Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Help or Hindrance? Causal Ambiguity and Supplier Involvement in New Product Development Teams

Suppliers are increasingly being involved in interorganizational new product development (NPD) teams. Successful management of this involvement is critical both to the performance of the new product and to meeting the project's goals. Yet the transfer of knowledge between buyer and supplier may be subject to varying degrees of causal ambiguity, potentially limiting the effect of supplier involvement on performance. Understanding the dynamics of causal ambiguity within interorganizational product development is thus an important unanswered empirical question. A theoretical model is developed exploring the effect of supplier involvement practices (supplier involvement orientation, relationship commitment, and involvement depth) on the level of causal ambiguity experienced within interorganizational NPD teams, and the subsequent impact on time to competitor imitation, new product advantage, and project performance. The model also serves as a test of the paradox that causal ambiguity both inhibits imitation by competitors, but adversely affects organizational outcomes. Survey data collected from 119 research and development-intensive manufacturing firms in the United Kingdom largely support these hypotheses. Results from structural equation modeling show that supplier involvement orientation and long-term relationship commitment lower causal ambiguity within interorganizational NPD teams. The results also shed light on the causal ambiguity paradox showing that causal ambiguity during interorganizational NPD decreases both product and project performance, but has no significant effect on time to competitor imitation. Instead, competitor imitation is delayed by the extent to which the firm develops a new product advantage within the market. A product development strategy based upon maintaining interfirm causal ambiguity to delay competitor imitation is thus unlikely to result in a sustainable competitive advantage. Instead, managers are encouraged to undertake supplier involvement practices aimed at minimizing the level of knowledge ambiguity in the NPD project, and in doing so, improve product and project-related performance.
Expenditure Composition and Distortionary Tax for Equitable Economic Growth

This paper continues the study of optimal fiscal policy in a growing economy by exploring a case in which the government simultaneously provides three main categories of expenditures with distortionary tax finance: public production services, public consumption services, and state-contingent redistributive transfers. The paper shows that in a general equilibrium model with given exogenous fiscal policy, a nonlinear relation exists between the suboptimal long-run growth rate in a competitive economy and distortionary tax rates. When fiscal policy is endogenously chosen at a social optimum, the relation between the rate of growth and tax rates is always negative. These two conclusions suggest that the interaction between fiscal policy and growth may be complicated enough that it cannot be captured in a simple linear model using an aggregate measure of fiscal policy. The sources of nonlinearity include expectation and coordination of fiscal policy, impluse response of government policies, and the presence of positive externality due to government spending.
Bioaccumulation and Toxicity of Iron Salt on Shingi Fish Heteropneustes fossils (Bloch) and its Possible Impacts on Human Health

The freshwater Stinging catfish locally known as Shingi ( Heteropneustes fossilis ) is exposed to various concentrations of analytical grade FeSO 4 . 7H2O. The LC 50 values for Fe 2+ were found to be 109, 68 and 45 mg/l at 24, 48 and 72 hrs, respectively indicating that the toxicity increased with time. Gills appear to be the first target organ for iron toxicity followed by the liver and muscle. Moisture contents in fish tissue increased due to release of the toxicant by biological way. Protein and lipid contents are decreased and ash content is increased with the increase of exposure time. In contrast, iron is relatively nontoxic to Shingi fish at low dose, but long time exposure has adverse effects in fish tissue. Thus, exposure to iron salt at toxic level resulted in accumulation of iron in fish tissue. Hence, the consumption of this type of contaminated fish might have detremental effect on human health. However, this needs extensive study to make any final conclusion. Bangladesh Pharmaceutical Journal 18 (2): 179-182, 2015
Three-dimensional dynamics and transition to turbulence in the wake of bluff objects

The wakes of bluff objects and in particular of circular cylinders are known to undergo a ‘fast ’ transition, from a laminar two-dimensional state a t Reynolds number 200 to a turbulent state a t Reynolds number 400. The process has been documented in several experimental mvestigations, but the underlying physical mechanisms have remained largely unknown so far. In this paper, the transition process is investigated numerically, through direct simulation of the NavierStokes equations at representative Reynolds numbers, up to 500. A high-order timeaccurate, mixed spectral/spectral element technique is used. It is shown that the wake first becomes three-dimensional, as a result of a secondary instability of the two-dimensional vortex street. This secondary instability appears at a Reynolds number close to 200. For slightly supercritical Reynolds numbers, a harmonic state develops, in which the flow oscillates at its fundamental frequency (Strouhal number) around a spanwise modulated time-average flow. In the near wake the modulation wavelength of the time-average flow is half of the spanwise wavelength of the perturbation flow, consistently with linear instability theory. The vortex filaments have a spanwise wavy shape in the near wake, and form rib-like structures further downstream. At higher Reynolds numbers the three-dimensional flow oscillation undergoes a period-doubling bifurcation, in which the flow alternates between two different states. Phase-space analysis of the flow shows that the basic limit cycle has branched into two connected limit cycles. In physical space the period doubling appears as the shedding of two distinct types of vortex filaments. Further increases of the Reynolds number result in a cascade of period-doubling bifurcations, which create a chaotic state in the flow at a Reynolds number of about 500. The flow is characterized by broadband power spectra, and the appearance intermittent phenomena. It is concluded that the wake undergoes transition turbulence following the period-doubling route. O f to
Trend Analysis in Two Standard Growth Models

This paper analyzes the trend processes characterized by two standard growth models using simple econometrics. The first model is the basic neoclassical growth model that postulates a deterministic trend for output. The second model is the Uzawa-Lucas model that postulates a stochastic trend for output. The aim is to understand how the different trend processes for output assumed by these two standard growth models determine the ability of each model to explain the observed trend processes of other macroeconomic variables such as consumption and investment. The results show that the two models reproduce the output trend process. Moreover, the results show that the basic growth model captures properly the consumption trend process, but fails in characterizing the investment trend process. The reverse is true for the Uzawa-Lucas model.
Characterization of microsatellite markers in the genera Anguis and Pseudopus ( Reptilia : Anguidae )

1) Department of Zoology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Mlynská dolina, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15 Bratislava, Slovakia 2) Institute of Vertebrate Biology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Květná 8, 603 65 Brno, Czech Republic 3) Department of Zoology, National Museum, Cirkusová 1740, 193 00 Prague, Czech Republic 4) Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Charles University in Prague, Viničná 7, 128 44 Prague, Czech Republic
Examination about Influence for Precision of 3d Image Measurement from the Ground Control Point Measurement and Surface Matching

Abstract. As the 3D image measurement software is now widely used with the recent development of computer-vision technology, the 3D measurement from the image is now has acquired the application field from desktop objects as wide as the topography survey in large geographical areas. Especially, the orientation, which used to be a complicated process in the heretofore image measurement, can be now performed automatically by simply taking many pictures around the object. And in the case of fully textured object, the 3D measurement of surface features is now done all automatically from the orientated images, and greatly facilitated the acquisition of the dense 3D point cloud from images with high precision. With all this development in the background, in the case of small and the middle size objects, we are now furnishing the all-around 3D measurement by a single digital camera sold on the market. And we have also developed the technology of the topographical measurement with the air-borne images taken by a small UAV [1~5]. In this present study, in the case of the small size objects, we examine the accuracy of surface measurement (Matching) by the data of the experiments. And as to the topographic measurement, we examine the influence of GCP distribution on the accuracy by the data of the experiments. Besides, we examined the difference of the analytical results in each of the 3D image measurement software. This document reviews the processing flow of orientation and the 3D measurement of each software and explains the feature of the each software. And as to the verification of the precision of stereo-matching, we measured the test plane and the test sphere of the known form and assessed the result. As to the topography measurement, we used the air-borne image data photographed at the test field in Yadorigi of Matsuda City, Kanagawa Prefecture JAPAN. We have constructed Ground Control Point which measured by RTK-GPS and Total Station. And we show the results of analysis made in each of the 3D image measurement software. Further, we deepen the study on the influence of the distribution of GCP on the precision.
Guest editorial: information technology-enabled supply chain management

It is widely accepted that advances in information technology (IT) will generate new opportunities when suppliers, business partners and customers work together to co-create and co-produce value. However, results from prior studies show that the mere possession of IT is unlikely to generate business value. Rather, IT creates value when information – frequently produced by IT infrastructure – is used to support complementary organizational and human resources. Still, the hypothesis that greater investment in IT will generate business value requires caution. The focus of this special issue is to extend our understanding of how firms in a supply chain create and capture business value with IT. Also, a review is provided of the IT business value literature in the journal Production Planning & Control: The Management of Operations. This literature is grouped into three types of business value: transactional, strategic, and transformational. The review justifies the importance of this special issue by highlighting the dearth of research on the topic in this journal. Lastly, future research directions are provided and this introduction concludes with a guide to the papers in this special issue.
Ensemble based majority voting for point-to-point measurements of Gyrodactylus species identification

In the 21 st Century, a key challenge in both wild and cultured fish populations for control and management of disease is to securely and consistently perform pathogen identification. To provide automated accurate classification for the challenging Gyrodactylus species, we introduce an ensemble based majority voting approach for their classification. In this system, an ensemble classification approach is created that utilises a combination of multiple feature sets and classifiers for Gyrodactylus species identification. The classifier base makes use of K-Nearest Neighbor (K-NN) and Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA) approaches; with three different feature sets used for successful multi-species classification, considering 25 point-to-point data measurements, as well as smaller feature sets chosen using different feature selection techniques. The results show that our proposed ensemble based approach is accurate and robust, with ensemble based majority voting of classifiers and feature sets together found to be more effective than only combining feature sets.
Biometric authentication based on eye movements by using scan-path comparison algorithms

—This paper presents an approach for an authentication method of people by using their eye movements. Our method is based on a simple scan-path comparison. People’s eye movements were recorded by using an eye tracker when they were drawing a personal identiﬁcation number (PIN) on a screen numeric pad. Data was analyzed using the Eyenalysis algorithm to measure the similarity of scan-paths by calculating and normalizing the distance in pixels for each point in the scan-paths. In the results of a ﬁrst experiment and analysis we got an average acceptance rate of 80% and a low false acceptance rate under 25%. In a second experiment a previous training for each participant was done, and we got best results with trained people. However, we are continuing with this research in order to make a new study where variables like ﬁxation time and distance from the equipment are also considered.
Market-Based Measures of Monetary Policy Expectations

A number of recent articles have used different financial market instruments to measure near-term expectations of the federal funds rate and the high-frequency changes in these instruments around Federal Open Market Committee announcements to measure monetary policy shocks. This article evaluates the empirical success of a variety of financial market instruments in predicting the future path of monetary policy. All of the instruments we consider provide forecasts that are clearly superior to those of standard time series models at all of the horizons considered. Among financial market instruments, we find that federal funds futures dominate all the other securities in forecasting monetary policy at horizons out to six months. For longer horizons, the predictive power of many of the instruments we consider is very similar. In addition, we present evidence that monetary policy shocks computed using the current-month federal funds futures contract are influenced by changes in the timing of policy actions that do not influence the expected course of policy beyond a horizon of about six weeks. We propose an alternative shock measure that captures changes in market expectations of policy over slightly longer horizons.
Realistic Real-time Underwater Caustics and Godrays

Realistic rendering of underwater scenes has been a subject of increasing importance in modern real-time 3D applications, such as open-world 3D games, which constantly present the user with opportunities to submerge oneself in an underwater environment. Crucial to the accurate recreation of these environments are the effects of caustics and godrays. In this paper, we shall present a novel algorithm, for physically inspired real-time simulation of these phenomena, on commodity 3D graphics hardware, which can easily be integrated in a modern 3D engine.
A Panoramic and Spherical Environment Map Authoring Tool for Image-Based VR Browsers

An authoring tool is proposed in this paper to automatically construct panoramic images of real-world scenes from a sequence of photographs. Another tool is presented to construct spherical environment map semiautomatically, thus enables complete 3D viewing. Instead of using special hardware such as fisheye lens, the method we will propose is less hardware-sensitive and more flexible to capture real-world scenes without loss of efficiency. Unlike the image-warping technique used by “QuickTime VR” of Apple Computer, the method we used is based on generalized affine transformations. For enhancing the image quality and eliminating ghost images in stitched images, a local search pass is also implemented. In addition to popular image-based VR data formats, we also output the panoramic images in VRML97 format.
The impact of gemcitabine chemotherapy and 3D conformal RT/5FU on quality of life of patients managed for pancreatic cancer

PURPOSE: The role of chemo-radiotherapy for pancreatic cancer in both the definitive and post-operative settings is controversial, with concerns about its potential impact on Quality Of Life (QOL) limiting its use. The aim of this paper was to report the QOL results of patients receiving treatment for pancreatic cancer. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Eligible patients (n = 41 locally advanced, n = 22 post-surgery) entered the B9E-AY-S168 study and received one cycle of induction gemcitabine (1000 mg/m 2 weekly ×3 with one week break) followed by 3DCRT (54Gy locally advanced and 45Gy post-surgery) and concomitant continuous infusion 5FU (200mg/m 2 /day throughout RT). After four weeks, patients received an additional three cycles of consolidation gemcitabine chemotherapy. Patients completed the EORTC QLQ–C30 and QLQ–PAN26 questionnaires at baseline, before RT/5FU, end of RT/5FU, before consolidation gemcitabine and at treatment completion. RESULTS: The patterns of change in global QOL scores differed between groups. In the locally advanced group global QOL scores were +13, +8, +3 and +1 compared with baseline before RT/5FU (p = .008), end of RT/5FU, before consolidation gemcitabine and at treatment completion, respectively. In the post-surgery group, global QOL scores were −3, +4, +15 and +17 compared with baseline at the same time-points, with a significant improvement in global QOL before consolidation gemcitabine (p = .03). No significant declines in global QOL were reported by either cohort. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that global QOL and associated function and symptom profiles for pancreatic chemo-radiotherapy differ between locally advanced and post-surgery patients, likely to be due to differences in underlying
Temperament and Character as Predictor of Health Related Quality of Life after Metacarpophalangeal Joint Arthroplasty-Personality and MCP Joint Arthroplasty Outcome

Purpose: To evaluate personality characteristics' impact upon outcome after silicone-based MP arthroplasty in RA patients. Methods: 40 RA patients who had undergone operations on their MP joints were investigated in a one-year follow-up. Objective measurement to assess grip strength and active range of motion-Paper-pencil- tests to assess pain during activity and at rest performance, QoL, and personality. Results: Significant improvement was observed in function and pain related scores except for the pain related VAS and in several QoL facets and domains. Patients who experienced improvement reported higher scores on the activities of daily living facet of the WHO QoL questionnaire. Those with lower pain showed more independence. The variance of the QoL domain scores, other than social and physical domains, could substantially and meaningfully be explained by variance of objective measures combined with personality scores. Conclusions: Most RA patients' QoL can be improved by MP arthroplasty despite remaining substantial level of pain. NS and HA seem to play an important role in the adaptation process during the long term, chronic illness; whereas SD represents a tool of coping with the burden of pain and disability. Personality characteristics are highly predictive for QoL suggesting their important mediating role between experienced pain and disability and HR QoL.
First-principles calculations of indirect Auger recombination in nitride semiconductors

Auger recombination is an important non-radiative carrier recombination mechanism in many classes of optoelectronic devices. The microscopic Auger processes can be either direct or indirect, mediated by an additional scattering mechanism such as the electron-phonon interaction. Phonon-assisted Auger recombination is particularly strong in nitride materials and affects the efficiency of nitride optoelectronic devices at high powers. Here we present a first-principles computational formalism for the study of direct and indirect Auger recombination in direct-band-gap semiconductors and apply it to the case of nitride materials. We show that direct Auger recombination is weak in the nitrides and cannot account for experimental measurements. On the other hand, carrier scattering by phonons and alloy disorder enables indirect Auger processes that can explain the observed loss in devices. We analyze the dominant phonon contributions to the Auger recom- bination rate and the influence of temperature and strain on the values of the Auger coefficients. Auger processes assisted by charged-defect scattering are much weaker than the phonon-assisted ones for realistic defect densities and not important for the device performance. The computational formalism is general and can be applied to the calculation of the Auger coefficient in other classes of optoelectronic materials.
Risk perception of the E-payment systems: a young adult perspective

This paper introduces the current trend towards the use of Electronic-Payment (E-Payment) in Malaysia as an alternative to cash and their risk perceptions. It aims to gain more insights into reasons on why young adults are adopting as well as not adopting E-Payment and their perception of risks on E-Payment as compared to cash. College students from private universities in a metropolitan city in Malaysia were chosen as respondents for this study. The findings show the different risk perceptions are significant among cash and E-Payment but less significant in terms of volume of purchase. We discuss the implications of the findings to service providers and policy makers and offer some recommendations to improve the e-payment service quality. Finally, the limitations of study and the future directions of research are discussed.
Heisenberg Picture Approach to the Stability of Quantum Markov Systems

Quantum Markovian systems, modeled as unitary dilations in the quantum stochastic calculus of Hudson and Parthasarathy, have become standard in current quantum technological applications. This paper investigates the stability theory of such systems. Lyapunov-type conditions in the Heisenberg picture are derived in order to stabilize the evolution of system operators as well as the underlying dynamics of the quantum states. In particular, using the quantum Markov semigroup associated with this quantum stochastic differential equation, we derive sufficient conditions for the existence and stability of a unique and faithful invariant quantum state. Furthermore, this paper proves the quantum invariance principle, which extends the LaSalle invariance principle to quantum systems in the Heisenberg picture. These results are formulated in terms of algebraic constraints suitable for engineering quantum systems that are used in coherent feedback networks.