Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Sustainable enterprise KPIs and ERP post adoption

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in general are currently experiencing an increasing interest from both the academic and business communities. This paper examines the relative influence of eight KPIs determinants and the use of ERP in Portuguese Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). Through a web survey, data was collected and validated from 85 firms. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) analysis was used to tests the hypotheses related with KPIs pertinent to the ERP post adoption. The results show that six of eight variables related with KPIs contribute to ERP usage and value. Additional, enterprise sustainability is a determinate to whether ERP system is used or not. This work is the first empirical research study that focus on sustainable enterprise KPIs. This is a synthesis of existing practice from Portuguese industry, consultancy and academia into a coherent framework for the achievement of sustainable performance and ERP post adoption.
Preliminary Characterization of a Pleomorphic Gram-Negative Rod Associated with Avian Respiratory Disease

An unidentified, pleomorphic, gram-negative rod (PGNR) bacterium has been isolated from domestic fowl with respiratory disease. The PGNR was isolated in 5% of turkey accessions and 3% of chicken accessions, primarily from the respiratory tract. Preliminary characterization of this organism included reviewing accession records, conducting cultural and biochemical tests, and analyzing cellular fatty acids. The PGNR was also compared with other bacteria capable of inhabiting the avian respiratory system. Biochemical and cellular fatty acid analysis failed to identify the organism, however all 14 isolates were similar.
A summary of the new phenomenon of normocalcemic hyperparathyroidism and appropriate management

Purpose of review The phenomenon of normocalcemic hyperparathyroidism (NCHPT) remains largely unknown and not well understood. Recently, with more investigators reporting on the subject, NCHPT has been proposed to be a precursor of the classic hypercalcemic primary hyperparathyroidism (HPT). Recent findings This manuscript will discuss the most recent findings regarding the diagnosis, natural history, treatment and follow-up of NCHPT. Approximately 1–4% of patients undergoing parathyroidectomy for HPT are normocalcemic before surgery. To date, observation appears to be a well tolerated approach, as long as these patients remain normocalcemic. When patients with NCHPT are followed for an average of 4 years, 22% will progress to hypercalcemia. In some instances, NCHPT may be treated with parathyroidectomy, but the indications and long-term outcome for this approach are unknown. Summary This condition is now being diagnosed more frequently. Patients with vitamin D deficiency, mild renal dysfunction, and urinary calcium leak are often mislabeled as having NCHPT and these conditions should always be excluded and medically treated. There is some evidence that parathyroidectomy may be beneficial when NCHPT patients are properly selected. The authors suggest caution when approaching these patients surgically because multiglandular disease and operative failure may be more common in these rare patients.
Isotropic Design of Spatial Parallel Manipulators

In this paper, we study the isotropic design of two types of spatial parallel manipulators: a three-degrees-of-freedom manipulator and the Stewart—Gough platform. The isotropic conditions for Jacobian matrices, which relate the input joint velocity and output Cartesian velocity, are determined separately using a pure symbolic method. Thereafter, upon determining the isotropic conditions for both manipulators, the variation of the kinematic condition index is studied with respect to the motion of the moving platform to show how far the manipulator is from being isotropic. Finally, the isotropic conditions are obtained numerically for both manipulators.
Thermal-aware reliability analysis for Platform FPGAs

Increasing levels of integration in field programmable gate arrays, have resulted in high on-chip power densities, and temperatures. The heterogeneity of components and scaled feature sizes in platform FPGAs have made them vulnerable to various temperature dependent failure mechanisms. Hence, we need to introduce temperature awareness in tackling such failures that affect the lifetime reliability of FPGAs. In this paper, we present a dynamic thermal-aware reliability management (DTRM) framework to analyze the impact of temperature variations on the longterm/lifetime reliability of Platform FPGAs. We first study the temperature variations, both across and with-in designs, due to the use of various hard-blocks within a 65 nm platform FPGA. In the presence of such variations, we demonstrate the vulnerability of Platform FPGAs to two different hard-failures, namely, Electromigration, and time dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB). We also analyze the performance degradation caused by Negative Bias Temperature Instability (NBTI) in the presence of thermal-variations. We validate the temperature variations estimated by the DTRM framework using a ring oscillator based real-time temperature measurement technique.
Influences on Understanding and Belief About the Origin of Species in Chinese and American Adolescents

Author(s): Smith, Erin Irene | Advisor(s): Richert, Rebekah A. | Abstract: Although beliefs about origins and evolutionary knowledge have been considered independent, research has suggested that both are influenced by cognitive constraints of psychological essentialism and teleology. Most research supporting these claims has been conducted with children from Western cultures; little is known about the psychological processes underpinning beliefs and knowledge about the natural world outside Western contexts or during adolescence. Claims about the universality of beliefs, knowledge, and the possible relationship between should be made after examining samples that differ in theoretically relevant ways from a typical Western sample, such as a Chinese sample in which religious explanations are rare or an adolescent sample in which brain development promotes the coordination of conflicting information. To examine how belief and knowledge are related in Western- and non-Western samples, as well as the factors that predict both independently, 238 Chinese (M = 15.85 years old, SD = .85 years; 36.6% male) and 277 American adolescents (M = 15.80 years, SD = 1.34 years; 51.6% male) were recruited from their high schools to participate. Adolescents completed a survey measuring beliefs about the origin of living and non-living exemplars, evolutionary knowledge, and variables that were likely to influence belief and knowledge such as science preference, epistemology, psychological essentialism, teleological reasoning, and religious beliefs. American adolescents were more creationist than Chinese adolescents. Chinese adolescents displayed more sophisticated evolutionary knowledge than American adolescents although overall performance was low. Finally, there was no relationship between belief and knowledge for American adolescents yet there was a small, positive relationship for Chinese adolescents such that adolescents who believed in creation also tended to demonstrate more evolutionary knowledge. Additional analyses employed mediation techniques to explain why cultural differences in creation belief and evolutionary knowledge exist. Age was unrelated to belief and to knowledge. The discussion focuses on the aspects of cultural membership that contribute to belief and evolutionary knowledge. Additional discussion highlights the role of classroom curriculum, curriculum testing, and focusing on uncovering variables and techniques that promote evolutionary learning.
IL-6 and CRP response to maximal exercise intervention.

AIM The purpose of this study was to investigate the recovery pattern of the plasma inflammatory markers interleukin-6 (IL-6) and C-reactive protein (CRP) after the single-bout maximal exercise. The exercise of different type (continuous vs. intermittent) was performed and also compared in this study. METHODS Following baseline testing, 30 males were divided into three experimental groups, which completed continuous or intermittent all-out exercise of similar duration or no exercise intervention (Control group). Blood was sampled before and 1 h, 3 h, 5 h after exercise. Serum was analysed for IL-6, CRP, lactate, creatinine, uric acid, cortisol, creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase and myoglobin. Diet was standardized during recovery monitoring. RESULTS Serum IL-6 and CRP concentrations were not significantly changed in the pre- to post-exercise values comparison. These results are evident in both exercise intervention groups as well as in the control group. The only exception is the significant (P=0.03) IL-6 decrease (28.2%) in continuous exercise protocol 3 h after the exercise. Significant changes (P<0.05) were also observed in lactate, cortisol, uric acid and myoglobin, when pre-exercise vs. post-exercise recovery values were compared CONCLUSION The exercise of all-out intensity and relatively short duration, no matter what type, does not elicit a significant change in the inflammatory markers IL-6 and CRP for the 1h to 5h period of rest following the exercise.
Endotoxic shock alters distribution of blood flow within the intestinal wall.

OBJECTIVE To investigate whether a redistribution of blood flow from the mucosa to the muscular layer of the intestinal wall contributes to the observed increased arterial-mucosal Pco2 gradient and the decreased mucosal tonometric pH during endotoxic shock. DESIGN A prospective, controlled, animal study. SETTING Animal laboratory in a university medical center. SUBJECTS Ten domestic pigs. INTERVENTIONS Pigs were anesthetized with ketamine and pentobarbital, mechanically ventilated, hemodynamically monitored, and then challenged with Escherichia coli endotoxin (10 micrograms/ kg i.v.). MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Cardiac output, mesenteric artery blood flow, and systemic, pulmonary, and portal pressures were measured. Intestinal mucosa tonometric Pco2 and pH were determined with saline-filled balloon tonometers. The tissue blood flow to the mucosa and the muscular layer were independently measured with colored microspheres, using the arterial reference sample method. Thus, total intestinal blood flow was evaluated with respect to its transmural (mucosa vs. muscularis) and geographical (proximal jejunum, mid-small intestine, and terminal ileum) distribution. Endotoxin administration with fluid resuscitation induced a distributive shock with a decrease in intestinal mucosa tonometric pH. Under endotoxemic conditions, the mucosal flow increased in each geographical area, with the increase being larger proximally in the jejunum than distally in the ileum. The mucosal tonometric pH was found to correlate inversely with mucosal blood flow. The increase in blood flow to the mucosa was balanced by a decrease in blood flow to the muscularis, with total mesenteric flow remaining unchanged. CONCLUSIONS Mucosal hypoperfusion does not account for the acidotic mucosal tonometric pH in endotoxic shock. The results suggest either a primary cytotoxic effect or an enhanced counter-current-mediated hypoxic insult in the apical villus. The decrease in blood flow to the muscularis may contribute to loss of intestinal wall peristaltic activity and structural wall integrity.
AglQ Is a Novel Component of the Haloferax volcanii N-Glycosylation Pathway

N-glycosylation is a post-translational modification performed by members of all three domains of life. Studies on the halophile Haloferax volcanii have offered insight into the archaeal version of this universal protein-processing event. In the present study, AglQ was identified as a novel component of the pathway responsible for the assembly and addition of a pentasaccharide to select Asn residues of Hfx. volcanii glycoproteins, such as the S-layer glycoprotein. In cells deleted of aglQ, both dolichol phosphate, the lipid carrier used in Hfx. volcanii N-glycosylation, and modified S-layer glycoprotein Asn residues only presented the first three pentasaccharide subunits, pointing to a role for AglQ in either preparing the third sugar for attachment of the fourth pentasaccharide subunit or processing the fourth sugar prior to its addition to the lipid-linked trisaccharide. To better define the precise role of AglQ, shown to be a soluble protein, bioinformatics tools were recruited to identify sequence or structural homologs of known function. Site-directed mutagenesis experiments guided by these predictions identified residues important for AglQ function. The results obtained point to AglQ acting as an isomerase in Hfx. volcanii N-glycosylation.
Final results from the Betaseron (interferon β-1b) Pregnancy Registry: a prospective observational study of birth defects and pregnancy-related adverse events

Objective Women with multiple sclerosis are often diagnosed and treated during their reproductive years. Limited data are available on the safety of treatment during pregnancy. The Betaseron Pregnancy Registry prospectively monitored women exposed to interferon β-1b (IFNβ-1b) during pregnancy to estimate the rates of birth defects, spontaneous abortions (SABs) and other negative outcomes in this population. Design From 2006 to 2011, this observational registry enrolled women exposed prior to conception or during pregnancy (but prior to or without abnormalities on prenatal screening). Follow-up continued from enrolment through the 4-month paediatric visit. Setting Patients in the USA who met these criteria were enrolled in the registry. Results The registry enrolled 99 pregnant women; 3 were lost to follow-up. The earliest exposure to IFNβ-1b occurred during the first trimester for 95 pregnancies and in the third trimester for 1 pregnancy. There were 99 birth outcomes (3 twins), including 86 (86.9%) live births, 11 (11.1%) SABs and 2 (2%) stillbirths. Birth defects were reported in five (5.1%) cases. Rates of birth defects and SAB were not significantly different from population comparators. No developmental concerns were identified at the 4-month paediatric visit. Conclusions The small sample size limits the ability to draw definitive conclusions; however, there was no pattern to suggest increased negative outcomes with IFNβ-1b. Clinical trials registration number NCT00317564.
Fine‐needle aspiration cytology in tuberculous lymphadenitis of patients with and without HIV infection

A study of the cytologic features and role of fine‐needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) in tuberculous lymphadenitis (TBL) of 21 patients with HIV (group 1) and 21 patients without HIV (group 2) infection was undertaken. Four cytologic patterns were observed, of which necrotizing lymphadenitis (42.9%) and necrotizing suppurative lymphadenitis (28.6%) were predominant in group 1 while necrotizing granulomatous lymphadenitis (47.7%) and granulomatous lymphadenitis (23.8%) were more common in group 2. No pattern was found specific for either group. Zeihl‐Neelsen‐stained cytology smears of group 1 showed a much higher percentage of positively (61.9%) and a higher density of acid‐fast bacilli than group 2. Definitive diagnoses of TBL on FNAC could be provided in 61.9% of group 1 as against 9.5% of group 2. The need for culture or biopsy for definitive diagnosis was higher in group 2. In suspected TBL, diagnostic efficacy can be improved and the need for surgical biopsy reduced if material collected on FNA is also used for culture. Diagn. Cytopathol. 2004;31:204–206. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Entropy Rate Estimates for Natural Language - A New Extrapolation of Compressed Large-Scale Corpora

One of the fundamental questions about human language is whether its entropy rate is positive. The entropy rate measures the average amount of information communicated per unit time. The question about the entropy of language dates back to experiments by Shannon in 1951, but in 1990 Hilberg raised doubt regarding a correct interpretation of these experiments. This article provides an in-depth empirical analysis, using 20 corpora of up to 7.8 gigabytes across six languages (English, French, Russian, Korean, Chinese, and Japanese), to conclude that the entropy rate is positive. To obtain the estimates for data length tending to infinity, we use an extrapolation function given by an ansatz. Whereas some ansatzes were proposed previously, here we use a new stretched exponential extrapolation function that has a smaller error of fit. Thus, we conclude that the entropy rates of human languages are positive but approximately 20% smaller than without extrapolation. Although the entropy rate estimates depend on the script kind, the exponent of the ansatz function turns out to be constant across different languages and governs the complexity of natural language in general. In other words, in spite of typological differences, all languages seem equally hard to learn, which partly confirms Hilberg’s hypothesis.
Mathematical Principles of Reinforcement: Based on the Correlation of Behaviour with Incentives in Short-Term Memory

Effective conditioning requires a correlation between the experimenter's definition of a response and an organism's, but an animal's perception of its behavior differs from ours. Various definitions of the response are explored experimentally using the slopes of learning curves to infer which comes closest to the organism's definition. The resulting exponentially weighted moving average provides a model of memory which grounds a quantitative theory of reinforcement in which incentives excite behavior and focus the excitement on the responses present in memory at the same time. The correlation between the organism's memory and the behavior measured by the experimenter is given by coupling coefficients derived for various schedules of reinforcement. For simple schedules these coefficients can be concatenated to predict the effects of complex schedules and can be inserted into a generic model of arousal and temporal constraint to predict response rates under any scheduling arrangement. According to the theory, the decay of memory is response-indexed rather than time-indexed. Incentives displace memory for the responses that occur before them and may truncate the representation of the response that brings them about. This contiguity-weighted correlation model bridges opposing views of the reinforcement process and can be extended in a straightforward way to the classical conditioning of stimuli. Placing the short-term memory of behavior in so central a role provides a behavioral account of a key cognitive process.
Comparison of Hormone Receptor Status in Primary and Recurrent Breast Cancer

Background Systematic treatments such as hormone and chemotherapy are selected according to tumor characteristic after major therapeutic approaches such as surgery. This study attempted to analyze and compare the status of Estrogen Receptor (ER) and Progesterone Receptor (PR) in primary and recurrent sites of breast cancer in patients. Methods We reviewed all medical records of breast cancer women who were treated between January 1995 and December 2008. One hundred eighty two out of 2241 patients (8.12%) had a metastatic breast cancer. Amongst them 48 patients had tumor and biopsy-driven samples, however 13 samples were destroyed and only 35 samples were investigated in this study, therefore 35 malignant biopsy specimens of breast cancer patients were examined by immunohistochemistry essay for ER and PR. Binominal proportional test and Chi square test were conducted to determine the significant correlation between positive cases of hormone receptors among primary and metastases sites. Results Hormone Receptor in the primary tumor (HR1) of 9 patients (25.7%) was positive (ER1 and/or PR1) and in the recurrent areas (HR2) of 8 patients (22.9%) was positive (either ER2 or PR2 positive). Kappa coefficients of diagnostic agreement in primary and recurrent cases were 0.077 and 0.125 for estrogen and progesterone, respectively which indicated that the amount of coefficient of agreement is not considerable between primary and recurrent sites. Conclusion The current study indicated that receptor status in recurrent tumors did not pose predictable value based on the analysis of hormone receptors in primary stage, so it is not an appropriate basis to set up therapeutic protocol in the metastatic patients. Therefore, tissue sampling and hormone receptor re-analyzing of metastatic sites should be considered in these cases.
Osteoporosis and periodontal disease.

Low bone mass (osteopenia) and osteoporosis are systemic skeletal diseases characterized by low bone mass and micro-architectural deterioration with a consequent increase in bone fragility and susceptibility to fracture. According to the World Health Organization, osteoporosis is considered to be present when bone mineral density is 2.5 standard deviation (SD) or more below the mean for normal young Caucasian women, i.e. a T score of )2.5. Osteopenia is defined as bone density levels between 1 and 2.5 SD below normal bone mineral density (63, 64). Both osteopenia and osteoporosis are grave publichealth concerns and are widely prevalent in developed countries, particularly among postmenopausal women. The World Health Organization considers osteoporosis to be second only to cardiovascular disease as a public-health concern. Osteoporosis affects an estimated 75 million people in Europe, the USA, and Japan. Worldwide, approximately one-third of women aged 60–70 years and two-thirds of women aged 80 years and older have osteoporosis (56). The National Osteoporosis Foundation estimates that 21.8 million women in the USA have low bone mass (osteopenia) and 7.8 million have osteoporosis; over 14 million men were estimated to have either low bone mass (11.8 million) or osteoporosis (2.3 million) (110). In the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III) the prevalence of osteoporosis when assessed at the femoral neck was 20% of postmenopausal Caucasian women (92). An alternative approach is to use morphological deformities in the vertebrae to define osteoporosis. The prevalence of the defined vertebral deformities was found to be 12% in both men and women. The increase in frequency with age was greater in women – from 5% for women aged 50–54 to 24% at age 75–79 years. For men aged 50–54 years this was 10%, rising to 18% for men 75–79 years old (101). The prevalence of this relatively silent disease is very high and on the rise. Future projections indicate a three-fold increase in osteoporosis-related hip fractures (69). In the USA, 1.3 million fractures annually are the result of osteoporosis (101). One-third of women over 50 years old will experience osteoporotic fractures, as will one in five men (65, 101, 102). Between 30% and 50% of women and between 15% and 30% of men will suffer a fracture related to osteoporosis in their lifetime (118). Nearly 75% of hip, spine, and distal forearm fractures occur among patients aged 65 years or older (103).