Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Traceability in Legal Pharmaceutical Supply Chains - ensuring safety and quality of prescribed medicinal products

The legal pharmaceutical supply chains are today facing an increasing problem with counterfeit medicines worldwide. There are many documented cases where consumers have taken counterfeit medicines resulting in permanent injuries and even deaths. Supply chain traceability is fundamental to enable verification of authenticity for pharmaceutical products and to prevent counterfeit products to reach end consumers. The traceability is highly dependent on the supply chain actors' ability to share information. It is therefore of interest to study the information sharing in legal pharmaceutical supply chains to ensure safety and quality of medicinal products. The purpose of this master thesis is partly to present a framework to ensure safety of prescribed medicinal products in legal pharmaceutical supply chains. The aim is also to identify mandatory and voluntary information attributes that comply with legal and industrial safety requirements on information sharing. To fulfill the aim a case study was conducted. Multiple sources of data was collected; a survey, semi-structured interviews and internal documents. Eight companies and the Medical Products Agency, MPA participated in the case study. It was found that there is today no standard for identifying products in the studied supply chain and a variety of technologies and standards are used for exchanging data. Another finding was that the companies in the Swedish pharmaceutical supply chain are in harmony with the legislation provided by the MPA. The empirical findings were analyzed together with theory to identify important areas of improvement for enhancing the traceability, and thereby also the safety of medical products, in the pharmaceutical supply chain. The identified components for enhanced traceability are unique identification, standardized data carrier, standardized communication and guidelines for what information to share. These are visualized in the framework TracePharma. The theoretical contributions from this thesis are a comparison of published traceability frameworks within the food industry, and that the components identified in TracePharma can act as a starting point for further research. The practical implications are that the members of the pharmaceutical industry are provided with insight and understanding about how to improve the supply chain traceability and product safety. TracePharma can also be practically used for other supply chains, for example in other industries.
Aerobic capacity of Peruvian Quechua: a test of the developmental adaptation hypothesis.

High altitude natives are reported to have outstanding work capacity in spite of the challenge of oxygen transport and delivery in hypoxia. To evaluate the developmental effect of lifelong exposure to hypoxia on aerobic capacity, VO2peak was measured on two groups of Peruvian Quechua subjects (18-35 years), who differed in their developmental exposure to altitude. Male and female volunteers were recruited in Lima, Peru (150 m), and were divided in two groups, based on their developmental exposure to hypoxia, those: a) Born at sea-level individuals (BSL), with no developmental exposure to hypoxia (n = 34) and b) Born at high-altitude individuals (BHA) with full developmental exposure to hypoxia (n = 32), but who migrated to sea-level as adults (>16-years-old). Tests were conducted both in normoxia (BP = 750 mm Hg) and normobaric hypoxia at sea-level (BP = 750 mm Hg, FiO2 = 0.12, equivalent to 4,449 m), after a 2-month training period (in order to control for initial differences in physical fitness) at sea-level. BHA had a significantly higher VO2peak at hypoxia (40.31 ± 1.0 ml/min/kg) as compared to BSL (35.78 ± 0.96 ml/min/kg, P = 0.001), adjusting for sex. The decrease of VO2peak at HA relative to SL (ΔVO2peak ) was not different between groups, controlling for baseline levels (VO2peak at sea-level) and sex (BHA = 0.35 ± 0.04 l/min, BSL = 0.44 ± 0.04 l/min; P = 0.12). Forced vital capacity (controlling for height) and the residuals of VO2peak (controlling for weight) had a significant association in the BHA group only (r = 0.155; P = 0.031). In sum, results indicate that developmental exposure to altitude constitutes an important factor to determine superior exercise performance.
The Impact of Legal and Voluntary Investor Protection on the Early Adoption of IFRS

Previous studies (Dumontier and Raffournier, 1998, El-Gazzar et al, 1999; Cuijpers and Buijink, 2004) typically explain the early adoption of IFRS by firm-specific benefits. However, the adoption of IFRS also leads to costs for company insiders, namely less managerial discretion and as a consequence smaller private benefits due to increased disclosure requirements and less accounting method choices. This paper argues that the cost of adopting IFRS depends on characteristics of the institutional environment, more specifically the level of investor protection. Using a sample of European companies, we find that IFRS is more likely adopted in countries with strong laws protecting investors and/or extensive corporate governance recommendations where the loss of private benefits following IFRS-adoption is lower. Furthermore, the results show that corporate governance recommendations are as effective as hard laws in stimulating IFRS-adoption and that their impact increases as laws become weaker. This suggests that by improving corporate governance codes, countries can easily reduce the extraction of private benefits by managers and enhance the quality of the financial information. However, when looking at specific recommendations and laws, we find that shareholder rights with regard to voting rights and the general meeting need to be regulated by law in order to effectively reduce the level of private benefits.
Additional Guidance Provided on International Financial Reporting Standards and its Impact on the Judgments and Confidence of Accountants

Using an experiment, this study extends prior research on accounting judgment and decision-making by examining the impact of additional guidance provided on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) (in addition to what is contained in the relevant IFRS) as a decision aid on the accuracy of judgments and the confidence the accountants have on their judgments. Unlike earlier studies, this study also examines the interactive effects of task complexity and additional guidance on the judgments of accountants. The results provide evidence that those accountants who are provided with decision aids in the form of additional guidance on IFRS make more accurate judgments than those accountants who are not provided with any additional guidance on IFRS. Additionally, the results show that the use of decision aids in the form of additional guidance on the accounting standards increases the confidence accountants have on their judgments. The results provide evidence of the importance of the additional guidance on the principles-based IFRS in addition to what is currently being provided in IFRS and by the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC). Additionally, the results of this study are of importance to the preparers of financial reports as it shows that the confidence on the judgments and decisions made can be increased by using decision aids in the form of additional guidance on IFRS when undertaking complex accounting tasks. This also suggests that accountants should exploit any guidance which is currently provided in IFRS and by the IFRIC.
Earlier identification of patients at risk from acetaminophen-induced acute liver failure.

OBJECTIVE To determine whether the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II system for the measurement of severity of illness is able to provide an accurate risk of hospital death in patients with acetaminophen-induced acute liver failure or identify those patients needing transfer for possible hepatic transplantation. DESIGN Data for admission (first 24 hrs) APACHE II scores and King's criteria for urgent transplantation were collected prospectively to compare the APACHE II system and the King's criteria for the prediction of death or need for transplantation. SETTING A nine-bed specialist liver failure unit (LFU). PATIENTS One hundred two consecutive patients admitted to the LFU with acetaminophen self-poisoning and a prolonged prothrombin time were studied. INTERVENTIONS None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS An APACHE II score of > 15 points was associated with a high mortality (13/20 patients, five of whom survived following hepatic transplantation). There was no relation between APACHE II risk and outcome (mean APACHE II risk of death 0.8%, actual hospital mortality 16%). An APACHE II score of > 15 had a similar power of prediction of death as the King's criteria (sensitivity 82% and 65%, respectively; specificity 98% and 99%, respectively), when considering those patients who were transplanted as "deaths. " An APACHE II score of > 15 was able to identify four more patients than the King's criteria on the first day of admission to the LFU. CONCLUSIONS The crude admission APACHE II score correlated well with mortality in patients with acetaminophen-induced acute liver failure. However, the calculated APACHE II risk of death, using the original drug overdose coefficient, was poorly calibrated. Since specialist liver scores are unfamiliar in the general intensive care setting, the use of an APACHE II score might earlier identify more patients at risk of needing a liver transplant, and hence, expedite appropriate transfer to a specialist liver unit.
PVNs: Making virtualized network infrastructure usable

Network virtualization is becoming a fundamental building block of future Internet architectures. Although the underlying network infrastructure needed to dynamically create and deploy custom virtual networks is rapidly taking shape ( e.g., GENI), constructing and using a virtual network is still a challenging and labor intensive task, one best left to experts. In this paper, we present the concept of a Packaged Virtual Network (PVN), that enables normal users to easily download, deploy and use application-specific virtual networks. At the heart of our approach is a PVN Hypervisor that “runs” a PVN by allocating the virtual network resources needed by the PVN and then connecting the PVN's participants into the network on demand. To demonstrate our PVN approach, we implemented a multicast PVN that runs on the PVN hypervisor prototype using ProtoGENI as the underlying virtual network, allowing average users to create their own private multicast network.
Lipid-lowering effect of artichoke on liver phosphatidate phosphohydrolase and plasma lipids in hyperlipidemic rats

Artichoke ( Cynara scolymus L.) is full of natural antioxidants and has a lipid-lowering effect. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of artichoke on the liver phosphatidate phosphohydrolase (PAP), plasma lipid levels, plasma malondialdehyde (MDA), and plasma antioxidant in hyperlipidemic rats. Male rats were fed by standard pellet diet (Group 1), standard diet supplemented with 10% artichoke (Group 2), lipogenic diet (containing sunflower oil, cholesterol and ethanol) plus 10% artichoke (Group 3) and only lipogenic diet (Group 4). On day 60 of the experiment, liver PAP activity, liver triglyceride (TG), plasma lipids, plasma MDA, and plasma antioxidant levels were measured. PAP activity, liver TG, the ratio of total cholesterol (TC) to high density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, plasma TC and TG levels were significantly decreased due to artichoke treatment in Groups 2 and 3 compared to Groups 1 and 4, respectively. Significant reduction in plasma MDA and significant elevation in plasma antioxidant power observed in Groups 2 and 3 compared to Groups 1 and 4, respectively. The results clearly indicated that artichoke can be useful for the reduction of PAP activity and liver TG. Also, artichoke has beneficial effects in the controlling of hyperlipidemia, abnormalities in lipid profiles and oxidative stress in hyperlipidemic regimes.
How European software industry perceives OSS trustworthiness and what are the specific criteria used to establish trust in OSS

for dissemination) In the last few years, Open Source Software (OSS) has been widely accepted and adopted, but there still are several concerns on how much trustworthy OSS actually is, and how its trustworthiness can be evaluated. These doubts led to a much lower adoption rate than expected. We are interested in what OSS users think about OSS trustworthiness, so we can then devise evaluation methods for OSS that are useful to users in general and the European software industry in particular. The objective of the investigation documented in this report is twofold: 1) to understand the reasons and motivations that lead software companies to adopt or reject OSS and software developers to develop OSS, and 2) to understand which specific trust factors are taken into account when selecting an OSS product. We interviewed quite a few representative industrial organizations and several people with various professional roles. Here, we report the insights in OSS trustworthiness deriving from the statistical analysis of the results of the interviews, as well as on the review of the relevant literature.
Convex-cost flow based redundant-via insertion with density-balance consideration

As VLSI design complexity continues to increase, the yield loss due to via failure becomes more and more significant. Redundant via insertion is highly recommended for improving chip yield and reliability. In this paper, we study the redundant via insertion problem in a postrouting stage, where a single via can have at most one redundant via inserted next to it. The goal is to insert as many redundant vias as possible and, at the same time, try to equilibrate the via density, which is good for the via density rules. We propose a convex-cost flow based approach to solve the problem within up to three routing layers. The experimental results show that, the proposed method can produce optimal solutions on defined density grid structure with maximum redundant via insertion, and achieve an at least 32.61% improvement of via density equalization1.
Broadband Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Interconnection Transmission Line Measurements With Generalized Probe Transition Characterization and Verification of Multiline Thru-Reflect-Line Calibration

This paper presents extraction techniques and measurement results for broadband complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) interconnection transmission line (TL) measurements with generalized probe transition characterization and verification of multiline thru-reflect-line (TRL) calibration. Initially, the probe transition is represented by a transmission matrix instead of the conventional shunt/series model, with detailed parameter evaluation procedures using measured data from two lines that are twice in length. Subsequently, an additional long TL that fully exhibits the TL characteristics at low frequencies is characterized, whereas the matrix manipulations with the other two TL measured data are adapted for high-frequency regions to avoid the ill-conditioned problem. Consequently, broadband characterization for CMOS TL is achieved in a cost-effective manner. With an additional reflect test structure, the multiline TRL calibration can be performed as well for verification. The proposed method is examined by thin-film microstrip lines using CMOS 90-nm one-poly/nine-metal technology with measurement frequencies from 2 to 110 GHz.
Contributions of the Pre- and Pro-Regions of a Staphylococcus hyicus Lipase to Secretion of a Heterologous Protein by Bacillus subtilis

ABSTRACT Bacillus subtilis is a well-established cell factory for efficient secretion of many biotechnologically relevant enzymes that are naturally produced by it or related organisms. However, the use of B. subtilis as a host for production of heterologous secretory proteins can be complicated by problems related to inefficient translocation of the foreign proteins across the plasma membrane or to inefficient release of the exported proteins from the cell surface into the surrounding medium. Therefore, there is a clear need for tools that allow more efficient membrane targeting, translocation, and release during the production of these proteins. In the present study, we investigated the contributions of the pre (prelip) and pro (prolip) sequences of a Staphylococcus hyicus lipase to secretion of a heterologous protein, the alkaline phosphatase PhoA of Escherichia coli, by B. subtilis. The results indicate that the presence of the prolip-peptide, in combination with the lipase signal peptide (prelip), contributes significantly to the efficient secretion of PhoA by B. subtilis and that prelip directs PhoA secretion more efficiently than the authentic signal peptide of PhoA. Genome-wide transcriptional analyses of the host cell responses indicate that, under the conditions tested, no known secretion or membrane-cell wall stress responses were provoked by the production of PhoA with any of the pre- and pro-region sequences used. Our data underscore the view that the pre-pro signals of the S. hyicus lipase are very useful tools for secretion of heterologous proteins in B. subtilis.
Bank Bonuses and Bail-out Guarantees

This paper analyzes how a bank shareholder optimally designs the compensation scheme of a bank manager if there are agency problems between the shareholder and the manager, and how this design changes in reaction to anticipated bail-outs. If there is a problem of excessive risk-taking, bail-out guarantees lead to steeper compensation schemes and even more risk-taking. If there is an effort problem, the compensation scheme becomes flatter and effort decreases. If both types of agency problems are present, a sufficiently large increase in bail-out perceptions will make it optimal for a welfare-maximizing regulator to impose ceilings on bank bonuses.
Self-Presentation Strategies, Fear of Success and Anticipation of Future Success among University and High School Students

The backlash avoidance model (BAM) suggests women insufficiently self-promote because they fear backlash for behavior which is incongruent with traditional gender roles. Avoiding self-promoting behavior is also potentially related to associating success with negative consequences. In two studies we tested whether self-promotion and fear of success will be predictors of lower salaries and anticipation of lower chances of success in an exam. In study 1, prior to the exam they were about to take, we asked 234 students about their predictions concerning exam results and their future earnings. They also filled scales measuring their associations with success (fear of success) and tendency for self-promotion. The tested model proved that in comparison to men, women expect lower salaries in the future, anticipate lower test performance and associate success with more negative consequences. Both tendency for self-promotion and fear of success are related to anticipation of success in test performance and expectations concerning future earnings. In study 2 we repeated the procedure on a sample of younger female and male high school pupils (N = 100) to verify whether associating success with negative consequences and differences in self-promotion strategies are observable in a younger demographic. Our results show that girls and boys in high school do not differ with regard to fear of success, self-promotion or agency levels. Girls and boys anticipated to obtain similar results in math exam results, but girls expected to have higher results in language exams. Nevertheless, school pupils also differed regarding their future earnings but only in the short term. Fear of success and agency self-ratings were significant predictors of expectations concerning future earnings, but only among high school boys and with regard to earnings expected just after graduation.
Underwriter Analyst Recommendations: Conflict of Interest or Rush to Judgement

This paper provides an analysis of the stock price impact of buy and sell recommendations by analysts for firms that went public in 1992. The market reaction to initial buy recommendations by underwriters is insignificant. While this is consistent with a market recognition of the potential conflict of interest faced by underwriters, it is also consistent with initial underwriter buy recommendations being uninformative since they are essentially reiterations of the implicit buy recommendations made in the IPOs. The market reaction to non-initial buys is significantly positive and larger than the reaction to recommendations by non-underwriter analysts. This supports the argument that underwriter analysts may be viewed as more knowledgeable than their competitors because they have superior information on the firm. We also find that initial underwriter buy recommendations are followed by negative post-recommendation stock price performance. Our results suggest that this negative post-recommendation performance is driven by the group of stocks for which the underwriter analysts reverse their buy recommendation with a later sell. The performance between initial buy and subsequent sell is insignificant. This suggests that rather than being a conflict of interest, the initial buy recommendation reflects a rush to judgement on the part of the underwriter analyst.
Unusual Alveolar Pattern in Node Based Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma

Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common subtype of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma worldwide. We present a case of 45 year old male patient presenting with swelling in right side of the neck since 6 months. A cytological aspirate of the lymph node suggested possibility of malignancy and excision biopsy was advised. Histopathology revealed a well-developed alveolar pattern with nests of dyscohesive large round tumour cells separated by delicate fibrovascular septae. Tumour cells were positive for CD45, CD20 and BCL-6 and negative for CD3, CD 5, CD 10, BCL-2, Desmin, Chromogranin, Synaptophysin and S-100. Based on histopathology and immunohistochemical findings, final diagnosis of DLBCL, NOS was given. The case is presented to highlight an unusual morphological alveolar growth pattern in DLBCL.
Biochemical and physiological properties of alkaline phosphatases in five isolates of marine bacteria

The alkaline phosphatase activities of five unique isolates of marine bacteria were found to be associated with the periplasmic space; however, the enzymes from these isolates differed with respect to their repressibility, the apparent number of isoenzymes, the necessity for Mg2 for activity, and the conditions required for their release. With three of the isolates, the enzyme was released when cells that had been washed in 0.5 M NaCl were suspended in sucrose; however, with the other two isolates, one required the additional presence of tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane and the other required the presence of lysozyme and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid. In two isolates the activity was constitutive, in two it was partially repressed, and in one it was completely repressed by inorganic phosphate. The repression of activity was associated with corresponding changes of activity bands as seen by acrylamide gel electrophoresis.