Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Teacher Trainees’ Perspectives of Teaching Graphic Novels to ESL Primary Schoolers

Students in the 21 st century are exposed to multimodal texts, which are texts with the combinations of the modes of prints, images, gestures and movements. Graphic novel is one of the examples of a multimodal text and this genre is introduced in the Language Arts module as part of the English language subject in the new Curriculum for Primary Schools in Malaysia. Hence, it is important that teachers should first be aware of how to make the most of multimodal texts before introducing their pupils to the strategies necessary for comprehending the text. However, without proper training on how to approach the genre, the teaching of graphic novels may pose difficulties for teachers in general and especially so for teacher trainees. This paper reports the findings of a survey conducted on teacher trainees to explore the challenges they faced in teaching graphic novels to primary schoolers. Results show that although the graphics succeeded to entice the pupils into reading the text, the teacher trainee felt that the graphics did not help their pupils in understanding the storyline. The pupils’ eagerness to go through the graphics has caused them to ignore the words in the speech balloons. Consequently this has led to incomprehensible input and misinterpretation of the content. Results from t hese preliminary findings can be used to further investigate the strategies good readers use to read and comprehend graphic novels, so that teacher trainee would be better prepared to utilise graphic novels in their English classes. Keywords: graphic novels; multimodal; teacher trainees; primary pupils; reading graphic novels
Explaining the Saving Behavior of Households’ in Ethiopia, Africa

Savings have been shown to have a positive impact on economic growth at the macroeconomic level. But, the micro-level analysis of householdsi¯ savings behavior is limited, especially in Sub-Saharan African economies. This study contributes to the understanding of the savings behavior of households in Africa, by modeling the savings behavior of householdsi¯ in Ethiopia with the two-part model. The results of the study reveal that number of extension contacts and access to market information have significant positive effects on the likelihood that a household would save. Moreover, land holdings (bad production season last year) have significant positive (adverse) impact on the expected amount of money a household would save. Based on the results of this study, policies are recommended to increase savings in Ethiopia.
Cwellan in the Name of: A Diachronic Consideration of Synonyms for Killing in English

Allo (2013) examined the retention of adjectives between Old and Modern English to determine that most frequent semantic shift was the loss of lexical items paired with the gain of new ones. The current paper takes a similar approach by conducting an analysis of the semantic change affecting the notion “to kill” between Old and Modern English and its connection to the state of the culture at a given time. It was expected that Old English possessed a plethora of synonyms for “to kill”, while the Modern English vocabulary lacks this lexical richness in denoting killing. I employ a corpus-based approach that relies upon dictionaries and thesauri, notably the Oxford English Dictionary and the Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus , to contrast the given number of synonyms within the vocabulary at each stage of the language. The analysis considered the selected vocabulary by pairing a progressive consideration of which Old English words have been retained and a regressive one by tracing Modern English lexical items to determine whether they are etymologically related to the older form of the language. Finding a significant disparity between the nineteen broadly applicable Old English words denoting killing and the singular perfect equivalent in Modern English, I argue that the lexicon of a language can encode insight into culture at a given point of time. Specifically, I suggest that the diminution of lexical items in English that denote killing as their primary definition reflects the shift from the warrior culture of the Anglo-Saxons to the general modern day focus on the minimization and avoidance of widespread violence.
Lateral carbon fluxes and CO 2 outgassing from a tropical peat-draining river

Abstract. Tropical peatlands play an important role in the global carbon cycle due to their immense carbon storage capacity. However, pristine peat swamp forests are vanishing due to deforestation and peatland degradation, especially in Southeast Asia. CO2 emissions associated with this land use change might not only come from the peat soil directly but also from peat-draining rivers. So far, though, this has been mere speculation, since there has been no data from undisturbed reference sites. We present the first combined assessment of lateral organic carbon fluxes and CO2 outgassing from an undisturbed tropical peat-draining river. Two sampling campaigns were undertaken on the Maludam River in Sarawak, Malaysia. The river catchment is covered by protected peat swamp forest, offering a unique opportunity to study a peat-draining river in its natural state, without any influence from tributaries with different characteristics. The two campaigns yielded consistent results. Dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations ranged between 3222 and 6218 μmol L−1 and accounted for more than 99 % of the total organic carbon (TOC). Radiocarbon dating revealed that the riverine DOC was of recent origin, suggesting that it derives from the top soil layers and surface runoff. We observed strong oxygen depletion, implying high rates of organic matter decomposition and consequently CO2 production. The measured median pCO2 was 7795 and 8400 μatm during the first and second campaign, respectively. Overall, we found that only 32 ± 19 % of the carbon was exported by CO2 evasion, while the rest was exported by discharge. CO2 outgassing seemed to be moderated by the short water residence time. Since most Southeast Asian peatlands are located at the coast, this is probably an important limiting factor for CO2 outgassing from most of its peat-draining rivers.
Utilization of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in bituminous mixture for improved performance of roads

Plastic bottle for recycling can be found from the household waste stream, and most of them are made from Polyethylene Terephthalate. In this research, PET is utilized to explore the potential prospects to upgrade asphalt mixture properties. The objectives include deciding the best measure of PET to be used. For experimental, Marshall mix design was utilized to determine the ideal bitumen binder content and to test the modified mixture properties. The samples were created per the requirement for aggregate course wearing (ACW14) using the Standard Specification of Road Work (SSRW) in Malaysia. 20 samples were utilized to determine the binder content, and 30 samples were used to research the impact of modifying asphalt mixtures. 2%, 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% of PET by weight of the optimum binder content (4.8%) were tested. Optimum PET content is 10%, and the result shows a good stability with 16.824kN, 2.32g/cm3 bulk density, void filled with bitumen (VFB) with 71.35%, flow with 3.2248mm, air void (AV) with 4.53%, and void of mineral aggregate (VMA) with 15.15%. The outcomes showed that PET modifier gives better engineering properties. Therefore, 10% of PET by the weight of binder content was suggested as the best amount of the modifier.
Essays on Information and Conflicts of Interest in Stock Recommendations

This thesis brings together three separate empirical essays on the information and conflicts of interest in stock recommendations. The first essay analyzes stock-price reactions to recommendations published in printed Swedish media and also trading volumes at and around the publication day, bid/ask spreads, and the post-publication drift in recommended stocks for the period 1995-2000. Its small size and limited number of actors makes the Swedish stock market an interesting comparison to the U.S. stock markets. The positive publication-day effect for buy recommendations was almost fully reversed after 20 days, supporting the price-pressure hypothesis, and the effect for sell recommendations was negative and prices continued to drift down, supporting the information hypothesis. Analysts seem to hand their information to private clients before publication, whereas no such information-leaking pattern was observed for recommendations from journalists. The impact to recommendations from journalists was significantly larger than analyst recommendations, implying a tradeoff between the size of pre-publication cumulative abnormal returns and the publication-day effect. The second essay analyzes the initiated and changed recommendations published in six well-known Swedish newspapers and business magazines for the period 1996-2000 using a buy-and-hold abnormal returns (BHARs) approach. As was done in essay 1, the results here distinguish between recommendations from analysts and journalists. Buy recommendations were misleading investors, whereas sell recommendations were leading them correctly. Overall all buyand sell recommendations yield returns in line with the market. This asymmetry could be due to positive information from the management of the company being more intricate to interpret than negative and generally exaggerated in a positive direction. This phenomenon holds for recommendations from both analysts and journalists. Following buyand sell recommendations from analysts yielded BHARs in line with those from following journalist recommendations, which in turn gives rise to returns in line with the market. The third essay examines the credibility in underwriter analyst stock recommendations of Scandinavian IPO firms for the period 1996-2001. The excess returns for recommendations from underwriter analysts’ versus those from non-underwriter analysts’ in an environment without the quiet-period regulation is analyzed. Underwriter analyst recommendations are found to outperform non-underwriter analyst recommendations during the first year from publication, yielding substantially higher mean excess returns. Recommendations from underwriters comes sooner after the IPO date and performs worse before and in the days surrounding the recommendation date, showing no evidence that underwriters try to ”boost” IPO firms in the aftermarket trading. The results support the superior information hypothesis.
Primordial gravitational waves, precisely: the role of thermodynamics in the Standard Model

In this paper, we revisit the estimation of the spectrum of primordial gravitational waves originated from inflation, particularly focusing on the effect of thermodynamics in the Standard Model of particle physics. By collecting recent results of perturbative and non-perturbative analysis of thermodynamic quantities in the Standard Model, we obtain the effective degrees of freedom including the corrections due to non-trivial interaction properties of particles in the Standard Model for a wide temperature interval. The impact of such corrections on the spectrum of primordial gravitational waves as well as the damping effect due to free-streaming particles is investigated by numerically solving the evolution equation of tensor perturbations in the expanding universe. It is shown that the reevaluation of the effects of free-streaming photons and neutrinos gives rise to some additional damping features overlooked in previous studies. We also observe that the continuous nature of the QCD crossover results in a smooth spectrum for modes that reenter the horizon at around the epoch of the QCD phase transition. Furthermore, we explicitly show that the values of the effective degrees of freedom remain smaller than the commonly used value 106.75 even at temperature much higher than the critical temperature of the electroweak crossover, and that the amplitude of primordial gravitational waves at a frequency range relevant to direct detection experiments becomes 𝒪(1) % larger than previous estimates that do not include such corrections. This effect can be relevant to future high-sensitivity gravitational wave experiments such as ultimate DECIGO. Our results on the temperature evolution of the effective degrees of freedom are made available as tabulated data and fitting functions, which can also be used in the analysis of other cosmological relics.
Antiretroviral Therapy Perceived Efficacy and Risky Sexual Behaviors: Evidence from Mozambique

This paper studies the effect of increased access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) for AIDS on self-reported risky sexual behavior, using data collected in Mozambique in 2007 and 2008. The survey sampled both households from randomly selected HIV positive individuals and comparison households from the general population. Controlling for unobserved individual characteristics, our findings support the hypothesis of disinhibition behaviors, in which people report more sexual risk taking when they perceive ART as more efficacious. In particular, risky behaviors are more positively associated with efficacious ART for family members of HIV positive persons and for individuals from comparison households. However, over the study period, we find that increased experience with ART at the nearest health facility has decreased, rather than increased, the perceived efficacy of ART. To the degree that the perceived efficacy of ART has declined, perhaps because people have known more patients who have failed treatment, people’s sexual behavior has become more cautious. Our findings suggest that risk behavior is sensitive to the perceived efficacy of ART programs and that efforts to expand ART access or reduce ART failure rates must be supplemented with programs to prevent a resurgence of risky sexual behavior. We stress that our identification strategy reveals associations, and therefore our findings should not be interpreted as causal.
EFFECT OF SOLUS PER AQUA (SPA) ON INFANT WEIGHT

Background: The prevalence of skinny infants in Indonesia is still high. Baby's Spa is considered to be able increase infant’s weight. Objective: To determine the effectivity of baby spa in infant weight in in Bebengan Village, Boja Sub District, Kendal Regency, Central Java, Indonesia Methods: This study was a quasy-experimental study with non-equivalent control group design. There were 38 infants were selected using purposive sampling, divided into 3 groups, namely: 1) a group received Spa 2 times per week (12 infants), 2) a group received spa 3 times per week (13 infants), and 3) a control group. Baby digital scale of ARN-EBSD-04 was used to measure infant weight. Data were analyzed using paired t-test and ANOVA. Results: There was statistically significant effect of intervention in each group on the infant’s weight. However, the data showed that the intervention that had a better effect on infant weight was the intervention of spa in two times per week with mean difference before and after intervention of 603 g. Conclusions: Spa in 2 times per week could significantly increase infant weight effectively. Therefore, it is recommended for midwife to apply this intervention to increase the weight gain of babies and to reduce the number of skinny infants in Indonesia.
The Effectiveness of a Formal Physical Education Curriculum on the Physical Ability of Children in a Preschool Context

Studies have pointed to the benefits of physical activity (PA), yet the level of PA participation among preschoolers is low. This in turn could have resulted in the limited research literature on the PA level or physical education curriculum (PEC) of preschool children. Those reviewed here are mostly from countries in the West, as those from Asia are unavailable. To fill this gap, the present study was carried out to investigate the effectiveness of a formal PEC on the physical ability of a sample of five-year old children from several preschools in Singapore. Using a Physical Ability Assessment (PAA) tool with five variables, a pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental design was used to measure the effectiveness of the PEC with control and experimental groups for the comparative analysis. The results of the PAA are presented and the implications from the findings and analysis are discussed.
Adjustment for heterogeneous genetic and non-genetic (co)variance structures in test-day models using a transformation on random regression effect regressors

A method of accounting for differences in variation in components of test-day milk production records was developed. This method could improve accuracy of genetic evaluations. A random regression model is used to analyze data, and then a transformation is applied to the random regression coefficients. When evaluations with and without this transformation were compared, rankings of animals were similar but some re-rankings occurred. A correlation analysis showed a reduction in effect of production level on variation in regression coefficients, which indicated the success of the transformation. The method suggests a number of innovative solutions to problems related to heterogeneous variance structures.
Evaluation of husband–wife communication regarding family planning among the couple of reproductive age group in the field practice area of Prathima Institute of Medical Sciences, Karimnagar

Family planning plays an important role in controlling population growth and reducing mortality, especially maternal mortality. In developing countries, there is still rapid population growth, high mortality rates and contraceptive use is still very low, as compared to developed ones. Traditionally family planning programs in developing countries have long focused on women as the subject of interest. In India, particularly, young women, virtually have no role to play or are allowed to play very limited in the making of reproductive decisions. There can be a clash of interests here between male and female members of the family, particularly given their typically asymmetric roles in child care, and the outcomes of family decisions may therefore not be ABSTRACT
Gauging Growth: How to Judge No Child Left Behind?

Many policymakers feel pressure to claim that No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is boosting student performance, as Congress reconsiders the federal government’s role in school reform. But how should politicians and activists gauge NCLB’s effects? The authors offer evidence on three barometers of student performance, drawing from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and state data spanning the 1992–2006 period. Focusing on the performance of fourth graders, where gains have been strongest since the early 1970s, the authors find that earlier test score growth has largely faded since enactment of NCLB in 2002. Gains in math achievement have persisted in the post-NCLB period, albeit at a slower rate of growth. Performance in many states continues to apparently climb. But the bar defining proficiency is set much lower in most states, compared with the NAEP definition, and the disparity between state and federal results has grown since 2001. Progress seen in the 1990s in narrowing achievement gaps has largely disappeared in the post-NCLB era.
Do managers reappoint auditor for related party transactions? Evidence from selected East Asian countries

ABSTRACT We study the association between auditor reappointment (initial relationship stage), including recurring auditor appointment over several consecutive years (close relationship stage) and company engagement in related-party transactions (RPTs) for selected listed companies from Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand. The results show that auditor reappointment has significant and negative associations with company engagement in RPTs. By contrast, the close ACR relationship increases company engagement in RPTs. The evidence also suggests that Big 4 audit firms can reduce company engagement in RPTs, even when they have a close relationship. However, the findings derived from a sub-sample of RPT companies suggest that the close relationship between Big 4 audit firms and their clients substantially encourages companies to engage in RPTs. Overall, these findings are consistent with theories in which higher audit quality is effective at monitoring RPTs, but the established relationship looks likely to create conflicting opinions that impair auditors’ independent judgment. Nevertheless, the likelihood of conflict disappears when clients operate in countries that more effectively implement and enforce regulations and protect minority shareholders. Keywords: Auditor-client relationship; auditor tenure; auditor reappointment; related party transactions; audit independence ABSTRAK Kami mengkaji hubungan antara pelantikan semula juruaudit (peringkat awal hubungan), termasuk pelantikan semula secara berulang untuk beberapa tahun yang berturutan (peringkat hubungan yang rapat) dan penglibatan syarikat dalam urus niaga pihak berkaitan (UPB) bagi syarikat tersenarai terpilih dari Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapura dan Thailand. Keputusan menunjukkan bahawa pelantikan semula juruaudit (peringkat awal hubungan) mempunyai hubungan yang negatif dan signifikan dengan penglibatan syarikat dalam UPB. Sebaliknya, pelantikan semula juruaudit di peringkat hubungan yang akrab meningkatkan penglibatan syarikat dalam UPB. Bukti juga mengesyorkan bahawa firma audit “Big 4” boleh mengurangkan penglibatan syarikat dalam UPB, walaupun mempunyai hubungan yang rapat dengan pengurus. Namun, penemuan yang diperoleh daripada sub-sampel syarikat UPB sahaja mencadangkan bahawa firma audit “Big 4” yang mempunyai hubungan rapat dengan pihak pengurusan meningkatkan penglibatan syarikat dalam UPB dengan signifikan. Secara keseluruhan, penemuan kajian ini adalah konsisten dengan teori, kualiti audit yang tinggi efektif dalam memantau UPB. Tetapi, hubungan yang rapat antara juruaudit dan pengurus menyebabkan konflik yang boleh menjejaskan pertimbangan yang bebas. Namun demikian, kemungkinan berlakunya konflik akan lenyap apabila syarikat beroperasi dalam negara yang melaksanakan peraturan dan perlindungan yang efektif kepada pemegang saham minoriti. Keywords: Hubungan juruaudit-klien; tenur juruaudit; pelantikan semula juruaudit; urusniaga pihak berkaitan; kebebasan audit