Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
DOLADMAICS: a model for implementing Lean Six Sigma in contemporary SMEs

In recent years, the world has been focusing on the development of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Meanwhile, the world has also been looking at the Lean Six Sigma concept as an enabler for companies to achieve prosperity. Hence, it is recommended that Lean Six Sigma be applied to SMEs. However, contemporary SMEs are suffering from certain deficiencies which make it unsuitable for them to implement the Lean Six Sigma concept immediately. This situation indicates the need for developing a model that can overcome the deficiencies existing in SMEs and enable implementation of the Lean Six Sigma concept for achieving prosperity. In order to fulfil this need, in this paper, a model named DOLADMAICS (for Deficiencies Overcoming-Lean Anchored-Define-Measure-Analyse-Improve-Control-Stabilise) is contributed. The DOLADMAICS model is designed to enable an SME to implement the Lean Six Sigma concept at five levels. The workings of DOLADMAICS model is explored by presenting a hypothetical case study.
Court-Mandated Treatment for Convicted Drinking Drivers

Court-mandated treatment, which requires offenders convicted of alcohol or other drug–related crimes to participate in treatment for their substance abuse problems or face legal consequences, has long been a component of sanctioning for driving under the influence (DUI) and is a primary path of entry into alcoholism treatment for many people with problem drinking. Several issues are relevant to mandated treatment: screening, assessment and referral, effectiveness, DUI events as opportunities for intervention, brief interventions for offenders outside of mandated treatment, and cost-effectiveness of mandated treatment. Treatment effectiveness depends to some extent on offenders’ motivation to participate, and offenders may resist treatment when their participation is coerced. Types of treatment such as motivational enhancement therapy may prove cost-effective with these involuntary participants. More research is needed into the changing DUI population, impaired driving and multidrug use, and new technologies for monitoring DUI offenders.
The effect of concentrations of external sodium and calcium on the swimming speed of Schistosoma mansoni miracidia.

tiation, and maturation of the worm are adewhich A. variglandis can develop. Thus, furquate. Nevertheless, successful completion of ther studies on the susceptibility of other the life cycle may not ordinarily occur, as few mammals to this schistosome are warranted. worms leave the lungs for other sites. Our appreciation is extended to Dr. L. K. The gerbil may not be the only mammal in Eveland for advice.
The 2.1-D sketch

A model is described for image segmentation that tries to capture the low-level depth reconstruction exhibited in early human vision, giving an important role to edge terminations. The problem is to find a decomposition of the domain D of an image that has a minimum of disrupted edges-junctions of edges, crack tips, corners, and cusps-by creating suitable continuations for the disrupted edges behind occluding regions. The result is a decomposition of D into overlapping regions R/sub 1/ union . union R/sub n/ ordered by occlusion, which is called the 2.1-D sketch. Expressed as a minimization problem, the model gives rise to a family of optimal contours, called nonlinear splines, that minimize length and the square of curvature. These are essential in the construction of the 2.1-D sketch of an image, as the continuations of disrupted edges. An algorithm is described that constructs the 2.1-D sketch of an image, and gives results for several example images. The algorithm yields the same interpretations of optical illusions as the human visual system. <<ETX>>
Local Survival of Marbled Murrelets in Central California: Roles of Oceanographic Processes, Sex, and Radiotagging

Abstract We estimated annual local survival rates for after-hatch-year (≥1-yr old) marbled murrelets (Brachyramphus marmoratus) in central California using Cormack-Jolly-Seber mark–recapture models and radiotelemetry, and we modeled the effect of oceanographic conditions, sex, and radiotagging. We captured 331 after-hatch-year murrelets from 1997 to 2003, of which 117 were radiotagged. Recapture rates were best modeled using a term that reflected differences in capture effort among sampling occasions (peffort) and ranged from 0.068 to 0.166. The most highly ranked model (ΦPDO+radio, peffort) indicated that survival rates were positively related to the strength of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) and were negatively affected by radiotransmitters in the year following tagging. Mortality was relatively low in warm-water years, perhaps because murrelets flew inland to breed less frequently and were less exposed to avian predators. Two competing models indicated that survival in the year following tagging was affected by (1) only radiotagging (model Φradio, peffort), and (2) radiotagging and sex (model Φsex+radio, peffort). Model-averaged survival estimates were 0.868 (SE = 0.074) and 0.896 (SE = 0.067) for males and females, respectively, that were not radiotagged and 0.531 (SE = 0.175) and 0.572 (SE = 0.181) for males and females, respectively, that were radiotagged. Mortality of radiomarked individuals was greatest during a domoic acid (a neurotoxin in the marine environment) bloom in 1998 (Φ = 0.160–0.400) and radiomarking impacts were much less pronounced during typical years (Φ = 0.724–0.810). Additional causes of mortality included predation by peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus) and oil spills. Survival for nonmarked individuals was similar or higher than what was estimated for murrelets in British Columbia and what was predicted for murrelets based on comparative analyses of other Alcid species, suggesting that mortality of after-hatch-year murrelets is not an immediate threat to population viability in the region.
FROM THE STABILITY PACT FOR SOUTH EASTERN EUROPE TO THE REGIONAL COOPERATION COUNCIL ( RCC )

In South Eastern Europe (SEE), apart from a tradition of conflict, there is also a tradition of regional cooperation. During the 1990s, despite violent national conflicts, a large number of initiatives aimed at encouraging regional cooperation were developed (Kut and fiirin 2002). Most of these were initiated by extra Balkan powers. Some of these initiatives, however, like the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), were put forward by countries in the region (Anastasakis 2002, 34)
Isolation and characterization of mesenchymal cells from human fetal membranes

Bone marrow (BM) multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) present with multipotent differentiation potential and immunomodulatory properties. As an alternative to bone marrow, we have examined fetal membranes, amnion and chorion, of term human placenta as a potential source of multipotent MSCs. Here we show that amnion mesenchymal cells (AMCs) and chorion mesenchymal cells (CMCs), isolated by mechanical separation and subsequent enzymatic digestion, demonstrate plastic adherence and fibroblast‐like morphology and are able to form colonies that could be expanded for at least 15 passages. By FACS analysis, AMCs and CMCs were shown to be phenotypically similar to BM‐MSCs and, when cultured in differentiation media, they demonstrated high morphogenetic plasticity by differentiating into osteocytes, chondrocytes and adipocytes. In an attempt to isolate cells with MSC characteristics from human fetal membranes, AMCs and CMCs expressing CD271 were enriched by immunomagnetic isolation and were demonstrated to possess higher clonogenic and osteogenic differentiation potential than CD271‐depleted fractions. Based on these findings, amnion and chorion can be considered as a novel and convenient source of adult MSCs. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
An Auditing Approach for ERP Systems Examining Human Factors that Influence ERP User Satisfaction

This paper tries to connect the successful implementation and operation of the ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) information systems with people and their characteristics through a pilot survey. It examines the human factors that influence ERP user satisfaction. The presented survey tests 14 hypotheses and is based on the model developed by Zviran, Pliskin & Levin [21]. An additional factor has been added to the specified model, the self-efficacy factor analyzed by Bandura [1]. The results are based on 250 ERP users that responded to the survey. The key findings that were revealed by data analysis were that none of the human socio-demographic characteristics do influence ERP user satisfaction. Additionally it was found that perceived usefulness and self-efficacy are the key directors of the ERP user satisfaction. Moreover suggestions are given about how the companies should handle ERP usage in order to develop the prerequisites for increasing user satisfaction and productivity accordingly.
SNF1-related Protein Kinases 2 Are Negatively Regulated by a Plant-specific Calcium Sensor*

SNF1-related protein kinases 2 (SnRK2s) are plant-specific enzymes involved in environmental stress signaling and abscisic acid-regulated plant development. Here, we report that SnRK2s interact with and are regulated by a plant-specific calcium-binding protein. We screened a Nicotiana plumbaginifolia Matchmaker cDNA library for proteins interacting with Nicotiana tabacum osmotic stress-activated protein kinase (NtOSAK), a member of the SnRK2 family. A putative EF-hand calcium-binding protein was identified as a molecular partner of NtOSAK. To determine whether the identified protein interacts only with NtOSAK or with other SnRK2s as well, we studied the interaction of an Arabidopsis thaliana orthologue of the calcium-binding protein with selected Arabidopsis SnRK2s using a two-hybrid system. All kinases studied interacted with the protein. The interactions were confirmed by bimolecular fluorescence complementation assay, indicating that the binding occurs in planta, exclusively in the cytoplasm. Calcium binding properties of the protein were analyzed by fluorescence spectroscopy using Tb3+ as a spectroscopic probe. The calcium binding constant, determined by the protein fluorescence titration, was 2.5 ± 0.9 × 105 m−1. The CD spectrum indicated that the secondary structure of the protein changes significantly in the presence of calcium, suggesting its possible function as a calcium sensor in plant cells. In vitro studies revealed that the activity of SnRK2 kinases analyzed is inhibited in a calcium-dependent manner by the identified calcium sensor, which we named SCS (SnRK2-interacting calcium sensor). Our results suggest that SCS is involved in response to abscisic acid during seed germination most probably by negative regulation of SnRK2s activity.
Adverse events in surgical patients in Australia.

OBJECTIVE To determine the adverse event (AE) rate for surgical patients in Australia. DESIGN A two-stage retrospective medical record review was conducted to determine the occurrence of AEs in hospital admissions. Medical records were screened for 18 criteria and positive records were reviewed by two medical officers using a structured questionnaire. SETTING Admissions in 1992 to 28 randomly selected hospitals in Australia. STUDY PARTICIPANTS Five hundred and twenty eligible admissions were randomly selected from in-patient database in each hospital. A total of 14,179 medical records were reviewed, with 8747 medical and 5432 surgical admissions. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Measures included the rate of AEs in surgical and medical admissions, the proportion resulting in permanent disability and death, the proportion determined to be highly preventable, and the identification of risk factors associated with AEs. RESULTS The AE rate for surgical admissions was 21.9%. Disability that was resolved within 12 months occurred in 83%, 13% had permanent disability, and 4% resulted in death. Reviewers found that 48% of AEs were highly preventable. The risk of an AE depended on the procedure and increased with age and length of stay. CONCLUSION The high AE rate for surgical procedures supports the need for monitoring and intervention strategies. The 18 screening criteria provide a tool to identify admissions with a greater risk of a surgical AE. Risk factors for an AE were age and procedure, and these should be assessed prior to surgery. Prophylactic interventions for infection and deep vein thrombosis could reduce the occurrence of AEs in hospitals.
The Spot-Forward Exchange Rate Relation in Indian Foreign Exchange Market – An Analysis

Forward exchange rate bias explanation generally falls into two categories – assumption of rational expectation resulting in a risk premium and expectation errors which is systematic. The paper tests the bias in the Indian forward exchange markets using one-month and three month forward contracts. The study finds that the three month contracts have larger prediction errors than the one-month contracts. The also paper finds that the prediction errors have information content which leads to assume the presence of risk premium. The study also finds that risk one-month contracts have lesser variability vis-a-vis the three month contracts.
Technological impacts on knowledge sharing: A case study of three travel agencies in Hong Kong

ABSTRACT This research examines how Information and Communication Technology affects knowledge sharing behaviours in travel agencies. Its objectives were addressed through a qualitative methodology involving in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. The results show that technological factors are embedded within the culture of the work environment. It is recommended that management should put more emphasis on knowledge sharing strategies to achieve long-term success.
On the Importance of Diversity in Question Generation for QA

Automatic question generation (QG) has shown promise as a source of synthetic training data for question answering (QA). In this paper we ask: Is textual diversity in QG beneficial for downstream QA? Using top-p nucleus sampling to derive samples from a transformer-based question generator, we show that diversity-promoting QG indeed provides better QA training than likelihood maximization approaches such as beam search. We also show that standard QG evaluation metrics such as BLEU, ROUGE and METEOR are inversely correlated with diversity, and propose a diversity-aware intrinsic measure of overall QG quality that correlates well with extrinsic evaluation on QA.
Modelling and Simulation of Trust Evolution

Several studies coming from psychological or social sciences examine the meaning and characteristics of trust. The information technologies significantly influence almost all activities in modern society. This increases the need of studying the concept of trust in the environment of information systems. On the other hand, the methods and tools coming from computing sciences are used for trust modelling and simulation. This study discusses possible appropriate concepts of modelling and simulation of the trust evolution. The terms trust, and trust representation and visualization are introduced. The approach in human trust modelling is based on the theory of information and social communication knowledge. Some terms of probability theory and information theory are presented. The principle of some phenomena dissemination is demonstrated by epidemic algorithms. The multi-agent system is the modern technology that is used for modelling of not only the technical systems but also the social ones. Some needed terms from the agent theory are mentioned. The agent approach is chosen for modelling the trust in a community. Fundamentals of trust formation, trust dissemination, and trust evolution are presented by deploying the agent system. Finally, summary of well known tools for modelling and simulation multi-agent systems is presented. Finally, an outlook for the future work is proposed. Copies of this report are available on http://www.kiv. zcu.cz/publications/ or by surface mail on request sent to the following address: University of West Bohemia in Pilsen Department of Computer Science and Engineering Univerzitní 8 306 14 Plzeň Czech Republic Copyright © 2006 University of West Bohemia in Pilsen, Czech Republic
Towards a Unified Statistical Framework to Evaluate Financial Crises Early Warning Systems

This paper proposes a new statistical framework inherited from the traditional credit-scoring literature, to evaluate currency crises Early Warning System (EWS). Applied so as to assess the predictive power of panel logit and Markov frameworks, it results that the panel logit is outperforming the Markov switching ones. Furthermore, the introduction of forward looking variables clearly improves the forecasting properties of the EWS. It thus confirms the adequacy of the second generation crisis models in explaining the occurrence of crises.
The Evolution of Exudativory in Primates

Table of Contents for The Evolution of Exudativory in Primates List of contributors Dedication Acknowledgements Forward: Robert D. Martin 1. Introduction Leanne T. Nash and Anne M. Burrows 2. Nutritional and digestive challenges to being a gum-feeding primate Michael L. Power 3. Exudativory in primates: interspecific patterns Andrew C. Smith 4. The ecology of exudate production and exudate feeding in Saguinus and Callimico Paul A. Garber and Leila M. Porter 5. Influences on gum feeding in primates Andrew C. Smith 6. Gummivory in cheirogaleids: primitive retention or adaptation to hypervariable environments? Fabien G.S. Genin, Judith C. Masters, and Jorg U. Ganzhorn 7. Seasonality in gum and honeydew feeding in gray mouse lemurs Marine Joly-Radko and Elke Zimmermann 8. Comparative ecology of exudate feeding by Asian slow lorises (Nycticebus) K.A.I. Nekaris, C.R. Starr, R.L. Collins, and A. Navarro-Montes 9. Exudativory and primate skull form Matthew J. Ravosa, Russell T. Hogg, and Christopher J. Vinyard 10. A comparative analysis of the articular cartilage in the temporomandibular joint of gouging and non-gouging New World monkeys Amy L. Mork, Walter E. Horton, Jr., and Christopher J. Vinyard 11. Galago dental adaptations to exudativory: It's not the toothcomb that counts Anne M. Burrows and Leanne T. Nash 12. A guide to galago diversity: Getting a grip on how best to chew gum Isobel R. Stephenson, Simon K. Bearder, Guiseppe Donati, and Johann Karlsson 13. Tongue morphology in infant and adult bushbabies (Otolemur spp.) Beth A. Docherty, Laura J. Alport, Kunwar P. Bhatnagar, Anne M. Burrows, and Timothy D. Smith 14. Adaptive profile versus adaptive specialization: Fossils and gummivory in primate evolution Alfred L. Rosenberger Index
Modélisation et calibrage pour la commande d'un micro-robot continuum dédié à la chirurgie mini-invasive. (Modeling and calibration for the control of a micro-robot continuum dedicated to minimally invasive surgery)

Dans cette these, nous nous sommes interesses a l 'etude d'un micro-robot destine a la mise en oeuvre d'une technique de chirurgie mini-invasive pour le traitement des anevrismes de l'artere aorte abdominale. Ce micro-robot place a l'extremite d'un catheter, rendant ce dernier actif, permettra la navigation a l'interieur de l'artere en evitant les contacts avec les parois de celle-ci. Le systeme sera destine a l'apprentissage du geste chirurgical et a l'assistance du chirurgienpendant l'operation. De par sa structure et ses proprietes physiques, le micro-robot, pouvantetre compose de plusieurs modules elementaires, entre dans la categorie des robots continuum. Dans notre etude, un module elementaire est considere comme etant un robot parallele. Lesmodeles geometriques et cinematiques inverses ont alors ete etablis en utilisant les techniques dela robotique parallele. L'approche de modelisation proposee permet de faire ressortir explicitement du modele les parametres geometriques du micro-robot. Une etude sur l'identificationde ces parametres a ete effectuee par le calibrage du modele geometrique inverse. Des resultatsde simulation sont presentes validant d'une part les modeles developpes et d'autre part la methode de calibrage proposee. Afin de mettre nos modeles en situation, nous avons developpe unsimulateur tridimensionnel integrant le modele d'un segment de l'artere, le modele du micro-robotet un syntaxeur a retour de force. La mise en place d'une navigation active, planifiee etguidee dans ce simulateur permet de contraindre les gestes du chirurgien lors de la navigation du micro-robot a l'interieur de l'artere
Edge-based depth gradient refinement for 2D to 3D learned prior conversion

2D-to-3D conversion is an important task for reducing the current gap between the number of 3D displays and the available 3D content. Here, we present an automatic 2D-to-3D image conversion approach based on machine learning principles. Stemming from the hypothesis that images with a similar structure have likely a similar 3D structure, the depth of a query color image is estimated using a color plus depth image dataset. Clusters with common scene structure are computed offline. Then, a matching process is performed to select the cluster centroid which is the most similar to the query image. A prior depth map is computed fusing the depth maps of the images in this cluster. Then, an edge-based post-processing stage is applied to the prior depth map estimation to enhance the final scene depth estimation. Promising results are obtained in two commonly used databases achieving a similar performance to other much complex state-of-the-art approaches.
Application of Morphosyntactic and Class-Based Language Models in Automatic Speech Recognition of Polish

In this paper we investigate the usefulness of morphosyntactic information as well as clustering in modeling Polish for automatic speech recognition. Polish is an inflectional language, thus we investigate the usefulness of an N-gram model based on morphosyntactic features. We present how individual types of features influence the model and which types of features are best suited for building a language model for automatic speech recognition. We compared the results of applying them with a class-based model that is automatically derived from the training corpus. We show that our approach towards clustering performs significantly better than frequently used SRI LM clustering method. However, this difference is apparent only for smaller corpora.
Access to Family-friendly Work Arrangements: Differences Within and Between Australian Workplaces

This article summarises the results of recent research that looks at access to family friendly work practices among employees working within the same workplace. The analysis is based on the Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey 1995, which combines information from employers and employees, thus allowing a powerful analysis of the incentives and constraints employers face when deciding which work practices to make available to which employees. The analysis reported here focuses particularly upon four family friendly work arrangements: control over start and finish times; access to a telephone for family reasons; availability of permanent part time employment; and availability of various ways in which time is taken off work for the care of a sick family member. The analysis reveals that the variation in access to a range of work practices is greater among employees working in the same workplace than the variation between workplaces. The findings raise important questions about the extent to which family friendly work practices are being provided to the employees who need them the most.