Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effect of performance appraisal on organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB): a study on the Islamic Banks in Bangladesh

The current study examines the impact of performance appraisal (PA) onorganizational citizenship behaviour (OCB) comprising of OCB directedtoward organization (OCBO) and OCB directed toward individuals (OCBI) inthe Islamic banks operating in Bangladesh. Using the convenience samplingmethod, data were collected through a structured questionnaire from themanagerial and non-managerial employees working at the branch level ofthese banks. The study explored that PA had a significant positive impact onOCB. Moreover, implications for human resource professionals andmanagers were discussed. Finally, the study mentioned the relevantlimitations for context generalization and recommended scope for futureinvestigations.
Reliability Evaluation and Improvement of
Islanded Microgrid Considering Operation
Failures of Power Electronic Equipment

With the high integration of power electronic technologies in microgrids, the reliability assessment considering power electronic devices has become a hot topic. However, so far no research has considered the impact of the operation failure probability of power electronic equipment on the overall reliability of the microgrid. This paper aims to construct a holistic operation failure rate model of power electronic systems based on the overall reliability assessment of islanded microgrid with high penetration of renewable energy sources (RESs). In addition, to improve the reliability of islanded microgrid, the conventional battery energy storage system (BESS) is replaced by the hybrid energy storage system (HESS). Based on the proposed model, the operation failure models for the power electronic modules in microgrid are built and tested, and then the sensitivity analysis is performed for exploring the influence of various factors on the reliability of the microgrid.
STRUKTUR DAN FUNGSI PANTUN DALAM UPACARA ADAT PERKAWINAN MELAYU TANJUNG HULU KECAMATAN PONTIANAK TIMUR

Abstrak Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan struktur dan fungsi pantun dalam upacara adat perkawinan Melayu Tanjung Hulu kecamatan Pontianak Timur. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode deskriptif dengan bentuk penelitian kualitatif. Sumber data penelitian ini adalah penutur pantun dalam upacara adat perkawinan Melayu Tanjung Hulu kecamatan Pontianak. Teknik analisis data penelitian ini adalah model interaktif. Penelitian ini menyimpulkan bahwa mendeskripsikan struktur dan fungsi pantun dalam upacara adat perkawinan Melayu Tanjung Hulu kecamatan Pontianak meliputi: diksi, terdiri dari makna denotasi dan konotasi; pengimajian, terdiri 2 imaji; rima; berdasarkan bunyi dan berdasarkan letak kata-kata dalam baris; dan fungsi pantun.
The Role of Assurance in Equity Crowdfunding

The SEC requires equity crowdfunding (ECF) companies to provide assured financial statements. Assurance can be provided with certification by management or an audit or review by an independent accountant. We utilize the ECF setting to examine whether voluntary assurance facilitates capital formation. We find that companies that provide either reviewed or audited financial statements during a capital campaign are marginally more likely to raise their target capital. They also raise more funds and attract more investors relative to companies that only provide management-certified financial statements. However, relative to reviews, audits are not associated with a greater likelihood of success in an ECF offering other than attracting more investors. Finally, we find that assurance is indirectly associated with a company's post-ECF survival and its ability to raise future capital. This suggests that assurance at the time of ECF has implications for a company's success beyond ECF.
Visual Defect Inspection for Deep-Aperture Components With Coarse-to-Fine Contour Extraction

This paper investigates automatic quality inspection for the components with a small diameter and deep aperture. An automatic pick-and-place system is constructed, which employs an endoscope to achieve better image quality aiming at the characteristics of the component. A coarse-to-fine contour extraction algorithm with four steps is presented to inspect the component’s quality. First, approximate locations of the targets are estimated using faster region-based convolutional neural networks (faster RCNN). Second, the corresponding edge image is obtained by using the multiscale probability boundary (mPb) detector. Third, edge enhancement is performed, which is based on the Brownian motion model. Fourth, the corresponding contours are finely extracted by edge grouping. A shape analyzing algorithm is utilized to classify the components based on the extracted contours. Comparison experiments fully demonstrate the superiority of the proposed inspection method over existing methods. Meanwhile, successful inspection results on challenging real-world image data prove that the system is of practical significance to industrial applications.
Seroprevalence of onchocerciasis in Ogun State, Nigeria after ten years of mass drug administration with ivermectin

Background: This serological study conducted between March and July 2015 investigated the status of onchocerciasis in Ogun State, Nigeria after a decade of mass drug administration (MDA) with ivermectin. Baseline information from the rapid epidemiological mapping of onchocerciasis (REMO) prior to MDA had indicated that Ogun State was meso-endemic to onchocerciasis. Following years of treatment with ivermectin, it has become important to investigate the current status of the disease using more sensitive diagnostic methods.Methods: The study was conducted in 32 communities in eight onchocerciasis-endemic local government areas (LGAs). Using the Ov16 rapid diagnostic test (Ov16 RDT), finger-prick whole blood was obtained from 3 895 consented participants from age five and above. Skin snips were obtained from a subset of 481 corresponding participants as the majority of community members did not consent to skin snipping.Results: Study revealed a cumulative seroprevalence of 9.3% (CI 9.29–9.31%) by RDT and 17.3% (CI 16.73–18.34%) microfilaridermia prevalence by the skin snip subset. Seroprevalence among children between the ages of five and nine was 2.9% (CI 1.74–3.53%) across all LGAs. A community microfilaria load (CMFL) between 0 and 1.21 MF/skin snip was recorded in the different communities studied. Among the studied LGAs, children in Odeda LGA recorded the highest seroprevalence by RDT (14.9%) followed by Abeokuta North (5.1%), Abeokuta South (4.8%) and Imeko-Afon (0.6%), while Ewekoro, Ifo, Obafemi-Owode and Yewa North LGAs recorded zero prevalence.Conclusion: It appears that the elimination of onchocerciasis in some LGAs is possible considering the lack of new infection among children and the hypo-endemicity among the adult population. However, the microfilaria prevalence observed among adults is of concern as it may imply that mass treatment has not been effective. Increased therapeutic coverage is advised to fully maximise the potential of ivermectin treatment to achieve the disease elimination.
Parent and Child Experiences of Parental Work–Family Conflict and Satisfaction with Work and Family

This study examined the relationship between parent and young adult child perceptions of parental work–family conflict and work and family satisfaction. Data were collected from 112 parent–child dyads, and children perceived parents to experience significantly more strain-based work–family conflict than parents reported. Parent and child did not differ in ratings of five other dimensions of parent’s work–family and family–work conflict. Parent and child ratings of the parent’s experience of all three dimensions of work–family conflict and one of three dimensions of family–work conflict were positively correlated. Four actor–partner interdependence models using multilevel modeling tested dyadic effects of work–family or family–work conflict on work or family satisfaction. Negative actor effects were found for behavior-based work–family and family–work conflict and for strain-based family–work conflict on family satisfaction. Negative actor effects existed for behavior-based work–family and family–work conflict on work satisfaction, and behavior-based work–family conflict also had a negative partner effect on work satisfaction.
A Systematic Review of Sensory‐Based Autism Subtypes

&NA; Date Presented 4/1/2017 This systematic review summarizes current literature on sensory‐based subtypes within the autism population. Examination of subtypes provides an opportunity for practitioners to consider how profiling sensory processing characteristics could be useful for diagnosis and treatment planning. Primary Author and Speaker: Kelle DeBoth Contributing Authors: Stacey Reynolds
Analysis of a Novel Command Governor-Based Adaptive Cruise Controller for Non-Cooperative Vehicle Following

This paper presents a novel adaptive cruise control (ACC) strategy that utilizes a command governor (CG) to enforce vehicle following constraints. The CG formulation relies on knowledge of the maximum possible braking deceleration of the lead vehicle and a tunable assumption regarding the lead vehicle velocity profile (offering different levels of conservatism) to modify wheel torque commands to ensure safe following. In particular, a safe following distance is defined as one in which the ego vehicle can avoid collision with the lead vehicle and maintain a sufficient following distance in the event that the lead vehicle exerts maximum braking deceleration. The CG seeks to adjust the wheel torque command such that the aforementioned constraint is satisfied at every step in a prediction horizon (i.e., at every step, if the lead vehicle exerts maximum braking deceleration, the ego vehicle can brake and remain outside of the aforementioned buffer zone), which requires an estimate of future lead vehicle behavior. In this work, we explore different levels of conservatism with regard to this assumption. Simulations are presented for a heavy-duty truck, using a stochastic lead vehicle model that has been calibrated with actual traffic data. Even for the most conservative lead vehicle prediction models, results show that this CG-based ACC strategy can reduce braking energy expended (used as a surrogate for fuel wasted) by up to 78%, while improving drivability and reducing total trip time.
Pose Synchronization of Multiple Networked Manipulators Using Nonsingular Terminal Sliding Mode Control

Common assumptions in most of the previous nonlinear networked leader–follower systems are that the leader is provided as a constant signal and that the controllers are designed for either the joint-space regulation or the translational Cartesian-space motion control. This article addresses the control issue of the delay-induced horizontal shift effect when the leader is moving with a changing speed. A novel mixed-type feedback is introduced to reduce the horizontal shift effect so as to minimize tracking errors experienced by the follower agents. In this article, we also study the complete pose control using a nonsingular terminal sliding mode (NTSM) method. A stability analysis is provided to prove the finite-time boundedness of the tracking error signals. Quantitative evaluations of the multiple effects on the error bound are conducted to facilitate the subsequent control design to improve the performance. Numerical simulation results of a team of two degree-of-freedoms (DOFs) manipulators demonstrate the improved tracking performance of the end effectors with small bounded errors which are affected by network delays, maximum assigned accelerations, and the selection of control gains. The experimental results are provided to demonstrate the performance of the developed controller.
Effects of supplementary nano-ZnO on in vitro ruminal fermentation, methane release, antioxidants, and microbial biomass

The effects of nano-ZnO on in vitro ruminal fermentation, methane release, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and microbial biomass production (MBP) were assessed using an in vitro gas production technique. Treatments included a control diet and diets containing 20, 40, or 60 mg of supplemental Zn per kg dry matter (DM) as ZnO or nano-ZnO. As a result of this study, supplementation of 20 mg of Zn as nano-ZnO, similar to ZnO, decreased methane production and protozoa enumeration but improved (P 0.05). The diets containing 40 and 60 mg of supplementary Zn, as nano-ZnO or ZnO, had no advantage over the diet containing 20 mg of Zn in terms of methane decline and TAC, TDS, and MBP increments. Overall, nano-ZnO had no adverse effect on in vitro ruminal fermentation. The addition of 20 mg of Zn as nano-ZnO per kg diet DM was enough to improve the in vitro ruminal fermentation in terms of methane release, TAC, and MBP. Thus, the higher supplementary Zn levels (40 and 60 mg/kg DM) are not recommended.
Dielectric Relaxation in Water-Ethanolamine Mixtures as a Function of Composition and Temperature

Abstract Dielectric relaxation measurements on water–ethanolamine solvent mixtures have been carried out across the entire concentration range using Time Domain Reflectometry technique at 288 K, 298 K, 308 K, and 318 K over the frequency range from 10 MHz to 20 GHz. The mixtures exhibit a principle dispersion of the Davidson-Cole relaxation type at microwave frequencies. Bilinear calibration method is used to obtain complex permittivity ε*(ω) from complex reflection coefficient ρ*(ω) over the frequency range 10 MHz to 10 GHz. The excess permittivity (εE), excess inverse relaxation time (1/τ)E, Kirkwood correlation factor (geff) and thermodynamic parameters are also calculated to study the Solute-Solvent interaction.
Comparison of Predicting Student‘s Performance using Machine Learning Algorithms

—Predicting the student performance is playing vital role in educational sector so that the analysis of student‘s status helps to improve for better performance. Applying data mining concepts and algorithms in the field of education is Educational Data Mining. In recent days, Machine learning algorithms are very much useful in almost all the fields. Many researchers used machine learning algorithms only. In this paper we proposed the student performance prediction system using Deep Neural Network. We trained the model and tested with Kaggle dataset using different algorithms such as Decision Tree (C5.0), Naïve Bayes, Random Forest, Support Vector Machine, K-Nearest Neighbor and Deep neural network in R Programming and compared the accuracy of all other algorithms. Among six algorithms Deep Neural Network outperformed with 84% as accuracy.
A Cross-Sectional Qualitative Study of Barriers to Effective Therapeutic Communication among Nurses and Patients

ABSTRACT Effective communication between patients and nurses is cardinal to health care The study seeks to explore barriers to effective therapeutic communication between patients and nurses in randomly selected health facilities in the Kumasi metropolis, Ashanti region, Ghana. The study employed an exploratory study to interview 60 respondents comprising 30 nurses and patients each, using an unstructured interview guide. In addition to nurses' and patients'perceived barriers, the study revealed the health environment–related barriers. Patients-related barriers include individual sociodemographic attributes, patient–nurse relationship, erroneous impression, and language barrier. Other identified nurses-related barriers include human resource challenges, patients' distrust in nurses’ competency, interference from patients’ relations, inadequate knowledge, patient’s dissatisfaction with output, patients’ emotional fluctuations. Health environment–related barriers also include excessive workload, unconducive environment, and environmental changes. Given the relevance of therapeutic communication to health service, the study, among other things recommends that efforts be exerted by sector actors to address the challenges and help promote quality in health-care service and delivery.
Mechanistic Insights Into DREAM and RB Control of the Cell Cycle

Two distinct waves of cell cycle regulated genes control progression through the cell cycle: an early wave occurring during G1/S that consists of genes required for entry into S phase driven by the activator E2F transcription factors; and a late wave occurring during G2/M that consists of genes required for mitosis driven by the B-Myb-MuvB-FOXM1 complex. The Retinoblastoma protein (RB) and DREAM complex (DP, RB-like p130, repressor E2F4/5, and MuvB) are transcriptional repressors that inhibit the expression of both the early G1/S and late G2/M cell cycle genes during G0 or the quiescent phase of the cell cycle. Although both RB and DREAM bind and repress an overlapping set of early G1/S cell cycle, E2F-dependent, gene promoters, it remained unclear if they cooperate to restrict cell cycle entry. To test the specific contributions of RB and DREAM, we generated RB and p130 knockout cells in primary human fibroblasts. We observed that DREAM and RB cooperate to repress cell cycle genes during G0 and early G1. We determined that Cyclin D-CDK4 phosphorylation of p130 contributes to disruption of the DREAM complex during cell cycle entry from G0. In addition, sensitivity to CDK4 inhibition was dependent on RB and an intact DREAM complex in both normal cells as well as palbociclib-sensitive cancer cell lines. When activated by DNA damage, the tumor suppressor p53 protein contributes to reducing the levels of all cell cycle dependent genes. However, it was unclear whether RB and the DREAM complex were sensitive to this effect of p53. By integrating publicly available datasets with newly generated RNA-sequencing data from primary HFFs, we observed that the early G1/S and late G2/M genes were differentially regulated after p53 activation. DREAM and RB cooperatively repressed G1/S cell cycle genes after p53 activation. In contrast, p130 and the
Religiosity and Well-Being Among Mexican-Born and U.S.-Born Mexicans: A Qualitative Investigation

In this study, 40 Latinas/os of Mexican origin (20 Mexican-born and 20 U.S.-born) from the Southwest United States participated in in-person qualitative interviews centered on two interrelated aims. The first aim was to better understand participants’ perceptions regarding their religiosity, as well as their view of the relationship between religiosity and their well-being. The second aim explored generational influences on participants’ descriptions of religiosity. Using thematic analysis, we found generational differences in how participants described their religiosity. Specifically, Mexican-born immigrants perceived that their religiosity was informed by their social connections, having more life stressors, and traditional upbringing. U.S.-born Mexican Americans, however, perceived themselves as being less interested in social connections and having fewer life stressors relative to than Mexican-born immigrants. These perceptions seemed to contribute to a reduced interest in religion. In addition, participants also viewed religiosity as helping their psychological well-being. This was generally seen with Mexican-born immigrants who described that social support, a religious locus of control, and adherence to religion-specific morals and guidelines were aspects of religiosity commonly connected to their well-being. Clinical and research implications are discussed. En este estudio, 40 latinas/os de origen mexicano (20 nacidos en México y 20 nacidos en los Estados Unidos) del suroeste de los Estados Unidos participaron en una entrevista cualitativa centrado sobre dos metas principales. La primera meta intenta mejor entender las percepciones de los participantes con respecto a su religiosidad, tanto como sus perspectivas sobre la relación entre la religion y su bienestar. La segunda meta explora las diferencias de estatus de generaciones en las descripciones de religiosidad. Usando el análisis temático, encontramos que hay diferencias generacionales en como los participantes describieron su religiosidad. Específicamente, los inmigrantes nacidos en México percibieron que su religiosidad era informada por conexiones sociales, por tener más estrés en la vida, y por la crianza tradicional. Los estadounidenses de origen mexicano nacidos en Estados Unidos, sin embargo, se percibieron como menos interesados en conexiones sociales y con menos estresantes de la vida que los inmigrantes nacidos en México. Estas percepciones parecían contribuir a menor interés por la religiosidad. Además, los participantes también vieron la religiosidad como una ayuda para su bienestar psicológico. Esto se vió generalmente con los inmigrantes nacidos en México que describieron que el apoyo social, el locus de control religioso, y la adherencia a morales y directrices específicas de la religión fueron aspectos de la religiosidad comúnmente relacionado a su bienestar. Implicaciones clínicas y para la investigación se discuten.
Decoherence due to XPM-assisted Raman amplification for polarization or wavelength offset pulses in all-normal dispersion supercontinuum generation

We report the importance of cross-phase modulation (XPM) on the coherence of a low-energy probe pulse co-propagating with a high-energy pump pulse that generates incoherent supercontinuum in all-normal dispersion (ANDi) fiber due to Raman amplification of quantum noise. By investigating numerous fiber and pulse parameters, we show consistently that for weak probe pulses, the XPM from the pump is the dominant influence on the degradation of the probe coherence. We show that the faster decoherence at the pump leading edge means that the probe coherence is reduced more significantly when the probe has a higher group velocity, i.e., when an orthogonally polarized probe is aligned to the fast (lower refractive index) axis of the fiber or when a co-polarized probe has a longer central wavelength. Simulations show that this effect occurs for both polarization-maintaining (PM) and non-PM ANDi fibers and can result in a probe decoherence rate that is higher than that of the pump. These previously unreported results extend our earlier scalar simulations showing incoherent supercontinuum within a single pulse.
Slow pyrolysis of bamboo: an approach on quality of charcoal and greenhouse gases emission

Bamboo is a grass known worldwide for its versatility, fast growth and short rotation. The combination of these characteristics makes the species a potential source of biomass for energy use, especially when submitted to a thermochemical conversion treatment, such as pyrolysis. However, the environment aspects of the pyrolysis should be observed, like the emission of greenhouse gases. In this context, the aim of this study was to characterize the proprieties the charcoal and the emission of greenhouse gases of Dendrocalamus asper (Schult f.) Backer ex Heyne, in different pyrolysis temperature (400, 550, 700 °C). The charcoal properties are influenced by the pyrolysis temperature. The increase in the final pyrolysis temperature resulted in a reduction of around 24,5% in the values of charcoal yield and caused an increase in the emission of greenhouse gases (CO2, CO, CH4, and H2). Despite the advantages of performing pyrolysis as a thermal treatment, ways to mitigate such emissions are one aspect that has to be evaluated.