Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Port logistics platform integration in supply chain management

The theme of this study is to present a comprehensive theoretical analysis and conceptual foundation of the port logistics platform as it relates to supply chain management discipline using a system theory approach. In this research paper, three main systems were identified: namely port logistics system, multimodal transport system and information and communication system as a constituent of the port logistics platform. Each system is associated with a specific type of flow, and these systems are closely interrelated. In the meantime, supply chain management and port logistics platform are the main entities governing the port logistics integration processes. The result of the research shows that the port might be a functional element within the supply chains through adapting the system theory approach, in particular soft system methodology. In addition, the proposed framework in relation to the value migration construct provides a better understanding of the contemporary port logistics platform set-up and interrelationship. The theoretical and practical implications of this emerging phenomenon are also discussed in this study.
Improving the postpartum care of women with a recent history of preeclampsia: a focus group study

ABSTRACT Objective: Women with prior preeclampsia are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). This study investigated barriers and facilitators toward learning about this link and engaging in lifestyle modifications to reduce this risk. Methods: Four focus groups were held with 14 women within 6 months of a preeclamptic pregnancy. Results: Participants were unaware of the link between preeclampsia and CVD, suggested improvements to provider–patient communication, and discussed the benefits of social support and online tracking (weight, blood pressure) in making lifestyle modifications. Conclusions: Solutions offered may improve efforts to modify lifestyle and communication between providers and women about this link.
Sturgeon viewing as nature tourism: to what extent do participants value their viewing experiences and the resources upon which they depend?

Fish viewing, a relatively new leisure activity, has nature tourism potential. We focused on sturgeon viewing in northeast Wisconsin to understand personal and experience characteristics, economic impacts, and sturgeon population values. The need for economic approaches, as used in this paper, was addressed for creating and supporting fish-viewing opportunities. In the spring of 2002, we intercepted viewers of a sturgeon spawning event, finding that they were similar to other nature tourism participants in terms of personal and experience characteristics. Most resided within 35 miles (56.33 km) of the viewing site and incurred expenditures only for auto fuel and restaurant meals. Viewers demonstrated a strong affinity for protecting the sturgeon population by supporting various management proposals for dealing with overharvest. Willingness-to-pay results help us to understand the use value of sturgeon viewing to participants as well as the underlying value of environmental resources that support viewing. This reduces the likelihood these resources will be converted to uses other than nature tourism. The estimated value to viewers of increasing regional sturgeon population levels by 10% exceeds $2 million over the resource asset lifetime. Overall, there is potential for other areas with watchable fish populations to attract additional economic impacts from both residents and non-residents.
Inflation Taxes and Inflation Subsidies: Explaining the Twisted Relationship Between Inflation and Output

This paper studies the nature of monetary policy in a cash-in-advance model with indivisible labor and with financial intermediaries that provide loans for working capital. Monetary policy occurs through money injections either directly to families or to financial intermediaries. Injections to families produce an inflation tax while injections directly to financial intermediaries provide an inflation subsidy that improves output, consumption, and welfare. This model helps explain why monetary policy based on growth in monetary aggregates can have ambiguous output effects, why central bankers usually prefer interest rate rules to monetary aggregate rules, and why estimated money demand equations tend to be unstable.
Nonconvulsive Status Epilepticus Due to Ifosfamide

Objective: To report 2 cases of nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) following infusion of ifosfamide. Case Summaries: Two patients who received ifosfamide-containing chemotherapy developed NCSE. One woman received ifosfamide 1000 mg/m2 (1 h infusion on days 1–5); confusion, lethargy, and speech deterioration developed on day 3. The second patient developed similar symptoms on day 3 of treatment with 2500 mg/m2. Both patients responded to intravenous administration of diazepam 10 mg and were given levetiracetam as maintenance therapy. Discussion: The severity and presentation of central nervous system toxicity due to ifosfamide varies greatly and involves a spectrum ranging from subclinical electroencephalogram changes to coma. NCSE, an epileptic disorder in which typical convulsive activity is absent, has previously been reported in only 4 patients receiving ifosfamide. Levetiracetam may be used for maintenance antiepileptic therapy after diazepam administration. Conclusions: Among the many presentations of ifosfamide neurotoxicity, clinicians should consider NCSE as a possible explanation for changes in consciousness in a patient receiving this agent. An objective causality assessment by use of the Naranjo probability scale revealed that NCSE due to ifosfamide was probable.
Intrauterine Growth Retardation: Altered Hepatic Energy and Redox States in the Fetal Rat

ABSTRACT: We determined the extent to which ligating both maternal uterine arteries affects fetal hepatic energy and redox states in the fetal rat. Bilateral maternal uterine artery ligation on d 18 of the rat's 21.5-d gestation significantly inhibits fetal growth; sham surgery limits growth to a lesser extent. Within 12 h of surgery and persisting to d 19, small-for-gestational age (SGA) fetuses had significantly diminished ATP/ADP and adenylate charge ratios, whereas sham fetuses had values intermediate between SGA and normal. Hepatic mitochondrial redox state demonstrated similar changes. Cytosolic redox state in SGA fetuses at 12 and 24 h after surgery was significantly elevated. SGA fetuses had significantly diminished plasma insulin and elevated glucagon concentrations. On d 19 and 20, hepatic ATP/ADP and cytosolic NAD+/NADH correlated directly for sham and normal but not SGA fetuses. Alterations in glucose, insulin, and glucagon availability and hypoxia were responsible for the changes in energy and redox states. They may also have disassociated hepatic cytosolic from mitochondrial redox states and altered the equilibrium between adenine and nicotinamide nucleotides. These altered cellular functions retarded fetal growth. Newborn SGA, sham, and normal rat pups had similar hepatic ATP/ADP, cytosolic, and mitochondrial redox states at 10 and 240 min after delivery suggesting that the hypoglycemia which developed in SGA pups was not attributable to alterations in these variables.
Critical Success Factors for Firms in the Genetically Modified Foods Industry: A Managerial Perspective

ABSTRACT The lack of consensus that has emerged among various stakeholders as to whether or not the production and commercialisation of genetically modified foods (GMFs) should be encouraged is quite apparent and well documented in the literature. Research also suggests that where firms have opted to produce and commercialise these foods, often very disparate factors have accounted for their success. An important lacuna in the literature therefore is an understanding of the extent to which firms involved in the production of GMFs acquiesce in regard to the most critical success factors necessary for the survival and growth of this industry. This article presents findings from an empirical study aimed at determining the most important success factors for firms competing in this somewhat uncertain industry. Utilising multivariate analysis, the study generates empirical evidence to cautiously posit the view that from a managerial perspective, strict adherence to factors such as (1) emphasising consumer value (2) minimising risk factors (3) compliance with stipulated government regulation (4) safety measures and (5) taking into account views by stakeholders (other than customers) present the most essential ingredients for the growth and future success of the GMFs industry. Despite the fact that the findings with respect to customer value was not totally in keeping with expected outcomes, the study does make a significant contribution towards the current debate surrounding GMFs and offers further useful insights that could be used in assisting firms to develop more viable long range plans.
Design of three wide-bandwidth terahertz array antennas based on composite right/left-handed transmission line

Three metamaterial-inspired terahertz antennas using negative order resonance are proposed and analyzed in this paper. The design of these novel resonant-type antennas which can be realized by traditional MEMS technology are based on the study of a composite right/left-handed transmission line (CRLH-TL). These antennas have content terahertz radiation characteristics. The slots act as a series capacitors as well as radiators can perform a CRLH antenna application. Three antennas with three or more CRLH unit cells are simulated. Compared with the existing antennas, our antennas show advantages in simplicity and wideband.
Single-mode operation of a coiled multimode fiber amplifier.

We report a new approach to obtaining single-transverse-mode operation of a multimode fiber amplifier in which the gain fiber is coiled to induce significant bend loss for all but the lowest-order mode. We demonstrated this method by constructing a coiled amplifier using Yb-doped, double-clad fiber with a core diameter of 25 microm and a numerical aperture of ~0.1 (V approximately 7.4) . When the amplifier was operated as an amplified-spontaneous-emission source, the output beam had an M(2) value of 1.09 +/- 0.09 ; when seeded at 1064 nm, the slope efficiency was similar to that of an uncoiled amplifier. This technique will permit scaling of pulsed fiber lasers and amplifiers to significantly higher pulse energies and peak powers and cw fiber sources to higher average powers while maintaining excellent beam quality.
Markets, Culture and Institutions: The Emergence of Large Business Groups in Taiwan, 1950s-1970s

Business groups are a special type of enterprise system existing in almost every market economy. Member firms do not operate as isolated units in the markets but have institutionalized relationships with each other and work coherently as an entity. Groups play a central role in economies in which they operate. For Taiwan, the largest 100 groups produced one third of the GNP in the past 20 years. Why does this organizational form exist in the first place? This paper reviews three relevant theories, market‐centred theories, culturalist perspective, and the institutional approach, and employs the data of 150 Taiwanese groups for the answer. The market‐centred theories and the institutional arguments are examined statistically and the latter is supported by the data. Following this evidence, the Boolean comparison of group firms with non‐group firms confirms that lacking a coherent core in ownership and management makes firms unable to respond to institutional incentives promptly. Finally, the structure of family ownership network in business groups refutes the cultural perspective which argues that the equal inheritance pattern of family property drives entrepreneurs to establish separate firms rather than single hierarchies. While both markets and culture play a distinct part in the story, it is regulatory institutions that lead to group formation.
The Term Structure of Interest Rates and Financial Integration in the ERM

In this paper we examine the relationship between the term structure of interest rates for six major European Union countries, to discover if the Exchange Rate Mechanism has lead to a converging of domestic term structures. We test this hypothesis using a model of international interest rate parity and three alternative econometric methods. We find that there is evidence of inter-dependence of domestic term structures implying that not only are European monetary polices converging but also that the appropriate model of the term structure is one with an explicit open economy dimension. Copyright @ 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. All rights reserved.
Stock Exchange Disclosure and Market Development: An Analysis of 50 International Exchanges

This study examines associations between measures of stock exchange disclosure and market development at 50 of the member stock exchanges of the World Federation of Exchanges. We focus on stock exchange disclosure systems (rather than actual company disclosures) because this approach links stock exchange policy with desired outcomes related to market development (such as liquidity, trading activity, and market size relative to gross domestic product). We find strong support for the hypothesis that the strength of the disclosure system (disclosure rules, monitoring, and enforcement) is positively associated with market development, after controlling for legal system, legal protection of investors, market size, and several other potentially relevant explanatory variables.
Meeting report – Imaging the Cell

ABSTRACT Every two years, the French Society for Cell Biology (SBCF) organises an international meeting called ‘Imaging the Cell’. This year, the 8th edition was held on 24–26 June 2015 at University of Bordeaux Campus Victoire in the city of Bordeaux, France, a UNESCO World Heritage site. Over the course of three days, the meeting provided a forum for experts in different areas of cell imaging. Its unique approach was to combine conventional oral presentations during morning sessions with practical workshops at hosting institutes and the Bordeaux Imaging Center during the afternoons. The meeting, co-organised by Violaine Moreau and Frédéric Saltel (both INSERM U1053, Bordeaux, France), Christel Poujol and Fabrice Cordelières (both Bordeaux Imaging Center, Bordeaux, France) and Isabelle Sagot (Institut de Biochimie et Génétique Cellulaires, Bordeaux, France), brought together about 120 scientists including 16 outstanding speakers to discuss the latest advances in cell imaging. Thanks to recent progress in imaging technologies, cell biologists are now able to visualise, follow and manipulate cellular processes with unprecedented accuracy. The meeting sessions and workshops highlighted some of the most exciting developments in the field, with sessions dedicated to optogenetics, high-content screening, in vivo and live-cell imaging, correlative light and electron microscopy, as well as super-resolution imaging.
Explaining Platform Value : Membership , Usage and Competition Effects

The value of a two-sided platform to users depends critically on the variety of complementary products available for it, and on their quality. The platform owner chooses the royalties (usage) and the access (membership) fees for the developers of complementary products, and the price of the hardware for the users. Yet the quality and price of complementary products are controlled strategically by the third-party developers. The platform’s and the developers’choices reflect the relative strength of the membership effects (how the users are attracted by the number of developers and complements) and usage effects (how the users are attracted by the quality of the available complements). We model the strategic interaction between the platform owner and its developers, and among developers that compete for the users, deriving endogenously the platform’s pricing strategy and the price and quality of complementary products. Although the price of complementary products decreases with the number of developers, the quality can increase or decrease depending on the relative strength of membership and usage effects. The combination of these two effects also affects the platform’s choice to subsidize only one side (the users) or both sides of the market. These results hinge on the developers’competition for users within the platform, but they resonate with previous findings that pertain to competition across platforms. 1Corresponding author: claudio.panico@unibocconi.it
Effect of Ownership Structure on Underinvestment and Overinvestment: Empirical Evidence from Spain

This paper investigates how ownership affects the investment-cash flow sensitivity by taking into account the non-linearities of ownership with respect to firm value, and using a free cash flow index and a criterion for financial constraints to disentangle underinvestment and overinvestment. Interesting results are provided by estimating using the Generalized Method of Moments to eliminate the endogeneity problem. The alignment of interests between owners and managers and the monitoring by concentrated ownership both alleviate the sensitivity of investment to cash flow both in underinvestor and overinvestor firms. However, in the presence of controlling owners, underinvestment and overinvestment are exacerbated.
Evaluation of Patients’ Perceptions of Alterations After Chin Bone Graft Harvesting

Objective:To evaluate patients' perceptions of alterations occurring after chin bone harvesting. Materials and Methods:Thirty patients were evaluated subjectively by visual analog scale–related sensitivity, facial aesthetics, eating, speaking, and lower lip movement, during 12 months. Objective analysis used the static light touch neurosensorial test. The statistical analysis was executed with Friedman test with P < 0.05 for both samples. Results:Subjective analysis revealed no alterations (1) to facial aesthetics, eating, speaking or lower lip movement but sensitivity of the mental region went from a lot of alteration initially (5) to little at the end of the study (3). Objective analysis results showed normal sensitivity (1) in the region after 12 months. Conclusion:The discrepancy between subjective and objective analyses may be indicative of the limited precision of clinical testing for subjective impressions assessment.
Resource Self-Renewing Human Bone MarrowMesenspheres Promote Hematopoietic Stem Cell Expansion

Joan Isern,1 Beatriz Martı́n-Antonio,2 Roshanak Ghazanfari,3 Ana M. Martı́n,1 Juan A. López,1 Raquel del Toro,1 Abel Sánchez-Aguilera,1 Lorena Arranz,1 Daniel Martı́n-Pérez,1 Marı́a Suárez-Lledó,2 Pedro Marı́n,2 Melissa Van Pel,4 Willem E. Fibbe,4 Jesús Vázquez,1 Stefan Scheding,3,5 Álvaro Urbano-Ispizúa,2 and Simón Méndez-Ferrer1,6,* 1Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III, Madrid 28029, Spain 2Hematology Department, Hospital Clinic, University of Barcelona, IDIBAPS and Institute of Research Josep Carreras, Barcelona 08036, Spain 3Lund Stem Cell Center, University of Lund, 22184 Lund, Sweden 4Department of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden 2333 ZA, The Netherlands 5Department of Hematology, Skåne University Hospital Lund, 22184 Lund, Sweden 6Department of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA *Correspondence: smendez@cnic.es http://dx.doi. org/10.1016/j.celrep. 2013.03. 041
Strategic R&D in systems industry - a network externality-based theory

The existing literature suggests that an incumbent monopolist supplier of a system component can successfully deter entry by increasing its installed base, which plays a role similar to that of the commitment value of investment in capacity. In this paper, we consider a systems market with network externality, where the consumers' utility not only depends on the network size but also on the technological quality of the product. We show that when the installed base of the incumbent fails to play its pre-emptive role to deter entry, the monopolist can deter entry by strategic R%D investment in upgrading its product. The result is independent of whether the R%D project is, ex-post, successful or not. Such entry deterrence is welfare reducing.
Quality improvement education to improve performance on ulcerative colitis quality measures and care processes aligned with National Quality Strategy priorities

Abstract Studies on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have reported suboptimal approaches to patient care. In the United States, the findings have motivated leading gastroenterology organizations to call for initiatives that support clinicians in aligning their practices with quality measures for IBD and priorities of the National Quality Strategy (NQS). We designed and implemented a quality improvement (QI) education program on ulcerative colitis in which patient charts were audited for 30 gastroenterologists before (n = 300 charts) and after (n = 290 charts) they participated in QI-focused educational activities. Charts were audited for nine measures, selected for their alignment with four NQS priorities: making care safer, ensuring patient engagement, promoting communication, and promoting effective treatment practices. Four of the measures, including guideline-directed vaccinations and assessments of disease type and activity, were part of the CMS Physician Quality Reporting System (PQRS). The other five measures involved counseling patients on various topics in ulcerative colitis management, documentation of side effects, assessment of adherence status, and simplification of dosing. The gastroenterologists also completed baseline and post-education surveys designed to assess qualitative outcomes. One of the educational interventions was a private audit feedback session conducted for each gastroenterologist. The sessions were designed to support participants in identifying measures reflecting suboptimal care quality and developing action plans for improvement. In continuous improvement cycles, follow-up interventions included QI tools and educational monographs. Across the nine chart variables, post-education improvements ranged from 0% to 48%, with a mean improvement of 15.9%. Survey findings revealed improvements in self-reported understanding of quality measures and intentions to apply them to practice, and lower rates of perceived significant barriers to high-quality care. The findings indicate the potential for QI education to support gastroenterologists in improving their performance on key measures of care quality for patients with ulcerative colitis.