An empirical study of the use of cost accounting systems in the Libyan agricultural firms

The agricultural sector is one of the important contributors to Libyan economy. Most of the agricultural firms in Libya are government-owned and recently compelled to compete with foreign companies. Available literature shows that one of the challenges faced by the government-owned agricultural firms in Libya is the ever-increasing production costs. This results in the reduction of the country’s wheat production as the market price decreases. The importance of understanding the impact of the increasing costs motivates the thesis to investigate the nature of cost accounting systems in the agricultural firms which receives less attention than the manufacturing sector. The main objective of the thesis is to examine and understand the current practice of cost accounting systems in Libyan agricultural firms. Using a mixed-method explanatory design, three instruments were used to collect the data, namely a questionnaire-based survey, interviews and documentation analysis. A total of 57 questionnaires were distributed to government-owned agricultural firms in Libya. In addition, interviews with management accountants and documentation analysis were conducted to support the findings. A framework was developed based on the survey findings, which includes the influence of six contingent factors on the use of cost accounting systems. This study found that the firm size, cost structure, importance of cost information and legal obligation positively and significantly influence Libyan agricultural firms to use cost accounting systems. The influence of both competition and product diversity, on the other hand are not significant. The results of the study are expected to have implications for Libyan agricultural firms regarding the importance of using cost accounting systems in managing their production cost

Multiplexed microresonator sensors for optical fibre surveillance

In this thesis we have developed a multiplexed sensor system suitable for optical fibre cable surveillance. To achieve an optimum multiplexed sensor system three technologies have been merged, silicon processing, lasers and optical fibres, and optical time domain reflectometry (OTDR). We have demonstrated that a silicon based sensor can be combined with a fibre optic cable without the involvement of any electronics for an all optical monitoring system. A silicon vibrating element produces an optical output that is a function of the measurand. This optical signal can then be converted to a digital bit stream and then processed using digital signal processing techniques. At resonance the device needs just enough optical power in order to over come its losses. The power required to sustain resonance can be less than 10μW. The resonator dimensions are comparable with that of the fibre optic cross section which makes it easy to fit the device into the end of the optical fibre. Silicon is a mature technology resulting in a low unit cost. Silicon as a material has suitable mechanical properties, including low hysteresis and reproducibility. Silicon historically has been well studied and well understood. Communicating with the sensor head optically has several advantages. The cost of installation is low because redundant fibres are present in installed cables. Optical signals propagating in fibres are immune to EMI. A two-source fibre optic system has been developed to study the vibration characteristics of silicon and silicon dioxide resonators. The properties of both metal coated silicon and its oxide are studied. It is concluded that the resonator beams are under stress. This is because during fabrication stress is induced in the material due to the thermal mechanical mismatch between silicon and its oxide, also between the metal and the silicon and its oxide. The pressure and temperature sensitivity of silicon and silicon dioxide resonators is theoretically and experimentally studied. It is found that silicon is more suitable as a pressure sensor and silicon dioxide as a temperature sensor. A potential of a 'self-excited' system for sensitivity and multiplexing has been demonstrated. In such a system, a single source has been used for activation and detection of the resonant frequency. An optical fibre system has been proposed for multiplexing resonator sensors. Sensors with the same resonant frequency are differentiated from each other by using long pulse optical time domain reflectometry (LPOTDR). In this system, the signal gives information about the location of the sensor and the effect of the measurand

Genomic and protein expression analysis reveals flap endonuclease 1 (FEN1) as a key biomarker in breast and ovarian cancer

FEN1 has key roles in Okazaki fragment maturation during replication, long patch base excision repair, rescue of stalled replication forks, maintenance of telomere stability and apoptosis. FEN1 may be dysregulated in breast and ovarian cancers and have clinicopathological significance in patients. We comprehensively investigated FEN1 mRNA expression in multiple cohorts of breast cancer [training set (128), test set (249), external validation (1952)]. FEN1 protein expression was evaluated in 568 oestrogen receptor (ER) negative breast cancers, 894 ER positive breast cancers and 156 ovarian epithelial cancers. FEN1 mRNA overexpression was highly significantly associated with high grade (p= 4.89 x 10 - 57) , high mitotic index (p= 5.25 x 10 - 28), pleomorphism (p= 6.31 x 10-19), ER negative (p= 9.02 x 10-35 ), PR negative (p= 9.24 x 10-24 ), triple negative phenotype (p= 6.67 x 10-21) , PAM50.Her2 (p=5.19 x 10-13 ), PAM50.Basal (p=2.7 x 10-41), PAM50.LumB (p=1.56 x 10-26), integrative molecular cluster 1 (intClust.1) ( p=7.47 x 10-12), intClust.5 (p=4.05 x 10-12) and intClust. 10 (p=7.59 x 10-38 ) breast cancers. FEN1 mRNA overexpression is associated with poor breast cancer specific survival in univariate (p=4.4 x 10-16) and multivariate analysis (p=9.19 x 10-7). At the protein level, in ER positive tumours , FEN1 overexpression remains significantly linked to high grade, high mitotic index and pleomorphism (ps< 0.01). In ER negative tumours, high FEN1 is significantly associated with pleomorphism, tumour type, lymphovascular invasion, triple negative phenotype, EGFR and HER2 expression (ps<0.05). In ER positive as well as in ER negative tumours, FEN1 protein over expression is associated with poor survival in univariate and multivariate analysis (ps<0.01). In ovarian epithelial cancers , similarly, FEN1 overexpression is associated with high grade, high stage and poor survival (ps<0.05). We conclude that FEN1 is a promising biomarker in breast and ovarian epithelial cancer

ANALISIS PEMIKIRAN MUHAMMAD SYAFI’I ANTONIO TENTANG RIBA DAN BUNGA BANK

ABSTRACT &nbsp; The study is titled “Analysis Thought Muhammad Syafi'i Antonio about Riba and Interest Bank, with the background of the problem that in maintaining the benefit of human life from moral damages (morals), social, and economic then Islam firmly and definitely forbid usury. However, as the times progressed, Muslims began to be confronted with the contacts of western civilization where today's banking requires interest. Therefore, the concept of usury that is considered the final legal status began to undergo a review by Islamic reformers such as Muhammad Syafi'i Antonio. The problem raised in the writing of this thesis is how the thought of Muhammad Syafi'i Antonio about usury and bank interest, and what is the basis of the thought of Muhammad Syafi'i Antonio about usury and bank interest in Indonesian banking practices. The methodology of this study using a type of literature study (Library Reseach) which emphasizes the source of information from various materials bibliography, data collection techniques in this study is to collect data related to the thought of Muhammad Syafi'i Antonio. Then the data is analyzed by using descriptive qualitative data analysis method. Based on the result of the research, it can be concluded that Muhammad Syafi'i Antonio decided the position of bank interest and usury is the same and the law is haram, using adillat al-syari'ah (al-Qur'an and Sunnah), istinbath method of law maslahah almursalah and istihsan . Using a specific proposition and implementing general propositions as appropriate targets. As in usul fiqh rules, and economic views. Then Muhammad Syafi'i Antonio also asserted that scholars among whom A. Hasan who has justified usury, is less comprehensive in understanding and taking legal arguments. Keywords: Riba, Bank Interest, Thought, Muhammad Syafi'i Antonio. &nbsp

Double crystal x-ray diffraction simulations of diffusion in semiconductor microstructures

Diffusion in group IV, III-V and II-VI semiconductors is an interesting problem not only from a fundamental physics viewpoint but also in practical terms, since it could determine the useful lifetime of a device. Any attempt to control the amount of diffusion in a semiconductor device, whether it be a quantum well structure or not, requires an accurate determination of the diffusion coefficient. The present theoretical study shows that this could be achieved via x-ray diffraction studies in quantum well structures. It is demonstrated that the rocking curves of single quantum wells are not sensitive to diffusion. However the intensity of the first order satellite, which is characteristic of superlattice rocking curves, is strongly dependent upon diffusion and it is proposed that this technique could be used to measure the diffusion coefficient D. © 1998 American Institute of Physics

Teknik Hand Tracking Menggunakan Metode Inverse Kinematics Pada Pembuatan Animasi 3D

Tahap produksi animasi 3D semakin berkembang. Banyak teknik – teknik baru yang terapkan pada setiap proses produksinya. Belum banyak produksi animasi yang menggunakan Teknik baru, sehingga memungkinkan rumah produksi dapat melakukan Teknik tersebut sebagai salah satu cara meningkatkan kualitas produksi animasi di dalam negeri. Salah satu Teknik yang sering digunakan dalam memproduksi animasi 3D adalah motion tracking. Teknik hand tracking merupakan salah satu dari Teknik motion tracking yang lebih berfokus pada organ tangan. Motion Tracking merupakan sebuah proses dalam mendapatkan tracker dari marker sebuah footage yang telah dipasangkan marker. Marker yang dihasilkan dari proses motion tracking dapat disebut sebagai tracer. Tracer dapat dihubungkan dengan objek 3D yang telah lengkap modeling dan rigging. Sehingga dapat menghasilkan animasi dari pergerakan tracer yang terhunbung dengan bone modeling 3d. Menggunakan pendekatan metode inverse kinematics dilakukan untuk memperbaiki pada saat animasi yang dihasilkan lebih terkontrol pergerakannya dan dengan menambahkan DOF (Degree Of Freedom) pada setiap ruang gerak model yang telah terhubungkan tracer dengan bone (tulang) riggingnya menghindari gerakan animasi keluar dari jalurnya