Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Target and Kaizen Costing in Construction

Target costing has been pointed out as a powerful strategy of lean manufacturing companies' interaction with suppliers. In fact, recent academic and corporate literature show that target costing has a wider role in the lean business system, driving product development and production activities, when combined with kaizen costing. This research aims to develop a framework taking together these two matching approaches, providing a basis of a total cost-management system during the project's life cycle. The main idea is to first design the project to an allowable cost consisting of the difference among target price meeting customer's expectations and the desired profit. Cost-reduction interventions should be not restricted to the design phase; they proceed to the construction phase where a continuing series of kaizen activities are needed to achieve great product performance and, at the same time, assuring value for the customer at a lower cost. Combining target and kaizen costing is a powerful approach for construction firms performing in a competitive market, by assuring value for the customer at a low but still profitable price.
Visuo orthographic knowledge in deaf readers of French

This study investigated visuo-orthographic knowledge in deaf readers of French compared to age-matched hearing subjects. More specifically, we were interested in knowledge related to the legal position of double consonants and to the fact that double consonants are much more frequent than double vowels in written French. We used a word-likeness choice task in which subjects had to determine which of two pseudo-words most resembled a real word in written French (e.g., fellut or felutt ). The participants were 24 deaf students aged 10 to 18 and 24 matched hearing students. The main results indicate that deaf readers develop the targeted knowledge, but to a lesser extent than hearing controls. Different avenues are proposed to explain this difference.
Debate as a pedagogical tool to develop soft skills in EFL/ESL classroom: a qualitative case study

Soft skills development is seen as paramount in the 21st century knowledge economy but pedagogical tools to realise it are scanty.Thus, this study describes how debate, as a pedagogical tool with three stages (i.e., pre-debate, actual debate and post-debate), can develop the soft skills prescribed in the Malaysian Soft Skills Development Module (MSSDM). The key informants were five debate experts with debating experience and have taught All-Asians Parliamentary Debate (APD) for at least two years in the EFL/ ESL contexts in the ASEAN region.A semi-structured one-on-one interview was used to gather the data.To triangulate the debate experts’ perspective, a focus group interview was conducted with six classroom debate students from three ASEAN countries.The transcribed data were analysed using data analysis flow model where the data were condensed, sorted out, focused, organised and presented using the participants’ verbatim words. In the findings, the participants discussed how the pre-debate, the crucial foundation stage to outline the team’s case and arguments supported by evidences from rigid research, can develop all the soft skills in MSSDM, especially the teamwork and critical thinking and problem-solving skills. They also described how the actual debate, the most challenging stage because of the time limit in both speech and Point-of-Information, can develop soft skills, particularly quick critical thinking and effective communication skills.They also explained how the post-debate can develop the various soft skills by highlighting lifelong learning and information management and communication skills.From the findings, a debate pedagogical model to teach soft skills was developed.
Neutral-Point Voltage Balancing Method for Three-Level Inverter Systems with a Time-Offset Estimation Scheme

This paper presents a neutral-point voltage balancing method for three-level inverter systems using a time-offset estimation scheme. The neutral-point voltage is balanced by adding a time-offset to the turn-on time of the switches. If an inaccurate time-offset is added, the neutral-point deviation still remains. An accurate time-offset is obtained through the proposed time-offset estimation scheme. This method is implemented without additional hardware, complex calculations, or analysis. The effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by experiments.
Expression of Toll-Like Receptor 3 is enhanced in Inflammatory Bowel Disease and mediates the excessive release of Lipocalin 2. Short title: TLR3 mediates excessive release of Lipocalin 2 in IBD

Technology, Trondheim, Norway, 2 Department of Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, 3 Department of Laboratory Medicine, Children and Women`s Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway, 4 Department of Gastroenterology, St. Olav`s University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway, 5 Department of Pathology and Medical Genetics, St. Olav`s University Hospital, Trondheim, 6 Department of Infectious Diseases, St. Olav`s University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway.
Study on Efficacy of Diatomaceous Earth to Ameliorate Toxic Effects of Aflatoxin on Internal Organ Weights in Broiler Chicken

| Diatomaceous earth (DAE) is an abundantly available clay, rich in a morphous silica that have light weight, highly porous and super-absorbent nature. The ability of DAE in reducing the adverse effects of aflatoxin (AF) in broiler diet was evaluated. A total of 240 healthy day old broiler chicks were divided into 6 groups (n= 40 per group), comprising of control and treatment groups. Group I and II was served as negative and positive control respectively. The groups III and IV were given 1 and 0.5 ppm of AF Kg-1 of feed respectively, while groups V and VI were both supplemented DAE @ 2000 mg Kg-1 of feed along with 1 and 0.5 ppm of AF Kg-1 of feed, respectively. Feeding of AF resulted in significant increase (p< 0.05) in the relative weight of liver, kidneys and heart in comparison to the control groups. However, the relative weight of thymus, spleen and bursa was found to be decreased (p< 0.05) in the aflatoxin fed birds. The addition of DAE to the aflatoxin mixed feed significantly improved the relative organ weight and decreased the severity of lesions in the visceral and lymphoid organs. The study concluded that DAE can be effectively used to decrease the toxic effects of AF in broiler chicken.
Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in a child with acute myeloid leukaemia : pharmacotherapy and surgical management Teaching with case studies

This paper reports on diagnostic and therapeutic management of pulmonary invasive fungal disease (IFD) in a child with relapsed acute myeloid leukaemia, undergoing chemotherapy followed by haematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Surgical management with resection of the involved lung tissue was based on the location of fungal infiltrates close to large circulatory vessels. After examination of resected pulmonary tissue, a diagnosis of proven IFD was done. This case report is an example that aspergillosis is usually the cause for pulmonary IFD. Pharmacotherapy of pulmonary IFD should be based on compounds with good penetration to lung tissue: amphotericin B lipid form or voriconazole.
Coarse woody debris carbon stocks in natural spruce forests of Babia hora

Although coarse woody debris (CWD) represents one of the major carbon pools in natural forest ecosystems, little information is available about its CWD carbon stocks. This study demonstrates the importance of proper estima - tion of carbon stocks in CWD, which accounts for the decay process of CWD, on an example of a natural mountainous spruce forest located in Central Europe. The study accounts for aboveground coarse woody debris including standing dead trees, lying deadwood, and naturally formed stumps. Basic mensurational information (diameter, height, decay class) about dead wood was collected in the field during the inventory of the forests of the nature reserve Babia hora. The data were used for the calculation of CWD timber volume. In the next step, CWD timber volume was converted to carbon stock using the carbon proportion of 50.1% and density values of decay classes derived from the informa - tion published elsewhere. The analysis revealed that when CWD timber volume was converted to carbon stocks using the basic wood density of fresh wood, C stocks were overestimated by 40% or more depending on the developmental stage and elevation. The results also revealed that as the elevation increases, CWD carbon stocks decrease and the differences between the developmental stages diminish.
Analysis of a “flickering” Geminid fireball

Abstract— In the early morning hours of December 13, 2002, a bright Geminid fireball with an absolute magnitude of −9.2 ± 0.5 was observed from Southern Saskatchewan, Canada. The fireball displayed distinct small‐scale oscillations in brightness, or flickering, indicative of the parent meteoroid being both non‐spherical and rotating. Using the light curve derived from a calibrated radiometer, we determine a photometric mass of 0.429 ± 0.15 kg for the meteoroid, and we estimate from its initial rotation rate of some 6 Hz that the meteoroid was ejected from the parent body (3200) Phaethon some 2500 ± 500 years ago. We find that 70% of Geminid fireballs brighter than magnitude −3 display distinct flickering effects, a value that is in stark contrast to the 18% flickering rate exhibited by sporadic fireballs. The high coincidence of flickering and the deep atmospheric penetration of Geminid fireballs are suggestive of Geminid meteoroids having a highly resilient structure, a consequence, we suggest, of their having suffered a high degree of thermal processing. The possibility of Gemind material surviving atmospheric ablation and being sampled is briefly discussed, but the likelihood of collecting and identifying any such material is admittedly very small.
Speed and accuracy comparison of bivariate normal distribution approximations for option pricing

variate normal probability. We compare the performance of five analytical approximation methods for bivariate normal probabilities used in the computation of compound and min–max options against an externally tested benchmark of Simpson numerical integration. Each of the methods is very accurate with all probability errors less than 10–6 and the average probability error less than 10–7. The maximum error in an option price calculation is US$0.01, the average error is less than 2.0 × 10–4, and an error of as large as US$0.01 is rare. The Divgi method is the most accurate method for compound options, and the Owen method is the most accurate for min–max options. The Drezner–Wesolowsky method performs well in terms of accuracy and best in terms of speed. No single method emerges as the best overall, though the more widely cited Drezner method is consistently the least accurate, as well as the second slowest method.
Genetic Variation among Robusta Coffee Genotypes for Growth and Yield Traits in Ghana

Quantifying the level of variation and estimates of genetic parameters are important to make informed decisions regarding the improvement of agronomic traits in Coffea canephora . The objectives of the present study were to assess the growth and yield performance of 54 C. canephora clones derived through ortet selection, based on yield from a previous hybrid trial; estimate genetic parameters of growth traits (stem diameter, height, span, number of laterals, length of laterals and diameter of laterals), and yield; and determine the relationship between yield and the growth traits. The clones were planted in the field in 2009 using a randomized complete-block design with three replications. Significant ( p < 0.01) clone effects for all traits and broadsense heritability range of 0.15 (mean yield of last 3 productive years)-0.43 (diameter of laterals) were observed. Stem diameter was moderately and positively correlated with early years’ yield (2012/13 mean yield, r = 0.49; p < 0.001), late years’ yield (2014 to 2016 mean yield, r = 0.44; p < 0.001), and mean yield across five years ( r = 0.42; p = 0.001). Relatively high genotypic coefficient of variation and expected genetic advance values were obtained for the evaluated traits, which indicated a high probability of success of selection for these traits.
Size-dependent wet removal of BC test in Canadian biomass burning plumes

Wet deposition is the dominant mechanism for removing black carbon (BC) from the atmosphere, and is key in determining its atmospheric lifetime, vertical gradient and global transport. Despite the importance of BC in the climate system, especially in terms of its ability to modulate the radiative energy budget, there are few quantitative case studies of wet removal in ambient environments. We present a case study of BC wet removal by examining aerosol size distributions and BC coating properties sampled in three Canadian boreal biomass burning plumes, one of which passed through a precipitating cloud. In this plume,This depleted the majority of the plume’s BC mass, and the largest and most coated BC particles were found to be preferentially removed, suggesting that nucleation scavenging was likely the dominant mechanism. Calculated mass absorption coefficient (MAC) in the plumes showed no significant variation, as the shifts to smaller BC cores and thinner coatings had opposing effects. Similarly, calculated single-scattering albedo (SSA) showed little variation, as a large number of non-BC particles were also present in the precipitation-affected plume. The remaining BC cores were smaller than those observed in previous studies of BC in postprecipitation outflow over Asia, possibly due to the thick coatings associated with the Canadian biomass burning particles. This study provides measurements of BC size, mixing state and removal efficiency to constrainimportant constraints to model parameterisations of BC wet removal in biomass burning regions, which will help to reduce uncertainty in radiative forcing calculations.
Clausal coordination in Finnish Sign Language

This paper deals with the coordination of clauses in Finnish Sign Language (FinSL). Building on conversational data, the paper first shows that linking in conjunctive coordination in FinSL is primarily asyndetic, whereas in adversative and disjunctive coordination FinSL prefers syndetic linking. Secondly, the paper investigates the nonmanual prosody of coordination: nonmanual activity is shown both to mark the juncture of the coordinand clauses and to draw their contours. Finally, the paper addresses certain forms of clausal coordination in FinSL that are sign language-specific. It is suggested that the sign language-specific properties of coordination are caused both by the fact that signers can use two manual articulators in the production of sentences and by the pervasive iconicity of sign language structure.
The underground organ microbial complexes of moorland spotted orchid Dactylorhiza maculata (L.) Soó (Orchidaceae)

This paper is focused on the first study of microbiota of a moderate climate orchid from Northern hemisphere—Moorland Spotted Orchid Dactylorhiza maculata (L.) Soo growing in its natural habitat. There have been obtained detailed data concerning bacterial communities from rhizosphere and inner tissues of young and old tubers. It was done using the biomarker analysis method where the markers were detected by gas chromatography—mass-spectrometry. It is shown that the number of bacterial genera and the bacteria amount (105 - 108 CFU per gram of dry weight) in D. maculata microbial complexes decreases from rhizosphere to old tuber to young. At the same time all three bacterial cenoses closely resemble each other in biodiversity. Their constant members are gg. Hyphomicrobium, Methylococcus, Nitrobacter, Pseudomonas and Sphingomonas (Proteobacteria), Bacillus and Clostridium (Firmicutes), Rhodococcus and Streptomyces (Actinobacteria). There were found differences peculiar to the taxonomic structure of each microbial complex. The rhizosphere is dominated by Actinobacteria while in inner tissues Proteobacteria are prevalent. The bacteria of gg. Ochrobactrum, Xanthomonas, Butyrivibrio, Corynebacterium, Mycobacterium, Propionibacterium, Sphingobacterium and specific iron reducers were shown to belong to rhizosphere community. Genera of Agrobacterium and Bifidobacterium were found only in the endophytic microbiota of the young tuber while g. Aeromonas is
Time and Light

This book is devoted to Laser Pulses. In the modern laser world, the word “Pulse” covers pulse durations from microseconds (free-running laser) to tens of femtoseconds (1fs is 10-15 s) (mode-locked laser). It is possible to generate attosecond pulses (1as is 10-18 s) by using nonlinear processes. Recently, a new time range was discussed in publications: zeptosecond (1zs is 10-21 s). To generate pulses from milliseconds to femtoseconds, hundreds of different laser systems have been developed. They can typically generate pulses of specific durations, which are due to laser principles of operation, specific construction, parameters of gain medium, type of modulator, and so on.
Long-term X-ray variability of Swift J1644+57

We studied the X-ray timing and spectral variability of the X-ray source Sw J1644+57, a candidate for a tidal disruption event. We have separated the long-term trend (an initial decline followed by a plateau) from the short-term dips in the Swift light-curve. Power spectra and Lomb-Scargle periodograms hint at possible periodic modulation. By using structure function analysis, we have shown that the dips were not random but occurred preferentially at time intervals � (2.3,4.5,9) × 10 5 s and their higher-order multiples. After the plateau epoch, dipping resumed at � (0.7,1.4) × 10 6 s and their multiples. We have also found that the X-ray spectrum became much softer during each of the early dip, while the spectrum outside the dips became mildly harder in its long-term evolution. We propose that the jet in the system undergoes precession and nutation, which causes the collimated core of the jet briefly to go out of our line of sight. The combined effects of precession and nutation provide a natural explanation for the peculiar patterns of the dips. We interpret the slow hardening of the baseline flux as a transition from an extended, optically thin emission region to a compact, more opaque emission core at the base of the jet.
Properties of Amino Acid Sequences of Lysozyme-Like Superfamily Proteins Relating to Their Folding Mechanisms

It is expected that we can predict the mechanism of folding of a protein from only its sequence if the information about the folding is encoded in the sequence. This is a long standing problem in molecular biophysics and molecular bioinformatics. In this study, we examine the folding of the lysozyme-like superfamily proteins that diverged from a common ancestor protein and show the common function and partially common 3D topology. We use methods based on inter-residue average distance statistics and evolutionary analysis to identify the location of the folding region from only their amino acid sequence. The properties of these sequences indicate that the general folding mechanisms are common among proteins in the same family. The difference in the folding mechanisms between the lysozymes in the animal kingdom and that in λ-phage are also suggested. We compare the hydrophobic packing observed in the actual 3D structures of the lysozymes with the results of the present study. We confirmed that the possible significant residues predicted in this study form hydrophobic packing in the 3D structures of the examined lysozymes. The sequence properties in the partially common 3D topology of these proteins imply that these parts are highly involved in the folding mechanisms in each family. We also find out that hydrophobic interactions of partially common 3D topology appeared in all families are conserved. These conserved hydrophobic contacts may be significant for forming the common topology; these contacts can be regarded as significant for the common function.
HETEROGENEITY OF OXYGEN PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION IN A PHOTOSYNTHETIC MICROBIAL MAT AS STUDIED BY PLANAR OPTODES

By applying planar optodes and imaging techniques to a benthic photosynthetic mat, we demonstrated an extensive vertical and horizontal variation in O2 concentrations, O2 consumption, and O2 production. In light, the oxic zone could be divided into three horizons: 1) an upper zone dominated by diatoms that had a moderate net O2 production, 2) another zone dominated by Microcoleus‐like cyanobacteria with a high net O2 production, and 3) a lower zone with disintegrating microalgae and cyanobacteria with a high O2 consumption rate. From the O2 images, the net O2 production/consumption was calculated at a spatial resolution of 130 μM. This allowed us to identify microsites with high rates of O2 turnover within the photic zone. Sites with high net O2 consumption (>1.5 nmol·cm−3·s−1) were typically situated next to sites with a relatively high net production (>2 nmol·cm−3·s−1), revealing a mosaic in which the highest O2 consumption sites were surrounded by the highest O2 production sites. This suggested a tight spatial coupling between production and consumption of O2 within the photic zone. Light stimulated the O2 consumption within the photic zone. At irradiances above 400 μmol photons·m−2·s−1, the stimulated O2 production was almost completely balanced by enhanced O2 consumption at microsites exhibiting net consumption of O2 even at maximum irradiance (578 μmol photons·m−2·s−1). Our observations strongly supported the idea that light‐stimulated respiration was caused by stimulated heterotrophic activity fueled by organic carbon leakage from the phototrophs. Despite microsites with high net O2 consumption, anoxic microniches were not encountered in the investigated mat. Images of gross photosynthetic rates also revealed an extensive horizontal variation in gross rates, with microsites of low or no photosynthesis within the otherwise photic zone. Calculations based on the obtained images revealed that at maximum light (578 μmol photons·m−2·s−1), 90% of the O2 produced was consumed within the photic zone. The presented data demonstrate the great potential offered by planar optode for studies of benthic photosynthetic communities.
Synchronization of chaotic systems based on observer design under noisy environment

In this paper, we show that the synchronization of chaotic systems can be achieved by using the observer design techniques. Because of its application in secure communication we consider a noisy environment during transmission. We prove that proportional Luenberger observer is sufficient under this environment, provide that a accurate selection of feedback gain, the condition of chaos synchronization is derived then transformed into linear matrix inequality which is easily solved using matlab toolbox. The proposed technique has been applied to synchronize Chua system to verify the effectiveness of this technique. And then comparing the obtained results with the results obtained from previous PI observer.
Decision-level Gait Fusion for Human Identification at a Distance

A Master of Science thesis in Electrical Engineering by Amer Al -Tayyan entitled, "Decision-level Gait Fusion for Human Identification at a Distance," submitted in June 2014. Thesis advisors are Dr. Khaled Assaleh and Dr. Tamer Shanableh. Available are both soft and hard copies of the thesis.