Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The relationship between TQM practices and organisational innovation outcomes

The purpose of this paper is to study the role of slack (both moderating and mediating) to stimulate the relationship between total quality management (TQM) factors and innovation outcomes relative to gaining competitive industry advantages. ,The research methodology includes a multi-item scale questionnaire completed in three waves between 2016 and 2017, and later analysed in 2018. A final response rate of 29.5 per cent was obtained, representing 190 organisations from both manufacturing and service industries in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Partial least squares structural equation modelling was used to test the multi-collinearity, moderation and mediation analysis. ,Analysis confirmed that factors such as continuous improvement (CI), human resource management (HRM) and information measurement (IM) were positively linked to innovation. However, when slack was introduced as a moderator, innovation outcomes were stimulated through HRM and IM. The results indicate that slack acts as a full mediator for management leadership but only partially mediates supplier quality, IM, CI, HRM and process management. ,In terms of geographical coverage, research was limited to the UAE. Organisations striving for excellence through innovation may benefit from the outcomes, as they help in understanding the relationship between TQM and innovation moderated and/or mediated by slack. This could also lead businesses to develop new strategies that harmonise TQM policies with “rationale” slack policies, thus, promoting innovation. ,This study is the first to examine the use of slack to stimulate the relationship between TQM factors and innovation outcomes. Using slack as a mediator can help in understanding when TQM might influence innovation, while slack as a moderator could invert the relationship between the two.
University of Groningen DNA methylation mediates the effect of maternal smoking during pregnancy on birthweight of the offspring Kupers,

Background: We examined whether the effect of maternal smoking during pregnancy on birthweight of the offspring was mediated by smoking-induced changes to DNA methylation in cord blood. Methods: First, we used cord blood of 129 Dutch children exposed to maternal smoking vs 126 unexposed to maternal and paternal smoking (53% male) participating in the GECKO Drenthe birth cohort. DNA methylation was measured using the Illumina HumanMethylation450 Beadchip. We performed an epigenome-wide association study for the association between maternal smoking and methylation followed by a mediation analysis of the top signals [false-discovery rate (FDR)< 0.05]. We adjusted both analyses for maternal age, education, pre-pregnancy BMI, offspring’s sex, gestational age and white blood cell composition. Secondly, in 175 exposed and 1248 unexposed newborns from two independent birth cohorts, we replicated and meta-analysed results of eight cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) sites in the GFI1 gene, which showed the most robust mediation. Finally, we performed functional network and enrichment analysis. Results: We found 35 differentially methylated CpGs (FDR<0.05) in newborns exposed vs unexposed to smoking, of which 23 survived Bonferroni correction (P< 1 10). These 23 CpGs mapped to eight genes: AHRR, GFI1, MYO1G, CYP1A1, NEUROG1, CNTNAP2, FRMD4A and LRP5. We observed partial confirmation as three of the eight CpGs in GFI1 replicated. These CpGs partly mediated the effect of maternal smoking on birthweight (Sobel VC The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association 1224 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. International Journal of Epidemiology, 2015, 1224–1237 doi: 10.1093/ije/dyv048 Advance Access Publication Date: 10 April 2015
Propagation Mechanisms for Surface Initiated Crackingin Composite Pavements

The primary objective of this study was to identify the mechanisms for the development and propagation of longitudinal cracks that initiate at the surface of composite pavement. In this study the finite element program ANSYS version (5.4) was used and the model worked out using this program has the ability to analyze a composite pavement structure of different layer properties. Also, the aim of this study was modeling and analyzing of the composite pavement structure with the physical presence of crack induced in concrete underlying layer. The results obtained indicates that increasing the thickness of the asphalt layer tends to decrease the stress intensity factor, which may be attributed to the rapidly decrease of horizontal tensile stress in the asphalt layer. The cracks initiate at the surface due to high vertical stress and shear stress from wheel loads tends to propagate downward due tensile stress generated at the bottom of the asphalt layer or near crack tip, and the whole process occur at the same location of the existing cracks in underlying concrete layer rather than travel up from existing crack. As the load position varies from the crack zone, this result in tensile stresses or tension at the crack tip, leading to increase the stress intensity factor and intern result in crack propagation further into the depth of the pavement.
COPD_A_217921 2469..2478

Juan Antonio Trigueros 1 Juan Antonio Riesco 2,3 Bernardino Alcázar-Navarrete 3,4 Anna Campuzano 5 Joselín Pérez 1Centro de Salud de Menasalbas, Menasalbas, Toledo E-45128, Spain; 2Pulmonology Department, Hospital San Pedro de Alcántara, Cáceres E-10003, Spain; 3Centro de Investigación en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), Cáceres, Spain; 4Pulmonology Department, Hospital de Alta Resolución La Loja, Loja, Granada E-18300, Spain; 5Grupo Ferrer Internacional, Barcelona, Spain Aim: This cross-sectional multicenter study was performed aimed at describing the clinical characteristics of women with COPD attended in routine daily practice in Spain. Methods and results: Of a total of 1610 consecutive patients diagnosed with COPD recruited in primary care centers and pneumology services throughout Spain over a 90-day period, 17.9% (n=286) were women, with a median age of 62 years. Differences in COPD phenotypes by sex were statistically significant (P = 0.002). Males as compared with females showed a higher prevalence of non-exacerbator (47.9% vs 42.2%) and exacerbator with chronic bronchitis (22.9% vs 18.8%) phenotypes, whereas the ACOS phenotype was more common among females (21.7% vs 12.9%). The mean (SD) CAT score was similar in men than in women (20.8 [9.0] vs 21.2 [8.7], P = 0.481), as well as the impact of the disease on the quality of life according to CAT scores of <5 (no impact), 5–9 (low), 10–20 (medium), >20 (high), and >30 (very high). Sex-related differences according to smoking status were statistically significant (P < 0.001), with a higher percentage of men as compared with women in the groups of current smokers and ex-smokers; never-smokers were higher in women (9.1%) than in men (0.6%). The mean number of comorbidities was 2.01 (1.43) (95% CI 1.93–2.09) in males and 1.99 (1.42) (95% CI 1.83–2.16) (P = 0.930) in females, but cardiovascular diseases (hypertension, ischemic heart disease, chronic heart failure) were more frequent in men, whereas metabolic disorders (osteoporosis) were more frequent in women. Conclusion: This study highlights the impact of COPD in women and the importance of continuing sex-based research in tobacco-related respiratory diseases.
New Tithonian ammonites from the southern Neuquén Basin (Argentina) – with a review of the ammonite succession of the Picunleufuense Zone

New ammonite collections from the lower part of the Vaca Muerta Formation (Portada Covunco Member) at Picún Leufú, Estancia María Juana and Carrín Curá provided new data about the species of the lower Tithonian Picunleufuense Standard Zone in the southern margin of the Neuquén Basin. The fauna is consistently composed of the four typical species (Indansites picunleufuense, Choicensisphinctes platyconus, Catutosphinctes guenenakenensis, and Cienguiticeras perlaevis), and here we add the aspidoceratid Physodoceras cf. neoburgense which is described based of two specimens from the new collections. The successive assemblages composed of different morphotypes (transients) of those species characterize the three biohorizons of the lower Picunleufuense Zone: picunleufuense alpha Hz. (base of the zone), picunleufuense beta Hz. , and picunleufuense gamma Hz. (new). A new, earlier transient of Indansites picunleufuense is described, but the material is still scarce for the characterization of the adult macroconch. The ammonites from the locality Carrín Curá were collected from a section of the lower Vaca Muerta Formation: 17.1 m of sandy shales with thin intercalations of calcareous sandstones indicating a near-shore environment. Ammonites and bivalves occur in the calcareous sandstone levels.
Frontiers in Dentistry

Article type: Original Article Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the knowledge and attitude of Iranian dentists towards cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Materials and Methods: A 20-item questionnaire was distributed among 410 Iranian dentistry graduates attending the 56th Congress of Iranian Dental Association held in Tehran, Iran. The questionnaire included items on demographic characteristics, namely full name, age, gender, work experience, type of current activity (individual or group), and the highest educational level. In addition, the questionnaire contained items on the knowledge and attitude of dentists. The obtained data were analyzed using statistical tests. Results: In this study, 49.3% and 22.4% of the subjects were male and female, respectively, 47.1% of whom used CBCT, while 49.8% did not. In detail, 72.2% of the dentists used the technique to evaluate the location of implants, whereas 19.7%, 3.2%, and 2.7% of the subjects applied it to localize the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN), evaluate the location of implants and localize the IAN, and perform cephalometric analysis, respectively. The main causes of lack of prescription of CBCT entailed high cost (80%), high rate of patient absorbed dose (27.6%), insufficient number of CBCT centers (46.3%), and the long duration of the process (15.6%). Conclusion: CBCT is an advantageous imaging technique in dentistry. Considering the increased application of CBCT in dentistry, attending workshops could help train dentists to use the technique.
REDUCTION IN VEHICLE COMMUTER TRIP LENGTHS IN SAPPORO URBAN AREA

MIKIHARU ARIMURA: COLLEGE OF ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY, MURORAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, 27-1 MIZUMOTO-CHO, MURORAN 050-8585, JAPAN, E-MAIL: ARIMURA@MMM.MURORAN-IT.AC. JP KOHKI KIKUCHI: SOCIAL AND PUBLIC SYSTEMS DEPARTMENT, MRI RESEARCH ASSOCIATES, INC., 1-13-1 UCHIKANDA, CHIYODA, TOKYO 101-0047, JAPAN, E-MAIL: KIKUCHI@MRIRA. CO.JP TOSHIYUKI NAITO: DISASTER MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT, DOCON CO., LTD., 4-1, ATSUBETSU-CHUO 1-JO 5CHOME, CHUO-KU, SAPPORO 004-8585, JAPAN, E-MAIL: TN1254@DOCON.JP,TOHRU TAMURA: DIVISION
Sonja Päärnilä Lignin films – production and characterization Master ́s Programme in Chemical, Biochemical and Materials Engineering Major in Fibre and Polymer Engineering Master’s thesis for the degree of Master of Science in Technology

Due to the increased awareness of the negative effects of petroleum-based products, biobased alternatives have been considered for their suitability and environmental friendliness. Among these, lignin macromolecules have several interesting properties, related to their role in mass transport (barrier), as well as antioxidative, antimicrobial and UV-blocking activity. Moreover, lignin is less hydrophilic compared to most biobased polymers. However, to facilitate lignin`s use in applications, its chemical heterogeneity should be reduced, which can be accomplished via fractionation. Thus, the aim of this thesis was to study the relationship between the structure and properties of lignin by preparing supported films from kraft lignin and its fractions. Further, to provide preliminary information about which fractions would function better in given applications, particularly in food packaging and edible films, was targeted. The physicochemical properties of the lignins were studied by using spin-coated films. Atomic force microscopy, contact angle measurement and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were used to investigate the topography, wettability and surface chemical composition of the films. More heterogeneous, globular structured films were obtained from the unfractionated kraft lignin and its soluble fractions when polystyrene was used as a prime layer on the silica wafer substrates. The critical surface energy was quantified based on results from contact angle measurements with different liquids. Small differences in surface energy were determined. The higher critical surface tension obtained for unfractionated kraft lignin was partly related to its larger carbohydrate content. Heat treatments applied on the films showed that their hydrophobicity increased to the same level regardless of the differences in the lignin structures between the fractions. Moreover, the polystyrene pre-layer had an increasing effect on the hydrophobicity which was attributed to lignin and polystyrene fusing together during the thermal treatment. XPS measurement revealed that during heating the oxygen content increased. Hence, the degradation of carbohydrates was responsible for the increased hydrophobicity. No significant differences between lignin fractions in wetting or hydrophobicity after heating were observed. Thus, based on this study, all the fractions have similar potential for utilization that require given surface chemical behaviours, such as in food products. Basic research on the film properties, such as water interaction and viscoelasticity, should be carried out next in order to gain more knowledge on lignin`s behaviour.
CMAR_A_198348 4677..4690

Rola M Farid 1 Sanaa Abd-Elmaged Sammour Zeinab Abdelkader Shehab ElDin Manal Ibrahim Salman 1 Tag Ibrahim Omran 1Department of Pathology, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt; 2Department of Pathology, Military Medical Academy, Cairo, Egypt Introduction: Several lines of evidence suggest the contribution of cancer stem cells (CSCs) to the tumorigenicity of bladder cancer. Although CD133 and CD24 CSC biomarkers are associated with survival disadvantages in some cancers, the biological attributes of a specific tumor alters the expression of these markers and any associated phenotypic characteristics. Aim: To analyze CD133 and CD24 expression and their different phenotypes in urinary bladder carcinoma. Material and methods: Expression of CD133 and CD24 and their divergent phenotypes were analyzed in patients with urinary bladder carcinoma (n=60) and correlated with clinicopathological parameters. Results: CD133 and CD24 tumor cells were more frequent in high grade, less differentiated carcinomas (18/22, and 15/17, p=0.022 and 0.01, respectively), muscle invasive tumors (20/22, p=0.017 and 17/17, p=0.001, respectively), and tumors with advanced stage (p=0.001 and 0.007, respectively). The expression of CD24 slightly correlated with lymphovascular invasion (p=0.04), whereas CD133 was associated with distant metastasis. The CD133 CD24 phenotype exhibited more aggressive tumorigenic behavior than other phenotypes. Conclusion: CD133 and CD24 cells correlated with determinants of aggressive behavior and may be involved in tumor progression and distant metastasis. The CD133 subpopulation is likely to have a more potent tumorigenic capacity. Although divergent, the strong correlation between the two populations may support phenotypic plasticity among them. Compared to the CD133 CD24 and CD133 CD24 phenotypes, the CD133 CD24 phenotype is the most aggressive. These putative biomarkers can potentially aid in the selection of high-risk patients for more aggressive targeted therapy.
The Role of Financial Players in Electricity Markets: An Empirical Analysis of MISO

As in most commodities markets, deregulated electricity markets allow the participation of purely financial (virtual) traders to enhance informational and productive efficiency. The presence of financial players is expected, among other things, to help eliminate predictable pricing gaps between forward (dayahead) and spot prices, which may arise in the presence of market power by physical suppliers or buyers. However, we find that the impact of financial players on reducing pricing gaps has been limited. A forward premium persists. Surprisingly, some large financial players appear to be betting in exactly the opposite direction of the pricing gap, sustaining large losses while doing so. We find evidence consistent with participants using forward market bids to affect congestion and thus increase the value of their Financial Transmission Rights (FTR). I.e. these financial players incur losses with one financial instrument to make larger profits with another, introducing artificial congestion to the system. Our findings point to the challenges of achieving market efficiency through purely financial players when the underlying physical market is segmented and subject to the exercise of market power in each segment.
INVESTIGATION OF EYE MOVEMENT OF SEDENTARY AND TABLE TENNIS PLAYERS

Calismamizin amaci, elit duzeyde masa tenisi oyunculari ile sedanter kisiler arasindaki bazi gorme parametrelerinin incelenmesidir. Bu calismaya elit duzeyde masa tenisi oynayan 20 sporcu ile 20 sedanter kisi olmak uzere 40 kisi gonullu olarak katilmistir. Arastirmamiza katilan sporcularin hepsi goz muayenesinden gecirilmis ve gorme parametreleri on test ve son test yapilarak incelenmistir. Veri dagilim niteligini belirlemek icin Shapiro-Wilk testi uygulanmistir. Verilerin normal dagilim gosterdigi dogrulanmis olup, istatistiksel farkliliklari incelemek icin bagimsiz t-test yapilmistir. Sakkadik goz hareketleri (SGH); yakin sakkadik ve uzak sakkadik testinde, profesyonel masa tenisi oyunculari ve sedanterlerde gorus keskinligi ve akomodasyon (gormeye kolay uyum saglama) ozelliklerinde anlamlilik duzeyi (p<0.05) olarak kabul edilmistir. Sonuclar incelendiginde, yakin ve uzak sakkadik testinde masa tenisi oyunculari ile sedanter grup arasindaki istatistiki acidan anlamli farkin oldugu tespit edilmistir (P:0,02*-T:2,35, P:0,04*-T:2,12). Elde edilen bu iki parametre masa teniscilerin basariya ulasma nedenlerinden biri olabilir.
Targeting CD47 as a Novel Immunotherapy for Multiple Myeloma

Multiple myeloma (MM) remains to be incurable despite recent therapeutic advances. CD47, an immune checkpoint known as the “don’t eat me” signal, is highly expressed on the surface of various cancers, allowing cancer cells to send inhibitory signals to macrophages and impede phagocytosis and immune response. In this study, we hypothesized that blocking the “don’t eat me” signaling using an anti-CD47 monoclonal antibody will induce killing of MM cells. We report that CD47 expression was directly correlated with stage of the disease, from normal to MGUS to MM. Moreover, MM cells had remarkably higher CD47 expression than other cell populations in the bone marrow. These findings indicate that CD47 is specifically expressed on MM and can be used as a potential therapeutic target. Further, blocking of CD47 using an anti-CD47 antibody induced immediate activation of macrophages, which resulted in induction of phagocytosis and killing of MM cells in the 3D-tissue engineered bone marrow model, as early as 4 hours. These results suggest that macrophage checkpoint immunotherapy by blocking the CD47 “don’t eat me” signal is a novel and promising strategy for the treatment of MM, providing a basis for additional studies to validate these effects in vivo and in patients.
SP-PIFO: Approximating Push-In First-Out Behaviors using Strict-Priority Queues

Push-In First-Out (PIFO) queues are hardware primitives which enable programmable packet scheduling by providing the abstraction of a priority queue at line rate. However, implementing them at scale is not easy: just hardware designs (not implementations) exist, which support only about 1k ﬂows. In this paper, we introduce SP-PIFO , a programmable packet scheduler which closely approximates the behavior of PIFO queues using strict-priority queues— at line rate, at scale, and on existing devices . The key insight behind SP-PIFO is to dynamically adapt the mapping between packet ranks and available strict-priority queues to minimize the scheduling errors with respect to an ideal PIFO. We present a mathematical formulation of the problem and derive an adaptation technique which closely approximates the optimal queue mapping without any trafﬁc knowledge. We fully implement SP-PIFO in P4 and evaluate it on real workloads. We show that SP-PIFO : (i) closely matches PIFO, with as little as 8 priority queues; (ii) scales to large amount of ﬂows and ranks; and (iii) quickly adapts to trafﬁc variations. We also show that SP-PIFO runs at line rate on existing hardware (Barefoot Toﬁno), with a negligible memory footprint.
Competition and concentration in the Turkish banking sector

The paper estimates the competitive conditions and concentration in the Turkish banking sector during the period 2002-2009. This paper also reports the results of two common measures of concentration, which are the concentration ratio and the Herfindahl-Hirschman index using Turkish banking system data which cover from 2002 to 2009. We can conclude that the Turkish banking sector is almost non-concentrated. The highest concentration was found in the Turkish deposits market, which it is possible characterize as slightly concentrated. The Panzar-Rosse model is used for testing the competition in the Turkish banking industry. Specifically, we use a panel with data for most of the Turkish banks to estimate the H statistics. We concluded that the Turkish banking industry can be characterized as a monopolistic competition which is close to a monopoly. The result implies the Turkish banks do not operate in a competitive environment and enjoy monopoly rents. It can be concluded that competitive conditions were decreasing during the analysed period.