Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Management Participation on Adoption of HRIS IN Teachers Service Commission (TSC) Operations in Kenya

While it is generally accepted that Human resource plays an important role in organizations, organizations now take cognizance of the fact that the more strategic the approach to human resource management (HRM), the greater the contribution of HRM to organizational performance. This is because HRM powerfully impacts on the policies, practices and systems that influence employees’ behavior, attitude and performance The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors affecting the adoption of human resource information (HRIS) systems in the operations of Teachers Service Commission (TSC) in Kenya. The current status in the TSC is that there is limited usage of information systems especially in human resource management hence the rationale of this study. In most cases HRIS is still at transactional level. Moreover, management of HR in Africa has not changed much since countries attained independence. The HR function is still a support function that provides services to its internal customers and which is constantly under challenge to improve its service quality and in turn nurture further organizational development. This is the scenario in most of the government organizations in Kenya. It is also worth noting that most of the literature available on HRIS is from other countries and not the Kenyan context. The study addressed the question as to whether management participation had influence on adoption of Human Resource Information Systems at the TSC in Kenya. The study employed descriptive research design. The study population was the staff of the TSC in all its offices spread across Kenya. Purposive stratified sampling was used to select the sample for the study. Data was collected using a self administered questionnaire. 202 questionnaires were distributed and 140 were received back. It was then analyzed using, SPSS window Version 21. Multiple regression and correlation analysis were conducted with results pointing to the fact that management participation has significance on adoption of HRIS in TSC operations in Kenya.
A proposed eGovernment Architecture based on Open Source components in Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

Electronic Government (eGovernment) uses information and communication technologies to provide public services to citizens and bussines in an effective way. Electronic Government also involves changes in organisation and processes, so that public services could be provided more efficiently. In this paper a complete eGovernment system architecture solution for providing eGoverment services in Federation of BiH (FBiH) will be described. According to current eGovernment standards and recommendations, this architecture will be based primarily on the use of Open Source components. Proposed architecture will involve interoperability and data exchange standards for public administration in FBiH, One-Stop eGovernment portal (unique web-based access point) for user access to available services, and PKI infrastructure for authentication purposes.
THE EFFECTS OF PORTFOLIO CONCENTRATION ON INVESTMENT PERFORMANCE OF ACTIVELY MANAGED DOMESTIC EQUITY MUTUAL FUNDS, 1990 TO 2010

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relation between the investment performance and portfolio concentration of domestic equity mutual funds from 1990 to 2010. Although previous studies had considered several measures of portfolio concentration, and reported mixed results, not a single study had considered the percentage of the fund’s portfolio invested in its top-ten holdings (TOPTEN), which is provided by the Morningstar, Inc., as an intuitive measure of portfolio concentration. The present study attempts to fill this gap. We have focused on both the TOPTEN and the number of portfolio holdings as alternative measures of portfolio concentration. When we sorted our data on the TOPTEN, we found that the less concentrated (i.e., the more diversified) the fund was, the larger its net assets and its number of holdings, and the better the fund’s investment performance--suggestive of economies of scale in mutual fund operations. That is, portfolio concentration had a negative effect on investment performance. However, when we re-sorted the data on the number of portfolio holdings, instead, we found the opposite results. That is, portfolio concentration had a positive effect on investment performance. Therefore, we investigated the joint effect of the TOPTEN and holdings on investment performance and found that the less concentrated portfolios (those with larger holdings) outperformed those portfolios that were more concentrated (those with smaller number of holdings). We concluded that portfolio concentration is in fact not beneficial, but that this is apparent only when the TOPTEN is used in combination with the number of securities held, as recommended by the Morningstar, Inc.
Repetition Avoidance in Responses to Imaginary Questions: The Effect of Respondents' Belief in ESP

42 subjects were given the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator which demands checking either one of two response variants for each of 81 questions. Before, they had completed an imaginary questionnaire version, that is, checked 81 times either “a” or “b” without seeing any questions. Three main findings emerged. (1) Over all subjects, repetitions of the same response alternative were significantly avoided only in the imaginary version, indicating that item content in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator overrode response stereotypy. (2) On the imaginary version, repetition avoidance was significant for those subjects who said they believed in extrasensory perception (ESP) but not for nonbelievers, corroborating previous reports of an association between belief in ESP and repetition avoidance. (3) In comparison to nonbelievers, believers in ESP scored higher on the dimension “feeling” (as opposed to “thinking”) of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. This result is in line with the assumption that belief in ESP is associated with a style of thinking more typical for the right hemisphere.
Experimental results on neural network-based control strategies for flexible-link manipulators

The problem of controlling a nonminimum phase nonlinear system with application to tip position control of a flexible-link manipulator is considered. An output re-definition strategy is developed which is applicable to a class of open-loop stable nonlinear systems whose input-output maps contain nonlinear terms from output and linear terms from input. No a priori knowledge about the nonlinearities of the system is required. The output re-definition scheme is based on first identifying the nonlinearities of the system using neural networks and then modifying the system zero dynamics. A stable/anti-stable factorization is performed on the zero dynamics of the system. The new output is re-defined using the neural identifier and the stable part of the zero dynamics. A controller is then designed based on the new output whose zero dynamics are stable and can be inverted. For the flexible-link manipulator case, the controller is composed of a stabilizing joint PD controller and an output re-definition tracking controller. Experimental and simulation results are presented to show the effectiveness of the proposed control scheme as compared to both linear and nonlinear conventional controllers.
Using the STRATADAPT Scale to Measure Marketing Mix Strategy in International Markets

The development of marketing strategies optimally adjusted to export markets has been a vitally important topic for both managers and academics for about 5 decades. However, there is no agreement in the literature about which elements integrate marketing strategy and which components of domestic strategies should be adapted to export markets. The purpose of this study is to develop a new scale-STRATADAPT. Results from a sample of 100 exporting firms support a 4-dimensional scale -product, promotion, price and distribution strategies - of 30 items. The scale presents evidence of composite reliability as well as discriminate and homological validity. Findings reveal that all 4 dimensions of marketing strategy adaptation are positively associated with the amount of the firm's financial resources allocated to export activity.
Sustainable Consumption: the implications of changing infrastructures of provision

1. Introduction: Consumption, Infrastructures and Environmental Sustainability Part I: Consumption, lifestyle and Choice 2. Sustainable Consumption: A Theoretical and Environmental Policy Perspective 3. The Limited Autonomy of the Consumer: Implications for Sustainable Consumption 4. The New 'Energy Divide': Politics, Social Equity and Sustainable Consumption in Reformed Infrastructures Part II: Scales of Provision and Intermediaries 5. Shifting Scales of Infrastructure Provision 6. Sustainable Infrastructures by Proxy? Intermediation Beyond the Production - Consumption Nexus Part III: Infrastructural Change and Inflexibility 7. Institutional Restructuring, Entrenched Infrastructures and the Dilemma of Overcaptivity 8. Transport Infrastructures: A Socio-Spatial-Temporal Model 9. Infrastructures, Crises and the Orchestration of Demand 10. Conclusions Bibliography Index
Leakage Power Reduction for Logic CircuitsUsing Variable Body Biasing Technique

The leakage power dissipation has become one of the most dominant factors in total power consumption and yet a challenge for the VLSI designers as it doubles every two years according to Moore’s law According to ITRS, leakage power consumption may dominate total power consumption [1]. By scaling down the threshold voltage, remarkable reduction in leakage in leakage power can be obtained. We propose a new leakage reduction technique, named “variable body biased keeper”, which can be applied to general logic circuits as well as memory. Our SSVBB approach retains the logic state while saving the leakage power. Like conventional approach, our approach can employ dual Vth technologies reducing leakage power with the area and delay overhead.
The potential roles of intraovarian peptides in normal and abnormal mechanisms of reproductive physiology

Normal and abnormal follicular growth and steroidogenesis depend on gonadotropins as well as intraovarian peptide and polypeptide growth factors, which may mediate or potentiate gonadotropin action. Epidermal growth factor is mitogenic to ovarian granulosa and is a potent inhibitor of granulosa aromatase. It may be involved in the apparent arrest of follicular development commonly seen in women with polycystic ovarian syndrome as well as in the blunted response to gonadotropins seen in this syndrome. Insulin-like growth factors are also mitogenic to ovarian granulosa, but in contrast to epidermal growth factor, insulin-like growth factor-l, both alone and in synergy with gonadotropins, is a potent stimulus of aromatase and granulosa estradiol production. Insulin-like growth factor binding proteins-2 and −4, known inhibitors of insulin-like growth factor action, are higher in follicular fluid from atretic and polycystic ovarian syndrome follicles compared with estrogenic follicles and may be inhibitors of gonadotropin action in follicle selection and in polycystic ovarian syndrome. Cytokines including interleukins, tumor necrosis factor-α and interferon-γ also appear to play a role in modulating ovarian steroidogenesis. Activins, inhibins, and follistatin (activin-binding protein) also affect follicular development and steroidogenesis and may play a role in dominant follicle selection and follicular atresia.
Fast Measurement of Vector Miss Distance Based on FFT

To meet the real-time demands of some vector miss distance measurement systems, a fast vector miss distance estimation algorithm is presented in this paper. A small antenna array is used for measuring the movement of a target. Doppler frequency and phase of the signal received by each antenna can be estimated by the proposed fast algorithm. The target motion parameters can be estimated by utilizing the estimated Doppler frequencies and phase differences among the receiving antennas. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed fast algorithm
A low power current reused quadrature VCO for biomedical applications

This paper presents a low power current reusing quadrature voltage controlled oscillator for use in implantable electronics operating in the 402 MHz to 405 MHz Medical Implant Communication Service (MICS) frequency band. The oscillator was designed in IBM CMOS8RF 0.13 µm CMOS technology and simulated using Cadence IC5.141. The current reuse structure draws half the bias current as a conventional quadrature voltage controlled oscillator while exhibiting performance comparable to or exceeding that of previously published designs. Simulation results show that the oscillator phase noise is −127 dBc/Hz and consumes 1 mW of power from a 1 V supply. When the supply voltage is scaled to 0.65 V and biased for the same current consumption, the power consumption is reduced to 650 µW with phase noise of −111 dBc/Hz, which is almost 50% less power consumption when compared to oscillators in the same frequency band. The tuning range of the oscillator is 401.25 MHz to 407.5 MHz, enough to cover the MICS frequency band.
The Trouble with Gurus: Responses to Dependence and the Emergence of Employment Practices in Entrepreneurial Firms

Using a study of technology-intensive start-ups, we develop and test the hypothesis that employment practices are shaped by the ways in which entrepreneurs respond to experiences of dependence on early indispensable employees. We find strong evidence that the experience of dependence on employees influences the types of employees hired, recruitment and retention strategies, the timing of adds-to-staff, and whether incumbent employees believe they are treated fairly. We draw several implications for entrepreneurial practice and entrepreneurship education.
Growth and profitability of logging and transportation in wood procurement companies in Finland

Summary: This study investigates growth in the forest machine and timber haulage sectors in Finland. The purpose was to clarify the impact of growth on companies in financial terms and to compare growth strategies. The main questions this study tried to answer were whether it is profitable to grow in these sectors, and if yes, how. The study consisted of two phases, the first of which focused on company financials and the second on management. First phase consisted of analysis of companies financial statements and in the second phase the entrepreneurs were interviewed. The main findings of the study were that there is a strong growth trend going on among the large companies of both these sectors. Another new phenomenon is increasing outsourcing between companies in these sectors. As a conclusion, it can be stated that profitable growth occurs in both of these sectors. Growth, when executed noting special features of the sector and the company’s own strengths, may be the answer for better profitability.
Global strategy: An organizing framework

Global strategy has recently emerged as a popular concept among managers of multinational corporations as well as among researchers and students in the field of international management. This paper presents a conceptual framework encompassing a range of different issues relevant to global strategies. The framework provides a basis for organizing existing literature on the topic and for creating a map of the field. Such a map can be useful for teaching and also for guiding future research in this area. The article, however, is primarily directed at managers of multinational corporations, and is aimed at providing them with a basis for relating and synthesizing the different perspectives and prescriptions that are currently available for global strategic management.
TIC et Réseau d’innovateurs ; Cas d’un réseau d’innov-acteurs selon une approche ANT

The study in progress attempts to understand how Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are a part of innovators’ network. First, concepts of translation, actornetwork, and interests are presented. Inspired by ANT, intermediaries and mediators are two contraries poles of a continuum which assessed contribution of an entity to network’s development. In order to fulfill its aim, study will put ICT on this continuum. A study case is done within regional scientific network based in the Indian Ocean. A content analysis of 16 interviews aims to define the degree of involvement of the three main ICTs : the email, the internet website and the newsletter. Results show that the internet website and the newsletter are the main technological translators. E-mail is more an intermediary than a mediator. So this research shows how an innovators’ network extends and how ICTs contribute in his growth. We conclude by research’s limits, contributions and future research perspectives. Key-words: Actor-Network Theory (ANT), Information and Communication Technology, Mediator, Translator, Intermediary.
Community Participation in Rural Tourism Development

Abstract This paper examines rural tourism development at the community level. Research was undertaken in four rural communities in Ontario, Canada which identified outcomes and impacts of unplanned tourism development. The research indicated that critical problems arise as development increases. Frustration sets in after years of the community's inability to solve the issues. Members of the research communities identified the development of a tourism plan as the solution to these problems, however, this paper suggests that unless vital preplanning activities are established in the community, a plan may only produce increased frustration. The preplanning activity needs to focus on process issues including capacity building, trust and creating procedures for dialogue.
Investigating the Use of Machine Learning Algorithms in Detecting Gender of the Arabic Tweet Author

Twitter is one of the most popular social network sites on the Internet to share opinions and knowledge extensively. Many advertisers use these Tweets to collect some features and attributes of Tweeters to target specific groups of highly engaged people. Gender detection is a sub-field of sentiment analysis for extracting and predicting the gender of a Tweet author. In this paper, we aim to investigate the gender of Tweet authors using different classification mining techniques on Arabic language, such as Naive Bayes (NB), Support vector machine (SVM), Naive Bayes Multinomial (NBM), J48 decision tree, KNN. The results show that the NBM, SVM, and J48 classifiers can achieve accuracy above to 98%, by adding names of Tweet author as a feature. The results also show that the preprocessing approach has negative effect on the accuracy of gender detection. In nutshell, this study shows that the ability of using machine learning classifiers in detecting the gender of Arabic Tweet author.
Governance issues in BOT based PPP infrastructure projects in India

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to identify the combinations of economic, normative, reputational and cognitive mechanisms that can prevent post‐award governance challenges on build‐operate‐transfer (BOT) projects in India.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses an empirical, case‐study based methodology to collect data and analyzes the cases through the use of the qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) technique. The paper first identifies and classifies the various kinds of governance challenges and preventive mechanisms in BOT projects based on the extant literature. Empirical evidence on 11 BOT projects in India is gathered and QCA is employed to unearth the linkages between specific governance mechanisms and post‐award challenges on these projects.Findings – Project governance issues were identified across two dominant interfaces – one between the public and private sector and the other between the project and the societal stakeholders. Governance mechanisms based on providing shared incentiv.
Evolution of Ceftaroline-Resistant Mrsa in a Child with Cystic Fibrosis Following Repeated Antibiotic Exposure

Ceftaroline is the first &bgr;-lactam antibiotic with activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). We describe a ceftaroline-resistant MRSA strain, isolated from a girl with cystic fibrosis after 22 ceftaroline treatment courses. MRSA genome sequencing documented a Tyr446Asn alteration in penicillin binding protein 2 that appeared responsible for resistance. Noncompartmental ceftaroline pharmacokinetic evaluation in our patient documented increased clearance and volume of distribution compared with adults.
A condition that should be kept in mind in incarcerated hernia: Amyand’s hernia

As a complication of inguinal hernia, incarcerations are often seen in emergency services. Incarceration is an acute complication of inguinal hernia presenting as surgical emergency. The sac of inguinal hernia most frequently contains omentum and intestine but sometimes organs such as appendix and Meckel’s diverticulum can also be seen in the hernial sac. We present a case of Amyand’s hernia containing appendix in the incarcerated herniated sac.
Determinants of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation

Nuclear weapons proliferation is a topic of intense interest and concern among both academics and policy makers. Diverse opinions exist about the determinants of proliferation and the policy options to alter proliferation incentives. We evaluate a variety of explanations in two stages of nuclear proliferation, the presence of nuclear weapons production programs and the actual possession of nuclear weapons. We examine proliferation quantitatively, using data collected by the authors on national latent nuclear weapons production capability and several other variables, while controlling for the conditionality of nuclear weapons possession based on the presence of a nuclear weapons program. We find that security concerns and technological capabilities are important determinants of whether states form nuclear weapons programs, while security concerns, economic capabilities, and domestic politics help to explain the possession of nuclear weapons. Signatories to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) are less likely to initiate nuclear weapons programs, but the NPT has not deterred proliferation at the system level.
Towards Improving the Effectiveness of Management of World Heritage Sites

World heritage sites are very vital cultural and natural areas that need to be effectively protected and improved in order to remain relevant and be used by future generations. UNESCO went ahead and shortlisted over 851 sites across the globe as being heritage sites of global stature. This was seen as a good effort aimed at recognizing and conserving the sites. However, these efforts are not enough. There have been efforts to manage these sites locally through following certain set standards or guidelines. Many of the management of these world heritage sites have failed to meet these quality standards, while some have been seen to succeed. This paper looks at the evaluation process for effective management of the improvement efforts for these world heritage sites. It also mentions tourism as a conflicting factor in the management process. A short look at the Alhambra site as one of the success stories in managing world heritage sites improvements is also given.