Which learning tools accompanying the paid online version of LDOCE do advanced learners of English find useful?

 The aim of the report is twofold: to (1) briefly describe the learning tools of the Long-man Dictionary of Contemporary English (LDOCE6) which are available to English learners in the paid online version of the dictionary (sixth edition); and (2) present the results of the questionnaire that was conducted on 114 students of English at the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. The participants completed a questionnaire in which they were asked to assess the usefulness of the learning tools of the paid online version of LDOCE6. The first section of the paper introduces the reader to the five major British monolingual learners' dictionaries on the market and the most prominent features of LDOCE. The second section is a description of the learning tools available to learners of English in the paid online version of LDOCE6. The following section elaborates on the earliest questionnaire studies conducted in the field of dictionary use, and some of the problematic aspects of this research method are discussed. The report ends with a presentation of the results of the questionnaire and a brief discussion.Keywords: Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, online dictionaries, questionnaires, learners' dictionarie

Simulations of cm-wavelength Sunyaev-Zel'dovich galaxy cluster and point source blind sky surveys and predictions for the RT32/OCRA-f and the Hevelius 100-m radio telescope

We investigate the effectiveness of blind surveys for radio sources and galaxy cluster thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effects (TSZEs) using the four-pair, beam-switched OCRA-f radiometer on the 32-m radio telescope in Poland. The predictions are based on mock maps that include the cosmic microwave background, TSZEs from hydrodynamical simulations, and unresolved radio sources. We estimate the effects of source clustering towards galaxy clusters from NVSS source counts around Planck-selected cluster candidates, and include appropriate correlations in our mock maps. The study allows us to quantify the effects of halo line-of-sight alignments, source confusion, and telescope angular resolution on the detections of TSZEs. We perform a similar analysis for the planned 100-m Hevelius radio telescope (RTH) equipped with a 49-beam radio camera. We find that RT32/OCRA-f will be suitable for small-field blind radio source surveys, and will detect $33^{+17}_{-11}$ new radio sources brighter than 0.87 mJy at 30~GHz in a 1 deg$^2$ field at $>5\sigma$ CL during a one-year, non-continuous, observing campaign, taking account of Polish weather conditions. It is unlikely that any galaxy cluster will be detected at $3\sigma$ CL in such a survey. A $60$-deg$^2$ survey, with field coverage of $2^2$ beams per pixel, at 15 GHz with the RTH, would find <1.5 galaxy clusters per year brighter than 60 $\mu$Jy (at $3\sigma$ CL), and would detect about $3.4 \times 10^4$ point sources brighter than 1 mJy at $5\sigma$ CL, with confusion causing flux density errors $\lesssim 2\%$ (20%) in 68% (95%) of the detected sources. A primary goal of the planned RTH will be a wide-area ($\pi$~sr) radio source survey at 15 GHz. This survey will detect nearly $3 \times 10^5$ radio sources at $5\sigma$ CL down to 1.3 mJy, and tens of galaxy clusters, in one year of operation with typical weather conditions. ABRIDGEDComment: 37 pages, 17 figures, accepted for publication in JCA

Real space tests of the statistical isotropy and Gaussianity of the WMAP CMB data

ABRIDGED: We introduce and analyze a method for testing statistical isotropy and Gaussianity and apply it to the WMAP CMB foreground reduced, temperature maps, and cross-channel difference maps. We divide the sky into regions of varying size and shape and measure the first four moments of the one-point distribution within these regions, and using their simulated spatial distributions we test the statistical isotropy and Gaussianity hypotheses. By randomly varying orientations of these regions, we sample the underlying CMB field in a new manner, that offers a richer exploration of the data content, and avoids possible biasing due to a single choice of sky division. The statistical significance is assessed via comparison with realistic Monte-Carlo simulations. We find the three-year WMAP maps to agree well with the isotropic, Gaussian random field simulations as probed by regions corresponding to the angular scales ranging from 6 deg to 30 deg at 68% confidence level. We report a strong, anomalous (99.8% CL) dipole ``excess'' in the V band of the three-year WMAP data and also in the V band of the WMAP five-year data (99.3% CL). We notice the large scale hemispherical power asymmetry, and find that it is not highly statistically significant in the WMAP three-year data (<~ 97%) at scales l <= 40. The significance is even smaller if multipoles up to l=1024 are considered (~90% CL). We give constraints on the amplitude of the previously-proposed CMB dipole modulation field parameter. We easily detect the residual foregrounds in cross-band difference maps at rms level <~ 7 \mu K (at scales >~ 6 deg) and limit the systematical uncertainties to <~ 1.7 \mu K (at scales >~ 30 deg).Comment: 20 pages, 20 figures; more tests added; updated to match the version to be published in JCA

Genomic analysis of Campylobacter fetus subspecies: identification of candidate virulence determinants and diagnostic assay targets

Background: Campylobacter fetus subspecies venerealis is the causative agent of bovine genital campylobacteriosis, asymptomatic in bulls the disease is spread to female cattle causing extensive reproductive loss. The microbiological and molecular differentiation of C. fetus subsp. venerealis from C. fetus subsp. fetus is extremely difficult. This study describes the analysis of the available C. fetus subsp. venerealis AZUL-94 strain genome (~75–80%) to identify elements exclusively found in C. fetus subsp. venerealis strains as potential diagnostic targets and the characterisation of subspecies virulence genes. Results: Eighty Kb of genomic sequence (22 contigs) was identified as unique to C. fetus subsp. venerealis AZUL-94 and consisted of type IV secretory pathway components, putative plasmid genes and hypothetical proteins. Of the 9 PCR assays developed to target C. fetus subsp. venerealis type IV secretion system genes, 4 of these were specific for C. fetus subsp. venerealis biovar venerealis and did not detect C. fetus subsp. venerealis biovar intermedius. Two assays were specific for C. fetus subsp. venerealis AZUL-94 strain, with a further single assay specific for the AZUL-94 strain and C. fetus subsp. venerealis biovar intermedius (and not the remaining C. fetus subsp. venerealis biovar venerealis strains tested). C. fetus subsp. fetus and C. fetus subsp. venerealis were found to share most common Campylobacter virulence factors such as SAP, chemotaxis, flagellar biosynthesis, 2-component systems and cytolethal distending toxin subunits (A, B, C). We did not however, identify in C. fetus the full complement of bacterial adherence candidates commonly found in other Campylobacter spp. Conclusion: The comparison of the available C. fetus subsp. venerealis genome sequence with the C. fetus subsp. fetus genome identified 80 kb of unique C. fetus subsp. venerealis AZUL94 sequence, with subsequent PCR confirmation demonstrating inconsistent amplification of these targets in all other C. fetus subsp. venerealis strains and biovars tested. The assays developed here highlight the complexity of targeting strain specific virulence genes for field studies for the molecular identification and epidemiology of C. fetus

Hemispherical power asymmetry: parameter estimation from CMB WMAP5 data

We reexamine the evidence of the hemispherical power asymmetry, detected in the CMB WMAP data using a new method. At first, we analyze the hemispherical variance ratios and compare these with simulated distributions. Secondly, working within a previously-proposed CMB bipolar modulation model, we constrain model parameters: the amplitude and the orientation of the modulation field as a function of various multipole bins. Finally, we select three ranges of multipoles leading to the most anomalous signals, and we process corresponding 100 Gaussian, random field (GRF) simulations, treated as observational data, to further test the statistical significance and robustness of the hemispherical power asymmetry. For our analysis we use the Internally-Linearly-Coadded (ILC) full sky map, and KQ75 cut-sky V channel, foregrounds reduced map of the WMAP five year data (V5). We constrain the modulation parameters using a generic maximum a posteriori method. In particular, we find differences in hemispherical power distribution, which when described in terms of a model with bipolar modulation field, exclude the field amplitude value of the isotropic model A=0 at confidence level of ~99.5% (~99.4%) in the multipole range l=[7,19] (l=[7,79]) in the V5 data, and at the confidence level ~99.9% in the multipole range l=[7,39] in the ILC5 data, with the best fit (modal PDF) values in these particular multipole ranges of A=0.21 (A=0.21) and A=0.15 respectively. However, we also point out that similar or larger significances (in terms of rejecting the isotropic model), and large best-fit modulation amplitudes are obtained in GRF simulations as well, which reduces the overall significance of the CMB power asymmetry down to only about 94% (95%) in the V5 data, in the range l=[7,19] (l=[7,79]).Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures; few typos corrected; published in JCA

Sunyaev Zel'dovich observations of a statistically complete sample of galaxy clusters with OCRA-p

We present 30 GHz Sunyaev Zel'dovich observations of a statistically complete sample of galaxy clusters with OCRA-p. The clusters are the 18 most X-ray luminous clusters at z > 0.2 in the ROSAT Brightest Cluster Sample. We correct for contaminant radio sources via supplementary observations with the Green Bank Telescope, also at 30 GHz, and remove a cluster that is contaminated by an unresolved X-ray source. All 17 remaining clusters have central SZ effects with Comptonisation parameter y_0 exceeding 1.9x10^-4, and 13 are detected at significance > 3 sigma. We use our data to examine scalings between y_0 and X-ray temperature, X-ray luminosity, and the X-ray mass proxy Y_X, and find good agreement with predictions from self-similar models of cluster formation, with an intrinsic scatter in y_0 of about 25%. We also comment on the success of the observations in the face of the contaminant source population, and the implications for upcoming cm-wave surveys.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, accepted by MNRA