Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Clash of Learning Cultures? Expatriate TEFL Teachers in Brunei Darussalam

There has been concern in recent years over the poor performance of the Cambridge O level English language paper of students in Brunei. Previous investigation of the problem reveals repeated concerns expressed by expatriate EFL teachers over, amongst other issues, a clash of values encountered particularly at the institutional level. This study seeks to uncover the nature of the clash and to consider whether it is an obstacle to improving the English language learning situation in Brunei. A group of expatriate teachers was surveyed and took part in a focus group discussion. The findings suggest that a clash of learning cultures exists, but within the classroom, and is manageable. In contrast, a picture emerges of a more intractable clash at the institutional level, which could be one of the factors hampering the effective learning of English in schools in Brunei.
Production and growth of new particles during two cruise campaigns in the marginal seas of China

Abstract. In this paper, we investigated production and growth of new particles in the marine atmosphere during two cruise campaigns in China Seas using a Fast Mobility Particle Sizer. Only eight new particle formation (NPF) events (> 30 min) occurred on 5 days out of 31 sampling days, and the subsequent growth of new particles was observed only in five events. Apparent formation rates of new particles (in the range of 5.6–30 nm) varied from 0.3 to 15.2 particles cm−3 s−1 in eight events, and growth rates ranged from 2.5 to 10 nm h−1 in five NPF events. Modeling results simulated by US EPA Community Multi-scale Air Quality Model (CMAQ) showed that ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) was newly formed in the atmosphere over the corresponding sea zone during 2 out of 5 events, in which new particles partially or mostly grew over 50 nm. However, in the remaining three events, new particles cannot grow over 30 nm, and the modeling results showed that no NH4NO3 was newly formed in the corresponding marine atmosphere. Modeling results also showed that formation of secondary organics occurred through all new particle growth periods. Difference between the two types of new particle growth patterns suggested that a combination of ammonium nitrate and organics newly formed likely contributed to the growth of new particles from 30 nm to larger size. However, the findings were obtained from the limited data, and the simulations of CMAQ also suffered from several weaknesses such as only having three size bins for different particles, lack of marine aerosol precursors, etc. More future studies are thereby needed for confirmation.
The Role of Prevolitional Processes in Video Game Playing: A Test of the Model of Goal-Directed Behavior and the Extended Model of Goal-Directed Behavior

The aim of the current study is to investigate the relationship between prevolitional processes and video game playing. Models of attitude, the model of goal-directed behavior (MGB) and the extended model of goal-directed behavior (EMGB) are tested with structural equation models to analyze the process that leads to video game playing. More specifically, the roles of affective, motivational, habitual processes in video game playing and the goal underlying video game playing are examined. The participants were 210 video game players who completed measures of Attitude, Subjective Norms, Perceived Behavioral Control, Behavioral Desire, Anticipated Emotions, Intention to Play, intensity of actual and past video game playing (Playing Behavior and Past Playing Behavior) and Goal Desire. The results showed that the initial MGB did not achieve a satisfactory fit and thus, a revised model with more acceptable fit was proposed. It was found that anticipated emotions and attitude are significant predictors of desire to play; desire to play, perceived behavioral control, subjective norms and attitude are significant predictors of intention to play and intention is a significant predictor of playing behavior (actual playing time). Moreover, past playing is a stronger significant predictor of behavior itself than of prevolitional processes in video game playing. Goal desire within the EMGB is a significant predictor of desire to play and the relationship of goal to playing behavior is indirect. Nevertheless, goal desire has an important role in the prevolitional processes of video game playing. In the discussion, potential explanations are further explored.
Effect of Cutting Bill Requirements on Lumber Yield in a Rip-First Rough Mill

In recent years, producers of solid wood dimension parts have emphasized improvements in lumber yield, focusing primarily on lumber grade and cutting technology rather than cutting bill design. Yet, cutting bills have a significant impact on yield. Using rip-first rough mill simulation software, a data bank of red oak lumber samples, and a cutting bill that resembles those used in industry, we determined the effect of changes in part size within an existing cutting bill and the impact of part-quantity requirements on yield. The results indicated that cutting bill requirements have a large influence on yield when the shortest part length in the bill is changed. Medium-length part sizes also affect yield except when the cutting bill requires an unlimited number of small parts; in this case, yield always will be high. When an all-blades-movable arbor is used, length changes in the bill affect yield more than changes in width. This study reveals our current lack of understanding of the complex relationship between cutting bill and lumber yield, and points out the yield gains that are possible when properly designed cutting bills are used.
Culture and Values Competence in International Investment Projects: HR Management Approach

This chapter aimed to identify the impact of labor force diversity on human resource (HR) management (HRM) in multinational enterprises, having investment projects in the countries of Eurasian Economic Union, and to propose recommendations which HR practices are effective in making use of diversity. The chapter shows that insti tutional theory and resource theory are the theoretical bases of diversity manage- ment. In practice, diversity management refers to the ‘culture and values’ competence, included in the ICB Project Management Knowledge Guide 4.0. Methodology research includes publication research, an in-depth analysis of semi-structure interviews with human resource managers and consultants. Interviews identify approaches and human resource practices in the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan and Belorussia: HR marketing attracts foreign workers mostly under pressure stemming from minority customers and the diversity market. They are predominantly recruited for blue-collar jobs, held rather lower management positions and provided few pro- motion oppor- tunities. Besides, managers have not gotten competencies in diversity management, but they think that it is truly important for managing divers personnel, and they are ready for learning and using diversity management. Findings demonstrate as a busi ness case. Besides, diversity management competences of managers and HR officers are representing as model of competences.
Assessment of the sardine (Sardina pilchardus Walbaum, 1792) fishery in the eastern Mediterranean basin (North Aegean Sea)

The aim of this study was to describe the biometric characteristics of the European sardine ( Sardina pilchardus ) catches and assess the current status of sardine stock in North Aegean Sea based on population characteristics and abundance trends. The stock was dominated by age groups 1 and 2, not exceeding age group 4. The sardine stock in this area was assessed through an Integrated Catch-at-Age model which implements a separable Virtual Population Analysis on catch at age data with weighted tuning indices. Sardine landings data derived from the commercial purse seine fishery over the period 2000-2008 were combined with the age structure of the stock as resulted from fisheries independent acoustic surveys. Sensitivity analysis of the impact of natural mortality values on stock assessment results was applied. Additionally forecast of the sardine population parameters and catches under different exploitation scenarios was implemented in a medium term basis. Results indicated that the North Aegean Sea sardine stock is considered fully exploited with the fishery operating close but over the empirical exploitation level for sustainability. Finally, the status of the sardine stock in N. Aegean Sea is discussed in relation to the sardine stocks from the western and the central Mediterranean basin.
POLE PHOTOGRAMMETRY WITH AN ACTION CAMERA FOR FAST AND ACCURATE SURFACE MAPPING

High resolution and high accuracy terrain mapping can provide height change detection for studies of erosion, subsidence or land slip. A UAV flying at a low altitude above the ground, with a compact camera, acquires images with resolution appropriate for these change detections. However, there may be situations where different approaches may be needed, either because higher resolution is required or the operation of a drone is not possible. Pole photogrammetry, where a camera is mounted on a pole, pointing to the ground, is an alternative. This paper describes a very simple system of this kind, created for topographic change detection, based on an action camera. These cameras have high quality and very flexible image capture. Although radial distortion is normally high, it can be treated in an auto-calibration process. The system is composed by a light aluminium pole, 4 meters long, with a 12 megapixel GoPro camera. Average ground sampling distance at the image centre is 2.3 mm. The user moves along a path, taking successive photos, with a time lapse of 0.5 or 1 second, and adjusting the speed in order to have an appropriate overlap, with enough redundancy for 3D coordinate extraction. Marked ground control points are surveyed with GNSS for precise georeferencing of the DSM and orthoimage that are created by structure from motion processing software. An average vertical accuracy of 1 cm could be achieved, which is enough for many applications, for example for soil erosion. The GNSS survey in RTK mode with permanent stations is now very fast (5 seconds per point), which results, together with the image collection, in a very fast field work. If an improved accuracy is needed, since image resolution is 1/4 cm, it can be achieved using a total station for the control point survey, although the field work time increases.
Public Funding and Enrollment in Formal Child Care in the 1990s

Although the share of all 3‐ and 4‐year‐old children enrolled in center‐based care and early education has grown steadily in recent decades, rates of enrollment for children from low‐income families still lag behind those for children from families with high incomes. During the 1990s, growing public funding for compensatory preschool education and means‐tested child‐care assistance had the potential to increase the availability of free or low‐cost formal child‐care arrangements and thus the attendance of low‐income children. This article analyzes repeated cross‐sectional data on formal child‐care attendance from the October Current Population Survey as well as data on state‐level funding. The results indicate that increases in public funding are positively associated with the probability that low‐income young children attended formal care. These results also suggest that gaps in formal care between low‐ and high‐income families would have widened in the absence of public investments.
Social science research on technology and the elderly – does it exist?

Despite the fact that old people´s technological needs have been given much attention to in the last decennium, especially old users of information- and communication technology, technology has not found its natural place in research on ageing in modern societies. This article examines to what extent social science research exist in the field of ageing and technology and where we can find the interface between technological and social science expertise. Scientific publications during the period 1983-2002 are analysed in terms of theoretical content, the role of the elderly as being regarded as objects or subjects, and if technology is called into question in any respect. Scientific well-grounded knowledge exist besides less well-substantiated assumptions regarding the effects of technology and a premature body of thoughts on the relationship between technology and the elderly.
Sequential Adoption and Cost Savings from Precision Agriculture

Precision agricultural (PA) technologies can decrease input costs by providing farmers with more detailed information and application control, but adoption has been sluggish, especially for variable-rate technologies (VRT). Is it possible that farmers have difficulty realizing these cost savings? Combinations of PA technologies are considered as complements, testing several patterns of PA technology adoption that may show different levels of costs. The USDAâ€™s Agricultural Resource Management Survey of corn producers is used to estimate a treatment-effects model that allows for selection bias. VRT contributes additional production cost savings when added to soil mapping, but not when done with yield mapping alone.
An estimate of the global distribution of radon emissions from the ocean

There is a need for improved estimates of the radon (222Rn) flux density from the ocean for use in the modeling and interpretation of atmospheric radon in global climate and air pollution studies. We use a modification of a frequently used model of gas transfer to generate global predictions of ocean radon flux density for each month of the year (climate averaged) on a 192 by 94 global grid. Compared with the often‐used approximation of a constant radon flux from the ocean, the model's predictions indicate large variations over regions of the ocean (a factor of ten is not uncommon). For example, latitude bands near the equator and Southern Ocean are predicted to emit relatively high average radon flux compared with other latitude bands. The predicted annually‐averaged flux density from the ocean is 0.0382 mBq m−2 s−1 (0.00182 atoms cm−2 s−1), smaller than some commonly‐used estimates.
Breeding progress and preparedness for mass‐scale deployment of perennial lignocellulosic biomass crops switchgrass, miscanthus, willow and poplar

Genetic improvement through breeding is one of the key approaches to increasing biomass supply. This paper documents the breeding progress to date for four perennial biomass crops (PBCs) that have high output–input energy ratios: namely Panicum virgatum (switchgrass), species of the genera Miscanthus (miscanthus), Salix (willow) and Populus (poplar). For each crop, we report on the size of germplasm collections, the efforts to date to phenotype and genotype, the diversity available for breeding and on the scale of breeding work as indicated by number of attempted crosses. We also report on the development of faster and more precise breeding using molecular breeding techniques. Poplar is the model tree for genetic studies and is furthest ahead in terms of biological knowledge and genetic resources. Linkage maps, transgenesis and genome editing methods are now being used in commercially focused poplar breeding. These are in development in switchgrass, miscanthus and willow generating large genetic and phenotypic data sets requiring concomitant efforts in informatics to create summaries that can be accessed and used by practical breeders. Cultivars of switchgrass and miscanthus can be seed‐based synthetic populations, semihybrids or clones. Willow and poplar cultivars are commercially deployed as clones. At local and regional level, the most advanced cultivars in each crop are at technology readiness levels which could be scaled to planting rates of thousands of hectares per year in about 5 years with existing commercial developers. Investment in further development of better cultivars is subject to current market failure and the long breeding cycles. We conclude that sustained public investment in breeding plays a key role in delivering future mass‐scale deployment of PBCs.
Impact of Teachers' Motivational Indices on Science Students' Academic Performance in Nigerian Senior Secondary Schools

The impact of science teachers’ motivation on science students’ academic performance in Senior Secondary Schools in Ondo and Ekiti States of Nigeria was investigated in this study. This was a descriptive survey research which was questionnaire based and past WAEC O/L ((May/June 2008 and 2009) student results on the science subjects. The population of the study was all public Secondary Schools (science teachers and students) in Ekiti and Ondo States, Nigeria. A stratified random sampling was used to select a total of five hundred and ten (510) science teachers (male and female) from Ekiti and Ondo States from the selected schools for the study. And a total six thousand eight hundred (6,800) Science Students (male and female) from the selected schools was also considered in the study. In each of the school selected for the study, only teachers of Biology, Chemistry and Physics were involved in the sample and the students that registered and wrote Biology, Chemistry and Physics WAEC examination of May/June 2008 and 2009 in Ekiti and Ondo states of Nigeria. The data collected for the study were analyzed using descriptive analysis, Multiple Regression analysis and Pearson Product Moment Correlation. All the hypotheses were tested at 5 % level of significance. Among others, the study revealed that; there was significant relationship between regular payment of science teachers’ allowance and academic performance of science students; there was significant relationship between regular teachers’ participation in seminars/ workshops and academic performance of science students. Also, there exist statistical significant relationship between granting of study leave with pay to science teachers and academic performance of science students. As a result of the findings, it was recommended that the adequate science allowance should be regularly paid to the science teachers to enhance their excellent performance.
Thermoplastic Cassava Starch-PVA Composite Films with Cellulose Nanofibers from Oil Palm Empty Fruit Bunches as Reinforcement Agent

Thermoplastic starch-polyvinyl alcohol composite films were prepared by casting method with cellulose nanofibers as reinforcement agent and glycerol as plasticizer. The obtained cellulose nanofibers with a diameter of nm were isolated from oil palm empty fruit bunches (OPEFBs) by mechanical treatment. The addition of cellulose nanofibers until 3 wt% increased tensile strength and crystallinity of the composite films. In contrast, it decreased their elongation at break and water vapor transmission rate. Meanwhile, the addition of glycerol increased elongation at break and water vapor transmission rate of film matrix but lowers tensile strength of composite films.
Direct effects of money on aggregate demand: another look at the evidence

Now that a number of central banks are faced with short-term nominal interest rates close to or at the zero lower bound, there is a renewed interest in the long-running debate about whether or not changes in the stock of money have direct effects. In particular, do changes in money have additional effects on aggregate demand outside of those induced by changes in short-term nominal interest rates? This article revisits and reinterprets the empirical evidence based on single equation regressions which is quite mixed, with some results supporting and other results denying the existence of direct effects. We use a structural model with no direct effects of money to show that the finding of positive and statistically significant coefficients on real money growth can be misleading. The model generates data that, when used to estimate analogues of the empirical regressions, produce positive and statistically significant coefficients on real money growth, similar to those often found when using actual data. The problem is that single equation regressions leave out a set of variables, which in turn, give rise to an omitted variables bias in the estimated coefficients on real money growth. Hence, they are an unreliable guide to calibrate monetary policies, in general, including at the zero lower bound.
Revista Brasileira de Paleontologia

Two new Oligocene ostracod species, Eucypris lobatoi sp. nov. and Potamocypris taubatensis sp. nov., are herein proposed. This is the first fossil record of these genera in Brazil, and the species identified occur in two distinct phases of the Tremembé Paleolake. It is assumed that Eucypris lobatoi sp. nov. has lived in the oldest and more stable phase of the lake, Potamocypris taubatensis sp. nov., in the youngest and more unstable phase. These data support a previous ostracod-based paleolimnological interpretation which sustains a shallowing trend in the paleolake during the final deposition of the Tremembé Formation.
ISO 9000 is Not An Economic Disease

The aim of this paper is to discuss and explain the conditions under which ISO 9000 is likely to have positive effects on organisational performance and employee development. The results described in this paper are coming from a research project looking at ISO 9000 in a more integrated manner using the different research strategies. Both questionnaire surveys and case studies investigating the processes related to ISO 9000 implementation and operation in the organisational settings were used. The value of ISO 9000 differs between organisations and depends on several organisational and external conditions, such as motivation for ISO 9000 implementation, maturity level of quality management, implementation strategy, certification audits, and involvement of people. For this reason benefits achieved from ISO 9000 are not the same for every organisation. They depend on the quality objectives set and the level of commitment to achieve business excellence.
The determinants of bank margins revisited: A note on the effects of diversification

Most of the theoretical and empirical literature on bank margins has dealt solely with interest margins. Applying the seminal Ho-Saunders model (JFQA, 1981) to a multi-output framework, we show that the relationship between bank margins and market power (controlling for risk) varies significantly across bank specializations. Using a set of both accounting margins and New Empirical Industrial Organization (NEIO) margins, we find that market power rises significantly with output diversification towards non-traditional activities. These results contribute to explain the paradoxical coexistence of decreasing interest margins and higher market power found in previous studies.