Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Organizational strategy and firm performance: a test of miles and snow’s model using 34 paint manufacturing SMES in South-western Nigeria

This paper provides a systematic empirical evidence obtained from 34 paint manufacturing SMEs in South-Western Nigeria in support of Miles and Snow’s model that prospectors and anxious analyzers perform better than domain defenders and reluctant reactors. Primary and secondary data were used for the analysis. Using the ordinary least square (OLS) regression technique and correlation matrix to analyze performance data covering a period of three years, significant performance differences were found between prospectors, analyzers, defenders and reactors. A negative performance was found to be associated with a reluctant reactor strategy and this was significant at 0.05 level. The study found out that SMEs compete in different ways thus allowing for their classification as prospectors, analyzers, defenders and reactors. This result has brought additional fresh evidence to dismiss the speculation that Miles and Snows typology is a sequential stage of strategy development in which defender strategies are linked to small firms and prospector strategies to larger firms. The overall evidence in the study suggests that organizational strategy plays an important role in explaining the relative success or failure of SMEs and that SME managers can make a significant difference to the performance of their organizations through the type of strategies that they use.
Genome‐Wide Association Mapping for Leaf Tip Necrosis and Pseudo‐black Chaff in Relation to Durable Rust Resistance in Wheat

The partial rust resistance genes Lr34 and Sr2 have been used extensively in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) improvement, as they confer exceptional durability. Interestingly, the resistance of Lr34 is associated with the expression of leaf tip necrosis (LTN) and Sr2 with pseudo‐black chaff (PBC). Genome‐wide association mapping using CIMMYT's stem rust resistance screening nursery (SRRSN) wheat lines was done to identify genotyping‐by‐sequencing (GBS) markers linked to LTN and PBC. Phenotyping for these traits was done in Ithaca, New York (fall 2011); Njoro, Kenya (main and off‐seasons, 2012), and Wellington, India (winter, 2013). Using the mixed linear model (MLM), 18 GBS markers were significantly associated with LTN. While some markers were linked to loci where the durable leaf rust resistance genes Lr34 (7DS), Lr46 (1BL), and Lr68 (7BL) were mapped, significant associations were also detected with other loci on 2BL, 5B, 3BS, 4BS, and 7BS. Twelve GBS markers linked to the Sr2 locus (3BS) and loci on 2DS, 4AL, and 7DS were significantly associated with PBC. This study provides insight into the complex genetic control of LTN and PBC. Further efforts to validate and study these loci might aid in determining the nature of their association with durable resistance.
Healthcare wastes management practices by public health facilities in Oshimili-South LGA of Delta State, South-South Nigeria

Background: The sustainable management of Healthcare waste has continued to generate increasing public interest due to the health problems associated with exposure of human beings to potentially hazardous wastes arising from healthcare. Objectives: To ascertain the healthcare wastes management practices by public health facilities in Oshimili-South LGA of Delta State. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study. A multistage sampling technique was used in the selection of LGAs, healthcare facilities and respondents. There was Characterization and measurement (quantification) of waste. The study instrument was English language structured self administered questionnaire. The data obtained were analyzed using SPSS version 17. Results: Practice of wastes reduction 92 (24.2%), wastes recycling 46(12.1%) and wastes weighing 72(18.4%). Fifty nine point four percent (59.4%) of respondents use personal protective equipments when handling wastes. Most 214 (62.2%) reported that burning was their final healthcare wastes disposal methods. The doctors, pharmacists and laboratory scientists all reported 100% use of protective gadgets. While the nurses (56.9%) and the wastes handlers (50.9%) use protective gadgets. On the average, 2.40kg/bed/day of waste was generated by the health facilities. Conclusion: The study revealed that there was poor practice of waste segregation and recycling in all the facilities. There is need for more training.
Design and analysis of a new doubly salient permanent magnet motor

This paper presents the design and analysis of a new doubly salient permanent magnet (DSPM) motor. The corresponding output power equation is analytically derived. The initial calculation of motor dimensions and parameters, namely, the core diameter, stack length, permanent magnet size, and winding turns, are also discussed. An 8/6-pole DSPM motor is designed and built for exemplification. Moreover, finite element analysis of this motor is carried out to investigate the magnetic field distribution at different rotor positions and load currents, in which the leakage flux outside the stator circumference of the DSPM motor is firstly taken into account. Hence, the characteristics of the proposed motor are deduced. Experimental results of the prototype are given to verify the theoretical analysis and to confirm its high efficiency.
The impact of commuting duration on youth’s academic performance: could mobility compromise school achievement?

Countless academic researches have been analyzing variables which supposedly affect academic achievement, specially those sensitive to public policy. Most of these studies however tend to focus on phenomena restricted to the school environment, while less attention has been paid to factors present prior to class starting time. Relying on the richness of information of a unique database provided by the Joaquim Nabuco Institute, we estimate the impact of a longer commuting duration on students’ performance using Propensity Score Matching (PSM) techniques. We also apply a simulation-based sensitivity analysis in order to check the robustness of our estimates under selection bias. Our results suggest that longer commuting duration has a significant negative impact on academic performance. On average, students with a travel time greater than one hour had their test score decreased approximately by 0.2 standard deviation, when compared to their peers who had shorter commuting duration. Moreover, our results seem to be insensitive to both the inclusion of additional variables and the failure of the Conditional Independence Assumption (CIA).
Milkfish, rabbitfish and mullet

This paper reviews studies conducted on milkfish (Chanos chanos), rabbitfish (Siganus guttatus), and mullet (Mugil cephalus) at the SEAFDEC Aquaculture Department from 1968 to 1991. Milkfish studies focused on hormonal induction of off-season gonadal maturation, dietary manipulation of milkfish broodstock to improve egg and larval quality, improvement of larval rearing techniques for mass fry production and technology transfer to the private sector, and search for a low-cost, practical diet for milkfish and a supplemental diet to increase pond production. Preliminary success on alternate feed for larval rearing and spontaneous maturation of milkfish in concrete tanks may help alleviate milkfish fry supply in the future. Studies on rabbitfish centered on improvement of larval survival and search for the optimum diet for growth of rabbitfish fry and juveniles reared in ponds. The difficulty in rearing rabbitfish larvae due to high mortality at first week after hatching hinders the development of the rabbitfish industry. Research involving mullet was solely on the establishment of broodstock for fish propagation.
A novel global optimization algorithm based on the smoothing function

In this paper, a new global optimization algorithm based on the smoothing function is suggested. Firstly, one of the minimizer x* 1 of the smooth function F is found by employing any local minimizer finder, then the function m(x, x* 1 ) := min{F(x); F(x* 1 )} is considered instead of the objective function F and the minimizer x* 2 of the function m is searched. Because of the non-smooth of the function m, the smoothing function for m is used in order to make the local minimizer finding algorithms for smooth optimization available. Finally, a global optimization algorithm based on the smoothing function is presented. The implementation of the algorithm on several test problems is reported with numerical results.
Land Area Measurement bias: Evidence from West African countries

Planted and harvested areas are crucial for agricultural statistics. In developing countries, such statistics are estimated using farmers’ reports which are systematically biased. Given the importance of the area size in designing policy and in farmers’ wealth, it is essential to empirically assess that bias for the countries in order to inform the potential impact of that issue in different contexts. This paper, therefore, contributes to analyzing farmers’ plot size estimation bias in four West African countries (Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria). The paper also explores the determinants of the bias in land measurement in these countries. Our findings indicate that the bias in land measurement is a serious issue among West African countries and varies between 14% and 171% (in absolute value) of the correct area size. In terms of the determinants of acreage discrepancy, our findings reveal that the respondents’ age, education, land acquisition status, plot size, area unit measurement, are influential.
A Study on the Effects of Market and Technological Orientation of Manufacturing Companies upon Absorptive Capacities and Product Development Performance

Abstract The present study is aimed at examining in multilateral ways the structural relationship among technological orientation, market orientation and product development performance of manufacturing companies, which are deemed to be key factors for them to increase absorptive capacities. From the study, it was revealed that: First, in terms of the relationship between market orientation and absorptive capacities, it was made clear by the analysis that the market orientation sought after by manufacturing companies has influence upon their absorptive capacities. Second, with regard to the relationship between technological orientation and absorptive capacities of manufacturing companies, the analysis found that the technological orientation pursued by them affects their absorptive capacities. Third, as for the relationship between absorptive capacities an d product development performance, the analysis made it clear that the absorptive capacities of manufacturing companies exerts influence upon their product development performance. Fourth, in respect to the relationship between market orientation and product development performance, it was concluded from the analysis that market orientation produces effect upon product development performances like technological innovation and acquisition of new technologies needed for product development. Finally, regarding the relationship between technological orientation and product development perfo rmance of manufacturing companies, it became obvious from the analysis that the technological orientation affects the product development performance.Keywords : Technological Orientation, Market Orientation, Absorptive Capacities, Product Development Performance Corresponding Author : Sang Gyun Na, Division of Business Administration, Wonkwang University, M․P : 010-8648-4834, E-mail : nsghy@wku.ac. kr Received October 8, 2014; Revision Received December 17, 2014 ; Accepted December 17, 2014.
Characterization of Botryosphaeriaceae from plantation-grown Eucalyptus species in South China

S. F. Chen, D. Pavlic, J. Roux, B. Slippers, Y. J. Xie, M. J. Wingfield and X. D. Zhou* Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa; China Eucalypt Research Centre (CERC), Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAF), ZhanJiang 524022, GuangDong Province, China; and Department of Genetics, Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI), University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa
The Status of the Zassenhaus Conjecture for Small Groups

ABSTRACT We identify all small groups of order up to 288 in the GAP Library for which the Zassenhaus conjecture on rational conjugacy of units of finite order in the integral group ring cannot be established by an existing method. The groups must first survive all theoretical sieves and all known restrictions on partial augmentations (the HeLP+ method). Then two new computational methods for verifying the Zassenhaus conjecture are applied to the unresolved cases, which we call the quotient method and the partially central unit construction method. To the cases that remain we attempt an assortment of special arguments available for units of certain orders and the lattice method. In the end, the Zassenhaus conjecture is verified for all groups of order less than 144 and we give a list of all remaining cases among groups of orders 144 to 287.
Evaluation of New Gyro-Sensor and Accelerometer Device to Estimate Physical Activity

The purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy of a new motion sensor wristband (ViM sports memory: ViM), consisting of an accelerometer and a gyro-sensor, by comparing the accuracy with those of indirect calorimeter (IC) and a commonly used accelerometer (Lifecorder: LC). Twenty-five participants (13 males; 12 females) walked at 3.6, 4.8, and 6.0 km·h−1 and ran at 7.2 and 9.6 km·h−1 on a treadmill for 5 min. Then, another 10 males performed static stretching and hopscotch for 5 min each. Measured energy expenditure (EE) by the IC and estimations of the LC and ViM were compared by repeated measures ANOVA. During walking, differences between the IC and ViM (24 to 74%) were lager than those between the IC and LC (−16 to 0%). During running, differences between the IC and LC (−35 to −21%) were larger than those between the IC and ViM (−17 to 14%). During static stretch and hopscotch, differences between the IC and ViM (stretching, −21%; hopscotch −40%) were smaller than those between the IC and LC (stretching, −40%; hopscotch, −66%). The ViM is more suitable than the LC for the estimation of EE during running or static stretching; however, the accuracy of the ViM was far inferior to that of the LC during walking.
Consistent large-eddy simulation of a temporal mixing layer laden with evaporating drops. Part 2. A posteriori modelling

Large-eddy simulation (LES) is conducted of a three-dimensional temporal mixing layer whose lower stream is initially laden with liquid drops which may evaporate during the simulation. The gas-phase equations are written in an Eulerian frame for two perfect gas species (carrier gas and vapour emanating from the drops), while the liquid-phase equations are written in a Lagrangian frame. The effect of drop evaporation on the gas phase is considered through mass, species, momentum and energy source terms. The drop evolution is modelled using physical drops, or using computational drops to represent the physical drops. Simulations are performed using various LES models previously assessed on a database obtained from direct numerical simulations (DNS). These LES models are for: (i) the subgrid-scale (SGS) fluxes and (ii) the filtered source terms (FSTs) based on computational drops. The LES, which are compared to filtered-and-coarsened (FC) DNS results at the coarser LES grid, are conducted with 64 times fewer grid points than the DNS, and up to 64 times fewer computational than physical drops. It is found that both constant-coefficient and dynamic Smagorinsky SGS-flux models, though numerically stable, are overly dissipative and damp generated small-resolved-scale (SRS) turbulent structures. Although the global growth and mixing predictions of LES using Smagorinsky models are in good agreement with the FC-DNS, the spatial distributions of the drops differ significantly. In contrast, the constant-coefficient scale-similarity model and the dynamic gradient model perform well in predicting most flow features, with the latter model having the advantage of not requiring a priori calibration of the model coefficient. The ability of the dynamic models to determine the model coefficient during LES is found to be essential since the constant-coefficient gradient model, although more accurate than the Smagorinsky model, is not consistently numerically stable despite using DNS-calibrated coefficients. With accurate SGS-flux models, namely scale-similarity and dynamic gradient, the FST model allows up to a 32-fold reduction in computational drops compared to the number of physical drops, without degradation of accuracy; a 64-fold reduction leads to a slight decrease in accuracy.
MUSE-inspired view of the quasar Q2059-360, its Lyman alpha blob, and its neighborhood

The radio-quiet quasar Q2059-360 at redshift $z=3.08$ is known to be close to a small Lyman $\alpha$ blob (LAB) and to be absorbed by a proximate damped Ly$\alpha$ (PDLA) system. Here, we present the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) integral field spectroscopy follow-up of this quasi-stellar object (QSO). Our primary goal is to characterize this LAB in detail by mapping it both spatially and spectrally using the Ly$\alpha$ line, and by looking for high-ionization lines to constrain the emission mechanism. Combining the high sensitivity of the MUSE integral field spectrograph mounted on the Yepun telescope at ESO-VLT with the natural coronagraph provided by the PDLA, we map the LAB down to the QSO position, after robust subtraction of QSO light in the spectral domain. In addition to confirming earlier results for the small bright component of the LAB, we unveil a faint filamentary emission protruding to the south over about 80 pkpc (physical kpc); this results in a total size of about 120 pkpc. We derive the velocity field of the LAB (assuming no transfer effects) and map the Ly$\alpha$ line width. Upper limits are set to the flux of the N V $\lambda 1238-1242$, C IV $\lambda 1548-1551$, He II $\lambda 1640$, and C III] $\lambda 1548-1551$ lines. We have discovered two probable Ly$\alpha$ emitters at the same redshift as the LAB and at projected distances of 265 kpc and 207 kpc from the QSO; their Ly$\alpha$ luminosities might well be enhanced by the QSO radiation. We also find an emission line galaxy at $z=0.33$ near the line of sight to the QSO. This LAB shares the same general characteristics as the 17 others surrounding radio-quiet QSOs presented previously. However, there are indications that it may be centered on the PDLA galaxy rather than on the QSO.
Premenstrual syndrome among Teacher Training University students in Iran

Objectives : To determine prevalence of premenstrual syndrome, premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), and the impact of PMS on education programming among 320 female students who were living in female housing. Methods : A questionnaire was designed for data collection. The criteria proposed by the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-IV) were used to diagnose PMS. Results : Among 326 nulliparous students, 98.2% of undergraduate students of Teacher Training University who lived in a female housing, experienced symptoms with PMS in most of the last 12 cycles. The prevalence of PMDD was 16.9%. About 25% of participants had fall in education, 50% of participants with PMS took drugs and 57% of participants had a family history of PMS. Conclusion : PMS is not rare among the students. The university’s authorities should, therefore, take it into consideration and plan for reducing its adverse effects.
ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITY OF RUMEX VESICARIUS L. AT THE VEGETATIVE STAGE OF GROWTH

The present work has been carried out to investigate some biologically active constituents and antioxidant activity of different plant parts of Rumex vesicarius L. , at the vegetative stages of growth (early and late vegetative stages). There were variations in the presence and/or amount of these active ingredients within different plant parts in these two stages of growth. Total phenolics in different plant parts, showed that, whole plant parts (at late vegetative stage) were the richest organ in this regard (4.518±0.018mg GAEs/g F.W.). It was found that, all plant parts, at both early and late vegetative stages of growth were rich in anthraquinones and whole plant parts extract (at early vegetative stage) was found to contain the highest amount of anthraquinones (2054±39.600µg/g F.W.). It was found also that, all plant parts, at early vegetative stage of growth were rich in flavonoids. Leaves contained the highest amount of flavonoids (000.25222±31.110 µg/g F.W.). Quantitative estimation of Emodin (using HPLC analysis) revealed that, all plant parts (at both early and late vegetative stages of growth) contained Emodin in high amounts, whole plant parts extract (at early vegetative stages of growth) was found to contain the highest amount (174.793±1.148 µg/g D.W., respectively). Quantitative estimation of Quercetin (using HPLC analysis) revealed that, all plant parts contained Quercetin in high amounts. Leaves extract, at early vegetative stage of growth was found to contain the highest amount of Quercetin (66.360 ±0.575µg/g D.W.). Regarding antioxidant activity studies, using total antioxidant activity and DPPH scavenging activity methods, it was found that, root (at late vegetative stage) extract had the highest amount of total antioxidants (428606.000±4792.885 GAEs as ppm). Results of DPPH scavenging activity studies revealed that, the least IC 50 (the highest the effectiveness) was obtained using leaves (at early vegetative stage) extract (IC50= 0.345±0.005 mg/ml).
Loss of Arabic in the UAE: Is Bilingual Education the Solution?

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is threatened by an identity-loss, due a lack of balance between Arabic and English education in the country hence, the National Federal Council has proposed a draft for a monolingual Arabic shift in all public schools and universities. This paper is an attempt to demonstrate that such a shift could be irrational when it comes to UAE context. Twoway bilingualism is an alternative that could help preserve UAE‟s identity while taking into consideration UAE‟s multicultural context and keeping the country up breast with the rest of the world. The present study shows how bilingual education can be physically implemented in UAE using a two way-bilingual program. Theoretical framework involving inter-emotionality and cultural frame switching is used to prove that languages are related to identities. The paper uses a variety of secondary sources such as journal and newspaper articles, chapters from books, websites and dissertations which support both the theoretical and the practical aspects of the study. Recommendations suggest that implementing bilingual education in UAE schools would help preserve Arabic, and potentially make speakers of Arabic believe in their mother tongue.