Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Information Systems Investment and Value: Lessons from Kenyan Higher Education Institution

Investment in Information Systems (IS) and related technologies to enhance operational activities as well as leveraging strategic advantage in organizations has become critical. However, this can only be achieved if there is a properly laid down strategy at the corporate level and well planned deployment and implementation strategies at the project implementation level. This paper discusses findings of a research on strategic alignment practices in Kenyan public universities. The assessment focuses on levels of information systems strategic alignment at the corporate planning level and IS project implementation level. The assessment was done using a framework adapted from Luftman’s Strategic Alignment Maturity Model (SAMM) assessment framework. The research used sequential explanatory mixed method approach starting with a survey study followed by interviews to enhance the findings from the initial quantitative study. A comparison of the corporate level and IS project implementation level show the later has a higher alignment maturity level. Further probe of the quantitative findings through interviews explains the variations in each of the IS projects and between the corporate and IS project levels. The approach guides the organization in determining the factors requiring attention to improve on the overall maturity level of the organization and therefore realize business value of the IS investments. Keywords: Strategic Alignment, IS Investments, IS-Business Alignment, Information Systems, Strategic Alignment Maturity Model
How to Develop an Impactful Action Research Program: Insights and Lessons from a Case Study

Title: How to develop an impactful action research program: Insights and lessons from a case study Auteurs: Authors: Victoria Lakiza, & Isabelle Deschamps Date: 2019 Type: Article de revue / Article Référence: Citation: Lakiza, V. , & Deschamps, I. (2019). How to develop an impactful action research program: Insights and lessons from a case study. Technology Innovation Management Review, 9 (5), 34-43. https://doi.org/10.22215/timreview%2f1239
Performance Evaluation of Infrared and Visible Image Fusion Algorithms for Face Recognition

Fusion of infrared and visible image is a potential solution to improve face recognition performance. In this paper, we propose a new fusion method based on singular value decomposition (SVD) and apply it to multiple spectrum face recognition. The performance of the proposed SVD-based fusion method is compared with that of average fusion, Laplacian Pyramid Decomposition (LPD) based fusion and Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) based fusion methods. The performances of the four image fusion methods for face recognition are analyzed by statistical experiments and the results show that the SVD-based fusion method is better in most conditions.
Multi-response optimization of TiO2/EG-water nano-coolant using entropy based preference indexed value (PIV) method

Nano-coolants, being excellent cooling medium, are primarily used in heat transfer applications. Their use in heat transfer applications has revolutionized the thermal industries because they have huge potential for extracting heat as compared to other conventional fluids such as water, ethylene glycol, oil, etc. However, their viscosity may impose a limitation, particularly in case of forced convective heat transfer, since increase in viscosity increases the required pumping power. Present study is mainly focussed on the preparation of stable, low viscosity TiO2/EG-water nano-coolant. Three process parameters i.e. sonication time, concentration of nano-particles, and pH value each at three levels are considered. Experimental data pertaining to two response variables i.e. Zeta potential (Z) and viscosity (μ) of the nano-coolants are collected using the Taguchi’s L9 orthogonal array. Multi-response optimization is carried out using the following methods: (i) combined Entropy and Preference Indexed Value (PIV) multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods, (ii) analysis of mean (ANOM), and (iii) analysis of variance (ANOVA). It is found that within the investigated range of the process parameters, the optimal combination of the process parameters which maximizes the Zeta potential (Z) and minimizes the viscosity (μ) simultaneously is A3B2C3 (i.e. sonication time = 120 min, concentration of nanoparticles = 0.03 % by vol, and pH value = 11). Furthermore, ANOVA results indicate that sonication time is the most significant process parameter followed by pH value, and concentration of nanoparticles.
Poly(Acrylic Acid) and Potassium Sodium Tartrate as Effective Corrosion Inhibitors for Mild Steel in Aqueous Environment

The aim of the present work was to study the corrosion inhibition of mild steel using a ternary formulation. This new ternary inhibitor formulation, viz., Polyacrylic acid (PAA), with nickel ions and Potassium Sodium Tartrate (SPT) was used to protect mild steel from corrosion in a low-chloride environment. The weight loss studies showed that 93% inhibition efficiency was achieved with the ternary system consisting of 50 ppm Ni 2+ ions, 200 ppm PAA, and 600 ppm SPT. Electrochemical methods (potentiostatic polarization and electrochemical impedance studies) and surface characterization techniques Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to ascertain the nature of the protective film and for explaining the mechanistic aspects of corrosion inhibition.
Characterization of Ultra-Thin Ni Silicide Film by Two-Step Low Temperature Microwave Anneal

NiSi,atransitionmetalsilicide,hasbeenincreasinglyusedforcontacts in the latest complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) devices, owing to its low temperature of formation and low Si consumption during silicidation, low sheet resistance (RS) and lower leakage current. 1,2 The use of NiSi currently faces a difficult trade-off between thickness and sheet resistance. The contact junction depth must still scale with gate length. To avoid high contact resistance and high contact leakage, no more than half the contact junction depth can be consumed in the formation of the silicide. Therefore, the silicide must become progressively thinner to accommodate the more shallow contact junction for scaled contacts. The rapid thermal annealing (RTA) has been widely used for silicidation and exhibits difficult thinthickness and phase control. Microwave annealing (MWA) 3 has been realized to activate implanted dopants through solid phase epitaxial regrowth at low temperature. 4 It is promising for achieving advanced Si or Ge CMOS because of its unique volumetric heating and low temperature due to apparent non-thermal energy transfer. 5 The advantages of replacing rapid thermal annealing (RTA) with MWA are ultra-thin NiSi formation, diffusion-less junction, improved capacity of gate oxide and lower gate leakage. In this work, a novel two-step low temperature MWA process is used to form homogeneous NiSi contact films with low sheet resistance while not sacrificing thickness and quality. During silicidation, many kinds of nickel silicide phases may appearsimultaneously. 6 Ithasbeenreportedthatthepredominantphases are Ni2Si, NiSi and NiSi2, form in the ranges 200‐350, 350‐750, and 750‐1000 ◦ C, respectively. 7 The NiSi has the lowest resistivity among three different phases and other metal silicides. Furthermore, the Ni atoms are the primary moving species during the formation of NiSi phase. It could prevent the bridging effect which results in short circuit area between gate and source/drain. 8 It is well recognized that identification of nickel silicide phases after annealing is of crucial importance to its performance, especially, while these phases are formed innano-polycrystallinelayer.Inthisstudy,weuseelectronenergy-loss spectroscopy 9‐13 andenergydispersiveX-rayspectroscopy 13,14 inconjunction with scanning transmission electron microscopy 14 (STEMEELS/EDS) in order to identify the nickel silicide phases concentrating primarily on the Z-contrast image with atomic spatial resolution, elemental analysis, bulk plasmon excitaions and the chemical bonding.
RISK VARIABLE ON CONTRACTOR’S TENDER FIGURE IN MALAYSIA

Construction industry like other industries is subject to risks due to the unique and complexity of the construction industries. It shows the risk exposure at highest level during the tendering process. The objective of this paper is to evaluate risk variable on contractor’s tender figure in Malaysia. To achieve the objective, questionnaire survey was conducted on G7 contractor in Malaysia. A total of 120 usable postal questionnaires was received. The findings have shown quality expectation, price inflation of construction materials, the risk involved in the project and financial capability of the client are most significant factors to be considered by contractors when estimating the pricing risks. The study recommended that competent contractors should be allowed to tender project as to see the risk variable inherent during tendering process that will affect project performance.
Extremely Wetting Pattern by Photocatalytic Lithography and Its Application

Wettability is an important property governed by not only chemical composition, but also geometrical structure as well (Ichimura et al., 2000; Lai et al., 2009a; Wang et al., 1997). Super-wetting and antiwetting interfaces, such as superhydrophilic and superhydrophobic surfaces with special liquid-solid adhesion have recently attracted worldwide attention. Superhydrophilicity and superhydrophobicity are defined based on the conventional water contact angle experiment. If the contact angle is smaller than 5°, the surface is said to be superhydrophilic. Superhydrophobic refers to surface with contact angle greater than 150°. Such two extremely cases have attracted much interest due to their importance in both theoretical research and practical application (Lafuma & Quere, 2003; Liu et al., 2010; Gao & Jiang, 2004). In recent years, patterned thin films have received considerable attentions due to their interesting properties for a range of applications, such as optoelectronic devices, magnetic storage media, gas sensors, and fluidic systems. Compared to the conventional thin film technology, such as physical vapor deposition (Li et al., 2006; Zhang & Kalyanaraman, 2004), chemical vapor deposition (Jeon et al., 1996; Slocik et al., 2006) and sputtering (Rusponi et al., 1999), solution-based deposition method is becoming popular for the fabrication of patterning films due to the low temperature process under ambient environment, less energy and time consumption, and easier control of the experimental parameters (Lai et al., 2010a; Liu et al., 2007; Yoshimura & Gallage, 2008). Although traditional photolithographic technique is excellent for preparing sub-micrometer or even only sub-100-nanometer pattern (Cui & Veres, 2007; Li et al., 2009), it is a complex multi-step process (wafer cleaning; barrier layer formation; photoresist coating; soft-baking; mask alignment; exposure and development; and hard-baking) and needs to remove part of the film and all the photoresist used. Direct and selective assembly of nanostructured materials from precursors paves a new avenue for the fabrication of electronic optical microdevices. Wetting micropatterns with different physical or chemical properties, without the need for ultra-precise positioning, have frequently been acted as templates for fabricating various functional materials in a large scale. The great difference in contact angle of the two extreme cases provides a potentially powerful and economical platform to directly and precisely construct patterned nanostructures in aqueous solution. In general, wetting micropatterns
Methodology and Implementation of Value-at-Risk Measures in Emerging Fixed-Income Markets with Infrequent Trading

This paper deals with the issue of calculating daily Value-at-Risk (VaR) measures within an environment of thin trading. Our approach focuses on fixed income portfolios with low frequency of transactions in which the missing data problem makes VaR measures difficult to calculate. We propose and implement a methodology to calculate VaR measures with an incomplete panel of prices. The methodology is composed of three phases: Phase I, generates a complete panel of prices, using a term-structure dynamic model of interest rates. Phase II, calculates portfolio VaR measures with several alternative methods using the complete panel data generated in phase I. Phase III, shows how to back-test the VaR measures obtained in phase II using the original incomplete panel of prices. We provide an empirical implementation of the methodology for the Chilean fixed income market. The proposed methodology seems to provide reliable VaR measures for thinly traded markets addressing an important issue for financial risk management in emerging markets.
Managing IT for Business Innovation: Issues of Culture, Learning, and Leadership in a Jamaican Insurance Company

The recent major changes in the general insurance sector have significantly increased the need for the development and use of IT for business innovation. This paper uses the case study method to explore how a Jamaican general insurance company responded to these pressures by establishing a cross-cultural joint venture for IT development. The research was guided at the meta-level by the principles of structuration theory, but explicitly uses the more familiar perspectives of culture, learning, and leadership in analysing the empirical work. Results from the case study include illustrations of how, during initiation activities of innovation, visionary leadership utilised an intimate knowledge of the business along with double loop learning capabilities. However, during the implementation of the innovation, leadership styles did not cope adequately with cultural characteristics. The paper uses insights from the case study to develop some practical implications concerning appropriate policies when managing joint ventures for IT development, particularly when cross-cultural teams are involved.
Environmental life cycle assessment of concrete with different mixed designs

Abstract To identify proper types of concrete with favourable mechanical and durability properties is necessary, which imposes minimum pollution into the environment. We collected information, based on the literature and consulting companies, by evaluating one cubic meter of five different types of concrete, including microsilica, Geopolymer, micro–nano bubble, nanosilica and using only ordinary Portland cement (OPC). After using a life cycle inventory (LCI) phase, according to the life cycle assessment (LCA) for cradle to gate, we applied SimaPro8.1 software using the collected information. The results indicated that global warming indicator in Geopolymer concrete was much lower than the other concretes and indicated a reduction of nearly 26% in comparison with ordinary Portland cement in concrete. Also, the global warming indicator increased approximately 56%, 17% and 38% in microsilica, nanosilica and micro–nano bubble concrete in comparison with OPC concrete, respectively. Common harmful environmental impacts that were associated with ecosystem damage, ecosystem quality, human health, climate change and global warming potential (GWP), human toxicity, acidification and eutrophication were observed in microsilica concrete, while OPC was the most environmentally friendly concrete in production stage due to its lowest level of environmental burdens.
A Montgomery Representation of Elements in GF(2 5 ) for Efficient Arithmetic to Use in Elliptic Curve Cryptography

Elliptic curve calculation was not introduced to cryptography until 1985. Compared with RSA, the advantage of elliptic curve cryptography lies in its ensuring the same security while the length of key of elliptic curve cryptography is much less than RSA cryptography and its lessening operation load. In this article a change of representation for elements in GF(2 5 ) is proposed to use in elliptic curve cryptography. The proposed representation is useful for architectures that implement Montgomery multiplication in the finite field GF(2 5 ). In fact, it needs virtually no cost in terms of conversion operations from a standard multiplication into a Montgomery multiplication.
LEXICAL ACCESS IN PERSIAN NORMAL SPEAKERS: PICTURE NAMING, VERBAL FLUENCY AND SPONTANEOUS SPEECH

Objectives: Lexical access is the process by which the basic conceptual, syntactical and morphophonological information of words are activated. Most studies of lexical access have focused on picture naming. There is hardly any previous research on other parameters of lexical access such as verbal fluency and analysis of connected speech in Persian normal participants. This study investigates the lexical access performance in normal speakers in different issues such as age, sex and education. Methods: The performance of 120 adult Persian speakers in three tasks including picture naming, verbal fluency and connected speech, was examined using "Persian Lexical Access Assessment Package‖. The performance of participants between two gender groups (male / female), three education groups (below 5 years / above 12 years / between 5 and 12 years) and three age groups (18 - 35 years / 36 - 55 years / 56 75 years) were compared. Results: According to findings, picture naming increased with increasing education and decreased with increasing age. The performance of participants in phonological and semantic verbal fluency showed improvement with age and education. No significant difference was seen between males and females in verbal fluency task. In the analysis of connected speech there were no significant differences between different age and education groups and just mean length of utterance in males was significantly higher than females. Discussion: The findings could be a primitive scale for comparison between normal subjects and patients in lexical access tasks, furthermore it could be a horizon for planning of treatment goals in patients with word finding problem according to age, gender and education .
TEACHING WRITING FOR MALAYSIAN HIGHER RELIGIOUS EDUCATION CERTIFICATE AS A PROCESS BASED

Abstract. Teaching approach adopted by an Insya’ teacher affects on students’ motivation and their writing skills as well. Based on cognitive process approach proposed by Flower & Hayes (1981), this article is going to explore the teaching and learning writing at Malaysian Higher Religious Certificate programme as a process in the classroom. The main question is how do an Insya’ teacher practices writing pedagogy and the implication on the students’ motivation and their writing skills. Using qualitative single case study method, data sources were collected from classroom observations backup by video recordings, teacher interviews, focus group interviews and documents analysis. Findings revealed that the participant implemented the process-writing approach in most of the teaching and learning writing activities. Finally, the writing process approach had positive implications on student motivation and writing skill development. Keywords: writing skills; writing subject; process approach; case study; motivation.
Inulin Induces IL-10 Secretion and Increased FOXP3 Gene Expression in Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells

Inulin is an effective prebiotic and its potential in modulating systemic immunity have been proposed. A subpopulation of T cells, named T regulatory cells (Tregs), expressing the Forkhead boxP3 transcription factor are key mediators of peripheral tolerance and suppress undesirable immune responses. These Tregs can be induced by cytokine transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) and interleukin 10 (IL-10). This work aimed to evaluate inulin effects on human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) in vitro. PBMC were incubated with inulin, and the expression of TGF-1, FOXP3 and IL-10 was analyzed. Increased supernatant IL-10 levels were observed in PBMC of inulin-treated group (p=0.03). Moreover, FOXP3 gene expression was 7.6 fold higher in inulin-treated PBMC, whereas a trend in TGF-β1 expression was detected (p=0.055). These data suggest that inulin induces an immunosuppressive environment in cultured PBMC by promoting FOXP3 gene expression and IL-10 secretion. These studies offer prospects for further fundamental research in this field.
Measuring the Daily Stepping Activity of People with Transtibial Amputation Using the ActivPAL™ Activity Monitor

ABSTRACT This study compared the general activity during 1 week and detailed activity during a 24-hr period of 48 established unilateral transtibial prostheses users. Activity was measured by instrumenting their prescribed prosthesis, which they have been using for a minimum of 6 months, with the ActivPAL™ activity monitor. Half (n = 24) were fitted with a prosthesis with total surface bearing (TSB) pressure-cast sockets (“hands-off” group), and the other half (n = 24) had been wearing prostheses with hand-cast patellar tendon-bearing (PTB) sockets (“hands-on” group). As a prerequisite, the long-term reliability of the ActivPAL activity monitor was assessed, and it was found to exhibit a high level of consistency between devices (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] of 0.997 during the 24-hr period). The monitors were used to examine the activity levels of the two groups of transtibial prostheses users wearing their own prosthesis. The results indicated that both subject groups were active throughout the day, walking a mean of more than 8000 steps. No statistically significant difference in daily stepping activity was seen between the two groups (p = 0.173). Despite differences in prosthetic socket design, the daily activity profiles of both subject groups were similar.
Design of an Advanced CMOS Power Amplifier

The CMOS power amplifier (PA) is a promising solution for highly-integrated transmitters in a single chip. However, the implementation of PAs using the CMOS process is a major challenge because of the inferior characteristics of CMOS devices. This paper focuses on improvements to the efficiency and linearity of CMOS PAs for modern wireless communication systems incorporating high peak-toaverage ratio signals. Additionally, an envelope tracking supply modulator is applied to the CMOS PA for further performance improvement. The first approach is enhancing the efficiency by waveform engineering. In the second approach, linearization using adaptive bias circuit and harmonic control for wideband signals is performed. In the third approach, a CMOS PA with dynamic auxiliary circuits is employed in an optimized envelope tracking (ET) operation. Using the proposed techniques, a fully integrated CMOS ET PA achieves competitive performance, suitable for employment in a real system.