Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A case study of the implementing user empowerment in the financial services industry

In an increasingly competitive and cost conscious business environment, the Chief information officer and business leaders are seeking to extract greater value from their technologies. At the same time, business employees are more technically proficient than they have ever been, largely on the back of emerging trends such as the consumerisation of Information and communications technology. The convergence of this need to extract greater value from technology, and an increasingly technology savvy employee is the trend known as user empowerment. User empowerment implies the transfer of responsibilities and activities traditionally performed within the Information and communications technology function of a business to the business operations function. In this report, the implementation of a user empowerment program is explored via a case study at Maitland Group South Africa, a financial services firm based in Cape Town, South Africa. Through this study, user empowerment is shown to have significant benefits to the business operations, improving the job satisfaction experienced by business employees who felt they were able to add additional value to the daily operations. In addition, user empowerment is shown to decrease risk, increase operational agility, increase efficiency and improve quality, thereby resulting in an improved customer experience. The experience at Maitland Group South Africa as explored through the case study survey is aligned to this, with the business having achieved all of these benefits. The business has also experienced some negative impacts, especially in the first few months following the implementation of the program, resulting from a weak understanding and appreciation of Information and communications technology governance amongst business users. The concept of user empowerment is challenging to the Information and communications technology function, especially those who have traditionally favoured a centrally run command and control type model. The aversion the traditional Information and communications technology leader might have to user empowerment is realised if sufficient understanding of the software development lifecycle and associated governance processes are not transferred to business operations. In those instances where end-users are empowered to perform activities traditionally performed within Information and communications technology, without the appropriate understanding of best practice and good governance procedures, the overall risk to the business can be increased by empowering users. This risk is driven by poorly designed process, usually on the back of poor testing and weak supporting documentation. Overall though, if properly and appropriately executed, the benefits to the business of user empowerment far exceeds the possible negative consequences.
CD317/Tetherin Is Enriched in the HIV-1 Envelope and Downregulated from the Plasma Membrane upon Virus Infection

ABSTRACT CD317/Bst-2/tetherin is a host factor that restricts the release of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) by trapping virions at the plasma membrane of certain producer cells. It is antagonized by the HIV-1 accessory protein Vpu. Previous light microscopy studies localized CD317 to the plasma membrane and the endosomal compartment and showed Vpu induced downregulation. In the present study, we performed quantitative immunoelectron microscopy of CD317 in cells producing wild-type or Vpu-defective HIV-1 and in control cells. Double-labeling experiments revealed that CD317 localizes to the plasma membrane, to early and recycling endosomes, and to the trans-Golgi network. CD317 largely relocated to endosomes upon HIV-1 infection, and this effect was partly counteracted by Vpu. Unexpectedly, CD317 was enriched in the membrane of viral buds and cell-associated and cell-free viruses compared to the respective plasma membrane, and this enrichment was independent of Vpu. These results suggest that the tethering activity of CD317 critically depends on its density at the cell surface and appears to be less affected by its density in the virion membrane.
Thermoelectric and structural characterizations of individual electrodeposited bismuth telluride nanowires

The thermoelectric properties and crystal structure of individual electrodeposited bismuth telluride nanowires (NWs) were characterized using a microfabricated measurement device and transmission electron microscopy. Annealing in hydrogen was used to obtain electrical contact between the NW and the supporting Pt electrodes. By fitting the measured Seebeck coefficient with a two-band model, the NW samples were determined to be highly n-type doped. Higher thermal conductivity and electrical conductivity were observed in a 52 nm diameter monocrystalline NW than a 55 nm diameter polycrystalline NW. The electron mobility of the monocrystalline NW was found to be about 19% lower than that of bulk crystal at a similar carrier concentration and about 2.5 times higher than that of the polycrystalline NW. The specularity parameter for electron scattering by the NW surface was determined to be about 0.7 and partially specular and partially diffuse, leading to a reduction in the electron mean-free path from 61 nm in .
The Market Valuation of Firm Reputation

We show that the intangible asset, firm reputation, has value-relevance as measured by its ability to explain part of the difference between BV and MV. Firm reputation is measured using the Fortune survey of "America's most admired companies. " We allow the Fortune rankings to serve as a proxy for nonfinancial information, such as customer service and intellectual capital. We demonstrate this summary measure of nonfinancial information adds to market value, even after controlling for the financial performance halo effects on the Fortune ratings.
DOES CAPTOPRIL CHANGE OXIDATIVE STRESS IN PUROMYCIN AMINONUCLEOSIDE NEPHROPATHY?

Puromycin aminonucleoside (PAN) nephropathy in rats has been induced by the intraperitoneal injections of PAN. One group of animals which received PAN has been treated simultaneously with captopril (angiotensine converting enzyme-ACE-inhibitor) with the aim to test whether continuing treatment with captopril along with PAN injections would be able to modulate the toxic effects of PAN. The third group of rats was given only captopril. Morphological changes in the kidney were evaluated by scanning electron microscopy that showed the loss of podocyte foot processes in the kidney of PAN treated animals but also in the kidney of captopril treated ones as well as in the animals treated with both drugs simultaneously. Reduced glutathione content, catalase, superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), xanthine oxidase activities as well as lipid peroxides were investigated in rat blood and kidney. Captopril given alone produced a significant decrease of plasma lipid peroxides, but it did not show any significant effect on investigated antioxidative factor levels neither in blood nor in the kidney. PAN given alone produced a significant depletion of plasma lipid peroxides, kidney catalase and erythrocyte GSH-Px activity as well as a significant increase of plasma catalase and erythrocyte SOD activity. Treatment of animals with both drugs simultaneously resulted in a significant increase of erythrocyte SOD activity and a significant decrease of plasma lipid peroxides, erythrocyte GSH-Px and kidney SOD activities. Kidney xanthine oxidase activity showed a significant increase in both PAN and PAN plus captopril treated animals in comparison with the values of captopril treated rats. These data suggest that PAN changes the antioxidative factor pattern in rat blood and kidney. Contrary to our expectations that captopril may protect the toxic effects of PAN it only to a certain extent modifies these effects showing protective effect only on tissue catalase activity.
The 4Ps of Relational Marketing, Perspectives, Perceptions, Paradoxes and Paradigms

SUMMARY The aim of this paper is to explore how different underlying worldviews in marketing affect the perception of the environment and how these impact the choice between transactional or relational offerings. Furthermore, we aim to show that not only positivistic and interpretivist paradigms are present in all of the management disciplines, in strategy, in organizational theory, in marketing, etc., but also that managerial disciplines seem to be moving from the reign of the positivistic schools, through the emergence of the interpretativist schools, and now towards a pluralistic approach. The analysis of the underlying worldviews is important for relationship marketing in practice because it may provide another, deeper-level explanation for the choices that managers make regarding transactional, relational and pluralistic offerings. At the theoretical level, it may help explain how and why the new RM paradigm developed in the marketing.
Considerations on port-wine stains and their laser treatment

Patients with a port-wine stain applying for laser treatment often mentioned to have a member in the family with a similar birthmark. Of 280 consecutive new patients with a port-wine stain 55 mentioned to have relatives with the same anomaly. Family tendency (19.6%) for vascular malformations in our group was significantly higher than mentioned by others. Pedigrees were made of 32 families with two or more affected members, including probands. We present 9 representative pedigrees of families with three or more members affected by PWS. In these families no clear mode of inheritance can be discerned. Genetic linkage studies identified causative gene defects in certain venous malformations and Rendu-OslerWeber disease. Knowledge of new theories on angiogenesis and molecular genetics has to be linked to our patients with familial PWS.
Classification of Acceleration Waveforms during Walking by Wavelet Transform

Abstract: In this study we have attempted to classify the acceleration signal, while walking both at horizontal level, and upstairs and downstairs, using wavelet analysis. The acceleration signal close to the body’s center of gravity was measured while the subjects walked in a corridor and up and down a stairway. The data for four steps were analyzed and the Daubecies 3 wavelet transform was applied to the sequential data. The variables to be discriminated were the waveforms related to levels -4 and -5. The sum of the square values at each step was compared at levels -4 and -5. Downstairs walking could be discriminated from other types of walking, showing the largest value for level -5. Walking at horizontal level was compared with upstairs walking for level -4. It was possible to discriminate the continuous dynamic responses to walking by the wavelet transform.
Feature Selection Using Rough Set in Intrusion Detection

Most of existing intrusion detection systems use all data features to detect an intrusion. Very little works address the importance of having a small feature subset in designing an efficient intrusion detection system. Some features are redundant and some contribute little to the intrusion detection process. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of rough set theory in identifying important features in building an intrusion detection system. Rough set was also used to classify the data. Here, we used KDD Cup 99 data. Empirical results indicate that rough set is comparable to other feature selection techniques deployed by few other researchers
Loss of Tbx4 blocks hindlimb development and affects vascularization and fusion of the allantois

Tbx4 is a member of the T-box family of transcription factor genes, which have been shown to play important roles in development. We have ablated Tbx4 function using targeted mutagenesis in the mouse. Embryos homozygous for the null allele fail to undergo chorioallantoic fusion and die by 10.5 days post coitus. The allantoises of Tbx4-mutant embryos are stunted, apoptotic and display abnormal differentiation. Endothelial cells within mutant allantoises do not undergo vascular remodeling. Heterozygous embryos show a mild, transient growth defect in the allantois. Induction of a hindlimb field occurs normally in Tbx4 mutants and initial patterning of the hindlimb bud appears normal. However, hindlimb buds from Tbx4 mutants fail to develop either in vivo or in vitro and do not maintain Fgf10 expression in the mesenchyme. The expression of another, closely-linked, T-box gene, Tbx2, is reduced in both the hindlimb and the allantois of Tbx4-mutant embryos prior to the development of overt morphological abnormalities, which suggests that Tbx4 regulates Tbx2 in these tissues.
Immunologic abnormalities in chronic fatigue syndrome

The chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), formerly known as chronic Epstein-Barr virus syndrome, is a clinical state of some complexity and uncertain etiology. In order to characterize in a comprehensive manner the status of laboratory markers associated with cellular immune function in patients with this syndrome, 30 patients with clinically defined CFS were studied. All of the subjects were found to have multiple abnormalities in these markers. The most consistent immunological abnormality detected among these patients, when compared with normal controls, was low natural killer (NK) cell cytotoxicity. The number of NK cells, as defined by reactivity with monoclonal antibody NKH.1 (CD56), was elevated, but the killing of K562 tumor cells per CD56 cell was significantly diminished. Lymphoproliferative responses after stimulation with phytohemagglutinin and pokeweed mitogen were decreased in most patients when compared with those in normal controls, as was the production of gamma interferon following mitogen stimulation. Lymphocyte phenotypic marker analysis of peripheral blood lymphocytes showed that there were significant differences between patients with CFS and controls. There was an increase in the percentage of suppressor-cytotoxic T lymphocytes, CD8, and a proportionally larger increase in the number of CD8 cells expressing the class II activation marker. Most patients had an elevated number of CD2 cells which expressed the activation marker CDw26. The numbers of CD4 cells and the helper subset of CD4+CD29+ cells in patients with CFS were not different from those in controls. There was, however, a significant decrease in the suppressor inducer subset of CD4+ CD45RA+ cells. The number of B cells, CD20 and CD21, were elevated, as were the numbers of a subset of B cells which coexpressed CD20 and CD5. The patterns of immune marker abnormalities observed was compatible with a chronic viral reactivation syndrome.
Assessing the Virtual Classrooms : A Progress Report

In 1991, I devoted this editorial space to the subject of assessment in the distance learning environment [Virtual Assessment, AAF, I(3)]. I expected that innovation was only a matter of months away. Four years later, the only way virtual has worked its way into the discussion of assessment is to note that virtually no progress has been made. Given the need, opportunity, importance and cost factors, there arefew explanations for this serious lack of progress. [Note: The concluding article in the series on assessing cognitive achievement is awaiting reviews of new statistical software. ] Ed.
Interface of Apoptotic Protein Complexes Has Distinct Properties

Apoptosis is a programmed mechanism of cell death that is a normal component of development and health of multi-cellular organisms. In this study, we ask if interface properties of apoptotic protein complexes are different from protein complexes in general. We find that although in apoptotic protein complexes the overall distribution of interface size, surface complementarity, hydrogen bonding, hydrophobicity are similar to general interface properties, apoptotic complexes tend to have more fragmented interfaces and different secondary structural preferences. The statistics on the number of interfaces where specific amino acid(s) occur with significantly enhanced frequency suggest that Arg, Met and Asp are most important functional residues. The role of Met is believed to be unique, as evidenced from the existing data on hot spot potential of residues. These findings together provide insight into the possible role of various physico-chemical attributes at the protein interface in regulation of the apoptosis process.
Mobile robot self-localization using PDAB

The aim of the paper is to make a contribution to the mobile robot self-localization problem, when the initial position is unknown. It is assumed that a simple map of the environment, consisting of a list of 2D-edge coordinates is available. These are regarded as natural or artificial landmarks. It is further assumed that the position of edges can be detected by a sensor in the local coordinate frame of the robot. From every pair of feature measures and map-landmarks, hypotheses of the robot-pose are constructed. These are regarded as measurement inputs into the probabilistic data association using Bayesian formulation (PDAB) approach. The presented first results demonstrates that the suggested method in combination with low level features is a promising approach for self-localization in unstructured and sparse modeled environments.
Selection of Plasmodium falciparum pfmdr1 Alleles following Therapy with Artemether-Lumefantrine in an Area of Uganda where Malaria Is Highly Endemic

ABSTRACT Polymorphisms in the Plasmodium falciparum pfmdr1 gene were assayed in pretreatment samples and in samples from patients reinfected following therapy with artemether-lumefantrine. The pfmdr1 alleles 86N, 184F, and 1246D significantly increased in prevalence after treatment. All samples had a single pfmdr1 copy. Treatment with artemether-lumefantrine selects for polymorphisms that may alter antimalarial drug response.
Marketing's role in successful new product development in commercial, investment and merchant banks

This thesis investigates marketing's role in new product development (NPD) in commercial, investment and merchant banks. It examines how marketing inputs contribute to new product development success. NPD success can be measured at two levels of analysis - at the program and at the project level. Our study is concentrated at the program level at which sustained product development success is examined, rather than one-off project success. Successful product developers are identified as those banks with a better record of being first to market with new products. This measure of product development success is important in the financial risk management market in which commercial, investment and merchant banks compete fiercely. Based on peer evaluation seventeen banks were identified as innovative, that is to say; active new product developers in the financial risk management market from a universe of almost 130 U.K. and foreign banks with established operations in London. From these seventeen eight participated in our research study. Data was collected in two stages. First, personal interviews were conducted with the heads of the treasury divisions or the heads of derivates desks to collect background information for control purposes. Second, detailed questionnaires were administered to two further members of each bank who were involved with the development of financial risk management products. The questionnaires consisted of statements for which respondents were invited to indicate agreement or disagreement on 5-point Likert type scales. Our findings show that it is not the trappings but the quality of marketing inputs that contribute to program success. Quality of marketing inputs comprises the quality of approach adopted and the quality of execution. The most important finding is that successful product developers adopt higher quality marketing than do less successful product developers. Successful product developers place great emphasis on getting both their approach and their execution right. It was found that successful product developers adopt a market-based approach in identifying new opportunities. They not only adopt a strategy which selects markets on the basis of benefits sought (instead of determining strategy on the basis of primarily internal strengths), but they also use internal marketing to promote this cause. Further, successful product developers possess the appropriate implementation skills to exploit selected opportunities. While we cannot claim that program success will be guaranteed from a market-based approach, our evidence lends strong support that absence of a market-based approach is likely to lead to considerably lesser success in the type of product development investigated in this research study.
Smartcasting: a discount 3D interaction technique for public displays

We introduce and formally evaluate smartcasting: a smartphone-based Ray Casting implementation for 3D environments presented on large, public, autostereoscopic displays. By utilizing a smartphone as an input device, smartcasting enables "walk up and use" interaction with large displays, without the need for expensive tracking systems or specialized pointing devices. Through an empirical validation we show that the performance and precision of smartcasting is comparable to a Wiimote-based raycasting implementation, without requiring specialized hardware or high-precision cameras to enable user interaction.
Disclosure of the Fair Value of Executive Stock Options Granted to Top Executives

This paper examines the determinants of a company's choice of disclosure informativeness. The specific context is the disclosure of the value of stock options granted to the top executives under the SEC's Regulation S-K (Item 403). We show that firms with executives who are excessively paid, poorly-performing firms, and firms which are substantially owned by insiders, are more likely to choose the less informative disclosure method. On the other hand, larger firms, firms which are widely covered by analysts, firms with high financial leverage, and those which voluntarily expense their executive options, are more likely to choose the more informative disclosure. We also provide evidence that firms with higher accounting integrity command a higher market valuation.
Design and characterization of temperature-robust piezoresistive micro-pressure sensor with double-Wheatstone-bridge structure

This study presents a silicon-based micro-pressure sensor in which the piezoresistive patches on the polysilicon membrane are configured in the form of two concentric Wheatstone bridge circuits. The sensors in the central circuit measure the membrane deflection caused by the combined effects of the pressure and the ambient temperature, respectively, while those in the outer circuit measure the deflection induced by the ambient temperature alone. Thus, by comparing the output signals of the two circuits, a reliable indication of the sensed pressure is obtained. ANSYS simulations are performed to establish the optimal positions on the membrane surface of the piezoresistors within the two Wheatstone bridge circuits. The sensor is then fabricated using micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) techniques, and its sensing performance is compared with that of a micro-pressure sensor with a single-Wheatstone bridge configuration at pressures ranging from 0∼150 psi and temperatures in the range −10°C to 75°C. Moreover, the results confirm that the double-Wheatstone bridge sensor is significantly more robust to variations in the external temperature than the single-Wheatstone bridge sensor at all values of the considered pressure range.