Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A process model of business value creation from IT investments

The history of Information Systems (IS) as a discipline has been accompanied by vigorous debate on how, and indeed whether, IT investments contribute to improving organisational performance and hence in delivering value to the organisation. A number of models have been put forward to describe the relationship between IT expenditure and business value. This paper considers one such model, the process model of Soh and Markus (1995), and although this model has many attractive features, it is perhaps deficient in the way in which it links IT investment proposals back to business objectives, drivers and requirements. A modification of this model is thus proposed, and empirically assessed through qualitative interviews with CIOs in large organisations to understand the practises and processes by which they assert that business value is achieved through IT investments. The modified model was largely supported by the empirical study, but an additional factor, that of the need for and importance of sound IT governance processes and procedures to be in place if business value is to be derived form IT expenditure.
Normal Development and Hatchability of Korean Oge Chickens in White Leghorn Surrogate Eggshells

The avian embryos have been used as a good model to study embryonic development. Due to its unique development in the eggshell, avian embryos can be cultured and hatch in the surrogate eggshell system. In this study, we examined the viability, normal development and hatchability of Korean Oge (KO) chicken embryos in White Leghorn (WL) surrogate eggshells. Donor KO embryos at 3-day and 4-day-old were transferred into recipient WL eggshells, incubated for further 18 days at 37.5℃ with 70% of humidity until hatching. The viability of 3-day-old KO embryos at 7, 14 and 21 day in surrogate eggshell were 70.0%, 43.8% and 23.1%, respectively. In contrast, the viability of 4-day-old KO embryos at 7, 14 and 21 day in surrogate eggshells were 87.1%, 55.6% and 36.0%, respectively. The hatchability of KO embryos transferred into surrogate eggshells at 3-day-old was 23.1%, whereas embryos transferred at 4-day-old was 36.0%. Furthermore, the development of all viable embryos from 3-day group and 4-day group were normal. Our results suggested that culture of KO embryos in WL surrogate eggshells is highly possible, and transfer of donor embryos at 4-day-old may yield higher percentage of hatchability. This study may provide potential knowledge for the conservation of wild and endangered birds through surrogate system.
Tracing biomass burning aerosol from South America to Troll Research Station, Antarctica

The atmospheric observatory at the Norwegian Research Station Troll in Queen Maud Land, Antarctica, holds, since February 2007, the first all‐year Antarctic atmospheric aerosol particle number size distribution measurements. These are colocated with measurements of the aerosol absorption and spectral scattering coefficients. In June 2007, this instrument set observed an aerosol whose properties were indicative of a biomass burning aerosol. These properties included two log‐normal size distribution modes with median particle diameters of 0.105 μm and 0.36 μm, sharply falling off to smaller and larger sizes, and peaks in scattering and absorption coefficient. With backward plume calculations of the Lagrangian transport model FLEXPART and the MODIS fire activity product, a source‐receptor relationship was established between biomass burning events in Central Brazil and the aerosol seen at Troll. This is the first direct evidence that the Antarctic continent is susceptible to emissions from as far north as Southern tropical latitudes.
Study of Intake, Growth and Nutrient Utilization of Growing Bulls Fed Forages as Sole Diets

The study was conducted to rank Napier, jumbo, maize and rice straw on the basis of their yield, production cost, nutritional value and productivity of native growing bulls. Thirty native bulls (Bos indicus) of 135 (+28/-28) kg live weight (LW) were randomly allocated to five treatments in a completely randomized design and fed silage of maize (Zea mays; Hybrid, PG-1000), jumbo (Sorghum bicolor; Hybrid Sugar graze), Napier (Pennisetum perpureum; hybrid) and urea molasses straw of whole straw (UMS-WS) and UMS of stover (UMS-S) for a period of 90 days. The dry matter (DM) intake of Napier, jumbo, maize, UMS-WS and UMS-S was 2.08, 1.79, 2.01, 1.92 and 2.08 % LW, respectively which differed significantly (P<0.01). The DM digestibility of UMS-WS or UMS-S (45.49 and 44.37 %) was significantly (p<0.01) lower than that of Napier, jumbo and maize (50.22, 53.01 and 58.75 %, respectively). The LW gain was greater (p<0.01) in bulls fed maize silage (273.3 g/d) followed by Napier silage (81.4 g/d), UMS-S (75.3 g/d), jumbo silage (39.9 g/d) and UMS-WS (39.6 g/d). Considering the cost of beef production, maize may be ranked on the top followed by Napier, jumbo, UMS-S and UMS-WS, respectively which may be taken in profitable beef production system.
Contractual Managerial Incentives with Stock Price Feedback

We study the effect of financial market frictions on managerial compensation. We embed a market microstructure model into an otherwise standard contracting framework, and analyze optimal pay-for-performance when managers use information they learn from the market in their investment decisions. In a less frictional market, the improved information content of stock prices helps guide managerial decisions and thereby necessitates lower-powered compensation. Exploiting a randomized experiment, we document evidence that pay-for-performance is lowered in response to reduced market frictions. Firm investment also becomes more sensitive to stock prices during the experiment, consistent with increased managerial learning from the market. (JEL D83, G12, G14, G32, G34, M12, M52)
Quality and sensory properties of maize flour cookies enriched with soy protein isolate

Abstract This study was carried out to assess the quality and sensory properties of maize flour cookies enriched with soy protein isolate with the aim of encouraging the use of soy beans in producing value-added products. Soy protein isolate was produced from soy beans and then incorporated at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 30% levels in maize flour. The results revealed that substitution of maize flour with soy protein isolate significantly (p ≤ 0.05) increased the protein from 8.69 ± 0.19 to 29.11 ± 0.34 while the moisture, crude fibre, fat and sugar contents of the cookies from the composite flour decreased as the percentage of soy protein isolate in the blends increased from 8.76 ± 0.22 to 6.96 ± 0.13, 3.81 ± 0.07 to 2.87 ± 0.02, 2.63 ± 0.06 to 1.69 ± 0.01, 9.41 ± 0.24 to 8.45 ± 0.13 and 6.21 ± 0.20 to 4.98 ± 0.11 respectively. The calorific value of the cookies decreased from 468 ± 1.59 to 383 ± 1.01 cal/100 g as the percentage of soy protein isolate increased in the cookies. Sensory evaluation results showed that the colour, texture, taste and overall acceptability changed significantly (p ≤ 0.05) with increase in soy protein isolate in the composite flour. The optimum substitution level with soy protein isolate was 20%. Above this, the product consumer acceptability decreases.
How cantonal education systems in Switzerland promote gender-typical school-to-work transitions

The paper asks how cantonal education systems in Switzerland promote gender-typed school-to-work transitions and gender segregation at work. Data from the Swiss TREE youth panel study is used to analyse the impact of cantonal pro vision of vocational education and training (VET) on gender-typical educational trajectories. The findings show that education systems with higher VET rates have higher allocations of men in gender-(male-)typical occupational careers. The paper concludes that the pronounced and persistent gender segregation on the Swiss labor market is partly due to a prominent VET system, which urges early gender-typed occupational career decisions. L'article examine comment les systemes educatifs cantonaux en Suisse genere nt des parcours sexues de l’ecole a l’emploi et une segregation sexuelle du travail. L’etude longitudinale sur la jeunesse TREE est utilisee pour analyser l’influence de l'offre cantonale de formation professionnelle sur les trajectoires de formation sexuees. Les resultats montrent que les hommes font plus souvent une carriere professionnelle typiquement masculine dans les cantons ayant un taux de formation professionnelle eleve. L'article conclut que la segregation sexuelle prononcee et persistante sur le marche suisse du travail est en partie due a un systeme de formation professionnelle predominant, lequel encourage des choix professionnels sexues precoces. In diesem Aufsatz wird unt ersucht, wie kantonale Bildungssysteme in der Schweiz geschlechtertypische Bildungsverlaufe und Geschlechtersegregation auf dem Arbeitsmarkt bestarken. Dazu wird die Bedeutung des kantonalen Berufsbildungsangebots fur geschlechtertypische Bildungsverlaufe mit Daten des Schweizer Jugendpanels TREE gepruft. Die Resultate zeigen, dass Manner in Kantonen mit hoher Berufsbildungsquote besonders haufig mannertypische Ausbildungen durchlaufen. Der Beitrag kommt zum Schluss, dass die ausgepragte und anhaltende Geschlechtersegregation auf dem Schweizer Arbeitsmarkt durch ein prominentes Berufsbildungssystem mitbedingt ist, das fruhe geschlechtertypische Berufsentscheide fordert.
First limits on the 21 cm power spectrum during the Epoch of X-ray heating

This work was supported by NSF Grants AST-0457585, AST-0821321, AST-1105835, AST-1410719, AST-1410484, AST- 1411622, and AST-1440343, by the MIT School of Science, by the Marble Astrophysics Fund, and by generous donations from Jonathan Rothberg and an anonymous donor. AEW acknowledges support from the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship under Grant No. 1122374. AM acknowledges support from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant agreement No 638809 – AIDA). Support for the MWA comes from the U.S. National Science Foundation (grants AST-0457585, PHY-0835713, CAREER- 0847753, and AST-0908884), the Australian Research Council (LIEF grants LE0775621 and LE0882938), the U.S. Air Force Of- fice of Scientific Research (grant FA9550-0510247), and the Centre for All-sky Astrophysics (an Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence funded by grant CE110001020). Support is also provided by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the Raman Research Institute, the Australian National University, and the Victoria University of Wellington (via grant MED-E1799 from the New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development and an IBM Shared University Research Grant). The Australian Federal government provides additional support via the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy, Education Investment Fund, and the Australia India Strategic Research Fund, and Astronomy Australia Limited, under contract to Curtin University.
The relative age effect on anthropometric characteristics and motor performances in Turkish children aged between 8 and 12 years

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of relative age on anthropometric properties and motor performance in Turkish children (girls n=423, boys n=601). Anthropometric measurement sites and techniques have been set out by the ISAK (International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry). A group of tests involved in Eurofit Test Battery and other standard tests were used. For each age, the data of those who were born within the first three months and the last three months of the year were compared. The MedCalc Statistics Program was used for the differentiation and variation percentages between two periods were studied (p≤ 0.001, p= 0.05). Consequently effect of relative age was observed on anthropometric characteristics and motor performances of Turkish girls and boys between 8 and 12 years old. Researchers, trainers, families, sports managers and organizers are advised to consider Effect of Relative Age.
Variations in slow slip moment rate associated with rapid tremor reversals in Cascadia

During large slow slip events, tremor sometimes propagates in the reverse along‐strike direction for a few hours, at speeds 10 to 40 times faster than the forward propagation. We examine the aseismic slip that underlies this rapidly propagating tremor. We use PBO (Plate Boundary Observatory) borehole strainmeter data to search for variations in the slow slip moment rate during 35 rapid tremor reversals (RTRs) that occurred beneath Vancouver Island. The strain records reveal that, on average, the strain rate increases by about 100% ( ±30% ) during RTRs. Given the Green's functions expected for slip in the RTR locations, these strain rate increases imply 50 to 130% increases in the aseismic moment rate. The median moment released per RTR is between 8 and 21% of the daily slow slip moment, equivalent to that of a MW 5.0 to 5.1 earthquake. By combining the RTR moments with the spatial extents suggested by tremor, we estimate that a typical RTR has peak slip of roughly one‐sixth of the peak slip in the main slow slip event, near‐front slip rate of a few to ten times the main front slip rate, stress drop around half the main event stress drop, and strain energy release rate around one‐tenth that of the main front. Our observations support a picture of RTRs as aseismic subevents with high slip rates but modest strain energy release. RTRs appear to contribute to but not dominate the overall slow slip moment, though they may accommodate most of the slip in certain locations.
Dual-task training using virtual reality: Influence on walking and balance in three post stroke survivors

Objective: To investigate the feasibility of using a virtual reality (VR)-based dual task of upper extremity tracking while treadmill walking, to improve gait and functional balance performance of stroke survivors. Materials and Methods: Three individuals (two males and one female), 66, 64, and 54 years old, respectively, participated in the study. The participants were trained in eight sessions of dual-task walking (DTW) on a treadmill while performing virtual tasks, and eight sessions of single-task treadmill walking (TMW), in a cross-over design. Their walking speed, balance performances, and perceived confidence were measured four times along different stages of the study. Results: Two participants demonstrated improvements in each of the outcome measures after the DTW intervention and no change after the TMW intervention. Conclusion: The improvements that were observed in the study demonstrate the potential benefit of DTW using VR while treadmill walking on gait and balance performances of stroke survivors.
ATMOSPHERIC PHASE DELAY CORRECTION OF D-INSAR BASED ON SENTINEL-1A

Abstract. In this paper, we used the Generic Atmospheric Correction Online Service for InSAR (GACOS) tropospheric delay maps to correct the atmospheric phase delay of the differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (D-InSAR) monitoring, and we improved the accuracy of subsidence monitoring using D-InSAR technology. Atmospheric phase delay, as one of the most important errors that limit the monitoring accuracy of InSAR, would lead to the masking of true phase in subsidence monitoring. For the problem, this paper used the Sentinel-1A images and the tropospheric delay maps got from GACOS to monitor the subsidence of the Yellow River Delta in Shandong Province. The conventional D-InSAR processing was performed using the GAMMA software. The MATLAB codes were used to correct the atmospheric delay of the D-InSAR results. The results before and after the atmospheric phase delay correction were verified and analyzed in the main subsidence area. The experimental results show that atmospheric phase influences the deformation results to a certain extent. After the correction, the measurement error of vertical deformation is reduced by about 18 mm, which proves that the removal of atmospheric effects can improve the accuracy of the D-InSAR monitoring.
Mobile Banking - Adoption and Challenges in Nigeria

Mobile banking or m-banking is becoming a prominent feature in banking operations in Nigeria with more and more banking adopting this technology in order to provide the growing population of there customers with fast, accessible, reliable and quality service. The technology of mobile banking has emerged as a possible powerful provider of bundle of banking services. The mobile banking system involves the use of mobile device (e.g.phone) to pay for goods or services either at the point of sales or conduct of banking transactions anywhere and anytime.
Whose Perspective Do Language Comprehenders Adopt During Motor Simulations

When processing sentences about performable actions, language comprehenders activate motor systems to perform mental simulations (Barsalou 2008) of those events. For instance, Glenberg and Kaschak (2002) demonstrated the action-sentence compatibility effect (i.e., comprehending a sentence that implies that action in one direction interferes with real action in the opposite direction). This effect can be observed in the interference between the mental simulations of the content of the sentence the participants read and the real action being performed. However, little is known regarding whose perspective is adopted during such motor simulations (i.e., mental simulations in motor areas). I conducted an experiment using two Japanese giving verbs, age-ru and kure-ru, to address this question. Both verbs mean that the referent of the subject gives something to the referent of the dative object: age-ru and kure-ru adopt the subject’s perspective and the dative object’s perspective, respectively. Using the action-sentence compatibility effect methodology, age-ru and kure-ru sentences were demonstrated to facilitate manual action away from the body rather than toward the body. These results suggest that age-ru and kure-ru adopt the subject’s perspective and that language comprehenders consistently adopt the subject’s perspective when simulating another individual’s action.
Bifurcation Scenarios of Neural Firing Patterns across Two Separated Chaotic Regions as Indicated by Theoretical and Biological Experimental Models

Nonlinear dynamics can be used to identify relationships between different firing patterns, which play important roles in the information processing. The present study provides novel biological experimental findings regarding complex bifurcation scenarios from period-1 bursting to period-1 spiking with chaotic firing patterns. These bifurcations were found to be similar to those simulated using the Hindmarsh-Rose model across two separated chaotic regions. One chaotic region lay between period-1 and period-2 burstings. This region has not attracted much attention. The other region is a well-known comb-shaped chaotic region, and it appears after period-2 bursting. After period-2 bursting, the chaotic firings lay in a period-adding bifurcation scenario or in a period-doubling bifurcation cascade. The deterministic dynamics of the chaotic firing patterns were identified using a nonlinear prediction method. These results provided details regarding the processes and dynamics of bifurcation containing the chaotic bursting between period-1 and period-2 burstings and other chaotic firing patterns within the comb-shaped chaotic region. They also provided details regarding the relationships between different firing patterns in parameter space.
Block Matching for Object Tracking

Models which describe road traffic patterns can be helpful in detection and/or prevention of uncommon and dangerous situations. Such models can be built by the use of motion detection algorithms applied to video data. Block matching is a standard technique for encoding motion in video compression algorithms. We explored the capabilities of the block matching algorithm when applied for object tracking. The goal of our experiments is two-fold: (1) to explore the abilities of the block matching algorithm on low resolution and low frame rate video and (2) to improve the motion detection performance by the use of different search techniques during the process of block matching. Our experiments showed that the block matching algorithm yields good object tracking results and can be used with high success on low resolution and low frame rate video data. We observed that different searching methods have small effect on the final results. In addition, we proposed a technique based on frame history, which successfully overcame false motion caused by small camera movements.
Estimating the number of planting microsites using UAV and computer vision

For optimal survival and early yields of tree plantations, forest managers employ strategies that tend to promote a fast development of the root system, which favors water and nutrient uptake [1]. However, certain conditions such as high soil bulk density due to compaction by logging machinery, waterlogging, and plant competition for resources can severely impede root establishment of the planted trees [2]. Under such conditions, mechanical site preparation is generally useful because the induced soil disturbance can improve the quality of planting microsites by increasing soil temperature and water retention capacity, decreasing soil density and plant competition [3]. The redistribution of some nutrient-rich soil layers at depths that coincide to the rooting depth of tree seedlings can also have significant benefits on juvenile growth [4]. Mechanical site preparation by mounding (see Figure 1) is thus quite popular within the forest industry in Quebec and is recommended by the Quebec Government [5] for the intensive culture of coniferous and deciduous tree species. However, since the number of mounds that are prepared with the machinery can vary depending on site characteristics, planting operations are usually planned following a manual count of the mounds. This operation requires several people, is time consuming and costly, and is subject to error. In this context, our research aims at developing a novel computer vision method using UAV imagery for fast and accurate estimation of the number of mounds on a mechanically prepared site.
EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE ON WRIST FLEXOR MUSCLES ENDURANCE

Background: It is widely recognized that neuromuscular function is temperature sensitive. Changes in muscle temperature may affect muscle force development. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of temperature on wrist flexor muscles endurance. Methods: Fifteen healthy subjects (mean age 21.13 ±1.30 years) participated in the present study. The wrist flexor muscles endurance was measured before and after applying ice and hot packs over the forearm for 15 minutes. Paired t tests were used to compare differences between pre and post intervention endurance. Results: The results showed a significant increase in wrist flexor muscles endurance after heating. (P=0.04). We also found that, cooling the forearm muscles leaded to significant decrease of wrist flexor muscles endurance (P=0.01). Conclusion : These results suggest that hand function is temperature sensitive. Therefore, further studies are needed to evaluate the effects of cold on muscular function in people working in workplaces with extreme temperature.