Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
LEAD-TIME, INVENTORY, AND SAFETY STOCK CALCULATION IN JOB-SHOP MANUFACTURING

The purpose of this article is to present a method for calculating the lead-time, the inventory, and the safety stock or buffer in job shop manufacturing, which are essentially stochastic variables. The research method is quantitative modelling. The theoretical foundation of the method relies on the techniques belonging to the WLC (workload control) body of knowledge on the manufacturing management. The study includes an application of the method in a manufacturing plant of the furniture industry, whose operation strategy requires high dependability. The company operates in a supply chain and must have high a reliability in deliveries. Adequate safety stocks, lead times, and inventory levels provide the protection against the lack of reliability in the deliveries. The inventory should remain within a certain range, being as small as possible to maintain low lead times, but not too small that it could provoke a starvation, configuring an optimization problem. The study offers guidelines for a complete application in industries. Further research shall include the influence of the variability of the lot size in the stochastic variables.
Leukotriene B4 Modulates Phospholipid Methylation and Chemotaxis in Human Polymorphonuclear Leukocytes

Formation of phosphatidylcholine from phosphatidylethanolamine via the S‐adenosylmethionine (AdoMet) pathway has been shown to be required for signal transduction of receptor–ligand interactions in a variety of cells. These interactions result in the remodeling of phospholipid pools and phospholipase activation. To extend these observations and to explore the role of the phosphatidylcholine synthesis pathway in transduction of the leukotriene B4 (LTB4) receptor–ligand response, we examined phospholipid methylation in human polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) following stimulation by LTB4, a potent chemotactic agent that is a metabolite of arachidonic acid. At early time points (~3–10 min), formation of methylated phospholipids was enhanced following LTB4 stimulation. The LTB4 analogs 6‐trans LTB4 as well as LTB4 epimers induced less methylation compared with LTB4, and the potencies of these analogs in inducing methylation correlated with their diminished ability to induce chemotaxis. Furthermore, the ability of these agonists to induce methylation also correlated with the binding affinity of these agents to the LTB4 receptors on these cells. Synthesis of phosphatidylcholine by the choline transferase pathway was not affected by LTB4. Inhibition of the AdoMet reaction with 3‐ deazaadenosine, L‐homocysteine homolactone, or erythro‐9‐[2‐hydroxy‐3‐nonyl] adenine (EHNA) abrogated LTB4‐induced phospholipid methylation and the chemotactic response. The potencies of these inhibitors in blocking phospholipid methylation also correlated with their ability to abrogate the LTB4‐induced chemotactic response. These data suggest that phospholipid methylation and phospholipase activation play an important role in transduction of the LTB4 receptor–ligand interaction in PMN, which results in chemotaxis.
Modelling Intention to Use ERP Systems among Higher Education Institutions in Egypt: UTAUT Perspective

Firms strive to achieve the sustainable competitive advantage in diverse and changing marketplaces. Coping with such circumstances has required firms to align information technology with business strategy in order to exploit their capabilities and change business practices. In this regard, an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system has become increasingly important for organizations to build strong capabilities, improve operational performance, enhance business decision making and compete in a global business context. In other words, an ERP system integrates an organization’s resources and also involves business processes and organizational changes. With the ubiquitous growth of IS investment, implementation of ERP systems has grown strongly. Recently, Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have started to adopt ERP systems. An example is Egypt, where they have done so to increase their competitiveness in the global market. However, historically, ERP implementation has been shown to have a high failure rate, which is one of the main reasons users resist using the ERP system. Conversely, users’ acceptance of the ERP system is the key to the ERP implementation. Thus, this study attempts to find out the important factors that affect end users’ intention to use the ERP system during the pre-implementation phase of the ERP lifecycle in the higher education context. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) with minor adjustments is the basis of this study. Ultimately, the findings of this research could enrich employees' experience by giving HEIs a tool for better understanding those factors affecting their ability to effectively utilize ERP systems. The proposed model has the ability to enhance the current level of the motivating factors influencing employees’ motivation to utilize ERP systems.
AN INVESTMENT STRATEGY IN PORTFOLIO SELECTION PROBLEM WITH BULLET TRANSACTION COST

This paper discusses an investment strategy for a con- sumption and investment decision problem for an individual who has available a riskless asset paying ﬁxed interest rate and a risky asset driven by Brownian motion price ﬂuctuations. The individual observes current wealth when making transactions, that transac- tions incur costs, and that decisions to transact can be made at any time based on all current information. The transactions costs is ﬁxed for every transaction, regardless of amount transacted. In addition, the investor is charged a ﬁxed fraction of total wealth as management fee. The investor’s objective is to maximize the expected utility of consumption over a given horizon. The prob- lem faced by the investor is formulated in a stochastic discrete- continuous-time control problem. An investment strategy is given for ﬁxed transaction intervals.
FGMOS Based Voltage-Controlled Grounded Resistor

This paper proposes a new floating gate MOS- FET (FGMOS) based voltage-controlled grounded resis- tor. In the proposed circuit FGMOS operating in the ohmic region is linearized by another conventional MOSFET operating in the saturation region. The major advantages of FGMOS based voltage-controlled grounded resistor (FGVCGR) are simplicity, low total harmonic distortion (THD), and low power consumption. A simple application of this FGVCGR as a tunable high-pass filter is also sug- gested. The proposed circuits operate at the supply volt- ages of 0.75 V. The circuits are designed and simulated using SPICE in 0.25-m CMOS technology. The simula- tion results of FGVCGR demonstrate a THD of 0.28% for the input signal 0.32 Vpp at 45 kHz, and a maximum power consumption of 254 µW.
Pop-Out: A New Cognitive Model of Visual Attention That Uses Light Level Analysis to Better Mimic the Free-Viewing Task of Static Images

Human gaze is not directed to the same part of an image when lighting conditions change. Current saliency models do not consider light level analysis during their bottom-up processes. In this paper, we introduce a new saliency model which better mimics physiological and psychological processes of our visual attention in case of free-viewing task (bottom-up process). This model analyzes lighting conditions with the aim of giving different weights to color wavelengths. The resulting saliency measure performs better than a lot of popular cognitive approaches.
The future of glaucoma clinics

The number of patients seen with glaucoma related pathologies is predicted to increase significantly over the next few years as a result of an ageing population, increased optometric screening, and raised public awareness. In addition, the recent glaucoma literature proposes more aggressive management of ocular hypertension, open angle glaucoma, and narrow angle pathologies. This will overburden many glaucoma services and demands a reappraisal of current management strategies. Using a database of patients compiled from their tertiary referral glaucoma service as an example, the authors discuss the current controversies relating to each glaucoma subtype, encompassing issues relating to disease prognosis, efficacy of treatment, and resource management. They also suggest a range of strategies aimed at streamlining glaucoma clinics. Examples include shared care schemes, multidisciplinary teams, clinic guidelines/protocols, and alteration of clinic review times. The predicted effect of such schemes on clinic workloads is discussed, together with any existing validation.
Do Alpha Males Deliver Alpha? Facial Width-to-Height Ratio and Hedge Funds

Abstract An abundance of evidence relates facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) to masculine behaviors in males. We show that hedge funds operated by high-fWHR managers underperform those operated by low-fWHR managers, bear greater downside risk, are more susceptible to fire sales, and fail more often. High-fWHR managers compensate for their underperformance by marketing their funds more aggressively, thereby garnering higher flows and fee revenues. By exploiting major personal events that shape testosterone, namely marriage and fatherhood, we trace the biological mechanism underlying the relation between fWHR and investment performance to circulating testosterone. Our findings are robust and extend to equity mutual funds.
Vitamin E and coronary heart disease in Tunisians.

BACKGROUND Vitamin E (VE) is thought to be effective in preventing atherosclerosis. However, to date no consistent relationship has been identified between VE and coronary heart disease (CHD). This study was designed to assess the degree of association between VE and CHD in a sample of the Tunisian population. METHODS Sixty-two angiographically confirmed coronary atherosclerotic patients and 65 age- and sex-matched controls were included. VE was measured in plasma and in the LDL fraction by HPLC. Cholesterol, triglycerides, and phospholipids were measured by enzymatic methods. RESULTS A trend toward a meaningful decrease of plasma VE was observed in affected patients compared with controls (P: = 0.06). VE concentrations standardized for cholesterol and lipid concentrations were significantly lower (P: <0.02) in coronary patients than in controls (4.35 +/- 1.03 vs 4.82 +/- 1.23 mmol/mol for cholesterol-adjusted VE and 2.35 +/- 0.56 vs 2.66 +/- 0.65 mmol/mol for lipid-adjusted VE, respectively). In the LDL fraction, only cholesterol-standardized VE was significantly lower in cases than controls (3.84 +/- 1.13 vs 4.41 +/- 1.16 mmol/mol). This association between VE and CHD remained unchanged independent of age, sex, smoking habit, hypertension, and diabetes. In CHD patients, lower lipid-adjusted VE was associated with enhanced LDL susceptibility to oxidation but without alteration of the serum fatty acid profile. CONCLUSIONS These results support the hypothesis that VE plays a role in preventing atherosclerosis.
Approximating Shadowed Rician Model to Other Simpler Models

Shadowed Rician model is considered to be the most appropriate that is used to characterize the impairments seen in wireless channels, which suffer Line-Of-Sight LOS shadowing and small-scale fading. In this model, the Probability Density Function PDF of the Signal to Noise Ratio SNR per symbol needs numerical solutions to be evaluated. More than that, for some values of the fading parameters, the numerical solution converging too slowly, and so needs too much time to be evaluated. This is considered as a problem in real time applications where delay is a critical issue. In this paper, the authors present and prove approximations for Shadowed Rician model according to the values of the fading parameters, which are the Rice factor and the Shadowing standard deviation. With the proposed approximation, the required PDF could be written in intervals which make it easier to calculate at parameters values that causes slow converging.
Discrete-Time Approximation of BSDEs and Probabilistic Schemes for Fully Nonlinear PDEs

The aim of this paper is to provide a survey on recent advances on probabilistic numerical methods for nonlinear PDEs, which serve as an alternative to classical deterministic schemes and allow to handle a large class of multidimensional nonlinear problems. These probabilistic schemes are based on the stochastic representation of semilinear PDEs by means of backward SDEs, which can be viewed as an extension of the well-known Feynman–Kac formula to the semilinear case. In this context, we first explain how smoothness properties can be obtained for non-reflected BSDEs set in the whole domain by using purely probabilistic techniques introduced in Ma and Zhang [59], and how they can be exploited to provide convergence rates of discrete time Euler-type approximation schemes. We then present some recent extensions to BSDEs with jumps, reflected BSDEs, BSDEs with horizon given by a finite stopping time, and second order BSDEs. The extension to fully nonlinear PDEs requires to enlarge the definition of backward SDEs. However, a natural probabilistic numerical scheme can be introduced formally by evaluating the nonlinear PDE along the trajectory of some chosen underlying diffusion. This point of view shows an intimate connection between the probabilistic numerical schemes reviewed in this paper and the standard finite differences methods. In particular, convergence and error estimates are provided by using the monotone schemes methods from the theory of viscosity solutions.
Hepatitis C, interferon alfa, and depression

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is the most common cause of chronic liver disease in the United States. An estimated 1.8% of the U.S. population carries the antibody to HCV, with 74% chronically infected. 1,2 Of these, 25% to 35% progress to cirrhosis with an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 deaths every year. In addition to its medical challenge, HCV also presents a psychiatric challenge. Patients with HCV are more likely to have psychiatric disorders, with depression being the most frequent and clinically important.
Creating particularized trust in e-retailers through experiential value and generalized trust

Abstract Although practitioners-based survey indicated that trust in businesses and other societal institutions wane simultaneously whilst academic literatures support the view that externally sanctioned beliefs drive consumers’ trust in specific firms, the relationship between broad-level generalized kind of trust and trust in specific firms is an understanding that is yet to be empirically investigated. This paper examined the relationship between generalized trust and particularized trust as well as the mediating role of experiential value in that relationship. Data generated from 268 informants through a snowball sampling procedure indicates that generalized trust is directly related to components of particularized trust whilst components of utilitarian and hedonic value mediate the relationships between generalized trust and components of particularized trust. The implicit proposal is that e-retailers must look beyond the primary responsibility of enhancing profits and strengthen trust in their market offerings by taking managerial actions that not only ensure consistent delivery of valuable services but are consistent with public interests and opinions in the environment where they operate.
Yielding and deformation behavior of the single crystal nickel-base superalloy PWA 1480

Abstract : Interrupted tensile tests were conducted to fixed plastic strain levels in 001 oriented single crystals of the nickel-base superalloys PWA 1480. Testing was done in the range from 20-1093 C, at strain rates of 0.5 and 50%/min. The yield strength was constant from 20-760 C, above which the strength dropped rapidly and became a strong function of strain rate. The high temperature data could be represented very well by an Arrhenius-type equation, which resulted in three distinct temperature regimes. The deformation substructures could be grouped in the same three regimes, indicating that there was a fundamental relationship between the deformation mechanisms and activation energies. At low temperatures, the activation energy for yielding was zero, and deformation occurred by gamma prime shearing by pairs of a/2110 dislocations on octahedral planes. At high temperatures, the true activation energy for yielding was indicative of a diffusion-controlled process, and deformation occurred by gamma prime by-pass. Intermediate temperatures exhibited transitional behavior. Models of the yielding process were considered, and it was found that no currently available model was fully applicable to this alloy. It was also demonstrated that the initial deformation mechanism (during yielding) was frequently different from that which would be inferred by examining specimens which had been tested to failure.
Distribution, Predictors, and Impacts of Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus planipennis) (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) Infestation of White Fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus)

Abstract Emerald ash borer, Agrilus planipennis (Fairmaire), is an invasive pest of ash trees (Fraxinus spp.) in North America that was recently found infesting white fringetree (Chionanthus virginicus L.). Initial reports of the infestation of white fringetree by emerald ash borer occurred in southwestern Ohio and Chicago, IL. We examined white fringetrees at additional sites in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Pennsylvania in Summer and Fall 2015 and Winter 2016 for emerald ash borer infestation. Our aim was to examine white fringetrees at a limited number of sites with emerald ash borer infestation and to relate tree size, crown dieback, epicormic sprouting, tree sex, and adjacency to ash or white fringetrees with the likelihood of beetle infestation. A higher proportion of infested trees exhibited epicormic sprouting and the likelihood that a tree was infested increased with increasing crown dieback, variables that may be both predictors and responses to attack. The proportion of trees infested with emerald ash borer increased with increasing tree size. Signs consistent with emerald ash borer infestation were found in 26% of 178 white fringetrees, with at least one host infested at each site in all states. Infestation rates of white fringetrees increased with the density of white fringetrees at each site. The Chicago Botanic Garden site had a significantly lower infestation (3.7%) than other sites, which may be due to proactive management of ash. Overall, these data indicate white fringetree has been utilized by emerald ash borer throughout their overlapping ranges in the United States in ornamental settings likely due to ecological fitting.
Estrogenic suppression of binge‐like eating elicited by cyclic food restriction and frustrative‐nonreward stress in female rats

Because binge eating and emotional eating vary through the menstrual cycle in human females, we investigated cyclic changes in binge-like eating in female rats and their control by estrogens. Binge-like eating was elicited by three cycles of 4 days of food restriction and 4 days of free feeding followed by a single frustrative nonreward-stress episode (15 min visual and olfactory exposure to a familiar palatable food) immediately before presentation of the palatable food. Intact rats showed binge-like eating during the diestrous and proestrous phases of the ovarian cycle, but not during the estrous (periovulatory) phase. Ovariectomized (OVX) rats not treated with estradiol (E2) displayed binge-like eating, whereas E2-treated OVX rats did not. The procedure did not increase signs of anxiety in an open-field test. OVX rats not treated with E2 that were subjected to food restriction and sacrificed immediately after frustrative nonreward had increased numbers of cells expressing phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK) in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA), paraventricular nucleus of hypothalamus (PVN), and dorsal and ventral bed nuclei of the stria terminalis (BNST) compared with nonrestricted or E2-treated rats. These data suggest that this female rat model is appropriate for mechanistic studies of some aspects of menstrual-cycle effects on emotional and binge eating in human females, that anxiety is not a sufficient cause of binge-like eating, and that the PVN, CeA, and BNST may contribute to information processing underlying binge-like eating.
Prospective Outcome Assessment for Alternative Recruit Selection Policies

Selecting recruits who will complete their term of enlistment is very important for both maintaining Army readiness and minimizing cost. This report describes a tool that enables the Army to identify potential changes to selection of youth based on a variety of attributes in order to expand supply smartly or to decrease the rates of targeted adverse outcomes and related costs.
Premenstrual Complaints: II. Influence of Oral Contraceptives

The prevalence of individual premenstrual symptoms was studied in a randomly selected group of 217 women taking oral contraceptives (OC). The results were compared with corresponding data from 595 women not using the pill. The analyses included six different mental and somatic symptoms defined and graded in severity and related to age. It was found that OC had a beneficial effect on the premenstrual tension symptoms (PMT) in all age groups except in the youngest group (18 years), in which the tendency was rather the opposite. Within the total sample of women, users of OC were significantly less frequently absent from work. The present results are in agreement with those of most earlier studies, provided that age is taken into account.
A Workshop for Medical Students on Deafness and Hearing Impairments

There is a current need to improve health care delivery to deaf and hearing-impaired persons. The author designed an educational workshop for medical students and others as an initial step to address this need. The workshop was offered electively during 1997 and 1998 to first-year and second-year medical students at Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia, Canada. The workshop involved a broad, multidisciplinary scope, may have been the first of its kind in Canada, and is still one of the few documented ways to approach medical education about deafness and hearing impairments. Attendees explored general information on hearing impairments, communication between the hearing-impaired patient and his or her physician, and multicultural, technological, and ethical aspects of caring for hearing-impaired patients. There was an initial questionnaire, group exercises, lectures, student interviews of volunteer deaf “patients,” discussions, and a “hands-on” materials display. The workshop was a low-cost and easily reproducible method of educating medical students about hearing impairments. If found to be educationally effective through future research, this type of workshop may foster better care to deaf and hearing-impaired persons by inclusion into medical school and continuing education curricula.