Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMANITIES & SOCIAL STUDIES Product Innovation and Its Effects on Sustainable Competitive Advantage among 10 Selected Manufacturing Firms in Ibadan Metropolis, Nigeria

The area of product innovation and competitive advantage among manufacturing firms is drawing the attention of scholars, as manufacturing firms also crave for sustainable competitive advantage but they are oblivious of the dots that are needed to be connected in order to ensure competitive edge over their competition. Many Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FCMG) firms strive to thrive and remain relevant in the market and a major driver for survival and competitiveness is the ability to consistently innovate and develop new products. The process of product innovation that will confer a sustainable competitive advantage on manufacturing firm is quite complex, time-consuming, capitalintensive, and resource intensive, especially at the design stage. This places a heavy burden on the manufacturing firm who are willing but not able to commit the requisite resources needed to develop such products. In line with these challenges, the large-scale industries easily exploit such opportunities, as they are more equipped with the technology, technical know-how, expertise, capital etc. It is against this background there is a need for a study like this to look at the issues that could be posing threats to the sustenance of manufacturing firm’s competitive advantage. Primary method of data collection was used to gathered relevant information from the field, using structured questionnaire for data collection, the research design is descriptive in nature, 330 questionnaires were distributed across the 10 selected manufacturing firms, however, 256 were returned which constitute about 78% of the total administered questionnaires while the data was analyzed using 20.0 version of SPSS. Two hypotheses were postulated and the results derived shows that there is a linear relationship between the variables used to measure the two constructs which invariably mean that manufacturing firms in Ibadan metropolis uses Product Innovation as a strategy to gain a competitive edge in the market hence the two null hypotheses were rejected. Consequently, it was concluded in this study that product innovation has a positive effect on the sustainable competitive advantage of manufacturing firms. However, it was recommended that product Innovation deserves a greater attention and more commitment from manufacturing organizations so as to guarantees other benefits other than just Sustainable Competitive Advantage. This will offer an opportunity to the manufacturing industry and their respective players to know the necessary corrective measure that is vital in ensuring sustainable competitive advantage.
Transcriptional changes in prostate of men on active surveillance after a 12-mo glucoraphanin-rich broccoli intervention—results from the Effect of Sulforaphane on prostate CAncer PrEvention (ESCAPE) randomized controlled trial

ABSTRACT Background Epidemiological evidence suggests that consumption of cruciferous vegetables is associated with reduced risk of prostate cancer progression, largely attributed to the biological activity of glucosinolate degradation products, such as sulforaphane derived from glucoraphanin. Because there are few therapeutic interventions for men on active surveillance for prostate cancer to reduce the risk of cancer progression, dietary approaches are an appealing option for patients. Objective We evaluated whether consumption of a glucoraphanin-rich broccoli soup for 1 y leads to changes in gene expression in prostate tissue of men with localized prostate cancer. Methods Forty-nine men on active surveillance completed a 3-arm parallel randomized double-blinded intervention study for 12 mo and underwent transperineal template biopsy procedures and dietary assessment at the start and end of the study. Patients received a weekly 300 mL portion of soup made from a standard broccoli (control) or from 1 of 2 experimental broccoli genotypes with enhanced concentrations of glucoraphanin, delivering 3 and 7 times that of the control, respectively. Gene expression in tissues from each patient obtained before and after the dietary intervention was quantified by RNA sequencing followed by gene set enrichment analyses. Results In the control arm, there were several hundred changes in gene expression in nonneoplastic tissue during the 12 mo. These were associated with an increase in expression of potentially oncogenic pathways including inflammation processes and epithelial–mesenchymal transition. Changes in gene expression and associated oncogenic pathways were attenuated in men on the glucoraphanin-rich broccoli soup in a dose-dependent manner. Although the study was not powered to assess clinical progression, an inverse association between consumption of cruciferous vegetables and cancer progression was observed. Conclusion Consuming glucoraphanin-rich broccoli soup affected gene expression in the prostate of men on active surveillance, consistent with a reduction in the risk of cancer progression. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as NCT01950143.
Process design and economic studies of two ‐ step fermentation for production of ascorbic acid

The current study presents the conceptual design of a chemical plant for an annual production of 500 tonne ascorbic acid or Vitamin C with a high purity of 95% via fermentation of d-sorbitol. In this study, two-step fermentation with a single culture process is operated with a proper ISO 14000 Environmental Management procedure. A process flow diagram of the processing plant and the plant-wide simulation flowsheet that was generated by SuperPro Designer Simulation software, as well as the material and energy balances are also depicted. Meanwhile, the process is optimized through the recycling of sorbose and heat integration. By recycling sorbose, the production of ascorbic acid has increased by 24% while the total energy consumption had reduced by 20% after heat integration. Furthermore, economic and sensitivity analysis was performed to calculate the profitability of the plant and predict the effect of market conditions on the investments. After the economic analysis, total capital investment and total production cost for the best scenario were found to be roughly USD 52 million and USD 43 million, respectively with a return on investment of 78.73% and a payback period of 1.17 years since the selling price of Vitamin C is high.
Student teachers’ knowledge of students’

An important part of the mathematics syllabuses at the secondary school level in most countries is the concept of function. However, secondary school students often experience difficulties with this concept. These difficulties are well-known in the research literature. The study applies the mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) framework, including the category knowledge of content and students (KCS). Teachers’ ability to anticipate students’ difficulties is one aspect of KCS. The aim of this study is to investigate secondary mathematics student teachers’ KCS regarding the concept of function. Ten mathematics student teachers participating in a Supplementary Teacher Education Program answered a questionnaire about fictive secondary school students’ various difficulties with the concept of function. Followup interviews were conducted with four of the respondents. Compared to the findings of previous research on students’ difficulties with the concept of function, the respondents in the study sometimes provide reasonable suggestions about the sources of students’ difficulties. Some of the respondents demonstrate an aspect of KCS when they suggest that students can reason that a function must be defined by one algebraic expression only, and that students only know about continuous functions. However, no respondent suggests that one source of students’ difficulties with a constant function with an implicit domain is the missing domain. In addition, some respondents take for granted that students can interpret the algebraic representation of a piecewise-defined function and translate it into a graph.
- 4 .4 000-/ 332-97 Relevance of home range concepts to game biology 2 . 8 Nf = 7309 / 14 -1

to management of wildlife populations. Several review paoers have adequately summarized the history of these concepts (Sanderson 1966, Brown 1966, Brown and Orians 1970). 0 historically, the idea of home range developed from data which indicated that an animal normally lives (when one excludes migrations and erratic wanderings) in a rather specified area throughout its lifetime. Data of this type were usually collected from mark-recapture studies
Onset of Aegean-style extensional deformation in the contractional southern Dinarides documented by incipient: Incipient normal fault scarps in Montenegro

We describe two previously unreported, 5-7 km long normal fault scarps (NFS) occurring atop fault-related anticlines in the coastal ranges of the Dinarides fold-and-thrust belt in southern Montenegro, a region under predominant contraction. Both NFS show well-exposed, 6-9 m high, striated and locally polished fault surfaces in limestones,, cutting shallowly dipping limestone beds at high angles and documenting active faulting during the Holocene. Sharply delimited 45 ribbons on free rock faces show different color, varying karstification and lichen growth and suggest stepwise footwall exhumation, typical of repeated normal faulting earthquake events. Displacements, surface rupture lengths and geometries of the outcropping fault planes imply paleoearthquakes with Mw≈6 ± 0.5 and slip rates of c.at least 0.3-0.5 mm/yr since the Last Glacial Maximum. SlipAbsolute (and more reliable, higher-resolution) slip rates based on cosmogenic Cl data from the scarps are significantly higher: modelingmodelling suggests 1.5 ± 0.1 mm/yr and 6-15 cm slip every c. 35-100 yrs, 50 commencing c. , or resuming, ~6 kyr ago. The total throw on both NFS – although poorly constrained – is estimated to max. 200-400 m, and offsets the basal thrust of a regionally important tectonic unit. BothThe NFS are incipient extensional structures that postdate growth of the fault-related anticlines on top of which they occur. To explain their existence in a region apparently under purely contractional influence, we consider two explanation approaches possible: (i) syn-convergent NFS development or (ii) an hitherto unnoticed propagation of actual extensional tectonics from the hinterland. Interestingly, the position of the 55 extensional features agrees with recent geodetic data, suggesting that our study area is located exactly at the transition from NE-SW-directed shortening in the northwest to NE-SW-directed extension to the southeast. While the contraction reflects ongoing Adria-Europe convergence taken up along the frontal portions of the Dinarides, the incipient extensional structures might be induced by rollback of the Hellenic slab in the SE, whose effects on the upper plate appear to be migrating alongstrike the Hellenides towards the northwest. The newly found NFS possibly provide evidence for a kinematic change of a 60 thrust belt segment over time. Alternatively, the NFS might be regarded as second-order features accommodating changes in dip of the underlying first-order thrust faults to which they are tied genetically. Formatvorlagendefinition: Listenabsatz Formatiert: Einzug: Erste Zeile: 0 cm
Unifying Personal Development Through Dance, Movement and the Increase of the Emotional Intelligence Level

Introduction: It has been recently proven in repeated studies and publications that emotional intelligence is responsible for the successes and achievements in different existential dimensions, especially through the qualitative increase of interpersonal relationships. Also, several hypotheses were issued regarding the fact that the level of emotional intelligence may be increased through various creative activities and educational-therapeutic programs. Objectives: The present study aimes to investigate the dynamics of emotional intelligence in relation to the participation in a unifying personal development program through dance and movement. To this end, we covered two major stages and objectives at the same time: 1 – building up and implementing a unifying personal development program through dance and movement (UPDDM) and 2 – conducting a statistically quantitative study in order to capture the effects of the program on emotional intelligence, as well as the correlation between it and the self-satisfaction regarding the physical body. Method: The experimental-quantitative research was conducted on an experimental sample, composed of 32 persons and a control sample composed of 32 persons as well. The method of applying the instruments was the test-retest type. The initial testing was at the beginning of the program and the retesting took place two months after its finalization. There was a period of six months between the test and retest. The conducted experiment consisted in a program called “Filia Alchemic Dance”, composed of 3 modules, 20 hours long each, every two months. “Filia Alchemic Dance” is a complex program, based on UPDDM and, implicitly, on the Experiential Therapy of Unification. Results: The results obtained after the statistical data processing show significant differences between the control group and the experimental one in the two main variables, emotional intelligence and self-satisfaction regarding the physical body. There is a strong positive correlation between these variables, which confirms the hypotheses of the research. Conclusions: The study demonstrated that unifying personal development, with corporal support, in this case through dance and movement, is a valid method of increasing the emotional intelligence by reconnecting with one’s own body and through the inner unification between body, emotion, reason and spirit.
The Influence of Service Innovation and Service Quality to Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty in Banking Industry

Customer satisfaction and loyalty are more challenging to obtain in today increasingly competitive market. Banking sector which offered relatively similar product is no exception. Earlier study has proven that service innovation is an inevitable necessity for firm’s survival and is critical to influence the customer satisfaction and loyalty in banking industry. Moreover, a well-developed conceptual model of satisfaction and loyalty in service industry has been established, considering service quality as the antecedent. This study is aimed to develop and validate a new conceptual model of customer satisfaction and loyalty in Indonesia banking industry with service innovation and service quality concept as the antecedent, with also employed service quality dimensions. In order to validate the proposed conceptual model, online survey was conducted and data from 274 sampled customers of retail bank in Indonesia was used. The data analysis employed Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) using Lisrel 8.51. Results from the analysis reveal that the service quality dimensions were compatible. SEM results also show that service innovation has positive effect to customer satisfaction and loyalty while service quality has positive impact on customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction has positive impact on customer loyalty. However, the effect of service quality to customer loyalty was not supported. This study enriches existing study which focus on customer satisfaction and loyalty in banking especially in emerging country context. This study also provides additional knowledge with incorporating service innovation and service quality as antecedent of customer satisfaction and loyalty in banking industry.
Salicylic Acid Enhances the Vase Life and Improves the Postharvest Attributes ¬¬— A Case Study of Antirrhinum majus L.

Antirrhinum majus L. is one of the most significant ornamental plants in the international flower industry, but has a relatively limited vase life, as evidenced by petal abscission and flower spike bending. The current study focuses on examining the efficacy of salicylic acid on the vase life and postharvest attributes of A. majus flower spikes. The spikes with the oldest floral bud at one day before anthesis stage were harvested and divided into 4 sets, with one set of spikes held in distilled water (DW) designated as control. The remaining three sets were supplemented with various concentrations of SA viz., 1, 2 and 3 mM. Among the concentrations studied, 2 mM was found to be the most promising SA concentration for increasing the postharvest performance of flowers of A. majus cut spikes. The enhanced vase life of A.majus spikes was characterised by increased floral diameter, a higher membrane stability index and elevated levels of total phenols and sugars as compared to the control. SA has been proven to suppress protein degradation and lipoxygenase activity during the vase life of flower spikes. Furthermore, SA-treated flower spikes with enhanced postharvest properties were shown to have higher levels of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase, catalase and ascorbate peroxidase activity.
Characterization of heat waves: an example for La Plata

22 We propose a novel approach to study heat waves that focuses on ch aracterizing 23 key components of their definition: threshold temperature and persistence. Ambigu24 ity about these criteria often arises from the lack of a specific impact of inter est and 25 results in questionable assumptions. 26 To present our idea we focus on summertime heat waves over the La Plata Ba sin 27 (LPB) in South America and employ a high quality dataset of daily maximum temper28 ature recently become available for the period 1961-2000. We start adop ing the90 29 percentile of the maximum daily distribution as threshold temperature and a minimum 30 persistence of two days to classify an event as a heat wave. The latter is c hosen be31 cause 2–3 days is the typical persistence of these temperatures and longer persistence 32 events are rare. 33 We show that two events occur on average every year; most years hav e 0–4 events, 34 and only 15% of the years have at least 5. We identified only three ”hot” su mmers, 35 which are defined as those in which a large number of events occurred ac oss much of 36 the region; they are: 1967/68, 1971/72, and 1988/89. Their limited number p revents 37 any possible search for statistically significant large scale conditions asso ci ted with 38 their occurrence. 39 The sensitivity of outcomes to the choice of threshold temperature is minimal: 40 when the80 percentile is employed, heat waves are more frequent but persist as 41 long as those characterizing the 90 percentile, and only one additional hot summer 42 is found: 1985/86. Results indicate the lack of a climatological circulation that s ets 43 the stage for heat waves in LPB; alternatively, this is too rare to be apprec iated over a 44 40–year period. 45
Extension of In-Gap Electronic-State Spectrum Extraction Technique Based on Transient Photo-Voltage Measurement

This article puts forward a novel insight for extraction of trap state density (DOS T ) based on the transient photo-voltage (TPV) experimental data. Inspired by the method based on the Gauss distribution model, we introduce a universal general distribution model and present a general technique of DOS T distribution from the experimental data of TPV measurement. The method based on the exponential (Gauss) distribution model is the one (two) order special case of our method. Compared to the method based on the exponential model (applicable only when the TPV result satisfies linear relation) and Gauss model (applicable only when the TPV result satisfies quadratic function relation), our work is effective for arbitrary TPV result.
Soil-site suitability evaluation of groundnut-growing soils of Srikalahasti division in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh

Groundnut-growing soils of Srikalahasti division in Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh were evaluated for their suitability to groundnut crop. These soils belong to Entisols, Inceptisols and Alfisols. The soilsite suitability evaluation of the study area revealed that P2, P3, P4 P5, P7, P10, P13, P14, P16 and P17 were suitable (S1) for growing groundnut crop with slight limitations of pH, wetness and organic carbon. P1, P6, P8, P12, P15, P18 and P20 were moderately suitable (S2) with moderate limitations of wetness, soil depth and slight limitations of sum of basic cations, organic carbon, pH and alkalinity. P9, P11 and P19 were marginally suitable (S3) with moderately limitations of pH, soil depth and organic carbon for growing groundnut crop. Crop suitability evaluation revealed various limitations for growing groundnut crop in the study area. By correcting these limitations by following suggested said management practices, sustainable yields can be achieved in groundnut crop besides sustaining the soil fertility.
Viscoelastic-plastic Materials: Parameter Estimate and Numerical Simulation of Experimental Tests

—This paper is focused on a generalized Voigt model applicable to three-dimensional stress states and suitable for the numerical analysis of structural systems made of bituminous mixtures. In this context, it is noted that viscoelastic-plastic models , in principle, can be easily and effectively utilized in the field of pavement analysis and design, since they require limited computational effort. In fact, modern computers and well tested algorithms are definitely adequate for the nonlinear analysis of structural systems, although elastic discrete models are obviously easier to handle, because the response to external actions is obtained by solving a single linear system of equations. Instead, even in the case of quasi-static loading conditions, viscous materials require an incremental analysis, which is carried out by subdividing the load history into a finite number of time-steps. In addition, when plastic deformations are considered, an iterative algorithm is needed to find the non-reversible strains during each step. The main objective of the paper is the estimate of the mechanical properties, since any material model can be used if it is possible to determine its parameters, preferably by means of simple testing procedures. Therefore, a linear elastic analysis (when reasonably applicable) represents the most appealing option, thanks to the additional advantage provided by the easy estimate of elastic properties, while the parameters that govern the response of viscous materials inevitably imply more difficult challenges—and further efforts are required in the presence of plastic strains. materials can actually be estimated on the basis of traditional, simple compression tests on cylindrical specimens. Optimal values can be found by using classical system identification procedures, but we preferred to give attention to some special features of the material model discussed here and eventually implemented a trial and error algorithm specifically designed for viscoelastic-plastic specimens. Numerical simulations do suggest that the proposed approach is suitable and effective for the estimate of the parameters, which are needed to characterize these materials.