Effects of hydrocarbon contamination on soil microbial community and enzyme activity

Acknowledgment I would like to gratefully acknowledge the government of Saudi Arabia for the scholarship and financial support.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Mediation Effect of Trusting Beliefs on the Relationship Between Expectation-Confirmation and Satisfaction with the Usage of Online Product Recommendation

Online Product Recommendations (OPRs) are increasingly available to onlinecustomers as a value-added self-service in evaluating and choosing a product.Research has highlighted several advantages that customers can gain from usingOPRs. However, the realization of these advantages depends on whether and towhat extent customers embrace and fully utilise them. The relatively low OPR USAgerate indicates that customers have not yet developed trust in OPRs’ performance.Past studies also have established that satisfaction is a valid measure of systemperformance and a consistent significant determinant of users’ continuous systemusage. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the mediation effect of trustingbeliefs on the relationship between expectation-confirmation and satisfaction. Theproposed research model is tested using data collected via an online survey from626 existing users of OPRs. The empirical results revealed that social-psychologicalbeliefs (perceived confirmation and trust) are significant contributors to customersatisfaction with OPRs. Additionally, trusting beliefs partially mediate the impactof perceived confirmation on customer satisfaction. Moreover, this study validatesthe extensions of the interpersonal trust construct to trust in OPRs and examinesthe nomological validity of trust in terms of competence, benevolence, andintegrity. The findings provide a number of theoretical and practical implications.&nbsp

Realitas Politikus Perempuan sebagai Komunikator Politik

Women's existence and political role has been broader from time to time, in line with affirmative action in gender issue raised in political parties, in which women are served to get 30% of political quota to be selected legislative members in the General Election 2004. Even so, there still some obstacles they have to face, for instance the political parties itself as the “political vehicle” and the order number of the legislative candidates that also plays important role. In the 2004, General Election for the West Java Province House of Representative candidates, from 27% women there is only 10 people selected—or in other word—10% of 100 West Java Province House of Representative selected members and selected politician women, proved to be seated in number one or two. Furthermore, it is a unique and interesting fact to be observed how 10 politician women succeed to be West Java Province House of Representative members Year 2004-2009. Communication politics' reality found that political party dominance in determination of legislative candidates and political decision made by the fractions, related to politicians' functions in certain committee or any decision made in the committee. Afterward, women's politic reality, in the perspectives of quality, readiness, and equality in responding affirmative action includes the political party seriousness to give broader opportunity for politician women

Dilema Elite Politik dan Kekuatan Media Massa

The dominance of the political drama in the media seemed to be the evidence of a democratic process in which the political actors are always racing to win popularity or good imaging of themselves either individually or collectively (political party). However, the political drama is increasingly showing an interest gap, where the people actually crave affairs and social developmen. This is the rare serious discussion covered by the mass media, because it is less interesting than the debate of political and legal problems, or that reality is really no serious struggle about the fate of the people\u27s welfare. Democracy is not for any political and legal issues as well as press freedom, but democracy is to answer how people could be prospered by the government and the representatives (political elites) who carry out the mandate of the people through elections

Trend of neonatal mortality in Nigeria from 1990 to 2017 using time series analysis

The study examined the incidence of the rate of Neonatal Mortality in Nigeria. The incidence tested with use of Time Series Analysis (ARIMA). The trend plot of the incidence shows that there has been steady decrease in the incidence rate over the years. The series was stationarity using the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) Test, the result found to be stationary. The Correlogram of the incidence also supports the stationarity of the series at 1% level of  significance. The model that best describes the incidence was tested using the Box-Jenkins four step procedures, which involve identification, explanation, diagnostic and forecasting. ARMA (1, 1), and ARIMA (1, 1, 1) models were tested, and ARIMA (1, 1, 1) model happens to be the best model that best fits the series. The time series analysis shows that neonatal mortality rate has reduced by 17.8% from 51. 7% in the year 1990 to 33. 9% in the year 2017.Keywords: Auto regression, Moving average, Mortality, Stationarity, Correlogra

Non-destructive Method for Maturity Assessment of Indonesian's Mangoes by NIRS Spectroscopy

Rapid and non-destructive method to determine maturity quality of mangoes accurately has played an increasing role in the fruits supply chain involving automation. Diffuse reflectance spectra (R) and absorbance spectra (Log 1/R) in the spectral range from 900 to 1400 nm were measured using NIRS spectroscopy at three different points of 257 Indonesians mangoes cultivar arumanis, manalagi, gadong, gincu and golek of different ripeness indices. Through principle component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis (CA) of the absorbance and reflectance spectra, cultivars can be differed with an accuracy of 99.8%. Multiple linear regression was applied to develop calibration models from mangoes with soluble solid content ranged between 5.5 and 13.5 % Brix and firmness ranged between 0.25 and 4.50 kgf. Log 1 /R calibration model could assess the soluble solid content and firmness of the mangoes with higher accuracy than R model with the coefficient of determination of 0.96 and 0.93, respectively. Results showed that NIRS spectroscopy has the feasibility to be employed in the maturity measures of Indonesian's mangoes

Evaluation of Hot Mix Asphalt Properties with Solid Waste Incinerator Ash as Fine Aggregate

It is imperative to develop a means of utilizing municipal solid waste incinerator ash (MSWIA) for a proper environmental protection. Hence, this research is to evaluate the influence of municipal solid waste incinerator ash (MSWIA) as a substitute for fine aggregate in hot-mix asphalt concrete. The physical properties and chemical oxide composition tests were carried on MSWI ash with the view of evaluating its suitability for used as fine aggregate. Marshall mix design method was adopted for sample preparation. Preliminary samples were prepared to determine the optimum bitumen content (OBC). The OBC was determined as 5.5% and was used for the preparation of samples with varying proportion of MSWIA (10%, 20%, 30% and 40 by total weight of the fine aggregate). The samples were subjected to mechanical and volumetric evaluations, which include stability, flow, bulk specific gravity, void in mineral Aggregate (VMA) void filled with bitumen (VFB) and Voids in the mix (VIM). The results revealed that the flow, void in mix (VIM), void in mineral aggregate (VMA) increased, while bulk specific density (BSD) and void filled with bitumen (VFB) became less as the percentage of MSWI ash raised. However, the use MSWI ash in the preparation of hot mix asphalt as a substitute for fine aggregate should not be beyond 20 % MSWIA. Moreover, the results fulfilled the Standard Specification and requirements specified by Nigerian Standard Specification for Roads and Bridges

EXPLORING THE INAR MODEL ON HEAVY TAILED TIME SERIES DATA WITH OUTLIERS

Count data are intrinsically measures of event frequency; it is clear that there is an intrinsic relationship with recurring time to event. Events are typically tallied within time intervals for practical and convenient reasons. The existence of outliers is one issue that prevents count data from being stationary in time series analysis; this has an impact on the effectiveness of fitting several common stationary models to the count data collected over time. Thus, the purpose of this study was to examine how well the Integer Valued Autoregressive (INAR) model performed while modeling count data that included outliers. While this model has been studied for count time series data, it has not been studied for varying degrees of outliers. A monte-carlo simulation was carried out to select the best INAR(p), where p=1,2,3 and 4 on data with 10%, 20% and 30% outliers at different sample sizes. The INAR (4) has the best fit across the sample sizes at the larger percentages of outliers while INAR (3) at the lowest percentage with smallest information criteria of assessment and they are therefore recommended for such modeling.

Stability Study of Some Selected Nigerian Crude Oil Emulsions and the Effectiveness of Locally Produced Demulsifier

Crude oil emulsion stability causes high viscosity of crude oil which leads to problems in pipeline transportation and processing. In this research, four samples of crude oil emulsions were collected from Ughelli East Wellhead and labeled A, B, C and D. These samples were characterized to determine their specific gravity, 0API gravity, structural composition, density, temperature, amount of water, amount of gas and the gross crude oil production. The 0API at 60 0F showed that all the samples had values below 30 0API which was an indication that the crude oil produced from these wells were heavy crude oil. The FTIR spectra showed bands at 3444.55 cm-1 for Sample A, 3418.23 cm-1 and 3175.94 cm-1for Sample B, 3444.61 cm-1 for Sample C and  3444.49 cm-1 for Sample D attributing to strong and broad O-H stretch, H-bonded and an indication of Asphaltenes presence; the alkanes signal, C-H stretch at 2961.14 cm-1 for Sample A, 2926.00 cm-1 for Sample B, 2924.15 cm-1 for Sample C and 2922.88 cm-1 for Sample D are indications of the presence of wax; C=O stretch at 1737.74 cm-1 only present in sample C is an indication of the presence of resins. The well test details showed that sample A and B had smaller water percentage in the gross crude oil production than Sample C and D with high water percentage. Therefore crude oil produced from these four wells represented by samples A, B, C and D contains natural emulsion stabilizers and stable. However, the stability of Samples A and B are more than that of Samples C and D. The performance of locally produced demulsifier increased with increase in residence time of contacting it with the emulsion samples at their operating temperatures, while equal dosage of patent Separol N46 demulsifier showed no performance within thesame residence time. However, treatments AWHT, BRT, CWHT and DWHT all at well head temperatures of 35.6 0C, 27 0C, 48.2 0C and 48.8 0C respectively showed that most water was expelled in 480 minutes. Key words: Stability, Selected, Crude oil, Emulsion, Demulsifiers, Treatmen

Keragaan Faktor-faktor yang Mempengaruhi Kinerja Penyuluh di Balai Pengkajian Teknologi Pertanian

Information of research results is an output and the main asset of the Assessment Institute of AgriculturalTechnology (AIAT). This information of research result needs to be formulated into easily understood information,using the most suitable media before being disseminated to various prospective users. In this respect, professionalswho deal with innovation transfer need to possess adequate knowledge and skills to ensure an efficient and effectiveflow of information from its source to intended audiences. The effort to increase the efficiency and effectiveness ofthe information flow of agricultural research result was the justification to merge the Institute for AgriculturalInformation (IAI) and AIAT. This institutional integration also brought the consequence of the involvement ofextentionists, who were the main professional staff of IAI, into the AIAT working system. After 10 years ofintegration, the increase of efficiency and effectiveness of innovation transfer at AIAT has not resulted as expected.This poor performance of innovation transfer is among others resulted from the unfavourable working condition ofextentionists in fulfilling their role and function within the AIAT working system. The objective of this study was toidentify constraints being faced by AIAT extentionists in fulfilling their role and function at AIAT. Results of thestudy indicated that the capacity of AIAT extentionists was a resultant or a product of existing policies and workingcondition within the Indonesian Agency for Agricultural Research and Development (IAARD) and AIAT, and at otherrelated agricultural institutions outside the IAARD. In this respect, AIAT extentionists were in agreement with almostall constraints being stated as hypotheses in this study. The AIAT extentionists indicated that their performance was aresultant of internal and external constraints within their working system as follows: (a) professional capacity of AIATextentionists, (b) professional performance of AIAT extentionists, (c) structural problems, (d) working facilities andsupporting administration, (e) external factors. Thus, efforts to increase the performance of AIAT extentionists shouldstart from implementing policies and various activities being needed to alleviate those five constraints mentionedabove.Key words: extentionist, innovation transfer, perceptionInformasi hasil penelitian dan pengkajian merupakan aset intelektual dan keluaran utama dari BPTP (BalaiPengkajian Teknologi Pertanian) yang perlu dikemas ke dalam “bahasa” yang mudah dimengerti sebelumdisampaikan kepada beerbagai khalayak penggunanya. Penyelenggara proses alih teknologi membutuhkanpengetahuan dan keterampilan yang memadai, agar alur teknologi ini dapat mengalir dengan efisien dan efektif darisumbernya kepada berbagai khalayak penggunanya. Hal ini melatarbelakangi pengintegrsian Bali Informasi Pertanianke dalam BPTP, yang juga menbawa konsekuensi masuknya penyuluh, yang merupakan staf fungsional utama di unitkerja eks BIP ke dalam sistem kerja BPTP. Setelah 10 tahun pengintegrasian BIP ke dalam BPTP, ternyatapeningkatan efisiensi dan efektivitas sistem alih inovasi pertanian belum seperti yang diharapkan. Penyebabnya antaralain kurang kondusifnya pelaksanaan tugas pokok dan fungsi penyuluh BPTP. Dengan demikian, perlu adanyaidentifikasi kendala yang dihadapi penyuluh BPTP dalam pelaksanaan tugas pokok dan fungsinya. Tujuan pengkajianini adalah untuk mengidentifikasi kendala yang dihadapi penyuluh BPTP dalam melaksanakan tugas pokok danfungsinya di BPTP. Hasil kajian mendapatkan bahwa potensi/kapasitas penyuluh BPTP merupakan produk atau luarandari kondisi kerja dan kebijakan yang ada, baik kebijakan internal Badan Penelitian dan PengembanganPertanian/BPTP maupun kebijakan instutusi pertanian terkait di luar Badan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Pertanian.334Jurnal Pengkajian dan Pengembangan Teknologi Pertanian Vol. 8, No.3, Nopember 2005 : 333-351Penyuluh mempunyai persepsi setuju dengan hampir semua hipotesis yang merupakan kendala dalam pelaksanaantugas pokok dan fungsinya. Hal ini mengindikasikan bahwa penyuluh mempunyai persepsi bahwa potensi/kapasitasnya merupakan resultante dari kendala eksternal dan internal di lingkugan kerjanya, yaitu: (a) potensi/kapasitas penyuluh, (b) permasalahan struktural, (c) kinerja fungsional penyuluh, (d) fasilitas kerja dan dukunganadministrasi, dan (e) faktor-faktor eksternal di luar Badan Penelitian dan Pengembangan Pertanian/BPTP. Dengandemikian, upaya peningkatan kinerja penyuluh BPTP perlu didahului dengan implementasi kebijakan dan berbagaikegiatan yang diperlukan dan berkaitan dengan kelima kendala internal dan eksternal tersebut