Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Board & Ownership Structure on Firm Financial Performance: An Economic Value Added Perspective

The main objective of the study was to determine and evaluate the impact of corporate governance on firm financial performance, measured by using economic value added method. The study applied Economic value added approach to examine the effects of board and ownership structure on the performance of firms listed on the PSE over the period 2009 to 2014.The sample includes 600 observations from 100 textile firms.EVA is used to measures firm performance. The OLS regression results show a positive relationship between proportion of non-executive directors and firm performance, suggesting the powerful and influential role non- executive director’s play as a corporate governance mechanism. The board size and board meeting is positively and significant correlated to the firm performance. In terms of ownership structure, family ownership is positively but insignificantly correlated with firm performance. In contrast, a negative relationship is observed between government ownership and firm performance, implying worse firm performance when government ownership exists. Institutional ownership is also negatively correlated with firm performance. Keywords : Ownership Structure, Board Composition, Corporate Governance, EVA.
Spectrophotometric evaluation of color changes of esthetic brackets stored in potentially staining solutions

The purpose of this study was to evaluate, in vitro, the chromatic behavior of esthetic brackets stored in potentially staining solutions. The sample were divided into four groups according to the commercial brand and stored in four different solutions (distilled water, cola soda, coffee and mouthrinse) at 37°C for 14 days. Possible color changes measured according to the CIE L*a*b* color system with a spectrophotometer at five intervals of time after storage. The statistical analysis was carried out using ANOVA to 1%, Tukey’s tests and decomposition of interactions with a significance level of 5%. The color changes were dependent on the solution, storage time and the brand of brackets. The largest color changes were observed in the G3, followed by G2, G1/G4. The esthetic brackets do not present satisfactory and stable chromatic behavior.
The Effects of Organizational Cohesiveness on Organizational Performance: A Study on the Egyptian Commercial Banks

Organizational Cohesiveness (OC), and Organizational Performance (OP) have become the organizational behavior and human resources management hot spots. OC refers to two main constructs, namely, task cohesion and social cohesion. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between OC (IATG-T, IATG-S, GI-T and GI-S) and OP at the Egyptian commercial banks. Using Carron, et al. (1985) of OC, the study develops a number of hypotheses and tests them. This research is an applied form in terms of its goals and is descriptive in terms of the method of data collection. Of the 382 questionnaires distributed, 315 usable questionnaires were returned, a response rate of 82%. The results showed that OC significantly is related to the OP. In other words, both task cohesion and social cohesion significantly correlated with OP. The results also showed that the degree of OC among members determines the success of cooperative OP in moving toward its future direction. The study suggests that the Egyptian commercial banks can improve OP by influencing its OC, specifically, by developing IATG-T, IATG-S, GI-T and GI-S. The study provided that it is necessity to pay more attention to the dimensions of OC as a key source for organizations to enhance the competitive advantage which is a prime significance for OP. The study observes that there is a critical shortage of OC and that a greater understanding of the factors that influence the OP, including IATG-T, IATG-S, GI-T and GI-S, is of great importance. Therefore, this study is to examine the relationship between OC and OP among employees at the Egyptian commercial banks.
Asymptotic safety of gravity-matter systems

We study the ultraviolet stability of gravity-matter systems for general numbers of minimally coupled scalars and fermions. This is done within the functional renormalisation group setup put forward in \cite{Christiansen:2015rva} for pure gravity. It includes full dynamical propagators and a genuine dynamical Newton's coupling, which is extracted from the graviton three-point function. We find ultraviolet stability of general gravity-fermion systems. Gravity-scalar systems are also found to be ultraviolet stable within validity bounds for the chosen generic class of regulators, based on the size of the anomalous dimension. Remarkably, the ultraviolet fixed points for the dynamical couplings are found to be significantly different from those of their associated background counterparts, once matter fields are included. In summary, the asymptotic safety scenario does not put constraints on the matter content of the theory within the validity bounds for the chosen generic class of regulators.
UTAUT2 Based Predictions of Factors Influencing the Technology Acceptance of Phablets by DNP

The smart mobile devices have emerged during the past decade and have become one of the most dominant consumer electronic products. Therefore, exploring and understanding the factors which can influence the acceptance of novel mobile technology have become the essential task for the vendors and distributors of mobile devices. The Phablets, integrated smart devices combining the functionality and characteristics of both tablet PCs and smart phones, have gradually become possible alternatives for smart phones. Therefore, predicting factors which can influence the acceptance of Phablets have become indispensable for designing, manufacturing, and marketing of such mobile devices. However, such predictions are not easy. Meanwhile, very few researches tried to study related issues. Consequently, the authors aim to explore and predict the intentions to use and use behaviors of Phablets. The second generation of the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT2) is introduced as a theoretic basis. The Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) based Network Process (DNP) will be used to construct the analytic framework. In light of the analytic results, the causal relationships being derived by the DEMATEL demonstrate the direct influence of the habit on other dimensions. Also, based on the influence weights being derived, the use intention, hedonic motivation, and performance expectancy are the most important dimensions. The analytic results can serve as a basis for concept developments, marketing strategy definitions, and new product designs of the future Phablets. The proposed analytic framework can also be used for predicting and analyzing consumers’ preferences toward future mobile devices.
Slaughterhouse wastewater treatment by combined anaerobic baffled reactor and anaerobic filter: study of OLR and HRT optimization in ABR/AF reactors

Background: Slaughterhouse wastewater (SWW) is hardly treated due to the large amount of organic matter, nutrients and suspended solids. These materials are naturally decomposed through biological processes, and then environmental pollution, transmission of pathogens and problems become smelled. Conventional purification methods require high investment costs, high energy consumption and expert workforce. Therefore, the efficient and sufficient treatment of SWW with low cost, efficient construction and operation is important. Methods: A combined anaerobic system consisting of three pilot-scale anaerobic baffled reactors (ABRs) in the first stage and three anaerobic filters (AFs) were used to treat SWW. The ABR reactors arranged at three hydraulic retention times (HRTs) of 12, 18 and 24 hours and organic loading rates (OLRs) of 4, 7 and 10 kg/m3/d. The OLR applied for ABR reactors, was 0.5 to 1.55 kg COD/m3/d. Results: Evaluation of the ABR reactor indicated that this reactor at OLR of 7 and 10 kg COD/m3/d and HRT of 18 hours, had removal efficiency of 83.29% and 85.79%, respectively. AF reactor, at OLR of 0.981, 0.576 and 0.561 kg COD/m3/d and HRT of 36 hours, had removal efficiency of 79.39%, 74.09% and 63.14%, respectively. Conclusion: The optimum HRT and OLR were 24 hours and 7 kg COD/m3/d and 36 hours and 1 kg COD/m3/d in ABR and AF reactor, respectively. Keywords: Waste water, Slaughterhouse, Anaerobic treatment
The Open Access Israeli Journal of Aquaculture – Bamidgeh

A 60-day growth experiment was carried out to evaluate the effect of replacing dietary cod liver oil with palm oil on the growth, survival, and muscle proximate composition of the Indian major carp, Cirrhinus mrigala. Five diets were fed to triplicate groups of 20 advanced C. mrigala fry (2.16±0.01 g): 100% cod liver+0% palm (control), 25% palm+75% cod liver, 50% palm+50% cod liver, 75% palm+25% cod liver, and 100% palm+0% cod liver. At the end of the experiment, mean weight gain, average daily growth, specific growth rate, feed conversion efficiency, feed conversion ratio, and percentage survival were assessed. Growth performance and survival were not compromised when fish oil was substituted with palm oil up to 25%. However, beyond this level, growth was significantly retarded (p<0.01). There were no significant (p>0.01) differences in feed efficiency or muscle proximate composition. Results confirm the feasibility of substituting up to 25% dietary fish oil by palm oil in diets for C. mrigala advanced fry without negatively affecting growth or feed utilization efficiency. The IJA appears exclusively as a peer-reviewed on-line open-access journal at http://www.siamb. org.il. To read papers free of charge, please register online at registration form. Sale of IJA papers is strictly forbidden. Sale of IJA papers is strictly forbidden.
Long Memory Features in Return and Volatility of the Malaysian Stock Market

This study aims to investigate the existence of long memory in the Malaysian stock market utilizing daily stock price index from the period 1998:09 to 2009:12. Various ARFIMA-G(ARCH)-type models have been taken into consideration to address this issue, which has led to several interesting conclusions. Firstly, the long memory property exists in both the return and volatility, with and without incorporating the crisis impact. Secondly, the stock volatility is found to be experiencing significant leverage effect especially with the inclusion of the impact of crisis. This implies that the volatility has the tendency to respond to bad news more than good news as compared to the other periods under study. Thirdly, among the various G(ARCH)-type models with different innovation distributions, the Student-t distribution provides better specifications in terms of the long memory volatility processes. In summary, ARFIMA-FIAPARCH model is found to be the most appropriate method of presenting the stylized facts of stock return and volatility in Malaysia.
Indirect selection of Cre1 gene in winter wheat populations

The nematodes are important biotic constraint in rain-fed wheat production systems. In Turkey, they is found in 75.0% of soil samples in Central Anatolia with the dominant species being Heterodera filipjevi. Yield losses for winter wheat in rain-fed environments are documented between 27.0-46.0%. A single dominant gene for resistance to H. avenae, designated as Cre1, was assessed in Turkey. It was also found to be effective to Heterodera filipjevi. In this research, a STS based Cre1 marker was applied in a number of segregating wheat populations from F1 to F4 to discriminate Cre1-positive lines among the wheat populations. Results clearly indicated that Marker Assisted Selection (MAS) is functioning effectively, with recovery of Cre1 positive lines up to 88.0 % depending on the cross in early stage of breeding.
Traumatic Dental Injuries In Nursery School Children From Ile– Ife, Nigeria

The purpose of this study was to determine by age and sex the prevalence of traumatic dental injuries to primary incisor and canines and their distribution according to type in nursery school children from Ile – Ife, a suburban population in the south western part of Nigeria. A cross sectional study was conducted in which a total of 600 children (300 boys, 300 girls) aged 3 – 5 year old attending 13 nursery schools in Ife Central local government were examined. The prevalence of traumatic dental injuries was 23.2% (24% in boys and 22.3% in girls) Boys experienced more injuries than girls but the difference was not statistically significant p> 0.05. The largest percentage of injury was demonstrated by 5 year old children. The most common type of injury was enamel fracture 53.9%, followed by enamel-dentine fracture 19.2% and concussion 17.3%. The maxillary central incisor was the most vulnerable tooth to injuries 76.9%. The study showed a decline in the prevalence of traumatic dental injuries among suburban Nigerian children in Ile – Ife. However, the high prevalence of dental trauma in the nursery school children and its possible complication on permanent dentition showed that health polices need to be implemented with a view to its prevention.
The Impact of Mobile Sector Consumer Taxation and Mobile Market Concentration on Mobile Market Performance

The mobile sector has become an indispensible part of the global economy. In light of the economic effects of and the tremendous growth witnessed by the telecom sector, mobile sector policies are often a bone of contention between governments and mobile operators. The telecommunications sector is viewed as one of the few sectors served by large thriving firms from which taxes can be collected readily in order to narrow government fiscal deficits. Yet, as important an issue as taxation is, the establishment of independent and effective regulation as a means to improve market performances is often overlooked. This paper examines the impact of mobile sector consumer taxation and mobile market concentration on parameters such as mobile penetration, usage and average revenue per user. Building on a novel dataset covering 93 countries in the time span between 2005 and 2014, my results indicate that mobile market performance is not impacted by mobile consumer taxation, especially in low income countries. The study goes on to find that mobile market performance indicators show a negative effect upon increased mobile phone market concentration. A final conclusion made in this paper is that higher mobile market concentrations are associated with lower mobile consumer taxation. From a policy perspective, my findings underscore the importance of market regulation for fostering enhanced competition and as a more efficient way to promote access to mobile phones.
Seismic hazard assessment of the Shillong Plateau, India

Abstract The Shillong Plateau is an earthquake-prone region in the northeastern India. Based on regional seismotectonic studies, we present here a deterministic seismic hazard assessment (DSHA) and maps of peak horizontal accelerations (PHA) for three largely populated districts – the East Khasi hills, the Ri-Bhoi, and the West Garo hills – within the Shillong Plateau. The hazard analysis methodology is based on the analysis of 72 earthquake sources (active faults) located within 500 km seismotectonic region around the plateau. Using an average sample log-likelihood approach, suitable ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) are identified. As a variation in hypocentral distances can affect the ranks (or weights) of selected GMPEs, DSHA is performed separately for the three selected districts. Analyses show that the northern part of the East Khasi hills, eastern part of Ri-Bhoi district and the West Garo hills districts exhibit the highest PHA value of 0.46 g at site class A (hard rocks). In addition, response spectra for the Shillong city, Nongpoh, and Tura indicate that the maximum spectral acceleration reaches 0.67 g, 0.77 g, and 0.64 g at 0.1 s, respectively. These assessments indicate that the Barapani, Oldham, and Dauki faults influence significantly the seismic hazard in the studied region.
Predictive molecular markers for EGFR-TKI in non-small cell lung cancer patients: new insights and critical aspects

In recent years, a number of novel agents have been investigated that target specific molecular pathways in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A great deal of effort has been focused on identifying specific markers that predict treatment response, given that a tailored approach would maximize both the therapeutic index and the cost-effectiveness. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) pathway has emerged as a key regulator of cancer cell proliferation and invasion, and several specific EGFR inhibitors have been examined. Gefitinib and erlotinib are selective EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs), demonstrating good results in selected cases both in terms of objective response rate and of overall survival. At present, EGFR gene mutations are the best positive predictive factors for TKI therapy, and a number of other potential biomarkers are being investigated as additional positive or negative predictors of response. The correct selection of patients that could benefit from these innovative therapies, based on an accurate molecular characterization, is mandatory to provide the best clinical management. Currently, the main factor limiting the characterization of metastatic NSCLC patients is the small quantity of tumor cells available for molecular analysis. In this paper we provide an overview of the most important molecular predictive markers for EGFR-TKIs therapy in NSCLC patients, and focus attention on biological samples suitable for analysis and alternative sampling approaches such as plasma- or serum-derived DNA.
Response of Some Soybean Germplasm to Mangan Toxicity

In excessive manner, mangan (Mn) as an essential nutrient can be toxic to the plant. This phenomenon often occurs in acid soil. Hence, it is needed gene resources to develop plant in acid soil. The soybean germplasm tolerance to Mn toxicity was tested in seed laboratory, using two factors experimental design. The first factor was Mn toxicity containing two treatments (1) 0 ppm Mn in pH 7 as control, and (2) solution concentration of 75 ppm Mn in pH 4. The second factor was 14 accessions of soybean germplasm. Results showed that generally root characters decreases while shoot characters increased in Mn toxicity condition. However, some genotypes showed different performance. There was one genotype having the highest root dry weight in Mn toxicity condition, i.e. MLGG 0091. The highest root dry weight in this genotype was also supported by the root length and number of roots. MLGG 0091 was also capable to increase the length epicotyle that contribute to the increase in seedling dry weight. Therefore MLGG 0091 can be used as a gene source for tolerance to Mn toxicity.
Effect of Marine Microorganisms on Limestone as an Approach for Calcareous Soil

Calcareous soils generally have low levels of organic matter and nitrogen; they require modification to promote their support for agriculture production. Calcareous soils are commonly found in important agricultural areas throughout the world, mainly around the Mediterranean, America and Australia. In this study, we the isolated and identified different groups of microorganisms, from a product made from seaweed, in relation to their soil improvement properties. The objective was to use these microorganisms for the solubilization of specific soil elements and reduce their accumulation as a result of overfertilization. The isolated microorganisms were grown in specific culture media and were applied on limestone to determine their effect on mobility of Ca, Mg and K. Also, changes in soil properties such as pH, texture and density were evaluated. This study demonstrated that the treatments applied were able to modify the solubility of Ca, Mg and K, increasing it, in some cases, up to 3500%. In addition, an increase of organic matter close to 200% was observed. Both the group of molds and yeasts, and the group of nitrogen-fixing microorganisms, modified the proportion of sand, silt and clay in the treated limestone. These results open possibilities for the widespread use of marine microorganisms on a large scale in the agricultural sector, since they improve the nutrient availability present in the soil.
The tangential velocity excess of the Milky Way satellites

We estimate the systemic orbital kinematics of the Milky Way classical satellites and compare them with predictions from the Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model derived from a semi-analytical galaxy formation model applied to high-resolution cosmological N-body simulations. We find that the Galactic satellite system is atypical of ΛCDM systems. The subset of 10 Galactic satellites with proper motion measurements has a velocity anisotropy, β = −2.2 ± 0.4, which lies in the 2.9 per cent tail of the ΛCDM distribution. Individually, the Milky Way satellites have radial velocities that are lower than expected for their proper motions, with 9 out of the 10 having at most 20 per cent of their orbital kinetic energy invested in radial motion. Such extreme values are expected in only 1.5 per cent of ΛCDM satellites systems. In the standard cosmological model, this tangential motion excess is unrelated to the existence of a Galactic ‘disc of satellites’. We present theoretical predictions for larger satellite samples that may become available as more proper motion measurements are obtained.
Noise characteristics in Zenith Total Delay from homogeneously reprocessed GPS time series

Abstract. Zenith Total Delay (ZTD) time series, derived from the re-processing of Global Positioning System (GPS) data, provide valuable information for the evaluation of global atmospheric reanalysis products such as ERA-Interim. Identifying the correct noise characteristics in the ZTD time series is an important step to assess the "true" magnitude of ZTD trend uncertainties. The ZTD residual time series for 1995–2015 are generated from our homogeneously re-processed and homogenized GPS time series from over 700 globally distributed stations classified into five major climate zones. The annual peak of ZTD data ranges between 10 and 150 mm with the smallest values for the polar and Alpine zone. The amplitudes of daily curve fall between 0 and 12 mm with the greatest variations for the dry zone. The autoregressive process of fourth order plus white noise model were found to be optimal for ZTD series. The tropical zone has the largest amplitude of autoregressive noise (9.59 mm) and the greatest amplitudes of white noise (13.00 mm). All climate zones have similar median coefficients of AR(1) (0.80 ± 0.05) with a minimum for polar and Alpine, which has the highest coefficients of AR(2) (0.27 ± 0.01) and AR(3) (0.11 ± 0.01) and clearly different from the other zones considered. We show that 53 of 120 examined trends became insignificant, when the optimum noise model was employed, compared to 11 insignificant trends for pure white noise. The uncertainty of the ZTD trends may be underestimated by a factor of 3 to 12 compared to the white noise only assumption.