Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Knowledge management approaches of small and medium-sized firms: a cluster analysis

Purpose This paper aims to categorise the approaches to knowledge management (KM) by companies. In the literature, there is no consensus on a universal or “best” approach to KM. Especially, this paper singles out and discusses the variegated features that characterise the implementation of KM by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) having different characteristics. Design/methodology/approach A cluster analysis was used to detect the possible distinct traits of companies that have different approaches to KM. The unit of analysis is represented by small- and medium-sized knowledge intensive business services (KIBS) firms. Data were collected by means of an extensive survey of 223 companies in different European countries and sectors. Findings Three clusters were identified: Companies showing a relative “unconscious” attention to KM and implementing KM practices without particular awareness; Companies adopting a more conscious approach and using a significant number of KM practices; and companies with a marginal propensity towards KM. Research limitations/implications This study considers only KIBS, and future research should include other economic sectors. In addition, a convenience sample was used. Practical implications This paper improves awareness of managers of small companies concerning different KM approaches that can be adopted. It highlights that a conscious adoption of a KM strategy involves the introduction of a set of consistent practices. Originality/value The topic of KM approaches by small companies is still underdeveloped in the literature. Also, the paper proposes a multi-contextual investigation that makes it possible to highlight the transversality of KM approaches across different countries or sectors.
An Effective and Efficient Genetic-Fuzzy Algorithm for Supporting Advanced Human-Machine Interfaces in Big Data Settings

In this paper we describe a novel algorithm, inspired by the mirror neuron discovery, to support automatic learning oriented to advanced man-machine interfaces. The algorithm introduces several points of innovation, based on complex metrics of similarity that involve different characteristics of the entire learning process. In more detail, the proposed approach deals with an humanoid robot algorithm suited for automatic vocalization acquisition from a human tutor. The learned vocalization can be used to multi-modal reproduction of speech, as the articulatory and acoustic parameters that compose the vocalization database can be used to synthesize unrestricted speech utterances and reproduce the articulatory and facial movements of the humanoid talking face automatically synchronized. The algorithm uses fuzzy articulatory rules, which describe transitions between phonemes derived from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), to allow simpler adaptation to different languages, and genetic optimization of the membership degrees. Large experimental evaluation and analysis of the proposed algorithm on synthetic and real data sets confirms the benefits of our proposal. Indeed, experimental results show that the vocalization acquired respects the basic phonetic rules of Italian languages and that subjective results show the effectiveness of multi-modal speech production with automatic synchronization between facial movements and speech emissions. The algorithm has been applied to a virtual speaking face but it may also be used in mechanical vocalization systems as well.
Dairy Production in Southern Region in Sri Lanka

Despite the speedy growth in the other sectors, agriculture is still the single largest sector contributing nearly 22% to the national income of Sri Lanka. Livestock contributes about 7% of the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) which is over 1⁄4 of the GDP from Agriculture sector in Sri Lanka (Perera and Jayasuriya, 2008). Dairy sector play a significant role in supplementing the family income of thousands of rural households and acts as an insurance against the notions for the poor ones. The unique characteristic of Sri Lankan dairy industry is that the bulk of milk production in our country is handled by small milk producers who are ignorant of economic aspects of milk production. Southern region of Sri-Lanka comprises 5305 livestock keepers with an estimated 38000 heads of dairy cattle. Annual milk production in the region is approximately 4.7 million liters while daily milk production in the region is less than 20000 liters (Central Bank of Sri Lanka, 2009). Therefore, there is need and potential for increased income to be strengthened through dairying as enterprise especially in southern region part of Sri Lanka. Rao et al. (2004) highlighted that dairy enterprise provides subsidiary occupation for semi urban, hilly areas and Potential growth of dairy sector is highest and more reliable compared to crop sector, indicating that dairy sector can play vital role to increase income among farmers in rural areas than crop sector in Sri Lanka. Credit and farmer training in management ability have been major concerns of dairy development efforts. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the impact of credit and farmer training on small holder dairy sector and to estimate its contribution to farmer’s income. The study was carried out in southern region of Sri Lanka. Purposive sampling approach was adopted and data were collected from 119 farmers through pre-tested structured questionnaire by personnel interview. Twenty one percents of respondents had taken credit and 72% of farmers had received subsidies to develop their dairy production capacity. Almost 97% of farmers had received knowledge for different activities in dairy production and 45% of them had participated for trainings which related to dairy. The milk yield of studied sample had correlation with credit amount (r=0.500, p=0.018), value of subsidy (r=0.350, p=0.003) and extension and training (r=.453, p=.000) which received by farmers. The farmers with higher level knowledge on management practices were acquiring and demanding of credit and farmer training compared to farmers with low knowledge. Further herd size had strong positive correlation with the amount of credit obtained. The results clearly illustrated credit and farmer training in dairy sector could considerably facilitate to increase income of dairy farmers and assists to develop dairy sector in small holder context.
A Comparative Study of Role of Flupirtine and Pregabalin as Pre-emptive Analgesic in Patients Undergoing Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy a Prospective, Randomised, Double Blind, Clinical Study

Original Research Article Introduction: Pain shares its etymological origin with words punishment and penalty and is the most miserable symptom of disease presentation. Pre-emptive analgesia is used as a treatment that is initiated before surgery in order to prevent the establishment of central sensitization evoked by the incision and inflammatory injuries occurring during surgery and in the early postoperative period. Role of Pregabalin and Flupirtine as pre emptive analgesia has been documented. The present study was undertaken to compare the role of Flupirtine and Pregabalin as pre-emptive analgesic in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy because of their documented efficacy, cost effectiveness, pharmacokinetics and minimal side effects or complication. Material and Method: The randomised, double blind, prospective study was carried out in 100 patients scheduled for laparoscopic cholecystectomy and fulfilling the inclusion criteria at Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna. Two randomised groups were administered Flupirtine and Pregabalin as pre emptive analgesia and the postoperative outcome were compared and analysed. Results: The study population of both the groups were comparable with respect to age, gender and mean body weight, and the differences were statistically not significant. The Flupirtine group of patients had low postoperative pain score (VAS) in the period of evaluation postoperatively except at 6 th hour post operatively. The difference was statistically significant at 0 and 1 hours. The side effects were comparable among the two group and the difference was statistically not significant. Conclusion: Flupirtine in a single dose of 200 mg is better than single dose of 150 mg of Pregabalin when administered in the form of pre-emptive analgesia in patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy with lower VAS in immediate postoperative period and comparable side effects. Keyword: Pre-emptive Analgesia, Flupirtine, Pregabalin, Postoperative Pain. Copyright @ 2020: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial use (NonCommercial, or CC-BY-NC) provided the original author and source
Recent Developments in the Facile Bio-Synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles (AuNPs) and Their Biomedical Applications

Abstract Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are extensively studied nanoparticles (NPs) and are known to have profound applications in medicine. There are various methods to synthesize AuNPs which are generally categorized into two main types: chemical and physical synthesis. Continuous efforts have been devoted to search for other more environmental-friendly and economical large-scale methods, such as environmentally friendly biological methods known as green synthesis. Green synthesis is especially important to minimize the harmful chemical and toxic by-products during the conventional synthesis of AuNPs. Green materials such as plants, fungi, microorganisms, enzymes and biopolymers are currently used to synthesize various NPs. Biosynthesized AuNPs are generally safer for use in biomedical applications since they come from natural materials themselves. Multiple surface functionalities of AuNPs allow them to be more robust and flexible when combined with different biological assemblies or modifications for enhanced applications. This review focuses on recent developments of green synthesized AuNPs and discusses their numerous biomedical applications. Sources of green materials with successful examples and other key parameters that determine the functionalities of AuNPs are also discussed in this review.
Nature-Based Solution for Reducing CO2 Levels in Museum Environments: A Phytoremediation Study for the Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper”

This work investigates the possibility of implementing a nature-based solution (NBS) based on the photosynthetic process of Laurus nobilis L. (common laurel), for reducing peak CO2 concentrations in an air-tight museum environment, namely the Refectory of the Santa Maria delle Grazie Church (Milan, Italy), home of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting “Last Supper”. The phytoremediation potential of laurel plants was evaluated at CO2 ≅ 1000 ppm under controlled environmental conditions. Furthermore, light-saturated net assimilation (Pnmax) was measured at two CO2 concentrations (380 and 1000 ppm) during the growing season. Steady-state gas exchanges were not affected by elevated CO2 in the short-term, while Pnmax was significantly increased, also showing higher values in spring and autumn, and a reduction during summer. Our estimated CO2 removal rates indicate that, in order to control visitors’ respiratory CO2 emissions in view of an increase in visitor numbers in the Refectory, a possible NBS in the form of an external greenhouse, connected to the HVAC system of the museum, should allocate from 58 to 112 young laurel plants, depending on their seasonal phytoremediation capacity. These results, although preliminary, allow to hypothesize the possibility of controlling CO2 indoors through a combination of traditional air-cleaning systems and a properly designed NBS, thus increasing the sustainability of air-tight museum environments.
DETERMINATION OF FATIGUE AND STATIC STRENGTH OF SCOTS PINE AND BEECH WOOD

In this study, fatigue and static strength of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and beech (Fagus orientalis L.) woods were investigated. The fatigue and static strength were conducted using a three point bending test-rig. The specimens were prepared according to ISO 3129 (1975) and fatigue and static bending test were carried out according to ISO 3133 (1975). The fatigue test was carried out at 80, 70, 60, 50 and 40 % stress level that corresponded to specific percentage of material’s ultimate strength modulus of rupture (MOR). However the microstructures of fatigue failures were observed by using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results were indicated that, the fatigue life of Scots pine wood amounted to over 1 million cycle when the stress level was 40 % of MOR for Scots pine and 50 % MOR for Beech. In general, fatigue life decreased as stress level increased and vice versa. The allowable design stress is based on some percentage of MOR for furniture design. On this account, the allowable design stresses for Beech and Scots pine could be set at 50 and 40 % respectively.
Pathways to power in presidential cabinets: Do men and women appointees differ?

This paper is part of a book project that explores pathways to different types of cabinet posts in presidential democracies by drawing on a study of all cabinet ministers in the 2-4 most recent presidential cabinets in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and the United States. In this paper we examine minister traits to assess whether there is evidence of a gendered nature to cabinet appointments. We analyze data about political connections and experience, group links, education and career backgrounds, and policy expertise. We present findings about differences in the incidence of individual traits for men and women for cabinets overall, then partition portfolios into three broad categories. We conduct multivariate analysis to determine traits that correlate with appointment to portfolios in these broad categories and whether they differ between women and men. For the dataset overall, men and women are generally similar. However, when we divide ministries into economics, social welfare, and “central” categories, we find significant differences been men and women that have the potential to affect the ability of women in cabinets to be successful in their posts. Multivariate analysis showed that 1) gender is a determining factor in predicting the portfolio category a person receives even when we control for other background traits, and 2) that for men and women the background traits related to type of ministry appointment are distinct. Based on this evidence, we conclude that there are gendered aspects to cabinet appointments, but that there is also evidence that women are becoming more thoroughly integrated into cabinets. Paper prepared for presentation at the Quality and Professionalization of Politicians in Latin America and Europe Conference, University of Salamanca, Spain, September 26-27, 2011.
Clothing color mediates lizard responses to humans in a tropical forest

Identifying how ecotourism affects wildlife can lower its environmental impact. Human presence is an inherent component of ecotourism, which can impact animal behavior because animals often perceive humans as predators and, consequently, spend more time on human‐directed antipredator behaviors and less on other fitness‐relevant activities. We tested whether human clothing color affects water anole (Anolis aquaticus) behavior at a popular ecotourism destination in Costa Rica, testing the hypothesis that animals are more tolerant of humans wearing their sexually selected signaling color. We examined whether clothing resembling the primary signaling color (orange) of water anoles increases number of anole sightings and ease of capture. Research teams mimicked an ecotourism group by searching for anoles wearing one of three shirt treatments: orange, green, or blue. We conducted surveys at three different sites: a primary forest, secondary forest, and abandoned pasture. Wearing orange clothing resulted in more sightings and greater capture rates compared with blue or green. A higher proportion of males were captured when wearing orange whereas sex ratios of captured anoles were more equally proportional in the surveys when observers wore green or blue. We also found that capture success was greater when more people were present during a capture attempt. We demonstrate that colors “displayed” by perceived predators (i.e., humans) alter antipredator behaviors in water anoles. Clothing choice could have unintended impacts on wildlife, and wearing colors resembling the sexually selected signaling color might enhance tolerance toward humans.
Hand preference in patients with acute coronary syndrome

The relationship between left handedness and morbidity and mortality in some disorders has been extensively studied in recent years. The present study investigated the potential relation between angiographically proven coronary artery disease (CAD) and hand preference. This was a prospective cross-sectional study including 633 patients admitted to the emergency department (ED). Hand preference was assessed using the Edinburg Handedness Inventory. Patients whose hand lateralization could not be evaluated using this inventory were excluded, i n addition to those unable to undergo angiographic coronary artery disease detection. All patients with angina pectoris admitted to the ED were evaluated according to current guidelines. Selective left and right coronary angiography was performed, and the severity of the lesion and coronary anatomy were evaluated. The Edinburg handedness inventory assessment showed that 93.2% of the population were right handed and that 6.8% were left handed. Among patients ≥ 65 years with angiographically proven CAD, the ratio of right-handers was markedly higher than the ratio of left handers. Physicians should pay attention to the handedness of patients when evaluating coronary angiographies. Left handedness seems to have a protective effect against CAD in the elderly.
The Black Vault

The questions raised by reports of nuclear reactions at low energies, so called "cold fusion", are not yet answered to the satisfaction of many scientists. Further experimental investigations of these and related questions seems desirable, at least for scientific if not practical reasons. Properly conducted, such investigations would be indistinguishable from normal research. They would yield information germane to accepted areas of scientific inquiry and technological utility.
An Exploratory Study into Social Cost Considerations in Ghanaian Construction Industry

Construction causative nuisances, inconveniences, interferences and disruptions to the routine economic and social life patterns of adjacent or neighboring communities are referred to as social cost. This study explores the understanding and level of consideration of social cost by construction professionals in Ghana. Relevant literature sources are reviewed to define, rationalize and classify social cost. The study used the survey approach with a set of questionnaires addressed to construction contractors and professionals to gather the data. It was realized that not much consideration is given to social cost at the tender stage of the construction process. The five factors hindering social cost inclusion in tendering are “difficulty in allocating social costs”, “governmental interferences”, “lack of historical data”, “lack of appreciation of social costs” and “low stakeholder agitation”. The paper advocated for integration of social cost into the tendering process. The study will serve as a foundation to design a social cost assessment system at the pre-contract stage.
Self-Training using Selection Network for Semi-supervised Learning

: Semi-supervised learning (SSL) is a study that efﬁciently exploits a large amount of unlabeled data to improve performance in conditions of limited labeled data. Most of the conventional SSL methods assume that the classes of unlabeled data are included in the set of classes of labeled data. In addition, these methods do not sort out useless unlabeled samples and use all the unlabeled data for learning, which is not suitable for realistic situations. In this paper, we propose an SSL method called selective self-training (SST), which selectively decides whether to include each unlabeled sample in the training process. It is designed to be applied to a more real situation where classes of unlabeled data are different from the ones of the labeled data. For the conventional SSL problems which deal with data where both the labeled and unlabeled samples share the same class categories, the proposed method not only performs comparable to other conventional SSL algorithms but also can be combined with other SSL algorithms. While the conventional methods cannot be applied to the new SSL problems, our method does not show any performance degradation even if the classes of unlabeled data are different from those of the labeled data. not affect the loss much, which leads to the small performance improvement. This shows the limitation of thresholding with softmax.
Text S1 Disappearance of central necrosis in small tumor spheroids

It is currently believed that a large part of most tumors remains necrotic or hypoxic even after angiogenesis [1, 2] and our model successfully predicts this behavior. However, there is also experimental evidence showing that the central necrosis disappears after vascularization in small tumor spheroids [3]. Our hypothesis is that the neovasculature can penetrate deep enough into small tumors so as to restore normoxia, while the central part of larger tumors remains rather inaccessible to oxygen. Here, we try to reproduce the experiments reported in [3], where the authors observe the disappearance of the central necrosis after vascularization of tumor spheroids of size ∼ 3 times smaller than those considered in the main text of the paper. Therefore, we perform a simulation on a rectangular tissue of 1350μm×775μm using the parameters reported in Table 1 in the main text of the paper. We place an initial circular tumor at the center of the domain and two horizontal capillaries in the bottom and top boundaries. The capillaries are supposed to be initially straight with a constant width of 25μm. Boundary conditions are also taken to maintain symmetry, so that we can perform the computations on a quarter of the domain (see S1 Fig in the Supporting Information). The mesh is composed of 512×256 quadratic elements. The radius of the initial tumor is the same as in reference [3], namely, ∼200μm. The initial source of nutrient is the capillary at the bottom, where σ takes the value 1. As in the previous simulations, we assume that, initially, the tumor has a circular necrotic core concentric to the tumor and with a radius Rn = 0.35Rt, where σ = 0. Everywhere else in the tissue, σ = 0.45. S1 Fig in the Supporting Information shows the results of this experiment. The top-left panel displays the initial configuration, while the top-right one shows the time evolution of the necrotic area. It is observed that the necrotic area increases initially (bottom-left panel), until the newly-created capillaries penetrate deep into the tumor and are able to provide nutrients that restore normoxia (bottom-right panel). In all, this example shows how the model is able to reproduce another experimental observation.