Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mass communication and pro-environmental behaviour: waste recycling in Hong Kong

Treatment of domestic waste has been one of the major environmental problems in Hong Kong. The Government has a stated policy to advocate the minimization of waste disposal through the encouragement of waste reduction, re-use and recycling. The current study applies Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour to predict behavioural intention and actual behaviour of voluntary use of waste recycling receptacles. A systematic random sample of 173 household members in a public housing estate were interviewed. The results indicated that attitude was the major factor in predicting behavioural intention, followed by behavioural control and social norms. Attitude, subjective norm and perceived control together explained 44% of the variance of behavioural intention. Perception of mass media as a major source of subjective norm was first introduced and tested. Mass communication stood out as one of the major sources of influence in establishment of subjective norms. The study has the implication that more publicity messages should be put on the mass media to promote green behaviours.
How Weights Assigned to Each Valuation Method Impact IPOs Valuation Performance?

We investigate the impact of weights assigned to each valuation method on initial public offerings’ valuation performance. Review of existing literature reveals that such valuation performance lacks examination in terms of weights assigned as most studies focus on the valuation method used per se. Accordingly, we compare between individual value estimate and fair value estimate to examine initial public offerings’ valuation performance before and after assigning weights. Whereby, underwriters assign a weight between 0% and 100% to individual value estimate produced by each valuation method used in order to reach one fair value estimate. We assess initial public offerings’ valuation performance through bias and accuracy valuation errors as well as valuation explainability. Our sample consists of 110 observations associated to initial public offerings conducted on the Moroccan stock exchange between 2004 and 2018. Results reveal that weights assigned to individual value estimate when setting fair value estimate enhance initial public offerings’ valuation performance. Specifically, valuation errors decrease while valuation explainability increases. In fact, both optimistic and pessimistic fair value estimate are closer to market price in comparison with individual value estimate. A closer analysis reveals that weights partially absorb valuation optimism and pessimism. Consequently, these weights reduce the extent of both underpricing and overpricing of initial public offerings. We conclude that combining different valuation methods enhance initial public offerings’ valuation performance. Additionally, underwriters play an important role when valuing initial public offerings by assigning specific weights to each valuation method that differ from one initial public offering to another. Results reveal that weights assigned to individual value estimate when setting fair value estimate enhance IPOs valuation performance. Specifically, valuation errors decrease while valuation explainability increases. A closer analysis reveals that weights reduce the extent of both IPOs underpricing and overpricing. We conclude that combining different valuation methods enhance IPOs valuation performance. Additionally, underwriters play an important role when valuing IPOs by assigning specific weights to each valuation method that differ from one IPO to another. Our study makes two key contributions to IPOs valuation performance First, we provide exclusive comparison of individual value estimate and fair value
Perception of Secondary School Teachers on Sources of Stress and Coping Strategies: A Case of Ludewa District, Tanzania

The study aimed at identifying perceived sources of stress and coping strategies among secondary school teachers in Ludewa District. The study was guided by Transactional or Cognitive Theory of Psychological Stress and Coping. It employed the quantitative approach through descriptive statistics in terms of frequencies and percentages. Through simple random sampling, eight out of 22 schools were selected to participate in the study. From the eight schools, 100 teachers were selected through simple random sampling but the response rate was 74. Therefore, 74 teachers participated to fill the questionnaire. The first category of perceived stressors is for those which were very highly rated: delay in promotion, poor working condition, low salary for work, worried from student performance, overwork and lack of time to spend with family. The second category is for those which were highly rated: poor administrations, lack of social services, loans from different organizations, benefit from work and students’ misbehavior. Lowly rated source of stress was attending duties on weekends while very lowly rated sources were little acknowledgment from superior and trouble with colleagues. The study gives a number of recommendations; these include that the government should employ more teachers to reduce teachers’ overwork which is cited as one of stressors. Heads of schools should involve all teachers in decision making and treat them equally. School under investigation should employ mentoring and counseling techniques which will motivate teachers to share their economic and social problems in order to curb unnecessary stresses. Finally, teachers should employ such stress management strategies as joining in social clubs, attending physical exercises like sports and games and seeking support from either co- workers or supervisors in order to curb stressful challenges.
Pre- and post-production processes along supply chains increasingly dominate GHG emissions from agri-food systems globally and in most countries

Abstract. We present results from the FAOSTAT agri-food systems emissions database, relative to 236 countries and territories and over the period 1990–2019. We find that in 2019, world-total food systems emissions were 16.5 billion metric tonnes (Gt CO2eq yr−1), corresponding to 31 % of total anthropogenic emissions. Of the agri-food systems total, global emissions within the farm gate –from crop and livestock production processes including on-farm energy use—were 7.2 Gt CO2eq yr−1; emissions from land use change, due to deforestation and peatland degradation, were 3.5 Gt CO2eq yr−1; and emissions from pre- and post-production processes –manufacturing of fertilizers, food processing, packaging, transport, retail, household consumption and food waste disposal—were 5.8 Gt CO2eq yr−1. Over the study period 1990–2019, agri-food systems emissions increased in total by 17 %, largely driven by a doubling of emissions from pre- and post-production processes. Conversely, the FAO data show that since 1990 land use emissions decreased by 25 %, while emissions within the farm gate increased only 9 %. In 2019, in terms of single GHG, pre- and post- production processes emitted the most CO2 (3.9 Gt CO2 yr−1), preceding land use change (3.3 Gt CO2 yr−1) and farm-gate (1.2 Gt CO2 yr−1) emissions. Conversely, farm-gate activities were by far the major emitter of methane (140 Mt CH4 yr−1) and of nitrous oxide (7.8 Mt N2O yr−1). Pre-and post- processes were also significant emitters of methane (49 Mt CH4 yr−1), mostly generated from the decay of solid food waste in landfills and open-dumps. The most important trend over the 30-year period since 1990 highlighted by our analysis is the increasingly important role of food-related emissions generated outside of agricultural land, in pre- and post-production processes along food supply chains, at all scales from global, regional and national, from 1990 to 2019. In fact, our data show that by 2019, food supply chains had overtaken farm-gate processes to become the largest GHG component of agri-food systems emissions in Annex I parties (2.2 Gt CO2eq yr−1). They also more than doubled in non-Annex I parties (to 3.5 Gt CO2eq yr−1), becoming larger than emissions from land-use change. By 2019 food supply chains had become the largest agri-food system component in China (1100 Mt CO2eq yr−1); USA (700 Mt CO2eq yr−1) and EU-27 (600 Mt CO2eq yr−1). This has important repercussions for food-relevant national mitigation strategies, considering that until recently these have focused mainly on reductions of non-CO2 gases within the farm gate and on CO2 mitigation from land use change. The information used in this work is available as open data at: https://zenodo.org/record/5615082 (Tubiello et al., 2021d). It is also available to users via the FAOSTAT database (FAO, 2021a), with annual updates.
How can green events accelerate urban sustainability transitions? Insights from eight German regional garden shows

ABSTRACT This paper builds on an acceleration mechanisms framework from transition studies and analyzes the role of green events for sustainable urban transformations. We study eight regional garden shows in German small and medium-sized cities, using interview and document data as well as on-site visits for an in-depth qualitative analysis. Our findings reveal that garden shows contribute to urban sustainability through implementing green projects and supporting small initiatives. We find that instrumentalizing and upscaling are crucial mechanisms for accelerating urban transitions, while replicating, partnering and embedding play a supporting role. The importance of these mechanisms, however, varies over time.
Maximum Power Point Tracker for Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator Based Wind Energy System using Fuzzy Logic Algorithm

The use of boost chopper in Permanent Magnet Synchronous Generator (PMSG) aims to capture maximum power at any wind speed condition. It is reached by adjusting the duty cycle of boost chopper. In this paper, fuzzy logic algorithm is used to find the duty cycle value which yields the maximum power output. This control scheme is verified by PSIM simulation. Another MPPT method is also simulated as a comparison.
The effect of breaking wave induced currents on an offshore wind turbine foundation

Several studies (Chun et al., 1999; Yoon et al., 2004) have shown that the occurrence of breaking waves over a submerged shoal can induce a jet-like strong current on the lee side of the submerged shoal, and the forces on structures following breaking waves can be perceived as wave forces being superimposed on strong current forces. In the present paper, the strong current was assumed to be induced by a breaking wave, a so-called breaking wave induced current. A MIKE 21 BW model (MIKE 21 BW, 2009) was established to quantify wave heights and current velocities at structural positions over a submerged shoal, and the results were compared with the results of a hydraulic model test. The wave plus current forces, the wave forces without the current, and the wave forces based on the deepwater design wave height were calculated and compared, using the wave heights and current velocities at selected structural positions. The results of numerical analysis did show that in spite of the fact that the wave heights on the lee side of the submerged shoal appeared to be small (0.084~ 0.086 m) compared with the deepwater design wave heights (0.205 m), a strong current (0.277 ~ 0.448 m/s) surely occurred on the lee side of the submerged shoal due to radiation stress differentials given by the breaking of the incident waves. The comparison of the total forces on the structure without the current and with the current showed that the wave plus current forces in this area increased by an average of 280 % to 300 % compared with the wave forces without current. Moreover, the wave plus current forces rather exceeded the wave forces which were calculated for the deepwater design wave height (0.205 m).
Prevalence of dengue NS1 antigenemia among healthy blood donors in a tertiary care hospital in Southern India

INTRODUCTION: Transmission of dengue by transfusion of blood products has been documented, although the frequency of these occurrences and the level of viremia required to cause clinical dengue are unknown. The primary objective was to assess the prevalence of dengue NS1 antigen among healthy blood donors at our blood center. METHODOLOGY: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in the Department of Transfusion Medicine, a tertiary care hospital in South-eastern India, from February 2019 to January 2020. A total of 968 donor samples were included in the study. Dengue NS1 antigen detection was done using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Data regarding clinical, epidemiological, and demographic characteristics were collected from the donor questionnaire and records. RESULTS: In the study, the overall prevalence of Dengue NS1 antigen was 0.9%, with nine positive samples among the 968 samples tested. Eight of them were male, and 1 was a female donor. All of them were in the age group <32 years. Half of the positive donors were detected during December-January, the immediate post rainy season in this part of the country. Two-third of the positive donors were from rural areas. CONCLUSION: This study with a 0.9% throws light on the seroepidemiological prevalence of dengue among asymptomatic donors and gives an insight into whether dengue screening is required to be implemented in routine transfusion transmissible infection screening in blood transfusion services and shall assist in devising strategies to be adapted as to improve the blood safety.
The Oceanic Barrier Layer in the Eastern Indian Ocean as a Predictor for Rainfall Over Indonesia and Australia

Barrier layers in the tropics trap heat in a shallow and stable near‐surface layer and limit entrainment of cooler water from below. Both processes act to increase sea surface temperature and enhance atmospheric convection. The high resolution fully coupled pre‐industrial Energy Exascale Earth System Model version 0 (E3SMv0) is used to investigate the relationship between barrier layers in the eastern Indian Ocean during the wet season with local atmospheric convection and remote rainfall. A partial least squares regression reveals a significant relationship between Australasian rainfall and the barrier layer thickness (BLT) west of Sumatra, occurring one month earlier. The largest positive regression coefficients are over northern Australia. The region west of Sumatra is strategically located where the East‐Asian monsoon moisture flows toward northern Australia. Thickening of the west Sumatra BLT intensifies evaporation and local convection and amplifies the moisture transported to Australia acting to increase the terrestrial rainfall.
Large-scale discovery of recombinases for integrating DNA into the human genome

Recent microbial genome sequencing efforts have revealed a vast reservoir of mobile genetic elements containing integrases that could be useful genome engineering tools. Large serine recombinases (LSRs), such as Bxb1 and PhiC31, are bacteriophage-encoded integrases that can facilitate the insertion of phage DNA into bacterial genomes. However, only a few LSRs have been previously characterized and they have limited efficiency in human cells. Here, we developed a systematic computational discovery workflow that identifies thousands of new LSRs and their cognate DNA attachment sites by. We validate this approach via experimental characterization of LSRs in human cells, leading to three classes of LSRs distinguished from one another by their efficiency and specificity. We identify landing pad LSRs that efficiently integrate into synthetically installed attachment sites orthogonal to the human genome, human genome-targeting LSRs with computationally predictable pseudosites, and multi-targeting LSRs that can unidirectionally integrate cargos at with similar efficiency and superior specificity to commonly used transposases. LSRs from each category were functionally characterized in human cells, overall achieving up to 7-fold higher plasmid recombination than Bxb1 and genome insertion efficiencies of 40-70% with cargo sizes over 7 kb. Overall, we establish a paradigm for large-scale discovery of microbial recombinases and reconstruction of their target sites directly from microbial sequencing data. This strategy provides a rich resource of over 60 experimentally characterized LSRs that can function in human cells and thousands of additional candidates for large-payload genome editing without exposed DNA double-stranded breaks.
Corporate Financial Distress: The Impact of Profitability, Liquidity, Asset Productivity, Activity and Solvency

This study aims to determine the importance of liquidity, profitability, asset productivity, activity, and solvency in cases of corporate financial distress. One hundred and five firms in the extractive industry in the United States were analyzed. Firms must be publicly traded and have filed form 10-K reports with the securities and exchange commission of the United States to be considered for the study’s population. The measure of corporate financial distress is the Altman Z-score. By using the Altman discriminant function, this study identifies the precipitants of corporate financial distress. This is especially important because widespread corporate financial distress could cause global financial system volatility. The indicators were measured in the last two years before the distressed firms declared bankruptcy. The results indicate that liquidity, profitability, asset productivity and solvency have an impact on the financial health of firms and therefore, on financial distress. The study further determines that activity ratio does not have a statistically significant relationship with financial distress.
DESIGN OF ROCK CHUTES

Rock chute design information is consolidated from several sources to provide a comprehensive design tool. The rock slope stability, boundary roughness, and outlet stability of rock chutes are each discussed. Tests were performed in three rectangular flumes and in two full size structures. Angular riprap with a median stone size ranging from 15 to 278 mm was examined on rock chutes with slopes ranging from 2 to 40%. The typical mode of channel failure is described. An empirical prediction equation is presented relating the highest stable discharge on a rock chute to the median stone size and the bed slope. A boundary roughness relationship is also presented that relates the Manning roughness coefficient to the median stone size and bed slope. These tests also suggest that the riprap size required for stability on the slope will remain stable in the outlet reach even with minimal tailwater. This article contains information needed to perform a rock chute design. Keywords. Rock chutes, Riprap, Channel design, Hydraulics, Stability, Roughness, Grade control. ock chutes or loose-riprap-lined channels are used to safely convey water to a lower elevation. These structures provide an alternative method of protecting the soil surface to maintain a stable slope and to dissipate a portion of the flow energy. Watershed management applications for this type of structure are numerous such as channel stabilization, grade control, and embankment overtopping. Depending on the availability and quality of accessible rock materials, rock chutes may offer economic advantages over more traditional structures. Flow cascading down a rock chute is visually pleasing, and these structures offer aesthetic advantages for sensitive locations. Construction of these chutes can be performed with unskilled labor and a comparatively small amount of equipment. A typical rock chute profile is shown in figure 1.
Retiring in the suburbs? Residential strategies in two Prague suburbs

ABSTRACT Suburbanization is the most significant process involved in shaping the socio-spatial structure of many western European and post-Socialist cities. In Prague, suburbanization began in the mid-1990s. In contrast with most studies, we consider the suburbs not as a final residential destination but as a place that people leave as a result of life-phase changes. For example, families who moved to the suburbs in the mid-1990s and early 2000s, and are now empty-nest households, may wish to move away. In an attempt to analyse future residential mobility and strategies for later-life suburban households in Czechia, we conducted a questionnaire survey in two suburban municipalities (n = 177). Respondents were aware that as they aged, their current residences and residential environments were likely to become less suitable. Nevertheless, most of our respondents were “stayers” and employed various assimilative coping strategies to adapt their homes, rather than moving or leaving the suburbs. It is suggested that a greater emphasis be placed on the promotion of barrier-free housing solutions and the use of innovative technologies.
Cultural differences encountered by firms when negotiating internationally

In this age of the global economy, negotiating across cultures is an inevitable part of doing business for firms desiring to compete internationally. What problems could cultural differences cause? Can firms from some countries or cultures do better than firms from other countries? What problems might firms from one culture encounter compared to firms from other cultures? To study these questions, cross‐cultural negotiating behaviour was examined using Hofstede’s criteria, to see if some firms may have a cultural competitive advantage. Assumptions about the effects of national cultures were proposed and tested, and differences between cultures were found. Additional research was also suggested.
Impact of Demographic Factors on Consumer’s Usage of Digital Payments

The post-demonetization phase in India has triggered more cashless transactions; a shortage of cash in the system had forced consumers to shift themselves from cash to cashless transactions. In the retail space, the thrust has shifted on costs, as banks continued their efforts towards migrating customers to lower-cost electronic and automated channels to reduce human intervention. On the contrary, it is also vital to check the customers’ demographic impact on the usage of digital payment services. The objective of the study is to analyse the changing customer dynamics and improve the customer experience from the outcome. This article aims to investigate the impact of demographic factors on consumer usage (CU) of Digital payments during post-demonetization. Further, exploring the impact of demographic factors (gender, age, education, marital status and income) on CU and satisfaction of 599 respondents towards various digital payment methods in tier I and tier II cities of India. The results show a significant impact of age, education, occupation, and income of respondents and no significant impact of gender and marital status of the respondents on consumers’ usage. The outcomes of the current work revealed useful insights into consumer’s usage and satisfaction with four prevailing digital payment methods vis-à-vis demographic factors. This study is significant as it empirically examines the impact of demographic factors on the CU of digital payment systems during the post-demonetization period in India.