Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coordinating a Service Supply Chain under Arms Offset Program’s Intervention by Performance-Based Contracting

This paper investigates a support service supply chain for coordinating with a local third-party logistics provider by arms offset program’s intervention and develops a performance-based contracting framework for the coordinating problem, which remains scarce in the literatures. The performance-based contracting framework evaluates payments and profits for the support service by a game-theoretical approach with principal-agent model. We prove that the proposed framework is an effective tool in acquiring the balance between maximum profit and minimum payment for both parties in the coordinating problem without moral hazard issue. A numerical study consolidates the formulated schemes as contracting preference for both parties’ decision with a higher profit margin at a lower customer’s payment.
A study on the efficacy of project-based learning approach on Social Studies Education: Conceptual achievement and academic motivation

In this research, an experimental study was carried out in social studies 4th grade students’ to develop students’ conceptual achievement and motivation to succeed academically. The study aims to investigate the effectiveness of project-based learning (PBL) in social studies. A quasi-experimental research design (pre-and posttest) was used in the research. While the experimental group of students received an interactive social studies instruction including completely PBL in a team format activities, the control group students received an instruction including direct instruction method (whole class teaching and individual work in the worksheet of the topics) in the fourth 4th grade social studies curriculum for six weeks. The findings indicated a statistically significant difference in favor of the experimental group on the concept achievement and motivation. Students who participated in the PBL environments not only enriched and expanded their knowledge but also achieved a higher level of motivation than the control group. The PBL in a team format activities were provided to promote the experimental group students’ motivation to succeed academically and to develop their conceptual achievement. The results demonstrated that the PBL improved students’ understanding regarding social studies concepts and helped them achieve the behaviours which were aimed academically. The experimental group’s intended behaviours in academic motivation at the beginning of the experimental treatment turned into performed behaviours at the end. Key words: Project-based learning, social studies teaching, academic motivation, student achievement.
The Quality Evaluation of Postharvest Strawberries Stored in Nano-Ag Packages at Refrigeration Temperature

Different percentages (0%, 1%, 5%, and 10%) of nano-Ag particles were added to polylactic acid (PLA) to make an active nanocomposite packaging film. Strawberries were packaged by the nanocomposite films and stored at 4 ± 1 °C for 10 days. The freshness of strawberries was assessed by regularly measuring the physicochemical properties of the strawberries in each packaging film. The difference in the freshness of strawberries was evaluated by determining the following parameter changes: weight loss, hardness, soluble solids, titratable acid, color, vitamin C, total phenol, free radical scavenging activity, peroxidase activity, and sensory evaluation. The results revealed that the active nanocomposite packaging film has better preservation effect when compared with pure PLA film. Its preservation effect is mainly reflected in the more effective reduction of vitamin C loss, delaying the decline of total phenols and 1-Diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) in strawberries. It also showed better physical properties. The results showed that the PLA nanocomposite packaging film could effectively preserve freshness of strawberries.
Advances in simulating atmospheric variability with the ECMWF model: From synoptic to decadal time‐scales

Advances in simulating atmospheric variability with the ECMWF model are presented that stem from revisions of the convection and diffusion parametrizations. The revisions concern in particular the introduction of a variable convective adjustment time‐scale, a convective entrainment rate proportional to the environmental relative humidity, as well as free tropospheric diffusion coefficients for heat and momentum based on Monin–Obukhov functional dependencies.
Effect of Narcotic Addiction on Hypothalamic Pituitary Gonadal Axis Hormones

Drug addiction is considered a serious societal problem, often leading to social maladaptation, decreased work productivity and job loss. Beside loss of control, drug addiction gradually leads to the development of tolerance and a demand to take higher doses in order to attain the desired stimulating effect. This study intended to investigate the effect of bhang (which consists of the leaves and flowering tops of male and female Cannabis sativa plant) and opium addiction on hypothalamic pituitary gonadal axis hormones. It was conducted on 83 individuals whose ages ranged from 23 to 35 years and who were classified into 6 groups. Group A: male subjects addicted to opium; group B female subjects addicted to opium; group C male subjects addicted to bhang; group D female subjects addicted to bhang; group E control male subjects and group F control female subjects. Blood sampling from female groups (addicts and control) were taken during the follicular phase. The results of our research revealed a significant decrease in serum total testosterone, follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), leutinizing hormone (LH) and prolactin in male addicts to opium in relation to the control group. Although the serum level of these hormones was significantly lower in males addicted to bhang when compared to the control group, the effect of opium was relatively more severe than the effect of bhang. However, the decrease in serum estradiol in male addicts was not significant when compared to the control group. Moreover, the results showed a significant decrease in serum testosterone, estradiol, FSH, LH and prolactin levels in female addicts to opium more than the female addicts to bhang when compared to the control group except for estradiol, for which the effect of bhang was more severe. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Computational analysis of effective thermal conductivity of microencapsulated phase change material coated composite fabrics

Microencapsulated phase change materials have been widely used as filler material to develop thermoregulating textile composites. Phase change material has unique property of latent heat that can absorb and release energy over constant temperature range. In this work a method is developed to predict the effective thermal conductivity of microencapsulated phase change material coated composite woven fabrics via finite element analysis. For this purpose unit cell of microencapsulated phase change materials as coated material and woven fabrics were developed and analysed by applying different boundary conditions. Validation of the models was carried out on the basis of strong correlation in effective thermal conductivity values of the microencapsulated phase change materials coated composite fabrics between experimental results and the predicted results from post-processing calculation by finite element method.
Carbon capture and storage in the UK and Germany: easier task, stronger commitment?

A successful carbon capture and storage (CCS) policy and programme is widely considered essential to curbing carbon dioxide emissions. What explains the strikingly different policy outcomes in two key European Union political heavyweights and coal economies, the UK and Germany? The UK has decided to contract two specific CCS projects, with explicit timelines for realisation; Germany has made no such decisions. From scrutiny of official documents and in-depth high-level interviews, it was found that the UK has more favourable structural capacity, including offshore storage capacity (which evokes less conflict) and significant oil-industry expertise, and thus an easier task. Moreover, this structural capacity has interacted with a solid political commitment to bring CCS forward in the UK, including specific, multistage funding and a high-level drive to develop CCS, especially after 2009. In Germany, by contrast, CCS has encountered increasing local and central opposition since 2009, with the Energiewende and renewables being accorded priority.
Time Domain Analysis of the Ventilation around the Partial Immersed Propeller Using Sliding Mesh Method

Article History: Received: 29 Dec. 2016 Accepted: 15 Mar. 2017 In this paper a computational method is presented for predicting the unsteady hydrodynamic forces acting on partial immersed propeller (SPP). In order to simulate the unsteady viscous flow around a SPP, a Reynolds-Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) solver is used. The time-accurate calculations are made by applying the sliding mesh method. Structured and unstructured mesh techniques are used. The method is applied in the case of the straight condition. Hydrodynamic coefficients are compared with experimental data and show good agreement between them. Also, ventilation pattern, pressure distribution and unsteady forces/moments on key blade of SPP is presented and discussed.
European Urban and Regional Studies Elisa Giuliani Behind ? Cluster Absorptive Capacity : Why do Some Clusters Forge Ahead and Others Lag

can be found at: European Urban and Regional Studies Additional services and information for http://eur.sagepub. com/cgi/alerts Email Alerts: http://eur.sagepub. com/subscriptions Subscriptions: http://www.sagepub. com/journalsReprints.nav Reprints: http://www.sagepub. com/journalsPermissions.nav Permissions: http://eur.sagepub. com/cgi/content/refs/12/3/269 SAGE Journals Online and HighWire Press platforms): (this article cites 56 articles hosted on the Citations
Statistical Arbitrage & Fund Performance: An Empirical Analysis of Fund Returns

Fund companies and banks argue that letting them manage one’s money is a wise decision. They argue that they are able to create substantial growth in value for the investor without requiring any other input than a small fee and an amount to be invested. This essay tests this claim in a two folded analysis. Time series data with historical value developments of 24 out of the 30 largest Swedish equity funds, along with the value development of the MSCI Sweden SEK stock market index, is used in the analysis. The first part of the analysis uses descriptive statistics of fund net returns and the benchmark index returns to assess whether or not fund managers are able to exploit statistical arbitrage opportunities in the Swedish equity market. It is concluded that fund managers are able to do this and consequently create average excess net returns that are greater than zero at an 80% confidence level. The second part of the analysis investigates if it is really worth the cost of fees to let an actively managed fund take care of one’s investment. The fact that fund managers are able to create positive excess returns is not good enough a reason to motivate fund investment on its own. It is investigated if the best three funds in the data set are able to outperform an active, but free, investment strategy that does not require financial sophistication. The investment strategy is based on a GARCH(2,1) model which is used to forecast the returns of the benchmark index and guide investment decisions. The second part of the analysis concludes that the funds are outperforming the proposed investment strategy on average, indicating that there is merit to the fund companies’ claim; it is worth the cost of fees to have one’s money looked after by an actively managed fund, given that the choice of fund is a well-informed decision. (Less)
Warm-season hydroclimate variability in Central China since 1866 AD and its relations with the East Asian Summer Monsoon: evidence from tree-ring earlywood width

Abstract. Historical hydroclimate records derived from tree-ring parameters are scarce in the core region of East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) in China, limiting our understanding of the inter-decadal hydroclimate variability of this region and its possible connections with the EASM. In this study, standard chronologies of total tree-ring width (TRW), earlywood width (EWW), and latewood width (LWW) were created using tree-ring samples of Pinus tabulaeformis in the eastern Qinling Mountains, Central China. The strongest growth-climate relationship was found between EWW and May–July self-calibrated Palmer Drought Severity Index (MJJ scPDSI). Therefore, a linear regression model, which explained 50.3 % of the variance in MJJ scPDSI (1951–2005), was developed to estimate the past MJJ scPDSI variations using EWW. The time series of MJJ scPDSI was extended back to the year 1866, and validated by independent hydroclimate series from nearby regions. Before the mid-1950s, the variations of MJJ scPDSI were in-phase with those of EASM intensity on decadal and longer timescales, suggesting that wet conditions would occur in the eastern Qinling Mountains when EASM was strengthened. Since the mid-1950s, however, the relationship has been out-of-phase. This phase change may be associated with an intensified dipole pattern of EASM precipitation.
Desenvolvimento psicológico na fase escolar de crianças nascidas pré-termo em comparação com crianças nascidas a termo

O presente estudo objetivou avaliar indicadores do desenvolvimento psicologico na fase escolar de criancas nascidas pre-termo com muito baixo peso e compara-los aos de criancas nascidas a termo, quanto as areas intelectual, emocional e comportamental. A amostra foi composta por 40 criancas de 8 a 10 anos, subdivididas em 2 grupos: Pre-termo (PT), 20 criancas nascidas 2.500g. Foram utilizados o Raven, o Desenho da Figura Humana e a Escala Comportamental Infantil. As criancas PT apresentaram mais frequentemente nivel intelectual inferior a media e problemas comportamentais em comparacao as AT. Nao houve diferenca entre os grupos quanto aos aspectos emocionais. Os problemas de enurese, medo, tiques, impaciencia e dificuldade de permanencia nas atividades foram significativamente mais frequentes no PT do que no AT. Verificou-se que, no grupo PT, quanto menor o nivel intelectual das criancas, mais problemas de comportamento elas apresentavam.
The Effect of Polypropylene Fibre on the Behaviour of Soil Mass with Reference to the Strength Parameters

The stability of the soil is one of the important factor during the construction of a structure. For better performance of structures built on such soils, the performance characteristics of such soils need to be improved. The poor engineering performance of such soils has forced Engineers to attempt to improve the engineering properties of poor quality soils.This paper presents how polypropylene fibers influence on shear strength parameters of the soil. In the initial stage, the effect of polypropylene fiber on maximum dry density and optimum moisture content with different fiber inclusion were studied. Test specimens were prepared with various percentages such as 0%, 0.05%, 0.15%, 0.25%, and 0.35% with the same dry density. In the second stage unconfined compression test were carried out to determine the shear strength parameters of the soil. From this study it was observed that polypropylene fibers could be an effective method to improve the physical and mechanical properties of the subsoil with minimum percentage of reinforcement. Keywords—Clay, Polypropylenefiber, Unconfined compression strength, Shear strength.
Building E-Agriculture Framework in Kenya

Arguably, poverty is concentrated in developing countries due to poor capacity to develop, to access and to manage agricultural information and knowledge. This is owed to disconnect that exist between the eAgricultural products available in the market and the information needs of the farmers. To address this challenge, there is need to integrate information required by the farmers from the diverse to a single information access point. Such an access point need to be pervasive enough to provide anywhere, anytime and any device information access while meeting the need to avail timely, relevant, accurate and consumable information to farmers. In this paper we attempt to build such an information access point. Specifically, we establish information needs of farmers in Kenya and strategies to bridge these needs in attempt to improve agricultural productivity. We then illustrate that addressing these needs require strict considerations to interests of stakeholders in agriculture as we show that it is critical that the agricultural stakeholders cooperate and collaborate, that is working jointly toward maximizing whole-some agricultural output and individual benefits. And consequently we develop an integrated framework for eAgriculture adoption based on the agriculture-stakeholder consortium that models stakeholders’ interests.
Ultrahigh cooperativity interactions between magnons and resonant photons in a YIG sphere

Resonant photon modes of a 5-mm-diameter yttrium iron garnet (YIG) sphere loaded in a cylindrical cavity in the 10\char21{}30-GHz frequency range are characterized as a function of applied dc magnetic field at millikelvin temperatures. The photon modes are confined mainly to the sphere and exhibited large mode filling factors in comparison to previous experiments, allowing ultrastrong coupling with the magnon spin-wave resonances. The largest observed coupling between photons and magnons is $2g/2\ensuremath{\pi}=7.11$ GHz for a 15.5-GHz mode, corresponding to a cooperativity of $C=1.51\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.47\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{7}$. Complex modifications, beyond a simple multioscillator model, of the photon mode frequencies were observed between 0 and 0.1 T. Between 0.4 and 1 T, degenerate resonant photon modes were observed to interact with magnon spin-wave resonances with different coupling strengths, indicating time-reversal symmetry breaking due to the gyrotropic permeability of YIG. Bare dielectric resonator mode frequencies were determined by detuning magnon modes to significantly higher frequencies with strong magnetic fields. By comparing measured mode frequencies at 7 T with finite element modeling, a bare dielectric permittivity of $15.96\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.02$ of the YIG crystal has been determined at about 20 mK.
Writing a Good Cookbook: I. A Review of MMPI High-Point Code System Studies

A small set of studies that will be called the high-point code system studies has contributed greatly to the perception of the MMPI as an empirically grounded clinical instrument. Ten published studies have provided data concerning the interpretive significance of high-point codes in general. This article provides a methodological evaluation of these studies. We reviewed the features that distinguish these studies from other MMPI actuarial studies. The high-point code system studies were designed to maximize clinical usefulness, more so than even other actuarial studies, but sometimes did so at a potential cost in power. We address this issue further in a second article on effect sizes derived from the high-point code system studies (McGrath & Ingersoll, this issue). We found striking differences across studies in the code-definition strategies used. Which strategy represents the optimal high-point coding strategy for clinicians who use the MMPI remains an unresolved question because any strategy requires some tradeoff between the ideals of code group homogeneity and inclusiveness. We also address the issue of whether complete description or unique description of code group members is a more desirable goal for such studies and discuss implications of the findings for future research on this topic.
Conference : Avian Lipoprotein Metabolism : An Update Lipoprotein Metabolism and Fattening in Poultry 1

Because de novo fatty acid synthesis in birds takes place mainly in the liver, adipose tissue growth and subsequent fattening depend on the availability of plasma triglycerides, which are transported as components of lipoproteins. In growing birds, VLDL is the major transporter of triglycerides, and attempts to reduce excessive fatness in poultry have involved the control of VLDL metabolism. Lean and fat lines of chickens have been selected on the basis of either their abdominal fat content or plasma VLDL concentration. In both cases, hepatic lipogenesis or LPL activity in adipose tissue did not differ between lean and fat lines, and therefore they did not appear to be limiting factors of susceptibility to fattening. In contrast, hepatic secretion and plasma concentration of VLDL were always higher in fat chickens than in lean chickens. Thus, current methods of selection of broilers against excessive fatness are based on this direct relationship between plasma VLDL and adiposity. When hepatic lipogenesis exceeds the capacity of VLDL secretion, triglycerides accumulate in the liver, causing steatosis. Although fatty liver is associated with reduced egg production and increased mortality in laying hens, hepatic steatosis in overfed ducks and geese is of positive economic value, serving as the basis for ‘‘foie-gras’’ production. The balance between synthesis and secretion of VLDL is therefore the key point that regulates hepatic and extrahepatic fattening in poultry. J. Nutr. 127: 805S–808S, 1997.
Importance of the Parameter Vm/Vc in Countercurrent Chromatography: Tentative Comparison Between Instrument Designs

Abstract Results acquired with tree CCC devices are compared. There is a linear relationship between the minimum volume of mobie phase. Vmin m,. compatible with the actual flow rate. F, and that flow rate. Vc being the volume of the column and S the cross sectional area of the channel where the chromatographic process occurs, the slope of the line Vmin m/Vc = f (F/S) allows comparison of the stability of the stationary phase for various instruments. This relationship leads to an estimation of the average linear velocity of the mobile phase in the Channel, u. namely being the relativevolume in the ducts and flow tubes in the column. The efficiency is much more dependent on the relative volume of the mobile phase than it is on the flow rate for the three instruments, and it generally increases with the relative volume of the mobile phase in the column. As a result, the -esolution decreases very slowly, or not at all. when F and Vmin m are increased.
Blame Projection , Similarity ? rojec ion and Response

Subjects in a stress condition wera lad to believe that they had failed an important achievement test while sublects in a non-stress condition were not led* to -believe thAt 'they had failed. Projection strategies were manipulated by encoueiging sub14cts either to attribute the cause of their poor performance to -the ex4einer instead of to themse4.ves(dlame projectioh) or to estimate' how poorly their fri,ends would have scored on the test had they . taken it . and not rerfcrried well on it (similarity projection) . Measures of subjective anxiett,. enger, and depression indicated that (a) the, failure ftedback was effective in ,increasing stress, (b) bl.ame projection was effective ih con,trolling ,stregs, ahd (c) similarity. projectibm was partially effeoeive in controlling stress. The results provide evidence that blame prOjection cam be af fective min controlling stres's 'and also' have implications concerning the conditions under which the ,use 'of projection will 'hfid will not be effective in coping with stress. The importaffice that situational factors may have on the effectiveness of cognitive coping strategies was emphasized-