Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Hybrid Model based on Neural Network and Hybrid Genetic Algorithm for Automotive Price Forecasting

In this paper, we introduce a new intelligent combination method based on Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network (MLP‐NN) and Hybrid Genetic Algorithm (HGA) for automotive price forecasting. The combination of MLPNN and HGA lead us to accelerate convergence to the optimal weights and improve the forecasting performance. In this structure, the Levenberg‐ Marquardt (LM) algorithm is employed for training of the network, and the hybridization of Genetic Algorithm (GA) with some local search optimization techniques such as steepest descent (SD) method and quasi‐Newton methods with DFP and BFGS formula is used to perform HGA. We apply our new hybrid model to forecast the automotive prices in Iran Khodro Company which is the biggest automotive manufacturing in IRAN. Simulation results show the enough reduction in the processing iterations and forecasting error which is mean square error. The results are well promising compared to the cases when we apply MLP‐NN or hybridization of MLP‐NN and GA, individually.
E-learning in prison: a proposal

Distance learning is benefcial not only to those students who encounter diffculties when attending courses, but also to “weak” individuals such as women, immigrants and prison inmates. This article discusses several aspects of a distance learning programme for the inmates of ICATT in Eboli (SA), which is still being carried out, focusing on both the various institutional actors and the main choices made. These include, in addition to the option of e-learning, the offer of continual learning paths at secondary school and university levels, in line with the average educational rates of the Italian prison population. Finally, the article provides several details about the didactic organisation of the lessons within the online course.
Correlations Between Acoustic Features, Personality Traits and Perception of Soundscapes

The present study reports results from an experiment that is part of Soundscape Emotion Responses (SSER) study. We investigated the interaction between psychological and acoustic features in the perception of soundscapes. Participant features were estimated with the Ten-Item Personality Index (Gosling et al. 2003) and the Profile of Mood State for Adults (Terry et al. 1999, 2005), and acoustic features with computational tools such as MIRtoolbox (Lartillot 2011). We made ambisonic recordings of Singaporean everyday sonic environments and selected 12 excerpts of 90 seconds duration each, in 4 categories: city parks, rural parks, eateries and shops/markets. 43 participants rated soundscapes according to the Swedish Soundscape Quality Protocol (Axelsson et al. 2011) which uses 8 dimensions related to quality perception. Participants also grouped ‘blobs’ representing the stimuli according to a spatial metaphor and associated a colour to each. A principal component analysis determined a set of acoustic features that span a 2-dimensional plane related to latent higher-level features that are relevant to soundscape perception. We tentatively named these dimensions Mass and Variability Focus; the first depends on loudness and spectral shape, the second on amplitude variability across temporal domains. A series of repeated-measures ANOVA showed that there is are patterns of significant correlations between perception ratings and the derived acoustic features in interaction with personality measures. Several of the interactions were linked to the personality trait Openness, and to aural-visual orientation. Implications for future research are discussed.
The Nexus among Resource Based Theory, Marketing Strategy, and Firm Performance: An Integrated Framework

The purpose of this article is to present the link among resource based theory, marketing strategy, and firms’ performance in order to propose integrative framework showing how the three constructs are linked. It is organized based on a review of academic literature on resource based theory and marketing strategy chronicled in major marketing journals up to December 2015. Besides, the paper reflects some context specific experiences of the author. As a result, the literatures indicate that the resources of firms such as marketing resources commitment are linearly linked to their marketing strategies. This in turn implies that the link between resources and marketing strategy is direct while its link with performance is mediated by marketing strategy. Such propositions constitute guidelines useful in the process of linking resource based theory and marketing strategies by practitioners and establish bases for academic researchers to test the conceptual relationships proposed in this article.
Photodegradation profiles of PVC compound and wood/PVC composites under UV weathering

This work aimed to study the effect of different ultraviolet (UV) weathering conditions (natural and accelerated) on the photodegradation of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and wood/polyvinyl chloride (WPVC) composites by considering the structural and physical changes of PVC and WPVC samples as well as examining the photodegradation profiles at different depths from the sample surfaces. The photodegradation of PVC and WPVC composites under natural weathering condi- tions were lower than those under accelerated weathering conditions. The addition of Tinuvin P stabilizer at 2 phr was suf- ficient to stabilize PVC and WPVC composites, whereas the presence of wood appeared to accelerate the photodegradation of PVC under both natural and accelerated weathering conditions. When considering the photodegradation profiles at dif- ferent depths of the samples, it was found that the polyene and carbonyl sequences of PVC and WPVC composites were high at the sample surfaces and tended to decrease rapidly with increasing depth from the specimen surface before stabiliz- ing at a depth of 60 µm for PVC and 80 µm for WPVC composites. The differences in specimen depths for the stabilization of polyene and carbonyl sequences in PVC and WPVC samples implied that the presence of wood particles enhanced the absorption of UV radiation by the WPVC composite samples.
Relationship between Internal Branding, Employee Brand and Brand Endorsement

Efficient internal branding practices give service organisations competitive advantage. While the impact of internal branding on employees behaviours has already been examined by academicians and practitioners, its role in developing a favourable employee brand remains unexplored. This article aims to analyse the influence of internal branding activities on employees’ brand knowledge, commitment and employee brand in higher education institutions in India and United States of America. Further the relationship between employee brand and brand endorsement is also examined. Using an online survey, data were collected from the teaching faculty members of higher educational institutions in India (274 samples) and the United States of America (274 samples). The partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) results showed that internal branding influence employees’ knowledge, commitment and image of the brand. The results also proved that employee brand significantly influences employees’ brand endorsement in both countries. The administrators of the institutes in both countries should strengthen the internal branding activities by enhancing brand-centric rewards and promotions to motivate employees to deliver the desired brand image to students and other stakeholders. They must get feedback from employees at regular intervals to know their perception regarding the brand and its image to maintain favorable employee brand.
Decentralized Autonomous Hybrid Renewable Power Generation

Power extension of grid to isolated regions is associated with technical and economical issues. It has encouraged exploration and exploitation of decentralized power generation using renewable energy sources (RES). RES based power generation involves uncertain availability of power source round the clock. This problem has been overcome to certain extent by installing appropriate integrated energy storage unit (ESU). This paper presents technical review of hybrid wind and photovoltaic (PV) generation in standalone mode. Associated components like converters, storage unit, controllers, and optimization techniques affect overall generation. Wind and PV energy are readily available, omnipresent, and expected to contribute major future energy market. It can serve to overcome global warming problem arising due to emissions in fossil fuel based thermal generation units. This paper includes the study of progressive development of standalone renewable generation units based on wind and PV microgrids.
Erosion Control in Sand-Clay Mixtures

Earth embankment dams are one of the most commonly constructed hydraulic 4 infrastructures worldwide. One mode of dam failure is piping through the embankment, which 5 is initiated by internal erosion of soil particles inside dams. In this study, the applicability of 6 microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) for internal erosion control is examined in 7 the laboratory using sand-kaolin mixtures of different particle sizes. A series of internal erosion 8 tests are conducted using a newly designed rigid-wall column erosion test apparatus, which 9 allows independent control of MICP treatment. Erosion rate/coefficient, volumetric change and 10 permeability are characterized during the internal erosion process. It is found that MICP 11 treatment facilitates the reduction of erosion and volumetric contraction of sand-clay mixtures 12 investigated in the current study. Carbonate precipitation increases the erosion resistance of 13 sand-clay mixtures by absorbing/coating fine particles directly and bridging the contacts of 14 coarse particles. An improved effectiveness of internal erosion control is observed in the sand15 clay mixture having a higher gap ratio. This observation is due to the inherently large porosity, 16 which hosts more carbonate precipitation. The difficulty of bacteria and chemical injection in 17 sand-clay mixtures triggers the flushing of produced calcium carbonate, which reduces the 18 overall carbonate content and MICP treatment efficiency. The spatial distribution of 19 precipitation within the soil is also altered. 20 1 PhD candidate, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, CB2 1PZ, UK. (*Corresponding author). Email: jiangningjun@gmail.com; nj263@cam.ac. uk. PH/FAX: +44-1223766683. 2 Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720 USA. Email: soga@berkeley.edu 3 Project engineer, Cathie Associates SA/NV, 1831 Diegem, Belgium. (Previously, Sharjah Fellow, Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 1PZ, UK) Email: matthew.y. kuo@gmail.com
Finding relevant search results in social networks

Social media services and the social networks are quickly becoming a big and natural part of the web. Providing a way to quickly determine the quality of status updates written therein would be very useful to bring order to the massive amount of content generated. We have looked at the current research and techniques in information retrieval for searching and have implemented a few of them to determine how useful they are in the context of social networks. Based on these implementations we have created a proof of concept search engine for Twitter. The solution contains a crawler utilizing mainly the Adaptive OPIC algorithm for the selection policy, together with some other parameters. The search engine does a custom ranking as a combination of several parameters, such as the popularity, text analysis and freshness. Some of the parameters are also personal ranking algorithms and are thus based upon the user doing the query. These are interest based ranking and an estimated shortest distance in the users own social graph. The estimated distance is done using the Seeds-based ranking algorithm; an alternative version of the algorithm is also proposed. Testing has been done, both user testing (using NDCG) and performance testing to determine how good the implemented techniques are in the context of social networks. The results of these tests are analyzed and we elaborate on possible uses of the search engine and possible future work. The results show that old relevance models that have been used in search solutions for the web and similar media are still very useful in the context of social networks. And also that usage of personalized attributes (such as users relation to each other) is a good way to measure the quality of a status. We also conclude that you in practice can index everything of a social media, but have to use some methods for focused crawling based on the demands set on the search solution that is to be created.
SOLITONS IN CRYSTALLINE POLYETHYLENE : A CHAIN SURROUNDED BY IMMOVABLE NEIGHBORS

A numerical solution to the problem of existence and stability of topological solitons in a polyethylene chain surrounded by immovable neighboring chains is obtained. In the framework of a realistic model that takes into account deformations of valence bonds, valence and torsional angles, as well as intermolecular interactions, three types of solitons describing local topological defects in the crystal are found. They correspond, respectively, to ~i! stretching or compression of the zigzag backbone by one lattice spacing, ~ii! stretching or compression over half-lattice spacing together with twisting by 180°, and ~iii! pure twisting by 360°. The existence of such solitons is caused by specific topology of the polyethylene crystal. For each of these solitons the velocity spectrum is found in the subsonic region. Molecular-dynamics modeling leads to conclusion about their stability in the whole interval of admissible velocities. The influence of temperature is also taken into account. It is shown that thermal vibrations can result only in the formation of the second type of solitons. These solitons are created as kink-antikink pairs that can move along the chain as Brownian particles. The abrupt increase of the soliton density is shown to occur near the crystal melting point. @S0163-1829~98! 04338-0#
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE MANAGEMENT (OCM)

IVI © 2018 Page 1 of 9 Purpose This paper describes the initial steps in the development of Organizational Change Management (OCM), a new Critical Capability (CC) of the IT Capability Maturity Framework (IT-CMF). OCM consists of a maturity assessment and an accompanying Body of Knowledge to support an organization’s improvement efforts. An initial overview of the literature related to managing organizational change is described, based on a review of 30+ academic and practitioner publications. Core themes are identified and used to define an initial taxonomy for OCM. This initial structure was further refined and developed in collaboration with industry and academic experts to ensure it both reflects and supports contemporary organizational realities and best practices in organizational change management.
Gay Pay for Straight Work

Drawing from the gender wage gap literature, we explore four possible causes of sexual minority earnings gaps: (1) variation in human capital and labor force participation, (2) occupational and industrial sorting, (3) differences in the institutional organization of the public and private sector, and (4) different returns to marriage and parenthood. Using the 2006 Census of Canada, we find that heterosexual men earn more than gay men, followed by lesbians and heterosexual women. Oaxaca-Blinder decompositions show that industry of employment, rather than occupation, disadvantages gay men, lesbians, and heterosexual women. High levels of educational attainment lead to employment in lucrative occupations, but sexual minorities earn significantly less than heterosexual men within these occupations. Wage gaps are reduced in the public sector for heterosexual women, gay men, and lesbians. Finally, we find that heterosexual women experience a motherhood penalty, heterosexual men experience a fatherhood premium, and both receive a premium for marriage; however, the presence of children and marriage have no effect on the earnings of either gay men or lesbians in conjugal relationships.
A Case Study on Relationships Between Psychological Capital, Personality and Organizational Commitment

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of psychological capital and personality on organizational commitment. Furthermore, it was also aimed to examine the relationships between these two concepts because there is a small number of studies that reveal the relationships between psychological capital and personality characteristics. In this context, a full count was performed in a manufacturing enterprise, and the questionnaire study was conducted on a total of 217 people including all white and blue-collar employees. All employees were reached by face to face interviews. The collected data were analyzed by SPSS 21 and Lisrel 8.51. The results of the study show that psychological capital positively affects affective, continuance and normative commitments. Similarly, personality characteristics also have a significant effect on organizational commitment. Extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness and openness to experience among personality characteristics positively affect the organizational commitment. It was observed that neuroticism had a positive effect on organizational commitment, contrary to expectations. The relationships between the relevant two concepts affecting organizational commitment were also found significant. A positive relationship was found between psychological capital and conscientiousness, agreeableness and openness to experience while a negative and significant relationship was found between psychological capital and neuroticism. Contrary to expectations, a negative and significant relationship was achieved between psychological capital and extraversion.
Design and realization of the ZigBee wireless sensor network experimental platform

In the current society, with the rapid development of science and technology, many new techniques have found increasingly extensive applications in various fields. The ZigBee wireless sensor network experimental platform is a representative technique, which has shown favorable functions and results during the practical application process. Based on that, this paper studies design and realization of the ZigBee wireless sensor network experimental platform. First, basic components and functions of the network experimental platform are analyzed. Then, the hardware structure and software design of the equipment are analyzed. This research is an attempt to boost further development and promotion of techniques in the field.
Seed Priming: New Comprehensive Approaches for an Old Empirical Technique

Seed priming is a pre-sowing treatment which leads to a physiological state that enables seed to germinate more efficiently. The majority of seed treatments are based on seed imbibition allowing the seeds to go through the first reversible stage of germination but do not allow radical protrusion through the seed coat. Seeds keeping their desiccation tolerance are then dehydrated and can be stored until final sowing. During subse‐ quent germination, primed seeds exhibit a faster and more synchronized germination and young seedlings are often more vigorous and resistant to abiotic stresses than seedlings obtained from unprimed seeds. Priming often involves soaking seed in predetermined amounts of water or limitation of the imbibition time. The imbibition rate could be somehow controlled by osmotic agents such as PEG and referred as osmopriming. Halopriming implies the use of specific salts while "hormopriming" relies on the use of plant growth regulators. Some physical treatments (UV, cold or heat,.) also provide germination improvement thus suggesting that priming effects are not necessarily related to seed imbibition. A better understanding of the metabolic events taking place during the priming treatment and the subsequent germination should help to use this simple and cheap technology in a more efficient way.
Fine-scale species richness of alpine fellfield plant communities on a middle-latitude mountain of central Japan: Influences of alpine dwarf pine and substrate properties

I compared the vascular plant species richness of fellfield plant communities in the Northern Japan Alps, investigating fine-scale species-area relationships and comparing the number of species in different areas. I also investigated the relation of rate of species richness increase with area in different communities to substrate properties and cover of alpine dwarf pine Pinus pumila. Fellfield plant communities on fine gravel habitats had lower coverage and fewer species than communities on large gravel habitats. The plant community where P. pumila was distributed patchily had the lowest number of species per m 2 but the fastest rate of species richness increase with area. The plant community where P. pumila had developed continuous canopies was mostly composed of species usually found in the alpine-subalpine and lowland zones, whose seeds are dispersed by birds and mammals. The alpine dwarf pine appeared to exclude from habitats alpine specialists that are distributed only in the alpine life zone above the timberline.
Literature survey of DNA Abasic Sites

The ability of the genome to support normal cellular homeostasis and to transmit genetic information is directly dependent upon how well its covalent structure is preserved. Inside the cell, DNA is under constant attack by exogenous environmental toxins and cellular metabolites, free radicals, oxidizing agents etc. Damage to a base in DNA duplexes is followed by either chemical or enzyme catalyzed hydrolysis of the N-glycosidic bond to yield a baseless site (1, 2). Thus the removal of a heterocyclic base by the selective hydrolysis of an N-glycosidic bond produces either an apurinic or an apyrimidinic (AP/abasic) site in a DNA sequence (3). For example, the spontaneous hydrolysis of the 4-amino group of cytosine to yield uracil occurs at a genetically significant rate. Since this lesion is mutagenic, the cells of all organisms contain the enzyme uracil-DNA glycosylase which hydrolyzes the N-glycosidic bonds of deoxyuridine residues to release uracil (Figure 1).