Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Planning enterprise resources by use of a reengineering approach to build a global logistics management system

Theoretically and ideally, enterprise resource planning (ERP) seeks to streamline and integrate operation processes and information flow within a company. Practically, ERP system implementation involves a much broader scope and in‐depth consideration within an organization as a whole. Concurrently, in response to this need for resource optimization, the impact of globalization has caused the emergence of a new business operation format, global logistics management (GLM). This pertains to the overall management system of a corporation’s undertaking of worldwide market distribution, product design, customer satisfaction, production, procurement, logistics, suppliers and inventory. Suggests building an ERP as the backbone for implementation of a GLM system, while minimizing the impact of changes by use of information system reengineering technology (ISRT). Proposes a novel development framework that applies ISRT and ERP to developing a GLM system to economize on the system implementation cost and minimize the impact of changes within the corporation as a whole.
Tropospheric emission spectrometer: retrieval method and error analysis

We describe the approach for the estimation of the atmospheric state, e.g., temperature, water, ozone, from calibrated, spectral radiances measured from the Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) onboard the Aura spacecraft. The methodology is based on the maximum a posteriori estimate, which mathematically requires the minimization of the difference between observed spectral radiances and a nonlinear model of radiative transfer of the atmospheric state subject to the constraint that the estimated state must be consistent with an a priori probability distribution for that state. The minimization techniques employed here are based on the trust-region Levenberg-Marquardt algorithm. An analysis of the errors for this estimate include smoothing, random, spectroscopic, "cross-state", representation, and systematic errors. In addition, several metrics and diagnostics are introduced that assess the resolution, quality, and statistical significance of the retrievals. We illustrate this methodology for the retrieval of atmospheric and surface temperature, water vapor, and ozone over the Gulf of Mexico on November 3, 2004.
From Care to Citizenship: Calling Ecofeminism Back to Politics

Although there are important aspects of ecofeminist valuations of women's caring, a greater degree of skepticism than is now found in ecofeminist scholarship is in order. In this article I argue that there are political risks in celebrating women's association with caring, as both an ethic and a practice, and in reducing women's ethico-political life to care. I support this position by drawing on the work of feminist theorists who argue that the positive identification of women with caring ought to be treated cautiously for it obscures some of the negative implications of feminized care and narrows our understanding of women as political actors. I explain why I think ecofeminists would be better served by using feminist theories of citizenship to understand and interpret women's engagement in politics.
Policy Reflections Guided by Longitudinal Study, Youth Training, Social Exclusion, and More Recently Neet

From the ‘sexual behaviour of young people’ in the 1960s to ‘youth and the great recession’ in the 2000s a steady current running through my educational research career has been ‘youth’. This is not so much because I wanted to stay in it, which a part of all of us wants to do, but because youth stands out as the interface between the generations: the means by which society renews or tears up the intergenerational contract with the next generation to supply a fulfilling adult life. Although the early stages of my career supplied the foundations for the topic of this paper – starting in 1962 with a research assistant job with the Central Council for Health Education – my main reference point is the middle 1980s, 20 years later, from my base at the Open University as national coordinator for the ESRC 16–19 Initiative (Banks et al., 1992; Bynner, 1987). This was a five year research programme starting in 1986 on the ‘economic and political socialisation’ of young people, that is to say the ways in which young people were forming their adult identities under the conditions of the time. The initiative followed an earlier psychologically oriented research programme, Young People in Society, on a diverse range of topics ranging from delinquent and non-delinquent reputation to the social life of the young conservatives (Beloff, 1986). The 16–19 Initiative focused more specifically on the effects of the changing economic and social environment on young people’s lives in different areas paralleling the comparable Social Change and Economic Life Initiative directed at adults. These programmes were innovative in combining perspectives from across the social science disciplines and education, including employing qualitative alongside quantitative approaches. The end of the 1970s was something of a watershed in young people’s experience of entry to the labour market. In 1978, Schaffer and Hargreaves were still able to write, ‘Most adolescents join the labour market at 16 years: it is the normal life experience of the adolescent’. From then on the proportion of 16-yearolds entering employment steadily dropped from 65 per cent in the late 1970s to eight per cent where it is now – what Ashton and Maguire (1986) described as the ‘vanishing youth labour market’. We saw effectively a transformation of the
Reversal of rocuronium-induced neuromuscular block with sugammadex is faster than reversal of cisatracurium-induced block with neostigmine.

BACKGROUND Reversal of the residual effect of rocuronium or cisatracurium by neostigmine may be slow and associated with side-effects. This randomized, safety-assessor-blinded study compared the efficacy of sugammadex, a selective relaxant binding agent for reversal of rocuronium-induced neuromuscular block, with that of neostigmine for reversal of cisatracurium-induced neuromuscular block. The safety of sugammadex and neostigmine was also evaluated. METHODS Adult surgical patients (ASA class I-III) were randomized to sugammadex 2.0 mg kg(-1) for reversal of block induced by rocuronium 0.6 mg kg(-1), or neostigmine 50 microg kg(-1) for reversal of block induced by cisatracurium 0.15 mg kg(-1). Anaesthesia was induced and maintained using i.v. propofol and remifentanil, fentanyl, or sufentanil. Neuromuscular function was monitored using acceleromyography (TOF-Watch SX). Sugammadex or neostigmine was administered at reappearance of T(2). The primary efficacy variable was time for recovery of the train-of-four (TOF) ratio to 0.9. RESULTS Eighty-four patients were randomized, 73 of whom received sugammadex (n=34) or neostigmine (n=39). Time from start of administration of reversal agent to recovery of the TOF ratio to 0.9 was 4.7 times faster with sugammadex than with neostigmine (geometric mean=1.9 vs 9.0 min, P<0.0001). Reversal of block was sustained in all patients. There were no serious adverse effects from either reversal agent and no significant changes in any measure of safety, except for similar elevations in urinary N-acetyl glucosaminidase in both groups. CONCLUSIONS Sugammadex 2.0 mg kg(-1) administered at reappearance of T(2) was significantly faster in reversing rocuronium-induced blockade than neostigmine was in reversing cisatracurium-induced block.
Ancestor Sampling for Particle Gibbs

We present a novel method in the family of particle MCMC methods that we refer to as particle Gibbs with ancestor sampling (PG-AS). Similarly to the existing PG with backward simulation (PG-BS) procedure, we use backward sampling to (considerably) improve the mixing of the PG kernel. Instead of using separate forward and backward sweeps as in PG-BS, however, we achieve the same effect in a single forward sweep. We apply the PG-AS framework to the challenging class of non-Markovian state-space models. We develop a truncation strategy of these models that is applicable in principle to any backward-simulation-based method, but which is particularly well suited to the PG-AS framework. In particular, as we show in a simulation study, PG-AS can yield an order-of-magnitude improved accuracy relative to PG-BS due to its robustness to the truncation error. Several application examples are discussed, including Rao-Blackwellized particle smoothing and inference in degenerate state-space models.
Conflicts between Perception and Reality in the Management of Alien Species in Forest Ecosystems: A Norwegian Case Study

Abstract The vegetation dynamics and landscape management during 20 years of a temperate deciduous forest protected as a nature reserve in western Norway are analysed. Sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus), an alien species in northern Europe, has become abundant in parts of the forest and the paper discusses how nature management has formulated and interpreted the introduction of sycamore. Scientists and nature managers regard the species as aggressive and a threat to the local natural biodiversity, but in this respect empirical evidence has been replaced by assumption and prejudice, and this is critically reviewed in the paper. The development of the forest has been monitored annually since 1988 and the long-term forest dynamics and behaviour of sycamore are discussed in relation to the attitudes of nature managers. The views held by nature managers are based on their own values and ideas regarding what is valuable nature, and alien species are often assumed to be invasive and aggressive, yet with no reference being made to site ecology and human local history. As an alternative to an a priori understanding of the role of alien species, the paper suggests that proper knowledge of ecosystem dynamics can only be achieved through analysis of ecological variation in space and time. The management of any species should not be according to its status as native or alien, but according to a judgment of its role and long-term behaviour. The values of nature conservationists should not be confused with the intrinsic values of nature.
"I won't lie, it wasn't amazing": Modeling polite indirect speech

Why are we polite when we talk to one another? One hypothesis is that people expect others to choose what to say based on their goals both to transfer information efficiently (an epistemic goal) and to make the listener feel good (a social goal). In our previous work, we found that when these two goals conflict, they sometimes produce white lies. In the current work, we expand on this theory to consider another prominent case of polite speech: indirect remarks using negation (e.g., “It wasn’t amazing”). With minimal extensions from our previous framework, our formal model suggests that a pragmatic speaker will produce more indirect remarks when the speaker wants to be informative and seem considerate at the same time. These predictions were borne out in an experiment on language production. These findings suggest that the conflict between social and epistemic goals can account for a broad range of politeness phenomena.
Are Soft skills Important in the Workplace? - A Preliminary Investigation in Malaysia

Soft skills are described as career traits that employees should possess, such as leadership skills, communication skills, a positive work attitude and teamwork. In the twenty-first century workforce, soft skills are critical in the business sector. In Malaysia, the general sentiment of employers is that graduates fail to meet the market expectation and hence are lagging behind. This has become a grave concern as Malaysian graduates are seen as lacking in soft skills. The soft skill gap is said to have caused the high unemployment statistic of graduates. This paper seeks to contribute to the body of knowledge on the critical soft skill factors of new graduates from the employers’ perspective through a qualitative study and an empirical examination in Malaysia. As this is a pilot paper, the objective of this study is to explore and examine the importance of soft skills competencies at the Malaysian workplace and to identify critical soft skills that are needed at the workplace in Malaysia on a small sample. This study will be helpful to institutions of higher learning because the findings reported will help to identify the most critical workforce skills and this will be useful for educators to more effectively include employability skills in their courses.
A Gossip Algorithm for Heterogeneous Multi-Vehicle Routing Problems

Abstract In this paper we address the heterogeneous multi-vehicle routing problem by proposing a distributed algorithm based on gossip. We consider the case where a set of tasks arbitrarily distributed in a plane, each with a service cost, have to be served by a set of mobile robots, each with a given movement speed and task execution speed. Our goal is to minimize the maximum execution time of robots.
How Practical is Homomorphically Encrypted Program Execution? An Implementation and Performance Evaluation

Homomorphic cryptography has received a lot of attention due to potentially ground breaking advances in cryptography. However it is also surrounded by a lot of hyperbole such as "ground breaking advances", "this will solve all Cloud computing problems" to "it is completely impractical" and "it will never work for real world problems". In previous work we showed how homomorphic encryption can be used to execute arbitrary programs in encrypted space, showing that at least in theory real world problems can be computed protected by homomorphic cryptography without losing generality. In this paper we expand our work to evaluate how practical current homomorphic cryptography based on the Smart-Vercauteren system is for executing arbitrary programs on untrusted resources. For this we present the implementation of a method to compute non-linear secret programs on an untrusted resource using encrypted circuits embedded in an encrypted virtual machine. We successively show how a processor architecture using encrypted circuits can be implemented so it can support read and write memory access, dynamic parameters and non-linear programs that render branch-decisions at runtime. The system comprises the runtime environment for program execution and an assembler to generate the encrypted machine code. We present performance evaluation of the sub-components as well as the complete system. The system represents a flexible prototype for homomorphic program execution in software and system architecture.
The Social Nature of Games: Australian Preservice Primary TeachersÍ First Experiences of Teaching Games for Understanding

This article reports on a study of pre-service generalist primary school teachers’ experiences of a games unit taught using the Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) approach in an Australian teacher education programme. The study sought to make sense of the knowledge and dispositions that pre-service primary school teachers brought into the games unit, the ways in which this shaped their interpretation of the TGfU approach, the impact that this had on their perceptions of physical education’s educational value and the pedagogy they articulated as intending to adopt.A sense of ‘joy’ related to achievement and profound learning (Heywood, 2001) emerged as a central theme in many students’ accounts of their games unit. It is argued in this article that this sense of joy arose from the holistic, whole-body learning that is possible in games using a TGfU approach.
Thinking education feminisms: engagements with the work of Diana Leonard

Diana Leonard, who died aged 68 on 27 November 2010, was a feminist, sociologist and political activist. A feisty feminist academic and activist, she was a founder member of the editorial board of Gender and Education and a stalwart campaigner for (among other things) the establishment and linking of the journal with the Gender and Education Association. This was but a small part of her contribution to feminist and, more generally, anti-oppressive activism and theorisation. She was instrumental in the creation of women’s studies at the Open University and beyond, alongside the development of a critical feminist perspective on the sociology of education and the social sciences more widely. Her educational studies spanned compulsory, special and higher education, including graduate and doctoral studies. We came to editing this special issue as feminist sociologists who had close, but very different, personal and professional relationships with Diana over a number of years. Miriam first met Diana in the early 1970s through their participation in the British Sociological Association (BSA). As a result of Diana having organised the first ever BSA conference on Sexual Divisions and Society together with Sheila Allen in 1974 (she set about developing organisational strategies to maintain that critical edge within the BSA), Miriam became an equally active participant in the women’s caucus of the BSA (organising the South-West region) and the Sexual Divisions Study Group). Having first encountered Christine Delphy at the Aberdeen BSA conference, Diana decided to spread her intellectual reach beyond the UK and organised a series of seminars, with Christine, at the Maison de Sciences des Hommes in Paris, to which Miriam was invited. Both Diana and Miriam developed critical feminist analyses within and beyond the sociology of education and the family (David 2003) and quickly established a collaborative and yet combative intellectual relationship. They remained friends and colleagues for the rest of Diana’s life, especially since, by the mid-1980s, they were both living and working in London. As a teacher in ILEA, Debbie had heard Diana speak but did not actually meet her until the BSA conference on Sexualities in social context in 1994. Diana chaired the session at which Debbie was to give her paper (Epstein 1996) in the ‘graveyard session’ on the last day of the conference. The only people there were Diana and the paper givers. While those giving the papers (all of them new academics) were dispirited, Diana insisted that they give the papers anyway, but in a more informal way. Subsequently, she approached Debbie to apply for a job (which Debbie got) in the Centre for Research and Education on Gender (CREG), which Diana had
Leading Collaboration in Online Communities

Despite the growing importance of online communities in creating knowledge and facilitating collaboration, there has been limited research examining the role of leaders in such settings. In this paper, we propose a framework that integrates behavioral and structural approaches to explore the antecedents of leadership in online communities focused on knowledge work. Specifically, we propose that sociability and knowledge contribution behaviors as well as structural social capital lead to being identified as a leader by members of the online community. We test this framework using social network, survey, and message-level content analysis data collected from three different online communities focused on technical topics. The results from our zero inflated negative binomial models, with 6,709 messages from 976 individuals, provide strong support for the framework that is developed in this study. Our study contributes to both theory and practice by identifying the behavioral and structural antecedents of leadership in online communities.
The SoftGait: A simple and powerful weight-support device for walking and squatting

When designing a lower-limb assisting robot with body-weight support (BWS), it is important to achieve high force fidelity to support body weight at standing phase. Low impedance operation at swing phase is also required not to disturb leg motions for users. The SoftGait is designed to achieve both performances with a simple mechanical structure based on a pneumatic actuator and low cost sensor development. The SoftGait generates large force for body-weight-supporting in squatting mode corresponding to user's body weight. In fact, in walking mode, it enables a user to experience more comfortable walking with support from intrinsic compliance.walking with support from intrinsic compliance. The SoftGait uses two pneumatic linear actuators. Two different types of force sensors are designed to measure forces from both the seat and the pneumatic actuators. Two magnetic encoders attached to hip joints are designated to differentiate between a standing mode and a walking mode. In addition, two force sensing resistor (FSR) sensors are positioned in one shoe molded out of silicon for detecting gait phases in a walking mode and its availability as a gait phase detector is verified. A control strategy is established to operate the device using three modes: standing, walking and squatting. Mode transitions are conducted by using information from the sensors. All the modes are controlled by a simple PD controller while their target references are set to be different among modes. Experimental results tested with a healthy user show its effectiveness as a body-weight-support device targeting rehabilitation for the old and the obese.
Linking Contextual Affordances

This exploratory investigation examined the link between self-reported racial–ethnic socialization experiences and perceived parental career support among African American undergraduate and graduate students. The results of two separate multivariate multiple regression analyses found that messages about coping with racism positively predicted parental career supports involving opportunities to practice career behaviors, modeling of career behaviors, verbal encouragement of career development, and providing emotional support. Messages involving intergroup interactions were positively predictive of emotional support messages and opportunities to practice career development activities. The self-report of exposure to African American cultural artifacts (i.e., nonverbal ethnic socialization) positively predicted parental modeling of career behaviors and verbal encouragement of career development. Messages about African American history positively predicted verbal encouragement of career development and emotional support. Finally, messages about engaging in African American cultural activities negatively predicted verbal encouragement of career development. Recommendations for research and practice are provided.
Glucan, Water Dikinase Exerts Little Control over Starch Degradation in Arabidopsis Leaves at Night1[W][OPEN]

A starch-phosphorylating enzyme that catalyzes an essential first step in leaf starch degradation plays only a minor role in controlling flux through this pathway. The first step on the pathway of starch degradation in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) leaves at night is the phosphorylation of starch polymers, catalyzed by glucan, water dikinase (GWD). It has been suggested that GWD is important for the control of starch degradation, because its transcript levels undergo strong diel fluctuations, its activity is subject to redox regulation in vitro, and starch degradation is strongly decreased in gwd mutant plants. To test this suggestion, we analyzed changes in GWD protein abundance in relation to starch levels in wild-type plants, in transgenic plants in which GWD transcripts were strongly reduced by induction of RNA interference, and in transgenic plants overexpressing GWD. We found that GWD protein levels do not vary over the diel cycle and that the protein has a half-life of 2 d. Overexpression of GWD does not accelerate starch degradation in leaves, and starch degradation is not inhibited until GWD levels are reduced by 70%. Surprisingly, this degree of reduction also inhibits starch synthesis in the light. To discover the importance of redox regulation, we generated transgenic plants expressing constitutively active GWD. These plants retained normal control of degradation. We conclude that GWD exerts only a low level of control over starch degradation in Arabidopsis leaves.