Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Building IT Infrastructure for Strategic Agility

Executives make few moves more critical than their decisions about which technology-infrastructure investments will promote future strategic agility. To pinpoint best practices, three IT experts marshaled 10 years of data from 89 leading enterprises. One finding was that when companies describe their IT-infrastructure capabilities as services instead of equipment (say, the provision of a fully maintained laptop computer with access to all company systems and the Internet), they do a better job of putting a value on what they are buying. Understanding the 70 IT-infrastructure services that emerge consistently from the research can help executives identify which investments will make sense for which strategic business initiative. And understanding whether the contemplated initiative is supply-side, internally focused or demand-side can help managers decide whether to make the infrastructure investment on a business-unit level or enterprisewide. The authors find that leading companies are making regular, systematic, modular and targeted IT-infrastructure investments on the basis of overall strategic direction. If other companies can learn to recognize which IT-infrastructure capabilities are needed for which kinds of initiatives, they can have some assurance that the investments they make today will serve the strategies of tomorrow.
Cultural Links, Firm Heterogeneity and the Intensive and Extensive Margins of International Trade

It is well known that cultural links between countries increase bilateral trade. In this paper we exploit Portuguese firm-level data on exports to 199 destinations to investigate the questions: How? Do cultural links increase the number of exporters, or the shipments per exporter? What is the role of firm heterogeneity? The results reveal that cultural links, measured by common language/colonial ties and emigrant communities, are significantly associated with a lower incidence of within-firm export zeros and with larger shipments per exporter. Furthermore, they show that the former of these relationships tends to be magnified by firm size, suggesting that firm heterogeneity is key in shaping the interplay between cultural links and the extensive margin of international trade.
Age-structured models and optimal control in mathematical equidemiology: a survey

In this chapter we shall discuss the use of both optimal control theory and age-structured epidemic models in mathematical epidemiology. We use a very broad definition of optimal control, for example mathematical models for control by vaccination, as well as applications of optimal control theory. This is a wide area and we have had to be selective. In terms of applications a lot of the models which we present are applicable to the spread of common childhood diseases as that is an area in which age-structured models have been shown to fit data well and are most commonly applied in practice. This is because vaccination programs are often age-dependent targeting children of a given age and so they need age-structured models. The first section of this chapter discusses age-structured epidemic models including the question of optimal vaccination in them. 2 Then we move on to the optimal control in “stage-structured” (rather than age-structured) epidemic models, in which the individuals are grouped into susceptible, infected, and so on, depending on their relation to the epidemic. This gives a survey of how the ideas of optimal control theory, in particular the Maximum Principle and dynamic programming have been applied in the past to determine optimal control strategies for an epidemic, for example by immunization or removal of infected individuals. We finish this section with a few papers which apply optimal control theory to drug epidemics. We next survey some articles which give applications of optimal control to age-structured epidemic models. Much of this work concerns the existence and structure of optimal age-dependent vaccination strategies for common childhood diseases but we cover some other applications too. This is followed by a short section on spatial models used to determine optimal epidemic control policies. A brief summary and discussion conclude.
Development of a High-Throughput Molecular Imaging-Based Orthotopic Hepatocellular Carcinoma Model

We have developed a novel orthotopic rat hepatocellular (HCC) model and have assessed the ability to use bioluminescence imaging (BLI), positron emission tomography (PET), and ultrasound for early tumor detection and monitoring of disease progression. Briefly, rat HCC cells were stably transfected with click beetle red as a reporter gene for BLI. Tumor cells were injected under direct visualization into the left or middle lobe of the liver in 37 rats. In six animals, serial PET, BLI, and ultrasound imaging were performed at 10-time points in 28 days. The remainder of the animals underwent PET imaging at 14 days. Tumor implantation was successful in 34 of 37 animals (91.9%). In the six animals that underwent serial imaging, tumor formation was first detected with BLI on Day 4 with continued increase through Day 21, and hypermetabolic activity on PET was first noted on Days 14-15 with continued increase through Day 28. PET activity was seen on Day 14 in the 28 other animals that demonstrated tumor development. Anatomic tumor formation was detected with ultrasound at Days 10-12 with continued growth through Day 28. The first metastases were detected by PET after Day 24. We have successfully developed and validated a novel orthotopic HCC small animal model that permits longitudinal assessment of change in tumor size using molecular imaging techniques. BLI is the most sensitive imaging method for detection of early tumor formation and growth. This model permits high-throughput in vivo evaluation of image-guided therapies.
The Longitudinal Association Between Passive Social Networking Site Usage and Depressive Symptoms: The Mediating Role of Envy and Moderating Role of Life Satisfaction

Introduction: The relationship between Social Networking Site (SNS) usage and depressive symptoms is a growing concern among mental health researchers and practitioners. The purpose of this study was to better understand the mechanism and context under which SNS use affects depressive symptoms. Method: We did this by examining envy as a mediator of the relationship between passive SNS usage and depression over time, with life satisfaction as a moderator of this mediation effect. The sample included 266 college students, who completed the surveys in two waves. Results: The results showed that envy fully mediated the association between passive SNS usage and depression. This indirect relationship was moderated by level of life satisfaction. Specifically, and unexpectedly, among individuals with higher levels of life satisfaction, more frequent passive SNS use was related to increased envy, which, in turn, was associated with increased depressive symptoms. However, this indirect relationship was non-significant for those with lower levels of life satisfaction. Discussion: Thus, the potential of passive SNS use to increase depressive symptoms through envy among individuals with high life satisfaction should be considered when mental health practitioners design interventions.
Anticontrol of chaos for discrete TS fuzzy systems

In this paper, a simple and systematic control design method is proposed for a discrete-time Takagi-Sugeno (TS) fuzzy system, which employs the parallel distributed compensation (PDC) to determine the structure of a fuzzy controller so as to make all the Lyapunov exponents of the controlled TS fuzzy system strictly positive. This approach is proven to be mathematically rigorous for anticontrol of chaos for a TS fuzzy system, in the sense that any given discrete-time TS fuzzy system can be made chaotic by the designed PDC controller along with the mod-operation. A numerical example is included to visualize the anticontrol effect.
Effects of apolipoprotein E on the human immunodeficiency virus protein tat in neuronal cultures and synaptosomes

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV‐1)‐associated dementia is observed in 20–30% of patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The ϵ4 allele of the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene currently is thought to play a role as a risk factor for the development of HIV dementia. The HIV protein Tat is neurotoxic and binds to the same receptor as apoE, the low‐density lipoprotein receptor‐related protein (LRP). In this study, we investigated the role apoE plays in Tat toxicity. Synaptosomes from wild‐type mice treated with Tat had increased reactive oxygen species (ROS), increased lipid and protein oxidation, and decreased mitochondrial membrane potential. Synaptosomes from APOE‐knockout mice also had increased ROS, increased protein oxidation, and decreased mitochondrial membrane potential, but to a significantly lesser degree. Treatment of synaptosomes with heparinase and Tat increased Tat‐induced oxidative stress, consistent with the notion of Tat requiring interaction with neuronal membranes to induce oxidative damage. Human lipidated apoE3 greatly protected neurons from Tat‐induced toxicity, whereas human lipidated apoE4 showed no protection. We demonstrated that human apoE3 has antioxidant properties against Tat‐induced toxicity. Taken together, the data suggest that murine apoE and human apoE4 act similarly and do not protect the cell from Tat‐induced toxicity. This would allow excess Tat to remain outside the cell and interact with synaptosomal membranes, leading to oxidative stress and neurotoxicity, which could contribute to dementia associated with HIV. We show that the antioxidant properties of apoE3 greatly outweigh the competition for clearance in deterring Tat‐induced oxidative stress. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Institutions: abstract model theory for specification and programming

There is a population explosion among the logical systems used in computing science. Examples include first-order logic, equational logic, Horn-clause logic, higher-order logic, infinitary logic, dynamic logic, intuitionistic logic, order-sorted logic, and temporal logic; moreover, there is a tendency for each theorem prover to have its own idiosyncratic logical system. The concept of institution is introduced to formalize the informal notion of “logical system. ” The major requirement is that there is a satisfaction relation between models and sentences that is consistent under change of notation. Institutions enable abstracting away from syntactic and semantic detail when working on language structure “in-the-large”; for example, we can define language features for building large logical system. This applies to both specification languages and programming languages. Institutions also have applications to such areas as database theory and the semantics of artificial and natural languages. A first main result of this paper says that any institution such that signatures (which define notation) can be glued together, also allows gluing together theories (which are just collections of sentences over a fixed signature). A second main result considers when theory structuring is preserved by institution morphisms. A third main result gives conditions under which it is sound to use a theorem prover for one institution on theories from another. A fourth main result shows how to extend institutions so that their theories may include, in addition to the original sentences, various kinds of constraint that are useful for defining abstract data types, including both “data” and “hierarchy” constraints. Further results show how to define institutions that allow sentences and constraints from two or more institutions. All our general results apply to such “duplex” and “multiplex” institutions.
Recognition of degraded ancient characters based on dense SIFT

This paper presents a novel method for the recognition of ancient characters in historical documents. The method proposed is especially designed for degraded documents in which the character recognition based on state of the art methods is hard to achieve due to faded out ink, stain and background noise. The method proposed deals with such degradations by making use of the Dense SIFT features and the nearest neighbor distance maps. The maps encode the distances between the features of the documents and the training set. This results in local minima in the nearest neighbor distance maps which help in localization and recognition of characters in the documents. The experiments on three datasets show that the method proposed achieves a better character recognition performance compared to another method designed for similar historical documents.
The Determinants of Migration into the EU around the turn of the century : a Panel Data Analysis

This paper investigates the determinants of migration into 6 Western European destination countries, i.e. Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, using panel migration data from 57 origin countries (non-EU-members because of free movement in the EU) for the period 1996-2005. Our contribution is threefold. First, we use three-dimensional panel data to investigate the determinants of migration. So far, not many three-way panel data studies have been performed, which is mostly due to the lack of data availability. Only recently, countries started to keep track of migration flows in great detail. Second, in dynamic panel models the fixed effects estimator is inconsistent when the time dimension is fixed. For an AR(1) model there is a downward asymptotic bias on the coefficient of the lagged dependent variable. Given this inconsistency, we follow Everaert and Pozzi (2007) who propose a bias correction for the fixed effects estimator using an iterative bootstrap algorithm. Third, due to the reverse impact of migrant flows on stocks, the endogeneity bias comes from two explanatory variables, rather than one. Therefore, we explicitly take into account the dynamic relationship between migrant flows and stocks. When we compare the results of a standard fixed effects estimation, a fixed effects estimation with bootstrap-correction and a general method of moments estimation, we find that the choice of the estimation method has a great impact on the results and that the wrong choice could lead to invalid conclusions about the true factors behind migration.
Asymmetric cache coherency: Improving multicore performance for non-uniform workloads

Asymmetric coherency is a new concept to support non-uniform workloads in multicore processors. We present the theory behind asymmetric coherency policies and show our design requires no additional hardware over an existing system. Asymmetric coherency is designed to provide better performance for asymmetry in a workload and this is applicable to SoC multicores where the applications often are not evenly spread among the processors. The low cost and complexity makes it a desirable new coherency policy for future work. Our results show up to a 60% reduction in coherency costs for unshared data and up to a 174% improvement in memory access time for shared data.
EXPLORING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROCEDURAL JUSTICE AND INNOVATIVE WORK BEHAVIOR IN HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between procedural justice, know­ledge sharing and innovative work behavior. The research model and hypothesis were developed from related literature. The data was collected through survey method on 297 supervisors of four and five star hotels in East Java, Indonesia. The obtained data from the questionnaire were tested with Partial Least Square (PLS) to investigate the research model. The results confirm that pro­cedural justice has positive impact on knowledge sharing. While the effect of knowledge sharing on innovative work behavior is another finding of this research. The implications of this study are discussed in the conclusions section of the study
Tracker-Based Personal Advice to Support the Baby’s Healthy Development in a Novel Parenting App: Data-Driven Innovation

Background The current generation of millennial parents prefers digital communications and makes use of apps on a daily basis to find information about child-rearing topics. Given this, an increasing amount of parenting apps have become available. These apps also allow parents to track their baby’s development with increasing completeness and precision. The large amounts of data collected in this process provide ample opportunity for data-driven innovation (DDI). Subsequently, apps are increasingly personalized by offering information that is based on the data tracked in the app. In line with this, Philips Avent has developed the uGrow app, a medical-grade app dedicated to new parents for tracking their baby’s development. Through so-called insights, the uGrow app seeks to provide a data-driven solution by offering parents personal advice that is sourced from user-tracked behavioral and contextual data. Objective The aim of this study was twofold. First, it aimed to give a description of the development process of the insights for the uGrow app. Second, it aimed to present results from a study about parents’ experiences with the insights. Methods The development process comprised 3 phases: a formative phase, development phase, and summative phase. In the formative phase, 3 substudies were executed in series to understand and identify parents’ and health care professionals’ (HCPs) needs for insights, using qualitative and quantitative methods. After the formative phase, insights were created during the development phase. Subsequently, in the summative phase, these insights were validated against parents’ experience using a quantitative approach. Results As part of the formative phase, parents indicated having a need for smart information based on a data analysis of the data they track in an app. HCPs supported the general concept of insights for the uGrow app, although specific types of insights were considered irrelevant or even risky. After implementing a preliminary set of insights in a prototype version of the uGrow app and testing it with parents, the majority of parents (87%) reported being satisfied with the insights. From these outcomes, a total of 89 insights were implemented in a final version of the uGrow app. In the summative phase, the majority of parents reported experiencing these insights as reassuring and useful (94%), as adding enjoyment (85%), and as motivating for continuing tracking for a longer period of time (77%). Conclusions Parents experienced the insights in the uGrow app as useful and reassuring and as adding enjoyment to their use of the uGrow app and tracking their baby’s development. The insights development process we followed showed how the quality of insights can be guaranteed by ensuring that insights are relevant, appropriate, and evidence based. In this way, insights are an example of meaningful DDI.
Fourth Grade Students' Performance on Graphical Languages in Mathematics

This study investigated the performance of 217 fourth-grade students (9 or 10 years) on a 36-item test that comprised items from six distinct graphical languages (e.g., maps) that are commonly used to convey mathematical information. The results of the study revealed that: fourth graders have difficulty decoding a variety of graphics; some graphical languages are more difficult for students to access than others; only one of the graphic languages revealed gender differences; and there were positive correlations in performance between all pairings of graphic languages. The implications of this study include the need to support the development of students’ ability to decode graphics beyond activities usually investigated in mathematics curricula.
The Case of Turkish University Students and MOOCs

ABSTRACT Though initially proposed as a means of overcoming common barriers to higher education, MOOCs often exacerbate the very issues of accessibility and exclusivity that they were designed to avoid. Students from developing countries in particular face considerable obstacles that hinder or outright prevent their enrollment in and completion of MOOCs. This study finds that, for these students, participation in MOOCs is often complicated by language barriers, limited technological resources, and prevailing Americentric or Eurocentric designs and mindsets, among other issues. These findings were determined and reinforced by a study of Turkish college students from a large state-sponsored metropolitan university, who indicated different levels of knowledge regarding MOOCs as well as various issues, concerns, and complaints. These issues of accessibility and exclusivity must be addressed before MOOCs will truly be able to democratize access to high-quality university-level education, and the best solutions are those that acknowledge the multicultural nature of their user communities.
How do cilia organize signalling cascades?

Cilia and flagella are closely related centriole-nucleated protrusions of the cell with roles in motility and signal transduction. Two of the best-studied signalling pathways organized by cilia are the transduction cascade for the morphogen Hedgehog in vertebrates and the mating pathway that initiates gamete fusion in the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. What is the role of cilia in these signalling transduction cascades? In both Hedgehog and mating pathways, all signalling intermediates have been found to localize to cilia, and, for some signalling factors, ciliary localization is regulated by pathway activation. Given a concentration factor of three orders of magnitude provided by translocating a protein into the cilium, the compartment model proposes that cilia act as miniaturized reaction tubes bringing signalling factors and processing enzymes in close proximity. On the other hand, the scaffolding model views the intraflagellar transport machinery, whose primary function is to build cilia and flagella, as a molecular scaffold for the mating transduction cascade at the flagellar membrane. While these models may coexist, it is hoped that a precise understanding of the mechanisms that govern signalling inside cilia will provide a satisfying answer to the question ‘how do cilia organize signalling? ’. This review covers the evidence supporting each model of signalling and outlines future directions that may address which model applies in given biological settings.