Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Understanding the volume-outcome effect in cardiovascular surgery: the role of failure to rescue.

IMPORTANCE To effectively guide interventions aimed at reducing mortality in low-volume hospitals, the underlying mechanisms of the volume-outcome relationship must be further explored. Reducing mortality after major postoperative complications may represent one point along the continuum of patient care that could significantly affect overall hospital mortality. OBJECTIVE To determine whether increased mortality at low-volume hospitals performing cardiovascular surgery is a function of higher postoperative complication rates or of less successful rescue from complications. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS We used patient-level data from 119434 Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries aged 65 to 99 years undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting, aortic valve repair, or abdominal aortic aneurysm repair between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2006. For each operation, we first divided hospitals into quintiles of procedural volume. We then assessed hospital risk-adjusted rates of mortality, major complications, and failure to rescue (ie, case fatality among patients with complications) within each volume quintile. EXPOSURE Hospital procedural volume. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Hospital rates of risk-adjusted mortality, major complications, and failure to rescue. RESULTS For each operation, hospital volume was more strongly related to failure-to-rescue rates than to complication rates. For example, patients undergoing aortic valve replacement at very low-volume hospitals (lowest quintile) were 12% more likely to have a major complication than those at very high-volume hospitals (highest quintile) but were 57% more likely to die if a complication occurred. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE High-volume and low-volume hospitals performing cardiovascular surgery have similar complication rates but disparate failure-to-rescue rates. While preventing complications is important, hospitals should also consider interventions aimed at quickly recognizing and managing complications once they occur.
Making Sense of Data II: A Practical Guide to Data Visualization, Advanced Data Mining Methods, and Applications

Making Sense of Data II: A Practical Guide to Data Visualization, Advanced Data Mining Methods, and Applications had me excited with the title, but let me down with dry content and uninteresting data. The book does a good job of summarizing the range of techniques used in modern data mining, but there is too much focus on describing each procedure, and too little focus on why you should use each one and how you can interpret the results.
Enhanced expression of type I receptors for bone morphogenetic proteins during bone formation

Type I receptors for bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), i.e., BMPR‐IA and BMPR‐IB, are transmembrane serine/threonine kinases, that bind osteogenic protein‐1 (OP‐1, also termed BMP‐7) and BMP‐4. Using antibodies specific to BMPR‐IA and ‐IB, we have studied the expression of BMP type I receptors in the bone formation process during embryonic development and fracture healing. In the mouse embryo, both BMPR‐IA and ‐IB were expressed in condensing mesenchymal cells at 13.5 days post coitum (p.c.). At 15.5 days p.c. , expression of BMPR‐IB, but not of BMPR‐IA, was observed in the cells in perichondrium of developing cartilage. At 17.5 and 19.5 days p.c. , expression of both receptors was observed in chondrocytes and in osteoblasts. In normal rat adult bone, expression of BMPR‐IA, but not of BMPR‐IB, was observed in osteoblasts in the periosteum. Three days after the femoral fracture, expression of BMPR‐IA and ‐IB was up‐regulated in cells at the proliferating osteogenic layer of the periosteum. On day 7, both receptors were found in fibroblast‐like spindle cells and chondrocytes in the endochondral ossification sites, and osteoblasts in the newly formed trabecular bone. Expression of BMPR‐IA was higher than that of BMPR‐IB in osteogenic layer on day 3 and in osteoblasts in the trabecular bone on day 7. On day 14, expression of BMP type I receptors was observed at similar sites, albeit with lower expression levels than were observed on day 7. The present data suggest that expression of BMP type I receptors is up‐regulated during bone formation, and that they may play important roles in bone morphogenesis.
Surface orientation depdendence of electro-optic effects in InGaAsP for lateral PIN-junction InGaAsP photonic-wire modulators

Electro-optic effects on InGaAsP(001), (110) and (111) have been numerically analyzed for an InGaAsP photonic-wire optical modulator with a lateral PIN-junction. We have presented that largest refractive index change can be obtained using InGaAsP(110) when TE polarized light propagates parallel to [111] direction. The amount of index change is approximately 15 % larger than that of InGaAsP(001) where electric field is vertically applied. Effects of carrier depletion have also been calculated and found carrier depletion can enhance the index change several times.
EXPERIENCE TRAJECTORIES, GOVERNANCE DESIGN, AND THE PERFORMANCE OF HIGH-TECH ALLIANCES

Drawing upon the knowledge-based view of the firm and transaction cost theory, this paper combines experience accumulation and governance design arguments to examine the performance of high-tech alliances. We differentiate three alliance experience trajectories – partner-specific experience (i.e., prior alliances with the same partner), technology-specific experience (i.e., prior alliances in similar product areas), and general collaborative experience – and suggest that experience accumulation at the parent firm level and governance design at the alliance level jointly influence the odds of alliance success. Based on a sample of 144 biotechnology alliances, we examine the extent to which these alliances result in knowledge accumulation, create new opportunities, and enable parent firms to achieve their objectives. We find that only partner-specific experience has a positive impact on alliance performance, and that this effect is due to the interaction between partner-specific experience and the alliance’s governance design. The development of inter-firm routines can enhance the effectiveness of partnerships, particularly non-equity alliances lacking formal coordination and control mechanisms.
Differences in Microbiota Membership along the Gastrointestinal Tract of Piglets and Their Differential Alterations Following an Early-Life Antibiotic Intervention

Early-life antibiotic interventions can change the predisposition to disease by disturbing the gut microbiota. However, the impact of antibiotics on gut microbiota in the gastrointestinal tract is not completely understood, although antibiotic-induced alterations in the distal gut have been reported. Here, employing a piglet model, the microbial composition was analyzed by high-throughput 16S rRNA gene sequencing and PICRUSt predictions of metagenome function. The present study showed clear spatial variation of microbial communities in the stomach and intestine, and found that the administration of antibiotics (a mixture of olaquindox, oxytetracycline calcium, kitasamycin) in early life caused markedly differential alterations in the compartmentalized microbiota, with major alterations in their spatial variation in the lumen of the stomach and small intestine. In piglets fed an antibiotic-free diet, most of the variation in microbial communities was concentrated in gut segments and niches (lumen/mucosa). The microbial diversity was higher in the lumen of stomach and duodenum than that in ileum. The early-life antibiotic intervention decreased the abundance of some Lactobacillus species and increased the abundance of potentially pathogenic Streptococcus suis in the lumen of the stomach and small intestine. Interestingly, the intervention increased the abundance of Treponema only in the colonic lumen and that of Faecalibacterium only in the ileal mucosa. Furthermore, the antibiotic intervention exerted location-specific effects on the functional potential involved in the phosphotransferase system (decreased sucrose phosphotransferase in the stomach) and antibiotic-resistance genes (increased in the colon). These results point to an early-life antibiotic-induced dramatic and location-specific shift in the gut microbiota, with profound impact in the foregut and less impact in the hindgut. Collectively, these findings provide new insights into the membership of the microbiota along the gastrointestinal tract of piglets and highlight the importance of considering the foregut microbiota in health management of piglets at early life.
Dynamic Multilevel Priority Packet Scheduling Scheme for Wireless Sensor Network

Scheduling different types of packets, such as real-time and non-real-time data packets, at sensor nodes with resource constraints in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) is of vital importance to reduce sensors' energy consumptions and end-to-end data transmission delays. Most of the existing packet-scheduling mechanisms of WSN use First Come First Served (FCFS), non-preemptive priority and preemptive priority scheduling algorithms. These algorithms incur a high processing overhead and long end-to-end data transmission delay due to the FCFS concept, starvation of high priority real-time data packets due to the transmission of a large data packet in non-preemptive priority scheduling, starvation of non-real-time data packets due to the probable continuous arrival of real-time data in preemptive priority scheduling, and improper allocation of data packets to queues in multilevel queue scheduling algorithms. Moreover, these algorithms are not dynamic to the changing requirements of WSN applications since their scheduling policies are predetermined. In this paper, we propose a Dynamic Multilevel Priority (DMP) packet scheduling scheme. In the proposed scheme, each node, except those at the last level of the virtual hierarchy in the zone-based topology of WSN, has three levels of priority queues. Real-time packets are placed into the highest-priority queue and can preempt data packets in other queues. Non-real-time packets are placed into two other queues based on a certain threshold of their estimated processing time. Leaf nodes have two queues for real-time and non-real-time data packets since they do not receive data from other nodes and thus, reduce end-to-end delay. We evaluate the performance of the proposed DMP packet scheduling scheme through simulations for real-time and non-real-time data. Simulation results illustrate that the DMP packet scheduling scheme outperforms conventional schemes in terms of average data waiting time and end-to-end delay.
Causes of conflict and effective methods to conflict management at Islamic secondary schools in Yala, Thailand

This study presents the perceptions of teachers and school principals toward the causes of conflict and effective methods to conflict management at selected Islamic private secondary schools in Yala Province, Thailand. The sample of the study was 313 respondents which consist of 11 principals and 302 teachers. The instruments used were survey questionnaire and interview with the selected respondents. The data was processed using the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 15.0 for Windows. The results show, the principals perceived that the main cause of conflicts occurred in school was „ambiguously defined responsibilities‟ and the teachers agreed that „different perception‟ was the major cause of conflict in school. Interestingly, both principals and teachers were strongly agreed that the most effective method to solve conflict is to „identify the causes and take appropriate steps to the solutions‟. Moreover, the findings suggest that the best solution of conflict is by applying Islamic principles such as shura,halaqoh and using the Qu‟ran and Hadith to guide them out of conflicts. It is hope that the findings of this study may guide the principals, teacher-administrators, educational leaders, teachers, and all group or individual in educational organization to manage conflicts wisely and successfully towards the harmonious working environment with optimum productivity in the era of globalization, especially the principals and teachers of Islamic and government schools in Thailand.
The Applicability of Integrated Solutions Offerings: Differential Effects of Product Complexity

The purpose of this article is to develop a conceptual model of the influences of product complexity on the applicability and adoption of solutions offerings as a marketing strategy. Qualitative data from in-depth interviews with executives at 7 furniture manufacturing firms were investigated and a conceptual model was developed. Based on the results, a model for relationships between different aspects of complexity and solutions is proposed and an expansion of the complexity concept suggested. The article expands the knowledge on both solutions strategy and complexity and may also guide managers in the development of their marketing strategies.
Motorcycle Exhaust Particles Induce IL-8 Production Through NF-κB Activation in Human Airway Epithelial Cells

Motorcycle exhaust particles (MEP) are among the major air pollutants, especially in urban area of Taiwan. In our previous study, data showed that MEP induce proinflammatory and proallergic response profiles in BALB/c mice. Effects of MEP on interleukin (IL)-8 production in A549 human airway epithelial cells were further investigated in this study. It was found that MEP enhanced IL-8 protein and mRNA expression in human epithelial cells. Pretreatment with an NF-κB inhibitor (1 mM PDTC), extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) inhibitor (50 μM PD98059), JNK inhibitor (25 μM SP600125), p38 inhibitor (2 μM SB203580), and three antioxidants (500 U/ml superoxide dismutase [SOD], 50 μM vitamin E, 10 mM N-acetylcysteine [NAC]) attenuated the MEP-induced increase in IL-8 production. Through further, direct detection of nuclear factor (NF)-κB activation in epithelial cells using immunoblotting of nuclear p65 and NF-κB reporter assay, data showed that MEP induced nuclear translocation of p65 and enhancement of NF-κB luciferase gene expression. MEP also induced activation of ERK, JNK, and p38 signaling pathways and produced an increase of oxidative stress in A549 cells. By using mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) inhibitors and antioxidant, it was demonstrated that ERK inhibitor, JNK inhibitor, and antioxidants but not p38 inhibitor attenuated the MEP-induced increase in NF-κB reporter activity. In conclusion, evidence shows that filter-trapped particles emitted from unleaded gasoline-fueled, two-stroke motorcycle engines induce an increase in IL-8 production by activation of NF-κB in human airway epithelial cells.
Immunochemical characterization of Neisseria meningitidis serotype antigens by immunodiffusion and SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis immunoperoxidase techniques and the distribution of serotypes among cases and carriers.

The chemical nature of the antigens of the meningococcal serotypes described by Frasch and colleagues was determined by a combination of immunodiffusion and the SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis immunoperoxidase technique (SGIP). It was confirmed that the serotype antigens of the outer membrane of serotypes 1, 2, 6, 9, 11 and 12 were proteins, whilst those of serotypes 4,5 and 8 were lipopolysaccharides. Serotype 2 can now be divided into three related types, provisionally called 2a (originally serotype 2), 2b and 2c with the specific antigens being proteins having molecular weights of 41,000, 41,500 and 41,500, respectively. A total of 195 strains of meningococci isolated from patients and carriers in the Netherlands and 20 serogroup Y strains from patients in the U.S.A. were serotyped by means of immunodiffusion. Serotype 2a could be demonstrated in some strains belonging to the serogroups B (only those from carriers), C, W-135 and Y (only those from the U.S.A.). The W-135 strains isolated from patients in this series more often belonged to serotype 2a than did the W-135 strains from carriers. Serotype 2b was present in about half of the serogroup B and a few serogroup C strains isolated from patients with meningitis, but absent in serogroup B and C strains from carriers. Serotype 2c could only be demonstrated in serogroup Y strains, both from the Netherlands and the U.S.A. The other serotypes were found only sporadically.
Unclaimed Dividend : Matters Arising

One of the major essences of investment in the ordinary shares of an organization is the return on investment which could be in the form of capital appreciation or dividend. Dividends are payments made by company to its shareholders. It is an after tax profit appropriated to the members of the company (shareholders). Over the years the value of these dividends remaining unclaimed in the books of these organizations are becoming alarming. Various reasons are attributed to this increase in unclaimed dividends. Some of these reasons include: death of shareholders, change of address by investors, lost of dividend warrant on transit. In order to understand the dynamics of unclaimed dividend descriptive statistic was used to analyze data from First Bank of Nigeria (FBN) for the period of ten years. We discovered that unclaimed dividend is increasing geometrically.
Current trends in pediatric cochlear implant candidate selection and postoperative follow-up.

PURPOSE In this article, the authors describe current pediatric cochlear implant (CI) assessment and postoperative scheduling protocols in the United States. METHOD A survey was conducted in 2 phases. RESULTS Response rates were similar between Phase I (10%) and Phase II (13%). Across phases, nearly all respondents reported assessing speech perception both preoperatively and postoperatively. The most frequently used parent questionnaires were the Infant-Toddler Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (Robbins, Renshaw, & Berry, 1991), the Meaningful Auditory Integration Scale (Robbins et al., 1991), and LittlEARS (Kuehn-Inacken, Weichboldt, Tsiakpini, Coninx, & D'Haese, 2003). The most commonly used speech perception measure for children <23 months of age was the Early Speech Perception Test-Low Verbal (ESP-LV; Moog & Geers, 1990). The most commonly used measures for children 24-35 months of age were the ESP-LV, the Northwestern University of Children's Perception of Speech (Elliot & Katz, 1980), and the Mr. Potato Head task (Robbins, 1993). For children >36 months of age, there was a wide variety of speech perception tests utilized. Patient follow-up visits were weekly or biweekly immediately following CI activation, then every 3 months for the remainder of the 1st year. After the 1st year, most children were seen semiannually. CONCLUSIONS Although trends emerged, there is a lack of consistency in the selection of speech perception measures utilized across centers for children <36 months of age. The development of a working group to establish a standard minimum pediatric test battery (similar to the adult Minimum Speech Test Battery) would promote uniformity in clinical protocols used to assess children who receive CIs.
Trophic factors for Parkinson's disease: To live or let die

Trophic factors show great promise in laboratory studies as potential therapies for PD. However, multiple double‐blind, clinical trials have failed to show benefits in comparison to a placebo control. This article will review the scientific rationale for testing trophic factors in PD, the results of the different clinical trials that have been performed to date, and the possible explanations for these failed outcomes. We will also consider future directions and the likelihood that trophic factors will become a viable therapy for patients with PD. © 2015 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society
An Exploratory Study into the Accountancy Firms Chosen by Industrial Company IPOs in Australia from 1994 to 2004

This study is an exploration into the choice of independent accountants made by industrial initial public offering (IPO) companies in Australia between the years 1994 to 2004. The aim of this research is to determine which companies are more likely to use one of the Top 5 accountancy firms and in so doing we seek to offer some insight into understanding the likelihood of IPO companies adopting the services of the big accounting firms. Our findings show, as predicted, that the majority of industrial IPO companies, and particularly the larger companies, used one of the Top 5 accountancy firms as their independent accountant. However, unexpected was that certain industry types were less likely to hire a Top 5 accounting firm for their independent accounting services compared to other industry categories. Our studies also found that after the year 2000 a smaller percentage of companies used independent accountants than between 1994 and 1999. Many factors contribute to the selection of an independent accountant and this paper provides some understanding of identified factors and the influence that they have over the choice of independent accountants by industrial company IPOs.
Marketing MIX: An Area of Unethical Practices?

2 Abstract: In this paper we intend to develop the model of ethics in marketing. The first part of the article is concerned with presentation of the components of marketing and how they can be subject of unethical practices. In the second section we emphasis on empirical study in order to show that many unethical marketing practices may be occurred especially which are related to pricing and advertising practices.
THE INFLUENCE OF BRAND IMAGE, BRAND TRUST, AND CUSTOMER PERCEIVED VALUE IN CREATING CUSTOMER LOYALTY IN HALAL CERTIFICATE OF MUI ON COSMETIC PRODUCT: An Empirical Study on Customer of Wardah Cosmetics in Malang

The purpose of this research is to examine the influence of Brand Image, Brand Trust, and Customer Perceived Value in creating Customer Loyalty in Halal Certificate of MUI on Cosmetic Product. The use of these variables enables the writer to observe customers of Wardah Cosmetics in Malang. In order to know the relationship among variables, a regression analysis, F-test, and t-test were applied. The samples in this research are the Muslim customers of Wardah Cosmetics in Malang who purchase the product twice and more. The sampling technique used was a purposive sampling involving 122 respondents. Brand Image, Brand Trust, Customer Perceived Value, and Customer Loyalty were tested using validity test, reliability test, and classical assumption test. The hypothesis testing used F-test and t-test to analyze the data used in Multiple Linear Regression Analysis. The multiple regression analysis result shows that Brand Image, Brand Trust, and Customer Perceived Value have significant effect simultaneously and partially toward Customer Loyalty. The dominant test shows that Brand Image is the most dominant variable influencing the Customer Loyalty. The result of this research can be applied in Marketing Strategy. The company should retain the image, trust, and value of product with halal image in order to always have a positive image on the customers’ eyes which later can influence their loyalty. Keywords: Brand Image, Brand Trust, Customer Loyalty, Customer Perceived Value, Halal Certificate of MUI