Activating Schemata in ESL Writing

My research aims at exploring the contribution of various types of schemata to leaners’ text comprehension and text production, especially ESL (English as a Second Language) writing, to better understand how ESL learners, especially Vietnamese graduate students, use diverse resources in schema activation to facilitate their processes of learning to write in the academic setting. To better understand these processes, the researcher synthesized previous studies together with conducting interviews with four Vietnamese graduate students and analyzing their writing samples to investigate the relationships among types of schemata: formal, content, and rhetorical schemata, which can be significant in ESL writing and composition pedagogy. Formal schemata refer to learners’ awareness and competence in technically linguistic expressions; content schemata refer to learners’ knowledge of reading and writing topics; and rhetorical schemata refer learners’ awareness of the contextual situations in which texts are created. The analyses in this research have found a substantial contribution of the three types of schemata to the reading and writing processes. The analyses in my research can possibly provide a better understanding of schemata to facilitate ESL learners’ reading and writing competence

Equity mispricing and the adjustment toward target leverage: Evidence from the UK

The objective of this paper is to provide an empirical analysis of the influence of equity misevaluation on the speed of adjustment toward target leverage in the UK market over the period of 1993-2016. The study introduces a set of better measures of equity mispricing and implements the standard partial adjustment model to estimate the speed at which firms revert to their target leverage. The average firm is expected to reduce the distance from its target level by 31-33% each year or it takes approximately three years for the firm to adjust back to its optimal capital structure after attempts to time the market in favorable conditions, equivalently. Especially, the study documents strong evidence for pronounced heterogeneity in the target leverage adjustment speed across the sample. For example, the firm which is above its target level (i.e. calls for equity issuance or debt repurchase) tends to revert more rapidly in the period of overvaluation relative to undervaluation. Correspondingly, looking at firms below target levels (i.e. needs to issue debt or repurchase equity), they adjust faster to target levels in the presence of undervaluation. The results are robust to different proxies for leverage in the partial adjustment model and alternate methods of measuring mispricing. While the study is highly consistent with Warr et al. (2012), it challenges the evidence of Baker and Wurgler (2002) about the permanent effect of market timing on capital structure

DEVELOPMENT OF A SIMPLE TECHNOLOGY TO REMOVE ARSENIC IN GROUND WATER BASED ON USING "LATERITE"-ADSORBENT, A COMMON NATURAL IRON ORE IN VIETNAM

Joint Research on Environmental Science and Technology for the Eart

Rifamycin Resistance in Clostridium difficile Is Generally Associated with a Low Fitness Burden

We characterized clinically occurring and novel mutations in the β subunit of RNA polymerase in Clostridium difficile (CdRpoB), conferring rifamycin (including rifaximin) resistance. The Arg(505)Lys substitution did not impose an in vitro fitness cost, which may be one reason for its dominance among rifamycin-resistant clinical isolates. These observations were supported through the structural modeling of CdRpoB. In general, most mutations lacked in vitro fitness costs, suggesting that rifamycin resistance may in some cases persist in the clinic

Country uncertainty, power distance, and payment methods in acquisitions

This study examines the impact of country-specific uncertainty on the choice of payment method in international acquisitions. Our results show a negative correlation between the level of target country-specific uncertainty and cash transactions. Specifically, when the host country experiences a high level of country uncertainty, acquirers are more likely to choose non-cash transactions in which acquiring firms can issue their own equity to the target firm as part or all of the purchase consideration of the deal. The result is robust to alternative tests and analysis of subsamples. We also find that differences in uncertainty between host and home countries are informative in bidders’ payment decisions. Further, we find that the negative relation between target country-specific uncertainty and cash payment becomes weaker when there are larger differences in power distance between host and home countries. Our findings provide recommendations for policy-making bodies, and have implications for firm managers making corporate restructuring decisions

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Green Shipping: Navigating towards Sustainable Maritime Practices

This paper aims to investigate the role that artificial intelligence (AI) plays in promoting sustainability in the marine industry. The report demonstrates the potential of AI-driven technology to improve vessel operations, decrease emissions, and promote environmental stewardship. This potential is shown by detailed examination of existing trends, problems, and possibilities. Several vital studies highlight the significance of policy interventions that encourage the use of artificial intelligence. These interventions include financial incentives, legal frameworks, and programs to increase capability. Throughout this work, the importance of the role that artificial intelligence plays in driving efficiency, safety, and sustainability is emphasized. This work also highlights the urgent need for action to address climate change and environmental degradation in the marine sector. The marine industry can lessen its carbon footprint, decrease pollution, and improve ecosystem health if it shifts to various alternative fuels, renewable energy sources, and technologies powered by artificial intelligence. At the end of this work, an appeal is made to policymakers, industry stakeholders, and technology providers, urging them to prioritize investments in artificial intelligence research and development and to create collaboration to speed up the transition to a marine sector that is more sustainable and resilient

doi:10.1155/2011/614571 Research Article MMSE Beamforming for SC-FDMA Transmission over

which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. We consider transmit beamforming for single-carrier frequency-division multiple access (SC-FDMA) transmission over frequency-selective multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channels. The beamforming filters are optimized for minimization of the sum of the mean-squared errors (MSEs) of the transmitted data streams after MIMO minimum mean-squared error linear equalization (MMSE-LE), and for minimization of the product of the MSEs after MIMO MMSE decision-feedback equalization (MMSE-DFE), respectively. We prove that for SC-FDMA transmission in both cases eigenbeamforming, diagonalizing the overall channel, together with a nonuniform power distribution is the optimum beamforming strategy. The optimum power allocation derived for MMSE-LE is similar in spirit to classical results for the optimum continuous-time transmit filter for linear modulation formats obtained by Berger/Tufts and Yang/Roy, whereas for MMSE-DFE the capacity achieving waterfilling strategy well known from conventional single-carrier transmission schemes is obtained. Moreover, we present a modification of the beamformer design to mitigate an increase of the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) which is in general associated with beamforming. Simulation results demonstrate the high performance of the proposed beamforming algorithms. 1

Synthesis and Investigation of the Physical Properties of Lead-Free BCZT Ceramics

This work presents the structure, microstructure, and physical properties of low sintering temperature lead-free ceramics 0.52(Ba0.7Ca0.3)TiO3-0.48Ba(Zr0.2Ti0.8)O3 doped with nano-sized ZnO particles (noted as BCZT/x, x is the content of ZnO nanoparticles in wt.%, x = 0.00, 0.05, 0.10, 0.15, 0.20, and 0.25). The obtained results of Raman scattering and dielectric measurements have confirmed that Zn2+ has occupied B-site, to cause a deformation in the ABO3-type lattice of the BCZT/x specimens. The 0.15 wt.% ZnO-modified ceramic sintered at 1350°C exhibited excellent piezoelectric parameters: d33 = 420 pC/N, d31 = −174 pC/N, kp = 0.483, kt = 0.423, and k33 = 0.571. The obtained results indicate that the high-quality lead-free BCZT ceramic could be successfully synthesized at a low sintering temperature of 1350°C with an addition of appropriated amount of ZnO nanoparticles. This work also reports the influence of the sintering temperature on structure, microstructure, and piezoelectric properties of BCZT/0.15 compound. By rising sintering temperature, the piezoelectric behaviors were improved and rose up to the best parameters at a sintering temperature of 1450°C (d33 = 576 pC/N and kp = 0.55). The corresponding properties of undoped BCZT ceramics were investigated as a comparison. It also presented that the sintering behavior and piezo-parameters of doped BCZT samples are better than the undoped BCZT samples at each sintering temperature

The situation and solutions to develop Green Building in Vietnam

Housing in Vietnames megacities is quite expensive due to limited land availability. Besides, green housing investment requires higher implementation costs than non-green housing investments, plus a Green Building certification fee implemented by international organizations. Despite specific difficulties and problems, green real estate projects bring economic benefits to both investors and users in the long run. Green building development is a trend that is particularly interested in by governments and real estate developers. Through analyzing the current status of Green Building development in Vietnam, the authors have discovered barriers, limitations, and proposed solutions. To develop green buildings effectively, investors need to operate a 5-step process throughout the project life cycle, including Green planning — Green design — Green construction — Green operation — Green lifestyle. Using environmentally friendly materials, energy-saving efficiency in green housing is no longer an unattainable dream for urban residents in Vietnam