Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Jobs 4.0: Are Botswana Workers Ready?

This paper attempts to unravel the potential social effects of the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) on Botswana employees. The authors investigated employees’ level of awareness and preparedness for an era of full blown 4IR adoption. Utilizing purposive sampling, a self-administered questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 52 employees in Gaborone. This work employed the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model (UTAUT). The major findings of the study are: 50% of respondents confirmed their preparedness for the adoption of 4IR technologies; 48% believed that the rest of employees in their organization were prepared for 4IR; 65% said they were prepared to embrace and take advantage of the efficiencies brought about by 4IR; job roles are likely to change significantly with some roles disappearing and new roles emerging; and critical thinking, complex problem solving, innovation and digital related skills are bound to be more in demand. The outcomes of this research will serve as a wakeup call to Botswana employees, to equip themselves and future generations with requisite skills, for the changing roles. Furthermore, organizations will also use the outcomes to consider reskilling their employees accordingly. For educators, the study will encourage consideration and alignment of the curricular while in terms of and for policy formulation, it will engender reflecting on the regulatory frameworks to align them to the demands of the new era.
Establishing the Variation of Dynamic Traffic Assignment Results Using Subnetwork Origin-Destination Matrices

Traffic simulation often uses random number generation to incorporate stochasticity into the model. Generally, traffic simulation should attempt to incorporate randomness associated with the probabilities observed in real world traffic scenarios. Difficulties arise, however, when an analyst attempts to use traffic simulation data to predict changes in traffic flow based on an impact to the network. Effects on network operation could be due to the impact scenario, or it could be a result of randomness associated with the model. Common statistical measures for this analysis assume independent and identical distributions, but traffic simulation results are inherently spatially autocorrelated. This paper investigates the proposed structural similarity index, a statistic that incorporates the spatial relationship among subnetwork ODs, as a method to quantify the baseline variation that can be expected from simulated traffic flow. Stochasticity is particularly influential on the results of dynamic traffic assignment simulation. In light of many different software packages containing these random effects, some of which have proprietary barriers that prevent them from being controlled, this study attempts to quantify the variation associated with multiple runs of the same network. This study focuses on the subnetwork size required to evaluate local rerouting due to a traffic control plan. Once the subnetwork boundary demand of the base and impact scenarios are no longer statistically different, it is assumed that the subnetwork size is sufficient. It was found that the root mean squared error was the most useful measure for evaluating the subnetwork size relative to an impact scenario.
Knowledge Management, Innovation and Productivity

In modern knowledge driven economies, firms are increasingly aware that individual and collective knowledge is a major factor of economic performance. The larger the firms and the stronger their connection with technology intensive industries, the more are they likely to set up knowledge management (KM) policies, such as promoting a culture of information and knowledge sharing (C), motivating employees and executives to remain with the firm (R), forging alliances and partnerships for knowledge acquisition (A), implementing written knowledge management rules (W). The French 1998-2000 Community Innovation Survey (CIS3) has surveyed the use of these four knowledge management policies for a representative sample .
3-dimensional intracortical neural interface for the study of epilepsy

3-DIMENSIONAL INTRACORTICAL NEURAL INTERFACE FOR THE STUDY OF EPILEPSY by JESSIN KOSHY JOHN May 2014 Advisor: Dr. Yong Xu Major: Electrical Engineering Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Epilepsy is a chronic disease characterized by recurrent, unprovoked seizures, where seizures are described as storms of uncontrollable neuro-electrical activity within the brain. Seizures are therefore identified by observation of electrical spiking observed through electrical contacts (electrodes) placed on the scalp or the cortex above the epileptic regions. Current epilepsy research is identifying several specific molecular markers that appear at specific layers of the epilepsy-affected cortex. However, technology is limited in allowing for live observation of electrical spiking across these layers. The underlying hypothesis of this project is that electrical interictal activity is generated in a layerand lateral-specific pattern. This work reports a novel neural probe technology for the manufacturing of 3D arrays of electrodes with integrated microchannels. This new technology is based on a silicon island structure and a simple folding procedure. This method simplifies the assembly or packaging process of 3D neural probes, leading to higher yield and lower cost. Various types of 3D arrays of electrodes, including acute and chronic devices, have been successfully developed. Microchannels have been successfully integrated into the 3D
Tactical planning of forest harvesting under different scheduling restrictions

Forestalis , 48 (127), e3334. https://doi.org/10.18671/scifor.v48n127. 12 Abstract Tactical and operational planning are steps that guide the sequence of operations and as they are implemented, impact on the final cost of the wood. Thus, the aim of this study was to carry out the optimized production planning of forest harvesting operations regarding the wood supply for pulpwood production, in order to minimize cutting and transportation costs, through Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP). Pinus spp. stand data of a pulp company located in Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil, were used. The forest area consists of 3,714.68 hectares divided into 74 management blocks based on place and age characteristics. The approach to solve this planning was based on the test of three scenarios to minimize costs by applying different constraints: Scenario A) volume balance; Scenario B) maximum scheduling distance between blocks; and Scenario C) volume balance and maximum scheduling distance between blocks. After processing the scenarios, the Spanning tree algorithm was used to define the timber production routes between the blocks and the factory. The scenario A resulted in lower operational cost; however, it presented 49% (142 km) more road network than Scenario C. In contrast, Scenario B presented greater economic risk than the other scenarios, since it presented discontinuous production along the planning horizon. In conclusion, Scenario C was the best cost and risk reduction alternative. This result highlights the importance of properly structuring a management problem, since areas related to the planned activity may present a significant share of the final costs, which can influence
OPS: an optimized partial stripe write scheme to improve performance of XOR-based disk arrays tolerating triple disk failures

In cloud storage and big data processing systems, RAID especially disk arrays tolerating triple disk failures (3DFTs) is a popular choice to provide high reliability with low monetary cost. For 3DFTs, a key obstacle is the low partial stripe write performance, which is caused by large amount of parity modifications based on complex erasure coding layouts. In order to solve this problem, in this paper, we propose an optimized partial stripe write (OPS) method, which reorganizes the distribution of write data blocks to share partial parities among data blocks, thereby improving overall I/O performance. The OPS method can effectively reduce the number of modified parities. To illustrate the effectiveness of our OPS method, we used Disksim to evaluate several different partial stripe write methods through simulation. The results show that OPS can reduce the average response time by up to 37.21% and decreases the number of write operations by up to 26.22% compared to the traditional partial strip writing method.
Forecasting of Short-Term Urban Rail Transit Passenger Flow with Support Vector Machine Hybrid Online Model

Prediction for short-term urban passenger rail flow is essential for effective urban rail transit operation and management. It is important for a forecasting model to capture the periodicity and nonlinearity of short-term passenger flow and to embed these characteristics into the model to enhance forecasting performance. In this research, a support vector machine global online model (SVMGOL) is first proposed by embedding the periodic characteristics via SARIMA model to capture the inherent periodicity of passenger flow. A support vector machine local online model (SVMLOL) is then proposed by embedding the nonlinear characteristics via successive passenger flow value inputs to capture the local nonlinear characteristics of the passenger flow. To take advantage of the two online models, this research then constructs a support vector machine hybrid online model (SVMHOL) based on the idea of data fusion. The model building process and its application in the prediction of short-term passenger flow at Zhujianglu Station of Nanjing Metro is discussed. Testing results show that for the one-step forecasting, the SVMHOL model outperforms the individual SARIMA or SVM model in terms of mean absolute error, mean absolute percent error and root mean square error.
External Position Lighting Effects on Night Vision Goggle Performance.

Abstract : Army aviation depends heavily on image intensification (I(exp 2)) devices to extend operations into the night. Such devices are light amplification systems that adjust their amplification factor (gain) according to the level of ambient illumination. However, these night vision goggles (NVGs) are unable to distinguish between light originating from the exterior scene and light originating from either instruments inside the cockpit or lights mounted to the aircraft. Consequently, the NVG may lower gain unnecessarily, and in doing so, degrade image quality. The compatibility problem is most apparent when light in the red part of the spectrum is present. This is the problem with the UH-1's red lateral position lights. These lights flood into the cockpit, affecting NVG performance - the presence of fog and other weather heightens this effect. A solution to this problem has been to mask appropriate upper and lower portions of the two red position lights, thereby reducing the NVG degradation. However, this solution appeared to conflict with Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) lighting intensity distributions for each of the two lights. We calculated that the FAR could be satisfied at a distance of one rotor disk radius by masking 82 degrees of each respective position light (leaving 98 degrees unmasked). Objective video recordings and test pilots' subjective observations indicate a significant reduction in NVG degradation with the 82-degree masking scheme as compared to operations with unmasked position lights. The 82-degree masking scheme meets the FAR requirements while reducing simultaneously the performance degradation of the NVG devices.
The Ten Keys to Successful Change Management

Business and Change. The Domain of Change. The Ten Keys to Change. Key 1: Defining the Vision. Key 2: Mobilising. Key 3: Catalysing. Key 4: Steering. Key 5: Delivering. Key 6: Obtaining Participation. Key 7: Handling Emotions. Key 8: Handling the Power Issues. Key 9: Training and Coaching. Key 10: Communicating Actively. Conclusion. Bibliography. Index.
Exploring knowledge value creation practices: An interpretive case study

The gaining popularity of Knowledge Management (KM) has been reinforced by the quest for innovation and value creation. Value creation is grounded in the appropriate combination of human networks, social capital, intellectual capital, and technology assets, facilitated by a culture of change. It is indicated that the future of KM tends to focus on the study of the impact on people in terms of value or knowledge value creation. Because of this, the positive relationship between KM and value creation has been discussed extensively in the literature. However, the majority of the studies on knowledge value creation have been widely undertaken to highlight several case studies demonstrating success in developed countries, whilst very few studies have been done in the cultural context of developing countries. These studies in developing economies have identified several distinctive features, in particular socio-cultural factors that have an important role and influence in KM practices. A call has been made for further research to explore KM in different organisational and cultural contexts in developing economies. Thailand is an example of a developing country where a number of distinctive socio-cultural features have been identified. It therefore represents an interesting case to conduct a study on the influence of these cultural features on KM practices within an organisational context. The objective of this empirical study is to explore knowledge value creation practices in a Thai organisation. The research adopts an interpretive stance and employs a case study approach involving multiple data collection methods. It is based on the researcher's personal expertise and close involvement in the selected case study organisation for over a decade. The study characterises Thai distinctive culture in terms of collectiveness, shyness, conscientiousness and seniority, and indicates that these distinctive socio-cultural features critically influence (a) the social network ties and relationships between employees within and across teams, (b) the resulting level of trust between employees, and (c) the ability to share and create knowledge effectively in the organisational socio-cultural environment. The study is limited to a Thai organisation, but can be generalised to other organisations that exhibit similar characteristics. It provides interesting insights into the socio-cultural factors affecting knowledge management adoption in a Thai organisation and a foundation to further the research on the validation of the theoretical model that emerged from this empirical study.
A

In 1990, Dr. Jean Schmittau (1937–2015) traveled to Russia to study the Davydov elementary mathematics program. Later she worked closely with Davydov to translate the program into English and oversaw an implementation of the program at a local private school. This tribute overviews her tremendous work in making the program known to so many scholars
Are seals willing to pay for access to artificial kelp and live fish

Environmental enrichment (EE) is used to improve the wellbeing of animals in human care. One way of testing what resources an animal prefers to have access to, is to make it pay a price. The price is in the form of time or energy spent to get access to the resource. When measuring the motivation of animals it is useful to compare the resource which is to be evaluated to a resource with a known value. Food is often the comparator. The maximum price paid approach measures the highest price an animal is willing to pay for access to a resource. In this study the motivation of a grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) for getting access to artificial kelp and live fish was measured. Food was used as the comparator. A large net cage with a weighted entrance and a nonweighted exit gate was used as the test arena. The seal had to enter it by opening the entrance gate which had increasing weights every day, in 10 steps up to 65 kg. The seal was not willing to pay any price for the live fish. The maximum price paid for the food was 60kg, and for the artificial kelp 10kg, i.e. 17% of the maximum price paid for food. The results suggest that neither live fish nor artificial kelp was an attractive EE for this seal. However, the study also shows that spring (reproductive period) is not a good time to test motivation in grey seals.
Virtual Design and Construction in civil engineering projects: An analysis and guideline to the application of the iRoom at Royal HaskoningDHV

This thesis examines the application of Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) in civil engineering projects. VDV is a method which makes use of the multi-screen iRoom to allow stakeholders simultaneously describe, present and evaluate projects on product, organisation and process perspectives (Kunz and Fischer 2012). This thesis addresses the problem on how the application of VDC can achieve a shared understanding with problem owners in civil engineering projects to manage organisational complexity. Through observations on the application of VDC and interviews with the participants the added value of the method is regarded. The thesis shows that the application of VDC provides added value in the development of civil engineering projects. Through actively involving problem owners in the iRoom their understanding and perception of the design task is enlarged. However, the method can further develop by providing more guidance in the application for individual project managers. The iRoom is in particular useful in design tasks were a mutual agreement between problem owners is needed on spatial design issues. The extensive use of visualisations and metrics in the iRoom contribute to this.
Detection and Counting of Animals in Camera-Trap Images using Faster R-Cnn and Data
Augmentation Techniques

Camera traps are used to recover images of animals in their habitats to help in the conservation of fauna. Millions of images are captured by camera traps and extracting information from these data delays and consumes enough resources so sometimes millions of images cannot be used due to lack of resources. That is why researchers have proposed solution approaches using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and object detection models to be able to automate the retrieval of information from these images. We used Faster R-CNN and data augmentation techniques on Gold Standard Snapshot Serengeti Dataset to detect animals in images and count them. The performances of the two models (the one trained on the original dataset and the one trained on the augmented dataset) were compared to show the importance of having more data for this task. Using the augmented dataset, we trained our model which reached an accuracy of 98.26% for classification of the proposed regions, an accuracy of 79.55% for counting the species present on the images and a mAP of 95.3%. For future work, the model can be trained to recognize the actions and characteristics of animals and tuned to be more efficient for counting task.
Millimeter Wave Indium Phosphide Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors: Noise Performance and Circuit Applications

MILLIMETER WAVE INDIUM PHOSPHIDE HETEROJUNCTION BIPOLAR TRANSISTORS: NOISE PERFORMANCE AND CIRCUIT APPLICATIONS SEPTEMBER 2014 Metin AYATA B.Sc., YEDITEPE UNIVERSITY M.S.E.C. E. , UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Joseph.C. Bardin
Choosing "interesting" research methods and facing the challenges for publication

This paper discusses the choice to use two less conventional or “interesting” research methods, Q Methodology and Experience Sampling Method, rather than “status quo” research methods so common in the marketing discipline. It is argued that such methods have value for marketing academics because they widen the potential for discovery. The paper outlines these two research methods, providing examples of how they have been used in an experiential consumption perspective. Additionally the paper identifies some of the challenges to be faced when trying to publish research that use such less conventional methods, as well as offering suggestions to address them.
Characterizing the Latent Classes in a Mixture IRT Model Using DIF

ABSTRACT Mixture IRT models address the heterogeneity in a population by extracting latent classes and allowing item parameters to vary between latent classes. Once the latent classes are extracted, they need to be further examined to be characterized. Some approaches have been adopted in the literature for this purpose. These approaches examine either the examinee or the item characteristics conceptually or statistically. In this study, we propose a two-step procedure for characterizing the latent classes. First, a DIF analysis can be conducted to determine the items that function differentially between the latent classes using the latent class membership information. Then, the characteristics of the items with DIF can be further examined to use this information for characterizing the latent classes. We provided an empirical example to illustrate this procedure.
TECHNIQUES USED TO EVALUATE CREW RESOURCE MANAGEMENT TRAINING: A LITERATURE REVIEW

This review paper examines the methods used to evaluate Crew Resource Management (CRM) training in 48 published studies from aviation (40) and other industries. The training evaluation techniques are categorised in terms of reactions, learning, attitudes, behaviour and organisational effects. It was found that in general CRM training was well received, resulted in a positive change in CRM attitudes, and had the desired effect on CRM behaviours. However, from the evidence available it is not possible to be as certain about the influence of the training on the organisation as a whole. This is because there are few studies that have made a rigorous assessment of the effects of CRM training on organisational metrics such as safety or productivity.
Storytelling: Transferring tacit corporate knowledge in different cultures

Storytelling is an instrument to transfer tacit knowledge within organisations, which is little explored. In this paper a first framework to structure the storytelling process is developed. It consists of four phases: intention, creation, narration and reception. Since tacit knowledge is highly culture-bound, this process, its effectiveness, and importance differ in low-context and high-context cultures. The authors develop first research propositions to investigate differences in using storytelling as a knowledge transfer tool. A qualitative research design to explore variables and relationships influencing the transfer of tacit knowledge via storytelling in Japan and Germany is proposed.
A study of the application of the concepts of Karen Horney in leadership development within the National Management Association of the Boeing Company

ix Chapter One: The Problem . 1 Background . 1 Definition of Terms. 5 Conceptual Approach. 7 Horney’s psychoanalytic theory . 7 Problem Statement . 12 Assumptions . 12 The Purpose of This Study . 13 The Research Question . 13 Overview of Methodology . 14 Interview design . 14 Workshop design . 14 Chapter Two: Literature Review . 16 Background . 16 Theories of Human Development . 18 The Human Growth Psychology of Horney . 19 The developmental psychology of Robert Kegan . 22 The integral philosophy of Ken Wilber . 26 The role of anxiety in human development . 28 The role of culture in human development . 37 Self-Awareness . 39 The self . 40 Ideas of an authentic self.43 Ideas of an idealized self . 47 The need for self-awareness . 52 Leadership Development . 57 Definitions of leadership . 57 The need for leadership . 59 The need for leadership development . 61 The need for self-understanding in leadership development . 62 Authentic leadership . 64 The relationship of leadership to the idealized self . 66