Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Successful innovation and implementation of new processes

When we talk of innovation we tend to think of new products, but successful innovation of processes can also lead to a company gaining significant competitive advantage. A good example is to be found in the recent book, The Machine that Changed the World, by Womak et al (1990). The machine in question is process technology and the book's argument is that process innovations which they aggregate as ‘lean production’ are responsible for the level of performance of the Japanese car industry. On the other hand many expensive investments in the latest Flexible Manufacturing Systems have worked, but have sometimes been less flexible than the processes that they replaced! Why is it that one firm can adopt a new production process and gain real benefits, and another can adopt the same new process; invest heavily in equipment and installation, yet not be able to achieve any benefit? This important question has been addressed in a series of recent research programmes undertaken at London Business School. This article examines some of what we and others have learnt about the successful and unsuccessful use of new process technologies. In addition it will argue that management of innovation of processes must cover the whole life cycle of its innovation and adoption, and in particular should include implementation.
Propose a Regulatory Framework for Stem Cell Research based on Ethical Guideline

Background : Stem cell research has emerged as one of the most promising research areas in modern biomedicine. However, despite much promise the use and derivation of these cells in many countries is ethically challenging. Stem cell laws are the law, rules, and policy governance concerning the sources, research, and use of stem cells in treatment of human diseases. These laws have been the source of much controversy and vary significantly by country. Methods: Google search was used to find information on the Web about stem cell research in world countries and Iran. Discussion: An ethical guideline in Iran has been recently approved. In compiling this guideline the accumulated experience of the governments and Islamic laws and Persian culture and special look to human health as well as the moral status of the human embryo has been used. Some part of this guideline is licensed research can only take place on embryos created in vitro : embryos that have developed from eggs fertilized outside the body. Most embryos used in stem cell research are embryos that initially created in order to use in fertility treatment, but not used. These 'surplus' IVF embryos, if donated with the full consent of the parents, can be used for research. Conclusion: We propose a regulatory framework based on this moral guideline one of our suggestion for regulation of stem cell research is legal medicine organization.
Amplitude and Phase Error Correction Algorithm for $3\times 3$ MMI Based Mach–Zehnder Interferometers

Multimode Interference couplers (MMI) can have deviations in their amplitude and phase relations with respect to the ideal case. When using MMIs to construct a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI), these deviations lead to non-ideal MZI behavior. In this paper, we introduce a correction algorithm that is able to strongly reduce amplitude and phase errors in 3 × 3 MMI based MZIs. Such MZIs are frequently used in phase estimation schemes in wavelength meters. Our method reduces the maximum phase estimation error to 2°, as measured in fabricated devices. This is two to three times better than the conventional method by Todd et al.
Alterations in the Pituitary–Adrenal Axis of Adult Mice Following Neonatal Exposure to Interleukin-1

Interleukin-1 (IL-1), a cytokine mainly derived from activated cells of the macrophage lineage, can stimulate the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Acute and long-lasting effects on the HPA axis were induced by the administration of low doses of IL-1 to mice during the first 5 days of life. In 5-day-old mice, corticosterone blood levels were markedly elevated 2 h following the last injection of IL-1. IL-1-treated mice grew normally. When studied during adulthood, however, these animals showed a reduction in morning values of corticosterone and the ACTH/corticosterone ratio was increased. Furthermore, an inverse correlation between ACTH and corticosterone levels in blood and between ACTH content in the pituitary gland and corticosterone levels was observed in IL-1-treated mice. Lower blood levels of corticosterone were not due to a reduced sensitivity of the adrenal glands, because these animals responded normally to exogenous ACTH. Another alteration observed in IL-1-exposed adult mice was a reduction in ACTH-like immunoreactivity in the pituitary gland following acute cold and restraint stress. It is concluded that exposure of mice to IL-1 early in life causes long-lasting alterations in the HPA axis. Spleen cells from adult mice treated with IL-1 at birth also developed a stronger response to allogeneic antigens than did cells from control mice. This observation indicates the relevance of immune-neuroendocrine interactions during development.
MiR-187 overexpression inhibits cervical cancer progression by targeting HPV16 E6

Aberrantly expressed microRNAs contribute to the initiation and progression of human cancer. MiRNA-187 has been reported in nasopharyngeal, renal, pancreatic, prostate, and esophageal cancer, and acts as a tumor suppressor or oncogene. However, the underlying function of miRNA-187 in cervical cancer remains largely unexplored. In the present study, we demonstrated significantly miRNA-187 down-regulation in cervical cancer tissues and cell lines compared to their normal counterparts. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that decreased miRNA-187 was closely associated with shorter overall survival and relapse-free survival. Gain- and loss-of-function studies showed that miRNA-187 suppressed cervical cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, and promoted cervical cancer cell apoptosis. Furthermore, luciferase reporter assay determined that human papillomavirus 16 E6 was a direct functional target of miRNA-187. Taken together, our findings indicate the essential role of miRNA-187 in suppressing cervical cancer progression and indicate a novel link between miRNA-187 and human papillomavirus 16 E6 in cervical cancer.
Spanning boundaries into remote communities: an exploration of experiences with telehealth chronic disease self-management programs in rural northern ontario, Canada.

BACKGROUND In rural and remote settings, providing education programs for chronic conditions can be challenging because of the limited access and availability of healthcare services. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of participants in a chronic disease self-management program via telehealth (tele-CDSMP) and to identify facilitators and barriers to inform future tele-CDSMP delivery models. MATERIALS AND METHODS Nineteen tele-CDSMP courses were delivered to 13 Northern Ontario (Canada) communities. Two types of group were delivered: (1) single telehealth site (one community formed a self-management group linked to program leaders via telehealth) and (2) multiple telehealth sites (several remote communities were linked to each other and program leaders via telehealth). Following the completion of the courses, participants were invited to partake in a focus group. RESULTS Overall, 44 people participated in the focus groups. Four main themes were identified by tele-CDSMP participants related to the overall experience of the program: (1) bridging the access gap, (2) importance of group dynamics, (3) importance of strong leaders, and (4) preference for extended session time. Key barriers were related to transportation, lack of session time, and access to Internet-based resources. The main facilitators were having strong program leaders, encouraging the development of group identity, and providing enough time to be comfortable with technology. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest overall the tele-CDSMP was a positive experience for participants and that tele-CDSMPs are an effective option to increasing access to more geographically isolated communities.
Estimation of Time-Varying Systematic Risk and Performance for Mutual Fund Portfolios: An Application of Switching Regression

THE PURPOSE OF THIS PAPER is to determine the degree of nonstationarity in the risk levels and performance measures of mutual fund portfolios and reconcile several observed inconsistencies in the literature concerning a bias in risk-adjusted performance measures. A necessary condition for the estimation of the Jensen [17, 18] risk-adjusted performance measure and any statistical inference conerning that measure is that the mutual fund's systematic risk remain constant over time. ' This assumption is unsatisfactory because mutual funds, generally being actively managed, should have a changing level of systematic risk as a result of the buying and selling decisions of their managers. For example, if a manager can make better than average forecasts of future realizations on market factors, he is expected to adjust portfolio risk in anticipation of market movements. The level of portfolio systematic risk can be substantially changed in either direction by altering the proportions of high and low risk securities in the portfolio. The important point is that the risk level of a managed portfolio is a decision variable. We should expect to observe nonstationary risk levels2 of managed portfolios as a result of timing
Mental‐health‐related stigma among Japanese children and their parents and impact of renaming of schizophrenia

Mental‐health‐related stigma affects help‐seeking behavior and service utilization among young people. Whether mental‐health‐related stigma is different or correlated between parents and their children is unknown. It is also unknown whether the name change of schizophrenia in 2002 has had long‐term effects on reducing stigma for adults in the general population.
Quality of Life in Laryngectomees after Prosthetic Voice Restoration

Background: In oncology, the paradigms for evaluating the results of treatment have shifted over the last few years. Preserving or restoring the quality of life has become an equally important aim of medical treatment as complete excision of the tumor and the duration of patient survival. Following laryngectomy, adequate speech restoration is one major aim of therapy. Different replacement strategies of voice production such as tracheoesophageal speech, esophageal speech, or electrolarynx are in use. The reporting department is able to restore speech in more than 90% of the patients; the majority uses tracheoesophageal speech with Provox® voice prosthesis. The purpose of the study was to assess the quality of life in laryngectomees after successful voice restoration with Provox voice prosthesis. Patients and Methods: In a cross-sectional study 25 laryngectomees whose voice had been restored by tracheoesophageal puncture and Provox voice prosthesis were examined for quality of life. The Short Form 36-Item Health Survey (SF-36) was used as an international and highly standardized test. Results: In comparison with a standardized healthy German male population, the patients showed more limited physical functioning as well as more restricted physical and emotional role functions. However, the laryngectomees did not attain lower scores for bodily pain. According to the patients’ statements their social functioning, vitality, and their mental health were not excessively limited; mental health and vitality were even better than in patients with heart or renal failure and hepatitis C. General health was fairly similar to a standard population. Conclusions: After laryngectomy, patients have deficits in physical and emotional well-being. Concepts of therapy should increasingly focus on how to deal with physical limitations and the patient’s apperception. Successfully restored voice minimizes social, mental and vitality limitations. The SF-36 is a suitable instrument for quality of life assessment in order to define disease-dependent and individual limitations of quality of life in laryngectomees and should lead to individual interventions.
Depression of group Ia monosynaptic EPSPs in cat hindlimb motoneurones during fictive locomotion

1 The effects of fictive locomotion on monosynaptic EPSPs recorded in motoneurones and extracellular field potentials recorded in the ventral horn were examined during brainstem‐evoked fictive locomotion in decerebrate cats. Composite homonymous and heteronymous EPSPs and field potentials were evoked by group I intensity (< = 2T) stimulation of ipsilateral hindlimb muscle nerves. Ninety‐one of the 98 monosynaptic EPSPs were reduced in amplitude during locomotion (mean depression of the 91 was to 66 % of control values); seven increased in amplitude (to a mean of 121 % of control). Twenty‐one of the 22 field potentials were depressed during locomotion (mean depression to 72 % of control). 2 All but 14 Ia EPSPs were smaller during both the flexion and extension phases of locomotion than during control. In 35 % of the cases there was < 5 % difference between the amplitudes of the EPSPs evoked during the flexion and extension phases. In 27 % of the cases EPSPs evoked during flexion were larger than those evoked during extension. The remaining 38 % of EPSPs were larger during extension. There was no relation between either the magnitude of EPSP depression or the locomotor phase in which maximum EPSP depression occurred and whether an EPSP was recorded in a flexor or extensor motoneurone. 3 The mean recovery time of both EPSP and field potential amplitudes following the end of a bout of locomotion was approximately 2 min (range, < 10 to > 300 s). 4 Motoneurone membrane resistance decreased during fictive locomotion (to a mean of 61 % of control, n= 22). Because these decreases were only weakly correlated to EPSP depression (r2= 0.31) they are unlikely to fully account for this depression. 5 The depression of monosynaptic EPSPs and group I field potentials during locomotion is consistent with the hypothesis that during fictive locomotion there is a tonic presynaptic regulation of synaptic transmission from group Ia afferents to motoneurones and interneurones. Such a reduction in neurotransmitter release would decrease group Ia monosynaptic reflex excitation during locomotion. This reduction may contribute to the tonic depression of stretch reflexes occurring in the decerebrate cat during locomotion.
A low-voltage, adaptive CMOS centroid image sensor with improved bandwidth

Conventional centroid architectures employ an image sensor sampled at high frame rates, analog-to-digital conversion, and digital signal processing to compute the image centroid. Latency and/or power dissipation may become prohibitively large. Therefore, fast single-chip centroid computation circuits are gaining importance in adaptive optics applications. To this end we present a fully-integrated centroid computation sensor with improved bandwidth using a transimpedance amplifier with a novel adaptive pole tracking technique. The circuit is designed to operate over five orders of magnitude of light intensity. The outputs are two signals representing the (x, y) centroid coordinates. A 48×48 pixel array was fabricated in a 0.5-μm CMOS process. Chip measurements verify a bandwidth improvement of 6 times. The supply is 1.8 V, total power consumption is 2.16 mW, and core area is 2.18 mm2.
Externalizing the core: Firms' use of employment intermediaries in the information and communication technology industries

Recent research suggests that nonstandard employment relations may be a source of innovation for the firm. In this article, we analyze firms' strategic correlates and perceived benefits from using two types of employment in-termediaries—consulting firms and temporary help agencies—in their core activities. Organizations with an innovation strategy are more likely to use consulting firms in their core activities, while organizations that compete on the basis of low cost are more apt to use temporary help agencies. Moreover, managers say that consulting firms are more likely than temporary help agencies to provide them with special competencies in their core activities. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Locational Determinants and Ranking of Host Countries: An Empirical Assessment

An empirical analysis of the intra-OECD distribution of foreign affiliates among OECD host countries, taking into account the simultaneity between local production and exports as modes of foreign penetration, shows the importance of size and relatedness of host markets when choosing which foreign country to serve, independent of the size of the home country. In addition, the combination of both variables provides an extra stimulus for local production as well as exports, but more so for the first than for the latter mode. Cost considerations as well as host government intervention are less pronounced as location factors among OECD countries. Copyright 1991 by WWZ and Helbing & Lichtenhahn Verlag AG
Transplacental teratogenesis and mutagenesis in mouse fetuses treated with cyclophosphamide.

We studied transplacental fetotoxicity, teratogenicity, and mutagenicity in Swiss Webster mice following different doses of cyclophosphamide (CP; 0, 5, 10, 15, or 20 mg/kg), a well-known mutagen/teratogen, on day 12 of gestation. The fetal survival and weight on day 18 of gestation decreased significantly with increasing CP dose (P less than 0.01). The CP-treated fetuses were also dysmorphic (e.g., shortened limbs, digital defects, cleft palate, open eyes, and hydrocephaly) and the percentage of dysmorphology increased with increasing CP doses (P less than 0.01). To evaluate mutagenesis, a separate group of females received 5-bromodeoxyuridine tablet (50-mg) implants on day 12 of gestation and a CP treatment 8 h later. Fetal liver cells were harvested 24 h post-BrdU implant to analyze sister chromatid exchange (SCE) frequency and micronuclei. CP caused a significant increase in the SCEs per fetal liver cell from 3.4 +/- 0.02 (control) to 90.0 +/- 0.04 (20 mg/kg CP) (P less than 0.01). The increasing CP dose was also related to an increase in micronuclei. The data suggest that CP is transplacentally toxic, teratogenic, and mutagenic. Further analyses of the data suggest that the mutagenic effects of CP may in fact contribute indirectly to the CP-related teratogenic effects. Such conclusions are based on path analysis with directional causations associated with SCEs per cell and the dysmorphic features studied.
Laser emission of a Nd-doped mixed tellurite and zinc oxide glass

The present work reports the luminescence properties and the laser operation of a Nd3+-doped (TeO2-ZnO) bulk tellurite glass. The spectroscopic data are analyzed within the framework of the Judd–Ofelt formalism and the results are used in conjunction with fluorescence lifetime and emission measurements to derive values for the quantum efficiency and the stimulated emission cross section of the considered F43/2→I411/2 infrared laser transition around 1062.5 μm. Continuous-wave laser action is achieved for the first time with this bulk tellurite glass by pumping the sample inside a standard two-mirror laser cavity with different output couplers. A low-threshold pump power of 8 mW associated with a laser slope efficiency of 21% could be obtained for an output coupler transmission of 2.7%.
Effects of Intervention in the Spot Currency Market on the BRL/USD Exchange Rate from 1999 to 2008: an Event Study

This study analyses interventions in the Brazilian spot foreign exchange market from 1999 to 2008 and their effects on the R$/US$ exchange rate, using an event study approach. It aims to verify if the foreign exchange interventions have any significant impact on the exchange rate behavior. The period was divided according to a MS-VAR model and analyzed with different criterions. The results indicate that prolonged foreign exchange intervention have a greater effect on the exchange rate behavior, in comparison to short time intervention episodes. The results also point to the existence of quickly dissipating effects on the rate behavior. The creation of a new criterion, based on the analysis of exchange-rate acceleration, shows that the exchange rate is mainly prone to accelerate on leaning with the wind purchase intervention episodes.
The Ubiquitin Ligase Itch and Ubiquitination Regulate BFRF1-Mediated Nuclear Envelope Modification for Epstein-Barr Virus Maturation

ABSTRACT The cellular endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) was recently found to mediate important morphogenesis processes at the nuclear envelope (NE). We previously showed that the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) BFRF1 protein recruits the ESCRT-associated protein Alix to modulate NE structure and promote EBV nuclear egress. Here, we uncover new cellular factors and mechanisms involved in this process. BFRF1-induced NE vesicles are similar to those observed following EBV reactivation. BFRF1 is ubiquitinated, and elimination of possible ubiquitination by either lysine mutations or fusion of a deubiquitinase hampers NE-derived vesicle formation and virus maturation. While it interacts with multiple Nedd4-like ubiquitin ligases, BFRF1 preferentially binds Itch ligase. We show that Itch associates with Alix and BFRF1 and is required for BFRF1-induced NE vesicle formation. Our data demonstrate that Itch, ubiquitin, and Alix control the BFRF1-mediated modulation of the NE and EBV maturation, uncovering novel regulatory mechanisms of nuclear egress of viral nucleocapsids. IMPORTANCE The nuclear envelope (NE) of eukaryotic cells not only serves as a transverse scaffold for cellular processes, but also as a natural barrier for most DNA viruses that assemble their nucleocapsids in the nucleus. Previously, we showed that the cellular endosomal sorting complex required for transport (ESCRT) machinery is required for the nuclear egress of EBV. Here, we further report the molecular interplay among viral BFRF1, the ESCRT adaptor Alix, and the ubiquitin ligase Itch. We found that BFRF1-induced NE vesicles are similar to those observed following EBV reactivation. The lysine residues and the ubiquitination of BFRF1 regulate the formation of BFRF1-induced NE-derived vesicles and EBV maturation. During the process, a ubiquitin ligase, Itch, preferably associates with BFRF1 and is required for BFRF1-induced NE vesicle formation. Therefore, our data indicate that Itch, ubiquitin, and Alix control the BFRF1-mediated modulation of the NE, suggesting novel regulatory mechanisms for ESCRT-mediated NE modulation.
Understanding Business Group Performance in an Emerging Economy: Acquiring Resources and Capabilities in Order to Prosper

The prevalent organizational form in most emerging markets is business groups. These groups have typically been viewed through a transaction cost economics perspective where they are perceived as responses to inefficiencies in the market. However, the evidence to date on what generates a positive business group-performance relationship in such environments is not well understood. This study expands the understanding of business groups by employing the resource-based and institutional theoretical perspectives to examine how groups acquire resources and capabilities to prosper. The empirical evidence is based on over 224 business groups in the emerging economy context of China and shows that most of the endowed government resources do not help business groups to create a competitive edge. Instead, those business groups with strategic actions to develop a unique portfolio of market-oriented resources and capabilities are most likely to prosper. The results provide critical insights on the relationship between the initiation of institutional transformation and the desired outcome to be realized by organizational transformation, thus enriching our understanding of institutions and strategic choices facilitated or constrained by organizational resources in emerging economies.