Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strategic knowledge disclosure: Its effect on competitive response and knowledge-based competencies in the global hard disk drive industry

How does a leading firm sustain its competence-based advantage in a competitive landscape against threats of imitation and substitution? In high-velocity competitive markets, an inherent tension arises when firms wish to prolong the value of their technological competencies, while rivals seek to make those competencies obsolete. These markets are characterized by continuous technological change, fickle customers, and frequent shifts in the competitive landscape. Firms must continually update their innovative competencies that are recurrently targets of imitation and substitution, and managers face challenges in discerning the appropriate competencies their firms should commit to and which they should avoid, resulting in the difficulty of setting straightforward strategic goals for the firm. Looking in the hard disk drive industry from 1987 to 1999, I empirically show that leading firms' knowledge disclosure of core technologies has a positive effect on the probability of laggards imitating the leader. Moreover, I show that after leading firms disclose, they introduce next-generation products sooner and prevent laggards from quickly introducing their next-generation products. Thus, I suggest that a leading firm's knowledge disclosing activities can shape the competitive landscape by influencing rivals' scope of search for innovation opportunities. Namely, leading firms can prolong their established competencies by disclosing knowledge on their innovations by promoting imitation and delaying or preventing substitution.
Marketing the e-Business. 2nd edition

E-marketing is rapidly growing in significance and is having a direct impact upon traditional marketing strategy and operations. It requires planning and innovation to make it work, implying organizational commitment and effective management, supported by technology, process and structure. Fully updated to reflect the latest developments in e-marketing, this useful text unpicks the challenges of e-Marketing for many types of business. It uses topical case studies and accompanying web material to provide an up-to-date study of effective marketing strategies. This updated edition features coverage of such emerging topics as: Mobile marketing Social networking and blogging as marketing issues E-segmentation Customer relationship marketing online Providing a new approach to the subject matter, this book analyses the benefits of e-Marketing as a tool for improving efficiency and effectiveness rather than simply business revolution. Written in a student-friendly style and fully enhanced with such pedagogical features as topic maps, boxed examples, and discussion questions, the book is ideal for use with students. Considering the practicalities of marketing in an e-Business context, in its first edition this was the first book of its kind to voice such a rigorous argument for the importance of e-Marketing.
Green Synthesis and Electrochemical Study of Cobalt/Graphene Quantum Dots for Efficient Water Splitting

Hydrogen production via electrochemical water splitting is limited thermodynamically by the sluggish oxygen evolution reaction (OER) at the anode. The use of noble metal-based catalysts leads to an economic bottleneck because of the high cost associated with such materials. This article is an electrochemical investigation of an economically viable and advanced OER catalyst made of cobalt/graphene nanocomposite quantum dots (QDs). A series of characterization techniques, such as high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, and fluorescence measurements, were performed, and they confirmed the formation of graphene QDs as well as the formation of cobalt-based QDs. A very high current density of 43.16 mA cm–2 was observed for the QD nanocomposite, whereas smaller current densities were seen for Co nanoparticles (21.1 mA cm–2) and a benchmark Pt/C commercial catalyst (5.99 mA cm–2). Furthermore, an overpotent.
Guidelines for Head Tactile Communication

Abstract : A helmet-mounted tactile display is desired for military applications such as cueing to alert Soldiers to the direction and location of an event or indicating movement direction in GPS-supported navigation. However, the system must be compatible with the head sensitivity of the user to ensure the user's optimal perception of the provided information. The purpose of this report is to document the overall findings of the basic research program regarding head tactile sensitivity and to provide answers to two basic questions: (1) What locations on the head are most sensitive to vibration stimulation? (2) What is the optimal frequency for tactile signals to be applied to the head? The overall findings are discussed and are considered as initial guidelines for head tactile communication and for using vibration stimulation on the head.
Belastbarkeit nach abdominellen Eingriffen – Ergebnisse einer Patientenbefragung

Zusammenfassung Einleitung Narbenhernien (NH) sind häufige Komplikationen nach abdominalchirurgischen Eingriffen und beeinflussen die postoperative Phase der Schonung, indem eine frühe Belastung mit traditionell einem erhöhten NH-Risiko in Verbindung gebracht wird. Evidenz hierzu fehlt jedoch. Einen Zusammenhang zwischen der postoperativen körperlichen Aktivität nach abdominellen Operationen und der Entwicklung von NH untersucht diese Studie. Material und Methoden Patienten, die 2009 – 2016 eine Laparoskopie (LS) oder Laparotomie (LT) aufgrund einer viszeralchirurgischen Indikation erhielten, wurden mittels eines Fragebogens zur Belastung, zu Beschwerden und zum Auftreten von NH sowie zur Lebensqualität postoperativ befragt. Komplizierte Verläufe (Clavien-Dindo > III), Laparostomaanlagen und Eingriffe im Zusammenhang mit Hernienrekonstruktionen wurden ausgeschlossen. Ergebnisse 393 Patienten beantworteten den Fragebogen (43,6%) vollständig, dabei waren 274 LS und 128 LT. Die NH-Inzidenz betrug 5,2% (LS) und 18,0% (LT, p = 0,001). NH-Patienten waren jünger und häufiger Männer. Patienten mit NH erreichten in 30,5% postoperativ keine Vollbelastung. Die Verwendung einer Abdominalbandage hatte keinen Einfluss auf die NH-Rate. Die Lebensqualität war für die NH-Gruppe eingeschränkt, sowohl auf psychischer als auch physischer Ebene. Schlussfolgerung Die frühe schmerzadaptierte Belastung nach abdominalchirurgischen Eingriffen stellt in dieser Studie keinen Risikofaktor für die Entwicklung von Narbenhernien dar. Die prospektive Evaluation liberaler postoperativer Aufbelastungsregime ist notwendig.
'As for the dialect, I will now tell you how we spoke at home': On the performance of dialectal talk

Th e point of departure of this paper is the claim that dialectal variation should be approached not only as a geographical reﬂ ex but also, in line with recent discourse analytic approaches, as an interactional resource for various communicative objectives. Our analysis is based on 11 sponta-neous conversational narratives produced by a Greek dialectophone from the island of Lesbos. We observe that she does not straightforwardly comply with the researcher ’ s request to speak the (northern Greek) dialect. Rather, in order to produce dialectal features, she discursively con- structs the spatio-temporal context of her village as it used to be half a century ago. It is mainly by animating, via direct speech, the voices of the foretime inhabitants of her village that she shows, rather than speaks, the local dialect. She achieves this by successfully adopting the discourse identity of performer, using devices like ellipsis, narrative present tense and prosodic diﬀ erentiation.
The Impact of EWOM Referral, Celebrity Endorsement, and Information Quality on Purchase Decision

This study aims to explore factors that have impact on purchase decision on a social commerce, viz., social media Instagram. Thus, several dimensions namely eWOM referral, celebrity endorsement, information quality, brand satisfaction, brand trust and brand attachment are identified and examined. This research uses SEM method and LISREL 8.80 application. Data was collected using questionnaires with Likert scale. The result from 350 respondents shows that a significant positive correlation exists between eWOM referral and purchase intention, information quality and brand satisfaction, information quality and brand trust, brand satisfaction and brand attachment, brand satisfaction and purchase intention, brand trust and purchase intention, brand attachment and purchase decision, and also between purchase intention and purchase decision.
Characterizing the correlation between motor cortical neural firing and grasping kinematics

The hand has evolved to allow specialized interactions with our surroundings that define much of what makes us human. Comprised of numerous joints allowing 23 separate degrees-of-freedom (DoF) (joint motions) of movement, the hand and wrist are exceedingly complex. In order to better understand the constraints and principles underlying the neural control of the hand, we have carried out a series of neurophysiological experiments with monkeys performing a variety of reaching and grasping tasks. This work uses linear regression and low dimensional analysis to probe the neural representation of hand kinematics.We find that the kinematics of the three wrist DoFs (flexion, abduction and rotation) are rashly independent from hand-shape DoFs, and are considered separately. With respect to the wrist DoF, we show that the firing patterns of individual motor cortical cells are more linearly related to joint position than joint angular velocity. Using tuning functions from multivariate linear regressions, the firing rates from a population of cells accurately predicted three DoF of wrist orientation. We used principal components analysis to simplify the complex kinematics of the hand. Although the majority of the variability in hand kinematics can be explained with a small number (~7) of characteristic hand shapes (synergies), we find that these synergies do not capture the majority of neural variability. Both higher-order and lower-order synergies are well represented in the neural data. Although the kinematic synergies do not fully characterize neural firing, they can be utilized to simplify hand shape decoding. Using an optimal linear estimator, we predicted the average wrist and hand shape from the firing rates of 327 motor cortical cells with an accuracy as high as 92%. Individual motor cortical neurons are not well correlated with single joint variables; rather, they correlate with a number of joints in a complex way. This work provides evidence that hand movements are likely controlled through an intricate network of motor systems, of which motor cortical neurons contribute by making fine adjustments to a basic substrate. Further understanding of the control system will be gained by establishing a model that captures both the hand kinematic and neural variability.
Obfuscating Against Side-Channel Power Analysis Using Hiding Techniques for AES

Abstract : The transfer of information has always been an integral part of military and civilian operations, and remains so today. Because not all information we share is public, it is important to secure our data from unwanted parties. Message encryption serves to prevent all but the sender and recipient from viewing any encrypted information as long as the key stays hidden. The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is the current industry and military standard for symmetric-key encryption. While AES remains computationally infeasible to break the encrypted message stream, it is susceptible to side-channel attacks if an adversary has access to the appropriate hardware. The most common and effective side-channel attack on AES is Differential Power Analysis (DPA). Thus, countermeasures to DPA are crucial to data security. This research attempts to evaluate and combine two hiding DPA countermeasures in an attempt to further hinder side-channel analysis of AES encryption. Analysis of DPA attack success before and after the countermeasures is used to determine effectiveness of the protection techniques. The results are measured by evaluating the number of traces required to attack the circuit and by measuring the signal-to-noise ratios.
Familial Support as a Determinant of Women Career Development: A Qualitative Study

Although women’s participation in the workforce has increased remarkably in recent times but women are still lagging behind because of the traditional thinking and attitudes of their families in the context of Bangladesh. The purpose of the current study was to explore the role of the family in shaping women’s career development. The study was conducted in a qualitative approach and it was exploratory in nature. The study was conducted during November-December, 2019 in Khulna division, Bangladesh. The purposive sampling procedure was used to select the 25 respondents of the study. The respondents constituted of working women from different professions. Primary data was collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews extending from 35 to 45 minutes. The collected data were analyzed using thematic analysis method and nine themes emerged from the transcripts. The emerged themes were acceptance and aspiration from family, spousal support, being a mother, grown-up children as helping hands, family and work balance, family as a social network, family as a barrier, family as a lever, and gender inequality. This research highlighted the fact that women’s career practices and its development depended highly on familial roles. The family possesses the ability to affect women’s career success both positively and negatively. The study revealed that women who received positive support from their families were more motivated and achieved greater success in their professional life. Family can serve both as a lever as well as a barrier in shaping a woman’s career.
Source Code Vulnerability Assessment Methodology

Abstract : Coding errors and security vulnerabilities are routinely introduced into application source code for both malicious and non-malicious purposes. The U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) Survivability/Lethality Analysis Directorate (SLAD), Information and Electronic Protection Division (IEPD) has developed a security-focused source Code Analysis Methodology (CAM) to identify, exploit, and mitigate vulnerabilities found in software developed for use in U.S. Army systems. Because of the classified nature of the results obtained via the CAM on actual systems, it is not possible to present these results in an unclassified forum. Instead, the work presented here provides a proof-of-concept of the CAM and exploit development process by generating an exploit for a buffer overflow vulnerability found in a free software application. A buffer overflow vulnerability presents a serious threat to the security of a software system and provides one example of the coding errors and security issues that the CAM is designed to detect, exploit, and mitigate against. The work described here provides an example of the process that is followed to ultimately determine the appropriate mitigations and countermeasures that will protect and enhance Soldier and system survivability via the CAM.
Characterization and evaluation of novel nano/meso-particulate formulations for application to the skin

The use of nano/meso-particles (NP/MP) as constituent of topical formulations of drug and cosmetics has been a topic of considerable interest for the past 20 years. However, the transport mechanism of nanoparticle-associated drug/active following topical application on the skin is still unclear. No general answers have been obtained to such questions as the depth of intact NP penetration into the skin, the skin distribution of active substances, and the fate of the vehicles on/in the skin. The main objective of this thesis, therefore, was to observe the in vitro penetration of fluorescently-labeled nanoparticle vehicle and “active” on/within the skin by using laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM). Furthermore, the concentration profile of the “active” in the outermost skin layer, stratum corneum, has been assessed by using tape stripping technique combined with HPLC analysis. The factors, including particle size, hydrophobicity, shell thickness of nanocapsules and surface charge, have been investigated with regard to their abilities to influence the penetration of “active” into the skin. The methods for NP preparation and characterization have also been developed. The results demonstrated that the delivery of “active” into the stratum corneum from NP/MP were influenced by a number a factors, including particle size, hydrophobicity, surface charge and shell thickness of capsules. The “active” delivery (i) is greater from larger vectors; (ii) increases as the hydrophobicity of NP/MP increases; (iii) is favoured by cationic NP; (iv) is favoured from capsules with a smaller shell thickness. NP vehicle and “active” mainly co-localize in skin “furrows” and around hair follicles after topical application. No evidence shows NP penetrate beyond the superficial layer of the skin. In the stratum corneum, the “active” remains in part associated with NP, but the release f the “active” clearly occurs to some extent followed by its penetration into deep layers of the stratum corneum. Overall, through this work, the fate of nanoparticle vehicle and the “active” has been distinguished and the physicochemical properties of the nanoparticles that determine their behaviour once applied to the skin, and the kinetics with which an “active” is released, has also been understood.
Joining technologies for smart textiles

Abstract: This chapter reviews important building blocks for the use of electronic systems on textiles. A major focus is on electrical and textile joining technologies and their properties. Furthermore, different means of electrical traces are described that are suitable for integration in textiles. Some challenges in technology and in the manufacturing processes for electronic systems on textiles are pointed out. Finally, the chapter provides an assessment of technological trends, as well as future applications.
News Sharing on Social Media: Mapping the Ideology of News Media Content, Citizens, and Politicians

This article examines the news sharing behavior of politicians and ordinary users by mapping the ideological sharing space of political information on social media. As data, we use the near-universal currency of online political information exchange: URLs (i.e. web links). We introduce a methodological approach (and statistical software) that unifies the measurement of political ideology online, using social media sharing data to jointly estimate the ideology of: (1) politicians; (2) social media users, and (3) the news sources that they share online. Second, we validate the measure by comparing it to well-known measures of roll call voting behavior for members of congress. Third, we show empirically that legislators who represent less competitive districts are more likely to share politically polarizing news than legislators with similar voting records in more competitive districts. Finally, we demonstrate that it is nevertheless not politicians, but ordinary users who share the most ideologically extreme content and contribute most to the polarized online news-sharing ecosystem. Our approach opens up many avenues for research into the communication strategies of elites, citizens, and other actors who seek to influence political behavior and sway public opinion by sharing political information online.
Reconfigurable Digital IIR and FIR Filters

Abstract : The work presented in this document contributes to the ROBR (Reconfigurable Omni Band Radio) project started by the Defence Research Establishment Ottawa and the Communication Research Centre in 1997. ROBR is a testhed implementation of a reconfigurable satellite communications (satcom) terminal that makes use of a software communications architecture. Such a system can enable the use of a single ground terminal to communicate over multiple satellite communications or terrestrial links by supporting multiple standards. The ROBR hardware architecture includes a microprocessor and several digital signal processor (DSP) boards. The objective of this report is to document the work done to provide a set of reconfigurable digital filters for use in the ROBR. Five infinite impulse response (IIR) filtering modules and four finite impulse response (FIR) filtering modules have been implemented. The function of these modules is to compute the coefficients of a desired filter design. Also, IIR and FIR signal processing modules have been implemented to process digital signals using the computed coefficients. The modules have been implemented in the C programming language and are targeted for use on a DSP chip. The implementation of the modules has been verified and compared with the results obtained with the Signal Processing toolbox from MATLAB.
Spacecraft Environmental Anomalies Handbook

Abstract : Anomalies on spacecraft can be avoided by understanding their mechanisms and causes. This handbook discusses single event upsets (SEUs), surface charging and discharging, and internal or deep dielectric charging along with methods available for the reduction or elimination of the effects they can cause in spacecraft. Keywords: Integrated circuits; Anomalies; Space systems; Radiation hardening; Synchronous satellites.
Analysis of Mental Health Status and Influencing Factors of Overseas Chinese in Laos

Background: To provide a reference for foreign aid workers by identifying the mental health status of Overseas Chinese resident in Laos and the influencing factors. Methods :Convenience sampling method was used to select the 414 Overseas Chinese in Laos from April 10 to May 10 in 2020. The mental health status was assessed by using PHQ-9 and GAD-7 scales, and the influencing factors were analyzed. Results :The prevalence of anxiety and depression among overseas Chinese in Laos was 28.5% and 36.2%. Factors influencing anxiety and depression included family members' attitudes towards their departure abroad, financial aid subsidies, living standards in Laos, and Laotian food. Conclusion :Degrees of anxiety and depressive were varying among Overseas Chinese in Laos. Depression was highly correlated with anxiety, and the influencing factors of anxiety and depression were different. Foreign aid workers should pay attention to the mental health of the Overseas Chinese in Laos and the influencing factors.