Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Factors Affecting Fluctuations in Net Returns from the Processing of Oil Palm Fruit Bunches

This paper attempts to elucidate factors which affect the efficiency of oil palm fruit processing in a selected palm oil mill. Three efficiency proxies are used, i.e. revenue per tonne (RPT) of fresh fruits bunches (FFB), cost per tonne (CPT) and net revenue per tonne (NRPT), with the analysis being focused on a 30-month time series data. From the study, it was found that the RPT of the mill was positively correlated with the differentials in the oil extraction rate and kernel extraction rate (KER), differentials in crude palm oil (CPO) price as well as FFB intake. The differentials in OER and KER, in particular, were significant income generators, as they resulted in increases in RPT as high as 20% and 12% respectively. Nevertheless, both OER and KER had declined at the rate of 0.27% and 0.22% per month, respectively and the processing toll was negatively correlated with RPT by 1%, indicating the need to crosscheck the sources of RPT variability. The study also identified two causal factors, which affected CPT variability. These comprised maintenance, either major or routine, and depreciation. The study also revealed that the amount of FFB received was positively correlated with either RPT or NRPT and was found significant in reducing CPT. This implied economies of scale, as denoted by the significance of the utilization factor and workers’ overtime.
Technology and efficiency in a panel of Italian dairy farms: an SGM restricted cost function approach

This article employs a short-term specification of the symmetric generalised McFadden (SGM) cost function capable of accommodating quasi-fixed factors and variable returns. Temporary equilibrium and scale economies are investigated while maintaining the consistency of the estimated model with microeconomic theory and approximation properties. It also makes use of a two-step procedure to estimate first the technology parameters and then time-varying efficiency at farm level. No distributional assumptions are required on efficiency as we consider a fixed effect model. A balanced panel of Italian dairy farms during the years from 1980 to 1992 serves as the case study. The results suggest a rigid productive structure during the pre- and post-quota period. Moreover, Italian milk producers are found to exhibit considerable excess capacity and rather low input technical efficiency. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Fundamentals and the Volatility of Real Estate Prices in China: A Sequential Modelling Strategy

In a similar way to the stock market, the housing market in China has often been portrayed as highly speculative, giving rise to “bubble” concerns. Over the last decade, residential prices increased every year on average by double digits in Beijing or Shanghai. However many observers and researchers argue that fundamentals of the housing sector, both sector-specific and macroeconomic, may have been the driving force behind housing price volatility. While existing empirical work exclusively relies on the government housing prices which may suffer from the well-documented downward bias, this paper uses original high frequency unit price as well as transaction series for the residential resale housing markets of Beijing and Shanghai between January 2005 and December 2010 to test alternative hypotheses about housing prices volatility.
Feasibility and Acceptance of a Novel Nutrition and Exercise Intervention to Manage Excess Gestational Weight Gain: Focus group study in Ontario,Canada

In preparation for designing a randomized clinical trial aimed to manage gestational weight gain during pregnancy, we conducted a qualitative study using focus groups of women and health care providers for the purpose of identifying the enablers or barriers that support or limit nutrition and exercise modifications for women during pregnancy and to determine the feasibility of such a program in the community. A purposeful sample of pregnant or recently pregnant (within the last year) women (n=21) and health care providers (n=7) were recruited from community health clinics in Hamilton, Canada. A semi-structured focus group guide was tailored to each target group. Qualitative analysis was completed using NVivo 9 software and key conceptual categories of behavioural, control and normative beliefs were identified from transcribed interview texts and field notes. The results indicated that to make nutrition and exercise interventions more accessible to women of various backgrounds, key facilitators should include: behavioural beliefs of the importance of nutrition and exercise in pregnancy, family support and nutritional education. Identified barriers included: communication with healthcare providers, inter-professional collaboration, language, and lack of specific instructions in currently available guidelines. Collectively, information from women and health providers enabled a clear understanding of barriers, enablers and opportunities for the successful implementation of the planned nutrition and exercise intervention for gestational weight gain management. The identified factors were used to design a clinical randomized trial of a structured and monitored nutrition and exercise program for women beginning in early pregnancy. *Corresponding author: Dr. Stephanie Atkinson, Department of Pediatrics, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, ON, Canada, Tel: 905-521-2100; Fax: 905-308-7548; E-mail: satkins@mcmaster.ca Received April 03, 2013; Accepted May 25, 2013; Published May 28, 2013 Citation: Walji R, Wahoush O, Atkinson SA (2013) Feasibility and Acceptance of a Novel Nutrition and Exercise Intervention to Manage Excess Gestational Weight Gain: Focus group study in Ontario, Canada. Primary Health Care 3: 134. doi:10.4172/2167-1079.1000134 Copyright: © 2013 Walji R, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Using small asteroids to deflect larger dangerous asteroids

The basic concept involves targeting a very small asteroid, about 10 meters across, to impact a larger dangerous one. The minimum size of the small asteroid is determined by the ability to detect it and to determine its orbit. Near-Earth asteroids (NEA’s) are selected from those that have a fly-by distance from Earth of the order of hundreds of thousands of kilometers. According to current estimates, the number of near Earth asteroids with such sizes is very large, making it possible to find the required small asteroid. Further, the possibility is evaluated of changing the small asteroid’s orbit so that, by application of a very limited ΔV impulse, the object is targeted to a gravity assist maneuver (Earth swingby) that puts it on a collision course with a dangerous asteroid. In order to apply the required V impulse, it is necessary to install on the small asteroid an appropriate propulsion system with required propellant mass. A control system similar to that used on a spacecraft is also necessary. The Keck study has already shown the feasibility of performing the above steps to change the orbit of similar asteroids to target them to a lunar orbit; our idea is similar in orbital energetics to that, only for slightly larger objects and targeting them to an Earth B-plane point rather than the vicinity of the Moon. Of course, any real test of this (or of any other deflection) strategy should first be performed on a benign asteroid whose orbital parameters give the asteroid no significant chance of a natural impact with the Earth during at least the next million years, even in the case of small changes in its orbit.
Motion of the ablation cloud in torus plasmas

The motion of an ablation cloud is investigated in a tokamak by using ideal magnetohydrodynamic equations with ablation processes. The cloud quickly expands along the magnetic field and simultaneously drifts to the lower field side due to a tire tube force and 1/R force. It is found that the acceleration of the cloud increases and subsequently decreases due to the energy deposit from the bulk plasma and, finally, the cloud is stopped due to the poloidal field.
Job Creation by Firms in Denmark

In this paper we will look at job creation and destruction in firms. We will answer the question if it is the large companies that create jobs, while the smaller companies are contributing much less. Or is it the young companies that create jobs? And who destroys the most jobs? In the crisis Denmark lost 186,000 jobs in the private sector. The question is where and how could these jobs be recreated. Are these issues specific to industries or are they universal? The data used is register data on workplaces and firms for the period 1980-2007. The base unit of data is the workplace. The company (firm) is the legal entity. A company can have many sites, and one of the ways companies can grow is by expanding with multiple sites. This can happen by mergers and acquisitions but can also happen by creating "daughter workplaces". It is therefore essential to look at workplaces and firms at the same time. A complication here is that firms switch ID over time because of change of ownership, mergers and divisions. Data must be corrected so that these administrative issues will not affect the survival of firms. The data are used in a way where we can cover firm birth and firm death, spin-offs and mergers. The analysis will make it possible to differentiate between net and gross creation of jobs because we can follow each single individual in and out of jobs. We have for Denmark found that size on its own does not have a big impact, but young firms are much more likely to contribute to a positive growth. For the U.S. it has been found that the growth in jobs comes from small businesses. A closer analysis though shows that the main factor here is the firm age. Thus, it is found that young firms net create the most jobs, but they are also responsible for the most job destructions.
Evaluation of Dual Frequency GBAS Performance Using Flight Data

In this paper, we describe the results of dual frequency Ground Based Augmentation System (GBAS) performance using data from DLR’s experimental GBAS testbed and flight trials carried out at the research airport in Braunschweig, Germany. We show the results of noise and multipath evaluation of the new L5 signals from the GPS Block IIF satellites and their application in our experimental GBAS ground station. Results show that, due to the long smoothing time in GBAS processing, there is no clearly visible improvement in terms of , despite the fact that noise and multipath is significantly lower on the raw (unsmoothed) L5 signals compared to the currently used L1 signals. Two proposed dual-frequency smoothing techniques (Divergence Free and Ionosphere Free) are implemented in the ground and airborne subsystems and tested in comparison with single frequency GBAS performance. During the flight trials, no ionosphere anomaly was observed, thus nominal behavior is presented. In offline analysis, we injected a simulated ionospheric gradient into these raw measurements to compare and evaluate the dual frequency and single frequency techniques and the output of the relevant monitors.
Can the Use of Clickers or Continuous Assessment Motivate Critical Thinking? A case study based on Corporate Finance students

This study explores the use of clickers as a tool to support, encourage and motivate critical thinking in higher education students. A case study was carried out with a cohort of undergraduate students undertaking the BSc. in Accounting and Finance during the academic year 2009/10, were corporate finance was a major component. Since the students in this sample had previously demonstrated passivity during their corporate finance classes, it was proposed that clickers would help motivate them to participate during face to face sessions. Previous research on the use of clickers shows evidence that this tool has a positive effect on student participation and interaction in the classroom. The results of this study suggest that clickers can positively affect classroom dynamics; they help activate the learning experience and provide a more relaxed atmosphere, where students can interact with their teacher. However, little evidence was found to indicate that clickers are a good device to enhance critical thinking skills. In this context, strategies based on a problem-centered approach to learning appear to provide a better outcome.
Green Tea Consumption and Risk of Breast Cancer and Recurrence—A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Observational Studies

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women and several factors are involved in its onset. Green tea (GT) has been shown to have potential beneficial effects on different types of cancer. The aim of this review was to evaluate the association between GT regular consumption and risk of BC in women. The risk of BC recurrence and risk of BC in relation to menopausal status were also evaluated. A literature search of PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science was conducted. Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines were followed to perform the systematic review and meta-analysis. Full texts were downloaded for 40 studies; however, only 13 records were included in the meta-analysis. Eight were cohort studies and five were case-control studies. The pooled sample consisted of 163,810 people. An inverse statistically significant relationship between GT and BC risk, with an Odds Ratio (OR) = 0.85 ((95% CI = 0.80–0.92), p = 0.000)), was found. Egger’s linear regression test did not show a potential publication bias (intercept 0.33, t = 0.40, p = 0.695), which was also confirmed by the symmetry of the funnel plot. Moreover, no high statistical heterogeneity (Chi2 = 31.55, df = 13, I2 = 58.79%, p = 0.003) was found. The results of this meta-analysis showed a potential protective effect of GT consumption on BC, especially for BC recurrence.
ANALYSIS OF Sf/V RATIO OF PHOTOBIOREACTORS LINKED WITH ALGAL PHYSIOLOGY

Summary: Cleaning the waste gases from coal fired plants, burners, and anaerobic bioreactors are major concerns nowadays. CO 2 liberation in the atmosphere is a huge problem, and the only visible cost-effective alternative is sequestrating it by using high density cultures in modern closed photobioreactors (PBRs). One of the most important criteria for evaluation of PBR capacity is surface area–to-volume ratio (S f /V). This work combined this criterion with algal physiology and predicted the biomass concentration in closed PBR as a function of light availability-S f /V at a given algal physiological state. Several PBR designs were chosen from the literature on the basis of their S f /V ratio. Mathematical analysis was performed in order to predict the maximum biomass concentration where specific growth rate was a function of S f /V ratio, as well as to predict PBR’s potential to support high density cultures.
Early Cretaceous Magnetic Polarity Time Scale and the Magnetostratigraphy of Deep Sea Drilling Project Sites 603 and 534, Western Central Atlantic

Drilling at Sites 534 and 603 of the Deep Sea Drilling Project recovered thick sections of Berriasian through Aptian white limestones to dark gray marls, interbedded with claystone and clastic turbidites. Progressive thermal demagnetization removed a normal-polarity overprint carried by goethite and/or pyrrhotite. The resulting characteristic magnetization is carried predominantly by magnetite. Directions and reliability of characteristic magnetization of each sample were computed by using least squares line-fits of magnetization vectors. The corrected true mean inclinations of the sites suggest that the western North Atlantic underwent approximately 6° of steady southward motion between the Berriasian and Aptian stages. The patterns of magnetic polarity of the two sites, when plotted on stratigraphic columns of the pelagic sediments without turbidite beds, display a fairly consistent magnetostratigraphy through most of the Hauterivian-Barremian interval, using dinoflagellate and nannofossil events and facies changes in pelagic sediment as controls on the correlations. The composite magnetostratigraphy appears to include most of the features of the M-sequence block model of magnetic anomalies from Ml to Ml ON (Barremian-Hauterivian) and from M16 to M23 (BerriasianTithonian). The Valanginian magnetostratigraphy of the sites does not exhibit reversed polarity intervals corresponding to Ml 1 to M13 of the M-sequence model; this may be the result of poor magnetization, of a major unrecognized hiatus in the early to middle Valanginian in the western North Atlantic, or of an error in the standard block model. Based on these tentative polarity-zone correlations, the Hauterivian/Barremian boundary occurs in or near the reversed-polarity Chron M7 or M5, depending upon whether the dinoflagellate or nannofossil zonation, respectively, is used; the Valanginian/Hauterivian boundary, as defined by the dinoflagellate zonation, is near reversed-polarity Chron M10N.
An Evaluation of the Effects of Motivation, Satisfaction on Destination Loyalty: Case Study Tourism Malaysia

In tourism literature, stimulation of motivation on tourist journey is one of the vital aspect. This study analyzed the satisfaction and loyalty based on a sample of 200 respondents from four regions, namely Southeast Asia, West Asia, Europe and America. The selection of four regions was due to several reasons which are, i) market for Southeast Asia is the leading supplier of arrivals, ii) Western Asian markets showed an increase in the arrival of the high impact of the September 11th incident, iii) European and American Markets were to represent the market of developed countries. This study, based on the method of Strutural Equatation Model (SEM) using Statistical Package for Social Science version (SPSS 21.0) and Analysis of Moment Structures 5 (AMOS 5) as a tool of analysis. SEM methods used to test the analysis of cause, and effect variables are independent and dependent variables as well as specific information to estimate the structural equation model based on variance value. It was used to test Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and AMOS 5 used to test Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). Results of this study found that the assessment made by foreign visitors to the Malaysia tourism products and services is positive. As a result, the experience will create loyalty to Malaysia's tourism industry in the form of repeat visits (β: 0.547, t-test: 7.472 ***) and promote the destination to friends and relatives that have the potential to make visits (β: 0.794, the t-test: 8.623 ***). However, it was found that the value of the coefficient of regression for stimulus push is low for satisfaction (β: 0.228, t-test: 1.976 **). This findings could be used as guidance to the authorities and operators, policy makers in knowing real satisfaction that stimulates tourist arrivals to Malaysia. Int. J. Soc. Sc. Manage. Vol. 4, Issue-2: 137-147
HIGH-VELOCITY BIPOLAR MOLECULAR EMISSION FROM AN AGN TORUS

We have detected in ALMA observations CO emission from the nucleus of the Seyfert galaxy NGC 1068. The low-velocity (up to ±70 km s−1 relative to systemic) CO emission resolves into a 12 × 7 pc structure, roughly aligned with the nuclear radio source. Higher-velocity emission (up to ±400 km s−1) is consistent with a bipolar outflow in a direction nearly perpendicular (≃80°) to the nuclear disk. The position–velocity diagram shows that in addition to the outflow, the velocity field may also contain rotation about the disk axis. These observations provide compelling evidence in support of the disk-wind scenario for the active galactic nucleus obscuring torus.
Raising EFL Learners' Pragmatic Awareness of Intercultural Rhetoric in Writing

The purpose of the present study was to explore the effectiveness of raising Iranian learners’ pragmatic awareness of intercultural rhetoric in enhancing their L2 writing ability, complexity, and accuracy. To this end, two 25-member groups of EFL learners who were taking Basic Writing course at Islamic Azad University, Roudehen Branch, were selected based on their performance on a language proficiency test (PET). They were assigned as one control and one experimental group and took a validated, researcher-made pretest/posttest (with the reliability of 0.73) at the outset of the study. The experimental group received the explicit instruction of the teacher on IR followed by a task related to the content of the instruction while the control group’s practice in writing was limited to doing the exercises in their course book without receiving the explicit instruction on IR.Following the termination of the nine-session treatment, the posttest was administered and the collected data underwent data analysis. The results indicated that pragmatic awareness of IR in writing was significantly effective in improving the Iranian EFL learners' writing ability as well as the accuracy of their written output. However, no significant influence of rhetorical awareness raising on learners’ writing complexity was investigated in this study.
EFFECTS OF CAREER DEVELOPMENT ON EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR: A CASE OF NATIONAL CEREALS AND PRODUCE BOARD

Career development often used to close the gap between current performances and expected future performance. Many employees in the public sector have trained but they have remained stagnant with little evidence of career advancement. The work performance of public sector workers in Kenya has been a major concern to the Kenyan government, civil society, development partners and the people of Kenya. The prevailing situation at the work place has been one of low work performance and poor service delivery. The poor work performance has led to the decline in service delivery in the public sector. This study sought to determine the effects of career development on employee performance in the public sector with reference to National Cereals and Produce Board. The study adopted a descriptive survey. The population for this study were the employees of National Cereals & Produce Board head office in Nairobi. There were a total of 200 employees in National Cereals & Produce Board head office in Nairobi. Sampling frame was the list of employees working in all levels of management. Stratified random sampling was applied to select 100 respondents as the sample size. Data was collected using structured questionnaires. Data collected was tabulated and analysed using SPSS version 20 software. The study revealed that on job training influences the performance of an employee by expansion of key competencies, job specification, leads to motivation, reduces intimidation, provides additional skills knowledge and capabilities and employees are able to network. The study revealed that career mentoring affects employee performance by: counselling and supports learners and helps them to develop their own approach and solutions to problems. Key Words: Training, Career Mentoring, Employee Performance, Career Development, National Cereal and Produce Board