Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Farmers' perceptions of benefits and factors affecting the adoption of improved dual‐purpose cowpea in the dry savannas of Nigeria

This study links participatory research methods, geographic information systems (GIS) techniques, village and household-level surveys, and a tobit analysis to examine the adoption and impact issues related to a new technology, improved varieties of dual-purpose cowpea (IDPC), developed by International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) and International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and recently released in Nigeria. The article analyzes factors affecting the adoption and impact of the technology across different socioeconomic domains as defined by degree of market access and population density. The results show multiple benefits from this flexible leguminous crop, many of which relate to the fodder and soil fertility-enhancing aspects of IDPC rather than higher grain yields "per se". The intensity of adoption was affected by different village- and household-level factors in each socioeconomic domain, allowing more sharply defined recommendation domain-targeting strategies. The multiple research approaches taken also provided useful lessons at different system levels regarding the benefits of, and perceived problems with, this technology for researchers, development practitioners, and policy makers. The collaborative research approaches taken in this study are helping to close the "feedback loop" from farmers back to researchers and others attempting to disseminate the technology, and by doing so, should contribute to faster and more widespread uptake of this technology. Copyright 2005 International Association of Agricultural Economics.
PURELY INFINITE SIMPLE TOEPLITZ ALGEBRAS

The Toeplitz C -algebras associated to quasi-lattice ordered groups (G,P) studied by Nica in (12) were shown by Laca and Raeburn ((7)) to be crossed products of an abelian C -algebra BP by a semigroup of en- domorphisms. Here we define a natural boundary for the semigroup P as a subset of the maximal ideal space (or spectrum) of BP and prove that the Toeplitz C -algebra associated to P is simple exactly when this boundary is all of the spectrum of BP, in which case the Toeplitz C -algebra is actually purely infinite. We also prove that when the boundary is a proper subset of the spectrum, it induces an ideal of the Toeplitz C -algebra which is maximal among induced ideals.
Debunking the Monday Irrationality through the External Affection of Investors

This study aims to reveal the mechanism of the influences of the full moon and high temperatures on investors’ Monday irrationality. In contrast to other studies, this research was built under a retroductive approach by using a time series quasi experimental study. Investors were directly assessed for their irrationality by using an adapted psychometric test on 4 occasions. The results indicate that there were indeed effects of the full moon and high temperatures on investors’ irrationality. Because the full moon and high temperatures frequently occurred on Mondays, it is most probably those two variables that were the drivers of the Monday irrationality. In the end, we concluded that the rational behaviour assumption can no longer be held. Instead of rationality, the investors were quasi rational. The utility function of Von Neumann-Morgenstern in decision making has to be replaced by the hedonic utility.
The Mathematics Learning Styles of Vocational College Students

The researcher investigated the mathematics learning styles of vocational college students during fall 2017 and spring 2018. 94 students enrolled in the vocational college of a public university completed the questionnaire "How Do I Actually Learn? " developed by Forster. Scale has four learning styles: reflective, inquisitive, diligent and user. The results of the research revealed that the most preferred learning model was user learning style in mathematics learning. Most of the students preferred to learn mathematics by writing the solutions, and reading through their notes or work. There were also statistically significant differences in mathematics learning styles among students according to their academic achievement. According to the results, students with high level of success were more inquisitive than students with low levels.
Czech high school students´misconceptions about basic geneticconcepts: preliminaly result

The revelation of misconceptions contributes to better education, especially when that information is described in a specific field of science. Additionally, genetics is one of very problematic topics, and misconceptions appear there frequently as there are difficult interconnections among them. The main aim of the study was to explore high school students´ misconceptions about basic genetics concepts. Moreover the influence of gender was also examined. Respondents were 102 Czech high school students of two high schools. Research tool was test containing 15 two tier questions concerning about basic genetics concepts like chromosome, DNA, allele and gene. Reliability was determined with the use of Cronbach’s alpha coefficient. The result of Kolmogor-Smirnov test allowed to use parametric statistical methods. The data were analysed by the using of descriptive statistical methods (mean score) and inferential statistical methods (ANOVA). Concept ‘DNA’ was determined as the most problematic one for students, contrarily concept ‘allele’ was the simplest one. It was found that high school students do not understand selected basic genetic concepts. In addition, students do not interconnect genetic concepts within one complex system of knowledge, they also do not realise structure and hierarchy of these concepts.
Cultural Practices and Cognition in Debriefing

This study was designed to investigate the cultural and cognitive dimensions of debriefing. Pilots and flight examiners from five airlines were involved in this cognitive anthropological study. The data include (a) videotaped debriefing sessions and associated interviews with participants and (b) stimulated recall and modified think-aloud protocols with flight examiners. Findings point to the varied structures and contents of debriefing practices, in part mediated by the tools available to the participants. Some implications from this research are already taken up in the industry and are currently subject to an ongoing investigation.
An Exploratory Study on Self-rated Health Status: The Case of Penang, Malaysia

This study examines the impact of socio-demographic and lifestyle-behavioural factors on self-rated health status. Using data from a primary survey in Penang, Malaysia of 398 observations, ordered probit model was applied to estimate the probabilities of individuals to rate their own health as poor, fair or excellent. Results suggest that high income individuals, residents in rural areas and those taking part in physical activity frequently are 42.6, 12.3 and 29.2 per cent more likely to rate their own health as excellent, respectively. On the other hand, older individuals are 0.6 per cent more likely to rate their own health as poor and 6.8 per cent more likely to rate their own health as fair. Similarly, those suffering from chronic diseases are 11.3 per cent more likely to self-rate their health as poor and 22.6 per cent more likely to self-rate their health as fair. Based on these outcomes, several policy implications are suggested vis-a-vis how individuals view their own health.
20131217 Baker Dissertation_PDF Final_2

6 Introduction . 7 Methods . 8 Results . 12 Discussion . 14 Figures . 17 CHAPTER III: Fetal injection with SIVmac1A11 reduces viral loads after postnatal challenge and is associated with altered immunologic parameters Abstract . 24 Introduction . 25 Methods . 28 Results . 32 Discussion . 37 Figures . 41 CHAPTER IV: Conclusions and future directions Summary . 53 References . 55
Monetary Policy and Food Prices in India

Using a vector error correction model (VECM), the paper examines the relative response of food and manufactured prices to change in interest rate and money supply in India during the period 2001:Q1 to 2010:Q2. It finds that, in the long-run, while money supply leads to rise in the prices of both food and manufactured prices, hike in call rate has a negative effect only on manufactured prices. The impact of money supply is, however, more on food prices than on manufactured prices. There is no evidence of long-run neutrality of money, as increase in money supply leads to less than proportionate change in price. In the short-run, there is overshooting in the prices of both food and manufactured products from their respective long-run equilibrium following monetary shocks. The overshooting, however, is more in food prices than in manufactured prices. Further, in the shortrun, call rate has a significant impact only on manufactured prices, while the impact of money supply is significant only on food prices. Both food and manufactured prices increase induces call rate hike. But money supply increases with rise in food prices and decreases with the rise in manufactured prices.
The Impact of Item Readability on the Endorsement of the Midpoint Response in Surveys

Researchers have debated including a midpoint response in questionnaire scales, and they have debated what the selection of that response option represents. Using data from employee opinion surveys of a large financial services organization based primarily in the United States, this study explored whether the endorsement of the midpoint response is related to an item’s readability and its perceived clarity. The results showed the endorsement of the midpoint response was significantly correlated with the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level index, average letters per word, and average number of syllables per word. The results also showed that as the perceived clarity of an item increases, the endorsement of the midpoint response decreases. These findings have important implications both to researchers and organizations that conduct surveys with their employees.
Evaluating the Expectations Disconfirmation and Expectations Anchoring Approaches to Citizen Satisfaction with Local Public Services

Expectations disconfirmation and expectations anchoring are two increasingly influential approaches to understanding individuals' satisfaction and dissatisfaction with public services. This article assesses hypotheses from these approaches for two local public services in England provided by local authorities: overall public services from the authority and household refuse collection services. Consistent with the expectations disconfirmation hypothesis, performance minus expectations is positively related to the predicted probability of satisfaction and negatively related to predicted probability of dissatisfaction for both types of service. However, the relationship is not symmetric between satisfaction and dissatisfaction, the predicted probability of dissatisfaction falls more rapidly than the predicted probability of satisfaction rises as performance increasingly meets expectations. The expectations anchoring hypotheses receive support for dissatisfaction and partial support for satisfaction, with a general expectations relationship evident for overall services but only evident in the case of very high expectations for waste services. The findings suggest that expectations need to be taken into account alongside more conventionally understood factors in using satisfaction surveys as a performance measure, especially if performance is not potentially to be overestimated in areas with low expectations or underestimated in areas with high expectations. Managing expectations, as well as perceived performance, may be an effective strategy for local authorities to raise satisfaction, although this may not be seen as desirable.
Speech-Language Pathologists’ Perceptions of the Importance and Ability to Use Assistive Technology in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) frequently work with people with severe communication disorders who requireassistive technology (AT) for communication. The purpose of this study was to investigate the SLPs perceptions ofthe importance of and ability level required for using AT, and the relationship of AT with gender, level of education,training, place of work, and years of experience. To achieve this goal, the researcher adopted a questionnaireprepared by Currie et al. (1996) to determine SLPs perceptions of AT. The study revealed a number of resultsregarding SLPs perceptions of the importance and ability to use AT. The results indicated that all of the SLPs whoparticipated in this study considered all of the items in the questionnaire to be valuable, and the respondents ratedthemselves as having a "low" to "high" ability of using AT. In addition, no statistically significant differences in theperceived importance and ability to use AT occurred between the male and female groups in all the categories andthe total score of the scale. The results also indicated a statistically significant difference in the perceived importanceand ability to use AT among the teaching experience groups and the training groups in all the categories and the totalscore of the scale. Participants with more years of experience and training produced more favorable results than theother participants did. In addition, no statistically significant differences in the perceived importance and ability touse AT occurred among the level of education groups in all the categories and the total score of the scale. Finally, astatistically significant difference in the perceived importance and ability to use AT occurred among the place ofwork groups in all the categories and the total score of the scale. The participants who worked in private settingsproduced more favorable results, except for the category “general computer knowledge”, in which no statisticallysignificant differences occurred among the participants.
Production Structure, Household Time Allocation, and Fertility

This paper develops an overlapping generations model that incorporates two-sector (market and non-market) production, sexual difference, and fertility choice. Our model could explain the joint evolution of production structure, household time allocation, and fertility broadly observed in the 19th and 20th centuries in the Western world as part of a single process of economic development: (i) production has shifted out of households and into the market, (ii) males first increased their labor supply to the market, and then females increased it; married-female participation in wage work outside the home dramatically increased in the latter half of the 20th century, and (iii) there has been the secular decline in fertility over the last 200 years, but there was the temporary rise in the middle of the 20th century (inverted N-shaped fertility dynamics). We also provide the quantitative analysis and examine how well our model replicates the patterns observed in U.S. data.
A Trivariate Causality Test Among Economic Growth, Government Expenditure and Inflation Rate: Evidence from Nigeria

This study examined the causal relationships among economic growth, government expenditure and inflation rate in Nigeria over the period 1970 to 2010. The study utilized both the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and the Philip Perron tests to examine the properties of the variables. It was observed that the variables were found to be stationary, though not in their level form but in their first difference. In addition, the Johansen and Juselius (JJ) co-integration technique indicated the presence of co-integration among the variables while the tri-variate vector error correction model (VECM) showed the presence of bi-directional causality between government expenditures and economic growth both in the short run and in the long run. Also, it was revealed that in the short run a unidirectional causality existed from economic growth and government expenditure to inflation rate while no feedback from inflation rate was observed. Based on these findings, this study recommends that government should implement policies that would moderate government spending in order to reduce inflation rate. To compliment for the loss in economic growth through the reduction in government spending, lending rate should be moderated to encourage private investment in the Nigerian economy. Keywords: Economic growth, Government Expenditure, Inflation Rate, Trivariate Causality, VEC Model
Assessing the vulnerability of blanket peat to climate change using an ensemble of statistical bioclimatic envelope models

We assessed the vulnerability of blanket peat to climate change in Great Britain using an ensemble of 8 bioclimatic envelope models. We used 4 published models that ranged from simple thresh- old models, based on total annual precipitation, to Generalised Linear Models (GLMs, based on mean an- nual temperature). In addition, 4 new models were developed which included measures of water deficit as threshold, classification tree, GLM and generalised additive models (GAM). Models that included measures of both hydrological conditions and maximum temperature provided a better fit to the mapped peat area than models based on hydrological variables alone. Under UKCIP02 projections for high (A1F1) and low (B1) greenhouse gas emission scenarios, 7 out of the 8 models showed a decline in the bioclimatic space associated with blanket peat. Eastern regions (Northumbria, North York Moors, Orkney) were shown to be more vulnerable than higher-altitude, western areas (Highlands, Western Isles and Argyle, Bute and The Trossachs). These results suggest a long-term decline in the distribution of actively grow- ing blanket peat, especially under the high emissions scenario, although it is emphasised that existing peatlands may well persist for decades under a changing climate. Observational data from long-term monitoring and manipulation experiments in combination with process-based models are required to explore the nature and magnitude of climate change impacts on these vulnerable areas more fully.
Revision of the genus Pachyacanthus Brandt, 1871 (Mammalia: Cetacea: Odontoceti)

The Middle Miocene genus Pachyacanthus Brandt, 1871 is represented by three incomplete skeletons from Nussdorf-Heiligenstadt, Vienna, and several isolated skeletal elements from other localities in Vienna and the Vienna Basin (Austria). A few disarticulated vertebrae and limb elements from three Miocene localities in Hungary are referred to Pachyacanthus here for the first time. Of the six nominal species of Pachyacanthus, only the type species, P. suessii Brandt, 1871 is now recognized. The scapula of P. suessii lacks a coracoid process and a supraspinous fossa, and the acromion process is located on the anterior margin of the scapula. The scapular morphology of P. suessii points to phylogenetic relationship with members of the superfamily Platanistoidea. The presumably elongated and narrow rostrum of the lectotype specimen indicates that P. suessii is probably a member of the family Platanistidae Gray, 1846, but in the lack of more cranial evidence this allocation remains hypothetical. All occurrences of Pachyacanthus suessii are of Sarmatian age (late Serravallian, Middle Miocene). There are no records of P. suessii from outside the area of the ancient Central and Eastern Paratethys.
Banking Competition Measurement and Banking Sector Performance: Analysis of 4 ASEAN Countries

Many believe concentrated banking industry which is dominated by few big banks creates lower competition, high profitability, and low efficiency. The main issue in empirical testing of this hypothesis is how to measure banking competition level. Traditional measures of competition are concentration ratio and Herfindahl-Hirschman Index. This study uses three measures of banking level competition which are widely used in recent financial literature: Boone Indicator, Lerner Index and H-Panzar-Rosse statistics. Lerner Index and H-Panzar-Rosse statistics resulted a similar competition level conclusion, while Boone Indicator produced slightly different output. Industry concentration produced opposing results with those three level of industry competition measurement methods. The results show banking competition tend to be a monopolistic competition in ASEAN countries, especially in Indonesia which banks’ strategy basically were non-pricing strategy. Competition significantly caused lower profitability, while banking efficiency was not significantly affected by level of competition. DOI: 10.15408/sjie.v6i1. 4547
The Gluon propagator close to criticality

There are good reasons that the deconfinement phase transition of pure Yang-Mills theory at finite temperature should also be reflected in the behavior of gauge-fixed gluonic correlation functions. Understanding this in detail would provide another important example of how physical information can be extracted from gauge-dependent correlations, which is not always obvious. Therefore, herein we study the behavior of the Landau-gauge gluon propagator of pure $SU(2)$ across the phase transition in $2+1$ and $3+1$ dimensions in order to assess to what extend the corresponding critical behavior is reflected in these correlations. We discuss why it should emerge from a continuum perspective and test our expectations in lattice simulations. A comparison with $SU(3)$ furthermore reveals quite clear indications for a sensitivity of the gluon propagator to the order of the transition.
Cosmic-ray positron measurements: on the origin of the e + excess and limits on magnetar birthrate

Fifty years after the discovery of antimatter in cosmic rays at the top of the atmosphere, the trend of the most accurate measurements of positrons indicate an excess of these particles above 7 GeV with respect to the secondary component produced by primary cosmic rays propagating in the interstellar medium. This excess is studied here within the scenario of the last 25-year magnetic spectrometer observations. The characteristics of sources contributing to the overall e + flux observed near Earth as a function of particle energy are discussed. Pulsars and magnetars are considered plausible sources of cosmic-ray leptons. The consistency of this possibility is evaluated on the basis of inferred e + source characteristics and parameters set in several other astrophysics fields for these neutron stars. In case all pulsars and magnetars in the vicinity of Earth contribute to e + -e fluxes as expected, a larger positron excess would have been observed. Disks around pulsars and magnetars may play a role in quenching pair production in the magnetosphere of these neutron stars. The magnetar birthrate may also be overestimated.