Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Chinese attitudes toward inclusive education: Perspectives of Hong Kong and Macau secondary school teachers, students and parents

This research investigated the attitudes of Chinese students toward inclusive education, by dividing the research into two studies with different subgroups included. Study 1 invited 340 secondary students and 129 secondary teachers from 9 mainstream secondary schools in Hong Kong to participate. The Chinese version of the 16-item Attitudes toward Inclusive Education Scale originally developed by Wilczenski 69 was applied. The results were analyzed at item and variable levels. Hong Kong students had significantly more positive attitudes toward inclusive education than their teachers. However, both groups did not show positive attitudes towards inclusive education. Based on the results of study 1, study 2 tried to cross validate these findings by inviting 135 teachers and 260 students in Macau to participate. As well, study 2 extended the horizon of comparison by inviting 260 parents to participate. They were either the mothers or fathers of the 260 students who participated in study 2. The same scale was applied in study 2 and the results showed that neither the Macau students nor the teachers were particularly positive toward inclusive education. The Macau parents had the more positive attitudes toward inclusive education than the Macau students and teachers. The results from the two studies in Hong Kong and Macau were compared and discussed.
The role of a subsidiary within the value chain of an MNE – a structural model development

A growing number of foreign subsidiaries nowadays specialize in relatively narrow sets of activities in the multinational enterprise (MNE) value chain and perform different roles in it. The scientific problems addressed in this paper are the potential determinants of the roles that the foreign subsidiaries fulfill in the value chains of MNEs. An in-depth analysis of a subsidiary role within the value chain of the MNE is required to recognize exactly how its potential internal and external determinants matter to the subsidiary and the whole MNE, and understand by what means the specific role can be given to or earned by affiliates in the company. The main cognitive goal of the paper is the identification of the relations which may be observed between the factors indicating the subsidiary role in the value chain of an MNE. The fulfillment of this aim requires the development of a theoretical framework that will present the hypothetical relations between the potential variables, and – since the potential variables are latent – a presentation of the variables’ indicators. While aiming at the accomplishment of this goal, the author uses secondary sources of information encompassing mainly the international business literature, and uses deductive reasoning.
The effects of bottom ash in coastal sand

In the construction industry, breakage of sand particles is very common especially at the very early stage of the pile driving work. The breakage of sand particles will result in change of size spectrum and alter its engineering properties. In this research, the effectiveness of bottom ash in improving the engineering properties of crushed sandy soil was studied. The bottom ash of 5%, 10%, 15% and 20% was added into the sand and crushed with 500 and 1000 blows under the Automatic Compactor machine. The engineering properties of different proportion of bottom ash mixture before crushing and after crushing with 500 and 1000 blows were tested. The engineering properties which were measured include the coefficient of uniformity, breakage index, fouling index, permeability and bearing capacity. Results show that adding of bottom ash into the crushable sand improved the load bearing capacity. By adding 20% of bottom ash, the bearing capacity of the crushed sandy soil can be improved by 55% meanwhile the permeability of the sandy soil can be improved by 200%.
Predicting Opioid Prescribing Behaviors: Influence of an Expert Opioid-Risk Evaluation

Predicting Opioid Prescribing Behaviors: Influence of an Expert Opioid-Risk Evaluation Alison M. Vargovich, M.S. Opioid analgesics have been shown to be effective for short-term pain reduction; however, chronic opioid therapy does not improve functioning, and may lead to problems with dependence and abuse. Physicians report having difficulty discerning substance abuse or drug diversion, which can lead to overor underprescribing, poor pain management, and may contribute to the growing number of opioid-related overdose deaths. The primary aim of this study was to determine if a psychological opioid risk evaluation influenced opioid prescribing in physicians at the West Virginia University (WVU) Family Medicine Clinic. For this retrospective study, participants were 151 (89 female) adult patients being considered for long-term opioid therapy. Patients participated in a psychological opioid risk evaluation, which included several questionnaires and a clinical interview. This evaluation resulted in an opioid risk level (i.e., low, low-moderate, moderate, moderate-high, high) being assigned to each patient representing clinical judgment about their potential risk for misusing or abusing opioid medication. An electronic medical record review was conducted on each patient, abstracting information about if an opioid was prescribed, in addition to several other factors, which later were included in logistic regression analyses. Patients prescribed an opioid were more likely to be married or with a long term partner and have a higher level of education. Patients not prescribed an opioid were more likely to report a higher pain rating at the time of the evaluation, a history of abuse or substance abuse, or have higher total scores for questionnaires measuring pain catastrophizing, misuse or diversion behaviors, and depression symptoms. Risk status and substance abuse history significantly predicted opioid prescribing, with a decrease in risk status resulting in an increase in opioid prescribing, and those with a history of substance abuse being less likely to be prescribed an opioid; however, substance abuse did not significantly improve the overall model and was removed. Additionally, demographic variables (i.e., age, sex, ethnicity/race) were not significant predictors of prescribing as found in other studies. These findings suggest that providing physicians with additional information about their patient’s opioid abuse potential aids in prescribing decisions and may reduce prescribing bias based on demographic factors. Risk status may allow physicians to integrate evidence-based factors into their decision-making process in a simplified manner, and possibly improve patient care. Future work should continue to address physicians’ prescribing perspective, accuracy of evaluations, effect on patient care, and cost analyses for the healthcare system.
How Does Important Sustainability Reporting for Investment Decision Making?

This study was conducted to examine the importance of sustainability reporting for investment decision making by prospective investors using belief-action-outcome (BAO) theory. This study is a rational investor behavior study in deciding the use of their assets by explaining it using Rational Decision Making Model (RDMM) theory. This study used an online quasi-experimental approach. The respondents of this research were prospective individual investors who understand the use of financial statements to make investments. This research was conducted with two tests. First, test the construct of variables. Second, test the subject's behavior with experiments. As for the experiments carried out two steps namely first, the subjects were given a questionnaire without any sustainability reporting. Second, subjects were given a questionnaire with instructions to read sustainability reporting first. The expected outcome is that investors tend to choose to buy shares of companies that also attach sustainability reports compared to companies without sustainability reports. Investors also tend to be rational in making decisions. This result showed the importance of sustainability report in rational decision making.
A Study of Drop-out Chinese International Students from a Canadian Pre-University English Language Improvement Program: Acculturation Experiences and Challenges

With an increasing number of international students coming to Canada for higher education, Canadian universities are offering diverse English Language Improvement Programs (ELIP) to increase education opportunities. However, some Chinese international students are found cannot pass this program, eventually result in withdrawing. The purpose of this study is to understand the life and learning experiences of drop-out Chinese international students who used to study in ELIP, and also seeks to explain the their retention and dropout in this program. Data were collected through interviews, and five participants took part in this study. Chinese international students in this study dropped out of ELIP due to academic failure and largely regard ELIP learning as a waste of time. Possible factors have been raised may cause students’ academic failure, which include low learning and integrative motivation, lack of time management and self-regulation, and an inability to adapt to distinctive learning and teacher-student relationships.
Particulate Scale Numerical Investigation on the Compaction of TiC-316L Composite Powders

This paper presents a numerical investigation on the 2D uniaxial die compaction of TiC-316L stainless steel (abbreviated by 316L) composite powders by the multiparticle finite element method (MPFEM). The effects of TiC-316L particle size ratios, TiC contents, and initial packing structures on the compaction process are systematically characterized and analyzed from macroscale and particulate scale. Numerical results show that different initial packing structures have significant impacts on the densification process of TiC-316L composite powders; a denser initial packing structure with the same composition can improve the compaction densification of TiC-316L composite powders. Smaller size ratio of 316L and TiC particles (R316L/RTiC = 1) will help achieve the green compact with higher relative density as the TiC content and compaction pressure are fixed. Meanwhile, increasing TiC content reduces the relative density of the green compact. In the dynamic compaction process, the void filling is mainly completed by particle rearrangement and plastic deformation of 316L particles. Furthermore, the contacted TiC particles will form the force chains impeding the densification process and cause the serious stress concentration within them. Increasing TiC content and R316L/RTiC can create larger stresses in the compact. The results provide valuable information for the formation of high-quality TiC-316L compacts in PM process.
Physical activity of elderly women in terms of age

The aim of this study was to analyze an age- related decline in the physical activity level of older women. The research was conducted on a sample of 694 female participants (mean age 69.23±7.81 years, body mass 69.74±12.44 kg, body height 165.17±23.12cm, BMI 69.74±12.44 kg/m2- Mean ±SD). For the age-group comparisons we subdivided the sample into young-old group (354 participants aged 60-69 years) and old-old group (340 participants aged 70-80 years). In this research, the long form of the IPAQ questionnaire for self- evaluation was used containing four types of Physical Activity: work-related, transportation, housework/gardening and leisure-time activities. The three levels of physical activity suggested for classifying the populations are low, moderate, and high. The results show that moderate physical activity is dominant and accounts for almost half the energy consumed regardless of one’s age category. If we consider the type of physical activity, the results indicate that there is a significant difference (p<0.05) between young-old and old-old participants in the Total walking MET and Total vigorous MET. Among elderly women, the value of MET in total physical activity, as well as in moderate and vigorous activity, significantly reduces. Our research has shown that, overall, the young-old group is more physically active than the old-old group.
Demographic Factors Associated with Consistent Hand Hygiene Adherence Among ICU Nurses

Demographic Factors Associated with Consistent Hand Hygiene Adherence Among ICU Nurses by Sharon L. Kurtz MPH, Capella University BSN, Baylor University BA, Pittsburg State University Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Public Health Walden University February 2017
A Retrospective and Foresight: Bibliometric Review of International Research on Strategic Management for Sustainability, 1991–2019

Over the past 30 years, scholars have been calling for modern management theory and research to consider how strategic management tools could be applied to enhance corporate sustainability. While strategic management for sustainability has emerged as a multidisciplinary field, the existing knowledge base has yet to be systematic reviewed. This paper responded to the literature gap by conducting a bibliometric review of strategic management for sustainability. The paper aimed to document the landscape and composition of this literature through the analysis of 988 relevant Scopus-indexed documents. Data analyses found that the strategic management for sustainability knowledge base remained an emergent field with increasing interests from diverse groups of international scholars in various fields, particularly in environmental science, engineering, and strategic business management. Over the past three decades, the literatures have been continuously grown from a few publications in the early 1990s to almost 1000 documents to date. The review found that the most influential journals and authors of this knowledge base were international in scope but predominately from Western developed countries. Five Schools of Thought from author co-citation analysis revealed the intellectual clustering composition of the knowledge base on strategic management for sustainability: corporate sustainability strategy, sustainable waste management, strategic sustainability systems, strategic sustainability management and entrepreneurship, and sustainability assessment strategy. Key topics addressed in this research include the distribution of documents across the most highly cited journals, reflecting the breadth, quality and influential scholars in the strategic management for sustainability knowledge domain, naming of the influential scholars in the field and identification of contemporary foci and research front in the existing literature through the keyword co-occurrence analysis and co-word map. The strategic management for sustainability field has evolved from the key topics related to the green movement at the policy-driven macro level (i.e., ecological or environmental protection/impact, water/waste management and natural resource conservation) to the practicality in organizations with the topics related to social strategic responsibility and business management issues (i.e., corporate strategy, project management, supply chain management, information management, adaptive management, corporate sustainability). In addition to a retrospective, insightful prospective interpretation, practical implication, limitations and future research direction are discussed.
Evaluation of the Femoral Artery IMT as a Risk Factor of Cardiovascular Disease

Purpose: The carotid artery intima-media thickness (IMT) is a risk factor for atherosclerosis that can predict the association of cardiovascular disease. Despite this, there have been few studies on the femoral artery IMT. This study examined the correlation between the carotid and femoral IMT. The findings suggest that both the carotid and femoral IMT need to be measured for a proper evaluation of early arterial disease. Methods: This retrospective study included 39 patients who underwent carotid artery duplex, lower extremity duplex, and coronary artery angiography or CT for a health checkup in the authors’ health promotion center from January 2015 to December 2017. The carotid and femoral IMT were measured at three places from bifurcation using B-mode. The coronary artery disease (CAD), carotid artery stenosis (CAS), and peripheral artery occlusive disease (PAD) were defined by stenosis over 50% in duplex and CT angiogram. The maximum and sum of the IMT in both the arterial disease group and no arterial disease group were compared. Results: This study included 25 patients with arterial diseases from 39 enrolled patients 22 patients with CAD (51.2%), eight patients with CAS (20.5%), and seven patients with PAOD (17.9%). The total arterial disease including any one of the above three arterial diseases correlated with the maximum values of the femoral IMT (R = 0.322, P = 0.023) and the sum of the femoral IMT (R = 0.346, P = 0.015). Conclusion: The femoral artery IMT correlated with the carotid artery IMT. In addition, the femoral artery IMT correlated with the occurrence of total arterial disease, including coronary, carotid, and peripheral artery occlusive disease, but the correlation was lower than that of the carotid IMT.
Gallium nitride films of high n-type conductivity grown by reactive sputtering

The origin of n-type conductivity in as grown, undoped GaN has been debated over several decades, with contradictory views. This work deals with reactively sputtered, undoped GaN films in which a large decrease of resistivity from ∼105 to ∼2 × 10−3 Ω cm is seen, as the nitrogen percentage in argon–nitrogen sputtering atmosphere is decreased from 100% to 10%, resulting in high electron concentration ∼1020 cm−3 at the lower end of nitrogen pressure. The electrical behavior of these films has been correlated with their composition and chemical state to understand the nature of point defects which influence n-type conductivity. Powder x-ray diffraction and phi scans of the undoped GaN films grown by sputtering of GaAs at 700 °C on c-sapphire reveal epitaxial growth of single phase GaN. SIMS results show the absence of arsenic in the films and uniformly distributed gallium and nitrogen along with oxygen impurity, across their thickness. XPS data reveal the decrease of N/Ga ratio, as the nitrogen partial pressure is decreased along with the increase of uncoordinated Ga, indicating the formation of nitrogen vacancies. In the high resistivity films grown at higher nitrogen percentage in sputtering atmosphere, oxygen impurities appear to be primarily responsible for creation of n-type carriers, which are compensated by Ga vacancies and possibly VGa–ON complexes. The drastic enhancement of n-type conductivity and carrier concentration in the low resistivity films grown at lower nitrogen percentage, which reveal significantly smaller nitrogen content, is attributed dominantly to the increase in nitrogen vacancies and uncoordinated Ga.
Surgical Biopsy in Cervical Lymphadenopathy

Background: Cervical lymph nodes are the most frequently enlarged and biopsied of all the peripheral lymph nodes and in most of the cases the enlargement results from benign infectious causes, however, the presence of cervical lymphadenopathy (LAP) requires accurate diagnosis to exclude more serious causes. The aim of this study was to analyze cases of Iraqi patients presenting with cervical LAP who underwent surgical lymph node biopsy to establish accurate diagnosis. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study included 25 patients who presented with cervical LAP for whom surgical biopsy was performed to establish a definitive diagnosis. The investigated data included the demographic and clinical parameters in addition to the final histopathological diagnosis. Results: Twenty five patients were included in this study with a mean age of 33.8 years and female predominance; benign diseases were diagnosed in 56% of the cases whereas the remaining 44% were diagnosed with malignant diseases. Tuberculous lymphadenitis was the most common cause. Conclusion: This study emphasizes the importance of surgical lymph node biopsy in establishing a definitive diagnosis in patients presenting with cervical LAP.
The Use of Technologies Among Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders: Barriers and Challenges

Despite the rapid growth in development of technology, such as software or hardware devices, its implementation among stakeholders working with individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is slow. This suggests that there might be a number of challenges that hinder technology adoption or its continued usage. The current project aimed to investigate stakeholders’ perceptions on potential barriers in adopting technology. We involved 17 stakeholders, including parents of children with ASD, service providers, and administrators of ASD organizations, in interviews. Thematic analysis yielded three themes: (a) making the right choice, (b) apprehension and concern about uptake, and (c) external obstacles to implementation. This project was the first study to involve key stakeholders to determine components that take place in utilization and adoption of technologies in the field of ASD.
Development of physics learning e-module based on local culture wisdom in Pontianak,West Kalimantan

This study aims to determine the feasibility and effectiveness of physics learning e- module based on local culture wisdom. This study is a development using ADDIE model of study design comprised five steps of analysis, design, development, implementation and evaluation. The sample used by 70 students with one group pretest-posttest design. Based on the research results, e-module based on local wisdom that is validated by three experts and three experts media material showed 83% in the category of very viable for use in learning. The effectiveness of e-module was tested using paired sample t test. The results showed no effect of the use-based e-modules of local wisdom to the learning process of physics. Values of N-Gain score indicates the percentage of 81% (in the effective category). E-modules used in this study utilizes the android based smartphone technology. Local wisdom that becomes a source of learning is a game “carbide cannon” who came fromPontianak, West Kalimantan, the terms of the concepts of physics and chemistry. Students’ response to the media developed showed an average score of 87% ratings with very good category.