Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Complexity Theory: Insights from a Canadian ERP Project Implementation

This research paper explores complexity theory based on insights from an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation in the Canadian oil and gas industry. The qualitative exploratory case study was conducted in a Canadian case organization using a semi-structured interview guide with a total of twenty interviews from members of four project role groups of senior leaders, project managers, project team members, and business users. Besides interview responses, the study also collected and reviewed ERP project documents for triangulation purposes. The research showed the importance of complexity theory to ERP projects, and the relationship between critical challenges and complex categories of human behavior, system behavior, and ambiguity. The study findings also evoked rich and comprehensive data related to the phenomenon of critical challenges in ERP.
STATINS-INDUCED HEPATOTOXICITY IN ALBINO RATS: A COMPARATIVE STUDY BETWEEN ATORVASTATIN AND SIMVASTATIN

ABSTRACT: Objective: This experimental study aimed to evaluate the statin-induced hepatotoxicity in albino rats, as well as to compare the potential hepatotoxicity between atorvastatin and simavastatin through evaluation of both biochemical and histopathological parameters. Materials & Methods: 60 male albino rats were used in this study and were equally divided into three groups. The control group received only saline orally, the atorvastatin group which received (80 mg/kg) orally, and the simavastatin group which received simavastatin (80 mg/kg) orally. The study was conducted over a period of 12 weeks and at the end blood samples and liver tissues were obtained for assessment of biochemical markers of the liver and histopathological examination. Results: All the biochemical parameters in the current study showed higher values in the atorvastatin and simvastatin groups compared to the control group with significant probability value. The significance was detected between each of the statin groups and the control group. However no significant difference was found between atorvastatin and simvastatin group. Likewise, histopathological results showed significant hepatic injury in case of both statin groups compared to the control one. Conclusion & Recommendations: Atorvastatin and simvastatin induced hepatic injury as demonstrated by both biochemical and histopathological results in this study. Moreover, no significant difference was found between atorvastatin and simvastatin as regard statin induced liver injury.
Study of Remu River Water Quality Using Dynamic Program

AbstractRemu River has been a water resource for residents in Sorong City. Development in this city leads to water quality degradation of Remu River. Existing (2016) and prediction condition of Remu River in the next two years were defined by the behavior of BOD, COD, Fe, and DO that proceed using a dynamic program, STELLA 9.1. 3. Study area involved six sampling points. Simulation results showed that BOD, COD, and Fe concentrations tend to increase in the next two years, even BOD and COD concentrations at several sampling points were higher than water quality standard, according to Government Regulation No. 82/2001. Meanwhile, DO concentration was below the limit in 4 to 6 sampling points. The pollution control strategy was conducted by setting up three scenarios: (1) procurement of Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP), (2) river sediment dredging, and (3) combination of both scenario. Combination of sediment dredging and procurement of WWTP scenario estimated to reduce BOD concentration to 89.82%, COD concentration to 87.02%, and increase DO concentration to 19.07%. So, the 3 scenario was determined as the best strategy to improve Remu River water quality, although Fe concentration cannot be controlled as it comes from nature.
Low-loss broadband 5  ×  5 non-blocking Si3N4 optical switch matrix

An integrated 5×5 non-blocking optical switch matrix is proposed and experimentally demonstrated based on the silicon nitride (Si3N4) platform. The proposed optical switch matrix is designed with the Spanke–Benes architecture having 10 balanced Mach–Zehnder interferometers, each of which operates as a 2×2 switching unit enabled by an on-chip thermo-optic phase shifter. Over an 80 nm bandwidth (from 1520 to 1600 nm), the optical switch matrix is characterized with intriguing specifications, including the average extinction ratio larger than 25 dB, the excess loss less than 5 dB for both “all-cross” and “all-bar” states, and the leaked power lower than −48 dB. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first non-blocking optical switch matrix based on a Si3N4 platform with leading comprehensive performance in extinction ratio, excess loss, leaked power, and bandwidth. It will provide enabling building blocks for massive switch networks of optical communications and microwave photonics.
Evidence of a new ordered vacancy crystal structure in the compound Cu3In7Te12

The crystal structure of the ordered vacancy compound (OVC) Cu3In7Te12 is analyzed using powder X-ray diffraction data. It is found that this OVC crystallizes with a chalcopyrite-related structure, in the tetragonal space group P 4 2c (No 112), with unit cell parameters and volume a = 6.1720(2) A, c = 12.3597(8) A, and V = 470.83(4) A3. The Rietveld refinement of 28 instrumental and structural parameters led to Rp = 9.27 %, Rwp = 10.30 %, Rexp = 6.95% and S = 1.48, for 4501 step intensities and 130 independent reflections, respectively. This compound is isostructural with Cu3In7Se12, and has a defect adamantane structure. Keywords: semiconductors, ordered vacancy compounds, crystal structure, X-ray diffraction, Rietveld.
Encouraging Repeated Memorial Donations to a Scholarship Fund: An Experimental Test of Permanence Goals and Anniversary Acknowledgements

Abstract:Encouraging repeated memorial gifts can be challenging. Donors commonly view such donations as a one-time, funeral-related event. Further, donors may care little about the underlying charitable cause, such as the decedent's alma mater or favored scholarship fund. Research in mortality salience and bereavement suggests that the death of a loved one may generate a desire for permanence in memorialization, particularly during important anniversaries. Different memorial scholarship fund gift acknowledgement messages were randomly assigned to 10 groups totaling 4,873 participants. Adding a permanence component to an educational scholarship fundraising goal and timing the acknowledgement near the death anniversary significantly increased willingness to make a second memorial gift in the scenarios presented. Adding a permanence component also increased the estimated gift size. Although neither strategy increased sympathy for the charity's work, both increased charitable giving motivations of family obligation, sense of loss, and potential regret from failing to make a second gift.
Synchronously Decentralized Adaptive Robust Planning Method for Multi-Stakeholder Integrated Energy Systems

In the future integrated energy market, the traditional centralized planning method cannot solve the planning problem for multi-stakeholder integrated energy systems (MSIESs). To cope with this problem, this paper proposes a synchronously decentralized adaptive robust programming (SDARP) model for MSIESs based on the analytical target cascading (ATC) algorithm. In this model, different stakeholders are planned in parallel under the source-load uncertainties, aiming at minimizing the annual investment and operation costs and fully taking into account the interactive heating/cooling power transmitted by the district heating/cooling network. In each stakeholder, the column-and-constraint generation algorithm is used to address the robustness problems in the three-layer adaptive robust programming model. In addition, a tractable alternating optimization procedure is used to solve the non-convex SDARP model with finite convergence. Case studies verify the superiority and effectiveness of the SDARP method in dealing with the planning problem of MSIESs.
The Symbolic Consumption of Cultural Quarters

Cultural tourism destinations, such as cultural quarters, have become an important part of postmodern society because tourists are more interested in cultural tourism than they have been in the past. The purpose of this research is to examine tourists' cultural quarters revisit or recommendation intentions. Building on self-congruity theory, this research incorporates a "cultural contact" variable into symbolic consumption in the tourism destination brands model to examine tourists' cultural quarters revisit or recommendation intentions. In total, 400 Taiwanese tourists were recruited. This study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to examine the proposed model. The results demonstrate that ideal self-congruence, brand identification, lifestyle congruence, and cultural contact influence tourists' satisfaction, which in turn affects their behavioral intentions. In addition, cultural contact positively moderates the relationship between satisfaction and intentions. The theoretical and managerial implications of this study are discussed in the context of the cultural tourism literature.
Divergence among maize genotypes with different kernel types according to SSR marker analysis

Panels of diverse materials have proven to be very useful in evaluation of the organization of genetic diversity available for breeding at phenotypic and genotypic levels. In this study, a panel consisting of several groups of maize inbreds was tested using microstelite markers. The aim of this study was to test genetic diversity and define population structure of twenty-four genotypes differing in kernel type (dent, flint, popcorn, sweet maize) and kernel color (white, yellow, orange) with 21 SSRs. Genetic diversity parameters such as number of alleles, gene diversity, observed heterozygosity, PIC (Polymorphism Information Content) and number of unique alleles were determined. In addition, genetic distances according to Rogers distance were calculated. The values for all parameters were high, reflecting high genetic divergence of analyzed germplasm. Distance matrix based on UPGMA cluster analysis showed moderate congruence to available pedigree/origin or kernel type/color data. Genetic structure of tested genotypes was defined using Bayesian model-based clustering, without a considerable difference in comparison to cluster data analysis. The determined diversity parameters along with the results concerning genetic structure analysis provided a valuable information for improved selection efficiency.
Anthropometry of Morocco Patients with Diabetes Type 2: Prevalence of General and Abdominal Obesity by Gender

The increasing incidence of obesity and types 2diabetes (DT2) is a critical public health problem [1]. (NCD-RisC /AWG, 2016)given its importance as a cause of mortality, morbidity and the costs of the health system worldwide [2,3]. DT 2 which was a disease diagnosed most often at an age which is close to 65 years old, is now a pathology that affects all age groups.Morocco, with regard to the countries in transition in epidemiology, is not exempt from this global trend; about 1.5 million Moroccans aged more than 20 years are diabetics [4]. The National Survey noted that the prevalence of diabetes varies from one region to another [5]. According to the same source, the region of RabatsaléZemmour-Zaer, due to its geographical location and other specific characteristics, has major constraints such as high concentration of the population in the urban environment, a tendency to depopulate the countryside and, illiteracy which spares no age group of the population aged 10 years and over. In this study we will first examine the prevalence of obesity in adults with type 2 diabetes and secondly identify the gender group that present an increased risk of obesity.
Predicting Financially Distressed Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises in Malaysia

This study investigates factors that might predict financially distressed small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) 4 years, 3 years, 2 years and 1 year prior to distress. We employ logistic regression to identify the predictors of distressed SMEs in the manufacturing sector. Debt ratio is found to be consistently significant throughout the period of study. It is the main cause of failure among SMEs in Malaysia, as they rely heavily on debt to support their operations. The finding also shows that young companies have a higher probability of failure than established companies and that the bigger the size of a company, the higher the probability of that company entering distress. Other factors that are also found to be significant are current ratio, short-term liabilities to total liabilities, return on assets, sales to total assets and net income to share capital. In addition, the 1-year and 2-year prior to distress models provide the highest accuracy rate in detecting financially distressed SMEs.
Surface Quality in Milling of AZ91D Magnesium Alloy

This paper is an attempt at determining the effect of technological parameters of milling on the surface roughness of the AZ91D magnesium alloy. The cutting tool used in tests was a TiAlN-coated carbide milling cutter. The milling tests were carried out at variable cutting speed, feed per tooth and depth of cut, and the results were compared. The analysis was based on the 2D roughness parameters measured on the end and lateral faces of specimens, as well as on the 3D roughness parameters measured on the end faces of specimens. The test results indicated that the increase in the feed per tooth results in the increase in the value of 2D and 3D surface roughness parameters. It was found that cutting speed and axial depth of cut have a negligible effect on the 2D roughness of the workpiece surface, whereas the increase in cutting speed results in the reduction of the 3D surface roughness parameters.
Preservice teachers’ experiences with internship-related challenges in regional schools and their career intention: implications for teacher education programs

ABSTRACT This article reports a qualitative case study that explored challenges that Vietnamese early childhood preservice teachers faced when undertaking the teaching internship in regional schools and how these challenges influenced their career intention. Qualitative content analyses of 20 semistructured interviews revealed that despite several challenges at first, they gradually had positive experiences with using pedagogical knowledge and skills, working with stakeholders and coping with contextual issues. It was suggested that these challenges were tied to a disconnect between the teacher education program and early childhood schools, Confucian educational values and practices, and mismatches between preservice teachers’ expectation and reality of the profession. Internship-related challenges appeared not to strongly affect interns’ intentions of becoming teachers. Instead, the self-efficacy gained from overcoming internship-related challenges, mismatches between preservice teachers’ expectation of and the reality of the profession, their passion for teaching, love for children, and family choice seemed to influence their career intention. The article discusses important implications for improving the quality of teacher education programs and the effectiveness of teaching internships.
Time-lapse monitoring of root water uptake using electrical resistivity tomography and mise-à-la-masse: a vineyard infiltration experiment

Abstract. This paper presents a time-lapse application of electrical methods (electrical resistivity tomography, ERT; and mise-à-la-masse, MALM) for monitoring plant roots and their activity (root water uptake) during a controlled infiltration experiment. The use of non-invasive geophysical monitoring is of increasing interest as these techniques provide time-lapse imaging of processes that otherwise can only be measured at few specific spatial locations. The experiment here described was conducted in a vineyard in Bordeaux (France) and was focused on the behaviour of two neighbouring grapevines. The joint application of ERT and MALM has several advantages. While ERT in time-lapse mode is sensitive to changes in soil electrical resistivity and thus to the factors controlling it (mainly soil water content, in this context), MALM uses DC current injected into a tree stem to image where the plant root system is in effective electrical contact with the soil at locations that are likely to be the same where root water uptake (RWU) takes place. Thus, ERT and MALM provide complementary information about the root structure and activity. The experiment shows that the region of likely electrical current sources produced by MALM does not change significantly during the infiltration time in spite of the strong changes of electrical resistivity caused by changes in soil water content. Ultimately, the interpretation of the current source distribution strengthened the hypothesis of using current as a proxy for root detection. This fact, together with the evidence that current injection in the soil and in the stem produces totally different voltage patterns, corroborates the idea that this application of MALM highlights the active root density in the soil. When considering the electrical resistivity changes (as measured by ERT) inside the stationary volume of active roots delineated by MALM, the overall tendency is towards a resistivity increase during irrigation time, which can be linked to a decrease in soil water content caused by root water uptake. On the contrary, when considering the soil volume outside the MALM-derived root water uptake region, the electrical resistivity tends to decrease as an effect of soil water content increase caused by the infiltration. The use of a simplified infiltration model confirms at least qualitatively this behaviour. The monitoring results are particularly promising, and the method can be applied to a variety of scales including the laboratory scale where direct evidence of root structure and root water uptake can help corroborate the approach. Once fully validated, the joint use of MALM and ERT can be used as a valuable tool to study the activity of roots under a wide variety of field conditions.
Decision making for sustainable natural resource management under political constraints – the case of revising hydropower licenses in Norwegian watercourses

ABSTRACT Norway is the largest hydropower producer in Europe and provides currently 96% of domestic electricity supplies. Hydropower is a renewable and climate friendly source of energy, but causes an impairment on local environmental conditions, recreational use and aesthetics in and along impacted watercourses and lakes. Around 70% of the larger Norwegian watercourses and half of the country`s total water-covered areas are regulated for hydropower production. By 2022, up to 430 hydropower licences will come up for revisions to implement the European Water Framework Directive in Norway. These have considerable potential to increase environmental and aesthetic conditions in Norwegian watercourses. We examine the decision-making of five completed licence revisions by means of document analyses of all relevant written sources, showing the content, methods and procedural qualities of the revision process. Despite case-specific differences, there are significant commonalities which form the basis for recommendations. Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) can be used to improve the documentation of physical impacts and value judgements in hydropower decision-making processes. We analyse the perception of main interest groups with regards to the use of MCDA in future revisions. There exists a rather strong resistance to using MCDA due to a variety of political and regulatory reasons.
Interval colorectal cancers after negative faecal immunochemical test in a 13-year screening programme

Objective To assess faecal immunochemical test sensitivity for cancer in a very large population-based cohort followed up for six rounds with biennial faecal immunochemical test repetition. Methods This study is based on interval colorectal cancers diagnosed in a cohort of subjects aged 50–69 undergoing repeated faecal immunochemical test screening (six rounds) from 2002 to 2015. Test sensitivity was calculated using both the Proportional Interval Cancer Rate and the Interval Cancer Proportion method. Results Among 441,647 faecal immunochemical tests (123,347 individuals), 150 interval colorectal cancers were detected after a negative faecal immunochemical test. Interval colorectal cancer incidence rate was 1.87 per 10,000 person-years (95%CI: 1.60–2.20), and it was higher during the second interval year (rate ratio: 1.78; 95%CI: 1.28–2.47), for proximal locations (rate ratio: 3.00; 95%CI: 1.92–4.68), and among 60–71 year old subjects (rate ratio: 2.37; 95%CI: 1.61–3.50). The Proportional Interval Cancer Rate was 13.1%, with an overall faecal immunochemical test sensitivity of 86.9% (95%CI: 84.7–89.0). Sensitivity was lowest at the first round (81.5%; 95%CI: 75.6–86.2), and increased to 91.9% (95%CI: 83.9–96.5) for subsequent rounds. Applying the Interval Cancer Proportion method, sensitivity was 83.9% (95%CI: 81.3–86.2), and it was highest at the first round (89.0%; 95%CI: 85.7–91.6), ranging between 73% and 83.1% at subsequent rounds. Conclusions A faecal immunochemical test sensitivity for cancer higher than 80% resulted in a low incidence of interval colorectal cancers, representing an accurate estimate of one of the major limits of screening programmes. Due to intrinsic biases, the Proportional Interval Cancer Rate and the Interval Cancer Proportion methods generated different trends in faecal immunochemical test sensitivity by screening round.
An econometric analysis of global agricultural commodity prices

This thesis analyses global agricultural commodity price dynamics, with an emphasis on the causal factors behind movements and their forecastability. The analysis builds upon recent developments in the areas of time series econometrics, agricultural economics and applied economics to provide an empirical examination of agricultural commodity price movements. The main research questions addressed are the following. First, recursive unit root tests are employed to examine whether global commodity prices experienced explosive sub-periods which cannot be explained by underlying economic fundamental movements. Second, a Bayesian Structural VAR is used to model global wheat prices and decompose the causal factors behind price movements. Finally, an examination of the forecastability of agricultural commodity price series is conducted using recently developed dynamic models.
Precipitation and tree cover gradients structure avian alpha diversity in North‐western Costa Rica

Changes in climate and land use are modifying biodiversity worldwide. Yet it remains unclear how both drivers interact to structure communities and determine patterns in taxonomic, phylogenetic and functional diversity at local scales. We focused on bird diversity and asked: how do precipitation and forest cover gradients interactively structure these elements of avian diversity?
Improved photodegradation performance of zinc oxide/carbon nanotubes/reduced graphene oxide composites

Abstract In this study, zinc oxide/carbon nanotubes/reduced graphene oxide (ZnO/CNTs/rGO) composites were synthesized using a simple and facile magnetic stirring method at room temperature. The photocatalytic activity of the composites under UV-vis light irradiation was studied using Rhodamine B (RhB) as the model compound. RhB solution was almost completely degraded in 30 min for ternary composite, and a ca. 200% improvement in the degradation efficiency by ZnO/CNTs/rGO was found when the rate constant k of the pseudo-first-order reaction was compared with that using ZnO only. This finding demonstrated the positive effects of CNTs and rGO on reducing electron-hole pair recombination and extending the light adsorption range. We furthermore determined the optimum stoichiometric amount of each component. Overall, this work provided a method of enhancing photocatalytic performance by combining the ZnO and CNTs/rGO.