Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Integration of Loyalty, Satisfaction, and Relationship Commitment Models to Predict Customer Retention in Pakistani Telecom Sector

Based on SERVQUAL Model, customer loyalty framework and relationship commitment model, this meta-analysis examines the effect of these well-defined models on customer retention. The study validates the impact of the given well-developed models and helps to develop strategies for enhancing and developing customer retention. The study utilized exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural equation modeling to analyze customer retention outcome model. It was found that all three chosen models were found to have a significant impact on customer retention in the telecom sector of Pakistan. The study helps in devising strategies for increasing and improving service satisfaction, customer loyalty and customer trust towards an increase in customer retention. The contribution of this study is the construction of the structural path and measurement models of customer retention practices and provides operational competitive outcomes that could facilitate future research on customer retention in the service industry.
Packaging type and their effects on the chemical and microbial quality of Sudanese white cheese (Gibna bayda)

The study was based on surveying ten samples of Sudanese white cheese packaged in two different containers (plastic and metal), collected from different supermarkets in Khartoum state. The comparison of chemical composition and microbial count was done. The experimental results showed that the average ash content, moisture, acidity, pH, and total solid content means were 7.00 ± 2.73, 45.00 ± 4.81, 0.85 ± 0.12, 5.72 ± 0.25 and 45.00 ± 10.63%, respectively for cheese samples packaged in plastic containers while for samples packaged in metal containers, the values were 5.50 ± 1.11, 52.06 ± 9.18, 1.85 ± 0.41, 5.06 ± 0.33 and 55.00 ± 9.35% for ash content, moisture, acidity, pH, and total solid content, respectively. The average chemical properties showed significant differences between the samples packaged in the two types of containers (P ≤ 0.05). The logarithm counts of total bacteria, yeasts and moulds for the samples packaged in plastic containers were found to be 8.86 ± 4.80 and 0.12 ± 0.16, respectively. On the other hand, the logarithm counts of total bacteria, yeasts and moulds for the samples packaged in metal containers were found to be 13.86 ± 3.61 and 015 ± 0.09, respectively. A clear significant differences between the samples packaged in the two types of containers (P ≤ 0.05) was found. There was no significant correlation between the total bacteria counts and the moisture content of the samples packaged in plastic and metal containers (P ≤ 0.05). The total bacterial count of the samples packaged in plastic and metal containers showed significant correlation to the pH value of the cheese samples collected from the supermarket (P ≤ 0.05). Key words: Sudanese white cheese, average ash content, microbial count, moisture.
Milk contamination by organophosphorus and carbamate residues present in water and animal feedstuff

No Brasil, as exigencias legais quanto ao controle de qualidade do leite cru se restringem a analise microbiologica, fisico-quimica e a pesquisa de antimicrobianos. Contudo, os agrotoxicos podem ser detectados no leite apos a exposicao dos animais em lactacao a esses agentes. O objetivo deste trabalho foi pesquisar a presenca de organofosforados (OF) e carbamatos (CB) em amostras de agua e de alimentos fornecidos as vacas leiteiras e tambem no leite produzido por esses animais. Todas as amostras foram analisadas por cromatografia gasosa com um detector de nitrogenio e fosforo (CGNPD). Das 30 amostras de leite cru analisadas, os residuos de OF foram detectados em 5 (16,67%), todos abaixo dos limites maximos de residuos (LMR) determinados pela legislacao e nao foram detectados residuos de CB no leite. Os agrotoxicos pesquisados nao foram detectados nas amostras de agua. Do total de 98 amostras de alimentacao animal, foi detectado OF em 28 amostras (28,57%), CB em 18 (18,37%) e ambos em 1 amostra (1,02%). Em 3 propriedades se constatou a contaminacao do leite pelos mesmos principios ativos de OF detectados na alimentacao animal. A grande ocorrencia de residuos de agrotoxicos na alimentacao animal alerta para ausencia de controle na sua producao, podendo essa ser uma importante fonte de contaminacao do leite por esses compostos.
Combined strength and endurance exercise induced fatigue and recovery

Kilpelanaho, Eeva-Maria. 2012. Combined strength and endurance exercise induced fatigue and recovery. Department of Biology of Physical Activity, University of Jyvaskyla. Master’s Thesis in Science of Sport Coaching and Fitness Testing, 81 pp. Muscular fatigue is usually defined as the inability to maintain a given exercise intensity or adequate muscle force and therefore maximal isometric force, neural activation and fast force production capacity have often used determinants of acute fatigue. The purpose of the present study was to measure the acute effects of combined strength and endurance exercise on force production, muscle activation and work economy. In addition this study investigated the rate of recovery comparing the active and passive recovery models and the association of the initial fitness levels of subjects. 16 (27 ± 4 years old) male reservists performed combined strength (5x10x70%RM leg-press) and endurance (5x10 min marching) loading and following either active (5x10x30% leg press and 5x5min walking) or passive (seated) recovery. Bilateral maximal isometric force (MVC), force-time curve, muscle activation (EMG) and blood lactate were measured before and after the combined loading to determine the acute fatigue and recovery. In addition, work economy and heart rate were detected during the loading. The mean (± SD) magnitude of combined exercise induced loss in MVC was 14.2 ± 9.5 % (n=16) (p=0.001), and the force-time curve (n=16) shifted significantly (p<0.05-0.01) to the lower level. Significant decreases (p< 0.05 p < 0.01) occured also in the EMG values, and the mean work economy (VO2/km/h) decreased by 11 ± 11 % (p=0.001) during the loading. The mean blood lactate increased (p=0.001) to 4.02 ± 1.89 mmol/l but recovered during the following hour after the test. MVC, EMG and HR recovered totally in both groups by the next morning. In addition, a significant (p<0.05) association between the VO2max of the subjects and the magnitude of force decrease was detected. The VO2max of the subjects also showed an association with the heart rate recovery. The present findings suggest that strenuous combined strength and endurance loading results in acute fatigue in the neuromuscular system leading not only to the decreased force production capacity of the muscles but also to a decrease in the muscle activation of the exercised muscles. The study also showed that the better the aerobic fitness level of the subjects the smaller was the neuromuscular fatigue and faster the physiological recovery rate. In addition, the results of the present study suggest that the active recovery might have beneficial effects on faster recovery of neuromuscular performance. Studying the acute performance decrements and recovery by simulating the physical demands of combined strength and endurance exercise may provide some valuable insight into the development of training programs for military and sport missions and for optimizing soldiers and athletes’ capacity for physical performance.
Latest findings from randomized evaluations of microfinance

This paper summarizes the latest research findings from a new body of empirical evidence that uses randomized evaluations, similar to those used in medical trials, to compare how one group responds to access to specific new financial services against how a comparable group fares without those services. This paper goes back a couple of years to the first studies that used this approach, and summarizes a series of research studies presented at the October 2010 microfinance impact and innovation conference in New York. These studies evaluated product design for a range of financial services, including credit, savings, and insurance. The studies discussed here were undertaken by research affiliates of Innovations for Poverty Action (IPA), the Financial Access Initiative (FAI), and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; they are all randomized evaluations unless otherwise specified. Part one of this paper reviews the main results from randomized evaluations that measure the impact of microcredit and micro savings on business investment and creation, consumption, and household well-being. Part two presents evidence from evaluations of products and delivery design. Part three discusses the evidence on micro insurance products.
Extent of Willingness to Pay for Dairy Husbandry Services by Milk Producers of Salem District of Tamil Nadu

This study was undertaken in Salem district of Tamil Nadu to assess the extent of dairy husbandry services delivered by milk procurement agencies viz., co-operative and a private agency and willingness of respondents to pay for the services. A total of 150 milk producers (75 of co-operative and 75 of private) were randomly selected out of five selected villages to represent five randomly selected blocks of Salem district. Selected milk marketing agencies were procuring milk of the milk producers and also delivering dairy husbandry services such as breeding, therapeutic, supply of inputs, preventive, extension and marketing services to the their member producers as paid or subsidized service. The findings of the study are majority of the respondents of DCS (89.33 %) and private agency (100 %) expressed their willingness to pay for AI, obstetrical, gynecological and therapeutic services delivered at their doorsteps. However, none of the respondents was willing to pay for the preventive and extension services. Both agencies did not concentrate on delivery of these services and depended upon the Department of Animal Husbandry (DAH) for their delivery. Both the milk marketing agencies supply cattle feed, fodder seeds and mineral mixture on payment basis only to their respective members. The willingness of the respondents to pay for breeding and therapeutic services opened the scope for privatization of these services. The results also showed that most of the respondents of private agency were not facing any serious constraints in availing dairy husbandry services. However, the unique role of DAH in providing preventive and extension services to all livestock owners needed more emphasis.
Dimensions and determinants of quality of life among senior citizens of Lucknow, India

Background : In India, there is low awareness about special needs of the elderly and their care takers. We are yet to understand the basics of elderly care (physical and mental health, psychological and social support). Objectives : (1) To study the dimensions of quality of life (QOL) of elderly people living in community and in old age homes (OAHs). (2) To determine the predictors of QOL among elderly people. Materials and Methods : A cross-sectional descriptive study was undertaken with elderly people (age ≥60 years) from the community and from OAHs residing in Lucknow city, India were the participants. Multistage sampling technique was used in the general population and all the elderly people living in OAHs were included in the study. 141 elderly people from community and 101 elderly people from OAHs were studied after taking oral consent and scoring ≥20 on Mini Mental State Examination instrument. Instrument used for assessing QOL was World Health Organization QOL-bref. Tools used to screen out anxiety and depression cases were Geriatric Depression Scale - Hindi version and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale. Results : The mean scores of QOL domains were higher among married elderly people, elderly people without mental health problem and elderly people without psychosocial issue/s. Similarly, it was higher among elderly people living in the community and paid OAHs than in free OAHs. Conclusion : QOL of elderly residing in paid OAHs were similar to those from the community. Financial dependency was the strongest predictor of QOL.
Financial Globalization and Bank Lending: The Limits of Domestic Monetary Policy?

We empirically analyze how bank lending reacts to monetary policy in the presence of global financial flows. Employing a unique and novel dataset of the funding modes and currency composition of the full population of Norwegian banks in structurally identified regressions, we show that the efficiency of the bank lending channel is affected when banks can shift to international funding and thus insulate their costs of funding from domestic monetary policy. We isolate the effect of global factors from domestic monetary policy by focusing on the deviation of exchange rates from the prediction of (uncovered and covered) interest rate parity. The Norwegian banking sector represents an ideal laboratory since the exogenous exchange rate dynamics allows for a convincing identification of the relation between lending and global factors.
Reversals in Global Market Integration and Funding Liquidity

This paper looks at the reversals in global financial integration through the funding liquidity lens. First, we construct a segmentation indicator based on differences in funding liquidity across countries as measured by the performance of betting-against-beta strategies. Second, we find that funding liquidity shocks help explain recent reversals in integration in the absence of explicit foreign investment barriers. These findings are consistent with tighter limits to arbitrage and increased home bias during funding distress periods. Our empirical analysis is guided by a margin-CAPM model generalized to an international setting.
Properties of sisal fibre reinforced epoxy composite

Sisal fibre reinforced epoxy composites have been prepared by hand lay-up technique followed by static compression, using various fibre weight fractions (15, 20, 25 and 30%). Mechanical properties, thermal properties, water absorption properties and dynamic mechanical analysis of sisal composites are investigated. The results show that the addition of sisal fibres in epoxy matrix up to 30 wt. % increases the mechanical, thermal and water absorption properties. The values of storage modulus and loss modulus increase with the increase in fibre content up to 25 wt. % and then decrease. The glass transition temperature ( T g ) is obtained from loss modulus and tan delta curve. The value of T g obtained from loss modulus curve is found to be lower than that obtained from tan delta curve.
Ectomycorrhiza formation in Eucalyptus

Mesophellia and Castorium are common hypogeous macrofungi in the karri {Eucalyptus diversicolor F. Muell. ) and jarrah {Eucalyptus marginata Donn ex Sm. ) forests of south-western Australia. Sporocarps of Mesophellia and Castorium develop 5-20 cm below the soil surface in close association with eucalypt roots. During differentiation of the sporocarps, eucalypt roots become trapped within the peridium where they branch profusely and form a dense ectomycorrhizal layer. Mature sporocarps of M. trabalis nom. ined. contain approximately 5 m of roots of 45 cm^ surface area. Anatomical studies have shown that these roots have Hartig nets penetrating to the hypodermis and are similar to the superficial eucalypt ectomycorrhizas formed in soil and litter. The association of Mesophellia and Castorium sporocarps with tree roots suggests that these are important mycorrhizal fungi in forests of southern Australia.
Amylolytic lactic acid bacteria in fish silage

An ∝aL-amylase activity has been observed in lactic acid bacteria occurring initially in fermented fish silage. The organisms belong to the genus Leuconostoc. The main fraction of the amylolytic enzyme produced by one of the isolated bacteria is cell-bound and is released into the medium at a late stage of growth. Treating cells with ultrasound or Triton X-100 increases enzyme activity in the culture filtrate. The pH range for enzyme activity is 5.0–7.0, with an optimum at pH 6.0. The enzyme is extremely labile at pH 8.0 and is inactivated at temperatures above 50°C at pH 5.8. Two enzyme fractions were found by isoelectric focusing, the main one at pH 5.00 and another at pH 4.5. Chromatography on DEAE cellulose gave two active peaks.
VERTICAL VARIATION OP UNDERTOW IN THE SURF ZONE

In order to establish a model of the vertical distribution of the undertow, laboratory experiments were performed on uniform slopes of 1/20 and 1/30. The turbulent velocity in the surf zone including the area close to the bottom was measured by using a two-component laser doppler velocimeter. The distributions of the mean Reynolds stress and the mean eddy viscosity coefficient were calculated. Based on the experimental results, a model to predict the vertical profile of the undertow was presented.
Occurrence and molecular characterization of campylobacter species in chicken meat

Title of Thesis : Occurrence and molecular characterization of Campylobacter species in chicken meat Name of Degree Holder : Manish Yadav Admission No. : 2014V62M Title of Degree : Master of Veterinary Science in Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology Name and Address of Major Advisor : (Dr. Ashok Kumar) Major Advisor, Principal Scientist Department of Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Hisar-125 004 Degree Awarding University : Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Hisar-125004, Haryana, India Year of Award of Degree : 2017 Major Subject : Veterinary Public Health and Epidemiology Total No. of Pages in the Thesis : 36 + x + IV No. of words in the Abstract : 253
Determination of thermal comfort zone for early-stage broilers

Environmental temperatures currently considered within comfort zone for broiler rearing may be misleading or even obsolete from actual values. Some factors such as animal genetics, nutrition and poultry management, mainly acclimatization to tropical and subtropical conditions, influence in determining the comfort zone for birds. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of five different thermal environments on animal welfare and rearing performance of broiler chickens, setting an ideal temperature range (comfort zone) for each of the first three weeks of poultry breeding. The chicks (375) were randomly placed into five climatic chambers set to distinct thermal conditions, being: one as recommended by the literature, another as stated by Cassuce and the other three at different levels of apparent cold stress (mild, moderate and severe). The findings showed that best poultry performance and ideal comfort indices (based on Black Globe Humidity and Temperature Index) were achieved within a temperature range between mild cold and Cassuce comfort temperature, rather than those previously reported in the literature.
Corporate Governance and Risk of Default

Using 201 bankrupt and 2,751 non-bankrupt firms from the Investor Responsibility Research Center (IRRC) U.S. dataset for the period 1990-2006, we show that the rules of governance have a significant nonlinear impact on bankruptcy risk. In general, the likelihood of default is negatively related to the number of governance provisions, which allow managers to fend off challenges from shareholders. This finding supports the view that risk-averse managers prefer conservative policy choices. In addition, we find that as a greater number of governance provisions are put into place, the probability of default is decreasing but at a decreasing rate, suggesting that the larger managerial private benefits of control will reduce firm value and eventually increase the risk of default. Our findings imply that for firms with the strongest governance, a weakening of shareholder rights will decrease the probability of distress, but for firms with the weakest governance, a further weakening of shareholder rights will increase the probability of distress.
Research article INFLUENCE OF NITROGEN LEVELS AND TIMES OF APPLICATION ON GROWTH PARAMETERS OF AEROBIC RICE

Field experiment was conducted on aerobic rice at Agricultural Research institute Rajendranagar, Hyderabad, during 2012 kharif to evaluate the effect of different nitrogen levels and times of application growth parameters of aerobic rice. The results revealed that application of nitrogen 180 kg ha -1 with 4 splits given the better plant height, tiller number m -2 ; dry matter production, root volume and root dry weight that contributed for higher grain yield.
The Effect of Political Connections on the Firm Performance in a Newly Democratised Country

Abstract The study of the effect of political connections on the Tunisian firm performance after the 2011 uprising is the focal point of the paper. First, by applying a multiple linear regression model, the results show that political connections are positively associated with the market firm performance. Thereafter, a difference in difference model is applied to separate the connected and non-connected firms. Such a method is most likely to determine the factors driving the market performance of politically connected firms. Hence, results reveal that leverage, age and equity holdings increase the market performance of politically connected firms.
The research on magnetic tunable characteristics of photonic crystal defect localized modes with a defect layer of nanoparticle magnetic fluids

In this study, based on magnetic tunable characteristics of nanoparticle magnetic fluid, we design the photonic crystals' defect-localized modes with a defect layer of nanoparticle magnetic fluids. The transmission spectrum of one-dimensional photonic crystals with a defect layer of nanoparticle magnetic fluid is calculated numerically using the transfer matrix method. The results indicate that the wavelength of defect localized modes moves to short wave with the increasing of magnetic field intensity. The maximum variation is 7 nm. When the thickness deviation of defect layer is in the range of 5 nm, the variation of the wavelength is 6 nm. The bandwidth of the defect localized modes is 0.2 nm and its quality factor is of the order of 103. Therefore, the variation of the wavelength of defect-localized modes, which is caused by the thickness deviation of a defect layer, could be compensated by changing the magnetic field. In this study, the defect-localized modes with a certain wavelength are realized.
Fuzzy Logic Based EKF for Mobile Robot Navigation: An Analysis of Different Fuzzy Membership Functions

This paper deals with the analysis of different Fuzzy membership type performance for Extended Kalman Filter(EKF) based mobile robot navigation. EKF is known to be incompetent in non-Gaussian noise condition and therefore the technique alone is not sufficient to provide solution. Motivated by this shortcoming, a Fuzzy based EKF is proposed in this paper. Three membership types are considered which includes the triangular, trapezoidal and Gaussian membership types to determine the best estimation results for mobile robot and landmarks locations. Minimal rule design and configuration are also other aspects being considered for analysis purposes. The simulation results suggest that the Gaussian memberships surpassed other membership type in providing the best solution in mobile robot navigation.