Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EFFECT OF E-COMMERCE ON OPERATION COST REDUCTIONS OF MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN KENYA : A CASE OF KALUWORKS LIMITED

With the realization that e-commerce has a great potential for economic growth, the government of Kenya has committed itself in providing an enabling environment for its growth through initiatives like zero-rating ICT equipment, laying the under-sea fiber cable and establishing legislation like Communication Act 2008. Despite this importance of e-commerce, the adoption of the technology is still low in Kenyan businesses. A significant number of SMEs in Kenya are however ignorant of ICTs and are unaware of their importance in conducting business, even in this era of globalization. Studies indicate that e-commerce helps to manage operation costs but despite that, there is still low adoption of e-commerce. The study hence sought to evaluatethe role of ecommerce in reducing operational cost in an organization. The study specifically aims to establish the effect of Business-to-business e-commerce, Business-to-consumer e-commerce, Consumer-tobusiness e-commerce and Consumer-to-consumer e-commerce on operation costs of organizations. This study is guided by the systems theory, communication theory, resource based International Journal of Human Resources and Procurement Vol. 6 Issue 5 (2017) http://www.ijsse ISSN 2307-6305 Page | 296 theory and organizational fit theory. The target population for the study was 57 employees that work in the IT department, production department, administrative departments, Sales & Marketing and finished goods department. The study adopted a census survey since the population of the study is small. Therefore the sample size consisted of 57 employees.Statistical Package for Social Sciences computer software was used for analysis. An ordinary least square regression model was used. The study findings indicated thatBusiness-to-consumer e-commerce, Consumer-to-business e-commerce and Consumer-to-consumer e-commerce have a positive and significant effect on operation cost while Business-to-business e-commerce does not significantly affect operation cost reduction. The study recommends that the management of Kaluworks should also consider using Business to consumer e-commerce more in activities such as consumers places their orders online, company placing quotations online, the company placing information on prices of goods online and consumers purchasing physical goods online since it will lead to a significant reduction of operation cost.
Best practice in research evaluation ?

A central issue in science studies and science policy today is the changing role and function of science in society. The diversified landscape of research evaluation can be understood as the outcome of attempts to open up the traditional very closed system of scientific quality control. Has it influenced the internal or micro-level quality control in science? Disregarding problems in the organization, construction and the use of the classic peer review system it is still commonly accepted by both the science communities, the university system and in the political and public field as ever. Is it possible to think of other methods or systems for quality assessment or evaluation in science? In private knowledge-based companies focus is more and more on organizational and social dimensions and relations surrounding the production of new knowledge. Using examples from organizational theory and sociology the paper argues for a social and organizational view on evaluation of research. 1 Paper to be presented at the European Evaluation Society 2002 Conference, Seville, Spain, October 10-12th 2002 , Theme 11: Science and technology evaluations. The author is presently working with a research program on research management and evaluation in private and public research organizations (REMAP) at The Copenhagen Business School. 2 Introduction. 2 Science in risk society . 3 The classic view: the ‘product before person’ approach to evaluation of scientific quality. 5 The sociological view: . 6 The policy view: the productivity-focus of the new public management evaluation of research. 7 The problem of the social dimension in scientific and knowledge work . 8 New concepts or models for evaluation of research – contributions from organizational theory: . 9 A model for evaluation of social capital in organizations: . 12 A digression to Bourdieu and the field of science: . 13 Conclusion: . 14 Literature:. 16
Advanced glycation end products inhibit distal colon contraction in rats via protein kinase C-dependent modulation of intracellular calcium

Aims: To investigate the effect of advanced glycation end products (AGEs) on contractile activity of rat distal colon and its possible mechanisms. Methods: Contractile responses of colonic smooth muscle strips from male SD rats were recorded using a polyphysiograph. Colonic smooth muscle cells were isolated and identified by immunofluorescence. Changes in [Ca2+]i in response to AGEs were measured by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Immunoprecipitation and Western blotting were used to examine the phosphorylation of type 3 InsP3 receptors (InsP3R3) in colonic smooth muscle cells. The PKC inhibitor chelerythrine and the PKC activator phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) was used to examine the role of PKC in the responses to AGEs. Results: Carbachol-induced contractions of colonic smooth muscle strips were relaxed following the administration of 150 μg/mL and 200 μg/ mL AGEs compared to control, and this was significantly counteracted by prior administration of chelerythrine and decreased more significantly by prior administration of PMA before exposure to AGEs. AGEs at the concentration of 150 μg/mL or 200 μg/mL significantly inhibited [Ca2+]i compared with the control group. AGEs at 150 μg/mL was considered as the most effective concentration in vitro, but this effect was less marked in the presence of chelerythrine. PMA (1 μM) significantly enhanced AGEs-mediated effect on the decrease of [Ca2+]i. AGEs increased PKC activity compared to controls, and increased phosphorylation of InsP3R3. The latter effect was prevented by chelerythrine. Conclusions: AGEs inhibit contraction of colonic smooth muscle strips and reduce [Ca2+]i in colonic smooth muscle cells. The mechanism involves the release of InsP3R3-operated Ca 2+ stores, regulated by the PKC signaling pathway.
Pharmaceutical Equivalence of Some Brands of 5 mg Amlodipine Besylate Tablets Available in Southern Nigeria

Background: The Nigerian drug market is presently overwhelmed by the importation and local manufacturing of many branded and generic products. Some significant proportions of these imported or locally manufactured drugs have been reported to be substandard or counterfeit. Objective: This research evaluated the pharmaceutical equivalence of some samples of Amlodipine 5 mg tablets available in southern Nigeria. Method: Ten samples were procured from ten states of the southern part of the country and standard protocols applied to evaluate their tablet weight uniformity, dimensions, hardness, disintegration time, content of active ingredient and in-vitro drug release profile. Results: All the samples tested were not physically and chemically equivalent. Although within each sample, compendial requirement for tablet weight uniformity was met, there were significant differences in the mean tablet weights and diameters of the samples studied (p < 0.05). Furthermore, tablet hardness and disintegration time varied much among the samples, but not within each sample. Two of the samples failed to meet the compendial requirement for content of active ingredient and all the brands released at least 75% of the drug within 45 mins. Conclusion: Eight of the ten brands studied were pharmaceutically acceptable and therefore can be interchangeable. All the brands varied in sizes significantly and it is pertinent that manufacturers of this product be advised to formulate tablets that are equivalent in size, as different tablet sizes may impart negative psychological effects on clinicians and their patients when the need arises to switch over from one product to another, since the availability of particular products is not always guaranteed.
Designing Banking Kiosk Interface

The aim of this study is to design a banking Kiosk. Banking Kiosk is one of new technologies for making banking procedures quick and easy. Since the banking kiosk has not been used largely in Iran, it was tried to design both body and software interface of a banking Kiosk suitable for use in Iran. For this aim the users were identified and their behavior was studied. Due to the gathered data with the help of object oriented design method and UML diagrams, the kiosk software was designed. A prototype was developed and a demo of the designed software was added to it. The prototype was evaluated in comparison with an ATM. Sixty six people were studied in two groups. The result of the evaluation showed that the newly designed banking kiosk improved in comparison with ATM as a current device.
Unification and Classification: An Experiment in Information-Based Parsing

When dealing with a phenomenon as vast and com plex as natural language, an experimental approach is often the best way to discover new computational methods and determine their usefulness. The experimental process includes designing and selecting new experiments, carrying out the experiments, and evaluating the experiments. Most conference presentations are about finished experiments, completed theoretical results, or the evaluation of systems already in use. In this workshop setting, I would like to depart from this tendency to discuss some experiments that we are beginning to perform, and the reasons for investigating a particular approach to parsing. This approach builds on recent work in unification-based parsing and classification-based knowledge representation, developing an architecture that brings together the capabilities of these related frameworks.
Accuracy of Bilingual Chinese-speakers using search systems

Users have substantial trust in a search engine’s ability to rank results by relevance to a query. This paper reports a study that seeks to understand how English proficiency, system language (English/Chinese), and the position of relevant information on a Search Engine Result Page (SERP) affect bilingual Chinese-speakers’ ability to accurately identify good items on a SERP. The results show that rank basis exists in bilingual Chinese-speakers. Results also suggest a combined effect of system language and English ability. Greater English proficiency was associated with higher accuracy on an English system, but surprisingly, the opposite was found for the Chinese system, where accuracy was lower.
Towards Robot Interaction Autonomy: Explore, Identify, and Interact

Nowadays, robots are expected to enter in various application scenarios and interact with unknown and dynamically changing environments. This highlights the need for creating autonomous robot behaviours to explore such environments, identify their characteristics and adapt, and build knowledge for future interactions. To respond to this need, in this paper we present a novel framework that integrates multiple components to achieve a context-aware and adaptive interaction between the robot and uncertain environments. The core of this framework is a novel self-tuning impedance controller that regulates robot quasi-static parameters, i.e., stiffness and damping, based on the robot sensory data and vision. The tuning of the parameters is achieved only in the direction(s) of interaction or movement, by distinguishing expected interactions from external disturbances. A vision module is developed to recognize the environmental characteristics and to associate them to the previously/newly identified interaction parameters, with the robot always being able to adapt to the new changes or unexpected situations. This enables a faster robot adaptability, starting from better initial interaction parameters. The framework is evaluated experimentally in an agricultural task, where the robot effectively interacts with various deformable environments.
Full scale strain monitoring of a suspension bridge using high performance distributed fiber optic sensors

This paper investigated field monitoring of a 1108 m suspension bridge during an assessment load test, using integrated distributed fibre-optic sensors (DFOSs). In addition to the conventional Brillouin time domain analysis system, a high spatial resolution Brillouin system using the differential pulse-width pair (DPP) technique was adopted. Temperature compensation was achieved using a Raman distributed temperature sensing system. This is the first full scale field application of DFOSs using the Brillouin time domain analysis technique in a thousand-meter-scale suspension bridge. Measured strain distributions along the whole length of the bridge were presented. The interaction between the main cables and the steel-box-girder was highlighted. The Brillouin fibre-optic monitoring systems exhibited great facility for the purposes of long distance distributed strain monitoring, with up to 0.05 m spatial resolution, and 0.01 m/point sampling interval. The performance of the Brillouin system using DPP technique was discussed. The measured data was also employed for assessing bridge design and for the assessment of structural condition. The results show that the symmetrical design assumptions were consistent with the actual bridge, and that the strain values along the whole bridge were within the safety range. This trial field study serves as an example, demonstrating the feasibility of highly dense strain and temperature measurement for large scale civil infrastructures using integrated DFOSs.
The Differences between Subjective and Objective View of Linking PC Connectors

The tasks of linking PC connectors to a computer were studied in the Bother-study and the Solution-study; and each study was accomplished with subjective questionnaire and objective test. From 59 questionnaires in Bother-study, the ANOVA test found that the larger bother connectors to the users were USB-B, PS2; and the Mini-USB, VGA the second. At the objective test, 20 subjects were asked to plug the randomized 8 connectors into a wall in blindfolded situation, the paired comparison showed that the mean error-linking frequency were: MiniUSB>PS2>others; and the mean linking time were: Mini-USB, PS2>others. Four possible designs (Shape-idea, Dot-idea, Color-idea, and Hook-idea) which summarized from the Bother-study for improving the larger bother connectors (USB-B, Mini-USB, VGA, and PS2) were verified in the Solution-study. The ANOVA test found that the Dot-concept was considered to be the best solution in 134 questionnaires. Two types of Dot-idea with 1mm, 2mm dot height were proposed to 56 subjects for them to test the linking effect. The mean linking time were reduced for USB-B, MiniUSB and VGA but raised for PS2; the mean error-linking frequency were reduced for Mini-USB, but raised for the PS2. According to the results, the Dot-concept might be most suitable to the Mini-USB connector. The details of these different viewpoints were discussed in the end of this article.
A robust learning approach for lung cancer detections in medical applications

Lung cancer deals with the disease categorized by uncontrolled development of cell in lung tissues. If left unprocessed, this development can spread outside the lungs, straight, into other shares of the human body. Operation, radiation treatment, and scanning are used in the treatment of lung cancer.This paper deals with the efficient approach to detect automatic lung cancer at early or advance stages to notice the malignant nodes at earliest as healthy as suggest developments so the doctors can be able to take corrective accomplishment to guard the patients after cancer at maximum initial stages.
MAY 1996 BIODEGRADATION OF TRIHALOMETHANES AND OTHER HALOGENATED ALIPHATIC COMPOUNDS WRRl Technical Completion Report No . 298

vi JUSTIFICATION . 1 METHODS . 2 . RESULTS AND SIGNIFICANCE 4 . Biological Dechlorination of Chloroform to Dichlorornethane 4 . Dichloromethane Degradation. Correlation of Gene Probe and Activity Assays 8 Design and Function of a Two-stage Anaerobic Bioreactor to Degrade Chloroform . 12 Dehalogenation of ChlorofIuorocarbons (CFCs) by Aquifer Bacteria . 14 . Thermodynamic Parameters Used to Predict Dehalogenation 17 PRINCIPAL FINDINGS. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS . 18 SUMMARY . 20 . REFERENCES 21 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES . Figure 1 . Reductive Dechlorination of Chloroform 5 Figure 2 . Chloroform Dechlorination and Methanogenesis . 6 . Figure 3 . Dechlorination and Methanogenesis Inhibition by BES 7 . Figure 4 . Reversal of BES Inhibition by Coenzyme M 7 . Figure 5 . Dichloromethane Degradation by Hyphumicrobium and Wastewater Microbes 9 . Figure 6 . Hyphumicrobium and Wastewater Microbe DNA Hybridization Patterns 11 . Figure 7 . Two-stage Anaerobic Bioreactor Performance in Degrading Chloroform 13 . Figure 8 . CFC Biodegradation Associated With Cellular Fraction 15 . Figure 9 . CFC Degradation as Affected by CFC-11 Concentration 16 . Table 1 . Biological Dechlorination as Affected by Reaction Reduction Potential 18 . Table 2 . Summary of Biological Dehalogenation Reactions 20
The 5 th East Asian Social Policy ( EASP ) International Conference An Empirical Analysis of Marriage Duration among the Middle Aged and Elderly in Taiwan

This paper investigates the factors influencing marriage duration among the middle aged and elderly in Taiwan. The micro data used is from the Survey of Health and Living Status of the Middle Aged and Elderly in Taiwan (SHLS), which contains detailed information on individuals, family structure, health, social support, employment, and economic status. Weibull models are used to estimate the hazard rates of marriage duration, including divorce (included separation) and death of spouse. Further, this paper examines the effect of unobserved heterogeneity on estimated individual hazard rates of marriage duration. First, for the cases of divorce and death of spouse, the empirical results show that people with poor health, and whose partner has a higher level of education have a higher hazard rate of divorce and widowhood. In contrast, people with higher income, and elderly people with more children have a lower hazard rate of divorce and widowhood. The empirical results also confirm that, after considering unobserved heterogeneity, most estimated coefficients on the marriage hazard regressors are larger in magnitude that the corresponding coefficients in the reference model. Second, for the case of divorce only, the results include findings that: people aged 60 to 64, Aboriginals, people with better education, people with poor health, and whose partner has a higher level of education have a higher hazard rate of divorce. In contrast, Buddhists, people with higher income, and elderly people with more children have a lower hazard rate of divorce. However, the effects of unobserved heterogeneity become less serious and indifferent in this case.
Mechanics of Paste Flow in Radial Screen Extruders

High solids volume particle-liquid mixtures, sometimes called pastes, often exhibit apparent yield stress behaviour and once formed, e.g. by extrusion, will retain their shape. Radial screen extruders have been developed for high flow rate, low mean pressure extrusion through multiple small diameter dies (< ~1.5 mm). The principles underlying the design and operation of these extruders are not well understood and consequently extruder efficiencies, throughput and reliability are often sub-optimal. This paper reports results from an initial study of the flow mechanics of pastes in radial screen extruders. A novel experimental module, capable of investigating each flow component is described and results are presented for extrusion of a 0.56 volume fraction talc-based paste. The axial force on central frustum is determined by the conveying action, but the torque and normal stress on the screen are dominated by the nip flow created by the passage of the blade.
YAPSIM: Yet Another Parallel Logic Simulator using GP-GPU

In this paper, a new high-speed logic simulator YAPSIM based on a parallel logic simulation methodology using GP-GPU is presented. It consists of three acceleration methods for simulation performance, a fan-out cone grouping method, a LUT method and a GPU internal memory access method. The experimental comparison result shows that YAPSIM executed 29 times faster than a high speed commercial simulator for a combinational circuit of 75,000 gates, and 5.7 times faster for a sequential circuit of 84,000 gates respectively.
Ecology and Evolution of Common Milkweed

All organisms must interact with and adapt to their surrounding environment. There are myriad ways in which species accomplish this; ultimately resulting in the vast diversity of life on earth today. Changes in the environment can have profound impacts on an organisms’ ability to compete and utilize their surroundings. Plants are particularly impacted by local environmental differences because of the fact that they are immobile. This environmental variation exists at both large and small spatial scales. For example, on larger scales, forces such as fire and grazers can remove dominant plant competitors. On smaller scales, variation in resource availability (e.g. light, nutrients, water) may benefit more phenotypically plastic species. To better understand how changes in the environment, on both large and small spatial scales, I established a two part study using milkweed (Asclepias spp.) as a model system. In the first chapter, I ask how fire, large grazers, and nutrients have affected milkweed abundance over relatively long time and large spatial scales. Here I found that most milkweed species increase in abundance with burning alone but expressed species-specific responses to other treatment combinations. This indicates that milkweed species have likely experienced unique fluctuations in abundance as fire and large herbivores moved across the landscape. The second aspect of this research focuses in on a single year and relatively small spatial scales. Here, using common milkweed (A. syriaca), I ask how environmental variation shapes spatial structuring of phenotypes within fine-scale physical distance and how genotypes impact phenotypes. I found that environment, not genotype, had a relatively larger role on fine-scale phenotypic variation. Combined, these results have implications for understanding the role of large and small scale environmental variations in plant phenotypes and plant abundance.
Case Study on Testing of Web-Based Application: Del's Students Information System

Software Testing is an important process to assure the quality of software including web-based application. The aim of testing is to detect all failures to ensure that the software is built in accordance with its specifications. There are two methods of testing, such as the white box and the black box testing. White box testing is done with the approach to the program code, while black box testing is done without referring to the source code, but to the output of the resulting program. User interface testing is the type of testing that is usually conducted on a web-based application. In this research, functional and user interface testing were conducted into Del’s Student Information System. Testing techniques used in this research was a Simple Functional Acceptance Test (FAST). This technique was done by testing each function and checking each component of the user interface. Selenium IDE was used to execute test cases resulting in the implementation. From all steps carried out in this research, it can be concluded that the functional testing can be carried out in line with the testing of the user interface. A testing scenario for web-based application has been proposed and experimentally applied into an application under testing.