Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improving Students’ Academic Achievements in Secondary Schools Economics Classes: The Role of Demographic Characteristics and Teachers’ Knowledge

One of the most important aspects in the teaching learning process that can be controlled by the classroom teacher is the quality of instruction. This study aimed at examining the extent to which teachers’ and students’ characteristics as well as teachers’ pedagogic content knowledge boost students’ academic achievement. The study was carried out at seven (07) economics classes in Cameroonian secondary schools. The survey research design was applied in the study. A total of four hundred and forty four (444) secondary school students and thirty three (33) teachers from the North West Region participated in this study. Questionnaires were used for data collection. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistical technique. The findings reveal that to a greater extent teachers’ and students’ characteristics as well as teachers’ pedagogic content knowledge enhance students’ academic achievement in economics classes in Mezam Division. This study therefore puts forward a policy approach called valuable teaching and learning (for teachers and students) for improving on knowledge, competence and attitudes towards economics.
Dynamic Response of Plates on Elastic Foundation to Moving Loads

A procedure incorporating the finite strip method and a spring system has been developed and applied to treat the dynamic response of plate structure resting on an elastic foundation to moving loads. The response to a single moving concentrated load is first investigated and then the effects of velocity, elastic foundation stiffness, moving path, and distance between multiple moving loads are studied. The response under a moving harmonic load with constant velocity is finally treated and the effect of the load frequency is investigated. Results indicate that the foundation stiffness and the velocity and frequency of the moving load have significant effects on the dynamic response of the plate and on resonant velocities. Some of these findings might find use in practical applications.
Disasters and communities: vulnerability, resilience and preparedness

With regard to their utility in predicting the adoption of household hazard preparations, traditional approaches to public education directed at increasing awareness and/or risk perception have proven ineffective. Discusses reasons why this may have occurred from public education, vulnerability analysis, and community resilience perspectives and outlines strategies for enhancing preparedness. Describes a model of resilience to hazard effects that has been tested in different communities and for different hazards (toxic waste, environmental degradation and volcanic hazards). Drawing upon the health education literature, introduces a model for promoting the adoption on preparatory behaviour. Discusses links between these models, and the need for their implementation within a community development framework.
Australian Hardwood Drying Best Practice Manual Part 2

This manual is a guide to establishing a set of operations to achieve high grade results in product quality and recovery, flexibility, innovation, cost, and competitiveness. The manual outlines: - economic and feasible technologies for increasing recovery and reducing avoidable loss during processing, from the log to the finished board, and - mechanisms that allow production value to be optimised in different sized mills. Part 2 includes sections 8 to 17: Air drying, pre-drying, reconditioning, controlled final drying, dry milling, storage, information assessment, drying quality assessment, moisture content monitoring, glossary. Part 1 Link: http://era.deedi. qld.gov. au/3138 Covers sections 1 to 7: Drying overview and strategy, coupe, log yard, green mill, green pack, bioprotection, rack timber.
Levelized costs of electricity and direct-use heat from Enhanced Geothermal Systems

GEOPHIRES (GEOthermal energy for the Production of Heat and Electricity (“IR”) Economically Simulated) is a software tool that combines reservoir, wellbore, and power plant models with capital and operating cost correlations and financial levelized cost models to assess the technical and economic performance of Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS). It is an upgrade and expansion of the “MIT-EGS” program used in the 2006 “Future of Geothermal Energy” study. GEOPHIRES includes updated cost correlations for well drilling and completion, resource exploration, and Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) and flash power plants. It also has new power plant efficiency correlations based on AspenPlus and MATLAB simulations. The structure of GEOPHIRES enables feasibility studies of using geothermal resources not only for electricity generation but also for direct-use heating, and combined heat and power (CHP) applications. Full documentation on GEOPHIRES is provided in the supplementary material. Using GEOPHIRES, the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) and the levelized cost of heat (LCOH) have been estimated for 3 cases of resource grade (low-, medium-, and high-grade resource corresponding to a geothermal gradient of 30, 50, and 70 °C/km) in combination with 3 levels of technological maturity (today's, mid-term, and commercially mature technology corresponding to a productivity of 30, 50, and 70 kg/s per production well and thermal drawdown rate of 2%, 1.5%, and 1%). The results for the LCOE range from 4.6 to 57 ¢/kWhe and for the LCOH from 3.5 to 14 $/MMBTU (1.2 to 4.8 ¢/kWhth). The results for the base-case scenario (medium-grade resource and mid-term technology) are 11 ¢/kWhe and 5 $/MMBTU (1.7 ¢/kWhth), respectively. To account for parameter uncertainty, a sensitivity analysis has been included. The results for the LCOE and LCOH have been compared with values found in literature for EGS as well as other energy technologies. The key findings suggest that given today's technology maturity, electricity and direct-use heat from EGS are not economically competitive under current market conditions with other energy technologies. However, with moderate technological improvements, electricity from EGS is predicted to become cost-effective with respect to other renewable and non-renewable energy sources for medium- and high-grade geothermal resources. Direct-use heat from EGS is calculated to become cost-effective even for low-grade resources. This emphasizes that EGS for direct-use heat may not be neglected in future EGS development.
IT investments and business performance improvement: the mediating role of lean manufacturing implementation

The main purpose of this study is to examine whether the application of current information technology (IT) and different principles of lean manufacturing (LM) are interdependent and complimentary or they are mutually exclusive. This study draws on the so-called IT-enabled organisational capabilities perspective to study the relationships between IT, LM and business performance improvement. Using a questionnaire-based survey, the data come from 231 leading Iranian and Malaysian auto-part manufacturers. The findings suggest that LM and IT are mutually interdependent and value of IT investments can be effectively transformed into business performance improvement for auto-part manufacturers through the higher levels of lean manufacturing system (LMS) implementation. Advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) competency is a valuable intermediate capability which links IT investments into LMS implementation. It was found that IT investment is one of the minimum requirements of LMS implementation for surveyed business, and the value of IT investment is truly transformed to LMS implementation when IT investments offer competent administrative AMTs to effectively manage all production processes. Findings also recommend that managers should avoid isolating the performance metrics only on areas such as net financial measures, while assessing the business value of IT and LM.
Mineral content variability of two dry-cured ham types

The aim of this study was to elaborate on the mineral content variability of two dry-cured ham types for better understanding of the contribution of minerals to reference daily intake (RDI). These two ham types were based on Istrian and Dalmatian ham manufacturing process. Significantly higher (P<0.05) contents of ash, NaCl, sodium (Na), potassium (K), phosphorus (P), zinc (Zn), iron (Fe), copper (Cu), and manganese (Mn) were found in Istrian ham, while Dalmatian ham had higher moisture content. Calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) content did not differ between ham types. The variability of moisture, ash, NaCl, Na, P, Mg, and Ca content can be regarded as low, while the variability of K, Zn, Fe, Cu, and Mn content should be considered as high. It was observed that mineral content variability within ham type was more often lower than overall variability. Intake of Na by consumption of 100 g of dry-cured ham is between 2350.54 mg in Dalmatian ham and 3148.33 mg in Istrian ham, respectively, thus exceeding recommended daily limitation. Therefore, more efforts in ham manufacturing have to be done to lower Na content. Average contribution of K, P, and Zn to the RDI values were 31.89 %, 40.14 %, and 50.80 %, respectively. Considering that, dry-cured ham could be regarded as a source of a significant amount of these minerals. Contribution of Fe and Cu should be carefully considered because of high variability between ham types. Contribution of Mg, Ca, and Mn to RDI values were lower than 10 %.
Vitamin D Levels in Pregnant Congolese Women and Their New-Borns, and the Association with Neonatal Outcomes – A Pilot Study

Background: This study was thus undertaken to study the estimation of vitamin D levels in pregnant women and their newborns in DRC and to study its association with various neonatal outcomes. Methods: Observational study done on 569 pregnant women and their newborn babies. Sample obtained from maternal serum and cord blood from the placental end during peripartum period. The data was analysed to estimate the prevalence of vitamin D levels in mothers and newborns and to identify association, if any, between maternal vitamin D levels and neonatal outcomes.Results: 464 mothers had sufficient vitamin D (VDS) levels (>30 ng/dL) and 105 had vitamin D deficiency (VDD) with mean maternal serum vitamin D level of 35.63ng/ml (SD 6.18, range 9.2-39.8). All the newborns (n=569) were vitamin D deficient (<30ng/ml). The percentage of LBW babies born to VDD mothers was 18.09%, which was very similar to the percentage of LBW babies born to VDS mothers (18.31%) (p=0.76456749). The incidence of caesarean section was 58.09% in the vitamin D deficient (VDD) group as compared to 19.61% in the sufficient (VDS) group (p<0.0005). The incidence of preterm births was 10.77% in the sufficient group (VDS) as compared to 17.14% in the vitamin D deficient (VDD) group (p=0.038). Conclusion: Our findings will help health professionals, policy makers, and the general public in Africa aware of the high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and the associated health risks.
Effect of Trust, Quality of Products and Quality Services on Purchase Decisions on E-Commerce Shopee in Palembang City

Purchasing decision is the decision of consumers to buy a product or service as desired. This study aims to determine the effect of trust, product quality and service quality on purchasing decisions at e-commerce Shopee in Palembang. This study uses multiple linear regression analysis. The sample in this study were 100 respondents who showed the results that the variables of trust, product quality and service quality had a positive and significant effect on purchasing decisions in ecommerce Shopee. there is one variable that has dominant influence on purchasing decisions, namely the variable trust in purchasing decisions.
Film Cooling Performance of Waist-Shaped Slot Holes

Film cooling performance of a new shaped hole: waist-shaped slot hole is studied in this paper. Experimental measurement and numerical simulation are carried out to investigate the film cooling character and physics of this new shaped hole. And comparisons between the waist-shaped slot hole and two kinds of console holes are also performed. Both the cooling effectiveness distribution and the heat transfer coefficient distribution of the waist-shaped slot hole are similar with those of the console hole with large divergence angle because of the effect of the waist-shaped slot hole’s structure. The middle constriction structure of the waist-shaped slot hole and the coupled vortices make jets from the waist-shaped slot holes produce higher cooling effectiveness in the midspan region between adjacent holes. And also due to the effect of the middle constriction structure, the heat transfer coefficient of the waist-shaped slot hole is very high in the upstream midspan region. However, the heat transfer coefficient in the downstream midspan region is lower than that in the region near the hole centerline because of the effect of the coupled vortices. The waist-shaped slot holes provide the surface with very good thermal protection, especially in the upstream region. Although the console holes with small exit-entry area ratio provide better thermal protection than the waist-shaped slot holes due to small turbulence intensity, the flow resistance characteristic of the waist-shaped slot hole is much better.Copyright © 2010 by ASME
Piezoelectric Energy Harvesting Device Optimization by Synchronous Electric Charge Extraction

This article presents a nonlinear approach to optimize the power flow of vibration-based piezoelectric energy-harvesting devices. This self-adaptive principle is based on a particular synchronization between extraction of the electric charge produced by the piezoelectric element and the system vibrations, which maximizes the mechanical to electrical energy conversion. An analytical expression of the optimal power flow is derived from a simple electromechanical model. An electronic circuit designed to perform the synchronous charge extraction is proposed. Theoretical predictions confirmed by experimental results show that the new principle increases the harvested power by 400% as compared with a quasilinear impedance adaptation optimization method.
Modeling and Identification of Gas Journal Bearings: Self-Acting Gas Bearing Results

A mathematical model is elaborated with analytical relations for transfer functions and for gas-film stiffness and damping coefficients for self-acting and externally pressurized gas journal bearings with four supply orifices positioned at the center plane for rotating shaft displacements near the bearing center. Averaging and corrective coefficients are elaborated. In this paper static and dynamic characteristics of self-acting gas bearings are investigated. Results derived using the developed mathematical model are compared with the results derived from numerical computations of a non-linear distributed parameter model of the gas bearings. The results obtained demonstrate that analytical data are in good agreement with the numerical data for wide range of parameters and the mathematical model developed makes the simple calculation of static and dynamic characteristics of self-acting gas bearings possible. Derived analytical relations for transfer functions and for gas-film coefficients of gas bearings provide an efficient means for designing rotor-bearing systems.
Improving registration metrology by correlation methods based on alias-free image simulation

The increased industry requirements for pattern registration tools in terms of resolution and in-die measurement capability lead to the development of the new photomask registration and overlay metrology system PROVETM at Carl Zeiss. Performance measures of the tool are actually driven by double exposure/ double patterning approaches which will help to extend the 193nm lithography platforms while keeping the semiconductor industry conform to ITRS roadmap requirements. To achieve the challenging specifications, PROVETM features beside a highly stable hardware system new image analysis methods which are designed to meet the requirements both for standard markers as for in-die features. For that, in addition to conventional threshold-based image analysis, PROVETM will provide a more accurate correlation analysis to measure pattern placement errors with respect to design images. This correlation is based on an aerial image simulation of the corresponding reference design patterns. Since reproducibility and accuracy specifications at camera level are far below the pixel size of the CCD, sophisticated algorithms have to be used to avoid super-pixelling effects. It will be shown that super-pixelling effects of discretized design images will either lead to placement errors or to unrealistic small design pixel dimensions, connected with huge image sizes. The solution is an alias-free forward transform that performs the discretization in Fourier space and will not disturb the pattern placement. It is indicated by simulations that this allows the detection of an arbitrary sub-pixel placement error with high accuracy. Furthermore, it is demonstrated that correlation methods reduce the impact of camera noise compared to threshold methods, in particular for small in-die features as contact holes.
The moderating effect of slack resources on the relation between quality management and organisational learning

Recent literature in the field of strategic management suggests that firms must learn to combine internal competencies and resources in order to achieve competitive advantages. This paper examines how firms employ slack resources to enhance the relationship between quality management (QM) and organisational learning to obtain sustainable competitive advantages. The findings use empirical data gathered from 202 quality managers to support the hypotheses that: (1) there is a strong connection between organisational learning and QM; and (2) the relation between organisational learning and QM is moderated by slack resources.
JUMPING PERFORMANCE OF YOUNG GIRLS IN TRACK AND FIELD

INTRODUCTION: Jumping performance, as demonstrated by several types of vertical jumps performed on a force platform by individuals of different ages, varies in terms of biomechanical analysis of the force-time curve (Dowling et al., 1993, Harman et al., 1990). The purpose of the present study was to examine the factors related to the jumping performance of young girls involved in track and field running and jumping events. METHODS: Fourteen young girls, averaging in chronological age 12.53 + 1.24 yrs, body height 160.78 + 9.78 cm and body weight 48.00 + 8.17 kg, participated in the study. Their performances were measured on a force-platform (Kistler type 9281 B, Instrument Corp., Amherst, NY) and sampled at 250 Hz while performing a test consisting of a vertical jump with swinging the arms (With Arms Jump - WAJ) and another without swinging the arms (Countermovement Jump - CMJ). The following results were obtained by employing temporal and force analysis and using the specialized program Bio-Ware. RESULTS: The maximum height of the center of gravity in WAJ (30.25 + 4.07 cm) was higher than in CMJ (26.25 + 3.50 cm), (Table 1). Table 1. Mean values, standard deviations and coefficients of variation of the parameters of jumping performance in the two types of vertical jumps (WAJ and CMJ). In contrast, the relative force exhibited by the subjects was lower in WAJ (1.33 + 0.17) than in CMJ (1.48 + 0.18). Higher coefficients of variation were observed in the WAJ variables, indicating a higher variability in the way the vertical jump was performed. The duration of the take-off phase was 0.764 + 0.17 s, and the duration from minimum to maximum vertical force was 0.407 + 0.17 s, with the coefficient of variation being high (41.8%). Factor analysis showed that: (a) the duration of the take-off phase, as well as the relative force applied by the subjects, played important roles in WAJ jumping performance; (b) the duration of the flight phase, the maximum height of center of gravity, the vertical velocity, and the duration from minimum to maximum force played the prime roles in CMJ jumping performance. CONCLUSIONS: The sample of young girls participating in the study exhibited differences in the factors related to their jumping performances. The lack of coordination of movements was obvious especially in WAJ. These results from those observed in jumping performance studies performed with older individuals, suggesting that further research is required at this basic stage of athletic development. REFERENCES: Dowling, J., Vamos, L. (1993). Identification of Kinetic and Temporal Factors Related to Vertical Jump Performance. Journal of Applied Biomechanics 9, 95-110. Harman, E. A. , Rosenstein, M. T. , Frykman, P. N. , Rosenstein, R. M. (1990). The Effects of Arms and Countermovement on Vertical Jumping. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 22, 825-833.
VTool: A Method for Predicting and Understanding the Energy Flow and Losses in Advanced Vehicle Powertrains

As the global demand for energy increases, the people of the United States are increasingly subject to high and ever-rising oil prices. Additionally, the U.S. transportation sector accounts for 27% of total nationwide Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. In the U.S. transportation sector, light-duty passenger vehicles account for about 58% of energy use. Therefore incremental improvements in light-duty vehicle efficiency and energy use will significantly impact the overall landscape of energy use in America. A crucial step to designing and building more efficient vehicles is modeling powertrain energy consumption. While accurate modeling is indeed key to effective and efficient design, a fundamental understanding of the powertrain and auxiliary systems that contribute to energy consumption for a vehicle is equally as important if not more important. This thesis presents a methodology that has been packaged into a tool, called VTool, that can be used to estimate the energy consumption of a vehicle powertrain. The method is intrinsically designed to foster understanding of the vehicle powertrain as it relates to energy consumption while still providing reasonably accurate results. VTool explicitly calculates the energy required at the wheels of the vehicle to complete a prescribed drive cycle and then explicitly applies component efficiencies to find component losses and the overall energy consumption for the drive cycle. In calculating component efficiencies and losses, VTool offers several tunable parameters that can be used to calibrate the tool for a particular vehicle, compare powertrain architectures, or simply explore the tradeoffs and sensitivities of certain parameters. In this paper, the method is fully and explicitly developed to model Electric Vehicles (EVs), Series Hybrid Electric Vehicles (HEVs) and Parallel HEVs for various different drive cycles. VTool has also been validated for use in UDDS and HwFET cycles using on-road test results from the 2011 EcoCAR competition. By extension, the method could easily be extended for use in other cycles. The end result is a tool that can predict fuel consumption to a reasonable degree of accuracy for a variety of powertrains, calculate J1711 Utility Factor weighted energy consumption for Extended Range Electric Vehicles (EREVs) and determine the Well-to-Wheel impact of a given powertrain or fuel. VTool does all of this while performing all calculations explicitly and calculating all component losses to allow the user maximum access which promotes understanding and comprehension of the fundamental dynamics of automotive fuel economy and the powertrain as a system.