Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
From the Selectedworks of Nader Ale Ebrahim the Effectiveness of Virtual R&d Teams in Smes: Experiences of Malaysian Smes the Effectiveness of Virtual R&d Teams in Smes: Experiences of Malaysian Smes

The number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), especially those involved with research and development (R&D) programs and employed virtual teams to create the greatest competitive advantage from limited labor are increasing. Global and localized virtual R&D teams are believed to have high potential for the growth of SMEs. Due to the fast-growing complexity of new products coupled with new emerging opportunities of virtual teams, a collaborative approach is believed to be the future trend. This research explores the effectiveness of virtuality in SMEs' virtual R&D teams. Online questionnaires were emailed to Malaysian manufacturing SMEs and 74 usable questionnaires were received, representing a 20.8 percent return rate. In order to avoid biases which may result from pre-suggested answers, a series of open-ended questions were retrieved from the experts. This study was focused on analyzing an open-ended question, whereby four main themes were extracted from the experts' recommendations regarding the effectiveness of virtual teams for the growth and performance of SMEs. The findings of this study would be useful to product design managers of SMEs in order to realize the key advantages and significance of virtual R&D teams during the new product development (NPD) process. This is turn, leads to increased effectiveness in new product development's procedure.
T E C H N I C a L a D V a N C E Open Access

Development and analytical validation of a 25-gene next generation sequencing panel that includes the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes to assess hereditary cancer risk Abstract Background: Germline DNA mutations that increase the susceptibility of a patient to certain cancers have been identified in various genes, and patients can be screened for mutations in these genes to assess their level of risk for developing cancer. Traditional methods using Sanger sequencing focus on small groups of genes and therefore are unable to screen for numerous genes from several patients simultaneously. The goal of the present study was to validate a 25-gene panel to assess genetic risk for cancer in 8 different tissues using next generation sequencing (NGS) techniques.
A toxicokinetic study of specifically acting and reactive organic chemicals for the prediction of internal effect concentrations in Scenedesmus vacuolatus

The toxic potency of chemicals is determined by using the internal effect concentration by accounting for differences in toxicokinetic processes and mechanisms of toxic action. The present study examines toxicokinetics of specifically acting and reactive chemicals in the green algae Scenedesmus vacuolatus by using an indirect method. Concentration depletion in the exposure medium was measured for chemicals of lower (log KOW < 3: isoproturon, metazachlor, paraquat) and moderate (log KOW 4‐5: irgarol, triclosan, N‐phenyl‐2‐naphthylamine) hydrophobicity at 7 to 8 time points over 240 min or 360 min. Uptake and overall elimination rates were estimated by fitting a toxicokinetic model to the observed concentration depletions. The equilibrium of exposure concentrations was reached within minutes to hours or was even not observed within the exposure time. The kinetics of bioconcentration cannot be explained by the chemical's hydrophobicity only, but influential factors such as ionization of chemicals, the ion trapping mechanism, or the potential susceptibility for biotransformation are discussed. Internal effect concentrations associated with 50% inhibition of S. vacuolatus reproduction were predicted by linking the bioconcentration kinetics to the effect concentrations and ranged from 0.0480 mmol/kg wet weight to 7.61 mmol/kg wet weight for specifically acting and reactive chemicals. Knowing the time‐course of the internal effect concentration may promote an understanding of toxicity processes such as delayed toxicity, carry‐over toxicity, or mixture toxicity in future studies. Environ Toxicol Chem 2015;34:100–111. © 2014 SETAC
Student evaluation of teaching: Individual differences and bias effects

The goal of this experimental study was to evaluate the influence of course type, instructor and student gender, and student individual differences (domain-specific vocational interests and confidence, personality, and gender role attitudes) on student evaluation of teaching (SET) scores. A sample of 610 college students (372 female) rated hypothetical instructors described in a vignette on eight common dimensions of teaching effectiveness. Mean SET ratings were not significantly different across instructor gender and course type. A series of multiple regressions revealed, however, that student individual differences explained a significant proportion of the variance in SET ratings. The most salient traits that were significantly related to SET ratings were agreeableness, conscientiousness, conventional and investigative confidence, and gender role attitudes. In addition, female students gave significantly higher mean ratings than male students independent of course type or instructor gender. This effect was eliminated when statistically controlling for students’ individual differences. Overall, the findings of this study suggest that student individual differences can bias SET scores, which poses a threat to the validity of the ratings.
Noninvasive Diagnosis of Fetal Gender: Utility of Combining DYS14 and SRY.

OBJECTIVE Diagnosis of fetal gender early in pregnancy is very useful as it would prevent invasive fetal sampling in almost half the cases at risk of inheriting X-linked disorders or those affecting sexual differentiation. Noninvasive prenatal diagnosis (NIPD) using circulating cell-free fetal (cff) DNA from maternal circulation has emerged as a useful alternative to existing methods for prenatal diagnosis of gender. NIPD eliminates the risk of miscarriage from invasive prenatal diagnosis and the necessity of possessing specialized obstetric skills for fetal tissue sampling. The aim of this study was to compare two Y chromosome markers-SRY and DYS14-for their utility in the diagnosis of fetal gender. SUBJECTS AND METHODS Forty-eight plasma samples from pregnant women between 9 and 25 weeks of gestation were analyzed. Real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed on cff DNA extracted from maternal plasma to detect fetal Y chromosome with SRY (n=27) and DYS14 (n=48) markers. RESULTS We observed 100% sensitivity and 85.6% specificity in noninvasive Y chromosome detection with the combined use of DYS14 and SRY markers (n=27) compared with the results obtained on using DYS14 (n=48 sensitivity 94%; specificity 71.4%) and SRY (n=27, sensitivity 84%; specificity 92.8%) markers alone. CONCLUSION Our results show that the test performance improved with the employment of two Y-amplification assays.
Experimental Wood Smoke Exposure in Humans

Experimental studies are used to evaluate effects of human exposure to diesel exhaust and concentrated ambient particles. This article describes a system for studying exposure of humans to wood smoke. Wood smoke was generated using a wood stove placed outside an exposure chamber that can hold at least 10 subjects. A partial flow of the generated wood smoke from the stove was mixed with filtered indoor air. Personal and stationary measurements were performed of PM2.5 and PM1 mass concentrations and various volatile organic compounds (VOCs): 1,3-butadiene, benzene, and aldehydes. In addition, particulate matter (PM) mass, number concentrations, and size distributions of particles (0.007–6.7 μm), as well as nitrous oxides, CO2, and CO, were measured online. Filters were analyzed for trace elements and black smoke. Polycyclic aromatic compounds, toluene, and xylenes were determined in stationary samples. Results of the first experiment showed no differences between personal and stationary measurements for particles or VOCs. Consequently, stationary measurements can be used to predict personal exposure. All PM mass (about 250 μg/m3) was in the PM1 fraction. Subjective symptoms were generally weak, while clear objective signs were found, for example, in biomarkers of inflammation. With careful control of the combustion process, relatively constant mass and number concentrations were obtained over each exposure session. By varying the combustion and dilution of the wood smoke, different exposure scenarios can be achieved and thus, knowledge about which of the properties of particles and gaseous compounds are crucial for the effects.
QUality Estimation from ScraTCH (QUETCH): Deep Learning for Word-level Translation Quality Estimation

This paper describes the system submitted by the University of Heidelberg to the Shared Task on Word-level Quality Estimation at the 2015 Workshop on Statistical Machine Translation. The submitted system combines a continuous space deep neural network, that learns a bilingual feature representation from scratch, with a linear combination of the manually defined baseline features provided by the task organizers. A combination of these orthogonal information sources shows significant improvements over the combined systems, and produces very competitive F1-scores for predicting word-level translation quality.
The Potential Role of Vitamin D Enhanced Foods in Improving Vitamin D Status

Low vitamin D intake and status have been reported worldwide and many studies have suggested that this low status may be involved in the development of several chronic diseases. There are a limited number of natural dietary sources of vitamin D leading to a real need for alternatives to improve dietary intake. Enhancement of foods with vitamin D is a possible mode for ensuring increased consumption and thus improved vitamin D status. The present review examines studies investigating effects of vitamin D enhanced foods in humans and the feasibility of the approach is discussed.
Measurement of Marital Communication.

A pilot study of 172 married couples reveals significant contrasts in patterns and degrees of communication and the efficacy of a measuring device for marital communication. Elements differentiating between good and poor communication in couples are the handling of anger and of differences, tone of voice, understanding, good listening habits, and self-disclosure. Factors contributing to poor communication are nagging, conversational discourtesies, and uncommunicativeness. Findings are relevant for understanding components of healthy communication in marital interaction. Implications are also drawn for marriage (and premarital) counseling, family life education, teaching, and research.
Not for Publication : Web-based Technical Appendix to Inequality and Unemployment in a Global Economy

This web-based technical appendix contains the full derivations of the expressions in the paper and additional supplementary derivations. Sections 2-6 of the appendix correspond to Sections 2-6 of the paper. Section 7 of the appendix contains additional supplementary derivations. Subsection 7.1 derives the production technology from human capital complementarities or a managerial time constraint. Subsection 7.2 examines the relationship between the screening ability threshold and the marginal product of labor. Subsection 7.3 contains the derivation of the Stole-Zwiebel solution to the bargaining game. Subsection 7.4 contains the derivation of the search cost (b) from a constant returns to scale matching technology and a cost of posting vacancies.
Selective Determination of Epinephrine in the Presence of Ascorbic Acid Using a Glassy Carbon Electrode Modified with Graphene

A graphene-modified glassy carbon electrode was fabricated via a drop-casting method, and applied to the electrochemical detection of epinephrine. The capacity of the graphene-modified glassy carbon electrode for the selective detection of epinephrine was confirmed in a sufficient amount of ascorbic acid (2 mmol L^−1) by cyclic voltammetry. The modified electrode showed an excellent electrocatalytical effect on the oxidation of epinephrine. A pair of well-defined redox waves were observed in voltammograms of epinephrine in a phosphate buffered solution (pH 4.0). The peak potentials of epinephrine remained unchanged, and the oxidation peak currents showed a linear relation versus the epinephrine concentration in the range of 3.85 × 10^−7 - 1.31 × 10^−5 mol L^−1 and 1.31 × 10^−5 - 1.09 × 10^−4 mol L^−1 with a correlation coefficient as follows: i _pa1 = −4.25 × 10^−6 - 1.99 c (mol L^−1), R _1 = 0.9953; i _pa2 = −4.31 × 10−^5 - 0.315 c (mol L^−1), R _2 = 0.9988. Detection limit is estimated to be 8.9 × 10^−8 mol L^−1. Graphene-modified glassy carbon electrode was applied to epinephrine sample analysis, and the results were in good agreement with the standard values.
Hole Removal in Thin-Gate MOSFETs by Tunneling

Fast time-resolved measurements of the response of thin-oxide MOSFETs show that radiation-induced holes are removed from the gate oxide by a tunneling process. A tunneling rate of 0.35 nm/decade from each interface is found for SiO2 at 77 K. Fast time-resolved measurements performed at room temperature are in qualitative agreement with low-temperature annealing data. Uncertainties in the room-temperature data did not allow extraction of firm and reliable values for the tunneling parameters.
New microsatellite loci for Prosopis alba and P. chilensis (Fabaceae)1

Premise of the study: As only six useful microsatellite loci that exhibit broad cross-amplification are so far available for Prosopis species, it is necessary to develop a larger number of codominant markers for population genetic studies. Simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers obtained for Prosopis species from a 454 pyrosequencing run were optimized and characterized for studies in P. alba and P. chilensis. Methods and Results: Twelve markers that were successfully amplified showed polymorphism in P. alba and P. chilensis. The number of alleles per locus ranged between two and seven and heterozygosity estimates ranged from 0.2 to 0.8. Most of these loci cross-amplify in P. ruscifolia, P. flexuosa, P. kuntzei, P. glandulosa, and P. pallida. Conclusions: These loci will enable genetic diversity studies of P. alba and P. chilensis and contribute to fine-scale population structure, indirect estimation of relatedness among individuals, and marker-assisted selection.
Leaders and their teams : learning to improve performance with emotional intelligence and using choice theory

Looks at the relationship between emotional intelligence and choice theory in the work world, with particular emphasis on the implications on health and productivity. Most of us have a managing or leading role of some sort, whether at home, in community life, or at work. Also, as a professional, one can be leading through professional expertise and not necessarily because of one's place in the organizational hierarchy. There is an increasing awareness of the role of leadership and team development in organizational development, for example in health care where change is needed to manage the chronic disease burden (Dunbar et al., 2007) and utilizing and retaining a dwindling workforce (Schoo, Stagnitti, Mercer, & Dunbar, 2005). This is forcing leaders and their teams to work as smart as they can with resources that are available to them. Positive leadership has been associated with outcomes that include happy relationships, teamwork, learning, recognition, staff retention, and health and wellbeing. There is evidence that emotionally intelligent leaders in workplaces are able to bring about these positive out- comes because they are attuned to the emotions that move people around them (Goleman, Boyatzis, & McKee, 2002). In this sense, emotion can be defined as aroused energy that takes a direction (Hunt, 2004a) (Latin: e = from, movere = to move). Valerie Hunt regards emotion as the metronome of life (Hunt, 2004b). Although emotion can be a feeling state (e.g., fear, anger, joy, hate or sorrow) associated with action, its energy is, according to Hunt, directed to action, to behave(Hunt, 2004b). As mentioned in an earlier publication (Schoo, 2005), Pert (Flowers, Grubin, & Meryman-Brunner, 1993) regards emotions as a bridge that connects the mental and physical realities (p.187), and sees neuropeptides as the physical representations of these emotions. Negative thoughts and emotions such as excitement and anger have been found to increase gut motility, cancer risk and arterial plaque formation which can lead to a heart infarct (Pert, 1997), whereas positive emotions seem to do the opposite.
Viral buzz on social network sites about physical activity : fad or fabulous?

While there is a growing trend to use social media for public health promotion, research on its actual potential to influence health behaviors is limited. This dissertation explores whether and how social network sites (SNSs) can be used to promote physical activity (PA) through electronic word of mouth (eWOM). Composed of two studies, this dissertation explores PA-related eWOM from both the senders’ and receivers’ perspectives, and examines actual messages. The first study uses a web survey and explores the antecedents and communication consequences of eWOM about leisure-time PA (LTPA), and the behavioral consequences of eWOM among college students. The second study is based on a content analysis of public Twitter posts in the U.S. in 2011 regarding PA. Based on Sun et al.’s (2006) Path Model of Antecedents and Consequences of Online Word of Mouth, it was found that undergraduate SNS users with higher affective involvement and stronger social ties with their SNS contacts were more likely to provide opinions or information about PA. People with stronger social ties were also more likely to seek opinions or information. Both opinion leadership and opinion seeking were associated with forwarding and chatting. Applying the Theory of Planned Behavior, the first study also found social support of PA via eWOM on SNSs is associated with both affective and instrumental attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control (PBC), while social negativity of PA via eWOM on SNSs is associated with instrumental attitudes and PBC. Affective attitude, instrumental attitude, and PBC, in turn, predict intention to participate in LTPA. Moreover, when putting all these different constructs together to predict intention, social support via eWOM was found to indirectly influence the intention to participate in LTPA through the constructs in the
Employee responses to relational fulfilment and work‐life benefits: A social exchange study in the German public administration

Purpose - Investigating employee responses to relational fulfilment of the psychological contract and work-life benefits of a telecommuting program, this study aims to contribute to the literature on social exchange in employment. Design/methodology/approach - The setting of the study was the German public administration. Survey data from 947 Civil Servants were analyzed in structural equation models. Analysis of mean structure was used to compare telecommuting participants ( Findings - Trust and affective commitment consecutively mediated between relational fulfilment of the psychological contract and organizational citizenship behavior. Members of the telecommuting program had more positive representations of social exchange, reporting higher levels of fulfilment, trust, and commitment than their peers. Research limitations/implications - Reliance on cross-sectional self-report data poses a limitation. Selection effects in the quasi-experimental design for comparing telecommuters and regular employees cannot be ruled out. Generalizability to more transactional or short-term employment is debatable. Originality/value - The study adds to a more integrated understanding of the psychological processes that reinforce and strengthen employee trust and commitment, thus forming the basis of the motivation to go above and beyond specified duties and reward-contingent behavior.
Measurement and Analysis of a Streaming Media Workload

The increasing availability of continuous-media data is provoking a significant change in Internet workloads. For example, video from news, sports, and entertainment sites, and audio from Internet broadcast radio, telephony, and peer-to-peer networks, are becoming commonplace. Compared with traditional Web workloads, multimedia objects can require significantly more storage and transmission bandwidth. As a result, performance optimizations such as streaming-media proxy caches and multicast delivery are attractive for minimizing the impact of streaming-media workloads on the Internet. However, because few studies of streaming-media workloads exist, the extent to which such mechanisms will improve performance is unclear. This paper (1) presents and analyzes a client-based streaming-media workload generated by a large organization, (2) compares media workload characteristics to traditional Web-object workloads, and (3) explores the effectiveness of performance optimizations on streaming-media workloads. To perform the study, we collected traces of streaming-media sessions initiated by clients from a large university to servers in the Internet. In the week-long trace used for this paper, we monitored and analyzed RTSP sessions from 4,786 clients accessing 23,738 distinct streaming-media objects from 866 servers. Our analysis of this trace provides a detailed characterization of streaming-media for this workload.
Cygnus X-3 with ISO: investigating the wind

We observed the energetic binary Cygnus X-3 in both quiescent and flaring states between 4 and 16 microns using the ISO satellite. We find that the quiescent source shows the thermal free-free spectrum typical of a hot, fast stellar wind, such as from a massive helium star. The quiescent mass-loss rate due to a spherically symmetric, non-accelerating wind is found to be in the range 0.4-2.9 x 10E-4 solar masses per year, consistent with other infrared and radio observations, but considerably larger than the 10E-5 solar masses per year deduced from both the orbital change and the X-ray column density. There is rapid, large amplitude flaring at 4.5 and 11.5 microns at the same time as enhanced radio and X-ray activity, with the infrared spectrum apparently becoming flatter in the flaring state. We believe non-thermal processes are operating, perhaps along with enhanced thermal emission.