Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Asymmetric Benefits of Relational Flexibility: Evidence from Software Development Outsourcing

In this paper, the interacting effect of formal contracts and relational governance on vendor profitability and quality in the software outsourcing industry are examined. We focus on a critical manifestation of relational governance--the presence of relational flexibility in the exchange relationship--and argue that the enacted observation of relational flexibility is driven by perceptions of exchange hazards. In a departure from extant literature, however, we propose that the benefits accruing from it are asymmetric and depend on how the exchange risks are apportioned by the formal contract. Formally, we hypothesize that relational flexibility provides greater benefits to an exchange partner that faces the greater proportion of risk in a project, induced through the contract. In addition, we hypothesize that these benefits manifest on the performance dimensions that are of importance to the risk-exposed partner. We test our hypotheses on 105 software projects completed by a software outsourcing vendor for multiple clients. The results show that relational flexibility positively affects profitability in only fixed price contracts, where the vendor faces greater risk, while positively affecting quality only in time and materials contracts, where the client is at greater risk. We thus provide evidence for the asymmetric benefits from relational governance, thereby arguing for a more contingent and limited view of the value of relational governance, based on risk-exposure, rather than the more expansive view prevalent in the literature contending that relational governance provides benefits for all parties to an exchange. We conclude with a discussion of the research and managerial implications of our findings.
A probability model for predicting BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations in breast and breast-ovarian cancer families

Germline mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes predispose to hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. Our aim was to find associations between the clinical characteristics and positive mutation status in 148 breast cancer families in order to predict the probability of finding a BRCA mutation in a family. Several factors were associated with mutations in univariate analysis, whereas in multivariate analysis (logistic regression with backward selection) only the age of the youngest breast cancer patient and the number of ovarian cancer cases in a family were independent predictors of BRCA mutations. A logistic model was devised to estimate the probability for a family of harbouring a mutation in either BRCA1 or BRCA2. Altogether, 63 out of 148 families (43%) and 28 out of 29 (97%) mutation carrier families obtained probabilities over 10%. The mean probability was 55% for mutation-positive families and 11% for mutation-negative families. The models by Couch et al (1997) and Shattuck-Eidens et al (1997) previously designed for BRCA1 were also tested for their applicability to distinguish carrier families with mutations in either gene. The probability model should be a useful tool in genetic counselling and focusing the mutation analyses, and thus increasing also the cost-effectiveness of the genetic screening. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign
SBS 1150+599A: An extremely oxygen-poor planetary nebula in the Galactic halo?

We report results of a spectrophotometric study of SBS 1150+599A and discuss the nature of this object based upon our data. Our study shows that SBS 1150+599A is most probably a planetary nebula located in the Galactic halo and not a cataclysmic variable as originally proposed by the authors of the Second Byurakan Survey from low resolution spectroscopy. We have further elaborated on the properties of SBS 1150+599A (now becoming PN G135.9+55.9) with tools used for planetary nebula analysis. Our photoionization models show that, in order to match the observational constraints, the oxygen abundance in the nebula is probably extremely low, around 1/500 solar, which is one order of magnitude lower than the most oxygen-poor planetary nebulae known so far. This nding has strong implications on our understanding of the formation of planetary nebulae and of the evolution of the Galactic halo.
Resources, attractiveness, family commitment; reproductive decisions in human mate choice.

This study of reproductive decisions in human mate selection used data from "lonely hearts" advertisements to examine a series of predictions based on the mate preferences of male and females relating to age; physical appearance; financial condition and socioeconomic status; family commitment and personal traits; short- and long-term mating; and marital status and preexisting children. The sample consisted of 1000 personal advertisements (500 male) placed in two daily, national papers between February and October 1994 in Hungary. The research procedure included a pilot study of 150 advertisers (75 male) to refine the categories examined. Analysis was performed using 1) a matrix with one axis referring to offers and the other to demands of males and females separately; 2) a matrix of offers only to derive correlated traits of claims by males and females; and 3) a matrix with columns describing sex, offers, demands, advertiser's age, and required age and a row for each of the 1000 samples. It was found that men preferred younger mates, while women preferred older ones. Men were more likely to seek physical attractiveness, while women were more likely to seek financial resources (ranked 7th) and high status (ranked 6th). Women strongly preferred male domestic virtue and family commitment, and twice as many women as men demanded long-term relationships. Women more frequently declared preexisting children, and men exhibited a reluctance to accept these children. Both males and females employed "trade-off" strategies, making greater demands if they felt they had attractive offers.
Injective Hilbert Space Embeddings of Probability Measures

A Hilbert space embedding for probability measures has recently been proposed, with applications including dimensionality reduction, homogeneity testing and independence testing. This embedding represents any probability measure as a mean element in a reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS). The embedding function has been proven to be in-jective when the reproducing kernel is universal. In this case, the embedding induces a metric on the space of probability distributions defined on compact metric spaces. In the present work, we consider more broadly the problem of specifying characteristic kernels, defined as kernels for which the RKHS embedding of probability measures is injective. In particular, characteristic kernels can include non-universal kernels. We restrict ourselves to translation-invariant kernels on Euclidean space, and define the associated metric on probability measures in terms of the Fourier spectrum of the kernel and characteristic functions of these measures. The support of the kernel spectrum is important in finding whether a kernel is characteristic: in particular, the embedding is injective if and only if the kernel spectrum has the entire domain as its support. Characteristic kernels may nonetheless have difficulty in distinguishing certain distributions on the basis of finite samples, again due to the interaction of the kernel spectrum and the characteristic functions of the measures.
Endovascular Treatment of Thoracic Aortic Disease: Four Years of Experience

Background—The aim of this retrospective study is to investigate efficacy and middle-term results of the stent graft treatment for diseases of descending thoracic aorta. Methods and Results—From March 1999 to October 2003, 132 patients (113 male and 19 female, mean age 62±14 years) were enrolled. They were divided into 4 groups: aneurysms (43, group A), post-traumatic lesions (24, group B), and complicated type B dissections (43, group C). Twenty-two further patients, with chronic type B dissection and not suitable for endovascular or surgical or hybrid techniques because of multiple entry tears without difference between the true and false lumen and poor clinical conditions, were obliged to receive medical management only (group D). All patients underwent computed tomography (CT) scan and angiography as preoperative assessment. An optimal deployment with exclusion of the aneurysm and/or closure of the entry tear in dissection was achieved in 96.4% (106/110) of the patients that were discharged in good conditions within 6 days. No spinal cord injuries were observed. The follow-up (average 20.82±10.01 months, range 1 to 55 months), performed with serial chest CT scans, was 100% complete. No stent graft-related complications were detected, although only in 1 case, an asymptomatic rupture of the Excluder connecting bar was found with a perforation of the fabric and an intra-aortic exposition of the bar itself. In 2 patients with chronic dissection an asymptomatic type II endoleak was detected. A total of 4 hospital deaths resulted in an overall operative mortality of 3.9%. Seven patients (6.3%) died during the follow-up 5 of them for other diseases (4.5%). However, a 40.9% mortality was observed within the obliged medical treatment group. Conclusions—Endovascular treatment of thoracic aortic diseases, even in the acute phase, may represent a valid option with a low mortality rate. Moreover, the efficacy is proved in the middle-term whereas the long-term follow-up is still pending.
Smoking, a weak predictor of periodontitis in older adults.

BACKGROUND The impact of smoking habits on periodontal conditions in older subjects is poorly studied. AIMS To assess if a history of smoking is associated with chronic periodontitis and medical history in older subjects. MATERIAL AND METHODS The medical and dental history was collected from 1084 subjects 60-75 years of age. Smoking history information was obtained from self-reports. Periodontal variables [clinical probing depth (PD)>/=5.0 mm, clinical attachment levels (CALs) >/=4.0 mm], and radiographic evidence of alveolar bone loss were assessed. RESULTS 60.5% had never smoked (NS), 32.0% were former smokers (FS) (mean smoke years: 26.1 years, SD+/-13.1), and 7.5% were current smokers (CS) (mean smoke years 38.0 years, (SD+/-12.1). The proportional distribution of CAL >/=4.0 mm differed significantly by smoking status (NS and CS groups) (mean difference: 12.1%, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.5-22.6, p<0.02). The Mantel-Haenszel common odds ratio between smoking status (CS+FS) and periodontitis (>20% bone loss) was 1.3 (p<0.09, 95% CI: 0.9-2.0) and changed to 1.8 (p<0.02, 95% CI: 1.3-2.7) with 30 years of smoking as cutoff. A weak correlation between number of years of smoking and CAL>/=4.0 mm was demonstrated (r(2) values 0.05 and 0.07) for FS and CS, respectively. Binary logistic forward (Wald) regression analysis demonstrated that the evidence of carotid calcification, current smoking status, gender (male), and the number of remaining teeth were explanatory to alveolar bone loss. CONCLUSIONS A clinically significant impact on periodontal conditions may require 30 years of smoking or more. Tooth loss, radiographic evidence of carotid calcification, current smoking status, and male gender can predictably be associated with alveolar bone loss in older subjects.
Parental Exposure of Children to New Experiences and Learning Outcome: A Perspective of Home Factor in Productive Child Education

Survey data collected from 1000 primary school children in Calabar metropolis, Nigeria were analysed to determine the extent of parental exposure of children to new experiences and its influence on their learning outcome. One research question and one hypothesis were formulated to guide the study. The instrument for data collection was captioned Pupils Opinion and Achievement Test Questionnaire (POATQ). Descriptive statistics was used in answering the research question while the independent t-test was used in testing the hypothesis at 0.05 alpha level. The result showed low parental exposure of children to new experiences. The result also revealed that there is a significant influence of parental exposure of children to new experiences on their learning outcomes. Based on the findings it is recommended that for productive learning outcome, parents are encouraged to fully be involved in every aspect of the child’s education for all round development of the child.
Specific involvement of neurotensin type 1 receptor in the neurotensin‐mediated in vivo dopamine efflux using knock‐out mice

Neurotensin is a tridecapeptide neurotransmitter known to be involved in psychiatric disorders, various physiological processes and several different neurobiological mechanisms, including modulation of accumbal dopamine release. Two neurotensin extracellular binding sites, namely NT1‐ and NT2‐receptor (NT1R and NT2R), have been cloned from the rat brain. These receptors are distinguishable by their different in vitro pharmacological properties but the available pharmacological tools have weak in vivo potency and specificity. The use of genetically engineered knock‐out mice has provided a powerful alternative to the classical pharmacological approach to investigate their respective roles. In this study, using in vivo differential pulse amperometry, we show that, in wild‐type mice, neurotensin application into the ventral tegmental area dose‐dependently evokes dopamine efflux in the nucleus accumbens. This neurotensin‐mediated efflux is dramatically decreased in mice lacking NT1R while it is unaffected in NT2R‐deleted mice. This finding indicates that a large part of the dopamine efflux evoked by neurotensin in the nucleus accumbens of wild‐type mice is mediated via NT1R present in the ventral tegmental area.
The Effect of Interaction Force Estimation on Performance in Bilateral Teleoperation

Measuring interaction forces in bilateral teleoperation systems may be difficult, due to size and cost restrictions on the force sensors. Obtaining the interaction forces by estimation can be a viable alternative. The primary contribution of this paper is the study of the effect of interaction force estimation on performance in bilateral teleoperation. A distinction is made between the obvious effect as a result of inaccurate estimation, and the less obvious effect as a result of the inherent theoretical properties of a system that has two points of interaction with its surroundings (a teleoperator) as opposed to one point of interaction (single robot). Specifically, the existence of a singularity property is pointed out, at which interaction force estimation is impossible, and close to which it may be infeasible. The secondary contribution of the paper is the Force Sensor Free (FSF) transformation for linear teleoperation systems, which is an automated procedure that turns a teleoperation controller with force sensing into an equivalent controller with force estimation. An experiment is reported whose objective is to validate the operation of the FSF transformation on a real teleoperator.
Comparative Population Plasma and Tissue Pharmacokinetics of Micafungin in Critically Ill Patients with Severe Burn Injuries and Patients with Complicated Intra-Abdominal Infection

ABSTRACT Severely burned patients have altered drug pharmacokinetics (PKs), but it is unclear how different they are from those in other critically ill patient groups. The aim of the present study was to compare the population pharmacokinetics of micafungin in the plasma and burn eschar of severely burned patients with those of micafungin in the plasma and peritoneal fluid of postsurgical critically ill patients with intra-abdominal infection. Fifteen burn patients were compared with 10 patients with intra-abdominal infection; all patients were treated with 100 to 150 mg/day of micafungin. Micafungin concentrations in serial blood, peritoneal fluid, and burn tissue samples were determined and were subjected to a population pharmacokinetic analysis. The probability of target attainment was calculated using area under the concentration-time curve from 0 to 24 h/MIC cutoffs of 285 for Candida parapsilosis and 3,000 for non-parapsilosis Candida spp. by Monte Carlo simulations. Twenty-five patients (18 males; median age, 50 years; age range, 38 to 67 years; median total body surface area burned, 50%; range of total body surface area burned, 35 to 65%) were included. A three-compartment model described the data, and only the rate constant for the drug distribution from the tissue fluid to the central compartment was statistically significantly different between the burn and intra-abdominal infection patients (0.47 ± 0.47 versus 0.15 ± 0.06 h−1, respectively; P < 0.05). Most patients would achieve plasma PK/pharmacodynamic (PD) targets of 90% for non-parapsilosis Candida spp. and C. parapsilosis with MICs of 0.008 and 0.064 mg/liter, respectively, for doses of 100 mg daily and 150 mg daily. The PKs of micafungin were not significantly different between burn patients and intra-abdominal infection patients. After the first dose, micafungin at 100 mg/day achieved the PK/PD targets in plasma for MIC values of ≤0.008 mg/liter and ≤0.064 mg/liter for non-parapsilosis Candida spp. and Candida parapsilosis species, respectively.
Voting Advice Applications : Self-Persuasion Online

With the advent of the digital age that marks the beginning of the 21st century, disruptive, Internet-based technologies have started to spread across the globe. Be it in the field of information gathering, housing, transportation, communication, social connecting – the world the way a modern smart-phone holder sees it has drastically changed. One of characteristics common to these disruptive technologies is their ability to better match the individual preferences of users with an increasingly specialized and refined offer. Users have personalized profiles and act upon tailor-made proposals for maximizing their personal preferences.
A comparison of behavioral and anatomical measures of hydroxyurea induced abnormalities.

Hydroxyurea, a drug which has antimitotic effects was administered once (150 mg/kg) to pregnant dams on the sixth, ninth, twelfth, fifteenth and eighteenth day of gestation. Litters of these dams plus control subjects were tested behaviorally from two days of age until sacrificed at 21 days of age. The following tests were conducted: (i) surface righting, (ii) mid-air righting, (iii) cliff avoidance, (iv) swimming development, (v) pivoting and (vi) startle. In righting, cliff and startle a litter was tested until all members displayed a criterion response and that age provided the score for statistical analysis. In swimming and pivoting, time and frequency measures were analyzed. There were no significant treatment effects on any of the behavioral measures. Rat pups of dams injected on Day 9 of pregnancy evidenced hydrocephaly and micropthalmia. The latter observation was confirmed by eye weights which were significantly reduced in this group at 21 days of age. Regional brain weight measurements did not distinguish among the groups. Hydrocephaly was variably associated with necrotic brain tissue, loss in weight, behavioral delays and early death. The results suggested that the assertion of greater sensitivity of behavioral compared to morphological measures in screening for drug hazards needs to be qualified. A step wise procedure for screening was proposed and it was suggested that behavioral studies need to include assessments of brain pathology as a bridge between functional and structural approaches.
Safety Profile of TiO2-Based Photocatalytic Nanofabrics for Indoor Formaldehyde Degradation

Anatase TiO2 nanoparticles (TNPs) are synthesized using the sol-gel method and loaded onto the surface of polyester-cotton (65/35) fabrics. The nanofabrics degrade formaldehyde at an efficiency of 77% in eight hours with visible light irradiation or 97% with UV light. The loaded TNPs display very little release from nanofabrics (~0.0%) during a standard fastness to rubbing test. Assuming TNPs may fall off nanofabrics during their life cycles, we also examine the possible toxicity of TNPs to human cells. We found that up to a concentration of 220 μg/mL, they do not affect viability of human acute monocytic leukemia cell line THP-1 macrophages and human liver and kidney cells.
Hypolipidemic Effect of an Exo-biopolymer Produced from a Submerged Mycelial Culture of Hericium erinaceus

The hypolipidemic effect of an exo-biopolymer produced from a submerged mycelial culture of Hericium erinaceus was investigated in dietary-induced hyperlipidemic rats. Hypolipidemic effects were proportionally increased with the increasing concentration of the exo-biopolymer for oral administration. The exo-biopolymer, at the dose of 200 mg/kg body weight, substantially reduced the plasma total cholesterol (32.9%), LDL cholesterol (45.4%), triglyceride (34.3%), phospholipid (18.9%), atherogenic index (58.7%), and hepatic HMG-CoA reductase activity (20.2%). It increased the plasma HDL cholesterol level (31.1%) as compared to the control group. The molecular mass of this exo-biopolymer measured by HPLC was under 40 kDa. Total sugar and protein contents were 91.2 and 8.8%, respectively. The sugar and amino acid compositions of the exo-biopolymer were analyzed in detail.