Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Narrative Inquiry: A Methodology for Studying German Migrant Teachers' Experiences in Australian Classrooms.

Despite their significant contribution to Australian school life, there has been little research into migrant teachers in Australia. The few studies which are available report difficulties with cultural adaptation for migrant teachers in areas related to pedagogy, language, and classroom management. However, research in Australia has mainly investigated experiences of teachers of Asian backgrounds, while teachers from western European countries have thus far been under-researched. As part of an ongoing research project into the experiences of German migrant teachers, this paper presents the analysis and discussion of survey data recently collected from ten German teachers. The study has used narrative inquiry to provide important insights into the teachers’ experiences of adjustment to the Australian school system. The teachers’ narratives revealed new perspectives on the cultural dimension of teaching practices and its effects on the individual in cross-cultural classroom situations. The exploration of these problem areas was especially detailed thanks to the narrative inquiry method, which allowed for in-depth and rich comparative data. The findings may inform teacher education courses and orientation programs for overseas-trained teachers, as well as stimulate debate about school policy in Australia and Germany.
Bacterial Contamination of Iranian Paper Currency and Their Antibiotic Resistance Patterns

Background: Paper currency is used in exchange for services, and thisis why the circulation of paper currency from person to person expandsmicroorganisms. Objectives:: Paper banknotes would be a vector for transmission of pathogenic microorganisms through handling. This study aimed to determine bacterial contamination of Iranian paper currencies in circulation and their antibiotic resistance patterns. Materials and Methods: In this study, 337 currency notes of different value were collected from markets, shops, restaurants, bus stations and banks in Kashan, Iran during April 2015 to March 2016. The currency notes transferred to microbiology laboratory and were tested for bacterial contamination using standard microbiological methods. Antibiotic resistance patterns of isolated bacteria were determined by disk diffusion method according to CLSI standards. The results and data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: Of 337 currency notes, 262 (77.7%) were identified with bacterial contamination. Bacteria isolated from currency notes were as follows: Bacillus spp 113 (43.1%), coagulase-negative Staphylococci 99 (37.7%), Escherichia coli 20 (7.6%), Enterococci species 14 (5.3%), Staphylococcus aureus 8 (3.1%), Klebsiella spp 4 (1.5%), Shigella species 2 (0.8%), Pseudomonas species 2 (0.8%). The most and least contaminated currency notes were 50000 and 500 Rials, respectively. The most resistance rates in gram negative rods were against nalidixicacid, and ampicillin. Also most resistance rates in Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase-negative Staphylococci and Enterococci species were against ampicillin, erythromycin and tetracycline. Conclusion: Our study revealed that the bacterial contamination among Iranian paper currency in circulation especially those obtained from certain sources including shops and bus stations is high and in most cases these bacterial isolates are antibiotic resistant strains.
Factors enhancing high commitment entry modes in international new ventures

The choice of entry mode in foreign markets is an important strategic decision with major consequences for the success of international new ventures (INVs). It is generally accepted that these firms choose relatively low-resource commitment entry modes to operate in foreign markets. Nevertheless, some researchers have suggested that higher resource commitment entry modes in foreign markets also seem to be competitive strategies for INVs. In this study, from a marketing/international entrepreneurship interface perspective and focusing on organizational issues, we centre our attention on international market orientation as a neglected yet important commitment entry modes in foreign markets. We suggest that an entrepreneurial orientation and early international entry are important correlates to an international market orientation. We also suggest that the international learning effort of INVs through their international market orientation has a direct, positive impact on the resources these companies commit to their foreign markets through the use of higher resource commitment entry modes. Accordingly, the model proposes a positive effect of entrepreneurial orientation and early international entry on international market orientation which, in turn, is positively related to higher resource commitment entry modes. The hypotheses were tested on country-level data from Spain, using a structural equation model to analyze relationships between the latent variables. This study extends previous international entrepreneurship research, including insights on antecedents of INVs n foreign markets. The paper also goes further than previous international entrepreneurship research, by addressing the strategic consequences of rapid entry into foreign markets. Additionally, the results of this work encourage international entrepreneurs to look beyond the explicit value of experiential market knowledge to realize the potential value of international market orientation as an antecedent to higher resource commitment entry modes.
On the Instability Threshold of Journal Bearing Supported Rotors

Journal bearing supported rotors present two kinds of self-excited vibrations: oil-whirl and oil-whip. The first one is commonly masked by the rotor unbalance, hence being rarely associated with instability problems. Oil-whip is a severe vibration which occurs when the oil-whirl frequency coincides with the first flexural natural frequency of the shaft. In many cases, oil-whip is the only fluid-induced instability considered during the design stage; however, experimental evidences have shown that the instability threshold may occur much sooner, demanding a better comprehension of the instability mechanism. In this context, numerical simulations were made in order to improve the identification of the instability threshold for two test rig configurations: one on which the instability occurs on the oil-whip frequency, and another which became unstable before this threshold. Therefore, the main contribution of this paper is to present an investigation of two different thresholds of fluid-induced instabilities and their detectability on design stage simulations based on rotordynamic analysis using linear speed dependent coefficients for the bearings.
Analysis of a GPU implementation of Viola-Jones’ Algorithm for Features Selection

Faces and facial expressions recognition is an interesting topic for researchers in machine vision. Viola-Jones algorithm is the most spread algorithm for this task. Building a classification model for face recognition can take many years if the implementation of its training phase is not optimized. In this study, we analyze different implementations for the training phase. The aim was to reduce the time needed during training phase when using one computer with a cheap graphical processing unit (GPU). The execution times were analyzed and compared with previous studies. Results showed that combining C language, CUDA, etc., it is possible to reach acceptable times for training phase. Further research may involve the measurement of the performance of our approach computers with better GPU capacity and exploring a multi-GPU approach.
Evaluation of the effect of genetically modified Roundup Ready soya bean and MON 810 maize in the diet of Japanese quail on chosen aspects of their productivity and retention of transgenic DNA in tissues

Abstract. The objective of the study was to evaluate the impact of genetically modified (GM) ingredients (soya bean meal and maize grain) used in poultry diets on birds' performance, as well as the accumulation of the transgenic DNA in eggs, breast muscle and internal organs. In the present experiment four generations of Japanese quails, which were subject to three different diets, two containing genetically modified organisms (GMO, soya and maize) and one GMO-free control, were analysed. Birds' performance traits were monitored along the trial. A screening molecular method – polymerase chain reaction amplification (PCR) – was used to detect CaMV 35S promoter and nos terminator in the collected samples. Results showed no presence of modified DNA in the analysed products. According to the obtained results, it was concluded that there was no negative effect of the use of genetically modified soya bean meal or maize grain found with regard to final product safety for consumers or to birds' productivity.
Energy consumption, economic growth and greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union countries

This paper investigates the relationship between economic growth, greenhouse gas emissions and other factors based on the panel data of 22 countries of the EU in the period 1995–2014. The fixed effect panel model was used as a framework for the analysis. The novel contribution of this paper is that the factors of economic growth, energy consumption, energy taxes as well as R&D were tested in one expanded EKC model, including the data of three Baltic States. The regression coefficients referring to GDP, Energy consumption have a positive sign, while R&D and Energy taxes have a negative sign. The empirical analysis combines two steps of evaluation of panel models of different groups of countries. The results imply that the analysed factors (energy consumption, energy taxes as well as R&D) can be applied to adjust the EKC trend in the region and might be useful for the climate change policy adjustment.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ISLAMIC WORK ETHICS AND INNOVATION CAPABILITY AND KNOWLEDGE SHARING PLAYS MODERATION ROLE.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the impact of Islamic work ethic (IWE) on innovation capability (IC) and sharing knowledge (SK) playing moderate role between their relationships in the Public sectors� organizations in Pakistan. The valid and reliable scales were used for measuring the IWE, IC and SK. 150 questionnaires were distributed among the officers of grade 17, grade 18, grade19 and grad 20 in different public sectors� organizations and 102 officers responded among them. The results (Adjusted R square = 0.48) founded that there was significantly positive relationship between Islamic work ethics on innovation capability and when sharing knowledge enter as moderator between their relationships the result (Adjusted R square = 0.57) was also positively significant on Innovation capability and this results (R square change 0.09) shown that knowledge sharing was played moderate role, hence all the hypothesizes of this study were significantly confirmed at p value (p < 0.001). While the study was limited to the Pakistani public sectors� organizations and sample size is too short, it has considerable implications for the development of a bright workforce in other cultures and multinational organizations. An interpreting of the commitment of the manpower to the IWE and it�s on innovativeness by sharing knowledge as well as helps HR managers in designing the intervention, and implementation of this intervention to bring changes in public sector organizations for development of the employees and organizational effectiveness. In the results there is very strong necessary for the public sectors� organizations in Pakistan as well as other non-western countries that examine the link of IWE and innovation capability by creating flexible environment among employees to share their innovative knowledge with the bosses, colleagues and subordinates. This paper emphasizes on IWE to improve the innovation capability by creating knowledge sharing environment among employees in public sector organizations.
The impact of policy uncertainty on macro-economy of developed and developing countries

This paper investigates the effects of a US economic policy uncertainty shock on Indian macroeconomic variables with a number of Structural VARs. This study models the economic policy uncertainty index as constructed by Baker et al. (2013). The study also uses a set of macroeconomic variables for India such as inflation, industrial production and nominal interest rate. The objective of the study is to identify the potential impacts of economic policy uncertainty shocks from the US economy to the Indian economy. According to the SVARs, a one standard deviation shock to the US economic policy uncertainty leads to a statistically significant decline in the Indian industrial production of -0.294% and in the Indian inflation of -0.032%. India shows to be resistant to US policy uncertainty. Furthermore, the study finds that the contribution of the US economic policy uncertainty on the Indian macroeconomic variables is shown to be significantly larger than the one exerted by the Indian uncertainty shock.
Testing for a Forward-Looking Phillips Curve: Additional Evidence from European and Us Data

The "New Keynesian" Phillips Curve (NKPC) states that inflation has a purely forward-looking dynamics. In this paper, we test whether European and US inflation dynamics can be described by this model. For this purpose, we estimate hybrid Phillips curves, which include both backward and forward-looking components, for major European countries, the euro area, and the US. Estimation is performed using the GMM technique as well as the ML approach. We examine the sensitivity of the results to the choice of output gap or marginal cost as the driving variable, and test the stability of the obtained specifications. Our findings can be summarized as follows. First, in all countries, the NKPC has to be augmented by additional lags and leads of inflation, in contrast to the prediction of the core model. Second, the fraction of backward-looking price setters is large (in most cases, more than 50 percent), suggesting only limited differences between the US and the euro area. Finally, our preferred specification includes marginal cost in the case of the US and the UK, and output gap in the euro area.
Improving barley performance by proper foliar applied salicylic-acid under saline conditions

Despite general effect of salicylic-acid (SA) in improving plant growth andproductivity in saline conditions, there have not been unanimity about the bestconcentration. In this 2-yr field study the effect of different SA concentrations(0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mM) was examined on growth, grain yield and yieldcomponents of barley under two non-saline (2 dS m-1) and saline (12 dS m-1)conditions. By using response curves and regression analyses the best concentrationwas also determined. The results showed that salt stress decreased barley plantheight (22.7%), fertile tillers (19.0%), ear length (21.6%), grain number per ear(22.5%), thousand grain weight (19.9%), biological yield (29.6%) and grain yield(37.6%). Since salinity treatment when imposed the tillers were at their rapidgrowth phase; therefore, fertile tiller number per unit area was found to be the mostsensitive trait to salt stress. Nonetheless, SA foliar application in differentconcentrations could ameliorate some of these negative impacts on growth, yieldand yield components. Reduction percentage of grain yield due to salinity wasthe lowest at 1.5 mM in first and 1.0 mM SA concentration in second yearcorresponding to 27.3% and 33.8%, respectively; while those were highest at no-SAtreatments (42.2% and 43.8% in first and second year, respectively). Modulating roleof SA for adverse effect of salinity could be attributed to enhanced grain number.Based on the result of regression analysis, it can be concluded that SA foliarapplication at 2.0 mM under non-saline and at 1.41 mM under saline conditionscould be considered as the best concentrations for improving barley performance.
The Effect of Pregnancy Induced Hypertension on Complete Blood Count of Newborn

Â Background: Pregnancy induced hypertension is one of the most common causes of maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity. New born delivered to mothers with hypertension are more liable for intrauterine growth retardation and may be delivered prematurely. We aimed to determine the effect of pregnancy-induced hypertension on complete blood count, gestational age and birth weight of newborn. Materials and Methods: This study includes 200 neonates, 100 neonates born to mothers diagnosed as having pregnancy induced hypertension this is considered as the study group and 100 neonates born in the same period to healthy mothers considered as the control group, the study conducted in the neonatal unit of the department of pediatrics and gynecological ward in AL-Imamein Al-Kadhimein Medical city, Iraq, from 1st August 2015 to 30th May 2016. Details of the baby including gender, Apgar score, birth weight and gestational age were recorded and hematological parameters (complete blood count) of both babies and mothers have been studied. Results: The study showed the significant difference between the two groups regarding mode of delivery, 94 of mothers in study group delivered by cesarean section while 60 of control group, delivered by cesarean section. There was the significant effect of gestational hypertension on gestational age, birth weight, need for resuscitation, Apgar score, mean WBC count and mean platelet count since (P< 0.05). There were no significant differences between two groups regarding another element of complete blood count. Conclusion: At current study, gestational hypertension affects adversely growth parameter, wellbeing and both WBC and platelet count of a newborn.
Genomic DNA cloning of rickettsia-like organisms (RLO) of Saint-Jacques scallop Pecten maximus : evaluation of prokaryote diagnosis by hybridization with a non-isotopically labelled probe and by polymerase chain reaction

Genomic DNA fragments of a rickettsia-like organism (RLO) of Saint-Jacques scallop, Pecten maximus, were extracted from purified RLO and cloned. A DNA sequence of 1500 bp taken from one of the sequenced clones was coupled to horseradish peroxidase and the resulting probe was assayed for the diagnosis of RLO by nucleic acid hybridization. The specificity of the probe for RLO DNA was established from its lack of hybridization with scallop DNA. The sensitivity limit of the probe detected by enhanced chemiluminescence was determined to be around 500 ng of total RLO nucleic acids, equivalent to about 2.5 X 106 copies of RLO DNA. A pair of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) primers were synthesized that amplified a 1300 bp segment of the 1500 bp RLO fragment. After 30 cycles of amplification of total RLO nucleic acids, a product of the expected size was easily visible on agarose at all starting template concentrations between 100 ng and 10 pg of RLO total nucleic acids. The lowest level of sensitivity corresponds to about 100 fg of RLO DNA or about 50 genomic molecules. The specificity of the amplified DNA was confirmed by Southern blot analysis using the peroxidase labelled probe and by the lack of amplified product with scallop DNA as the starting template.
Factors influencing survival and productivity of pronghorn in a semiarid grass-woodland in east-central New Mexico

Pronghorns (Antilocapra americana) are an important source of revenue and recreation for property managers throughout New Mexico, but have been declining in number. We documented body condition, survival, production of fawns, and trends in population size of pronghorns on the Corona Range and Livestock Research Center (CRLRC), a working research ranch and wildlife enterprise located in east-central New Mexico, from 2006 through 2011. Accrual of all indices of condition and size of both adult female and adult male pronghorns was positively associated with precipitation during June to July, August to September, and annually. Annual survival rates of females (0.33 to 0.78) and males (0.63 to 0.89) were highly variable on CRLRC. Survival of individuals was not related to any measure of condition or size taken the prior autumn. Survival of adult females was related to reproductive status the previous year; females that had successfully weaned >1 fawn the previous year were 0.11 times less likely to survive. Malnutrition was the most common cause of mortality (nine of 22 females; seven of 15 males), followed by suspected plant toxicities and enterotoxaemia (nine of 22 females) and harvest (six of 15 males). Most adult female mortality (73%) occurred after parturition and prior to weaning when energy demands are greatest on adult females; females that successfully weaned >1 fawn accrued significantly less condition by autumn. Survival of fawns was related to maternal condition, and fawn:adult female ratios were positively correlated with cumulative precipitation during late gestation and parturition. Low survival of adult females and fawns has resulted in the CRLRC pronghorn population declining from a minimum of 136 individuals to 66 from 2005 to 2011. Timing and causes of mortality highlight a strong nutritional limitation faced by lactating females related to the most energetic costs of reproduction being borne prior to the onset of summer monsoonal precipitation. The poor timing of reproduction to precipitation (and, thus, to forage phenology) in the southwestern United States will likely always limit productivity and survival of pronghorn relative to northern populations.
New conditions on the role of color in perceptual organization and an extension to how color influences reading

Color is one among many attributes that are involved in the similarity principle. Grouping by color is believed to be less effective when compared with other attributes such as shape and luminance. The main purpose of this work is to explore the role played by color in determining visual grouping and wholeness, not only in relation to further similarity attributes but also to other principles such as proximity, good continuation and past experience. Conditions, different from those used by Gestalt psychologists, were chosen, and aimed to understand how color can influence visual organization and through it, other perceptual and complex processes such as reading and visual word recognition. In fact, involving cognitive and metacognitive domains, permits exploration of broader issues concerning perception, memory, knowledge, representation and learning, where color can express its biological advantages for humans more clearly. These processes can be assimilated to the Gestalt past experience considered as a principle of its own kind not fully explored in relation to the other principles. As a consequence, these conditions allow color to be pitted against past experience and against a number of principles at the same time. The results demonstrated that color can strongly influence grouping, shape and the process of segmentation of words involved in the reading task. Therefore, color not only is one among the many principles of grouping but an essential component for the foundation of the more complex organization aimed at creating wholeness, part-whole formation and fragmentation.
Price Wars and the Stability of Collusion: A Study of the Pre-World War I Bromine Industry

Bromine producers colluded to raise prices and profits during most of the period between 1885 and 1914. Collusion was punctuated by price wars in which prices fell sharply. The characteristics of these price wars are compared with those in the Green-Porter and Abreu- Pearce-Stachetti models. Some of the bromine price wars resulted from the imperfect monitoring problems in these models. Those price wars were short and mild. More severe price wars were part of a bargaining process, in which firms tried to force a renegotiation to a new collusive equilibrium with a different distribution of rents.