Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Perspective of the Relationship between Stock Returns and Macroeconomic Indicators: Case of Tunisia

First, we will be interested in the statistical properties of the data collected and especially stationarity. The test was used to identify the properties of the previously studied series is the test Adjusted Dickey Fuller (1981). Indeed, the first step is to study the stationarity of individual time series. In addition, they must be non-stationary as a necessary condition to implement causality tests. In a second step; we will choose the Johanson cointegration test to analyze the long-run equilibrium relationship between stock returns and different macroeconomic variables . In fact the cointegration relationships assume that all variables are integrated of the same order: the level integration will be achieved through the implementation of the ADF test . The third step is to test in a uni-frame varied the type of the relationship between the stock index (TUNINDEX) and the two-monetary and economic variables two and the direction and the sign of a possible causal relationship (if it exists). This type of tests are designed to test whether the economic and monetary activity predict stock returns or not. Finally; and in a final stage; we will try to decompose the variance of the forecast error in order to highlight the proportion related to each shock.
Delays and Cost Overruns Causes During Construction of Palm Oil Refinery Projects

Delays and cost overruns are obviously common problems in the construction industry in several developed and developing nations. The purpose of this study is to identify factors cause delays and cost overruns in the construction of palm oil refinery projects in Malaysia. A questionnaire survey of a randomly selected sample was filled by 89 respondents. The questionnaire included 179 factors which classified into 13 groups. The degree of importance of the delays and cost overrun factors were evaluated and ranked by importance degree, based on the viewpoints of stakeholders. The data was analytically investigated by descriptive statistic methods and Relative Important Index (RII). The results of RII showed that Delays in subcontractor’s work, Lack of subcontractor skill, and Poor/inadequate planning and scheduling with RII 0.78, 0.77, and 0.75, respectively, are the most important causes. These causes represent the baseline margin for project management of palm oil refinery construction and development. According to these results, it is suggested that: project client should collaborate with contractors and simplify payments procedures to mitigate delays; coordinate continuously and enhance the association among project stakeholders are obligatory in order to improve the project performance.
Applying the Kano model and QFD to explore customers' brand contacts in the hotel business: A study of a hot spring hotel

Brand contacts are a variety of elements about how customers come into contact with a brand and how they communicate their values about it to other potential customers. For the sake of cost and efficiency, brand contacts can be investigated not only from a customer perspective but also from that of the service provider. This paper thus attempts to integrate the Kano model and quality function deployment (QFD) to explore brand contact elements. The results gained from an empirical study of a hot spring hotel indicate that customers' perceptions about contact elements are mostly classified into one-dimensional and must-be attributes by the Kano model. The proposed approach contributes to the creation of attractive contact elements that have an enormous potential to further increase customer satisfaction and differentiate competitors. Moreover, along with the 10 technical characteristics obtained by the integrated approach, the customers' contact experiences are displayed through the brand contact priority grid, both of which provide references for future hotel business development. Lastly, atmosphere-oriented brand contacts dominate customers' brand perceptions more than others, in that they lessen customers' sense of risk and uncertainty toward product/service offerings. A discussion of the findings including managerial implications is also presented in this paper.
A submersible study of the Mariana Trough back-arc spreading center at 17°N

During the JAMSTEC R/V Yokosuka YK08-08 Leg-1 cruise, the submersible Shinkai 6500 survey of the central Mariana Trough at 17°N was carried out to study a formation process of oceanic lithosphere in the active back-arc spreading center. Three dives were devoted to the median valley in the 17°N segment center. Visual observation of geology, lava flow morphology, and fault structure provides ground references for the backscattering imagery obtained from the deep-towed side-scan sonar survey conducted in 2003 to discuss volcanotectonic features. Smooth surfaces of side-scan imagery with high backscattering intensities are found to be jumbled-wrinkled, folded sheet, or lobate lava flows. The visual observation proves that the 17°N segment is covered with sheet lava flows of high effusion rates. Quantifiable degrees of sedimentation superposed on the lavas suggest relative age differences of formation. Sheet lava flows in the axial portion of the median valley are considered to be the youngest among the three dive observations. Sedimentation more or less gradually increases toward the western margin of the median valley. The observed eastern margin of the median valley is covered with sedimentary layers of ∼0.5-2 m thickness, thus the area is regarded as the oldest in our dive observations. North-south trending tectonic structures (i.e. faults, fissures), oblique to the median valley direction, could be younger than valley-parallel NNW-SSE trending structures because they show relatively little accumulation of sediment, and they cut the other structures in some places. Basaltic rock samples were collected at a total of 22 stations where several types of lava flow morphology are shown. Spatial variations in the rock faces, suggesting variations of chemical characteristics and rock ages, were found (phyric/aphyric, manganese coating, vesiculation). Hemipelagic sediment samples including nanofossils were also collected at 6 stations.
Daily black carbon emissions from fires in northern Eurasia for 2002–2015

Abstract. Black carbon (BC) emitted from fires in northern Eurasia is transported and deposited on ice and snow in the Arctic and can accelerate its melting during certain times of the year. Thus, we developed a high spatial resolution (500 m × 500 m) dataset to examine daily BC emissions from fires in this region for 2002–2015. Black carbon emissions were estimated based on MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) land cover maps and detected burned areas, the Forest Inventory Survey of the Russian Federation, the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Tier-1 Global Biomass Carbon Map for the year 2000, and vegetation specific BC emission factors. Annual BC emissions from northern Eurasian fires varied greatly, ranging from 0.39 Tg in 2010 to 1.82 Tg in 2015, with an average of 0.71 ± 0.37 Tg from 2002 to 2015. During the 14-year period, BC emissions from forest fires accounted for about two-thirds of the emissions, followed by grassland fires (18 %). Russia dominated the BC emissions from forest fires (92 %) and central and western Asia was the major region for BC emissions from grassland fires (54 %). Overall, Russia contributed 80 % of the total BC emissions from fires in northern Eurasia. Black carbon emissions were the highest in the years 2003, 2008, and 2012. Approximately 58 % of the BC emissions from fires occurred in spring, 31 % in summer, and 10 % in fall. The high emissions in spring also coincide with the most intense period of ice and snow melting in the Arctic.
New trends in rabbit feeding: influence of nutrition on intestinal health

The role of gut barrier against pathogens and its interaction with dietary factors in weaned rabbits affected with digestive disorders, especially epizootic rabbit enteropathy is reviewed. This interaction was studied identifying nutritive factors that influence gut barrier function of mucosa. It was examined the morphology, and enzyme activity of mucosa and the gut associated immune system. Besides, it was characterized the substrate that reaches the caecum and its capacity to favour pathogen bacteria growth, by reviewing the effect of diet on ileal digestibility of nutrients, transit time and microbiota population. The nutritional factors which affect health of early weaned rabbits are level and type of both fibre and protein. The optimal dietary level of insoluble fibre to minimise mortality is 30-32%. Furthermore, a moderate inclusion of soluble fibre (12%) improves mucosa integrity and decreases mortality and the frequency of detection of Clostridium perfringens and Campylobacter spp in the caecum. The reduction of ileal nitrogen flow had a positive effect on pups viability and frequency of detection of C. perfringens. Furthermore, dietary supplementation with 1% of glutamine reduced fattening mortality, the frequency of detection of C. perfringens, and Helicobacter spp, and diminished the counts of Eimeria spp at the jejunum. In conclusion, a correct diet formulation may help to limit the epizootic rabbit enteropathy incidence in weaned rabbits. Additional key words: fibre, gut barrier function, protein, weaning, young rabbits.
Cloud Computing: Security Issues and Energy Usage

The basic idea of cloud computing is reusability of resources and is built upon distributed computing, virtualization, networking web and software services and utility computing. In cloud computing as we keep the information in our hard drive we save it in internet at an alternate area. All the resources which cost us more when we use it individually will be much less and abundantly available in the cloud network, thus making our requirements satisfied with less investment. Cloud providers generally schedule tasks with redundancy to provide high reliability. Resource and time redundancy correspond to the active replication and backup/restart scheme respectively. For the active replica-maximization scheme, several processors are scheduled simultaneously, and the task will succeed if at least one processor does not encounter a failure. In backup/restart scheme the task will be scheduled on the backup processor when a processor encounters a failure. This paper discusses few of the failure problems in cloud computing and the recent methods used to avoid the failures and make the cloud reliable.
Expanding the utilization of sustainable plant products in aquafeeds: a review

Continued growth and intensi¢cation of aquaculture production depends upon the development of sustainable protein sources to replace ¢sh meal in aquafeeds. This document reviews various plant feedstuis, which currently are or potentially may be incorporated into aquafeeds to support the sustainable production of various ¢sh species in aquaculture. The plant feedstuis considered include oilseeds, legumes and cereal grains, which traditionally have been used as protein or energy concentrates as well as novel products developed through various processing technologies. The nutritional composition of these various feedstuis are considered along with the presence of any bioactive compounds that may positively or negatively aiect the target organism. Lipid composition of these feedstuis is not speci¢cally considered although it is recognized that incorporating lipid supplements in aquafeeds to achieve proper fatty acid pro¢les to meet the metabolic requirements of ¢sh and maximize human health bene¢ts are important aspects. Speci¢c strategies and techniques to optimize the nutritional composition of plant feedstuis and limit potentially adverse eiects of bioactive compounds are also described. Such information will provide a foundation for developing strategic research plans for increasing the use of plant feedstuis in aquaculture to reduce dependence of animal feedstuis and thereby enhance the sustainability of aquaculture.
Contested Citizenship: Immigration and Cultural Diversity in Europe

From international press coverage of the French government’s attempt to prevent Muslims from wearing headscarves to terrorist attacks in Madrid and the United States, questions of cultural identity and pluralism are at the center of the world’s most urgent events and debates. Presenting an unprecedented wealth of empirical research garnered during ten years of a cross-cultural project, Contested Citizenship addresses these fundamental issues by comparing collective actions by migrants, xenophobes, and antiracists in Germany, Britain, France, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Revealing striking cross-national differences in how immigration and diversity are contended by different national governments, these authors find that how citizenship is constructed is the key variable defining the experience of Europe’s immigrant populations. Contested Citizenship provides nuanced policy recommendations and challenges the truism that multiculturalism is always good for immigrants. Even in an age of European integration and globalization, the state remains a critical actor in determining what points of view are sensible and realistic—and legitimate—in society.
Relationship Between Organization Reward System and Workers Attitude to Work

This research on effect of reward system on organizational performance was aimed at determining the effect; effects of organizations reward system on workers’ productivity; to determine the relationship between organizations reward system and workers attitude to work; to determine the relationship between organizations reward system and job satisfaction; and to find the relationship between rewards system and workers commitment. The data used was gotten with the aid of a questionnaire and analyzed using the chi-square test of independence. The result shows that: organizations reward system has a significant effect on workers’ productivity; there exists a significant relationship between organizations reward system and workers attitude to work. Also there is a relationship between organizations reward system and job satisfaction. These led to the conclusion reward systems have significant effect on workers attitude to work The study recommended improving the reward system of organizations so as to increase the level of satisfaction among employees; and making the reward policy of the organization in such a way that it will compete favorably with those of other organizations in the industry.
An efficient regional energy-moisture balance model for simulation of the Greenland Ice Sheet response to climate change

Abstract. In order to explore the response of the Greenland ice sheet (GIS) to climate change on long (centennial to multi-millennial) time scales, a regional energy-moisture balance model has been developed. This model simulates seasonal variations of temperature and precipitation over Greenland and explicitly accounts for elevation and albedo feedbacks. From these fields, the annual mean surface temperature and surface mass balance can be determined and used to force an ice sheet model. The melt component of the surface mass balance is computed here using both a positive degree day approach and a more physically-based alternative that includes insolation and albedo explicitly. As a validation of the climate model, we first simulated temperature and precipitation over Greenland for the prescribed, present-day topography. Our simulated climatology compares well to observations and does not differ significantly from that of a simple parameterization used in many previous simulations. Furthermore, the calculated surface mass balance using both melt schemes falls within the range of recent regional climate model results. For a prescribed, ice-free state, the differences in simulated climatology between the regional energy-moisture balance model and the simple parameterization become significant, with our model showing much stronger summer warming. When coupled to a three-dimensional ice sheet model and initialized with present-day conditions, the two melt schemes both allow realistic simulations of the present-day GIS.
On Connections between Properties in Biology – How We Learn about Order in Organisms

Our knowledge in biology and especially about order and organisation in organisms is based on observational and experimental evidence. This evidence is used to derive connections among properties (parameters, traits, functions, etc.) – a central goal of science. Certain such connections are discussed here. Often in biology, (1) correlations are pointed out, whereby properties that appear or change simultaneously are connected. Infrequently, the connection has a (2) causal basis; examples can be found in physiology. (3) Ad hoc connections, which are based on plausible narrations about adaptations, can be found in evolutionary biology. The (4) morphological connections are again of a different sort because they are based on hermeneutics. (5) Connections that are based on parallel or analogous appearances are exemplified by computer simulations. They are contrasted by (6) connections through building, where also the mechanisms that produce a phenomenon or function are similar to those in the natural system. All the connections are used to derive explanations and predictions. Due to the different basis of the connections, the derived explanations and predictions differ with regard to their degree of certainty. Hence it is useful to consider the differences of the connections. Clear distinctions between the types of connections (and their basis) can help to reduce the risk of misunderstandings.
Effects of Late Season Cattle Grazing on Riparian Plant Communities

AbSb8Ct Livestock impacts on riparian plant community composition, structure, and productivity were evaluated. After 3 years of comparison between fall grazed and exclosed (nongrazed) areas, 4 plant communities out of 10 sunpled displayed some significant species composition and productivity differences. Two meadow types and the Douglas hawthome (Cra&egus douglasii) community type had significant differences in standing phytomass. These also were utilized more heavily than any other communities sampled. Shrub use was generally lighht except on willow (S&x spp.)dominated gravel bars. On gravel bars, succession appeared to be retarded by livestock grazing. Few diierences were recorded in other pltnt communities sampled, p8rticularly those communities with a forest canopy.
The Utterance Position Effect in Japanese Stuttering

Cross-linguistic analysis of stuttering allows researchers to determine what aspects of stuttering are universal and what aspects are language-specific. Ujihira (2011), Smith and Howell (2013) and LaSalle and Huffman (2015) have all advanced cross-linguistic research fluency disorders by researching stuttering in Japanese. Continuing the research of stuttering in Japanese, this preliminary study had two objectives: (1) to investigate if there is a consistent utterance-initial or near-initial effect in Japanese individuals who stutter, and (2) to investigate the presence of stuttering on Japanese function words related to the utterance-initial position. Speech samples from 10 Japanese males who stutter between the ages of 3;11 and 48;2 years (Mdn age = 10;4 years) were analyzed for two different word-level measures: utterance position and word class. Preliminary results suggest that an utterance-initial effect (i.e. stuttering on or within the first word of an utterance) is not a characteristic of Japanese stuttering, with only two participants demonstrating statistical significance in binomial tests which compared the proportion of utterance-initial words to the proportion of disfluent words at the utterance-initial position. However, an utterance-near-initial effect (i.e. stuttering within the first three words of an utterance) may in fact be a characteristic of Japanese children who stutter with approximately 88% of disfluent events occurring within the first three words of participants ages 3;11 to 11 years.
Engineering 3D Multi-Branched Nanostructures for Ultra- Sensing Applications

The fabrication of plasmonic nanostructures with sub-10 nm gaps supporting extremely large electric field enhancement (hot-spot) has attained great interest over the past years, especially in ultra-sensing applications. The “hot-spot” concept has been successfully implemented in surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) through the extensive exploitation of localized surface plasmon resonances. However, the detection of analyte molecules at ultra-low concentrations, i.e., down to the single/few molecule level, still remains an open challenge due to the poor localization of analyte molecules onto the hot-spot region. On the other hand, three-dimensional nanostructures with multiple branches have been recently introduced, demonstrating breakthrough performances in hot-spot-mediated ultra-sensitive detection. Multi-branched nanostructures support high hot-spot densities with large electromagnetic (EM) fields at the interparticle separations and sharp edges, and exhibit excellent uniformity and morphological homogeneity, thus allowing for unprecedented reproducibility in the SERS signals. 3D multi-branched nanostructures with various configurations are engineered for high hot-spot density SERS substrates, showing an enhancement factor of 1011 with a low detection limit of 1 fM. In this view, multi-branched nanostructures assume enormous importance in analyte detection at ultra-low concentrations, where the superior hot-spot density can promote the identification of probe molecules with increased contrast and spatial resolution.
Model Misspecification and Assumption Violations With the Linear Mixed Model: A Meta-Analysis

This meta-analysis attempts to synthesize the Monte Carlo (MC) literature for the linear mixed model under a longitudinal framework. The meta-analysis aims to inform researchers about conditions that are important to consider when evaluating model assumptions and adequacy. In addition, the meta-analysis may be helpful to those wishing to design future MC simulations in identifying simulation conditions. The current meta-analysis will use the empirical type I error rate as the effect size and MC simulation conditions will be coded to serve as moderator variables. The type I error rate for the fixed and random effects will be explored as the primary dependent variable. Effect sizes were coded from 13 studies, resulting in a total of 4,002 and 621 effect sizes for fixed and random effects respectively. Meta-regression and proportional odds models were used to explore variation in the empirical type I error rate effect sizes. Implications for applied researchers and researchers planning new MC studies will be explored.
Editorial: Recent Developments in Prospect Theory-based Travel Behaviour Research

Prospect theory, a descriptive approach of modelling individual choice making which has been applied in a range of contexts, has recently attracted the interest of transport academics and professionals and is seen by many as a promising framework for travel behaviour modelling. This special issue follows a seminar on prospect theory and its applications to transport held in Delft at October 2009. It features a selection of carefully reviewed papers that were presented at the seminar. This special issue aims to expose the reader to the recent developments in this field and to some particularly relevant theoretical discussions, potential applications and critical views of prospect theory and its potential applications in the study of travel behaviour.