Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Productivity improvement of a computer hardware supply chain

Purpose – To determine the key reverse logistics variables, which the top management should focus so as to improve the productivity and performance of computer hardware supply chains.Design/methodology/approach – In this paper, an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) based approach has been employed to model the reverse logistics variables typically found in computer hardware supply chains. These variables have been categorized under “enablers” and “results”. The enablers are the variables that help boost the reverse logistics variables, while results variables are the outcome of good reverse logistics practices.Findings – A key finding of this modeling is that environmental concern is the primary cause of the initiation of reverse logistics practices in computer hardware supply chains. For better results, top management should focus on improving the high driving power enabler variables such as regulations, environmental concerns, top management commitment, recapturing value from used products, resource.
Fossil large mammals from the early Pliocene locality of Alcoy (Spain) and their importance in biostratigraphy

The fossil macromammal locality of Alcoy (province of Alicante, Spain) is known since the middle of the 19th century. Ever since then, its age has been disputed as the latest Miocene or the earliest Pliocene. There are several sites in the area that yielded micromammals: Alcoy-Barranco, Alcoy-N, Alcoy-4B and Alcoy-2, which range in age from MN13 to MN15, that is from the latest Miocene to the early Pliocene. The large mammals, however, all come from Alcoy-Mina, an old lignite mine. We have revised this material kept in various European collections. The faunal list is the following: Agriotherium insigne (Gervais, 1859), Ursus boeckhi Schlosser, 1899, Anancus arvernensis (Croizet
Wine consumption and purchase behaviour in high and low involvement situations: A comparison of Gen Y and older consumers

◦Purpose:– To explore the wine consumption behaviour of Gen Y in comparison to older wine consumers in a New Zealand context, with a focus on the influence of situational involvement on wine behaviour. ◦Design/methodology/approach:– A quantitative survey was conducted with a random sample of residents of Christchurch, New Zealand in 2008. The results were analysed using marginal frequency analysis. Findings:– Gen Y wine consumers are less likely than older consumers to drink wine in either low or high involvement situations. Price is a more important product cue for Gen Y than for older consumers, and the younger cohort spend more on a bottle of wine. Country of origin is a significantly more important influence on wine purchasing for older consumers in both high and low involvement situations.
Strategic Management Accounting Usage, Environmental Uncertainty and Organizational Performance

This paper is concerned with an empirical investigation into the relations among Strategic Management Accounting (SMA), perceived environmental uncertainty (PEU) and organizational performance. It was motivated by the scarcity of the empirical attention given to the subject despite the claimed importance placed by SMA promoters. The study follows a standard contingency type interaction fit to propose that PEU moderate the direct relationship between management accounting and control systems and organizational performance. The results indicated that (1) the level of SMA usage positively affect organizational performance, and (2) Perceived Environmental uncertainty moderate the relationship. These results contribute to the strategic management accounting literature by providing empirical evidence that the relationship between SMA usage and organizational performance is moderated by a perceived environmental uncertainty. Keywords: Strategic Management Accounting, Perceived Environmental Uncertainty, Organizational Performance, Contingency Theory.
THE DETERMINANTS OF MOBILE COMMERCE ADOPTION AMONG UNIVERSITY STUDENTS IN MALAYSIA : A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

The rapidly emerging wireless and mobile network which offers a new platform to sell products efficiently is known as M-commerce (mobile commerce). While numerous studies have been carried out on technology adoption, not much is known about mobile commerce adoption in Malaysia, namely the governing factors and appropriate models that could explain the behaviours of young generations on the use of mobile commerce. Therefore, this paper attempts to propose a model of mobile commerce adoption in Malaysia by integrating the models of TAM3, and Individualism-Collectivism at Individual-Level (ICAIL) as moderating variables in the context of mobile commerce. This paper presents a basic understanding of the concept of mobile commerce and its business characteristics. It also describes several issues pertaining to mobile commerce from previous studies. Based on a thorough literature analysis, a model of determinants of mobile commerce adoption is presented. The findings from this study are important to the advancement of knowledge in the retail or service industries, specifically for members of the younger generation who are early and enthusiastic adopters of new technologies. The findings from this study allow a better understanding of their usage behaviour in employing M-commerce in their daily lives .
State ownership and performance of firm: evidence from India

In this paper, an analysis of the performance of public and private sector firms operating in five different industries over the period 2011 to 2015 has been made. Using data envelopment analysis (DEA), the performance has been measured in respect of technical efficiency. To compare the performance of public and private sector firms, two distinct methodologies have been used: independent samples t-test and the Tobit regression model. The results of t-test indicate that the private sector has significantly higher technical efficiency in two industries but in one industry is outperformed by the public sector. In the remaining two industries, both sectors are equally efficient or inefficient. While the results of the Tobit model show that even after controlling for the firm- and industry-specific characteristics as well as the scale effect, in three industries the public sector has a managerial efficiency significantly higher than the private sector, which is found to be more efficient only in one industry.
Rivulet evolution in gravity-driven thin-lm ows

The problem of rivulet formation in the case of thin lm ow down an inclined rigid substrate is investigated numerically and comparisons drawn with ow visualisations obtained experimentally. New results are presented for the evolving three-dimensional ow; the critical wavelength for the onset of instability, as a function of the inclination angle, is extracted and compared with predictions of the same based on a linear stability analysis.
The Impact of Entrepreneurial Alertness on Entrepreneurial Intentions

The emergence of opportunity is based on the intentions which are the result of peopleâ€™s belief and the way of thinking. Entrepreneurial alertness is considered vital for identifying the opportunity which can have an impact on mindset for exploiting the opportunities. The objective of this study was to analyze the connection between opportunity identification and intentions formation through entrepreneurial alertness based on the theory of planned behavior. The data was collected from the 499 final year business students of nine universities from Sindh, Pakistan using cross-sectional survey. The results of this study revealed that entrepreneurial alertness has positive and significant effect on attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and entrepreneurial intentions. The findings of this study contributed to the theory of planned behavior by taking entrepreneurial alertness as a predictor of entrepreneurial intentions. The findings also have implication for increasing the supply of entrepreneurial capital into the society.
Assessment of soil-pollution by slag from an automobile battery manufacturing plant in Nigeria

This study assessed heavy metals pollution of soil by slag from an automobile battery manufacturing plant in Nigeria to ascertain the potential danger they pose on the environment. 84 soil samples were randomly collected at 0 - 15 cm and 15 - 30 cm depths from the premises of the plant and an uncontaminated site as control for both dry and wet seasons. Samples were analyzed for lead, cadmium, chromium and nickel using standard analytical methods. Lead level in soil ranged from 243 to 126000 mg/kg on the premises of the manufacturing plant with about 98% of all soil samples analyzed having levels higher than 400 mg/kg permissible level for Pb in soil. Lead levels for both seasons and depths were statistically comparable (p > 0.05). Cadmium, chromium and nickel were within the permissible limits in soil. Speciation of Pb showed about 89% Pb in non residual phases implying high availability to ecological materials. Soil within the company’s premises and the environs needs to be urgently cleaned up. Key words: Heavy metals, automobile-battery, speciation, slag, pollution.
Tariff Evasion and Customs Corruption: Does Pre-Shipment Inspection Help?

Abstract This paper provides a new approach to the evaluation of pre-shipment inspection (PSI) programs as ways of improving tariff-revenue collection and reducing fraud when customs administrations are corrupt. We build a model highlighting the contribution of private surveillance firms to the generation of information and describing how incentives for underinvoicing and collusive behaviour between importers and customs are affected by the introduction of PSI. It is shown theoretically that the introduction of PSI has an ambiguous effect on the level of fraud. Empirically, our econometric results suggest that the introduction of PSI services increased underinvoicing in Argentina and Indonesia, and reduced it in the Philippines.
Rapid slip along the central Altyn Tagh Fault: Morphochronologic evidence from Cherchen He and Sulamu Tagh

consistent with the d 18 O record from the Guliya ice cap in the West Kunlun; the features of interest were all formed by glacial and fluvial processes subsequent to marine isotope stage 5e, with the youngest features having formed during the early Holocene Optimum. This ‘‘near-field,’’ morphochronological slip rate is averaged over many earthquake cycles and is hence little affected by interseismic strain. It is kinematically consistent with other, somewhat lower, geomorphic slip rate measurements to the east. The average rate, and lower bounds obtained from alternate interpretational models, 18.4 mm/yr, cannot be reconciled with the most rece geodetic measurements (� 7 mm/yr), suggesting that interseismic strain and interactions with adjacent faults may lead to disparate geologic and geodetic rate estimates. This late Pleistocene-Holocene, morphochronologic rate would imply that, at this longitude, the Altyn Tagh Fault, on the north edge of Tibet, might absorb almost as much of India’s convergence relative to Siberia as the Himalayan Main Frontal Thrust does on the southern edge of the plateau. INDEX TERMS: 1035 Geochemistry: Geochronology; 1208 Geodesy and Gravity: Crustal movements—intraplate (8110); 8102 Tectonophysics: Continental contractional orogenic belts; 8107 Tectonophysics: Continental neotectonics; KEYWORDS: slip rates, cosmogenic dating, Indo-Asian collision
Biochar Pellet Carbon Footprint

Life cycle assessment of Biochar was performed in this study using SimaPro software, aiming at the evaluation of the carbon footprint of biochar. Product Category rules have been developed. Data have been collected in a demonstrative slow pyrolysis plant, which is present at the University of Perugia and from field tests. The technical standard followed is ISO/TS 14067. Biochar, used as a soil amendment can improve soil health and fertility, soil structure, nutrient availability, soil-water retention capacity and is also a mechanism for long term Carbon storage in soils. Carbon sequestration in soils can be seen not only as a strategy to mitigate the global climate change, but also as a source of profit for companies via Carbon Credits. LCA is a useful tool to estimate the Carbon balance through all the Biochar life cycle. The feedstocks considered in this study is miscanthus, a perennial herbaceous energy crop. The functional unit is one ton of dry matter of initial feedstock (that is miscanthus biomass). The final carbon footprint is equal to -737 kgCO2eq/t of feedstock dried.
Removing some harm from the World Trade Organization

Poor countries were induced to enact the strong intellectual property rights required for membership of the World Trade Organization by empty promises of better access to markets and reductions in US farm and EU export subsidies. Patents have prevented access to cheap generic versions of drugs which such countries badly need, such as for the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Registered Trade Mark protection could be equally serious in future, as this will enable tobacco firms to build up their brands through mass advertising. This must cause rapid growth in related diseases. One palliative could be to use some aid funding to buy in the intellectual property of western firms in these countries. In the drugs case, this would allow development of local capacity to produce inexpensive copies, without diminishing global investment in R&D. Success in this could lead to allocation of the much larger amounts that would be needed to extinguish tobacco branding.
Habitat preferences among three top predators inhabiting a degraded ecosystem, the Black Sea

This study investigated whether there is evidence of widespread niche partitioning based on environmental factors in the Black Sea and tested the hypothesis that physiographic factors may be employed as predictors. It addresses poorly researched areas with good habitat potential for the only three cetacean subspecies living in this area: the Black Sea short-beaked common dolphin ( Delphinus delphis spp. ponticus ), the Black Sea bottlenose dolphin ( Tursiops truncatus spp. ponticus ) and the Black Sea harbour porpoise ( Phocoena phocoena spp. relicta ). Generalized additive models (GAMs) were used to analyse data collected from multiple sources. In total, 745 sightings of the three species between 1998 and 2010 throughout the Black Sea were included. The analysis found depth and sea surface temperature to be the most important variables for separating the occurrence of the three species. Common dolphins occurred mainly in deep waters and in areas where the sea surface temperature was low, bottlenose dolphins were distributed primarily in shallower and warmer waters than common dolphins, and harbour porpoises were distributed in shallower waters with lower sea surface temperature than bottlenose dolphins. This study suggests strong niche segregation among the three cetacean species. The study is also the first contribution to the basic information of cetacean species distribution and habitat preferences in the Black Sea as a whole. Knowledge of the distribution of the three dolphin species in the study area is essential to establish conservation measures for these populations.
Traditional Aquaculture Practice at East Calcutta Wetland: The Safety Assessment

The current study is on East Calcutta Wetland (ECW) which is a model for multi-use resource recovery system with activities like pisciculture and agriculture. The entire city's soluble waste is disposed into the raw sewage canals which finally drains into the shallow, flat bottom fish ponds called Bheri. These sewage fed fisheries act simultaneously for the purification process like removal of heavy metals, coliform reduction as well as fish production at a commercial scale. The fishes from these Bheri are analyzed for the extent of metal accumulation in them as compared with those collected from the fresh water ponds around Calcutta. This comparative study was done to access the risk involved, if any, in fish cultivation and its subsequent consumption from these wastewater fed fisheries. Two types of commonly consumed fishes were chosen for the study namely Labeo rohita and Cirrhinus mrigala. Analysis of elements like P, S, Cl, K, Ca, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Br, Rb, Sr and Pb was done by Energy Dispersive X Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) in order to quantify the level of accumulation. The analysis inferred that elements like Cr, Cu, Rb, Pb shows accumulation in substantial amount in both type of fishes collected from the sewage fed as well as freshwater sources. The uptake of these fishes by human population thereby causes the consumption of these elements in relatively higher level as compared to the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA). Thus consumption of waste water cultivated fishes pose no additional health hazard. The accumulation of these metals in fishes from both Bheri as well as fresh water pond put forth a plausible action of diverse microscopic population and certain geochemical factors acting beneath the phenomenon of sedimentation as well as biomagnification of metal in the fish pond and their subsequent uptake in the aquatic food chain.
Long-Term WiFi Fingerprinting Dataset for Research on Robust Indoor Positioning

WiFi fingerprinting, one of the most popular methods employed in indoor positioning, currently faces two major problems: lack of robustness to short and long time signal changes and difficult reproducibility of new methods presented in the relevant literature. This paper presents a WiFi RSS (Received Signal Strength) database created to foster and ease research works that address the above-mentioned two problems. A trained professional took several consecutive fingerprints while standing at specific positions and facing specific directions. The consecutive fingerprints may enable the study of short-term signals variations. The data collection spanned over 15 months, and, for each month, one type of training datasets and five types of test datasets were collected. The measurements of a dataset type (training or test) were taken at the same positions and directions every month, in order to enable the analysis of long-term signal variations. The database is provided with supporting materials and software, which give more information about the collection environment and eases the database utilization, respectively. The WiFi measurements and the supporting materials are available at the Zenodo repository under the open-source MIT license.
Functional response to fruiting seasonality by a primate seed predator, red leaf monkey (Presbytis rubicunda)

The predator satiation hypothesis is one plausible explanation for masting in lowland dipterocarp forests in SE Asia. Hence, evaluation of behavioral patterns of seed predators have the potential to provide support for the predator satiation hypothesis. In order to evaluate possible mechanisms that could result in predator satiation, we studied the functional response in the seed predation behavior to fruiting seasonality of red leaf monkeys (Presbytis rubicunda Muller, 1838, Colobinae) in Danum Valley, Sabah, northern Borneo. Specifically, we sought to answer the two questions: (1) when fruit availability increases, to what extent do red leaf monkeys increase their seed eating? and (2) do red leaf monkeys change the degree to which they pursue one species of seeds in response to the changes in community-level fruit availability? In response to the increased fruit availability, red leaf monkeys extended their time spent feeding on seeds as much as 18 fold. This large functional response resulted from the elongated total feeding time and the preference for seeds by red leaf monkeys. Feeding time tended to increase, up to 28 % of the observation time, with increasing fruit availability. In response to increased fruiting seasonality, the monkeys increased the number of species and plant individuals upon whose seeds they depredated. Time spent feeding on seeds per species or individual, or for the most frequently eaten species or individual, was not affected by fruit availability. Similarly, the duration of one seed-feeding event was unaffected by the fruit availability. Hence, while our results demonstrate a functional response to mast fruiting, we found no support for the predator satiation hypothesis. The existence of an abundant alternative resource (young leaves) is one of several likely reasons for the weak persistence toward seeds shown by red leaf monkeys, which is contradictory to the assumption of the predator satiation hypothesis.
Which age group spends the most in a national park

Age (and its changing structure amongst the wider population) is one of the most relevant aspects required to better understand and forecast the needs, interests and associated consumption behaviours of tourists. This research used age to investigate the expenditure patterns amongst a sample of visitors to the Table Mountain National Park (TMNP), South Africa. In March 2010, visitors to the TMNP were found to differ significantly from those at other parks, as they were younger and most of them were foreigners. This study found that younger visitors (18–29 years) were higher spenders when compared to those aged 30–49 years. As parks are generally visited by older people, this study showed the economic importance of the younger market. The research also made clear implications and recommendations for park management as to how to address these findings. Conservation implications: Conservation is dependent on funding. One of the main sources of income is tourism and tourism related activities. This research can assist marketers and managers to target the right markets in order to be more sustainable. This research also shows the importance of environmental education at an early age in order to grow awareness and to target the right markets.
Secondary Prevention of Uterine Cervical Cancer

Secondary prevention by cervical cytology has clearly improved the mortality rate of uterine cervical cancer (CC) by enabling early detection and treatment of high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (HSIL) or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN), which is a precancerous lesion. In the past two decades, HPV-DNA testing, including HPV typing, has clearly brought about positive effects on secondary prevention of CC. However, in practice, CC remains a fatal disease and is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women aged 20–39 years. Although elucidation of the mechanisms of HPV carcinogenesis and development of a prophylactic vaccine have made CC a preventable disease, eradication of CC is expected to take several decades. Therefore, primary screening to decrease the mortality rate of CC will remain important for a while. In addition, the clinical application of simple biomarkers to stratify HPV-positive women is important for maintenance of medical economy and avoidance of overtreatment in women in the reproductive age. Therefore, the development of an inexpensive therapy or vaccine that can be used worldwide is necessary to overcome cancer deaths due to CC.