Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Physicochemical Characteristics of Roub; Traditional Fermented Dairy Product of the Sudan

Aims : This study was conducted to determine the physicochemical characteristics of fermented milk “roub” during the storage period. Methodology: Thirty roub samples were collected (10 samples from each of Khartoum, Khartoum North and Omdurman areas) in sterile polyethylene bags, preserved in sample containers in ice (4°C) and transported to the laboratory for analysis. Physicochemical characteristics [fat, protein, total solids (TS), solids-non-fat (SNF), ash, acidity] were determined at 1, 7, 14 and 20-day intervals. Results: The results showed that area from which samples were collected had a significant effect on all physicochemical characteristics of roub except solids-non-fat and acidity. During the storage period, there was no significant variation in all physicochemical characteristics of samples collected from Khartoum except the protein content, while in samples collected from Khartoum North there was a significant effect of the storage period on the protein and total solids contents only, and in samples collected from Omdurman the storage period significantly affected the protein and ash contents and acidity of roub. Roub samples were good up to the end of the storage period. Original Research Article Abdalla and Osman; ACRI, 8(3): 1-7, 2017; Article no.ACRI. 34762 2 Conclusion : The significant variation in physicochemical characteristics of the product indicates the differences in the source of milk rather than and/or the processing methods. Therefore, the authorities are encouraged to control this process by implementing legislations or prohibit the manufacture of this product in such prevailing conditions.
Comparison of homogenization packages applied to monthly series of temperature and precipitation: the Multitest project

It is well known that observational climatic series are exposed to unwanted alterations due to changes in the observational practices, instrumentation, relocations or changes in the surroundings of the stations. Many methods have been proposed to remove these perturbations from the series and leave the climate signal only, and the successful COST Action ES0601 “HOME” provided interesting inter-comparison results to understand the strengths and weaknesses of many of them (Venema et al., 2012).
DEVELOPMENT OF GEOPOLYMER CONCRETE WITH DIFFERENT CURING CONDITIONS

Environmental issues resulted from cement production have become a major concern today. To develop a sustainable future it is encouraged to limit the use of this construction material that can affect the environment. Cement replacement material was proposed to partially replace cement portion in concrete. Geopolymer is a part of inorganic polymer material that has similar bonding function like cement in concrete. It consists of alkaline solutions and geological source material. Alkaline liquids used in this research are 8 M sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solution and sodium silicate (Na2SiO3) solutions, while source materials are fly ash and microwave incinerated rice husk ash (MIRHA). Three different curing regimes, namely hot gunny curing, ambient curing, and external exposure curing, were applied to obtain suitable method that was suitable with cast in situ application. Geopolymer concrete samples were tested on their compressive strength and microstructure properties. It was found that external exposure curing had the highest compressive strength compared to other two curing methods. Scanning electron microscopy analysis also showed better improvement in interfacial transition zone for concrete sample with external exposure curing.
Lean vs. Agile Supply Chain: The Effect of IT Architectures on Supply Chain Capabilities and Performance

The widespread use of information technology (IT) has changed the nature of supply chain management. However, it is still unclear whether different IT infrastructure design may affect supply chain capabilities and firm performance. In this study, we investigated the impacts of a supply chain’s IT architecture, which could be integration-based or standardization-based, on supply chain capabilities and firm performance. We also examined the effects of lean and agile supply chain strategies. We tested our research model against data collected from 162 companies, 97 based in China and 65 in Taiwan. Our findings indicate that firms with different supply chain strategies focus on different aspects of IT architectures. In addition, supply chain capability is an enabler to enhance supply chain performance through well-suited supply chain IT.
Relevance of Fair Value of Brazilian Banks Securities in the Financial Crisis

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to seek to clarify whether the fair value (FV) of Brazilian banks securities is relevant for investors in times of crisis. Design/methodology/approach – The information gathered for 14 quarters, 2007-2010, of a cross-sectional sample of banks was used for the purpose of explaining the value of shares based on amortized cost and the FV of securities, the book value of equity and the financial crisis. The return on shares was regressed based on the realized and unrealized gains and losses on securities, adjusted income and the crisis. Findings – The results indicated that the FV is relevant. The results also corroborated the hypothesis that, during the crisis, there was a decrease in the relevance of the FV of securities since the accounting practices adopted in Brazil did not specify how to estimate FV, as required by SFAS 157, neither did they require disclosure of the FV hierarchy, as established International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) 7. It was concluded.
Modelling serial order in behaviour : studies of spelling

Serial order in behaviour remains an interesting problem for computational modelling in psychology, especially for connectionist approaches. The 'Competitive Queuing' (CQ) approach to sequence generation has the advantage of accounting for a number of common features apparent in several different types of serial behaviour. This thesis addresses the general account which the CQ approach can give for constraints on serial errors within sequences by developing models of an acquired disorder of spelling, 'graphemic buffer disorder' (GBD). Two approaches to the development of a simple initial model of GBD into more complex models are demonstrated, and are related to the general problem of accounting for serial category constraints in sequencing. The initial CQ model of GBD is based on an existing model of speech production with minimal spelling-specific changes. A number of shortcomings are identified in the I performance of this model, in particular the inability to distinguish consonant and vowel letters, which prevents a striking feature of GBD errors - the preservation of consonant/vowel status - from being modelled. An analysis of the general problem of adding domain-specific constraints to CQ models suggests two approaches to improving the initial model. Two alternative extended models are thus advanced. The first is a development of the initial model incorporating an external template to specify consonant/vowel information. Simulations with this model demonstrate a much improved fit to :the data. The second model" develops a novel architecture, generalising the CQ approach to multi-layer networks. The model is less detailed but demonstrates the correct general features of the GBD error pattern. The relationship between the models is discussed and possible future research directions are identified.
Exceptional minimal surfaces with the Ricci condition

Let XN(c) denote the yV-dimensional simply connected space form of constant curvature c, and let M be a minimal surface in XN(c) with Gaussian curvature K { 0. In [1] Johnson studied a class of minimal surfaces in XN(c), called exceptional minimal surfaces. In thispaper, we discuss exceptional minimal surfaces in XN(c) which satisfiythe Ricci condition with respect to c. Our results are as follows:
CCN: A novel energy efficient greedy routing protocol for green computing

We proposed a novel Energy Efficient Greedy Routing Protocol (EEGRP) in CCN for MANETs to achieve the gaps in the existing infrastructure of Green Cloud Computing. Initially, the consumer node broadcasts the interest packet; each relay node verifies if it is already satisfied, and then it drops the packet. Otherwise, the provider node selects shortest path to unicast data packet within minimum delay. Each relay node receives a data packet, stores its content in content store, and forwards it to next node according to path mention in the hop‐count field. If the data packet custodian node does not find path mention in the hop‐count field, then it searches the routing table entries to choose the second best path to unicast the data packet. EEGRP is implemented in three scenarios using ns2 and compare its performance with AIRDrop routing protocol on bases of three performance parameters like packet delivery ratio, delay, and energy consumption. EEGRP achieves high PDR with minimum delay and less energy consumption as compared to AIRDrop. Therefore, EEGRP is feasible to use on green computing and cloud technology. This can save energy issue to secure energy for Green Computing and Cloud before moving to full‐scale virtualization and Cloud services.
Equity Market Contagion in Return Volatility during Euro Zone and Global Financial Crises: Evidence from FIMACH Model

The current paper studies equity markets for the contagion of squared index returns as a proxy for stock market volatility, which has not been studied earlier. The study examines squared stock index returns of equity in 35 markets, including the US, UK, Euro Zone and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) countries, as a proxy for the measurement of volatility. Results from the conditional heteroskedasticity long memory model show the evidence of long memory in the squared stock returns of all 35 stock indices studied. Empirical findings show the evidence of contagion during the global financial crisis (GFC) and Euro Zone crisis (EZC). The intensity of contagion varies depending on its sources. This implies that the effects of shocks are not symmetric and may have led to some structural changes. The effect of contagion is also studied by decomposing the level series into explained and unexplained behaviors.
Integrating local resources into inquiry-based teaching materials to training students’ science process skills

Students in learning, especially in biology subject, can use local resources. This research focuses on training student process skills (SPS) using inquiry-based teaching material that integrates local resources. Furthermore, this study employed an experimental study using post-test only control design. As many as 185 students were involved as the sample. They were divided into two groups, namely the experimental group (88 students) and control group (97 students). The data were collected using the SPS test. These data were further analyzed using a t-test. The results show that P < 0.05, meaning that the integration of local resources in an inquiry-based teaching material can help students’ SPS training. Considering this result, teachers are able to incorporate local resources (from the environment) in teaching material to help students practice SPS
An evaluation of human pose estimation using a deep convolutional neural network

The purpose of this master thesis was to evaluate how a deep convolutional neural network can be used to estimate a human body pose in a 2D image. The evaluation was done by implementing a state of the art network and test its performance on the MPII human pose dataset. Three different ways to preprocess the training data was tested and the network’s accuracy went from 60.8% for the first method to 71.2% for the third method, a roughly 17% increase in performance. These results indicate that the choice of preprocessing method have a large effect on the overall performance of the network. An analysis of the MPII dataset revealed that the distribution of poses is skewed towards poses facing the camera in an upright position. A score was calculated for each pose that measures how much a pose deviates from the norm. Using this pose score it is shown shown that the network performs much worse on poses that are rare in the MPII dataset. This indicates that network has learned how the keypoints are distributed and has overfitted to the MPII dataset. To improve the generalization of the network a more thorough data augmentation should be implemented.
Pengaruh Kompensasi Eksekutif, Koneksi Politik, dan Capital Intensity pada Tax Avoidance

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh kompensasi eksekutif, koneksi politik, dan capital intensity pada tax avoidance.Penelitian ini dilaksanakan pada perusahaan property, real estate, dan konstruksi bangunan yang terdaftar di Bursa Efek Indonesia tahun 2014-2016. Jumlah sampel yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini sebanyak 12perusahaan dengan jumlah observasi 36. Metode penentuan sampel penelitian ini adalah non-probability sampling dengan teknikpurposive sampling. Teknik analisis data dilakukan dengan menggunakan teknik analisis regresi linear berganda. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa kompensasi eksekutif berpengaruhnegatifdan signifikan pada tax avoidance. Penelitian ini juga menemukan bahwa koneksi politik dan capital intensity berpengaruh negatif dan tidak signifikan pada tax avoidance. Kata kunci: Kompensasi Eksekutif, Koneksi Politik, Capital Intensity, Tax Avoidance
VIRTUAL PATIENTS AS THE TOOLS OF PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATIVE TRAINING IN THE US HIGHER MEDICAL EDUCATION

The system of higher medical education of the USA is characterized by the significant advance in the sphere of new technologies usage. The first computerized training programs for medical students were introduced in this country. Nowadays, new technologies including “virtual patients” (VP) are commonly used in undergraduate formal or hidden curriculum of US medical schools with the aim of professional and communicative training of future physicians. Thus, such valuable experience of the US medical education institutions may be useful for the development of higher medical education in other countries. The paper presents the historical overview and describes the evolution of computerized programs, ICTs and virtual patients in the system of higher medical education of the USA; researches the ways of virtual patients’ implementation in the structure of communicative and professional training in US medical schools and colleges; defines the notion of “virtual patient”; describes the types of VP and the methodology of their usage depending on the academic purpose; discusses the advantages, as well as the problems of VP usage in the curriculum and their possible solutions.
Currency and Banking Crises; The Early Warnings of Distress

The abruptness and virulence of the 1997 Asian crises have led many to claim that these crises are of a new breed and were thus unforecastable. This paper examines 102 financial crises in 20 countries and concludes that the Asian crises are not of a new variety. Overall, the 1997 Asian crises, as well as previous crises elsewhere, occur when economies are in distress, making the degree of fragility of the economy a useful indicator of future crises. Based on this idea, the paper proposes different composite leading indicators of crises, evaluated in terms of accuracy both in-sample and out-of-sample.
50 Years in PEAD Research

Analysing earning’s predictive power on stock returns was in the heart of academic research since late 60’s. First introduced to academic world in 1967 during seminar “Analysis of Security Prices” by Chicago University Professors Ray Ball and Philip Brown. In the next four decades was extensively analysed by many academics and is now a well-documented anomaly and is referred to as Post Earnings Announcement Drift (PEAD). This phenomenon is still at the centre of academic research because it stands at odds with efficient market hypothesis which assumes that all information is instantaneously reflected in stock prices. Professional investors are also closely looking at PEAD as it implies that it is easy to beat the market average by simply ranking stocks based on their earnings surprise and investing in the top decile, quintile or quartile and shorting the bottom part. Academic evidence shows that this strategy produces an abnormal return of somewhere between 2.6% and 9.37% per quarter, according to various authors. In this paper I will present existing evidence supporting and contradicting “PEAD”, the history of academic research in that field and various techniques used to verify the phenomenon. The paper is organised as follows: first the history of the PEAD academic research is presented, in the second more recent evidence and research techniques used by authors are presented and finally conclusions and various critics of PEAD are shown.
Towards computer supported cooperative design

This thesis first reviews the literature about the nature of cooperative design activity and its technological support. It is noted that knowledge of how designers work together in real-world settings is less than complete. Moreover, after over a decade of developments in Computer Supported Cooperative Work, the state-of-the-art in collaborative technology does not fully support such activities. Two substantial case studies are presented. The first draws upon fieldwork with designers at a large, distributed engineering design company, where a pilot study of collaborative technologies was carried out, focusing on the organisational context for such interventions and the reasons behind the qualified success of the experimental technology. In the light of the lack of use of synchronous tools in particular, a second case study was carried out. This was a complementary analysis of face-to-face co-working in a series of meetings held by a small design group. The results of both pieces of fieldwork are analysed in the context of existing studies of designers in both real-world and laboratory settings. This leads to the identification of a number of important characteristics of cooperative design, some newly identified, others confirming or extending the results of existing work. They include the identification of tension between traditional engineering design culture and the underlying assumptions of new technology; the intrinsic difficulties in sharing some types of design artefacts; and the way in which design entails an interweaving of individual and group activity, with consequences for resource exploitation, distributed cognition and workspace navigation in group sessions. The findings are integrated into an organising framework for cooperative design, with emphasis on the support of coworking designers distributed across multiple sites. Current technologies are reviewed against scenarios based on the framework and recommendations are made for further work.
Ultimate bending capacity of aged fixed platform by considering the effect of marine fouling

For offshore structures, especially jacket supported structure such as fixed platform and offshore wind turbine, the underwater area provides an ideal site for corrosion formation and marine fouling. In this marine environment, the structures are exposed to particularly aggressive corrosion and colonized by marine organisms involving a diversity of species. In this paper, a number of cases are conducted where an existing fixed platform is subjected to uniform corrosion. Furthermore, the platform is also subjected to marine fouling. The platform is assessed to investigate the effects of corrosion and marine fouling on its structural strength by determining the Reserve Strength Ratio (RSR) value. It is found the platform is limited to at least 50 years of service life when subjected to average corrosion. However, the platform is no longer considered as safe after 37 years when subjected to severe corrosion. Moreover, there is an RSR loss of 38% when marine fouling is introduced at the first 5 years which is detrimental to the overall safety of the platform. On the other hand, there is minimum RSR loss of only 5% for most cases when marine fouling is introduced but still detrimental to the overall safety of the platform. The obtained outcomes were documented and will be useful information to conduct condition assessment (or structural health monitoring) of aged fixed jacket structures.
The Quality of Recoletos Education in Negros Island in the Realm of Philippine Catholic School Standards

This descriptive-correlational study assesses the level of quality of Catholic education of five Recollect schools in Negros Island as assessed by school personnel and what they had done according to the framework of the Philippine Catholic School Standards (PCSS). Also, it determines whether a significant relationship exists between the demographic profile of the school personnel and their quality assessment in order to test the hypothesis that variation in their age, length of service, school origin and designation influence their respective assessments. Using the PCSS Survey Questionnaire, the data were analyzed using mean, Spearman rho, and chi-square. The findings reveal that the level of quality of Catholic education in Recollect schools exceeds the benchmark. Significant inverse relationship was found between between age and length of service of school personnel and their Catholic education quality assessment. However, no significant relationship was found between school of origin and designation and their quality assessment.
Modelo generalizado no-lineal altura-diámetro con efectos mixtos para siete especies de Pinus en Durango, México

Durango es el principal estado en México para la producción de madera (28.5 % del total nacional). Se estima que la superficie bajo aprovechamiento es de 2 millones de hectáreas; razón por la cual, la ordenación forestal es una tarea importante para los manejadores silvícolas. El conocimiento sobre la relación altura-diámetro (h-d) de los árboles se utiliza, principalmente, para caracterizar la estructura del rodal, estimar el volumen de los árboles individuales o del rodal, y para determinar la altura dominante con el propósito de evaluar la productividad vía el índice de sitio. En este trabajo se desarrolló una ecuación generalizada para describir la relación h-d de siete especies de coníferas en los bosques mezclados del noroeste de Durango, México. La ecuación considera como variables independientes al diámetro normal, altura dominante, área basal y la densidad. Para la variabilidad entre 44 sitios permanentes, el ajuste de la mejor ecuación fue mediante el enfoque de modelos mixtos no lineales. El modelo generalizado desarrollado explicó 82 % de la variabilidad total de los datos observados. Para calibrar el modelo mixto se determinó que se requiere medir la altura total de una submuestra de tres árboles de clase diamétrica promedio dentro de cada parcela. La ecuación generada constituye una herramienta para el manejo forestal de los bosques mezclados del área de estudio.