Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of the Medium of Instruction on Students' Academic Performance in Secondary Schools in Simanjiro District, Manyara Region: A Comparative Study

This study focused on the investigation on the impact of the Medium of Instruction (MOI) on student’s academic performance in secondary schools in Simanjiro District, Manyara Region. It tried to compare performance of the students who went through English medium versus those from Kiswahili medium schools. The study was interpretative and utilized both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The data collection methods used includes the questionnaire items, in-depth face to face interview and documentary analysis. The overall results show that, a group of the students who went through English medium found to perform better than those from Kiswahili medium schools. Therefore, a familiar language should be used during teaching and learning process for the purpose of maximizing student’s performances. Furthermore, gradual transition from Kiswahili medium of instruction in the lower grades and focused government educational policy are posed as being among immediate solution for the problem. The conclusions of the study calls for the government to come up with the focused language policy and suggest further research on the same area to be done using other levels of education in assessing student’s academic performance.
Traditions and Revisions in National Museums Conference proceedings from EuNaMus , European National Museums : Identity Politics , the Uses of the Past and the European Citizen , Paris 29 June – 1 July & 25-26 November 2011

For the purposes of EUNAMUS/Work Package 3, three cases studies from Greece were examined in order to illuminate various aspects pertinent to the broader theme of the project: i.e. how national identity is built and reinforced through reference to the past as well as the use of this past in national museum exhibitions. The three cases considered were: the first exhibition hosted at the National Historical Museum of Athens in 1884. The full title was ‘Exhibition of the Monuments of the Holy Struggle’ curated by the historian Konstantinos Paparrigopoulos. The second case study was the exhibition hosted at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens in 1964. The exhibition is commonly referred to as the ‘Sculptures Collection’, the curatorial work for this project was done by Christos Karouzos and his wife, Semni Karouzos. The ‘Neolithic Exhibition’ hosted at the Archaeological Museum of Volos, in Thessaly, Central Greece was also examined in detail. The exhibition opened in 1975 and the curator was Giorgos Chourmouziades, then Ephor (director) of the Greek Archaeological Service for the region of Magnesia in Thessaly. The main conclusion drawn from the investigation of the foregoing museum exhibitions is that the authoring of Greek national history cannot be perceived as a monolithic phenomenon or an all-embracing narrative but instead, a highly complex and diverse ideology consisting of various, heterogeneous (and in certain respects, even incompatible) readings of ‘nationhood’. In an attempt to further substantiate this point, the present project has accorded a surplus of analytical weight to the exploration of the historical programme of each museum, to the in-depth examination of the disciplinary and museographic types adopted by the exhibitions’ curators to enhance their vision of national history and identity and finally, to the collection of information concerning the strategies of display and methods of visualization of all three programmes (i.e. disposition of objects, decors, lighting, guides, texts and other pedagogical material).
Acceptance of Internet-Based Services: A Comparison of Three Models

While more and more products and services are delivered on the Internet, why customers accept these online products and services has drawn considerable interests from the business practice and the research community. Previous research has approached this question from three different perspectives, i.e., transactional, relational and a mixed of the two. However, the relative explanatory power of these three different views in explaining online service acceptance is unknown. This study compares IS Continuance Model (ISCM), the Commitment Trust Theory (CTT), and an integrated model developed from ISCM and CTT. The integrated model, ISCM and CTT were compared using data collected from 185 customers of web hosting services. Results showed that CTT and the integrated model had similar explanatory power and that both the integrated model and CTT explained higher variances in acceptance of online services than ISCM did. The findings suggest that the relational view outweighs the transactional view in terms of explaining acceptance of online services and that relational factors have the ability to explain some variances not explained by transactional factors, but not vice versa. Implications for research and practices are discussed.
INFLUENCE OF THERMODYNAMIC CALCULATIONS ON THE FLOW RATE OF SONIC NOZZLES

This paper describes the results of two intercomparisons using a sonic nozzle as the transfer standard. They were initially conducted in line with the activities of EUROMET, a grouping of European flow metering laboratories which were subsequently joined by NOVA, CEESI and SwRI. Two types of comparisons were made, between European and North American gas flow metering installations and between the methods used by those laboratories to calculate the critical flow function C*. The transfer standard used was a critical flow Venturi nozzle. The calculation methods considered were the ISO 9300 standardized equations for dry air and natural gas, the different versions of the AGA8 method, as well as several other methods developed by the laboratories, some of them based on the free energy equation. A comparison of these calculation methods shows that deviations exist in the results found in natural gas and that the deviations are smaller in dry air.
Investment Decisions and Financial Standing of Portuguese Firms – recent evidence

The analysis of fi rms’ investment decisions and the fi rm’s fi nancial standing is particularly relevant under a scenario of (i) the high indebtedness levels of Portuguese fi rms, (ii) the reduction in profi tability of these fi rms, which reduces the amount of internally available funds thus increasing the demand for external fi nancing, and (iii) the ongoing Financial and Economic Crisis that considerably changed the conditions and access to the credit markets. In this article, yearly balance sheet and fi nancial statements data from the Central Balance Sheet since 2006 until 2011 is used. The results obtained indicate that fi rms’ fi nancial standing is indeed relevant in explaining corporate investment decisions, where the burden of servicing debt, the cost of capital, and the fi rm’s indebtedness all have a negative relationship with fi rm’s investment rate. As for profi tability the results suggest a strongly and positive relationship with fi rms’ investment rate. Nonetheless, these results are predominantly seen for smaller fi rms where large fi rms investment rate only seem to be affected by the profi tability levels. Moreover, there is evidence suggesting that the impact of fi rms’ fi nancial standing became more relevant during the period of the sovereign debt crisis in the euro area.
Highly Directive Hybrid Plasmonic Leaky Wave Optical Nano-Antenna

A novel traveling-wave hybrid plasmonic optical antenna is proposed for operation at the standard telecommunication wavelength of 1550 nm and with the frequency bandwidth of more than 16 THz. A highly directive radiation pattern with 15.2 dBi directivity and 82% efficiency is achieved. The developed antenna benefits from high directivity advantage of leaky-wave antennas, and low loss properties and confinement of hybrid plasmonic structures. The designed device can have applications in inter/intera chip optical interconnect, and absorption enhancement of photodetectors, and solar cells.
Modeling and Simulation of Reaction Kinetics for Biodiesel Production

TURNER, TIMOTHY LAWRENCE. Modeling and Simulation of Reaction Kinetics for Biodiesel Production. (Under the direction of Richard R. Johnson and William L. Roberts) Biodiesel has emerged as a viable substitute for petroleum diesel. The fuel can be made easily from either virgin or waste vegetable oil. A common means of production is base-catalyzed transesterification. After twenty-five years of study, the description of the kinetics of transesterification for biodiesel remains controversial. There are conflicting findings as to the order of reaction, and estimates of reaction rate constants vary widely. After analyzing the prior work on kinetics, this thesis gives support to a kinetic model based on careful examination of chemical mechanisms and of competing reactions. It then describes the extensions to the model that are needed in order to build a predictive model for biodiesel reactions. A computer simulation of the rate equations, with extensions for the effect of temperature, is used to analyze the implications of the model. Modeling and Simulation of Reaction Kinetics for Biodiesel Production by Timothy Lawrence Turner A thesis submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University In partial fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Master of Science In Mechanical Engineering Raleigh, NC 2005 Approved by: _______________________________ Richard R. Johnson Co-Chair of Advisory Committee _______________________________ William L. Roberts Co-Chair of Advisory Committee _______________________________ Gregory D. Buckner
Germs, Genes, and Memes: Function and Fitness Dynamics on Information Networks

Understanding the dynamics of information is crucial to many areas of research, both inside and outside of philosophy. Using computer simulations of three kinds of information, germs, genes, and memes, we show that the mechanism of information transfer often swamps network structure in terms of its effects on both the dynamics and the fitness of the information. This insight has both obvious and subtle implications for a number of questions in philosophy, including questions about the nature of information, whether there is genetic information, and how to arrange scientific communities.
The productivity and potential of pastoral systems

AFRICAN PASTORAL systems are often considered to be relatively unproductive, with poor breeds of animals, poorly fed and badly managed, present in such large numbers that serious rangeland degradation is unavoidable. The large herds are viewed as the result of the pastoralists' irrational attachment to their animals, with prestige and status, rather than economic gain, allegedly being the pastoralists' main concerns.
Going the extra mile sky high : how do internal branding, brand attractiveness, and team work attributes relate to cabin attendants’ brand promise delivery?

Purpose – Most airlines acknowledge the importance of internal branding for aligning cabin attendants’ brand behaviour with the brand promise. However, attributes of the team in which cabin attendants operate, may influence their role in being brand ambassadors. This study explores the relation that team attributes, in combination with brand attributes, have with employees’ brand commitment and brand citizenship behaviour. Design/methodology/approach – Data was collected from 286 cabin attendants of an European airline company by means of an online survey. Hierarchical regressions analysis was utilized to investigate the hypothesised relationships. Findings – This study found that two out of three proposed team attributes had a significant relation: team member exchange (TMX) demonstrated a positive relation with brand citizenship behaviour, and team atmosphere a weak positive relation with brand commitment. In addition, the proposed brand attributes: internal branding and brand attractiveness, both demonstrated a positive relation with brand commitment and citizenship behaviour. Practical implications – This study stresses the importance of an adequate internal branding programme, to turn airline employees into brand ambassadors. Adding a focus on TMX and team atmosphere within the branding programme, is advised for taking the brand promise delivery to a higher level.
Morphological changes of vestibular schwannomas after radiosurgical treatment: pitfalls and diagnosis of failure.

RATIONALE Evaluate the morphological changes following radiosurgery in order to better define failure parameters. METHODS 332 non-neurofibromatosis type 2 vestibular schwannomas not previously treated surgically or radiosurgically were subjected to Gamma Knife radiosurgery between 1992 and 2004 at the Gamma Knife Center in Marseille with at least three sequential MRI scans after radiosurgery. Five length measurements were systematically obtained. RESULTS Mean follow-up was 4.6 years. Transient loss of contrast enhancement appeared in 213 patients (68%). Significant increase was present at 6 months in 178 patients. In 74 patients, the volume at 3 years was still higher than on the day of radiosurgery but remained stable. Failure occurred in 16 patients. Most showed progressive growth at all MRI controls after radiosurgery but late failure after initial response was possible. CONCLUSIONS Sequential MRI scans after radiosurgery are necessary. A progressive and continuous growth at 3 years is essential to make diagnosis of failure.
Effects of neuritin on the differentiation of bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells into neuron-like cells

While the neurotrophic factor neuritin is known to be involved in neurodevelopment, the effects of this compound on cell differentiation remain unclear. The present study demonstrated that neuritin treatment induced the differentiation of rat bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (rBM-MSCs) into neuron-like (NL) cells. For these analyses, rBM-MSCs were incubated with 0.5 µg/ml neuritin for 24 h. Following induction, 27% of the rBM-MSCs exhibited typical NL cell morphologies. Subsequently, NL cells were characterized by examining the expression of neuronal markers and by analysis of cell functions. The findings demonstrated that the NL cells produced by neuritin treatment expressed the neuronal markers neuron-specific enolase and microtubule associate protein 2, and secreted the neurotransmitter 5-hydroxytryptamine. Furthermore, the NL cells exhibited certain partial neural-electrophysiological functions. In conclusion, neuritin treatment may be an effective method for inducing the differentiation of BM-MSCs towards NL cells. This may provide an alternative, potentially complementary tool for disease modeling and the development of cell-based therapies.
Spatial genetic structure within size classes of the endangered tropical tree Guaiacum sanctum (Zygophyllaceae).

UNLABELLED PREMISE OF THE STUDY Patterns of spatial genetic structure (SGS) were analyzed within a population of the endangered tropical tree Guaiacum sanctum located in northwestern Costa Rica. Documentation of these patterns provides insights into the gene dispersal mechanisms that play a central role in the maintenance and structure of genetic diversity within plant populations. • METHODS Allozyme analyses were used to examine SGS in Palo Verde National Park, Costa Rica. The SGS was compared among three plots and different age classes. • KEY RESULTS High levels of genetic diversity were found overall with a pooled genetic diversity of H(e) = 0.302 (±0.02). Selfing was proposed as the proximate cause for significant levels of heterozygote deficiency observed across size classes and plots. An unexpected lack of SGS (r(j) < 0.02) was observed for all size classes, suggesting the mixing of seeds from several adults. A parent-pair parentage analysis indicated that at least 48% of the smaller individuals within a plot were produced by parents located at distances of at least 150 m. • CONCLUSIONS Populations of G. sanctum are established and maintained by bird-mediated, moderate- to long-distance seed dispersal, which results in a mixture of seeds from unrelated maternal individuals, effectively eliminating SGS. Proximity between individuals is, therefore, a poor predictor of family structure in this species. Long-distance seed dispersal, coupled with estimates of high genetic diversity, suggests that this endangered species has the potential for natural regeneration and restoration given the availability of suitable habitats.
An electron-hole transport model for the analysis of the photorefractive harmonic gratings

The steady-state exact solution for the higher harmonic gratings that synthesize the space-charge field is derived without restrictions within an electron-hole transport model which allows the behavior of these harmonic gratings to be determined rigorously in terms of the main photorefractive parameters. The model predicts the independence of the fundamental and harmonic amplitudes on the average excitation intensity. With respect to the modulation depth m, the dependence of each /spl nu/-harmonic order is established as m/sup /spl nu// which is the result obtained in the single-level model. In terms of the grating spacing, three regions of quite different behavior are identified as the linear, transition, and nonlinear regions. The extent of each region in terms of /spl Lambda/ strongly depends on the acceptor density relative to the donor density. If the acceptor density is much greater or smaller than the donor density, the linear region spreads out toward the lowest spacing, the nonlinear region extends toward the highest spacing, and the intermediate region is located in-between, as in the Kukhtarev model. But, for similar concentrations, the nonlinear region is shifted toward smaller spacing with respect to the linear region. On the other hand, the electron-hole competition can be deleterious for recording the grating, due to the charge compensation produced by the additional charge carrier that screens the internal space-charge field. Also, the relative importance of the higher harmonics is apparent for the smallest values of the external field as in the single-level model.
Economists: cheaters with altruistic instincts

Based on an experiment conducted with undergraduate students from three different majors (business economics, psychology and engineering), we study the relationship between honesty and altruism. We asked participants to toss a coin with a black and a white side. Participants won a chocolate if they reported the white outcome, whereas no gift was given if they reported black. It was done privately, so they could decide whether or not to cheat. Reporting the prize-losing side (that is, being honest when losing) could result in 3 effects, depending on the 3 conditions run: (i) no penalty, (ii) paying a penalty, or (iii) paying a penalty with an altruistic end (a donation to a non-profit organization). The amount of penalty was decided by each participant and the payment was also done in private. Although we cannot detect dishonesty on an individual level, we use statistical inference to determine cheating behavior. We find suggestive evidence that economics is significantly the most dishonest major when no penalty is involved. With economists in the lead, the results also indicate that all majors cheat if a penalty is requested. Surprisingly, when altruism plays a role, economists tend to have the most altruistic behavior, followed by psychologists. However, altruism does not reduce engineers' propensity to lie. No significant differences are found regarding gender.
Molecular Systematics of Coptotermes (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae) from East Asia and Australia

ABSTRACT Analyses of mitochondrial DNA sequences (12S, 16S, and COII) were conducted to determine the phylogenetic relationships among the following 11 putative subterranean termites of Coptotermes: Coptotermes cochlearus Xia & He, Coptotermes curvignathus Holmgren, Coptotermes dimorphus Xia & He, Coptotermes formosanus Shiraki, Coptotermes gestroi (Wasmann), Coptotermes kalshoveni Kemner, Coptotermes sepangensis Krishna, and Coptotermes travians (Haviland) from East Asia, and Coptotermes acinaciformis Froggatt, Coptotermes frenchi Hill, and Coptotermes lacteus (Froggatt) from Australia. Available sequences for these species and those of Coptotermes guangzhouensis Ping from GenBank also were included in the analyses. Maximum parsimony and maximum likelihood of the combined nucleotide matrices of the 12S, 16S, and COII genes resulted in two major clades with six subclades: I (C. acinaciformis), II(C. lacteus and C. frenchi), III (C. curvignathus), IV (C. kalshoveni, C. sepangensis and C. travians), V (C. gestroi) and VI (C. formosanus, C. cochlearus, C. dimorphus and C. guangzhouensis). C. cochlearus and C. dimorphus are possibly junior synonyms of C. formosanus with nucleotide differences of up to 1.0%.
Determine of nutritive value of dried citrus pulp various using in situ and gas production techniques

Citrus pulp is an important by-product for sub-tropical and tropical ruminant animal production. In this study two wethers (38 ± 1.5) were used insitu method. Wetheres equipped with ruminal cannulas. Ruminal DM and CP disappearances were measured 0, 4, 8, 12, 24, 36, 48, 72 and 96h. The gas production was measured at 2,4,6,8,12, 24,36 and 48 h. Dry matter degradabilities of Orange, Grape fruit, Lemon and Tangerine at 96h were 92.1, 94.3, 86.3 and 92.1 respectively. Crude protein degradabilities of mentioned citrus pulps were 40.0, 37.1, 31.0 and 35.9 respectively. DM and CP in situ degradability at 96h showed significant differences (P < 0.05). Orange pulp showed high level of metabolizable protein (73.97 %) there were significant differences (P < 0.05). the most rate of gas production is related to grapefruit pulp showed significant differences (P < 0.05). data showed that citrus pulp can be used as a high energy feed in ruminant rations to support growth and lactation, with fewer negative effects on rumen fermentation than starch rich feeds.
Digestibility , nutrient balance and urinary purine derivative excretion in dry yak cows fed oat hay at different levels of intake

A feeding trial was conducted at the farm of Qinghai Academy of Animal and Veterinary Science, Xining, China during 1996–1997 with three dry yak cows (initial body weight 163–197 kg, age 5–6 years) by using 3 3 Latin Square Design to determine the effect of levels of feed intake on digestion, nitrogen balance and purine derivative excretion in urine of yak cows. The animals were fed oat hay (nitrogen 13.5 g/kg dry matter (DM), metabolisable energy 8.3 MJ/kg DM), i.e., 0.3, 0.6 and 0.9 of voluntary intake (VI). Each intake treatment lasted for 17 days and the samples (feeds, faeces and urine) were collected during last 7 days of each period. The results indicate that digestibility of dietary DM, OM, NDF and ash declined when intake levels increased from 0.3 to 0.9 VI [DM, from 66.1% to 59.1% (P< 0.05); OM, from 68.1% to 59.9% (P< 0.05); NDF, from 62.1% to 54.3% (P < 0.05); and ash, from 33.9% to 11.8% (P < 0.05)]. Around 0.10 g N/kg W was deficient daily in yak cows at 0.3 VI, and positive N balances were observed at 0.6 and 0.9 VI. Intake levels significantly (P< 0.05) affected total PD excretion in yak urine. The proportion of allantoin increased (P< 0.05) and uric acid decreased (P< 0.05) as intake level of feed increased. D 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.