Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The impact of Training and Assessment Register (TAR) on productivity in the automotive parts manufacturing organisation in South Africa

Orientation: Organisations are confronted with the challenge of competency among its employees for productivity improvement. They implement strategies that improve employee skills proficiencies for higher productivity. These can also be achieved by implementing a training model that develops employee’s skills and knowledge so that they become the specialists in their work areas. This sentiment underpins the concept of employee Training and Assessment Register (TAR). Purpose: This study evaluates the influence of TAR on productivity in automotive parts manufacturing organisation in South Africa. Motivation for the study: The South African manufacturing sector has a low level of productivity compared to its counterpart industries in the Asian and Western countries. The sector experiences the lack in short to medium term growth in productivity. Research design, approach and methods: The automotive parts manufacturing company that has used a TAR strategy for productivity improvement participated in the study. The study objectives were achieved by examining the production and related experiences in the company. The collection of data was carried out in two phases. This includes the collection of pre- and post-quarterly data for spoilage, overtime and customer complaints. The pre-TAR results were quarterly data reflecting the company’s performance over the three-year period prior to the implementation of TAR. This company operates in the eThekwini District Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal. Main findings: The results established that spoilage rate has a relationship with company productivity. Any decrease in spoilage rate would result to an increase in company productivity. However, the overtime and customer complaints do not statistically have a relationship with company productivity. Contribution: This article uncovers the strengths and weaknesses of TAR on productivity in the automotive parts manufacturing organisation in South Africa.
The Dark Side of Competition for Status (preprint)

Unethical behavior within organizations is not rare. We investigate experimentally the role of status-seeking behavior in sabotage and cheating activities aiming at improving one's performance ranking in a flat-wage environment. We find that average effort is higher when individuals are informed about their relative performance. However, ranking feedback also favors disreputable behavior. Some individuals do not hesitate to incur a cost to improve their rank by sabotaging others' work or by increasing artificially their own performance. Introducing sabotage opportunities has a strong detrimental effect on performance. Therefore, ranking incentives should be used with care. Inducing group identity discourages sabotage among peers but increases in-group rivalry.
Custom Instruction Synthesis Framework for Application Specific Instruction-Set Processor with HW

This paper presents a framework for searching and ranking application specific special instruction patterns and cost calculation using simulated HW modules. A key feature of Application Specific Instruction Set Processor (ASIP) design is the ability of defining application specific special Instructions, which are assisting HW modules in the EX phase of the processor that handles patterns of instructions that if handled by HW can improve the performance of the processor. This paper presents a complete framework for searching for Application specific special instruction patterns based on tree scan algorithm while tweaking it to fit real applications, this algorithm works on reducing the search space by eliminating invalid tree nodes hence reducing the need to process the tree leaves. Ranking of the special instructions is done by calculating speedup gained by calculating the difference between SW cycles and HW cycles, HW cycles are calculated by synthesizing basic HW operations of the critical path of the special instruction, while SW cycles are calculated from program simulation. Final results show a big improvement in run time over brute force algorithms while having the same outcome of special instructions.
Interpolation search in edgelists of graphs

Most applications with graphs use adjacency lists to represent them in memory. The purpose of this work is to put edge lists as a viable alternative. In order to achieve that, the algorithm of interpolation search is used. Assuming that the values in the array are uniformly distributed (i.e. there is no prior knowledge about the array), it is proven that the number of iterations has a mean and variance bounded to log2 log2 E (where E is number of directed edges). Its performance is measured and compared for edge lists of graphs with different properties. Generally, higher average degree gives better results and ErdosRenyi graphs outperform power law graphs. Additionally, the algorithm is evaluated with timing random walks on real and generated graphs.
Functional exercises improve quality of life of obese depressed women: a case report study

Background: Depression is characterized by abnormal affective manifestations. This pathology is more frequent among women and is aggravated with the overweight/obesity. Regular exercises have been shown to combat the manifestations of depression, as well as to increase active behavior and improve the morphology. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of functional training on morphology, physical activity level and quality of life of obese women with depression. Methods: Four women with mean aged 32.5 ± 10.6 underwent 2 months of functional training, which performed twice a week, each session 1-hour training. Participants were evaluated in 3 times (T): T1) pre-test; T2) at the end of first month (mid-test); and T3) at the end of the second month (post-test). Results: We observed significant changes for the waist circumference variable, and presented a reduction in mid-test and post-test, in relation to the pre-test (p<0.05). No changes were observed for the variables weight and BMI. It was observed a significant increase in the level of physical activity, with the mid-test and post-test in relation to the pre-test (mid-test: p<0.05; post-test: p<0.01). All the indices evaluated by the SF-36 questionnaire showed improvement at mid-test and post-test relative to the pre-test (p<0.05). Conclusions: The present study suggests that engagement in functional training programs provides a significant improvement in aspects related to quality of life and depression, as well as an increase in the level of physical activity, even in the absence of weight reduction.
Gorenstein projective conjecture

It is shown that a 4-recollement of derived categories of CM-finite algebras induces a 2-recollement of the corresponding Cohen-Macaulay Auslander algebras, which generalises the main theorem of Pan [S. Y. Pan, Derived equivalences for Cohen-Macaulay Auslander algebras, J. Pure Appl. Algebra 216 (2012), 355–363]. Moreover, both AuslanderReiten conjecture and Gorenstein projective conjecture are shown invariant under 3 (or 4)-recollement of unbounded derived categories of algebras. Mathematics Subject Classification (2010): 16G10; 18E30
Emergent Literacy and Language support for ECD children from under-served communities in Gauteng South Africa: a collaborative approach

South Africa’s history of inequality and injustice has influenced its diverse population, who continue to experience marginalisation despite the era of democracy. These underserved communities have little access to services that support their children’s language and literacy development. The researchers argue that early intervention supports language and literacy skills of children in early childhood development centres (ECDs), improving literacy acquisition and future scholastic progress. This paper demonstrates that a collaborative approach in ECD interventions influences children’s language and literacy skills, and supports their learning. The aim of the study was to establish the levels of emergent literacy and language skills of the children pre- and post-teacher intervention. An exploratory quantitative and qualitative approach was employed with 20 participants from two ECD facilities, 10 from a middle socioeconomic (MSE) group and 10 from a lower socioeconomic (LSE) group. An adapted measure on concepts of print was conducted pre- and post-intervention. Oral reading and one-on-one reading strategies were presented to the teacher from the LSE ECD. Data analysis included descriptive and inferential statistics, and content analysis. The findings indicate no difference in vocabulary between LSE and MSE groups, despite the MSE group having better resources at their disposal. Furthermore, there was a significant increase in the LSE group’ s knowledge on print concepts post - intervention. The teacher observed changes in the teaching methods and in the children’s literacy, confirming that low-cost short-term programmes and collaborations do influence ECD teaching and learning. The collaborative role of the speech-language therapist should support both parents and teachers of children in ECD contexts.
BEST PRACTICES ON ISLAMIC VALUES INTEGRATION AT MADRASAH ENGLISH CLASSES: TEACHERS’ PRACTICES IN CONTEXTUALIZING THE VALUES

The idea of integrating Islamic values in non-religion subjects is still in the process of shaping its format. Many possibilities and flexibilities of the integration are existing and practiced by English teachers at Islamic Junior High School—knowingly as Madrasah Tsanawiyah (MTs). Also, in the middle of endless idea of integration, teachers have been trying to apply the integration based on their beliefs and situation. This study outlines the teachers’ best practices on integrating Islamic values in English lesson at MTs in Jawa Timur. By using descriptive qualitative method, this study portraits 6 English as Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ best practices. Data were taken from classroom observation, interview, and documentation which then were analysed as best practices. Best practices refer to the practice of integration which is considered as working practice from each teacher’s situation. The situation was mostly influenced by teachers’ lack of confidence to contextualize and operationalize the values into the teaching materials and activities, and the lack of model for integration. Further study on how to operationalize the integration, and on developing the model of integration will be worth exploring.
Nonverbal Communication Assistance System Based on Body Recognition in the Field of Education

Throughout this paper, a system able to provide support for the teacher on the nonverbal communication state of each one of the students is described. This system detects and classifies the facial expression and eye gaze of each student, generating a nonverbal state for each one of them. By using this information, the system is able to determine the classroom environment. It is also able to give suggestions to the teacher in the class so that his/her performance can improve. Furthermore, along with this publication, the different implementations that have been carried out and the first results obtained are described. Lastly, this paper discusses the performance of the system and any future work that may be carried out.
ACHIEVEMENT OF CHILDREN IN AN ALTERNATIVE EDUCATION PROGRAMME FOR REFUGEE, STATELESS AND UNDOCUMENTED CHILDREN IN SABAH, MALAYSIA

Access to formal education is an arduous and difficult process for undocumented and stateless children with entry into government schools often hindered by their status and prevailing national policies and procedures. The Alternative Education Programme (AEP) is structured as a response for the need to provide some form of schooling for children under this classification. This study investigated students’ attainment in the AEP curriculum at Murni Alternative Education Centre (MAEC). A questionnaire, which incorporated a proxy pre-test, measured the achievement of children pre and post-participation in the MAEC learning among 136 female and 113 male learners with the mean age being 10.17 years. Achievement of the intended outcomes of the MAEC curriculum was investigated using Rasch Analysis. Achievement of MAEC objectives was demonstrated in the five curriculum components. In Literacy and Numeracy, item difficulty of reading, speaking, writing and counting showed significant decreases. In Religious Practice, a slight improvement was found with learners able to read the Quran and perform Islamic obligations and acts of worship. For Civics and Citizenship, increase in awareness and appreciation of Malaysian nationhood was ascertained with almost all children identifying themselves as ‘Malaysians’. Improvement in Self-Management was also demonstrated through increased awareness of personal hygiene and well-being except in the matter of environment upkeep. For Living Skills, the majority concurred that MAEC learning equipped them with skills to generate income. These insights into the MAEC learning outcomes from the perspectives of learners themselves could serve as guidelines towards any restructuring of AEP curriculum in MAEC in particular, and Sabah in general. Keywords: Alternative education programme, alternative learning centre, curriculum evaluation, Rasch analysis, undocumented children Cite as: Pang, V. , Ling, M. T. , & Tibok, R. P. (2019). Achievement of children in an alternative education programme for refugee, stateless and undocumented children in Sabah, Malaysia. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 4(2), 335-361. http://dx.doi. org/10.24200/jonus.vol4iss2pp335-361
Intentional Strategies that Build Self-Regulation in Preschoolers

As academic standards continue to increase, young children are often challenged to attend to structured and teacher-directed educational activities for developmentally inappropriate periods of time. In response, there is an increasing awareness of how academic achievement and selfregulation are affected by difficulties in sensory processing. Traditional interventions for children with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) have primarily been conducted by trained Occupational Therapists (OT) in clinical based settings. This capstone investigated research on possible collaborative interventions and environmental supports and adaptations within the classroom setting that would build self-regulation and attention in all preschool children. The studies reviewed indicated support for a number of strategies that included the use of alternative seating, physical activity breaks, yoga, collaboration with OT’s, and teacher training. Some strategies, such as weighted vests, therapy balls, and direct occupational therapy, garnered mixed results, but there was significant support for the use of interventions to increase self-regulation and attention in preschoolers, especially those at-risk for attention difficulties.
Psychiatric Comorbidities in Epileptic Patients: The Role of Age, Gender and Duration of Epilepsy in North of Iran

Introduction: Psychiatric disorders in epileptic patients have an important role on the clinical approach and therapeutic options that are often neglected and treated poorly. The present study aimed to determine the role of psychiatric comorbidity in epileptic patients of Babol, north of Iran. Method: This descriptive-analytical study was conducted in 2017 with a simple random sampling method on patients with epilepsy who admitted to the neurology department of Ayatollah Rouhani Hospital of Babol. The demographic checklist and SCL90 questionnaire were used. The Chi-square, T-test, Mann-Whitney, Pearson correlation coefficient and test-retest were used in SPSS V18 and P Results: Among the 150 examined patients, 88 (58.7%) were female and 63(42%) had epilepsy more than 10 years. The most common psychiatric disorder among epileptic patients was depression (68 patients = 45.3%) and anxiety (65 patients = 43.3%) patients. Also, the lowest prevalence was related to paranoid ideation and psychotic disorders. There was a significant relationship between age with somatic disorders (P=0.02) and phobia (P=0.01). Conclusion: Anxiety and depression were the most common symptoms in epileptic patients. With an increase in age, the frequency of somatic disorders and phobias was significantly increased.
Ficus Macrophylla Desf. ex Pers. Leaves (Moraceae) Possess Antimicrobial Potential for the Prevention of Bacterial Infections: Preliminary In Vitro Study

The aim of this study was to test the efficacy of ethanolic extract prepared from Ficus macrophylla Desf. Ex Pers. leaves against Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria in order to evaluate the possible use of this plant in the prevention of bacterial infections. The testing of the antibacterial activity of the plant extract was carried out in vitro by the Kirby-Bauer disc diffusion technique. Gram-negative bacteria Klebsiella pneumoniae (ATCC 700603), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853), and Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922), as well as Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus (ATCC 25923), methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (NEQAS 3679) and Streptococcus pneumoniae (ATCC 49619), as well as fungus Candida albicans locally isolated were used as test organisms. Our results revealed that the ethanolic extract of F. macrophylla leaves possessed mild activity against the Gram-positive and Gramnegative bacteria. However, S. pneumoniae and E. coli appeared to be less sensitive to the F. macrophylla extract. Thus, F. macrophylla possesses the medicinal potential for the therapy of bacterial infections induced by S. aureus and may be used as a natural antiseptic and antimicrobial agent in medicine. Moreover, the antibacterial activity of this plant would help for the development of a new alternative medicine system which has no adverse effects. Further investigation is necessary to identify those bioactive compounds, which will be a platform for clinical applications. Finally, we believe that these findings are important in order to evaluate the significance of collections of tropical plants maintained under glasshouse conditions at Botanical Gardens worldwide and to plan the conservation strategy by the establishment of national collections of plants with valuable characteristics with the prospects of their use as sources of antimicrobial agents.
Author template for journal articles

A series of experiments were conducted to study impacts of the free stream Mach number, back pressure and bleed on the stability of a supersonic intake. The flow stability is related to the buzz phenomenon; oscillation of all shock waves of the intake and it may further occur during the time when the intake mass flow rate is decreasing. The present intake is an axisymmetric intake for Mach number of 2.0. The results showed that the stability margin of the intake decreases when the freestream Mach number increases for both bleed off and bleed on cases. For the configuration without bleed, the frequency of buzz oscillation is increased when the freestream Mach number is decreased or when the back pressure is increased. By applying the bleed and consequently preventing the flow separation, the intake is more stable and the shocks oscillate with a smaller amplitude during the buzz phenomenon. When the bleed is applied, the buzz triggering mechanism varied from the Dailey criterion to that of the Ferri one, a phenomenon that changes the stability characteristics of the intake considerably.
ON COMBINATORIAL WEAKNESSES OF RAMSEYAN PRINCIPLES

Avoidance properties such as cone avoidance or PA avoidance for a principle P in reverse mathematics shows the effectiveness weakness of P. Strong avoidance, namely, avoidance even for non-computable instances, expresses the combinatorial weakness of a principle. Some statements like Ramsey’s theorem for pairs (RT22) are effectively weak in the sense that every computable instance has a solution which does not compute the halting set. However RT22 is combinatorially strong as there exists a (non-computable) stable 2-coloring of pairs such that every infinite homogeneous set computes the halting set. In this paper we study various notions of avoidance related to closed sets. These properties generalize in particular cone avoidance and PA avoidance. We show that even very weak statements in reverse mathematics admit instances whose solutions compute a member of a special Π1 class, thereby answering a question asked by Liu. We prove that many Ramsey-type theorems admit constant-bound enumeration (c.b-enum) avoidance, and deduce several new separations over RCA0. In particular, we answer a question asked by Hirschfeldt by proving that none of the free set theorem (FS), the thin set theorem (TS) or the rainbow Ramsey theorem (RRT) imply weak weak König’s lemma (WWKL0). We use simultaneous c.b-enum avoidance to reprove many recent separation results. Therefore, c.b-enum avoidance can be seen as a powerful unifying framework for comparing the strength of statements in reverse mathematics.
Sizing an Off-Grid Photovoltaic System and Economic Comparison with Petrol Generator Using Life Cycle Cost (LCC) Approach for a Typical Rural Primary Healthcare Center in Nigeria

It is needless to re-emphasize that modern day healthcare systems require uninterruptible power supply, relying on the national grid for power supply most especially in remote areas in Nigeria is a deliberate attempt to paralysis and underutilize both the human and non-human resources. This paper presents the sizing of a stand-alone photovoltaic system and economic comparison with petrol generator in powering a rural Primary Health Care Center (PHC) in Agbado, Ado-Odo, Ota Local Government, Ogun State, Nigeria. Load survey of the PHC was done in order to know the daily energy demand. The average annual solar radiation and the estimated load for the PHC used as case study are 4.89kWh/m 2 /day and 14.40kWh/day respectively. The result obtained from sizing the photovoltaic system reveals that the estimated load will require 5.25kW photovoltaic array capacity, 21 modules (24V, 250W each), 10 batteries (12V, 200Ah each), 3 solar charge controllers (24V, 80A each), 1 unit of 4kW inverter (24V dc /220V ac , 50Hz), 3x70mm 2 insulated flexible copper cable and 3x2.5mm 2 insulated flexible copper cable. Life Cycle Cost (LCC) technique was used to assess the most economically viable option in powering the PHC. The study also reveals a savings of 64.4% in LCC using PV system as against petrol generators in powering the PHC. The replacement cost constitutes the higher factor affecting the LCC of the PV system constituting about 47.7%, while the operation and maintenance cost forms the least factor with about 28.9%. Also, for that of petrol generator, the fuel cost constitutes the highest factor affecting the LCC, constituting about 87.6%, while the initial capital cost forms the least factor which is about 0.24%. The insights from this study can be reciprocated to other rural PHCs in Nigeria.