Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Firm Size and the Use of Banking Services

The article presents the findings from the sample survey (n = 2 203) of small and medium enterprises operating in Poland. The study shows that there were distinctive segments (micro firms, small businesses and medium-sized enterprises) that had significantly different levels of usage of banking services. The likelihood of using banking services increased with firm size. Medium enterprises were more likely to use credits, time deposits and debit cards than small firms and micro firms.
What Makes Muslim Friendly Tourism? An Empirical Study on Destination Image, Tourist Attitude and Travel Intention

The demand for supply of Islamic tourism industry has been affected positively by the increasing number of Islamic followers globally and positive tourism trends. The purpose of this paper is attempted to examine the interrelations among Muslim Friendly Tourism (MFT), tourist attitude toward destination, destination image, and travel intention in the tourism industry. After questionnaire survey, the structural questionnaire was used to collect data from the members at Muslimsâ€™ tourists. Valid responses from the survey was 161 with a 92.5 % of respond rate. The empirical results from the structural model suggest that: (1) Muslims friendly tourism positively and significant impact tourist attitude, destination image, and travel intention; (2) tourist attitude and destination image have a significant relationship with travel intention; (3) destination image positively affects tourist attitude. (4) The opportunities and suggestions in developing and destination marketing for Halal tourism are also discussed. JEL classification numbers: K1, M3, O2, Z1Keywords: Halal tourism, Islamic tourism, Marketing management, Consumer behavior.
Influência da intensidade luminosa no desenvolvimento de mudas de Jatropha curcas L.

Objetivou-se identificar, por meio de parâmetros fisiologicos, o adequado ambiente luminoso para producao de mudas de Jatropha curcas L, avaliando a plasticidade da planta as variacoes da disponibilidade de luz. O delineamento experimental foi o inteiramente casualizado com tres tratamentos (plantas cultivadas a pleno sol interceptando 100 % da radiacao solar “T 1 ”, plantas em sombrite interceptando 50 % da radiacao solar “T 2 ” e plantas cultivadas em sombrite interceptando 25 % da radiacao solar “T 3 ”) e cinco repeticoes. Aos 50 dias apos emergencia foram analisadas as seguintes variaveis: biomassa total, razao de massa radicular, razao de massa caulinar, razao de massa foliar, razao massa seca da folha/sistema radicular, razao parte aerea/sistema radicular, area foliar especifica, teor relativo de agua, altura da planta, numero de folhas, diâmetro do caule, concentracoes de clorofilas e carotenoides, razao clorofila/carotenoide e indice de plasticidade fenotipica para todas as variaveis. As mudas desenvolvidas a pleno sol apresentaram-se mais vigorosas e com maior numero de folhas, sistema radicular robusto e elevada biomassa total. As plantas produzidas nesta condicao sao as mais indicadas para plantio a campo.
Climate Change, Workplace Heat Exposure, and Occupational Health and Productivity in Central America

Abstract Climate change is increasing heat exposure in places such as Central America, a tropical region with generally hot/humid conditions. Working people are at particular risk of heat stress because of the intrabody heat production caused by physical labor. This article aims to describe the risks of occupational heat exposure on health and productivity in Central America, and to make tentative estimates of the impact of ongoing climate change on these risks. A review of relevant literature and estimation of the heat exposure variable wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) in different locations within the region were used to estimate the effects. We found that heat stress at work is a real threat. Literature from Central America and heat exposure estimates show that some workers are already at risk under current conditions. These conditions will likely worsen with climate change, demonstrating the need to create solutions that will protect worker health and productivity.
A Study of the Impact of Culture on International Business Format Franchising: The Case of Taiwan

The focus of this research thesis is to examine the impact of culture on international franchising strategies adopted by American and Japanese international franchisors when entering Taiwan. Franchising has, over many decades, been demonstrated as a highly successfully means of engaging in commercial business operations. Franchising is a market related business method that is based on contractual arrangements that delineate responsibilities, decision rights and resources of the franchisor and franchisee. There are two recognised franchise systems comprising of the product/trade-name system and the business format franchise systems. In contrast to the product/trade-name system, the business format franchise system provides a complete and proven system of business operations and establishes an ongoing support relationship between franchisor and franchisees. In this thesis, the focus will be upon the business format franchise system. Franchising has expanded rapidly in domestic markets and also in the international marketplace. Franchisors have developed consumer confidence in their products/services and brand names through store design, recognisable arrangement of merchandise and high levels of service, which are consistent across franchise outlets. Franchisors provide customers with a range of quality-controlled options both in service industries and the consumer goods market.
On the force/posture control of a constrained submarine robot

An advanced, yet simple, controller for submarine robots is proposed to achieve simultaneously tracking of time-varying contact force and posture, without any knowledge of its dynamic parameters. Structural properties of the submarine robot dynamic are used to design passivity-based controllers. A representative simulation study provides additional insight into the closed-loop dynamic properties for regulation and tracking cases. A succinct discussion about inherent properties of the open-loop and closed-loop systems finishes this work.
Développement d'un code de calcul combinant des schémas de haute précision avec une méthode de frontières immergées pour la simulation des mouvements tourbillonnaires en aval d'un bord de fuite

La realisation de simulations des mouvements tourbillonnaires en aval d'un bord de fuite reste une tâche difficile en mecanique des fluides. Des developpements numeriques ont ete realises a partir d'un code de calcul resolvant les equations de Navier-Stokes incompressibles a l'aide de schemas aux differences finies de haute precision. L'originalite de l'approche numerique reside dans l'utilisation d'une methode spectrale pour la resolution de l'equation de Poisson qui combinee a une methode de frontieres immergees permet de simuler des ecoulements en presence de parois. Un effort particulier a ete fait pour l'amelioration de la resolution de l'equation de Poisson afin d'utiliser un maillage inhomogene et une grille decalee pour le champ de pression. Deux ecoulements de couche de melange avec la prise en compte des parois ont ete simules avec un bord de fuite epais puis mince dans le but de determiner l'influence de la geometrie de la plaque separatrice sur la dynamique de l'ecoulement.
Challenges in Cloud Computing: Enabling the Future Internet of Services

: Because of enhancement in mobile phone technology, mobile phones are turning into an inescapable part of human lives. In setting of running enormous applications on mobile phones, users cannot utilize the capability of mobile phones in an effective way since mobile phones are compelled by processing power, memory requirements and battery limit. Running complex software on smart mobile phones could bring about poor performance and reduced battery life due to their limited resources. To mitigate this resource scarcity issue of the mobile phones, mobile cloud computing is the most guaranteeing solution which consolidates the technologies from both the mobile computing and the cloud computing. The execution of large application on mobile phones is augmented by effective and resource-abundant cloud servers. This is accomplished by dividing an application into tasks such that the computational intensive tasks are offloaded to cloud and in the wake of executing task on cloud, results are sent once again to mobile phone, alluded to as computation offloading. An advanced a versatile, framework can be implemented for powerfully and ideally divide the application. E-Learning application can be developed based on android operating system using this methodology of dividing application into task and running on them on cloud server.
The mammalian complement system as an epitome of host–pathogen genetic conflicts

The complement system is an innate immunity effector mechanism; its action is antagonized by a wide array of pathogens and complement evasion determines the virulence of several infections. We investigated the evolutionary history of the complement system and of bacterial‐encoded complement‐interacting proteins. Complement components targeted by several pathogens evolved under strong selective pressure in primates, with selection acting on residues at the contact interface with microbial/viral proteins. Positively selected sites in CFH and C4BPA account for the human specificity of gonococcal infection. Bacterial interactors, evolved adaptively as well, with selected sites located at interaction surfaces with primate complement proteins. These results epitomize the expectation under a genetic conflict scenario whereby the host's and the pathogen's genes evolve within binding avoidance‐binding seeking dynamics. In silico mutagenesis and protein–protein docking analyses supported this by showing that positively selected sites, both in the host's and in the pathogen's interacting partner, modulate binding.
Measurement of milk intake: tracer-to-infant deuterium dilution method

The tracer-to-infant deuterium dilution method for the measurement of milk intake was evaluated in twenty breast-fed and twenty formula-fed infants. The isotope method was compared with conventional direct-weighing techniques. Human milk intake was assessed by 5 d test-weighing. Intakes of formula, supplemental foods, and water were determined by pre- and post-weighing of feeding bottles. An oral dose of 200 mg 2H2O/kg body-weight was given to each infant, and urine was sampled daily for 14 d. 2H enrichment of the urine was measured by gas-isotope-ratio mass spectrometry. Milk intakes estimated from the deuterium dilution method were consistently higher than those from direct-weighing; the mean difference between methods was 106 (sd 47) g/d or 14% for the breast-fed group and 70 (sd 155) g/d or 8 % for the formula-fed group. Estimates of intake for some infants varied substantially between the two methods of measurement. When the estimated values of human milk intake were corrected for environmental water influx and insensible water loss during breast-feeding, the relative bias decreased to 5%. Correction of the estimated values of formula intake for environmental water influx decreased the relative bias to 1–2%. The acceptability of the deuterium dilution method to determine milk intake depends on the goals and the tolerance for error in group and individual intake estimates of a given study
Skills and competitive strategy in the UK fitness industry

It is widely accepted that to produce high value products and services requires a well-trained and skilled workforce. This paper seeks to make a contribution to unpicking the relationship between business strategy and skills in the service sector by presenting research findings from the UK fitness industry. This sector has been fast growing and includes companies who compete on the basis of high quality, alongside those competing largely on cost. If the route to a high skills economy is to shift firms to higher quality products, then we would expect to find that the more up-market employers make use of a workforce with higher levels of skill. The research from the fitness industry questions this simple relationship, finding that there is no clear link between competitive strategy and skills. As quality is not necessarily the impetus for improving the skills of the workforce, the paper then briefly explores the possible skill implications of a number of other developments currently taking place in the industry.
Fatemeh Azimzadeh A Framework for Ranking Quality of Information on Weblog T

The vast amount of information on the World Wide Web is created and published by many different types of providers. Unlike books and journals, most of this information is not subject to editing or peer review by experts. This lack of quality control and the explosion of web sites make the task of finding quality information on the web especially critical. Meanwhile new facilities for producing web pages such as Blogs make this issue more significant because Blogs have simple content management tools enabling nonexperts to build easily updatable web diaries or online journals. On the other hand despite a decade of active research in information quality (IQ) there is no framework for measuring information quality on the Blogs yet. This paper presents a novel experimental framework for ranking quality of information on the Weblog. The results of data analysis revealed seven IQ dimensions for the Weblog. For each dimension, variables and related coefficients were calculated so that presented framework is able to assess IQ of Weblogs automatically. Keywords—Information Quality, Weblog, Web Ranking, Web-
Effect of thermocycling on the flexural and impact strength of urethane-based and high-impact denture base resins.

OBJECTIVE Mechanical properties of the acrylic resins used for denture fabrication may be influenced by water and temperature. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of thermocycling on the flexural and impact strength of a high-impact (Lucitone 199) and a urethane-based denture material (Eclipse). MATERIALS AND METHODS Flexural strength (64 × 10 × 3.3 mm) and impact strength (60 × 6 × 4 mm) specimens were made following the manufacturers' instructions and assigned to two groups (n = 10): control (C) - not thermocycled - and T - thermocycled (5000 cycles between 5 and 55°C). Specimens were submitted to three-point bending and Charpy impact tests. RESULTS Flexural strength (MPa) and impact strength (kJ/m(2)) data were analysed with two-way anova (p = 0.05). The flexural strength of material Eclipse (C, 136.5; T, 130.7) was significantly higher than that of resin Lucitone 550 (C, 99.4; T, 90.1). Material Eclipse exhibited significantly higher impact strength (C, 6.9; T, 5.3) than the resin Lucitone 550 (C, 3.5; T, 3.0). For both materials, a significant decrease in flexural and impact strengths was observed when the specimens were thermocycled. CONCLUSION Flexural and impact strengths were higher for Eclipse than for Lucitone 550, in both groups. Thermocycling decreased the flexural and impact strengths of Eclipse and Lucitone 550.
Human Understanding Limits in Visualization

Many different techniques for visualizing data exist, and often users must experiment with several before selecting the most effective one for their problem. Knowledge of the characteristics of the human visual system can assist in our choice of visualization techniques. Limits imposed by our visual "cognitive bandwidth" mean that only detail up to these limits needs to be generated in a visualization scene. Some aspects of our visual process will be discussed and an approach will be described for modeling scene detail, which takes visual limits of such aspects into account.
On Generalized Interval Calculi

The calculus of time intervals defined by Allen has been extended in various ways in order to accomodate the need for considering other time objects than convex intervals (eg.time points and intervals, non convex intervals). This paper introduces and investigates the calculus of generalized intervals, which subsumes these extensions in an algebraic setting. The set of (p,q)-relations, which generalizes the set of relations in the sense of Allen, has both an order structure and an algebraic structure. We show that, as an order, it is a distributive lattice whose properties express the topological properties of the set of (p,q)-relations. We also determine in what sense the algebraic operations of transposition and composition act continuously on this set. In Allen's algebra, the subset of relations which can be translated into conjunctive constraints on the endpoints using only ,=,≤,≥ has special computational significance (the constraint propagation algorithm is complete when restricted to such relations). We give a geometric characterization of a similar subset in the general case, and prove that it is stable under composition. As a consequence of this last fact, we get a very simple explicit formula for the composition of two elements in this subset.
Sur l'étude fréquentielle de la propagation des chocs pyrotechniques dans les structures complexes

L’objectif de ce travail de these est l’etude des chocs pyrotechnique a la source par une approche frequentielle et de leur simulation a l’aide de la TVRC (Theorie Variationnelle des Rayons Complexes). Cette etude s’appuie largement sur un essai realise par le CNES dans le cadre du pole chocs pyrotechniques en juin 2006. Afin de traiter le probleme pose par la simulation de la propagation des chocs dans le demonstrateur, la TVRC a ete etendue aux coques orthotropes de courbure quelconque. Une formulation variationnelle adaptee a ete exhibee et la relation de dispersion a ete etablie. Les travaux effectues montrent que la prise en compte des moyennes et hautes frequences, traditionnellement negligees, peut s’averer essentielle pour la comprehension des phenomenes de propagation des ondes de flexion dans les structures complexes.
Acetate catabolism in the dissimilatory iron-reducing isolate GS-15

Acetate-grown GS-15 whole-cell suspensions were disrupted with detergent and assayed for enzymes associated with acetate catabolism. Carbon monoxide dehydrogenase and formate dehydrogenase were not observed in GS-15. Catabolic levels of acetokinase and phosphotransacetylase were observed. Enzyme activities of the citric acid cycle, i.e., isocitrate dehydrogenase, 2-oxoglutarate sythase, succinate dehydrogenase, fumarase, and malate dehydrogenase, were observed.
Une approche de l'organisation textuelle dans un cadre de generation automatique de textes. Application a la generation d'explications causales

Ce travail a pour theme la generation automatique de textes. Nous proposons une nouvelle approche de l'organisation textuelle dans un cadre de generation de textes. Le modele est applique a la production d'explications causales, dans un contexte de modelisation qualitative de systemes physiques. Le modele conceptuel dans lequel sont decrits les systemes physiques, est fonde sur la theorie des processus qualitatifs de forbus. Le processus de generation proprement dit vise a satisfaire un but communicatif initial. Il commence par developper un plan de communication par decomposition hierarchique du but initial en buts plus elementaires. Puis, la structure du texte est determinee a un niveau d'abstraction intermediaire entre le plan de communication prealablement etabli et le texte en surface. A ce niveau, les mecanismes de structuration procedent a la construction d'unites globales d'organisation et determinent non seulement l'articulation interne de ces unites globales en termes de relations de cohesion textuelle, mais aussi l'enchainement lineaire de ces unites. Nous decrivons dans ce rapport l'ensemble du modele de generation en nous attardant plus particulierement sur la definition des concepts manipules dans l'approche integree de l'organisation textuelle developpee, et sur les mecanismes d'elaboration des structures de textes
Gestures From the Point of View of an Audience: Towards Anticipatable Interaction of Presenters With 3D Content.

Presenting content to an audience is important in several fields, including education, marketing, and entertainment. Therefore, the main goal of the presenter is to transport messages to the audience. The paper aims to improve the process of message transportation by providing audience-friendly and anticipatable gestures for the presenter to be used for 3D interaction with the content. For this purpose, we first gathered input from a potential audience through a Wizard of Oz experiment and implemented three coherent gesture sets using the Kinect. We conducted an online survey to evaluate the hypotheses regarding the anticipation rate and perceived user experience. In particular, two of our three gesture sets show tendencies to be intuitively predictable by an untrained, uninformed audience. As the three sets differ significantly in the anticipation level, we conclude that future improvements of such gestures would enhance the audience's ability to predict the intended actions even further.
Vagal cold block in area postrema-lesioned dogs: interaction of vasopressin and sympathetic nervous system.

This study evaluated the interaction between arginine vasopressin (AVP) and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) during bilateral vagal cold block (BVB) and the arterial baroreflex response to phenylephrine (PE) and exogenous AVP in conscious sham-operated (sham) and area postrema (AP)-lesioned mongrel dogs. The hemodynamic responses to ganglionic blockade (GB) and the vascular (V1) AVP receptor antagonist [d(CH2)5Tyr(Me)]AVP (AVPX) were similar in sham and AP-lesioned dogs. Elimination of the AVP pressor system by AVPX in sham dogs did not alter the pressor response to BVB, whereas subsequent blockade of the SNS by GB abolished the response to BVB. When GB was first imposed, however, it alone eliminated only 55% of the pressor response to BVB, whereas subsequent AVPX eliminated the remaining pressor response to BVB. In contrast, in AP-lesioned dogs, AVPX alone substantially reduced the pressor response to BVB. Additionally, the apparent contribution of each pressor system to the response to BVB was not enhanced in the absence of the other system, as had been seen in the sham dogs. These data indicate that during interruption of vagal afferent activity, reflexly released AVP appears to limit the reflex activation of the SNS. This interaction of AVP with the cardiopulmonary reflex is eliminated following ablation of the area postrema. Infusion studies with PE and AVP indicate that AVP significantly augments baroreflex inhibition of heart rate when compared with PE. Ablation of the area postrema did not alter the arterial pressure-heart rate relationship obtained with PE but eliminated the augmented response to AVP. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)