Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Eliciting the Views of Prospective Elementary and Preschool Teachers about the Nature of Science

Recent science education standards emphasize the importance of the instruction of nature of science (NOS) concepts at all levels of schooling from pre-K to K-12. Delivering a proper NOS education to students is excessively dependent on their teachers with an adequate understanding of NOS concepts. The present study investigated the science conceptions of preschool and elementary teacher candidates. The data collected from a total of 506 prospective teachers were analyzed with respect to the following demographic variables: majors, genders, grade levels, high schools and GPAs of teacher candidates. “Student Understanding of Science and Scientific Inquiry (SUSSI)” developed originally by Liang et al. (2008) was the instrument used to collect data in this study. The data analyses were conducted using MANOVA and Pearson Correlation Coefficient. The corresponding mean scores of the teacher candidates in specific aspects of NOS ranged from “poor” to “informed” conceptions of science. All but one of the demographic variables yielded statistically insignificant results on the NOS conceptions of teacher candidates. The majors of the teacher candidates were detected as a significant variable influencing the conceptions of the teacher candidates. The results of the study were discussed in reference with the relevant literature.
Industry Compliance Costs Under the Renewable Fuel Standard: Evidence from Compliance Credits

The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which requires oil refineries to blend ethanol into domestic fuel supplies, is a market-based policy that implements tradable compliance credits (called RINs) to better equalize compliance costs across firms. We exploit unanticipated regulatory announcements that caused major swings in RIN prices to retrieve reduced-form estimates of how the RFS impacts stock prices of refining firms. Our analysis reveals no significant stock price response among small or medium size firms and a small but statistically significant price response among large refiners. These findings are relevant to policy in that they cast doubt on concerns that the RFS allows large, integrated refiners to abuse smaller, merchant refiners. Our findings also shed light on the necessity of Small Refinery Exemptions, which are intended to shield small, financially vulnerable refiners from RFS compliance costs.
Do international migration and remittances reduce poverty in developing countries

International migration and remittances have an important role in economic and social development of the developing countries as it helps in achieving the gains of globalization. This paper endeavors to explore the relationship by forming and evaluating a new data set on foreign remittances, international migration, poverty and inequality in South Asian countries. As poverty and income inequality are the prime issues faced by the developing countries meanwhile a handsome number of skilled and educated workers of such countries is employed abroad in the high income countries, so the foreign remittances sent by these workers to home countries is expected to have positive impacts on poverty reduction. The contribution of foreign remittances in the total income of South Asia is 4.2% which shows a significant proportion of GDP and it has significant impact on poverty alleviation.
The influence of group stress management skills training on ambiguity tolerance of parentless or poorly parented adolescent girls

Introduction: The present study examines the Influence of group stress management skills training on ambiguity tolerance on parentless and poorly parented adolescent girls. Â Materials and Methods: This clinical study is implemented by pretest, post-test design and a control group. Statistical community included all of the parentless and poorly parented adolescent girls that are under the support of Mashhad Welfare Organization. Among them, 30 girls were selected through multiphase cluster sampling. They were divided in two groups randomly: experimental group (15 girls) and control group (15 girls). We used Ahmadpour's Ambiguity Tolerance Questionnaire in order to collect the data. The experimental group attended in 12 sessions of stress management skills training that lasted 100 minutes; while the control group had no training program. The data were analyzed through covariance analysis by SPSS software. Â Results: Our findings showed that group stress management skills training has a significant positive influence on ambiguity tolerance (total score and 5 subscales of 7 subscales) of parentless and poorly parented adolescent girls. The influence of training program on avoidance of aesthetic ambiguity and avoidance of anarchy wasn't statistically significant. Â Conclusion: It seems that group stress management skills training has a significant influence on the ambiguity tolerance of parentless and poorly parented adolescent girls.
Survival of Liparis loeselii (L.) as an early successional species in Engure region described based on ecological peculiarities DURING the annual cycle

Abstract We present some results of a six-year (2008-2013) study in two localities of Liparis loeselii (L.) Rich. near Lake Engure. The annual cycle of L. loeselii, an early successional species, may indicate its potential survival in its typical wet habitat with fluctuating levels of water. Flowering of L. loeselii usually begins in the first decade of June and lasts for several weeks. If the initiation of development was delayed, leaves and inflorescence started to grow almost simultaneously. Development of the first fruit began during flowering and continued to August. Ripening of fruit and seeds occurred in September-October, and they were dispersed mostly by melt water of snow in spring, which is very important for populations in sites overgrowing with perennial herbs. The previous season capsules of L. loeselii remained till the middle of the next growing season; a part of the seeds remained in capsules and less than 1% of seeds had viable embryos. This may increase the survival potential of the population. The studies of herbarium records of L. loeselii in the area of Lake Engure showed that the annual cycles of L. loeselii have been similar and that the species has not responded drastically to climate change. Abstract in Latvian Raksts iepazīstina ar pētījumu, kas sešu gadu garumā (2008-2013) veikts divās Liparis loeselii (L.) Rich. atradnēs Engures ezera apkārtnē. Pētījuma mērķis bija noskaidrot, kā tipiska agrās sukcesijas suga spējusi šādā mainīgā vidē izdzīvot vairāk kā 100 gadus. Herbārija un gada cikla studijas lauka pētījumi atklāja, ka gada cikli ir līdzīgi un ka suga strauji nereaģē uz klimata izmaiņām. Mūsu pētījuma rezultāti parādīja, ka L. loeselii izdzīvošanu mitros biotopos ar mainīgu ūdens līmeni nodrošina pielāgotību komplekss. Seklā sakņu sistēma ļauj pārciest īslaicīgu applūšanu. Lapas un ziedkopa attīstās jūnija sākumā; ja attīstība aizkavējas, lapas un ziedkopa sāk augt gandrīz vienlaicīgi. Sēklas nogatavojas rudenī, bet izsējas pavasarī un izplatās ar sniega kušanas ūdeņiem, kas ir īpaši svarīgi populācijām, kuras atrodas aizaugošos biotopos. No iepriekšējās sezonas neatvērušajās pogaļās palikušo sēklu embriju dzīvotspēja saglabājas zemāka par 1%, kas, ņemot vērā orhidejām raksturīgo lielo sēklu skaitu, tomēr palielina populācijas izdzīvošanas iespējas.
Factors that affect budget utilization by government ministries in Kenya

The annual amount of funds not utilized by Kenyan government ministries and returned to treasury has been a cause of concern to all stakeholders in the public management field. With the return of such funds, project implementation will be affected and government policies affected as well which will impact in the development in various sectors in the country. It is on the basis of this that the study sought to investigate factors that affect budget utilization government ministries in Kenya. The study adopted a cross sectional research design in which questioners were issued to finance officers in various ministries and their data analyzed using descriptive statistics and factor analysis. The results were analyzed using tables and factor index matrix. The findings of the study were that the ministries had documented budget and budgeting process that acts as a reference material on how the funds will be utilized and budgeting control procedures be maintained. The most focal factor that affects budget utilization are structural and cultural factors that exist in the ministry with the training and educational programmes coming out as the least factor that affect the utilization of budget funds in the ministries. Within the ministry, a lack of alignment between the organizational structure and structure of performance reporting requirements, value and usefulness of performance information were found to undermine the
Development of urban hierarchies at the country and regional levels in Turkey

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the hierarchical distribution of different city size groups at the country and regional level between 1945 and 2015 in Turkey. During this period, previous studies have illustrated that human mobility played an important role for the physical and socio-economic transformation of cities and regions. At the country level, first, while the growth rate of the number of smaller cities was higher than the others, the growth rate of population was the highest in the large cities. However, later, despite the population increase, the number of small cities was decreased due to transformation of economy from rural to industrial. During the post-modern era, globalization contributed even further the growth of large cities. As a result, hierarchical distribution of different size cities according to regions reveals the wide gap with respect to urbanization between the East and the West of the country. While the metropolitan cities are over urbanized in the urban hierarchy due to globalization, some of the regions in the East do not have large cities due to lack of economic development and higher out-migration rate. Mobility of capital and the people from the East to the West do not allow the full-fledged development of the urban hierarchy in the Black Sea and the East Anatolia Regions. This results in shortage of jobs and thus it becomes a vicious cycle for underdevelopment.
Grandparental Availability for Child Care and Maternal Employment: Pension Reform Evidence from Italy

In this paper, we exploit pension reform-induced changes in retirement eligibility requirements to assess the role of grandparental child care availability in the employment of women who have children under 15. We focus on Italy for two reasons: first, it has low rates of female employment and little formal child care provision, and second, it has undergone several pension reforms in a relatively short time span. Our analysis shows that, among the women studied, those whose own mothers are retirement eligible have a 13 percent higher probability of being employed than those whose mothers are ineligible. The pension eligibility of maternal grandfathers and paternal grandparents, however, has no significant effect on the women's employment probability. We also demonstrate that the eligibility of maternal grandmothers mainly captures the effect of their availability for child care. Hence, pension reforms, by potentially robbing households of an important source of flexible, low-cost child care, could have unintended negative consequences for the employment rates of women with children.
Poincar\'e Bisectors in Hyperbolic Spaces

We determine explicit formulas for the bisectors used in constructing a Dirichlet fundamental domain in hyperbolic two and three space. They are compared with the isometric spheres employed in the construction of a Ford domain and used to find a finite set of generators for discrete groups of finite covolume. Applications are given to Fuchsian groups, Kleinian groups, including the Bianchi groups, and for the construction of a finite set of generators of the unit group of the integral group ring of a finite nilpotent group. An easy implementable algorithm, DAFC, is also given and used in the search for generators of discrete groups.
The Effect of Corporate Entrepreneurship Determinants on Performance of Public Higher Education Institutions in Pakistan

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of four corporate entrepreneurship determinants; structure, management, culture and environment on organizational performance of public higher education institutions in Pakistan. Hypotheses were developed to determine the relationships between these determinants and performance of the institutions. Data were collected by means of structured mail survey questionnaires from the 225 faculty deans of the 74 state-owned universities in Pakistan, and multiple regression analysis was conducted to identify the predictive ability of the four determinants as independent variables on organizational performance. The findings reveal positive and significant relationships between management, culture and environment and performance. No significant relationship was found between structure and performance. The findings ultimately enhance the field of corporate entrepreneurship which focuses on improving the performance of the higher education institutions in Pakistan.
Impact of Country-of-Origin and Price on Product’s Advertisement Efficacy

Abstract The objective of this study is to assess the effect that country-of-origin and price have on efficacy of advertisements for a product. The African population has noticeably not featured much in country-of-origin research in spite of the growing size and complexity of the African consumer market. Country–of-origin refers to the country of manufacture, production, or growth where an article or product comes from. In realizing the goals for which it was set to achieve, this experimental study ascertained the influence of country-of-origin and price on advertisement efficacy involving an African population sample. Six hundred female and male undergraduates (with mean age = 23.02; SD= 3.2 years) were randomly drawn from a large university, to view a product advertisement that uniquely manipulated country-of-origin and price for a fictitious brand of insecticide named “Antisect. ” Data analysis was done using one-way analysis of variance. It was found that individually and collectively, country-of-origin and price did affect advertisement efficacy significantly. It was concluded that advertisers need to consider product’s countryof-origin and product’s price when developing successful advertisement campaigns. Beyond advertisements, countryof-origin and price also matter to buyers and consumers of products.
Influence of hay quality and pasture location on performance of beef cattle grazing oats

Heifers grazing oat pasture (OP) at two locations in Argentina, Argerich (ARG) and Pasman (PAS), were subjected to one of three different dietary supplement treatments: (1) control (CON, no supplement), (2) sorghum hay (SH), or (3) alfalfa-grass hay (AGH), all provided ad libitum in individual pens. The variables measured were: dry matter (DM) yield and composition of OP, hay intake, average daily weight gain (ADG), rumen pH and NH3-N, and blood mineral levels. DM availability did not limit OP intake. OP crude protein (CP) content ranged from 11.3 to 13% at ARG, and 10.7 to 13.3% at PAS. OP-minerals varied with location; the mean K/(Ca +Mg) ratios were 5.68 meq (ARG) and 4.82 meq (PAS). Heifers ate more AGH (785 g) than SH (684 g; P = 0.08). Hay consumption was 2.88 times greater at PAS than at ARG (P < 0.05). ADG was larger with SH (558 g) and AGH 594 g than with CON treatment (454 g); the average for ARG animals was 571 g compared to 500 g for PAS animals (P <0.05). Rumen pH was lower at 14:30 h (pH 6.7) than at 10:00 h (pH 7.5; P < 0.05). NH3-N values were higher at 14:30 h (19.59 mg dl-1) than at 10:00 h (4.69 mg dl-1; P < 0.05). Plasma Ca (15.50 mg dl1) and Mg (2.84 mg dl1) levels were higher in PAS cattle (P < 0.05). Animal performance improved with hay supplementation, but location affected response intensity.
Early and long-term impacts of browsing by roe deer in oak coppiced woods along a gradient of population density

Over the last few decades, wild ungulate populations have exhibited relevant geographic and demographic expansion in most European countries; roe deer is amongst the most widespread ungulate species. The increasing roe deer densities have led to strong impact on forest regeneration; the problem has been recently recognized in coppice woods, a silvicultural system which is widespread in Italy, where it amounts to about 56% of the total national forested area. In this study we investigated the effect of roe deer browsing on the vegetative regeneration of Turkey oak few years after coppicing, along a gradient of roe deer density. A browsing index revealed that browsing impact was high at any given roe deer density but increased at higher density, with the browsing rate ranging from 65% to 79%. We also analyzed the long-term impact of browsing six and eleven years after coppicing under a medium roe deer density. Results indicated the early impact are not ephemeral but produced prolonged impacts through time, with an average reduction in volume of -57% and -41% six and eleven years after coppicing, respectively. Based on these results we proposed integrating browsing monitoring with roe deer density estimation to allow identifying ungulate densities which are compatible with silvicultural and forest management objectives. The proposed browsing index can be regarded as an effective management tool, on account of its simplicity and cost-effectiveness, being therefore highly suitable for routine, large scale monitoring of browsing impact.
SUBSTRATES FORMULATED WITH ORGANIC RESIDUES IN THE PRODUCTION OF SEEDLINGS OF Moquiniastrum polymorphum

The composition of the substrate utilized as a growth medium is directly related to the seedling quality, being important the conduction of studies seeking an increased understanding of its formulation for seedling production. The objective of this study was to check the potential of the biosolid, cattle manure and coconut fiber in the evaluation of different substrate formulations for the production of seedlings of the forest species Moquiniastrum polymorphum . The experiment was conducted in structures of a forest nursery, localized in the municipality of Lavras-MG, in 110 cm³ tubes arranged in a completely randomized design constituted by five treatments with four replications of 54 seedlings per plot. When the seedlings reached 150 days after sowing, plant height, collet diameter, height/diameter ratio, shoot dry mass, root system dry mass, total dry mass and the shoot/root dry mass were measured, in addition to the Dickson Quality Index - DQI. It was found by means of the results obtained that for the production of seedlings of M. polymorphum , the use of substrates formulated from 20 to 60% of biosolid + 20 to 60% of cattle manure + 20% of coconut fiber is recommended. Key words : Biosolid; Gochnatia polymorpha; Seedling quality; Silviculture; Forest nursery. Resumo Formulacao de substrato com residuos orgânicos na producao de mudas de Moquiniastrum polymorphum. A composicao do substrato utilizado como meio de crescimento esta diretamente relacionada com a qualidade de mudas, sendo importante a realizacao de estudos que busquem uma maior compreensao de sua formulacao para producao de mudas. O objetivo deste estudo foi verificar o potencial do uso do biossolido, esterco bovino e fibra de coco na avaliacao de diferentes formulacoes de substratos para a producao de mudas da especie florestal Moquiniastrum polymorphum . O experimento foi conduzido no Viveiro Florestal da Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA), em tubetes de 110 cm³, sendo instalado em um delineamento inteiramente casualizado constituido por cinco tratamentos, com quatro repeticoes de 54 mudas por parcela. Quando as mudas atingiram 150 dias apos a semeadura, foram mensurados a altura das plantas, o diâmetro do coleto, a relacao altura/diâmetro, a massa seca da parte aerea, a massa seca do sistema radicular, a massa seca total e a relacao massa seca da parte aerea/raiz, alem do indice de qualidade de Dickson (IQD). Por meio dos resultados obtidos, constatou-se que para a producao de mudas de M. polymorphum recomenda-se o uso de substratos formulados a partir de 20 a 60% de biossolido + 20 a 60% de esterco bovino + 20% de fibra de coco. Palavras-chave : Biossolido; Gochnatia polymorpha ; qualidade de mudas; Silvicultura; Viveiro florestal.
SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL VARIATION IN FISH POPULATIONS AND ASSEMBLAGES IN COASTAL WATERS OF THE NORTHERN BALTIC PROPER Noora Mustamäki

The distribution and traits of  sh are of interest both ecologically and socio-economically. In this thesis, phenotypic and structural variation in  sh populations and assemblages was studied on multiple spatial and temporal scales in shallow coastal areas in the archipelago of the northern Baltic Proper. In Lumparn basin in Åland Islands, the  sh assemblage displayed signi cant seasonal variation in depth zone distribution. The results indicate that investigating both spatial and temporal variation in small scale is crucial for understanding patterns in  sh distribution and community structure in large scale. The local population of Eurasian perch Perca  uviatilis L displayed habitat-speci c morphological and dietary variation. Perch in the pelagic zone were on average deeper in their body shape than the littoral ones and fed on  sh and benthic invertebrates. The results differ from previous studies conducted in freshwater habitats, where the pelagic perch typically are streamlined in body shape and zooplanktivorous. Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen differed between perch with different stomach contents, suggesting differentiation of individual diet preferences. In the study areas Lumparn and Ivarskärsfjärden in Åland Islands and Galtfjärden in Swedish east coast, the development in  sh assemblages during the 2000’s indicated a general shift towards higher abundances of small-bodied lower-order consumers, especially cyprinids. For European pikeperch Sander lucioperca L. , recent declines in adult  sh abundances and high mortalities (Z = 1.06–1.16) were observed, which suggests unsustainably high  shing pressure on pikeperch. Based on the results it can be hypothesized that  shing has reduced the abundances of large predatory  sh, which together with bottom-up forcing by eutrophication has allowed the lower-order consumer species to increase in abundances. This thesis contributes to the scienti c understanding of aquatic ecosystems with new descriptions on morphological and dietary adaptations in perch in brackish water, and on the seasonal variation in small-scale spatial  sh distribution. The results also demonstrate anthropogenic effects on coastal  sh communities and underline the urgency of further reducing nutrient inputs and regulating  sheries in the Baltic Sea region.