Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
(Hidden) social influences in switching mobile service platforms

During the past few years, the mobile industry has gone through a radical change from business focusing on excellence in device manufacturing and supply chain management to ecosystems around successful focal players, such as Apple and Google, controlling these service platforms. In order to compete in this environment, these firms need to understand what makes a consumer switch between these mobile service platforms. To that end, we conducted an inductive qualitative study with university students from Finland and USA as subjects (142 altogether), delving into how and why consumers switch mobile phones, and what are the factors affecting their decisions. Our results indicate that tacit, or hidden, social influences are emerging as important factors that are intertwined with both same- and cross-side network effects in the mobile service ecosystems.
Analysis of Arbitrarily Large Networks of Discrete-Event Systems

Many engineering systems can be usefully modelled as networks of interacting, isomorphic, finite-state discrete-event systems. Examples include communication and transportation networks. For practical purposes, the number of subsystems is often arbitrary. In such cases, key problems of analysis are generally undecidable; however, inductive semidecision procedures can be formulated for checking whether networks of arbitrary size are equivalent to networks of bounded size. The appropriate notion of equivalence may vary, depending on the properties being analyzed. We examine a range of possible equivalences, identify system properties that they preserve, and show that semidecision procedures exist for checking these equivalences. On the other hand, we show that equivalence of networks to networks of bounded size is undecidable for a broad range of process equivalences, even for the simple network topologies of rings and line segments.
Parallel RAMs with owned global memory and deterministic context-free language recognition

We identify and study a natural and frequently occurring subclass of Concurrent Read, Exclusive Write Parallel Random Access Machines (CREW-PRAMs). Called Concurrent Read, <italic>Owner</italic> Write, or CROW-PRAMS, these are machines in which each global memory location is assigned a unique “owner” processor, which is the only processor allowed to write into it. Considering the difficulties that would be involved in physically realizinga full CREW-PRAM model and demonstrate its stability under several definitional changes. Second, we precisely characterize the power of the CROW-PRAM by showing that the class of languages recognizable by it in time <italic>O</italic>(log n) (and implicity with a polynomial number of processors) is exactly the class LOGDCFL of languages log space reducible to deterministic context-free languages. Third, using the same basic machinery, we show that the recognition problem for deterministic context-free languages can be solved quickly on a deterministic auxilliary pushdown automation having random access to its input tape, a log <italic>n</italic> space work tape, and pushdown store of small maximum height. For example, time <italic>O</italic>(<italic>n</italic><supscrpt>1 + ε</supscrpt>) is achievable with pushdown height <italic>O</italic>(log<supscrpt>2</supscrpt> <italic>n</italic>). These result extend and unify work of von Braunmöhl, Cook, Mehlhorn, and Verbeek, Klein and Reif; and Rytter.
A Comparison of Parametric and Non-Parametric Methods Applied to a Likert Scale

A trenchant and passionate dispute over the use of parametric versus non-parametric methods for the analysis of Likert scale ordinal data has raged for the past eight decades. The answer is not a simple “yes” or “no” but is related to hypotheses, objectives, risks, and paradigms. In this paper, we took a pragmatic approach. We applied both types of methods to the analysis of actual Likert data on responses from different professional subgroups of European pharmacists regarding competencies for practice. Results obtained show that with “large” (>15) numbers of responses and similar (but clearly not normal) distributions from different subgroups, parametric and non-parametric analyses give in almost all cases the same significant or non-significant results for inter-subgroup comparisons. Parametric methods were more discriminant in the cases of non-similar conclusions. Considering that the largest differences in opinions occurred in the upper part of the 4-point Likert scale (ranks 3 “very important” and 4 “essential”), a “score analysis” based on this part of the data was undertaken. This transformation of the ordinal Likert data into binary scores produced a graphical representation that was visually easier to understand as differences were accentuated. In conclusion, in this case of Likert ordinal data with high response rates, restraining the analysis to non-parametric methods leads to a loss of information. The addition of parametric methods, graphical analysis, analysis of subsets, and transformation of data leads to more in-depth analyses.
Learning to Rank Features for Recommendation over Multiple Categories

Incorporating phrase-level sentiment analysis on users' textual reviews for recommendation has became a popular meth-od due to its explainable property for latent features and high prediction accuracy. However, the inherent limitations of the existing model make it difficult to (1) effectively distinguish the features that are most interesting to users, (2) maintain the recommendation performance especially when the set of items is scaled up to multiple categories, and (3) model users' implicit feedbacks on the product features. In this paper, motivated by these shortcomings, we first introduce a tensor matrix factorization algorithm to Learn to Rank user Preferences based on Phrase-level sentiment analysis across Multiple categories (LRPPM for short), and then by combining this technique with Collaborative Filtering (CF) method, we propose a novel model called LRPPM-CF to boost the performance of recommendation. Thorough experiments on two real-world datasets demonstrate that our proposed model is able to improve the performance in the tasks of capturing users' interested features and item recommendation by about 17%-24% and 7%-13%, respectively, as compared with several state-of-the-art methods.
Mechanism of Trypanosoma cruzi Placenta Invasion and Infection: The Use of Human Chorionic Villi Explants

Congenital Chagas disease, a neglected tropical disease, endemic in Latin America, is associated with premature labor and miscarriage. During vertical transmission the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) crosses the placental barrier. However, the exact mechanism of the placental infection remains unclear. We review the congenital transmission of T. cruzi, particularly the role of possible local placental factors that contribute to the vertical transmission of the parasite. Additionally, we analyze the different methods available for studying the congenital transmission of the parasite. In that context, the ex vivo infection with T. cruzi trypomastigotes of human placental chorionic villi constitutes an excellent tool for studying parasite infection strategies as well as possible local antiparasitic mechanisms.
Aspirin “resistance” and risk of cardiovascular morbidity: systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective To determine if there is a relation between aspirin “resistance” and clinical outcomes in patients with cardiovascular disease. Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Data source Electronic literature search without language restrictions of four databases and hand search of bibliographies for other relevant articles. Review methods Inclusion criteria included a test for platelet responsiveness and clinical outcomes. Aspirin resistance was assessed, using a variety of platelet function assays. Results 20 studies totalling 2930 patients with cardiovascular disease were identified. Most studies used aspirin regimens, ranging from 75-325 mg daily, and six studies included adjunct antiplatelet therapy. Compliance was confirmed directly in 14 studies and by telephone or interviews in three. Information was insufficient to assess compliance in three studies. Overall, 810 patients (28%) were classified as aspirin resistant. A cardiovascular related event occurred in 41% of patients (odds ratio 3.85, 95% confidence interval 3.08 to 4.80), death in 5.7% (5.99, 2.28 to 15.72), and an acute coronary syndrome in 39.4% (4.06, 2.96 to 5.56). Aspirin resistant patients did not benefit from other antiplatelet treatment. Conclusion Patients who are resistant to aspirin are at a greater risk of clinically important cardiovascular morbidity long term than patients who are sensitive to aspirin.
Health literacy: a policy challenge for advancing high-quality health care.

Health literacy, at the intersection of health and education, involves more than reading ability. Studies of health literacy abilities show that many Americans with the greatest health care needs have the least ability to comprehend information required to navigate and function in the U.S. health care system. This paper defines health literacy as an important policy issue and offers strategies for creating a health-literate America.
Synaptic plasticity across different time scales and its functional implications

Humans and animals learn by modifying the synaptic strength between neurons, a phenomenon known as synaptic plasticity. These changes can be induced by rather short stimuli (lasting, for instance, only a few seconds), yet, in order to be useful for long-term memory, they should remain stable for months or years. Experimentalists study synaptic plasticity by applying a vast variety of protocols. In the present thesis we focus on protocols that fall under two main categories: (i) Those that induce synaptic modifications that last for only a few hours ("early phase" of plasticity) (ii) Those that allow synapses to undergo a sequence of steps that transforms the rapid changes occurring during the "early phase" into a stable memory trace ("late phase" of plasticity). The goal of this thesis is to better understand synaptic plasticity across these different phases, early and late, by creating compact mathematic models to describe the plasticity mechanisms. Our approach allows for a synthetic view of the field as well as the exploration of functional consequences of learning. In this direction, we propose a model for the induction of synaptic plasticity that depends on the presynaptic spike time and nonlinearly on the postsynaptic voltage. The model is able to reproduce a broad range of experimental protocols such as voltage-clamp experiments and spike-timing experiments. Since the voltage is a key element in the model, we describe the neuronal activity by using a compact neuron model that faithfully reproduces the voltage time course of pyramidal neurons. In addition, this model of the induction of synaptic plasticity is combined with a trigger process for protein synthesis, and the final stabilization mechanism in order to describe the "late phase". In this combinatory form, it is able to explain experimental phenomena known as tagging experiments and to make testable predictions. A study of functional consequences of the induction model reveals selectivity in the inputs, independent component analysis computation and a tight relation between connectivity and coding. In parallel a top-down approach finding independent components is used to derive a rate-based learning rule which shows structural correlations with the induction model. This unified model across different time scales allowing the stabilization of synapses is crucial to understand learning and memory processes in animals and humans, and a necessary ingredient for any large-scale model of the brain.
Immunological Evidence for Functional Rather than Structural Mimicry by a Shigella flexneri Y Polysaccharide-Mimetic Peptide

ABSTRACT An approach to vaccine design is the use of molecules that mimic the immunogenic element of interest. In this context, the interaction of MDWNMHAA, a peptide mimic of the Shigella flexneri Y O polysaccharide (PS), with an anti-carbohydrate monoclonal antibody, as studied previously by X-ray crystallography, suggested the presence of functional rather than structural mimicry and a bound peptide conformation that was not represented significantly in the free-ligand ensemble. The antibody response elicited by an MDWNMHAA-carrier protein (tetanus toxoid [TT]) conjugate has now been investigated in BALB/c mice. The mice were immunized following a homologous prime/boost strategy using MDWNMHAA-TT as the immunogen. The mice showed anti-peptide antibody (immunoglobulin G [IgG]) titers that increased after being boosted. High anti-lipopolysaccharide (LPS) (IgG) titers were observed after the last boost. A faster immune response, with cross-reactive titers, was observed with a peptide conjugate with 30% more copies of the peptide. The binding of anti-peptide polyclonal antibodies to LPS could be inhibited by LPS, PS, MDWNMHAA, and MDWNMHAA-bovine serum albumin, as assessed by inhibition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Conversely, mice immunized with PS-TT showed IgG anti-peptide titers. These data demonstrate the cross-reactivity of the antibody response and support the hypothesis that functional, as opposed to structural, mimicry of the S. flexneri Y O PS by MDWNMHAA or the underrepresentation of the bound ligand conformation in the free-ligand ensemble does not compromise immunological cross-reactivity. Prime/boost strategies were performed with a heterologous boost of PS-TT or MDWNMHAA-TT. They led to high anti-LPS titers after only three injections, suggesting alternatives to improve the immunogenicity of the carbohydrate-mimetic peptide and confirming the antigenic mimicry.
Abnormal Peripheral Blood Dendritic Cell Populations in Type 1 Diabetes

Abstract: Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a T cell‐mediated disease. Various DC populations play important roles in initiating and directing T cell responses and thus may be critical for T1D pathogenesis. We thus examined peripheral blood DC1 and DC2 populations by flow cytometry in healthy controls, subjects at risk for T1D, new‐onset patients, and established T1D patients. We found a significant increase in the number of DCs (including DC1 and DC2) in at‐risk subjects and those with new‐onset T1D versus healthy controls and established T1D patients (ANOVA; p < 0.0001). Analysis of DC1 and DC2 subsets in these same groups demonstrated a significant decrease in the ratio of DC1 and DC2 in subjects at risk and new‐onset and established T1D patients in contrast with healthy controls (p < 0.0001). Both subsets of peripheral blood DCs from T1D patients expressed significantly higher levels of HLA‐DR than healthy controls. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from T1D patients secreted significantly higher amounts of IFN‐α than controls, and IFN‐α production correlated inversely with the DC1/DC2 ratio. This study demonstrates a marked increase in peripheral blood DC numbers that occurs during a time of active autoimmunity in at‐risk subjects and patients with new‐onset T1D, but is lost in established diabetes. However, the abnormal distribution of peripheral blood DC populations appears to be a persistent phenotype in all stages of T1D.
Highly Linear Radio-Over-Fiber System Incorporating a Single-Drive Dual-Parallel Mach–Zehnder Modulator

We propose a highly linear radio-over-fiber system with low intermodulation distortion (IMD) using a single-drive dual-parallel Mach-Zehnder modulator (SD-DPMZM). The optical carrier is modulated in one of the two parallel modulators, while remaining unmodulated in the other one. There exists optimal working points for SD-DPMZM that makes its two kinds of origins of third-order IMD (IMD3) have opposite phase and equal intensity, and cancel each other; hence the output IMD3 is suppressed dramatically. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme can achieve a spurious-free dynamic range of up to 122.9 dB · Hz2/3, which is in agreement with the theoretical analysis. It is about 20 dB more than a conventional MZM. The error vector magnitude of the proposed scheme, for a 16-QAM 10-MSym/s signal centered at 4 GHz, is 1.94%.
Free-Operant Acquisition with Delayed Reinforcement

The acquisition of free-operant lever pressing by hungry rats was investigated under a schedule in which the first lever press in each second programmed a reinforcer delivery after a fixed delay. In two studies acquisition was observed under programmed delays ranging between 0 and 32 sec, although animals trained with a delay of 64 sec pressed no more than yoked, non-contingent controls. In the final study an attempt was made to enhance sensitivity to the instrumental contingency under a 64-sec delay by exposing the animals to the operant chamber in the absence of the lever prior to each training session. Only animals receiving such exposure pressed significantly more than their non-contingent controls.
Enhanced Targeting in Breast Tissue Using a Robotic Tissue Preloading-Based Needle Insertion System

The use of minimally invasive procedures for breast tumor diagnosis and treatment, such as needle biopsy and radiofrequency ablation (RFA), is steadily increasing. Accurate needle insertion requires solving the problems of tissue deformation and target displacement. In this study, we developed a robotic needle insertion method to improve the precision of diagnostic biopsy and RFA treatment. The mechanical probe was designed to reduce tissue displacement by pressing the breast tissue before needle insertion: a technique that is known as preloading. We focused on the needle insertion phase and evaluated the insertion accuracy achieved. Using a numerical simulation model and an actual hog breast, we compared tissue preloaded needle insertion with normal needle insertion. The data obtained with both test systems showed that targeting errors were greatly reduced using preloading-based needle insertion, as compared with normal needle insertion. The procedure is expected to offer a safe and effective alternative to the traditional methods of needle insertion for breast tissue biopsy or RFA. Our study also revealed the relationship between insertion accuracy and preloading probe force.
Comparison of sequential three-drug regimens as initial therapy for HIV-1 infection.

BACKGROUND The optimal sequencing of antiretroviral regimens for the treatment of infection with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is unknown. We compared several different antiretroviral treatment strategies. METHODS This multicenter, randomized, partially double-blind trial used a factorial design to compare pairs of sequential three-drug regimens, starting with a regimen including zidovudine and lamivudine or a regimen including didanosine and stavudine in combination with either nelfinavir or efavirenz. The primary end point was the length of time to the failure of the second three-drug regimen. RESULTS A total of 620 subjects who had not previously received antiretroviral therapy were followed for a median of 2.3 years. Starting with a three-drug regimen containing efavirenz combined with zidovudine and lamivudine (but not efavirenz combined with didanosine and stavudine) appeared to delay the failure of the second regimen, as compared with starting with a regimen containing nelfinavir (hazard ratio for failure of the second regimen, 0.71; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.48 to 1.06), as well as to delay the second virologic failure (hazard ratio, 0.56; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.29 to 1.09), and significantly delayed the failure of the first regimen (hazard ratio, 0.39) and the first virologic failure (hazard ratio, 0.34). Starting with zidovudine and lamivudine combined with efavirenz (but not zidovudine and lamivudine combined with nelfinavir) appeared to delay the failure of the second regimen, as compared with starting with didanosine and stavudine (hazard ratio, 0.68), and significantly delayed both the first and the second virologic failures (hazard ratio for the first virologic failure, 0.39; hazard ratio for the second virologic failure, 0.47), as well as the failure of the first regimen (hazard ratio, 0.35). The initial use of zidovudine, lamivudine, and efavirenz resulted in a shorter time to viral suppression. CONCLUSIONS The efficacy of antiretroviral drugs depends on how they are combined. The combination of zidovudine, lamivudine, and efavirenz is superior to the other antiretroviral regimens used as initial therapy in this study.
Rousing reviews and instigative images: The impact of online reviews and visual design characteristics on app downloads

Mobile apps are very popular. However, this is not true for every app, with some apps receiving millions of downloads, while other apps are mostly ignored. We investigate the popularity of apps in terms of downloads by focusing on two salient cues: (a) online recommendations (e.g., presence and valence of online reviews) and (b) visual characteristics of app icons (e.g., use of visual metaphors and anthropomorphism). Study 1 was a field study in which we content-analyzed 500 apps from the “transportation” subcategory of the Google Play Store. We found that the presence and valence of online reviews, as well as the presence of visual metaphors in app icons were positively related to the number of app downloads. Study 2 was an experiment in which we presented participants with different app icons containing different types of visual metaphors. We again found that app icons with visual metaphors led to more positive attitudes towards the apps and behavioral intentions. Combined, our studies show that both online consumers (through online reviews) and app designers (through visual design) impact an app’s popularity.
Marketing interno: la actuación conjunta entre recursos humanos y marketing en busca del compromiso organizacional

[spa] Esta investigacion tiene como objetivo principal identificar el proceso de marketing interno y su influencia en el compromiso organizacional de los empleados. Fue hecha una revision de la conceptualizacion del topico de marketing interno para estructurar un modelo de marketing interno para las organizaciones. Simultaneamente fue estudiado el tema de compromiso organizacional, a partir del modelo de Allen y Meyer, identificando sus antecedentes y consecuentes. El metodo de investigacion fue compuesto por una etapa cualitativa, para identificar, empiricamente, los procesos que se relacionan con las practicas de marketing interno en las organizaciones, y cuantitativo para buscar la asociacion entre los dos principales temas. Los datos cualitativos fueran analizados a partir del analisis de contenido, considerando principalmente el enfoque exploratorio del estudio. Los datos cuantitativos fueran analizados a partir de tecnicas estadisticas como por ejemplo el analisis factorial. La investigacion, hecha en cinco empresas del sur de Brasil, apunta para una asociacion positiva entre el marketing interno y el compromiso organizacional. Indico tambien que el Modelo de Marketing Interno es compuesto por tres dimensiones: la orientacion al cliente, las practicas de recursos humanos y la comunicacion interna. Ademas, se constato que las empresas que transforman su discurso en practica, presentan empleados mas comprometidos, que el marketing interno no es solo una gestion avanzada de recursos humanos, sino una gestion de estrategica de recursos humanos sobre una perspectiva de marketing y que la comunicacion interna es una de las variables del proceso. La principal limitacion del estudio esta en el numero de empresas investigadas en el trabajo.