Evaluating The Philippine TVET Competency Assessment and Certification System Using SERVQUAL Model

The TVET program has been successful in providing highly skilled individuals to meet the demands of the labor market. However, it is important to evaluate the delivery of the program to ensure that it continues to meet these demands. This study focused on analyzing the delivery of the TVET competency assessment and certification system in Davao de Oro, Philippines. The study utilized a descriptive survey method and adopted the (Service Quality) SERVQUAL model to assess service quality. The results revealed that there is a gender gap distribution among male and female clients who availed of the process of competency assessment and certification system. The study also found that empathy obtained a negative gap score (-0.03) in the process. This negative score implies that empathy is as important as other dimensions of service quality. However, other dimensions of service quality have met the expectations of clients and obtained a positive score. Overall, respondents have perceived the implementation of the technical vocational education and training TVET competency assessment and certification system to be satisfactory. To improve the service quality, it is necessary to provide appropriate information about processing time and documentary requirements to all clients and equip personnel in handling clients proactively. Relationship-based management should also be improved to promote holistic technical vocational education and training (TVET) service quality, particularly in competency assessment and certification systems

Rice cultivation and methane emission: Documentation of distributed geographic data sets

High-resolution global data bases on the geographic and seasonal distribution of rice cultivation and associated methane emission, compiled by Matthews et al., were archived for public use. In addition to the primary data sets identifying location, seasonality, and methane emission from rice cultivation, a series of supporting data sets is included, allowing users not only to replicate the work of Matthews et al. but to investigate alternative cultivation and emission scenarios. The suite of databases provided, at 1 latitude by 1 longitude resolution for the globe, includes (1) locations of rice cultivation, (2) monthly arrays of actively growing rice areas, (3) countries and political subdivisions, and (4) monthly arrays of methane emission from rice cultivation. Ancillary data include (1) a listing, by country, of harvested rice areas and seasonal distribution of crop cycles and (2) country names and codes. Summary tables of zonal/monthly distributions of actively growing rice areas and of methane emissions are presented. Users should consult original publications for complete discussion of the data bases. This short paper is designed only to document formats of the distributed information and briefly describe the contents of the data sets and their initial application to evaluating the role of rice cultivation in the methane budget

Natural variability in a stable, 1000-yr global coupled climate-carbon cycle simulation

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society 2006. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Climate 19 (2006): 3033–3054, doi:10.1175/JCLI3783.1.A new 3D global coupled carbon–climate model is presented in the framework of the Community Climate System Model (CSM-1.4). The biogeochemical module includes explicit land water–carbon coupling, dynamic carbon allocation to leaf, root, and wood, prognostic leaf phenology, multiple soil and detrital carbon pools, oceanic iron limitation, a full ocean iron cycle, and 3D atmospheric CO2 transport. A sequential spinup strategy is utilized to minimize the coupling shock and drifts in land and ocean carbon inventories. A stable, 1000-yr control simulation [global annual mean surface temperature ±0.10 K and atmospheric CO2 ± 1.2 ppm (1σ)] is presented with no flux adjustment in either physics or biogeochemistry. The control simulation compares reasonably well against observations for key annual mean and seasonal carbon cycle metrics; regional biases in coupled model physics, however, propagate clearly into biogeochemical error patterns. Simulated interannual-to-centennial variability in atmospheric CO2 is dominated by terrestrial carbon flux variability, ±0.69 Pg C yr−1 (1σ global net annual mean), which in turn reflects primarily regional changes in net primary production modulated by moisture stress. Power spectra of global CO2 fluxes are white on time scales beyond a few years, and thus most of the variance is concentrated at high frequencies (time scale 20 yr), global net ocean CO2 flux is strongly anticorrelated (0.7–0.95) with the net CO2 flux from land; the ocean tends to damp (20%–25%) slow variations in atmospheric CO2 generated by the terrestrial biosphere. The intrinsic, unforced natural variability in land and ocean carbon storage is the “noise” that complicates the detection and mechanistic attribution of contemporary anthropogenic carbon sinks.This work was supported by NCAR, NSF ATM-9987457, NASA EOS-IDS Grant NAG5-9514, NASA Carbon Cycle Program Grant NAG5-11200, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory LDRD, and the WHOI Ocean and Climate Change Institute

Symmetric Grothendieck polynomials, skew Cauchy identities, and dual filtered Young graphs

Symmetric Grothendieck polynomials are analogues of Schur polynomials in the K-theory of Grassmannians. We build dual families of symmetric Grothendieck polynomials using Schur operators. With this approach we prove skew Cauchy identity and then derive various applications: skew Pieri rules, dual filtrations of Young's lattice, generating series and enumerative identities. We also give a new explanation of the finite expansion property for products of Grothendieck polynomials

Influencia de la adición de viruta de acero en la resistencia a compresión en ladrillos artesanales en prismas de albañilería, Trujillo, 2022

Esta investigación tiene como objetivo determinar la influencia de la adición de viruta de acero (V.A.) en la resistencia a compresión de ladrillos artesanales en prismas de albañilería, por lo que se elaboraron 30 prismas, cada prisma conformado por tres ladrillos y una junta de 1,5 cm, 6 de estos por cada porcentaje que fue de 0 %, 5 %, 10 %, 15 % y 20 % de adición de viruta de acero. La investigación es experimental y según su naturaleza es cuantitativa. Los resultados indican que para una adición de 15 % (V.A.), la resistencia a compresión en unidades de ladrillos aumenta y es óptima, teniendo como resultado un 72,68 kg/cm² a diferencia del ladrillo patrón que es de 52,35 kg/cm²; en prismas sucede lo mismo para una adición de 15 % (V.A.) la resistencia a compresión llega a 48,10 kg/cm² a diferencia del prisma patrón que es de 21,21 kg/cm², sin embargo, si se adiciona a más de este porcentaje las resistencias empiezan a bajar. Se concluyó que la influencia de la adición de (V.A.) en ladrillos artesanales y prismas de albañilería influye positivamente mejorando esta propiedad en un 126,78 % con respecto a los prismas patrón, pero hasta el 15 % de adición de (V.A.).This research aims to determine the influence of the addition of steel shavings (VA) on the compressive strength of artisanal bricks in masonry prisms, for which 30 prisms were made, each prism made up of three bricks and a 1-inch joint. .5 cm, 6 of these for each percentage that was 0 %, 5 %, 10 %, 15 % and 20 % addition of steel wool. The research is experimental and according to its nature it is quantitative. The results indicate that for an addition of 15 % (V.A.), the compressive strength in brick units increases and is optimal, resulting in 72.68 kg/cm², unlike the standard brick, which is 52.35 kg/ cm²; In prisms the same thing happens for an addition of 15 % (V.A.) the compressive strength reaches 48.10 kg/cm² unlike the standard prism which is 21.21 kg/cm², however, if it is added to more than At this percentage the resistances begin to drop. It was concluded that the influence of the addition of (V.A.) in handmade bricks and masonry prisms has a positive influence, improving this property by 126.78 % with respect to the standard prisms, but up to 15 % of addition of (V.A.)

Rapid emergence of climate change in environmental drivers of marine ecosystems

Climate change is expected to modify ecological responses in the ocean, with the potential for important effects on the ecosystem services provided to humankind. Here we address the question of how rapidly multiple drivers of marine ecosystem change develop in the future ocean. By analysing an ensemble of models we find that, within the next 15 years, the climate change-driven trends in multiple ecosystem drivers emerge from the background of natural variability in 55% of the ocean and propagate rapidly to encompass 86% of the ocean by 2050 under a ‘business-as-usual’ scenario. However, we also demonstrate that the exposure of marine ecosystems to climate change-induced stress can be drastically reduced via climate mitigation measures; with mitigation, the proportion of ocean susceptible to multiple drivers within the next 15 years is reduced to 34%. Mitigation slows the pace at which multiple drivers emerge, allowing an additional 20 years for adaptation in marine ecological and socio-economic systems alike

Specificity of RNAi, LNA and CRISPRi as loss-of-function methods in transcriptional analysis

ABSTRACT Loss-of-function (LOF) methods, such as RNA interference (RNAi), antisense oligonucleotides or CRISPR-based genome editing, provide unparalleled power for studying the biological function of genes of interest. When coupled with transcriptomic analyses, LOF methods allow researchers to dissect networks of transcriptional regulation. However, a major concern is nonspecific targeting, which involves depletion of transcripts other than those intended. The off-target effects of each of these common LOF methods have yet to be compared at the whole-transcriptome level. Here, we systematically and experimentally compared non-specific activity of RNAi, antisense oligonucleotides and CRISPR interference (CRISPRi). All three methods yielded non-negligible offtarget effects in gene expression, with CRISPRi exhibiting clonal variation in the transcriptional profile. As an illustrative example, we evaluated the performance of each method for deciphering the role of a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) with unknown function. Although all LOF methods reduced expression of the candidate lncRNA, each method yielded different sets of differentially expressed genes upon knockdown as well as a different cellular phenotype. Therefore, to definitively confirm the functional role of a transcriptional regulator, we recommend the simultaneous use of at least two different LOF methods and the inclusion of multiple, specifically designed negative controls