Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Education and GDP Growth in Oil Exporting Countries: Panel Causality Approach

This paper investigates the causal relationship between education and GDP in a panel of 11 selected oil exporting countries by using panel unit root tests and panel co-integration analysis for the period 1970-2014. A three-variable model is formulated with oil revenues as the third variable. The results show a strong causality from oil revenues and economic growth to education in the oil exporting countries. Yet, education does not have any significant effects on GDP in shortand long-run. It means that it is the oil and GDP that drives education in mentioned countries, not vice versa. So the findings of this paper support the point of view that it is higher economic growth that leads to higher education proxy. It seems that as the number of enrollments raise, the quality of the education declines. Moreover, the formal education systems are not market oriented in these countries. This may be the reason why huge educational investments in these developing countries fail to generate higher growth. By promoting practice-oriented training for students particularly in technical disciplines and matching education system to the needs of the labor market, it will help create long-term jobs and improve the country’s future prospects. JEL classifications: O40, O15, I20, C33, C10
The Development and Initial Validation of a Measure of Coaching Behaviors in a Sample of Army Recruits

In this article we outline a model of coaching that is conceptually grounded in workplace and sport coaching literature and present 2 studies conducted to test this model: the extent that coaching behaviors are present in a military training setting, and their association with performance-related outcomes. Following an extensive review of literature and rigorous development and validation procedures the 28-item Military Coaching Behavior Scale was tested. The measure showed good content and predictive validity for 2 dependent variables (satisfaction and resilience). We concluded that the Military Coaching Behavior Scale offers a psychometrically sound, brief, and easy-to-administer measure of high-performance coaching behavior.
Augmentation of antioxidant system: Contribution to antimalarial activity of Clerodindrum violaceum leaf extract

Reactive oxygen species are known to mediate various pathological conditions associated with malaria. In this study, the antioxidant potential of Clerodendrum violaceum leaf extracts, an indigenous antimalarial remedy, was evaluated. Total phenol, flavonoid, selenium, vitamins C and E contents of Clerodendrum violaceum leaf extracts were determined. The free radical scavenging activities of the extracts against DPPH, superoxide anion and hydrogen peroxide coupled with their reducing power were also evaluated in vitro. Moreover, responses of superoxide dismutase (SOD), CATALASE (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione reducatase (GR) in a rodent malaria model to a 4-day administration of Clerodendrum violaceum leaf extracts were also evaluated. The methanolic extract was found to contain the highest amounts of antioxidant compounds/element and also demonstrated the highest free radical scavenging activity in vitro. The results showed a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in SOD and CAT activities with a concurrent significant (p < 0.05) increase in GPx and GR activities in both erythrocytes and liver of untreated Plasmodium berghei NK 65-infected animals compared to the uninfected animals. The extracts were able to significantly increase (p < 0.05) SOD and CAT activities and significantly reduce (p < 0.05) GPx and GR activities in both the liver and erythrocytes compared to those observed in the untreated infected animals. The results suggest the augmentation of the antioxidant system as one of the possible mechanisms by which Clerodendurm violaceum extract ameliorates secondary effects of malaria infection, alongside its antiplasmodial effect in subjects.
Influence of Customer Pressure on the Innovative Activity of a Company

This article is based on the research conducted on the companies from five countries: Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Estonia and Poland. These countries are all located in the south-eastern part of the Baltic Sea. A review of the literature reveals no analysis of the intensity of customer impact on the innovative activity of a company. In this context, the main aim of the article is to analyse the influence and intensity of types of customer pressure on the innovative activity of a company. This article takes into account both the pressure from customers to introduce new products and the pressure from customers to lower the production costs. The research hypothesis allowing the attainment of the research goal is formulated as follows: The majority of innovations introduced by the companies from the countries of south-east part of the Baltic Sea are demand-driven, that is, they are a result of customer pressure. This means that the probability of occurrence of all the analysed attributes of innovative activity depends on the amount of pressure on the side of customers. With no pressure, the probability of occurrence of the analysed attributes of innovative activity is smallest.
New method for predicting n-tetradecane/bitumen mixture density: correlation development

Nowadays, incredible growth of the energy consumption has changed the global attention to the production and utilization of the heavy crude oils such as bitumen resources around the globe. Amongst the bitumen properties, density is an important parameter which improves bitumen recovery efficiency and transportation quality. For easy production of bitumen, n -alkanes are usually injected into the reservoir to reduce its viscosity and density; however, there are few numbers of models focusing on proper estimation/prediction of diluted bitumen mixture density in literature. In present work, a new method was proposed to accurately prognosticate the bitumen/n -tetradecane mixture density as a function of thermodynamic conditions using Gene Expression Programming (GEP) for the first time as a function of solvent composition, pressure and temperature. Consequently, the proposed model here predicts the mixture density with the average Absolute Relative Deviation (AARD%) of 0.3016% and R -squared (R 2 ) of 0.9943. Moreover, it is found out the solvent concentration has the highest impact value on mixture density estimation. In conclusion, results of the present study can be so valuable for field engineers and researchers working on solvent-assisted recovery methods from heavy oil reservoirs.
A survey of energy harvesting circuits: research issues and challenges.

Energy Harvesting is referred to the capability of collecting ambient energy. Circuits has been designed for recovering energy from several sources: radio frequency (RF) signals, thermal energy, kinetic motion and mechanical vibration for naming a few. This solution applies to self-powered devices just like power charging, remote environment monitoring, mobile devices, health and structural monitoring. This paper addresses the circuits implemented for RF energy harvesting. This circuits harvest energy from Digital Television towers, Mobile Networks (GSM) and Wireless LAN. In this paper, the general block scheme is presented and the circuit elements are discussed in detail. Besides some figures of merits like efficiency conversion and output power are illustrated. The practical applications for powering some electronics devices is also analyzed. Finally, some research issues and challenges are also described.
Contribution to the Study of Quantitative and Qualitative Aspects of Steppe Formations for the Characterization of Desertification in Semi-arid Environment: Saida, Algeria

In semiarid regions such as Saida, the steppe ecosystem is currently submitted to desertification under the combined effect of human activity and climate change. Our study is a contribution to the assessment of the biodiversity of steppe formations through a phytoecological diagnosis at the South zone of the wilaya of Saida. To achieve the objective of this study, a methodological approach based on studies of multifarious types. Thirty floristic and soil have been made to end better now characterize the floristic richness, biological type and soil type. The sampling technique is between purposive sampling and a statistical sampling to two degree (transect surveys). The period of fieldwork is the spring season of 2012. The results obtained clearly show that vegetation cover and soil are the subject of an alarming deterioration that results in a very advanced stage of desertification. This results in a drop in agricultural production and installation of non-palatable species by livestock.
COMPARATIVE STUDY OF EDGE BASED LSB MATCHING STEGANOGRAPHY FOR COLOR IMAGES

Steganography is a very pivotal technique mainly used for covert transfer of information over a covert communication channel. This paper proposes a significant comparative study of the spatial LSB domain technique that focuses on sharper edges of the color as well as gray scale images for the purpose of data hiding and hides secret message first in sharper edge regions and then in smooth regions of the image. Message embedding depends on content of the image and message size. The experimental results illustrate that, for low embedding rate the method hides the message in sharp edges of cover image to get better stego image visualization quality. For high embedding rate, smooth regions and edges of the cover image are used for the purpose of data hiding. In this steganography method, color image and textured kind of image preserves better visual quality of stego image. The novelty of the comparative study is that, it helps to analyze the efficiency and performance of the method as it gives better results because it directly works on color images instead of converting to gray scale image
The Impacts of Teachers' Skills, Attitudes and Training Environments on Satisfaction: The Case of Accountants in Mongolia

The aim of this study to examine the correlations between teachersâ€™ skills, attitude and training environment for accountants satisfaction. We try and understand the factors which influence accountants satisfaction in a short time training as well as the consequences of it. Accountants will often choose their specific academic department based on its needs. We collected and analyzed data from descriptive research can help understand the factors on accountants satisfaction. The data were collected from 63 participants who study in the first courses and 73 participants who study in the third courses for short time training. This study discussed the effects of above mentioned results, the implications for theory and practice along with the limitations of the research and the implications for further research. Our study is significant in considering both theoretical and practical issues and for practices in the Mongolian training sector. Data were estimated by SPSS 21 and Smart PLS 3.0 statistic programs.
Examining the Possibility of Cognitive Advantages on Measures of Inhibitory Control in Relation to Heightened Levels of Musical Expertise.

Inhibitory control (IC), one of the three major components of executive functions that underlie goal-directed behaviour, appears to be a prime candidate for cognitive improvement as a result of increased musical expertise. Whilst the direct relationship is established, the underlying mechanisms that facilitate this improvement are poorly understood. Impulsivity, a personality trait that can be manifested when inhibitory control is dysfunctional, was hypothesised to potentially be one of the underlying mechanisms that influences improvements in inhibition post-musical learning. To test this hypothesis, ninety-six participants (M = 24.9 years, SD = 8.5) completed the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), Dickman Impulsivity Inventory (DII) and the Goldsmith’s Musical Sophistication Index (Gold-MSI). A multiple regression analysis was then performed to see whether scores of musical training and musical sophistication could predict lower scores on both measures of impulsivity. No significant relationship could be found, indicating that musical training and sophistication are poor predictors of impulsivity. The present study could not, therefore, elucidate on the foundational mechanisms that facilitate IC improvement following the gain of musical expertise. The implications of these findings are discussed in consideration of the limiting factors that may have contributed to the results.
Impact of introduced juvenile mussel cultures on the pelagic ecosystem of the western Wadden Sea, The Netherlands

Pelagic mussel collectors provide an alternative to fishing for mussel seed from naturalbeds. These collectors, which have been recently introduced in the Dutch part of the WaddenSea, facilitate the settlement and survival of blue mussel Mytilus edulis larvae. We assessed theremoval of plankton by juvenile mussels and the recovery of plankton after filtration. A mesocosmexperiment, using natural sea water, was executed on 12 occasions from June to October in 2010and 2011. Mussel filtration resulted in large reductions in nanophytoplankton, ciliate and totalchlorophyll biomasses (65−62%), while picophytoplankton and bacterial biomasses were reducedto a lower extent (38 and 18%). After filtration, mussels were removed and the plankton communitywas allowed to recover for 8 d, which is the average residence time of water in the area. Duringthis recovery period, net growth rates of bacteria, pico- and nanophytoplankton increased initiallyin the mussel-filtered mesocosms, but at the end of the recovery period, growth rates weresimilar in mussel-filtered and control mesocosms. At the end of the recovery period, plankton concentrationsbetween control and mussel mesocosms were not statistically different despite the initiallarge reduction due to mussel filtration. Our results suggest that nutrients released by musselsduring filtration might have stimulated the filtered plankton community, enabling recovery tofiltration within 8 d.
The Relationship Between Demographic Variables And Collaborative Learning Activities Of Teachers

The main purpose of this study is to find out the relationship between collaborative learning activities and demographic variables such as gender, ethnicity and the highest qualification. In order to reach the aim of this study, the researchers conducted a survey research and data were collected from437 teachers of the State of Selangor, Malaysia. The findings indicated that there is a strong correlation between collaborative learning activities with gender and ethnicity; however, there was no significant correlation between collaborative learning activities with the highest qualification of teachers. This study provides beneficial points for teachers and principals that are presented in the study.
Mechanism Discrimination for Bimolecular Reactions: Revisited with a Practical Hydrogenation Case Study

The governing mechanism of surface reactions is a fundamental concern in heterogeneous catalysis. The Langmuir–Hinshelwood (LH) mechanism is widely accepted to control the surface reactions in many catalytic systems. This contribution derives and compares several important surface rate equations to evaluate their quality of fitting to the experimental data collected for a vapor-phase hydrogenation case study to produce furfuryl alcohol over supported copper catalysts. Meanwhile, a few essential but less addressed issues in determining the surface reaction mechanism were underlined. It is established that the Eley–Rideal mechanism would be equally (if not more) viable compared to the LH rate model all with coefficients of multiple determination larger than 97%, a conclusion in some contradiction with the common assumption of the previous publications for this case study. This investigation further highlighted that a good fit to any rate expression should not be taken as a proof of the assumed mechanism unless the opponent cases are tested within adequately wide ranges of concentrations.
Local structure studies using the pair distribution function

The pair distribution analysis method is a fast spreading structural analysis method allowing to go beyond classical crystallographic analysis by providing quantitative information about local as well as meso-structure. It based on powder diffraction data fourier transformed to direct space. We will present here the main characteristics of the method, and its domain of application.
Financial liberalization, financing constraints and political connection: evidence from Chinese firms

This paper examines the impact of recent financial liberalization in China on the financing constraints of publicly-listed Chinese firms with and without politically-connected CEO/Chairman. Two continuous indices are used to measure the evolution and intensity of financial reforms: a financial liberalization index and a capital control index. The results indicate that while firms without politically-connected CEO/Chairman face significant financing constraints and politically-connected firms do not, financial liberalization has reduced the constraints for the former. Similarly, lower capital control in China’s equity market lessens credit constraints for non-connected firms. No statistically-significant impact is detected with regards to firms that have CEO/Chairman with powerful political background.
Loyalty And Relationship Orientation Case of Moroccan Company: Quantitative Approach

the problem we studied in this article focused on the influence of perceived quality, and relational orientation of companies in creating value for the customer through a collaborative relationship. Well this research aims to investigate the effect of perceived value by the customer through a relational exchange in his loyalty. Data collection was collected in Moroccan company. Structural equations modeling (SEM) is used to evaluate the simultaneous effects of the predictive variables. Implications for manager’s academicians are discussed and areas for future research are presented. Key word: Loyalty, Value, Quality perceived, Relational orientation
Exploring robustness of bistability in prototypical positive feedback loops

Bistability is a dynamical property of biological systems which have the ability to possess two distinct stable steady states. Bistability is the hallmark of decision-making processes and underlies basic cellular functions such as cell cycle progression, cellular differentiation, and apoptosis. It is crucial for a bistable system to operate robustly, meaning that it has to be able to maintain the bistable behavior in the presence of perturbations in its kinetic parameters. We aim to understand how different parameter configurations and ultrasensitive mechanisms such as molecular cooperativity, homodimerization and titration, organize bistability and its robustness in prototypical feedback loop systems. We in particular show that the coupling between a positive and a negative feedback loop, enclosed under the titration mechanism, can enlarge the bistability range of a single parameter, and therefore contribute to the robustness of bistability. We also develop a method based on the open-loop approach to explore parametric regions inside the bistability area of bifurcation diagrams, in which the sensitivity of unstable steady state to parameters of a system can be minimized. Unstable steady states are key organizers of bistability and minimization of their sensitivity to parameters leads to the persistence of the bistable behavior against parameter perturbations. Our results provide insight into the role of different parameters as well as homodimerization and titration mechanisms in creating robust bistability in positive feedback systems. Additionally, we study the galactose network in {\it Saccharomyces cerevisiae}, in which bistability creates a persistent memory of the carbon source that is available in the environment. We reconstruct the bistable behavior of the network by developing a mathematical model that represents the molecular interactions of the network. Using the experimental data extracted from different layers of the network, we perform nonlinear regression to estimate the parameter values of the model. Our investigations reveal the significance of homodimerization and titration in creating bistability in the galactose network. In summary, our results provide a better understanding of how parameter configurations and different ultrasensitive regulatory motifs contribute to bistability and its robustness. The results can be used to efficiently design and synthesize robust bistable switches.
Is there Enough Justification for Questioning Body Mass Index (BMI) as Exclusion Criteria of Reduction Mammoplasty in the Surgical Treatment of Symptomatic Macromastia?

Background: Despite the fact that reduction mammaplasty is an effective and efficient treatment to symptomatic macromastia, frequently, women demanding this treatment are accepted or not depending on body mass index criteria. The aim of this work was to compare changes of quality of life on obese and no-obese women who undergoing breast reduction mammaplasty. Methods: A prospective study was performed on 56 consecutive women undergoing bilateral reduction mammaplasty for symptomatic macromastia, 21 of them had a BMI lower than 30 (No-obese group) and 35 with 30 or higher BMI (Obese group). Short Form SF-36 quality of life questionnaires were answered at interviews a week before the surgery and six months after. To evaluate the change of quality of life we used “effect size”. Results: Preoperative SF36 scores did not make differences between both groups. Six months after surgery only postoperative physical score of no-obese patients was significantly higher than obese one (52.11 vs 48.47, p>0.05). Both groups increased clearly their quality of life showing an increment of all SF36 domains with an effect size ranged from 0.53 to 2.07. More than seventy percent of obese women improved their scores exceeding means of preoperative scores. Conclusion: According to our results and the fact that the main goal of the breast reduction is ameliorate the quality of life there is no justification for exclusion obese patients with BMI >30 who suffer from symptomatic macromastia from reduction mammaplasty. Therapy: Level III of Evidence. Keywords: Reduction mammaplasty, Symptomatic macromastia, Obese, SF-36 health questionnaire, Effect size.