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The purpose of this study is to assess the performance of fuel blends containing ethanol and gasoline in spark ignition engines. The aim is to explore alternative fuels that can enhance performance while minimizing or eliminating adverse environmental impacts, particularly in the context of limited fossil fuel availability and the need for sustainable alternatives.

The authors used the Ricardo Wave software to evaluate the performance of fuel blends with varying ethanol content (represented as E0, E10, E25, E40, E55, E70, E85 and E100) in comparison to gasoline. The assessment involved different composition percentages and was conducted at various engine speeds (1,500, 3,000, 4,500 and 6,000 rpm). This methodology aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how different ethanol-gasoline blends perform under different conditions.

The study found that, across all fuel blends, the highest brake power (BP) and the highest brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC) were observed at 6,000 rpm. Additionally, it was noted that the presence of ethanol in gasoline fuel blends has the potential to increase both the BP and BSFC. These findings suggest that ethanol can positively impact the performance of spark-ignition engines, highlighting its potential as an alternative fuel.

This research contributes to the ongoing efforts in the automotive industry to find sustainable alternative fuels. The use of Ricardo Wave software for performance assessment and the comprehensive exploration of various ethanol-gasoline blends at different engine speeds add to the originality of the study. The emphasis on the potential of ethanol to enhance engine performance provides valuable insights for motor vehicle manufacturers and researchers working on alternative fuel solutions.

This paper aims to analyze the effects of crop specialization on agricultural productivity and commercialization for farmers who produce high-value crops in the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone of Ghana.

The study used the USAID/Ghana Feed the Future (FTF) survey, which collected data on high-value crops (i.e. maize, rice and soya). Data for the analysis consists of 2,903 farm households. The study utilized the three-stage generalized method of moment estimation technique to deal with the potential endogeneity of crop specialization within the context of productivity and commercialization and heteroscedasticity issues in the data.

The study found that crop specialization positively relates to agricultural productivity and commercialization, suggesting that increased crop specialization in the production of high-value stimulates productivity and opens market opportunities for farm households. These findings imply that crop specialization seems more beneficial to farmers as it significantly improves productivity and commercialization.

The study was conducted in the Northern Savannah Ecological Zone of Ghana and not the entire country.

To the best of the authors' knowledge, this study is the first to have jointly modeled crop specialization, agricultural productivity and commercialization. The main advantage of using this system approach is that it uses more information, thereby providing more precise parameter estimates.

This study explores the perception of employees in textile industry firms in Northern Portugal regarding the influence of leadership and reward systems (RS) on their motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) and job satisfaction (JS).

A questionnaire was addressed to the employees of 12 firms, obtaining a sample of 256 valid responses, for which a structural equation model was estimated.

The results showed that leadership and RS influence JS only through the mediating effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.

This study makes empirical and theoretical contributions, testing the relationship between leadership and employees' JS and how this relationship can be mediated by RS, and motivation – both intrinsic and extrinsic. Moreover, this study was conducted in Portugal, country where these issues have not been researched jointly before.

Accles & Pollock Ltd. of Oldbury, Worcestershire, a TI Steel Tube Division company, will be exhibiting a comprehensive range of precision steel tube and tubular products, including plain, annularly convoluted and thin wall tube, at Farnborough.

This study aims at establishing the moderating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between organisational culture (OC) and organisational commitment in the perspective of institutions of higher learning in a developing country.

A cross-sectional design was used to obtain quantitative data from 572 academic staff in eight universities. The sample was selected following a simple random technique. The study data were analysed using SPSS version 23.

The study findings reveal that OC and self-efficacy influence organisational commitment. Further, self-efficacy moderates the relationship between OC and organisational commitment.

Universities should foster a culture that emphasises collaboration, open communication, inclusion, equity and staff development to increase organisational commitment. In order to build academic staff self-efficacy, universities should provide opportunities for training and development, mentoring, coaching, continuous performance evaluation, and regular feedback to stimulate academic staff's desire to remain committed to the institution. University administrators should look beyond traditional skills and competencies when recruiting future academic staff as their personal beliefs are essential to accelerating organisational commitment.

This study extends the current literature in organisational behaviour and provides a comprehensive understanding of the relationship between OC and organisational commitment using the Competing Values Framework. This study was also conducted in a developing country context, which can always lead to different results than studies conducted in developed countries.

THE 28th International Air and Space Show at Le Bourget will be the largest yet held. One hundred and twenty‐five British companies will be taking part and this number represents well over 90 per cent of the British aerospace industry's production and research capacity. The theme of British participants will be ‘Aerospace through the Seventies’ and displays will include illustrations of projects for the next decade, as well as current products and research programmes. The Salon has been organized so that each day will be devoted to emphasizing a particular aspect of aeronautical activity: 29th May Press Preview; 30th May Official Opening Day; 31st May Philatelists Day and Aerospace Orientation Day; 1st June General and Business Aviation; 2nd June Aeromedical Aviation; 3rd June Electronics Industry; 4th June Equipment Industry; 5th June Rotary Wing Industry and Special Steel Studies; 6th June Foreign Missions Day; 1th June International Flying Display; 8th June International Air Display. The Show will be open to the public every day from 9.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m., except on Friday 6th June which will be Foreign Missions Day and admission will then be by invitation only.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of informal credit access on agricultural productivity in rural Ghana.

Data sets from the Ghana Feed the Future baseline survey involving a total sample of 2,437 rural farm households were used. In order to address the problem of endogeneity and sample selectivity bias, the endogenous switching regression (ESR) model was employed to examine whether rural farm households’ with access to informal credit and those without access differ in terms of their productivity levels and whether access to informal credit affects agricultural productivity.

Estimates from the ESR show that access to informal credit significantly promotes agricultural productivity. Specifically, farmers with access to informal credit were able to achieve a yield of 48.42 kg/ha more than their counterparts without informal credit access. In terms of the counterfactual, farmers without informal credit access would have increased their yield by 57.61 kg/ha if they were to have access to informal credit.

The study was restricted to the savannah ecological zone of Ghana. This limits the extent of generalisation of results.

This study provides a rigorous econometric analysis of the impacts of access to informal credit on agricultural productivity in rural Ghana. The study contributes to the current debate on the link between access to informal credit and agricultural productivity and provides valuable input for policymakers.

The nature and characteristics of critical success factors (CSFs) that influence success on public private partnership (PPP) arrangements on different project typologies vary between countries and regions. Studies confirm the lack of success on PPP approach on public housing project (PHP). The main challenge to PPP-PHP success has been identifying, analysing, categorizing and matching CSFs that are likely to influence the PPP-PHP outcome. The purpose of this paper is to identify the CSFs that influence PPP-PHP delivery in Ghana. This is premised on the theoretical implications that understanding the factors that influence the success on PPP-PHP projects is critical.

By adopting a 16 CSFs from literature and using a questionnaire survey, the factors that are critical to success on PPP-PHP approach in Ghana were identified. The questionnaires were administered on participants that have been involved in PPP-PHPs in Ghana.

The results revealed six CSFs that are critical towards success on PPP-PHPs in Ghana. The results also do not show significant variability in the agreement by the public and private stakeholder.

The findings present useful lessons for parties in PPP-PHPs in Ghana to focus their attention to engender the needed atmosphere towards successful delivery in Ghana in the formulation of policies, decision frameworks and delivery strategies.

The study presents a critical success model that is applicable to PPP-PHP delivery in Ghana and potentially to other developing countries with similar socio-economic, political and organizational characteristics especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. It also affirms the fact that CSFs are contextual to project typologies and that different project types will reveal CSFs with varying significance in ranking. The findings should help in the development of efficient frameworks and policies for successes on PPP-PHPs in Ghana.

This paper aims to shed light on the previous ideological stands of the newly established Islamist parties in terms of the idea of party formation, and different models of their relations with the social movements from which they emanated through focusing on some case studies, namely, Egypt and Tunisia, with an attempt to study their impact on the parties’ paths by concentrating on two dimensions: the decision-making process and alliances’ building.

The paper is written according to the comparative case studies approach and Huntington’s new institutionalism.

The research findings proved that, in the light of the two case studies, there are two different models of relations exist between the Islamist political parties and the social movements they emanated from, and despite that both parties had come out from social movements or took the form of a movement in their beginnings and were established within the same context, they showed different perspectives in dealing later on with the new institutional and political context and their rising challenges. These perspectives affected the parties’ decision-making process and alliances’ building, as well as their institutional legitimacy and determined their political future.

In the end, this paper attempts to deal with the degree of institutionalization these parties enjoyed, based on how the movements they emanated from had dealt with the dilemma of party building and the party-movement relations.

The focus of this study was to evaluate the relationship between research publications in the pesticide field, a country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and GDP per capita. The study aims to analyze pesticide use in association with a country’s population and research publications. The purpose of this study is to uncover the country’s contribution to pesticide research and assess the financial resources allocated to it as a percentage of their GDP by exploring these factors.

The Web of Science database was used to retrieve data for the period of 2001–2020. The use of scientometric indicators allowed for the analysis of the collaborative patterns and active performance of countries in pesticide research. Socio-economic analysis was used to determine the contribution of countries toward pesticide research.

This study demonstrated a strong association (0.952%) between a country’s GDP and its research publications in the field of pesticide research. Countries, such as Denmark, Belgium and Australia, have benefited from global collaboration, which has enhanced their research efforts. Despite ranking lower in pesticide utilization, India focused on pesticide research, as indicated by its high publication/GDP per capita ratio (0.26).

Research on pesticides directly impacts agricultural practices, which, in turn, influence the economic production of the agricultural sector. Changes in pesticide usage can have inference for crop yields, food price and, eventually, the GDP. Comparative analysis can assist in evaluating the efficiency of regulatory policies in balancing ecological concerns with economic interests. Changes in regulations may impact both pesticide usage and economic outcomes.