Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Maturity Models in Information Systems Research: Literature Search and Analysis

This article collects and analyzes seventy-six maturity model articles that have been published in leading Information Systems (IS) journals and conference proceedings during the past fifteen years. We study the IS literature on maturity models from three different perspectives: a research perspective, which is particularly relevant for scholars who are interested in the design and adoption of maturity models; a publication perspective, which reflects the interests of authors and reviewers of maturity model articles; and a practitioner‟s perspective, which is especially relevant for maturity model users and consultants. The results are interesting in several respects. From the research perspective, the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) is the most dominant foundation of past IS research on maturity models. In contrast, theories on the design and adoption of maturity models are distinctly rare in our sample. The publication outlets that are considered feature quantitative and qualitative empirical research alike, but―with a decreasing number―purely conceptual research as well. Of late, past maturity model research can mainly be located in the area of IT and organizations, while the formerly very popular domain of IS development is of less interest today. As for the publication perspective, we find that the level of publication activity in the field has generally been increasing over the last fifteen years, with North American and European researchers dominating the academic discussion. Finally, with regard to the practitioner‟s perspective, we compile advice on the practical application of maturity models from a critical analysis of the literature. It is hoped that the results can stimulate and guide future research in the field and inform the development and usage of theoretically sound maturity models in practice.
On characterizing nonlocality and anisotropy in magnetorotational instability

The extent to which angular momentum transport in accretion discs is primarily local or nonlocal and what determines this is an important avenue of study for understanding accretion engines. Taking a step along this path, we analyse simulations of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) by calculating energy and stress power spectra in stratified isothermal shearing box simulations in several new ways. We divide our boxes in two regions, disc and corona wherethediscistheMRIunstableregionandcoronaisthemagneticallydominatedregion.We calculate the fractional power in different quantities, including magnetic energy and Maxwell stresses and find that they are dominated by contributions from the lowest wave numbers. This is even more dramatic for the corona than the disc, suggesting that transport in the corona regionisdominatedbylargerstructuresthanthedisc.Bycalculatingaveragedpowerspectrain one direction of k space at a time, we also show that the MRI turbulence is strongly anisotropic on large scales when analysed by this method, but isotropic on small scales. Although the shearing box itself is meant to represent a local section of an accretion disc, the fact that the stress and energy are dominated by the largest scales highlights that the locality is not captured within the box. This helps to quantify the intuitive importance of global simulations for addressing the question of locality of transport, for which similar analyses can be performed.
NK cells control breast cancer and related cancer stem cell hematological spread

ABSTRACT The growth and recurrence of a number of cancers is driven by a scarce population of cancer stem cells (CSCs), which are resistant to most current therapies. It has been shown previously that natural killer (NK) cells recognize human glioma, melanoma, colon and prostate CSCs in vitro. We herein show that human and mouse breast CSCs are also susceptible to NK cytotoxic activity in vitro. Moreover, CSC induced autologous NK cell activation and expansion in vivo, which correlate with the inhibition of CSC metastatic spread. These data suggest that NK cells control CSC metastatic spread in vivo and that their use in breast cancer therapy may well be fruitful.
L Left Ventricular Noncompaction in Older Patients

Background: Information on left ventricular noncompaction (LVNC) in older people is sparse. This study aimed to investigate the clinical profile of LVNC in an older cohort. Materials and Methods: Between August 2007 and September 2015, older patients (age Z 60 years) who were diagnosed with LVNC using cardiovascular magnetic resonance were prospectively enrolled at our hospital. Results: A total of 35 patients (male, 80%; mean age, 65 5 years) were prospectively included in this study. LVNC was not detected in 18 patients (51%) at the initial echocardiographic evaluation. Of the 21 patients who received coronary imaging, 8 patients (38%) had coronary artery disease. Left ventricular (LV) dysfunction and dilation were detected in 31 patients (89%) and 30 patients (86%), respectively. Nine patients (26%) died during a follow-up period of 2.9 2.3 years. Cox analysis showed that patients with syncope (hazard ratio [HR] 1⁄4 20.51; 95% CI: 1.70-246.60; P 1⁄4 0.02), increased LV end-diastolic diameter (HR 1⁄4 1.12; 95% CI: 1.01-1.24; P 1⁄4 0.03), decreased LV ejection fraction (HR 1⁄4 0.87; 95% CI: 0.77-0.98; P 1⁄4 0.02) and the presence of late gadolinium enhancement on cardiovascular magnetic resonance (HR 1⁄4 8.9; 95% CI: 1.07-74.08; P 1⁄4 0.04) had a higher risk for death. Conclusions: The diagnosis of LVNC is easily missed at echocardiographic assessment in older patients. Coronary artery disease is a common concomitant disorder in these patients. Older patients with LVNC have a high risk for mortality. Syncope, LV dilation, systolic dysfunction and late gadolinium enhancement are related to adverse outcomes in older patients. Key Indexing Terms: Left ventricular noncompaction; Older patients; Clinical presentation; Prognosis. [Am J Med Sci 2017;354(2):140–144. ]
Dynamic Modeling and Analysis of Constant On Time Variable Frequency One-Cycle Control for Switched-Capacitor Converters

A constant on time variable frequency one-cycle control technique (CVFOCC) for switched-capacitor (SC) converters is presented in this paper. It is designed to accomplish the continuous variable conversion ratio and fast dynamical response to reject the external disturbance. A proper regulation can be obtained by controlling the related “off time” of a transistor with the constant “on time” which is less than the time constant $\tau $ of the charge loop. A unique large-signal dynamic capacitor ampere-second balance (CASB) model for SC converters is applied in this research study. It is implemented to instantaneously estimate transient values of the equivalent circuits. The proposed modeling method and analysis have been verified by comparing the modeling expressions with simulation and experiment results for different input voltages, load currents and switching frequencies. The simulation and experiment results show that the external disturbance of a single-stage SC converter could be immediately rejected by the proposed control method. The good line and load regulation are demonstrated. The proposed control method is stable and global. It can work in a wide operation range with a simple control circuit for general SC converters.
Discriminating DDoS Attacks from Flash Crowds Using Flow Correlation Coefficient

Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack is a critical threat to the Internet, and botnets are usually the engines behind them. Sophisticated botmasters attempt to disable detectors by mimicking the traffic patterns of flash crowds. This poses a critical challenge to those who defend against DDoS attacks. In our deep study of the size and organization of current botnets, we found that the current attack flows are usually more similar to each other compared to the flows of flash crowds. Based on this, we proposed a discrimination algorithm using the flow correlation coefficient as a similarity metric among suspicious flows. We formulated the problem, and presented theoretical proofs for the feasibility of the proposed discrimination method in theory. Our extensive experiments confirmed the theoretical analysis and demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed method in practice.
Behavioral preference in sequential decision‐making and its association with anxiety

In daily life, people often make consecutive decisions before the ultimate goal is reached (i.e., sequential decision‐making). However, this kind of decision‐making has been largely overlooked in the literature. The current study investigated whether behavioral preference would change during sequential decisions, and the neural processes underlying the potential changes. For this purpose, we revised the classic balloon analogue risk task and recorded the electroencephalograph (EEG) signals associated with each step of decision‐making. Independent component analysis performed on EEG data revealed that four EEG components elicited by periodic feedback in the current step predicted participants’ decisions (gamble vs. no gamble) in the next step. In order of time sequence, these components were: bilateral occipital alpha rhythm, bilateral frontal theta rhythm, middle frontal theta rhythm, and bilateral sensorimotor mu rhythm. According to the information flows between these EEG oscillations, we proposed a brain model that describes the temporal dynamics of sequential decision‐making. Finally, we found that the tendency to gamble (as well as the power intensity of bilateral frontal theta rhythms) was sensitive to the individual level of trait anxiety in certain steps, which may help understand the role of emotion in decision‐making.
Impact behaviour of concrete under multiaxial loading

Impact testing of concrete under different types of loading conditions (compression, tension and bending) has been carried out worldwide. However, it has been found that the results are mostly not comparable due to the differences in testing techniques and specimen configurations. In this study, a series of impact tests: compression, 1-dimensional bending (beam tests) and 2-dimensional bending (plate tests) were carried out using the same testing technique (drop weight machine) and similar configuration (hammer weight, height and impact energy). Concrete exhibited more rate sensitivity under 1-D flexure than under compression. However, in 2D flexure, the rate sensitivity of concrete decreased significantly, to a level about the same as that under compression. In addition, the impact behavior of concrete under confining stress was also investigated. The confinement technique adopted here was of the active type using the instrumented confinement apparatus designed and constructed at the University of British Columbia. These experiments were also carried out in compression and flexure ( I D and 2D). In all cases, the measured properties of concrete (failure mode, stress-strain response, strength, inertial load, and rate sensitivity) changed significantly with increasing confining stress. Under confined compression, the failure mode of concrete changed from a shear cone to splitting failure and resulted in higher stress rate sensitivity. However, under confined flexure, the stress rate sensitivity decreased with increasing confinement due to the change of the failure mode from flexure to shear. To complete the confinement study, a further investigation on the effect of the loading platen stiffness (soft or hard) and tup diameter (plate specimens only) was also carried out. Analytically, scalar damage mechanics (SDM) was used to predict the behavior of confined and unconfined concretes under both static and impact loading. The damage measurement technique was selected differently, depending upon the kind of loading (static or impact). Under static loading, the damage was defined in terms of the change or degradation of elastic modulus (E). However, the strain rate variation was used to define
The Role of Instructing Substitution as a Kind of Grammatical Cohesion on Its True Identification and Creation of Modal, Reporting and Conditional Contexts

In an effort with a two-fold research question regarding the role of teaching substitution as a kind of grammatical cohesion on the true identification of confusing substitution elements with cohesive or noncohesive roles in different contexts and also the production of modal, reporting and conditional contexts through clausal substitution acquaintance, the following procedures were taken. First 120 male and female EFL students were selected from Iranshahr Azad University. Having administered the language proficiency test, researchers selected 80 students as intermediate subjects according to their TOEFL band scores. First, pretests of cohesion identification (substitution) and production of modal, reporting and conditional environments were administered to both control and experimental groups. Then, the experimental group was exposed to the teaching of the above-said cohesive device. Finally, post-tests of substitution elements identification and modal, reporting and conditional contexts production through clausal substitution familiarity were administered. The results showed that cohesive device treatment helped students on the true identification of substitution elements. Another finding proved that EFL students may have no difficulty in learning certain rules or classification of rules and application of their clausal substitution knowledge in creating modal, reporting and conditional contexts. Our findings can have implications for the field of language learning and teaching by deepening our understanding of the nature of the cohesive devices used by Iranian intermediate EFL learners in the process of reading comprehension and also applying their knowledge of cohesive devices not only in reading skill but also in speaking and writing skills to have more fluent and accurate speakers, writers and successful readers.
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Status Differentially Associated With Genital and Anal Human Papillomavirus Infection Among Chinese Men Who Have Sex With Men: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Background Little is known about human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and genotypes when considering both anatomic site and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status among men who have sex with men (MSM) in low- and middle-income countries. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among MSM in Beijing, China. HIV serostatus was determined, and genital and anal HPV genotyping were performed from respective swabs. Results Of 1155 MSM, 817 (70.7%) had testing for genital (611; 52.9%) and/or anal (671; 58.1%) HPV. Preference for insertive anal sex (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.60; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.42–4.75) and syphilis (aOR, 1.50; 95% CI, 1.01–2.23) were associated with genital HPV. Inconsistent condom use during receptive anal sex (aOR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.17–2.84), and HIV seropositivity (aOR, 2.90; 95% CI, 1.91–4.42) were associated with anal HPV. Among 465 (40.3%) MSM with specimens from both anatomic sites, anal HPV (68%) was more common than genital HPV (37.8%). Prevalence of anal HPV was higher among HIV-infected than uninfected MSM (P < 0.01). Some oncogenic HPV types were more commonly found at the anal site of HIV-infected MSM (P < 0.01). Conclusions Human papillomavirus is highly prevalent among Chinese MSM. Anal HPV was more common than genital HPV, and HIV seropositivity was associated with oncogenic HPV types at the anal site.
Rare Genetic Variant in SORL1 May Increase Penetrance of Alzheimer’s Disease in a Family with Several Generations of APOE-ɛ4 Homozygosity

Background: The major genetic risk factor for late onset Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the APOE-ɛ4 allele. However, APOE-ɛ4 homozygosity is not fully penetrant, suggesting co-occurrence of additional genetic variants. Objective: To identify genetic factors that, next to APOE-ɛ4 homozygosity, contribute to the development of AD. Methods: We identified a family with nine AD patients spanning four generations, with an inheritance pattern suggestive of autosomal dominant AD, with no variants in PSEN1, PSEN2, or APP. We collected DNA from four affected and seven unaffected family members and performed exome sequencing on DNA from three affected and one unaffected family members. Results: All affected family members were homozygous for the APOE-ɛ4 allele. Statistical analysis revealed that AD onset in this family was significantly earlier than could be expected based on APOE genotype and gender. Next to APOE-ɛ4 homozygosity, we found that all four affected family members carried a rare variant in the VPS10 domain of the SORL1 gene, associated with AβPP processing and AD risk. Furthermore, three of four affected family members carried a rare variant in the TSHZ3 gene, also associated with AβPP processing. Affected family members presented between 61 and 74 years, with variable presence of microbleeds/cerebral amyloid angiopathy and electroencephalographic abnormalities. Conclusion: We hypothesize that next to APOE-ɛ4 homozygosity, impaired SORL1 protein function, and possibly impaired TSHZ3 function, further disturbed Aβ processing. The convergence of these genetic factors over several generations might clarify the increased AD penetrance and the autosomal dominant-like inheritance pattern of AD as observed in this family.
Endoglin: A marker of neoplasias or rather of neo‐angiogenesis?

To the Editor: We read the recent article by Eleno et al entitled ‘‘Endoglin as a marker of cervical paragangliomas. ’’ The authors analyzed and compared the expression of endoglin, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), hypoxia inducible factor (HIF), and of vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) in 5 surgically resected paragangliomas and in specimens of non-neoplastic lung, obtained from 5 patients submitted to pulmonary resection of lung tumors. They found a higher amount of endoglin, HIF-1, and VCAM1, but not of VEGF, in paragangliomas in comparison to lung parenchyma. Finally, they stated that endoglin may have a remarkable diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic relevance in tumor development and malignancy of cervical paragangliomas. In our opinion, it would have been useful to analyze the expression of the above-mentioned factors in lung parenchyma also through immunohistochemistry. Indeed, Western Blot does not allow one to assess the precise location of proteins in the different cell types within a tissue. Moreover, histologic examination of lung parenchyma used for the experiments should have been performed, since non-neoplastic alterations may also modify endoglin expression, as this protein may also be expressed by the vessels of regenerating or inflamed tissues. Besides, the authors themselves think that quantification of protein bands exhibited in immunoblots is limited and can hide some interesting considerations. In addition, we do have some reservation about the potential diagnostic and prognostic usefulness of endoglin in paragangliomas as emerging from this study. Endoglin is a 180KDa protein, which is predominantly expressed on cycling endothelial cells in tissues which undergo active angiogenesis. Its expression has been shown in the vessels of several tumors, such as meningiomas or colorectal carcinomas, and endoglin has been demonstrated as a specific marker for neo-angiogenesis in neoplasias. As such, its immunohistochemical evaluation has been largely used in order to assess the microvessels density (MVD) of tumors, which has been demonstrated to be a prognostic marker related to adverse clinical course in terms of overall and disease-free survival. The existence of neo-angiogenic switch in paragangliomas had been previously hypothesized by other authors; nonetheless, in the assessment of MVD they used CD31, a pan-endothelial marker less specific than endoglin for the evaluation of neo-angiogenesis. Thus, we suggest that endoglin immunoexpression may be used to evaluate MVD in cervical paragangliomas so as to analyze whether tumors characterized by higher counts of vessels stained by anti-endoglin antibody display different biological behavior in terms of recurrences and to investigate its correlations with the expression of proangiogenic factors. Head & Neck 32: 970–971, 2010 Published online 2 June 2010 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/hed.21501
Refusal of recommended travel-related vaccines among U.S. international travellers in Global TravEpiNet

Background: International travellers are at risk of travel-related, vaccine-preventable diseases. More data are needed on the proportion of travellers who refuse vaccines during a pre-travel health consultation and their reasons for refusing vaccines. Methods: We analyzed data on travellers seen for a pre-travel health consultation from July 2012 through June 2014 in the Global TravEpiNet (GTEN) consortium. Providers were required to indicate one of three reasons for a traveller refusing a recommended vaccine: (1) cost concerns, (2) safety concerns or (3) not concerned with the illness. We calculated refusal rates among travellers eligible for each vaccine based on CDC recommendations current at the time of travel. We used multivariable logistic regression models to examine the effect of individual variables on the likelihood of accepting all recommended vaccines. Results: Of 24 478 travellers, 23 768 (97%) were eligible for at least one vaccine. Travellers were most frequently eligible for typhoid (N = 20 092), hepatitis A (N = 12 990) and influenza vaccines (N = 10 539). Of 23 768 eligible travellers, 6573 (25%) refused one or more recommended vaccine(s). Of those eligible, more than one-third refused the following vaccines: meningococcal: 2232 (44%) of 5029; rabies: 1155 (44%) of 2650; Japanese encephalitis: 761 (41%) of 1846; and influenza: 3527 (33%) of 10 539. The most common reason for declining vaccines was that the traveller was not concerned about the illness. In multivariable analysis, travellers visiting friends and relatives (VFR) in low or medium human development countries were less likely to accept all recommended vaccines, compared with non-VFR travellers (OR = 0.74 (0.59–0.95)). Conclusions: Travellers who sought pre-travel health care refused recommended vaccines at varying rates. A lack of concern about the associated illness was the most commonly cited reason for all refused vaccines. Our data suggest more effective education about disease risk is needed for international travellers, even those who seek pre-travel advice.