Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Managing consultants as key construction stakeholders for enhanced stakeholder management and project delivery

Meeting stakeholders’ needs and satisfaction is a primary project success factor in addition to cost, time and quality. Though studies have suggested stakeholders’ dissatisfaction with project success, there is lack of studies on quantity surveyors’ role and management in developing countries in achieving project success. This paper explored and evaluated consultant’s management approach as part of a broader study aimed at ‘Developing sustainable stakeholder management framework for construction projects in Ghana’. Firstly, literature on construction stakeholder management from journals and published dissertations were reviewed. GETFund tertiary education projects in Ghana were used as case study. Data was analysed using the stakeholder circle, salience and matrix approaches suggested by scholars and used in similar researches to identify and evaluate key stakeholders role and management. The study confirmed the identification and role of Quantity Surveyors as key stakeholders though not managed as such by project managers. It established project failures as effect of stakeholder management absence and recommends the education, consideration of stakeholder management by project managers, keeping Quantity Surveyors well informed, monitored and actively involved in the project planning. Keywords; key stakeholder, project success, quantity surveyor, stakeholder, stakeholder management
Plasma estrogen, progesterone and luteinizing hormone levels during the estrous cycle in pigs.

Plasma estrogen progesterone and luteinizing hormone (LH) were det ermined during the estrous cycle in 6 pigs and during 24 hours on the 1st day of estrus (Day 0) in 4 pigs. Estrogen was low (less than 20 pg/ ml) during the cycle until Day 16 or 17 when it increased to a maximum of more than 50 pg/ml 1-2 days prior to estrus. Progesterone increased from 5.1 to 25.2 ng/ml between Days 2 and 6 and reached a maximum of 33.2 ng/ml by Day 12. Estrogen levels increased only after progesterone levels began to fall. LH decreased from 2.5 ng/ml on Day 0 to below 1 ng/ml until the next estrus when it increased to more than 5 ng/ml while estrogen was greater than 20 pg/ml and progesterone remained at 1 ng/ml.
Using Time Clusters for Following Users' Shifts in Rating Practices

Users that enter ratings for items follow different rating practices, in the sense that, when rating items, some users are more lenient, while others are stricter. This aspect is taken into account by the most widely used similarity metric in user-user collaborative filtering, namely, the Pearson Correlation, which adjusts each individual user rating by the mean value of the ratings entered by the specific user, when computing similarities. However, a user’s rating practices change over time, i.e. a user could start as strict and subsequently become lenient or vice versa. In that sense, the practice of using a single mean value for adjusting users’ ratings is inadequate, since it fails to follow such shifts in users’ rating practices, leading to decreased rating prediction accuracy. In this work, we address this issue by using the concept of dynamic averages introduced earlier and we extend earlier work by (1) introducing the concept of rating time clusters and (2) presenting a novel algorithm for calculating dynamic user averages and exploiting them in user-user collaborative, filtering implementations. The proposed algorithm incorporates the aforementioned concept and is able to follow more successfully shifts in users’ rating practices. It has been evaluated using numerous datasets, and has been found to introduce significant gains in rating prediction accuracy, while outperforming the dynamic average computation approaches that are presented earlier.
Transformation of Staff Efficiency with Talents Enrichment: A Dynamic Capabilities View

This article aims to enrich our understanding on the concept of dynamic capabilities (DCs) according to a recent study on service quality and customer satisfaction for one agency in the public sector of Malaysia. Based on the findings, the discussion is focused on the element of staff and the dimension of policy development according to the critical responses. Through the lens of DCs, this article explains how the transformation processes of staff efficiency with talents enrichment will possibly increase the customer satisfaction towards a better policy development. This shows that the concept of DCs can be demonstrated in the public sector (e.g., non-profits oriented), which is still rarely discussed relatives to the private sector (e.g., profits oriented). At the ends, a proposition for empirical research based on the conceptual framework is suggested, in order to verify the mediating effects of talents enrichment (transformation processes) in the relationship between staff efficiency and policy development.
Physiological and Molecular Responses of Lactuca sativa to Colonization by Salmonella enterica Serovar Dublin

ABSTRACT This paper describes the physiological and molecular interactions between the human-pathogenic organism Salmonella enterica serovar Dublin and the commercially available mini Roman lettuce cv. Tamburo. The association of S. enterica serovar Dublin with lettuce plants was first determined, which indicated the presence of significant populations outside and inside the plants. The latter was evidenced from significant residual concentrations after highly efficient surface disinfection (99.81%) and fluorescence microscopy of S. enterica serovar Dublin in cross sections of lettuce at the root-shoot transition region. The plant biomass was reduced significantly compared to that of noncolonized plants upon colonization with S. enterica serovar Dublin. In addition to the physiological response, transcriptome analysis by cDNA amplified fragment length polymorphism analysis also provided clear differential gene expression profiles between noncolonized and colonized lettuce plants. From these, generally and differentially expressed genes were selected and identified by sequence analysis, followed by reverse transcription-PCR displaying the specific gene expression profiles in time. Functional grouping of the expressed genes indicated a correlation between colonization of the plants and an increase in expressed pathogenicity-related genes. This study indicates that lettuce plants respond to the presence of S. enterica serovar Dublin at physiological and molecular levels, as shown by the reduction in growth and the concurrent expression of pathogenicity-related genes. In addition, it was confirmed that Salmonella spp. can colonize the interior of lettuce plants, thus potentially imposing a human health risk when processed and consumed.
Interictal high‐frequency oscillations (80–500Hz) in the human epileptic brain: Entorhinal cortex

Unique high‐frequency oscillations of 250 to 500Hz, termed fast ripples, have been identified in seizure‐generating limbic areas in rats made epileptic by intrahippocampal injection of kainic acid, and in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. In the rat, fast ripples clearly are generated by a different neuronal population than normally occurring endogenous ripple oscillations (100–200Hz), but this distinction has not been previously evaluated in humans. The characteristics of oscillations in the ripple and fast ripple frequency bands were compared in the entorhinal cortex of patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy using local field potential and unit recordings from chronically implanted bundles of eight microelectrodes with tips spaced 500μm apart. The results showed that ripple oscillations possessed different voltage versus depth profiles compared with fast ripple oscillations. Fast ripple oscillations usually demonstrated a reversal of polarity in the middle layers of entorhinal cortex, whereas ripple oscillations rarely showed reversals across entorhinal cortex layers. There was no significant difference in the amplitude distributions of ripple and fast ripple oscillations. Furthermore, multiunit synchronization was significantly increased during fast ripple oscillations compared with ripple oscillations (p < 0.001). These data recorded from the mesial temporal lobe of epileptic patients suggest that the cellular networks underlying fast ripple generation are more localized than those involved in the generation of normally occurring ripple oscillations. Results from this study are consistent with previous studies in the intrahippocampal kainic acid rat model of chronic epilepsy that provide evidence supporting the view that fast ripples in the human brain reflect localized pathological events related to epileptogenesis.
Further Complexity Reduction for Antenna Selection in Spatial Modulation Systems

In this letter, the transmit antenna selection in the spatial modulation system is studied. First, the computational complexity of the transmit antenna selection algorithm previously proposed elsewhere is reduced through an alternative computation of the singular value. Second, the minimum distance ascent (MDA) search is proposed to reduce the search complexity, where the initial antenna subset is acquired through the greedy incremental algorithm. Simulation results show that, compared with the exhaustive search, the proposed MDA search reduces the search complexity enormously with only slight performance loss.
Data Security Issues and Challenges in Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing refers to applications&services that run on a distributed network using virtualized resources&accessed by common internet protocols and networking standards. Services are offered to the users over the web on pay-per-use on demand. Cloud services are provided by a third party supplier who possesses the arrangement. Cloud Computing has many advantages such as flexibility, efficiency, scalability, integration and capital reduction. In spite of possible benefits security is one big challenge that is hindering the growth of cloud computing. Various security challenges and issues are there for all the Service Delivery Models. Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is a foundation layer to all the other Service Delivery models. Lack of security in this layer will certainly affect the other Service Delivery Models i,e PaaS&SaaS, which are built upon IaaS Layer. In this paper we present an elaborated study of Data Security which is a part of IaaS components security and determine vulnerabilities & countermeasures.
Elevated Serum Levels of the Decoy Receptor Osteoprotegerin in Children with Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis

Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is characterized by an accumulation of dendritic Langerhans cells in granulomatous lesions in the bone, skin, and other sites in the body. The pathogenesis of the disease remains unknown. We measured serum levels of the decoy receptor osteoprotegerin (OPG), an important regulator of bone metabolism as well as immune responses, in 18 children with single system (SS) or multi-system (MS) forms of LCH and 20 pediatric controls. OPG levels were significantly increased in LCH patients at diagnosis when compared with controls, and pretreatment levels of OPG were elevated in MS compared with SS patients. Moreover, OPG levels in LCH patients were elevated in patients with involvement of risk organs (liver, lungs, hematopoietic system, or spleen) when compared with patients without risk organ involvement, indicative of an association between OPG values and disease severity. We also observed a positive correlation between serum levels of OPG and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, a pro-inflammatory cytokine, at the time of onset of disease. These findings show, for the first time, that serum OPG levels are elevated in LCH patients, and suggest that OPG may play a role in the pathogenesis of this enigmatic disease.
Automatic learning of Action Knowledge-Base for a mobile robot using genetic algorithms

To design behaviors of a mobile robot for realizing given tasks, a designer has to make a set of rules which generates a proper action from a state of sensors. In general, however, it is difficult for the designer to make the complete set of rules since the number of rules is very large and the proper action for a given state of sensors is not clear. Therefore, the robot must learn and construct the knowledge base of actions by itself. This paper proposes a learning algorithm to construct the knowledge of action in order to achieve tasks that are given to the mobile robot. The action to achieve a task in an environment is generated by a genetic algorithm. It is also shown that repeating the knowledge extraction will make the construction of the Action Knowledge-Base possible, concerning the task in any situation.
Using data to advance service: managerial issues and theoretical implications from action research

Purpose The proliferation of (big) data provides numerous opportunities for service advances in practice, yet research on using data to advance service is at a nascent stage in the literature. Many studies have discussed phenomenological benefits of data to service. However, limited research describes managerial issues behind such benefits, although a holistic understanding of the issues is essential in using data to advance service in practice and provides a basis for future research. The purpose of this paper is to address this research gap. Design/methodology/approach “Using data to advance service” is about change in organizations. Thus, this study uses action research methods of creating real change in organizations together with practitioners, thereby adding to scientific knowledge about practice. The authors participated in five service design projects with industry and government that used different data sets to design new services. Findings Drawing on lessons learned from the five projects, this study empirically identifies 11 managerial issues that should be considered in data-use for advancing service. In addition, by integrating the issues and relevant literature, this study offers theoretical implications for future research. Originality/value “Using data to advance service” is a research topic that emerged originally from practice. Action research or case studies on this topic are valuable in understanding practice and in identifying research priorities by discovering the gap between theory and practice. This study used action research over many years to observe real-world challenges and to make academic research relevant to the challenges. The authors believe that the empirical findings will help improve service practices of data-use and stimulate future research.
Take-off and landing properties in top-level football players: a ground reaction force study

The purpose of the present research is to contribute to a better understanding of the neuro-muscular basis of football movement patterns and allow its findings to be applied by athletes and their coaches to improve the sportsmen’ s performance. This paper explores explosive power, i.e. the type of force that is present in almost all segments of a football game and includes almost all individual skills (dribbling, shooting, heading, shielding, intercepting.), basic movements (e.g. running, changing direction, turning, stopping, dribbling, jumping) and physiological qualities (e.g. strength, speed, agility) in a football game. As a criterion for testing the explosive power, the registered ground reaction forces in performing the counter movement vertical jump are analysed, both in performance with one and with both legs. Statistically processed force variables have yielded statistically significant variation, which means that the similar test could be applied to a larger number of examinees with greater reliability. The test can be carried out at any point during the training process as an additional indication of preparedness benefiting both the coach and the sportsmen themselves.
Factors Influencing Purchase Intention towards a Retail Clothing Company

This research aims to investigate the factors affecting purchase intention towards retail clothing store. Four independent variables were selected in this research; perceived service quality, perceived value for money, brand awareness, and celebrity/brand congruencies. To measure the construct of the research instrument, a survey questionnaire was administered and data were collected from sample of 400 respondents who were customers of a retail clothing company, utilizing convenience sampling techniques. The significance and relationships of perceived service quality, perceived value for money, brand awareness, and celebrity/brand congruencies on purchase intention were tested and analyzed using the MLR. The result showed that all independent variables are positive predictors of purchase intention towards a retail clothing company. This result provided important managerial implications to retail’s management to focus on brand awareness to enhance customers’ purchase intention and profitability. Further investigation of the factors contributing to purchase intention such as sale promotion is highly suggested for future studies.
Infrastructure asset diagnostics: Enabling smarter asset management decisions within the electricity distribution industry

This thesis examines the opportunities for better asset management within the electricity distribution industry. The project partner, a supplier of distribution products, observed their customers are often purchasing incorrect equipment for maintenance operations. This observation led the project partner to believe a lack of accurate asset knowledge exists within these electricity distribution businesses (EDBs). Coupled with the information that much of the installed asset base of these EDBs is approaching end of life, it was proposed to investigate the suspected lack of asset condition and type knowledge with the intention of developing the Infrastructure Asset Diagnostic Tool (IADT). A literature review was conducted to determine the current state of asset diagnostics within the electricity distribution industry. The principles of lean start-up business development have been used to isolate the most needed technology within the New Zealand marketplace through interviews with industry personnel. These interviews helped identify a possible Minimum Viable Product (MVP) for the IADT, and also indicated that providing the IADT as a professional service would be the most appropriate model for the MVP variant. Condition and type knowledge of wooden poles, conductors and line hardware was found to be the most lacking. It was recommended to focus product development on the assessment of these assets. The project partner has contracted two smart tool suppliers for the analysis of poles and conductor clearances. These products were then integrated to enable accurate assessments of wooden poles. An additional product identified as an aside during the interviews, was for a simple pole designing application which could be used in the field. An existing product from one of the smart tool suppliers contracted can fulfil this requirement. Possible benefits from IADT use were calculated for a sample EDB. These calculations indicated accurate condition assessment of wooden poles could lead to a saving of up to $5.4 million per year. This saving would equate to a possible reduction in time for securing pole integrity on this network from 30.8 years to just 5.9 years through more effective use of available funding. This reduction would lead to enhanced network reliability and improved public safety in a much shorter time frame than present, therefore this study recommends implementing the MVP form of the IADT at an initial EDB.
All-Metal Optical Fiber Accelerometer With Low Transverse Sensitivity for Seismic Monitoring

An all-metal double metal diaphragm-based optical fiber accelerometer with low transverse sensitivity is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. The theoretical analysis is given based on the electro-mechanical theory. Finite element modal analysis shows that the proposed accelerometer has low transverse sensitivity. Calibration results show that axis responsivity is 41 dB (re: 0 dB = 1 rad/g) with a fluctuation ±2 dB in frequency bandwidth of 5-400 Hz. The transverse sensitivity is ~ 3 dB (re: 0 dB = 1 rad/g) with a fluctuation ±1.5 dB. A transverse sensitivity of about -40 dB is achieved. The fluctuation of the acceleration responsivity for the three accelerometers is within ±2.5 dB, which shows good consistency of the proposed accelerometer. The minimum phase demodulation detection accuracy of the phase-generated carrier is 10-5 rad/Hz1/2, and the minimum detectable acceleration can be 90 ng/Hz1/2 theoretically. With an all-metal structure, the proposed accelerometer is expected to improve the reliability of long-term use in harsh environment. These desirable features show that the proposed optical fiber accelerometer is promising for seismic wave monitoring in oil and gas exploration.
The Development of Organisation Structure in the Family Firm

T h e term family firm can obviously be used to cover a wide range of organizat ions, and the definition adopted by the writer is that of an enterprise that, in practice, is controlled by the members of a single family. T h i s includes both the private l imited company in which virtually all the shares are owned by the members of a single family and the publ ic company in which the dis t r ibut ion of the equity is such that the family has effective control. T h e writer became interested in family firms as social inst i tut ions in 1965 when he joined an Ashridge team working on an action research project in the p r in t ing industry. Th i s study (which was supported by a grant from the Social Science Research Counci l ) involved the researchers in three years' cont inuous close association with the senior management of a family business in coping with problems of organizat ion associated wi th growth and change . 3 O n complet ion of this project, the investigators were awarded a further Social Science Research Counci l grant to carry ou t a larger scale study of smaller enterprises. Part of this investigation included a series of twenty-five linked case studies d rawn from the p r in t ing industry and as, wi th one exception, all the firms included in the sample were—or had been at some recent stage in their development—family businesses, the oppor tuni ty was taken to ex-