Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of autonomy, training opportunities, age and salaries on job satisfaction in the South East Asian retail petroleum industry

South East Asian petroleum retailers are under considerable pressure to improve service quality by reducing turnover. An empirical methodology from this industry determined the extent to which job characteristics, training opportunities, age and salary influenced the level of job satisfaction, an indicator of turnover. Responses are reported on a random sample of 165 site employees (a 68% response rate) of a Singaporean retail petroleum firm. A restricted multivariate regression model of autonomy and training opportunities explained the majority (35.4%) of the variability of job satisfaction. Age did not moderate these relationships, except for employees >21 years of age, who reported enhanced job satisfaction with additional salary. Human Capital theory, Life Cycle theory and Job Enrichment theory are invoked and explored in the context of these findings in the South East Asian retail petroleum industry. In the South East Asian retail petroleum industry, jobs providing employees with the opportunity to undertake a variety of tasks that enhanced the experienced meaningfulness of work are likely to promote job satisfaction, reduce turnover and increase the quality of service.
NITRATE LEACHING AND TURF QUALITY IN NEWLY SODDED ST. AUGUSTINEGRASS

There are increasing concerns about the fate of fertilizers applied to lawn grasses. The objectives of this research were to evaluate nitrate leaching and turf response to nitrogen (N) treatment and irrigation in newly sodded St. Augustinegrass. The research was conducted in Citra, FL in 2006 and 2007. Nitrogen was applied at three rates day of sodding and again at 30 days after planting. Analysis of variance indicated there were no differences in nitrate-N (NO3–N) leached due to N treatment or timing. During the establishment period, NO3–N loading was greater than reported for established turf and could possibly present a source of nitrate contamination. Turf quality and color were above or just below an acceptable score at all N rates. Due to the potential for high amounts of NO3–N leaching in new sod, it is not recommended to apply N fertilizer to St. Augustinegrass in the first 30–60 days after planting.
eview he representation of allelopathy n ecosystem-level forest models

Allelopathy is one of the factors that determine interactions among plants. Allelochemicals have been found in many forest ecosystems, but the importance of allelopathy depends on forest type and environmental conditions. Despite the wide presence of this phenomenon, few forest models have incorporated a representation of allelopathy, but its inclusion should be considered in forest models dealing with environmental stress, exotic plant invasions and ecological succession. Multiple factors influence allelochemical production and toxicity, including nutrient availability, soil moisture and texture, solar radiation, and temperature. Ecosystem-level effects of allelopathy include changes in germination rates, inhibition of seedling growth, mycorrhizal function, insect and bacterial growth, inhibition of nitrification or litterfall decomposition and dieback of mature trees. To illustrate some potential consequences of incorporation some aspects of allelopathy, in an ecosystem-level model, a virtual experiment was carried out with the forest ecosystem-level model FORECAST. This revealed different effects of allelopathy on several ecological variables depending on the type of allelopathic influence simulated. In addition, this experiment showed the utility of
The Relative Significance of Vocabulary Breadth and Syntactic Knowledge in the Prediction of Reading Comprehension Test Performance

Abstract Founded on the componential model of reading, Nation's construct of vocabulary breadth test and structuralists' view of syntactic knowledge, this paper attempts to investigate the relative significance of vocabulary breadth and syntactic knowledge in the prediction of Chinese EFL learners' reading comprehension test performance and whether the relative significance is moderated by the learners' different L2 proficiency. An experiment including three tests was carried out with 68 sophomores in Anhui Medical University. The findings show that: 1) there is a positive linear correlation between the learners' performance on a reading comprehension test and their vocabulary breadth and syntactic knowledge, with the multiple r being 0.551; 2) syntactic knowledge outperforms vocabulary breadth in predictive power and emerges as the stronger predictor of reading comprehension test performance; and the relative significance of syntactic knowledge over vocabulary breadth in the prediction of reading comprehension does not change with the EFL learners' L2 proficiency. The findings of this study provide implications for both reading instruction and remediation of learners' reading problems. 基于阅读组合模式的理论框架､Nation提出的词汇广度测试构念和结构语言学家对于句法知识的界定，本文考察了阅读组合模式中构成阅读能力的两个成分——词汇广度和句法知识对二语阅读理解成绩的预测，并试图了解此预测是否受二语水平的调节作用｡受试为68名随机抽取的大学二年级非英语专业本科生｡实验结果表明：1）受试的词汇广度和句法知识都与其阅读理解测试成绩存在线性相关关系：多元相关系数为0.551；2）相比较而言，句法知识对阅读理解测试成绩的预测能力大于词汇广度对其的预测，并且此预测不受学习者二语水平的调节作用｡
Promoting smallholder seed enterprises: quality seed production of rice, maize, sorghum and millet in northern Cameroon

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) conducted two projects in Cameroon on strengthening rice, and sorghum, maize and millet seed production by smallholder seed enterprises (SSEs). Farmer groups (respectively, 25 SSEs and 114 SSEs) were formed or strengthened and trained. Sixty-six selected lead farmers were trained on the administering and managing of revolving funds. The groups were then linked to the Extension Service (for continuous technical advice), Agriculture Research for Development Institution (continuous supply of needed seed), National Seed Service (seed certification) and to financial institutions (financial support). The results obtained showed that 60 and 59.6 per cent, respectively, of the groups sustained their activities two to three years after the projects ended. Total certified rice seed produced increased to 800 tonnes (t) against 267t at the beginning. For the other cereal project, the total certified seed produced was 719.2t against 497t at its beginning. The use of quality seed rice together with good agronomic practices increased yields (up to 8.0t/ha against a scant 2t/ha before). All interviewed farmers stressed that the seed business was profitable and helped achieve higher living standards and diversify their activities. Seasonal incomes were more than US$1,783.31. Finally, both FAO projects helped generate farmers' income to about US$2,114.871, produced 447,954t of cereal grain and thus improved food security and alleviated poverty. The Cameroonian success could be repeated elsewhere.
Mean-reverting behavior of consumption-income ratio in OECD countries: evidence from SURADF panel unit root tests

This paper examines the existence of the mean-reverting behavior of the consumption-income ratio from a panel of 24 OECD countries through the application of the series-specific SURADF panel unit root test. The results show that the consumption-income ratios in 22 OECD countries exhibit mean-reverting behavior. Furthermore, the half-life of the consumption-income ratio for these 22 OECD countries is between 0.28 to 3.48 years. This implies that policy shocks in industrialized economies are not likely to have permanent effects on the consumption-income ratio.
Analytical study of effect of disorder on dispersion in

In this paper, we consider a total dispersion tensor in two-dimensional packed beds consisting of randomly placed parallel cylinders for porosities between 38% to 90%, Peclet numbers up to 100 and Reynolds number up to 20 based on the cylinder diameter and filtration speed. The effective dispersivity is measured by computing the concentration field for a uniform gradient of concentration parallel and normal to the applied pressure gradient. In order to obtain statistically significant ensembles, a sufficiently large number of realizations are generated by repacking the domain and recomputing the dispersivity for porosity, Peclet number and Reynolds number. A comparison is made with transient numerical data in which a fixed concentration is imposed at the boundary. For the Reynolds numbers examined here, inertial effects are depicts to produce a relatively smaller effect, often resulting in a decrease in the dispersivity for a Peclet number. Porosity strongly effects dispersion normal to the bulk flow.
THE IMPACT OF CHROMOSPHERIC ACTIVITY ON OBSERVED INITIAL MASS FUNCTIONS

Using recently established empirical calibrations for the impact of chromospheric activity on the radii, effective temperatures, and estimated masses of active low-mass stars and brown dwarfs, we reassess the shape of the initial mass function (IMF) across the stellar/substellar boundary in the Upper Sco star-forming region (age ∼ 5–10 Myr). We adjust the observed effective temperatures to warmer values using the observed strength of the chromospheric Hα emission, and redetermine the estimated masses of objects using pre-main-sequence evolutionary tracks in the H-R diagram. The effect of the activity-adjusted temperatures is to shift the objects to higher masses by 3%–100%. While the slope of the resulting IMF at substellar masses is not strongly changed, the peak of the IMF does shift from ≈0.06 to ≈0.11 M☉. Moreover, for objects with masses ≲ 0.2 M☉, the ratio of brown dwarfs to stars changes from ∼80% to ∼33%. These results suggest that activity corrections are essential for studies of the substellar mass function, if the masses are estimated from spectral types or from effective temperatures.
The contribution of ineffective urban planning practices to disaster and disaster risks accumulation in urban areas: the case of former Kunduchi quarry site in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

This study examined the link between urban planning practices and disaster risks. The study used the former Kunduchi Quarry Site within the City of Dar es Salaam to demonstrate how laxity in enforcing the laid down planning rules, regulations and procedures facilitates the accumulation and occurrence of disaster risks and disasters in urban areas. This undermines one of the central roles of urban planning, which is to protect the lives of people from disaster risks and disasters. In exploring this, the study specifically focused on understanding the rules, regulations and procedures of planning in Tanzania; the extent to which they are followed and, where they are not followed, their implications for disaster risks and disasters; the coping initiatives adopted by local communities to reduce risks and their level of success or failure; and finally the drawing of lessons and recommendations for disaster risk reduction in urban areas. Strongly emerging from this study is the finding that although planning rules and regulations do exist, they are not enforced. As a result urban communities suffer from disaster risks and disasters caused by unregulated activities. The study analyzed the coping initiatives that urban communities apply to reduce disaster risks in their areas. It noted that, while a range of “coping” responses could be observed, these are not lasting solutions to the disaster risks being faced. Sustainable solutions seem to be known by the local community but they are not adopted for fear of compromising or undermining their existing livelihood strategies.
Assessment of knowledge of Saudi female teenagers & their mothers regarding management of type I diabetes in the City of Abha

Background: Diabetes is predicted to become the seventh leading cause of death in the world by the year 2030. In adolescence self-image is being constructed and diabetes self-care becomes an integral part of daily life. Diabetes management is better when parents remain involved in diabetes care through parental monitoring, a construct frequently measured as parents’ overall knowledge of their adolescents’ illness management. The main aim of this study was to assess the Knowledge of Saudi Female Teenagers and Their Mothers Regarding Management of type I Diabetes in the Abha. Methods: The study was carried out in Abha diabetic center. A descriptive, cross-sectional design was used. A non-probability, convenience sample of diabetic Saudi female teenagers (150) and their mothers (150) was required. The researcher prepared a two-sheet questionnaire. The questionnaire was developed from a modified Simplified Diabetes Knowledge Test (DKT) derived from the Revised Diabetes Knowledge Scale, developed by Lloyd (2011) and Fitzgerald (1998), diabetes self-management and the day care diabetes education questionnaire. Results: More the two third of mothers 30 years old and more, and 46% their level of education secondary school and more but more than two third were home wife. On the other hand, more than two third of diabetic teenage were their age 16-19 years, and 50% intermediate school age. The teenager girls and their mothers (72%, 63%) respectively not participate at any classes related to health education about management. Although only 7% not have any diabetic complication and statistical analysis show highly significant different between response of mothers and their daughters. In general, it is obvious that most of the mother do not aware or do not carefully follow their daughters in respect of diabetes self-management through diet, physical practice and blood glucose level. Also, mothers’ characteristics do not influence on daughters' knowledge level about diabetes self-management. The only factor that has a significant influence on teen females' knowledge was the duration since diagnosed as diabetic. Conclusions: According to the results of the study, it is concluded that both mother and their daughter had lack of awareness and knowledge in most of aspects of diabetes management so the researcher suggested family-based interventions, implementation of home visit programs and integrated ongoing programs of education, monitoring and support for young people and their families living with diabetes are needed. Further research needs and the paradigm used in the present study should be expanded to include fathers, other family members and friends.
DROUGHT TOLERANCE INDICES OF SELECTED LANDRACES AND BREAD WHEAT ( TRITICUM AESTIVUM L . ) GENOTYPES DERIVED FROM SYNTHETIC WHEATS

The present study was performed to determine performance of selected four synthetic derived bread wheat genotypes, four bread wheat landraces and four modern wheat genotypes under rain-fed and supplemented irrigation experiments based on randomized complete block design with four replications at GAP International Agricultural Research and Training Center, Diyarbakır, Turkey in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 growing seasons. According to results of pairwise correlation and biplot analysis, significant and positive correlation was observed between grain yield in stress condition (Ys) and stress tolerant index (STI), geometric mean productivity (GMP), mean productivity (MP), harmonic productivity (HM), yield stability index (YSI), yield index (YI), drought resistance index (DI) and stress non-stress production index (SNPI) indicating these indices can be used as parameters for evaluating drought tolerant genotypes. Negative correlation between grain yield in stress (Ys) with SSI and no correlation with TOL indicated that these indices should be used in severe drought conditions for screening genotypes. Number seed in spike (NSS), plant height (PH) and thousand kernel weight (TKW) correlated with grain yield in stress conditions (Ys) according to biplot analysis, also genotypes with lower reduction relating to these traits had higher yield in stress conditions. According to results SEN-DER genotypes G7, G10, landrace group genotype G11 (Sorık) were determined as the most tolerant genotypes to be used to improve drought tolerant varieties, while modern wheat genotypes G4 (Ceyhan-99) and G2 (Tekin) were high productive in irrigation conditions and low productive in rain-fed conditions.
Identifying the challenges in implementing open science [version 1; peer review: 2 approved]

Areas of open science (OS) policy and practice are already relatively well-advanced in several countries and sectors through the initiatives of some governments, funders, philanthropy, researchers and the community. Nevertheless, the current research and innovation system, including in the focus of this report, the life sciences, remains weighted against OS. In October 2017, thought-leaders from across the world gathered at an Open Science Leadership Forum in the Washington DC office of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to share their views on what successful OS looks like. We focused on OS partnerships as this is an emerging model that aims to accelerate science and innovation. These outcomes are captured in a first meeting report: Defining Success in Open Science. On several occasions, these conversations turned to the challenges that must be addressed and new policies required to effectively and sustainably advance OS practice. Thereupon, in this report, we describe the concerns raised and what is needed to address them supplemented by our review of the literature, and suggest the stakeholder groups that may be best placed to begin to take action. It emerges that to be successful, OS will require the active engagement of all stakeholders: while the research community must develop research questions, identify partners and networks, policy communities need to create an environment that is supportive of experimentation by removing barriers. This report aims to contribute to ongoing discussions about OS and its implementation. It is also part of a step-wise process to develop and mobilize a toolkit of quantitative and qualitative indicators to assist global stakeholders in implementing high value OS collaborations. Currently in co-development through an open and international process, this set of measures will allow the generation of needed evidence on the influence of OS partnerships on research, innovation, and critical social and economic goals.
Structure and evolution of the eastern Gulf of Aden conjugate margins from seismic reflection data

The Gulf of Aden is a young and narrow oceanic basin formed in Oligo-Miocene time between the rifted margins of the Arabian and Somalian plates. Its mean orientation, N75°E, strikes obliquely (50°) to the N25°E opening direction. The western conjugate margins are masked by Oligo-Miocene lavas from the Afar Plume. This paper concerns the eastern margins, where the 19-35 Ma breakup structures are well exposed onshore and within the sediment-starved marine shelf. Those passive margins, about 200 km distant, are non-volcanic. Offshore, during the Encens-Sheba cruise we gathered swath bathymetry, single-channel seismic reflection, gravity and magnetism data, in order to compare the structure of the two conjugate margins and to reconstruct the evolution of the thinned continental crust from rifting to the onset of oceanic spreading. Between the Alula-Fartak and Socotra major fracture zones, two accommodation zones trending N25°E separate the margins into three N110°E-trending segments. The margins are asymmetric: offshore, the northern margin is narrower and steeper than the southern one. Including the onshore domain, the southern rifted margin is about twice the breadth of the northern one. We relate this asymmetry to inherited Jurassic/Cretaceous rifts. The rifting obliquity also influenced the syn-rift structural pattern responsible for the normal faults trending from N70°E to N110°E. The N110°E fault pattern could be explained by the decrease of the influence of rift obliquity towards the central rift, and/or by structural inheritance. The transition between the thinned continental crust and the oceanic crust is characterized by a 40 km wide zone. Our data suggest that its basement is made up of thinned continental crust along the southern margin and of thinned continental crust or exhumed mantle, more or less intruded by magmatic rocks, along the northern margin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
THE DURATION OF HOSPITALIZATION AND READMISSION RATE OF LOW BIRTH WEIGHT INFANTS IN A TERTIARY REFERRAL HOSPITAL IN ISFAHAN, IRAN

Background: Currently, the number of premature deliveries has been increasing, resulting in early postnatal discharge due to shortage of beds in the neonatal intensive care units (NICU). Methods: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted through investigating the premature infants’ files for gestational age (GA), birth weight (BW) and duration of the first hospitalization. Furthermore, the readmission rate during the first year of life and their causes were studied. Results: Overall, 495 infants were enrolled in this study. The range of GA and BW of infants who were admitted to NICU were 24-36 weeks and 470 - 2500 g, respectively. A total of 172 (34.74%) infants had a BW of less than 1500 g (VLBW), and 144 of them (29.09%) were severely premature (GA of between 24-31 weeks). The median (range) time of hospitalization in VLBW infants was 22 (1-75). Moreover, 76 (15.3%) infants were re-hospitalized during the first year of life, and 32 (6.4%) infants were readmitted during the first three months of life. The four most common causes of re-hospitalization during the first year of life were as follows: pneumonia (32.89%), icter (17.10%), treatment of retinopathy of prematurity (10.52%) and sepsis (9.20%). Conclusion: Hospital policies are changing due to the high rate of preterm births and lack of neonatal beds. The results of this study suggested that premature neonates, who are able to regulate body temperature at room temperature, and gain weight by oral feeding with no recent apnoea or bradycardia, could be discharged regardless of their gestational age and body weight.
The Effect of Chain Rigidity on Pore Formation by Peptide Action in Model Polymeric Bilayers

The Effect of Chain Rigidity on Pore Formation by Peptide Action in Model Polymeric Bilayers Christopher DiLoreto Advisor: University of Guelph, 2012 Professor Robert Wickham A common strategy employed to destroy harmful bacteria is to disrupt the bacterial membrane through the action of pore-forming anti-microbial peptides. The manner in which the peptides arrange themselves spatially to form a pore in the membrane, which is important for understanding both the mechanism of pore formation and pore function, is a topic of current debate. We contrast the response of a model membrane bilayer to the presence of solid, cylindrical nanoparticle insertions, when the bilayer is composed of persistent worm-like chains and when it is composed of flexible Gaussian chains. We use self-consistent field theory, with the appropriate single-chain propagator, to describe the amphiphilic star-like triblock copolymers composing the membrane and the solvent. The nanoparticle surfaces are designed to have patches that prefer either the solvent or the tail groups of the copolymers, and the nanoparticles are fixed in space. Using this model with polymers in the lamellar phase, we investigate the question of pore-formation, nanoparticle insertion and hydrophobic mismatch in lipid bilayers and the effect that chain rigidity has on these particular interactions. We find that the main effect of increased chain rigidity is that it increases the free energy scaling and the significance of the energy barriers associated with these pore-forming processes. These results demonstrate the importance of using a more realistic persistent chain when modelling pore formation.
Nonlinear eigenvalue problems for degenerate elliptic systems

The following nonlinear eigenvalue problem for a pair of real parameters (λ, μ) is studied: > : −∆pu = λa(x) |u|1 |v|β1−1v in Ω; −∆qv = μ b(x) |v|2 |u|β2−1u in Ω;