Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of Knowledge Acquisition on Competitiveness of Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies in Trans Nzoia County, Kenya

The cooperatives sector remains of great significance to the economic development of Kenya as it employs thousands of Kenyans, out of 261 Savings and credit cooperative societies in Trans Nzoia County, its only 65 of them that are vibrant, their poor performance has led to members’ withdrawal at annual rate of 10%. The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of knowledge acquisition on competitiveness of savings and cooperative societies in Trans Nzoia county. The study objective was to determine the effect of knowledge acquisition on competitiveness of savings and credit cooperative Societies in Trans Nzoia County. The study used descriptive survey research design. Target population for the study was drawn from employees of savings and credit cooperatives societies in Trans Nzoia County. The study targeted employees from the three main savings and credit cooperative sector operating in the County which included the Agricultural, industrial and the financial sector. The total target population comprised 1,174 respondents. The sample size from the management employees comprised 143 managers and 273 subordinate staff. The research technique used in collecting data was a structured questionnaire. The filled questionnaires were collected by the researcher, then coded and keyed into SPSS computer software and analyzed. Qualitative data was analysed thematically while quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistical techniques which included frequencies and mean. The findings were presented using frequency distribution tables that gave record of a number of times a score or a response occurs. The study International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences Vol. 8 , No. 9, Sept. 2018, E-ISSN: 2222-6990 © 2018 HRMARS 718 finding indicated that respondents held that the firm develops and implements training plan annually. The study findings also indicated that there was a significant relationship between knowledge acquisition and competitiveness of savings and credit cooperative societies. The study concluded that organizational knowledge was the most important source of competitive advantage and is acquired and transferred within an organization by means of training. The study recommended that organizations should recognize advantage of knowledge by budgeting for employees training.
Design and Control of Service Centers

Nelson Lee: DESIGN AND CONTROL OF SERVICE CENTERS (Under the direction of Vidyadhar Kulkarni) A service center is a facility with multiple heterogeneous servers providing specialized service to multiple types of customers. Design and control problems of service centers arise in many practical applications such as cloud computing, data centers, health care facilities, call centers, etc. With the motivation of reducing energy consumption in data centers, this dissertation investigates the design and control problems from three different perspectives that are applicable to the service centers in general. The first study provides decision models to determine optimal static assignment and routing policies, explicitly taking into account the stochastic fluctuations of demand along with the autocorrelations and cross-correlations of the different traffic streams. We consider several possible performance measures and formulate the design problem as a mixed integer nonlinear programming problem. We also develop an efficient heuristic algorithm to enhance scalability. We observe numerically that the optimal routing policy tries to combine the negatively correlated traffic streams, and separate the positively correlated traffic streams. The second study is motivated by the virtual computing labs (VCL) at UNCChapel Hill and North Carolina State University that provide remote access to users allowing them to reserve and use a virtual computer with their desired software application set. This study proposes an energy efficient scheduling and operating policy for such computing facilities. It is of general applicability in large scale computing systems. Using Erlang-B model, we provide a server scheduling and operating policy
Geophysical Processing with dense arrays in passive and active seismic configurations

In geophysics, spatially dense arrays enhance the spatial and frequential characterization of the various waves propagating in the medium. Of course, surface array is subject to strong surface waves. Surface waves highly impact the processing of geophysical data acquired at ground level. They can be considered as noise and subject to suppression as they mask sub-surface information.However, they can be useful for near-surface imaging if they are well retrieved. In any case, their characterization is crucial in active and passive exploration geophysics. In passive microseismic monitoring, ambient surface noise consists of surface waves. The main goal of passive monitoring is to minimize the impact of surface waves on the actual microseismic data. The strong ambient surface noise lowers the sensitivity and the efficiency ofdetection and location methods. Moreover, current location and detection methods usually require strong a priori information (e.g., a velocity model or a template). Active sources generate strong surface waves. In active seismic, current processing strategies often consist in manually picking surface wave arrivals in order to use or remove them. This is often a complex, time consuming, and an ambiguous task. However, it is needed for near- and sub-surface imaging. Surface waves can be particularly difficult to retrieve in sparse arrays. We propose to apply the techniques of interferometry and beamforming (Matched Field Processing in particular) in the context of dense arrays. High trace density opens new possibilities in geophysical processing in both passive and active surveys. We show that the ambient noise can be explored in the case of microseismic monitoring to extract important information about the medium properties. Moreover, we develop a denoising approach to remove the noise sources at the surface and detect the microseismic event. Furthermore, we propose an automatic detection and location method with a minimum a priori information to retrieve the distribution of heterogeneities in the reservoir, in the well vicinity.In active survey, we propose an interferometric, automatic approach to characterize the surface waves. We retrieve phase-sensitivity kernels of surface waves between any two points of the acquisition. These kernels are consequently used to obtain multi-mode dispersion curves. These dispersion curves make it possible to separate different modes of surface waves and provide near-surface information if inverted.The above presented methodologies benefit from spatially dense arrays.Dense arrays of sources or receivers enable alternative, innovative applications in geophysical processing.
Analisis Kesalahan Siswa dalam Menyelesaikan Soal Cerita Aritmatika Sosial Berdasarkan Prosedur Newman

Identifikasi penelitian ini adalah banyak siswa yang mengalami kesalahan dalam menyelesaikan soal cerita materi aritmatika sosial. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan kesalahan dan menganalisis faktor penyebab kesalahan yang dilakukan siswa kelas VII H SMP Negeri 2 Lumajang dalam menyelesaikan soal cerita matematika pokok bahasan aritmatika sosial berdasarkan prosedur Newman. Jenis penelitian ini adalah penelitian kualitatif deskriptif. Subjek penelitian ini berjumlah 30 siswa. Teknik pengumpulan data menggunakan tes tulis dan wawancara. Hasil analisis data yang diperoleh kesalahan memahami masalah sebanyak 39,17% termasuk tingkat kesalahan cukup tinggi, kesalahan transformasi sebanyak 76,67% termasuk tingkat kesalahan sangat tinggi, kesalahan keterampilan proses sebanyak 20,83% termasuk tingkat kesalahan kecil dan kesalahan penulisan jawaban akhir sebanyak 80,83% termasuk tingkat kesalahan sangat tinggi. Berdasarkan uraian diatas dapat disimpulkan bahwa masih banyak siswa kelas VII H SMP Negeri 2 Lumajang yang melakukan kesalahan dalam menyelesaikan soal cerita matematika pada materi aritmatika sosial. Kata Kunci: Analisis Kesalahan, Soal Cerita, Prosedur Newman
The semantics of role labeling

The problem of ascribing a semantic representation to text is an important one that can help text understanding problems like textual entailment. In this thesis, we address the problem of assigning a shallow semantic representation to text. This problem is traditionally studied in the context of verbs and their nominalizations. We propose to extend the task to go beyond verbs and nominalizations to include other linguistic constructions such as commas and prepositions We develop an ontology of predicate-argument relations that commas and prepositions express in text. Just like the verb and nominal semantic role labeling schemes, the relations we propose are domain independent. For these two classes of phenomena, we introduce new corpora where these relations are annotated. From the machine learning perspective, learning to predicting these relations is a structured learning problem. However, we only have the small (for commas) or partially annotated (for prepositions) data sets. To predict the new relations, we show that using linguistic knowledge and information about output structure can bias the learning to build robust models. Finally, we observe that the relations expressed by the various phenomena interact with each other by constraining each others’ output. We show that we can take advantage of these interdependencies by enforcing coherence between their predictions. By constraining inference using linguistic knowledge, we can improve relation prediction performance.
Post-Crisis Exchange Rate Policy in Five Asian Countries; Filling in the "Hollow Middle"?

Following the 1997-98 financial turmoil, crisis countries in Asia moved toward either floating or fixed exchange rate systems, reinforcing the bipolar view of exchange rate regimes and the "hollow middle" hypothesis. But some academics have claimed that the crisis countries' policies have been similar in the post- and pre-crisis periods. This paper analyzes the evidence and concludes that, except for Malaysia, which adopted a hard peg and imposed capital controls, the other crisis countries are floating more than before, though less than "real" floaters do. Further, the crisis countries' policies during the post-crisis period can be justified on second-best arguments.
Evaluation in audio music similarity

Audio Music Similarity is a task within Music Information Retrieval that deals with systems that retrieve songs musically similar to a query song according to their audio content. Evaluation experiments are the main scientific tool in Information Retrieval to determine what systems work better and advance the state of the art accordingly. It is therefore essential that the conclusions drawn from these experiments are both valid and reliable, and that we can reach them at a low cost. This dissertation studies these three aspects of evaluation experiments for the particular case of Audio Music Similarity, with the general goal of improving how these systems are evaluated. The traditional paradigm for Information Retrieval evaluation based on test collections is approached as an statistical estimator of certain probability distributions that characterize how users employ systems. In terms of validity, we study how well the measured system distributions correspond to the target user distributions, and how this correspondence affects the conclusions we draw from an experiment. In terms of reliability, we study the optimal characteristics of test collections and statistical procedures, and in terms of effi ciency we study models and methods to greatly reduce the cost of running an evaluation experiment.
Effectiveness of Guided Inquiry Laboratory-Based Module and Indicator of Analytical Thinking Skills in the Matter of Respiratory System in Senior High School

This research was purposed to knowing the effectiveness of module which is based on guided inquiry laboratory method in order to increase the analytic thinking skill toward respiration system matery of XI MIPA at Senior High School 2 Sragen. This research was used the research and development (R&D) method refers to Borg ang Gall model which have been modified into 9 stage; 1) researching and collecting data, 2) planning, 3) developing the draft of product, 4) testing the first experiment field, 5) revising the first experiment field result, 6) doing the experiment field, 7) completing the result of experiment field product, 8) testing the implementation field, 9) completing the result of product. The analysis data used during the research development was descriptive, properness of the module based on scoring the criteria, and thinking skill analysis. The biology module based on guided inquiry laboratory (GIL) was effectively to empower the aspect of analytic thinking skill in order to formulate the objective and make the result.
The multi-facetted relation between phrasing and intonation contours in French

Accounts of French prosody have traditionally held that the grouping of words in an utterance, the distribution of accents within those groups, and the intonation contours that can be realized are closely intertwined. Recent proposals claim that these connections can be successfully formalized in the grammar. Prosodic variation provides an excellent testing ground for this claim, since one of the crucial predictions is that the same grammar underlies any variation in prosodic surface forms that can be observed at, for instance, different speaking rates. The results of a production experiment confirm that, as expected, rate has an effect on the frequency distribution and phonetic implementation of prosodic structures, but not on the underlying system of phonological forms.
The Differences in Tendency of Aggressive Behaviour, Emotional Intelligence and Antisocial Personality between Gender and between Family System among Undergraduate University Students Lahore, Pakistan

In the study independent Samples t-test was used to identifying difference in tendency of aggressive behavior, antisocial personality and emotional intelligence between gender and family system groups. The finding indicated that no significant difference in antisocial personality, emotional intelligence and tendency of aggressive behavior between genders. The findings indicated that students from nuclear families showed a higher tendency of aggressive behavior than those from joint families. Similarly students from nuclear families showed higher antisocial personality than those from joint families. In addition students from joint families were found to have higher emotional intelligence than students from nuclear families.
All things being equal: uncertainty, ambivalence and trust in a Namibian conservancy

This thesis is about how experiences of uncertainty shape the way people share with one another. It is an ethnographic study of a rural conservancy in north-eastern Namibia, the Nyae Nyae Conservancy, and the urban town at its centre, Tsumkwe—between which people “roam in order to live”. The people at the centre of this study are the Ju|’hoansi (meaning “true people” or “people of proper custom”), known to anthropology both as hunter-gatherers and as a famously “egalitarian society”. In Namibia, they are a “traditional community” with ancestral rights to a communal land region that they now manage largely as a commercial enterprise. In doing so, they aim to perform the complementary work of conserving their ancestral way of life and the diverse fauna and flora they share it with, and enticing tourists, entrepreneurs, and trophy-hunters to provide the cash now necessary to do so. This work only goes so far in making people self-sufficient, however, giving rise to a regular push and pull between their territories and town. These movements reflect broader shifts towards informality, precariousness, and rising inequality across southern Africa, but they are also extensions of a much longer history of “roaming” that has been the subject of extensive writing within the discipline on hunter-gatherers and their fiercely egalitarian values. This writing sees roaming as a practice circumscribed by the assumption that those who have more than they can immediately use or consume will give in to the demands of roaming others without expecting repayment. In its contemporary guise, however, roaming necessitates encounters not with “true people”, like themselves, whom they expect will share without hesitation, but with “other people” who “want to refuse you”, “want to ruin you”, or who “cannot be trusted”. This thesis takes this nexus—between the values ordinarily associated with egalitarianism and the contemporary social context—as a productive space within which to explore the way that people go about sharing in the face of uncertainty and negotiating the ambivalence that emerges in the process. This thesis is based on ethnographic fieldwork carried out in the Nyae Nyae conservancy between October 2014 – December 2015. It contributes to current debates within the anthropology of value on redistributive regimes and within the anthropology of ethics on experiences of moral ambivalence, and to broader fields of research on the relationship between state processes and informal economies in southern Africa.
Causes and Ways to Overcome Bully among Students from National Primary Schools, National Type Chinese Primary Schools and National Type Tamil Primary Schools

The study aims to analyze the causes and ways to overcome bully among students from National Primary Schools, National Type Chinese Primary Schools and National Type Tamil Primary Schools. In addition, this study is also carried out with the aim of producing a guidebook to handle the symptoms of bullying that can help teachers in the management of pupils in the classroom. Qualitative approach with the Hermeneutics method has been used in this study. A total of 59 respondents were involved in this study. Respondents were selected among the primary school teachers in the district of Kinta Utara, Perak, which consisted of 20 teachers from National Primary Schools, 20 teachers from National Type Chinese Primary Schools and 19 teachers from National Type Tamil Primary Schools. The instrument used in this study is a questionnaire with four parts. Then, the collected data were analyzed using the Hermeneutical method. The results show that the main cause of the bullying phenomenon among primary school children was due to the student's own attitude and mass media influence. The best way to overcome bully is to provide counseling to students, appropriate punishment to bully offenders and to apply religious education as well as moral values. In addition, the main content to fit in the guidebook on handling bully is the ways to overcome bully, the punishment that should be given to bullies and the characteristics of bullies and bully victims. The implications of the study indicate that the use of guidebook on handling bully can help teachers in the management of students in the classroom and to overcome bully.
Express yourself? Ease to express one’s identity mediates the relationship between national belonging and mental health

ABSTRACT A number of studies have reported a positive relationship between levels of national identification and well-being. Although this link is clear, the relationship is likely influenced by a number of other variables. In the current study, we examine two such variables: age and the ease with which people feel they can express their identity in the national context. Participants were drawn from three waves (2008–12) of the biannual New Zealand General Social Survey (NZGSS). The NZGSS consists of a number of questions related to well-being. The current study utilised the questions related to one’s sense of belonging to New Zealand, ease to express one’s identity in New Zealand, and mental health. When controlling for physical health, standard of living, and several demographic control variables, there was a clear relationship between one’s sense of belonging to New Zealand and mental health. Further, this relationship was stronger for older than younger participants. Finally, the ease with which participants felt they could express their identity in New Zealand partially mediated the relationship. Future research should elucidate which specific aspects of their identity people feel is constrained in the national context.
Nutritional Status of Pre-School Children from Urban Low Income Families

India is currently the home of the largest number of under-nourished and over-nourished children in the world. Data from longitudinal studies in India indicate that both under nutrition and over-nutrition in childhood is associated with higher risk of over-nutrition and noncommunicable diseases in adult life. A community based mixed longitudinal study of underfive children from urban low income families was taken up to assess their nutritional status. Weight was taken every month in all; length was measured every month in infants and height was measured once in three months in 1-5 year children. BMI was computed in all. Nutritional status was assessed using the WHO anthro software package. Between 2012 and 2015, 3888 pre-school children were enrolled (49.4% boys and 50.6% girls); mean age of these children at enrolment was 22.5±16.17 months. The mean Z scores for height for age was - 1.79; weight for age was - 1.41 and -0.47 for BMI for age. Prevalence of stunting was 43.4%; underweight was 31.9%, wasting was 12% and over-nutrition was between 3-5%. The reduction in wasting rate between 0-3 years was mainly due to the increase in prevalence of stunting. With universal screening for early detection of wasting and over-nutrition and effective management of these, it will be possible to achieve the WHA targets of reducing and maintaining wasting below 5% and preventing increase in over-nutrition in this population. This may reduce the risk of over-nutrition and non-communicable diseases in these children during their adult life.
The interplay between SME owner-managers and the brand-as-a-person

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the largely unexplored conceptualisation of the brand-as-a-person metaphor in small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by examining its potential relation with the SME owner-manager, the pathways to its creation and development and the intuitive nature of this relationship.Design/methodology/approachA grounded theory approach was used, and data were collected through a set of 36 semi-structured interviews with 30 SME owner-managers in various sectors in Mexico.FindingsThe results indicate that SME owner-managers intuitively humanise their brands. The study revealed four pathways to develop the brand-as-a-person metaphor in the SME context: through personality traits, tastes and preferences, abilities and knowledge and values, all suggesting that SMEs’ brand-as-a-person metaphors are largely an extension of their owner-managers.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper presents a theoretical framework that illustrates the four pathways to the creation and development of brand-as-a-person that are derived from the brand’s relationship with the SME owner-manager. The results of cross-industry semi-structured interviews are limited to a single culture context.Practical implicationsSME owner-managers should first undertake an introspective personal assessment of their intuitive and conscious decision-making, as SME owner-managers often make decisions in an intuitive way. The results suggest that they should act in a more conscious, responsible and rational way when formulating their brand strategies.Originality/valueThis is the first study to clarify the profound influence of SME owner-managers’ personal characteristics, including personality traits, tastes and preferences, abilities and knowledge and values, on the brand-as-a-person metaphor. This study also confirms the intuitive learning strategy formulation of SME owner-managers’ branding practices and SMEs’ need for a more rational approach to branding.