Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A story's impact on organizational‐culture change

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to explain the successful implementation of organizational applications, and ensuing organizational change, based on a story from a GM manufacturing plant.Design/methodology/approach – The approach involved collecting and analyzing the Hoist Story as part of a multi‐year ethnographic research project designed to identify the key attributes in an ideal plant culture. Through a cooperative process of co‐production, the authors worked in tandem with organizational members on issues related to organizational‐culture change.Findings – The findings emphasize both the Hoist Story's process impact and outcome impact. The Hoist Story was a catalyst for the change process, resulting in a high level of buy‐in across the organization; as such it contrasts with much of the management literature on “planned change. ” It also led to the development of several “packaged products” (e.g. a story script, video, collaboration tools) which propelled GM manufacturing culture closer to its i.
Improving Performance of Chemical Autonomic Information Diffusion Protocol

The information diffusion protocol represents a prototype for transferring the information from the source to its destination. The chemical information diffusion (CID) protocol is a type of information diffusion method used in the autonomic networks. In this protocol, network resembles a glass of the water and nodes work as molecules of it. The goal of this research is to apply a special novel algorithm on CID protocol to improve the performance of it. This paper describes a special non-uniform algorithm for improving the performance of the original CID protocol. This paper also briefly describes some other spreading algorithms and compares the behavior of them and proposed non-uniform algorithm on the original CID protocol. In addition it shows the reason and the power of improving the CID protocol when it uses proposed non-uniform algorithm.
Alexithymia increases moral acceptability of accidental harms

Previous research shows that when people judge moral acceptability of others' harmful behaviour, they not only take into account information about the consequences of the act but also an actor's belief while carrying out the act. A two-process model has been proposed to account for this pattern of moral judgements and posits: (1) a causal process that detects the presence of a harmful outcome and is motivated by empathic aversion stemming from victim suffering; (2) a mental state-based process that attributes beliefs, desires, intentions, etc. to the agent in question and is motivated by imagining personally carrying out harmful actions. One prediction of this model would be that personality traits associated with empathy deficits would find accidental harms more acceptable not because they focus on innocent intentions but because they have reduced concern for the victim's well-being. In this study, we show that one such personality trait, viz. alexithymia, indeed exhibits the predicted pattern and this increased acceptability of accidental harm in alexithymia is mediated by reduced dispositional empathic concern. Results attest to the validity of two-process model of intent-based moral judgements and emphasise key role affective empathy plays in harm-based moral judgements.
Polysaccharide Lyase: Molecular Cloning, Sequencing, and Overexpression of the Xanthan Lyase Gene of Bacillus sp. Strain GL1

ABSTRACT When grown on xanthan as a carbon source, the bacteriumBacillus sp. strain GL1 produces extracellular xanthan lyase (75 kDa), catalyzing the first step of xanthan depolymerization (H. Nankai, W. Hashimoto, H. Miki, S. Kawai, and K. Murata, Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 65:2520–2526, 1999). A gene for the lyase was cloned, and its nucleotide sequence was determined. The gene contained an open reading frame consisting of 2,793 bp coding for a polypeptide with a molecular weight of 99,308. The polypeptide had a signal peptide (2 kDa) consisting of 25 amino acid residues preceding the N-terminal amino acid sequence of the enzyme and exhibited significant homology with hyaluronidase of Streptomyces griseus(identity score, 37.7%). Escherichia coli transformed with the gene without the signal peptide sequence showed a xanthan lyase activity and produced intracellularly a large amount of the enzyme (400 mg/liter of culture) with a molecular mass of 97 kDa. During storage at 4°C, the purified enzyme (97 kDa) from E. coli was converted to a low-molecular-mass (75-kDa) enzyme with properties closely similar to those of the enzyme (75 kDa) fromBacillus sp. strain GL1, specifically in optimum pH and temperature for activity, substrate specificity, and mode of action. Logarithmically growing cells of Bacillus sp. strain GL1 on the medium with xanthan were also found to secrete not only xanthan lyase (75 kDa) but also a 97-kDa protein with the same N-terminal amino acid sequence as that of xanthan lyase (75 kDa). These results suggest that, in Bacillus sp. strain GL1, xanthan lyase is first synthesized as a preproform (99 kDa), secreted as a precursor (97 kDa) by a signal peptide-dependent mechanism, and then processed into a mature form (75 kDa) through excision of a C-terminal protein fragment with a molecular mass of 22 kDa.
The symbolic coding of segmental duration and tonal alignment: an extension to the INTSINT system

This paper presents work based on an analysis-by-synthesis approach which aims to develop a reversible coding system for prosody, capable of deriving a ‘linguistic-like’ surface phonological representation directly from acoustic data that is sufficient to reproduce a synthetic version of the original utterance without significant loss of linguistic information. With such a coding system, capable of representing any significant prosodic distinctions, the task of predicting such representations would be greatly simplified, becoming one of mapping between sets of symbolic representations. This approach has already been applied to the stylisation and symbolic coding of fundamental frequency curves by means of the INTSINT transcription system. An automatic version has also been proposed. This paper presents a preliminary proposal for an extension to the INTSINT system to cover segmental duration and the relative alignment of phonematic and tonal segments.
Descrição de algumas variáveis em um procedimento de supervisão de terapia analítica do comportamento

Neste trabalho foi realizado um estudo descritivo da interacao verbal livre e continua entre um supervisor de terapia e um terapeuta iniciante, com o objetivo de identificar variaveis envolvidas no procedimento de supervisao adotado. O comportamento verbal dos participantes foi dividido em classes funcionais de respostas, denominadas "categorias de verbalizacoes", a partir das quais todas as respostas vocais puderam ser classificadas. Os resultados mostraram uma regularidade no comportamento do supervisor, enquanto os comportamentos do terapeuta e do cliente apresentaram alteracoes ao longo dos encontros de supervisoes e das sessoes terapeuticas. A analise da interacao verbal livre em uma diade permitiu fazer inferencias acerca de algumas variaveis de controle neste tipo de interacao.
Male and Female Pathways Through Four-Year Colleges

Pathways through college vary by sex in ways that may contribute to the contemporary male-female gap in college graduation that favors women. Although past research has documented sex differences in college pathways, little research has investigated the underlying causes of this variation. Using data from the National Education Longitudinal Study, this study empirically tests leading hypotheses for why men are more likely than women to progress through college discontinuously and part-time. This study finds that high school academic performance, which indicates preparation for college, accounts for part of the male-female gap in college pathways. Poorer academic performance at the beginning of college further increases the likelihood that men, relative to women, will disrupt their college experience.
Field-Based Capacitance Modeling for Sub-65-nm On-Chip Interconnect

Back-end-of-the-line (BEOL) interconnect becomes a limiting factor to circuit performance in scaled complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor design. To accurately extract its paratactic capacitance for circuit simulation, compact models should be scalable with wire geometries and should capture the latest technology advances, such as the air gap and Cu diffusion barrier. This paper achieves these goals based on the distribution of the electric field in on-chip BEOL structures. By decomposing the electric field into various regions, the proposed method physically solves each basic capacitance component into a closed-form solution; the total ground and coupling capacitances are then the sum of all related components. Such a component-based approach is convenient in incorporating new interconnect structures. Its physics basis minimizes the complexity and the error in a traditional model fitting process. Compared with Raphael simulations at the 45-nm node, the new compact model accurately predicts the capacitance value, even in the presence of the air gap and diffusion barrier, covering a wide range of BEOL dimensions. The complete set of equations will be implemented at http://www.eas. asu.edu/~ptm.
Periodontitis Is Associated with Endothelial Dysfunction in a General Population: A Cross-Sectional Study

A large body of evidence underlines an association between periodontal disease and cardiovascular disease. In contrast, data on its relation with endothelial dysfunction as a marker of early subclinical atherosclerosis is inconclusive and limited to patient-cohort studies. We therefore investigated the association between periodontal disease and flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery (FMD) as a measure of endothelial dysfunction in a general population, and also addressed a possible mediation via inflammation. The study population comprised 1,234 subjects (50.5% men) aged 25–85 years from the 5-year follow-up of the Study of Health in Pomerania, a population-based cohort study. Clinical attachment loss (CAL) and pocket probing depth (PPD) as measures of periodontal disease were assessed half-mouth at four sites per tooth. Subjects were classified according to the periodontitis case definition proposed by Tonetti and Claffey (2005). Measurements of FMD and nitroglycerin-mediated dilation (NMD) were performed using standardized ultrasound techniques. High-sensitive C-reactive protein, fibrinogen and leukocyte count were measured. Fully adjusted multivariate linear regression analyses revealed significant associations of the percentage of sites with PPD ≥6 mm with FMD (ptrend=0.048), with subjects within the highest category having a 0.74% higher FMD compared to subjects within the lowest category (p<0.05). Consistently, FMD values increased significantly across categories of the percentage of sites with CAL ≥6 mm (ptrend=0.01) and the periodontitis case definition (ptrend=0.006). Restrictions to subjects without antihypertensive or statin medication or current non-smokers confirmed previous results. Systemic inflammation did not seem to mediate the relation. Both PPD and CAL were not consistently associated with NMD. In contrast to previous studies, high levels of periodontal disease were significantly associated with high FMD values. This association was not mediated via systemic inflammation. This study revives the discussion on whether and how periodontitis contributes to endothelial dysfunction.
Sensitivity of Image Formation to Object Surface Orientation

Given the illumination and the surface normal at a point on a convex object, the effect of small changes in surface normal direction on observed reflected radiance is investigated. A signal-processing framework suitable for the hemispherical geometry of the problem is applied to discuss surface reflection in terms of convolving incident illumination with the reflectance function. Depending on the surface material’s reflection properties as well as on the incident illumination distribution, deviations of the normal direction may or may not be noticeable. Expressions are derived for the quantitative evaluation of the amount of change in reflected radiance. Different scenarios exemplify the results. The implications for shape-from-shading approaches as well as for scene-based compression methods are disucssed, outlining theoretical limits and applicability.
Use of complementary and alternative medicine in Swedish patients with inflammatory bowel disease: a controlled study

Background There is an increasing interest in complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) in patients with chronic diseases, including those with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Patients may turn to CAM when conventional therapies are inadequate or associated with side effects for symptomatic relief or to regain control over their disease. The objectives were to explore CAM use and perceived effects in IBD patients in comparison with a control group. Methods A cross-sectional, multicenter, controlled study was carried out. IBD patients were invited from 12 IBD clinics in Sweden. Controls were selected randomly from a residence registry. A study-specific questionnaire was used for data collection. Results Overall, 48.3% of patients with IBD had used some kind of CAM during the past year compared with 53.5% in controls (P=0.025, adjusted for age, sex, geographic residence, and diet). The most frequently used CAM among IBD patients was massage (21.3%), versus controls (31.4%) (adjusted P=0.0003). The second most used CAM was natural products, 18.7% in IBD patients versus 22.3% of the controls (unadjusted P=0.018). In all, 83.1% of the patients experienced positive effects from CAM and 14.4% experienced negative effects. Conclusion Overall, 48.3% of Swedish IBD patients used some kind of CAM and controls used CAM significantly more. Natural products were used by one-fifth of the patients and even more by controls. This is notable from a patient safety perspective considering the possible risks of interactions with conventional medication. In all, 40% of the patients reported adverse events from conventional medicine. Patients experienced predominantly positive effects from CAM, and so did controls.
Passive smoking exposure: a risk factor for chronic bronchitis and asthma in adults?

OBJECTIVE The effects of passive smoke exposure on respiratory health are still under debate. Therefore, we examined the risk of respiratory symptoms related to passive smoke exposure among German adults within the European Community Respiratory Health Survey. METHODS The questionnaire data of the population-based sample (n = 1,890) were analyzed. Multiple logistic regression models were carried out for current asthma (asthma symptoms or medication), chronic bronchitis (cough with phlegm for > or = 3 months per year), and wheezing as dependent variables, and self-reported exposure to passive smoke at home and at the workplace as independent variables after adjusting for city, age, gender, active smoking, and socioeconomic status as well as occupational exposure to dusts and/or gases. RESULTS The relative odds for chronic bronchitis were significantly higher in subjects reporting involuntary tobacco smoke exposure in the workplace (odds ratio [OR], 1.90; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.16 to 3.11). Likewise, the adjusted OR for asthma was slightly elevated (OR, 1.51; 95% CI, 0.99 to 2.32). The risk of chronic bronchitis (OR, 3.07; 95% CI, 1.56 to 6.06), asthma (OR, 2.06; 95% CI, 1.07 to 3.97), and wheezing (OR, 2.12; 95% CI, 1.25 to 3.58) increased significantly with a daily exposure of > 8 h. CONCLUSION The control of passive smoke exposure in the workplace might reduce the risk of respiratory symptoms independently of exposure to other airborne contaminants.
Online operation optimization based on GA-RBF network in ethylene cracking furnace

Based on Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) for Process Control (OPC) technology, real-time data was collected and preprocessed by data filtering and anomaly detection methods. For ethylene cracking furnace's Multi-In-Multi-Out (MIMO) process, an online soft measurement model was built based on Radical Basis Functions (RBF) neural network. Meanwhile, an engineering method based on production experience was used to adjust the online model. Finally Genetic Algorithm (GA) optimized the online model by maximizing the sum of the yields of ethylene and propylene to find the optimal operation conditions. The actual industrial applications show that this method can increase the yields of ethylene and propylene, and it has good adaptability and stability and has important operational guiding significance to the actual production process.
The interaction of self‐monitoring and organizational position on perceived effort

Purpose – This study aims to investigate self‐monitoring as a moderator of the relationship between organizational position and perceptions of individual effort.Design/methodology/approach. – A total of 133 students were randomly assigned to organizations of 12‐15 members. Each organization completed three projects in 14 weeks. Each student served in one position: management or non‐management. Participants also rated the effort of organizational members and then responded to items on the Self‐monitoring Scale.Findings – Persons in management were rated as giving more effort than persons in non‐management. Self‐monitoring moderated the relationship between organizational position and perceptions of effort. Organizational members perceived high self‐monitors (HSMs) in management as giving more effort than HSMs in non‐management. In contrast, there was no difference in perceived effort of low self‐monitors (LSMs) across positions.Research limitations/implications – By using students instead of actual employe.
Fall detection system for elderly with GSM communication and GPS localization

Falls in the elderly represent a very common danger for their health and an important cause of death for people over 65 years old. If an old person falls and doesn't get medical assistance in one hour, the injuries caused by the fall can lead to death after only 6 months. The sooner a fall is detected and the faster the medical personnel offer assistance, the more the mortality rate decreases. This article presents a fall detection system based on a tri-axial accelerometer, which also provides GPS (Global Positioning System) localization and GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) wireless communication. This way, in case a fall is detected, family, social care assistants and/or medical personnel are quickly alerted and can easily intervene, knowing the patient's exact location. Also, this paper presents an algorithm for fall detection, which can be easily implemented in a microcontroller.
Dynamic Characterization of the Synthetic Ripple Modulator in a Tightly Regulated Distributed Power Application

Hysteretic modulators have superior dynamic performance, and they also help reduce the number of output capacitors without sacrificing the transient response. For proper hysteretic operation, the voltage ripple is required to be piecewise linear and noise free. With modern computational integrated circuits lower supply voltage with tight regulation requirements, the output voltage ripple is both small and noisy. The synthetic ripple modulator (SRM) allows proper hysteretic operation even with a small and corrupted output voltage ripple. This paper discusses the dynamic behavior of the SRM. Small-signal characteristics of the modulator are derived. An easy-to-use numerically efficient model has been developed to accurately predict the small- and large-signal behavior of the converter driven by the SRM. The model is able to predict the small-signal behavior of the SRM up to half the switching frequency with sufficient accuracy. It can predict the same large-signal responses as real-time simulation, but at two orders of magnitude less in computation time. Laboratory tests on a 1.8 V/20 A single-phase prototype shows good correlation between experimental results and theoretical predictions both in frequency and time domain.
The Role of Uridine Adenosine Tetraphosphate in the Vascular System

The endothelium plays a pivotal role in vascular homeostasis, and endothelial dysfunction is a major feature of cardiovascular diseases, such as arterial hypertension, atherosclerosis, and diabetes. Recently, uridine adenosine tetraphosphate (Up4A) has been identified as a novel and potent endothelium-derived contracting factor (EDCF). Up4A structurally contains both purine and pyrimidine moieties, which activate purinergic receptors. There is an accumulating body of evidence to show that Up4A modulates vascular function by actions on endothelial and smooth muscle cells. In this paper, we discuss the effects of Up4A on vascular function and a potential role for Up4A in cardiovascular diseases.
Isolation and partial characterization of cellulose‐degrading strain of Streptomyces sp. LX from soil

X. LI AND P. GAO. 1996. A new bacterium, Streptomyces sp. LX, was isolated from soil, which was aerobic Gram‐positive and could decompose crystalline cellulose completely. Endo‐cellulase with CMC‐liquefying activity was detected when α‐cellulose, Avicel, Whatman CF11 or CMC was used as carbon source, and its production varied with nature of the carbon source. Only traces of reducing sugar were found in cultures during incubation. This strain could produce FPase, β‐glucanase and short fibre generating activity. Exo‐ and endo‐cellulase were detected in cultures by measuring formation of total sugar but were not detected by determining release of reducing sugar.
Acute metabolic decompensation due to influenza in a mouse model of ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency

ABSTRACT The urea cycle functions to incorporate ammonia, generated by normal metabolism, into urea. Urea cycle disorders (UCDs) are caused by loss of function in any of the enzymes responsible for ureagenesis, and are characterized by life-threatening episodes of acute metabolic decompensation with hyperammonemia (HA). A prospective analysis of interim HA events in a cohort of individuals with ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency, the most common UCD, revealed that intercurrent infection was the most common precipitant of acute HA and was associated with markers of increased morbidity when compared with other precipitants. To further understand these clinical observations, we developed a model system of metabolic decompensation with HA triggered by viral infection (PR8 influenza) using spf-ash mice, a model of OTC deficiency. Both wild-type (WT) and spf-ash mice displayed similar cytokine profiles and lung viral titers in response to PR8 influenza infection. During infection, spf-ash mice displayed an increase in liver transaminases, suggesting a hepatic sensitivity to the inflammatory response and an altered hepatic immune response. Despite having no visible pathological changes by histology, WT and spf-ash mice had reduced CPS1 and OTC enzyme activities, and, unlike WT, spf-ash mice failed to increase ureagenesis. Depression of urea cycle function was seen in liver amino acid analysis, with reductions seen in aspartate, ornithine and arginine during infection. In conclusion, we developed a model system of acute metabolic decompensation due to infection in a mouse model of a UCD. In addition, we have identified metabolic perturbations during infection in the spf-ash mice, including a reduction of urea cycle intermediates. This model of acute metabolic decompensation with HA due to infection in UCD serves as a platform for exploring biochemical perturbations and the efficacy of treatments, and could be adapted to explore acute decompensation in other types of inborn errors of metabolism.