Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Preparedness of ECDE teachers in the implementation of the ECDE curriculum in Vihiga County Dr.Peter

Empirical research posits that Early Childhood Education plays a crucial role in laying the foundation for both the physical and intellectual growth of a child. Devolution of early childhood education to county governments in Kenya therefore marked a new phase in the development of ECDE and added a new impetus to the quest to achieve quality ECDE curriculum implementation. The purpose of this study was to establish the impact of teacher preparedness on the implementation of ECDE curriculum in Vihiga County. The study adopted the theory of curriculum innovation to guide data collection process. The study employed a descriptive survey design. Stratified and simple random sampling techniques were used to obtain a 30% sample size from a target population consisting of 750 ECDE teachers, 50 head-teachers, 30 Quality Assurance Officers, and 20 Curriculum Support Officers. Data was collected using questionnaires, and interview schedules. The collected data was analyzed using the descriptive statistics in the form of frequencies and percentages, which were later presented in the form of tables. The study found that contrary to the popular discourse espoused by different stakeholders about the perceived drastic improvement of the ECDE education sub sector that came as a direct result of devolution, in-service training, as a means through which teachers improve their performance, has not increased significantly under devolution. This is a point of concern because research has proven that there exists a strong correlation between a teacher’s access to in-service trainings and their performance as curriculum implementers. The onus therefore, is on the county government of Vihiga to create an enabling environment where ECDE teachers have easy access to periodic in-service training to continuously better their practice.
Design of an electrostatic precipitator for a novel bituminous coal-fired circulating fluidised bed combustion power plant in Namibia

Coal-fired power plants utilising fluidised bed technologies emit copious amounts of fly-ash, which is harmful to people owing to its particulate nature. A planned 300 MW power plant will have an electrostatic precipitator (ESP) for fly-ash emissions control, in line with power generation industry best practices. This ESP should meet a fly-ash emission limit value ≤ 50 mg/Nm3. This paper details the design process and resultant technical specifications of a coldside, single-stage, and plate-wire dry ESP designed for the power plant. The ESP will consist of twin-chambers with quadruple-fields (2 × 4 × 315 m3) and octonary bus-sections independently energised by individual high-frequency three-phase switched integrated rectifiers (70 kV, 800 mA) to maximise ionisation. Dynamically balanced, singleimpact, tumbling hammer rappers (857.5 rpm) will dislodge fly-ash from the collector plates into mass-flow wedgeshaped hoppers. A specific collection area (≥ 56.9 m2/m3/s) and an ESP index (≥ 709.2 (kV/cm)2m2/m3/s) should guarantee a collection efficiency ( η ≥ 99.5 %) and the specified emission limit value at 100 % boiler capacity and normal operating conditions (gas velocity ≤ 2.4 m/s; gas temperature ≤ 137 °C; fly-ash loading ≤ 10 000 kg/Nm3; resistivity ≤ 1010 Ω‧cm). The design was successfully verified in principle using the validation square method, in conjunction with the leading comparable historical case studies approach. It is recommended to simulate ESP designs using suitable programs like Comsol Multiphysics and construct a pilot plant before attempting scaled-up construction and commissioning.
Myxomycete colonization on translocated and non-translocated dead leaves from temperate and tropical forests

Samples of dead leaves on the forest floor were collected from a locality in central Costa Rica and another locality in northwest Arkansas in the United States and then were placed in fine-mesh nylon bags, autoclaved and left out in the field for four months. Half of the bags prepared with sterile material from each country were placed out in the country where they were collected, and the other half were placed in the other country. A characterization of forest structure and ground leaf chemistry was carried out for both localities and both leaf types. When recollected, all samples were processed for myxomycetes with the use of the moist chamber culture technique. The cultures yielded a total of 156 records of myxomycetes representing 16 species, but only 13 records and six species were isolated from the samples left out in Costa Rica. One hundred percent of cultures placed out in Arkansas produced myxomycetes, whereas only 68% of those placed out in Costa Rica were positive for these organisms. Differences in species richness and number of records were observed across forests where the samples were placed out, and no differences were observed based on the origin of the leaves. Results suggested that myxomycete colonization in the studied areas is primarily affected by the dynamics of the forest type and secondarily by substrate attributes. Some myxomycete species recorded on leaves with poorer chemical values are also consistent with field data. In the present study, the more open character of the temperate forest in Arkansas without a film of water layer covering the leaves on the ground seemed to have played a role in the establishment of myxomycete propagules in the sterile material during the time of the investigation.
Who Can Work From Home in Developing Countries?

In this paper, I examine the feasibility of working from home in developing countries. I take advantage of worker-level data from the STEP survey, which collects comparable information on employment outcomes across ten countries. I use information on workers’ tasks to define the feasibility of working from home following Dingel and Neiman (2020). Only 13% of workers in STEP countries could work from home, yet this share ranges from 5.5% in Ghana to 23% in Yunnan (China). The feasibility of working from home is positively correlated with highpaying occupations. Educational attainment, formal employment status and household wealth are positively associated with the possibility of working from home, reflecting the vulnerability of various groups of workers. These relationships remain significant within narrowly defined occupations, yet exhibit heterogeneity across countries. I remark the importance of rapidly identifying vulnerable workers to design adequate policies to combat the negative employment impacts of COVID-19.
Discretion and Corruption in Public Procurement

This paper investigates the determinants and consequences of increasing a buyer’s discretion in public procurement. I study the role of discretion in the context of a Hungarian policy reform which removed the obligation of using an open auction for contracts under a certain anticipated value. Below this threshold buyers can use an alternative “high-discretion” procedure to purchase goods and services. At the threshold, I document large discontinuities in procurement outcomes, but I also find a discontinuity in the density of anticipated contract value, indicating that public agencies set contract values strategically to avoid auctions. I exploit the time variation of the policy reform to estimate the effects of increased discretion and find that discretion increases the price of contracts and decreases the productivity of contractors. I use a structural model to identify discretion’s impact on rents from corruption and to simulate the effect of alternative value thresholds. I find that the actual threshold redistributes about 2 percent of the total contract value from taxpayers to firms and decreases the average productivity of contractors by approximately 1.6 percent. My simulations suggest that the optimal threshold would be about a third of the actual. ∗University of California, Berkeley (email: ferencszucs@econ.berkeley.edu). I am deeply grateful to my Ph.D. advisor Frederico Finan for his generous and invaluable guidance. I thank David Card, Ernesto Dal Bo, Stefano DellaVigna, Supreet Kaur, Kei Kawai, Patrick Kline, Gerard Roland, Adam Szeidl, Steven Tadelis, Jason Wittenberg, Guo Xu and seminar participants at UC Berkeley and Central European University for many helpful comments and suggestions.
CUSTOMER LIFETIME VALUE AS A MEASURE OF CUSTOMER PROFITABILITY: MANAGEMENT ACCOUNTING PERSPECTIVES

Customers are the focal point of modern day business apparatuses and this has been evidenced in the business strategies for attracting and retaining customers. But, the question remains whether these activities are worthwhile for the business firms in terms of customer‟s value creation and the resultant contribution to profitability. In marketing research, it has been observed the ongoing discussion around Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) as an important indicator of identifying and measuring valuable customers–either at individual or business firm level. The study considers this notion of CLV has particular significance in management accounting. Thus the aim of this paper is to analyse some important models of CLV and explained its relevance in customer profitability measurements. The paper has two most important implications: one, it will inform the business executives about the CLV and help them in identifying the valuable customers by applying it in their internal decision makings; and second, it will expose to both accounting and marketing academics a new avenue for undertaking interdisciplinary managerial research.
Ứng dụng phương pháp Pointwise vào bài toán tách từ cho

Trong tiếng Việt, dấu cách (space) không được sử dụng như 1 kí hiệu phân tách từ, nó chỉ có ý nghĩa phân tách các âm tiết với nhau. Vì thế, để xử lý tiếng Việt, bài toán tách từ (word segmentation) là 1 trong những bài toán cơ bản và quan trọng bậc nhất. Ngoài tiếng Việt, có khá nhiều các ngôn ngữ châu Á khác cũng cần bước tách từ, ví dụ như : tiếng Nhật, tiếng Trung, tiếng Hàn, . do đó vấn đề này nhận được sự quan tâm rộng rãi và có nhiều hướng tiếp cận khác nhau. Bài viết này sẽ tập trung phân tích hướng tiếp cận pointwise dựa trên máy học SVM : phân loại từng dấu cách một cách độc lập vào 2 loại : SPACE (kí hiệu tách từ) và UNDERSCORE (kí hiệu liên kết 2 âm tiết). Với phương pháp này, chúng tôi đã đạt được độ chính xác 98.2% trong thực nghiệm. Tất cả mã nguồn của nghiên cứu này được ứng dụng để tạo ra công cụ mang tên Đông Du.
Bayesian Inference in Structural Vector Autoregression with Sign Restrictions and External Instruments

Instrument validity cannot be tested in a just-identified model, and it is not clear what conclusion to draw when instrument validity is rejected in an over-identified model. In practice researchers tend to regard instruments as valid when they lead to sensible inferences. This paper uses Bayesian methods to formalize this idea. I develop a proxy structural vector autoregression in which prior information from both theory and the empirical literature is incorporated about signs and magnitudes of certain parameters and equilibrium impacts. I use my method to investigate the relevance and validity of three popular instruments for monetary policy shocks, developed by Romer and Romer (2004), Sims and Zha (2006), and Smets and Wouters (2007). I find that all of them are strongly relevant but only that of Smets and Wouters is valid. Furthermore, the empirical analysis demonstrates that my framework can combine information from a relevant and valid instrument with prior information about sign restrictions to improve inference about structural impulse-response functions.
Performance Feedback in Organizations and Groups: Common Themes

Organizational change in response to performance below the aspiration level has become a very active research topic in organizational learning. It uses the ideas of performance feedback theory, which in turn is based on the process of problemistic search in the behavioral theory of the firm. Similar processes have also been studied at the individual level using ideas from goal-setting theory. In this chapter, we review work on performance feedback at the organization level, note some parallels to work at the individual level, and discuss the potential for new research on performance feedback at the group level. Our goal is both to summarize recent achievements and to point to a significant gap in the literature, with the potential for much fruitful research.
Coasian Bargaining in a Computerized Environment ∗

In this paper, we study Coasian bargaining in the experimental laboratory to better understand how modern negotiating environments affect bargaining outcomes. We first establish baseline findings by replicating bargaining protocols introduced by Hoffman and Spitzer (1982, 1985), and then extend them to a computerized environment. This leads to a 2x2x2, between-subjects design that varies the mechanism by which property rights are assigned (random or contest), if subjects engage in repeated bargaining (one-shot or two-shot), and whether the experiment is conducted in a face-to-face or a computerized environment. We replicate the findings in the seminal papers that randomly assigning property rights yields a higher incidence of equitable payoff distributions and that bargaining face-to-face yields a higher rate of efficient (i.e., total payoff maximizing) decision making than does bargaining in a computerized negotiation environment. In addition, subjects become significantly more self-regarding when bargaining digitally, with distributions strongly favoring the holder of property rights. Given that efficiency and other-regarding behavior are not invariant across negotiating environments, these results suggest that the predictions made in Coase (1960) may require additional behavioral considerations, particularly when negotiations occur with some degree of anonymity and social distance.
Insulin pump therapy and continuous glucose monitoring in adults with type 2 diabetes: where are we now?

Technology in diabetes is rapidly evolving, with the aim of helping affected people to safely optimize their blood glucose control. New technologies are now considered as an essential tool for managing glycemia predominantly in people with type 1 diabetes, and clinical trials have demonstrated that in these subjects the use of continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII) and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems are associated with improved glycemic control along with a better quality of life. Literature regarding technologies and type 2 diabetes is relatively lacking, but innovations may have an important role also in the management of these patients. Some studies in adults with type 2 diabetes have shown benefits with the use of CGM in terms of glycemic variability and improved therapeutic adjustments. Clinical trials about CSII and CGM use in type 2 diabetes may have some pitfalls and future studies are needed to assess how these advanced systems could improve clinical outcomes and also ensure cost-effectiveness in this population. In this narrative review, we aim to highlight the most relevant studies on this topic and to focus on the potential role of new technological devices in type 2 diabetes management.
Window into the Palaeolithic Europe 30 , 000 years ago : results oF the multidisciplinary approach by Vít Lang with pictorial reconstructions

People of the Palaeolithic are often considered less intelligent and more aggressive than people in most human societies today. However, the multidisciplinary approach (which takes into consideration archaeology, psychology, sociology, biology, genetics, etc.) leads to completely different conclusions. The results of the approach applied to evolution of the human brain: Human brain is unique among the species. Its development in our ancestors required large-scale cooperation. Such cooperation would be impossible without reduction of competitiveness and aggressiveness among individuals. The evolution of empathy, fairness, altruism and cooperation was closely interconnected, and enabled our ancestors to gain fully developed, effective brains. However, there are indications that the evolution of human intelligence had stopped or even reversed with an increasing number of people, which led to the re-emergence of increased competition and aggressiveness. The results of the approach applied to the Pavlovian (Central European variation of the Gravettian) people, who were chosen as an example of a Palaeolithic society: The people of the Pavlovian society 30,000 years ago were far more cooperative than competitive, peaceful than violent, egalitarian (including gender-egalitarian) than stratified. There are many reasons to suppose that they were also spiritual people, their spirituality being concentrated on feminine qualities. At the same time, sexual relationships were highly likely quite relaxed. The Palaeolithic legacy is still alive in us. To understand this legacy and take it into the consideration in our lives can be very helpful for all of us.
Enhancing Customer Relationships in the Foodservice Industry

Intensification of competition and increasingly demanding customers are forcing the foodservice providers to create stronger customer relationships. Although the relationship marketing discipline is relatively well researched, there are limited studies on measuring instruments and dimensions have been done. Thus, this paper aims to develop a new measuring instrument for relationship marketing, identify the underlying dimensions of relationship marketing as perceived by customers and ultimately to propose strategies for enhancing customer relationships in the foodservice industry. The proposed 29-item instrument has been empirically tested for unidimensionality, reliability and validity using exploratory factor analysis. A factorial analysis suggests that relationship marketing is a multidimensional construct consisting of four key dimensions namely Communication, Trust, Empathy and Commitment. A subsequent multiple regression analysis reveals the dimensions of relationship marketing have significant impact on customer loyalty. Customers tend to be loyal if the foodservice operator can be trusted, reliable in communication to customers, sympathetic and committed in providing excellent service.
Governmental Communication Strategies in Socializing Waste Management

It is not a guarantee that a higher budget for South Tangsel government will result in better waste management in Pamulang. South Tangerang government as senders should reach many different audiences, from the highest hierarchy in formal and informal forms to the lowest government, such as in an RT (neighborhood group) or RW (community group) on the grassroots level. On the kelurahan (administrative village) level, various media tactics have not yet been used to deal with crucial issues such as air pollution, water pollution, and land pollution in legal waste disposal (Tempat Pembuangan Sementara resmi) and legal landfill (Tempat Pembuangan Akhir resmi). The communities as the receivers are not yet aware of this pollution and its effect. Apparently both the senders and receivers have their own methods for waste management. Similarly, the spiritual and environmental communication between them is also disconnected. This paper looks at the communication strategies of South Tangerang government in socializing waste management in Bambu Apus District, Tangerang Selatan, Banten District, Indonesia. The qualitative approach, constructivism paradigm, and multi method are used to analyze the collected data. The research results present the communication strategies of the executive, legislative, and judiciary institutions of the senders. The first findings reveal that various media and non-media are applied by three institutions’ strategic communication. The second finding, which covers the various meanings of audiences and the government in waste management, will be discussed in the next article.
Cacao – Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi Association: A Review on Its Increased Potential in Improving the Ecology of Cacao Plantations in the Philippines

Cacao (Theobroma cacao) is both an economically and ecologically important crop worldwide especially in the Philippines, a tropical country suitable for its growth and cultivation. The association of this crop with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) is an understudied field but the benefits reported from this symbiosis highlights their irreplaceable role in enhancing growth conditions by facilitating the uptake of phosphorus, increasing yield through increased plant health and productivity, and in several ecological aspects such as soil biological dynamics and ecological processes that are carried out in cacao plant community. This paper proposed the different areas of improving cacao ecology that need to gain attention in the Philippines to augment the measures being undertaken to boost the country’s cacao plantations. This includes more research on areas of soil physicochemical properties, AMF genetic and functional diversity in cacao communities, and resistance to diseases of AMF-associated cacao trees. The ecology of the AMF-cacao association is an essential part of developing effective AMF inocula for the ultimate purpose of increasing the yield of cacao. Appropriate application of AMF could increase the overall yield of the country’s cacao plantations and can be translated to improving food security and many other economic gains.
Impact of human and relational capital on the profitability of commercial banks in Serbia

Intelektualni kapital predstavlja objedinjeni naziv za resurse čija je važnost za uspešno poslovanje kompanija sve veća. Brojna empirijska istraživanja su pokazala da ulaganja u komponente intelektualnog kapitala kao što su ljudski, relacioni i strukturni kapital imaju pozitivan uticaj na performanse kompanija. Ovaj rad ispituje uticaj ulaganja u specifične komponente intelektualnog kapitala, koje su primarno povezane sa ljudskim i relacionim kapitalom, na profitabilnost poslovnih banaka koje posluju u Srbiji. Empirijska analiza obuhvata postkrizni period od 2010. do 2016. godine. Naš uzorak se sastoji od 154 jedinice posmatranja (22 poslovne banke posmatrane tokom perioda od 7 godina). Rezultati istraživanja pokazuju da je efikasnost zaposlenih u bankama koje posluju u Srbiji na niskom nivou, kao i da se ulaganja u tradicionalne načine izgradnje I održavanje dobrih odnosa sa klijentima negativno odražavaju na profitabilnost banaka. Samim tim, jedan od mogućih načina da se poveća isplativost ulaganja u ljudski kapital kao i da se unaprede odnosi sa klijentima nalazi se u digitalizaciji poslovanja poslovnih banaka. Rezultati su takođe pokazali da banke koje imaju veću stopu rasta depozita beleže veću profitabilnost osnovne delatnosti, kao i da banke koje u strukturi plasmana imaju veće učešće plasmana privredi u odnosu na plasmane stanovništvu imaju bolju ukupnu profitabilnost.
QMS in the consulting engineering industry – can we do better ?

Sú breyting hefur orðið á starfi íslenskra verkfræðistofa á undanförnum árum að flestar þeirra eru vottaðar samkvæmt ISO 9001 stjórnunarstaðlinum. Í þessari grein er fjallað um þessa umbreytingu úr þremur mismunandi sjónarhornum. Í fyrsta lagi með viðtölum við gæðastjóra og stjórnendur fimm verkfræðistofa hvar 80% ráðgjafarverkfræðinga hér á landi starfa. Í öðru lagi með könnun sem gerð var meðal allra starfsmanna sömu verkfræðistofa. Í þriðja lagi með viðtölum við fulltrúa fimm stóra verkkaupa þessara verkfræðistofa, sem allir eru opinber fyrirtæki eða stofnanir. Fulltrúar og starfsmenn verkfræðistofanna eru jákvæðir í afstöðu sinni til ISO 9001 vottunar og reynsla þeirra af vottuninni er jafnvel enn betri en þær væntingar sem gerðar voru í upphafi. Verkkauparnir eru hlutlausari í afstöðu sinni og virðast oft taka vottun verkfræðistofanna sem sjálfsögðum hlut. Engu að síður er það jafnan lykilatriði fyrir þessa verkkaupa að verkfræðistofur, sem fyrir þá starfa, séu vottaðar samkvæmt ISO 9001 staðli. Vottuð fyrirtæki þurfa að stunda stöðugt umbótastarf til að aðlaga og bæta gæðakerfi sín og þau þurfa að tryggja að stjórnendur, starfsmenn og viðskiptavinir upplifi árangur af þessu umbótastarfi.