Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The impact of mobile telephony services on performance outcomes of micro-businesses in developing economies: with evidence from micro-business communities in Afghanistan and Cameroon

This thesis reports on a study conducted to investigate the relationship between the integration of mobile telephony services into micro-business processes and perceived enhanced business performance in a developing economy context, with detailed evidence drawn from a sample of 210 micro-businesses in Afghanistan and Cameroon. The research conceptualises, operationalises, and empirically tests an eclectic research model which integrates theory from the literature on the adoption and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), on information economics, on strategic management, on entrepreneurship, and on small business growth and business performance. The research data was collected through a questionnaire, and call data extracted from the mobile phone activity-logs of micro-business owner-managers. This data was supplemented by the use of carefully-chosen photographs. The collected data was analysed using Structural Equation Modelling Techniques (SEM) with the help of AMOS 17 and SPSS statistical packages. The study also used Latent Visual Data Analysis (LVDA) to corroborate the statistical outcomes of this analysis. The results of this study identified the ‘integration of mobile telephony services into micro-business operations’, the ‘entrepreneurial competence of micro-business owner-managers’ and the ‘micro-business environment’ as having a direct influence on perceived enhanced business performance because of their potential to enable substantial cost savings, provide greater integration of the internal and external environments of the business, increase operational flexibility and reduce information asymmetries. The results also identified that ‘micro-business environments’ in Afghanistan and Cameroon tend to have a negative relationship with enhanced business performance if not moderated by the use of mobile telephony services. Finally, given the importance of micro-businesses in stimulating economic growth in developing economies and their relatively high failure rates, and because of the fact that many micro-businesses perceive that the cost of mobile telephony services are ‘high-to-very high’, this research provides greater opportunity for a discussion of the kinds of intervention strategies that could be used to improve the business integration of mobile telephony services and could therefore enhanced business performance.
Nigerian Jatropha Curcas Oil Seeds: Prospect for Biodiesel Production in Nigeria

ABSTRACT This study investigated production of biodiesel from oil seeds of Jatropha curcas, obtained in Nigeria, with a view to encouraging the cultivation of Jatropha plant in Nigeria and to providing a motivation for the development of biodiesel production from this feedstock. Also effect of oil-to-alcohol molar ratio on the biodiesel production from Nigerian Jatropha curcas seeds oil was investigated with a view to confirming established base case. A maximum yield of fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) of 87% was obtained at 333 Kelvin, oil-to-alcohol molar ratio of 1:6 and at 1wt% NaOH catalyst concentration. The physical properties of the BD obtained from Nigerian Jatropha oil met the ASTM standard of D-6751. Consequently, this study reveals that Jatropha curcas , an economically invaluable plant in Nigeria, could be a good feedstock for biodiesel production in Nigeria.
Enable Fully Customized Assistance: A Novel IMU-Based Motor Intent Decoding Scheme

Trustworthy human-exoskeleton interaction essentially relates to determining the assistive force profile. Current methods of decoding human motor intent enable the customized determination of the assistive force profile by providing limited information of human kinetics. In this article, we propose and validate a novel motor intent decoding scheme that can enable a fully customized assistive force profile, where only inertial measurement units (IMUs) are used. First, we improve the robustness of the IMU-based kinematic estimation by sampling IMU measurements that well meet the hinge-joint assumption, and by online calibrating axes’ direction in order to avoid the post-hoc analysis of joint axes’ directions during the determination of the body-fixed coordinate frame. Second, using the calculated kinematics as input, we develop a computationally efficient dynamic model, through which kinetics of users can be calculated in real time. Finally, we leverage a cable-driven ankle exoskeleton method to validate the assistive performance of our motor intent decoding scheme. We perform experiments on ten healthy subjects to evaluate the accuracy of our algorithm, and the change of metabolic rate and muscle efforts under the exoskeleton’s assistance. The results show the improvement from determining the assistive force profile by nominal curves and the feasibility of our algorithm.
Co-creation of knowledge in agroecology

The co-creation of knowledge is gaining recognition and use within the science, practice, and movement of agroecology. Knowledge co-creation fosters participatory learning and development, which differs from passive knowledge sharing. This approach can bridge the real and perceived gaps across diverse forms of knowledge, including what is often distinguished as farmers’ traditional, Indigenous, tacit, or local knowledge and experts’ scientific, western, or generalizable knowledge. Formal academic documentation of processes and outcomes related to knowledge co-creation is limited; therefore, we bring in examples of published research, drawing from fields of agroecology, participatory action research, and science and technology studies, along with a firsthand farmer perspective on co-creation. Combined, these frameworks offer insight into the potential benefits of knowledge co-creation in agroecology. Many of these challenges, such as navigating power dynamics, may be addressed through mindful research and community practices, including strong communication and transparent expectations and goals. Co-creation processes have traditionally and continually taken place between farmers and throughout communities without academic acknowledgment and/or interpretation of such. We reinstate the invaluable role of farmer-centered inquiry, understanding, and application, which offer benefits to individual farmers and their extended communities of practice and research, in addition to holding spiritual and cultural significance. The co-creation of knowledge in agroecology presents a compelling, adaptive approach and outcome for the increasingly complex challenges facing farmers and the agrifood system.
MPAS-Seaice (v1.0.0): Sea-ice dynamics on unstructured Voronoi meshes

Abstract. We present MPAS-Seaice, a sea-ice model which uses the Model for Prediction Across Scales (MPAS) framework and Spherical Centroidal Voronoi Tessellation (SCVT) unstructured meshes. As well as SCVT meshes, MPAS-Seaice can run on the traditional quadrilateral grids used by sea-ice models such as CICE. The MPAS-Seaice velocity solver uses the Elastic-Viscous-Plastic (EVP) rheology, and the variational discretization of the internal stress divergence operator used by CICE, but adapted for the polygonal cells of MPAS meshes, or alternatively an integral (“weak”) formulation of the stress divergence operator. An incremental remapping advection scheme is used for mass and tracer transport. We validate these formulations with idealized test cases, both planar and on the sphere. The variational scheme displays lower errors than the weak formulation for the strain rate operator but higher errors for the stress divergence operator. The variational stress divergence operator displays increased errors around the pentagonal cells of a quasi-uniform mesh, which is ameliorated with an alternate formulation for the operator. MPAS-Seaice shares the sophisticated column physics and biogeochemistry of CICE, and when used with quadrilateral meshes can reproduce the results of CICE. We have used global simulations with realistic forcing to validate MPAS-Seaice against similar simulations with CICE and against observations. We find very similar results compared to CICE with differences explained by minor differences in implementation such as with interpolation between the primary and dual meshes at coastlines. We have assessed the computational performance of the model, which, because it is unstructured, runs 70 % as fast as CICE for a comparison quadrilateral simulation. The SCVT meshes used by MPAS-Seaice allow culling of equatorial model cells and flexibility in domain decomposition, improving model performance. MPAS-Seaice is the current sea-ice component of the Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM).
Project Management: Strategic Design and Implementation

PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION Part 1: Introduction Chapter 1: The Evolution of Project Management Chapter 2: Why Project Management? Chapter 3: The Project Management Process Part 2: The Strategic Context of Projects Chapter 4: When to Use Project Management Chapter 5: The Strategic Context of Projects Chapter 6: The Board of Directors and Major Projects Chapter 7: Project Stakeholder Management Chapter 8: Strategic Issues in Project Management Part 3: Organizational Design for Project Management Chapter 9: Organizing for Project Management Chapter 10: Project Portfolio Management Chapter 11: Project Authority Chapter 12: Project Management Maturity Part 4: Project Operations Chapter 13: Project Planning Chapter 14: Project Management Information System Chapter 15: Project Monitoring. Evaluation, and Control Chapter 16: The Project Earned Value Management System Chapter 17: Project Termination Part 5: Interpersonal Dynamics in the Management of Projects Chapter 18: Project Leadership Chapter 19: Project Communications Chapter 20: Successful Project Teams Part 6: The Cultural Elements Chapter 21: Continuous Improvement Through Projects Chapter 22: Cultural Considerations in Project Management Part 7: New Prospects Chapter 23: Alternative Project Teams INDEX
Biofuel Production: Utilizing Stakeholders’ Perspectives

Abstract The use of biofuels as a replacement for fossil fuels is growing in the United States and other countries in part because of economic and environmental concerns. One of the technologies for biofuels production is fast pyrolysis; however, to increase manufacturing of fast pyrolysis units, a better understanding of stakeholders’ requirements and perspectives is needed. This is a complex decision problem. Due to the diversity of perspectives, each group of stakeholders has their own unique requirements, which in total will determine the right manufacturing approach. Previous studies either investigated optimal sizing from a single viewpoint or have combined a subset of perspectives. This study applies multiple tools to develop a more comprehensive view of stakeholders’ perspectives. Individual subject matter experts were asked to review and prioritize a set of requirements that reflected different stakeholders’ perspectives, including economic, environmental, technical, social, and legal. The perspectives were then used to analyze multiple fast pyrolysis units to determine which size was the most effective in meeting the perspectives in total. The analysis indicated that the smallest unit, able to process an average of 50 tons per day, is the best alternative when viewed from the economic, technical, social, and legal perspectives. However, when viewed from the environmental perspective, a medium-sized unit, able to process in the range of 200–500 tons per day, is the best alternative. This work provides the basis for further discussions about the individual perspectives, including the economic and environmental perspectives of biofuel production. Potential avenues for further work in assessment of stakeholders’ requirements are also noted.
Performance implications of the fit between sourcing configurations and design-manufacturing-service capabilities

ABSTRACT Manufacturing firms have increasingly adopted global sourcing and local sourcing simultaneously to acquire competitive advantages, leading to diverse configurations of sourcing practices. Although prior studies have explored the distinct impact of individual sourcing practices, few studies investigate the configuration of multiple sourcing practices. Using the data from an international survey, this study identifies the empirical taxonomy of sourcing practices from the geographical perspective by cluster analysis and investigates the fit between the firm’s sourcing configuration and design-manufacturing-service (DMS) capabilities by profile deviation analysis. The results reveal three types of manufacturing firms with distinct configuration of sourcing practices. Moreover, this study highlights the significant effects of the fit between sourcing configuration and DMS capabilities on firm performance. This study contributes to the sourcing literature by not only finding three typical sourcing configurations but also recognising the ideal fit for achieving superior firm performance. It also provides important managerial insights for practitioners.
Messaging “en Español”: The Impact of Spanish Language on Linked Fate Among Bilingual Latinos

While the number of U.S. residents who speak non-English languages at home is on the rise, little is known about the sociopolitical implications of exposure to minority languages among multilingual speakers in the United States. This study analyzes whether exposure to Spanish, a U.S. minority language, impacts perceptions of linked fate among bilingual Latinos, and if so, whether the consumption of ethnic media amplifies this effect. Through a population-based survey experiment among bilingual Latinos, this study finds that Latinos who are exposed to content in Spanish are more likely to report in-group linked fate than their counterparts exposed to the same message in English. Moreover, these effects are stronger among consumers of Spanish-language news. This study contributes to our understanding of the role of minority languages and ethnic media on pan-ethnic identities and highlights the importance of the growing linguistic diversity in the United States.
Fertilizer Management Practices with Rice Straw Application for Improving Soil Quality in Watermelon Monoculture Greenhouse Plots

Indoor cultivation plots for watermelon plant mostly have salt-accumulation problem because of continuous cropping especially with the heavy applications of chemical fertilizers. Thus, this study was conducted to investigate selected soil properties and watermelon growth condition as affected by the application of different farming practices in the salt-affected soils of greenhouse plots used for continuous watermelon production. Five different practice conditions in the experimental plots were applied, 1) a conventional farming practice (CFP), 2) a nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium (NPK) fertilizer management practice (FMP), and 3) the FMP with different amounts (5, 10, and 15 ton ㏊? ¹) of fresh rice straw treatments (FMP-RS), for three years of study. As comparing with CFP plots, soil organic matter content gradually increased during the experimental years, whereas it decreased in the FMP only plot. Soil pH was not changed in the CFP and FMP plot, but it declined in the FMP-RS plots; however, it increased again from the third year in the FMP-RS plots with applying 10 and 15 ton ㏊? ¹ of RS treatments. The concentrations of exchangeable cations, Ca²? and Mg²? , except K? , and water-soluble anions, NO₃? , Cl? , SO₄²? and PO₄³? , markedly decreased in FMP and FMP-RS plots. In particular, the application of rice straw tended to significantly decrease the ion concentrations, especially most anions, in the first year, but there was no more decrease in the second and third study years. With relation to the ion concentrations, the changes of electrical conductivity (EC) after applying the management practices showed very similar to those of the ion concentrations. In addition, incidence of withered watermelon plant after applying the management practices dramatically declined from approximately 20% in the CFP plot to 3.5% in the FMP-RS plots. Water melon fruit weight was also improved by the management practices, especially FMP-RS. Therefore, the fertilizer and/or fresh rice straw application management practices are beneficial to improve salt-affected soils and watermelon plant growth condition.
Optimizing ADC Utilization through Value-Aware Bypass in ReRAM-based DNN Accelerator

ReRAM-based Processing-In-Memory (PIM) has been widely studied as a promising approach for Deep Neural Networks (DNN) accelerator with its energy-efficient analog operations. However, the domain conversion process for the analog operation requires frequent accesses to power-hungry Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC), hindering the overall energy efficiency. Although previous research has been suggested to address this problem, the ADC cost has not been sufficiently reduced because of its unsuitable approach for ReRAM. In this paper, we propose mixed-signal-based value-aware bypass techniques to optimize the ADC utilization of the ReRAM-based PIM. By utilizing the property of bit-line (BL) level value distribution, the proposed work bypasses the redundant ADC operations depending on the magnitude of value. Evaluation results show that our techniques successfully reduce ADC access and improve overall energy efficiency by 2.48 × -3.07 × compared to ISAAC.
Thermal Performance of a Reflector Based Solar Box Cooker Implemented in Ile-Ife, Nigeria

Different categories of solar cooker ranging from concentrator types, solar ovens, box type cookers with or without reflectors and indirect solar cookers have been designed and tested in Nigeria. The uses of different designs of solar cookers have not become acceptable in the rural areas due to number of reasons. It is either they are too expensive for individual family to afford or they are yet to be practically known. In view of these shortcomings, this paper presents thermal performance of low cost reflectors based solar box cooker implemented in Ile-Ife, Nigeria. The cooker was constructed with locally available materials. The thermal performance of the cooker in terms of figures of merits and cooker efficiency was evaluated based on Indian Standard (IS 13429:2000). Results of field evaluation show maximum insolation of 520 W/m 2 at 2.00 pm and minimum of 246 W/m 2 at 11.00 am. The average solar radiation and ambient temperature observed during the test periods were 403 W/m 2 and 40°C respectively. The water temperature values between 60 and 67°C were observed at insolation values between 398 and 520 W/m 2 . These occur between the hour of 1:20 pm and 4:00 pm with the highest water temperature of 67°C at 3.00 pm. The performance of the cooker in terms of first figure of merit, second figure of merit and thermal efficiency show that the cooker compare favourably well with international standard. The cooker has a better heat retention capacity when compared with others found in the literature. The experimental results obtained for thermal performance of the cooker demonstrated its suitability for cooking even during fluctuating weather conditions.
Control of harmonic voltage distortion with parallel simulated annealing

This paper proposes a method for controlling the voltage total harmonic distortion (THD) with a parallel simulated annealing technique. The nonlinear relationship between voltage harmonics and the voltage THD is identified using the revised group method of data handling (RGMDH) based on the self-organization technique. The voltage THD is controlled by some feature variables to decrease harmonic distortion. A simulated annealing (SA) technique is applied to minimize the voltage distortion factor. SA is a stochastic optimization method based on a physical annealing phenomenon. In order to obtain better solutions, this paper proposes a parallel simulated annealing (PSA) technique. PSA is a useful method because of the multi-point search. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated with test data. <<ETX>>
Environmentally Relevant Concentrations of Triclosan Induce Cyto-Genotoxicity and Biochemical Alterations in the Hatchlings of Labeo rohita

Xenobiotic Triclosan (TCS) is of great concern because of its existence in a variety of personal, household and healthcare products and continuous discharge in water worldwide. Excessive use of TCS-containing sanitizers and antiseptic products during the COVID-19 pandemic further increased its content in aquatic ecosystems. The present study deals with the cyto-genotoxic effects and biochemical alterations in the hatchlings of Labeo rohita on exposure to environmentally relevant concentrations of TCS. Three-days-old hatchlings were exposed to tap water, acetone (solvent control) and 4 environmentally relevant concentrations (6.3, 12.6, 25.2 and 60 µg/L) of TCS for 14 days and kept for a recovery period of 10 days. The significant concentration-dependent decline in cell viability but increase in micronucleated cells, nucleo-cellular abnormalities (NCAs) and DNA damage parameters like tail length, tail moment, olive tail moment and percent of tail DNA after exposure persisted till the end of recovery period. Glucose, triglycerides, cholesterol, total protein, albumin, total bilirubin, uric acid and urea (except for an increase at 60 µg/L) showed significant (p ≤ 0.05) concentration-dependent decrease after 14 days of exposure. The same trend (except for triglycerides, albumin and total bilirubin) continued till 10 days post exposure. In comparison to control, transaminases (alanine and aspartate aminotransferases) increased (p ≤ 0.05) after exposure as well as the recovery period, while a decline in alkaline phosphatase after exposure was followed by a significant increase during the recovery period. The results show that the environmentally relevant concentrations of TCS cause deleterious effects on the hatchlings of L. rohita.
EFFICACY OF POST-EMERGENCE HERBICIDE QUIZALOFOP ETHYL FOR CONTROLLING GRASSY WEEDS IN GROUNDNUT

The post- emergence application of quizalofop ethyl @1.0 kg ha-1 at 15 DAS with one hand weeding at 25 DAS was the most effective and economical for controlling the grassy weeds in groundnut with maximum pod yield and haulm yield of 22.6 q ha-1 and 20.46 q ha-1, respectively. This treatment also minimized nitrogen, phosphorus and potash removal by weeds to a tune of 91.2, 84.1 and 89.7%, respectively over that of weedy check , resulting in better nutrient uptake by the crop. The maximum dry weed biomass at harvest was 250.3 g m-2 in weedy check followed by quizalofop ethyl @ 0.75 kg ha-1 at 25 DAS. The weed control efficiency was highest (72.3 %) in application of quizalofop ethyl @1.0 kg ha-1 with one hand weeding , which gave maximum benefit- cost ratio of 2.49 and net return of Rs.53067 ha-1 with additional income of Rs.36534 ha-1 over weedy check.