Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effectiveness of knowledge management implementation on differentiation competitive strategy creation in software corporations

The present research first describes knowledge management and its processes then evaluates effectiveness of knowledge management implementation in a differentiation competitive strategy creation in software corporates. Research literature and background was investigated and value chain model for organization activity became evaluating basis for knowledge management in organizational processes in order to formulate a theoretical framework. Then, effective elements on knowledge management was extracted in various organizational sectors and evaluated by researching on questionnaire and surveying. Finally, each research element such as knowledge management processes, (personal, group, and organizational) innovation, specialized skills of employees, and customers’ satisfaction were evaluated. SEM and LISREL software were confirmed to investigate the relationship among elements and finally accuracy of relationships among elements was confirmed in conceptual model.
Application of the NCAR Regional Climate Model to eastern Africa 2. Simulation of interannual variability of short rains

We have applied the NCAR RegCM2 to the simulation of the interannual variability of precipitation over eastern Africa for the short-rains season by performing a set of experiments for the years 1982 to 1993. The model reproduced the observed interannual variability of precipitation in most of the years. The results show that remote factors play a dominant role in determining the precipitation anomalies. Interannual variability of precipitation over Tanzania is closely related to El Nino events in their mature phase and sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies over the Indian and Atlantic Oceans. The southward shift of the Arabian High results in a southward shift of the zonal component of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), which is responsible for early onset of the rainy season (e.g., 1982 and 1986). The enhanced St. Helena High and weaker Mascarene High lead to the eastward shift of the meridional branch of the ITCZ for the wet years. Model simulations confirmed a strong positive correlation between precipitation anomalies over Lake Victoria and the warm El Nino-Southern Oscillation events, by which enhanced moist westerly flow from the Atlantic Ocean and the mainly easterly flow from the Indian Ocean converge over Lake Victoria during wet years. The interannual variability of precipitation over Lake Victoria and the western Kenya Highlands (WKH) are strongly coupled. Positive precipitation anomalies over the WKH region are usually associated with weaker Arabian High and Mascarene High, which weaken the large-scale divergence over the WKH region and favor the development of convection. The interannual variability of precipitation over eastern Kenya Highlands (EKH) is not directly related to the El Nino events, but the association with a warm SST anomaly pattern over the western Indian Ocean is evident during wet years. An El Nino signal is, however, evident for wet years over the Turkana Channel, warm SST anomalies over the northern Indian Ocean contribute enhanced water vapor transport over the region.
Two groups of red giants with distinct chemical abundances in the bulge globular cluster NGC 6553 through the eyes of APOGEE

Multiple populations revealed in globular clusters (GCs) are important windows to the formation and evolution of these stellar systems. The metal-rich GCs in the Galactic bulge are an indispensable part of this picture, but the high optical extinction in this region has prevented extensive research. In this work, we use the high-resolution near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopic data from Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) to study the chemical abundances of NGC 6553, which is one of the most metal-rich bulge GCs. We identify 10 red giants as cluster members using their positions, radial velocities, iron abundances, and NIR photometry. Our sample stars show a mean radial velocity of −0.14 ± 5.47 km s−1, and a mean [Fe/H] of −0.15 ± 0.05. We clearly separate two populations of stars in C and N in this GC for the first time. NGC 6553 is the most metal-rich GC where the multiple stellar population phenomenon is found until now. Substantial chemical variations are also found in Na, O, and Al. However, the two populations show similar Si, Ca, and iron-peak element abundances. Therefore, we infer that the CNO, NeNa, and MgAl cycles have been activated, but the MgAl cycle is too weak to show its effect on Mg. Type Ia and Type II supernovae do not seem to have significantly polluted the second generation stars. Comparing with other GC studies, NGC 6553 shows similar chemical variations as other relatively metal-rich GCs. We also confront current GC formation theories with our results, and suggest possible avenues for improvement in the models.
THE ROLE OF TEXTURE EVOLUTION AND STRAIN HARDENING ON THE ANISOTROPIC RESPONSE OF POLYCRYSTALLINE METALS

OF THE THESIS The Role Of Texture Evolution and Strain Hardening on The Anisotropic Response of Polycrystalline Metals by E. Alisar Tuncer Thesis Director: Dr. Alberto M. Cuitiño Anisotropy and texture plays an important role in deformation of Aluminum alloy sheets. The development of anisotropy during metal forming is a key factor as in the standard industrial use of AA− 6022 as stamped automotive body enclosures where a close estimation of anisotropy can deduct costs on both machinery and inventory. In this thesis, we provide a methodology to predict the anisotropic behavior of polycrystalline metals depending on its processing history. The methodology suggested is based on single crystal plasticity model of Cuitiño and Ortiz where the mechanics of dislocation motion through forest dislocations is estimated statistically. In that context, we first study the role of uncertainties and responses of the initial parameters such as initial yield stress and dislocation density. R-values, which is a measure of anisotropy, of a sample undergone hydraulic bulge test are obtained by a uniaxial tensile test simulation and found to be in good agreement with the experimental findings. An optimization method to capture the texture while reducing the number of orientations is introduced and compared with random sets of orientations. Gradual work hardening effect is captured by adjusting the dislocation density carried over through consecutive simulations of rolling and uniaxial stretching. However more accurate models of rolling simulations is necessary to provide r-values and work hardening effect without the need of texture.
Dual panel multiplex PCR assay for rapid detection of medically important fungi and resistant species of candida and aspergillus

Invasive fungal infections (IFIs) have risen dramatically in recent years among high risk immunocompromised patients. Rapid detection of fungal pathogens is crucial to timely and accurate antifungal therapy. Two multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays were developed to detect major fungal species that cause invasive infections and identify resistant species. Genus specific primers for Candida, Aspergillus, Fusarium and species specific primers for Candida glabrata, Candida krusei and Aspergillus terreus which are known to be clinically resistant species, were designed from the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) gene complex. Both assays were performed simultaneously to promote rapid detection of fungal isolates based on distinct amplicon sizes. Inclusion of the universal fungal primers ITS 1 and ITS 4 in the genus specific assay produced a second amplicon for each isolate which served to confirm the detection of a fungal target. The limit of detection for the genus specific assay was 1 nanogram (ng) deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) for Aspergillus fumigatus and Candida albicans, 0.1 ng DNA for Fusarium solani, while the species-specific assay detected 0.1 ng DNA of A. terreus and 10 picogram (pg) DNA of C. krusei and C. glabrata. The multiplex PCR assays, apart from universal detection of any fungal target, are able to detect clinically important fungi and differentiate resistant species rapidly and accurately, which can contribute to timely implementation of effective antifungal regime.
CSR Orientation from the Mexican Businessmen Perspective of Service Enterprises

The present study aimed to know the businessmen perception in Mexico regarding the four social responsibilities originally proposed by Carroll (1979); to that end, the investigation proposed to determine if there are differences between the values assigned by the businessmen for each of the social responsibilities, and in case of significant differences, to contrast these responsibilities in order to identify any pattern of relative importance among them. Additionally, the study also sought to determine significant correlations between the social responsibilities of business organizations. By means of a non-probabilistic sampling method, information was collected from a sample of 150 entrepreneurs of the service sector from a city located in a northwestern state of Mexico. The research results contribute with empirical evidence on the orientation of the corporate social responsibility in this country, by identifying differences and significant correlations between the social responsibilities. Furthermore, similarities were foundin the pattern of relative importance given to these responsibilities by businessmen in Mexico and other countries, reinforcing the idea that the economic dimension is the most important social responsibility for the business sector.
Static Taint Analysis Applied to Detecting Bad Programming Practices in Android

Frameworks and Application Programming Interfaces (API) usually come along with a set of guidelines that establish good programming practices in order to avoid pitfalls which could lead, at least, to bad user experiences, and at most, to program crashes. Most often than not, such guidelines are not at all enforced by IDEs. This work investigates whether static taint analysis could be effectively used for automatically detecting bad programming patterns in Android applications. It presents the implemented tool, called CheckDroid, together with the preliminary experimental evaluation carried out.
SCFT Study of Tiling Patterns in ABC Star Terpolymers

Ordered phases of ABC star terpolymer melts are investigated using a generic reciprocal-space implementation of the self-consistent field theory (SCFT) of polymers. The most important feature of ABC star triblock terpolymers is that their three blocks are joined at one junction point. This distinct topology of ABC star terpolymers constraints the junction points in one-dimensional lines in an ordered phase, resulting novel microphase-separated morphologies such as tiling patterns. Two types of star triblock terpolymers, with symmetric and asymmetric interaction parameters, are studied in detail. A variety of tiling patterns in ABC star terpolymers have been predicted from the SCFT calculation and relevant phase diagrams have been constructed. The predicted phase transition sequences from the SCFT calculations are in qualitative agreement with experimental and Monte Carlo simulation results.
Relationship between the Geostress and Stability of Karst Cave

The important effect of cave span, roof thickness and strength on the stability of cavern has been widely recognized, while the influence of geostress on the stability of karst cave is not yet clear. In order to explore the influence of geostress, this paper offers a numerical analysis program established on the basis of the geostress model and Coulomb-Navier yield criterion. The stability of karst cave under different geostress conditions is calculated respectively. And then, several beneficial results are produced from the analysis in order to facilitate decision making on the prevention and treatment of karst collapse. Finally, an engineering example is introduced to verify the validity of prediction.
Analysis of an improvement programme for MMEs

Purpose: Intervention programmes can potentially aid medium-sized manufacturing companies (MMEs) in improvement work that they otherwise would not undertake. The purpose of this paper is to identify intervention programme functions that support MMEs in the adoption of operations improvements. Design/methodology/approach: Empirical material on one programme, Production Leap, was mainly collected through 11 interviews and an internal-to-the-programme two-day workshop. This material was arranged to describe the programme’s design, and subsequently compared with a theoretical framework based on the literature on operations improvements and interventions. Findings: The interventions were divided into phases focusing on management and employees, each of which is seen as key to planning and commitment. Collaborations with labour unions and trade organisations were found to be important for gaining trust among employees and companies. Research implications: Earlier research has identified critical factors for interventions in companies, which this paper groups into governance, involvement, and change agent approach. This paper demonstrates how a programme may or may not operationalise such factors, as well as identifies further factors. Practical implications: Practitioners and policy makers may use these findings in the design of support for MMEs, including further improvement programmes. Originality/value: Earlier studies on programmes have examined individual companies, while this paper analyses how a programme may be designed to aid MMEs in the adoption of systematic operations improvements.
Identifying Program Entropy Characteristics with Symbolic Execution

Author(s): Dutcher, Audrey Annika | Advisor(s): Vigna, Giovanni | Abstract: The security infrastructure underpinning our society relies on encryption, which relies on the correct generation and use of pseudorandom data. Unfortunately, random data is deceptively hard to generate. Implementation problems in PRNGs and the incorrect usage of generated random data in cryptographic algorithms have led to many issues, including the infamous Debian OpenSSL bug, which exposed millions of systems on the internet to potential compromise due to a mistake that limited the source of randomness during key generation to have 2^15 different seeds (i.e. 15 bits of entropy). It is important to automatically identify if a given program applies a certain cryptographic algorithm or uses its random data correctly.This paper tackles the very first step of this problem by extracting an understanding of how a binary program generates or uses randomness. Specifically, we set the following problem: given a program (or a specific function), can we estimate bounds on the amount of randomness present in the program or function's output by determining bounds on the entropy of this output data? Our technique estimates upper bounds on the entropy of program output through a process of expression reinterpretation and stochastic probability estimation, related to abstract interpretation and model counting.
Anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of Hypericum brasiliense (Willd) standardized extract

As atividades antiinflamatoria e antinociceptiva do extrato padronizado de Hypericum brasiliense (HBSE) (Guttiferae) foi avaliada em modelos animais. Ratos Wistar machos foram tratados com extrato de H. brasiliense (50, 250 e 500 mg/kg, v.o.) em solucao 3% Tween 80 0,9% NaCl. O tratamento com HBSE (500 mg/kg) mostrou inibicao significativa sobre o edema induzido por carragenina comparado ao grupo controle. Nessa dose, o edema foi reduzido em 31,25% na terceira hora (pico do edema) apos o tratamento, mas na dose de 50 mg/kg, o edema apresentou reducao de 53,13% (p < 0,05). Ainda com a dose de 50 mg/kg, a diminuicao do edema induzido por dextrana foi similar ao controle positivo, ciproeptadina. Houve diminuicao na formacao do tecido granulomatoso (6,6%) comparavel ao grupo controle. O HBSE tambem inibiu o numero de contorcoes abdominais em 46,4%, estatisticamente igual ao controle positivo, tratado com indometacina (42,9%). Na dose de 250 mg/kg, houve inibicao do numero de contorcoes em 70,7% quando comparado ao grupo controle (p < 0,001). No teste da placa-quente, foi verificado aumento no tempo de latencia com a dose de 50 mg/kg. Os resultados demonstram que o HBSE possui atividade antiinflamatoria sobre processos agudos, principalmente quando sua genese esta relacionada a sintese dos derivados do acido araquidonico, e seu efeito analgesico provavelmente envolve acao sobre o Sistema Nervoso Central.
Investigation of the Gelation Mechanism between Amino Acid Surfactant Based Microemulsion and Kappa-Carrageenan Gel Network

Kappa-carrageenan is one form of necessary hydrocolloid. Hydrocolloids are macromolecular materials, which swell upon absorption of water; in some cases, forming a stiff gel in the presence of additives. This property is very important to suspend nanocarriers into gel network, which provide them long time stability at a varying temperature range. In this work, we prepared microemulsion and trapped these particles inside the kappa-carrageenan gel network. The microemulsion was composed of sodium N-lauroylsarcosinate hydrate (SNLS), oleic acid and deionized water. The purpose of this study was to immobilize them into the gel network, giving longer shelf life at a range of temperatures for oral drug delivery. Morphological properties were investigated by transmission electron microscope (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra. The TEM results showed that microemulsions are trapped in the gel network, and the diameter of the microemulsions are below 100 nm, which is comparable with the DLS results. The important functional groups of kappa-carrageenan and microemulsion were shown from the FTIR result of the complex microemulsion gel. These results confirmed the interaction between SNLS based microemulsion and kappa-carrageenan gel.
CLINICAL FEATURES OF LEVODOPA-INDUCED DYSKINESIA IN PATIENTS WITH PARKINSON’S DISEASE

In Parkinson's disease, one of the most troublesome dillemas is the treatment of levodopa-induced dyskinesia. The time-to-onset and severity of this motor complication show large variability according to disease duration, long-term use of levodopa and other factors. PD patients were enrolled to study based on UK brain bank diagnostic criteria and underwent examination on motor evaluation with help of UPDRS part III and presence of dyskinesia by UPDRS IV, to assess the severity of disease based on modified Hoehn and Yahr Scale. Considering the motor symptoms at onset, PD patients were divided into three subgroups: tremordominant, akinetic-rigid and mixed type. 208 patients (105 men) were recruited in the study of who had advanced stage of PD. 105 (50,4%) were classified as tremor-dominant, 87 (41,9%) as akineticrigid and 16 (7,7%) as mixed type. Patients in the tremor -dominant subtype were somewhat older (p=0,027). Approximately all patients were treated with L-dopa and 81,2% were in combination with dopamine agonist. Almost half patients received treatment with amantadine. In terms of disease duration and developing of wearing off , there was significantly difference according to clinical phenotype. AR and mix subtype of PD develop wearing off earlier within 3 years compare to TD ( P<0,05). 72,4% TD type develop wearing off after 6 years and further while AR and Mix type develop earlier. (OR was 0.43; 95 % CI 0.24-0.89, RR was 0,69). It should be also noted that when gender was included in the analysis we didn't found a positive association with wearing off as well as LID (wearing off= OR was 0,78; 95% CI 0,43-1.41; p value 0,45; LID= OR was 0.73; 95 % CI 0.42-1.26; RR=0,85, p value 0.27). Dyskinesias were predominantly peak dose in 64%. The same no association with average LED with LID (p=0,26). We may conclude that tremor dominant type of PD may predict slower progression of LID.
Physiological assessment in young Brazilian and African mahogany plants during the dry and rainy seasons in northeastern Para state, Brazil.

Because of their high commercial value and international market acceptance, mahogany species have been indiscriminately explored even in protected areas, resulting in extinction threat. In this study, we aimed to assess the physiology of young plants of Brazilian (Swietenia macrophylla (King)) and African (Khaya ivorensis A. Chev.) mahogany regarding their drought tolerance. The species analyzed showed different responses in the behavior of variables in the two periods studied. The highest values of stomatal conductance (gs) and transpiration (E) were observed in the rainy season because of excess of soil water; while in the dry season, deficit of soil water caused gs reduction of 90% in 2006 and 75% in 2007, and E reduction of 80% and 60%, respectively, for the same periods. The dry season, with lower values of leaf water potential and leaf relative water content, induced higher levels of sucrose, proline and total soluble amino acids compared to the rainy season, indicating emergence of the mechanism of osmoregulation in the studied species. RESUMO: As especies de mogno, por seu alto valor comercial e aceitacao no mercado internacional, tem sido exploradas de forma indiscriminada, mesmo em areas protegidas, acarretando ameaca de extincao. O objetivo deste trabalho foi estudar a fisiologia de plantas jovens de mogno brasileiro [Swietenia macrophylla (King)] e africano (Khaya ivorensis A. Chev.) quanto a tolerância a seca. As especies apresentaram diferentes respostas no comportamento das variaveis, nas duas epocas estudadas. Os maiores valores de condutância estomatica (gs) e transpiracao (E) foram observados na epoca chuvosa, em virtude do excedente hidrico do solo, enquanto que, na epoca seca, a deficiencia hidrica promoveu reducao de gs em 90%, em 2006, e em 75%, em 2007; de E, observaram-se valores de 80% e de 60%, respectivamente, no mesmo periodo. O periodo seco, com menores valores de potencial hidrico foliar e do conteudo relativo de agua na folha, induziu maiores teores de sacarose, prolina e aminoacidos soluveis totais, em comparacao ao periodo chuvoso, apontando para o surgimento do mecanismo de osmorregulacao nas especies estudadas. Physiological assessment in young Brazilian and African mahogany plants during the dry and rainy seasons in northeastern Para state, Brazil Fisiologia de plantas jovens de mogno brasileiro e africano nas epocas chuvosa e seca no Nordeste paraense Raimundo Lazaro Moraes da Cunha1* Benedito Gomes dos Santos Filho1 Roberto Cezar Lobo da Costa1 Ismael de Jesus Matos Viegas1 1Universidade Federal Rural da Amazonia – UFRA, Av. Tancredo Neves s/n, Terra Firme, 66077-530, Belem, PA, Brasil Autor Correspondente: *E-mail: cunhalazaro@yahoo.com. br
Conivaptan: Evidence supporting its therapeutic use in hyponatremia

approved and Aims: This review critically assesses the evidence that support the use of conivaptan for the treatment of patients with euvolemic and hypervolemic hyponatremia. Evidence review conclusion: Conivaptan is effective in raising serum sodium levels in a predictable and safe fashion in euvolemic and hypervolemic hyponatremic patients. Conivaptan provides the first molecularly targeted approach for correcting hyponatremia in hospitalized patients.