If only it were true: the problem with the four conditionals

The traditional division of conditionals into four main types (zero, first, second, and third) has long been called into question. Unfortunately, the awareness that this description does not reflect conditional patterns in actual usage has not generally been reflected in EFL coursebooks. This article re-examines the arguments for a description of conditional patterns which reflects actual usage and uses corpus data to demonstrate the kind of patterns in frequent use. It then suggests two teaching approaches that may help teachers to tackle a variety of conditional patterns in the classroom

Listing Contract Length and Time on Market

Miceli (1989) in a search for the optimal time to allow a broker to market property provides a theoretical model which posits that the principal (seller) may use the length of the listing contract to motivate the agent (listing broker) to better align incentives. Expanding slightly on Miceli, this present work predicts that longer time allotted the broker to market residential property will decrease broker effort resulting in lower search intensity and eventually a longer marketing span for property, ceteris paribus. This prediction is borne out across three empirical modeling methodologies commonly used in time on market studies.

Scaling techniques for modeling directional knowledge

A common way for researchers to model or graphically portray spatial knowledge of a large environment is by applying multidimensional scaling (MDS) to a set of pairwise distance estimations. We introduce two MDS-like techniques that incorporate people’s knowledge of directions instead of (or in addition to) their knowledge of distances. Maps of a familiar environment derived from these procedures were more accurate and were rated by participants as being more accurate than those derived from nonmetric MDS. By incorporating people’s relatively accurate knowledge of directions, these methods offer spatial cognition researchers and behavioral geographers a sharper analytical tool than MDS for studying cognitive maps

Perceptions of Emotional Intelligence Preparation and Industry Expectations for Utah State University MBA Graduates

This study sought to determine whether an MBA degree from Utah State University (USU) was meeting the emotional intelligence (EI) needs of the workplace from the perception of its graduates. This research assessed perception of EI skills with a researcher-designed instrument that consisted of a 22-question survey that was e-mailed to USU students who completed an MBA between 2000 and 2006. The survey questionnaire given to MBA graduates was titled Assessment of Emotional Intelligence and was divided into three distinct parts. The first category (questions 1-10) had to do with industry expectations as perceived by MBA graduates. The second category (questions 11-20) emphasized curriculum in USU’s MBA program, and the third category (21-22) asked for demographic information that was not available from student records or the initial participation postcard. The findings from this research present evidence of the MBA program’s strength in teaching teamwork and collaboration. There was strong agreement that the program taught these skills and that they are expected skills in the workplace. This finding, however, was both affirming and concerning at the same time because it was found that the ratings for none of the other related EI competencies were comparably equal with those of teamwork and collaboration. The lack of correlation between the latent variables, or constructs, employed in this analysis implied that the MBA program could benefit by offering more instruction in EI competencies

The Effects of Using Colored Overlays On the Reading Skills of Visually Dyslexic Children

Reading is a critical skill that all students must learn , but for the child with dyslexia it can be a very difficult task to overcome . A tool that may be used to accommodate a student with dyslexia is that of a colored overlay . The following is a study that examined the effects of colored overlays on the reading skills of one fifth-grade student and one sixth-grade student who are dyslexic . The Woodcock Reading Mastery Tests - Revised and an informal reading assessment were used as the measuring instruments . The results of those two tests were examined to find the relationship between errors without the use of overlays and errors with the use of overlays. The conclusions from this study showed there are positive effects with the use of colored overlays with some children with dyslexia

A New Way for Voting in American Elections: Addressing the Patentability of a Blockchain Mail-in Voting System

The novel corona virus turned life upside down throughout the world in 2020. One of its many impacts was the fear it gave people of going out in public as doing such could increase the likelihood of contraction. This disease happened to come about during an election year in the United States and this raised many questions about how voting could be safely conducted. A hot topic debate took over America as to whether or not mail-in voting would suffice. The United States Postal Service sought to find a reliable way to conduct mail-in voting and filed for a patent to use blockchain technology in conjunction with the mail system to deliver a safe and secure voting platform. This note dives into the patentability of a blockchain mail-in voting system and examines whether or not such a system meets the requirements to be issued a patent. In particular, the United State’s Postal Service application is measured against the backdrops of the Mayo test, a two-part patentability test used in instances for technology patents such as blockchain systems. This note is timely as the patent is still pending and mail-in voting is still a hot topic issue. Additionally, after the patent is decided upon, this note’s research will still be useful for analyzing the likelihood for the granting of other software patents as the tests that are laid out apply to more than just blockchain technology

Evaluation of Air Force Aircraft Maintenance Metrics for Integration into the Expeditionary Combat Support System

All organizations face the continuous challenge of a dynamic and ever-changing operations environment. They must adapt to new paradigms quickly or end up on the road to obsolescence. Never has this been truer for the U.S. Air Force than in the 21st century. The logistics organization of the Air Force supports a worldwide, 24/7 operation, executing the national directive of US Policy. Past logistics operation policies have now been proven to no longer be sufficient to meet the needs of the war-fighter. Shrinking budgets, aging equipment, and the austere, disparate operating locations demand sweeping changes in how the logistic machine operates. The Expeditionary Combat Support System (ECSS) is the Air Force wide Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system designed to tackle these very challenges. An ERP implementation endeavor consists of a large number of critical areas that have to be addressed. Management Support, Business Process Reengineering, Strategy and Governance modeling, and Legacy Systems Evaluation and Conversion are just a few of the key areas that need to be managed successfully for effective ERP implementation. This study focuses on one area, Legacy Systems Evaluation and Conversion. This study explores the transition of 28 current Air Force Maintenance metrics into the Oracle ERP software platform. Evaluation of these metrics by operational maintenance managers provides insight into the importance and effectiveness of the current metrics as well as the clarity and potential success for translating the proposed new metrics for the ECSS program

Seasonal Patterns of Nitrogen Fixation in Termites

Summary 1. Termite nitrogenase activity was highest in autumn and spring (≈ 3 µg N2 fixed termite fresh mass (g)–1 day–1) and lowest in winter and summer (≈ 0·8 µg N2 fixed termite fresh mass (g)–1 day–1). 2. The nitrogenase activity of worker termites was significantly higher than all other castes (1·58 ± 0·27 µg N2 fixed termite fresh mass (g)–1 day–1). 3. Worker termites constituted the largest proportion of all the castes throughout the study period (≈ 90%). 4. The localized input of fixed nitrogen by termites may reach 15·3 mg N log–1 day–1 and 5·6 g N log–1 year–1

Body-based senses enhance knowledge of directions in large-scale environments

Previous research has shown that inertial cues resulting from passive transport through a large environment do not necessarily facilitate acquiring knowledge about its layout. Here we examine whether the additional body-based cues that result from active movement facilitate the acquisition of spatial knowledge. Three groups of participants learned locations along an 840-m route. One group walked the route during learning, allowing access to body-based cues (i.e., vestibular, proprioceptive, and efferent information). Another group learned by sitting in the laboratory, watching videos made from the first group. A third group watched a specially made video that minimized potentially confusing head-on-trunk rotations of the viewpoint. All groups were tested on their knowledge of directions in the environment as well as on its configural properties. Having access to body-based information reduced pointing error by a small but significant amount. Regardless of the sensory information available during learning, participants exhibited strikingly common biases