The Conjugate Gradient Method is the most prominent iterative method for solving sparse systems of linear equations. Unfortunately, many textbook treatments of the topic are written with neither illustrations nor intuition, and their victims can be found to this day babbling senselessly in the corners of dusty libraries. For this reason, a deep, geometric understanding of the method has been re...

The study of elevational diversity gradients dates back to the foundation of biogeography. Although elevational patterns of plant and animal diversity have been studied for centuries, such patterns have not been reported for microorganisms and remain poorly understood. Here, in an effort to assess the generality of elevational diversity patterns, we examined soil bacterial and plant diversity a...

Theme-Rheme theory is one of the important components in text linguistics, which is closely related to language teaching and learning. This paper applies the Theme-Rheme theory in EFL reading teaching for nonEnglish majors in college, and explores its influence on students’ EFL reading proficiency. The result of this study proves that the Theme-Rheme theory is an effective system and it has cer...

This is a semantic pilot study which concentrates on how people in Taiwan process the temporal metaphors, ego-moving metaphor and time-moving metaphor. Motivated by the research of Gentner, Imai, and Boroditsky (2002) in which the English native speakers comprehend ego-moving metaphors faster than time-moving metaphors, the present study attempts to reexamine whether the faster reaction to ego-...

This preliminary study aims at investigating the production and perception of the English nasals /m/ and /n/ in word-final position by a group of 10 intermediate Brazilian EFL learners. Production data was collected by means of a Sentence Reading Test considering preceding vowel as phonological context. Perception was assessed by means of an identification test contrasting native-like vs. nonna...

This paper seeks to investigate the relationship between learner factors and the reported choice of language learning strategies (LLSs) in both an EFL context (Japan) and an ESL context (Australia). The study used a revised version of the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) designed by Oxford (1990) to ascertain the choice of LLSs and a specifically designed questionnaire to identif...

This study investigated the relationship between selfefficacy and stress among 108 EFL teachers in Iran. The participants were administered self-efficacy and stress questionnaires. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation and Multiple Regression analyses were used. The results indicated significant negative correlation between self efficacy and stress. Also it was found that both dimensions of self-e...

We present a modular framework, the Workload Characterisation Framework (WCF), that is developed to reproducibly obtain, store and compare key characteristics of radio astronomy processing software. As a demonstration, we discuss the experiences using the framework to characterise a LOFAR calibration and imaging pipeline.

Cognitive linguists contend that learners’ awareness of motivations is the key in not only second language acquisition but also figurative language learning. Two cognitive-oriented methods are proposed to raise L2 learners’ awareness on metaphoric/metonymic expressions and to enhance retention: instruction involving conceptual metaphors (CM) and instruction involving metaphoric mappings (MM). T...