Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effectiveness of the ISO 9001 quality management system in service companies

The purpose of the article is to assess ISO 9001 effectiveness (defined as the achievement of the standard's objectives) in service companies. Using a structured questionnaire, a research study was carried out in 100 ISO 9001:2008 certified Greek service companies. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses are applied to extract the latent factors of the indicators of ISO 9001 objectives. Descriptive statistics are used to assess the level of ISO 9001 objectives (ISO 9001 effectiveness) achieved by the sample companies. The findings of the study reveal the significant level of ISO 9001 effectiveness achieved by the service companies operating in a business environment where an economic downturn dominates. This means that the sample service companies focus highly on customer satisfaction, prevention of nonconformities and continuous improvement. However, there is still room for further improvement in the level of achievement of the ISO 9001 objectives (ISO 9001 effectiveness) in the service companies.
Mediating of caspase‐independent apoptosis by cadmium through the mitochondria‐ROS pathway in MRC‐5 fibroblasts

Cadmium (Cd) is an environmental pollutant of global concern with a 10–30‐year biological half‐life in humans. Accumulating evidence suggests that the lung is one of the major target organs of inhaled Cd compounds. Our previous report demonstrated that 100 μM Cd induces MRC‐5 cells, normal human lung fibroblasts, to undergo caspase‐independent apoptosis mediated by mitochondrial membrane depolarization and translocation of apoptosis‐inducing factor (AIF) from mitochondria into the nucleus. Here, using benzyloxycarbonyl‐Val‐Ala‐Asp‐(ome) fluoromethyl ketone (Z‐VAD.fmk) as a tool, we further demonstrated that Cd could induce caspase‐independent apoptosis at concentrations varied from 25 to 150 μM, which was modulated by reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavengers, such as N‐acetylcysteine (NAC), mannitol, and tiron, indicating that ROS play a crucial role in the apoptogenic activity of Cd. Consistent with this notion, the intracellular hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) was 2.9‐fold elevated after 3 h of Cd treatment and diminished rapidly within 1 h as detected by flow cytometry with 2′,7′‐dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFH‐DA) staining. Using inhibitors of the mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) (oligomycin A and rotenone for complex I and V, respectively) and mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP) (cyclosporin A and aristolochic acid), we coincidently found the ROS production, mitochondrial membrane depolarization, and apoptotic content were almost completely or partially abolished. As revealed by confocal microscopy staining with chloromethyl‐X‐rosamine (CMXRos) and an anti‐AIF antibody, the collapse of mitochondrial membrane potential induced by Cd (3 h‐treatment) was a prelude to the translocation of caspase‐independent pro‐apoptotic factor, AIF, into the nucleus (after 4 h of Cd treatment). In summary, this study demonstrated that, in MRC‐5 fibroblasts, Cd induced caspase‐independent apoptosis through a mitochondria‐ROS pathway. More importantly, we provide several lines of evidence supporting a role of mitochondrial ETC and MPTP in the regulation of caspase‐independent cell death triggered by Cd. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Computational Model as Neurodecoder Based on Synchronous Oscillation in the Visual Cortex

Based on synchronized responses of neuronal populations in the visual cortex to external stimuli, we proposed a computational model consisting primarily of a neuronal phase-locked loop (NPLL) and multiscaled operator. The former reveals the function of synchronous oscillations in the visual cortex. Regardless of which of these patterns of the spike trains may be an average firing-rate code, a spike-timing code, or a rate-time code, the NPLL can decode original visual information from neuronal spike trains modulated with patterns of external stimuli, because a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO), which is included in the NPLL, can precisely track neuronal spike trains and instantaneous variations, that is, VCO can make a copy of an external stimulus pattern. The latter, however, describes multiscaled properties of visual information processing, but not merely edge and contour detection. In this study, in which we combined NPLL with a multiscaled operator and maximum likelihood estimation, we proved that the model, as a neurodecoder, implements optimum algorithm decoding visual information from neuronal spike trains at the system level. At the same time, the model also obtains increasingly important supports, which come from a series of experimental results of neurobiology on stimulus-specific neuronal oscillations or synchronized responses of the neuronal population in the visual cortex. In addition, the problem of
Bounds on the benefits of interaction in distributed source coding for function computation

In this paper, we study a setting in which two terminals A and B respectively observe, or measure, two memoryless, possibly statistically dependent, sources X and Y; and they interact bidirectionally in the aim of computing, at terminal B, a function fB(X;Y) of the two sources. Essentially, we establish upper bounds on the maximum gain that can be brought up by the interaction, in terms of minimum sum rate improvement for a given average distortion. In particular, we show that this gain is bounded by the redundancy of the one-message minimal rate for computing the function fB(X;Y) in the case in which Terminal A does not know the side information Y over the one-message minimal rate for computing the same function with the same tolerance but with Terminal A informed about the side information Y. That is, the redundancy of the one-message Wyner-Ziv rate-distortion function for function computation over the one-message conditional rate-distortion function for function computation. In the special case of lossy source reproduction, the bound reduces to the rate loss of the Wyner-Ziv problem as studied by Zamir in the case of a difference distortion measure. In the case of lossy function computation, we use this bound to establish an alternate bound that is generally easier to compute. Furthermore, we also apply the results to some important special cases, thus allowing us to gain some fundamental insights on the benefits of the interaction for both lossless and lossy function computations in these cases.
Fetal rat hepatocytes: isolation, characterization, and transplantation in the Nagase analbuminemic rats.

BACKGROUND In contrast to adult hepatocytes, fetal hepatocytes (FH) are thought to be highly proliferative, less immunogenic, and resistant to cryopreservation and ischemic injury. These qualities could enhance FH engraftment, proliferation, and gene transfer requiring active DNA synthesis. METHODS Rat FH were obtained using the nonperfusion collagenase/DNase digestion method. Free and cultured cells were studied using electron microscopy, fluorescence-activated cell sorting, and Northern analysis using alpha-fetoprotein and albumin as markers of hepatocyte lineage. DNA synthetic activity was measured in quiescent and mitogen-stimulated fetal and adult hepatocytes by [3H]thymidine incorporation. Susceptibility of cultured FH to retrovirally mediated gene transfer was studied using an amphotropic retroviral vector carrying the Escherichia coli lac-Z gene. Nagase analbuminemic rats were used as recipients to study the effects of intraportal FH transplantation. Analysis of serum albumin was carried out by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS In fetal liver, 87+/-2% of the cells showed morphological and molecular features of hepatocytes. DNA synthetic activity in nonstimulated cultured FH was 10 times greater than the maximal hepatocyte growth factor-driven response in adult rat hepatocytes. A total of 5-15% FH stained positive for X-gal; results of transduction in adult hepatocyte cultures were negative. In Nagase analbuminemic rat recipients, FH produced significant amounts of albumin only when a hepatic regenerative stimulus was applied. Immunohistochemistry confirmed presence of albumin-positive hepatocytes. CONCLUSIONS Fetal rat liver from the late gestation period is highly enriched with hepatocyte progenitors. They are highly proliferative and susceptible to retroviral transduction and can engraft and function in the adult rat liver if transplanted under a hepatic regenerative stimulus.
On Voter Competence

Chapter 1: The Indictment of the American Voter Chapter 2: Policy Cleavages in Historical Context Chapter 3: Policy Attitudes and Political Sophistication Chapter 4: The Three Faces of Policy Voting Chapter 5: The Availability of Policy Principles Chapter 6: The Centrality of Policy Principles Chapter 7: The Origins of Policy Principles Chapter 8: The Electoral Consequences of Policy Principles Chapter 9: The Exoneration of the American Voter? Appendix: Measurement of Key Variables References
Sugar Transport by the Bacterial Phosphotransferase System

(M/D) equilibrium. We have proposed that the two species are functionally different and that their interconversion may regulate sugar transport via the PTS. The C-terminal Cys of Escherichia coli E1 was reacted with pyrene maleimide (Han, M. K., Roseman, S., and Brand, L. (1990) J. Biol. Chem. 265,1985-1995), and the pyrene conjugate used to characterize the M/D equilibrium by fluorescence anisotropy. The properties of unlabeled and pyrene-labeled E1 are indistinguishable. Values for the apparent association constant, K&, and the steadystate anisotropy of the monomer and the dimer were obtained under a variety of conditions. K& increases 23fold, from 0.45 x lo6 to 10.7 x 10' M", as the temperature increases from 6 to 30 "C; the association appears to be entropically driven. Under all conditions tested, the K&, for phospho-E1 is 612-fold less than for dephospho-EI. For phospho-EI, PEP and Mg2' induce a 240-fold increase of K& when both ligands are present. Based on these data, E1 was preincubated under conditions that change KL,, and the initial activities of the different species were determined at 37 "C in a PTS sugar phosphorylation assay with PEP as the phosphoryl donor. The initial rate depends on the ratio; it is maximal when E1 is 100% dimer, and zero when E1 is 100% monomer. In the latter case, the rate gradually increases in the assay mixture. The results have important implications for
Youth unemployment and labour market transitions in Hungary

Unemployment and labour market adjustment have featured prominently in the problems of transitional economies. However, the position of young people and their transitions from school to work in these new market economies has been virtually ignored. This paper examines a new large longitudinal data set relating to young people in Hungary over the period 1994–98. Using data on each individual's labour market state over 4 years we estimate a panel econometric model that explicitly allows for duration dependence and individual unobserved heterogeneity to capture the diversity of initial conditions faced by these young people in the labour market. In modelling the education and employment decisions in the transition from school to work we find strong evidence of the importance of individuals making good initial career decisions and an enduring effect of academic achievement on labour market and education outcomes.
Handover schemes in heterogeneous LTE networks: challenges and opportunities

For satisfying rapidly increasing data rates at hotspots and enhancing coverage in buildings, small cells, such as femtocells, picocells, and microcells, are deployed in LTE-A. Femtocells are typically installed at hotspots and overlay with the macrocell to improve energy efficiency and data rates. In macro-femto HetNets, the handover issue is more important than that in macrocell networks. On one hand, more frequent handovers are triggered because the coverage range of a femtocell is small, and multiple femtocells are overlaid. On the other hand, some schemes, such as load balancing, aimed at improving network performance, will also cause frequent handover in macro-femto HetNets. Therefore, handover has a significant impact on the performance of macro-femto HetNets. In this article, we first survey the state-of-the-art handover techniques that are aimed at keeping ongoing connections uninterrupted or ensuring the quality of service of mobile users. Then we introduce load-balance-related handover schemes. Moreover, an energy-efficient handover scheme is presented. At last, we point out interesting research issues on handover schemes in macro-femto HetNets.
Utilizing importance data to identify customer segments for English public sport facilities

This study attempts to identify customer segments for English public sport facilities by adopting a performance data-driven segmentation approach. In particular, the importance element of the importance–performance tool, common in performance measurement, is utilized to identify customer segments, which are then useful for marketing purposes. Based on 23,329 customers' perceived importance of service quality, the analysis identifies four distinct customer segments with different priorities on six service quality dimensions. The demographic and participation profiles of these segments are also examined. The results demonstrate that over 60% of customers are more concerned about the physical evidence. In addition, facilities that aim to increase the access of older, female or unemployed customers need to realize that they are more critical of the physical evidence. By contrast, those hoping to attract more adolescents or ethnic minorities should emphasize the non-physical evidence.
Parental influence on sport participation in elite young athletes.

AIM To ascertain how talented young British swimmers, gymnasts, tennis and soccer players are introduced to their sport, and to identify how they are encouraged into intensive systematic training. METHODS Two hundred and eighty-two elite young athletes (aged 8 to 17 yrs) and their parents were interviewed in their homes to identify how and why they started intensive training. RESULTS Of the 4 sports studied (soccer, gymnastics, tennis, and swimming), parents of swimmers were more likely introduce their children to the sport (70%), while parents of gymnasts (42%) were the least likely to do so. However, in this sports parents played a lesser role in the transition to intensive training (6% and 5%, respectively). Nearly half the soccer players (47%) became involved in the sport because of their own interest, with the majority making the transition to intensive training because of encouragement by a coach (65%). Self-motivation (27%) and parental influence (57%) brought children into tennis with 25% of the young athletes in the sample autonomously deciding to start intensive training. Children from the lower socio-economic classes were underrepresented, and the total number of 1-parent families (5.3%) was considerably less than current British national norms (16.1%). CONCLUSION In Britain, young athletes' involvement in high level sport is heavily dependent on their parents, with sports clubs and coaches playing an important later role. In the present socio-economic and cultural situation, many talented youngsters with less motivated parents will not undertake sport. Talented youngsters from a poorer economic background will be heavily disadvantaged, especially in sports such as tennis.
Long Run Tendencies and Short Run Adjustments Between Official and Black Market Exchange Rates in MENA Countries

This study makes an attempt to examine the long run relationship between the official and black market exchange rates using monthly data for a sample of 13 Middle East and Northern African (MENA) countries from 1970 to 1998. Using the Pool Mean Group framework, the article provides evidence on proportional long run relationship between black and official market exchange rates in sample countries. The positive common long run official exchange rates (OEX) elasticity is statistically significant and slightly greater than one. The hypothesis of portfolio balance model is confirmed, implying that there exists a proportional long run equilibrium relationship between official exchange rates and black market exchange rates. However, the short run dynamics remain heterogeneous across countries.
Organization of RNA transcripts from a vaccinia virus early gene cluster

The detailed organization of the RNAs transcribed from an early gene cluster encoded by vaccinia virus has been determined from the information derived from several complementary techniques. These include hybrid selection coupled with cell-free translation to locate DNA sequences complementary to mRNAs encoding specific polypeptides; RNA filter hybridization to size and locate on the DNA mature RNAs as well as higher-molecular-weight RNAs; S1 nuclease mapping to precisely locate the 5' and 3' ends of the RNAs; S1 nuclease mapping to precisely locate the 5' and 3' ends of the RNAs; and fractionation of hybrid-selected mRNAs in an agarose gel containing methyl mercury hydroxide followed by the cell-free translation of these mRNAs to definitively ascertain the size of the mRNA encoding each polypeptide. The early gene cluster is located between 21 and 26 kilobases from the left end of the vaccinia virus genome and is encoded by a 5.0-kilobase EcoRI fragment which spans the HindIII-N, -M, and -K fragments. Transcribed towards the left terminus are four mature mRNAs, 1,450, 950, 780, and 400 nucleotides in size, encoding polypeptides of 55, 30, 20, and 10 kilodaltons, respectively. These mRNAs are colinear with the DNA template and are closely spaced such that the 5' terminus of one mRNA is within 50 base pairs of the 3' terminus of the adjacent RNA. In addition to the mature size mRNAs, there are higher-molecular-weight RNAs, 5,000, 3,300, 2,350, 2,300, 1,800, 1,700, and 1,350 nucleotides in size. The 5' and 3' termini of the high-molecular-weight RNAs are coterminal with the 5' and 3' termini of the mature size mRNA. The implications of this arrangement and the biogenesis of these early mRNAs are discussed.
Steel tape-wound cut cores as magnet yokes for the beam-dump kickers of the Large Hadron Collider

Fast-pulsed magnets, also called kickers, are used in particle accelerators for beam injection, extraction and similar applications. To excite these magnets, typically current pulses with rise and fall times in the range of 100 ns to 10 /spl mu/s are used, with a pulse duration of up to 100 /spl mu/s and amplitudes in the order of kilo amperes. The short rise time imposes low-inductance circuits and high-voltage operation. The yokes are usually made out of ferrite, with field saturation being reached at about 0.5 T. To remove the 7-TeV proton beams safely from the large hadron collider (LHC), 15 beam-dump kickers are used for each of the two rings which must provide an overall bending strength of 6.2 T/spl middot/m with a rise time of about 3 /spl mu/s and a flat top duration of 90 /spl mu/s. For the first time steel with saturation above 1.5 T has been used as yoke material for such a short rise time. Due to eddy current losses the yokes must be laminated. The lamination thickness of 50 /spl mu/m is determined by the frequency spectrum of the current pulse and by the steel quality. The insulation layer of the laminations shall withstand a voltage of 1 V/layer, which is difficult to achieve at the cut edges. As stamping, handling and assembly of 1.2-m-long magnets with such thin sheets would be extremely difficult, the concept of tape-wound C-shaped cut cores was developed. Two cores are moulded together in charged epoxy resin with a thin intermediate insulator. The yoke is finally assembled from a series of such "twin packs," using threaded inserts for precision mounting. This paper discusses the choice of the steel quality and lamination thickness, and addresses technical challenges related to the manufacturing of the C-cores, arising from the tight mechanical, electrical and magnetic requirements.
Natural Gas markets:How Sensitive to Crude Oil Price Changes?

This paper investigates sensitivity of U.S. natural gas price to crude oil price changes, using time-varying coefficient models. Identification of the range of variation of the sensitivity of natural gas price to oil price change allows more accurate assessment of upper and minimum risk levels that can be utilized in pricing natural gas derivatives such as gas futures and option contracts, and gas storage facility contracts.
POLITICS, ENVIRONMENT, AND FISHERIES: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM PACIFIC SALMON FISHERIES

Pacific salmon have always been a lucrative commodity in Alaska history. The primary contribution of this paper is to assess the effects of statewide policy changes such as the 1959 Alaska Statehood and the 1974 Limited Entry Act on the harvest of Pacific salmon in Alaska, controlling for changes in oceanic environmental conditions such as the Pacific Decadal Oscillation. An autoregressive distributed lag approach is employed to annual time‐series data for 1899–1996. We find that, while the 1974 Limited Entry Act has a significant effect on Alaska salmon harvests, the 1959 Alaska Statehood had little impact. In addition, the oceanic environment has an important determinant of long‐run Alaska salmon harvests.
Employee Participation, Ownership, and Productivity: A Theoretical Framework

A new conceptual framework to define and differentiate among diverse forms of employee ownership is developed. Two central rights associated with ownership, return and control rights, are identified. Their impact on individual motivation, individual performance, organizational structural variables and organizational performance is evaluated. We show how, over certain ranges of combinations of control and return rights, the relationship between alternative ownership arrangements and organizational performance may be nonlinear. The implications for the introduction of employee ownership and the evaluation of empirical work are considered.
Contech : Parallel Program Representation and High Performance Instrumentation

This summary of my dissertation work explores a pair of problems: how can a parallel program’s execution be comprehensively represented? How would this representation be efficiently generated from the program’s execution? I demonstrated that the behavior and structure of a sharedmemory parallel program can be characterized by a task graph that encodes the instructions, memory accesses, and dependencies of each component of parallel work. The task graph representation can encode the actions of any threading library and is agnostic to the target architecture. Subsequently, I developed an open source, LLVM-based instrumentation framework, Contech, for generating dynamic task graphs from arbitrary parallel programs. The Contech framework supports a variety of languages, parallelization libraries, and architectures, with an average instrumentation overhead of less than 3x. Various analyses have been applied to Contech task graphs, including modeling a parallel, reconfigurable architecture.
Low-Complexity Compute-and-Forward Techniques for Multisource Multirelay Networks

Compute-and-forward (C&F) relaying in a multisource multirelay network is studied in this letter and two novel algorithms are proposed, addressing choice of integer matrix, taking into account the effect of singularity. The first algorithm assumes that there is no co-operation between the nodes for choosing proper integer vectors in the relay nodes; this method is referred to as “blind C&F” and an algorithm is proposed which guarantees that each relay chooses the best integer vector that contains information from at least m source nodes. In the second algorithm that is described as “partially coordinated C&F,” we assume that partial cooperation between the relay nodes and propose to exchange a single variable with which the relays are sorted for transmission. The performance of the proposed algorithm is nearly equivalent with optimal relaying, which requires significant overhead signaling.