Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Japanese learners' demotivation to study English: a survey study

Following Dörnyei’s (2001a) definition of demotivation, this paper focused on specific external forces that Japanese high school students may experience and that might cause their motivation to be reduced. On the basis of Kikuchi’s (in press) qualitative study and other former studies, we developed a 35-item questionnaire to gather quantitative data. The participants were 112 learners of English from three private universities in Tokyo and Shizuoka, Japan. They were asked to complete the questionnaire on the Internet. Using factor analysis, five factors were extracted: (a) Course Books, (b) Inadequate School Facilities, (c) Test Scores, (d) Noncommunicative Methods, and (e) Teachers’ Competence and Teaching Styles. Based on these results, we discuss possible demotivating factors in English classrooms in high schools in Japan.
Is the Marginal Effect of Education on Income Diminishing?

Abstract This study seeks to determine the effect of education on income for wage workers in Israel, for the years 2005 - 2015. The hypothesis of this study is that the marginal effect of the number of years of education on income will be declining, such that at a certain point, it will be zero or even negative. The results of the study show that until 2012, the marginal effect of the number of years of education on income is linear. However, beginning in 2013, the marginal effect of the number of years of education on income is declining.
Assessing uncertainties in crop model simulations using daily bias-corrected Regional Circulation Model outputs

Outputs from the Florida State University/Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies (FSU/COAPS) regional spectral model were linked to the CERES-Maize dynamic crop model, and the sources of uncertainty in yield prediction at 3 sites in the southeastern USA were examined. Daily incoming solar radiation, Tmax and Tmin, and rainfall output data were obtained from 1987 to 2004 of retrospective forecasts (hindcasts) that contained 20 ensemble members. These raw hindcasts were bias-corrected on their cumulative probability functions by using the historical daily weather records prior to the 18 yr hindcasted period. Six combinations of the 4 meteorological variables from raw and bias-corrected hindcasts and climatological values were used as sets of weather inputs into the CERES-Maize crop model. Uncertainties related to these combinations of sets of weather inputs were analyzed. The bias-correction method improved values of monthly statistics of the ensemble compared to the raw hindcasts in relation to the observed data. The number and length of dry spells were also made more accurate with this correction. The main source of uncer- tainty in linking the FSU/COAPS climate model to the CERES-Maize crop model was the specific timing of the occurrence of dry spells during the cropping seasons. Plant growth stress caused by soil water deficit during crucial phenological states largely affects simulated yields. Operationally, the inability of FSU/COAPS to accurately predict the timing of the occurrence of dry spells makes its climate forecasts less useful for farmers wishing to optimize planting dates and crop varieties for crops with short crucial phenological phases, such as maize.
Environmental and Technology Policies for Climate Change and Renewable Energy

We assess different policies for reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and promoting the innovation and diffusion of CO2-reducing power technologies: (1) emissions price, (2) tax on fossil power, (3) tradable emissions performance standard, (4) market share requirement for renewables, (5) renewables production subsidy, and (6) R&D subsidy for renewables. We evaluate the relative performance of the policies according to incentives they provide along different avenues for emissions reduction, their efficiency, and other salient outcomes. We also assess how the nature of technological progress-whether it occurs by learning by doing or R&D investment and the degree of knowledge spillovers -affects the desirability of different policies. In a numerical application for modest U.S. electricity sector policies, the relative cost of the policies in achieving reductions is roughly in the order given above, with an emissions price being the most cost-effective, an R&D subsidy the least, and the others in between.
GENERALIZED LINEAR MODELLING IN GEOMORPHOLOGY

Generalized linear modelling (GLM) is a statistical technique used to model the relation between a response variable and a set of explanatory variables. GLM is similar to the well known multiple regression. However, GLM is a powerful technique for exploratory data analysis with many advantages over more traditional techniques. For example, GLM allows the incorporation of categorical as well as continuous response and explanatory variables in the analysis. In this paper, GLM is explained and two examples of the application of the technique in geomorphology are given. The first example involves glacier surging and the second involves landslide susceptibility. The examples demonstrate the relevance of GLM to many common problems in geomorphology.
OPTIMALISASI PEMANFAATAN DAN PROFESIONALISME PENGELOLAAN ASET DESA DALAM MENINGKATKAN PENDAPATAN ASLI DESA

ABSTRAK Penelitian ini mengangkat topik pengelolaan aset desa pada desa-desa di Provinsi Bali sebab kasus-kasus penyalahgunaan aset desa oleh aparat pemerintah desa telah menjadi problematika yang marak terjadi pada desa-desa di wilayah Provinsi Bali. Tujuan utama penelitian ini adalah untuk menginvestigasi pengaruh optimalisasi pemanfaatan aset desa dan profesionalisme pengelolaan aset desa terhadap peningkatan pendapatan asli desa. Data dikumpulkan melalui penyebaran kuesioner kepada 87 kepala desa dan sekretaris desa di wilayah Kabupaten Buleleng, kabupaten terbesar di Provinsi Bali. Data selanjutnya dianalisis secara kuantittatif menggunakan teknik regresi linier berganda. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa upaya-upaya optimalisasi dan profesionalisme pengelolaan aset desa secara signifikan berpengaruh positif terhadap peningkatan pendapatan asli desa. Kata kunci: optimalisasi pemanfaatan aset desa, profesionalisme pengelolaan aset desa, pendapatan asli desa, Kabupaten Buleleng Provinsi Bali ABSTRACT This study addresses the issue of village assets management in Bali Province of Indonesia since the cases of misuse and abuse of village assets by village apparatuses became a frequent problem in the Bali Province. The main objective of this study was to investigate the effect of optimization of village assets utilization and professionalism of village assets management on the improvement of village original revenues. The data were collected through self-administered questionnaires distributed to 87 village heads and village secretaries in Buleleng Regency, the largest district of Bali Province. Data analysis was performed using multiple linier regression technique. This study found that the efforts of optimizing the utilization and professionalism of village assets management significantly have positive impact on the improvement of village original revenue. Keywords: optimization of village assets utilization, professionalism of village assets management, village original revenues, Buleleng Regency of Bali Province
Drinking Water Disinfection with Electrolysis

Nowadays electrochemical disinfection has gained an increasing attention as an alternative to conventional drinking water disinfection, since it is regarded as environmentally friendly, amendable to automation, inexpensive, easily operated and is known to inactivate a wide variety of microorganisms from bacteria to viruses and algae. We found that along with increasing the number of electrodes in our equipment from 2 to 24, the resistance of chlorine-generating electrolytic cell and specific work of electric current decreased. During the electrolysis the amount of generated Cl2 increased along with the increase of chloride ion concentration in the solution and the intensity of electric current. The technological process parameters (flow rate, current intensity) have been established to obtain a predetermined amount of generated chlorine during the electrolysis process. A comparison of flow and circulating (3 times) regimes for electrolysis of tap water with chloride ion concentration below 10 mg/L showed that circulation is necessary to generate active chlorine (above 1 mg/L). At the same time, when no circulation was performed, even a 0.9 A treatment was not enough to generate detectable levels of free chlorine. Electrochemical disinfection of tap water with non-stoichiometric titanium oxide electrodes was effective enough to inactivate both metabolically active and cultivable bacteria E. coli to undetectable levels within 15 minutes at 0.5 A current intensity. Mūsdienās ūdens elektroķīmiskajai dezinfekcijai, kā alternatīvai tradicionālajām dezinfekcijas metodēm, tiek pievērsta liela uzmanība, jo tā ir videi draudzīga, viegli automatizējama, salīdzinoši lēta, viegli vadāma un ir zināma tās dezinficējošā iedarbība uz plašu mikroorganismu klāstu - no baktērijām līdz vīrusiem un aļģēm. Eksperimentāli konstatēts, ka, palielinot elektrodu skaitu elektrolīzes iekārtā no 2 līdz 24, tās pretestība un strāvas īpatnējais darbs samazinājās. Izdalītā Cl2 daudzums elektrolīzes laikā palielinājās, palielinoties hlorīda jonu koncentrācijai šķīdumā un elektriskās strāvas stiprumam. Variējot elektrolīzes procesa tehnoloģiskos parametrus (ūdens plūsmas ātrumu, strāvas stiprumu), iespējams sasniegt noteiktu izdalītā hlora daudzumu. Salīdzinot ūdens, kurš satur hlorīda jonus mazāk par 10 mg/L, apstrādi ar elektrolīzi caurplūdes režīmā ar cirkulācijas režīmu (3 reizes), konstatēts, ka ūdens apstrādi vēlams veikt cirkulācijas režīmā, lai būtu iespējams saražot vairāk aktīvā hlora (koncentrācijā, lielākā par 1 mg/L). Noteikts, ka process, veicot ūdens apstrādi ar elektrolīzi caurplūdes režīmā pat, ja strāvas stiprums 0,9 A, nenodrošināja aktīvā hlora veidošanos detektējamos daudzumos. Elektroķīmiskā dezinfekcija, izmantojot nestehiometriskā titāna oksīda elektrodus, bija pietiekami efektīva, lai pilnībā inaktivētu metaboliski aktīvās un kultivējamās E. coli baktērijas 15 minūšu laikā, ja strāvas stiprums 0,5 A.
Immunity and Gastrointestinal Disease: A Role for Lymphatic Vessels

The lymphatic system comprises a series of vessels that operate together to maintain tissue fluid homeostasis as well as traffic nutrients and immune cells throughout the body. Immune cell trafficking is an important and often overlooked function of the lymphatic system and over the years, data has amassed which supports its vital role in a healthy immune system. An intact lymphatic system is not only involved in activation of the immune system in response to a pathogen, it is also involved ensuring that the body does not exaggerate responses to otherwise benign molecules encountered every day. Nowhere is this pivotal role for the lymphatics more apparent that in the gastrointestinal system, an organ system that is assaulted daily with antigens and potential disease-causing pathogens. Dysfunctional lymphatic systems have been reported in patients in which uncontrolled inflammation and exaggerated immune responses occur; inflammatory bowel disease is one such disease. Animal models lend support to the role the lymphatic system plays in modulating inflammation and trafficking of immune cells to lymph nodes. New evidence even suggests lymphatics may play a role in food allergies. This review aims to highlight some of the recent evidence emerging with respect to lymphatic system involvement in intestinal inflammation, immune cell trafficking and food allergies.
Individualized Dynamic Prediction of Survival under Time-Varying Treatment Strategies

Often in follow-up studies intermediate events occur in some patients, such as reinterventions or adverse events. These intermediate events directly affect the shapes of their longitudinal profiles. Our work is motivated by two studies in which such intermediate events have been recorded during follow-up. The first study concerns Congenital Heart Diseased patients who were followed-up echocardiographically, with several patients undergoing reintervention. The second study concerns patients who participated in the SPRINT study and experienced adverse events during follow-up. We are interested in the change of the longitudinal profiles after the occurrence of the intermediate event and in utilizing this information to improve the accuracy of the dynamic prediction for their risk. To achieve this, we propose a flexible joint modeling framework for the longitudinal and survival data that includes the intermediate event as a time-varying binary covariate in both the longitudinal and survival submodels. We consider a set of joint models that postulate different effects of the intermediate event in the longitudinal profile and the risk of the clinical endpoint, with different formulations for their association while allowing its parametrization to change after the occurrence of the intermediate event. Based on these models we derive dynamic predictions of conditional survival probabilities which are adaptive to different scenarios with respect to the occurrence of the intermediate event. We evaluate the accuracy of these predictions with a simulation study using the time-dependent area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and the expected prediction error adjusted to our setting. The results suggest that accounting for the changes in the longitudinal profiles and the instantaneous risk for the clinical endpoint is important, and improves the accuracy of the dynamic predictions.
Identifying Finnish Children’s Impulsivity Trajectories From Kindergarten to Grade 4: Associations With Academic and Socioemotional Development

Research Findings: The purpose of this study was to identify the developmental trajectories of impulsive behavior among 378 Finnish children who were followed from kindergarten to 4th grade. In addition to ratings of children’s impulsivity, the analyses included measures of motivation, cognitive skills, socioemotional adjustment, and teacher–student relationship. Four latent groups were identified that differed in the level and change of the children’s impulsive behavior across time: (a) a group with low impulsivity, (b) a group with decreasing impulsivity, (c) a group with moderate impulsivity, and (d) a small group with a contradictory trajectory showing an upward trend in impulsivity. The decreasing group showed compromised behavioral regulation in kindergarten but not thereafter, and it was the poorest performing group in reading. Both the moderate and decreasing groups received negative ratings from their teachers with respect to socioemotional adjustment and relationships with the teacher. The moderate group predominantly included boys, whereas the low impulsivity group had a higher ratio of girls. Practice or Policy: By linking the different trajectories of impulse control development to children’s socioemotional adjustment and teacher–student relationships in a meaningful way, the findings highlight the importance of behavioral regulation skills in the classroom.
A Comparison of PAH Emission Sampling Methods (Cyclone, Impactor) in Particulate and Gaseous Phase

Four different domestic heating boilers and four types of fuel (lignite, wet wood, wood pellets and mixed fuel) were tested, and the emissions of the particulate matter (PM) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were correlated. Dekati low-pressure impactor (DLPI, Dekati) sorting of the PM fractions into PM0.1, PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 was used to determine the emission factors of the PAHs in a dilution tunnel via isokinetic sampling and was compared with a cyclone (Tecora). The 4 PAHs were mostly detected on the fine particles of PM1 in the DLPI and on the fine particles of PM2.5 in the cyclone, and in some cases, they were mainly detected in polyurethane foam (PUF) used for the collection of the gas phase placed behind the DLPI and cyclone. The effectiveness of DLPI sampling was generally comparable or lower than the cyclone sampling of the range 0.01–1.33 mg kg–1.
Main factors affecting the genetic transformation of chrysanthemum var. Micromargara

Factors influencing Agrobacterium tumefaciens- mediated genetic transformation of plants have been widely reported: type and concentration of antibiotic, co-culture period, concentration of bacteria, concentration of acetosyringone, and of course, the type and age of the explants, as well as temperature conditions. However, it is not yet understood how these factors interact and how they affect the efficiency of the final transformation. The aim of this work was to evaluate the interaction of the three main factors affecting the transformation of chrysanthemum (Dendranthema grandiflora) var. Micromargara. A 2 3 factorial design was used with central points, in which three concentrations of A. tumefaciens (1.0, 1.5. and 2.0 of D.O.600), three concentrations of acetosyringone (50 μM, 75 μM and 100 μM), and three co-culture periods (1, 2 and 3 days) were evaluated. The transformation was verified by GUS staining and by means of RT-PCR amplification and sequencing of fragment of the genes uidA, aph3 II and act-cr. The results show that, among the factors evaluated, only the concentration of A. tumefaciens presented a statistically significant effect (p< 0.05) on transformation efficiency, without interaction with the factors of acetosyringone concentration and co-culture period. It is concluded therefore that an A. tumefaciens concentration of D.O 600: 2.0 is determinant for greater transformation efficiency in chrysanthemum var. Micromargara.
A Note on the Lebesgue-Radon-Nikodym Theorem with respect to Weighted $p$-adic Invariant Integral on ${\Bbb Z}_{p}$

We will give the Lebesgue-Radon-Nikodym theorem with respect to weighted 𝑝-adic 𝑞-measure on ℤ𝑝. In special case, 𝑞=1, we can derive the same result as Kim, 2012; Kim et al., 2011.
Partnerships versus corporations: Moral hazard, sorting, and ownership structure

Team production takes advantage of technological complementarities but comes with the cost of free-ridership. When workers differ in skills, the choice of sorting pattern may be associated with a nontrivial trade-off between exploiting the technological complementarities and minimizing the cost of free-ridership. This paper demonstrates that whether such a trade-off arises depends (i) on how the power of incentives required for effort provision varies with workers' types, and (ii) on whether the workers are organized for production in partnerships or in corporations. These results have implications for how production is organized in different industries? in partnerships or in corporations.
The Timing of Pair Formation in Harlequin Ducks.

The timing of pair formation varies within and among species of ducks. In this study we documented the chronology of pair formation in a population of wintering Harlequin Ducks (Histrionicus histrionicus) in southwestern British Columbia. Harlequin Ducks began forming pair bonds in October and over half of the females were paired by December. This timing is much earlier than other ducks of similar size. A segment of this population was individually marked, and we documented the reunion of mates in subsequent years. In all cases where both members of the pair returned to their wintering grounds they reunited in the fall. New pair bonds, involving young males and females, were formed in the spring. We suggest that pair reunion in this species reduces the costs of courtship and pair bond maintenance and allows males to pair early in the nonbreeding season, compared to other species.
The Role of L1 in the Instruction of L2: Perspectives of Thai EFL Teachers

The selection of a medium of instruction has long been a contentious issue in foreign language teaching. The teacher’s decision about which language should be used to deliver the lesson and interact with the students in the classroom—whether it be the language or languages of the students and teachers or the target language—is not always dependent on existing national or institutional language policies. In countries like Thailand, such policies rarely exist, leaving it up to the teachers to make the decision on their own. This study therefore explores Thai EFL teachers’ perspectives on their practice. Drawing on data from interviews with EFL lecturers at a university in Northeast Thailand, this study found overwhelmingly supportive attitudes among teachers for the use of L1 in teaching English for university students. What is interesting is their reasons, which juxtapose their perceptions of classroom-specific context with curriculum requirements, all of which make their self-positioning on the use of L1 in L2 instruction strikingly different from the continuum of perspectives on target language and first language use described in the current literature. Using Macaro (2001) as a starting point, this article argues that an additional position is needed in order to make sense of the self-reported thinking and practice of the lecturers in this study. These empirical findings allow us to critically discuss theoretical and practical implications for EFL teaching in additional contexts where English is taught as a foreign language.
Similarities and Differences in PM_(2.5), PM_(10) and TSP Chemical Profiles of Fugitive Dust Sources in a Coastal Oilfield City in China

PM_(2.5), PM_(10) and TSP source profiles for road dust, soil dust and re-suspended dust were established by adopting a resuspension chamber in the coastal oilfield city of Dongying. Thirty-nine elements, nine ions, organic and elemental carbon were analyzed by multiple methods. The results indicate that Ca, Si, OC, Ca^(2+), Al, Fe and SO_4^(2-) were the most abundant species for all the three types of dust within the three size fractions. OC/TC ratios were highest for dusts in Dongying when compared with those in the literature, which may be related to the large amounts of oil that is consumed in this area. Na, Mg and Na+ in soil and road dust also exhibited higher mass percentages, indicating the influence of sea salt, as the city is close to the coast. Enrichment factors analysis showed that Cd, Ca, Cu, Zn, Ba, Ni, Pb, Cr, Mg and As were enriched, and these elements were more abundant in finer fractions of the fugitive dust. Similarities of the profiles for different size fractions and different types of dust were compared using the coefficient of divergence (CD). The profiles for different types of dust were different from each other, as the CD values were mostly higher than 0.30. In contrast, the profiles for different size fractions of each dust were similar to each other, with the CD values mostly lower or near to 0.30. From analyzing the relationship between crustal material's mass percentages and the total measured mass percentages of all chemical species, it can be concluded that the sources of road dust and resuspended dust are more complex, especially for fine particles.
Causality between Foreign Portfolio Inflows and Economic Growth: Evidence from China and India

The objective of this paper is to examine the causal relationship of foreign portfolio inflows and economic growth for two Asian economies, i.e. China and India. We have used Granger causality test for both countries’ data ranging from 2001 to 2013 and concur with the findings of Durham (2003) and Duasa and Kassim (2009), i.e. there is no direct causality between foreign portfolio inflows and economic growth. Our results also suggest an indirect relationship between foreign portfolio inflows and economic growth of China and India.