17 research outputs found
Exploratory Study of the Companies’ Economic Performance Using a Social Customer Relationship Management
No full textAbstractThe epistemological positioning of scientific approach involves the diversity of the viewpoints of academics and specialists, exclusiveness not being considered. This paper aims to reflect own contributions to the development of management theory and management practice in Romania. First of all, the proposed scientific approach is a positivist approach, because it envisages the interposition of own reflections, an observation of what is happening in the market, an authentic presentation as it is. The main objective of this scientific research is to highlight the importance of social media as a mean of business development by creating new opportunities through promotion and a better brand visibility in the market. In the literature we have outlined a number of methods to assess the way in which companies approach the CRM: call method, the interview, the questionnaire, etc. Quantitative investigation of this paper was conducted based on assessment questionnaire, addressed to the employees of some Romanian companies. The qualitative investigation was conducted at the end of the research, based on analysis and structuring the information obtained. In this paper there were analyzed three elements: management position with the implementation of a CRM system; CRM to SCRM transition and the use of the new SM technologies in the implementation of a CRM system; applying of a SCRM system using social media platforms. As a result of the conducted study it was found that the media is one of the main trainers of public opinion, if not the main, controlling the public sphere. It conveys information, but also it controls and steers the public opinion. Thus, SM can form quickly enough media crisis to lower the public favorability for certain companies or politicians. In this way, by resorting to specific Social Media tools, the companies can obtain crucial information for evaluating the consumer satisfaction, information that would be more difficult to obtain traditionally
Effect of deposition time on the properties of Al doped ZnO films prepared by DC magnetron sputtering
No full textDesign and implementation of a simulation tool to study wait times in cataract surgery
No full textEye cataracts are a common problem for senior people. Long wait times for cataract surgery degrade the patients' quality of life. Reduction in long wait times in eye cataract surgery has got importance as one of the five major priority areas in the health care systems in Canada. The main contribution of this thesis is to design and develop a discrete event simulation tool in JAVA to study the wait times (wait time 1 and wait time 2) for patients in cataract surgical procedure. Two cataract surgical procedures are simulated in the simulation tool Northern Health Cataract Surgical Model (NHCS Model) and Cataract Surgery Generic Model (CSG Model). Two alternative patient referral methods (refer patients to the surgeon with the least number of patients and uniform distribution of patients) are proposed and compared to the existing method to examine which method results in reduced wait times. The impacts of changing the resources (surgeon and OR) on wait times were analysed. The Manitoba Cataract Waiting List Program (MCWLP) priority system is simulated and compared to the existing FCFS policy to see whether the scheduling of patients for surgery based on priority improves wait times. Experimental results show that the two proposed methods significantly reduce wait times. It is found that Northern Health would meet the target wait time 2 (16 weeks) if one more OR (total of two ORs) is allocated for cataract surgery. The use of priority scheduling did not show any improvement in wait time 2. Increasing budget or number of resources is not always easy for any health care authority. This thesis suggests that, if Northern Health authority changes the existing patient referral method, it would definitely reduce wait times for patients.The original print copy of this thesis may be available here: http://wizard.unbc.ca/record=b205527
Rights of the Girl Child in India Struggle for Existence and Well-Being
No full textThis book presents the rights of the girl child as unique and her development and well-being as essential for India's development as a nation.Cover -- Contents -- List of Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Chapter 1: Defining Childhood -- Chapter 2 : The Status of the Girl Child -- Chapter 3 : The Girl Child as a Vulnerable Segment in India -- Chapter 4 : Law and Legal Discourses -- Chapter 5 : Cultural Relativism and Violation of Human Rights of Girls and Women -- Conclusion -- References -- About the Author -- IndexThis book presents the rights of the girl child as unique and her development and well-being as essential for India's development as a nation.Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, YYYY. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries
Authorship Attribution in Less-Resourced Languages: A Hybrid Transformer Approach for Romanian
No full textAuthorship attribution for less-resourced languages like Romanian, characterized by the scarcity of large, annotated datasets and the limited number of available NLP tools, poses unique challenges. This study focuses on a hybrid Transformer combining handcrafted linguistic features, ranging from surface indices like word frequencies to syntax, semantics, and discourse markers, with contextualized embeddings from a Romanian BERT encoder. The methodology involves extracting contextualized representations from a pre-trained Romanian BERT model and concatenating them with linguistic features, selected using the Kruskal–Wallis mean rank, to create a hybrid input vector for a classification layer. We compare this approach with a baseline ensemble of seven machine learning classifiers for authorship attribution employing majority soft voting. We conduct studies on both long texts (full texts) and short texts (paragraphs), with 19 authors and a subset of 10. Our hybrid Transformer outperforms existing methods, achieving an F1 score of 0.87 on the full dataset of the 19-author set (an 11% enhancement) and an F1 score of 0.95 on the 10-author subset (an increase of 10% over previous research studies). We conduct linguistic analysis leveraging textual complexity indices and employ McNemar and Cochran’s Q statistical tests to evaluate the performance evolution across the best three models, while highlighting patterns in misclassifications. Our research contributes to diversifying methodologies for effective authorship attribution in resource-constrained linguistic environments. Furthermore, we publicly release the full dataset and the codebase associated with this study to encourage further exploration and development in this field
Synthesis and application of two dimensional non-layered nanomaterials derived from liquid gallium
No full textThe field of two dimensional (2D) materials has received considerable attention and experienced substantial development over the past two decades. Various families of 2D materials have been explored to date leading to ample success in wide range of applications. However, despite many significant advances the synthesis of large area, ultra-thin 2D materials remains a great technological challenge, limiting their commercial application. Additionally, the field of 2D materials is mostly focused on stratified materials with layered crystal structures due to the prevailing synthesis techniques. This leaves many non-layered materials unexplored, which could be suitable candidates in their 2D morphologies for future applications. Recent progress in the field of liquid metal chemistry can offers new avenues of investigation and a range of unexploited possibilities in the domain of 2D materials. Liquid gallium and gallium based alloys feature low melting points that are close to room temperature and undergo Cabrera-Mott oxidation process in air, creating atomically thin 2D metal oxides on the surface. In addition, the developed surface oxides demonstrate minimal adhesion to the parent metal which allows to delaminate these naturally occurring 2D materials with relative ease. Alloying can be used to expand the number of accessible 2D materials, unfolding new opportunities for the synthesis of many previously inaccessible 2D materials. Therefore, this PhD thesis aims to develop 2D metal oxide and further metal compounds that are derived from liquid metal gallium through the harvesting of its interfacial oxide skin. The isolated metal oxides will be then subjected to further chemical conversion to create desired metal compounds in 2D morphology. The synthesized 2D materials will be explored for potential applications in catalysis and different functional devices.The first objective of this thesis was to exfoliate 2D gallium oxide nanoflakes from gallium droplets immersed in aqueous solution. Gallium is a near room temperature liquid metal with extraordinary properties that partly originate from the self-limiting oxide layer formed on its surface. Taking advantage of the surface gallium oxide, this work has introduced a novel technique to synthesize porous gallium oxide (Ga2O3) nanoflakes at high yield by harvesting the native oxide skin of gallium. The synthesis process followed a facile two-step method comprising liquid gallium metal sonication in DI water and subsequent annealing. In order to explore the functionalities of the product, the obtained α-Ga2O3 nanoflakes were used as a photocatalytic material to decompose organic model dyes. Excellent photocatalytic activity was observed under solar light irradiation. To elucidate the origin of these enhanced catalytic properties, the electronic band structure of the synthesized α-Ga2O3 was carefully assessed. It was found that the excellent photocatalytic performance is associated with the presence of trap states which are located at ~1.65 eV below the conduction band minimum. To broaden the versatility of 2D materials for different future "wafer-scale" applications, scalable and low cost synthetic routes must be developed to deposit large-area 2D gallium compounds utilizing liquid gallium as a precursor. In the second part of this thesis, large-area 2D nanosheets piezoelectric material gallium phosphate (GaPO4) was synthesized providing new opportunities for piezosensors and energy harvesting. GaPO4 is an archetypal piezoelectric material which does not naturally crystallize in a stratified structure and hence cannot be exfoliated using conventional methods. Until now, no 2D piezoelectric material has been manufactured in large sheets, making it impossible to integrate these materials into silicon chips or use them in large-scale surface manufacturing. This work reports a low temperature liquid metal based two-dimensional printing and synthesis strategy to achieve this goal. The synthesis process was consist of surface-printing of the interfacial oxide layer of liquid gallium, followed by a vapour phase reaction. The method offers access to large-area, wide band-gap two-dimensional GaPO4 nanosheets of unit-cell thickness, while featuring lateral dimensions reaching centimetres. The unit-cell thick nanosheets presented a large effective out-of-plane piezoelectric coefficient of 7.5±0.8 pm V-1. The printing process developed here was also suitable for the synthesis of free-standing GaPO4 nanosheets. The low temperature synthesis method is compatible with a variety of electronic device fabrication procedures, providing a route for the development of future two-dimensional piezoelectric materials.Following the successful exfoliation of non-layered GaPO4, liquid gallium was further used as a platform to exfoliate centimetre-scale 2D gallium nitride (GaN) nanosheets. Gallium nitride is a semiconductor of great technological importance with excellent electronic and optical properties. The synthesis relied on the ammonolysis of liquid metal derived 2D oxide sheets that were squeeze transferred onto desired substrates. Wurtzite GaN nanosheets featured typical thicknesses of 1.3 nm, an optical band-gap of 3.5 eV and a carrier mobility of 21.5 cm2 V-1s-1. In order to assess the versatility of the synthesis method, an adapted synthesis process utilizing liquid indium instead of liquid gallium was explored to synthesize 2D indium nitride (InN) featuring a thickness of 2.0 nm. The method provides a scalable approach for the integration of 2D morphologies of industrially important semiconductors into emerging electronics and optical devices.Overall, the author of this PhD thesis believes that the outcomes presented herein will contribute to the advancement of nanotechnology through the development of scalable and low cost synthesis paths and will work as a platform for many future investigations into the synthesis and applications of 2D materials
Redrawing Gender Boundaries in Selina Hossain’s River of My Blood
No full textThis study seeks to examine and reinterpret gender roles shown in the book River of My Blood (Hangor Nodi Grenade, titled in Bangla) by Selina Hossain. Hossain's (2016) work is a compelling story that questions conventional standards by emphasizing the changing experiences of its three central female characters, Boori, Nita, and Ramija. These people live in a society allegedly to be puritanical and misogynistic, in which women have little independence. They are faced with thoughtful questions on the political and sexual persecution of women as well as the differences in political processes. The book, set against the backdrop of the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War, offers an authentic and detailed account of a significant historical event. Through the characters in this book, the author, Selina Hossain, demonstrates her skill in examining the issue of identity while questioning stereotypical gender norms. This study examines the book's potential to inspire readers by challenging gender stereotypes and presenting perspectives on identity and social roles. This study employed a qualitative research approach, with thematic analysis being the primary method used for data collection. The study showed how the book challenges gender stereotypes and presents perspectives on identity and social roles
Recommended from our members
Non-polar and complementary resistive switching characteristics in graphene oxide devices with gold nanoparticles : diverse approach for device fabrication
No full textThe author (G. Khurana) acknowledge the financial support from DOD Grant (AFOSR‐FA9550-16-1-0295).Downscaling limitations and limited write/erase cycles in conventional charge-storage based non-volatile memories stimulate the development of emerging memory devices having enhanced performance. Resistive random-access memory (RRAM) devices are recognized as the next-generation memory devices for employment in artificial intelligence and neuromorphic computing, due to their smallest cell size, high write/erase speed and endurance. Unipolar and bipolar resistive switching characteristics in graphene oxide (GO) have been extensively studied in recent years, whereas the study of non-polar and complementary switching is scarce. Here we fabricated GO-based RRAM devices with gold nanoparticles (Au Nps). Diverse types of switching behavior are observed by changing the processing methods and device geometry. Tri-layer GO-based devices illustrated non-polar resistive switching, which is a combination of unipolar and bipolar switching. Five-layer GO-based devices depicted complementary resistive switching having the lowest current values ~12 µA; and this structure is capable of resolving the sneak path issue. Both devices show good retention and endurance performance. Au Nps in tri-layer devices assisted the conducting path, whereas in five-layer devices, Au Nps layer worked as common electrodes between co-joined cells. These GO-based devices with Au Nps comprising different configuration are vital for practical applications of emerging non-volatile resistive memories.Peer reviewe
Mãe e bebê prematuro extremo: possibilidade de vínculo em situação adversa
No full textO presente estudo trata da relação mãe e bebê prematuro, durante o período de internação prolongada em Unidade de Terapia Intensiva Neonatal (UTIN). Para refletir sobre essa questão, foi realizada uma entrevista com a mãe de um bebê prematuro extremo que fez um registro dos momentos de internação hospitalar, usando para isso um scrapbook - palavra inglesa que significa, literalmente, livro
de retalhos e que registra uma história minuciosamente, em páginas personalizadas e com uma grande variedade de materiais. A história vivida por ambos, mãe e bebê, aqui denominados Maria e Mateus, nos permitiu elucidar a importância de o fonoaudiólogo contemplar esse vínculo no setting hospitalar, tendo como referência principal aspectos da teoria winnicottiana. Em especial, foram abordados os conceitos de preocupação materna primária e de holding, primordiais no momento inicial da vida, caracterizado pelo autor como de dependência absoluta. Por fim, foi possível concluir que, mesmo em uma situação tão adversa, como a internação hospitalar prolongada do bebê, a mãe pode sim
desenvolver seu estilo de ser mãe, sendo que cabe a toda equipe de profissionais envolvidos, incluindo o fonoaudiólogo, facilitar a oferta de holding em um
ambiente que é tão diferente da casa, o que certamente favorece o desenvolvimento de crianças saudáveis, em condições de atravessarem as
próximas etapas de amadurecimentoThis study examines the relationship between mothers and premature babies, during prolonged hospitalization in a neonatal intensive therapy unit (NITU). To consider the matter, an interview with the mother of an extreme premature baby was conducted. She recorded the hospitalization period using a scrapbook, i.e., a book through which hospitalization history is recorded in details, using customized pages and a wide variety of materials. The history of both mother and baby, here called Maria and Matheus, allowed us to explain the importance of the consideration by the speech pathologist/audiologist of such relationship in a hospital setting, having as main reference the aspects of the Winnicottian theory.
The study approached particularly the concepts of primary mother concerns and holding, which are fundamental in the first moments of life, defined by the author as absolute dependency. Finally, the study concludes that, even in such an adverse situation as is baby's prolonged hospitalization, the mother is indeed able to develop her own mother style. Therefore, the entire team of professionals involved, including the speech pathologist/audiologist, is responsible for helping increase the offer of holding in an environment different from home; this certainly
supports the development of healthy children, who are able to pass to the next stages of growt
Intraoperative transfusion practices in Europe
No full text© 2016 The Author. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Journal of Anaesthesia.Background: Transfusion of allogeneic blood influences outcome after surgery. Despite widespread availability of transfusion guidelines, transfusion practices might vary among physicians, departments, hospitals and countries. Our aim was to determine the amount of packed red blood cells (pRBC) and blood products transfused intraoperatively, and to describe factors determining transfusion throughout Europe. Methods: We did a prospective observational cohort study enrolling 5803 patients in 126 European centres that received at least one pRBC unit intraoperatively, during a continuous three month period in 2013. Results: The overall intraoperative transfusion rate was 1.8%; 59% of transfusions were at least partially initiated as a result of a physiological transfusion trigger- mostly because of hypotension (55.4%) and/or tachycardia (30.7%). Haemoglobin (Hb)- based transfusion trigger alone initiated only 8.5% of transfusions. The Hb concentration [mean (sd)] just before transfusion was 8.1 (1.7) g dl-1 and increased to 9.8 (1.8) g dl-1 after transfusion. The mean number of intraoperatively transfused pRBC units was 2.5 (2.7) units (median 2). Conclusions: Although European Society of Anaesthesiology transfusion guidelines are moderately implemented in Europe with respect to Hb threshold for transfusion (7-9 g dl-1), there is still an urgent need for further educational efforts that focus on the number of pRBC units to be transfused at this threshold
