Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Secondary School English Learning and Teaching in China: Thirty Years of Change and Its Global Implication

In recent years, ESL instructors and researchers in various English-speaking countries, such as Australia, England, New Zealand, and the United States, sre having more contact with Chinese students on college campuses and become perplexed at the discrepancy between their high scores in standardized tests such as TOEFL and GRE and their actual low language ability, especially in speaking and writing. This paper utilizes secondary studies as well as interviews with English teachers in China to examine the history and development of English teaching methods and approaches in Chinese secondary schools in the past three decades. It also specifically discusses the teaching of English writing in Chinese secondary schools. The aim of this study is to help readers gain a better understanding of Chinese students’ learning style and strategies, which may lead to more effective pedagogical assistance in these students’ English learning abroad.
Is fiscal decentralization harmful for economic growth? Evidence from the OECD countries

The global drive towards decentralization has been increasingly justified on the basis that greater transfers of resources to subnational governments are expected to deliver greater efficiency in the provision of public goods and services and greater economic growth. This article examines whether this is the case, by analysing the relationship between decentralization and economic growth in 21 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries during the period between 1990 and 2005 and controlling not only for fiscal decentralization, but also for political and administrative decentralization. The results point towards a negative and significant association between fiscal decentralization and economic growth in the sample countries, a relationship which is robust to the inclusion of a series of control variables and to differences in expenditure preferences by subnational governments. The impact of political and administrative decentralization on economic growth is weaker and sensitive to the definition and measurement of political decentralization.
ScholarWorks SJSU ScholarWorks

—Contending that a significant portion of current ethnobiological research continues to overlook cultural variation in traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and practice, this paper explores the potential impacts of gender-imbalanced research on data collection, hypothesis testing, and the formulation and application of ethnobiological inventories and theories. A multidisciplinary review of over 220 studies addresses commonly held stereotypes underlying gender-imbalanced field research and demonstrates the need for more inclusive, finely-tuned studies which disaggregate indigenous knowledge and practice by gender. The paper outlines factors underlying gender-based spatial and temporal variation in ecosystem exposure and traditional ecological knowledge in rural societies worldwide, and discusses how these factors contribute to gender differences in wild food harvesting, biodiversity and agrobiodiversity maintenance, natural resource management, and the transmission and conservation of sacred and secular customs. The review concludes with suggestions for designing and implementing more inclusive research.
Archaeoastronomy at Kanda geoglyph , Macedonia

This paper extends our previous research of an artificial mound in Kanda (Macedonia) from an archaeoastronomical point of view. In two previous papers, SB Research Group explained its archaeoacoustic research and established the existence of several cavities, likely burial chambers, inside the mound. This mound is essentially a massive earthwork, which, on its top contains two concentric approximately oval frames and a large geoglyph in the center which resembles the mirror image of the Constellation of Cassiopeia. Through analyzing the symbolism of the Macedonian royal dynasty and through dating by the method of the precession of equinoxes, we established that the geoglyph is precisely pointing to Alexander’s birthday in the calendar. The precise alignment of the rising Sun, Cassiopeia and geoglyph on Alexander’s birthday in 356 B.C. suggests that geoglyph contains something related to him, possibly his tomb or the tomb of a close relative.
Variation of attack degree of downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola) in five wine grape varieties, under conventional and organic control treatments

Five wine grape (Vitis vinifera) cultivars (Aromat de Iasi, Feteasca Regala, Pink Traminer, Italian Riesling and Muscat Ottonel) were tested in 20102011 in Cluj County, Romania, concerning their level of attack degree (AD%) with downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola Berk & Curt) under two types of disease control treatments: conventional and organic. Four (2+2) and six (3+3) specific treatments were applied both in the conventional and organic variants of disease control at two different growth stages. Consequently a three way experiment was obtained: disease control system x number of treatments x cultivar. The two types of disease control were also differentiated by adequate field technologies and fertilization for organic practices and for the conventional one. In the two experimental years AD% was registered in each cultivar under natural infections with downy mildew since the disease symptoms evidently appeared on the leaves of wines. In the least affected cultivars Aromat de Iasi (3.51%) and Pink Traminer (2.80%) the AD% level was statistically identical under both conventional and organic treatments. These results are of the great interest since such varieties seem to be better adapted to organic control practices of downy mildew and, consequently, are recommended for organic grape yards and they could prove as valuable genitors in creating new grape varieties adapted to organic control of downy mildew.
Preparation of Small Samples for 14C Accelerator Targets by Catalytic Reduction of CO

Graphite in various forms has become the standard target for accelerator 14C dating. Graphite has been made by catalytic graphitization of charcoals (Lowe, 1984). Thin films of graphite have also been produced by thermal cracking (Beukens & Lee, 1981), electric discharge (Andrée et al, 1984; Wand, Gillespie & Hedges, 1984). Vogel et al (1984) pointed out the ease of graphite formation on iron from CO2 and H2 mixtures at ca 600°C. The deposition reactions of carbon from the CO, H2, and CO2 equilibria are well known (Wagman et al, 1945) and well studied. Formation of graphite from CO2 was discussed extensively by Boudouard (1902) and Schenck and Zimmerman (1903), and was known to chemists in France in 1851. We have used a related method, where graphite forms away from the iron, by using a higher temperature, and reduction of CO2 to CO over Zn in the presence of H2 (Jull et al, 1986) as an alternative to the use of Fe alone. The object of this paper is to point out an even simpler graphite preparation system, which eliminates hydrogen. The decomposition reaction of CO (Boudouard, 1902) takes place according to reaction (1).
A discussion of possible heat sources during nappe stacking: the origin of Barrovian metamorphism within the Caledonian thrust sheets of NW Scotland

Geochronological data indicate that the Caledonian thrust sheets of NW Scotland were assembled in <18 Ma, yet regional Barrovian metamorphism to amphibolite facies and local melting occurred syn-thrusting. From theoretical studies, it is clear that there is insufficient time to generate the high metamorphic temperatures during the thrusting event. We suggest that a plausible explanation for the heat source is that it resulted from a 20–25 Ma period of crustal heating in a back-arc setting between the Grampian and Scandian orogenic events. Most of the orogenic heat therefore came from the pre-existing back-arc rather than the orogenic process itself.
TROPHIC CHARACTERIZATION OF THE U.S. AND CANADIAN NEARSHORE ZONES OF THE GREAT LAKES

ABSTRACT A trophic evaluation of the nearshore zone of the Great Lakes has been undertaken. Trophicstatus is described as a composite of three parame ters descriptive of both water quality and trophicconditions. These parameters are total phosphorus, chlorophyll a, and Secchi depth. Phosphorusis assumed to be a primary variable in determining trophic conditions. Chlorophyll a is importantas a measure of algal biomass. Secchi depth is a me asure of water clarity, inversely related to algalbiomass.The relationship between these three parameters in the Great Lakes nearshore zone isdetermined with linear regression techniques. These relationships are used as the basis for aComposite Trophic Index (CTI). The CTI is related to trophic conditions in the nearshore zone. Theresulting delineation of trophic status in this region is presented.The nearshore trophic conditions are related to phosphorus contributing areas in the GreatLakes Basin. Nearshore and open water trophic conditions are also compared.ii
PREFERENTIAL DISPERSAL OF MALABAR PIED HORNBILL FROM HIMALAYAS TO WESTERN GHATS IS THROUGH THE SATPUDA HILLS, CENTRAL INDIA

The Malabar Pied Hornbill Anthracoceros coronatus historically occurred in three discrete populations, in the eastern Himalayas, the Western Ghats, and Sri Lanka. Several hypotheses have previously been put forward to explain the disjunction of this and other bird species from the eastern Himalayas to the Western Ghats. It is not listed in the checklist of birds of Melghat Tiger Reserve (MTR). Various sightings from 2003 onwards show that the species now occurs there and is probably breeding. Anthracoceros coronatus has already been reported from Satpuda National Park, Pench Tiger Reserve, and Satpuda Tiger Reserves in Madhya Pradesh, and also in eastern Madhya Pradesh. All these areas together with MTR are located between between the eastern Indian and the Western Ghats populations. Due to improved protection measures, the habitat in MTR region is now better developed, which has probably resulted in a suitable habitat for A. coronatus. The present paper identifi es the missing link in the dispersal route of A. coronatus from the eastern Himalayan ranges to the northern tip of Western Ghats of Southern India through the Satpuda in Central India. This paper was presented at the 5 th International Hornbill Conference jointly organised by the National Parks Board (Singapore) and the Hornbill Research Foundation (Thailand), in Singapore on 22 nd -25 th March
Millennial‐scale variability in the oceans: an ocean modelling view

Climate and ocean‐only models have shown that the ocean will respond abruptly to significant perturbations in surface forcing. Centennial‐scale oscillation is a characteristic of circulation in large semi‐enclosed ocean basins such as the Arctic, whereas millennial‐scale adjustment to changes in surface forcing has been found in the global ocean component of climate models. We show that the millennial time‐scale in climate models is likely to be intrinsic to the ocean through its presence in an ocean‐only model. The strength of the thermohaline circulation is shown to be very sensitive to the magnitude of ice albedo and, to a lesser extent, perturbation in the surface freshwater flux. Modelled glacial ocean circulation, in contrast to present‐day simulations, requires an enhanced freshwater flux over the northern Atlantic, even in its non‐Heinrich state, to obtain realistic overturning in the North Atlantic. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Pattern and Management of Chest trauma at Muhimbili National Hospital, Dar es Salaam

Background: Chest trauma is common and its pattern varies in different places. Majority of patients are managed mainly conservatively. Tube thoracostomy is a simple procedure but it is associated with significant number of complications.T he aim of this study was t o evaluate the clinical pattern and its management at Muhimbili National Hospital. Methods: A hospital based prospective study of all consecutive patients admitted with chest trauma at Muhimbili National Hospital between November 2007 and September 2008. Clinical assessment and chest x-ray findings were used to diagnose and to evaluate any complications associated with chest tubes using a structured questionnaire. Results: The majority (95/119) of patients were males. Their age ranged from 12 to 72 years with the mode of 32years. Motor traffic injury (MTI) was the commonest cause of chest trauma accounting for 72.3% of the cases. Rib fractures were the most clinical type of chest injury and accounted for about 42.9% of cases. Blunt chest injuries were more common (75.6%) than penetrating injuries. Seventy three (61.3%) patients had other associated injuries, in which fracture of extremities (25.2%) and head injury (21.8%) were the commonest. Sixty seven (56.3%) patients were treated with closed tube thoracostomy only. The overall complication rate of the chest tubes was 32.9% of which infection (24.7%) and Nonfunctional tubes (17.4%) were the commonest. High mortality rate of 24.2% was recorded. Conclusion: The clinical pattern and the management of chest injuries in this study was similar with many other series of study, however, the rate of closed tube thoracostomy remained high with many and avoidable complications.
Experiments on Small Streams in Alluvium

An experimental study of small streams in alluvium indicates correlations between stream geometry and discharge. These are compared with established regime equations, with some areas of disagreement. Results have been analyzed on the basis of sediment transport, channel roughness, and width-depth ratio. These three physical relationships can be used to predict the geometrical functions.
Using Growing Degree Hours Accumulated Thirty Days after Bloom to Predict Peach and Nectarine Harvest Date

The unusually early harvest of California’s peach crop in 2004, which had record high temperatures during bloom time, have increased interest in using earlyspring temperature data to predict harvest date. In the present study an analysis of historical data (2002–2006) for four peach and four nectarine cultivars was used to develop a predictive model for estimating the number of days between full bloom date and harvest date based on growing degree hours accumulated 30 days after bloom (GDH 30). The model can be easily modified for different cultivars by means of using cultivar specific parameters. Our model predicts early harvest in years with warm springs and confirms that heat accumulation following bloom is a major factor affecting fruit development and ultimately, harvest dates. The combination of the model and a web-based decision support tool that calculates GDH 30 values for different weather stations in California allows fruit growers to easily predict harvest dates of numerous cultivars a month after bloom.
Relative importance of climate change and water demand for reservoir feasibility

Climate change is projected to modify the hydrologic cycle ac ross scales, but the relative impact climate change will have on water resources systems compared to other influencing factors remains uncertain. The performance of water s torage reservoirs, for example, will not only be altered by climate-change-modified pr eci itation, runoff, evaporation, and transpiration, but also by additional factors such as wat er demand. Using a case study set in the western United States, this thesis presents a n investigation of the relative importance of climate change modified hydrologic p rocesses and water demand on reservoir feasibility. A modeling framework comprised of a river system model (MODSIM-DSS) and a precipitation (rainfall and snowfall) driven runoff model (Snowmelt Runoff Model) was created, calibrated and validated for th e W ite River watershed and river system in northwest Colorado and northeast U tah. After validation, a proposed reservoir in the Utah segment of the White River was inserted into the modeli ng system. Based on climate change projections of impacts to hydrol ogic processes, scenarios reflecting climate change modified precipitation, tempe ratur , and evaporation were defined and combined with a future water demand scenario inc luding energy development and urban growth requirements. The scenarios were analyz ed with the modeling system to quantify the relative impact of the altered hydrologic processes and increased water demand on reservoir feasibility. The results show ed a reduction in precipitation has a greater effect than the projected increase in t mperature and evaporation on the inflows to the proposed reservoir and perfonnance of the reservoir. For a 7 percent decrease of precipitation there was an 8 percent reduction in runoff volume over a simulated ten-year period. This decrease was shown to have the greatest impact on the amount of water stored in the reservoir and the amount readily available for downstream use. In a simulation of the combined effects of precipitation, temperature and evaporation modification the reservoir was found to be impacted significantly with insufficient storage to meet downstream demands. Although significant, the impacts of the climate change modified hydrologic processes on reservoir feasibility were found to be insignificant compared to the impacts of future water demands.
AN EXTREME ANALYSIS FOR THE 2010 PRECIPITATION EVENT AT THE SOUTH OF SASKATCHEWAN PRAIRIE

After a prolonged drought period in the early 2000s, the Canadian prairie experienced a remarkably wet year in 2010. Five stations near the edge of the Saskatchewan boreal forest recorded historically high cumulative precipitation (from April to September). The exceptional wet year causes the public concerns on flood controls and land use management in the region. Using the Canadian National Climate Data Achieve, characteristics of six-month cumulative precipitation sums over Saskatchewan prairie are investigated by the Generalised Extreme Value (GEV) Theory. Based on the unconstrained GEV distribution, the 2010 event is outside the estimated 95% confidence intervals for the five Canadian prairie stations. On the contrary, the exceptional high 2010 cumulative perception sums for the five stations are still bounded by the estimated confidence bounds if the GEV distribution is constrained to the Gumbel distribution (i.e. setting the shape factor of the GEV distribution to be zero). These results demonstrate that the classical extreme analysis is useful for planning unprecedented extreme events in the Canadian Prairie, if the GEV distribution is constrained to the Gumbel distribution with the estimated uncertainty bounds based on the order statistics.
Impact of Climate, Climate Change and Modern Technology on Wheat Production in Nepal: A Case Study at Bhairahawa

The relation between climate and wheat production in Nepal was studied for the period 1970/71-2007/08. Due to the topographical differences within short north-south span of the country, Nepal has wide variety of climatic condition. About 70 to 90% of the rainfall occurs during the summer monsoon months (June to September) in Nepal and the rest of the months are almost dry. Wheat is cultivated during the dry winter period and therefore, the supplementary irrigation plays a vital role in its cultivation. Varieties of wheat have been developed to suit the local climatic conditions. Due to the availability of improved seeds, modern cultivation practice and a supplementary irrigation; the wheat cultivation has increased substantially throughout Nepal. The national area and production of wheat has remarkably increased from 228,000 ha to 706,481 ha and 193360 mt to 1,572,065 mt during 1970/71 to 2007/2008 respectively. Future planning to increase the wheat production in Nepal should give due consideration to the effect of global warming also. The present rate of annual increase of temperature was 0.06°C in Nepal. Trends of temperature rise were not uniform in Nepal. An increase of annual temperature at Bhairahawa during 1970-2008 was only 0.018°C. However, the wheat growing seasons at Bhairahawa, the trend of annual maximum temperature during November to April was -0.0068°C during the study period. Though modern facilities such as irrigation, improved seeds and fertilizers are available to some extent, weather and climate still plays an important role in the increase of area and production of wheat in Nepal Key words : climate change; plain low land (phant); global warming; trend DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.3126/jhm.v6i1. 5479 Journal of Hydrology and Meteorology , Vol. 6, No. 1 1-14
Abstract: Evolution of the Darreh-Zerreshk and Ali-Abad porphyry copper deposits, central Iran, within an orogen-parallel strike-slip system

The Darreh-Zerreshk and the Ali-Abad porphyry copper deposits, two of the Iranian porphyry copper deposits (PCD) in Yazd Province, are located within the Central Iranian vol-cano-plutonic belt (Urumieh-Dokhtar belt) in central Iran, at an elevation of 3500m. They are genetically associated with Oligo-Miocene granitoid intrusions that range in composition from quartz-monzodiorite, tonalite, granodiorite, to granite
Analysis of Tree Diversity Patterns in the Tropical Evergreen and Moist Deciduous Forests of the Middle Andaman Islands, India

Analysis of Tree Diversity Patterns in the Tropical Evergreen and Moist Deciduous Forests of the Middle Andaman Islands, India Tropical rainforests constitute one of the world’s richest biomes with high species diversity. They play a crucial role in controlling global climate besides providing several direct benefits known to all. Several studies have been carried out to estimate the biodiversity of these forests at various sites across the world and have helped in identifying potential sites of species richness and diversity as well as hotspots that harbour high endemism. However, Andaman and Nicobar Islands situated in between the Bay of Bengal in the west and the Andaman Sea in the east have not been explored much owing to their remoteness and inaccessibility, along with hostile cannibalistic natives and other tribal communities. In the current study, phytosociological data were collected in two predominant forest types of the Middle Andaman Islands to analyze their tree diversity patterns.
Correlation of family relationship patterns and domestic violence against women in Lorestan province, western part of Iran

Introduction: Some families are constructed in a way that provides conditions of expressing violence against women and children. The present study was conducted to clarify the problem of violence against women, based on family relationship patterns. Materials and Methods: In this correlational study, Haj-Yahia's questionnaire of violence against women and own-made questionnaire of family relationship patterns used to assess 383 women. Samples were selected by randomized multi-stage cluster method from urban areas of Lorestan province, western part of Iran in 2007. Data were analyzed by ANOVA, Pearson's correlation coefficient and multi-variation regression analyses. Results: Psychological and physical violence were more common experienced violence in women. Women's experience of violence was inversely correlated with cooperative, collaborative and coordinative family relationship patterns and women's authority in making decisions (P<0.001). Moreover, male-dominant supposition was directly related with aggressive pattern in parental family (P<0.001).