Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Replacement of Commercial Concentrate with Acacia nilotica Pod Meal on Feed Intake, Digestibility and Weight Gain of Boer x Woyto-Guji Crossbred Goats

The study was conducted to evaluate supplementation effect of graded levels of Acacia nilotica pod meal on feed intake, nutrient digestibility and weight gain of Boer and Woyto-Guji (50%) crossbred goats. Twenty four Boer and Woyto-Guji crosses with initial weight of 15.20 ± 0.67 kg were used for the experiment. The experimental diets comprised of T1 = 58% of graded Acacia nilotica pod + 40% of wheat bran; T2= 38% of Acacia nilotica pod + 60% of wheat bran; T3=19% of Acacia nilotica pod + 80% wheat bran; T4= Commercial concentrate. Wheat bran is offered as a source of energy supplements. Six goats were randomly assigned to one of the four diets in Completely Randomized Block Design (RCBD). After 15 days of acclimatization periods, feeding trial had lasted for 90 days and followed by seven days of digestibility trial. The results indicated that goats supplemented with T1 consumed higher (P Acacia nilotica pod in goat diets as a protein supplements is promising to replace commercial concentrate in pastoral communities in to study area.
The Impact of Management Accounting Systems on International Markets: Theory and Evidence Using the Balanced Scorecard Approach

Information from the Port Authorities that make up the Spanish Port System before and after the implementation of the Balanced Scorecard has been used to analyse whether changes in management accounting play a role in international markets by means of analysing their effect on regional competitiveness. This study makes three contributions to the literature. First, it is of great interest for the Spanish economy as a whole, due to the special importance of shipping as a way to access the main international markets. Second, it provides an unprecedented framework to relate research on management accounting with literature on international trade issues. Finally, unlike previous studies, information on Annual Reports is used, allowing the comparison of performance measures over time in different organisational units. Main results show that the improvement of the strategic and operational effectiveness of the Port Authorities has increased the competitiveness of Spanish regions.
A GRASP+VND Algorithm for the Multiple Traveling Repairman Problem with Distance Constraints

Multiple Traveling Repairmen Problem (MTRP) is a class of NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems. In this paper, an other variant of MTRP, also known as Multiple Traveling Repairmen Problem with Distance Constraint (MTRPD), is introduced. In MTRPD problem, a fleet of vehicles serves a set of customers. Each vehicle which starts from the depot is not allowed to travel any distance longer than a limit and each customer must be visited exactly once. The goal is to find the order of customer visits of all vehicles that minimizes the sum of all vertices’ waiting time. To the best of our knowledge, the problem has not been studied much previously, even though it is a natural and practical extension of the Traveling Repairman Problem or Multiple Traveling Repairmen Problem case. In our work, we propose a metaheuristic algorithm which is mainly based on the principles of Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP) and Variable Neighborhood Descent (VND) to solve the problem. The GRASP is used to build an initial solution which is good enough in a construction phase. In a cooperative way, the VND is employed to generate diverse neighborhoods in an improvement phase, therefore, it can help the search escape from local optimal. Extensive numerical experiments on 321 benchmark instances show that our algorithm can find the optimal solutions with up to 50 vertices in several instances. For larger instances, our algorithm obtains provably near-optimal solutions, even for large instances.
An Exploratory Study of Balanced Scorecard Practices: Preliminary Evidence from Thailand

This paper develops a framework for Balanced Scorecard (BSC) stage classification by considering the BSC attributes embedded in firm’s performance measurement system. Employing this framework to explore the BSC application among Thai listed companies reveals that based on survey data, 69% are classified as BSC users. Compared to the self assessed responses about BSC application, 38% misclassify themselves. This supports the different interpretations of BSC expressed in prior studies and highlights the importance of proper classification of BSC application before performing any determinant or consequence tests. The developed BSC framework can be applied to future research as researchers should consider BSC attributes, not firms’ self assessed responses about BSC application, in order to mitigate the dissimilar interpretations of BSC concept. Additionally, exploring the BSC practices among Thai listed firms in all industries complements previous studies on BSC application mostly performed in specific industries in US and Europe.
The malaise of the squeezed middle: Challenging the narrative of the ‘left behind’ Brexiter

The result of the referendum in the United Kingdom in 2016 to leave the European Union sparked much interest on the socio-economic characteristics of ‘Brexiters’. In this article, we challenge the popularized view of the Leave voter as an outsider and find that individuals from an intermediate class, whose malaise is due to a declining financial position, represent an important segment of the Brexit vote. We use individual-level data from a post-Brexit survey based on the British Election Study. Our analysis tests three predictive models. First, although our analysis confirms the negative association between education and Leave vote, we find that voting Leave is associated more with intermediate levels of education than with low or absent education, in particular in the presence of a perceived declining economic position. Secondly, we find that Brexiters hold distinct psycho-social features of malaise due to declining economic conditions, rather than anxiety or anger. Thirdly, our exploratory model finds voting Leave associated with self-identification as middle class, rather than with working class. We also find that intermediate levels of income were not more likely to vote for remain than low income groups. Overall our analysis of the Brexit vote underlines the importance of considering the political behaviour of the declining middle.
AUDIT QUALITY AND POST EARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENT DRIFT [ Credit Head ]

This study examines the value of audit quality in the capital markets setting. We argue that higher quality auditors are associated with lower post-earnings announcement drift (PEAD). Results show that clients of brand name auditors exhibit lower PEAD than small auditors, but only weak auditor industry specialist effects are identified. PEAD also differs for clients of individual Big 6/5 auditors, with clients of the smaller Arthur Andersen and Deloittes exhibiting greater PEAD, consistent with the DeAngelo (1981) size hypothesis. Finally, PWC exhibits higher PEAD in 1998, suggesting market uncertainty about quality implications of audit market structural change.
Total polyphenols and flavonoids contents of aqueous extracts of watermelon red flesh and peels (Citrullus lanatus, Thunb)

Watermelon, fruit of Citrullus lanatus (Cucurbitaceae), is well consumed in Senegal. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the total polyphenols and flavonoids contents of the red flesh and the white part of watermelon peels.The total polyphenols contents are estimated by the Folin-Denis and flavonoids by a method using AlCl3. Polyphenol contents were 63.33± 1.455 mg TAE/g and 47.3 ±0.888 mg TAE /g dry extract respectively for the white part of the peels and red flesh. For flavonoids, there are respectively, 1.105 ± 0.142 mg RE/g and 2, 028 ± 0.061 mg RE/g. The results show that flavonoids are more concentrated in the red flesh whereas the peels are more riche in total polyphenols. Several studies show that consuming foods rich in polyphenols reduces the development of many pathologies. Man could thus consume, in the same way that the flesh, the white part of the peels.
Leading role of internal dynamics in the 2009 Indian summer monsoon drought

[1] Understanding the underlying dynamics of the Indian summer monsoon (ISM) extremes such as severe droughts is key to improving seasonal prediction of the ISM rainfall. A large number of ISM droughts over the past century occurred unrelated to external forcing like the El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO). In this study, we challenge the perception that the 2009 ISM drought was driven by ENSO and show that it was caused by internally driven processes. The 2009 drought of ISM was the result of two very long breaks, one in the month of June and the other in July–August (JA). While some studies provide strong evidence that the June break was caused by dry air intrusion associated with extratropical waves, a mechanism for the equally important JA break has not been elucidated so far. In this study, we unravel a new process in which westward propagating convectively coupled planetary‐scale equatorial Rossby (PSER) waves emanating from the eastern Pacific as a remnant of Madden‐Julian Oscillation (MJO), interact with the monsoon intraseasonal oscillation (MISO), modulate the active/break spells, and thereby influence the seasonal mean. It was found that during JA 2009 the arrival of the divergent phase of this PSER mode over the ISM domain reinforced and extended the break condition initiated by the northward propagating MISO, thereby creating a long break. Nonlinear kinetic energy exchanges between the PSER mode and the northward propagating MISO were found to be at the heart of such interactions. Evidence of such interactions can be seen during different active/break events in other monsoon seasons as well. As both long breaks were primarily driven by internal dynamical processes of the atmosphere, the study underscores the major role played by internal dynamics in causing the 2009 ISM drought. Our discovery that interactions between PSER waves and MISO can lead to significant modulations of the active/break spells opens up a new unexplored mechanism for understanding monsoon variability.
Effects of Rural Non-farm Employment on Household Welfare and Income Distribution of Small Farms in Croatia

Rural non-farm employment (RNFE) is thought to ease poverty, economic vulnerability and income inequality. Two key questions arise: (1) Do alternative income sources actually help to raise the welfare of small family farms? (2) How is the rural regional income distribution affected by mixed income structures? Based on empirical farm household data from Croatia, this paper analyses the effect of RNFE on income structure and inter-household income distribution among small family farms in transition. We find that agricultural income seems to function as a switch in terms of rural welfare: the smallest and poorest farms – although heavily dependent on farm income – need RNFE to sustain their lives. The better-off farms are only slightly bigger, but achieve significantly higher farm incomes per hectare. RNFE affects rural livelihoods positively in three ways: it is the most important income source of middleincome farms, it lifts poor households out of poverty, and is found to be an important catalyst that helps smooth income inequality in rural regions.
Performance Evaluation of an Oxy-coal-fired Power Generation System - Thermodynamic Evaluation of Power Cycle

Power generation systems based on the oxy-coal combustion with carbon dioxide capture and storage (CCS) capability are being proposed and discussed lately. Although a large number of lab scale studies for oxy-coal power plant have been made, studies of pilot scale or commercial scale power plant are not enough. Only a few demonstration projects for oxy-coal power plant are publicized recently. The proposed systems are evolving and various alternatives are to be comparatively evaluated. This paper presents a proposed approach for performance evaluation of a commercial 100 MWe class power plant, which is currently being considered for 'retrofitting' for the demonstration of the concept. The system is configurated based on design and operating conditions with proper assumptions. System components to be included in the discussion are listed. Evaluation criteria in terms of performance are summarized based on the system heat and mass balance and simple performance parameters, such as the fuel to power efficiency and brief introduction of the second law analysis. Also, gas composition is identified for additional analysis to impurities in the system including the purity of oxygen and unwanted gaseous components of nitrogen, argon and oxygen in air separation unit and processing unit.
Inflation and the Dispersion of Real Wages

The eects of inflation on real wage dispersion and welfare are studied in a cash-in-advance economy with a Walrasian goods market but a labor market with search friction in which firms enjoy monopsony power. In the labor market, firms post wages and both the employed and the unemployed workers search among the posted wages. In equilibrium, a higher inflation rate reduces the dispersion in real wages. This result is consistent with both the observed trends in wage dispersion and the inflation rate witnessed in the 1980’s and the 1990’s in the U.S. and the empirical literature linking reduced inflation to greater wage dispersion. While higher inflation always lowers consumption, output, and employment, the optimal inflation rate exceeds the Friedman rule.
Problems of recruitment in civil service: case of the Nigerian civil service

This study probed to identify the problems of recruitment in Nigerian federal civil service and to determine the extent of the utilization of job description and job specification in the recruitment process. Stratified random sampling method was used to draw a sample of 190 from five federal ministries grouped into the four major categories of grade levels. Descriptive survey design was employed and descriptive statistics used for the analysis. The survey identified factors such as increasing pressures for employment, utilization of informal sources of recruitment, long military era, federal character principle, lack of independence of the service commission and delegation of recruitment functions as the prevalent problems affecting recruitment in Nigerian federal civil service. As results of these problems, job description and standard personnel requirements were not adequately used in the recruitment process, especially at the lowest category of grade levels. Based on the findings, it was recommended that the federal government should promulgate laws that will protect employees in the private sector in order to reduce consistent pressures for employment in the public sector. Subjective and informal sources of recruitment should be de-emphasized, and instead sources from educational institutions and professional organizations should be encouraged. The number of federal civil service commissioners should be increased with the establishment of zonal and state offices. It was also recommended that the remuneration of the federal civil servants should be increased. Federal civil service should utilize job description when embarking on actual recruitment exercise and personnel requirements should be developed to match position classification in the service. Finally, a proposal of further research agenda was made on the re-examination of the reliability and validity of employee selection instruments in the civil service. Key words: Civil service, recruitment.
Comparative Study of 1D Codes for Site Response Analyses

During the last decade, significant number of study has been done on the effects of local soil conditions on ground motion. These effects are commonly evaluated by experimental and/or numerical methods. The numerical analyses are generally performed either in frequency or time domain. Time domain analyses usually incorporate in the equations of motion viscous damping which is generally assumed to be of the Rayleigh type, i.e. stiffness- and mass-proportional, or in a simplified form, only stiffness-proportional. Both formulations result in a frequency-dependent damping, in contrast to the soils experimental behavior. In this study, several linear analyses were conducted for an idealised soil deposit with two different time domain computer codes in order to explore the influence of Rayleigh damping formulation on site response analyses. Moreover, nonlinear analyses were performed for the selected Orvieto site in Central Italy. The results of the analyses show that the use of the simplified Rayleigh damping formulation can significantly underestimate the seismic response, especially for deep deposits and high frequency input motion. In addition, it is shown that with the use of full Rayleigh damping formulation, the results of analyses are more consistent with those obtained with a frequency-independent analysis.
Emissions Trading, Capital Flows and the Kyoto Protocol

We use an econometrically estimated multi-region, multi-sector general equilibrium model of the world economy to examine the effects of the tradable emissions permit system proposed in the 1997 Kyoto protocol, under various assumptions about that extent of international permit trading. We focus, in particular, on the effects of the system on international trade and capital flows. Our results suggest that consideration of these flows significantly affects estimates of the domestic effects of the emissions mitigation policy, compared with analyses that ignore international capital flows.
Do dividends pattern follow earnings pattern? Evidence from Nigerian financial sector

The argument that the relationship between earnings and dividend have weakened stimulates the interest to revisit the relationship. The study adopts two approaches in testing this relationship. Using descriptive analysis, the study follow the approach of recent empirical studies in developed market to test whether dividend concentration exists among financial firms in the Nigerian market and whether this is driven by earnings concentration among the firms. Secondly, the study tests the relationship between earnings and dividend in a regression model to confirm whether this relationship has weakened or not. Findings based on a sample of 49 financial firms on the Nigerian Stock Exchange indicates presence of dividend concentration and show that this is as a result of earnings concentration. Findings from fixed effects regression estimates also indicate that earnings have strong predictive power in explaining dividend payout even when other determinants are accounted for. Based on the combined evidence from descriptive analysis and regression results, the study concludes that dividends are sensitive to earnings and the relationship between the two remain strong in explaining payout policies in the Nigerian financial service sector. Keywords: dividends, earnings, concentration, financial firms
Study on Yield and some Physiological Criteria of Pearl Millet under Effect of Drought Stress and Nitrogen Fertilizer

In this research, the effect of drought stress were investigated on pearl millet (pennistumamericanuml .leek), three periods of irrigation (7,14 and 21 days period of irrigation ) an three level of nitrogen fertilizer (0, 150 and 300 kg/ha) in three replication were used yield, growth analysis and some physiological characteristics were studied. Some characteristics like total dry weight, leaf area index, leaf dry weight / total dry weight ratio, chlorophyll a,b were measured. Result showed that 21 day period of irrigation for this crop is enough and after establishment of the plant, there is no need to water the plant . 300 kg /ha nitrogen fertilizer had The most effect on total dry weight as well. There were no statistics significance chlorophyll a, b and the total chlorophyll (a +b), between different periods of irrigation and nitrogen fertilizer. In general, results of growth analysis showed that 7 day period of irrigation and 300 kg / ha nitrogen fertilizer had the higher leaf area index. Result of growth analysis compared with total dry weight showed that after establishment of the plant 21 days period of irrigation as well as 300kg / ha nitrogen fertilizer will produce higher yield.
Egg Rejection and Brain Size among Potential Hosts of the Common Cuckoo

Interspecific brood parasitism by the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) lowers host fitness, and has selected for discrimination and rejection of parasitic eggs in their commonly parasitized hosts. Cognitive demands needed to discriminate and reject cuckoo eggs may have led to augmentation of relative brain size among passerine hosts parasitized by cuckoos. This hypothesis predicts for across species positive relationships of brain size with rejection rate, host suitability and parasitism level. Here we test these predictions while controlling for phylogenetic, ecological and developmental factors known to affect brain size and egg rejection in a comparative study using the cuckoo and their hosts in Europe as a model system. Contrary to expected the rate of rejection of non-mimetic cuckoo eggs covaried negatively with relative brain size across bird species. Either suitability as cuckoo host, which reflects long-time duration of exposure to cuckoo parasitism, and level of parasitism, did not relate to brain size. Our results do not support the hypothesis that cuckoo parasitism was a main direct force affecting brain size variation across passerine hosts.
Molecular identification and antifungal susceptibility of Candida albicans isolated from Vulvovaginitis Candidiasis

Article history: Received: 2 March 2014 Accepted: 27 April 2014 Available online: 1 June 2014 Vulvovaginal candidiasis is caused by the increasing number of Candida species as normal flora in the vagina. To assess the transmission rout as well as to determine the suitable antifungal drugs for treatment, the exact identification of Candida species is crucial. Therefore, earlier detection of infection allows quick initiation of antifungal therapy with a greater probability for improved survival. The aim of this study was to evaluate the identification of Candida albicans using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and to determine the in vitro susceptibility against four antifungal drugs. In this study, 100 clinical samples were obtained from the patients with suspected Vulvovaginal Candidiasis. Early identification of the grown yeasts was performed by physiological tests. Universal primers used to amplify the internal transcribe spacer region. Subsequent restriction enzyme analysis of PCR products was done using Msp1 and Bln1 which allows us to identify the most medically important C.albicans and C.dubliniensis. Antifungal susceptibility test was performed according to the CLSI M27-A3 broth microdilution method, and minimal inhibitory concentrations were determined for Nystatin, Fluconazole, Amphotericin B and Itraconazole. Fifty eight of 100 Candida species were isolated from suspected samples in which 36 isolates were identified as Candida albicans/ C.dubliniensis by using PCR-RFLP method as well as physiological test. Among them, only 1 isolate was identified as C.dubliniensis. All C.albicans isolates were susceptible to Amphotericin B and Nystatin. However, 5 C.albicans isolates were resistant to Fluconazole with MICs ≥ 64 μ g/ml (13.89%) and 4 isolates were resistant to Itraconazole with MICs ≥ 1 μ g/ml (11.11%). C.albicans is still the predominant species causing Candida-related infections. Nevertheless, the number of isolated yeasts from other species is growing gradually. Identification of Candida at species level is very important due to the increasing trend in the number of Candida isolates which have high MICs against antifungal agents.