Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Newcastle Endogenous Depression Diagnostic Index: validity and reliability

ABSTRACT– The Newcastle Endogenous Depression Diagnostic Index of Carney et al. was studied for reliability and validity. Good inter‐rater reliability was obtained for diagnostic category and for item scores in 36 patients. The scale showed construct validity with reference to the Hamilton and Montgomery‐Åsberg rating scales. Concurrent validity was shown relative to other diagnostic scales of endogenous depression. Predictive validity was demonstrated in that endogenous and nonendogenous depressives responded differently to isocarboxazid. The continued use of 5 as the point of separation between endogenous and nonendogenous depression is questionable.
Energy aware mechanisms for health-care monitoring at home

Extending the lifetime of sensor nodes is still one of the major issues in Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) that requires efficient communication mechanisms. This work deals with the design of new mechanisms adapted for healthcare monitoring application. Our methodology includes three key components: i) the first one introduces principle mechanisms enabling organization of data exchange. ii) The second one presents maintenance mechanisms allowing mobility management and network reconfiguration needed for Healthcare. To do this, we propose an adaptation of the standard IEEE 802.15. 4. iii) The final component presents the performance evaluation and analysis of the solution in use cases by analytical model and by reel prototyping using Imote2 platforms. We studied the impact of dissemination interval and packets size on energy and delay. A comparison of results obtained from the different approaches shows the advantages of the proposed solution.
The Impact of High Performance Work Systems on Innovation Performance: A Study of Irish Companies

Over the past two decades, there has been an explosion in the volume of research examining the impact of HR on company performance. A central theme of this research has been how High Performance Work Systems (HPWS) impact on the competitiveness and innovative capabilities of firms. The literature reveals a theoretical divergence between the ‘universalistic’ perspective and others including the ‘contingency’ approach. This study undertook to examine these issues by looking at the impact of HPWS on innovation performance in a multi-industry sample of firms in Ireland. A survey was conducted on a sample of 1000 larger firms, yielding complete responses from 132 firms. Data from respondent firms was based on responses from both the general manager and the human resource manager. The impact of HPWS on three measures of innovation performance (workforce innovation, innovation revenues and innovation competitiveness) was examined, and HPWS was found to have a significant impact on innovation performance when controlling for a range of variables. The moderating roles of R&D strategy, dynamic environment and organisational culture on HPWS were assessed. No moderating effect was found for workforce innovation or innovation revenues, but a clear moderating effect was found for innovation competitiveness. Finally, a series of significant differences were found in relation to innovation performance and HPWS levels between Irish-owned firms and US and European firms. Implications arising from the findings for researchers, practitioners and policy-makers are considered.
Brain tissue microarrays in dementia research: White matter microvascular pathology in Alzheimer's disease

Tissue microarrays (TMA) consist of up to 1000 cylindrical tissue cores from different donor paraffin blocks relocated into one recipient block, allowing for efficient histopathological studies by fluorescence in situ hybridization, RNA in situ hybridization or immunohistochemistry. On the background of the increasing interest of the TMA technique in cancer research and the suggestion of its application also in studies of non‐neoplastic intracranial disorders, the technique was applied to pathologic white matter in AD brains. Eight cases with AD and concomitant white matter pathology were neuropathologically diagnosed on whole brain coronal slides. The TMA technique was used to grade severity of white matter pathology and to quantify small vessels with traditional staining and immunohistochemical markers. These measurements were compared with the whole brain neuropathological assessment. The technique produced good results with preserved tissue structures as confirmed by the whole brain evaluation. Severity of white matter pathology evaluated on the TMA cores correlated negatively with small vessel quantities, and statistically significant differences in vessel quantities paralleled different grades of white matter pathology. It is concluded that the TMA technique could be further utilized in studies of dementing disorders, and may have its advantages in large, clinically well‐characterized materials (e.g. in quantitative mapping of white matter changes).
Meaning in Life and Personal Growth among Pediatric Physicians and Nurses

Studies examining medical teams indicate that exposure to the terminally ill often has detrimental effects on their physical and emotional well-being. However, recent theoretical developments suggest that this exposure might also have positive implications. The current study sought to examine 2 positive outcomes, meaning in life and personal growth, among physicians and nurses working with hospitalized children and exposed to different levels of patient mortality. In addition, the contribution of level of secondary traumatization and the personal resources of professional self-esteem and optimism were examined. The sample consisted of 58 physicians and 66 nurses working in pediatric hemato-oncology, pediatric intensive care units, and pediatric internal medicine wards in Israel. The findings indicate that a higher level of exposure to patient death, higher optimism, and professional self-esteem, and lower secondary traumatization predicted the sense of meaning in life, whereas occupation, as well as higher professional self-esteem and higher level of secondary traumatization, especially among lower professional self-esteem individuals, predicted a higher experience of personal growth. In addition, nurses reported higher levels of professional self-esteem, secondary traumatization, and personal growth than physicians. The theoretical and practical implications of the results are discussed.
Scheduling Resource Constrained Project Portfolios with the Principles of the Theory of Constraints

Contemporary practice of project management is evolving towards accumulation of all projects in one organizational unit. This tendency manifests itself in creating a project management offices (PMO Project Management Office). Their tasks include planning implementation and control of all projects within the organization. As stressed in the PMBoK, one of the key properties of the PMO is to share and coordinate resources across all projects administered by the office (PMBOK 2004, p. 18). Updating the portfolio by adding new projects, they must make schedules, that all resources are best used. On the other hand, each project must have access to needed resources. This task can be reduced to the problem of scheduling with limited resources. The problem of scheduling the project portfolio can be seen as a single project scheduling, in which there are many activities related to inconsistent graphs activities. However, they are linked to the need to use common limited resources. In this light, the problem becomes the selection of new projects in the portfolio, and thus the modification of existing schedules. The existing schedules should be forced into a new job using the available free resources. Work attempts to formalize the principles of the Theory of Constraints for use in the project portfolio scheduling with limited resources. In particular, it will propose a identification of strategic resource, and then simplified process of scheduling by proposed heuristic.
Discussion sections in reports of controlled trials published in general medical journals.

CONTEXT Reliable interpretation of the results of a controlled trial entails setting its results in the context of similar research. A previous study showed that most reports of controlled trials published in 5 general medical journals in May 1997 were deficient in this respect. We assessed the extent to which reports of controlled trials published in the same 5 journals discussed new results in light of the totality of evidence from other controlled trials. METHODS Assessment of the discussion sections in all 33 reports of randomized trials published during May 2001 in Annals of Internal Medicine, BMJ, JAMA, The Lancet, and The New England Journal of Medicine. RESULTS Three reports appeared to have been the first published trials to address the questions studied. In none of the remaining 30 reports were the results of the new trial discussed in the context of an updated systematic review of other trials. Although reference was made to relevant systematic reviews in 3 of these 30 reports, there was no integration, quantitative or qualitative, of the results of the new trials in an update of these reviews. In the remaining 27 reports, there was no evidence that any systematic attempt had been made to set the new results in the context of previous trials. CONCLUSIONS Between 1997 and 2001, there was no evidence of progress in the proportion of reports of trials published in general medical journals that discussed the new results within the context of, or with reference to, up-to-date systematic reviews of relevant evidence from other controlled trials.
Confucian principles in ICT Chinese practice: an exploratory model

The paper discusses culture, business culture and the influence of cultural values on managerial practice in general, and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) practice in particular. We argue that western ICT systems are based on optimization, underpinned by the positivism paradigm embedded in the western goal-seeking problem solving model. Eastern, in particular Chinese, ways of thinking, are based on a type of subjectivism that underlines a more intuitive, systemic way of viewing the world. The use of western-design ICT in an emergent business Chinese culture embedded in Confucian values reveals some misalignments. A model to explore these misalignments between ICT practice and Confucian Chinese business culture is advanced. Drawing from organizational theory models of national and business culture as premises, we propose a model containing a set of constructs to empirically investigate and confirm the processes involved in these misalignments.
Quantum-Inspired Differential Evolution for Binary Optimization

The differential evolution (DE) is usually considered as a robust, fast, powerful optimization approach. DE has been widely applied to solve many optimization problems in the continuous-valued space. However, DE is seldom used in the binary-valued space owing to its particular operators. The paper uses a Q-bit string as a representation, and proposes the quantum-inspired differential evolution algorithm (QDE). The operators of DE are used to be able to drive the individuals to move to better solutions. Numerical experiments are performed to illustrate the performance of QDE compared with three algorithms in the binary-valued space. The results show that QDE generally outperform the other algorithms in the test functions.
Service experience evaluation: The interrelationships of customer affect and service outcomes

This study examines the relationship between customer affect, customer satisfaction, perceived value and behavioural intentions in collective hedonic services. Using data from 450 consumers of sporting, theatre and concert events results suggest that customer affect drives both perceived value and satisfaction. However, only satisfaction significantly influenced behavioural intentions. Further examination of these effects found that satisfaction mediated the relationship between customer affect and perceived value and customer affect and behavioural intentions. These are important findings as few studies have examined the impact of customer affect on service outcomes simultaneously, especially in the context of collective hedonic services. Background to the Research Collective hedonic services are services that are delivered and consumed simultaneously by a large number of consumers at one point in time, in one location and for the purpose of pleasure and enjoyment (Ng, Bennett and Dagger, 2007). Examples include spectator sports, performing arts and concert events. The core purpose of such services is to deliver a favourable service experience (Hightower, Brady and Baker, 2002; Pine and Gilmore 1998). Prior research has predominantly focused on investigating factors influencing the delivery of the service experience (Caru and Cova, 2005; Minor et al., 2004). While this effort is a step towards understanding the delivery and management of a service experience, the impact of customer affect, whether positive or negative, on these evaluations remains largely unknown (Grace and O’Cass, 2 004). To understand service experiences, the role of customer affect is paramount. After all, research has shown that customers experience emotion as a direct result of service experiences (e.g., Dube and Menon, 2000; Price, Arnould and Deibler, 1995). Given that customer affect is used as a benchmark for favourable or unfavourable customer experiences (Barlow and Maul 2000), it is crucial that service firms understand customer affect and the ramifications affect has on the evaluation of a service experience. Customer emotion is viewed in the present study as comprising aspects of both positive and negative affect. According to the “affect-as-information theory” (Schwarz and Clore 1983; 1988), people use their feelings as sources of information (e.g., Frijda 1986; Schwarz 1990) to assist with evaluation (Bosmans and Baumgartner, 2005; Pham, 1998) . An important contribution of this study is the application of this theory to the services context. This study extends previous research in three ways. First, this research is one of the first studies to examine, simultaneously, the relationship between customer affect, customer satisfaction, perceived value and behavioural intentions. While prior research has examined these relationships at a discrete level, few studies have investigated the links between these constructs collectively. Second, this research examines the affective and cognitive bases that form perceptions of customer
Internationalisation process of the firm : Scania's case in Poland

The pressures of increased foreign competition can persuade a company to expand its business into international markets. In most cases, the motive is a search for improved cost efficiency or looking for the chance to expand and achieve growth. Swedish firms often develop their international operations in small steps rather than by making large foreign production investments at single points in time. Typically firms start exporting to a country via an agent, later establish a sales subsidiary, and eventually, in some cases, begin production in the host country. Such process was called Uppsala Model or Internationalisation Stage Model. The aim of this thesis is to investigate whether Uppsala Internationalisation Model apply to transition market such as Poland. The year 1989 was an important turning point in the history of the Polish economy. After a long period of isolation to the Western world, Poland opened its boarders not only for visitors and tourists, but also for foreign companies. Many of them have invested in production in Poland during the transition period. One of the Swedish investors present in Poland almost from the beginning of the transition process is Scania. Scania holds fourth position in the world in manufacturing trucks and buses, and the second place in Europe in sales of heavy trucks. Poland as a transition market attracted Scania for many different reasons such as market size, geographical location and future growth perspectives. Company's activities confirmed the assumption that Internationalisation Stage Model can be applied to transition country and can explain MNE's initial steps in the unknown environment.
Management Effectiveness Evaluated by the Achievement of Goals Established in the Reward System and its Connection with Psychological Empowerment

The study investigates the management effectiveness measured by the achievement of the goals established in the reward system for employees and its relation with psychological empowerment in a multinational company. Descriptive study with qualitative and quantitative approach was performed in an American company, based in Brazil. For data collection we used a questionnaire adapted from Spreitzer (1995). Data analysis used descriptive statistics, content analysis, and financial information published on the Stock Exchange of New York. The conclusion presents relation between management effectiveness measured by the achievement of goals established in the reward system and psychological empowerment.
Service Management and Marketing: Customer Management in Service Competition

Preface vii 1 The Service and Relationship Imperative: Managing in Service Competition 1 2 Managing Customer Relationships: An Alternative Paradigm in Management and Marketing 23 3 The Nature of Services and Service Consumption, and its Marketing Consequences 51 4 Service and Relationship Quality 71 5 Quality Management in Services 111 6 Return on Service and Relationships 141 7 Managing the Augmented Service Offering 183 8 Service Management Principles 209 9 Managing Productivity in Service Organizations 233 10 Managing Marketing or Market-oriented Management 263 11 Managing Integrated Marketing Communication and Total Communication 303 12 Managing Brand Relationships and Image 329 13 Customer-focused Organization: Structure, Resources and Service Processes 347 14 Managing Internal Marketing: A Prerequisite for Successful Customer Management 383 15 Managing Service Culture: The Internal Service Imperative 415 16 Transforming a Manufacturing Firm into a Service Business 433 17 Conclusions: Managing Services and Relationships 453 Index 473
Determination of Molar Mass and Its Relationship with Free Energy of Activation: A Case Study on Human Salivary Alpha Amylase

Aims: The objectives of the research were (i) to show that the mass concentration, molar mass of one-active site enzyme, and consequently, the type of human salivary alpha amylase (HSαA), can be determined using kinetic parameter dependent model, (ii) to show that the free energy of activation for hydrolysis of substrate is usually related to molar mass. Study Design: Experimental. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Biochemistry, Ambrose Alli University and Research Division of Ude International Concepts Limited (RC 862217) B. B. Agbor Delta, Nigeria. The research spanned between June, 2008 and August, 2016. Methodology: Bernfeld method of enzyme assay was used. Assays were carried out on diluted commercial human salivary alpha amylase (HSαA) and crude extract of HSαA. Results: Mean values of calculated mass concentration and molar mass of the enzyme were 171.09±0.64 mg/l and 61.92±0.64 kDa respectively (from 20 calculations). The concentration of crude extract of HSαA was 94.5±0.4 mg/l. With the old model the free energy of activation (∆Ga) value is 51.19±0.12 kJ/mol (n = 20). Using directly the new model the value is 51.21±0.08 kJ/mol. Original Research Article Udema; JSRR, 12(5): 1-11, 2016; Article no.JSRR. 29395 2 Conclusion: It is concluded that the model can be used to accurately determine the concentration of the enzyme and its ∆Ga using either standard solution or crude extract. Therefore, as a corollary, the molar mass of such enzyme can be determined given well defined concentration of the enzyme. The enzyme purchased from Sigma – Aldrich, USA, may be the glycosylated HSαA.
Risk Premia for Emerging Markets Bonds: Evidence from Brazilian Government Debt, 1996-2002

The goal of this paper is to identify the determinants of the risk premium on Brazilian government debt traded in the emerging markets bonds. The empirical evidence presented does not reject the hypotheses that fiscal solvency and the size of the public debt affect the risk premium as measured by the spread over treasury securities of the Brazilian C-bond.
Anti-apoptotic properties of carbon monoxide in porcine oocyte during in vitro aging

If fertilization of matured oocyte does not occur, unfertilized oocyte undergoes aging, resulting in a time-dependent reduction of the oocyte’s quality. The aging of porcine oocytes can lead to apoptosis. Carbon monoxide (CO), a signal molecule produced by the heme oxygenase (HO), possesses cytoprotective and anti-apoptotic effects that have been described in somatic cells. However, the effects of CO in oocytes have yet to be investigated. By immunocytochemistry method we detected that both isoforms of heme oxygenase (HO-1 and HO-2) are present in the porcine oocytes. Based on the morphological signs of oocyte aging, it was found that the inhibition of both HO isoforms by Zn-protoporphyrin IX (Zn-PP IX) leads to an increase in the number of apoptotic oocytes and decrease in the number of intact oocytes during aging. Contrarily, the presence of CO donors (CORM-2 or CORM-A1) significantly decrease the number of apoptotic oocytes while increasing the number of intact oocytes. We also determined that CO donors significantly decrease the caspase-3 (CAS-3) activity. Our results suggest that HO/CO contributes to the sustaining viability through regulation of apoptosis during in vitro aging of porcine oocytes.
A review on green synthesis of silver nanoparticles and their applications

Abstract Development of reliable and eco-accommodating methods for the synthesis of nanoparticles is a vital step in the field of nanotechnology. Silver nanoparticles are important because of their exceptional chemical, physical, and biological properties, and hence applications. In the last decade, numerous efforts were made to develop green methods of synthesis to avoid the hazardous byproducts. This review describes the methods of green synthesis for Ag-NPs and their numerous applications. It also describes the comparison of efficient synthesis methods via green routes over physical and chemical methods, which provide strong evidence for the selection of suitable method for the synthesis of Ag-NPs.