Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Design and development of intelligent knowledge discovery system for stock exchange database

The stock market is a complex, nonstationary, chaotic and non-linear dynamical system. Most of the existing methods suffer from drawbacks like long training times required, often hard to understand results, and inaccurate predictions. This study focuses on data mining approach for stock market prediction. The aim is to discover unknown patterns, new rules and hidden knowledge from large databases of stock index that are potentially useful and ultimately understandable for making crucial decisions related to stock market. The prototype knowledge discovery system developed in this research can produce accurate and effective information in order to facilitate economic activities. The developed prototype consists of mainly two parts: i) based on Fuzzy decision tree (FDT); and ii) based on support vector regression (SVR). In predictive FDT, aim is to combine the symbolic decision trees with approximate reasoning offered by fuzzy representation. In fuzzy reasoning method, the weights are assigned to each proposition in the antecedent part and the Certainty Factor (CF) is computed for the consequent part of each Fuzzy Production Rule (FPR). Then for stock market prediction significant weighted fuzzy production rules (WFPRs) are extracted. The predictive FDTs are tested using three data sets including Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange (KLSE), New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and London Stock Exchange (LSE). The results of predictive FDT method are favorably compared with those of other random walk models like Autoregression Moving Average (ARMA) and Autoregression Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA). The SVR prediction system is based on support vector machine (SVM) approach. Weighted kernel based clustering method with neighborhood constraints is incorporated in this system for getting improved prediction results. The SVM based method gives better results than backpropagation neural networks. SVM offers the advantages including: i) there is a smaller number of free parameters; ii) SVM forecasts better as it offers better generalization; iii) training SVM is faster. In essence, both the subsystems (FDT and SVR based) developed in this project are complementary to each other. As the fuzzy decision tree based system gives easily interpretable results, we mainly use it to classify past and present data records. Whereas we use the stronger aspect of the SVR based approach for prediction of future trend of the stock market, and get improved results.
Zimbabwe’s Better Environmental Science Teaching Programme: A step towards education for sustainable development

This paper appraises Zimbabwe’s Better Environmental Science Teaching (BEST) programme within the context of education for sustainable development (ESD). The first part of the paper briefly reviews developments in environmental education in southern Africa within the broader scope and goals of ESD and draws some parallels with the theoretical foundations of the BEST programme. The second part uses ESD lenses to reflect critically on a study conducted in 2005 to assess the practical implementation of BEST in a rural setting in Zimbabwe. The paper concludes that BEST advocates for a kind of education that has attributes for education for sustainable development. However, the practical implementation of BEST does not appear to match these intentions. Teachers, and their supervisors, are still tied to neoclassical methodologies in which teachers know and pupils don’t. The examination-driven curriculum prohibits the required re-orientation of education towards an education system that provides communities with skills, perspectives, values and knowledge to live in a sustainable manner. Communities themselves appear to find it difficult to conceptualise their role in the schooling of children in a community context. This research points to the often-quoted rhetoric-reality gap between idealistic policies (such as those being put forward in international ESD discourses) and practice, particularly in structured institutional settings such as formal education systems. The paper argues that for this rhetoric-reality gap to be ‘closed’ there is a need for a reorientation of educational philosophy in Zimbabwe, as well as for closer relationships between schools and communities in the learning process.
What differentiates effective followers from less effective followers : An exploratory mixed-methods field study using survey-and video-data

Over the past decades, studies within the field of leadership research increasingly emphasised the importance of effective followers within the effective leadership equation. While there is an extensive amount of research on effective leadership, effective followership has been studied to a much lesser extent. This study tries to fill this gap in the research field and examines to which extent effective followers differ from less effective followers based on behaviours, self-perceptions, attributes and biographical characteristics. A mixed-methods design is applied consisting of 1) video-based data of regular staff meetings which are minutely coded to measure the followers’ behavioural repertoire (n=1503), 2) follower effectiveness ratings provided by each leader (n=112), and 3) open questions in a post-meeting survey on self-perceptions, attributes and biographical characteristics of each participant. Results pointed out that while there are significant behavioural differences between effective and less effective followers, overall these behaviours do not significantly explain follower effectiveness. However, we did found that the self-perceptions competence, self enhancement, workload sharing and job satisfaction significantly determine 33.5% of the variance of follower effectiveness. In the discussion section, the results of this research are reviewed, its limitations and practical implications are pointed out, and some suggestions for future research are given. Supervisors: Prof. dr. C.P.M. Wilderom Drs. A.M.G.M. Hoogeboom
NO STRIPPED HYDROGEN IN THE NEBULAR SPECTRA OF NEARBY TYPE Ia SUPERNOVA 2011fe

A generic prediction of the single-degenerate model for Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) is that a significant amount of material will be stripped from the donor star (∼0.5 M☉ for a giant donor and ∼0.15 M☉ for a main-sequence donor) by the supernova ejecta. This material, excited by gamma-rays from radioactive decay, would then produce relatively narrow (≲1000 km s−1) emission features observable once the supernova enters the nebular phase. Such emission has never been detected, which already provides strong constraints on Type Ia progenitor models. In this Letter, we report the deepest limit yet on the presence of Hα emission originating from the stripped hydrogen in the nebular spectrum of an SN Ia obtained using a high signal-to-noise spectrum of the nearby normal SN Ia 2011fe 274 days after B-band maximum light with the Large Binocular Telescope's Multi-Object Double Spectrograph. We put a conservative upper limit on the Hα flux of 3.14 × 10−17 erg s−1 cm−2, which corresponds to a luminosity of 1.57 × 1035 erg s−1. By scaling models from the literature, our flux limit translates into an upper limit of ≲0.001 M☉ of stripped material. This is an order of magnitude stronger than previous limits. SN 2011fe was a typical SN Ia, special only in its proximity, and we argue that lack of hydrogen emission in its nebular spectrum adds yet another strong constraint on the single-degenerate class of models for SNe Ia.
Supply chain drivers, partnerships and performance of high-tech SMEs: An empirical study using SEM

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine high-tech small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) supply chain partnerships. Partnerships are considered at the level of business function rather than the entire organisation. Second, the drivers of SMEs to engage in partnerships are assessed to see whether functions engage in partnerships for different reasons. Third, performance per function is assessed to see the differential effect of partnerships on the function’s performance. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the relationship between the drivers of SMEs to engage in partnerships, four types of partnerships (marketing and sales, research and development (R&D), purchasing and logistics, and production) and four types of functional performances of firms (marketing and sales, R&D, purchasing and logistics, and production) are examined. The data have been collected from 279 SMEs. The proposed hypotheses are tested using structural equation modelling. Findings The results indicate that there are considerable differences between business functions in terms of the degree of involvement in partnerships and the effect of partnerships on the performance of these functions. This paper contributes to research by explaining the contradictory results of partnerships on SMEs performance. Practical implications This study helps firms understand which type of partnership should be established based on the firm’s drivers to engage in supply chain partnership; and which partnership has a significant effect on which type of business performance of the firm. Originality/value The originality of this study is to investigate the relationship between different drivers to engage in supply chain partnership and different types of partnerships and different functional performance of firm in a single model.
Acoustic Simulation of Julius Caesar’s Battlefield Speeches

History contains many accounts of speeches given by civic and military leaders before large crowds prior to the invention of electronic amplification. Historians have debated the historical accuracy of these accounts, often making some reference to acoustics, either supporting or refuting the accounts, but without any numerical justification. The field of digital humanities, and more specifically archaeoacoustics, seeks to use computational techniques to provide empirical data to improve historical analysis. Julius Caesar recalled giving speeches to 14,000 men after the battle of Dyrrachium and another to 22,000 men before the battle of Pharsalus during the Roman Civil War. Caesar’s background and education are discussed, including his training in rhetoric and oratory, which would have affected his articulation and effective sound pressure level while addressing his troops. Based on subjective reports about Caesar’s oratorical abilities, his effective Sound Pressure Level (SPL) is assumed to be 80 dBA, about 6 dB above the average loud speaking voice but lower than that of the loudest trained actors and singers. Simulations show that for reasonable background noise conditions Caesar could have been heard intelligibly by 14,000 soldiers in a quiet, controlled environment as in the speech at Dyrrachium. In contrast, even granting generous acoustic and geometric conditions, Caesar could not have been heard by more than about 700 soldiers while his army was on the march before the battle of Pharsalus.
Drug use and associated factors: a cross-sectional study with elementary school adolescents

Aim: to estimate the prevalence of drug use among school adolescents and its association with sociodemographic and sexual variables. Method: a cross-sectional study conducted through a structured interview with 239 elementary school students from a public school in the state of Bahia, Brazil. Data were processed by the Stata program, version 12, and analyzed according to descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: the prevalence of adolescents who had used drugs in the last month was 25.92%. There was a statistical association between variable drug use and religious identification (PR=1.88 and 95%CI=1.03 3.41), study series (PR=2.0 and 95%CI =1.03 3.85) and work (PR=3.68 and 95%CI =1.08-12.54). Conclusion: high prevalence of drug use among school-age adolescents and its association with low schooling, lack of religious practice, and precocious work and sexual intercourse were identified. Descriptors: Drug Users; Adolescent; Health Promotion.
Raman lidar observations of aged Siberian and Canadian forest fire smoke in the free troposphere over Germany in 2003 : Microphysical particle characterization

[1] Dual-wavelength Raman lidar observations were regularly carried out at Leipzig (51.3°N, 12.4°E) from May to August 2003. The measurements showed that particle backscatter and extinction coefficients in the free troposphere were higher compared to values in 2000–2002. Backward dispersion modeling indicates that intense forest fires that occurred in Siberia and Canada in spring/summer 2003 were the main cause of these free tropospheric haze layers. Measurements on 3 days were selected for an optical and microphysical particle characterization of these well-aged particle plumes. Particle lidar ratios measured at 532 nm wavelength were higher than at 355 nm. This property seems to be a characteristic feature of aged biomass-burning particles observed over central Germany. Mean particle Angstrom exponents calculated for the wavelength range from 355 to 532 nm varied from 0 to 1.3. Particle effective radii varied between 0.24 and 0.41 μm. Pollution advected from North America on 25 August 2003, in contrast, was characterized by considerably smaller particles. Mean effective radii were ≤0.2 μm, and Angstrom exponents were 1.8–2.1. Lidar ratios in that case were lower at 532 nm compared to those at 355 nm. Such signatures are characteristic for anthropogenic particles. At the moment, however, it cannot be completely ruled out that extremely hot forest fires in western areas of Canada generated comparably small particles. Except for this specific case the forest fire particles were considerably larger than what is usually reported from in situ observations of biomass-burning smoke. Possible explanations for this difference could be the kind of burning process, which could generate much larger particles in the source region, condensation of organic vapors on existing particles, and coagulation processes during the long transport time of more than a week. Relative humidity measured in these layers was very low. Hygroscopic growth of the particles therefore seemed to have little influence on the size of the particles. The forest fire smoke consisted of moderately absorbing material. Real parts of the complex refractive index of the particles were mostly <1.5, and imaginary parts were <0.01i. Single-scattering albedo in all cases varied between 0.9 and 0.98 at 532 nm.
Transport and instability in driven two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic flows

This paper concerns the generation of large-scale flows in forced two-dimensional systems. A Kolmogorov flow with a sinusoidal profile in one direction (driven by a body force) is known to become unstable to a large-scale flow in the perpendicular direction at a critical Reynolds number. This can occur in the presence of a ${\it\beta}$ -effect and has important implications for flows observed in geophysical and astrophysical systems. It has recently been termed ‘zonostrophic instability’ and studied in a variety of settings, both numerically and analytically. The goal of the present paper is to determine the effect of magnetic field on such instabilities using the quasi-linear approximation, in which the full fluid system is decoupled into a mean flow and waves of one scale. The waves are driven externally by a given random body force and move on a fast time scale, while their stress on the mean flow causes this to evolve on a slow time scale. Spatial scale separation between waves and mean flow is also assumed, to allow analytical progress. The paper first discusses purely hydrodynamic transport of vorticity including zonostrophic instability, the effect of uniform background shear and calculation of equilibrium profiles in which the effective viscosity varies spatially, through the mean flow. After brief consideration of passive scalar transport or equivalently kinematic magnetic field evolution, the paper then proceeds to study the full magnetohydrodynamic system and to determine effective diffusivities and other transport coefficients using a mixture of analytical and numerical methods. This leads to results on the effect of magnetic field, background shear and ${\it\beta}$ -effect on zonostrophic instability and magnetically driven instabilities.
Integrated modelling of foraging behaviour , energy budget and memory properties

A predator’s foraging performance is related to its ability to acquire sufficient information on environmental profitability. This process can be affected by the patchy distribution and clustering of food resources and by the food intake process dynamics. We simulated body mass growth and behaviour in a forager acting in a patchy environment with patchy distribution of both prey abundance and body mass by an individual-based model. In our model, food intake was a discrete and stochastic process and leaving decision was based on the estimate of net energy gain and searching time during their foraging activities. The study aimed to investigate the effects of learning processes and food resource exploitation on body mass and survival of foragers under different scenarios of intra-patch resource distribution. The simulation output showed that different sources of resource variability between patches affected foraging efficiency differently. When prey abundance varied across patches, the predator stayed longer in poorest patches to obtain the information needed and its performance was affected by the cost of sampling and the resulting assessment of the environment proved unreliable. On the other hand, when prey body mass, but not abundance, varied among the patches the predator was quickly able to assess local profitability. Both body mass and survival of the predator were greatly affected by learning processes and patterns of food resource distribution. © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Computational Tools to Study and Predict the Long-Term Stability of Nanowires.

held in 2007, Gordon Moore recognized that by about 2020, his law would come up against the laws of physics. Furthermore, he recognized a change in a paradigm: the replacement of the top-down approach currently used for building circuits by a bottom-up procedure, where chips would be assembled using individual atoms or molecules. This is nothing but the realm of nanotechnology, while there is some consensus that the elementary switches of these circuits should be molecules with some feature allowing for the on/off status required for the components of logical devices, many questions remain concerning their stability. In the case of micrometric circuit components temperature may be an issue, but in the case of single molecules thermal effects may be overwhelming, since current flow occurs across a single bond. The lifetime of this bond, will determine the lifetime of the circuit component. Under these conditions, circuit engineering will be coming unexpectedly close to chemical kinetics. It still is far from clear which will be the technological procedure for the massive production of these molecular circuits. However, there are a number of experimental techniques for the study of their properties that are well established. These are shown schematically in Fig. 1. Fig. 1d shows a method devised to study the structure of monatomic nanowires (NWs). It has been developed by Kondo and Takayanagi (Kondo & Takayanagi, 1997) using High Resolution Transmission Electronic Microscopy (HRTEM) and allows the generation of suspended NWs. In this approach nanowires are generated in situ by focusing an electron beam on adjacent sites of a self-supported metal thin film (ca. 3 nm), making holes and allowing them to grow until a nanometric bridge is formed inside or between grains. The
Adoption of Technology as a Response Strategy to Globalization: A Study of Manufacturing Firms in Kenya

Globalization affects local and international firms in many ways. Studies have shown that factors in the internal as well as external environments of firms influence the rate to which globalization will affect them. On the local scene however, no known studies have been done on the response of manufacturing firms to counter globalization. In addition, since the concept of globalization is multidimensional and its influence is varied in nature, this study aimed at investigating how manufacturing firms in Kenya have responded to probable pressure from the forces of globalization in order to sharpen their competitiveness. Cross sectional survey design was adopted for the study. The population for the study was the 735 manufacturing firms in Kenya. The target population of the study were CEOs/MDs and their deputies from 545 manufacturing companies in Nairobi and Athi River. Stratified sampling technique was used to categorize the targeted manufacturing firms into sectors where purposive sampling technique was used to sample the respondents for the study. A total of 100 firms from the 14 sectors were targeted by the study out of which 80 responded giving a response rate of 80%. Questionnaire was used to collect primary data. Regression and correlation analysis was done to test the relationship between the study variables. The study found that 65% of the respondents agreed that continued global technological advancement has enabled management come up with innovations to respond to customer needs and economic and regulatory factors which have prompted outsourcing some operations, respectively. The results of the correlation analysis show that adoption of technology is statistically significant with a Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient of 0.683 and at a level of significance of 0.000. The study also found out that 67.5% of the respondents agreed that continued global technological advancement has enabled management come up with innovations to respond to customer needs and economic and regulatory factors which have prompted outsourcing some operations respectively. The null hypotheses that there is no significant relationship between globalization and competition was therefore reject. The study concluded that manufacturing firms in Kenya have adopted technology as response strategies to globalization. The study recommended that manufacturing firms should adopt the new changes in the market and to absorb into the technological trend. Thus, they should remain flexible and stay focused to the day to day changes of globalization strategies.
Are voters, consumers?: A qualitative exploration of the voter-consumer analogy in political marketing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to deepen and add nuance to previous explorations of the voter‐consumer analogy in order to generate new insights into wider applications of the marketing concept.Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual analysis is supplemented and enriched with insights from a non‐representative case of voter responses to political advertising.Findings – Findings suggest that limitations to the voter‐consumer analogy revolve around the differing contexts of marketing in each case and reflect differing audience responses at the micro‐level.Research limitations/implications – The empirical component of this study is not representative or generalizable. However, it is used not to verify generalizations but to add qualitative insights to the conceptual discussion. Findings suggest that research which applies the marketing concept to non‐commercial settings, especially political marketing but also possibly extending to social marketing, non‐profit and public sector marketing, should b.