• Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.241-254
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• 2012

To gain competitive advantage in a fast changing environment, the higher education institution (HEI) must continuously adjust the strategies to that environment. One important strategy is how to determine appropriate practical actions based on what students really need and want. Despite the abundance of research on service quality management, there is no universal consensus on how best to determine appropriate practical actions in HEIs. The aim of this paper is to develop an integrated model to be used to accurately acquire the most critical service attributes and determine appropriate actions that promote student satisfaction. Drawing on relevant literature, an integrated model is proposed which is based on students' perspective by integrating the fuzzy SERVQUAL, refined Kano, and Blue Ocean model. Subsequently, an empirical case study in the higher education sector is described that illustrates the value of the model in determining the most critical attributes and how to improve them.

• Structural Monitoring and Maintenance
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.133-143
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• 2015

Civil engineering infrastructure is aging and requires cost-effective maintenance strategies to enable infrastructure systems operate reliably and sustainably. This paper presents an approach for determining risk-cost balanced repair strategy of corrosion damaged reinforced concrete structures with consideration of uncertainty in structural resistance deterioration. On the basis of analytical models of cover concrete cracking evolution and bond strength degradation due to reinforcement corrosion, the effect of reinforcement corrosion on residual load carrying capacity of corroded reinforced concrete structures is investigated. A stochastic deterioration model based on gamma process is adopted to evaluate the probability of failure of structural bearing capacity over the lifetime. Optimal repair planning and maintenance strategies during the service life are determined by balancing the cost for maintenance and the risk of structural failure. The method proposed in this study is then demonstrated by numerical investigations for a concrete structure subjected to reinforcement corrosion. The obtained results show that the proposed method can provide a risk cost optimised repair schedule during the service life of corroded concrete structures.

• Computers and Concrete
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.399-410
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• 2013

A nonlinear finite element analysis of R/C hybrid deep T-beam with web opening subjected to pure torsion is presented. Hexahedral 8-nodes and space truss element were used for modeling concrete and reinforcement. The reinforcement was assumed perfectly bonded to the corresponding nodes of the concrete element. The constitutive relations for concrete and reinforcement are based on the modified field theory and elastic perfectly plastic. The smear crack approach was adopted for modeling the crack. The torque-twist angle relationship curve based on the finite element analysis was compared to the experimental results. The comparison shows that the curve of torque-twist angle predicted by the nonlinear finite element analysis is linear before cracking and close to the experimental result. After cracking, the curve becomes nonlinear and stiffer compared to the experimental result.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.255-261
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• 2022

Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks (RPLs) in Internet of Things (IoT) is currently one of the most popular wireless technologies for sensor communication. RPLs are typically designed for specialized applications, such as monitoring or tracking, in either indoor or outdoor conditions, where battery capacity is a major concern. Several routing techniques have been proposed in recent years to address this issue. Nevertheless, the expansion of the network lifetime in consideration of the sensors' capacities remains an outstanding question. In this research, aANN-CUCKOO based optimization technique is applied to obtain a more efficient and dependable energy efficient solution in IOT-RPL. The proposed method uses time constraints to minimise the distance between source and sink with the objective of a low-cost path. By considering the mobility of the nodes, the technique outperformed with an efficiency of 98% compared with other methods. MATLAB software is used to simulate the proposed model.

• Journal of applied mathematics & informatics
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.525-540
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• 2023

In this paper, we introduce the concept of fuzzy nano M open and fuzzy nano M closed mappings in fuzzy nano topological spaces. Also, we study about fuzzy nano M Homeomorphism, almost fuzzy nano M totally mappings, almost fuzzy nano M totally continuous mappings and super fuzzy nano M clopen continuous functions and their properties in fuzzy nano topological spaces. By using these mappings, we can able to extended the relation between normal spaces and regular spaces in fuzzy nano topological spaces.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.263-277
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• 2024

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are artificial learning algorithms that provide successful results in solving many machine learning problems such as classification, prediction, object detection, object segmentation, image and video classification. There is an increasing number of studies that use ANNs as a prediction tool in soil classification. The aim of this research was to understand the role of hyperparameter optimization in enhancing the accuracy of ANNs for soil type classification. The research results has shown that the hyperparameter optimization and hyperparamter optimized ANNs can be utilized as an efficient mechanism for increasing the estimation accuracy for this problem. It is observed that the developed hyperparameter tool (HyperNetExplorer) that is utilizing the Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolution Strategy (CMAES), Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Jaya Algorithm (JA) optimization techniques can be successfully used for the discovery of hyperparameter optimized ANNs, which can accomplish soil classification with 100% accuracy.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.87-91
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• 1998

The present study investigated the involvement of the phospholipase C (PLC) and protein kinase C (PKC) signaling pathways during progesteroneinduced meiotic maturation in amphibian (Rana dybowskii) oocytes. Prosesterone-induced germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) of oocytes was significantly inhibited by a PKC inhibitor, staurosporine and a PLC inhibitor, U73122, in a dose-dependent manner. In contrast, U73343, an inactive analogue of U73122, was ineffective in suppressing GVBD. PKC activity in oocytes reached a maximum level at 30 min after progesterone stimulation and this elevated PKC activity was effectively suppressed by U73122 or staurosporine, suggesting that the activation of PKC enzyme is closely linked to PLC signaling during oocyte maturation. In addition, these inhib itors blocked the maturation promoting factor (MPF) activity which appeared in oocytes in response to progesterone, suggesting that PKC activation is an important signal for MPF activity. Therefore, this study demonstrates that the activation of PKC via PLC signaling is directly linked to an intracellular protein kinase cascade related to the appearance of MPF activity during meiotic maturation in amphibian (Rana dybowskii) oocytes.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.12
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• pp.1045-1052
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• 2020

This study aims to test the influence of employee competency and career management on career commitment in Indonesia. The study uses the cross-sectional data of regional government employees collected from February to April 2020. Regression and structural equation modeling are employed. The results base on the effect of employee competency and career management on career commitment in Indonesia are in line with the existing theory (i.e., Bandura's Career Theory). Employee competency has a significant positive influence on career management and career commitment, which shows that regional government employees with high competency generate effective career management, and in turn career commitment increased. Regional governments with their career management program should formulate human resources management practice policy (e.g., career support, training, career development program, and orientation programs) in order to increase their competency. The positive effect of employee competency on career management is because of the effective training and career development program. The positive influence of career management on career commitment is due to the regional government providing an attractive career program, thus, employees' career commitment improved. The positive influence of employee competency on career commitment via career management is implemented by regional government support to improve the career management program.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.2929-2932
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• 2014

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic performances of risk of malignancy index (RMI), CA-125 and ultrasound score in differentiating between benign and borderline or malignant ovarian tumors and find the best diagnostic test for referral of suspected malignant ovarian cases to gynaecologic oncologists. Materials and Methods: This prospective study covered 467 women with pelvic tumors scheduled for surgery at our hospital between July 2011 and July 2013. The RMI was obtained from ultrasound score, CA125 and menopausal status. The diagnostic values of each parameter and the RMI were determined and compared using Statistical Packages for Social Sciences Version 14.0.1. Results: In our study, 61% of ovarian tumors were malignant in the post-menopausal age group. RMI with a cut-off 150 had sensitivity of 84% and specificity of 97% in detecting ovarian cancer. CA-125>30 had a sensitivity of 84% and a specificity of 83%. An ultrasound score more than 2 had a sensitivity of 96% and specificity of 81%. RMI had the least false malignant cases thus avoiding unnecessary laparotomies. Ultrasound when used individually had the best sensitivity but poor specificity. Conclusions: Our study has demonstrated the RMI to be an easy, simple and applicable method in the primary evaluation of patients with pelvic masses. It can be used to refer suspected malignant patients to be operated by a gynaecologic oncologist. Other models of preoperative evaluation should be developed to improve the detection of early stage invasive, borderline and non-epithelial ovarian cancers.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.880-886
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• 2015

Bacterial heme was produced from a genetic-engineered Escherichia coli via the porphyrin pathway and it was useful as an iron resource for animal feed. The amount of the E. coli-synthesized heme, however, was only few milligrams in a culture broth and it was not enough for industrial applications. To analyze heme biosynthetic pathways, an engineered E. coli artificially overexpressing ALA synthase (hemA from Rhodobacter sphaeroides) and pantothenate kinase (coaA gene from self geneome) was constructed as a bacterial heme-producing strain, and both the transcription levels of pathway genes and the intermediates concentrations were determined from batch and continuous cultures. Transcription levels of the pathway genes were not significantly changed among the tested conditions. Intracellular intermediate concentrations indicated that aminolevulinic acid (ALA) and coenzyme A (CoA) were enhanced by the hemA-coaA co-expression. Intracellular coproporphyrinogen I and protoporphyrin IX accumulation suggested that the bottleneck steps in the heme biosynthetic pathway could be the spontaneous conversion of HMB to coproporphyrinogen I and the limited conversion of protoporphyrin IX to heme, respectively. A strategy to increase the conversion of ALA to heme is discussed based on the results.