Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Managing Project Uncertainty: The Delphi Method

56 JPT • MARCH 2016 Decision making in uncertain environments is key to the successful delivery of oil and gas projects. By definition, however, uncertainty is ambiguous and unpredictable. Uncertainty does not necessarily imply risk; the two are separate concepts. Economist Frank Knight made a clear distinction between the two as far back as 1921. Risk can be measured and quantified and is well suited to the analytical techniques used in project risk management; uncertainty defies quantitative expression. Items with the quality of uncertainty often surface during risk-assessment exercises but tend to be categorized as “issues” and are neither captured nor addressed by traditional risk-management processes. Donald Rumsfeld’s infamous quote highlights the difficulty of articulating uncertainty. However, the statement is rooted in sound cognitive and sociological theory and makes an important point about the perils of taking our individual and shared perceptions for reality. The philosopher Slavoj Žižek (2006) suggests that there may also be a fourth category of “unknown knowns”—those things that we intentionally refuse to acknowledge due to, for example, the social stigma around dissent. While we may feel confident dealing with “known knowns” and “known unknowns,” how can we hope to discover the “unknown unknowns” and uncover the “unknown knowns”? These problems can be effectively addressed using a Delphi-based workshop methodology. The process presented in this article discusses how to work collaboratively to develop a common understanding of a project and achieve alignment on issues and uncertainties. This allows managers to gain a better understanding of the critical uncertainties running through the project and implement appropriate strategies.
Business process based requirements modeling of radiological trauma triage capacity planning framework

Prior investigations indicated that Malaysian radiation and nuclear emergency plan stakeholders were not satisfied of having two-quarter of organizational issues in organizing and managing the indicated disaster scenario. Therefore, any organizational enhancement and improvement along the current radiation and nuclear emergency plan will give a positive and immediate impact on the public acceptance of the localized nuclear power program implementations. The policies and procedure issues must not be considered lightly because it may affect public adoption even though the nation has compromised on it for social and economic development. Moreover, any defect in the managerial and organizational structure might be a hindrance to the nuclear safety regulatory assurance. The structure of the respective emergency planning framework had to be tested and validated thoroughly in a structured manner to overcome this problem. This study proposed a hypothesis to build a current regulatory framework through empirical interpretive case study and computer simulation development. The hypothesis of the research framework was found to be useful and significantly accepted as it is interdependent and correlated with statistical measures and supported with the demonstrations of the agent based social simulation prototype. It has the potential to develop a structured and thorough emergency planning framework by interpreting and integrating mixed-method analyses and models through information systems theoretical lenses. Most probably, future works may imply them as strategized, condensed, concise, and comprehensive public disaster preparedness and response guidelines, and to be physically deemed as a useful and effective computer simulation.
Potential of Anti-CMV Immunoglobulin Cytotect CP® In Vitro and Ex Vivo in a First-Trimester Placenta Model

Background: Congenital CMV infection is the leading cause of neonatal neurological deficit. We herein studied in vitro and ex vivo the potential of the hyperimmune globulin Cytotect CP® (Biotest, Germany) for congenital infection prevention and treatment. Methods: In vitro neutralization assays were conducted in fibroblasts and retinal epithelial cells on the CMV strains TB40/E and VHL/E to determine the 50% and 90% neutralizing doses (ND50 and ND90). The toxicity was assessed by measuring LDH release. Ex vivo assays were conducted in first-trimester villi explants with the TB40/E strain, namely, neutralization assays, the prevention of villi infection, and the inhibition of viral replication in infected villi. Viability was assessed by β-HCG quantification in supernatants. Results: The in vitro neutralization tests showed that Cytotect CP®® inhibits the development of infection foci (DN50: 0.011–0.014 U/mL for VHL/E and 0.032–0.033 U/mL for TB40E) without any toxicity. In the ex vivo neutralization assays, the DN50 were 0.011 U/mL on day 7 and 0.093 U/mL on day 14. For the prevention of villi infection, the EC50 was 0.024 U/mL on day 7. Cytotect-CP® did not inhibit viral growth in infected villi. No impact on villi viability was observed. Conclusions: These results sustained that Cytotect CP® has the potential to prevent CMV congenital infection.
Short Peptides Induce Development of Root Hair Nicotiana tabacum

Root hairs absorb soil nutrients and water, and anchor the plant in the soil. Treatment of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) roots with glycine (Gly) amino acid, and glycilglycine (GlyGly) and glycilaspartic acid (GlyAsp) dipeptides (10−7 M concentration) significantly increased the development of root hairs. In the root, peptide accumulation was tissue-specific, with predominant localization to the root cap, meristem, elongation zone, and absorption zone. Peptides penetrated the epidermal and cortical cell and showed greater localization to the nucleus than to the cytoplasm. Compared with the control, tobacco plants grown in the presence of Gly, GlyGly, and GlyAsp exhibited the activation of WER, CPC, bHLH54, and bHLH66 genes and suppression of GTL1 and GL2 genes during root hair lengthening. Although Gly, GlyGly, and GlyAsp have a similar structure, the mechanism of regulation of root hair growth in each case were different, and these differences are most likely due to the fact that neutral Gly and GlyGly and negatively charged GlyAsp bind to different motives of functionally important proteins. Short peptides site-specifically interact with DNA, and histones. The molecular mechanisms underlying the effect of exogenous peptides on cellular processes remain unclear. Since these compounds acted at low concentrations, gene expression regulation by short peptides is most likely of epigenetic nature.
Sustainable Program Development in Cancer Education: A Case Study

The purpose of this session is to first discuss a study in progress on the factors and elements that either assist or impede the planning and implementation of a breast cancer education program in a middle-income country in Southeast Asia. Second, participants will be asked to share similar studies they are aware of or have been involved with, and practical experiences they have had with programs of this nature. One of the frustrating things about initiating new programs focused on education and social change in lowand middle-income countries is the high failure rate of those programs with an average life expectany of two to three years. In other words, although most of these programs start out with good intentions, the people involved are not able to sustain what they have initiated, even when they appear to be making good inroads into addressing important problems, such as literacy, health, and rural development. The purpose of the study to be discussed, which is still in progress, is to explore the concept of sustainability in the development, implementation, and on-going evalaution of a cancer education program in a middle-income and multicultural country in Southeast Asia. The major objectives are: (1) to identify those factors and elements that are critical in moving toward a sustainable program, and (2) to ascertain those factors and elements that act as impediments to building a sustainable program. For the purpose of this study, sustainablity is defined as a program that is addressing important issues and problems, is stable, has an appropriate organizational home, and structures in place that will carry the program activities into the future regardless of a change in program leadership. In addition, the program must have continuing and adequate funding for staffing, facilities, travel, and needed materials and supplies (Ellais and Schateph, 2009; Seya, 2005; Viezzer, 2006). A conceptual framework was construted prior to initiating the study through an in-depth review of the literature, which is grounded in a number of fields (for example, adult education, agriculture, community development and heath education), to gain a sense of what elements and factors have been previously identified (Caffarella, 2009; Cervero and Wilson, 2006; Data, 2002; Forester, 1989, 1999; Friedman, 2008, Regan, 2005; Vaux and Lund, 2003). The majority of this work consists of theortical and conceptual writings, versus data based research.
Binary differential evolution with self learning and deep neural network for breast cancer classification

Early classification of breast cancer helps to treat the patient effectively and increases the survival rate. The existing methods involve applying the feature selection methods and deep learning methods to improve the performance of the breast cancer classification. In this research, the binary differential evolution with self learning (BDE‐SL) and deep neural network (DNN) method is proposed to improve the performance of the breast cancer classification. The BDE‐SL feature selection method involves selecting the relevant features based on the measure of probability difference for each feature and non‐dominated sorting. The DNN method has the advantage which effectively analysis the non‐linear relationship among the selected features and output. The BI‐RADS MRI breast cancer dataset was applied to test the performance of the proposed method. The adaptive histogram equalization and region growing applied in the input images to enhance the image. The dual‐tree complex wavelet transform, gray‐level co‐occurrence matrix, and local directional ternary pattern were the feature extraction method used for the classification. This result shows that BDE‐SL with the DNN method has an accuracy of 99.12% and the existing convolutional neural network has 98.33% accuracy.
Photocatalytic CO2 Reduction Using TiO2-Based Photocatalysts and TiO2 Z-Scheme Heterojunction Composites: A Review

Photocatalytic CO2 reduction is a most promising technique to capture CO2 and reduce it to non-fossil fuel and other valuable compounds. Today, we are facing serious environmental issues due to the usage of excessive amounts of non-renewable energy resources. In this aspect, photocatalytic CO2 reduction will provide us with energy-enriched compounds and help to keep our environment clean and healthy. For this purpose, various photocatalysts have been designed to obtain selective products and improve efficiency of the system. Semiconductor materials have received great attention and have showed good performances for CO2 reduction. Titanium dioxide has been widely explored as a photocatalyst for CO2 reduction among the semiconductors due to its suitable electronic/optical properties, availability at low cost, thermal stability, low toxicity, and high photoactivity. Inspired by natural photosynthesis, the artificial Z-scheme of photocatalyst is constructed to provide an easy method to enhance efficiency of CO2 reduction. This review covers literature in this field, particularly the studies about the photocatalytic system, TiO2 Z-scheme heterojunction composites, and use of transition metals for CO2 photoreduction. Lastly, challenges and opportunities are described to open a new era in engineering and attain good performances with semiconductor materials for photocatalytic CO2 reduction.
Poly (ethylene terephthalate) nonwoven fabrics‐based membranes modified by electrospinning of thermoplastic polyurethane, nano SiO2 and Ag particles as medical packing materials

Aiming at development of novel medical packings, poly (ethylene terephthalate) (PET)‐based membranes with hydrophobic and antibacterial properties were prepared by electrostatic spinning of a blend of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), nano SiO2 and Ag particles on PET nonwoven. In cooperation with electro‐spun TPU/SiO2 layer, the water contact angle (WCA) of PET nonwoven fabric was improved from 60° to 115–130°, and the water vapour transmission rate was 2200–2500 g/m2/24 h. It indicates that the modified PET nonwoven membrane exhibits a much better water resistance, highly increased hydrophobicity and moderate water permeability. Nano‐silver provided excellent antibacterial properties for this non‐cytotoxic PET/TPU/SiO2/Ag composite membranes. The PET/TPU/SiO2/Ag composite membranes had high mechanical properties, which exhibited a tensile strength of 56 MPa in the longitudinal direction and 35 MPa in the transversal direction, and tear strength of 30 kN/m in the longitudinal direction and 48 kN/m in the transversal direction. This new PET/TPU/SiO2/Ag composite membranes showed broad application prospects in the medical packaging industry.
Biogenic Synthesis of Antibacterial, Hemocompatible, and Antiplatelets Lysozyme Functionalized Silver Nanoparticles through the One-Step Process for Therapeutic Applications

To evaluate silver nanoparticles’ (AgNPs) therapeutic and clinical potentials, antibacterial action, blood compatibility, and antiplatelet activities are the main concerns for toxicity profiling. Heat-denatured lysozyme-mediated formulation stabilized the AgNPs, thereby providing more bactericidal activity and blood compatibility. The study of the synthesis of AgNPs suggests the rapid and cost-effective formulation of AgNPs by one-step reaction using a 10:1 ratio of silver nitrate and lysozyme by incubating at 60 °C for two hours. Characterization of AgNPs was analyzed by UV–Visible spectroscopy, DLS, TEM, EDX, XRD, AFM, and FTIR, followed by antibacterial, hemocompatibility, and platelet aggregation testing. The average size of synthesized AgNPs was found to be 94.10 nm with 0.45 mV zeta potential and 0.293 polydispersity index by DLS. The TEM and EXD results indicated homogeneously 28.08 nm spherical-shaped pure formations of AgNPs. The XRD peaks showed the synthesis of small AgNPs with a crystallite size of 22.88 nm, while the AFM confirmed the homogeneity and smoothness of the monodispersed AgNPs. The FTIR spectra specified the coating of the lysozyme-derived amide group on the AgNPs surface, which provides stability and functionality of nanoparticles. The antibacterial activity of AgNPs was remarkable against six pathogenic bacteria and three multidrug resistance (MDR) strains (i.e., Escherichia coli, Klebsiella aerogenes, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa), which exhibited inhibition zones with diameters ranging between 13.5 ± 0.2 mm to 19.0 ± 0.3 mm. The non-hemolytic nature of the AgNPs was calculated by percentage hemolysis with four concentrations. The negative result of platelet aggregation using platelet-rich plasma suggests the antiplatelet effect of AgNPs. Only minor hemolysis of 6.17% in human erythrocytes and mild platelet aggregation of 1.98% were induced, respectively, by the use of 1000 µL of 1 mM AgNPs, which contains approximately 107.8 μg silver. The results indicated that the antiplatelet potency and non-hemolytic nature with the antibacterial action of the lysozyme functionalized AgNPs have a good chance to be used to solve in-stent restenosis and thrombosis issues of the coronary stent and may also have a possibility to use in vaccination to resolve the blood clotting problem. So, the optimized biogenic formulation of AgNPs offers promising opportunities to be used as a therapeutic agent.
Identification and characterization of IAA oxidases and their role in IAA homeostatic regulation in Arabidopsis

Title of Dissertation: IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF IAA OXIDASES AND THEIR ROLE IN IAA HOMEOSTATIC REGULATION IN ARABIDOPSIS Jun Zhang, Doctor of Philosophy, 2016 Dissertation directed by: Dr. Wendy Ann Peer, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Science and Technology Auxin is a crucial plant hormone that shapes and directs plant growth. Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) is the predominant auxin in nature. Auxin regulates cell expansion and cell division in a dose dependent way. Therefore, plants evolved an extremely complex yet highly coordinated network to maintain auxin homeostasis, including IAA biosynthesis, transport, conjugation and oxidation. Among these, the least known process is IAA oxidation. Discovering how IAA is terminated is very important in completing the whole picture of IAA homeostatic regulation. By partial purification of IAA oxidases from Arabidopsis, we detected IAA oxidation activity from both microsomal fractions and soluble fractions. We first investigated the protein in microsomal fraction and identified one oxidase named as ACC oxidase 2 (ACO2), an ethylene synthetase that belongs to 2-oxoglutarate and iron (II) [2OG(Fe)] dependent dioxygenase family. In vitro enzyme assays with IAA showed that ACO2 could catabolize IAA and that the product had the same retention time as indole-3-carbinal (ICA), an decarboxylative IAA oxidation product. The same enzyme assay with the ACO2 homologues ACO3 was conducted, and ACO3 showed similar activity. An ACO2 loss-of-function allele showed ethylene related phenotypes, including longer hypocotyls and reduced apical hook angle in etiolated seedlings, and delayed bolting. Further, null aco2 mutants also showed reduced phototropic bending, a typical auxin related phenotype. These results indicate that ACO2 might be involved in both ethylene and auxin signaling. We also investigated the soluble IAA oxidases, AtDAO1 (DAO1) and AtDAO2 (DAO2). In vitro enzyme assays showed that both recombinant DAO1 and DAO2 have IAA oxidation activity and the product is the non-decarboxylated 2-oxindole-3acetic acid (oxIAA), the major IAA metabolite observed under normal growth conditions. Analysis of the loss-of-function null allele dao1-1 showed that DAO1 is the predominant IAA oxidase and is responsible for 95% of oxIAA production in Arabidopsis seedlings. Dysregulation of IAA oxidation altered the IAA metabolism profile and causes accumulation of other IAA conjugates and a series of morphological alteration, including elongation of organs, increased lateral roots and delayed sepal opening. Investigation of expression patterns shows that DAO1 is a cytosolic protein that widely expressed throughout the plant, especially in the root tip, the pericycle of root, the cotyledon, and the sepal, highly correlating to the phenotypes of dao1-1. These results suggest that IAA oxidation plays an important role in IAA homeostasis during the whole life of Arabidopsis. Identification and characterization of IAA oxidases and their role in IAA homeostatic regulation in Arabidopsis
Design of Damping of Power System Oscillation usingSTATCOM With Energy Storage

The motto of present paper is to find out theenhancement of damping the power system oscillationthrough co-ordinated model of ‘Static SynchronousCompensator’ (STATCOM) situated in shunt withtransmissionline.side. Thisisachieved using a signal estimation technique based on a modifiedrecursive least square (RLS) algorithm, which allows a fast,selective, and adaptive estimation of the low-frequency electromechanical oscillations from locally measured signals duringpower system disturbances. The proposed method is effective inincreasing the damping of the system at the frequencies of interest,also in the case of system parameter uncertainties and at variousconnection points of the compensator.
The role of publicly funded collaborative projects in implementing open innovation

ABSTRACT Publicly funded collaborative projects can represent an embryonic form of open innovation, as they force firms to collaborate and share knowledge with external partners. In this vein, they can trigger the implementation of a broader set of open innovation practices, despite usually operating according to policy logics that are not always aligned with open innovation principles. However, further research is needed to understand whether and how implementation of different open innovation practices, such as publicly funded collaborative projects, entails the adoption of particular organisational changes. This paper aims at understanding how companies can leverage publicly funded collaborative projects to trigger the adoption of a broader set of open innovation practices, as well as the organisational changes to be implemented to exploit these practices. By conducting an exploratory case study of a leading white goods manufacturer, this paper shows how taking part in publicly funded collaborative projects allowed the company to trigger the adoption of a broader set of open innovation practices. This paper contributes to the debate on the contingent nature of open innovation by discussing the organisational dimensions on which the company should act to implement the different open innovation practices. It also provides evidence on a progressive approach for the adoption of open innovation practices triggered by publicly funded collaborative projects. In addition, this paper provides useful suggestions for managers and policymakers that are in charge of managing open innovation practices within companies and drafting funding opportunities that are consistent with open innovation principles, respectively.
Microbial Community Structure and Bacterial Lineages Associated with Sulfonamides Resistance in Anthropogenic Impacted Larut River

Anthropogenic activities often contribute to antibiotic resistance in aquatic environments. Larut River Malaysia is polluted with both organic and inorganic pollutants from domestic and industrial wastewater that are probably treated inadequately. The river is characterized by high biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, ammonia, and heavy metals. In our previous study, sulfonamides (SAs) and sulfonamide resistance genes (sul) were detected in the Larut River. Hence, in this study, we further examined the microbial community structure, diversity of sulfonamide-resistant bacteria (SARB), and their resistance genes. The study also aimed at identifying cultivable bacteria potential carriers of sul genes in the aquatic environment. Proteobacteria (22.4–66.0%), Firmicutes (0.8–41.6%), Bacteroidetes (2.0–29.4%), and Actinobacteria (5.5–27.9%) were the most dominant phyla in both the effluents and river waters. SARB isolated consisted only 4.7% of the total genera identified, with SAR Klebsiella as the most dominant (38.0–61.3%) followed by SAR Escherichia (0–22.2%) and Acinetobacter (3.2–16.0%). The majority of the SAR Klebsiella isolated from the effluents and middle downstream were positive for sul genes. Sul genes-negative SAR Escherichia and Acinetobacter were low (<20%). Canonical-correlation analysis (CCA) showed that SAs residues and inorganic nutrients exerted significant impacts on microbial community and total sul genes. Network analysis identified 11 SARB as potential sul genes bacterial carriers. These findings indicated that anthropogenic activities exerted impacts on the microbial community structure and SAs resistance in the Larut River.