Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Intensive intraoperative insulin therapy versus conventional insulin therapy during cardiac surgery: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES The goal of this meta-analysis was to determine the benefits and risks of rigorous glycemic control during cardiac surgery. DESIGN The authors conducted searches of MEDLINE (January 1966 through February 2011), Embase (January 1985 through February 2011), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (Cochrane Library issue 2, 2011), and the reference lists of the included trials. The authors searched for studies in any language in which adult cardiac surgical patients were assigned randomly to intensive insulin therapy (IIT) versus conventional insulin therapy (CIT). Two authors independently extracted the information and assessed the methodologic quality of the trials. The summary effects were estimated with the risk ratio or risk difference using random- and fixed-effects models. SETTING Randomized controlled trials. INTERVENTIONS A meta-analysis of 5 randomized control trials. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Five randomized controlled trials that included 706 patients were identified. Overall, the risk difference of 30-day/in-hospital mortality with IIT compared with CIT was 0.01 (95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.01 to 0.03; p = 0.25) and the risk difference of hypoglycemic events with IIT was -0.02 (95% CI = 0.05-0.01; p = 0.26) and thus not different between treatments. The infection rate was lower in patients randomized to the IIT arm (risk ratio = 0.50; 95% CI = 0.29-0.84; p = 0.009). Among the 4 trials that reported cardiovascular events, the pooled risk ratio with IIT was 0.85 (95% CI = 0.45-1.59; p = 0.61). CONCLUSIONS The intraoperative use of IIT may decrease the infection rate in cardiac surgical patients compared with the CIT group. However, IIT may not decrease mortality, the incidence of hypoglycemia, or the incidence of cardiovascular events. Additional well-designed randomized trials are required to clarify the potential benefit of IIT on 30-day/in-hospital mortality and the incidence of perioperative hypoglycemia.
The Political Economy of Financial Liberalisation

Political economy theories of financial development argue that in countries where a narrow elite controls political decisions, financial development may be deliberately obstructed to deny access to finance to potential competitors. This paper empirically examines whether the level of liberalisation of the banking system, the stock market and capital account depend on regime characteristics, using panel data from 26 countries from 1973 – 1999. Our results show that it is predominantly fully democratic regimes that have liberalised financial systems. Countries that are not fully democratic have a lower probability of having liberal banking systems and capital accounts and this probability decreases with increasing democratisation. This suggests that the attractiveness of using financial levers to allocate funds in the economy increases with the amount of competition the government faces, although a fully competitive electoral system creates incentives to relinquish financial control.
An Assessment of Industrial Customers’ Satisfaction at Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation: A Case of South Addis Ababa Region

The survival of any organization in a highly competitive environment depends on its ability to provide the best service quality to its existing customers as the quality of service is a key factor in the success of any organization. Though a stable supply of enough energy is a must for industrialization, Ethiopia’s growing industrial sector has come with an unprecedented rise in power demand. Despite the introduction of quality improvement programs and several customer care packages in the past, service quality gaps are still enduring in EEPCo.The study has the objective of assessing industrial customers’ satisfaction on service quality using SERVQUAL model. It also addresses the problems of quality gaps through the survey done at EEPCo, South Addis Ababa Region Industrial customers. The study was conducted using a descriptive survey method where the respondents were industrial customers and frontline managers. The sample size was 333 industrial customers and these were selected using simple random sampling technique. Front line managers were selected through purposive sampling. Moreover, structured questionnaires and interviews are tools used to gather relevant information and statistical tools like percentage, tables and charts are used to analyze the data. The study shows performance of EEPCo in providing quality service to its industrial customers is not in a situation to meet their expectations. In all dimensions of the SERVQUAL; tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, empathy, and assurance, it’s found that there is a negative gap between service expectations and service perceptions.Therefore, the Corporation should come up with an appropriate service delivery standards, proper complaint handling mechanisms, relevant training for its employees, and strengthening decision making power of employees. Decision makers also have to exert maximum effort in quality improvement programs so that the corporation ensures industrial customers satisfaction.
Image Compression Using Complex Wavelet Transform

Discrete wavelet transform (DWT) became a powerful method for signal processing in the last decade. One of the most important applications of this tool is compression, for the bi-dimensional signals JPEG 2000 being an example. Although the new standard offers better results than the old one, new innovating ideas can improve even the JPEG 2000. One idea is to use complex wavelet transforms, transforms that offers more directions, instead of classical DWT. This paper comes to show the superiority of complex wavelet transforms in image compression, testing a new transform developed by N.G. Kingsbury. For this, the embedded zero-tree wavelet (EZW) algorithm proposed by Shapiro was used to compress images at some different bit rates
Helpful Business Value of Advance Bal Information System

It has become progressively more complicated to pay more attention to the significance of business value of information system in early days. Above the past few days researchers have high bleached the need of information system in business field. Almost every organization like electronics, textile, computer, etc is investing significantly in information system. It is generally observed that IS savings facilitate firms to achieve competitive benefit and enhance central part competencies to improve their performance and increase further earnings. As a result Helpful Business Value of Advance BAL Information System (HBVABIS) is at the heart of our thoughtfulness in this research paper. This paper seeks to address the following questions. What is meant by business value of information system? How can we calculate business value of information system? What is the importance of information system in new e-commerce era? It has been generally observed that with the passage of time as the quick changes are taking place in information system the above questions are gaining importance in the field of business. The consideration in proper selection of technology and its proper exploitation to improve the performance of a business in education sector help to attain the business value. We also covered some aspects of educational sector using statistical analysis.
The role of proximity in shaping knowledge sharing in professional services firms

Knowledge sharing among colleagues is critical to the competitiveness of professional services firms. Yet the mechanisms that lead one professional to seek advice from a colleague remain poorly understood. In order to probe the micro-foundations of knowledge sharing in these environments, this paper explores how different forms of proximity shape the likelihood that two colleagues will share knowledge. Building on theories of proximity, we suggest and empirically substantiate that cognitive proximity is curvilinearly related to the probability of knowledge sharing. We also show how this curvilinear relationship is moderated by other forms of proximity: geographical, social and organizational. We examine trade-offs between different forms of proximity in an attempt to unpack the cognitive, organizational and geographical dimensions of knowledge sharing in organizational networks. We explore the implications of our findings for theories of organizational design and knowledge management, and for managerial practice.
Approximate adder segmentation technique and significance-driven error correction

Approximate computing introduces a new era of low-power and high-speed circuit designs. Instead of strict accurate computation, relaxed requirements might increase performance and reduce power consumption with a simplified or inaccurate circuit. One of the recent remarkable research efforts is the accuracy-configurable approximate adder designs, which can gracefully operate in both approximate (inaccurate) and accurate modes. In this paper, a novel technique for segmenting approximate adders was proposed by adding new bit locations that exploit the carry kill signal definition to limit carry propagation at specific locations. Moreover, a light-weight carry-in prediction and error detection techniques were proposed. For error recovery circuit, a significance-driven configurable correction stages were implemented, which imply a fast convergence to exact outputs with a very low magnitude of errors. The proposed design showed improvements of (16%) and (18.6%) for dynamic power and area respectively. Nevertheless, outputs reserved a general high accuracy level, which limited between 99% and 100% for the majority of input space. The proposed design was implemented in an image filter application, which resulted in high PSNR values of (53 and 83 db) for the two premier correction stages, and 100% exact results for the highest accuracy mode.
Implementation of a dual-phase lock-in amplifier on a TMS320C5515 digital signal processor

A digital dual-phase lock-in amplifier that is capable to run on a low-cost, low-power platform comprising a 16-bit fixed-point digital signal processor was developed. This is achieved by a set of optimised digital filters including an exponential averager to adjust the time constant of the overall filter. The reference frequency is generated using a direct digital synthesis source utilising angle decomposition with a resolution of 1 Hz. The digital lock-in algorithm is described and the performance of the algorithm is analysed. The experimental results show that the developed lock-in amplifier achieves similar performance to a commercially available lock-in amplifier.
Respiratory syncytial virus infection in children admitted to hospital but ventilated mechanically for other reasons

One thousand five hundred sixty‐eight RSV infections were documented prospectively in 1,541 pediatric patients. Of these, 20 (1.3%) had acquired the RSV infection while treated by mechanical ventilation for reasons other than the actual RSV infection (group ventilated mechanically). The clinical characteristics of children who were infected with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection while ventilated mechanically for other reasons are described and compared with a matched control group. Sixty percent of the group ventilated mechanically had at least one additional risk factor for a severe course of infection (prematurity 50%, chronic lung disease 20%, congenital heart disease 35%, immunodeficiency 20%). The median age at diagnosis in the group ventilated mechanically was 4.2 months. The matched pairs analysis (group ventilated mechanically vs. control group) revealed a higher proportion of patients with hypoxemia and apnoea in the group ventilated mechanically; more patients in the control group showed symptoms of airway obstruction (wheezing). At least one chest radiography was performed in 95% of the patients (n = 19) in the group ventilated mechanically versus 45% (n = 9) in the control group (P = 0.001). The frequency of pneumonia was 40% in the group ventilated mechanically and 20% in the control group. Despite existing consensus recommendations, only two patients (10%) of the group ventilated mechanically had received palivizumab previously. Significantly more patients in the group ventilated mechanically received antibiotic treatment (85% vs. 45%, P = 0.008), and attributable mortality was higher in the group ventilated mechanically (15% [n = 3] vs. 0% in the control group, P = 0.231). Children treated by long term mechanical ventilation may acquire RSV infection by transmission by droplets or caregivers and face an increased risk of a severe course of RSV infection. The low rate of immunoprophylaxis in this particular risk group should be improved. J. Med. Virol. 81:160–166, 2009. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Fault-tolerant Distributed Continuous Double Auctioning on Computationally Constrained Microgrids

In this article we show that a mutual exclusion protocol supporting continuous double auctioning for power trading on computationally constrained microgrid can be fault tolerant. Fault tolerance allows the CDA algorithm to operate reliably and contributes to overall grid stability and robustness. Contrary to fault tolerance approaches proposed in the literature which bypass faulty nodes through a network reconfiguration process, our approach masks crash failures of cluster head nodes through redundancy. Masking failure of the main node ensures the dependent cluster nodes hosting trading agents are not isolated from auctioning. A rendundant component acts as a backup which takes over if the primary components fails, allowing for some fault tolerance and a graceful degradation of the network. Our proposed fault-tolerant CDA algorithm has a complexity of O(N) time and a check-pointing message complexity of O(W ). N is the number of messages exchanged per critical section. W is the number of check-pointing messages.
Pricing and Hedging Variable Annuity Guarantees with Multiasset Stochastic Investment Models

Variable annuities are often sold with guarantees to protect investors from downside investment risk. The majority of variable annuity guarantees are written on more than one asset, but in practice, single-asset (univariate) stochastic investment models are mostly used for pricing and hedging these guarantees. This practical shortcut may lead to problems such as basis risk. In this article, we contribute a multivariate framework for pricing and hedging variable annuity guarantees. We explain how to transform multivariate stochastic investment models into their risk-neutral counterparts, which can then be used for pricing purposes. We also demonstrate how dynamic hedging can be implemented in a multivariate framework and how the potential hedging error can be quantified by stochastic simulations.
Performance Nutrition for Team Sports

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Peptide Mimicry of AICL Inhibits Cytolysis of NK Cells by Blocking NKp80-AICL Recognition

AICL has been identified as a ligand of the activating NK cell receptor NKp80, but the interaction sites of NKp80-AICL were unknown. In this study, a 3-D model of AICL was constructed by using online server 3D-JIGSAW. Three highly conserved sequences of AICL on the surface of the AICL 3-D model were synthesized, and named as P1, P2 and P3, respectively. Flow cytometric analysis demonstrated that these peptides were able to compete with anti-NKp80 mAb on NKp80 binding activity in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, P1 or P2 exerted inhibitory effects on NKp80-AICL mediated cytotoxicity of both fresh PBMCs and purified NK cells in 51Cr release cytotoxicity assay. These results demonstrated that P1 and P2 sequences on AICL might be considered as the potential sites of NKp80-AICL interaction.
CUSTOMERS' ATTITUDE TOWARDS DEBIT CARDS - A STUDY

Banks are playing vital role in the economic development of a country. A sound and effective banking system is the backbone of an economy. The emergence of private/new generation banks has been changed the entire banking operations drastically by the use of sophisticated new technologies like internet banking, ATMs (Automated Teller Machines), EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer), Debit cards, Credit cards, Mobile banking, etc., are accessible to customers on a 24x7 basis across the world. These modern technologies enable the bankers to overcome the barriers of time and space in extending their customer services.
HELSINKI UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Department of Electrical Engineering

An accuracy analysis of the HUT Snow Covered Area estimation method is presented in this work. The main emphasis is to resolve the statistical accuracy of the estimation method. Other studied subjects include the effects of reference image selection, forest compensation, topography and satellite flight path on the SCA estimation method. The method is studied by conducting the SCA estimation for 24 ERS-2 SAR intensity images for the boreal forest dominated test area in Northern Finland. The evaluation of the method is conducted by comparing the SCA estimation results with the available reference data.
Hybrid error correction approach and de novo assembly for minion sequencing long reads

A track to solve the problem of errors caused by the third generation of sequencing technology is to use the high coverage of the high quality of short reads generated by the second-generation sequencing technology. This paper presents a new approach for error correction and de novo assembly for long reads. We present MiRCA a hybrid approach based on the sequences alignments that detects and corrects errors for MinIon long reads using Illumina short reads. With this new error correction approach, we were able to make an effective and quick de novo assembly. Experiments on Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the Escherichia coli genomes show that MiRCA is much better than the available tools. MiRCA is tested on Linux platforms and freely available at https://github.com/Mkchouk/MiRCA.
Efficient design and modeling of doped-fiber amplifiers and lasers

We showed that our specialist simulation platform allows for the efficient design and analysis of new high-power doped fiber applications. In particular, we discussed modeling and design issues of high-power CW and Q-switched Er, Yb and co-doped fiber lasers and amplifiers using core or cladding pumping. Simulation results have been compared with published experimental data.
Protein-Synthetic Activity of Ribosomes from Interferon-Treated Cells

Cell-free protein-synthetic systems from normal and interferon-treated chick cells were compared. No difference was found in the amino acid incorporation activities of such ribosome-cell sap systems or in their response to polyuridylic acid. Throughout a variety of experiments we failed to detect the formation of a discrete peak of virus-specific polysomes, when ribosome monomers and subunits (from interferon-treated or control cells) were incubated with labeled Sindbis or Semliki Forest virus ribonucleic acid (RNA). Some binding of viral RNA did occur, but the complexes formed were evident in sucrose gradients as a broad, rapidly sedimenting shoulder on the ribosome monomer peak. Interferon pretreatment of cells did not affect the formation of these complexes in vitro, nor did it alter their rate of breakdown on incubation under amino acid incorporation conditions. Experiments with inhibitors of protein synthesis showed that such “breakdown” was not dependent upon amino acid incorporation and was not an index of translation. In these respects, our results are in marked contrast to those of Marcus and Salb. These results, together with our failure to detect any significant change in the protein composition of ribosomes from interferon-treated cells, suggest that such treatment does not result in a modification of the ribosome per se. They do not, however, rule out the involvement of a factor(s) required for ribosomes and viral RNA to function in viral protein synthesis. Indeed, it remains likely that interferon acts through such a mechanism, although the precise level at which the inhibition occurs remains to be elucidated.
Internal supravesical hernia - a rare cause of intestinal obstruction: report of two cases

Supravesical hernias develop at the supravesical fossa between the remnants of the urachus and the left or right umbilical artery. They are exceptional and are often the cause of intestinal obstruction. We report two cases of surgically proven internal supravesical hernias presenting with small bowel obstruction. Abdominal computed tomography showed, for our first case, the relation of the incarcerated intestine anterior to and compressing the urinary bladder. We believe that the preoperative diagnosis of supravesical hernia by abdominal computed tomography is possible, as shown in our first case.
Impact of previously disadvantaged land users on sustainable agricultural practices

The study was undertaken to determine the impact of previously disadvantaged land users on the use of sustainable agriculture and development practices. There is widespread evidence about previously disadvantaged land users involved in communal farming systems vulnerability to unsustainable practices. The lack of the adoption of sustainable practices due to a variety of factors is high. The stratified random sampling method was used due to its ability to attain representation. The questionnaire and semi structured interview was used for data collection. The study observed that social, economic, institutional and ecological factors have positive and negative impact on sustainable agriculture and development. The understanding among participants is that there exists a strong relationship between the ecological factors, farm practices, productivity, income and institutional arrangements impacting on the area's land users. There are vital farming requisites like recognition of indigenous knowledge, lack of input, capital, marketing, information and land use planning, with effect on sustainable resource use by disadvantaged land users. The need to form holistic approaches that entails all elements of sustainability is vital for the area development. ,i>SA Jnl. Agric. Ext. Vol. 33 2004: 108-127
Management accounting innovation and organizational learning

Innovation in management accounting has been significant over the last 15 years. Since the publication of Johnson and Kaplan's (1987) Relevance Lost: The Rise and Fall of Management Accounting, innovations such as activity-based costing/management, the balanced scorecard, value-chain analysis and economic value-added systems have been introduced by organizations to improve the quality of information and management within those organizations. At the same time there has been a growing interest in the concept of organizational learning. While the literature in this area is dispersed across a range of disciplines, there has been a growing interest in the concept in the business and management literature, and, to a lesser extent, the accounting-related literature. The purpose of this study is to explore the potential links between these two broad concepts, namely, management accounting innovation and organizational learning. It is believed that the thesis will contribute to the further development of theory in the areas of management accounting innovation and organizational learning.