Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Depth of anesthesia estimation and control [using auditory evoked potentials]

A fully automated system was developed for the depth of anesthesia estimation and control with the intravenous anesthetic, Propofol. The system determines the anesthesia depth by assessing the characteristics of the mid-latency auditory evoked potentials (MLAEP). The discrete time wavelet transformation was used for compacting the MLAEP which localizes the time and the frequency of the waveform. Feature reduction utilizing step discriminant analysis selected those wavelet coefficients which best distinguish the waveforms of those responders from the nonresponders. A total of four features chosen by such analysis coupled with the Propofol effect-site concentration were used to train a four-layer artificial neural network for classifying between the responders and the nonresponders. The Propofol is delivered by a mechanical syringe infusion pump controlled by Stanpump which also estimates the Propofol effect-site and plasma concentrations using a three-compartment pharmacokinetic model with the Tackley parameter set. In the animal experiments on dogs, the system achieved a 89.2% accuracy rate for classifying anesthesia depth. This result was further improved when running in real-time with a confidence level estimator which evaluates the reliability of each neural network output. The anesthesia level is adjusted by scheduled incrementation and a fuzzy-logic based controller which assesses the mean arterial pressure and/or the heart rate for decrementation as necessary. Various safety mechanisms are implemented to safeguard the patient from erratic controller actions caused by external disturbances. This system completed with a friendly interface has shown satisfactory performance in estimating and controlling the depth of anesthesia.
Competition and Collusion in the Turkish Banking Industry

I consider the Turkish banking industry, which is dominated by a few large banks, and taking up a conjectural variation approach, I estimate a structural model to examine the market conduct of the largest banks for the period 1988-2009. The estimation results suggest that Turkish banks colluded in the loan market during the sample period. This evidence demonstrates that there is a conflict between market concentration and competition in the Turkish banking industry. Thus, in order to protect competition, regulatory agencies should be cautious of efforts that may increase concentration in the banking industry.
Agency Perspectives on Corporate Governance of Multinational Enterprises

This paper argues for a greater focus on an agency theory (AT) perspective in understanding corporate governance in multinational enterprises (MNEs) since, despite recent developments, the traditional internalization theory approach limits our understanding of the behaviour of these firms. We analyse the contribution of an AT perspective to understanding various aspects of corporate governance in MNEs: internationalization, international joint ventures (IJVs), headquarters–subsidiary relationships, and new forms of global business groups. From this analysis, we suggest that even with the emerging AT literature's focus on the role of ownership as a key governance factor, there is substantial need for research on several key corporate governance mechanisms; namely, the role and nature of dominant owners, the composition of boards of directors, the separation of CEOs and board chairs, executive remuneration, and the role of the market for corporate control. There is scope to examine further the implications of different institutional environments for AT perspectives on the behaviour of MNEs.
Buruli ulcer in West Africa: strategies for early detection and treatment in the antibiotic era.

OBJECTIVE Buruli ulcer (BU), caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans infection, has become one of the most rapidly emerging diseases in West Africa in recent decades. Until recently, the definitive treatment involved wide surgical excision. Recent data suggest that antibiotic therapy with rifampin and streptomycin may reduce the extent or prevent excision when initiated during the early phases of the disease. New strategies for BU control are needed, emphasizing early detection and increasing public awareness about the disease and treatment. Here we review current knowledge about BU and examine clinical, public health and anthropological research in the context of this new treatment paradigm to identify potential strategies for more effective control of this disease. METHODS A comprehensive literature search for articles in English or French using the Medline and INIST databases, World Health Organization publications, and bibliographical references was undertaken using key words Buruli ulcer. Mycobacterium ulcerans, community surveillance, and public health. CONCLUSION Studies to identify factors contributing to delayed presentation indicate that awareness of the disease is generally good in endemic regions, but wide variation exists in perceived cause of the disease, and the role of sorcery in its transmission and treatment. The use of traditional healers as first line therapy also contributes to delayed treatment, as do lack of awareness about the availability of effective treatment and financial concerns. Epidemiological data from existing BU control programs indicate that active public awareness campaigns are succcessful in increasing understanding and decreasing treatment delay and disease progression. Community-based surveillance and health education modeled after the village health worker programs used in the eradication of Guinea worm may be successfully applied in BU endemic areas.
Marketing and Professional Services: the Case of Consultancy Engineering

Professional services suffer from a dearth of literature on marketing, especially in New Zealand. Like other professioal services, consulting engineers have expressed particular concern on how to adapt to the present competitive environment. A survey of New Zealand consulting engineers indicated that the use of marketing techniques within consulting engineering practices is uncoordinated in nature and there is disagreement as to the most efective method of attracting clientele. The lack of coordination of marketing techniques is best illustrated by the majority of consulting engineering practices competing on price, while actually perceiving service quality as the most important method for success. Within consulting engineering practices, marketing is becoming a legitimate management function. However, evidence can be seen to illustrate that the ‘trappings' of marketing prevail rather than the ‘substance’ which is needed to have the customer-driven orientation fundamental to the implementation of the mark.
Systems thinking for call centre service design: affective commitment implications in manufacturing enterprises

This paper explains the leveraging of affective commitment among call centre front-line employees through the improvement of service operations design in a manufacturing enterprise through systems thinking approach. A case study was carried out using face-to-face interviews, structured questionnaires, and observation methods to collect data at managerial and operative front-line levels. The case study finds a strong relationship between the level of affective commitment among front-line employees and the form of service operations system. The study has many implications for the manufacturing enterprises embracing a call centre to improve productivity and working experience. A higher level of affective commitment is likely to mitigate turnover and absenteeism in these service departments.
A Study on Factors Increase Utilization of Quantitative Analysis Tool in Decision Making

In today’s business world, making business decisions is extremely complicated. Managers who have a full range of tools that assist in decision-making have the opportunity to lead their organization to a competitive advantage. The Quantitative Analysis Tool (QAT) is one such tool that managers can utilize in their decision-making. Interestingly, the QAT is dimming in popularity as seen in the decreasing emphasis on the QAT in the business and management curriculum in universities and lower application in the workplace. This study is aimed at studying the benefit of QAT to hopefully increase the utilization of this useful tool in organizational decision-making.Technology Acceptance Model, Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology, and Theory of Planned Behaviour have shown that there is a relationship between (1) performance expectations and (2) self-efficacy and behavioural intention to use. Studies have found that there is a relationship between facilitating conditions and actual usage of QAT but no relationship between behavioural intention to use and actual usage of QAT. Findings in this study will definitely benefit managers who want to apply QAT to help manage their organizations.
Mutation in the Glycosylated Gag Protein of Murine Leukemia Virus Results in Reduced In Vivo Infectivity and a Novel Defect in Viral Budding or Release

ABSTRACT All gammaretroviruses, including murine leukemia viruses (MuLVs), feline leukemia viruses, and gibbon-ape leukemia virus, encode an alternate, glycosylated form of Gag polyprotein (glyco-Gag or gPr80gag) in addition to the polyprotein precursor of the viral capsid proteins (Pr65gag). gPr80gag is translated from an upstream in-frame CUG initiation codon, in contrast to the AUG codon used for Pr65gag. The role of glyco-Gag in MuLV replication has been unclear, since gPr80gag-negative Moloney MuLV (M-MuLV) mutants are replication competent in vitro and pathogenic in vivo. However, reversion to the wild type is frequently observed in vivo. In these experiments, in vivo inoculation of a gPr80gag mutant, Ab-X-M-MuLV, showed substantially lower (2 log) initial infectivity in newborn NIH Swiss mice than that of wild-type virus, and revertants to the wild type could be detected by PCR cloning and DNA sequencing as early as 15 days postinfection. Atomic force microscopy of Ab-X-M-MuLV-infected producer cells or of the PA317 amphotropic MuLV-based vector packaging line (also gPr80gag negative) revealed the presence of tube-like viral structures on the cell surface. In contrast, wild-type virus-infected cells showed the typical spherical, 145-nm particles observed previously. Expression of gPr80gag in PA317 cells converted the tube-like structures to typical spherical particles. PA317 cells expressing gPr80gag produced 5- to 10-fold more infectious vector or viral particles as well. Metabolic labeling studies indicated that this reflected enhanced virus particle release rather than increased viral protein synthesis. These results indicate that gPr80gag is important for M-MuLV replication in vivo and in vitro and that the protein may be involved in a late step in viral budding or release.
Educational policy in a time of transition: the case of Hong Kong

ABSTRACT The impending change of sovereignty is the latest, if probably the most momentous, of several transitions which have affected Hong Kong in the period following the end of the Second World War. Economic and social, as well as political, transitions have ensured the virtual transformation of Hong Kong from a colonial backwater to one of the world's great financial and trading centres in little over 50 years. Each of these focuses of change may be viewed in three, more or less coinciding, phases. Each had and has repercussions for educational practice and policy in the territory. This article seeks to investigate these repercussions first through a detection of general trends and then via a more detailed examination of four case studies of educational policy‐making process and product. It observes that educational change in Hong Kong tended to take place only after a time‐lag and that, partly because of the small size of Hong Kong and partly because of its cosmopolitan nature, they were frequently i.
Self-Insurance, Self-Protection and Increased Risk Aversion: An Intertemporal Reinvestigation

This paper studies the effect of increased risk aversion on self-insurance and self-protection in a two-period framework. Here risk management incentives and consumption smoothing incentives are traded off, and the monotonic relationship between self-insurance and risk aversion may no longer hold as more risk-averse agents cannot always afford spending more on self-insurance. A very similar relationship holds for self-protection making self-insurance and self-protection much more alike in a two-period model. We also extend the model to a joint analysis of self-insurance/self-protection and saving decisions.
CtsR, a novel regulator of stress and heat shock response, controls clp and molecular chaperone gene expression in Gram‐positive bacteria

clpP and clpC of Bacillus subtilis encode subunits of the Clp ATP‐dependent protease and are required for stress survival, including growth at high temperature. They play essential roles in stationary phase adaptive responses such as the competence and sporulation developmental pathways, and belong to the so‐called class III group of heat shock genes, whose mode of regulation is unknown and whose expression is induced by heat shock or general stress conditions. The product of ctsR, the first gene of the clpC operon, has now been shown to act as a repressor of both clpP and clpC, as well as clpE, which encodes a novel member of the Hsp100 Clp ATPase family. The CtsR protein was purified and shown to bind specifically to the promoter regions of all three clp genes. Random mutagenesis, DNaseI footprinting and DNA sequence deletions and comparisons were used to define a consensus CtsR recognition sequence as a directly repeated heptad upstream from the three clp genes. This target sequence was also found upstream from clp and other heat shock genes of several Gram‐positive bacteria, including Listeria monocytogenes, Streptococcus salivarius, S. pneumoniae, S. pyogenes, S. thermophilus, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, Leuconostoc oenos, Lactobacillus sake, Lactococcus lactis and Clostridium acetobutylicum. CtsR homologues were also identified in several of these bacteria, indicating that heat shock regulation by CtsR is highly conserved in Gram‐positive bacteria.
The economic impact of electricity conservation policies: A case study of Ireland

As electricity is an essential input in almost every production process, it is essential to quantify the impact of economic policies aimed at electricity conservation on the output. This research investigates the e®ect of unanticipated shocks in electricity consumption, technical e±ciency, and electricity price on the value added in the heterogenous service and industrial sectors, under a demand side model. Ireland is utilized as a case study as it is pursuing ambitious electricity conservation targets while in the midst of a severe economic recession. Given the important role of electricity as an input in both the services and industrial sectors, it was feared that these energy conservation targets may adversely impact on these sectors and as a result worsen the national economic situation. Findings show that value added, electricity consumption, electricity price and technical e±ciency are co-integrated for both the service and industrial sectors. However, impulse response functions show that positive technical e±ciency and consumption shocks have persistent negative e®ects on the value added of both sectors. Therefore, a direct electricity conservation policy, that puts a constraint on electricity consumption, should not have an adverse e®ect on sector speci¯c value added.
Geospatial and Temporal Patterns of Preparatory Conduct among American Terrorists

Although terrorism research has made significant strides during the past five years, even the most rudimentary patterns of terrorists’ behaviors remain unknown to scholars and analysts. In the current study, we analyze spatial and temporal patterns of criminal acts related to a variety of American terrorism cases and attempt to provide insight into these questions: 1) where do terrorists live in relation to the targets they select, 2) do they plan and prepare their acts of terrorism relatively close to the target or do they intentionally conduct these activities far from the target, 3) what types of preparatory activities do the terrorists usually commit, and 4) how long is this planning process and does it vary by group type? Results from this study allow us to draw the following conclusions. First, about one‐half of terrorists both reside and prepare for their terrorist incidents within a thirty‐mile radius of their residences, although the radius of activity shows significant variation based on group type. Second, the temporal dimensions of terrorist activity reveal that terrorist planning and preparation is more complex than originally anticipated. Finally, while the interaction between time and space has not been addressed, our initial impressions of our temporal and spatial data suggest a scenario much like a predator closing in on a prey—as the planned incident draws nearer temporally, the spatial events also draw nearer to the target location. What our initial data have not revealed is whether these events are temporally and spatially sequenced in such a way that they can be of predictive value. Our study suggests the importance of further research in specific areas, including the identification of the prevalent types of preparatory and ancillary crimes terrorists commit in preparation for a terrorist incident, the identification of patterns of preparatory criminal activity that might either alert law enforcement officials to the existence of terrorist group activities or identify characteristic preparatory offenses, temporal sequencing of preparatory acts in relation to completed acts of terrorism, and geographic patterns to assist in threat assessment.
The Critical Incident Technique: 40 Years Later

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the publication of John Flanagan's paper entitled “The Critical Incident Technique” in Psychological Bulletin. In the years since its publication, much has happened in the field of human factors. The critical incident technique is still a common tool among human factors practitioners, though it has often been modified. With a new generation of practitioners in training, it is important to consider what they are learning about this tool. A survey conducted with future human factors professionals highlights some misconceptions concerning the critical incident technique. These misconceptions seem to originate from two sources: the treatment of the technique in human factors textbooks and handbooks, and the use of the technique in current research and application work. Some modern variations of the critical incident technique are discussed. The critical incident technique is viewed as an instance in which human factors specialists are shaping their tools to meet their needs. A set of principles is proposed to guide today's human factors practitioners in conducting cognitively oriented field research
Identificação e análise espacial das aglomerações produtivas do setor de confecções na região Sul

The aim of this paper is to identify and analyze the evolution of productive agglomerations in the Southern Brazil's clothing sector. Two factors underpin the methodological procedure: geographic proximity and sectoral concentration, combined by spatial concentration analysis. The first one by Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis, and the second by constructing the normalized Concentration Index. The results show: positive spillover of the agglomerations beyond municipal and even state boundaries; remarkable progress for the State of Parana, as much in spillover as in concentration; stability in spillover to the clusters' municipalities, but with strong concentration, in the state of Santa Catarina.
An examination on the sustainable competitive advantage of private finance initiative projects

The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) is a long‐term concession of services used by the UK Government to capture private capital to fund public projects. This model is being increasingly applied in Portugal and the assessment of its competitive advantage is very important to Portugal. The empiric study undertaken both in Portugal and the UK has permitted some conclusions to be drawn already. PFI has developed the way the construction industry is managed, and has increased the competitive advantage of UK construction industry acting in the four vectors of competitive advantage: innovation, quality, efficiency and attention to the client. Innovation occurred through new designs that were more efficient and cost effective through the project’s whole life cycle. There is the widespread use of management tools: whole life cycle costing, risk management and benchmarking. PFI also improved communication in the UK construction industry, forcing interaction and feedback from all stakeholders in a project.
Psychological influences on customer willingness to pay and choice in automated retail settings: Context effects, attribute framing, and perceptions of fairness

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of price attribute framing and factors such as urgency and perceived price fairness on customer willingness to pay (WTP) in automated retail settings. Design/methodology/approach - – The authors conducted two sets of quasi-experimental scenarios surrounding vending-machine purchase decisions. The first set was analyzed with MANOVA, the second set with choice-based conjoint (CBC) analysis. Findings - – When prices are framed positively (as a discount), customer WTP is higher at high published price levels than it is for unframed or negatively framed prices. The effect on WTP holds whether the reference price range is broad (few large increments) or narrow (numerous small increments). In the CBC scenarios, immediate availability of the product was most influential on choice, followed by price and brand effects. These findings held under conditions invoking both urgency and price fairness. Providing an explanation for higher prices increases perceived price fairness. Research limitations/implications - – Further study might assess the presence or absence of interaction effects in the conjoint scenarios. Practical implications - – Managers should consider transparency in dynamic pricing, particularly when the price change is outside the control of the firm. The conjoint scenario results also offer evidence that dynamic pricing will not impact other marketing-mix decisions for fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) dramatically (availability at point of purchase and presence in the consumer consideration set remain strong influences on choice). Social implications - – Understanding these effects on WTP could help managers manage perceptions of unfairness and optimize WTP. Originality/value - – A theoretical contribution from this study is that the immediate loss/gain consideration under theories of decision making under uncertainty outweigh considerations such as scarcity urgency or perceived unfairness. Use of conjoint analysis in WTP research, study of dynamic pricing in FMCG setting.
A Cultural Explanation of the Foreign Bias in International Asset Allocation

This paper examines the foreign bias in international asset allocation. Following extant literature in behavioral finance, we argue that a society's culture and the cultural distance between two markets play an important role in explaining the foreign bias. In particular, we hypothesize that the degree of a nation's uncertainty avoidance affects the foreign bias (more uncertainty-avoiding countries allocate less to foreign markets), as does the degree of a country's individualism (in individualistic countries performance is more directly attributed to a person and less to teams, causing these individuals to be more aggressive in their foreign asset allocations). We further expect that the degree of cultural distance between two countries affects the amount of money allocated to that market. Based on extensive robustness analyses, we find support for our hypotheses on the role of culture in international asset allocation.