Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Queueing Systems, Volume 2: Computer Applications

This book presents and develops methods from queuing theory in sufficient depth so that students and professionals may apply these methods to many modern engineering problems, as well as conduct creative research in the field. It provides a long-needed alternative both to highly mathematical texts and to those which are simplistic or limited in approach. Written in mathematical language, it avoids the "theorem-proof" technique: instead, it guides the reader through a step-by-step, intuitively motivated yet precise development leading to a natural discovery of results. Queuing Systems, Volume 1 covers material ranging from a refresher of transform and probability theory through the treatment of advanced queuing systems. It is divided into four sections: 1) preliminaries; 2) elementary queuing theory; 3) intermediate queuing theory and 4) advanced material! Important features of Queuing Systems, Volume 1: Theory include: • techniques of duality, collective marks • queuing networks • complete appendix on z-transforms and Laplace transforms • an entire appendix on probability theory, providing the notation and main results
Sueños de Béisbol: Hopes, Experiences, and Expectations of Professional Baseball Players in the Dominican Republic

More than 1,400 Latin American professional baseball players, age 16-21, are employed by 30 Major League Baseball (MLB) academies in the Dominican Republic. The popular press has highlighted scandals related to professional youth baseball player recruitment, selection, and exploitation in the academies, but little attention has been given to the academy experiences of youth baseball players from the perspective of the players themselves. For this research, 11 professional baseball players residing at an MLB Academy in the Dominican Republic participated in semi-structured interviews. Players described their transitions into the baseball academy system, their experiences in the academy, and their perceptions and expectations upon leaving or being released from the academy. Themes that emerged from the data included athletes’ hopes and dreams, stress, faith, and career transitions. Clinical implications of these findings for sport psychology practitioners are discussed.
New GPU implementation of Separable Footprint (SF) Projector and Backprojector : first results

—Model-based iterative reconstruction methods enable to improve the quality of reconstruction in 3D X-ray Computed Tomography (CT). The main computational burden of these methods lies in successive projection and backprojection operations. Among existing pairs of projector and backprojector, Separable Footprint (SF) pair combines computational efficiency and accurate modelling of X-rays passing through the volume to image. In order to accelerate these operators, implementations on Graphical Processor Units (GPUs) for parallel-computing have been proposed for SF pair. Due to a CPU-loop, these implementations involve many memory transfers between CPU and GPU which are known to be the main bottleneck for GPU computing. In this paper, we investigate a new GPU implementation of SF projector and backprojector in order to minimize these memory transfers. Our proposed GPU SF projector and backprojector have no CPU-loop, and use two ray-driven kernels for the projection and one voxel-driven kernel for the backprojection. After having described their implementations, we study these operators as single modules and validate it in a MBIR method. Perspectives for this work are GPU optimizations and comparisons with the other existing implementations of SF pair.
The Topology of Biological Networks from a Complexity Perspective

A complexity-theoretic approach to studying biological networks is proposed. A simple graph representation is used where molecules (DNA, RNA, proteins and chemicals) are vertices and relations between them are directed and signed (promotional (+) or inhibitory (-)) edges. Based on this model, the problem of network evolution (NE) is defined formally as an optimization problem and subsequently proven to be fundamentally hard (NP-hard) by means of reduction from the Knapsack problem (KP). Second, for empirical validation, various biological networks of experimentally-validated interactions are compared against randomly generated networks with varying degree distributions. An NE instance is created using a given real or synthetic (random) network. After being reverse-reduced to a KP instance, each NE instance is fed to a KP solver and the average achieved knapsack value-to-weight ratio is recorded from multiple rounds of simulated evolutionary pressure. The results show that biological networks (and synthetic networks of similar degree distribution) achieve the highest ratios at maximal evolutionary pressure and minimal error tolerance conditions. The more distant (in degree distribution) a synthetic network is from biological networks the lower its achieved ratio. The results shed light on how computational intractability has shaped the evolution of biological networks into their current topology.
Disruption: a transdisciplinary user-centric framework for innovation through data design and analytics

While innovation has always been critical for competitiveness of businesses, fierce competition resulting from the global economy and constant waves of disruption has made innovation even more crucial for the survival of large organisations. Today, extremely large volumes of data from variety of sources are continuously created with immense speed. Containing deep information and insights into customer habits and needs, data has the potential to become a key enabler of competition and innovation. In the financial industry in particular, with no physical products, data is the most valuable asset that needs to be utilised to create competitive advantage and innovation. However, studies in literature as well as primary qualitative research that I have conducted in collaboration with Ernst and Young, reveal that financial institutions are falling short of exploiting data and analytics’ full potential for innovation and competition. This is due to the failure to discover high-value problems that may be solved using data analytics, which can have the potential to result in significant value for customers and business. The aim of this research is to develop and evaluate a holistic model that increases the probability of success of data analytics endeavours in large organisations, resulting in high value and innovative products and services. Using the research methodologies of interpretive case studies and grounded theory for data analysis, I derived the influencing factors for the success of developing innovation using data analytics and hence created a framework that mapped these success factors in a cohesive and clear way. The generated framework, referred to as Creative Data Analytics (CDA), provides a methodology that consists of both creative and analytical techniques which enable organisations to develop an end to end roadmap to creative data analytics innovations. The CDA Framework integrates customer needs and predictive data analytics, and directs the investigation of data towards an innovative solution with a higher probability of solving an important real customer need or business problem. The validity of the CDA framework was evaluated by conducting action research using three projects involving data analytics at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia. These projects were conducted according to the CDA framework principles and the degree of innovation of the solutions derived from these projects were evaluated qualitatively by interviewing managers and innovation experts involved in the projects.
Instructional Designer Awareness and Application of Strategies to Manage Cognitive Load

INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER AWARENESS AND APPLICATION OF STRATEGIES TO MANAGE COGNITIVE LOAD Justin A. Sentz Old Dominion University, 2018 Director: Dr. Jill Stefaniak This study examined how practicing instructional designers manage cognitive load in a standardized scenario as they select and implement instructional strategies, message design, content sequencing, and delivery media within various domains with learners at different levels of expertise. The study employed a quasi-experimental, mixed methods design to gain insight into how practicing instructional designers perceive their awareness of strategies to manage cognitive load and implement those strategies within a standardized design scenario. The research design involved the collection of quantitative data from the participants during an initial web-based questionnaire and a second collection of both quantitative and qualitative data as the participants completed a design activity using a think-aloud protocol. The triangulation of data through observation of activity and debriefing interviews was used to clarify data gathered through the protocol. The results of the study indicated that both novice and expert practitioners frequently used several strategies to manage extraneous load (worked examples, completion tasks, and dual modality) as prescribed by theory, as well as the simple-to-complex presentation strategy to manage intrinsic load. They also exhibited a moderate use of the variability strategy to manage germane load as recommended by theory, but overall use of strategies to address germane load was infrequent across all participants. While participants frequently acknowledged differences in the levels of learner expertise within the instructional scenario, few employed strategies prescribed to address the expertise reversal effect as outlined by theory. Participants described a number of barriers preventing them from using additional strategies to manage cognitive load, ranging from those common to all instructional strategies (such as time constraints and lack of formative evaluation) to those specific to cognitive load strategies (such as lack of instructor buy-in regarding cognitive load and the extra design effort to create worked examples).
Perceived Usefulness Factors of Online Reviews: A Study of Amazon.com

ABSTRACT In the fast-evolving digital era, consumers increasingly rely on others’ opinions about a product or service rather than corporations’ promotional material. This study analyzed online reviews on Amazon.com to identify review types and key drivers of perceived usefulness of reviews to potential customers for search and experience goods. The study found: (1) reviewers tend to give higher star ratings for a product when they provide positive postings; (2) detailed descriptions, with nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs, significantly impacted reviewers’ perceptions for experience goods, while reviewers used more verbs for search goods; and (3) potential customers perceived that both high star ratings and lengthy review postings were more helpful to their purchase decisions. The results indicate that it is necessary to: (1) quantify online reviews, (2) develop review platforms according to the nature of products/services, and (3) facilitate the use of multi-/cross-platforms for online reviews by customers to increase their influence on potential customers.
INFLUENCE OF FINANCIAL RESOURCES, PROJECT MONITORING AND LEVEL OF COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION ON SUSTAINABILITY OF COMMUNITY BASED PROJECTS: A CASE OF MIRROR OF HOPE

Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) play a significant role in helping their communities out of immediate social, economic and political problems. Their success stems from the fact that they are run and managed by their own. However there have been concerns regarding sustainability of projects implemented by most CBOs. Most CBOs collapse immediately when the main donor withdraws. The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of financial resources, project monitoring and level of community participation on the sustainability of projects implemented by community-based organizations. The study organization was Mirror of Hope located in Kibera Slums in Nairobi County. Specific objectives were to; investigate extent to which financial resources affect sustainability of projects managed by Mirror of Hope; assess impact of monitoring on sustainability of projects managed by Mirror of Hope and; to assess the effect of level of community participation on sustainability of projects managed by Mirror of Hope. The study sought to answer research questions formulated alongside each specific objective. The study adopted design descriptive research design. Stratified random sampling method was used to select the sample from a target population of 46 staffs of Mirror of Hope. Data was collected using questionnaire and analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results established that financial resources, project monitoring and community participation influence sustainability of community-based projects. The study concluded there is a direct relationship between financial resources, project monitoring and community participation.
The impact of corporate power on consumption, debt and inequality : doctoral dissertation

The literature is abundant with studies about income inequality, consumption, public and household debt but scarce with studies about corporations and their corporate power. This paper shows that corporate power influences increased consumption in order to secure its investments and provide sufficient demand. Secondly, rising consumerism leads to growing household and public debt with multiple transmission mechanisms that work simultaneously and reinforce each other. Thirdly, growing household and public debt increase inequality, thereby hindering the government from investing in education, health care, infrastructure or social transfers, and preventing the people from investing in their education or increasing their savings and, consequently, their wealth and financial independence. Finally, the inequality causes an increase in corporate power. People who are impoverished and thus unequal in comparison with the production owners and capitalists are also weaker in the bargaining process. They cannot improve their position, so corporate power increases, completing the cumulative and circular causation.
A holistic approach to individual-level innovation implementation

ABSTRACT Innovation and information systems scholars have extensively studied the individual-level innovation implementation process, drawing on the theories of technology acceptance (e.g., TAM2). However, based on the less-balanced theoretical underpinnings, they have constituted antecedents of implementation: some included either individual or organisational factors; others merely viewed individual characteristics as contingencies while emphasising organisational factors as predictors. In this study, we present a more balanced view, by considering dispositional, experiential and organisational readiness to innovation implementation as three antecedents that predict components of the TAM2 (i.e., perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and subjective norm). Conceptualising three antecedents as personal innovativeness, innovation self-efficacy and facilitating climate, respectively, we examine the relationships between readiness factors and the TAM2, subsequently influencing innovation implementation and its outcomes. Our results confirmed that personal innovativeness and facilitating climate were positively related to perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and subjective norm but that innovation self-efficacy was positively associated with only the first two factors. Among the three antecedents in our sample, facilitating climate most strongly predicted the three components of the TAM2. Furthermore, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use predicted intention to use, which in turn led to implementation behaviour and extended innovation effectiveness.
BRIEF COMMUNICATION: Impacts of live weight of ewe lambs at mating on their reproductive performance

This experiment investigated the impacts of heavier live weight of twin-born ewe lambs at mating on reproductive performance. Romney ewe lambs (n=270) were allocated to one of two groups: ‘Heavy’ (48.0±3.8 kg), had been preferentially fed from weaning to breeding, or ‘Control’ (44.8±3.5 kg). Both groups were exposed to crayon-harnessed vasectomised rams for 68 days before breeding, and then were bred to entire Romney rams for 34 days. Crayon marks were recorded every 17 days. Heavy ewe lambs were more likely to be mated in the first 17 days of breeding (69.9% vs. 54.8%, P<0.05), mated in the entire breeding period (85.1% vs. 69.4%, P<0.01) and had a greater litter size (0.99 vs. 0.65; P<0.01) than did Control ewe lambs. Heavier live weight at mating improved reproductive performance of ewe lambs. These results emphasise the importance of an adequate live weight at breeding for reproductive success in ewe lambs.
The Relationship Between Student Mental Wellness and the Availability of Pre-Submission Unit Testing: An Exploratory Study

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STUDENT MENTAL WELLNESS AND THE AVAILABILITY OF PRE-SUBMISSION UNIT TESTING: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY Braden Gibson University of Guelph, 2019 Advisor: Dr. Judi McCuaig Dr. Daniel Gillis Students who are learning to program can face difficulty when encountering unknown errors. Current literature indicates that providing immediate, formative feedback can be one of the largest positive factors in reinforcing student knowledge and learning. As such, using test-driven development as a form of immediate feedback in early programming courses has been shown to have a positive impact on code quality and maintainability, while also indicating that students’ confidence and motivation may show improvements. While prior research focused primarily on measuring assignment quality and academic outcomes, our study explores the relationship between providing unit tests to students for their assignments and measures of student mental well-being, such as grit, self-efficacy, and engagement. Although the correlations between mental well-being metrics and unit test engagement metrics were generally weak, a number of individual survey questions were identified that could form the basis for a more representative survey in future research. Students were also classified by their usage types and most frequent activity periods, with differences observed that may inform further work.
Fiscal Consolidation and Public Wages

A New Keynesian model with government production, public compensation, and unemployment is fit to U.S. data to study the macroeconomic and fiscal effects of public wage reductions. We find that accounting for the type of government spending is crucial for its macroeconomic implications. Although reductions in public wages and government purchases of goods have similar effects on total output and the fiscal balance, the former can raise private output slightly, in contrast to the substantial contractionary effects of the latter. In addition, the baseline estimation finds that exogenous public wage reductions decrease private wages. Model counterfactuals show that sufficiently rigid nominal private wages can reverse the response of private wages, as the rigidity dampens the labor reallocation effect from the public to private sector that exerts downward pressure on private wages.
Experimental manufacturing system for research and training on human-centred simulation

Human performance modelling and simulation requires a multidisciplinary approach for a full understanding of its effects in manufacturing. These areas broadly span production theory, behavioural science and ergonomics. In despite of the advances in each one of them separately, few papers have adopted a global-scope approach. Previous works have mainly focused on the integration of models coming from the different disciplines involved. This paper presents the design and construction of an experimental manufacturing system which allows for conducting research and training on human operations analysis within a controlled environment. Task procedures, supervisory mechanisms and data acquisition systems are arranged so that non desirable variability is restrained to an acceptable level. System architecture was inspired by virtual simulators enabling results analysis in a structured way. The system provides with capability for experimentation in interaction of behavioural and ergonomic effects, model validation research and teaching in simulation and other process improvement tools.
Qualitative and quantitative evaluations of topography for CAD/CAM all ceramic zirconia after different surface treatments

Background and objectives: The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effect of grinding, reglazing and polishing procedures on the surface roughness of monolithic zirconia qualitatively and quantitatively. Materials and methods: Thirty-six disc-shaped yttrium-stabilized zirconium oxide specimens were milled from pre-sintered zirconia blanks using CAD-CAM machine with a diameter of 12mm and thickness of 1.4mm for twenty-seven discs while 12mm and 1.2mm for nine discs as a control group. After that, they were sintered and overglazed. The control group (GA) left untouched while the other twenty-seven specimens were subjected to standardized wet grinded with a coarse diamond rotary instrument. Then they were randomly divided into three groups (nine specimens for each): grinded group (GB) without any additional surface treatment; reglazed group (GC) by adding galze material; polished group (GD) polishing with an intraoral zirconia polishing kit Kenda in a 2-step procedure. Then specimens were evaluated under a stereomicroscope. The surface roughness values were measured with a profilometer for all groups. The mean of surface roughness values was calculated and analyzed using one-way ANOVA and using LSD significant difference tests for comparison between groups (a = 0.05). Results: Stereomicroscopic images revealed that the grinded specimen showed grooves and scratches, reglazed surface showed the same criteria as control with a little bit more evidence of irregularities. While polished specimen appeared smoother and more homogeneity. Statistically significant differences were noted among the experimental groups, in which GB resulted in the highest roughness, GD with the lowest roughness. While GC was close to GA. Conclusions: Roughness significantly increased after grinding, but polishing decreased roughness significantly while glazing restores the smoothness.
Cross‐Country Diffusion of Ideology via FDI

This paper studies how foreign direct investment (FDI) contributes to ideological convergence across countries. In particular, this report focuses on whether multinational firms transfer freedom of speech (FOS) to local workers in China. Using a large source of individual survey data, it is found that those who work in foreignâ€ invested enterprises (FIEs), especially nonâ€ Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan (nonâ€ HMT) invested enterprises tend to prefer FOS. This is in contrast to enterprises that do not work in FIEs. Such patterns are also observed in other related human rights and cultural measures common to Western democracies, but not China's political and local culture. Using policies on FDI as exogenous instruments, and other complementary identification strategies, a causal link for such an ideological transfer is established.
Pengaruh Likuiditas, Pertumbuhan Penjualan, dan Risiko Bisnis Terhadap Nilai Perusahaan

This study aims to analyze the effect of Liquidity, Sales Growth, and Business Risk to Company Value (study on Telecommunication Company listed on Indonesia Stock Exchange period 2011-2016). The study population includes all telecommunication companies listed on Indonesia Stock Exchange period 2011-2016. The research population data are 30 companies with observation samples of 5 companies. The method used in this research is purposive sampling method. Data analysis was tested by using multiple linear regression analysis. The results of this study indicate that liquidity has a positive effect on corporate value, sales growth positively affect the value of the company and business risk negatively affect the value of the company. Keywords: liquidity, sales growth, business risk and corporate value