Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Assessing the intensity of cooperation: a study of joint delegation of municipal functions to inter-municipal associations

ABSTRACT Talking is cheap, at least in the short term; elected officials may profess their preferences for IMC and yet deny IMA organisations the necessary resources to fulfil their missions. Driven by a focus on revealed preferences for inter-municipal cooperation, the article aims to answer two questions: Why do some IMA exhibit a high level of commitment on the part of their local government members whereas others remain underutilised, reflecting a choice by local governments to retain these responsibilities themselves? How does this commitment to IMAs vary over time? We use data from 25 IMAs over a 10-year period (2008–2018) in Portugal to assess the intensity of cooperation among Portuguese local governments through stand-alone organisations. The panel analysis regression supports the hypotheses that a larger number of local governments involved in IMAs and higher levels of heterogeneity among them make cooperation more difficult. In contrast, longer interaction in IMAs reinforces the intensity of cooperation.
Information Stickiness and Monetary Policy on the Great Moderation

By utilizing a simple DSGE model with dual stickiness, this paper performs a series of empirical analysis to study the change in the effects of monetary policy shock on macroeconomic variables over the Great Moderation, and the role of information stickiness in the evolution of monetary policy implications. The parameters estimated by Bayesian estimation approach suggest that information stickiness increases, while the volatility of monetary policy shock significantly decreases during Great Moderation period. The empirical findings address that our model successfully derives the hump-shaped response of inflation and output to monetary shock, and a smaller size of the effect of shocks on macroeconomic variables during Great Moderation. Counterfactual exercises suggest that increase in both price stickiness and information stickiness and decline in volatility of monetary shock during Great Moderation period are important driving forces of this moderated effect of monetary policy shock.
Effect of sintering temperature on dielectric properties of barium titanate ceramics and composite

The structure and dielectric properties of barium titanate ceramics samples sintered at 1100, 1150, 1200, 1250 and 1350 °C have been compared with the dielectric properties of 80 vol.% barium titanate + 20 vol.% barium ferrite composite samples sintered at 1150, 1200 and 1250 °C. It has been shown that polarization sufficient for existence of the piezoelectric effect is only achieved in barium titanate samples sintered at 1250 and 1350 °C. Furthermore the pyroelectric coefficient and reversal polarization of these samples are far higher than those of samples sintered at lower temperatures. Analysis of the sample structures has confirmed that the dielectric properties of barium titanate ceramics depend on grain size and therefore on sintering temperature. Based on the experimental results we have selected the optimum sintering temperature for 80 vol.% barium titanate + 20 vol.% barium ferrite composite to be 1250 °С. Further increase in sintering temperature to 1300 °C showed that this composite has a eutectic. The temperature dependence of the permittivity of the barium titanate / barium ferrite composite sintered at 1250 °С is similar to that of BaTiO3 ceramics samples sintered at 1350 °С. The room temperature permittivity of the composite samples also proves to be far higher than that of barium titanate ceramics samples sintered at the same temperatures. Barium ferrite addition to barium titanate increases the permittivity of the composite and also diffuses the ferroelectric phase transition and shifts the permittivity maximum temperature by 10 °C towards higher temperatures.
Manajemen Waktu Belajar di Perguruan Tinggi pada Masa Pandemi Covid-19

Waktu adalah bagian penting dan tidak terpisahkan dari kehidupan seseorang. Pencapaian kesuksesan ditentukan sejauh mana seseorang menentukan waktunya. Dalam dunia manajemen waktu, pendidikan juga merupakan bagian penting dari keberhasilan kegiatan pendidikan. Manajemen waktu adalah kemampuan untuk menggunakan waktu secara efektif dan efisien begitu pula manajemen waktu belajar tidak dapat dipisahkan dalam kehidupan mahasiswa. Selama pandemi COVID-19, semua mahasiswa di perguruan tinggi melakukan study from home dan melakukan kegiatan belajar menggunakan media online. Tujuan penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui bagaimana manajemen waktu belajar selama pandemi COVID-19 pada mahasiswa Bimbingan Konseling Islam Universitas Islam Negeri Imam Bonjol Padang. Metode penelitian yang digunakan yaitu penelitian kualilatif. Hasil penelitian yang peneliti lakukan didapatkan bahwa problematika manajemen waktu belajar di Perguruan Tinggi pada masa pandemi covid-19 bahwa manajemen waktu belajar selama masa pandemi COVID-19 perlu adaptasi dengan baik, hal ini dikarenakan pandangan bahwa kuliah satu satunya di kampus. Akhirnya banyak mahasiwa banyak yang bekerja ataupun membantu orangtua di rumah. Selain itu kendala jaringan dan faktor mencari sinyal internet juga menjadi problem mendasar dikalangan mahasisiwa. Kata Kunci: manajemen waktu belajar, pandemi covid-19 Time is an important and inseparable part of someone’s life. Achievement of success is determined by the extent to which an individual determines the time. Within the domain of time management, education is also an important part of the success of educational activities. Time management is the ability to use time effectively and efficiently as well as learning time management in which it cannot be separated within student life. During the COVID-19 pandemic, all of the university students conducted the learning process from home and carried it out by using online media. The purpose of this study was to determine how study time management during the COVID-19 pandemic in Islamic Counseling Guidance students at the Imam Bonjol State Islamic University, Padang. The research method used is qualitative research. The results of the research suggested that the problem of study time management in universities during the Covid-19 pandemic was that learning time management during the COVID-19 pandemic needed to be well-adapted, this was due to the perception that the learning process itself were only took place at the campus. Therefore, many students work or help their parents at home. Apart from that, the internet’s network stability is also a fundamental problem among students.
DROUGHT TOLERANT INDICES OF LOWLAND TOMATO CULTIVARS

The released lowland tomato cultivars are known for their resistance to plant diseases and high temperatures. The study aimed to identify the drought tolerance of lowland tomato cultivars based on the drought tolerant indices. The study was arranged in a split plot design, using seven lowland tomato cultivars (Zamrud, Permata F1, Ratna, Mirah, Tombatu F1, Tyrana F1, and Tymoti F1) as the main plot and watering (standard conditions and once every eight days as the drought conditions) as the subplot. Parameters observed were morpho physiological characters (plant height, leaf area, biomass, root length, root surface area, shoot root ratio, relative moisture content, membrane stability index, chlorophyll levels, and proline levels). The parameters observed in each character included the sensitivity stress index (SSI), stress tolerance index (STI), and yield stability index (YSI). Results showed that four cultivars (Tyrana F1, Tymoty F1, Mirah, and Tombatu F1) were drought tolerance, and three cultivars (Ratna, Permata F1, and Zamrud F1) were susceptible. The water stress decreased agronomic and physiological traits performance, but the drought-tolerant cultivars were less affected to the stress and produced higher fruit weight. The study implies that the drought-tolerant cultivars could be used as a promising source for drought tolerant genotypes.
Assessing Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice towards COVID-19 among Sub Assistant Agriculture Officers: An Empirical Study in Bangladesh

The government of Bangladesh pays special attention to the agriculture sector to limit the current and after-effects of COVID-19 regarding food insecurity. Sub assistant agriculture officers - the frontline extension workers are working to maintain the normal trend of production and marketing amid COVID-19 pandemic, which, in turn, possess severe health threat of virus infection. Therefore, we investigated the knowledge, attitude, and practice towards COVID-19 among the sub assistant agriculture officers. The study was conducted in Gopalganj and Narail districts of Bangladesh with a total of 110 respondents. Data were collected through group interviews using a structured questionnaire in June 2020. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi square tests and binary logistic regressions. We found that about 66.36 percent of the respondents had good knowledge; 65.45 percent had positive attitude towards successful control and prevention; and 62.73 percent were taking good preventive practices towards COVID-19. However, still good number of the respondents had poor knowledge (33.64 percent), less positive attitude (34.55 percent) and poor practice (37.27 percent). Age, gender and service experience were significantly associated with good knowledge, and age and service experience were significantly associated with good practice. We recommend for the continuous flow of COVID-19 information from the health department as well as awareness campaigns and official circular about symptoms and preventive measures from the controlling authority, i.e. Department of Agricultural Extension. Finally, the limited sample size of the study advises to be more careful about generalizing the findings in other parts of the country.
Trends of Climate Change in Some Selected Districts of Western Nepal

Climate change is a global threat that has particularly strong impacts on countries whose economies are highly dependent on agriculture and still developing--like Nepal. The main objective of this study is to assess the trend of climate change in Gandaki Province, Nepal. This study is based on secondary data. It utilizes the data from the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology between 19702018 based on eight districts with 10 different stations ranging from 110m. to 2680m. in Gandaki Province. Mann-Kendall test and Sen’s slope is used to find the trend. The analyses reveal that trend of maximum temperature is increasing and significant. The maximum temperature trend is 0.08°C/year in monsoon and post-monsoon which is greater than the global rate. The minimum temperature trend is positive and significant and is highest in the monsoon season (0.04°C/year). The trend of the average rainfall sum is insignificant and is positive only in pre-monsoon and negative in other seasons, which indicates erratic rainfall that causes floods and droughts.
Gratitude influences happiness through mindfulness in Korean high school students: the moderated mediation model of grit

Introduction. There are many ways to enhance happiness for people. Recently, mindfulness, gratitude and grit contribute to several psychological areas such as wellbeing and success. In addition, Korean high school students suffer from hard work like university entrance examination. Therefore, it is important to study the new ways to increase happiness using recently emerging psychological variables.
Housing and health for people with refugee- and asylum-seeking backgrounds: a photovoice study in Australia

Abstract Housing is a social determinant of health, and previous research has linked housing with health for the general population. Less research has explored this relationship for people with refugee or asylum seeker backgrounds in resettlement countries. This article reports on findings from the photovoice component of a larger study exploring housing and health for refugees and asylum seekers in South Australia. Participants were 11 refugees and asylum seekers who participated in a photovoice exercise, taking photographs of their housing and neighbourhood and then discussing these in an interview, with verbal data analyzed thematically. Participants identified several elements of housing that affected health, specifically the following: gardens, physical condition, space, layout and privacy and, in relation to neighbourhood, safety, green spaces and proximity to services. Cutting across these themes were affordability, security of tenure and agency which in turn affected ontological security. The article concludes that consideration of ways to promote ontological security in housing should be a critical component of resettlement policies.
Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Localization Using Sound Measurements of Passing Ships

This paper introduces the localization method of an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) in environments (such as harbors or ports) where there can be passing ships near the AUV. It is assumed that the AUV can access the trajectory and approximate source level of a passing ship, while identifying the ship by processing the ship’s sound. This paper considers an AUV which can localize itself by integrating propeller and Inertial Measurement Units (IMU). Suppose that the AUV has been moving in underwater environments for a long time, under the IMU-only localization. To fix long-term drift in the IMU-only localization, we propose that the AUV localization uses sound measurements of passing ships whose trajectories are known a priori. As far as we know, this AUV localization method is novel in using sound measurements of passing ships of which the trajectories are known a priori. The performance of the proposed localization method is verified utilizing MATLAB simulations. The simulation results show significant estimation improvements, compared to IMU-only localization. Moreover, using measurements from multiple ships gives better estimation results, compared to the case where the measurement of a single ship is used.
Antimicrobial activities of crude solvent extract and synthesized silver nanoparticles of Opuntia ficus-indica L. Cladodes

Opuntia ficus-indica cladodes was examined for their antimicrobial activities by using crude extract and synthesized silver nanoparticles against human pathogenic microbial strains, namely Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Klebsiella oxytoca, Proteus mirabilis and Candida albicans. All extracts demonstrated moderate activity against the tested microbes in a range between 0.53 and 2.33 cm. The maximum inhibition activity was found to be against K. pneumoniae while the lowest against S. aureus. Synthesized silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) showed inhibition activities between 1.82 and 2.03 cm. The maximum activity was recorded against K. oxytoca, while the lowest activities against P. mirabilis. In context of antimicrobial activity, there was no significant difference either solvent crude extract or synthesized silver nanoparticles against tested microbes. Therefore, crude extracts of O. ficus-indica cladodes or Ag-NPs could be used as an alternative natural drug.
Online Financial Trading among Young Adults: Integrating the Theory of Planned Behavior, Technology Acceptance Model, and Theory of Flow

ABSTRACT This paper aims to examine the mechanism that explains young consumers’ intention to perform online financial trading by integrating technology acceptance model, flow model, and theory of planned behavior. This study used a cross-sectional, questionnaire-based design. Using convenience sampling technique 471 samples were collected from young adults in Malaysia. All participants were placed in an online financial trading simulation prior to the survey. The hypotheses were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The results revealed that intention to adopt online financial trading is driven by theory of planned behavior components which in turn are explained by consumers’ intrinsic (flow factors) and extrinsic (technology acceptance model factors) motivations, in which the latter plays a more important role in this process. Making profit or loss during the trading simulation may influence respondents’ attitudes and intention to perform online financial trading. The cross-sectionality of the data does not allow for confident causal conclusions. Data were collected from young adults studying in a university in Malaysia which limits generalizability of the findings. In designing a financial platform, practitioners’ focus should be on efficiency, user-friendliness, and providing functions that improve usefulness of the platform. Another implication is to be aware of the importance of prior experience and education in improving consumers’ use of financial platforms. Thus, improving consumers’ knowledge and skills of online trading would increase their market participation. A contribution of this study is investigating the mechanism that drives consumers’ intention to use online trading. More specifically, the current study by integrating three theories of Flow, TAM, and TPB examined how emotional and cognitive factors can inform consumers’ behavior, specifically, intention to perform online trading in the future.
Experimental study and modeling of the deuterium releasing quantity in a pulsed vacuum arc discharge with a metal deuteride cathode

The pulsed vacuum arc discharge using a metal deuteride cathode is widely applied as a deuterium ion source, where the upper limit of the deuterium ion yield is largely determined by the deuterium releasing quantity (DRQ) from the cathode. This work aims to measure the DRQ at various discharge conditions, and meanwhile develop a simple thermoelectric model to evaluate the deuterium liberation from different sources, such as the crater vicinity during the arc power-on phase and the hot crater in the afterglow. The calculated DRQ are in accordance with the experimental results obtained by measuring the D2 pressure evolution in the early afterglow using a quadrupole mass spectrometer. Furthermore, the model reveals that at low arc current (<10 A), the DRQ orginates dominantly from the crater vicinity, leading to a low conversion efficiency of the released deuterium to ions and a high D:Ti elemental ratio in the released cathode vapor.
Fraud Risk Factors that Affect the Audit Program Plan: The Case of Kurdistan Region, Iraq

This paper aims to identify the most frequent fraud risk factors that affect the nature, timing, and extent of planned audit procedures. The perceptions of both international and local external auditors in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq, were investigated. In general, it was found that the respondents were more interested in assessing fraud risk factors related to misappropriation of assets (84.61%) compared with those related to fraudulent financial reporting (75.43%). Stepwise regression analysis indicates a positive and significant effect of each fraud risk factor related to fraudulent financial reporting that resulted from incentives or pressures and attitudes or rationalization, and the fraud risk factors related to the misappropriation of assets that resulted from attitudes or rationalization on the nature, timing, and extent of the planned audit procedures. However, other fraud risk factors in the study model did not show a significant effect on the audit program plan. The findings of this paper contribute to the existing literature in the area of fraud risk assessment and its effect on planning audit programs in eastern developing countries such as the Kurdistan Region, Iraq.
A molecular dynamics investigation into the mechanisms of material removal and subsurface damage of nanoscale high speed laser-assisted machining

Abstract Molecular dynamics is employed to study the mechanism of material removal and subsurface damage of monocrystalline silicon when it is under a nanoscale high-speed laser-assisted grinding of a diamond tip. Laser-assisted machining (LAM) is that the workpiece is locally heated by an intense laser beam before material removal. The effects of laser moving speed, laser pulse intensity and laser spot radius are thoroughly investigated in terms of atomic trajectories, phase transformation, temperature distribution, grinding temperature, grinding force and friction coefficient. The investigation shows that a higher laser moving speed reduces the subsurface damage and improves the material remove rate because of fewer atoms with five and six coordination atoms and more chips. Besides, both tangential grinding force (Fx) and normal grinding force (Fy) decrease as the laser moving speed increases. The distribution of high-temperature zone strongly depends upon the effect of laser pulse intensity and laser spot radius. Larger laser pulse intensity can make the material more fully softened before being removed. Moreover, as the laser pulse intensity becomes larger, the friction coefficients became smaller, the material remove rate improves and the depth of grinding increases. However, larger laser pulse intensity may result in a larger thermal deformation of workpiece. A larger laser spot radius reduces the grinding depth but increases the width of laser irradiation zone on machined surface. Thus, a suitable laser spot radius can improve the material removal rate. These results indicate that it is possible to control and adjust the laser parameters according to laser moving speed, laser pulse intensity and laser spot radius, and it provides a potential technology to improve a surface integrity and a smoothness of ground surface.
Investigating university academics behavioural intention in the adoption of e-learning in a time of COVID-19

Background : The coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has extensively impacted various sectors globally, including higher education. The indefinite closure of Universities has necessitated the need to introduce alternative teaching and learning methods and tools. E-learning a disruptive innovation has provided an opportunity to allow for continuity of teaching and learning in Universities during these closures. Objectives : The study adopts Teo's model as the analytical tool to investigate factors that influence University lecturers to adopt e-learning platforms in South Africa. Method : The study followed a quantitative research approach with stratified sampling as a data collection approach using a sample size of 132 respondents. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was adopted to deduce factors that influence the behavioural Intention (BIU) to adopt e-learning as well as to test the Model fit of Teo's model in the South African context. Results : The study revealed that the lecturer's attitude towards the use (ATU) of e-learning is the most influential construct towards lecturers behavioural Intention to use (BIU) e-learning platforms. The empirical evidence also revealed that Teo's model is a reasonable fit to the data to understand the adoption of e-learning by lecturers in South African universities. Conclusion : The empirical evidence from this study supports the viewpoint that in order for lecturers to successfully adopt e-learning platforms, their attitude towards the use of these platforms is a critical factor. In order to understand lecturer’s adoption of e-learning platforms successfully, Teo's model is a reasonably good framework to use.