Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determining Effective Factors in Cloud Computing Acceptance Using Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation Model and Davis’ Technology Adoption Model (A Case of Financial Institution)

Background and Objectives: Determining effective factors in cloud computing adoption on employees of Noor credit institution in South Khorasan province, Iran, is the purpose of the present study. A practical oriented method is applied regarding the research objective and a descriptive-survey method is used for collecting field data. Employees of Noor credit institution of South Khorasan province (50 people) are selected as the research sample.Methods: Accurate questionnaires are analyzed. Two researcher-made questionnaires are conducted as research tools. These questionnaires consist of effective factors in cloud computing adoption (12 factors including 47 items) and cloud computing adoption intention (3 items). The reliability of the research is evaluated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient which is obtained α=0.54% for the questionnaire of effective factors in cloud computing adoption and has various values for the questionnaire of the cloud computing adoption intention. Also, the descriptive statistics approach is used to define variables, and confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis are applied in the inferential section. Structural equation modeling using Smart-PLS software is used to determine the effective factors in cloud computing adoptionResults: All 12 determined factors in cloud computing adoption are considered as dependent variables and cloud computing adoption intention is considered as an independent variable. 12 effective factors in cloud computing adoption on Noor credit institution of South Khorasan in Iran are determined and examined.Conclusion: It can be concluded that all factors (except the support of the top manager) have a positive and significant effect on cloud computing adoption intention, nonetheless, the value of statistic t for path analysis of the support of the top manager on cloud computing adoption intention is less than 1.96. This shows that the support of the top manager does not have a significant effect on cloud computing adoption intention.
Cross-cultural adaptation of the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale to the Portuguese language

ABSTRACT Objectives To perform the cross-cultural adaptation of the Social Appearance Anxiety Scale (SAAS) to the Portuguese language and estimate its internal consistency in a sample of Brazilian young adults. Methods The cross-cultural adaptation process followed international references based on five stages (translation, synthesis, back-translation, expert assessment, and pretest) to assess idiomatic, semantic, conceptual, and cultural equivalence. The internal consistency was estimated by the ordinal alpha coefficient (α). Results The new Portuguese version is presented in this study with minor changes from the original that did not violate the meaning of the items. This version was tested in 30 adults (women = 56.7%, M age = 26.0 [SD = 6.2] years) who understood the content. The participants completed the scale in an average time of 4.6 (SD = .6) minutes. The internal consistency of the scale was good (α = .95) when applied in a sample of 80 adults (women = 51.2%, M age = 28.0 [SD = 5.7] years). Conclusions The new Portuguese version of the SAAS was equivalent to the original in the idiomatic, semantic, and conceptual area. As the Brazilian participants understood the Portuguese version, cultural equivalence was found. The instrument’s internal consistency was adequate to the sample. The findings of this study may help researchers and clinicians interested in using the SAAS in Brazilian context for tracking characteristic symptoms of social anxiety due to physical appearance. However, before using SAAS in any protocol, it is important to evaluate its psychometric properties, especially the construct validity.
Piezoelectric actuation mechanisms for intelligent sandwich structures

Surface-mounted piezoelectric materials poled in the same direction as the applied electric field are known to induce membrane strains only. This could be seen as their conventional extension actuation mechanism. However, when piezoelectric materials are constrained and poled perpendicularly to the applied electric field, they act through their shear modes. This is the newly defined shear actuation mechanism. The present paper compares both mechanisms with the help of an adaptive sandwich beam finite element, with either active surface layers (for the extension mechanism) or active core (for the shear mechanism). Segmented configurations are studied for cantilever beams. Deflection, stress and vibration characteristics are compared for various parameters (structure/actuator stiffness and thickness ratios, actuator position and length). The shear actuation mechanism is found to present several promising features for brittle piezoceramics' use. In particular, it was found that the shear actuation mechanism is more efficient than the extension mechanism for stiff structures and thick piezoelectric actuators.
Spatial and Temporal Variations of Nitrogen and Phosphorus in Surface Water and Groundwater of Mudong River Watershed in Huixian Karst Wetland, Southwest China

When considering the factors affecting the spatial and temporal variation of nitrogen and phosphorus in karst watersheds, the unique karst hydrogeology as an internal influencing factor cannot be ignored, as well as natural factors such as meteorological hydrology and external factors such as human activities. A watershed-scale field investigation was completed to statistically analyze spatial and temporal dynamics of nitrogen and phosphorus through the regular monitoring and collection of surface water and shallow groundwater in the agricultural-dominated Mudong River watershed in the Huixian Karst Wetland over one year (May 2020 to April 2021). Our research found that non-point source pollution of nitrogen (84.5% of 239 samples TN > 1.0 mg/L) was more serious than phosphorus (7.5% of 239 samples TP > 0.2 mg/L) in the study area, and shallow groundwater nitrogen pollution (98.3% of 118 samples TN > 1.0 mg/L) was more serious than surface water (68.6% of 121 samples TN > 1.0 mg/L). In the three regions with different hydrodynamic features, the TN concentration was higher and dominated by NO3−-N in the river in the northern recharge area, while the concentrations of TN and TP were the highest in shallow groundwater wells in the central wetland core area and increased along the surface water flow direction in the western discharge area. This research will help improve the knowledge about the influence of karst hydrodynamic features on the spatial patterns of nitrogen and phosphorus in water, paying attention to the quality protection and security of water in karst areas with a fragile water ecological environment.
Unstructured Group Support Enhances Compliance to Pharmacological Treatment by Improving Social Cognition in Patients with Bipolar Disorder: A Pilot fMRI Study

Objective: Unstructured group support (UGS) has been shown to improve the prognosis of patients with bipolar disorder (BP). However, objective evidence is needed to support implementation of UGS intervention. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of UGS intervention and the associated alterations in the objective indexes, mainly global function connectivity density (gFCD), in BP patients. Methods: Remitted BP patients were enrolled and randomly assigned into a UGS group (received UGS intervention for 26 weekly UGS sessions, and a sham group (received sham intervention). The effects of UGS on adherence to the prescribed medications, social cognition, and quality of life were examined and compared between these 2 groups. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed to determine the functional index and gFCD values, as an objective measurement of functional alterations in the brain. Results: The compliance rate was significantly greater in the UGS group than in the sham group at the 2-year follow-up, after 26 weekly intervention sessions. The proportion of patients with increased levels of compliance to pharmacological treatment, improved social cognition, and improved quality of life were significantly higher in the UGS group than in the sham group. Furthermore, consistent with these subjective measurements, the fMRI study revealed that gFCD values significantly increased in the regions of the brain that are related to social cognition, in patients with UGS intervention. Conclusion: UGS improves the compliance to pharmacological treatment, quality of life, and social cognition of remitted BP patients. Notably, these findings offer the first objective evidence that UGS enhances gFCD in BP patients. Thus, UGS implementation can help improve the psychiatric care for BP patients.
Effects of model complexity and tissue anisotropic conductivity on cortical modulation during transcranial direct current stimulation

An anatomically accurate high-resolution finite-element head model and its derivatives have been employed to examine the influence of subcutaneous fat and muscle tissues on cortical modulation. The effects of skull, muscle and white matter (WM) directional conductivity have also been investigated. Results indicate that the inclusion of additional tissues in the head model have a profound effect on the magnitude and distribution pattern of induced current density. Similarly, anisotropic tissue conductivity caused a significant deterioration in spatial focality of cortical currents along with a more distorted and diffused distribution pattern across the cortex.
Sex segregation in construction organizations in Bangladesh and Thailand

Why do more women in Bangladesh study civil engineering than in Thailand, but fewer Bangladeshi women take employment in construction companies? The primary data for answering this question were drawn from questionnaire surveys with 204 professional engineers, in‐depth interviews with 80 professional women engineers, and informal discussions with employers/representatives in construction organizations in Bangladesh and Thailand. The findings underline the importance of organizational policy, practices and culture in creating a women‐friendly workplace in both countries. The findings suggest that despite the reinforcement of societal gender expectations, organizations are able to create their own organizational culture and practices, which could help to utilize women's talent and improve their professional careers.
Analysis, simulation, and experimental verification of split‐ring resonator

Split‐ring resonator (SRR) finds its utility in various applications where moderate quality factor is required. Application areas for this type of microwave resonator include communication, biomedical, chemical, material testing, and food grading. Design is usually based for a particular band of frequency, dictated by its intended utility/application. A metallic cylindrical shield or cavity is used to enclose resonator for controlling environmental effects. Quality factor determines resonator's figure of merit. Resonant frequency, quality factor, and other output parameters are dependent mainly on critical dimensions and materials used to fabricate resonator and shield. Numerous models have been formulated to predict output parameters. In this study, variations in quality factor and resonant frequency have been analyzed for nonplanar form of SRR structure model based on parametric changes. Simulated and calculated results were analyzed for model validity. Sensitivity analysis was performed to determine sensitivity of output parameters over SRR dimensions. Output parameters of SRR structure fabricated to operate at 3 GHz, was measured for experimental verification of simulated and calculated results. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 57:2358–2363, 2015
Analysis of Tall Buildings with Damped Outriggers

A novel damped outrigger system has been recently proposed for tall buildings, and is quite promising. To gain insight into the conceptual design of such systems, a simple beam-damper system model for a building with such dampers installed is developed and studied. A partial differential equation governing the motion is derived assuming a Bernoulli-Euler beam. A closed-form analytical solution is developed for vibration of the beam by analyzing the regions above and below the damper separately using separation of variables. By applying appropriate boundary conditions at the ends, a transcendental characteristic equation is obtained that governs the system's complex natural frequencies. An explicit form for the complex mode shape is determined for dynamic analysis. A numerical iteration scheme is adopted to solve the characteristic equation for the complex eigenvalues (i.e., the system modal frequencies and damping ratios). This solution was used to determine design curves for optimal damper position and size. For engineering convenience, empirical equations were provided by fitting numerical results. These equations include one for determining the optimal location of the damper for each mode, and two for determining the optimal damping coefficient of the damper, and for calculating the maximum modal damping ratio of the system while the beam vibrates in its first mode. Furthermore, relatively accurate approximations of the pseudoundamped natural frequency and damping ratio of the first mode were obtained using a Taylor expansion of the characteristic equation. All of the results obtained are nondimensionalized for convenience of analysis and application.
The Effect of Job Resources on Employee Engagament with Workplace Spirituality and Professional Identity as Mediation for Millennial Generation Employees of PT. Bank Muamalat Wes Jakarta Region

A well functioning organization is the output of healthy human resources, committed and always motivated which can also be called employee engagement. This study aims to prove the existence of direct and indirect impact between job resources and employee engagement. Quantitative research that uses premier data through questionnaries with a sample of 96 respondents with saturated sampling technique and analysis method using SEM-Pls. The results of this study indicate that job resources have no effect on employee engagement, job resources have a positive effect on workplace spirituality, workplace spirituality has no effect on employee engagement, job resources have positive effect on professional identity, professional identity have a positive effect on employee engagement, workplace spirituality is unable to mediate between job resources and employee engagement, and professional identity plays a mediating role between job resources and employee engagement.
Impact of lateral load transfer in heavy road vehicles at horizontal curves on the distress of asphalt pavements

The distress of asphalt pavements on horizontal curves can be relatively higher because of the lateral load transfer and the increase in lateral forces on vehicles during their cornering manoeuvre. In this study, the lateral load transfer in horizontal curves and its effect on pavement disstress is evaluated using a commercial vehicle dynamics software, IPG TruckMaker®. Road profiles were generated with a straight section followed by a horizontal curve. A sensitivity analysis was conducted by varying the radii of horizontal curves, road-surface roughnesses, vehicle speed, and its laden weight. The results were compared with results from static analysis and an analytical model. The curved section was found to sustain about two to six times more damage. Further, layered elastic analysis of the curved section showed higher shear stresses at the layer interface. This emphasises the need for a separate design of pavements on a horizontal curve.
Ocular microvascular alteration in Sjögren syndrome.

Background Sjögren syndrome (SjS) is a systemic disease affecting exocrine, including ocular lacrimal, glands. It is uncertain whether ocular microvascular alterations are associated with this disease. In this study, we evaluated retinal and conjunctival microvascular changes in SjS patients using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). Methods Twelve SjS patients (24 eyes) and 12 normal controls (24 eyes) were recruited to this study. Three-dimensional conjunctival and retinal OCTA images of each eye were captured and microvascular density was calculated. Each image was analyzed by retinal area based on the early treatment of diabetic retinopathy study method (R, S, L, and I) hemisphere segmentation method (SR, SL, IL, and IR); and central wheel division method (C1-C6). Correlation analyses were used to look for associations between retinal and conjunctival microvascular densities. Results Superficial and deep retinal layer microvascular density was decreased in SjS patients compared with normal controls (P<0.05). This significant difference was found in both superficial and deep layers in S, L, SL, IL and C1-C3 regions, and additionally in the I and SR regions in the superficial layer. Conversely, in the conjunctiva microvascular density was higher in SjS patients than in controls. In SjS patients, a significant negative correlation was found between conjunctival and both superficial (r=-0.641; P=0.025) and deep (r=-0.958; P<0.0001) microvascular densities. Conclusions The changed microvascular densities measured in deep and superficial retinal layers and in the conjunctiva demonstrate that OCTA is a promising method in differentiating the eyes from those with SjS.
Changes in US Parents’ Domestic Labor During the Early Days of the COVID‐19 Pandemic

Stay‐at‐home orders and the removal of care and domestic supports during the early days of the COVID‐19 pandemic substantially disrupted US parents’ work and family lives. Although much is known about changes in US parents’ paid labor arrangements, the evidence regarding changes in unpaid domestic labor has been largely anecdotal. This study uses novel data from 1,025 US parents in different‐sex partnerships to provide a descriptive overview of changes in mothers’ and fathers’ participation in, and division of, housework and childcare from March 2020 to the early days of the pandemic (late April 2020). Findings show an overall increase in domestic responsibilities for mothers who were already doing most of the household labor. Still, both mothers and fathers report a general shift toward more egalitarian divisions of household labor, driven by increases in fathers’ contributions. The shift toward more egalitarian sharing of domestic labor is observed across demographic groups and across types of domestic tasks. Consistent with findings from other countries, egalitarian divisions of domestic labor increased among U.S. parents during the early days of the COVID‐19 pandemic. Mothers, nonetheless, report retaining primary responsibility for domestic labor in the majority of families.
Agile R&D Units’ Organization Beyond Software—Developing and Validating a Multidimensional Scale in an Engineering Context

Previous literature addressed organizations’ adaptiveness to ever-changing business environments and investigated the concept of agility. However, extant agility research primarily covers the corporate and project levels and is typically located in the information systems and operations management fields. Relatively little quantitative research in innovation management literature exists, and those studies approached the concept solely from an outcome perspective (i.e., increased adaptiveness) instead of elucidating how organizations should organize themselves to be agile (i.e., a capability perspective). This article addresses these shortcomings and adopts a capability perspective since no empirical studies have examined agile R&D units’ organization (ARDO). Drawing on dynamic capabilities theory, we develop a measure of ARDO, conceptualizing it as a second-order construct, consisting of six dimensions: a culture of agile values, customer integration, autonomy, an iterative work method, cross-functional capabilities, and flat hierarchies. We validated the measurement by conducting three studies to ensure content, structural, and nomological validity. We applied structural equation modeling on a sample of 175 R&D managers and cross validated our findings on different hierarchical levels via a sample of 454 R&D employees. The results confirm the second-order nature of the ARDO measure and provide evidence of its positive relationship with front-end success. We advance scarce quantitative research on agility's neglected capability perspective and contribute to the innovation management field by facilitating further empirical research on agile R&D units’ antecedents and outcomes in the context of physical product development.
The Current Implementation of an Evidence-Based Hamstring Injury Prevention Exercise (Nordic Hamstring Exercise) among Athletes Globally

Purpose. The Nordic hamstring exercise (NHE) has been shown to be successful in reducing hamstring muscle injury (HMI), which is one of the most common non-contact injuries of the lower limbs. This is especially pertinent in sports that require acceleration, maximal sprints, and sudden changes in the direction of running and sprinting, such as soccer and rugby. This study aimed to evaluate the awareness, implementation, and opinions of athletes worldwide regarding the effectiveness of NHE in preventing hamstring injury. Materials and methods. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 1500 athletes from different sports. The survey consisted of six questions covering country, gender, type of sport, awareness, implementation, and opinions of athletes worldwide regarding the effectiveness of NHE in preventing hamstring injury. The survey was available in ten different languages. Results. A total of 1142 male and female athletes from different sports participated in the survey. More than half of the athletes 641 (56%) were aware of NHE, and only 519 (45.4 %) were implementing NHE in their current training routines. Athletes who implemented NHE reported a positive opinion regarding the program’s effectiveness with a score of 8.4 ± 1 out of 10. Conclusions. Many athletes were aware of NHE and implemented it in their training routine since they found it to be effective in decreasing hamstring injury rates. However, additional work must be done to educate athletes about the importance of implementing this exercise and its effectiveness in preventing hamstring injury.
Super-linear modulator with extended bandwidth capability for broadband access applications

Ultra-linear modulators are critical components for broadband access applications in analog fiber-optic communication links, such as Radio-over-Fiber (RoF), Radio-over-Free Space (RoFS) and ultra-dense (cable television) CATV. In our previous work, it was shown that an ultra-linear optical modulator - composed of a phase modulator and ring resonator in a Mach-Zehnder (MZ) configuration, exhibited SFDR values > 130 dB. In this paper, we introduce a new configuration based on a lumped electrode design, in which the phase modulator (PM) is on one arm of the MZ and the ring resonator (RR) is located on the other arm. We also carefully control and monitor the power split ratio of an RF input to both the PM and the RR, in addition to the RF phase bias between the RR and PM. We report its unique and superior features such as superior linearity (SFDR ~ 133 dB), modulation bandwidth extension (as much as 70%) over the ring resonator-assisted Mach Zehnder design and high link gain. Lastly, we discuss the merits of the design flexibility, practicality and ease of use of the new modulator.