Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The firm as a distributed knowledge system : A constructionist approach

The organizational problem firms face is the utilization of knowledge which is not, and cannot be, known by a single agent. Even more importantly, no single agent can fully specify in advance what kind of practical knowledge is going to be relevant, when and where. Firms, therefore, are distributed knowledge systems in a strong sense: they are decentered systems, iacking an overseeing 'mind'. The knowledge they need to draw upon is inherently indeterminate and continually emerging; it is not self-contained. Individuals' stock of knowledge consists of (a) role-related normative expectations; (b) dispositions, which have been formed in the course of past socializations; and (c) local knowledge of particular circumstances of time and place. A firm has greater-or-lesser control over normative expectations, but very limited control over the other two. At any point in time, a firm's knowledge is the indeterminate outcome of individuals attempting to manage the inevitable tensions between normative expectations, dispositions, and local contexts.
Maximum likelihood estimation of a multivariate log-concave density

Density estimation is a fundamental statistical problem. Many methods are either sensitive to model misspecification (parametric models) or difficult to calibrate, especially for multivariate data (nonparametric smoothing methods). We propose an alternative approach using maximum likelihood under a qualitative assumption on the shape of the density, specifically log-concavity. The class of log-concave densities includes many common parametric families and has desirable properties. For univariate data, these estimators are relatively well understood, and are gaining in popularity in theory and practice. We discuss extensions for multivariate data, which require different techniques. After establishing existence and uniqueness of the log-concave maximum likelihood estimator for multivariate data, we see that a reformulation allows us to compute it using standard convex optimization techniques. Unlike kernel density estimation, or other nonparametric smoothing methods, this is a fully automatic procedure, and no additional tuning parameters are required. Since the assumption of log-concavity is non-trivial, we introduce a method for assessing the suitability of this shape constraint and apply it to several simulated datasets and one real dataset. Density estimation is often one stage in a more complicated statistical procedure. With this in mind, we show how the estimator may be used for plug-in estimation of statistical functionals. A second important extension is the use of log-concave components in mixture models. We illustrate how we may use an EM-style algorithm to fit mixture models where the number of components is known. Applications to visualization and classification are presented. In the latter case, improvement over a Gaussian mixture model is demonstrated. Performance for density estimation is evaluated in two ways. Firstly, we consider Hellinger convergence (the usual metric of theoretical convergence results for nonparametric maximum likelihood estimators). We prove consistency with respect to this metric and heuristically discuss rates of convergence and model misspecification, supported by empirical investigation. Secondly, we use the mean integrated squared error to demonstrate favourable performance compared with kernel density estimates using a variety of bandwidth selectors, including sophisticated adaptive methods. Throughout, we emphasise the development of stable numerical procedures able to handle the additional complexity of multivariate data.
From tameness to wariness: chemical recognition of snake predators by lizards in a Mediterranean island

Antipredatory defenses are maintained when benefit exceeds cost. A weak predation pressure may lead insular lizards to tameness. Podarcis lilfordi exhibits a high degree of insular tameness, which may explain its extinction from the main island of Menorca when humans introduced predators. There are three species of lizards in Menorca: the native P. lilfordi, only on the surrounding islets, and two introduced lizards in the main island, Scelarcis perspicillata and Podarcis siculus. In addition, there are three species of snakes, all introduced: one non-saurophagous (Natrix maura), one potentially non-saurophagous (Rhinechis scalaris) and one saurophagous (Macroprotodon mauritanicus). We studied the reaction to snake chemical cues in five populations: (1) P. lilfordi of Colom, (2) P. lilfordi of Aire, (3) P. lilfordi of Binicodrell, (4) S. perspicillata, and (5) P. siculus, ordered by increasing level of predation pressure. The three snakes are present in the main island, while only R. scalaris is present in Colom islet, Aire and Binicodrell being snake-free islets. We aimed to assess the relationship between predation pressure and the degree of insular tameness regarding scent recognition. We hypothesized that P. lilfordi should show the highest degree of tameness, S. perspicillata should show intermediate responses, and P. siculus should show the highest wariness. Results are clear: neither P. lilfordi nor S. perspicillata recognize any of the snakes, while P. siculus recognizes the scent of M. mauritanicus and reacts to it with typical well-defined antipredatory behaviours as tail waving and slow motion. These results rise questions about the loss of chemical recognition of predators during island tameness and its related costs and benefits for lizards of insular habitats. In addition, this highlights the necessity for strong conservation measures to avoid the introduction of alien predators.
Intrinsic properties and functional changes in spastic muscle after application of BTX-A in children with cerebral palsy: Systematic review

Abstract Objective: This article aimed to review the literature to verify the effect of botulinum toxin type A (BTX-A) on the intrinsic properties of spastic muscles and functionality in children with cerebral palsy (CP). Methods: A literature search was conducted in the following databases: CINAHL, SCOPUS, Web of Science and PubMed. Database searches were limited to the period from January 1993 to March 2014. Results: A total of 2182 papers were identified, and 17 met the inclusion criteria. Only one study analyzed the effect of the toxin on muscle intrinsic properties and others analyzed the effect on functionality. Conclusion: BTX-A application demonstrated no changes in the passive stiffness of spastic muscle. In relation to functional level, the evidence of BTX-A effect was controversial. These studies showed methodological quality limitations that restrict the interpretation of the results for the entire CP population, which justifies the need for further randomized controlled trials.
Strengthening measurements from the edges: application-level packet loss rate estimation

Network users know much less than ISPs, Internet exchanges and content providers about what happens inside the network. Consequently users cannot either easily detect network neutrality violations or readily exercise their market power by knowledgeably switching ISPs. This paper contributes to the ongoing efforts to empower users by proposing two models to estimate -- via application-level measurements -- a key network indicator, i.e., the packet loss rate (PLR) experienced by FTP-like TCP downloads. Controlled, testbed, and large-scale experiments show that the Inverse Mathis model is simpler and more consistent across the whole PLR range, but less accurate than the more advanced Likely Rexmit model for landline connections and moderate PLR.
Colorectal signet‐ring cell carcinoma: benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy but a poor prognostic factor

Colorectal signet‐ring cell carcinoma (SRCC) has been associated with poor survival compared with mucinous adenocarcinoma (MC) and the more common adenocarcinoma (AC). Efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy in SRCC has never been assessed. This study analyzes the prognostic impact of SRCC and determines whether colonic SRCC patients benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy equally compared with MC and AC patients. Data on 196,757 colorectal cancer (CRC) patients in the period 1989–2010 was included in this Dutch nationwide population‐based study. Five‐year relative survival estimates were calculated and multivariate relative survival analyses using a multiple regression model of relative excess risk (RER) were performed. SRCC was found in 1,972 (1.0%) patients. SRCC patients presented more frequently with stage III or IV disease than AC patients (75.2% vs. 43.6%, p < 0.0001) and SRCC was more frequently found in the proximal colon (57.7 vs. 32.0%, p < 0.0001). SRCC patients had a poor 5‐year relative survival of 30.8% (95% CI 28.1–33.6%) in the colon and 19.5% (95% CI 14.7–24.8%) in the rectum compared with 56.8% (95% CI 56.4–57.1%) and 58.5% (95% CI 57.9–59.1%) for AC. This survival difference was found in stage II, but was most prominent in stage III. Compared with AC, there was no significant interaction between SRCC and adjuvant chemotherapy (RER 1.10, 95% CI 0.81–1.51), suggesting a comparable benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy in AC and SRCC. In conclusion, the prognostic impact of SRCC is dismal in both colon and rectal cancer patients, but adjuvant chemotherapy is associated with improved survival in AC, MC, and SRCC patients.
Fast-Tracking After Outpatient Laparoscopy: Reasons for Failure After Propofol, Sevoflurane, and Desflurane Anesthesia

IMPLICATIONS In this study, although 41%-94% of the patients were fast-track eligible after laparoscopic surgery, only 35%-53% of the patients actually bypassed the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) because of anesthetic-related factors and surgical complications. Residual sedation was the most common anesthetic-related cause of failure to bypass thePACU.
Urate crystals deposition in the feet of overweight juveniles and those with symptomatic hyperuricemia: a dual-energy CT study

Abstract Background: The present study evaluated the clinical value of dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) for detecting urate crystals in juveniles with symptomatic hyperuricemia. Methods: We recruited 24 juveniles (15 male and 9 female) who presented with symptomatic hyperuricemia. The mean body mass index (BMI) was 26.4 kg/m2 (standard deviation, SD 11.3 kg/m2). Fifteen juveniles (71.4%) were overweight. DECT scans of the feet were performed. For post-processing, a color-coding gout software protocol was used. Results: Urate crystals deposition was observed in 21/24 (87.5%) juveniles with symptomatic hyperuricemia. Urate crystals were detected in or around the anatomic site included the first metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joints (5/24, 20.8%); the calcaneus (5/24, 20.8%); any other toe joints (3/24, 12.5%); the astragalus (3/24, 12.5%); the ankle joints (3/24, 12.5%); the metatarsals (2/24, 8.3%); the cuboid (1/24, 4.2%); and other parts of the feet (2/24, 8.3%). Importantly, urate crystals deposition weas located in the soft tissue (tendon/tendon insertion sites/entheses) around the above-mentioned sites in a majority of these patients. Conclusions: Urate crystals deposition can be detected by dual-energy CT in the feet of symptomatic hyperuricemia juveniles. DECT can be a valuable diagnostic tool for helping diagnose in juvenile gout.
Residential Choices of the Newly Arrived Foreign Born: Spatial Patterns and the Implications for Assimilation

The preponderance of work on the assimilation of the foreign born makes only passing reference to their spatial patterns. This study uses data from the 1990 and 2000 PUMS for the Los Angeles metropolitan area, to examine the residential choices of the newly arrived (since 1985 and 1995) foreign born, and to re-examine the evidence for spatial assimilation. While the central city continues to receive lower income immigrants with lower levels of human capital there are also professionals arriving in the central city. Similarly, the suburbs, at least in this case study receive both households with lower levels of human capital and professionals. In part this may be due to the increasingly multi-nodal structure of large metropolitan areas. It appears that the spatial patterns are more complex than in the past and the central city suburban dichotomy while still relevant, may not be the best way to analyze the patterns of the foreign born. Even so it appears that socio-economic status is an important differentiator in the spatial outcomes. Money and professional status matter, as we would expect, in the spatial outcomes.
Preleukemic TEL-AML1–positive Clones at Cell Level of 10−3 to 10−4 do not Persist into Adulthood

The TEL-AML1 translocation, t(12;21)(p13;q22), is one of the most frequent genetic aberrations in childhood B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), where it occurs in 25% of all cases. In contrast, the translocation is seen in only 3% of adult ALL cases. Evidence suggests that the TEL-AML1 translocation occurs in utero in 1% of all newborn children at cell levels of 10−3 to 10−4. In this study, we explore the prevalence of TEL-AML1–positive cells in 2 cohorts of healthy blood donors by real-time and nested reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Overall, TEL-AML1–positive cells were demonstrated in 10 of 2005 healthy donors, that is, a prevalence of 0.5% (95% confidence interval, 0.2-0.3%). The level of TEL-AML1–positive cells was estimated to 10−5 to 10−6. The observed prevalence of TEL-AML1–positive cells in healthy adults is of the same order of magnitude as the prevalence reported in healthy newborns, but the observed cell level of 10−5 to 10−6 is much lower. These data indicates that prenatal TEL-AML1 subclones does not persist throughout adult life at cell levels of 10−3 to 10−4. The findings are compatible with the risk of t(12;21)(p13;q22) ALL correlating with the total number of TEL-AML1–positive cells in peripheral blood in both childhood and adulthood.
Community capacity building, tourism and environmental conservation: The case of the Honde Valley Bamboo Crafts Project, Zimbabwe

Production of bamboo baskets for the Zimbabwean mass market resulted in the depletion of the bamboo grass which threatened the livelihoods of the Honde Valley community who derived their income from selling bamboo crafts. The objective of the study was to assess the impact of community capacity building programmes on stakeholders’ attitudes towards environmental conservation, changes in livelihoods, creation of new bamboo basketry products and opening up of new markets. The study used the qualitative methodology. Facetoface interviews were held with community members in the Honde Valley. A review of related literature was undertaken and annual reports of the NGO working with the community were also accessed. The study found out that after initial training community members realised the advantages of producing high quality high value bamboo basketry for the tourism industry as compared to producing high volume low value products for the local mass market. The study further found out that the new products demanded low volumes of bamboo material which resulted in sustainable use of the resource. Finally, the study observed general improvements in the livelihoods of community members in terms of increased household income, increased technical skills and exposure to the tourism market through national and international network linkages. The study concluded that the programmes enhanced the practical skills of the community members in bamboo basketry making, improved their livelihoods, expanded their mental and social horizons and created new markets for their products. The study recommends expansion of the capacity building programmes to include business management and entrepreneurship, expansion of the market linkages and targeted exposure of the products to the tourism industry.
On Image Analysis by Moments

Research has been performed investigating the use of moments for pattern recognition in recent years. The basic problem of the influence of discretization and noise on moment accuracy as object descriptors, has been barely investigated. In this paper, the detailed error analysis involved in the moment method is discussed. Several new techniques to increase the accuracy and efficiency of moment descriptor are proposed. We utilize these results for the problem of image reconstruction from the orthogonal Legendre moments computed from discrete and noisy data. The automatic selection of an optimal number of moments is also discussed.
Semantic abnormality and its realization in spoken language

In this paper we investigate the relationship between various lexical and prosodic features and semantic abnormality, the occurrence of unusual or unexpected events, in generating speech for MAGIC, which employs a Concept-to-Speech system to generate post-operative reports for patients who have undergone bypass surgery. Using the speech corpus collected for this application, we conducted empirical analysis to systematically discover significantly correlated prosodic and lexical features. The automatically learned abnormality model not only can be used in building comprehensive prosody prediction systems for Concept-to-Speech generation, but also help identify unusual information during speech analysis and understanding.
Effect of Glucagon on Cyclic 3′,5′‐AMP, Phosphorylase Activity and Contractility of Heart Muscle of the Rat

The purpose of this investigation was to contrast the effect of glucagon and that of epinephrine on the concentration of cyclic adenosine 3′,5′-monophosphate (cyclic AMP), the activity of phosphorylase a and the contractile amplitude of isolated perfused rat hearts. The two drugs were about equally effective except that the maximal augmentation of contractility by epinephrine (5 × 10−9 moles) was twice that produced by an equivalent dose of glucagon with a fourfold greater increase in cyclic AMP concentration. Combination of large doses of the two drugs caused increases in the cyclic nucleotide considerably greater than those required for maximal phosphorylase activation or associated with a maximal inotropic response. The effects of glucagon also developed more slowly than those of epinephrine. An increase in cyclic AMP was not detectable until after phosphorylase a and contractile amplitude had increased. The beta-receptor-blocking agents dichloroisoproterenol and pronethalol did not block the biochemical responses to glucagon in doses which abolished the epinephrine-induced increases in cyclic AMP and phosphorylase a. These results, along with those obtained by other investigators, indicate that glucagon can elicit the same biochemical responses in intact heart as have been obtained with epinephrine, but by action at a different receptor site.
Design and implementation of virtual memory-mapped communication on Myrinet

Describes the design and implementation of the Virtual Memory-Mapped Communication (VMMC) model on a Myrinet network of PCI-based PCs. VMMC has been designed and implemented for the SHRIMP multicomputer, where it delivers user-to-user latency and bandwidth close to the limits imposed by the underlying hardware. The goal of this work is: to provide an implementation of VMMC on a commercially available hardware platform; to determine whether the benefits of VMMC can be realized on the new hardware; and to investigate network interface design tradeoffs by comparing SHRIMP with Myrinet and its respective VMMC implementation. Our Myrinet implementation of VMMC achieves 9.8 /spl mu/s one-way latency and provides 108.4 MByte/s user-to-user bandwidth. Compared to SHRIMP, the Myrinet implementation of VMMC incurs relatively higher overhead and demands more network interface resources (LANai processor, on-board SRAM) but requires less operating system support.
YouTube, Social Norms and Perceived Salience of Climate Change in the American Mind

This online experiment explored how contextual information embedded in new media channels such as YouTube may serve as normative social cues to users. Specifically, we examined whether the number of views listed under a YouTube video about climate change would elicit inferences regarding how “others” feel about the climate issue and, consequently, might influence perceptions of issue salience. Participants in this experiment were exposed to a YouTube video about climate change using two experimental conditions, one providing a small number of views under the video and the second listing a large number of views. Results suggest that the “number of views” cue did, indeed, influence participant perceptions of the importance assigned by other Americans to the issue of climate change. Further, compared to low self-monitoring participants, high self-monitoring participants registered an increase in their own judgment of issue importance.
Inherited thrombophilia and stratification of ischaemic stroke risk among users of oral contraceptives

Background: Whether use of oral contraceptives is a risk factor for arterial ischaemic stroke is controversial. In particular, few data are available on what criteria should be adopted to establish an individual profile of risk before the start of oral contraceptives. Patients and methods: The effects of oral contraceptives and their interaction with the G1691A polymorphisms of the factor V gene, the G20210A polymorphisms of the prothrombin gene and the C677T polymorphisms of the MTHFR gene on the risk of cerebral ischaemia were determined in a series of 108 consecutive women aged <45 years with ischaemic stroke and 216 controls, in a hospital-based case–control study design. Results: Use of oral contraceptives was associated with an increased risk of cerebral ischaemia (odds ratio (OR) 3.95; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.29 to 6.78). ORs for stroke were 2.25 (95% CI 1.15 to 4.40), 3.94 (95% CI 2.28 to 6.81) and 8.87 (95% CI 3.72 to 21.1) for non-oral contraceptive users with the TT MTHFR genotype, oral contraceptive users without the TT MTHFR genotype and oral contraceptive users with the TT MTHFR genotype, respectively, when compared with non-oral contraceptive users without the TT MTHFR genotype, with a multiplicative independent effect. Compared with non-oral contraceptive users, ORs for stroke were 2.65 (95% CI 1.46 to 4.81) for oral contraceptive users with none of the studied polymorphisms and 22.8 (95% CI 4.46 to 116.00) for oral contraceptive users with at least one of the studied polymorphisms, with a synergistic effect. Conclusions: Exposure to the effects of oral contraceptives may increase the risk of ischaemic stroke in women with an inherited prothrombotic background. Testing for these genetic variants may allow more accurate stratification of the population at risk before long-term use of oral contraceptives is prescribed.
Classifier-based mask estimation for missing feature methods of robust speech recognition

Missing feature methods of noise compensation for speech recognition operate by removing components of a spectrographic representation of speech that are considered to be corrupt, as indicated by a low signal-to-noise ratio. Recognition is either performed directly on the incomplete spectrograms or the missing components are reconstructed prior to recognition. These methods require a spectrographic mask which accurately labels the reliable and corrupt regions of the spectrogram. Current methods of mask estimation rely on assumptions about the corrupting noise such as stationarity. This is a significant drawback since the missing feature methods themselves have no such restrictions. We present a new mask estimation technique that uses a Bayesian classifier to determine the reliability of spectrographic elements. Features were designed that make no assumptions about the corrupting noise signal, but rather exploit characteristics of the speech signal itself. Missing feature compensation experiments were performed on speech corrupted by a variety of noises. In all cases, classifier-based mask estimation resulted in significantly better recognition accuracy than conventional mask estimation methods.