Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Alameda County Redux : Replication in Michigan ’ s *

This article describes an attempt to reproduce, in Michigan, cross-sectional findings concerning the relationship between health habits and health status previously obtained in Alameda County, California by Belloc and Breslow. Data for this study were gathered by a telephone interview of a state-wide sample of 3,259 adult Michigan residents. The ridit (relative to an identified distribution) analyses presented include a comparison of findings from the Michigan and Alameda County studies. In Michigan, as in Alameda County, health status was found to be associated with various health practices, both individually and in combination. Consistent relationships were found between physical health status and individual health practices regarding hours of sleep, eating breakfast, eating between meals, cigarette smoking, weight for height, and physical activity. Physical health status was also linked to the overall number of health practices individuals engaged in. When the confidence interval for each ridit value was taken into account, however, only some of the findings proved statistically reliable. B 1988 Academic RCSS, 1~.
International Specialization In Services: Insights From A New Theoretical Taxonomy

The persistent assumption of nontradability of service activities led to a general lack of understanding of the role of services in country specialization and performance, in particular in the developed economies. Yet, the share of services in international trade is ever growing, proving their de facto tradability, and questioning about their potential for relocation, or rather relocatability. Relocatability of a service will in turn depend on its degree of territorial anchoring. This paper proposes a new taxonomy of the service activities according to their degree of territorial anchoring, based on the location determinants. Then, for a sample of developed countries, the international specialization is measured for each service activity. It ensues, by crossing results obtained, an inventory of the volatility of services in which countries of the sample are specialized, that can be used as a useful tool for the design of fiscal, social, employment or trade policies.
Trajectory Tracking Controller Design for Unmanned Vehicles: A New Methodology

A major issue in the automatic guidance of vehicles is the design of control laws dedicated to the specific mobile platform used. Thus, if the model associated with the mobile platform or its constraints change, a new control law must be designed. In this paper, the problem of designing trajectory tracking controllers for unmanned vehicles is addressed. The methodology proposed here is an algebraic approach for obtaining optimum and stable trajectory tracking controllers for nonholonomic vehicles. Such an algebraic formulation makes the proposal suitable for embedded applications. The stability and optimality of the proposed controllers design method is theoretically proven for both bicycle‐type and unicycle‐type mobile robots, although the methodology can be extended to other types of unmanned vehicles. Four tests were carried out in this work in order to show the advantages of the proposal: the step discontinuity test, the curvature test, the real world test, and navigation under disturbances in the control actions. The results obtained were compared with four trajectory tracking controllers previously published in the literature. Additionally, an agricultural application is included in order to show the performance of the proposed controller when applied to a service unit within an agricultural environment. Field experiments demonstrating the capabilities of our proposal are also reported and discussed.
Experiences of acupuncturists in a placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND This paper describes the experiences of 8 licensed acupuncturists in a placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial (RCT). This information is important to the design and conduct of high-quality trials. METHODS We conducted a RCT (N=135) with a 2-week placebo run-in followed by 4 weeks of twice-weekly treatments comparing genuine to sham acupuncture (using the Streitberger placebo needle) in the treatment of arm pain caused by repetitive use. At the end of this study, we conducted written structured interviews with 8 participating acupuncturists. The acupuncturists were not aware of the study's results at the time of these interviews. The questions focused on their experiences in the study, adherence to study protocols, their thoughts about the technical and ethical issues involved in using a sham needling device, and their expectations of trial outcomes. The questions were motivated by expressions of concerns the acupuncturists raised in feedback groups during the course of the study, and our desire to improve further trials. RESULTS The acupuncturists differed widely in their comfort levels with the research methods used, their adherence to the study protocol, and their expectations of trial outcomes. CONCLUSIONS We conclude that careful monitoring of acupuncturists, including observation of treatments and frequent meetings to support them throughout the trial, is necessary to maintain a high degree of quality control.
Multivalent Carbohydrate Recognition on a Glycodendrimer‐Functionalized Flow‐Through Chip

Dendrimers were fitted out with up to eight mannose moieties by “click” chemistry. They were subsequently attached to aluminum oxide chips via a spacer that was linked to the dendrimer core; this resulted in a microarray of glycodendrimers. Binding of the glycodendrimers to the fluorescent lectins ConA and GNA was observable in real time. In a single experiment it was possible to observe the multivalency enhancement or cluster effect in the binding event. This effect was small for ConA, in agreement with its widely spaced binding sites, whereas it was large for GNA, with its twelve much more closely spaced binding sites. The dendrimer‐fitted chip represents a valuable screening tool for multivalency effects. Furthermore kinetic and thermodynamic data on binding events can be deduced. Inhibition experiments are also possible with the system as was shown for ConA with α‐methyl mannose as the inhibitor.
Do Government Grants to Private Charities Crowd Out Giving or Fund-raising?

Economists have long observed that crowding out of government grants to private charities is incomplete. The accepted belief is that givers treat the grants as imperfect substitutes for private giving. We theoretically and empirically investigate a second reason: the strategic response of a charity will be to reduce fund-raising efforts after receiving a grant. Employing panel data from arts and social service organizations, we find that government grants cause significant reductions in fund-raising. This adds a new dimension to the policy discussions - analysts should account for the behavioral responses of the charity, as well as the donors, to government grants.
The Evolving Merger of Socio-Technical Systems and Quality Improvement Theories

The Socio-Technical Systems (STS) theory, characterized by employee empowerment, opportunity to learn, and au­ tonomy, supports workteams with an emphasis on enhancing worker job satisfaction. In contrast, the basic theory informing total quality management (TQM) or continuous quality im­ provement (CQI) focuses on processes, customers, statistical process control, organizational culture, employee involve­ ment, and continuous improvement to enhance quality and productivity. The two perspectives share many assumptions and tenets. Further, each has its strengths and weaknesses. These are described with a focus on variation, organizational redesign, human resource development, and extended rela­ tionships. It is concluded that STS is ambiguous and theoreti­ cal and may over-emphasize the social side of the organiza­ tional system, whereas TQM/CQI may be overly prescriptive and pragmatic and may over-emphasize the technical side of the system. The suggestion is made that the two theories are in the process of being merged and combined with other ap­ proaches to enhance the traQsformation of industry.
Clicks and Bricks: Optimal Marketing Channels for a Durable Goods Firm

By analyzing a two-period dual-channel supply chain composed of a manufacturer who sells a durable directly and an independent reseller channel, we investigate how product durability and the channel structure create strategic issues that are significantly different from those in managing a dual-channel for nondurables. As an extension of Arya et al.'s model [Arya, A. , et al., 2007. The bright side of supplier encroachment. Marketing Science 26 (5): 651-659], our game-theoretic model captures several characteristics salient in many of today's durable goods markets. The equilibrium solutions indicate that, when the product is durable, both parties' profitability strongly depends on the product durability and direct selling cost. In particular, we find that, contrary to Arya et al.'s results, the manufacturer might become worse off after adding an e-channel. We also find that, if product durability is moderate, for any direct selling cost, manufacturer encroachment is always detrimental to the reseller, and its bright side disappears.
Supplier Development for Different Supplier Segments

In order to standout from competition in the global market, companies must rely on competent suppliers. The supplier development program is designed to create and maintain a network of competent suppliers, which has a major influence on the competitive advantages of a buying company. The existing literatures on supplier development all adopt “one-size-fit-all” strategies. However, to allocate scarce resources more efficiently suppliers need to be strategically segmented and improved by tailored strategies. Moreover, a strong and close supplier-buyer relationship, to a great extent depending on supplier willingness, also plays a key role for buying companies to achieve lead position in the market. However, the existing literatures usually only focus on supplier capabilities development while neglect supplier willingness improvement. To address these practical problems, this research proposes a strategic method that considers capabilities and willingness as two dimensions for segmenting and developing suppliers and links supplier development to supplier segmentation to achieve an effective and efficient supplier development. In the proposed methodology, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) using fuzzy preference programming (FPP) and Best-Worst Multi-Criteria Decision-Making Method are utilized to solve the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) problem of supplier evaluation. A supplier development conceptual model is proposed to develop suppliers in different segments. The proposed framework is further applied in a real world case with experience from a mid-size high tech company as input to validate the model.
Eotaxin-1/CC Chemokine Ligand 11: A Novel Eosinophil Survival Factor Secreted by Human Pulmonary Artery Endothelial Cells1

Airway eosinophilia plays a major role in the pathogenesis of asthma with the inhibition of apoptosis by GM-CSF and IL-5 proposed as a mechanism underlying prolonged eosinophil survival. In vivo and ex vivo studies have indicated the capacity of interventions that drive human eosinophil apoptosis to promote the resolution of inflammation. Far less is known about the impact of transendothelial migration on eosinophil survival, in particular, the capacity of endothelial cell-derived factors to contribute toward the apoptosis-resistant phenotype characteristic of airway-resident eosinophils. We examined the effects of conditioned medium from human pulmonary artery endothelial cells (HPAEC-CM) on eosinophil apoptosis in vitro. HPAEC-CM inhibited eosinophil, but not neutrophil apoptosis. This effect was specific to HPAECs and comparable in efficacy to the survival effects of GM-CSF and IL-5. The HPAEC survival factor was shown, on the basis of GM-CSF, IL-5, and IL-3 detection assays, Ab neutralization, and sensitivity to PI3K inhibition, to be clearly discrete from these factors. Gel filtration of HPAEC-CM revealed a peak of eosinophil survival activity at 8–12 kDa, and PCR confirmed the presence of mRNA for CCL5, CCL11, CCL24, CCL26, and CCL27 in the HPAECs. The CCR3 antagonist GW782415 caused a major inhibition of the HPAEC-CM-induced survival effect, and Ab neutralization of individual CCR3 chemokines revealed CCL11 as the major survival factor present in the HPAEC-CM. Furthermore, chemokine Ab arrays demonstrated up-regulation of CCL11 in HPAEC-CM. These data demonstrate the capacity of HPAECs to generate CCR3 agonists and the ability of CCL11 to inhibit human eosinophil apoptosis.
Forecasting Models of Retail Rents

The authors model retail rents in the United Kingdom with use of vector-autoregressive and time-series models. Two retail rent series are used, compiled by LaSalle Investment Management and CB Hillier Parker, and the emphasis is on forecasting. The results suggest that the use of the vector-autoregression and time-series models in this paper can pick up important features of the data that are useful for forecasting purposes. The relative forecasting performance of the models appears to be subject to the length of the forecast time-horizon. The results also show that the variables which were appropriate for inclusion in the vector-autoregression systems differ between the two rent series, suggesting that the structure of optimal models for predicting retail rents could be specific to the rent index used. Ex ante forecasts from our time-series suggest that both LaSalle Investment Management and CB Hillier Parker real retail rents will exhibit an annual growth rate above their long-term mean.
Application of Fuzzy Numbers for Assessing Student Learning with the Bloom ’ s Taxonomy

In the paper at hand Triangular Fuzzy Numbers are utilized for developing an assessment method of a student group performance, which is applied for evaluating student learning of the real numbers in terms of the Bloom’s Taxonomy. The outcomes of this fuzzy assessment method are compared to the traditional calculation of the mean value of student scores.
An augmented Lagrangian coordination method for distributed optimal design in MDO: Part I formulation and algorithms

Quite a number of coordination methods have been proposed for the distributed optimal design of large-scale systems consisting of a number of interacting subsystems. Several coordination methods are known to have numerical convergence difficulties that can be explained theoretically. The methods for which convergence proofs are available have mostly been developed for so called quasi-separable problems (i.e. problems with individual subsystems coupled only through a set of shared variables, not through constraints and/or objectives). In this paper we present a new coordination method for MDO problems with coupling variables as well as coupling objectives and constraints. Our approach employs an augmented Lagrangian penalty relaxation in combination with a block coordinate descent method. The coordination method can be shown to converge to KKT points of the original problem by using existing convergence results. Two formulation variants are presented offering a large degree of freedom in tailoring the coordination algorithm to the design problem at hand. The first centralized variant introduces a master problem to coordinate coupling of the subsystems. The second distributed variant coordinates coupling directly between subsystems. In a sequel paper we demonstrate the flexibility of the formulations, and investigate the numerical behavior of the proposed method.
Comparison of two treatment durations (6 days and 14 days) of a low molecular weight heparin with a 6-day treatment of unfractionated heparin in the initial management of unstable angina or non-Q wave myocardial infarction: FRAX.I.S. (FRAxiparine in Ischaemic Syndrome).

AIM To assess the benefit of short-term low molecular weight heparin nadroparin compared with unfractionated heparin in unstable angina or non-Q wave myocardial infarction patients and to determine whether a longer, 2-week low molecular weight heparin regimen would offer additional clinical benefit. PATIENTS, METHODS AND RESULTS This was a multicentre, prospective, randomized, double-blind study in three parallel groups, involving 3468 patients. Patients received one of three treatment regimens: the unfractionated heparin group received an intravenous bolus of unfractionated heparin 5000 IU, followed by an activated partial thromboplastin time adjusted infusion of unfractionated heparin for 6+/-2 days; the nadroparin 6 group received an intravenous bolus of nadroparin 86 anti-Xa IU. kg(-1), followed by twice daily subcutaneous injections of nadroparin 86 anti-Xa IU. kg(-1)for 6+/-2 days, and the nadroparin 14 group received an intravenous bolus of nadroparin 86 anti-Xa IU. kg(-1), followed by twice daily subcutaneous injections of nadroparin 86 anti-Xa IU. kg(-1)for 14 days. No statistically significant differences were observed between the three treatment regimens with respect to the primary outcome (cardiac death, myocardial infarction, refractory angina, or recurrence of unstable angina at day 14). The absolute differences between the groups in the incidence of the primary outcome were: -0.3% (P=0.85) for the nadroparin 6 group vs the unfractionated heparin group and +1.9% (P=0.24) for the nadroparin 14 group vs the unfractionated heparin group. Furthermore, there were no significant intergroup differences regarding any of the secondary efficacy outcomes. However, there was an increased risk of major haemorrhages in the nadroparin 14 group compared with unfractionated heparin (3.5% vs 1.6%;P=0.0035). CONCLUSIONS Treatment with nadroparin for 6+/-2 days provides similar efficacy and safety to treatment with unfractionated heparin, for the same period, in the therapeutic management of acute unstable angina or non-Q wave myocardial infarction, and may be easier to administer. A prolonged regimen of nadroparin (14 days) does not provide any additional clinical benefit.
TGF-β Signaling in Dendritic Cells Governs Colonic Homeostasis by Controlling Epithelial Differentiation and the Luminal Microbiota

Dendritic cells (DCs) mediate host immune responses to gut microbes and play critical roles in inflammatory bowel disease. In this study, we examined the role of TGF-β signaling in DCs in colonic homeostasis. CD11c-cre Tgfbr2fl/fl mice developed spontaneous colitis, and CD11c-cre Tgfbr2fl/+ mice exhibited susceptibility to dextran sulfate sodium–induced colitis. Colitis in these mice was characterized by goblet cell depletion and dysbiosis caused by Enterobacteriaceae enrichment. Wild-type mice gavaged with Enterobacteriaceae from CD11c-cre Tgfbr2fl/fl mice feces showed severe colitis after dextran sulfate sodium treatment, whereas those treated with Notch inhibitor exhibited attenuated colonic injury with increased goblet cell numbers, thickened mucus layer, and fewer fecal Enterobacteriaceae. Wild-type mice transplanted with CD11c-cre Tgfbr2fl/fl bone marrow developed colitis showing increased Jagged1 and Jagged2 in DCs, increased Hes1 levels in epithelium, and goblet cell depletion. These findings suggest that TGF-β signaling in DCs regulates intestinal homeostasis by modulating epithelial cell differentiation and fecal microbiota.
Electronic commerce adoption among manufacturing SMEs in Malaysia

It is widely acknowledged that electronic commerce presents a significant opportunity for Small- Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) to compete alongside larger enterprises. For SMEs in the developing world in particular, the opportunities afforded by electronic commerce for competing in a global marketplace, are also attractive. However, it has also been observed that electronic commerce poses a considerable challenge for SMEs, particularly with regard to the decisions that must be made about which of the available electronic commerce applications to adopt and to integrate into existing business operations. A number of studies have been conducted to investigate the adoption of electronic commerce by SMEs. These studies have tended to view electronic commerce adoption in terms of a dichotomous outcome: either e-commerce is adopted, or it is not. Such studies give little indication of the diffusion, or extent of usage, of individual e-commerce applications. The aim of this study was to address this gap in existing research by investigating both the level of adoption and extent of usage of e-commerce applications. In so doing, the study draws on research in the area of innovation diffusion theory. The focus of the study is on manufacturing SMES in Malaysia, and considers their use of B2B (Business-to-Business) e-commerce. The specific objectives of the study were to measure and characterise B2B e-commerce adoption and extent of usage among manufacturing SMEs in Malaysia; to identify factors associated with the adoption of B2B e-commerce in Malaysian SMEs; and to determine the impacts of that adoption. (Continues.)
Sputum neutrophilia can mask eosinophilic bronchitis during exacerbations.

BACKGROUND Exacerbations of airway disease are eosinophilic, neutrophilic, both or neither. The primary objective of the present study was to identify whether the treatment of a neutrophilic bronchitis can unmask an associated eosinophilia. METHODS A retrospective survey of 2160 consecutive sputum cell counts from 1343 patients with airway disease was conducted to identify patients with an isolated neutrophilic bronchitis, which was defined as a sputum total cell count of greater than or equal to 12 x 10(6) cells/g of sputum and a proportion of neutrophils of 80% or greater. The characteristics of the patients who subsequently demonstrated sputum eosinophilia (3% or greater) within eight weeks of resolving the neutrophilia were compared with the patients who subsequently did not have sputum eosinophilia. RESULTS Two hundred thirty-seven patients had 273 neutrophilic exacerbations. The sputum was re-examined within eight weeks in 65 patients (27.4%), of whom 38 (58.5%) had resolution of the neutrophilic bronchitis after treatment with an antibiotic. Of these 38 patients, 13 (34%) showed eosinophilia. CONCLUSIONS A neutrophilic exacerbation of airway disease was observed to mask sputum eosinophilia in one-third of patients who had sputum cell counts available before and after antibiotic therapy. Hence, the absence of sputum eosinophilia during an infective exacerbation should not be used as an indication to reduce the dose of corticosteroids. To optimize therapy, repeat sputum cell count measurements are recommended after antibiotic treatment before changing corticosteroid treatment.
AFPL2, an Abstract Language for Firewall ACLs with NAT Support

The design and management of firewall ACLs is a very hard and error-prone task. Part of this complexity comes from the fact that each firewall platform has its own low-level language with a different functionality, syntax, and development environment. Although high-level languages have been proposed to model firewall ACLs, none of them has been widely adopted by the industry due to a combination of factors: high complexity, no support of important features of firewalls, etc. In this paper the most important access control policy languages are reviewed, with special focus on the development of firewall ACLs. Based on this analysis, a new domain specific language for firewall ACLs (AFPL2) is proposed, supporting more features that other languages do not cover (e.g. NAT). As the result of our design methodology, AFPL2 is very lightweight and easy to use. AFPL2 can be translated to existing low-level firewall languages, or be directly interpreted by firewall platforms, and is an extension to a previously developed language.