Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Factors influencing self-reliance in rice production, the case of small farmers in Bataan, Philippines

The study was intended to determine the factors influencing small farmers’ selfreliance in rice production that would enhance the respondents’ productivity without bringing harmful effects on the ecological system but rather for a sustainable agriculture. It was conducted in selected barangays of Bataan, Philippines with a total sample of 360 small farmer-respondents selected through stratified random sampling. Primary data were collected during the harvest seasons of the year 2011-2012 through structured interview involving farmers’ level of self-reliance and the factors influencing the respondents’ self-reliance. Descriptive and multiple regression analyses were employed to analyze the collected quantitative data. The findings revealed the following: 1) Farmers’ level of selfreliance was generally high on the aspects of state of mind, social and economic affairs while moderate on the aspects of technology management and natural resource management. 2) Multiple regression analysis showed that educational attainment, household size, number of crops, managerial subsystem, use of own seeds, use of organic fertilizer and farm work were the factors influencing the respondents’ self-reliance. Based on the results of the study, the number of crops is found to be the highest predictor variable that significantly influencing farmers’ level of self-reliance. The research also provided recommendations for small farmers to enhance rice production through self-reliance on the aspects of state of mind, social affairs, technology management, natural resource management, and economic affairs.
On the Consumer Value of Environmental Diversity

This paper develops a methodology for the valuation of the taste for diversity. The concerns about the contribution of diversity in the valuation of consumer goods typically arise when it is believed that the total value is The methodology we propose infers the economic value of diversity through fish market price by using a system of inverse demands to model the nature of this particular commodity. We develop our analysis of the consumer value of diversity using Luenberger’s benefit function (Luenberger, 1992). In this context, we show that the benefit function provides a conceptual framework to conduct a welfare analysis of the value of diversity in a system framework.
Determinants of Financial Profitability of Microfinance Institutions in Ethiopia

Microfinance is a term often applied in reference to small-scale financial services primarily credit, savings and insurance. It is a tool that has been acceptable over time to offer poor people access to basic financial services, such as loans, savings, money transfer services and micro insurance. The rapid changes in the business environment have led to the increase in resource productivity and decrease in non-performing assets. However, the profitability has come under pressure because of changing environmental requirement of safe care of money. This study attempted to investigate the factors that determine the financial performance of MFIs in Ethiopia. The study followed a quantitative research approach using a balanced panel data set of 39 observations from 13 MFIs over the period 2004, 2006 and 2008. From the findings, outreach, borrowing, capital asset ratio, equity and percentage of female borrowers were important variables in determining financial profitability of Microfinance institutions in Ethiopia. Thus, interventions must be undertaken by promote and support women’s in accessing credit, increase number of borrowers, increase the total as well as average loan size and in general should ensure their profitability growth to go in line with their objectives to make their initial mission sustain, serving the interest of small groups of people. Keywords : Financial profitability, microfinance institutions, outreach
Comparing Lagrangian and Eulerian models for CO 2 transport – a step towards Bayesian inverse modeling using WRF/STILT-VPRM

We present simulations of atmospheric CO2 concentrations provided by two modeling systems, run at high spatial resolution: the Eulerian-based Weather Re- search Forecasting (WRF) model and the Lagrangian-based Stochastic Time-Inverted Lagrangian Transport (STILT) model, both of which are coupled to a diagnostic biospheric model, the Vegetation Photosynthesis and Respiration Model (VPRM). The consistency of the simulations is assessed with special attention paid to the details of horizontal as well as vertical transport and mixing of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere. The dependence of model mismatch (Eulerian vs. Lagrangian) on models' spatial resolution is further in- vestigated. A case study using airborne measurements during which two models showed large deviations from each other is analyzed in detail as an extreme case. Using aircraft observa- tions and pulse release simulations, we identified differences in the representation of details in the interaction between tur- bulent mixing and advection through wind shear as the main cause of discrepancies between WRF and STILT transport at a spatial resolution such as 2 and 6 km. Based on observa- tions and inter-model comparisons of atmospheric CO2 con- centrations, we show that a refinement of the parameteriza- tion of turbulent velocity variance and Lagrangian time-scale in STILT is needed to achieve a better match between the Eulerian and the Lagrangian transport at such a high spatial resolution (e.g. 2 and 6 km). Nevertheless, the inter-model differences in simulated CO2 time series for a tall tower ob- servatory at Ochsenkopf in Germany are about a factor of two smaller than the model-data mismatch and about a fac- tor of three smaller than the mismatch between the current global model simulations and the data.
Genetic improvement of egg production traits by direct and indirect selection of egg traits in Nigerian local chickens

The study was carried out at Akpehe poultry farm, Makurdi.540 chicks produced from matings of 80 dams and 8 sires each of the Fulani and the Tiv local chickens ecotypes were used for the study. Sire, ecotype and dam had significant effect on age at first egg and body weight at first egg. Heritability estimates of age at first egg, body weight at first egg and egg weight due to sire variance component were high. There were significant positive genetic correlation between age at first egg, body weight at first egg and egg weight. Egg weight also had significant positive genetic correlation with egg length and egg diameter. Direct selection can be apply to age at first egg, body weight at first egg and egg weight in a multiple traits selection program to improve egg production traits. Indirect selection can also be apply to age at first egg and body weight at first egg in a multiple traits selection to exploit the correlated response to egg weight, egg diameter and egg length.
Anxiety, Optimism and Academic Achievement among Students of Private Medical and Engineering Colleges: A Comparative Study

Courses related to medical and engineering fields are quite extensive and demanding, which often lead to stress and anxiety among students. As optimism was hypothesized to reduce anxiety and enhance academic achievement, the purpose of the current study was to assess the level of anxiety and its relation with optimism and academic achievement among medical and engineering students. Since these two courses differ in many aspects and the gender roles in the society are changing, the secondary objective of the study was to find differences in anxiety, optimism and academic achievement across genders and academic majors. A total of 346 students (171 medical and 175 engineering) from 3 medical and 4 engineering colleges of Uttar Pradesh, India participated in the study. Academic results of the latest two semesters were considered as academic achievement of the students, whereas anxiety and optimism were tested using Sinha’s Comprehensive Anxiety Test (SCAT, 2007), and Learned Optimism Scale (LOS, 2000) respectively. Both measures are constructed and standardized on Indian students. Results revealed that anxiety had a significant negative relationship with optimism and academic achievement, whereas a significant positive relationship was found between optimism and academic achievement. Significant differences were revealed between medical and engineering students, but the gender differences in the variables under study were insignificant. The results of this study provide insights for faculty members and institutions for better academic performance of the students.
Burnout Coping Strategies among Iranian EFL Teachers

Burnout is one of the potential threats to teachers which can negatively influence their performance and bring about many side effects such as poor health conditions, depression, absenteeism, etc. It has, however, been found teachers who use effective coping strategies to deal with stressful job conditions can resist burnout. This qualitative design study aimed to investigate the coping strategies of 15 Iranian high school EFL teachers who did not show burnout on Maslach Burnout Inventory. The participants were interviewed and observed in classrooms and they were asked to keep journals for 8 sessions. The data were content analyzed and results show that establishment of rapport with students, discussing problems with principals and colleagues, class management, reflection, ongoing learning, adherence to moral principles and adopting a traditional teaching style are among the coping strategies these teachers used. The low frequency of these strategies, however, implies that EFL teachers, even those who resist burnout, need to be trained on different burnout coping strategies. Keywords: burnout, coping strategies, qualitative design, Iranian EFL teachers راهبردهای مقابله با فرسودگی شغلی در میان معلمان زبان انگلیسی ایرانی فرسودگی شغلی یکی از خطرات بالقوه ای است که معلمان در معرض آن قرار دارند و می تواند تاثیر منفی بر عملکرد آنان داشته وموجب عوارض جانبی بسیاری مانند وضعیت بد سلامتی، افسردگی، غیبت از محل کار، و غیره شود. با این حال مشخص شده است که معلمانی که از راهبردهای مقابله مؤثر برای رویارویی با شرایط استرس زای شغلی استفاده می کنند می توانند در برابر فرسودگی شغلی مقاومت نمایند. این مطالعه کیفی با هدف بررسی راهبردهای مقابله مورد استفاده 15 معلم زبان انگلیسی ایرانی که در دبیرستان تدریس می کردند ودر پرسشنامه فرسودگی شغلی مازلاک فرسودگی شغلی کمی نشان داده بودند انجام شد. شرکت کنندگان مورد مصاحبه و در کلاس های درس مورد مشاهده قرار گرفتند و از آنها خواسته شد به مدت 8 جلسه خاطرات کلاسی خود رابعد از کلاس ثبت نمایند. داده های جمع آوری شده مورد تحلیل محتوا قرار گرفتند و نتایج نشان داد که ایجاد رابطه مثبت با دانش آموزان، بحث در مورد مشکلات با مدیران و همکاران، مدیریت کلاس، تفکر و تأمل، یادگیری مداوم و پایبندی به اصول اخلاقی جزء راهبردهای مقابله مهم مورد استفاده معلمان می باشد. یافته های مطالعه حاکی از ضرورت آموزش راهبردهای مقابله به معلمان زبان انگلیسی است تا بتوانند د رمقابل فرسودگی شغلی از خود محافظت نمایند. کلمات کلیدی: فرسودگی شغلی، راهبردهای مقابله، مطالعه کیفی، معلمان زبان انگلیسی ایرانی
Nonlinear Wind Analysis of Single-Doppler Radar Observations within a DVAD Framework

AbstractThe application of the distance velocity azimuth display (DVAD) method to the retrieval of vertical wind profiles from single-Doppler radar observations is presented in this study. It was shown that Doppler velocity observations at a constant altitude can be expressed as a single polynomial function for both linear and nonlinear wind fields in DVAD. Only a one-step least squares fitting of a polynomial function is required to obtain the vertical wind profile of a real wind field. The mathematic formulation of DVAD results in two advantages over the traditional nonlinear VAD method used for the nonlinear analysis of single-Doppler observations. First, the requirement of only one-step least squares fitting leads to robust performance when Doppler velocity observations are contaminated by unevenly distributed data noise and voids. Second, the degree of nonlinearity to properly represent a real wind field can be directly estimated in DVAD instead of being empirically determined in the traditional meth.
Is Little Red Riding Hood afraid of her grandmother? Cognitive vs. emotional response to a false belief

The essentials of a theory of mind are generally considered to be acquired around 4 years of age when the child succeeds in the standard ‘Maxi task’ (Wimmer & Perner, 1983). However, rational thought is not attained before 7-8 years of age in other domains of cognitive development. This study demonstrates that the mastery of mental state attribution using logical criteria is not reached before age 7-8 years when several assessments of a belief need to be coordinated. This is revealed by the dissociation between the cognitive and emotional assessments of a false belief which yield contradictory responses in most of the children who succeed on the standard task. The results were replicated in five experiments with a total of 254 children aged 3-8 years. The analysis of this decalage focuses on the autonomy of emotional attributions and the semi-mental and semi-behavioural structure of belief understanding implied in the standard task. An increase in processing capacity leads to a rational concept of belief around 7-8 years: this concept is called here ‘third-person', in opposition to ‘second-person’ which involves only an initial differentiation from the first-person point of view. Second-person depends on an opposition between the self and the other in terms of a single, modular evaluation of belief, whereas third-person depends on an integration among various assessments and provides a consistent and isotropic concept of belief.
A Research on the Subjective Well-Being Levels of Pre-Service Teachers

This research focused on the investigation of the subjective well-being of the Faculty of Education students according to their departments. In this research, it was aimed to investigate whether there were any differences between the students in Faculty of Education, the Department of Art, and Music Teacher Training and the students in other departments in terms of their well-being levels according to the class and gender variables. This relational research was carried out with 450 (263 female, 186 male and 1 unidentified gender) students in 2014-2015 educational year. To determine the subjective well-being levels of the students, “Subjective Well-being Scale” was used. In order to test the difference according to the gender variable the unrelated samples t-test, for the difference according to the variables of class and programme, one-way variance analysis (ANOVA) were applied. It was not come across with a significant difference in the subjective well-being levels of students in the Faculty of Education according to their class and programmes. On the other hand, a significant difference was encountered in favour of girls according to the gender variable.
Incorporating GeoGebra into Geometry Learning--A Lesson from India.

Students often find geometrical concepts abstract and difficult to understand. This results in poor performance, which contributes in the declining interest in geometry. The aim of this study was to examine the impact of using the free educational software program, ‗GeoGebra‘ on 9th grade student‘s mathematics achievement in learning geometry. A total of 50 students were selected from a government school located in the eastern part of India. The experimental group (25) was taught theorem on circles using GeoGebra while the control group (25) was taught utilizing traditional teaching methods. At the end of the treatment, students‘ mathematics achievements were measured using a post - test. The result indicated that GeoGebra is an effective tool for teaching and learning geometry in middle school
Short-Term and Long-Term Research Needs for Opuntia ficus-indica ( L . ) Mill . Utilization in Arid Areas ♦

The decade of the 1990s has seen a great expansion in national and international cooperative research and development on cactus, including plant physiology and orchard management, new Opuntia hybrids, descriptor list for Opuntias, intensive breeding and selection work on columnar and vine fruit cacti, new commercially available processed products of cactus pears and various major international symposia to integrate researchers and professionals of different fields worldwide. While a mixture of basic and applied research is still required in critical areas, the scientific database is now sufficiently mature to guide international development efforts. Based on our experiences, this paper suggests priorities for basic and applied research of scientists from different fields.
Production, Distribution, and Trade: General Equilibrium Models with One Single Cobb-Douglas Parameter

We present simple general equilibrium models of resource allocation, factor income distribution, and trade among nations that are technologically identical, but different in tastes. Under conditions of autarky, this paper highlights the importance of “tastes” that determine the intra-national factor shares of returns to productive factors. We demonstrate how a stronger taste for specified factor-intensive goods leads to higher returns to factors intensively used. Trade, in our model, however, erases both intra-national and inter-national factor income inequalities caused by taste differences. Trade, therefore, is no good news to those factors and income groups benefitting from autarky. Free trade therefore is a difficult proposal not only in practice, but also in theory.
Antimicrobial screening of Albizia lebbeck (l.) Benth. and Acacia leucophloea (Roxb.)

Albizzia lebbeck Benth. and Acacia leucophloea (Roxb.) Willd. are two very important medicinal plants growing wild in various parts of Pakistan. Various parts of both species are used by indigenous people as antimicrobial therapy however no detailed study exists regarding this activity. Crude methanolic extracts of pods, seeds, flowers and roots of Albizzia lebbeck Benth. and Acacia leucophloea (Roxb.) Willd. were tested in vitro for their antibacterial and antifungal activities. Antibacterial study performed against six bacterial species of both gram positive and gram negative types viz., Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Salmonella typhi, Proteus mirabilis and Bacillus subtilis, when compared with gentamicin and gatifloxacin, indicated that investigated plants have potent activity against all tested microorganisms. The antifungal activity of these extracts was performed against six fungal strains viz., Aspergilus parasiticus, Aspergilus Niger, Candida albicans, Aspergillus effusus, Fusarium solani and Saccharomyces cerevisiae and compared with Itraconazole and AmphoteracinB. The extracts showed significant activity against all fungal strains. The order of antibacterial and antifunagl activity, expressed as minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) observed for both plants was seed> pod> flower > roots for all bacterial and fungal strains tested. The results authenticate their traditional use and indicate promising potential of both species to be developed as antimicrobial agents. Further work is needed for isolation, structure elucidation and characterization of bioactive constituents responsible for this activity. These natural products isolated should be screened in vivo and in vitro for antimicrobial activity and may be developed as cheap alternatives to costly synthetic antimicrobial agents available in market.
Selection of an efficient in vitro micropropagation and regeneration system for potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) cultivar Desirée

Sprouts of about 40 to 80 mm length were excised, surface sterilized with 70% CloroxR and cultured on solid full-strength Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium. Shoot nodal segments (1.0 cm) from in vitro plantlets (2 to 4 weeks old) were multiplied through periodic subculturing on full-strength MS medium with 30 g/L sucrose, 100 ml/L myo-inositol and 0.5 ml/L silver thiosulfate. The shoots were rooted on the same medium. Microtubers were stimulated on MS medium supplemented with 80 g/L sucrose, 100 ml/L myo-inositol and 5 ml/L benzyl adenine. They generally originate on aerial etiolated shoots producing . 1.0 } 0.5 microtuber/explant with diameter approx. 3 to 10 mm. Shoot regeneration was performed from tuber discs, internodes and leaf explants using 6 different media. Different regeneration capacities were observed by the explants along 60 days. The average number of shoots was highest from tuber discs (6.2) than from leaf explants (2.6) which exceeds about three times; no shoot from internode explants cultured on the various media. Regenerated plantlets produced from both tuber discs and leaf explants exhibited random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis using five selected primers to detect somaclonal variation. All the morphological variants were excluded. One of the regenerated plantlet derived from leaf-explants was true-to-type to the main in vitro plantlet, so it will be used as a source of explants for transformation experiments. The other regenerated plantlets derived from leaf explants and tuber discs show the presence and/or absence of polymorphic bands. Results also showed that microtubers were initiated on the etiolated shoots of the regenerants at the first 10 days. The etiolated shoots induced about 2.6 } 0.6 and 2.2 } 0.5 microtuber/explants. Key words : Solanum tuberosum L. , seed tuber, sprouting, micropropagation, microtubers, explants, regeneration, random amplification of polymorphic DNA (RAPD).
Fairness of seat allocation methods in proportional representation

In this paper the fairness of some methods of allocating seats in a proportional representation (PR) voting system is investigated. Different PR systems are in use throughout the democratic world, but the primary focus here is the method used in South Africa, namely the largest remainder method with a Droop quota. It is shown that as the number of parties increases, the number of lost votes (votes not used to allocate seats) increases when using this method. Other existing allocation methods are discussed and compared with each other as well as with three optimisation methods (based on mathematical programming) introduced in this paper. Applying these mathematical programming methods results in allocations that are more fair than the existing methods of seat allocation, if South African voting data are used. These mathematical models attempt to minimise a number of different measures of the deviation between the actual percentage of votes received and the percentage of seats allocated to a certain party. Ideally this deviation should be zero, but due to the discrete nature of seats this is virtually impossible to achieve.
Effect of the use of waste vegetable oil based biodiesel on the landscape in diesel engines

Petroleum-based fuels are now widely known as environmentally unfriendly because of non-renewable supplies and its contribution to environmental pollution. The challenge, therefore is to ensure appropriate energy supplies at minimum cost. There is an increasing energy demand in the world and nowadays it can be fulfilled only on the basis of fossil fuels. Therefore, it is necessary to evolve a renewable energy source with lower environmental impact. One alternative solution can be oils of plant origin, like vegetable oils and non-edible oils. With waste vegetable oil methyl ester, biofuel dependency can be decreased. Therefore, the aim of this research paper is to analyze the economic and environmental effect of waste vegetable oil methyl ester compared to fossil fuels. In some cases only the age of vehicles could raise burdens to biofuel utilization in road vehicles. Transport and energy policy – on a large scale – can play an important role in fuel consumption. Author is aware that waste vegetable oil methyl ester can play only a limited role in biofuel substitution.