Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Effect of Entry Grades on Academic Performance of University Accounting Students: A case of Undergraduates of Central University College

The performance of students at undergraduate levels has been attributable to several factors, particularly to the university’s systems including facilities, structures and quality teaching and students’ services system. Not much has been said about the quality of students admitted to the university. The study employs systems theory to analyse the relationship between the quality of students admitted and their performance in the early part of the undergraduate programme using Pearson’s correlation and concludes that there is a relationship between Core Mathematics and Accounting at pre-university level and performance of undergraduate Accounting Students’ performance. No correlation was however found between pre-university English and their university level performance. The study recommends that, due consideration be given to the existing admission policy criteria regarding emphasis on performance in Core English, particularly for accounting students seeking to pursue accounting programmes, as it may be more harmful than good. Keywords: Pre University Mathematics, Pre University English, Pre University Accounting, Accounting Students performance, Principles of Financial Accounting, Managerial Cost Accounting, CGPA
Banking Competition and Financial Stability: Evidence from CIS

The study provides empirical analysis of the cross-country relationship between a direct measure of competitive conduct of banking system and financial system in CIS countries during the period from 2001 to 2013. We determine the level of banking competition by using Panzar and Rosse H-statistic. Estimation results from Logit probability analysis reveal that the level of competition does not significantly affect the probability of banking crisis in such countries. However, a number of macroeconomic and institutional factors have a significant influence in financial stability. According to empirical results, higher inflation increases the probability of a banking crisis. On the other hand, credit growth decreases the probability of banking crisis in the investigated countries. These results are robust to the methodology when the interaction of concentration and h-statistic is used. The institutional factors have significant influence on preventing banking crises. Specifically, improvement in government effectiveness decreases the probability of banking crisis.
Thinking Ability Analysis High-Level Using Problems In Class VIII TIMSS MTsN Flat In The District Land

this study originated from the lack of high-level thinking skills in science class VIII Indonesia. Trends in International Mathematics and Science Studies (TIMSS) 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 showed the average value of science students are respectively 435, 420, 427, and 406 from the average standard 500. Low scores reflect low acquisition Indonesian students IPA implementation and reasoning ability of Indonesian students. The purpose of this study was conducted to determine the ability of students' higher-order thinking and the factors that influence it. This study is a descriptive study conducted in MTsN Batusanggkar, MTsN Paninjauan and MTsN Sungai Jambu in Tanah Datar. The instrument used to collect data is the text of TIMSS 2011 test questions and the interview guides for teachers and students. The achievement of students seen by the content domain, cognitive domain. The results of the 65 students in the district of Tanah Datar MTsN obtained 26.2% of students with high-level thinking skills with sedangdan level of 73.8% of students have a low level thinking skills. The achievement of high thinking skills tests eighth grade students in Tanah Datar content of 36.6% based domain. Cognitive domain application domain 36.8%, while 40.2% of cognitive reasoning. Based on interviews with teachers and students, the cause of the low ability students' higher-order thinking is students have never worked on about TIMSS. Questions used in different schools with about TIMSS given, lack of interest in reading the students, as well as lack of implementation and reasoning abilities of students
European Integration, FDI and the Internal Geography of Trade: Evidence from Western European Border Regions

In this paper we use a gravity model to study the trade performance of French and Spanish border regions relatively to non-border regions, over the past two decades. We find that, controlling for their size, proximity and location characteristics, border regions trade on average between 62% and 193% more with their neighbouring country than other regions, and twice as much if they are endowed with good cross border transport infrastructures. Despite European integration, however, this trade outperformance has fallen for the most peripheral regions within the EU. We show that this trend was linked in part to a shift in the propensity of foreign investors to move their affiliates from the regions near their home market to the regions bordering the EU core.
Empirical Test of the Efficiency of Currency Investments

The portfolio theory and the basic ideas of Markowitz can be applied to currency investments as well as to classical asset classes as shares or bonds. The question whether currency investments can be treated as efficient asset classes is not finally answered in theory and practice. This article applies a modified historical simulation approach to shares, bonds and currencies. The questions according to the efficiency of currency investments are answered empirically from a euro-investor´s point of view. The empirical analysis leads to the result that currency investments are not efficient in general. Some specific cases exist. The used data lead to the result that the Czech koruna seems to be an efficient asset class and leveraging a euro portfolio by other currencies is useful as well. But it has to be doubted if these effects will remain in the future.
Nanomaterials for Construction Engineering-A Review

 Abstract—Nanotechnology is not new and is known to exist for ages, be it in the sword of tipu sultan or in the windows of the medieval churches in Europe. A common question in the minds of all of us living in today's world is about how the mechanism of nanotechnology can be used in the healthy compatibility with the constructional structures like that of massive buildings and bridges, which have been thought to encroach upon huge masses of land, leading to the destroying of homes of wildlife and putting pressure in the limited reserves of energy. This review paper focuses on the sustainable usage of nano based materials like carbon nanotube, electrochromic windows, nanoclays, sandvik nanoflex™, nanowires, titanium dioxide, nanoceramic coating, nanocrystalline materials, nanosilica, nanocomposites, MMFX2 steel, nanometals, nanofibres, nanomyte™ mend MW, nanocement, which could be used for providing singular or multiple functions of potential reinforcement, corrosion resistance, insulation, fire protection, temperature resistance, reducing air conditioning loads, pollution control, UV ray absorption, lighting, when used as a part of building materials.
Mean-Reverting Valuation of Real Options for International Railway Construction Projects

This study proposes to employ a mean-reverting model to evaluate the real options embedded in international railway construction projects. The application of mean-reverting models has usually had the difficulty of defining suitable mean-reverting variables for evaluating railway construction projects. The innovative aspect in this research is the formation and calibration of the mean-reverting models we have proposed, in which underlying variables related to the present value of a railway project normalized by either the length of a railway track or the construction time are assumed to follow stochastic mean-reversion processes. Through an example, we show that this assumption enabled us to have evaluated the abandonment option embedded in the construction project by calibrating the parameters with Euler’s estimation and maximum likelihood estimation.
Effect of Varied Irrigation Scheduling with Levels and Times of Nitrogen Application on Yield and Water Use Efficiency of Aerobic Rice

More rice needs to be produced with lesser water to feed the increasing human population. Judicious water management practices and appropriate water saving technologies in rice cultivation are in need in the coming decades. Aerobic rice is one of water saving method of rice cultivation. The field experiment was conducted during Summer season of February 2018 to May 2018 at Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Agricultural College and Research Institute, Madurai, to find out the effect of irrigation schedules with varied doses and time of nitrogen application on yield of aerobic rice. Irrigation scheduling of IW/CPE (Irrigation Water/Cumulative Pan Evaporation) 1.0 up to panicle initiation stage and thereafter IW/CPE 1.2 up to dough stage recorded higher yield attributes viz., number of panicles hill-1 (9.1), number of filled grains panicle-1 (87.9), test weight (15.3 g), grain yield (4462 kg·ha-1), straw yield (5977 kg·ha-1). However, the highest water use efficiency (6.8 kg·ha-1·mm-1) was recorded in the treatment of IW/CPE 1.0 throughout the crop growth period. Lower yield attributes, yield and water use efficiency were recorded with irrigation scheduling of IW/CPE 0.8 throughout the growth stage. Application of nitrogen at 150 kg·ha-1 in 5 equal splits at 20, 35, 50, 65 and 80 DAS (Days after sowing) recorded higher yield attributes viz., number of panicles hill-1 (9.3), number of filled grains panicle-1 (90.5), test weight (15.4 g), grain yield (4746 kg·ha-1), straw yield (6258 kg·ha-1) and WUE (7.5 kg·ha-1·mm-1). Application of nitrogen 100 kg·ha-1 in 4 equal splits at 20, 40, 60 and 80 DAS recorded lower yield attributes, yield and water use efficiency. The interaction effect between irrigation scheduling and nitrogen management on yield was significant. The combination of IW/CPE 1.0 up to panicle initiation stage and thereafter IW/CPE 1.2 up to dough stage along with application of nitrogen at 150 kg·ha-1 in 5 equal splits at 20, 35, 50, 65 and 80 DAS significantly produced higher number of panicles hill-1 (10.7), grain yield of 5419 kg·ha-1 and straw yield of 6906 kg·ha-1. However, IW/CPE 1.0 throughout the growth period along with application of nitrogen at 150 kg·ha-1 in 5 equal splits at 20, 35, 50, 65 and 80 DAS registered the highest water use efficiency (8.4 kg·ha-1·mm-1) in aerobic rice.
Nature imagery in advertising

Environmental psychology postulates that interacting with nature has inherently positive emotional, cognitive and physiological effects. Based on Attention Restoration Theory and related research, this paper presents a theoretical framework hypothesising that nature imagery presented in an advertisement enhances cognitive advertising message elaboration and memory. Three experimental studies, including an eye-tracking experiment, which successively addressed emotional, information processing and memory effects of exposure to nature imagery in advertising, provided evidence supporting postulated effects. Findings confirmed the hypothesis that advertisements featuring visual representations of pleasant nature scenes can evoke very similar emotional responses to those experienced in pleasant natural environments, which constitutes a necessary condition for the suggested cognitive effects. As hypothesised, advertising messages of advertisements featuring pleasant nature imagery achieved higher memory scores in both unaided recall and recognition compared to identical advertisements displaying a variety of other attractive pictures.
Enhanced optical bistability with film-coupled plasmonic nanocubes

Colloidally synthesized nanocubes strongly coupled to conducting films hold great promise for enhancing different nonlinear optical processes. They exhibit a robust and sensitive scattering response that can be easily controlled by their geometrical and material parameters. Strong local field enhancement is generated at the gap regions between the nanocubes and the metallic film. We show that strong optical bistability and all-optical switching behavior can be obtained by loading these nanogaps with Kerr nonlinear materials. Relatively low input intensities are required to obtain these nonlinear effects. The proposed design can lead to efficient, low-power, and ultrafast all-optical memories and scattering nanoswitches.
Using Semantic Entity Extraction Method for a New Application

Semantic entities extraction method has been used for various aims. Here, it will be used for a new application - computing semantic relatedness of texts. The previous works in the field of computing semantic relatedness of texts convert a text into a set of words by different methods, and then compute semantic relatedness between these words of texts. In this paper a different approach will be proposed in which any text converts to a set of semantic entities to compute semantic relatedness. Comparing the results with the literatures shows that the results of this new approach can be sufficiently reliable.
CONNECTING FOR HEALTH: PLAYING WITH HORSES AS A THERAPEUTIC TOOL

This pilot study examined a brief psychological intervention using horses as a therapeutic tool to improve levels of self-esteem, self-efficacy, and facilitate the development of life skills in a group of disengaged youths (n = 16). Participants and their case managers were interviewed after completion of the program to explore their responses to the intervention. Interview transcripts were coded to identify participants' experiences and outcomes. Five themes emerged from these interviews, namely, (a) enjoyment, (b) psychological and social benefits, (c) engagement, (d) transferrable skills, and (e) mechanisms of change. The findings of this study indicate that this type of intervention may provide a viable option for youths who are disengaged from school and/or the community and who have not responded to traditional interventions.
Adaptive Word Reordering for Low-Power Inter-Chip Communication

The energy for data transfer has an increasing effect on the total system energy as technology scales, often overtaking computation energy. To reduce the power of inter-chip interconnects, an adaptive encoding scheme called Adaptive Word Reordering (AWR) is proposed that effectively decreases the number of signal transitions, leading to a significant power reduction. AWR outperforms other adaptive encoding schemes in terms of decrease in transitions, yielding up to 73% reduction in switching. Furthermore, complex bit transition computations are represented as delays in the time domain to limit the power overhead due to encoding. The saved power outweighs the overhead beyond a moderate wire length where the I/O voltage is assumed equal to the core voltage. For a typical I/O voltage, the decrease in power is significant reaching 23% at just 1 mm.
QoS Management for Broadband IEEE 802.16 based Networks in FDD Mode

The design and performance analysis of a scheduling technique for the provision of QoS over Broadband Wireless Access Networks (BWA) is presented. The proposed scheduling algorithm is based on the MAC protocol of the IEEE 802.16 standard and focuses on the uplink channel, which is the limiting factor of BWA networks and is critical in the delivery of services to individual users. Although the IEEE 802.16 standard had proposed several QoS service classes for various types of applications, they do not suggest how to schedule traffic to fulfill timing critical services such as compressed/uncompressed voice, audio and video streams. We have derived a mechanism called EBSA that combines several scheduling algorithms to closely match VBR-like and CBR-like traffic over the IEEE 802.16 air interface. Simulation results show that EBSA provides real-time services with very low access delays even during congestion periods. Ill. 7, bibl. 14 (in English; summaries in English, Russian and Lithuanian).
Conceptual metaphors in Ukrainian prime ministers’ discourse involving renewables

Abstract This qualitative study is aimed at elucidating conceptual metaphors associated with renewable energy sources (further referred to as ‘renewables’) in Ukrainian prime ministers’ (PMs) political discourse. The material derives from a corpus of Ukrainian PMs’ political texts on renewables in Ukraine within the timeframe 2005-2014. The corpus is examined for the presence of conceptual metaphors pertaining to the topic of renewables. Data analysis indicates that from 2005 to 2013 conceptual metaphors involving renewables are embedded in the issues of Ukraine’s adherence to the Kyoto Protocol, the EU directives on renewables, the monetary value of renewables and the role of renewables in Ukraine’s energy security, thus instantiating the conceptual metaphors Renewables as Ukraine’s European Choice, Renewables as a Path to the EU, Renewables as Money and Renewables as Independence respectively. However, the novel metaphor Renewables as Survival is identified in PM Yatsenjuk’s political discourse in 2014. This metaphor is embedded in the context of another conceptual metaphor, Gas as a Weapon, which is present in political discourse involving Russian natural gas export to third countries. Data analysis indicates that the conceptual metaphors Renewables as Survival and Renewables as Independence are in a polyphonic relationship of synergy and contrast with Gas as a Weapon.
A quantitative method for analysing the dispersion of carbon nanotubes in cement composite materials

The dispersion of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) within cement-based composite materials plays a key role in determining many essential properties. In this study, a method to quantify the dispersion of CNTs within cement-based composite materials has been developed. The dispersion quantity, D, is measured by the particle size rather than the free-path spacing between particles. The particle sizes are given in terms of the true length/nm rather than pixels. A Gaussian function is used as the probability density function (PDF) fits a Gaussian distribution better than a lognormal distribution depending on the statistical data and the true diameter of CNTs. Higher D values indicate a better dispersion of CNTs in the matrix. The method works well to quantify the dispersion of particles, especially for filaments such as CNTs, and is simple and useful.
Urban Informal Economy in Bangladesh: A Case Study on Mobile Vegetable Vendor in Dhaka City

The informal economic sector is very important for the economy of any developing country. As a developing country, informal economy plays a significant role to Bangladesh’s labor market. But this sector is still undernourished. This research was conducted to understand the contribution of the urban informal sector at a micro scale. This paper aimed at revealing the contribution of vegetable selling to improve socioeconomic status of vegetable vendors and the obstacles they face to run their business. Research data was collected through in-depth interviews with vegetable vendors who engaged in vegetable selling by rickshaw vans in Dhaka city. Results from this study found significant contributions of vegetable selling at a household level including: continuation of children’s education, improved food intake, access to information technology, and the savings generation. Informal businessmen also face several challenges that set back to reap maximum outcomes from this sector. Therefore, it is urgent to take informal economy-friendly initiatives at a macro-level to patronize this sector for getting optimum benefit from it.
Assortative Mating and Intergenerational Persistence of Schooling and Earnings

Research on intergenerational mobility has often treated outcomes such as schooling and earnings as being imperfectly transmitted from one parent to a child. But because the characteristics of both parents are important in shaping children’s outcomes, the way in which a generation of parents is sorted into couples is likely to be a key determinant of intergenerational persistence. Mating patterns are assortative—that is, individuals tend to partner with people similar to themselves—and this is typically measured by similarity of educational attainment. I present the first estimates of the effect of assortative mating on intergenerational persistence of schooling and earnings. I measure assortative mating as the rank correlation of couples’ educational attainment, that is, the degree to which the most highly-educated men partner with the most highly-educated women. Using data on parents and children in the United States, I find that assortative mating explains about one quarter of the observed intergenerational persistence of schooling and earnings.
'Animals kill, that's how the world works'

Despite the fact that the consumption of animal products gives rise to a number of negative environmental externalities, global consumption keeps increasing. Previous research has applied neutralisation and affirmation theory in order to understand (dis)engagement in pro-environmental behaviour, typically with a focus on the individual user of such discursive justification strategies. However, the present thesis recognises a need to address the interpersonal role of these techniques and their implications for how individuals communicate regarding environmental issues. The purpose of this study was to connect the cognitive processes of neutralisations and affirmations to the discursive practices of social interaction in the context of animal product consumption and pro-environmental behaviour. The aim was to explore the ways in which, and with what implications, these techniques are used by omnivores and vegans in social interaction. Qualitative data was gathered through four focus group sessions conducted with eighteen omnivorous and vegan pro-environmental students in the Swedish city of Uppsala. A dialogical discourse analysis of this data uncovered six topoi that proved useful when professing claims of (dis)engagement in consumption of animal products. Furthermore, this study discusses the emergent micro-deliberations, the extensive reference to non-present others, the dialectics between neutralisations and affirmations, the structuration dialectic of topoi and the implications for the discourse of animal product consumption. This study offer insights into the complexity of pro-environmental behaviour in the area of animal product consumption, insights that are of value for practical and policy interventions aimed at reducing such consumption by organisations and governments.
Market Segmentation for Mobile TV Content on Public Transportation by Integrating Innovation Adoption Model and Lifestyle Theory

An integrated approach based on innovation adoption model and lifestyle theory for customer segmentation of mobile TV content on public transportation using multivariate statistical analysis is proposed. Due to high daily trips and different train types Taiwan Railway Administration is chosen as the case study. Firstly, the content of mobile TV on the train are identified as the segmentation variable and key factor facets for mobile TV content are renamed by using factor analysis. Then, the cluster analysis is used to classify customer groups which are named by analysis of variance (ANOVA) and market segmentations are described with demographic, lifestyle and train patronage variables by using cross analysis and Chi-squared independence tests. Finally, this paper discusses empirical results to provide valuable implications for better mobile TV content marketing strategies in the future.