Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relationship marketing and distribution channels

The interest of practitioners and academics in channel relationship management has shifted from corporate channel structures and relationships in conventional channels governed by use of power to relationships between independent firms involving contractual and normative control mechanisms. In this article, we identify several factors leading to this change of interest, propose a scheme for classifying channel relationship research based on control mechanisms, and suggest areas for future research involving the use of contractual and normative control mechanisms in conventional channel relationships.
An SFL-oriented Framework for the Teaching of Reading in EFL Context

This study aimed to introduce a systematic framework for the interactive instruction of reading based on Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). To do so, 60 undergraduate TEFL students taking an advanced reading course were assigned to two equal groups. Both groups were pre-tested for their comparability, and then the experimental group was treated with SFL-oriented knowledge for 13 two-hour sessions with the control group just receiving the traditional grammar-oriented method of teaching reading. Following the treatment, a post-test was administered to both groups the results of which indicated that there was a significant difference at p < . 05 in the performance of the two groups on reading comprehension. Detailed analyses revealed that the treated group had a better performance on understanding the lower-level intra-sentential relationships and higher-level contextual components involved in reading comprehension. It was concluded that the SFL-based teaching of reading comprehension had a great effect on the reading comprehension of Iranian TEFL students.
Slovene language question answering system

The paper describes the design of the closed-domain question answering system. Key properties of the system are: (i) ability to answer questions in natural (Slovene) language, (ii) ability to employ structured as well as unstructured data sources, (iii) ability to automatically form questions and answers, (iv) ability to conduct a simple dialog with the purpose of retrieving user-specific information, (v) employability in new domains, and (vi) ability to answer questions referring to its own functioning as well as to react on the aggressive questions asked by its users.
Who are those happy elderly people?

The present study was intended to analyse discriminant factors between happy and unhappy elderly people. For this purpose, 300 seniors in a metropolitan area in Korea were individually interviewed regarding subjective well-being, economic and health state, extraversion, neuroticism, self-esteem, goal instability, generativity, and social support. The discriminant factors between high emotional well-being elderly and low emotional well-being elderly were self-esteem, neuroticism, and goal instability. The discriminat factors between high life satisfaction elderly and low life satisfaction elderly were self-esteem and economic state. In conclusion, it was found that self-esteem served as the strongest discriminant factors between happy and unhappy elderly people.
Gap independent coupling into parallel plate terahertz waveguides using cylindrical horn antennas

We demonstrate how replacing the silicon lenses, traditionally used to couple radiation into parallel plate waveguides, with integrated cylinder-based horn couplers not only greatly improves ease of use and fabrication but also features gap independent coupling. The couplers, created from chords of a cylinder, give reflection free transmission through the waveguide that is on the order of the quasi-optical approach. The gap independent coupling is demonstrated through a precise measurement of the metal conductivity of the THz skin depth layer.
Elicitation and arrangement of conceptual meanings in the lexicography of less documented languages

The paper demonstrates how some of the dictionaries written in less documented languages, hardly meet the expectations of target users, due to some of the methods used in collecting and arranging meanings of words. The paper, therefore, explains the semantico-syntactic method of eliciting multiple conceptual meanings of words and the alphasyntactico-semantic mode of their arrangement in dictionary making. It concludes by showing how the two methods can lead to compilation of good dictionaries in less documented languages and how the dictionaries would be of benefit to the target users.
Nova modulação vetorial para o controle da tensão do ponto central do divisor capacitivo do conversor com ponto neutro grampeado

This paper presents a new space vector modulation strategy for the dc capacitor voltages control of neutral point clamped converters. By defining the neutral point current it is possible not only to ensure the balance of the dc voltages as well as to guarantee the elimination of low frequencies harmonic in neutral-point voltage under all load conditions in the entire converter linear operation region. Two switching sequences are explored to show the flexibility of propose method. Experimental results are presented and they show the good perform of the proposed modulation technique.
The effect of single and mixed treatments of lead and cadmium on soil bioavailability, uptake and yield of Lactuca sativa irrigated with sewage effluent under green house conditions.

A greenhouse experiment was conducted to determine the effect of single Pb (100, 200 and 400 mg/kg soil) and Cd (3, 6 and 12mg/kg soil) and mixed treatments of Pb and Cd using treated wastewater from Pakamisa sewage treatment plant and soil from Golden Ridge Estate on soil bioavailability, Lactuca sativa uptake and yield. Results showed that treatment had significant effects on yield ( >80% reduction) in Pb single treatments as well as soil bioavailable Pb and Cd in single treatments. A strong positive relationship (r=0.70) was observed between soil bioavailable Cd and its uptake by lettuce in single treatments whereas a strong negative relationship was observed between soil bioavailable Pb and lettuce yield (r=-0.8) in single treatments and between lettuce Pb uptake and Pb yield (r=-0.576). Findings of the study indicated that irrigation of Golden Ridge Estate with treated wastewater from Pakamisa sewage treatment plant is likely to have long term effects on soil bioavailable Pb and Cd as well as yield of grown vegetables and be a potential risk for consumers of these vegetables.
Validating Mobile Electroencephalographic Systems for Integration into the PhyCORE and Application in Clinical Settings

Abstract : This report documents technical and research efforts to systematically compare the performance of three mobile electroencephalographic (EEG) systems within the Naval Health Research Center's Physical and Cognitive Operational Research Environment. Twelve healthy subjects performed classic auditory and visual oddball tasks in both static (sitting) and dynamic (walking) conditions while wearing each mobile EEG system (subjects also wore a gold standard wired EEG system in the static condition only). Results indicated that all three mobile EEG systems were capable of acquiring high quality EEG signals; however, there were significant differences based on system preparation times, ratings of pain and comfort, and number of trials required to achieve measurement quality comparable to the gold standard system.
IFAC 1 o putation of the lock-in ranges of phase-locked loops ith I filter

In the present work the lock-in range of PLL-based circuits with proportionallyintegrating filter and sinusoidal phase-detector characteristics are studied. Considered circuits have sinusoidal phase detector characteristics. Analytical approach based on the methods of phase plane analysis is applied to estimate the lock-in ranges of the circuits under consideration. Obtained analytical results are compared with simulation results.
A Brazilian Bacillus thuringiensis strain highly active to sugarcane borer Diatraea saccharalis (Lepidoptera: Crambidae)

The control of the major sugarcane pest, Diatraea saccharalis, is limited by the stem location of the caterpillar. As part of a long-term project towards the development of an alternative and efficient delivery system of Cry proteins to control the sugarcane borer, the current work describes the selection and characterization of a Brazilian B. thuringiensis strain with prominent activity towards D. saccharalis. Strain S76 was eleven-fold more active than the HD-1 Lepidoptera-standard strain, as estimated by the LC50 of 13.06 µg/L and 143.88 µg/L, respectively. We observed bipiramidal and cuboidal crystals similar to those found in other B. thuringiensis strains with entomopathogenic activity against Lepidoptera and Diptera. In addition, smaller and spherical crystalline inclusions were also observed. The plasmid profile of strain S76 is similar to that of HD-1. PCR amplifications of S76 DNA using cry specific primers confirmed the presence of cry1Aa,cry1Ab,cry1Ac,cry2Aa1, and cry2Ab2, but not cry1Ad, cry2Ac and cry9 type genes. No differences that could explain the superior activity of S76 when compared to HD-1, the Lepidoptera standard strain, were observed. Nevertheless, its higher entomopathogenic activity has pointed this strain S76 as a potential source of cry genes to control sugarcane borer, an important pest that affects sugarcane, a crop that occupies a planted area of about 6 million ha in Brazil.
ASSESSMENT OF THE THREAT OF HERBIVORY BY RABBITS, SIKA DEER, AND FERAL GOATS TO LUNDY CABBAGE (COINCYA WRIGHTII) THROUGH FAECAL ANALYSIS

Lundy Cabbage is an endemic species which is unique in Britain in that it is the only endemic plant that is host to two endemic species of insects. This makes it an important species in terms of biodiversity and conservation. One of the main threats to Lundy Cabbage is considered to be grazing by mammalian herbivores; however, feeding on the plant by its locally-present herbivores has yet to be confirmed. By conducting analysis of the faeces of rabbits, feral goats and Sika deer we confirmed that Lundy Cabbage is a part of the diet of these herbivores.
Public Service Performance and Trust in Government: The Problem of Causality

Abstract Concerns for restoring citizens' trust in government are at the core of public sector modernization. Public distrust is often blamed on the bad functioning of public services, and in political discourse well‐functioning public services are said to create trust in government. This is a very rational and mechanistic reasoning, only part of which corresponds to reality. The link between performance and trust can only be made when very specific conditions are present. The core of the discussion deals with causality: it is obvious that performance of the public administration has a certain impact on trust in government, but existing levels of trust in government may also have an impact on perceptions of government performance. In this article, we outline a framework for research on this performance–trust relation.
Effects of Temperature and Precipitation Variability on Snowpack Trends in the Western United States

Abstract Recent studies have shown substantial declines in snow water equivalent (SWE) over much of the western United States in the last half century, as well as trends toward earlier spring snowmelt and peak spring streamflows. These trends are influenced both by interannual and decadal-scale climate variability, and also by temperature trends at longer time scales that are generally consistent with observations of global warming over the twentieth century. In this study, the linear trends in 1 April SWE over the western United States are examined, as simulated by the Variable Infiltration Capacity hydrologic model implemented at 1/8° latitude–longitude spatial resolution, and driven by a carefully quality controlled gridded daily precipitation and temperature dataset for the period 1915–2003. The long simulations of snowpack are used as surrogates for observations and are the basis for an analysis of regional trends in snowpack over the western United States and southern British Columbia, Canada. By is.
Learner Generated Content - Fostering and Valuing User Generated Content in eLearning using Social Feedback

User Generated Content (UGC) is any form of content that is created by the users themselves in order to make it available to others, usually on an online platform. When UGC is used in a learning context and learning material is created by students or learners in general, we talk about Learner Generated Content (LGC) as a subset of User Generated Content. A very common form of LGC are Wikis, but the concept is not limited to text generation. The term applies to creative works on all media. For example creating videos for YouTube, virtual worlds for Minecraft or sharing pictures on Flickr, all are forms of Lerner Generated Content when performed in an educational context. Having learners create and share content can be advantageous in several cases:
Emotional problems of Infertile Egyptian women

Background : Infertility is a very stressful life experience where women may experience emotional distress, threat, depression, anxiety, phobia, disappointment and marital problems. Overall prevalence of emotional problems among infertile couples has been estimated to be around 25%-60%. So the aim of our study was to determine emotional problems among a group of infertile women in Egypt. Methods : A convenient sample of 300 women was recruited for the purpose of this study. The study was implemented at infertility unit and Out–patient gynaecologic section at El-Kasr El-Aini Hospital Cairo university-Egypt. Structured Self-administered questionnaire was used for data collection consists of two parts: Part I which included participants socio-demographic characteristics. Part II: A developed profile of emotional problems was used to assess the emotional problems of the infertile women in terms of anxiety, phobia, obsession, psychosomatic symptoms, depression, and hysterical manifestations. } Results : Revealed that anxiety (83%) was the most significant emotional problems among studied subjects, followed by depression (77%), obsession (72%), psychosomatic disorders (65%), phobia (52%), and hysterical manifestation (2%). The levels of emotional problems had significant associated with subjects' age, level of education, duration of marriage and presence of children. Conclusions : There are high prevalence of emotional problems among infertile women, the study yielded that causes of infertility were mainly related to female factors. Emotional problems of the studied subjects ranked descending; anxiety, depression, obsession, psychosomatic disorders, phobia, and hysterical manifestation. So, it seems that more serious attention is required from nurses, gynecologists, psychiatrists and psychologists for better treatment of these emotional problems. The use of supportive teaching program should be considered as part of the general therapeutic framework of infertility.
Comparative Assessment of the Fatty Acid Profiles of Crude Oils Extracted from Seeds of Selected Tea ( Camellia sinensis L.) Cultivars

Tea seeds resulting from the cultivation of tea in many parts of the world, often regarded as waste, have been found to contain oil of exceptional quality that can be harnessed for use as an oleo-chemical or chemical intermediate. A comparative study was carried out to examine the free fatty acid profiles of crude oils chemically extracted by Soxhlet extraction from tea seeds collected from different cultivars of Kenyan tea. All the tea seeds of the studied tea cultivars yielded oil, though to different extents (p > 0.05) after the 8-hour extraction. The oils were golden yellow in color. The contents of oleic, linoleic and stearic acids in all the crude test oils have no significant difference (p > 0.05) from each other. However, statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) in the linolenic and palmitic acids contents were evident. Based on the current findings, the test tea oils were predominantly constituted of unsaturated fatty acids, oleic acid being the major unsaturated fatty acid, other fatty acids being present in different but smaller proportions.
Training DNNs with Hybrid Block Floating Point

The wide adoption of DNNs has given birth to unrelenting computing requirements, forcing datacenter operators to adopt domain-specific accelerators to train them. These accelerators typically employ densely packed full-precision floating-point arithmetic to maximize performance per area. Ongoing research efforts seek to further increase that performance density by replacing floating-point with fixed-point arithmetic. However, a significant roadblock for these attempts has been fixed point's narrow dynamic range, which is insufficient for DNN training convergence. We identify block floating point (BFP) as a promising alternative representation since it exhibits wide dynamic range and enables the majority of DNN operations to be performed with fixed-point logic. Unfortunately, BFP alone introduces several limitations that preclude its direct applicability. In this work, we introduce HBFP, a hybrid BFP-FP approach, which performs all dot products in BFP and other operations in floating point. HBFP delivers the best of both worlds: the high accuracy of floating point at the superior hardware density of fixed point. For a wide variety of models, we show that HBFP matches floating point's accuracy while enabling hardware implementations that deliver up to 8.5 × higher throughput.
CHARACTERIZATION OF THIN WALLED Ti-6Al-4V COMPONENTS PRODUCED VIA ELECTRON BEAM MELTING

Direct-metal energy beam SFF processes typically produce layers by scanning the contours and then filling in the area within the contour. Process parameters used to solidify contours are often different from those for fill areas. It is to be expected, therefore, that the contour and fill area regions will have different microstructures. This can have important ramifications for thin walled components such as biomedical implants whose slices have very little fill area. This paper characterizes the metallurgical differences in contour and fill areas in titanium components produced via Electron Beam Melting. The implications of these properties for thin walled components are described. Introduction Arcam's Electron Beam Melting (EBM) process (www.arcam.com) is a direct-metal freeform fabrication process that uses a 4.8 kW electron beam to selectively scan and melt layers of metal powder one on top of the next. Details of the process can be found in reference [1]. Titanium (Ti-6Al-4V) is an alloy that is receiving considerable interest for use with this process from industry. The EBM process was originally developed with the tool and die making industry in mind. Whereas the H13 tool steel components originally targeted with this process are typically large bulky parts, the titanium components built with the process tend to be thin walled in nature. For purposes of this paper, a thin walled part is a part with a thickness of approximately 14 mm. Representative thin-walled Ti-6Al-4V components built with this process include the turbocharger compressor wheel shown in Figure 1(a), the knee implant shown in Figure 1(b), and the bone plate shown in Figure 1(c). The vanes on the turbocharger wheel are approximately 1.2 mm thick, and the knee implant and bone plate each has an average thickness between 3-4 mm. Most beam-based freeform fabrication processes melt or otherwise solidify a raw material by scanning the contour of a given slice and then scanning the fill area inside of the contours. In the case of direct-metal freeform fabrication processes, it is not uncommon for different process settings to be used when solidifying contours versus fill area. This is done primarily for reasons of improving surface finish and appearance. As the solidification rate of the metal powder can be influenced by differences in process settings (e.g. beam power and scan speed), it is possible for the contours and fill area to have substantially different microstructure and mechanical properties.
Assessing Credit Risk in the Colombian Financial System

The recurrent financial crises in the developed and developing economies during the last two decades show how costly these events can be1. They also underscore the importance of financial stability as an economic policy consideration. Among the authorities responsible for overseeing financial stability, central banks play an extremely important role, one that is gaining ground among monetary authorities, since most economies have made important progress towards reducing inflation.
Variational Approach for Resolving the Flow of Generalized Newtonian Fluids in Circular Pipes and Plane Slits

We use a generic and general variational method to obtain solutions to the flow of generalized Newtonian fluids through circular pipes and plane slits. The new method is not based on the use of the Euler-Lagrange variational principle and hence it is totally independent of our previous approach which is based on this principle. Instead, the method applies a very generic and general optimization approach which can be justified by the Dirichlet principle although this is not the only possible theoretical justification. The results that were obtained from the new method using nine types of fluid are in total agreement, within certain restrictions, with the results obtained from the traditional methods of fluid mechanics as well as the results obtained from the previous variational approach. In addition to being a useful method in its own for resolving the flow field in circular pipes and plane slits, the new variational method lends more support to the old variational method as well as for the use of variational principles in general to resolve the flow of generalized Newtonian fluids and obtain all the quantities of the flow field which include shear stress, local viscosity, rate of strain, speed profile, and volumetric flow rate.
Efficient Stochastic Gradient Hard Thresholding

Stochastic gradient hard thresholding methods have recently been shown to work favorably in solving large-scale empirical risk minimization problems under sparsity or rank constraint. Despite the improved iteration complexity over full gradient methods, the gradient evaluation and hard thresholding complexity of the existing stochastic algorithms usually scales linearly with data size, which could still be expensive when data is huge and the hard thresholding step could be as expensive as singular value decomposition in rank-constrained problems. To address these deficiencies, we propose an efficient hybrid stochastic gradient hard thresholding (HSG-HT) method that can be provably shown to have sample-size-independent gradient evaluation and hard thresholding complexity bounds. Specifically, we prove that the stochastic gradient evaluation complexity of HSG-HT scales linearly with inverse of sub-optimality and its hard thresholding complexity scales logarithmically. By applying the heavy ball acceleration technique, we further propose an accelerated variant of HSG-HT which can be shown to have improved factor dependence on restricted condition number. Numerical results confirm our theoretical affirmation and demonstrate the computational efficiency of the proposed methods.