Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A construct of the cross-cultural ethos of corporate codes of ethics (ECCE): Australia,Canada and Sweden

The objective of this paper is to develop and describe a construct of the ethos of the corporate codes of ethics (i.e., an ECCE-construct) across three countries, namely Australia, Canada and Sweden. The ECCE-construct makes a contribution to theory and practice in the field as it outlines a theoretical construct for the benefit of other researchers. It is also of managerial interest to marketing organizations as it provides a grounded framework of areas to be considered in the implementation in organizations of corporate codes of ethics.
Embedded Software Engineering: The State of the Practice

Technologies for the development of embedded systems should address specific constraints such as hard timing constraints, limited memory and power use, predefined hardware platform technology, and hardware costs. Existing development technologies don't address their specific impact on, or necessary customization for, the embedded domain. Nor do these technologies give developers any indication of how to apply them to specific areas in this domain, for example, automotive systems, telecommunications, or consumer electronics. Consequently, tailoring a technology for a specific use is difficult. Furthermore, the embedded domain is driven by reliability factors, cost factors, and time to market. So, this embedded domain needs specifically targeted development technologies. An inventory of eight European companies reveals what tools developers of embedded-systems software are and aren't using, and why. The need exists for more specific, yet flexible, tools.
NetSpeakWrite: A New Breed of Communication

This paper examines the recent linguistic phenomena of texting and instant messaging, paying particular attention to the unique linguistic properties exhibited in digital communications. Through an examination of the use and influence of TextSpeak, I conclude that its demonstrated linguistic patterns are unique in conforming to a written standard, rather than the verbal conventions of other languages. Based on these conclusions, I recommend that this new language—here dubbed NetWrite—should be studied on its own unique terms rather than by its effect (or lack thereof) on traditional English.
Factors of the Rotter Internal-External Scale

Previous investigators have reported that the Rotter I-E scale (1966) may measure many dimensions rather than a unidimensional trait. Following Collins (1974), each of the 23 forced-choice internal and external alternatives of the I-E scale were separated and administered as 46 Likert-scale items. The Likert-format administration was equivalent to the original method. Principal factors analysis and varimax rotation yielded five factors: belief in a nonrational world, belief in a politically unresponsive world, belief in a predictable world, belief in a just world, and belief in the meaningfulness of personal effort. These factors are similar to those reported by Collins.
Clinical Importance of Parent Ratings of Everyday Cognitive Abilities in Children with Learning and Attention Problems

This study addressed two issues: first, whether parental reports contribute information over and above a standardized psychometric assessment, and second, whether parental reports of everyday cognitive functioning might be useful in distinguishing between children with reading disabilities (RD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and combined ADHD + RD. Parent-reported information on 159 children with learning or attention problems was obtained using a questionnaire called the Parent Ratings of Everyday Cognitive and Academic Abilities (PRECAA). Psychometric information used for comparison included the Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery—Revised, the Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency—Short Form, the Vocabulary and Block Design subtests of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 3rd edition, and the Developmental Test of Visual—Motor Integration. The PRECAA was found to be sensitive to group differences between children with RD and children with ADHD and combined ADHD + RD. Its inclusion resulted in a significant increase in the number of children correctly classified compared to the use of psychometric measures alone. The PRECAA correctly classified more children (66%) than did the standard psychometric measures (50%). In fact, a very high percentage of children with ADHD (81%) were correctly classified using the PRECAA. These findings suggest that the PRECAA may be a useful aid to clinicians in the identification of children with learning and attention problems.
Delayed Peripheral Nerve Degeneration, Regeneration, and Pain in Mice Lacking Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase

Inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) may be a critical factor in the repair of injured tissues. In mice lacking iNOS we observed abnormalities in how the peripheral nerve responds to each of 3 fundamental types of injury: chronic constriction partial nerve injury (a model of neuropathic pain), nerve crush, and nerve transection. In each type of injury, mice lacking iNOS had evidence of a regenerative delay, preceded by slowing of myelinated fiber Wallerian degeneration (WD). In wild-type mice, iNOS immunoreactivity and the presence and upregulation of its mRNA were demonstrated distal to injury, but neither was observed in the knockout mice. Slowed WD was suggested by the abnormal persistence of apparent myelinated fiber profiles distal to the injury zones in mice lacking iNOS compared to wild-type controls. In mice lacking iNOS there were fewer regenerating myelinated fibers, smaller caliber regenerating fibers, and slowed reinnervation of muscle endplates distal to the injury zone. Slowed degeneration was also associated with normal initiation but delayed expression of neuropathic pain. Our findings highlight important relationships among nitric oxide, WD, neuropathic pain, and axon regeneration.
A solution based on intelligent software agents to improve the data searching in the contact centers

Many companies have been collecting customer-related data for years, this was normally for administration rather than customer management. In last year's contact centers become more complex in their function and organization so that the data searching become more formal to ensure consistency and efficiency. This paper suggests a multi-agent approach for distributed data searching in context of contact centers to advance and frame future discussion of this knowledge intensive environments. We prove the efficiency of data search using intelligent software agents for contact centers with distributed data bases, considering an adequate case study and presenting experimental results.
Information Security Policy Compliance Behavior Based on Comprehensive Dimensions of Information Security Culture: A Conceptual Framework

The adherence of employees towards Information Security Policy (ISP) established in the organization is crucial in reducing information security risks. Some scholars have suggested that employees' compliance to ISP could be influenced by Information Security Culture (ISC) cultivated in the organization. Several studies on the impact of ISC towards ISP compliance have proposed different dimensions and factors associated to ISC with substantial differences in each finding. This paper is discussing an enhanced conceptual framework of ISP compliance behavior by addressing ISC as a multidimensional concept which consist of seven comprehensive dimensions. These new proposed ISC dimensions developed using all the key factors of ISC in literature and were aligned with the widely accepted concept of organizational culture and ISC. The framework also integrated with the most significant behavioral theory in this domain of study, which is Theory of Planned Behavior to provide more deep understanding and richer findings of the compliance behavior. This framework is expected to give more accurate findings on the relationships between ISC and ISP compliance behavior.
Information Systems Backsourcing: Correcting Problems and Responding to Opportunities

ot unlike a wedding day, the day that an outsourcing agreement is inked is marked by a certain pride of accomplishment and a promise for an enduring relationship. Yet, this exuberance is tinged with uncertainty as to what the future may bring. Some relationships grow and flourish, with each side nurturing the other. Others don’t last. The relationship continues as long as there is a mutually agreed-upon equilibrium. However, when this balance is disturbed—whether by not meeting each others’ expectations, by one party deciding it no longer desires to remain in the contract, or by external factors that signal promising opportunities for one or both parties outside the relationship—equilibrium can be lost and the relationship may end. In the summer of 2004, JP Morgan Chase learned that it can be painful to end an outsourcing relationship. It announced the termination of its information systems (IS) outsourcing contract with IBM and the subsequent backsourcing of all outsourced IS activities. It came only 21 months after JP Morgan Chase signed this $5 billion, 7-year megadeal amid huge fanfare as the largest outsourcing contract at the time. Interestingly enough, publicized reasons for backsourcing were almost identical to the initial outsourcing reasons: to accelerate innovation and become more efficient. Yet, backsourcing proved to be an expensive and difficult move. Chase had to reorganize twice, first for outsourcing and then for its reversal. Backsourcing called for reestablishment of IS systems, staff, and operating procedures that were jettisoned with outsourcing. The initial outsourcing impeded IS innovation and efficiency and left JP Morgan Chase with stagnated technology and backlogged IS projects. Consequently, backsourcing was a necessary move. 1
Language performance in siblings of nonverbal children with autism

The study focuses on language and cognitive abilities of siblings of the linguistically most affected children with autism (i.e. siblings of nonverbal children — SIBS-ANV). Twenty-eight SIBS-ANV (17 boys), ages 4—9 years, took part in the study. All children attended regular schools, and none had received a diagnosis of autism. Controls were 27 typically developing children (SIBS-TD; 16 boys) matched to the SIBS-ANV on age, family background, socioeconomic status and type of school they attended. Significant IQ differences, as well as language differences as measured on the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals (CELF), emerged between SIBS-ANV and SIBS-TD. However, differences in the language scores mostly disappeared when PIQ and FSIQ were controlled for. Furthermore, grammatical analysis of spontaneous speech samples produced in the course of testing did not reveal any significant differences between the groups. These results add to recent work suggesting that language deficits may not be part of the Broad Autism Phenotype (BAP). It further suggests that the cognitive deficit characteristic of nonverbal people with autism may be familial.
Intermolecular Forces between Nanolayers of Crystalline Calcium-Silicate-Hydrates in Aqueous Medium

Calcium-silicate-hydrate (C–S–H) is the major binding phase responsible for strength and durability of cementitious materials. The cohesive properties of C–S–H are directly related to the intermolecular forces between its layers at the nanoscale. Here, we employ free energy perturbation theory (FEP) to calculate intermolecular forces between crystalline C–S–H layers solvated in aqueous medium along face-to-face (FTF) and sliding reaction coordinates. Contrary to mean-field theories, we find that our counterion-only system exhibits an oscillatory behavior in FTF interaction. We correlate these oscillations with the characteristic length scale comparable to the distance between interfacial water layers at the hydrophilic surface of crystalline C–S–H. We attribute the sliding intermolecular forces to the atomic level roughness of crystalline C–S–H layers stemming from the local arrangement of nanoscale structural motifs. These intermolecular forces provide a direct access to the key mechanical properties, su.
Primary uncleansed 2D versus primary electronically cleansed 3D in limited bowel preparation CT colonography. Is there a difference for novices and experienced readers?

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Perinatal transmission and manifestation of hepatitis C virus infection in a high risk population

We studied the perinatal transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) in 70 high risk mother/infant pairs. Seventy-six percent of the mothers (53 of 70) were coinfected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and 79% (55 of 70) had a history of drug addiction. During the follow-up HCV RNA was detected in 14 of 70 (20%) infants: 12% (2 of 17) in infants born to HIV-negative mothers; and 23% (12 of 53) in infants to HIV-positive mothers. The rate of vertical transmission was significantly higher in vaginally delivered infants than in those delivered by cesarean section (32% vs. 6%; P < 0.05). All 56 uninfected infants lost passively acquired anti-HCV by age 9 \pm 4 months and only 2 of 56 infants (4%) had evidence of HIV infection. Four of 14 HCV RNA-positive infants (29%) had evidence of HTV coinfection. We observed 3 clinical patterns of HCV infection: a transient viremia in 2 infants; an acute pattern in 2 infants; and a chronic pattern in 10 infants. All 4 HIV-coinfected infants had chronic HCV infection. All infants with a chronic pattern, had increased alanine aminotransferase values for more than 6 months and 5 had a liver biopsy that showed signs of chronic persistent hepatitis. HCV perinatal transmission was more frequent in infants born to HIV-coinfected mothers than in infants born to HIV-noninfected women, particularly when delivered vaginally.
Large-Capacity Image Information Reduction Based on Single-Cue Saliency Map for Retinal Prosthesis System

In an effort to restore visual perception in retinal diseases, an electronic retinal prosthesis with thousands of electrodes has been developed. The image processing strategies of retinal prosthesis system converts the original images from the camera to the stimulus pattern which can be interpreted by the brain. Practically, the original images are with more high resolution (256x256) than that of the stimulus pattern (such as 25x25), which causes a technical image processing challenge to do large-capacity image information reduction. In this paper, we focus on developing an efficient image processing stimulus pattern extraction algorithm by using a single cue saliency map for extracting salient objects in the image with an optimal trimming threshold. Experimental results showed that the proposed stimulus pattern extraction algorithm performs quite well for different scenes in terms of the stimulus pattern. In the algorithm performance experiment, our proposed SCSPE algorithm have almost five times of the score compared with Boyle’s algorithm. Through experiments we suggested that when there are salient objects in the scene (such as the blind meet people or talking with people), the trimming threshold should be set around 0.4max, in other situations, the trimming threshold values can be set between 0.2max-0.4max to give the satisfied stimulus pattern .
Evidence-based practice-focused interactive teaching strategy: a controlled study.

AIM This paper is a report of a study to evaluate the effectiveness of the evidence-based practice (EBP)-focused interactive teaching (E-FIT) strategy. BACKGROUND Although EBP is a mandatory competency for all healthcare professionals, little is known about the effectiveness of E-FIT in nursing. METHODS Aquasi-experimental, controlled, pre- and post-test study involving senior, 4th-year nursing students (N = 208) at two nursing schools in the USA was carried out from August 2007 to May 2008. The experimental group (n = 88) received the E-FIT strategy intervention and the control group (n = 120) received standard teaching. A Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviors Questionnaire for Evidence-Based Practice was used to assess the effectiveness of the E-FIT strategy. RESULTS Independent t-tests showed that the experimental group had statistically significant higher post-test Evidence-Based Practice Knowledge (mean difference = 0.25; P = 0.001) and Evidence-Based Practice Use (mean difference = 0.26; P = 0.015) subscale scores compared to the control group, but showed no statistically significant differences in Attitudes toward Evidence-Based Practice and Future Use of Evidence-Based Practice (mean difference = 0.12; P = 0.398 and mean difference = 0.13; P = 0.255 respectively). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses of the post-test data indicated that the intervention explained 7.6% and 5.1% of variance in Evidence-Based Practice Knowledge and Evidence-Based Practice Use respectively. CONCLUSION The EBP-focused interactive teaching strategy was effective in improving the knowledge and use of EBP among nursing students but not attitudes toward or future use of EBP.
Hypertonic saline up-regulates A3 adenosine receptor expression of activated neutrophils and increases acute lung injury after sepsis*

Objective:Hypertonic saline resuscitation reduces tissue damage by inhibiting polymorphonuclear neutrophils. Hypertonic saline triggers polymorphonuclear neutrophils to release adenosine triphosphate that is converted to adenosine, inhibiting polymorphonuclear neutrophils through A2a adenosine receptors. Polymorphonuclear neutrophils also express A3 adenosine receptors that enhance polymorphonuclear neutrophil functions. Here we investigated whether A3 receptors may diminish the efficacy of hypertonic saline in a mouse model of acute lung injury. Design:Randomized animal study and laboratory investigation. Setting:University research laboratory. Interventions:The effect of A3 receptors on the efficacy of hypertonic saline resuscitation was assessed in A3 receptor knockout and wild-type mice. Animals were treated with hypertonic saline (7.5% NaCl, 4 mL/kg) before or after cecal ligation and puncture, and acute lung injury and mortality were determined. The effect of timing of hypertonic saline exposure on A3 receptor expression and degranulation was studied in vitro with isolated human polymorphonuclear neutrophils. Measurements and main results:Treatment of human polymorphonuclear neutrophils with hypertonic saline before stimulation with formyl methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine inhibited A3 receptor expression and degranulation, whereas hypertonic saline-treatment after formyl methionyl-leucyl-phenylalanine-stimulation augmented A3 receptor expression and degranulation. Acute lung injury in wild-type mice treated with hypertonic saline after cecal ligation and puncture was significantly greater than in wild-type mice pretreated with hypertonic saline. This aggravating effect of delayed hypertonic saline-treatment was absent in A3 receptor knockout mice. Similarly, mortality in wild-type mice with delayed hypertonic saline-treatment was significantly higher (88%) than in animals treated with hypertonic saline before cecal ligation and puncture (50%). Mortality in A3 receptor knockout mice remained only 50% regardless of timing of hypertonic saline administration. Conclusions:Polymorphonuclear neutrophil A3 receptors expression determines whether hypertonic saline resuscitation inhibits or aggravates polymorphonuclear neutrophil-induced acute lung injury. These findings suggest that A3 antagonists could improve the efficacy of hypertonic saline resuscitation by reducing side effects in patients whose polymorphonuclear neutrophils are activated before hypertonic saline treatment.
Deletion Mapping of the Genes Coding for HPr and Enzyme I of the Phosphoenolpyruvate: Sugar Phosphotransferase System in Salmonella typhimurium

Sugars transported by a bacterial phosphoenolpyruvate:sugar phosphotransferase system (PTS) require two soluble proteins: HPr, a low-molecular-weight phosphate-carrier protein, and enzyme I. The structural genes coding for HPr (ptsH) and Enzyme I (ptsI) are shown to be cotransducible in Salmonella typhimurium. The gene order of this region of the Salmonella chromosome is cysA-trzA-ptsH-ptsI. (crr). A method for the isolation of trzA-pts deletion is described. One class of pts deletions extends through ptsH and into ptsI; a second class includes both ptsH and ptsI and extends into or through the crr gene. The crr gene either codes for or regulates the synthesis of a third PTS protein (factor III) which is sugar-specific. A hypothesis is presented for a mechanism of deletion formation.
Comparison of language impairment in late-onset depression and Alzheimer's disease

Objectives: Depression and dementia are highly prevalent in the elderly. Language impairment is an inherent component of Alzheimer's disease (AD), which can also be encountered in depressed patients. The aim of this study wasto compare the profiles of language abilities in late-onset depression and mild AD groups. Methods: We studied 25 patients with late-onset depression (mean age 73.6 ± 6.6 years; schooling 9.1 ± 5.7 years) and 30 patients with mild AD (77.6 ± 5.4 years; 7.5 ± 7.1 years) using the Arizona Battery for Communication Disorders of Dementia (ABCD), compared to a group of 30 controls (73.8 ± 5.8 years; 9.1 ± 5.4 years). Cut-off scores to discriminate between Controls × Depression and Depression × AD were determined. Results: Depressed patients' scores were similar to AD in confrontation naming, concept definition, following commands, repetition and reading comprehension (sentence). Episodic memory and mental status subtests were useful in differentiating depressed patients from AD, a result that was reproduced when using analysis of covariance to control for the effect of age in the same subtests (p = 0.01 and 0.04, respectively). Conclusion: Language impairment resembling AD was found in the aforementioned language subtests of the ABCD in elderly depressed patients; the mental status and episodic memory subtests were useful to discriminate between AD and depression. The ABCD has proven to be a suitable tool for language evaluation in this population and should aid in the differentiation of AD and pseudodementia (as that of depression).
Integrated Mobile Spam Model Using Artificial Immune System Algorithms urul

The unique and complex of Biology Immune System (BIS) gives inspiration to scientists to develop new theory in computational area known as the Artificial Immune System (AIS), and this theory uses by researchers to solve real world problems. This paper aims to understand the BIS with AIS, and later discuss a relationship between them in identifying text ‘SPAM’ messages. To achieve this, four types of algorithms are explained; namely Immune Network Theory, Negative Selection, Clonal Selection and Danger Theory. This paper is expected to present details explanation about the intersection between BIS and AIS and highlights the use of AIS to identify text ‘SPAM’ messages
Hepatic Synthesis of Alpha2 (Acute Phase)-Globulin of Rat Plasma

Synthesis of plasma alpha2 (acute phase)-globulin was demonstrated in isolated perfused rat liver obtained from animals showing acute inflammatory reaction to injury. These findings indicate that the liver is a source of the globulin and that appearance of this protein in the serum results from de novo synthesis by the liver rather than from release of performed and stored globulin.