personal information References
description: Learning objectives: The objectives of this educational poster are to illustrate the principal imaging findings of central nervous system (CNS) ependymomas, exhibiting the spectrum of presentation, as well as some complications of the...
title: Integration of an Image Processing Lab for Tumor Staging and Therapy Monitoring in Clinical Routine: Review of Potential Applications
Creators: name: Lavrova, Anna
Publisher: name: European Congress of Radiology
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Neoplasia
subject: Metastases
subject: Cancer
subject: Segmentation
subject: Computer Applications-General
subject: Computer Applications-3D
subject: Image manipulation / Reconstruction
subject: CAD
subject: Oncology

description: Learning objectives Background Findings and procedure details Conclusion Personal information References
description: Learning objectives: Understand the principle of an image processing lab Review the clinical applications for semi-automated, quantitative tumor assessment Introduce the software platforms used at our tertiary imaging centre To become familiar with different software...
Grammatica e acquisizione dell'italiano L2
Creators: name: Andorno, Cecilia
Publisher: name: Italiano LinguaDue
Year: 2010

description: Gli apprendenti richiedono l’insegnamento della grammatica e, data la complessità e la pervasività del sistema grammaticale italiano,  il docente deve dotarsi di strumenti e conoscenze per rispondere adeguatamente. L’intervento, attraverso lo sviluppo del sistema verbale,  prende in considerazione una  descrizione grammaticale statica e una descrizione dinamica, procedurale e funzionale pensata per descrivere  l’uso che di tale sistema ne fanno i parlanti.  L’insegnante per poter svolgere il ruolo di mediatore tra ciò che l’apprendente sa e il modo in cui il sistema è organizzato, dovrebbe conoscere il sistema nella sua interezza e complessità,  non solo secondo un modello descrittivo del sistema finale, ma anche secondo le operazioni necessarie alla ricostruzione del sistema che l’apprendente mette in atto.

Learners ask to be taught grammar and, given the complex and pervasive nature of the Italian language system, the teacher must be equipped with tools and knowledge to provide an adequate response.  Through the development of the verb system, this paper takes into consideration a static description of grammar and a dynamic, procedural and functional one, conceived for describing the use that speakers actually make of this system.  In order to perform her role as mediator between what the learner knows and the way in which the system is organized, the teacher  should have an overall knowledge of it in all its complexity, not only in terms of a descriptive model of the final system, but also in terms of the operations required for reconstructing the system that are put into practice by the learner.
description: Italiano LinguaDue, Vol 1, No 1 (2009)
title: Inflammatory changes of the foot.
Creators: name: Sprengel, Simon
Publisher: name: European Congress of Radiology
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Inflammation
subject: Education
subject: MR
subject: CT
subject: Conventional radiography
subject: Musculoskeletal system
subject: Musculoskeletal bone
subject: Extremities

description: Learning objectives Background Findings and procedure details Conclusion Personal information References
description: Learning objectives: To provide an overview of the morphological characteristics of inflammatory changes of the foot and their differential diagnoses with a focus on osteomyelitis, joint infections and...
Interplay between Nitrogen Dopants and Native Point Defects in Graphene
Creators: name: Hou, Zhufeng
name: Wang, Xianlong
name: Ikeda, Takashi
name: Terakura, Kiyoyuki
name: Oshima, Masaharu
name: Kakimoto, Masa-aki
name: Miyata, Seizo
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: To understand the interaction between nitrogen dopants and native point defects in graphene, we have studied the energetic stability of N-doped graphene with vacancies and Stone-Wales (SW) defect by performing the density functional theory calculations. Our results show that N substitution energetically prefers to occur at the carbon atoms near the defects, especially for those sites with larger bond shortening, indicating that the defect-induced strain plays an important role in the stability of N dopants in defective graphene. In the presence of monovacancy, the most stable position for N dopant is the pyridinelike configuration, while for other point defects studied (SW defect and divacancies) N prefers a site in the pentagonal ring. The effect of native point defects on N dopants is quite strong: While the N doping is endothermic in defect-free graphene, it becomes exothermic for defective graphene. Our results imply that the native point defect and N dopant attract each other, i.e., cooperative effect, which means that substitutional N dopants would increase the probability of point defect generation and vice versa. Our findings are supported by recent experimental studies on the N doping of graphene. Furthermore we point out possibilities of aggregation of multiple N dopants near native point defects. Finally we make brief comments on the effect of Fe adsorption on the stability of N dopant aggregation.
description: 10 pages, 5 figures. Figure 4(g) and Figure 5 are corrected. One additional table is added. This is the final version for publication
Presentazione DIFIT
Creators: name: Redazione, La
Publisher: name: Italiano LinguaDue
Year: 2010

description: Il 13 maggio 2009 il Calcif ( Centro d'Ateneo per la promozione della lingua e della cultura italiana G. e C. Feltrinelli) ha organizzato, nell'ambito della Scuola di dottorato Humanae Litterae dell'Università degli Studi di Milano, un incontro di presentazione del volume Dizionario di italianismi in francese, inglese, tedesco, Firenze, Accademia della Crusca, 2008 ( DIFIT).

L'opera è stata curata da Harro Stammerjohann e da Enrico Arcaini, Gabriella Cartago, Pia Galetto, Matthias Heinz, Maurice Mayer, Giovanni Rovere, Gesine Seymer.

Ha coordinato l'incontro Silvia Morgana, direttore del Calcif.
  Il DIFIT è stato presentato da Francesco Sabatini, presidente onorario dell'Accademia della Crusca.
description: Italiano LinguaDue, Vol 1, No 1 (2009)
title: The blocked channel: Imaging spectrum of the Portal vein thrombosis
Creators: name: Chethan Kumar, Ashwini
Publisher: name: European Congress of Radiology
Year: 2019
Subjects: subject: Education
subject: Ultrasound
subject: MR
subject: CT
subject: Vascular
subject: Abdomen
subject: Embolism / Thrombosis

description: Learning objectives Background Findings and procedure details Conclusion Personal information References
description: Learning objectives: Todiscussthe normal anatomy of theportal vein, and clinical aspects and pathophysiology ofportalveinthrombosis (PVT). To demonstrate various imaging appearances in the assessment of portal vein thrombosis including USG, CT and MRI. Todiscussthe...
Development and validation of a GC–MS method for soybean organ-specific metabolomics
Creators: name: Hu, Bao-yu
name: Yang, Cai-qiong
name: Iqbal, Nasir
name: Deng, Jun-cai
name: Zhang, Jing
name: Yang, Wen-yu
name: Liu, Jiang
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: Biochemistry
subject: Space Science
subject: Microbiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Genetics
subject: Biotechnology
subject: Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Ecology
subject: Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Plant Biology

description: Field mold (FM) can easily deteriorate the preharvest soybean in the field, and Fusarium moniliforme is demonstrated as the dominant pathogenic fungi. Metabolomics is a powerful tool to reveal the resistance mechanism in response to microbial infection. Therefore, in this research, the Design of Experiment (DOE) model was developed to optimize the extraction solvent combinations for metabolomic study of soybean seed and pod based on gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS). Combined with the number of extracted peaks and the peak area of common substances, the extraction efficiency of different solvent was analyzed by multivariate statistical analysis. The result showed that isopropanol/water/methanol (1:1:1 and 1:1:4, v/v/v) mixture was highly efficient for metabolites extractions of soybean seed and pod, respectively. Additionally, the potential metabolites and pathways concerned in FM resistance were explored by the optimized extraction solvent system based on metabolomics analysis. Amino acid metabolism in soybean seed was disturbed by F. moniliforme and metabolic pathways related to energy conversion in soybean pod strongly responded to fungal infection. This study constructs a GC–MS-based metabonomic method for soybean metabolites; comparative analysis of organ-specific metabolomics for soybean fruit could be further applied in soybean metabolomics researches.
CONSIDERAZIONI SULLA DIDATTICA DELL’ITALIANO L2 IN SVIZZERA
Creators: name: Pandolfi, Elena Maria
Publisher: name: Italiano LinguaDue
Year: 2010

description: L'articolo propone alcune considerazioni sulla didattica dell'italiano come L2 in Svizzera, partendo da una breve disamina della posizione che l'italiano ha in Svizzera all'interno del suo territorio e nei Cantoni non italofoni. Si è dunque trattato della didattica dell'italiano L2 in Svizzera abbozzando i tratti principali che caratterizzano la didattica fuori e all'interno del territorio italofono. Si è anche proposta una lista di alcuni lessemi marcati in diatopia che caratterizzano l'italiano in Svizzera, sottolineando come questi e altri tratti più squisitamente sociolinguistici possano indurre a considerare anche l'italiano come una lingua pluricentrica, con le implicazioni che questo concetto ha per la didattica dell'italiano L2 in Svizzera, anche dal punto di vista della riflessione metalinguistica.

The paper proposes some considerations concerning teaching Italian as a second language in Switzerland. Through a brief description of the position of Italian inside the Swiss quadrilingualism the teaching approaches are discussed taking into account the peculiar situation inside and outside the Italian territory. Besides the paper presents a list of some common lexemes diatopically marked inducing, along with sociolinguistic parameters, at considering Italian as a pluricentric language with the implication the concept may have concerning the teaching of Italian as a second language in Switzerland.
description: Italiano LinguaDue, Vol 2, No 1 (2010)
L’INFLUENZA DELLA L1 NELL’APPRENDIMENTO DI LINGUE AFFINI:  ANALISI DELLE INTERFERENZE LINGUISTICHE DI ISPANOFONI  APPRENDENTI L’ITALIANO COME LINGUA STRANIERA
Creators: name: Maggioni, Valeria
Publisher: name: Italiano LinguaDue
Year: 2010

description: Nell'apprendimento dell'italiano come lingua straniera da parte di ispanofoni l'affinità tra L1 ed L2 emerge come un'arma a doppio taglio: nella fase iniziale facilita l'apprendimento e la comunicazione in LS, ma, una volta raggiunto un livello intermedio nella LS, tale parentela causa un gran numero di fenomeni di transfer dalla L1 con errori che rischiano di fossilizzarsi nel tempo e che richiedono pertanto un'attenzione particolare per essere corretti.

In questo lavoro di ricerca, svolto presso il Liceo Scientifico E. Fermi della Scuola Statale Italiana di Madrid, sono stati rilevati i fenomeni di transfer negativo presenti nelle produzioni scritte e orali degli studenti madrelingua spagnoli. Le occorrenze piú frequenti sono state raggruppate in tre ambiti principali: fonologico, morfologico e lessicale.

For Spanish speakers learning Italian as a foreign language, the affinity between L1 and L2 is a double-edged sword: in the initial phase, it facilitates learning and communication in the FL, but once it they have reached an intermediate level in the foreign language, the similarity causes a lot of transfer from the L1 with errors that risk becoming fossilized over time and require particular attention so that they are corrected.
 In this study, carried out at the Liceo Scientifico E. Fermi at the Scuola Statale Italiana in Madrid, negative transfer phenomena in the oral and written production of mother tongue Spanish speakers were found. The most frequent occurences were grouped into three main areas: phonological, morphological and lexical
description: Italiano LinguaDue, Vol 2, No 1 (2010)
Child labor and its determinants: An empirical test of the luxury axiom-cum the wealth paradox theory
Creators: name: Gebregziabher, Kidanemariam
name: Hadush, Muuz
name: Abrha, Kebede
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Medicine
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Science Policy

description: The paper was motivated to test whether the high child labor prevalence observed in Ethiopia is explained by the poverty (luxury) hypothesis or wealth paradox theories. The data for this study is the Young Lives project, consisting of 1803 children units (a total of 7212 children in four rounds). Major determinants of child labor: household characteristics, shocks, poverty or wealth proxy indicators, and area and time fixed effect variables are controlled. The study employs a Feasible generalized least squares (FGLS) econometric technique to estimate the causal relationship between child labor; household characteristics, poverty, and wealth indicator variables. Both drought and income losses were found to be positive and significant almost across all specifications. Resource or asset ownership indicators, such as land, access to credit, and TLU) were found to be positively related to child labor, consistent with the wealth paradox. However, the wealth index, except in the two quartiles found to be negative and significant at 1 percent, consistent with the luxury axiom. One more result that is interesting is the significant differences between boys and girls in the type of tasks children engaged in. Girls’ dominance in household chores and boys in economic activity. Moreover, the current high level of child labor participation rate of 45 percent is very alarming. Finally, the household head’s educational status also has a strong negative impact on child labor. In view of, the moral obligation of societies and government; future economic benefit of investing in children, policy be directed towards pro-poor development programs especially targeting children’s welfare, promoting adult education, and introducing agricultural insurance schemes to reduce the extent and intensity of child labor.
Euler flag enumeration of Whitney stratified spaces
Creators: name: Ehrenborg, Richard
name: Goresky, Mark
name: Readdy, Margaret
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Combinatorics (math.CO)
subject: Algebraic Topology (math.AT)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 06A07 (Primary) 52B05, 57N80 (Secondary)

description: The flag vector contains all the face incidence data of a polytope, and in the poset setting, the chain enumerative data. It is a classical result due to Bayer and Klapper that for face lattices of polytopes, and more generally, Eulerian graded posets, the flag vector can be written as a cd-index, a non-commutative polynomial which removes all the linear redundancies among the flag vector entries. This result holds for regular CW complexes. We relax the regularity condition to show the cd-index exists for Whitney stratified manifolds by extending the notion of a graded poset to that of a quasi-graded poset. This is a poset endowed with an order-preserving rank function and a weighted zeta function. This allows us to generalize the classical notion of Eulerianness, and obtain a cd-index in the quasi-graded poset arena. We also extend the semi-suspension operation to that of embedding a complex in the boundary of a higher dimensional ball and study the simplicial shelling components.
description: 41 pages, 3 figures. Final version
Do efficiencies really matter? Analysing the housing finance sector and deriving insights through data envelopment analysis
Creators: name: Gopalkrishnan, Santosh
name: Mohanty, Shiba Prasad
name: Jaiwani, Megha
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Biotechnology
subject: Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Science Policy

description: This study aims to assess the efficiency of housing finance companies operating in India by applying Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). We analyse 26 housing finance companies’ efficiency using various key financial indicators. In addition to DEA, we utilised Tobit regression to investigate the determinants of efficiency in housing finance companies. The findings indicate that large firms need internal restructuring of their coefficients to achieve efficiency, while small firms maintain efficiency within their capacity in the given scenarios. The total factor productivity change for housing finance companies was the highest in 2020–21, followed by a comparative decline in the subsequent year. By considering censored or truncated data, Tobit regression allows us to identify the specific factors influencing efficiency scores derived through DEA. The independent variables used in the Tobit regression model include financial indicators and other relevant factors impacting housing finance companies’ efficiency. Overall, this study sheds light on the performance of housing finance companies and highlights the financial parameters necessary for maintaining a robust non-banking financial system in the Indian economy. The combination of DEA and Tobit regression provides a comprehensive understanding of efficiency and aids in identifying areas for improvement in the housing finance sector while benefiting policymakers and industry stakeholders alike.
ITALIANO LINGUA FRANCA: UN’ANALISI LINGUISTICA E SOCIOCULTURALE  DI INTERAZIONI TRA STUDENTESSE STRANIERE PRESSO L’UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI MILANO.
Creators: name: Moja, Francesca
Publisher: name: Italiano LinguaDue
Year: 2010

description: L'identità linguistica è una peculiarità mutevole e poliedrica che le persone costruiscono e ricostruiscono continuamente nelle loro relazioni con gli altri parlanti. Questo articolo presenta uno studio condotto con sei studentesse straniere provenienti da Paesi diversi (Grecia, Filippine, Albania, Estonia, Turchia e Cina) con lo scopo di indagare le loro strategie conversazionali in Italiano L2 utilizzate in un focus group per discutere temi linguistici e culturali. I dati raccolti sono stati analizzati secondo una prospettiva linguistica e socioculturale. L'analisi linguistica si è concentrata sull'uso dell'italiano come lingua franca con particolare attenzione ad aspetti come il mutamento di codice, le strategie di riparazione, la negoziazione del significato e le strategie di politeness. L'analisi socioculturale ha evidenziato le possibili relazioni tra l'uso della lingua italiana e il contesto socioculturale in cui le partecipanti a questo studio vivono e studiano, cioè il Corso di Laurea in Lingue e Letterature Straniere dell'Università degli Studi di Milano. Nell'ultima parte dell'articolo, vengono prese in esame alcune implicazioni di questa analisi per l'insegnamento dell'italiano L2.

Linguistic identity is a shifting and multifaced feature that people are constantly constructing and reconstructing in their relationships with other speakers. This article presents a study aimed at investigating the way six students from different countries (Greece, Philippines, Albania, Estonia, Turkey and China) and with different L1 backgrounds use specific conversational strategies while discussing a number of linguistic and cultural issues in a focus group session. The data collected were analysed from linguistic and sociocultural perspectives. The linguistic analysis focused on the participants' use of Italian as a lingua franca with a view to underscoring aspects of interaction such as code-mixing, repair strategy, negotiation of meaning and politeness. The socio-cultural analysis was meant to highlight the relationship between the participants' use of Italian and the wider socio-cultural context in which they live and study, that is the University of Milan. In the last part of the article, data analysis is discussed taking into account possible implications for the teaching of Italian as a second language.
description: Italiano LinguaDue, Vol 2, No 1 (2010)
The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: measuring structure growth using passive galaxies
Creators: name: Tojeiro, Rita
name: Percival, Will J.
name: Brinkmann, Jon
name: Brownstein, Joel R.
name: Eisenstein, Danniel J.
name: Manera, Marc
name: Maraston, Claudia
name: McBride, Cameron K.
name: Duna, Demitri
name: Reid, Beth
name: Ross, Ashley J.
name: Ross, Nicholas P.
name: Samushia, Lado
name: Padmanabhan, Nikhil
name: Schneider, Donald P.
name: Skibba, Ramin
name: Sanchez, Ariel G.
name: Swanson, Molly E. C.
name: Thomas, Daniel
name: Tinker, Jeremy L.
name: Verde, Licia
name: Wake, David A.
name: Weaver, Benjamin A.
name: Zhao, Gong-Bo
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We explore the benefits of using a passively evolving population of galaxies to measure the evolution of the rate of structure growth between z=0.25 and z=0.65 by combining data from the SDSS-I/II and SDSS-III surveys. The large-scale linear bias of a population of dynamically passive galaxies, which we select from both surveys, is easily modeled. Knowing the bias evolution breaks degeneracies inherent to other methodologies, and decreases the uncertainty in measurements of the rate of structure growth and the normalization of the galaxy power-spectrum by up to a factor of two. If we translate our measurements into a constraint on sigma_8(z=0) assuming a concordance cosmological model and General Relativity (GR), we find that using a bias model improves our uncertainty by a factor of nearly 1.5. Our results are consistent with a flat Lambda Cold Dark Matter model and with GR.
description: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (clarifications added, results and conclusions unchanged)
CONSIDERAZIONI TEORICHE E PROPOSTE APPLICATIVE SULL’ACQUISIZIONE DELLA FONOLOGIA NELL’INSEGNAMENTO / APPRENDIMENTO DELL’ITALIANO L2
Creators: name: Mastrantuono, Eliana
Publisher: name: Italiano LinguaDue
Year: 2010

description: In questo articolo si presenta una breve panoramica delle ipotesi teoriche sui meccanismi di acquisizione fonologica della lingua seconda proposte da differenti modelli linguistici. Sulla base di queste ipotesi si analizzano alcuni tratti fonologici presenti nella lingua italiana e vengono suggerite attività esemplificative per acquisire tali tratti. Gli elementi fonologici qui considerati sono il raddoppiamento e la sillabazione, le consonanti occlusive, le consonanti affricate, le vocali.

This article presents a brief survey of the hypotheses regarding second language phonological acquisition mechanisms proposed by different linguistic models.  Based on these hypotheses, a few phonological traits present in the Italian language are analyzed and examples of activities to foster acquisition are given. The phonological elements considered are: doubling and syllabication, vowels, occlusive and fricative consonants.
description: Italiano LinguaDue, Vol 2, No 1 (2010)
La banalità del trauma: Simone Weil e Clarice Lispector, la forza e la fame
Creators: name: Magnante, Chiara
Publisher: name: Università degli Studi di Milano
Year: 2012

description: Attraverso un confronto con Simone Weil e la sua analisi dell’Iliade intesa come “un poema della forza”, si indagano alcuni aspetti dei racconti e dei romanzi di Clarice Lispector. Si cerca di riconoscere come l’autrice indaghi nelle pieghe del quotidiano per scorgervi l’apparente banalità delle astrazioni che lo sorreggono, che impongono un ordine alla forza della materia. E si sottolinea come una simile pars destruens sia tuttavia accompagnata da una ricostruzione potente e lontana dal nichilismo.

By a comparison with Simone Weil’s Iliad analysis, which is intended by the philosopher as a “Poem of Force”, I will investigate some facets of Clarice Lispector’s short stories and novels. The paper aims at recognizing how the writer examines everyday life in order to discover its seeming banality and the abstractions which impose an order on the force of matter. But it also aims at teasing a powerful reconstruction, which is far from nihilism.
description: Tintas. Quaderni di Letterature iberiche e iberoamericane, N. 2 (2012)
O narrador na literatura brasileira contemporânea
Creators: name: Ginzburg, Jaime
Publisher: name: Università degli Studi di Milano
Year: 2012

description: A literatura brasileira, de 1960 ao presente, apresenta especificidades estéticas. Podemos observá-las em textos ficcionais de Raduan Nassar, Paulo Mendes Campos, Hilda Hilst e Luís Fernando Veríssimo, entre outros. A hipótese principal consiste em que os desafios da contemporaneidade levam a propor uma mudança de perspectiva com relação aos valores estéticos canônicos e a teorias consagradas sobre a categoria do narrador.

Brazilian Literature, from 1960 to present days, has specific aesthetic properties. We can observe them in fictional texts written by Raduan Nassar, Paulo Mendes Campos, Hilda Hilst and Luís Fernando Veríssimo, among others. The main hypothesis presents contemporary challenges as a basis to improve Literary Theory, in a way the role of narrator in fiction is better understood. Contemporary production shouldn`t be evaluated only by canonic values.
description: Tintas: Quaderni di Letterature iberiche e iberoamericane, N. 2 (2012)
Pursuing design excellence : urban design as public policy on Toronto's waterfront, 1999-2010
Creators: name: White, James Thomas
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2013

description: As one of the largest post-industrial redevelopment projects in North America, Toronto’s Lake Ontario waterfront is a key site for examining a range of policy tools and regulatory mechanisms that can be used to foster design-sensitive city planning practices. This research asks the question ‘How do planning processes affect the quality and execution of urban design?’ It uses an amended series of thirteen principles, initially developed by John Punter (2003), to analyze and evaluate the policymaking, implementation efforts and outcomes of the waterfront urban design process. The primary research data was collected using in-depth semi-structured interviews, archival documents and direct observations of the public realm. The research found that after many decades of failed planning efforts, a waterfront-focused bid for the 2008 Olympic Games caused the municipal, provincial and federal governments to contribute $1.5 billion to the waterfront redevelopment effort and establish a triumvirate public-private partnership to lead a comprehensive master planning process. ‘Design excellence’ was revealed to be a guiding policy aim of the waterfront redevelopment programme. Although the public-private partnership had a limited institutional mandate to deliver on its planning and design objectives, findings show that innovative design-sensitive policy tools and regulatory measures were established outside of the statutory planning framework to achieve design excellence. An urban design peer review panel, design competitions and neighbourhood master planning served to counter a weak and unpredictable jurisdictional context.
Institutional quality as the driver of fiscal decentralization in developing countries
Creators: name: Digdowiseiso, Kumba
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Medicine
subject: Biotechnology
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Developmental Biology
subject: Science Policy
subject: Mental Health
subject: Infectious Diseases
subject: FOS: Health sciences

description: In this essay, I argue that the various institutional settings of fiscal decentralization observed in developing countries are contingent on institutional quality. Other incentives may exist for policymakers to change the degrees of fiscal power. My research is based on a five-year average of data from 34 developing countries between 1990 and 2014.I employ the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) to address the issue of endogeneity, which is a common issue in fiscal decentralization studies. The findings show a strong nonlinear relationship between institutional quality and fiscal decentralization metrics. In this context, since democracy (polity), participatory democracy, bureaucratic quality, law and order, and fiscal decentralization are all emerging from low levels of development, an increase in the magnitude of these institutional quality variables will further reduce fiscal autonomy.
The effect of carbon segregation and carbide precipitation on the mechanical response of martensite
Creators: name: Badinier, Guillaume
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2013

description: The influence of carbon distribution and carbide precipitation on the mechanical properties of the as-quenched and quenched and tempered 300M martensitic steel has been investigated. The microstructure, investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and three dimensional atom probe tomography (APT) was found to be relatively homogeneous in the as-water-quenched state, but signifi cantly evolved upon tempering and variation of quench rate. This evolution included carbon segregation to dislocations and grain boundaries and carbide precipitation. A simple mean- field precipitation model assuming heterogeneous nucleation onto the dislocations proved to satisfactorily capture the evolution of precipitation upon tempering at 120C and 150C. The material was found to behave, mechanically, as a composite and in accordance, the Bauschinger stress-strain behaviour was successfully modeled using a continuous Masing model. This model, when related to the microstructure, showed that the composite behaviour arose from the mechanical contrast between the laths, this being controlled by the local dislocation density and carbon segregation and/or precipitation onto them. Carbon segregation and carbide precipitation were observed to have a direct impact on alpha in the Taylor-like equation that was shown to control the local yield stress within the laths. When applied to martensites containing various amount of carbon, the model allowed for an empirical assessment of the e ffect of the nominal carbon content on alpha , which was found to be linearly dependent on the nominal carbon content.
Self-oscillation
Creators: name: Jenkins, Alejandro
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Classical Physics (physics.class-ph)
subject: Adaptation and Self-Organizing Systems (nlin.AO)
subject: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)
subject: Popular Physics (physics.pop-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Physicists are very familiar with forced and parametric resonance, but usually not with self-oscillation, a property of certain dynamical systems that gives rise to a great variety of vibrations, both useful and destructive. In a self-oscillator, the driving force is controlled by the oscillation itself so that it acts in phase with the velocity, causing a negative damping that feeds energy into the vibration: no external rate needs to be adjusted to the resonant frequency. The famous collapse of the Tacoma Narrows bridge in 1940, often attributed by introductory physics texts to forced resonance, was actually a self-oscillation, as was the swaying of the London Millennium Footbridge in 2000. Clocks are self-oscillators, as are bowed and wind musical instruments. The heart is a "relaxation oscillator," i.e., a non-sinusoidal self-oscillator whose period is determined by sudden, nonlinear switching at thresholds. We review the general criterion that determines whether a linear system can self-oscillate. We then describe the limiting cycles of the simplest nonlinear self-oscillators, as well as the ability of two or more coupled self-oscillators to become spontaneously synchronized ("entrained"). We characterize the operation of motors as self-oscillation and prove a theorem about their limit efficiency, of which Carnot's theorem for heat engines appears as a special case. We briefly discuss how self-oscillation applies to servomechanisms, Cepheid variable stars, lasers, and the macroeconomic business cycle, among other applications. Our emphasis throughout is on the energetics of self-oscillation, often neglected by the literature on nonlinear dynamical systems.
description: 68 pages, 33 figures. v4: Typos fixed and other minor adjustments. To appear in Physics Reports
An empirical investigation of the impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth in Ethiopia
Creators: name: Wondimu, Melkamu
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Ecology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Science Policy

description: The main objective of this study is to empirically investigate the impact of foreign direct investment on economic growth of Ethiopia by using a time series data for the period 1992–2019. Other explanatory variables like trade openness, human capital, national saving and gross capital formation were incorporated in the model. For the purpose of undertaking the study, Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) econometric model was employed. Moreover, a Toda-Yamamoto Causality test was performed to identify the direction of the causality between economic growth and foreign direct investment. Findings from the study show that, both in the short run and long run, foreign direct investment has a positive and significant impact on economic growth. As an outcome of Toda-Yamamoto Causality test shows, there is a unidirectional causality running from economic growth to foreign direct investment. On the basis of the findings, recommendations are made for the government authorities to expand infrastructural facilities for enabling a free movement of the investors to the remote and marginalized areas to further expand investment activities that result in higher economic growth.
Supernovae and Gaia
Creators: name: Altavilla, Giuseppe
name: Botticella, Maria Teresa
name: Cappellaro, Enrico
name: Turatto, Massimo
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Despite decades of dedicated efforts there are still basic questions to answer with regard to Supernova progenitor systems and explosion mechanisms. In particular, in the last years a number of exceptionally bright objects and extremely faint events have demonstrated an unexpected large Supernova variety. The large number of Supernovae candidates at different redshifts provided by the next generation surveys, from ground and space, will allow to reach a better insight of the Supernova events in all their flavours. In particular it will be the possible to assess the systematics of type Ia Supernovae as distance indicator at any redshift. The Gaia astrometric mission is expected to discover a huge number of transient events, including Supernovae, which will be immediately disseminated to the astronomical community by a transients alert system for a suitable follow up.
description: 18 pages, 5 figures. Minor revisions to match the published version
An ethnographic account of faith-based environmental and sustainability (FB-ESE) in England
Creators: name: Anderson, Amanda
Publisher: name: Anglia Ruskin Research Online (ARRO)
Year: 2025

description: This thesis presents an ethnographic study of faith-based Environmental and Sustainability Education (FB-ESE) in England, focusing on two Christian faith-based organisations’ (FBO) ESE settings. The aim is to determine whether FB-ESE leads to transformative learning and climate action, while exploring its potential and implications for broader ESE scholarship through its value-based approach, which may extend beyond faith-believers. An ethnographic approach was taken including participant observation, in-depth interviews and focus groups. Findings indicate that FB-ESE is closely linked to faith rationale and values, elements that contribute to transformative learning. FBOs are increasingly responding to the climate crisis, including through the provision of FB-ESE, making it timely to focus on the ESE they provide to understand how FB-ESE is transformative and how it may lead to behaviour change supporting environmental sustainability. This study has implications for wider ESE scholarship and practice, as FB-ESE presents another avenue to bridge the knowledge-to-action gap. Although learners participating in FB-ESE may initially be drawn by their faith-values the learning is relevant to non-faith-based learners in the community who align with the broader environmental ethics and values of FBOs. FBOs actively share resources and collaborate with other social and community actors through their trusted networks. The FB-ESE explored is non-formal and semi-formal, aimed at intergenerational and adult learners beyond institutional schooling, making the findings useful for wider collaboration towards an inclusive ESE. Considering FB-ESE as a new focus in ESE could ensure that value-based ESE knowledge is shared with the broader research community.
Can dephasing generate non-local spin correlations?
Creators: name: Benjamin, Colin
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2011
Subjects: subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: By examining the full counting statistics of a non adiabatic pure spin pump with particular emphasis on the second and third moments, it is shown that incoherent or sequential transport, in contrast to coherent transport, can change non-local spin shot noise cross-correlations from being anti-correlated to being completely correlated, a truly counterintuitive result. The third moment on the other hand is shown to be much more resilient and its nature remains unaltered in incoherent transport regime. However, phenomenologically including dephasing modifies this picture as both Shot noise and more so the third moment are non-trivially affected. In fact non-local spin correlations are completely positive for maximal dephasing.
description: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:0808.3638
Moderators of pricing and willingness to pay for parametric weather risk mitigants in agriculture: An integrative review, conceptual framework, and research agenda
Creators: name: Gairola, Gaurav
name: Dey, Kushankur
Publisher: name: Taylor & Francis
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Medicine
subject: Sociology
subject: FOS: Sociology
subject: Cancer
subject: Science Policy

description: The agriculture sector observed the penetration of parametric weather risk financial products, including weather index insurance and weather derivatives, between the late 1990s and the early 2000s. However, the adoption of such products remains low. While the reasons for low adoption are mentioned in the extant literature, there is a lack of a theoretical framework that captures the moderators accelerating and inhibiting pricing structure and willingness to pay for parametric weather risk mitigants in agriculture. Also, the extant literature does not adequately explain the relationships or interdependencies between pricing structure and willingness to pay for parametric weather risk mitigants. This study bridges this gap by performing an integrative literature review. The review integrates the bibliometric analysis and systematic literature review and categorizes the extant literature into five focal areas: (1) weather analytics capability; (2) design, pricing, and testing; (3) users’ criteria for adoption; (4) prototyping; and (5) product efficacy of weather risk mitigation. A conceptual framework evolved from the review classifies the moderators into accelerants and inhibitors of pricing and willingness to pay. The framework hypothesizes that product design, contract specifications such as tick size and strike levels, hedge effectiveness, and instrument adoption have a recursive interaction with the willingness to pay and pricing structure. Future research directions guided by the proposed framework can motivate scholars and practitioners to explore the scope of bundling parametric (index) insurance and weather derivatives as a standalone product to enhance adoption.
Kerr-Newman Black Hole Thermodynamical State Space: Blockwise Coordinates
Creators: name: Anderson, Edward
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2012
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: A coordinate system that blockwise-simplifies the Kerr-Newman black hole's thermodynamical state space Ruppeiner metric geometry is constructed, with discussion of the limiting cases corresponding to simpler black holes. It is deduced that one of the three conformal Killing vectors of the Reissner-Nordstrom and Kerr cases (whose thermodynamical state space metrics are 2 by 2 and conformally flat) survives generalization to the Kerr-Newman case's 3 by 3 thermodynamical state space metric.
description: 4 pages incl 2 figs. Accepted by Gen. Rel. Grav. Replaced with Accepted version (minor corrections)