Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Local Knowledge Acquisition of Foreign Subsidiaries in Vietnam and China

Purpose – This paper seeks to examine how foreign subsidiaries of MNCs can acquire new local knowledge by focusing on two intra-organizational factors of learning mechanisms and formative organizational context. Design/methodology/approach – A mail survey was carried out with top managers among manufacturing subsidiaries of multinational corporations (MNCs) located in Hanoi, Vietnam and Guangdong province of China. In total 123 completed questionnaires from MNCs in Hanoi and China were received. Findings – The results suggested that training and mentoring and formative organizational context has positive association with knowledge acquisition. However, three interaction terms between learning mechanisms (experimentation, socialization, training and mentoring) with formative organizational context are significantly related to knowledge acquisition. Besides, the authors also found a positive and significant association between knowledge acquisition and subsidiary performance. Practical implications – Building a formative organizational context directly promotes knowledge acquisition and increases the effectiveness of more informal learning mechanisms. Besides, a learning mechanism may work differently in different contexts, and foreign managers need to be aware of when to apply what mechanisms. Originality/value – The paper argues that the alignment between organizational context and organizational learning mechanisms can help the foreign subsidiaries acquire new knowledge and improve subsequent performance. Local knowledge acquisition in MNCs should be conceived as a deliberate and managed act, requiring a careful selection of both formal and informal mechanisms supported by appropriate contextual conditions in foreign subsidiaries.
A 0.003 mm2 5.2 mW/tap 20 GBd inductor-less 5-tap analog RX-FFE

A 0.003 mm2 5.2 mW/tap analog receive-side feedforward equalizer (RX-FFE) is demonstrated in 40 nm CMOS for up to 20 GBd ADC-based links. The FFE is constructed entirely with analog-inverter transconductors and capacitors, avoiding the use of area-intensive inductors. The delay element is implemented as a first-order Padé approximant of an ideal delay. The equalization performance is measured to be sufficient to relax the ADC resolution requirement by 1 bit. The total power consumed is less than 26 mW with less than 9.2 nV/√Hz output noise for all configurations.
Characterization of the Accessory Sec System of Staphylococcus aureus

ABSTRACT The SraP adhesin of Staphylococcus aureus is a member of a highly conserved family of serine-rich surface glycoproteins of gram-positive bacteria. For streptococci, export of the SraP homologs requires a specialized transport pathway (the accessory Sec system). Compared to streptococci, however, SraP is predicted to differ in its signal peptide and glycosylation, which may affect its dependence on a specialized system for transport. In addition, two genes (asp4 and asp5) essential for export in Streptococcus gordonii are missing in S. aureus. Thus, the selectivity of the accessory Sec system in S. aureus may also differ compared to streptococci. To address these issues, the five genes encoding the putative accessory Sec system (secY2, secA2, and asp1-3) were disrupted individually in S. aureus ISP479C, and the resultant mutants were examined for SraP export. Disruption of secA2 resulted in the near complete loss of SraP surface expression. Similar results were seen with disruption of secY2 and asp1, asp2, or asp3. To assess whether the accessory Sec system transported other substrates, we compared secreted proteomes of ISP479C and a secA2 isogenic mutant, by two-dimensional fluorescence difference gel electrophoresis. Although two consistent differences in proteome content were noted between the strains, neither protein appeared to be a likely substrate for accessory Sec export. Thus, the accessory Sec system of S. aureus is required for the export of SraP, and it appears to be dedicated to the transport of this substrate exclusively.
Heart Rate Variability (HRV) as a Tool for Diagnostic and Monitoring Performance in Sport and Physical Activities

Makivic B, Djordjevic Nikic M, Willis MS. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) as a Tool for Diagnostic and Monitoring Performance in Sport and Physical Activities. JEPonline 2013;16(3):103-131. The dynamic autonomic responses during exercise can be measured to give actionable information for training by analysis of the ECG to determine heart rate variability (HRV). While application of HRV has been applied to predict sudden cardiac death and diabetic neuropathy in assessing disease progression, recent studies have suggested that it may be applied to exercise training. In this review, we present the rationale for measuring HRV. We describe the different variables used and what they can tell us about the autonomic nervous system. The use of HRV in detecting changes in exercise intensity is presented, along with evidence that gender and age changes may affect autonomic HRV. Lastly, we illustrate how HRV measurements taken immediately post-exercise have proven to be useful in measuring and monitoring training load to proscribe workouts and/or prevent overtraining. Despite the studies that vary widely in their application to different training levels of athletes being tested and HRV measures used, the standardization of methodologies and results should help accelerate the use of HRV in sports training.
Using a Genetic Algorithm to Predict Evaluation of Acute Coronary Syndromes

Background: Because rapid therapy can improve the unfavorable prognosis of individuals with acute coronary syndromes (ACSs), it is critical that nurses accurately associate the cues of ACS and quickly and aggressively initiate interventional strategies that reduce mortality. Objectives: To determine if genetic algorithms (GAs) can be used to decipher the prediction rules that emergency department (ED) nurses use to triage persons suspected of having ACS and to determine whether these rules differ based on patient gender. Methods: A nonexperimental, descriptive study was conducted. Three thousand ED nurses were selected randomly to receive a mailed clinical vignette questionnaire, and 840 questionnaires were returned. Data analysis included binary logistic regression (BLR), development of GA, sensitivity, specificity, receiver-operator characteristic curves, and Monte Carlo simulations. Results: Nurses use different prediction rules for triaging male and female vignette patients with possible ACS. Accuracies were similar between BLR and GA. Both suffered a loss of predictive accuracy when algorithms or equations developed on one sex were tested on the other sex. Monte Carlo simulations showed that similar cues were used in triaging both men and women but they were combined differently in producing GA. Discussion: Using GA was as accurate as results found by BLR and can be used to predict nurses triage decisions for ACS. The GA presented as flow charts may be user-friendly.
On a Hyperbolic Coefficient Inverse Problem via Partial Dynamic Boundary Measurements

This paper is devoted to the identification of the unknown smooth coefficient c entering the hyperbolic equation in a bounded smooth domain in from partial (on part of the boundary) dynamic boundary measurements. In this paper, we prove that the knowledge of the partial Cauchy data for this class of hyperbolic PDE on any open subset of the boundary determines explicitly the coefficient provided that is known outside a bounded domain. Then, through construction of appropriate test functions by a geometrical control method, we derive a formula for calculating the coefficient from the knowledge of the difference between the local Dirichlet-to-Neumann maps.
Colistin nephrotoxicity increases with age

Abstract Background: Colistin (COL) has become the backbone of the treatment of infections due to extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Gram-negative bacteria. The most common restriction to its use is acute kidney injury (AKI). Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study to evaluate risk factors for new-onset AKI in patients receiving COL. The cohort consisted of 198 adults admitted to 9 referral hospitals between January 2010 and October 2012 and treated with intravenous COL for ≥ 72 h. Patients with no pre-existing kidney dysfunction were compared in terms of risk factors and outcomes of AKI graded according to the RIFLE criteria. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify associated risk factors. Results: A total of 198 patients met the inclusion criteria, of whom 167 had no pre-existing kidney dysfunction; the mean patient age was 58.77 (± 18.98) y. Bloodstream infections (34.8%) and ventilator-associated pneumonia (32.3%) were the 2 most common indications for COL use. New-onset AKI developed in 46.1% of the patients, graded as risk (10%), injury (15%), and failure (21%). Patients with high Charlson co-morbidity index (CCI) scores (p = 0.001) and comparatively low initial glomerular filtration rate (GFR) estimations (p < 0.001) were more likely to develop AKI, but older age (p = 0.001; odds ratio 5.199, 95% confidence interval 2.684–10.072) was the major predictor in the multivariate analysis. In-hospital recovery from AKI occurred in 58.1%, within a median of 7 days. Conclusions: COL-induced nephrotoxicity occurred significantly more often in patients older than 60 y of age and was related to low initial GFR estimations and high CCI scores, which were basically determined by age.
Monetary policy and unemployment in Croatia

Abstract Achieving full employment is one of the most important economic policy tasks. Economic policy affects employment primarily through monetary and fiscal policies, which with their instruments affect aggregate supply and demand for goods and services. The aim of this article is to determine the impact of monetary policy on unemployment in Croatia. For this purpose, the bounds testing (ARDL) approach for cointegration is applied. The results indicate the existence of stable cointegration relationship between the variables and show that Croatian monetary policy is quite limited in reducing unemployment.
Spatial Analysis of Humanoid Robot's Gait Using Dual-Quaternions

The most common approach used in modeling humanoid robots applies trigonometric expressions and Euler-angles for its description. Some problems of trajectory interpolation and singularity of motion representation are discussed and the dual quaternion representation is used as an alternative to avoid these problems and to obtain the models ensuring a general spatial analysis of the motion trajectory. The aim of this work is to present a different method to model kinematics of humanoid robots. Simulations are performed to evaluate the model numerically evaluating the humanoid robot dynamic equilibrium during the gait and the trajectory interpolation.
Organizational Changes in Newspaper Firms and Their Relation to Performance

It is generally accepted that newspaper firms are passing through hard times. Readers and advertisers—their 2 main income sources—seem to be turning to other media, thus negatively affecting newspaper financial performance. To respond to these challenges, newspapers are changing the way they organize their activities. This study looks at a sample of newspapers to investigate extent to which 2 of these organizational changes (i.e., integration and outsourcing) are affecting performance. The study shows that the higher the degree of integration within the firm, the more positive the performance. Outsourcing is found to have a negative impact. These effects are over and above those of the perceived environment. ACCESS TO FULL TEXT
Computational Fluid Dynamics Model for Predicting Flow of Viscous Fluids in a Large Fermentor with Hydrofoil Flow Impellers and Internal Cooling Coils

Considerable debate has occurred over the use of hydrofoil impellers in large‐scale fermentors to improve mixing and mass transfer in highly viscous non‐Newtonian systems. Using a computational fluid dynamics software package (Fluent, version 4.30) extensive calculations were performed to study the effect of impeller speed (70–130 rpm), broth rheology (value of power law flow behavior index from 0.2 to 0.6), and distance between the cooling coil bank and the fermentor wall (6–18 in.) on flow near the perimeter of a large (75‐m3) fermentor equipped with A315 impellers. A quadratic model utilizing the data was developed in an attempt to correlate the effect of A315 impeller speed, power law flow behavior index, and distance between the cooling coil bank and the fermentor wall on the average axial velocity in the coil bank−wall region. The results suggest that there is a potential for slow or stagnant flow in the coil bank−wall region which could result in poor oxygen and heat transfer for highly viscous fermentations. The results also indicate that there is the potential for slow or stagnant flow in the region between the top impeller and the gas headspace when flow through the coil bank−wall region is slow. Finally, a simple guideline was developed to allow fermentor design engineers to predict the degree of flow behind a bank of helical cooling coils in a large fermentor with hydrofoil flow impellers.
Barriers to HIV Testing Among Young Men Who Have Sex With Men (MSM): Experiences from Clark County, Nevada

Clark County, Nevada had a 52% increase in newly diagnosed HIV infections in young people age 13-24 with 83% of the new diagnoses in this age group being men who have sex with men (MSM). HIV testing and counseling is critical for HIV prevention, care and treatment, yet young people are the least likely to seek HIV testing. The purpose of this study was to identify barriers and facilitators to HIV testing experienced by young MSM in Clark County, Nevada. We conducted a qualitative focus group discussion to identify barriers and facilitators to HIV testing among eleven young MSM in March, 2015. The primary barrier to HIV testing identified by the group was a lack of awareness or knowledge about testing for HIV. Other barriers within the person included: fear of results, fear of rejection, and fear of disclosure. Barriers identified within the environment included: access issues, stigma, and unfriendly test environments for young people. In addition to increasing awareness, intervention to increase HIV testing among MSM young people should incorporate access to testing in environments where the adolescents are comfortable and which reduces stigma. HIV testing sites should be convenient, accessible and young person/gay friendly.
Modeling Single Establishment Firm Returns to the 2007 Economic Census

The Economic Census is one of the most important activities that the U.S. Census Bureau performs. It is critical for updating firm ownership/structure and industry information for a large number of businesses in the Census Bureau’s Business Register, impacting most other economic programs. Also, it feeds into Bureau of Economic Analysis products, such as benchmark inputoutput accounts and Gross Domestic Product. The overall check-in rate for the 2007 Economic Census was just over 86%. Establishments owned by multi-location companies returned over 90% of their forms, as compared to the roughly two million single-establishment firms sampled in the Census that returned just over 80%. We model the check-in rate for single-establishment firms by using a large number of variables that might be correlated with whether or not a firm returns a form in the Economic Census. These variables are broadly categorized as the characteristics of firms, measures of external factors, and features of the survey design. We use the model for two purposes. First, by including many of the factors that may be correlated with returns we aim to focus limited advertising and outreach resources to low-return segments of the population. Second, we use the model to investigate the efficacy of an unplanned intervention expected to increase return rates: using certified mailing for one of the form follow-ups.
Evolution of goals and objectives of the rural development

The economic growth, its pace, quality and other characteristics depend not only on the agricultural capacity of the country, but also on the clearly formulated economical development goals and objectives. The change of the rural development conceptions in the chronological order, the essential aspirations and features of the present-day rural development conceptions and the directions as well as expected results of the rural development are discussed in this article. Most of the discussions are displayed as the debate in the scientific form. As the result of the investigation, the main directions of the agriculture and rural development in Lithuania are presented.
The Design and Implementation of a Semantics-based Web Content Adaptation Framework for Mobile Devices

With the rapid development of wireless communication technology, many users are accessing the internet from mobile appliances, such as notebooks, PDAs, and cellular phones. These devices are miscellaneously limited in computing resources, like CPU speed, memory, temporary storage, power supply, installed software, and communication bandwidth. The web accesses in these mobile devices thus encounter distorted user interface, broken images, slow responses, etc. To overcome this problem, we design and implement a semantics-based web content adaptation framework to provide automatically adapted contents to miscellaneous mobile devices. RDF Semantics of client device CC/PP configurations and web page tag structures are extracted to determine the proper parameters for the format and layout of web contents. Heuristic transcoding rules in the Jena Inference System are then applied to transform the web contents for each particular device. The functionality of this framework is illustrated by its capability of adjusting the layout of the main page of a shopping portal and of adjusting the parameters of images in the page.
Shared decision making: what do clinicians need to know and why should they bother?

Shared decision making enables a clinician and patient to participate jointly in making a health decision, having discussed the options and their benefits and harms, and having considered the patient's values, preferences and circumstances. It is not a single step to be added into a consultation, but a process that can be used to guide decisions about screening, investigations and treatments. The benefits of shared decision making include enabling evidence and patients' preferences to be incorporated into a consultation; improving patient knowledge, risk perception accuracy and patient–clinician communication; and reducing decisional conflict, feeling uninformed and inappropriate use of tests and treatments. Various approaches can be used to guide clinicians through the process. We elaborate on five simple questions that can be used: What will happen if the patient waits and watches? What are the test or treatment options? What are the benefits and harms of each option? How do the benefits and harms weigh up for the patient? Does the patient have enough information to make a choice? Although shared decision making can occur without tools, various types of decision support tools now exist to facilitate it. Misconceptions about shared decision making are hampering its implementation. We address the barriers, as perceived by clinicians. Despite numerous international initiatives to advance shared decision making, very little has occurred in Australia. Consequently, we are lagging behind many other countries and should act urgently.
Do they see eye to eye? The impact of communication on the level of strategic consensus between hospital nurses and their top management team: a questionnaire survey within a Flemish hospital

Background: Although strategic consensus between non-managerial members and their top management team is supposed to enhance employees’ motivation and sense of connection, as well as improve coordination and cooperation, studies investigating strategic consensus within a health care setting remain scarce. Objectives: To (1) explore the level of strategic consensus, between the nurses employed by a Flemish general care hospital and their top management team, and (2) examine how strategic consensus is influenced by perceptions of organizational communication and information flows. Participants and setting: In total, 195 nurses and 14 top management team members employed by a Flemish hospital took part in the study. Design: Data were collected using a cross-sectional questionnaire including a list of generic strategic priorities, relevant for a hospital setting, and items from the Communication Satisfaction Questionnaire to measure perceptions of organizational communication and information flows. Methods: The degree of strategic consensus was calculated using standardized Z-scores. The Independent-Samples Median Test and the Independent Samples Mann-Withney U Test were used to test whether the scores between both groups differed significantly while stepwise regression analysis was used to assess the relationship with the selected communication variables. Results: The analyses indicate a lack of strategic consensus between the sample of nurses and their top management team on the overall measure of strategic consensus and the sub dimensions “Human Resource Cultivation” and “Customer engagement”. The stepwise multiple linear regression model explains 36% of the variance in strategic consensus and indicates that strategic consensus is positive and significantly (p ≤ 0.05) influenced by the variables “organizational information”, “job-related information”, “vertical communication” and “organizational tenure”. Conclusions: The present study provides an initial exploration of strategic consensus at the lower organizational levels of a health care organization. The results indicate that there is strategic disconsensus within the organization with regards to specific content dimensions but that improved organizational communication and information flows could help close the detected gap.
EXPERIENCE WITH NTFP CERTIFICATION IN BRAZIL

ABSTRACT Certification of forest management through the Forest Stewardship Council started in the 1990s, and focused on timber. Considerable work on the part of NGOs, communities, the private sector, researchers and governments has resulted in incipient certification of NTFPs, both by industries and communities. In the tropics, Brazil has had an important leadership role in this process, both in the development and adaptation of the Forest Stewardship Council system to this purpose and to increase the accessibility of FSC certification for small holders. In this paper we review the history of this process, present cases of certification in Brazil, and discuss their links with the private sector and public policies. Finally, we analyse the factors that have contributed to the successes and constraints of these efforts in the Brazilian context.
Ontology-driven Vaccination Information Extraction

Increasingly, medical institutions have access to clinical information through computers. The need to process and manage the large amount of data is motivating the recent interest in semantic approaches. Data regarding vaccination records is a common in such systems. Also, being vaccination is a major area of concern in health policies, numerous information is available in the form of clinical guidelines. However, the information in these guidelines may be difficult to access and apply to a specific patient during consultation. The creation of computer interpretable representations allows the development of clinical decision support systems, improving patient care with the reduction of medical errors, increased safety and satisfaction. This paper describes the method used to model and populate a vaccination ontology and the system which recognizes vaccination information on medical texts.The system identifies relevant entities on medical texts and populates an ontology with new instances of classes. An approach to automatically extract information regarding inter-class relationships using association rule mining is suggested.