Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using the theory of planned behavior with qualitative research

Studies adopting the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) mostly use quantitative methods. Sometimes, however, researchers choose to use a qualitative method because of the nature of available data (e.g., interviews) or availability of only a limited number of cases. This paper describes a study in which the TPB was used with qualitative methods to explain differences in university teaching. It focuses primarily on the methods used: qualitative data coding, data analysis and interpretation, and methods for presenting and supporting results. The study explored factors which influence university teachers to adopt teaching models based on online social interaction when an e-learning platform is used to complement undergraduate classroom teaching. Participants were 26 university teachers (15 from Australia and 11 from Italy). They responded to a semi-structured interview based on the TPB. Three approaches to use of e-learning platforms were identified: upload of materials, use of discussion forums, and computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL). Using this approach, it was possible to highlight substantial differences in the attitudes, social influence, and perceived behavioral control among the three groups.
Modeling Method of Stray Magnetic Couplings in an EMC Filter for Power Electronic Devices

This paper proposes a remarkably efficient modeling method of stray magnetic couplings in an Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) filter that focuses on the dominant magnetic field in a power electronic device. The proposed modeling method was applied for simulating the filter performance of an EMC filter for a Silicon Carbide (SiC) solar inverter, and its effectiveness was verified through a comparison of the measurement and simulation results. With the proposed modeling method, the influence of the stray magnetic couplings on the filter performance can be predicted well. Further, the results matched those of the measurement and simulation with a conventional modeling method. Accordingly, the number of stray magnetic couplings required for accurate prediction can be dramatically reduced from 325 to just one.
Optimistic Disclosure Tone and CEO Career Concerns

We argue that CEOs use narrative disclosure tone to assuage career concerns. In particular, we predict that more talented CEOs use a more optimistic tone at the beginning of their tenures to build a reputation of strong performance ability. We run our tests on a large sample of US firms’ 10-K disclosures, and show that highly able CEOs use a more optimistic tone early in their careers. Our results are robust to a number of alternative specifications. Overall, our evidence indicates that optimistic tone is used by CEOs to signal their superior performance ability. Firms with more optimistic disclosures present higher value-weighted cumulative abnormal returns around last quarter earnings announcements, and are more likely to access future debt, engage in greater future capital investment and pay more future dividends.
Exploring the Relationship between Transformational, Transactional Leadership Style and Organizational Commitment among Nigerian Banks Employees

The study investigated the relationship between transformational, transactional leadership style and their dimensions on the organizational commitment among Nigerian banks employees. The targeted population consisted of all employees in banks in Ibadan. The sample was made up of 80 employees from 10 banks randomly selected. The instrument used for the study was tagged Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) and Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ). Correlation coefficient and multiple regressions were used to analyze data. The results of the study showed that there is positive relationship between Transformational, transactional Leadership and organizational commitment. Results also revealed that the impact of transactional leadership styles on the commitment of banking employees in Nigeria is more effective than the transformational style. The study recommended that managers should positively reward the employees with praise or recognition when they perform at or above expectations. Similarly, negative rewarding approach should also be used in the form of correction, coercion, criticism, and/or other forms of punishment, when performance is below the expected standard
Poverty, Inequality, and Social Disparities During China's Economic Reform

China has been the most rapidly growing economy in the world over the past 25 years. This growth has fueled a remarkable increase in per capita income and a decline in the poverty rate from 64 percent at the beginning of reform to 10 percent in 2004. At the same time, however, different kinds of disparities have increased. Income inequality has risen, propelled by the rural-urban income gap and by the growing disparity between highly educated urban professionals and the urban working class. There have also been increases in inequality of health and education outcomes. Some rise in inequality was inevitable as China introduced a market system, but inequality may have been exacerbated rather than mitigated by a number of policy features. Restrictions on rural-urban migration have limited opportunities for the relatively poor rural population. The inability to sell or mortgage rural land has further reduced opportunities. China has a uniquely decentralized fiscal system that has relied on local government to fund basic health and education. The result has been that poor villages could not afford to provide good services, and poor households could not afford the high private costs of basic public services. Ironically, the large trade surplus that China has built up in recent years is a further problem, in that it stimulates an urban industrial sector that no longer creates many jobs while restricting the government's ability to increase spending to improve services and address disparities. The government's recent policy shift to encourage migration, fund education and health for poor areas and poor households, and rebalance the economy away from investment and exports toward domestic consumption and public services should help reduce social disparities.
Can Technology Acceptance Model be Applied on the Rural Setting: The Case of Village Development and Security Committee in Malaysia

Problem statement: Malaysia has come out with a number of strategies such as National Information Technology Center, Universal Services Provider, Rural Internet Center and Rural Info Center to strengthen and encourage ICT usage among the rural community. Besides the efforts that are brought by the government, do the rural community especially their leaders which are the Village Development and Security Committee use ICT? Approach: The main objective of this study was to investigate any relationship that might occur between variables of Technology Acceptance Model and ICT usage among Village Development and Security Committee. A total of 240 Village Development and Security Committees were selected as the respondents for this study where a developed questionnaire was used to gain the data needed. For the purpose of analysis, SPSS was used where descriptive and inferential analyses were performed. Results: Based on the analyses run, it can be concluded that Village Development and Security Committee in Malaysia have a moderate level of ICT usage. Further analyses run showed that all of the three variables of Technology Acceptance Model namely attitude, perceive ease of use and perceive usefulness have a positive and significant relationship with ICT usage while attitude was detected as the main contributor towards ICT usage among Village Development and Security Committee. Conclusion/Recommendation: This study has revealed that Technology Acceptance Model that was used to explain ICT usage can be applied within the Malaysian rural setting. It also can be concluded that Village Development and Security Committee with a high level of attitude, perceive ease of use and perceive usefulness towards ICT will have higher level of ICT usage. To further develop and sustain this high level of attitude, perceive ease of use and perceive usefulness towards ICT usage, Village Development and Security Committee must be frequently exposed to ICT information and knowledge. It is recommended that ICT house to house training can be conducted among the Village Development and Security Committee by the related agencies.
Determinants of Agricultural Commodity Market Supply

This study was initiated to achieve the specific objectives as identification of factors that affect market participation decision of households and determination of factors that determine the volume of market supply of pepper. In order to acquire the relevant data, formal and informal methods of data collection were accomplished. To differentiate factors affecting the market participation and the amount of pepper sold, the Heckman Two- Stage econometric model was employed. The outcome equation result revealed that market participation decision of households and amount of pepper sold were significantly affected by many of the variables hypothesized to have impact on the explained variable. In order to settle price fluctuations and to strengthen the bargaining power of producers, there should be a well stated commodity standard that is set at the national level. Furthermore, market competitiveness, structure and efficiency can be improved through facilitating training regarding pepper trading as it help producers and other interested bodies better involve in the commodity market. Keywords : Heckman two stage model, Inverse Mill’s Ratio, Outcome equation
Relationship between postharvest diseases resistance and mineral composition of citrus fruit.

Green and blue moulds, due to the pathogenic action of Penicillium digitatum and Penicillium italicum respectively are the main cause of orange losses during postharvest. Under Mediterranean climate conditions, both together are responsible for 80% of total postharvest citrus fruit decay. The type of orchard production system, field location with different types of climate and soil has a main influence on mineral composition of fruits. The mineral composition of fruits can have a significant impact on fruit quality and shelf life during postharvest period. These include effects on fruit colour, texture, disease susceptibility, juice composition and development of physiological disorders. Oranges from different regions from South of Spain and Portugal and from three different production systems (conventional, integrated and organic) were studied to evaluate whether both factors (origin and production system) affected the degree of fruit sensitivity to decay. Results indicate that the sensitivity to green or blue mould is determined better by the origin of fruit than by the system of production.
On the Size and Luminosity versus Velocity Dispersion Correlations from the Giant H II Regions in the Irregular Galaxy NGC 4449

Here we present the size and luminosity versus velocity dispersion empirical correlations for the giant H II regions in the large irregular galaxy NGC 4449. We show that correlations only hold for nebulae with a surface brightness higher than 2 × 1035 ergs s-1 pc-2 in Hα and with a supersonic single-line Gaussian profile. The exponents of the fits are consistent with virial mechanisms. A comparison with the results from other studies that have only used first-ranked giant H II regions from a variety of star-forming galaxies is also given.
The Fiji nurses’ strike

Fiji’s 2006 coup brought to power a government determined to resist industrial action. Seven months after Bainimarama seized power, Fiji’s 1,500 nurses walked out of the country’s hospitals in a strike over pay and conditions. The nurses were aggrieved that the interim government had cut their pay by five per cent (as it had for all other civil servants), lowered the retirement age, and failed to implement a wide-ranging agreement reached with the deposed government of Laisenia Qarase before the 2006 election. The government treated the strikers with contempt, offering one per cent, and then refusing to negotiate further. Exhausted, short of money, and more eager than ever to find jobs overseas, the nurses were forced back to work after sixteen days. Mahendra Chaudhry, despite his credentials as a former union leader, was as dismissive of the nurses’ cause as the military man who had appointed him finance minister. Kuini Lutua, as general secretary of the Fiji Nursing Association, was at the centre of these events, leading the strike, encouraging her members to stand firm – and condemned by Chaudhry and other ministers. She is the author of this first-person account of events.
Cosmopolitanism and Global Risk: News Framing of the Asian Financial Crisis and the European Debt Crisis

This study examines how the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2009 European debt crisis were framed in Chinese newspapers in terms of cosmopolitan communities of global risk (Beck, 2011). The relevant news articles are sampled from the People’s Daily for content analysis. The data uncover three types of cosmopolitanism: voluntary contribution , conditional promise , and coercive involvement . The results show that the sense of cosmopolitanism thatChina evoked during the European debt crisis was conditioned and less voluntary than it was during the Asian financial crisis. The results also reveal that cosmopolitanism did not necessarily transcend nationalism; instead, nationalism and national interests served as both driving forces and obstacles of cosmopolitanism.
ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF VERMICOMPOST AND PEAT EXTRACTS ON NUTRIENT ACCUMULATION IN TUBERS AND POTATO YIELD

Investigations on the potential beneficial effect of humic substances on crop plant cultivation under extremely diverse soil and climatic conditions is of global character, thereby knowledge obtained on the basis of local investigations are of great importance world-wide. The aim of the research was to evaluate the effect of different application methods (seed tuber treatment and foliar application) of commercially-produced peat and vermicompost extracts on nutrient uptake in tubers and yield of potato ( Solanum tuberosum L.) using field experiments in organic farming system with potato variety ‘Borodjanskij Rozovij’. The tested extracts from the organic products included: peat extract (K45) and vermicompost extract (B45) obtained at +45°C by cavitation. The investigation was carried out at Stende Research Centre (Institute of Agro-resources and Economics) from 2011 to 2012. The chemical composition (N, P, K, Ca, Mg, S, Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Mo, B) of potato tubers was determined. The application of organic extract from vermicompost had a stimulating effect on mineral nutrient as N, P, K, Mg, and S accumulation in potato tubers, but 50% of cases showed reduction in Ca and Cu content that could influence the storage of tubers. The use of peat extract was significantly effective when the tubers were treated before planting. On average, tuber treatment and foliar spray with organic extracts contributed to 10% of tuber yield increase. Keywords: organic farming system, organic extracts, Solanum tuberosum L. , chemical composition of tubers, yield Article DOI: http://doi.org/10.15544/RD.2017. 166
Exploring the cosmic evolution of habitability with galaxy merger trees

We combine inferred galaxy properties from a semi-analytic galaxy evolution model incorporating dark matter halo merger trees with new estimates of supernova and gamma ray burst rates as a function of metallicity from stellar population synthesis models incorporating binary interactions. We use these to explore the stellar mass fraction of galaxies irradiated by energetic astrophysical transients and its evolution over cosmic time, and thus the fraction which is potentially habitable by life like our own. We find that 18 per cent of the stellar mass in the Universe is likely to have been irradiated within the last 260 Myr, with GRBs dominating that fraction. We do not see a strong dependence of irradiated stellar mass fraction on stellar mass or richness of the galaxy environment. We consider a representative merger tree as a Local Group analogue, and find that there are galaxies at all masses which have retained a high habitable fraction (>40 per cent) over the last 6 Gyr, but also that there are galaxies at all masses where the merger history and associated star formation have rendered galaxies effectively uninhabitable. This illustrates the need to consider detailed merger trees when evaluating the cosmic evolution of habitability.
Are long-term incentive plans an effective and efficient way of motivating senior executives?

Research on senior executive reward has typically explored the connection between pay, performance and the alignment of interests of executives and shareholders. This article examines the relationship between reward and motivation, drawing on the psychological, behavioural economics and decision-making literatures. Based on an empirical study of FTSE 350 senior executives, the research examines whether long-term incentive plans are an effective and efficient way of motivating executives, taking into account risk, time discounting, uncertainty and fairness. The article concludes that the way executives frame choices, perceive value, assess probability, evaluate temporal effects and respond to uncertainty means that long-term incentive plans (LTIPs) are generally not efficient and are often not effective in meeting their objectives. It proposes that, in its current form, agency theory does not provide a sound basis for modelling senior executive reward, and suggests five areas for development.
Facial Expression Recognition Using Multiresolution Analysis

Facial expression recognition from images or videos attracts interest of research community owing to its applications in human-computer interaction and intelligent transportation systems. The expressions cause non-rigid motions of the face-muscles thereby changing the orientations of facial curves. Wavelets and Gabor wavelets have been used effectively for recognition of these oriented features. Although wavelets are the most popular multiresolution method, they have limited orientation-selectivity/ directionality. Gabor wavelets are highly directional but they are not multiresolution methods in the true sense of the term. Proposed work is an effort to apply directional multiresolution representations like curvelets and contourlets to explore the multiresolution space in multiple ways for extracting effective facial features. Extensive comparisons between different multiresolution transforms and state of the art methods are provided to demonstrate the promise of the work. The problem of drowsiness detection, a special case of expression recognition, is also addressed using a proposed feature extraction method.
THE IDENTITY OF THE NURSING STAFF IN NORTHERN GREECE

Aim: The main objective of the present study was to investigate the nursing staff's identity in relation to demographic characteristics. Additional aims were: 1) to investigate the nursing staff's relation to religion and to trade unionism, and 2) to determine the frequency of negative experiences that are related to the practice of nursing. Methodology: The sample consisted of 342 nurses and nursing assistants. The data were collected by a questionnaire designed specifically for this study. Results: The participants were mainly women (86.3%, n= 295) with mean age 41.2 years. Regarding educational status, 63.5% of the participants did not have any kind of postgraduate education. However, 97.90% had a very positive opinion about the need for continuing education. Only 15.5% reported that they absolutely agree with religion and 11.9% reported that they are actively involved with trade unionism. 90% of the participants experienced prejudice because of their profession, and 314 reported that they experience reality shock at their working environment. Conclusions: The nursing staff continues to consist mostly of women, who do not have equal opportunities for education, and they are not rewarded for their efforts to receive additional knowledge. The participants do not absolutely agree with religion and they do not participate actively in trade unions. The majority experiences prejudice in their everyday life because of their profession. As new workers, they discovered that the nursing profession they are called to practice is different than the one they were educated for.
Emperical Review on the Relationship between Real Wages, Inflation and Labour Productivity in Nigeria. ARDL bounds testing approach

This paper examines the long run and short run relationships between real wage, inflation and labour productivity in Nigeria over the period of 1981-2012, using the autoregressive distributed lag approach (ARDL) bound testing and error correction approach to cointegration analysis. Three equations are derived from production function in form of linear equations. The result show that the variables under consideration are not statistically significant in exerting influence on productivity when treated in isolation. However, the result improved with the inclusion of control variables in the likes of real gdp per capital and government expenditure. Indeed, the results provide evidence of a positive statistical relationship between real wages and productivity growth. A positive and significant long run relationship between real wage and labour productivity coexists with a positive short run relationship thereby highlighting the dual effects of real wage on labour productivity in Nigeria. Inflation rate provides a positive and significant relationship with labour productivity contrary to related studies. The findings of this study have important implication for policy makers in Nigeria and indeed contributes to the idea that the causes of inflation in Nigeria are multi-dimensional and dynamic, requiring full knowledge at any point in time to be able to proffer solutions to the inflationary trends in that leads to high productivity and increased living standard.
The Effect of Biochar and Crop Veil on Growth and Yield of Tomato (Lycopersicum esculentus Mill) in Jos, North central Nigeria

This study investigated the effect of charcoal (biochar) and crop veil on the growth of tomato (Lycopersicum esculentus Mill) in Jos, North central Nigeria. Four Super Vegetable Garden growingbeds and four traditional vegetable beds each measuring 15 m2 (12.5 m by 1.2 m) and 1 m gap between beds were laid out. The soil on both SVG and traditional beds were mixed with the same quantity of inorganic and organic fertilizer for plant development. After preparing the subsoil, 30 kg of biochar was spread on the four SVG beds as evenly as possible. Tomato seedlings were raised in the nursery for the period of 4 weeks after which they were transplanted on the SVG and traditional beds at 30 cm spacing. Data were collected using systematic random sampling technique by creating small plots of 2.5 by 1.2 cm on the beds at 2.5 cm intervals between plots. The stem growth was recorded twice at 4 and 6 weeks after transplanting using a 100 cm rule. Fruits were counted on each plant within plots and recorded. Results obtained from this research showed that stem growth was very significantly higher in tomatoes grown on SVG beds treated with charcoal and covered with veil than traditional beds without charcoal and veil covering. Fruit yield in tomato plant was also significantly higher on beds with charcoal than beds without charcoal. This finding is important in improving food security through increase in soil fertility and crop yield in Nigeria and Sub Saharan Africa at large.