Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Stakeholders' Perceptions of a Human Resources Development Intervention

The aim of this research was to establish the stakeholders’ perception of a Human Resource Development (HRD) intervention. This was prompted by the fact that the Mpumalanga Department of Education (MDoE) has been regarded as one of the provinces that performs poorly on grade 12 results as compared to other provinces. A qualitative methodology was adopted in this study where in 20 participants were interviewed as internal stakeholders in the MDoE. This research established that the human resource development and training services were not properly managed due to a shortage of staff, insufficient budget, HRD practitioners’ competencies, inaccurate information keeping and lastly the fact that the recommendations made by the internal auditors were not implemented. An HRD audit process was constructed to assist private and public sector organizations to improve service delivery. The proposed HRD audit process will hopefully ignite interest of scholars to test it, customize or even expand it. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014. v5n1p741
Do Unto Others as They Do Unto You: Reciprocity and Social Identification as Determinants of Ingroup Favoritism

Predictions from the bounded and unbounded reciprocity hypotheses and from social identity theory (SIT) were examined in a minimal group experiment in which ingroup outcome dependence, outgroup outcome dependence, and the strength of social identity were orthogonally manipulated. Both ingroup and outgroup outcome dependence affected reward allocations. Participants made more ingroup-favoring reward allocations across all conditions. The identification manipulation produced hypothesized effects on social identification measures and marginal effects of identification on reward allocations in the no-dependence condition. Support was found for both an unbounded and bounded version of the reciprocity hypothesis and marginal support for a SIT approach to intergroup discrimination. The study highlights insufficiencies of both theoretical approaches and suggests possibilities for integration and elaboration.
Use Trust Management Framework to Achieve Effective Security Mechanisms in Cloud Environment

Cloud Computing is an Internet based Computing where virtual shared servers provide software, infrastructure, platform and other resources to the customer on pay-as-you-use basis. Cloud Computing is increasingly becoming popular as many enterprise applications and data are moving into cloud platforms. However, with the enormous use of Cloud, the probability of occurring intrusion also increases. There is a major need of bringing security, transparency and reliability in cloud model for client satisfaction. One of the security issues is how to reduce the impact of any type of intrusion in this environment. To address this issue, a security solution is proposed in this paper. We provide a collaborative framework between our Hybrid Intrusion Detection System (Hy-IDS) based on Mobile Agents and virtual firewalls. Therefore, our hybrid intrusion detection system consists of three types of IDS namely IDS-C, IDS-Cr and IDS-M, which are dispatched over three layer of cloud computing. In the first layer, we use IDS-C over our framework to collect, analyze and detect malicious data using Mobile Agents. In case of attack, we collect at the level of the second layer all the malicious data detected in the first layer for the generation of new signatures using IDS-Cr, which is based on a Signature Generation Algorithm (SGA) and network intrusion detection system (NIDS). Finally, through an IDS-M placed in the third layer, the new signatures will be used to update the database NIDS belonging to IDS-Cr, then the database to NIDS belonging of IDS-Cr the cluster neighboring and also their IDS-C. Hardware firewall is unable to control communication between virtual machines on the same hypervisor. Moreover, they are blind to virtual traffic. Mostly, they are deployed at Virtual Machine Monitor- level (VMM) under Cloud provider’s control. Equally, the mobile agents play an important role in this collaboration. They are used in our framework for investigation of hosts, transfer data malicious and transfer update of a database of neighboring IDS in the cloud. With this technique, the neighboring IDS will use these new signatures to protect their area of control against the same type of attack. By this type of close-loop control, the collaborative network security management framework can identify and address new distributed attacks more quickly and effectively.
The Pharmacology of mTOR Inhibition

The quest for effective cancer therapies reveals insight into the regulation and function of the mammalian target of rapamycin. A flurry of reports indicates that we are entering a new phase in the development of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)–based therapies for oncology. Here, we summarize exciting findings regarding mTOR signaling and the outlook for mTOR inhibitors as tools to study the mTOR pathway and as drugs in the clinic.
Point of Purchase Communication: Role of Information Search, Store Benefit and Shopping Involvement

Point of Purchase (PoP) is the place where a customer is about to buy the product. This is the crucial point where the exchange takes place. It offers us a last chance to remind or attract customers. In spite of a considerable expenditure on point of purchase material by companies, there is a lack of an established method of measuring the effectiveness of communication at the retail outlet. The current study is an attempt to define and measure the extent of usage of PoP by consumers while shopping. It explores the phenomenon with the help of an experimentation using two main variables; level of information search and store benefits sought. It uses shopping involvement as a mediating variable. During the course of study scales for usage of PoP communication and shopping involvement were developed. In-depth interviews were carried among shoppers to understand their motivations and gratifications with regard to shopping. The interview findings were used to develop scales, which were tested before being used during the experiment. The experiments involved building scenarios specific to shopping situations. Participant observations were carried out at stores with different formats. The study found that all the three variables were significant in terms of main as well as interaction effects. Based on the findings the authors suggest a framework for enhancing the effectiveness of PoP Communication. [W.P. No. 2009-11-07]
Wound complications following diagnostic skin biopsies in dermatology inpatients.

OBJECTIVES To prospectively determine the wound complication rate for dermatology inpatients undergoing diagnostic skin biopsies during their admission and to determine significant host and procedural risk factors. DESIGN Prospective assessment, by a single observer, of 100 postdiagnostic skin biopsy wounds in dermatology inpatients. The following data were recorded for each patient: age and sex, presence of comorbidities, smoking status, dermatologic diagnosis, use of immunosuppressive or antibiotic therapy, place of biopsy (whether in the operation theater or in the ward), grade of physician performing biopsy, biopsy site on the body, type of biopsy (whether elliptical incision, punch, shave, or curettage), and wound closure technique. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Wounds were designated as having had no complication or as being complicated by infection, dehiscence, and/or hematoma. SETTING A dedicated dermatology inpatient ward in a university teaching hospital. RESULTS Wound complications occurred in 29 (29%) biopsies, 27 (93%) of which were the result of wound infection. Complications occurred significantly more frequently when biopsies were performed below the waist compared with above the waist (P < .02), in the ward compared with the outpatient operating theater (P < .001), in smokers compared with nonsmokers (P < .001), and in those taking corticosteroids compared with those who were not (P < .001). In addition, elliptical incisional biopsies developed complications more frequently when subcutaneous sutures were not used compared with when they had been used (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS This study has demonstrated a high rate of wound complications after diagnostic dermatologic surgery on dermatology inpatients with significant host and procedural risk factors. These findings are relevant for other centers with inpatient units where diagnostic biopsies are performed.
Effectiveness of a Clinical Pathway for Inpatient Asthma Management

Background. Clinical pathways for asthma are tools that have the potential to improve compliance with nationally recognized management guidelines, but their effect on patient outcomes has not been documented. Objectives. To determine the effect of an asthma clinical pathway on patients' length of stay, use of nebulized β-agonist therapy while hospitalized, and use of acute care clinics for 2 weeks after discharge. Design/Methods. The study was a randomized, controlled trial. Patients between the ages of 2 and 18 years admitted with an asthma exacerbation and not under the care of an asthma specialist were eligible for the study. Patients were randomized either to a conventional ward (control group) or to a ward using the clinical pathway (intervention group). For 2 weeks after discharge, we collected data to determine whether patients visited a health care provider for worsening asthma. Results. One hundred ten patients (26%) were enrolled. Control and intervention groups had similar demographic and asthma severity profiles. The intervention group had an average length of stay 13 hours shorter than did the control group. In addition, at every dosing interval, the intervention group received less nebulized β-agonist therapy. There were no deaths in either group. Conclusion. A clinical pathway for inpatient asthma decreased the length of stay and β-agonist medication use with no adverse outcomes or increased acute-care encounters through 2 weeks after discharge.
Identification and functional characterization of EhClC‐A, an Entamoeba histolytica ClC chloride channel located at plasma membrane

ClC chloride channels perform a wide variety of physiological functions and they had been characterized in animals, yeast, plants and bacteria but not in protozoa. By blast search we found in Entamoeba histolytica, the protozoan responsible for human amoebiasis, two genes (Ehclc‐A and Ehclc‐B) encoding for putative polypeptides with 25–30% identity to ClC chloride channels of several organisms. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT‐PCR) experiments showed that both genes are transcribed in trophozoites. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that EhClC‐A and EhClC‐B polypeptides belong to the eukaryotic branch of plasma membrane ClCs. Specific antibodies against EhClC‐A confirmed that it is located at the trophozoite plasma membrane. Xenopus laevis oocytes microinjected with Ehclc‐A cRNA elicited anion currents not detected in oocytes microinjected with water. Induced currents were inwardly rectifying and had a permeability sequence of Cl– > Br– > I– > F– >> NO3–. The chloride channel blocker 4‐acetamido‐4′isothiocyanostilbene‐2, 2′‐disulphonic acid (SITS) strongly inhibited the oocytes anion currents and trophozoites growth. Experiments at diverse pHs suggested that EhClC‐A is not a Cl–/H+ exchanger, but it is an ion channel that could be involved in pH regulation. EhClC‐A may also participate in cell volume regulation. As far as we know, EhClC‐A is the first chloride channel characterized in protozoa.
Prospective, double-blind, randomized trial evaluating patient satisfaction, bleeding, and wound healing using biodegradable synthetic polyurethane foam (NasoPore) as a middle meatal spacer in functional endoscopic sinus surgery.

OBJECTIVE To compare NasoPore (Stryker Canada, Hamilton, ON, Canada) and a traditional middle meatal spacer (MMS) composed of Merocel ((Medtronic Xomed, Mississauga, ON, Canada) placed in a vinyl glove finger in functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) with regard to postoperative bleeding, wound healing, and patient comfort. DESIGN A prospective, double-blind, randomized trial of 30 consecutive adults (age > 16 years) with chronic or recurrent acute rhinosinusitis undergoing bilateral FESS, excluding patients with significant difference in their sinus disease bilaterally using preoperative computed tomographic scan assessment (Lund-McKay scores > 2). SETTING Tertiary hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia. METHODS Preoperatively, all patients were randomized and blinded to receive NasoPore (Stryker Canada) on one side and Merocel on the other. Patients completed a questionnaire during their first postoperative week relating to their subjective assessment of pain, pressure, nasal blockage, swelling, and bleeding. Patients were evaluated 1 week postoperatively for packing removal and debridement, and associated discomfort and bleeding with the removal, as well as overall preference for either pack. A clinician blinded to the randomization process objectively assessed the healing status of the nasal cavities at 4 and 12 weeks postoperatively. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Patient satisfaction, bleeding, and wound healing postoperatively. RESULTS Thirty patients were enrolled. There was no significant difference between the Lund-Mackay scores in both groups preoperatively (p = .80). Postoperatively, there was no significant difference between both groups with regard to patients' pain, pressure, blockage, swelling, bleeding, or discomfort on packing removal (p > .05). There was no statistical difference in the amount of bleeding associated with packing removal (p = .32). Mucosal grading at 4 weeks was significantly better for the traditional MMS (p = .03), but this difference disappeared at the 12-week visit (p = 1.00). CONCLUSIONS The absorbable pack did not significantly reduce the risk of bleeding or patient discomfort compared with a traditional nonabsorbable MMS and was associated with significantly slower mucosal healing initially, an effect that disappeared after 3 months postoperatively. There was no significant patient preference for either pack.
Service quality dimensions and customer satisfaction in the Kenyan airline industry

x CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 Background of the study . 1 1.1.1 Quality of services . 2 1.1.2 Management of Quality in Service . 3 1.1.3 Service Quality and Customers Satisfaction . 4 1.1.4 The Airline Industry in Kenya . 5 1.2 Statement of the problem . 6 1.3 Research Objectives . 8 1.4 Value of the Study . 9 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW . 10 2.
Disabled‐2 Colocalizes with the LDLR in Clathrin‐Coated Pits and Interacts with AP‐2

Disabled‐2 (Dab2) is a widely expressed relative of Disabled‐1, a neuron‐specific signal‐transduction protein that binds to and receives signals from members of the low‐density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) family. Members of the LDLR family internalize through clathrin‐coated pits and vesicles to endosomes, from where they return to the cell surface through the secretory pathway. In this study, we show that the Dab2 phosphotyrosine‐binding domain binds peptides containing the sequence FXNPXY. This core sequence is found in the intracellular domains of LDLR family members and is important for receptor internalization. Dab2 transiently colocalizes with the LDLR in clathrin‐coated pits, but is absent from endosomes and lysosomes. Dab2 is alternatively spliced and its localization depends on a region of the protein that contains two DPF motifs that are present in the p96 Dab2 protein and absent in the p67 splice variant. This region is sufficient to confer Dab2 binding to the α‐adaptin subunit of the clathrin adaptor protein, AP‐2. Overexpression of p96 but not of p67 Dab2 disrupts the localization of AP‐2. These findings suggest that in addition to previously reported signal‐transduction functions, Dab2 could also act as an adaptor protein that may regulate protein trafficking.
Mining association rules for RFID data with concept hierarchy

Recently, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is being deployed for several applications, including supply-chain optimization, business process automation, asset tracking, and problem traceability applications. The problem with RFID data is that its degree increases according to time and location, thus, resulting in an enormous volume of data duplication. Therefore, it is difficult to extract useful hidden knowledge in RFID data using traditional association rule mining techniques, or analyze data using statistical techniques or queries. This paper suggest association rule generation method based on the meta rule which could find a meaningful rule by using inclusion relation and concept hierarchy between data, in order to extract a hidden pattern from RFID data. Therefore, we could not only eliminate the duplicated rule efficiently by using meta-rule but also reduce the complexity by processing the limited association rule examination. Also, this method is useful to improve the storage efficiency and to find a hidden association relationship between objects.
Minimum bit-error-rate nonlinear precoding for multi-user distributed antenna systems

The aim of this manuscript is to propose and evaluate a novel nonlinear precoding scheme for distributed MIMO based systems. We consider a high-speed backhaul network where the remote antenna units are transparently linked by optical fiber to a central unit. In the considered architecture we can assume the knowledge of the data and channel state information of all users, at the central unit. The precoder design is divided in two phases: first a solution based on minimization of bit-error-rate is computed by assuming that all remote antenna units can jointly pool their power, i.e., a total power constraint is imposed instead of a per remote antenna unit power constraint; the second phase consists in scaling the obtained transmit signal by a factor η to satisfy the individual per remote antenna unit power constraint. Numerical results show that the algorithm achieves significant gains over the linear zero-forcing and minimum mean square error based approaches, with a slight increase in complexity, and that its performance is close to the optimum.
Impact of cranberry juice on initial adhesion of the EPS producing bacterium Burkholderia cepacia

The impact of cranberry juice was investigated with respect to the initial adhesion of three isogenic strains of the bacterium Burkholderia cepacia with different extracellular polymeric substance (EPS) producing capacities, viz. a wild-type cepacian EPS producer PC184 and its mutant strains PC184rml with reduced EPS production and PC184bceK with a deficiency in EPS production. Adhesion experiments conducted in a parallel-plate flow chamber demonstrated that, in the absence of cranberry juice, strain PC184 had a significantly higher adhesive capacity compared to the mutant strains. In the presence of cranberry juice, the adhesive capacity of the EPS-producing strain PC184 was largely reduced, while cranberry juice had little impact on the adhesion behavior of either mutant strain. Thermodynamic modeling supported the results from adhesion experiments. Surface force apparatus (SFA) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) studies demonstrated a strong association between cranberry juice components and bacterial EPS. It was concluded that cranberry juice components could impact bacterial initial adhesion by adhering to the EPS and impairing the adhesive capacity of the cells, which provides an insight into the development of novel treatment strategies to block the biofilm formation associated with bacterial infection.
Detection and comparison of specific hemin binding by Porphyromonas gingivalis and Prevotella intermedia

A radioligand assay was designed to detect and compare specific hemin binding by the periodontal anaerobic black-pigmenting bacteria (BPB) Porphyromonas gingivalis and Prevotella intermedia. The assay included physiological concentrations of the hemin-binding protein rabbit serum albumin (RSA) to prevent self-aggregation and nonspecific interaction of hemin with cellular components. Under these conditions, heme-starved P. intermedia cells (two strains) expressed a single binding site species (4,100 to 4,600 sites/cell) with a dissociation constant (Kd) of 1.0 x 10(-9) M. Heme-starved P. gingivalis cells (two strains) expressed two binding site species; the higher-affinity site (1,000 to 1,500 sites/cell) displayed a Kd of between 3.6 x 10(-11) and 9.6 x 10(-11) M, whereas the estimated Kd of the lower-affinity site (1.9 x 10(5) to 6.3 x 10(5) sites/cell) ranged between 2.6 x 10(-7) and 6.5 x 10(-8) M. Specific binding was greatly diminished in heme-replete cells of either BPB species and was not displayed by iron-replete Escherichia coli cells, which bound as much hemin in the absence of RSA as did P. intermedia. Hemin binding by BPB was reduced following treatment with protein-modifying agents (heat, pronase, and N-bromosuccinimide) and was blocked by protoporphyrin IX and hemoglobin but not by Congo red. Hemopexin also inhibited bacterial hemin binding. These findings indicate that both P. gingivalis and P. intermedia express heme-repressible proteinaceous hemin-binding sites with affinities intermediate between those of serum albumin and hemopexin. P. gingivalis exhibited a 10-fold-greater specific binding affinity and greater heme storage capacity than did P. intermedia, suggesting that the former would be ecologically advantaged with respect to heme acquisition.
Predicting Response Speed in Mail Surveys

All mail surveys encounter resistance when they arrive at their destination because they must compete with all other elements in the respondent's environment for his or her time and cooperation. This resistance varies in degree from survey to survey but the pattern of responses it generates over time is remarkably consistent for all surveys: relatively rapid returns in the early stages followed by a gradual tapering off. This pattern can be described by a simple mathematical function, the modified exponential, which relates response rates to elapsed time. The purpose of this article is to indicate how the parameters of this function can be estimated, and how it can be used to predict response speed, forecast the time needed to achieve a desired number of responses, or estimate the number of questionnaires that ought to be mailed out initially.
Prosodic Boundary Prediction for Greek Speech Synthesis

In this article, we evaluate features and algorithms for the task of prosodic boundary prediction for Greek. For this purpose a prosodic corpus composed of generic domain text was constructed. Feature contribution was evaluated and ranked with the application of information gain ranking and correlation-based feature selection filtering methods. Resulted datasets were applied to C4.5 decision tree, one-neighbour instance based learner and Bayesian learning methods. Models performance exploitation led as to the construction of a practically optimal feature set whose prediction effectiveness was evaluated with two prosodic databases. In terms of total accuracy and F-measure, evaluation results established the decision tree effectiveness in learning rules for prosodic boundary prediction.