Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Product Development - Managing a Dispersed Process by

The applications have been many and varied and have led to a deeper understanding of how to gather and use information about the customer in the design, testing, launch, and management of new products. Many integrative texts on product development from a marketing perspective have been published to review the issues, the methods, and the Marketing, with its focus on the customer, has had great success. Tools such as conjoint analysis, voice-of-the-customer analysis, perceptual mapping, intention scaling, portfolio optimization, and lifecycle forecasting are now in common use. Firms that continuously and efficiently generate new products that are in tune with their end customers' needs and wants are more likely to thrive (Griffin and Page 1996). Direct communication with customers allows firms to learn from customers and tailor products to their requirements. In parallel with the development of prescriptive tools, researchers have studied the correlates of new product success identifying communication between marketing and engineering as one of the most 1988), and co-location (Allen 1986) were developed to promote the sharing of ideas and the close integration of engineering decisions with customer needs. Process oriented textbooks now routinely consider marketing issues and the need to integrate engineering with the marketing function (McGrath 1996, Ulrich and Eppinger 2000). Clearly, the ultimate effectiveness of the tools discussed in this chapter is moderated by the incentives, behavior and effectiveness of the people implementing those tools in the organization. As we move into the 21 st century, new challenges and opportunities are arising driven by global markets, global competition, the global dispersion of engineering talent, and the advent of new Product Development – Managing a Dispersed Process Dahan and Hauser 2 information and communication technologies such as electronic mail, the worldwide web, and increased electronic bandwidth. The new vision of product development is that of a highly disaggregated process with people and organizations spread throughout the world (Holmes 1999). At the same time products are becoming increasing complex with typical electro-mechanical products requiring close to a million engineering decisions to bring them to market (Eppinger, Whitney, Smith and Gebala 1994, Eppinger 1998). Even software products such as Microsoft Word or Netscape require disaggregated, but coordinated processes involving hundreds of developers (Cusumano and Selby 1995, Cusumano and Yoffie 1998). Competitive pressures mean that time to market has been proposed as key to new product success as has marketing's orientation towards customer needs and customer satisfaction (Smith …
C‐reactive protein (CRP) induces chemokine secretion via CD11b/ICAM‐1 interaction in human adherent monocytes

Several studies support C‐reactive protein (CRP) as a systemic cardiovascular risk factor. The recent detection of CRP in arterial intima suggests a dual activity in atherosclerosis as a circulating and tissue mediator on vascular and immune cells. In the present paper, we focused on the inflammatory effects of CRP on human monocytes, which were isolated by Ficoll‐Percoll gradients and cultured in adherence to polystyrene, endothelial cell monolayer, or in suspension. Chemokine levels, adhesion molecule, and chemokine receptor expression were detected by ELISA, flow cytometry, and real‐time RT‐PCR. Migration assays were performed in a Boyden chamber. Stimulation with CRP induced release of CCL2, CCL3, and CCL4 in adherent monocytes through the binding to CD32a, CD32b, and CD64, whereas no effect was observed in suspension culture. This was associated with CRP‐induced up‐regulation of adhesion molecules membrane‐activated complex 1 (Mac‐1) and ICAM‐1 on adherent monocytes. Blockade of Mac‐1/ICAM‐1 interaction inhibited the CRP‐induced chemokine secretion. In addition, CRP reduced mRNA and surface expression of corresponding chemokine receptors CCR1, CCR2, and CCR5 in adherent monocytes. This effect was a result of chemokine secretion, as coincubation with neutralizing anti‐CCL2, anti‐CCL3, and anti‐CCL4 antibodies reversed the effect of CRP. Accordingly, a reduced migration of CRP‐treated monocytes to CCL2 and CCL3 was observed. In conclusion, our data suggest an in vitro model to study CRP activities in adherent and suspension human monocytes. CRP‐mediated induction of adhesion molecules and a decrease of chemokine receptors on adherent monocytes might contribute to the retention of monocytes within atherosclerotic lesions and recruitment of other circulating cells.
Pemetrexed combined with oxaliplatin or carboplatin as first-line treatment in advanced non-small cell lung cancer: a multicenter, randomized, phase II trial.

PURPOSE To determine efficacy and toxicity of two pemetrexed-based regimens in chemonaive patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Patients were randomly assigned to receive pemetrexed 500 mg/m(2) plus oxaliplatin 120 mg/m(2) (PemOx) or pemetrexed plus carboplatin AUC6 (PemCb). All drugs were given on day 1 of a 21-day cycle for up to six cycles. Folic acid and vitamin B(12) were given to all patients to minimize pemetrexed-related toxicities. RESULTS Forty-one patients received PemOx and 39 received PemCb. Objective tumor response rates were 26.8% for PemOx patients (95% confidence interval, 14.2-42.9) and 31.6% for PemCb patients (95% confidence interval, 17.5-48.7). Median time to progression was 5.5 and 5.7 months, respectively, for PemOx and PemCb. Median overall survival times were 10.5 months for both treatment groups (range, <1 to >20 months). The 1-year survival rate was 49.9% for PemOx patients and 43.9% for PemCb patients. Common toxicity criteria grade 3 or 4 hematologic toxicities among PemOx patients were grade 3 or 4 neutropenia (7.3%), grade 3 thrombocytopenia (2.4%), and grade 3 anemia (2.4%). PemCb patients experienced grade 3 or 4 neutropenia (25.6%), grade 3 or 4 thrombocytopenia (17.9%), and grade 3 anemia (7.7%). Grade 3 vomiting occurred in three PemOx patients and grade 3 fatigue occurred in three PemCb patients. One grade 3 neurosensory toxicity occurred in the PemOx group. Three patients (PemOx 1 and PemCb 2) experienced febrile neutropenia. CONCLUSIONS Efficacy measures for both regimens seem similar to the most effective chemotherapies for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (platinum combinations) with less hematologic and nonhematologic toxicity. Comparing either of these two regimens to platinum-based therapies in a large randomized trial is warranted.
Definability equals recognizability for graphs of bounded treewidth *

We prove a conjecture of Courcelle, which states that a graph property is definable in MSO with modular counting predicates on graphs of constant treewidth if, and only if it is recognizable in the following sense: constant-width tree decompositions of graphs satisfying the property can be recognized by tree automata. While the forward implication is a classic fact known as Courcelle’s theorem, the converse direction remained open.
Bioinformatics Tools and Novel Challenges in Long Non-Coding RNAs (lncRNAs) Functional Analysis

The advent of next generation sequencing revealed that a fraction of transcribed RNAs (short and long RNAs) is non-coding. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) have a crucial role in regulating gene expression and in epigenetics (chromatin and histones remodeling). LncRNAs may have different roles: gene activators (signaling), repressors (decoy), cis and trans gene expression regulators (guides) and chromatin modificators (scaffolds) without the need to be mutually exclusive. LncRNAs are also implicated in a number of diseases. The huge amount of inhomogeneous data produced so far poses several bioinformatics challenges spanning from the simple annotation to the more complex functional annotation. In this review, we report and discuss several bioinformatics resources freely available and dealing with the study of lncRNAs. To our knowledge, this is the first review summarizing all the available bioinformatics resources on lncRNAs appeared in the literature after the completion of the human genome project. Therefore, the aim of this review is to provide a little guide for biologists and bioinformaticians looking for dedicated resources, public repositories and other tools for lncRNAs functional analysis.
Domain-Specific Information Retrieval Based on Improved Language Model

There are two key ingredients in the general framework of language models used in information retrieval, one is importance weighting, the other is word relationship computing. A series of improvements are made to these ingredients of the general framework of language models which is used in domain-specific information retrieval. First, an EM algorithm is proposed to estimate the importance weights of query terms, and the Bayesian smoothing is used to compute the productive probabilities of important terms. Next, a new algorithm based on Dynamic Bayesian Network is proposed for obtaining the explanation probabilities between terms. Experiment shows that the improved model performs remarkably better for domain-specific information retrieval than some traditional retrieval techniques, and the extended framework has good expansibility.
Novel biomarkers for asthma stratification and personalized therapy

A stepwise pharmacological treatment is currently recommended for all asthma patients and is personalized mainly on disease severity, aiming for the lowest disease-controlling step. Nevertheless, asthma comprises several related pathologies with similar clinical manifestations resulting from distinct underlying mechanisms. Therefore novel biomarkers could lead to asthma stratification and thus improve upon the current stepwise approach. The aim of this review is to update the reader with regard to different assays proposed in the recent asthma literature for measuring potential biomarkers for patient stratification and treatment personalization. Promising biomarkers are sputum eosinophils, serum periostin and exhaled nitric oxide. Periostin could differentiate between Th2-high and Th2-low asthma (Th2-high patients are more responsive to glucocorticoids) and the less-defined asthma types which often present a therapeutic challenge. Several other biomarkers, mainly cytokines, leukotrienes and exhaled air components, can be quantified in body fluids and exhaled breath and could also be useful for asthma stratification.
A 19 GHz 0.5 mW 0.35 /spl mu/m CMOS frequency divider with shunt-peaking locking-range enhancement

A frequency divider is an essential building block and one of the major sources of power dissipation in widely-used frequency synthesizers. As the output frequency of the synthesizer increases, the trade-off between the speed and power dissipation of dividers becomes more critical. Narrow-band injection-locked frequency dividers (ILFD) dissipate a fraction of the energy stored in the tank, which is determined by the quality factor, Q, of the resonator, in every cycle. Therefore, they have fundamentally lower power dissipation than wide-band dividers. Due to their narrow-band nature, ILFDs work in a limited frequency range (locking range). In this paper, shunt-peaking is used as an approach to increase the locking range and lower the power dissipation at higher frequencies.
Context-Aware User Feedback in Continuous Software Evolution

User feedback is an important means of validating requirements and discovering new requirements in continuous software evolution. However, users have a low motivation to provide feedback and prefer applications which do not interrupt their work. Due to missing context information, developers have difficulties to analyze feedback, and to integrate it into their development work. In this paper, we describe CAFE, a context-aware feedback system which consists of: (1) a framework for collecting in-situ user feedback enriched with usage context data; and (2) a process for integrating feedback into a team’s development activities. While the process is applicable to all kinds of applications, the implemented framework concentrates on mobile user feedback and its particular challenges. We evaluated CAFE in a mobile application. Our results indicate that the system is a valuable step toward increasing user motivation to provide feedback and decreasing the developers’ effort to integrate feedback, ultimately improving user involvement.
Zero-skew-clock algorithms for high performance system on a chip

The high performance circuit design has become an essential trend for system-on-a-chip (SoC). Hence, physical design automation is getting more and more complex due to parasitic effects, especially wire delay. We propose a new flexible clock distribution network design to approach solving the clock skew problem and supporting "plug-and-play" in SoC integrated overall SoC operation. The algorithm based on clock skew without changing interconnect signal and it can be easily implemented for SoC design flow. The design turn around times can be greatly reduced.
Postprocessing of Low Bit-Rate Block DCT Coded Images Based on a Fields of Experts Prior

Transform coding using the discrete cosine transform (DCT) has been widely used in image and video coding standards, but at low bit rates, the coded images suffer from severe visual distortions which prevent further bit reduction. Postprocessing can reduce these distortions and alleviate the conflict between bit rate reduction and quality preservation. Viewing postprocessing as an inverse problem, we propose to solve it by the maximum a posteriori criterion. The distortion caused by coding is modeled as additive, spatially correlated Gaussian noise, while the original image is modeled as a high order Markov random field based on the fields of experts framework. Experimental results show that the proposed method, in most cases, achieves higher PSNR gain than other methods and the processed images possess good visual quality. In addition, we examine the noise model used and its parameter setting. The noise model assumes that the DCT coefficients and their quantization errors are independent. This assumption is no longer valid when the coefficients are truncated. We explain how this problem can be rectified using the current parameter setting.
Extending the use of plateau-escaping macro-actions in planning

Many fully automated planning systems use a single, domain independent heuristic to guide search and no other problem specific guidance. While these systems exhibit excellent performance, they are often out-performed by systems which are either given extra human-encoded search information, or spend time learning additional search control information offline. The benefit of systems which do not require human intervention is that they are much closer to the ideal of autonomy. This document discusses a system which learns additional control knowledge, in the form of macro-actions, during planning, without the additional time required for an online learning step. The results of various techniques for managing the collection of macro-actions generated are also discussed. Finally, an explanation of the extension of the techniques to other planning systems is presented.
Characterization of the yehUT Two-Component Regulatory System of Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhi and Typhimurium

Proteins exhibiting hyper-variable sequences within a bacterial pathogen may be associated with host adaptation. Several lineages of the monophyletic pathogen Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi) have accumulated non-synonymous mutations in the putative two-component regulatory system yehUT. Consequently we evaluated the function of yehUT in S. Typhi BRD948 and S. Typhimurium ST4/74. Transcriptome analysis identified the cstA gene, encoding a carbon starvation protein as the predominantly yehUT regulated gene in both these serovars. Deletion of yehUT had no detectable effect on the ability of these mutant Salmonella to invade cultured epithelial cells (S. Typhi and S. Typhimurium) or induce colitis in a murine model (S. Typhimurium only). Growth, metabolic and antimicrobial susceptibility tests identified no obvious influences of yehUT on these phenotypes.
Minimum cost attribute reduction in incomplete systems under decision-theoretic rough set model

Decision-theoretic rough set model has aroused extensive attention of recent years during the development of probabilistic rough set. Many studies have defined different reducts in different rough set model. However, few studies report the attribute reduct in incomplete information systems under the decision-theoretic rough set model. By considering three classical extended rough set models for incomplete systems, this paper present the new definition for the attribute reduct in decision-theoretic rough set model. The objective of the reduct is to seek for the set of attributes which have the minimal subset, simultaneously the subset has the minimum decision cost. A heuristic reduction approach is also designed and the results of the experiment show the high efficiency of our approach.
Simplification and Shift in Cognition of Political Difference: Applying the Geometric Modeling to the Analysis of Semantic Similarity Judgment

Perceiving differences by means of spatial analogies is intrinsic to human cognition. Multi-dimensional scaling (MDS) analysis based on Minkowski geometry has been used primarily on data on sensory similarity judgments, leaving judgments on abstractive differences unanalyzed. Indeed, analysts have failed to find appropriate experimental or real-life data in this regard. Our MDS analysis used survey data on political scientists' judgments of the similarities and differences between political positions expressed in terms of distance. Both distance smoothing and majorization techniques were applied to a three-way dataset of similarity judgments provided by at least seven experts on at least five parties' positions on at least seven policies (i.e., originally yielding 245 dimensions) to substantially reduce the risk of local minima. The analysis found two dimensions, which were sufficient for mapping differences, and fit the city-block dimensions better than the Euclidean metric in all datasets obtained from 13 countries. Most city-block dimensions were highly correlated with the simplified criterion (i.e., the left–right ideology) for differences that are actually used in real politics. The isometry of the city-block and dominance metrics in two-dimensional space carries further implications. More specifically, individuals may pay attention to two dimensions (if represented in the city-block metric) or focus on a single dimension (if represented in the dominance metric) when judging differences between the same objects. Switching between metrics may be expected to occur during cognitive processing as frequently as the apparent discontinuities and shifts in human attention that may underlie changing judgments in real situations occur. Consequently, the result has extended strong support for the validity of the geometric models to represent an important social cognition, i.e., the one of political differences, which is deeply rooted in human nature.
IR gene regulation of the response to trinitrophenyl-polysaccharides. Two independent genes are required for antibody production

The primary in vitro antibody response to TNP-Ficoll was found to be under H-2-restricted Ir gene control. Strains B10(H-2b), B10.A(H-2a), and B10.S(9R) (H-2t4) were consistently low responders while strains D2.GD(H-2g2), B10.GD(H-2g2), and B10.S(H-2s) were high responders. The in vitro TNP-Ficoll response in congenic recombinant and F1 hybrid mice demonstrated the requirement for complementation of two independent Ir genes. One Ir gene mapped in or to the left of the I-A subregion with high responder alleles being s or d. The second Ir gene mapped to the right of the I-E subregion and required b or s alleles for complementation. These results were further supported by the ability to block the TNP-Ficoll response by appropriate anti-Ia serum pretreatment of the antigen-presenting macrophages. When a structurally different polysaccharide antigen TNP-dextran was used, an identical pattern of restriction was observed.
The Computer Science and Physics of Community Detection: Landscapes, Phase Transitions, and Hardness

Community detection in graphs is the problem of finding groups of vertices which are more densely connected than they are to the rest of the graph. This problem has a long history, but it is undergoing a resurgence of interest due to the need to analyze social and biological networks. While there are many ways to formalize it, one of the most popular is as an inference problem, where there is a "ground truth" community structure built into the graph somehow. The task is then to recover the ground truth knowing only the graph. Recently it was discovered, first heuristically in physics and then rigorously in probability and computer science, that this problem has a phase transition at which it suddenly becomes impossible. Namely, if the graph is too sparse, or the probabilistic process that generates it is too noisy, then no algorithm can find a partition that is correlated with the planted one---or even tell if there are communities, i.e., distinguish the graph from a purely random one with high probability. Above this information-theoretic threshold, there is a second threshold beyond which polynomial-time algorithms are known to succeed; in between, there is a regime in which community detection is possible, but conjectured to require exponential time. For computer scientists, this field offers a wealth of new ideas and open questions, with connections to probability and combinatorics, message-passing algorithms, and random matrix theory. Perhaps more importantly, it provides a window into the cultures of statistical physics and statistical inference, and how those cultures think about distributions of instances, landscapes of solutions, and hardness.
Identifying deep-sea target areas for a pilot Atlantic seabed mapping project using GIS techniques

The shape of the seafloor, which primarily reflects the geological processes which have occurred there, influences both ocean circulation and seafloor habitats. A prerequisite for sustainable ocean governance, including the designation of marine protected areas to conserve threatened ecosystems or habitats, is, therefore, the availability of good bathymetric maps. Despite decades of ocean mapping, we still lack this detailed bathymetric information over large parts of the Atlantic seafloor. In an effort to change this situation, the US, Canadian and EU governments, under the “Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation,” established an Atlantic Seabed Mapping International Working Group (ASMIWG) to develop plans to map the entire Atlantic. A first step in this effort is to define 400 x 400 km target areas for a pilot mapping project. Here we present the selection algorithm used to define these pilot areas based on carefully chosen and publicly available parameters of the marine environment that are of interest to various stakeholders. The methodology involved a GIS-based overlay technique that included the parameters of the marine environment as individual layers and combined them in order to obtain information about the suitability of a location as a target area. The results reveal the suitability of areas throughout the North Atlantic and highlight three potential pilot mapping sites.