Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparison of the effects of nonlinear gain and weak optical feedback on the dynamics of semiconductor lasers

The influence of nonlinear gain and optical feedback on the dynamics of single-mode semiconductor lasers are numerically investigated based on the Lang and Kobayashi model. It is well known that the nonlinear gain tends to stabilize the dynamics, while the optical feedback tends to increase the instabilities. In this paper, we study the behavior of the attractors when the feedback level k and the gain saturation coefficient /spl epsi/ vary and show that the effects of these parameters are surprisingly opposite. For example, we find that the route to chaos that the external cavity modes follow for increasing k is reversed for increasing /spl epsi/ in an almost identical manner. When the feedback increases the modes follow the usual quasi-periodic route and turn into torus. If k continues to increase, the torus become chaotic attractors as the result of several period-doubling bifurcations or a third Hopf bifurcation. Further increase of k causes the chaotic attractors to lose stability, Contrarily, if the value of the parameter /spl epsi/ is increased, the attractors recover their stability and reverse the route becoming simple torus again. If /spl epsi/ is increased further, the torus reverse the quasi-periodic route and turn into stable modes again. We also find that on the contrary to k, the parameter /spl epsi/ enhances the stability region of an attractor. We show that the feedback level above which a limit cycle emerges from a stable mode, the feedback level above which a torus emerges from a limit cycle, and the feedback level above which a chaotic attractor loses stability are all increasing functions of /spl epsi/.
Service Regime and Sectoral Patterns of Innovation in Services: a Reinvestigation using Miozzo & Soete Taxonomy

This paper develops a notion of the service regime and uses this service regime to empirically reconsider the sectoral patterns of innovation in Miozzo and Soete service taxonomy. Taking a synthesis approach to service innovation, this paper develops the service regime derived from the technological regime and incorporating service trajectory, and non-legal appropriable mechanisms into the framework. Four research hypotheses are proposed to elaborate the sectoral patterns of innovation in four service sectors. A dataset of 5,711 service firms is collected from the Taiwan Innovation Survey 2004-2006. The results indicate that the service regime across four service sectors is not so obviously sector-specific than the paper expects. This paper confirms that the sectoral patterns of innovation in service are generally still equivocal, resulting from their loosely coupled systems in nature. The paper concludes that the service regime provides a novel framework to re-examine service innovation.
PRIVATE EQUITY FUND PERFORMANCE SIGNALS AND THE LIKELIHOOD OF FOLLOW-ON FUNDRAISING

Drawing upon signaling theory and the attention-based view of the firm, we study if signal receivers attend differently to different types of signals when they interact with different firms or operate under different market conditions. Our theorizing and empirical analysis is situated in the context of the follow-on fundraising activities by private equity managers managing a first fund. Using a sample of 238 private equity partnerships, we find that overall performance of the first private equity fund and its two components, namely realized performance and unrealized performance, positively influence the likelihood of raising a follow-on fund. Nevertheless, the impact of realized performance on fundraising is less important for funds investing in early stage companies (early stage funds) as compared to funds investing in mature companies (late stage funds). Moreover, realized performance is a more important signal to fund investors in hot equity markets than in cold equity markets. We discuss the implica.
An investigational new drug treatment program for patients with gemcitabine

An Investigational New Drug (IND) treatment program allows patients access to a drug that has shown activity against a serious or life‐threatening disease prior to full Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review and approval. This treatment IND program, in which patients with locally advanced or metastatic pancreatic carcinoma were treated with gemcitabine, began in 1995.
Competitive service quality improvement (CSQI): a case study in the fast‐food industry

This paper proposes a new model for competitive service quality improvement (CSQI) which is applied to a case study in the fast-food industry. Current and competitive service quality levels are considered for improving competitive service quality using current service quality levels measured by the SERVQUAL instrument with a ratio-score scale. Competitive service quality is analysed by customer assessment relative to each service attribute. Subsequently, the entropy method is used to quantify competitiveness. The value of each attribute's entropy indicates the relative importance of the attribute for CSQI. Finally, the attribute priorities are determined by the combination of current service quality level and entropy value. Empirical testing of the model on a fast-food case study indicates the importance of using the current service quality level and competitive performance indices simultaneously within a CSQI model.
Normal Values for Cervical Vestibular-Evoked Myogenic Potentials

Objectives To assess the variability of normal values for cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMP) testing and to provide guidance regarding which parameters should be reported for clinical practice. Study Design Forty-eight normal subjects with no history of hearing loss or vestibular symptoms underwent cVEMP testing. Measurement parameters were tabulated and compared to other sets of cVEMP normal values in the literature. The literature was reviewed to assess the clinical significance of abnormal cVEMP results. The distributions of threshold and symmetry ratios for normal subjects were compared to the distributions of 90 patients who underwent cVEMP testing. Setting Tertiary academic center. Results Upper limits of 42% symmetry ratio and the range of 65 to 95 dB HL for threshold were established for our center. The quartile coefficients of dispersion were much less than 1.0 for all cVEMP parameters in the literature, suggesting that the variability in normal ranges across the literature is small. The distributions for threshold and symmetry ratio were similar between normal and patient groups. There is a lack of information in the literature regarding the impairment of function resulting from various degrees of abnormality of VEMP results. Conclusions Normal values for cVEMP parameters are statistically consistent in the literature. The clinical significance of abnormal values has not been validated. For clinical purposes, cVEMP “thresholds” should be reported. Reporting of other parameters is optional.
Monocyte to HDL ratio in prediction of BMS restenosis in subjects with stable and unstable angina pectoris.

AIM This study aims to assess the predictive role of the preprocedural circulating monocyte to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol ratio (MHR) on the occurrence of stent restenosis (SR) in patients with stable and unstable angina pectoris undergoing successful bare-metal stenting (BMS). PATIENTS & METHODS Between February 2008 and June 2014, a total of 831 patients with stable and unstable angina pectoris who underwent successful BMS were retrospectively analyzed. Demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients were recorded. Left ventricular ejection fraction and laboratory data were also noted. RESULTS In the receiver operating characteristics curve analysis, MHR >14 had 71% sensitivity and 69% specificity in predicting SR. CONCLUSION Our study results show that preprocedural MHR is an independent predictor of SR in this patient population.
A sentinel goblet cell guards the colonic crypt by triggering Nlrp6-dependent Muc2 secretion

Mounting the intestinal barricades Gut microbiota are important for health and well-being, but they need to be kept under control and prevented from doing any harm. Birchenough et al. investigated the microbial molecules that trigger protective mucus secretion from a class of goblet cells in the colon. Once the molecules are detected, an alarm signal is transmitted from these cells via innate immune signal mediators and inflammasome components to adjacent cells, generating more mucus and repelling the invaders. Subsequently, the sentinel goblet cells are expelled from the epithelium and their remains may also add to the protective barricade. Science, this issue p. 1535 Innate immune signaling and inflammasome activation trigger mucus release and goblet cell expulsion from the intestinal crypts. Innate immune signaling pathways contribute to the protection of host tissue when bacterially challenged. Colonic goblet cells are responsible for generating the two mucus layers that physically separate the luminal microbiota from the host epithelium. Analysis of colonic tissues from multiple mouse strains allowed us to identify a “sentinel” goblet cell (senGC) localized to the colonic crypt entrance. This cell nonspecifically endocytoses and reacts to the TLR2/1, TLR4, and TLR5 ligands by activating the Nlrp6 inflammasome downstream of TLR- and MyD88-dependent Nox/Duox reactive oxygen species synthesis. This triggers calcium ion–dependent compound exocytosis of Muc2 mucin from the senGC and generates an intercellular gap junction signal; in turn, this signal induces Muc2 secretion from adjacent goblet cells in the upper crypt, which expels bacteria. Thus, senGCs guard and protect the colonic crypt from bacterial intruders that have penetrated the inner mucus layer.
European Cross-National Production Networks in the Auto Industry: Eastern Europe as the Low End of European Car Complex

Automakers have been among the first western firms to enter Central and Eastern Europe. In automobile production and distribution, International Production Networks (IPNs) linking West and East Europe are emerging. The international networking strategies of the car manufacturers, however, show remarkable differences. Some rate the CEEC region primarily as a market, some as a production site, some try to aim at both. These differences are triggered by the domestic bargaining setting (the 'car complex') of these firms, by the dynamics of the internationalisation process itself, and by the reception in the host countries. Four different types of cross-national production networks in Europe have developed in the course of the 1990s: frontrunner, follower, peripheral and lock-out networks. These networks represent decreasing degrees of involvement in the CEEC region. Consequently, countries in Central and Eastern Europe will have different prospects of integrating into the European Union and developing autonomous domestic industrial structures. The radically altered patterns of intra-European trade further illustrates the importance of the intra-European production networks.
A diagnosis for £55: what is the cost of government initiatives in dementia case finding.

vidual studies. We fully agree that many problems persist unsolved in the field of measuring muscle mass. There is a common confusion between fat free mass and muscle mass (muscle is below 40% of fat free mass in older adults); a wide discussion on cut-off points that have to be used to define low muscle mass when defining sarcopenia [1, 2]; and sensitivity to change of muscle mass measurements using different techniques has not been properly assessed [3]. It is known that body weight masks changes in fat mass and fat free mass in elderly subjects [4], so fat free mass may not consistently reflect changes in muscle mass. This is particularly true in obese ageing individuals, as muscle may decrease together with liver or heart enlargement, resulting in a misleading stability in fat free mass. However, we do believe that the concept of ‘primary age-related’muscle mass loss has been confirmed in different longitudinal studies in aging and old humans using different methods to measure muscle mass, although it seems clear that muscle function and muscle quality impair more significantly than muscle mass, due to changes in muscle composition [5–8]. These and other problems in measuring muscle mass, together with the low predictive value of muscle mass for most outcomes lead to our groups and others to emphasise the role of muscle function upon the mass in the modern sarcopenia definitions [9, 10]. Longitudinal changes found in muscle mass and function in individual subjects would, of course, be relevant for clinical practice, as is true for most biological measures, but may not lead to a better understanding of sarcopenia as a condition.
Team Qualification Document for RoboCup 2017 Nagoya , Japan Dutch Nao Team

This is the qualification document for the Dutch Nao Team with Caitlin Lagrand as its team leader. The team consists of two master students, nine bachelor students and one staff member from the University of Amsterdam and Maastricht University, The Netherlands. The qualification video is available at our YouTube channel. A research report [1], describing the technical details of the team’s work for RoboCup 2016, is earlier published on the website.
Institutional logics matter when coordinating resource integration

Resource integration has become an important concept in marketing literature. However, little is known about the systemic nature of resource integration and the ways the activities of resource integrators are coordinated and adjusted to each other. Therefore, we claim that institutions are the coordinating link that have impact on value cocreation efforts and are the reference base for customers’ value assessment. When conceptualizing the systemic nature of resource integration, we include the regulative, normative, and cognitive institutions and institutional logics. This article provides a framework and a structure for identifying and analyzing the influence of institutional logics on resource integration in service systems.
The Job-Creation Effect of Patents: Some Evidence from European Microdata

This paper explores the possible job creation effect of innovation activity. We analyze a unique panel dataset covering almost 20,000 patenting firms from Europe over the period 2003-2012. The main outcome from the proposed GMM-SYS estimations is the labour-friendly nature of innovation, which we measure in terms of forward-citation weighted patents. However, this positive impact of innovation is statistically significant only for firms in the high-tech manufacturing sectors, while not significant in low-tech manufacturing and services.
Allozyme Variability in the Tepary Bean , Phaseolus acutifoHus

The tepary bean {Phaseolus acutifolius) is the object of renewed interest because it possesses some interesting agronomic attributes such as tolerance to drought and salinity. In order to gain a better understanding of the organisation of its genetic diversity, we have examined patterns of diversity for nine polymorphic enzynie systems representing 12 loci in a sample of 55 wild and 8 cultivated accessions. Several geographic patterns were identified, including an East-West differentiation (across the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains), a North-South differentiation, and a locahzed differentiation. Wild teparies displayed a higher number of polymorphic loci, as well as a higher number of aileles per polymorphic locus compared to cultivars, consistent with previous observations indicating a reduction of phaseolin diversity on domestication. No clearcut separation with respect to isozyme differentiation was observed between P. acutifolius var. tenuifokus and var. acutifoliiis, further questioning the validity of this taxonomic separation based on leaflet shape.
Pooled analysis of the efficacy of bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) immunotherapy in malignant melanoma.

BACKGROUND The trials of bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) as adjuvant therapy in malignant melanoma conducted over the preceding 2 decades have presented conflicting claims of efficacy. OBJECTIVE Determination of the role of BCG immunotherapy in malignant melanoma. METHODS Critical analysis of randomized clinical trials of stage I and II melanoma and all reported trials of intralesional and oral BCG in stage III melanoma was conducted. A literature search used the Medline data base (1966-1992);bibliographic reviews of relevant texts and pertinent articles. RESULTS No significant benefit of BCG as postsurgical adjuvant therapy in stage I malignant melanoma was observed. Although two of seven trials in stage II melanoma demonstrated benefit with the addition of BCG, the trial with the greatest power in this series detected no difference in outcomes. In stage III malignant melanoma, there was no significant benefit with addition of BCG to various chemotherapeutic regimens. Oral BCG monotherapy produced complete responses in 6%, partial responses in 1%, and extended survival in 7% of patients. Objective responses were observed primarily in patients with intracutaneous non-visceral metastases. Pooled analysis of 15 non-controlled trials of intralesional BCG injections revealed complete responses in 19%, partial responses in 26%, and extended survival in 13% of patients with stage III melanoma. Objective responses to intralesional BCG were more likely in patients with solely cutaneous metastases, particularly intradermal lesions. CONCLUSION Pooled analysis of non-placebo controlled trials of intralesional BCG for stage III malignant melanoma supports a trend to enhanced survival in patients with cutaneous non-visceral metastases.
How Credit Market Conditions Impact the Effect of Voluntary Disclosure on Firms' Cost of Debt Capital

How Credit Market Conditions Impact the Effect of Voluntary Disclosure on Firms’ Cost of Debt Capital. (August 2012) Bret Westman Scott, B.A., Western Washington University, Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Thomas C. Omer Prior literature finds that firms incur a lower cost of debt capital when they voluntarily disclose information. However, the economic literature demonstrates that creditors’ lending standards become more stringent (lax) when credit is rationed (abundant) suggesting that they value voluntary disclosure from borrowers differentially across credit market regimes. I draw upon the economic and finance literature on credit rationing to test whether the effects of voluntary disclosure on firms’ cost of debt capital is greater during periods of credit rationing. I provide some evidence that confirms this prediction. Moreover, I provide some evidence that this relation is stronger for smaller firms than larger firms during periods of credit rationing suggesting that creditors value voluntary disclosure more from firms that have fewer resources to cover the increased agency cost of lending during periods of credit rationing.
An update on vitamin D and human immunity

In the last 5 years, there has been a remarkable change in our understanding of the health benefits of vitamin D. The classical actions of vitamin D as a determinant of mineral metabolism and rachitic bone disease have been expanded to include a broader role in skeletal homoeostasis and prevalent bone disorders such as osteoporosis. However, it is the nonskeletal function of vitamin D that has attracted most attention. Although pluripotent responses to vitamin D have been recognized for many years, our new perspective on nonclassical vitamin D function stems from two more recent concepts. The first is that impaired, vitamin D status is common to many populations across the globe. This has prompted studies to explore the health impact of suboptimal circulating levels of vitamin D, with association studies linking vitamin D ‘insufficiency’ to several chronic health problems including autoimmune and cardiovascular disease, hypertension and common cancers. In support of a broader role for vitamin D in human health, studies in vitro and using animal models have highlighted immunomodulatory and anticancer effects of vitamin D that appear to depend on localized activation of vitamin D. The conclusion from these reports is that many nonclassical actions of vitamin D are independent of conventional vitamin D endocrinology and are therefore more sensitive to variations in vitamin D status. The current review summarizes these developments, with specific reference to the newly identified effects of vitamin D on the immune system, but also highlights the challenges in translating these observations to clinical practice.
The Consumer as Climate Activist

Consumption of green products is growing rapidly in the United States. We assessed the extent to which this consumption is motivated by a desire to promote societal-level change in corporate practices that affect the climate, and posit a social–cognitive model in which people’s global warming beliefs and consumer activism beliefs predict their green purchasing goals, behavior, and opinion leadership. Using nationally representative survey data, we tested the model and found a good fit: Global warming and consumer activism beliefs predict people’s green purchasing goals, which in turn predict green purchases and opinion leadership. These results suggest that communication that creates concern about global warming and enhances beliefs about the power of consumer action is likely to stimulate green consumption.
A re‐evaluation of the product innovation‐decision process: the implications for product management

Most existing product innovation‐decision models view decision making from a very cognitive perspective in that they presume that decision to adopt a new product is preceded by steps that parallel product information procurement and evaluation. Argues that such an approach is unnecessarily limiting given that a substantial proportion of individuals do not base their decisions on attribute processing, even for relatively complex products. Critically evaluates two of the most widely cited adoption models and based on this analysis proposes a more holistic model that incorporates real world decision factors, and presents its managerial implications.
Central excitability contributes to supramaximal volitional contractions in human incomplete spinal cord injury

Non‐technical summary Individuals with a motor incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) present clinically with partial control of muscles below the site of the injury, but experience profound weakness which can limit the ability to perform functional tasks such as walking. Interestingly, when individuals with an incomplete SCI are asked to maximally and repeatedly contract their quadriceps muscles, they demonstrate an increase in the peak force generated; individuals without SCI experience a decline in force, or ‘fatigue’. Following these repeated maximal efforts, reflex responses to electrical stimulation over the quadriceps muscle elicited amplified and prolonged, involuntary motor activity. Such responses were not observed prior to the maximal contractions, and were not observed in neurologically intact subjects. This finding suggests that increases in spinal excitability following these maximal efforts may enhance force generating capacity, and provides insight into possible novel therapeutic interventions to restore function following SCI.