Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determinants Of Service Quality In Higher Education

The purpose of the study is to report on an in-depth exploration of service quality in a higher education and to evaluate the relative efficacy of two measuring instruments of service quality (namely Higher Education PERF-ormance (HEd-PERF) and SERVPERF within a higher education setting. After a pilot test, data were collected from 1494 students at University J.J.Strossmayer and were subjected to factor analysis. Results indicate that student’s perceptions of service quality are changing over the period of study, class attendance and faculty achievement. Students on the last years of study, good attendance record and better grades are satisfied with service quality of higher education. A principal component analysis was carried out on the total sample, and yielded with another factor structure than the authors suggested. Further research is required to consider the experience of lecturers in relation to delivering service quality has been highlighted as a vital aspect in achieving a high-quality service. Research is needed to be extended at graduate students with working experiences who are much more objective in theirs evaluations of the importance of service quality in higher education.
Training, organizational strategy, and firm performance *

Although there has been growing studies of the effects of training on firm performance, research attention has been limited to the contextual conditional that moderate the training- firm performance relationship. In this study, we used a contingency approach to examines the relationship between training, organizational strategy and firm performance. Results of regression from The Vietnam Employer survey 2007 show that quality and flexibility strategies moderated the training - firm sales and productivity relationship. However, we found no significant of the moderating effects of cost strategy on the training- firm performance relationship.
Systems approach for the development of a Silent Wireless Communicator

This paper discusses the design and implementation of the Silent Wireless Communicator. Night operations are becoming increasingly important in modern warfare. Section commanders that conduct missions rely on audio and visual signals in order to command their troops. The communication device is designed to provide a means to communicate commands in an environment which limits visibility and forbids audible commands. The signal data is collected via a glove worn by the commander. The glove captures the user's hand orientation and finger bend states. This data is fed to a Support Vector Machine algorithm that classifies it into standardized Canadian Forces hand signals in order to be disseminated to the rest of the team. The command is then transmitted wirelessly and displayed on a Heads-Up-Display (HUD) mounted to the ballistic eyewear in order for troops to execute.
Optical Ring Resonators: A Platform for Biological Sensing Applications

Rapid advances in biochemistry and genetics lead to expansion of the various medical instruments for detection and prevention tasks. On the other hand, food safety is an important concern which relates to the public health. One of the most reliable tools to detect bioparticles (i.e., DNA molecules and proteins) and determining the authenticity of food products is the optical ring resonators. By depositing a recipient polymeric layer of target particle on the periphery of an optical ring resonator, it is possible to identify the existence of molecules by calculating the shift in the spectral response of the ring resonators. The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the performance of two structures of optical ring resonators, (i) all-pass and (ii) add-drop resonators for sensing applications. We propose a new configuration for sensing applications by introducing a nanogap in the all-pass ring resonator. The performance of these resonators is studied from sensing point of view. Simulation results, using finite difference time domain paradigm, revealed that the existence of a nanogap in the ring configuration achieves higher amount of sensitivity; thus, this structure is more suitable for biosensing applications.
Plasma DNA and Neutrophil Extracellular Traps (NET): A Novel Biomarker in Lower Limb Venous Thrombosis

The traditional teaching of the pathophysiology of thrombosis centers around platelets and the coagulation cascade. However, the role of neutrophils in the thrombotic process is an area of recent interest. This role of neutrophils in this novel process of cell death and formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) has been linked to multiple disease processes like vasculitis, sepsis, cancer and haematological disorders in which a diagnostic and therapeutic role are being rapidly elucidated. Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism is a major worldwide health concern with significant mortality and morbidity. The role of NETs in lower limb thrombosis is under study. In this review, we review the need for a good biomarker in DVT, the role of NETs in thrombosis focussing on lower limb venous thrombosis.
Postmenstrual Age and CYP2D6 Polymorphisms Determine Tramadol O-demethylation in Critically Ill Neonates and Infants

To document determinants of O-demethylation in critically ill (pre)term neonates and infants, tramadol (M) and O-demethyl tramadol (M1) concentrations were quantified in eighty-six 24 h urine collections and 168 plasma samples. A significant correlation of urine log M/M1 (0.98, SD 0.66) and plasma log M/M1 (0.78, SD 0.45) with postmenstrual age (PMA) (r = −0.69 and −0.65) was observed. One-way analysis of variance documented a significant decrease in urine log and plasma log M/M1 with increasing CYP2D6 activity score (F value 11.6 and 22.55). PMA and CYP2D6 activity score determined the urine and plasma log M/M1 (R2 0.59 and 0.64) in a forward multiple regression model. We therefore conclude that PMA and CYP2D6 polymorphisms determined O-demethylation activity in (pre)term neonates and young infants, illustrating the impact of pharmacogenetics on drug metabolism in neonates although a relevant part of the interindividual varaibility remained unexplained. Besides compound-specific relevance, CYP2D6 iso-enzyme specific data on in vivo ontogeny of O-demethylation can contribute to safer and more effective administration of drugs metabolized by the same route in this population.
Clinical decision making: a pilot e‐learning study

Background: As many medical schools focus on student‐centred learning strategies, e‐learning provides a useful approach to foster clinical decision‐making skills in a case‐based way. We developed an e‐learning module based on real patient cases for final‐year students as a self‐directed studying tool.
An Enhanced Workflow Scheduling Algorithm in Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing has gained high attention by provisioning resources and software as a service. Throughout the years, the number of users of clouds is increasing and thus will increase the number of tasks and load in the cloud. Therefore, scheduling tasks efficiently and dynamically is a critical problem to be solved. There are many scheduling algorithms that are used in cloud computing but most of them are concentrating on minimizing time and cost and some of them concentrate on increasing fault tolerance. However, very few scheduling algorithms that considers time, cost, and fault tolerance at the same time. Moreover, Considering pricing models in developing scheduling algorithms to provide cost-effective fault tolerant techniques is still in its infancy. Therefore, analysing the impact of the different pricing models on scheduling algorithm will lead to choosing the right pricing model that will not affect the cost. This paper proposes developing a scheduling algorithm that combines these features to provide an efficient mapping of tasks and improve Quality of Service (QoS).
Connectivity-Aware Routing in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) is a promising emerging technology that enables a wide range of appealing applications in road safety, traffic management, and passengers and driver comfort. The deployment of VANETs to enable vehicular Internet-based services and mobile data offloading is also envisioned to be a promising solution for the great demand of mobile Internet access. However, developing reliable and efficient routing protocols is one of the key challenges in VANETs due to the high vehicle mobility and frequent network topology changes. In this thesis, we highlight the routing challenges in VANETs with a focus on position-based routing (PBR), as a well-recognized routing paradigm in the vehicular environment. As the current PBR protocols do not support VANET users with connectivity information, our goal is to design an efficient routing protocol for VANETs that dynamically finds long life paths, with reduced delivery delay, and supports vehicles with instant information about connectivity to the infrastructure. The focus of this thesis will be on predicting vehicular mobility to estimate inter-vehicle link duration in order to support routing protocols with proactive connectivity information for a better routing performance. Via three stages to meet our goal, we propose three novel routing protocols to estimate both broad and comprehensive connectivities in VANETs: iCAR, iCAR-II, and D-CAR. iCAR supports VANET users with instant broad connectivity information to surrounding road intersections, iCAR-II uses cellular network channels for comprehensive connectivity awareness to Roadside Units (RSUs), and finally D-CAR supports users with instant comprehensive connectivity information without the assistance of other networks. Detailed analysis and simulation based evaluations of our proposed protocols demonstrate the validity of using VANETs for Internet-based services and mobile data offloading in addition to the significant improvement of VANETs performance in terms of packet delivery ratio and end-to-end delay.
An Improved Arc Model Based on the Arc Diameter

This paper introduces an improved electrical arc model based on the arc diameter variation. In the conventional arc models, the arc diameter is considered as an implicit parameter in arc model constants. In case of decreasing arc diameter along with the arc extinction, the arc voltage decreases as well. The arc diameter can be implemented as a function of current into the arc model. The results illustrate that by applying the arc diameter as a function of arc current in the arc model, the simulated arc voltage is much closer to the measured values. In particular, the arc voltage behavior at the zero crossing can be controlled more precisely. However, based on the model considered for the arc diameter, additional parameters of the arc model should be estimated using measured data. The results confirm that even applying a simple arc diameter model can improve the arc voltage simulation.
Liver disease, coagulopathies and transfusion therapy.

In advanced liver disease bleeding from esophageal varices develops in up to 25% of patients, with a mortality rate as high as 15–20%. Moreover, major blood losses occur during and after surgical operations such as transplantation and hepatectomy. Because in end-stage liver disease haemorrhagic symptoms are associated with multiple abnormalities of laboratory tests that explore blood coagulation1,2, a cause-effect relationship was inferred to be plausible. Hence, it is common clinical practice in these patients to treat or prevent bleeding with transfusional and non-transfusional agents (fresh-frozen plasma, platelet concentrates, antifibrinolytic drugs, prothrombin complex concentrates and recombinant activated factor VII) with the goal to potentiate haemostasis. In general, the capacity of these drugs to prevent or stop bleeding is not validated by randomised clinical trials, but based upon their capacity to improve or correct the abnormalities of the coagulation tests. With this background, we review the pattern of haemostasis abnormalities in patients with end-stage liver disease; the changes of these abnormalities induced by haemostatic agents; the recent evidence that questions the long standing belief that the bleeding tendency of these patients is causally related to the abnormalities of their haemostasis tests, and that transfusional and non-transfusional agents are clinically useful to prevent or stop bleeding.
Asset Pricing in Small Sized Developed Markets

The evaluation for the specification errors of asset-pricing models is conducted using numerous characteristic portfolios for the Finnish stock market. The selection of the market is motivated by the atypical setting wherein few firms dominate the total market capitalization and small numbers of stocks are listed. We report diverging risk-returns trade-offs for the average tendencies of the stocks and for the actual growth in the invested stocks. The results show that poor cross-sectional ability of the unconditional CAPM could be improved if the parameters of the stochastic discount factor (SDF) are allowed to vary through time. Nonetheless, the Carhart (1997) model SDF produces the lowest Hansen-Jagannathan (1997) distance across all the tested specifications. The Fama-French (1993) model augmented with macro variables and January-scaled CAPM produces performances matching the Carhart model with equal and capitalized weighted portfolios, respectively. JEL classification: G11, G12, G15.
Spatial smoothing of cancer survival: a Bayesian approach.

A major aim of this paper is to propose and evaluate a method for describing the geographical variation in cancer survival. A fully hierarchical Bayesian approach (FB) which incorporates spatial autocorrelation of the hazard ratios is presented. The method was tried out on data sets of breast cancer and malignant melanoma patients from a population-based cancer registry. The performance of FB was compared with an ordinary Cox proportional hazard method. For both cancers both methods localized some areas of increased and some areas of decreased cancer-specific survival. The estimates provided by the Cox and the FB approach resembled each other, but the FB approach gave more geographical details. In particular, the boundaries of the clusters of high or low survival provided by the FB are more realistic.
A Comparative Study of PCA, LDA and Kernel LDA for Image Classification

Although various discriminant analysis approaches have been used in Content-Based Image Retrieval (CBIR) application, there have been relatively few concerns with kernel-based methods. Furthermore, these CBIR applications still applied discriminant analysis to face images as face recognition did. In this paper we concerns images with general semantic concepts. We use our presented symmetrical invariant LBP (SILBP) texture descriptor to extract image visual features. We then explored effectiveness of Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Fisher linear discriminant analysis (LDA), and Kernel LDA algorithms in providing optimal discrimination features. Following it, we present an LDA based framework to carry out kernel discrimiant analysis in our application. By taking advantage of the efficiency in nonlinear condition of kernel-based methods and the simplicity of LDA, the proposed approach can improve the retrieval precision of CBIR. The experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Optimal Intermediation Under Aggregate Consumption Uncertainty

The paper develops a banking framework where a welfare comparison is made between non-tradable demand deposit and equity contracts. Contrary to the existing literature that relies heavily on smooth preferences assumption to justify the liquidity insurance superiority of the ‘run-prone’ debt contracts over the ‘run-free’ equity contracts, the paper shows that when aggregate consumption uncertainty is introduced, the welfare dominance of deposit contracts emerges for a simpler preference structure as deposit contracts offer more risk-sharing opportunities. The model illustrates that such uncertainty creates a high dispersion between the allocations that can be attained by trading in the secondary market, and therefore the equity contract provides ex ante less risk-sharing to risk-averse consumers than a tailored-made debt contract.
County-level income inequality and depression among older Americans.

OBJECTIVES To examine (1) whether county-level income inequality is associated with depression among Americans aged 70 and older, taking into consideration county-level mean household income and individual-level socioeconomic status (SES), demographic characteristics, and physical health, and (2) whether income inequality effects are stronger among people with lower SES and physical health. DATA SOURCES The individual-level data from the first wave of the Assets and Health Dynamics among the Oldest Old survey (1993-1994) were linked with the county-level income inequality and mean household income data from the 1990 Census. STUDY DESIGN Multilevel analysis was conducted to examine the association between income inequality (the Gini coefficient) and depression. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Income inequality was significantly associated with depression among older Americans. Those living in counties with higher income inequality were more depressed, independent of their demographic characteristics, SES, and physical health. The association was stronger among those with more illnesses. CONCLUSIONS While previous empirical research on income inequality and physical health is equivocal, evidence for income inequality effects on mental health seems to be strong.
A new method for RFOC of Induction Motor under open-phase fault

From an energy conversion point of view, most of electrical machines including Induction Motors (IMs) can be modeled by an equivalent 2-phase machine model (d-q model). A 3-phase IM, with one of the phases opened (faulty 3-phase IM), can also be modeled by an equivalent 2-phase machine. If a conventional Rotor Field-Oriented Control (RFOC) for balanced IM is used for this faulty machine, considerable oscillations in the torque and speed will result. In this paper, a new technique for vector control of faulty 3-phase IM is presented. In the proposed method, the supposition of Lqs/Lds = (Mq/Md)2 = a2, which is normally applied in other FOC of unbalanced 2-phase IMs, is not used. Results showed that considerable improvements in the torque and speed responses are achieved, specifically in the reduction of the oscillations.
Entrepreneurship as connecting: some implications for theorising and practice

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to consider why entrepreneurship theorising has become fragmented and how the research problem might be resolved.Design/methodology/approach – The authors first examine how entrepreneurial constructs reflect only part of what we “mean” by the construct to argue that we use different social constructions. This explains why theories are fragmented. But the authors then ask how we might use and reconcile this diversity, pointing to the utility of the constructs as part of a complex whole. The authors discuss entrepreneurship as a complex adaptive system showing how connections and relatedness help explain the power of entrepreneurship to use and adapt to change.Research implications – The authors' proposition of entrepreneurial endeavours as a complex adaptive system provides a fresh theoretical platform to examine aspects of entrepreneurship and improve theorising.Practical implications – The authors argue that this idea of connecting can also be used at the level of p.
No-Reference Blur Strength Estimation Based on Spectral Analysis of Blurred Images

In this letter, we propose a new no-reference blur estimation method in the frequency domain. It is based on computing the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the Fourier transform spectrum of the blurred image and analyzing the relationship between its shape and the blur strength. From the analysis, we propose and evaluate six curve-shaped analytic metrics for estimating blur strength. Also, we employ an SVM-based learning scheme to improve the accuracy and robustness of the proposed metrics. In our experiments on Gaussian blurred images, one of the six metrics outperformed the others and the standard deviation values between 0 and 6 could be estimated with an estimation error of 0.31 on average. key words: no-reference, blur estimation, Fourier transform, cumulative distribution function, SVM
EAI Endorsed Transactions on Future Intelligent Educational Environments 1 Collaboration in 3 D Virtual Worlds : a protocol for case study research

Three-dimensional virtual worlds have been growing fast in number of users, and are used for the most diverse purposes. In collaboration, they are used with good results due to features such as immersion, interaction capabilities, use of avatar embodiment, and physical space. In the particular cases of avatar embodiment and physical space, these features support nonverbal communication, but its impact on collaboration is not well known. In this work we present a protocol for case study research and its creation process, which aims to assert itself as a tool to collect data on how nonverbal communication influences collaboration in three-dimensional virtual worlds. We define the propositions and units of analysis, and a pilot case to validate them. Then, two cases are analysed under the created protocol. Most of the propositions found chains of evidences supporting them.
A pproximation bounds for centrality maximization problems

Determining what are the most important nodes in a network is one of the main problems in the field of network analysis. Several so-called centrality indices have been defined in the literature to try to quantitatively capture the notion of importance (or centrality) of a node within a network. It has been experimentally observed that being central for a node, according to some centrality index, leads to several benefits to the node itself. In this paper, we study the problem of maximizing the centrality index of a given node by adding a limited number of edges incident to it. We survey on some recent results on this problem by focusing on four well-known centrality indices, namely harmonic centrality, betweenness centrality, eccentricity, and page-rank.
Mission Attachment as a Component of Organisational Job Embeddedness in the Trade Union Sector of South Africa

i DECLARATION ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS viii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ix CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 1.0 Introduction 1 1.1 Background to the research problem 1 1.2 Motivation for the research 3 1.3 Aim and objectives of the study 7 1.4 Outline of chapters 8 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 9 2.0 Introduction 9 2.1 Defining voluntary turnover. 9 2.2 The cost of labour turnover 10 2.3 Traditional turnover research. 12 2.4 The contribution of other variables to the understanding of turnover 16 2.5 Summary of studies done on voluntary turnover 17
Effects of Intravenous and Subcutaneous Administration of Apomorphine on the Clinical Symptoms of Chronic Schizophrenics

The effects of apomorphine, a stimulant of dopamine autoreceptors, were studied in 12 chronic schizophrenics on neuroleptic treatment; both subcutaneous and intravenous administration were used. Apomorphine has been reported to have therapeutic effects in previous studies but, we were not able to confirm any significant and specific differences in psychotic symptoms or tardive dyskinesia scores with apomorphine administration, compared with placebo. These results do not support the importance of dopamine autoreceptors in the regulation of schizophrenic and dyskinetic symptoms in chronic neuroleptic-treated patients.