Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strategic Alignment In Mergers And Acquisitions: Theorizing IS Integration Decision making

This paper focuses on IS integration decisions made during mergers and acquisitions from a strategic-alignment lens. The objectives of this study are to: (1) examine business-IS alignment as reflected in IS integration decisions in a merger context and (2) identify factors that shape IS integration decisions in a merger context. We study these issues in three oil and gas mergers from pre-merger announcement to three to four years after merger announcement. Our contributions are threefold. We show that firms are somewhat misaligned in the early post-merger period, and come into alignment only two to three years after the merger. We find that business-IS alignment was a minor concern for the new organizations in premerger and early post-merger phases. Other factors such as acquirer-target power struggles, prior merger experience, and overarching synergy goals drove much of the initial integration decision making. Only late in the post-merger do the merged organizations revisit their systems to bring them into alignment with the business needs.
Effect of Surgical Margin Status on Survival and Site of Recurrence After Hepatic Resection for Colorectal Metastases

Objective:To evaluate the influence of surgical margin status on survival and site of recurrence in patients treated with hepatic resection for colorectal metastases. Methods:Using a multicenter database, 557 patients who underwent hepatic resection for colorectal metastases were identified. Demographics, operative data, pathologic margin status, site of recurrence (margin, other intrahepatic site, extrahepatic), and long-term survival data were collected and analyzed. Results:On final pathologic analysis, margin status was positive in 45 patients, and negative by 1 to 4 mm in 129, 5 to 9 mm in 85, and ≥1 cm in 298. At a median follow-up of 29 months, the 1-, 3-, and 5-year actuarial survival rates were 97%, 74%, and 58%; median survival was 74 months. Tumor size ≥5 cm, >3 tumor nodules, and carcinoembryonic antigen level >200 ng/mL predicted poor survival (all P < 0.05). Median survival was 49 months in patients with positive margins and not yet reached in patients with negative margins (P = 0.01). After hepatic resection, 225 (40.4%) patients had recurrence: 21 at the surgical margin, 56 at another intrahepatic site, 82 at an extrahepatic site, and 66 at both intrahepatic and extrahepatic sites. Patients with negative margins of 1 to 4 mm, 5 to 9 mm, and ≥1 cm had similar overall recurrence rates (P > 0.05). Patients with positive margins were more likely to have surgical margin recurrence (P = 0.003). Adverse preoperative biologic factors including tumor number greater than 3 (P = 0.01) and a preoperative CEA level greater than 200 ng/mL (P = 0.04) were associated with an increased risk of positive surgical margin. Conclusions:A positive margin after resection of hepatic colorectal metastases is associated with adverse biologic factors and increased risk of surgical-margin recurrence. The width of a negative surgical margin does not affect survival, recurrence risk, or site of recurrence. A predicted margin of <1 cm after resection of hepatic colorectal metastases should not be used as an exclusion criterion for resection.
Fractalkine Is a Novel Human Adipochemokine Associated With Type 2 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE Leukocyte infiltration of adipose is a critical determinant of obesity-related metabolic diseases. Fractalkine (CX3CL1) and its receptor (CX3CR1) comprise a chemokine system involved in leukocyte recruitment and adhesion in atherosclerosis, but its role in adipose inflammation and type 2 diabetes is unknown. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS CX3CL1 mRNA and protein were quantified in subcutaneous adipose and blood during experimental human endotoxemia and in lean and obese human adipose. CX3CL1 cellular source was probed in human adipocytes, monocytes, and macrophages, and CX3CL1-blocking antibodies were used to assess its role in monocyte-adipocyte adhesion. The association of genetic variation in CX3CR1 with metabolic traits was determined in a community-based sample. Finally, plasma CX3CL1 levels were measured in a case-control study of type 2 diabetes. RESULTS Endotoxemia induced adipose CX3CL1 mRNA (32.7-fold, P < 1 × 10−5) and protein (43-fold, P = 0.006). Obese subjects had higher CX3CL1 levels in subcutaneous adipose compared with lean (0.420 ± 0.387 vs. 0.228 ± 0.187 ng/mL, P = 0.04). CX3CL1 was expressed and secreted by human adipocytes and stromal vascular cells. Inflammatory cytokine induction of CX3CL1 in human adipocytes (27.5-fold mRNA and threefold protein) was completely attenuated by pretreatment with a peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor-γ agonist. A putative functional nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphism (rs3732378) in CX3CR1 was associated with adipose and metabolic traits, and plasma CX3CL1 levels were increased in patients with type 2 diabetes vs. nondiabetics (0.506 ± 0.262 vs. 0.422 ± 0.210 ng/mL, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS CX3CL1-CX3CR1 is a novel inflammatory adipose chemokine system that modulates monocyte adhesion to adipocytes and is associated with obesity, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes. These data provide support for CX3CL1 as a diagnostic and therapeutic target in cardiometabolic disease.
Neurological disease: the effects of HIV and antiretroviral therapy and the implications for early antiretroviral therapy initiation

Purpose of reviewThe purpose of this review is to examine the literature regarding HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders, early HIV infection of the central nervous system (CNS), the role of the peripheral immune system in controlling HIV infection and disease within the brain and the potential role that early antiretroviral treatment may play in the preservation of neurocognitive health in patients with more than 500 CD4+ cells/μl. Recent findingsIn the post highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) era, HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders remain prevalent and even mild–moderate immunosuppression carries a risk for the development of HIV-associated dementia. HIV infection of the CNS occurs early in the illness, and data suggest that a robust peripheral immune system is key to the long-term control of CNS HIV infection. HAART results in clinical, neuropsychological and neuroradiological improvement in patients with HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders, and the prescription of HAART regimens with good cerebrospinal fluid penetration appears to be preferable in this setting. There is little evidence that HAART causes CNS toxicity. The benefits and risks of HAART in the preservation or enhancement of neurocognitive function in well, HIV-infected patients with more than 500 CD4+ cells/μl are unknown. SummaryThe prescription of HAART in well, HIV-infected patients with high CD4+ cell counts may afford enhanced control of CNS HIV infection as a result of the benefits of HAART upon peripheral immune function. In turn, this may result in superior or preserved neurocognitive performance in comparison to the current practice of commencing HAART when CD4+ cells reach 350 cells/μl or lower. This hypothesis will be tested in an upcoming randomized clinical trial.
Walking the walk? Critical reflections from an Afro-Irish emancipatory research network

In this article the authors, who are both collaborators in this project, reflect on the challenges faced in developing and sustaining an emancipatory research framework approach to our research network in the context of radically shifting ideals and objectives for higher education in all partner institutions. The article is focused around interview data and evaluations from all participants in the project: these include the over-arching research coalition between our institutional, public and community stakeholders; as well as the research partnerships on the ground, where individual projects are being carried out. We note that despite quite different institutional contexts and conditions, we are able to trace a common narrative as well as a set of common concerns regarding our efforts to build capacity, deliver research outputs and develop emancipatory research praxis within our network.
Secrecy in Wireless Relay Channels Through Cooperative Jamming

The ability to transmit a message securely in the presence of eavesdroppers in a dense wireless network is considered. As with a number of recent schemes, system nodes other than the transmitter and receiver are chosen to generate noise that confuses the eavesdropper. By exploiting the dynamics of the fading, significantly improved performance is achieved beyond that generated from the standard multi-user diversity gain expected from opportunistic relaying. In particular, the node with the best fading characteristics takes responsibility for message relaying, while those whose fading will significantly reduce their impact on the desired communication play the role of noise generators. For a source transmitting to a destination using a set of intermediate relays, we consider the number of eavesdroppers that can be present without the interception of packets, in both the case where the eavesdroppers operate independently and in the case where they collude. The latter case also encompasses the more likely scenario of a single eavesdropper with a sophisticated multiple-antenna receiver.
Expression profiling targeting chromosomes for tumor classification and prediction of clinical behavior

Tumors are associated with altered or deregulated gene products that affect critical cellular functions. Here we assess the use of a global expression profiling technique that identifies chromosome regions corresponding to differential gene expression, termed comparative expressed sequence hybridization (CESH). CESH analysis was performed on a total of 104 tumors with a diagnosis of rhabdomyosarcoma, leiomyosarcoma, prostate cancer, and favorable‐histology Wilms tumors. Through the use of the chromosome regions identified as variables, support vector machine analysis was applied to assess classification potential, and feature selection (recursive feature elimination) was used to identify the best discriminatory regions. We demonstrate that the CESH profiles have characteristic patterns in tumor groups and were also able to distinguish subgroups of rhabdomyosarcoma. The overall CESH profiles in favorable‐histology Wilms tumors were found to correlate with subsequent clinical behavior. Classification by use of CESH profiles was shown to be similar in performance to previous microarray expression studies and highlighted regions for further investigation. We conclude that analysis of chromosomal expression profiles can group, subgroup, and even predict clinical behavior of tumors to a level of performance similar to that of microarray analysis. CESH is independent of selecting sequences for interrogation and is a simple, rapid, and widely accessible approach to identify clinically useful differential expression. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Ag-catalyzed InAs nanowires grown on transferable graphite flakes

Semiconducting nanowires grown by quasi-van-der-Waals epitaxy on graphite flakes are a new class of hybrid materials that hold promise for scalable nanostructured devices within opto-electronics. Here we report on high aspect ratio and stacking fault free Ag-seeded InAs nanowires grown on exfoliated graphite flakes by molecular beam epitaxy. Ag catalyzes the InAs nanowire growth selectively on the graphite flakes and not on the underlying InAs substrates. This allows for easy transfer of the flexible graphite flakes with as-grown nanowire ensembles to arbitrary substrates by a micro-needle manipulator. Besides the possibilities for fabricating novel nanostructure device designs, we show how this method is used to study the parasitic growth and bicrystal match between the graphite flake and the nanowires by transmission electron microscopy.
Analysis of biomedical text for chemical names: a comparison of three methods

At the National Library of Medicine (NLM), a variety of biomedical vocabularies are found in data pertinent to its mission. In addition to standard medical terminology, there are specialized vocabularies including that of chemical nomenclature. Normal language tools including the lexically based ones used by the Unified Medical Language System (UMLS) to manipulate and normalize text do not work well on chemical nomenclature. In order to improve NLM's capabilities in chemical text processing, two approaches to the problem of recognizing chemical nomenclature were explored. The first approach was a lexical one and consisted of analyzing text for the presence of a fixed set of chemical segments. The approach was extended with general chemical patterns and also with terms from NLM's indexing vocabulary, MeSH, and the NLM SPECIALIST lexicon. The second approach applied Bayesian classification to n-grams of text via two different methods. The single lexical method and two statistical methods were tested against data from the 1999 UMLS Metathesaurus. One of the statistical methods had an overall classification accuracy of 97%.
Palmitoylated Cysteine 192 Is Required for RhoB Tumor-suppressive and Apoptotic Activities*

RhoA and RhoB share 86% amino acid sequence identity, yet RhoA promotes whereas RhoB suppresses malignant transformation. Amino acids 29, 100, 116, 123, 129, 140-143, 141, 146, 152, 154, 155, 173, 181, 183-187, 189, 190, 191, 192, and 193 in RhoB were mutated to the corresponding RhoA residues to determine those critical for RhoB tumor-suppressive activity. Of all the mutants made, only the cysteine 192 (one of two palmitoylation sites) and cysteine 193 (the prenylation site) point mutations abolish RhoB functions. In contrast, mutation of the other palmitoylation site, cysteine 189, did not affect RhoB functions. Moving cysteine 192 to position 190 did not affect RhoB function either. Mutation of cysteine 192 to glycine, alanine, or serine blocks the ability of RhoB to suppress transforming growth factor β type II receptor, p2lwaf, and AP-1 promoter transcriptional activities. Furthermore, mutations of cysteines 192 and 193, but not 189, mislocalize RhoB and prevent RhoB from inhibiting anchorage-dependent and anchorage-independent tumor growth and colony formation as well as prevent it from inducing apoptosis. The cysteine 192 RhoB mutant is farnesylated and geranylgeranylated as efficiently as wild type RhoB. A RhoA-(1-180)/RhoB-(181-196) chimera inhibited tumor cell proliferation and induced apoptosis as efficiently as RhoB. These results demonstrate that the presence of neither cysteine 193 nor cysteine 192 alone is sufficient and that both palmitoylated cysteine 192 and prenylated cysteine 193, but not palmitoylated cysteine 189, are required for RhoB tumor-suppressive and proapoptotic activities.
The risk of cancer and the role of parity among women with endometriosis.

BACKGROUND Several epidemiological studies have shown an increased cancer risk among women with endometriosis, especially ovarian cancer. Infertility and nulliparity are also known risk factors for different types of cancer. The aim of this study is to investigate cancer risk among women with endometriosis, stratifying for parity. METHODS Women discharged from a hospital, with the diagnosis of endometriosis from 1969 to 2002, were identified using the National Swedish Inpatient Register. Data were linked to the National Swedish Cancer Register to identify cases of cancer and to the Swedish Multi-Generation Register to calculate parity and age at first birth. Standardized incidence ratios (SIR) were calculated. RESULTS A total of 63,630 women entered the study. To exclude cancers already present at the time of endometriosis diagnosis, the first year of follow-up was excluded, leaving a number of 3,822 cases of cancer. There was no increased overall risk of cancer (SIR 1.01) among women with endometriosis. Endometriosis was associated with elevated risks for endocrine tumours (SIR 1.38), ovarian cancer (SIR 1.37), renal cancer (SIR 1.36), thyroid cancer (SIR 1.33), brain tumours (SIR 1.27), malignant melanoma (SIR 1.23) and breast cancer (SIR 1.08), as well as a reduced risk for cervical cancer (SIR 0.71). There were no significant differences between nulliparous and parous women with endometriosis regarding cancer risk for any of the cancer types. There was a non-significant decrease in risk of ovarian cancer with increasing parity for women with endometriosis. CONCLUSIONS Women with endometriosis have an increased risk for several malignancies. The increased risks do not seem to be related to parity.
Neural fields with sigmoidal firing rates: Approximate solutions

Many tissue level models of neural networks are written in the language of nonlinear integro-differential equations. Analytical solutions have only been obtained for the special case that the nonlinearity is a Heaviside function. Thus the pursuit of even approximate solutions to such models is of interest to the broad mathematical neuroscience community. Here we develop one such scheme, for stationary and travelling wave solutions, that can deal with a certain class of smoothed Heaviside functions. The distribution that smoothes the Heaviside is viewed as a fundamental object, and all expressions describing the scheme are constructed in terms of integrals over this distribution. The comparison of our scheme and results from direct numerical simulations is used to highlight the very good levels of approximation that can be achieved by iterating the process only a small number of times.
Testing Serial Crime Events for Randomness in Day‐of‐Week Patterns with Small Samples

This paper discusses exact tests for evaluating whether a series of offences are randomly distributed across days of the week for small sample sizes. The context is if an analyst has identified a series of related events, can the analyst determine if those events are randomly distributed with respect to the day of week given only a few offences? One can develop exact reference distributions since the number of potential permutations are small, and I find that the likelihood ratio G-test under realistic circumstances is quite powerful. One need only three crimes to occur on the same day of the week to reject the null. I provide several examples of using the test under realistic circumstances; a series of thefts of catalytic converters where the dates are unknown, gang shootings during a year, and arsons.
From Structured Task Instructions to Robot Task Plans

For the purpose of allowing an autonomous robot to use task instructions for task planning, we present a formalization for specifying structured task instructions and provide an approach for integrating these instructions with robot’s built-in knowledge to compute plans for open-ended tasks. We have implemented a prototype of the system. We also report a case study of the effectiveness of the approach.
The role of admission timing in the outcome of intracerebral hemorrhage patients at a specialized stroke center

Abstract Introduction: Admission at ‘off times’ has been suggested to result in increased risk of poor outcome. The utilization of high volume centers may be a potential remedy to this variability in care. Objective: To assess the ability of a high volume center to mitigate variability in care due to timing of admission in a post hoc analysis of an observational study. Methods: The medical records of 200 hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) patients admitted to the Neurological Intensive Care Unit (NICU) from 12 January 2009 to 4 April 2013 were identified and examined for variable outcome based on admission timing using the modified Rankin Scale (mRS). Multiple logistic regression was used to assess predictors of poor outcome, correcting severity of admission. Results: Seventy-five admissions were recorded to have occurred on the weekend. The 3-month follow-up mRS of surviving patients was 3·78 in weekend admissions and 3·63 in weekday admissions (P = 0·62). One hundred and seven night admissions occurred. The average mRS at 3 months of surviving patients was 3·56 in night admissions and 3·84 in daytime admissions (P = 0·36). Thirteen patients were admitted in July. The 3-month mRS of surviving patients was 3·71 for July admissions and 3·38 for non-July admissions (P = 0·58). Only ICH score was found to be a predictor of outcome on multivariate analysis (P < 0·001). Conclusions: No significant difference in the outcome of patients was identified regardless of time of admission. High volume centers may be less prone to temporal variability in care, though the existence of temporal variability in care at low volume centers is controversial.
On the structure of unstructured overlay networks

Unstructured overlay networks are a key component of many peer-to-peer systems. These overlays exhibit a set of interesting properties that derive from their inherent randomness. In this fast abstract we briefly discuss the key aspects that need to be considered when attempting to bias the structure of unstructured networks, such that it becomes possible to improve the efficiency of applications and services executed at the top level, without impairing the correctness of the overlay.
The validation and use of a population measure of early childhood development in Australia: the Australian Early development Index

It is understood that life success, health and emotional well-being have their roots in early childhood. Consequently early childhood development outcomes have become important indicators of not only the welfare of children but also predictors of future health and human capability. In Australia, the Federal Government has ratified the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) as a National Progress Measure of Human Capital, with the aim to monitor progress and to guide early childhood public health policy. The AEDI is a population measure of children’s development collected in the first year of full time schooling. The instrument measures children’s progress in five domains: physical health and wellbeing, social competence, emotional maturity, language and cognitive skills, and communication skills and general knowledge. The AEDI is an adaptation of the Canadian Early Development Instrument (EDI) developed by Dr’s Janus and Offord in 1998. In 2009, the Australian government implemented the Australian Early Development Index (AEDI) as a developmental census nationally and has since committed to collecting these data once every three years. The government’s commitment to the implementation of the AEDI is the culmination of 7 years of research into the adaptation, validation, implementation and policy applications of the AEDI. This thesis comprises a series of three chapters reporting on the validation of the AEDI, and two chapters showing how the data can be used to inform public health policy.
Second international workshop on product line approaches in software engineering: (PLEASE 2011)

PLEASE workshop series focuses on exploring the present and the future of Software Product Line Engineering techniques. The main goal of PLEASE 2011 is to bring together industrial practitioner and software product line researchers in order to couple real-life industrial problems with concrete solutions developed by the community. We plan for an interactive workshop, where participants can apply their expertise to current industrial problems, while those who face challenges in the area of product line engineering can benefit from the suggested solutions. We also intend to establish ongoing, long-lasting relationships between industrial and research participants to the mutual benefits of both. The second edition of PLEASE is held in conjunction with the 33rd International Conference in Software Engineering (May 21-28, 2011, Honolulu, Hawaii).