Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Distributions Of Public And Private Manufacturing Firms And Determinants Of Productivity In Ethiopia

The aim of this paper is to assess the structure and distribution of large and medium (L&M) scale manufacturing industries in Ethiopia and to investigate the level of their productivities by disaggregating them into public and private firms using firm level panel data (from 2003 to 2005) for manufacturing industries. The paper employs Cobb-Douglas type production function estimated using three alternative techniques: Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), Fixed Effect (FE) and Generalized Method of Moments (GMM). The GMM results are found to be unbiased estimates for our dataset. Considerable regional variations are observed in the distribution of firms in Ethiopia, more so after 1991 than in the period before it. Significant regional variations are also observed in terms of production capacity and capital intensity. Compared to their counterparts, public firms employ substantially higher level of factors inputs and hence produce equivalently larger amount of output. Nevertheless, the GMM estimations reveal that despite public firms’ substantial access to factor inputs, no statistically significant productivity differential is observed between the two sectors. Finally, while only indirect and material inputs are found to significantly influence publicly owned firms’ productivities, all of the model variables (physical and human capital, indirect and material inputs, and workers’ experience) are found to determine the productivities of private firm to a great extent.
Kamal decomposition method and its application in solving coupled system of nonlinear PDE’s

In this paper we are solving coupled system of non linear partial differential equations by a new method called Kamal decomposition method (KDM). The new method is coupling of the Kamal transform and the Adomain decomposition method. The generalized solution has been proved . Kamal decomposition method (KDM) is very successful tool for finding the exact solution of linear and non linear partial differential equations. The existence and uniqueness of solution is based on KDM.
What Can We Learn from the Organizational Life Cycle Theory? A Conceptualization for the Practice of Workplace Learning

In the world of business and management, the practice of workplace learning is deemed important for firms to survive or stay competitive. However, firm characteristics such as business priorities, management styles, and limited internal resources and capabilities are always organizational factors that affect how firms may practice workplace learning. According to organizational life cycle (OLC) theory, during the firm’s growth from inception, to high-growth, to maturity, firm characteristics differ and the internal resources and capabilities of the firm develop. The literature has discussed the dynamics of organizational life cycle, but little is knownabout how it possibly relates to workplace learning. The paper synthesises the OLC literature and draws the characteristics of three common stages for firms (large or small) to conceptualize different patterns of workplace learning practices, promoting a new page of empirical research potential.
The Discrepancy between Teachers’ Belief and Practice, from the Sociocultural Perspective

Considering teachers’ belief as a construct and its relationship with teachers’ practice, a growing body of research has explored the effect of teachers’ belief on their practice while there is a bulk of research on the discrepancy between teachers’ belief and practice. However, most of the studies indicate that teachers’ beliefs should be studied within a framework that is aware of the influence of culture and context leading to the point that teachers’ belief is context dependent. The purpose of this paper is to present an argument about the relationship of teachers’ beliefs and practices and to find out sociocultural framework to explore the inconsistency of this relationship. Discussing the nature of teachers’ beliefs, the relationship among beliefs, knowledge and practices, sociocultural perspectives is explored to explain the inconsistency between teachers’ beliefs and practices found in the sample of the study. To this end a two-phase, sequential explanatory mixed methods study was employed to obtain quantitative results and then select participants for follow-up interviews to further clarify the results. In the first phase, quantitative research questions addressed the relationship between teachers’ pedagogical and epistemological beliefs in relation to eight teaching methods the teachers might utilize in the classroom. 20 teachers teaching different levels of English proficiency from Kish Institute are randomly chosen for this phase. Epistemic B elief I nventory (EBI) is used to be scattered among the teachers addressing their pedagogical and epistemological belief about teaching. 5 teachers scored high and 5 teachers scored low are chosen based on their responses to the questionnaires. Determining the target participants through the previous stage, qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore how teachers described their beliefs about those eight constituent of teaching. The interviews are transcribed and codified. Using theme analysis, the main themes of teachers’ belief are extracted and explained. In the second phase, the actual practices of these ten teachers are observed by the researchers and an observation checklist is filled out for each teacher to determine the congruity or incongruity between teachers’ belief and practice. Analyzing the main themes of teachers belief and comparing them with the observation checklist, a brief description of each class is reported in the next chapter and the antecedent of the mismatches are discussed under the rubric of sociocultural framework.
The role of musical experience in the lives of Williams syndrome individuals

The purpose of this literature study is to better understand the musical experiences of those diagnosed with Williams syndrome. The problem of this study is defined by the lack of qualitative studies done on the musical experiences of Williams syndrome individuals. Research done on music and Williams syndrome emphasise the intense affinity that those diagnosed show towards music listening and music making, yet very few qualitative studies have been done on the importance of musical experience in the everyday lives of those diagnosed with Williams syndrome. The study at hand will provide insight into the lives of individuals with Williams syndrome, while focussing on the importance of musical experience, raising the awareness of caretakers, educators, therapists and researchers. This qualitative study was aided by Atlas.ti 7 computer software which assisted me in document analysis through a grounded theory approach. For the data analysis process, significant statements were identified and then coded. These codes were then sorted to reveal categories and main themes. Literature revealed that music could in fact play an important role in the lives of those living with Williams syndrome. Musical experience does not only have a positive influence on a single aspect of the lives of Williams syndrome individuals, it has an impact on their lives in general, influencing their overall well-being.
Extract of Coelatura aegyptiaca, a freshwater clam, ameliorates hepatic oxidative stress induced by monosodium glutamate in rats

The purpose of the present work was to evaluate the possible ameliorative effect ofCoelatura aegyptiaca extract (CE) and vitamin C on oxidative stress induced by monosodium glutamate (MSG) in rat liver. Male rats were randomly divided into four main groups: control group, received distilled water, group 2 (100 mg/kg) and 3 (250 mg/kg) received CE for seven consecutive days. Group animals (24 rats) were administered MSG (4 mg/g body weight) daily for 10 days. This group was then subdivided into 4 subgroups. All subgroups treated orally for 7 days with, distilled water (subgroup I), CE at a dose of 100 and 250 mg/kg body weight (subgroups II and III), and 250 mg vitamin C/kg body weight (subgroup IV). Furthermore, the antioxidant activity of the CE was determined using a DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) test system. The CE and vitamin C caused significant ameliorative effects by decreasing the activities of serum aminotransaminases (AST and ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), levels of serum glucose, lipid profile parameters, liver malondialdeyde level (MDA), nitric oxide (NO), superoxide dismutase activity (SOD), as well as the activity of liver catalase (CAT), and increasing the level of liver glutathione reduced (GSH). The results of the present study elucidate that CE could ameliorate the liver oxidative stress induced by MSG administration, since CE was strongly scavenged DPPH radicals and showed antioxidant activity. Key words: Monosodium glutamate, freshwater extracts, liver oxidative stress, lipid profile parameters, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl.
Insulin, glucagon, Cortisol and growth hormone release in association with physiological decrements in the plasma glucose concentrations in fasting men

The release of potentially important glucose counter-regulatory factors (glucagon, Cortisol and growth hormone), and insulin were studied during Ramadan fasting. Twenty-two healthy volunteers participated in this study. The range of ages was 20 to 38 years (meantSD, 28+4.2), mean weight 73.9±6.1 kg, and mean body daily mass index (BMI) 25.5±2.7 kg/m2. All subjects fasted the whole month and the average fasting time was about 16 hours. Venous blood samples were taken on four different days; one day before Ramadan (day zero), then on the first, 74 t h and 2 8 t h days of the month. In each of these four days, blood samples were taken at 4:00 PM (shortly before evening meal). At the end of the month, mean weight loss was 3.9 kg (p<0.05). Reduction in the mean plasma glucose concentration from 5.21'±0.37 mmol/L to 3.71 ±0.46 mmol/L were associated with increments in plasma glucagon (34.9±9.4 pmol/L; p<0.001) and Cortisol (378±154 nmol/L; p<0.05) at the end of fasting, and the increment in plasma growth hormone (GH) 169±39.5 pmol/L; p<0.05) only on day 14 of fasting. On the other hand, mean plasma insulin concentration was reduced (52.3±21.5 pmol/L; p<0.005) on day 28 of fasting. In view of their activation with physiological decrements in the plasma glucose concentra­ tion, one or more of these potentially important glucose counter-regulatory systems may play a physiological role in nonhypoglycemic glucose counter-regulation and the prevention of hypoglycaemia. [Turk J Med Res 1995, 13(5):180183]
arepo-rt: radiation hydrodynamics on a moving mesh

We introduce AREPO-RT, a novel radiation hydrodynamic (RHD) solver for the unstructured moving-mesh code AREPO. Our method solves the moment-based radiative transfer equations using the M1 closure relation. We achieve second order convergence by using a slope limited linear spatial extrapolation and a first order time prediction step to obtain the values of the primitive variables on both sides of the cell interface. A Harten-Lax-Van Leer flux function, suitably modified for moving meshes, is then used to solve the Riemann problem at the interface. The implementation is fully conservative and compatible with the individual timestepping scheme of AREPO. It incorporates atomic Hydrogen (H) and Helium (He) thermochemistry, which is used to couple the ultra-violet (UV) radiation field to the gas. Additionally, infrared radiation is coupled to the gas under the assumption of local thermodynamic equilibrium between the gas and the dust. We successfully apply our code to a large number of test problems, including applications such as the expansion of ${\rm H_{II}}$ regions, radiation pressure driven outflows and the levitation of optically thick layer of gas by trapped IR radiation. The new implementation is suitable for studying various important astrophysical phenomena, such as the effect of radiative feedback in driving galactic scale outflows, radiation driven dusty winds in high redshift quasars, or simulating the reionisation history of the Universe in a self consistent manner.
Computation of a reference model for robust fault detection and isolation residual generation

This paper considers matrix inequality procedures to address the robust fault detection and isolation (FDI) problem for linear time-invariant systems subject to disturbances, faults, and polytopic or norm-bounded uncertainties.We propose a design procedure for an FDI filter that aims to minimize a weighted combination of the sensitivity of the residual signal to disturbances and modeling errors, and the deviation of the faults to residual dynamics from a fault to residual reference model, using the H∞-norm as a measure. A key step in our procedure is the design of an optimal fault reference model. We show that the optimal design requires the solution of a quadratic matrix inequality (QMI) optimization problem. Since the solution of the optimal problem is intractable, we propose a linearization technique to derive a numerically tractable suboptimal design procedure that requires the solution of a linear matrix inequality (LMI) optimization. A jet engine example is employed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Market-Based Executive Compensation under Asymmetric Information

The paper investigates how long term value of publicly trading firm and its stock prices affect managerial compensation under asymmetric information. To do this, we incorporate Grossman and Stiglitz (1980) model into conventional principalagent problem. We analyze comparative statics of weights on the long term value and stock prices in managerial contract. Each weight is affected by information cost and supply shock. When traders are sufficiently averse to risk, as information cost decreases, the proportion of informed traders increases and this leads to the increases informativeness of stock prices. Then the weight on the long term value decreases and that on the stock prices increases. The changes of supply shock provide the reverse effect to the weights.
ANALYTIC MODEL FOR PERFORATED SQUEEZED-FILM DAMPERS

The concept of a perforation cell to derive simple analytic models for perforated squeezed-film dampers is applied. The perforation cell models the cylindrical volume around a single perforation. An extended Reynolds equation is then used to model the damping due both to the gas flow in the air gap and in the perforations. The method is applied in a rectangular damper with 4.64 square holes to derive the damping coefficient analytically. 3D FEM simulations are used to verify the model. The damping predicted by the model is in good agreement with that obtained with 3D FEM simulations. Sinusoidal small-amplitude velocities are assumed, and micromechanical dimensions are considered with rare gas effects in the slip flow regime (Kn $lt; 0.1).
One Belt, Competing Metaphors: The Struggle over Strategic Narrative in English-language News Media

This article studies the reception by English-language news media of a strategic narrative deployed by the Chinese state to reposition China in the world. Metaphor analysis is conducted on 816 articles from six countries or regions at the time of a summit in Beijing about the US$5 trillion Belt and Road Initiative to trace the impact of the symbolic work done by China on Western representations. The analysis, combining computer-assisted analysis of the corpus with close analysis of each text, identifies the widespread use of a set of conventional metaphors that reinforce the Chinese state’s geopolitical shift, but also frequent and sometimes highly conscious use of novel metaphors that cast doubt on official Chinese discourse and foreground it as a geopolitical move. The analysis reveals a global English-language imaginary that both extends beyond long-standing stereotypes of China and displays an ironic and critical attitude toward China’s strategic self-positioning. The article argues for the importance of investigating strategic narrative as a rhetorical performance.
Is Business Creation the Mean or the End of Entrepreneurship Education?: A Multiple Case Study Exploring Teaching Goals in Entrepreneurship Education

Entrepreneurship education within higher education has experienced a remarkable expansion in the last 20 years (Green & Rice, 2007). However, entrepreneurship education is still in its infancy; professors propose diverse teaching goals and radically different teaching methods. This represents an obstacle to development of foundational and consistent curricula across the board (Cone, 2008). This study was designed to understand entrepreneurship instructor’s teaching goals. Results suggest that the group of instructors studied pursued two types of profoundly different teaching goals. Some of them were trying to teach how to start a successfully business while another group was trying to develop entrepreneurial skills. Those two types of teaching goals have important implications in terms of pre selection of students, the mandatory or voluntary character of the curriculum, and type of teaching methods used. For instance, if the goal is to create business, students should be selected according to the potential of their ideas, the regimen should be voluntary (students legitimately may want to become great employees), and business plan as teaching methods should be understood a mean rather than an end.
Energy and Environmental Performance of Bioethanol from Different Lignocelluloses

Climate change and the wish to reduce the dependence on oil are the incentives for the development of alternative energy sources. The use of lignocellulosic biomass together with cellulosic processing technology provides opportunities to produce fuel ethanol with less competition with food and nature. Many studies on energy analysis and life cycle assessment of second-generation bioethanol have been conducted. However, due to the different methodology used and different system boundary definition, it is difficult to compare their results. To permit a direct comparison of fuel ethanol from different lignocelluloses in terms of energy use and environmental impact, seven studies conducted in our group were summarized in this paper, where the same technologies were used to convert biomass to ethanol, the same system boundaries were defined, and the same allocation procedures were followed. A complete set of environmental impacts ranging from global warming potential to toxicity aspects is used. The results provide an overview on the energy efficiency and environmental performance of using fuel ethanol derived from different feedstocks in comparison with gasoline.
Europeans Would Support a Proportional Allocation of Asylum Seekers

What type of common asylum regime would Europeans support? We conducted a survey asking 18,000 citizens across ﬁfteen European countries about their preferences regarding different mechanisms for allocating asylum seekers across countries. A large majority supports an allocation that is proportional to each country’s capacity over the status quo policy of allocation based on the country of ﬁrst entry. This majority support is weakened but persists even among a randomly assigned subset of respondents who were made aware that moving to proportional allocation would increase the number of asylum seekers allocated to their own country. These results suggest that citizens care deeply about the fairness of the responsibility-sharing mechanism rather than only the consequences of the asylum policy. The ﬁndings also highlight a potential pathway toward reform of the Common European Asylum System.
Metrics and measurements in global software development

Today products are increasingly developed globally in collaboration between subcontractors, third-party suppliers and in-house developers. However, management of a distributed product development project is proven to be more challenging and complicated than traditional single-site development. From the viewpoint of project management, the measurements and metrics are important elements for successful product development. This paper is focused on describing a set of essential metrics that are successfully used in Global Software Development (GSD). In addition, visualised examples are given demonstrating various industrial experiences of use. Even if most of the essential metrics are similar as in single-site development, their collection and interpretation need to take into account the GSD aspects. One of the most important reasons for choosing proposed metrics was their provision of early warning signs to proactively react to potential issues in the project. This is especially important in distributed projects, where tracking the project status is needed and more complex. In this paper, the first ideas of GSD specific metrics are presented based on the common challenges
CHAPTER 5 T HE ROLE OF DIETARY PATTERNS IN C ORONARY A RTERY DISEASE IN URBANISED BLACK S OUTH A FRICANS

Centre of Excellence for Nutrition (CEN), North West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa 2 Carbohydrate & Lipid Metabolism Research Unit, Division of Endocrinology & Metabolism, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand Africa Unit for Transdisciplinary Health Research Health Research (AUTHeR), North West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa 4 Hatter Institute for Cardiovascular Research in Africa & IIDMM, Cape Heart Centre, University of Cape Town.
A Broadband Circularly Polarized Antenna Based on Cross-Dipoles

In this paper, based on cross-dipoles, a right-handed circularly polarized (RHCP) antenna with both broad impedance and axial-ratio (AR) bandwidth is proposed. Moreover, metal vias and branches are loaded to the cross-dipoles aiming to decrease the size of the antenna. The measured results show that a broadband impedance matching bandwidth ranging from 1.83 to 3.42 GHz for S11 less than �10 dB is obtained. Meanwhile, the 3-dB axial-ratio bandwidth is more than 29.0%, and the peak gain of the antenna is about 7.3 dBi with small variation at 2.5 GHz. A prototype is fabricated and measured for validating the design. The good agreements between the simulated and measured results show that the proposed antenna maybe a good candidate in circularly polarized (CP) antenna family.
STUDY ON TOTAL PHENOLIC CONTENT IN SOME ROMANIAN FOREST MUSHROOM SPECIES, BEFORE AND AFTER HEAT TREATMENT

The purpose of this work was to study the phenolic compounds in ten forest mushroom species to see if and to what extent the thermal processing can modify the content of these compounds. The biological material consisted of ten forest mushroom species, colected from Suceava county area: Agaricus campestris, Morchella esculenta, Cantharellus cibarius, Armillaria mellea, Lactarius deliciosus, Boletus edulis, Pleurotus cornucopiae, Russula vesca, Sparassis crispa, Ramaria aurea. The experiment consisted in mushrooms thermal processing (boiling for 30 and 60 minutes, and roasting for 10 minutes at 160°C), followed by the analysis of Total Phenolic Content (TPC) which values were compared to the ones obtained from raw samples. As compared to raw material, the boiling process led to a significant increase of percent of TPC between 13.71% and 31.91% (after 30 min. of boiling) and between 12.33% and 61.36% (after 60 min. of boiling). As compared to raw material, the roasting of mushrooms for 10 minutes (at 160°C) led to significant increases of the phenolic compounds between 29.31% and 95.23% in all samples. High TPC values recorded by some species may be explained by the specific tissue structure of these species, which promotes a penetration and a more intense heat action on bound phenols.