Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Trust and Risk in Consumer Acceptance of e-Services: A Meta-Analysis and a Test of Competing Models

Consumer perceptions of risk and their trust beliefs are considered amongst the most important psychological states influencing online behavior. Despite the number of empirical studies that have explored the effects of trust and risk perceptions on consumer acceptance of e-services, the field remains fragmented and the posited research models are contradictory. To address this problem, we examined how trust and risk influence consumer acceptance of e-service through a meta-analysis of 52 studies followed by tests of competing causal models. The findings confirm that trust and risk are important to e-service acceptance but trust has a stronger effect size. We found that certain effect sizes were moderated by such factors as the consumer population under study, the type of e-service, and the object of trust under consideration. The data best supports the causal logic that positions trust as antecedent to risk perceptions. Risk partially mediates the effects of trust on acceptance.
Discovering Emergent Behavior from Network Packet Data

We describe the design of a system called Angle that detects emergent and anomalous behavior in distributed IP packet data. Currently, Angle sensors are collecting IP packet data at four locations, removing identifying information, and building IP-based profiles in temporal windows. These profiles are then clustered to provide high-level summary information across time and across different locations. We associate certain changes in these cluster models with emergent behavior. Emergent clusters identified in this way are then used to score the collected data in near real time. The system has a visual analytics interface that allows different emergent clusters to be visualized, selected, and used for scoring of current or historical data. Each Angle sensor is paired with a node on a distributed computing platform running the Sector middleware. Using Sector, data can be easily transported for analysis or reanalysis.
Streamwise normal Reynolds stress variations of fully developed turbulent pipe flow responds to rough wall disturbances

Fully developed pipe flow is disturbed by rough wall section and measurements are carried out in the downstream of rough wall section. Emphasis is placed on the response of the flow to different types (d- and k-type) of rough wall. Larger turbulent bore of k-type flow is found into still increase while providing longer rough wall section and d-type flow also seemly to increase but comparatively small in magnitude. The response function of flow changes according to rough wall length and internal boundary layer thickness but weakly depends on type of roughness. The edge of internal boundary layer is examined by pointing out the intersection of disturbed and undisturbed of normal Reynolds stress curves. Compare to the other estimation methods of internal boundary layer thickness, thicker and almost same trend of development are found in present method.
Modeling Plasma Virus Concentration and CD 4 + T Cell Kinetics during Primary HIV Infection

During primary HIV infection the viral load in plasma increases, reaches a peak, and then declines. Phillips has suggested that the decline is due to a limitation in the number of cells susceptible to HIV infection, while other authors have suggested that the decline in viremia is due to an immune response. Here we address this issue by developing models of primary HIV-1 infection, which include T cell kinetics, and by comparing predictions from these models with data from nine, anti-retroviral drug-naive infected patients. Applying nonlinear least squares estimation, we find that relatively small variations in parameters are capable of mimicking the highly diverse patterns found in patient viral load data. This approach yields an estimate of two days for the lifespan of productively infected cells during primary infection, a value that is consistent with results obtained by drug perturbation experiments. We find that all patient data sets considered are consistent with a target-cell limited model from the time of initial infection until shortly after the peak in viremia, but some data sets are not consistent after the peak value with the assumptions of such a model. We illustrate that two possible immune response mechanisms, cytotoxic T lymphocyte destruction of infected target cells and cytokine suppression of viral replication, could account for declines in viral load data not predicted by the original target-cell limited model. We conclude that some additional process, perhaps mediated by CD8+ T cells, is important in at least some patients.
A Cross-Cultural Study on the Value Structure of Mobile Internet Usage: Comparison Between Korea and Japan

As the mobile Internet has been used explosively worldwide, the effects of cultural factors on mobile Internet have been an interesting issue. The objectives of this study are to examine the usage patterns of the mobile Internet in different countries and to interpret these differences from a cross-cultural perspective. We propose a value structure in order to investigate the cross-cultural differences in mobile Internet usage. The value structure is an analytic framework that consists of various types of values that the mobile Internet provides. To identify the value structure of the mobile Internet and compare usage patterns, large-scale online surveys were conducted in Korea and Japan simultaneously with the same questionnaire. Results show that value structures of the mobile Internet are significantly different between Korea and Japan, and effects of the values on the degree of satisfaction derived from the mobile Internet vary across the two countries. This paper ends with both theoretical and practical implications and limitations of the study results.
Nematic Liquid Crystals for Active Matrix Displays: Molecular Design and Synthesis.

Substances forming calamitic mesophases have been known for more than 100 years but only the recent, rapid advance in active matrix liquid crystal display (AM-LCD) technology helped these materials to achieve the crucial position in flat panel display technology they hold today. Due to their high contrast, large viewing angle, and rapid switching times, modern AM-LCDs offer a superior picture quality even compared to conventional cathode ray tubes. Their flatness, low weight, and low energy consumption render them the technology of choice for all kinds of portable devices. Some of the future promises of AM-LCD technology are centered around the development of liquid crystalline materials for the different subtypes of active matrix applications. This development is aimed, on the one hand, towards improved electrooptical and viscoelastic properties; on the other hand, the increasing performance of LCDs leads to extremely stringent reliability demands on the liquid crystals. Responding to these high standards of performance and quality, most liquid crystals for contemporary AM-LCD applications are multiply fluorinated compounds with very high purities, as is typical for materials used in the electronics industry. The synthesis of these superfluorinated materials (SFMs) often requires specialized methods, which, in several cases, had to be introduced for the first time into the canon of industrial production. The immense market pressure, as well as the rapid advance of AM-LCD technology on the side of the display manufacturers, urges an increasing pace of the materials development. This demand for new materials can no longer be fulfilled by conventional trial-and-error approaches. As in the pharmaceutical industry, in the search for new, superior liquid crystals, the purely empirical methods are increasingly supported by a rational design based on computational methods.
Prediction of microRNA and gene target from an integrated network in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease based on canonical correlation analysis

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a complex disorder with a high mortality. The pathophysiology of COPD has not been characterized till date. OBJECTIVE: To identify COPD-related biomarkers by a bioinformatics analysis. METHODS: Here, we conducted the canonical correlation analysis to extract the potential COPD-related miRNAs and mRNAs based on the miRNA-mRNA dual expression profiling data. After identifying miRNAs and mRNAs related to COPD, we constructed an interaction network by integrating three validated miRNA-target sources. Then we expanded the network by adding miRNA-mRNA pairs, which were identified by Spearman rank correlation test. For miRNAs involved in the network, we further performed the Gene Ontology (GO) functional enrichment analysis of their targets. To validate COPD-related mRNAs involved in the network, we performed receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classification on only those mRNAs that overlapped with COPD-related mRNAs of Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) database. RESULTS: The results indicate that some identified miRNAs and their targets in the constructed network might be potential biomarkers of COPD. CONCLUSIONS: Our study helps us to predict the potential risk biomarkers of COPD, and it can certainly help in further elucidating the genetic etiology of COPD.
Does the quark-gluon plasma contain stable hadronic bubbles?

We calculate the thermodynamic potential of bubbles of hadrons embedded in quark-gluon plasma, and of droplets of quark-gluon plasma embedded in hadron phase. This is a generalization of our previous results to the case of non-zero chemical potentials. As in the zero chemical potential case, we find that a quark-gluon plasma in thermodynamic equilibrium may contain stable bubbles of hadrons of radius $R \simeq 1$ fm. The calculations are performed within the MIT Bag model, using an improved multiple reflection expansion. The results are of relevance for neutron star phenomenology and for ultrarelativistic heavy ion collisions.
High capacity image steganographic model

Steganography is an ancient art of conveying messages in a secret way that only the receiver knows the existence of a message. So a fundamental requirement for a steganographic method is imperceptibility; this means that the embedded messages should not be discernible to the human eye. There are two other requirements, one is to maximise the embedding capacity, and the other is security. The least-significant bit (LSB) insertion method is the most common and easiest method for embedding messages in an image. However, how to decide on the maximal embedding capacity for each pixel is still an open issue. An image steganographic model is proposed that is based on variable-size LSB insertion to maximise the embedding capacity while maintaining image fidelity. For each pixel of a grey-scale image, at least four bits can be used for message embedding. Three components are provided to achieve the goal. First, according to contrast and luminance characteristics, the capacity evaluation is provided to estimate the maximum embedding capacity of each pixel. Then the minimum-error replacement method is adapted to find a grey scale as close to the original one as possible. Finally, the improved grey-scale compensation, which takes advantage of the peculiarities of the human visual system, is used to eliminate the false contouring effect. Two methods, pixelwise and bitwise, are provided to deal with the security issue when using the proposed model. Experimental results show effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed model.
Rapid diagnosis of sepsis

Fast and appropriate therapy is the cornerstone in the therapy of sepsis. However, the discrimination of sepsis from non-infectious causes of inflammation may be difficult. Biomarkers have been suggested to aid physicians in this decision. There is currently no biochemical technique available which alone allows a rapid and reliable discrimination between sepsis and non-infectious inflammation. Procalcitonin (PCT) is currently the most investigated biomarker for this purpose. C-reactive protein and interleukin 6 perform inferior to PCT in most studies and their value in diagnosing sepsis is not defined. All biomarkers including PCT are also released after various non-infectious inflammatory impacts. This shortcoming needs to be taken into account when biomarkers are used to aid the physician in the diagnosis of sepsis. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based pathogen detection may improve time to adequate therapy but cannot rule out the presence of infection when negative.
Twitter location (sometimes) matters: Exploring the relationship between georeferenced tweet content and nearby feature classes

In this paper, we investigate whether microblogging texts (tweets) produced on mobile devices are related to the geographical locations where they were posted. For this purpose, we correlate tweet topics to areas. In doing so, classified points of interest from OpenStreetMapserve asvalidationpoints. We adopted the classification andgeolocation of these points to correlate with tweet content by means of manual, supervised, and unsuper- vised machine learning approaches. Evaluation showed the manual classification approach to be highest quality, followed by the supervised method, and that the unsupervised clas- sification was of low quality. We found that the degree to which tweet content is related to nearby points of interest depends upon topic (that is, upon the OpenStreetMap category). A more general synthesis with prior research leads to the conclusion that the strength of the relationship of tweets and their geographic origin also depends upon geographic scale (where smaller scale correlations are more significant than those of larger scale).
Hue Histograms to Spatiotemporal Local Features for Action Recognition

Despite the recent developments in spatiotemporal local features for action recognition in video sequences, local color information has so far been ignored. However, color has been proved an important element to the success of automated recognition of objects and scenes. In this paper we extend the space-time interest point descriptor STIP to take into account the color information on the features' neighborhood. We compare the performance of our color-aware version of STIP (which we have called HueSTIP) with the original one.
Trastuzumab and Pertuzumab Produce Changes in Morphology and Estrogen Receptor Signaling in Ovarian Cancer Xenografts Revealing New Treatment Strategies

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the antitumor effects of HER2-directed combination therapy in ovarian cancer xenograft models to evaluate their potential. The combinations of trastuzumab and pertuzumab, and trastuzumab and aromatase inhibitor therapy were investigated. Experimental Design: The effects of trastuzumab, pertuzumab, and letrozole on growth response, apoptosis, morphology, and gene and protein expression were evaluated in the SKOV3 ovarian cancer cell line xenograft and a panel of five human ovarian xenografts derived directly from clinical specimens. Results: The combination of HER2-directed antibodies showed enhanced antitumor activity compared with single antibody therapy in the SKOV3 xenograft model. Apoptosis, morphology, and estrogen-regulated gene expression were modulated by these antibodies in both spatial and temporal manners. A panel of ovarian cancer xenografts showed differential growth responses to the combination of trastuzumab and pertuzumab. High HER2 expression and increasing HER3 protein expression on treatment were associated with growth response. In trastuzumab-treated SKOV3 tumors, there was a change in tumor morphology, with a reduction in frequency of estrogen receptor alpha (ERα)-negative clear cell areas. Trastuzumab, but not pertuzumab, increased expression of ERα in SKOV3 xenografts when analyzed by quantitative immunofluorescence. ERα and downstream signaling targets were modulated by trastuzumab alone and in combination. Trastuzumab enhanced the responsiveness of SKOV3 xenografts to letrozole when given in combination. Conclusions: These data suggest that trastuzumab in combination with pertuzumab could be an effective approach in high HER2-expressing ovarian cancers and could also enhance sensitivity to endocrine therapy in ERα-positive ovarian cancer. Clin Cancer Res; 17(13); 4451–61. ©2011 AACR.
Analysis of maternal serum and urinary lipocalin-2 levels

Objective: Lipocalin-2 is a glicoprotein secreted by leukocytes. It is known that lipocalin-2 levels are affected in maternal blood and urine depending on the endothelial damage induced by preeclampsia, and hyperglycemia created by gestational diabetes. However, there are not sufficient studies investigating the levels in healthy pregnants. In our study, we aimed to determine the changes in lipocalin-2 levels of healthy pregnant women. Methods: This study was carried out as cross-sectional and casecontrolled. Lipocalin-2 levels were determined in blood and urine at first and third trimesters in the same patient group and they were compared. Also, full blood parameters, biochemical and urinary data of the cases were also evaluated. Results: Lipocalin-2 levels decrease at a statistically significant level in both maternal blood and urine at the third trimester (p<0.05). However, no significant change was found in other hematologic, biochemical and urinary parameters (p>0.05). Conclusion: Lipocalin-2 is a new marker used in the early diagnosis of gestational complications such as preeclampsia and gestational diabetes. It is seen that lipocalin-2 levels in healthy pregnant women decrease to lower levels in third trimester compared to first trimester. However, further studies are required with more populations where maternal serum and urine levels are determined longitudinally.
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SCHOOL OF ACCOUNTING, FINANCE AND MANAGEMENT Rationalities, Domination and Accounting Control: A Case Study from a Traditional Society

Previous studies on management control in less developed countries have mainly concentrated on the state and privatised enterprises. on traditional society, and a Weberian framework developed by Colignon and Covaleski (1991), this paper seeks to understand 'private management practices', including accounting, in a stock exchange listed company (public limited company). The case study evidence indicates that organisational controls are biased to serve the dominant owners or family/sponsors of the company instead of general shareholders. The paper argues that family dominance is facilitated by the external and internal layers within which the company is operating. The greater understanding of traditional societies developed in Weber's works (1978) is very useful in explaining why managers work to serve the family. Domination by family via trusted managers using accounting calculations instead of bureaucracy is highly relevant, as the case study shows. These findings are not dissimilar to those of previous studies conducted in privatised and family-owned companies in Bangladesh and elsewhere. The paper calls for more research on management accounting practices employing Weber's works, especially in traditional societies.
Sport sponsorship as distinctive competence

Presents the results of an analysis of 28 national and multi-national Canadian firms that had been involved in sport sponsorships at the national or international levels. Detailed interviews were conducted with senior marketing personnel in each company to determine how sponsorships were created and managed. Suggests that those firms which were successful had, either knowingly or fortuitously, developed their sponsorship into a distinctive competence and made it an intrinsic part of the overall marketing and communications mix. By contrast, those that were unsuccessful entered into sponsorship agreements on a more piecemeal basis with little thought of building a coherent marketing image. Sport sponsorship involves the allocation of scarce resources with the intent of achieving certain organisational objectives (Slack and Bentz, 1996). Consequently, it has frequently been described in the marketing literature as a strategic activity (Carter, 1996; Gilbert, 1988; Otker, 1988). The use of recent developments in the strategic management literature to provide insights that will further our understanding of sport sponsorship, as has been the case in the wider marketing field, therefore appears logical and germane. Unfortunately, this is an avenue of research that has been largely neglected. Although the linkages with strategic management have long been recognised in marketing research (e.g. Biggadike, 1981), similar connections are conspicuously absent in the sponsorship literature. In this paper, we attempt to address this void by extending our previous arguments that sponsorship agreements should be considered as strategic investments (cf. Amis et al., 1997). Specifically, we contend that any firm entering into a sponsorship agreement should treat its sponsorship as a resource which, either singly or in combination with other resources, can be developed into an area of distinctive competence which in turn can assist the firm to a position of sustainable competitive advantage. To this end, the remainder of the paper is divided into six sections. In the first of these we argue that sport sponsorship should be considered a resource which can be the basis of competitive advantage. In the next section we present arguments to suggest that for this advantage to be sustainable, the sponsorship The authors would like to acknowledge the assistance of Sport Canada for funding the research upon which this study is based.
The Discovery of Dabigatran Etexilate

Thromboembolic disease is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in the developed world and is caused by an excessive stimulation of coagulation. Thrombin is a key serine protease in the coagulation cascade and numerous efforts have been made to develop safe and effective orally active direct thrombin inhibitors (DTIs). Current anticoagulant therapy includes the use of indirect thrombin inhibitors (e.g., heparins, low-molecular-weight-heparins) and vitamin K antagonists such as warfarin. However there are several caveats in the clinical use of these agents including narrow therapeutic window, parenteral delivery, and food- and drug–drug interactions. Dabigatran is a synthetic, reversible DTI with high affinity and specificity for its target binding both free and clot-bound thrombin, and offers a favorable pharmacokinetic profile. Large randomized clinical trials have demonstrated that dabigatran provides comparable or superior thromboprophylaxis in multiple thromboembolic disease indications compared to standard of care. This minireview will highlight the discovery and development of dabigatran, the first in a class of new oral anticoagulant agents to be licensed worldwide for the prevention of thromboembolism in the setting of orthopedic surgery and stroke prevent in atrial fibrillation.