Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The seven deadly sins of outsourcing

Executive Overview While outsourcing is a powerful tool to cut costs, improve performance, and refocus on the core business, outsourcing initiatives often fall short of management's expectations. Through a survey of nearly a hundred outsourcing efforts in Europe and the United States, I found that one or more of seven “deadly sins” underlie most failed outsourcing efforts: (1) outsourcing activities that should not be outsourced; (2) selecting the wrong vendor; (3) writing a poor contract; (4) overlooking personnel issues; (5) losing control over the outsourced activity; (6) overlooking the hidden costs of outsourcing; and (7) failing to plan an exit strategy (i.e., vendor switch or reintegration of an outsourced activity). Outsourcing failures are rarely reported because firms are reluctant to publicize them. However, contrasting them with more successful outsourcing efforts can yield useful “best practices. ”
ZEB1 Expression in Endometrial Biopsy Predicts Lymph Node Metastases in Patient with Endometrial Cancer

Purpose. The purpose of this study was to analyze the expression of zinc-finger E-box-binding homeobox 1 (ZEB1) in endometrial biopsy and its correlation with preoperative characteristics, including lymph node metastases in patient with endometrial cancer. Methods. Using quantitative RT-PCR, ZEB1 expressions in endometrial biopsy from 452 patients were measured. The relationship between ZEB1 expression and preoperative characteristics was analyzed. Results. ZEB1 expressions were significantly associated with subtype, grade, myometrial invasion, and lymph node metastases. Lymph node metastases could be identified with a sensitivity of 57.8% at specificity of 74.1% by ZEB1 expression in endometrial biopsy. Based on combination of preoperative characteristics and ZEB1 expression, lymph node metastases could be identified with a sensitivity of 62.1% at specificity of 96.2% prior to hysterectomy. Conclusion. ZEB1 expression in endometrial biopsy could help physicians to better predict the lymph node metastasis in patients with endometrial cancer prior to hysterectomy.
A 10 kframe/s 0.18 /spl mu/m CMOS digital pixel sensor with pixel-level memory

A 352/spl times/288 pixel CMOS image sensor with pixel-level single-slope ADC and 8 b 3T DRAM cells achieves 9.4/spl times/9.4 /spl mu/m/sup 2/ pixel in standard 0.18 /spl mu/m CMOS. Continuous 10 kframes/s (1 Gpixels/s) 8 b per pixel snapshot image acquisition is achieved with 0.1% rms temporal noise and 0.18% rms FPN.
Pancreatic enzymes sustain systemic inflammation after an initial endotoxin challenge.

BACKGROUND Sepsis is accompanied by severe inflammation whose mechanism remains uncertain. We recently demonstrated that pancreatic proteases in the ischemic intestine have the ability to generate powerful inflammatory mediators that can be detected in the portal vein and in the general circulation. This study was designed to examine several circulatory and inflammatory indices during experimental endotoxemia and intraintestinal pancreatic protease inhibition. METHODS Immediately after intravenous endotoxin administration, the small intestine was subjected to intraluminal lavage with and without gabexate mesilate, an inhibitor of pancreatic proteases. Shams and rats without lavage served as controls. Hemodynamics, leukocyte (neutrophil and monocyte), and endothelial cell activation, as well as organ injury in the intestine and the cremaster muscle, were examined. RESULTS After endotoxin administration, control rats developed hypotension, tachycardia, hyperventilation, and leukopenia. The intestine and plasma contained mediators that activated leukocytes. The leukocyte-endothelial interaction within the cremaster muscle microcirculation was enhanced. Endotoxin administration resulted in elevated interleukin-6 plasma levels. Histologic evidence indicated liver and intestinal injury. In contrast, blockade of pancreatic proteases in the intestinal lumen significantly improved hemodynamic parameters and reduced all indices of inflammation in plasma and cell injury in skeletal muscle microcirculation. CONCLUSIONS Inflammatory mediators derived from the intestine by pancreatic proteases may be involved in the prolonged inflammatory response and sustain symptoms of sepsis after endotoxin challenge.
Gene set analysis methods: statistical models and methodological differences

Many methods of gene set analysis developed in recent years have been compared empirically in a number of comprehensive review articles. Although it is recognized that different methods tend to identify different gene sets as significant, no consensus has been worked out as to which method is preferable, as the recommendations are often contradictory. In this article, we want to group and compare different methods in terms of the methodological assumptions pertaining to definition of a sample and formulation of the actual null hypothesis. We discuss four models of statistical experiment explicitly or implicitly assumed by most if not all currently available methods of gene set analysis. We analyse validity of the models in the context of the actual biological experiment. Based on this, we recommend a group of methods that provide biologically interpretable results in statistically sound way. Finally, we demonstrate how correlated or low signal-to-noise data affects performance of different methods, observed in terms of the false-positive rate and power.
Learning Factorizations in Estimation of Distribution Algorithms Using Affinity Propagation

Estimation of distribution algorithms (EDAs) that use marginal product model factorizations have been widely applied to a broad range of mainly binary optimization problems. In this paper, we introduce the affinity propagation EDA (AffEDA) which learns a marginal product model by clustering a matrix of mutual information learned from the data using a very efficient message-passing algorithm known as affinity propagation. The introduced algorithm is tested on a set of binary and nonbinary decomposable functions and using a hard combinatorial class of problem known as the HP protein model. The results show that the algorithm is a very efficient alternative to other EDAs that use marginal product model factorizations such as the extended compact genetic algorithm (ECGA) and improves the quality of the results achieved by ECGA when the cardinality of the variables is increased.
Highway: a domain specific language for enterprise application integration

Highway is a domain-specific language for implementing enterprise application integration solutions in a technology independent and functional manner. As an internal DSL developed on top of Clojure programming language, Highway uses functional programming techniques in order to simplify enterprise application integration development. In this paper we focus on abstractions and language constructs that define Highway's approach to integration. We also cover implementation of enterprise integration patterns using Highway since they represent various common situations in enterprise application integration development.
Zustand? Passiv? — Überlegungen zum sogenannten „Zustandspassiv“

Dans beaucoup de grammaires allemandes, on trouve a cote de l'actif et du passif d'action une troisieme categorie : le passif d'etat, qui se conjugue avec l'auxiliaire sein. En se basant sur des considerations semantiques, l'A. souhaite eliminer cette categorie des voix verbales et aboutir a une simplification du systeme grammatical. Il montre ainsi que dans la mesure ou la structure semantique des lexemes ne peut etre changee que dans la morphologie des mots et non dans la syntaxe, le passif d'etat doit etre analyse comme une construction composee d'une copule et d'un adjectif. Cette analyse s'adapte aussi bien aux structures avec des constituants adverbiaux qu'aux constructions impersonnelles
Follicle Selection in Cattle: Role of Luteinizing Hormone1

Abstract The circulating concentrations of LH were reduced by administration of 50 mg of progesterone every 8 h for 72 h, beginning when the largest follicle was 6.0 mm (experiment 1; n = 10). Progesterone treatment prevented the transient increase in LH that accompanied deviation (partitioning into dominant and subordinate categories) in control heifers (n = 10). The reduced LH concentrations were associated with reduced growth of the largest follicle, beginning a mean of 31 h after deviation, but did not alter the time of deviation or the growth and regression of the second-largest follicle. In experiment 2, 0 mg (controls) or 50 mg of progesterone was given every 8 h for three injections, beginning when the largest follicle was 7.0 mm (predeviation group) or 9.0 mm (postdeviation group; n = 8 for each of the four groups). Blood samples from the jugular vein and follicular-fluid samples from the two largest follicles were taken 8 h after the last treatment when the largest follicle was a mean of 8.7 mm in the predeviation group and 10.8 mm in the postdeviation group. In the controls, follicular-fluid concentrations of estradiol and free insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 in the largest follicle and IGF binding protein (IGFBP)-2 in the second-largest follicle were higher (P < 0.05) in the postdeviation group than in the predeviation group. Progesterone treatment lowered (P < 0.006) the circulating LH concentrations to a similar extent in both groups. In the predeviation group, progesterone treatment did not have a significant effect on any of the characteristics of the largest follicle. In the postdeviation group, the largest follicle of the progesterone-treated heifers had significant reductions in diameter and in follicular-fluid concentrations of estradiol and free IGF-1. Follicular-fluid concentrations of immunoreactive inhibin were not different for any of the comparisons. The results supported the hypothesis that LH has a positive effect on diameter of the largest follicle but not until after the beginning of diameter deviation. In addition, the results indicated that LH is involved in the production of estradiol by the largest follicle and that free IGF-1 concentrations increase in the largest follicle during deviation.
The study of a dual-channel automotive supply chain based on Internet of Things

In this article, we summarized the effects incurred by IOT (Internet of Things) in automotive supply chain as follows: stimulating car demand and improving the ability of forecasting the market demand. We constructed a dual-channel automotive supply chain model composed of a car manufacturer and two car dealers from different sales channels, then under the hypothesis that the IOT is already available in the supply chain, with the theory of Stackelberg Model we studied the interaction scheme of the two completing car dealers when they invest to apply IOT, and the characteristics of supply chain information sharing cooperation scheme when IOT has been applied in the automotive supply chain. We found that the interaction scheme between the two car dealers manifests different characteristics under different degree of channel completion, we conclude that the greater the degree of channel competition between the two car dealers, the more incentive they will have to apply IOT, the greater the possibility for the supply chain to enter into a demand forecast information sharing collaboration.
Multiobjective Reinforcement Learning for Traffic Signal Control Using Vehicular Ad Hoc Network

We propose a new multiobjective control algorithm based on reinforcement learning for urban traffic signal control, named multi-RL. A multiagent structure is used to describe the traffic system. A vehicular ad hoc network is used for the data exchange among agents. A reinforcement learning algorithm is applied to predict the overall value of the optimization objective given vehicles' states. The policy which minimizes the cumulative value of the optimization objective is regarded as the optimal one. In order to make the method adaptive to various traffic conditions, we also introduce a multiobjective control scheme in which the optimization objective is selected adaptively to real-time traffic states. The optimization objectives include the vehicle stops, the average waiting time, and the maximum queue length of the next intersection. In addition, we also accommodate a priority control to the buses and the emergency vehicles through our model. The simulation results indicated that our algorithm could perform more efficiently than traditional traffic light control methods.
The School Change Feedback Process: Creating a New Role for Counselors in Education Reform

The authors present the results of a multiyear collaborative research project that involved a counselor educator, graduate-level school counseling students, and school personnel in defining a new role for counselors in education reform. This collaborative effort was based on an innovative conceptual framework that informs school counselors about specific schooling processes that can either enhance or hinder student academic, personal/social, and career development.
Reply to the Letter to the Editor Entitled “Role of Endothelial Dysfunction and Endocan in Atherosclerosis: Point of Origin or End Point?”

We thank Canpolat et al for their comments about our article. In our study, we observed that circulating endocan levels in patients with microvascular angina (MVA) were higher than for the controls and comparable to patients with obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). Endocan is expressed by the vascular endothelium and circulates in the bloodstream. An increase in serum level of endocan reflects endothelial activation. Endocan may influence both the recruitment of circulating lymphocytes to inflammatory sites and leukocyte function-associated antigen 1-dependent leukocyte adhesion and activation. This pathway may play an important role in early atherogenesis. Thus, the evidence suggests that endocan may play a role in the initiation of atherosclerosis. In addition, endothelial dysfunction is involved in both CAD and MVA. In our study, increased endocan levels in both diseases indicate a common inflammatory pathway where endocan might be involved. Because endothelial activation reflects a proinflammatory state, we suggest that we define endocan in the forefront of the fight against endothelial inflammation rather than as an end point marker.
Effects of chewing behavior and ruminal digestion processes on voluntary intake of grass silages by lactating dairy cows.

Four primiparous Holstein-Friesian cows (518 kg average BW) with ruminal and duodenal cannulas were used to examine voluntary intake of direct cut (DC) or wilted (W) grass silage in relation to ruminal characteristics and chewing behavior. Dry matter content of the silages was 17.0 and 38.1%, concentrate DM intake was restricted to 5.0 and 5.3 kg/d, and voluntary DM intake from silages averaged 7.4 and 9.5 kg/d (P = .008), respectively. The acetate/propionate ratio in ruminal fluid decreased from 4.0 on DC to 3.3 on W silage (P = .021). The protein content in milk increased from 26.3 to 27.5 g/liter (P = .042) and the protein yield from 469 to 574 g/d (P = .038). The distribution of concentrates (38% of DM intake) with a mean particle size of . 04 cm reduced differences in fecal mean particle size between diets. There was a shift from eating to ruminating on W silage with regard to daily duration (min/d) and number of jaw movements (no./d). However, ruminating index (no./kg DM intake) remained unchanged, irrespective of wilting and chop length of the silages or physiological state of the animals. These results are interpreted to indicate that the time lag for functional density of feed particles in the reticulorumen to increase, as affected by ruminating activity, not rate of reduction of the particle size, limits voluntary intake of grass silage by cattle.
Deprivation indicators as predictors of life events 1981-1992 based on the UK ONS Longitudinal Study.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between the level of social deprivation in electoral wards and various life events. Life events include mortality, self reported long term illness, and for women: still-birth, underweight birth, birth while a teenager, and sole registered birth. Associations with area deprivation are tested before and after allowing for levels of personal deprivation. DESIGN: Prospective census follow up using the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study. SETTING: England and Wales. PARTICIPANTS: A random sample of more than 300,000 people enumerated at the 1981 census, and aged 10 to 64 in 1981. Some analyses are necessarily restricted to certain age/sex groups. OUTCOME MEASURES: Several outcomes in the decade 1981-1992 are investigated: risk of premature death (before age 70, all cause), risk of long term limiting illness in 1991, and risk of inauspicious fertility outcomes in women. MAIN RESULTS: Without adjusting for personal circumstances all outcomes, except risk of stillbirth, show a clear, significant, and approximately linear association with social deprivation of ward of residence in 1981. Associations are much stronger for outcomes where a greater "social" component can be constructed (teenage birth, sole registered birth) than for outcomes that are probably more physiologically determined (mortality, stillbirth, low birth weight). When adjustment is made for personal disadvantage the simple associations with local area deprivation are all attenuated, especially for those living in the more deprived areas. CONCLUSIONS: A variety of adverse or "inauspicious" life events show association with residence in more deprived areas. These are particularly strong for teenage birth and sole registered birth, but are also stronger for long term illness than mortality. These associations seem to be largely because residence in more deprived areas is associated with personal disadvantage, which is more damaging to life chances than area of residence. For some outcomes there is evidence that the personally disadvantaged fare less well if living in relatively advantaged areas, than if living in more homogenously deprived areas.
Enhancing bug hunting using high-level symbolic simulation

The miniaturization of transistors in recent technology nodes requires tremendous back-end tuning and optimizations, making bug fixing at later design stages more expensive. Therefore, it is imperative to find design bugs as early as possible. The first defense against bugs is block-level testing performed by designers, and constrained-random simulation is the prevalent method. However, this method may miss corner-case scenarios. In this paper we propose an innovative methodology that reuses existing constrained-random testbenches for formal bug hunting. To support the methodology, we present several techniques to enhance RTL symbolic simulation, and integrate state-of-the-art word-level and Boolean-level verification techniques into a common framework called BugHunter. From case studies DLX, Alpha and FIR, BugHunter found more bugs than constrained-random simulation using fewer cycles, including four new bugs in the verified design previously unknown to the designer. The results demonstrate that the proposed techniques provide a flexible, scalable and robust solution for bug hunting.
On Lipschitz Bijections Between Boolean Functions

Given two functions f,g : {0,1}n → {0,1}, a mapping ψ : {0,1}n → {0,1}n is said to be a mapping from f to g if it is a bijection and f(z) = g(ψ(z)) for every z ∈ {0,1}n. In this paper we study Lipschitz mappings between Boolean functions. Our first result gives a construction of a C-Lipschitz mapping from the Majority function to the Dictator function for some universal constant C. On the other hand, there is no n/2-Lipschitz mapping in the other direction, namely from the Dictator function to the Majority function. This answers an open problem posed by Daniel Varga in the paper of Benjamini, Cohen and Shinkar (FOCS 2014 [1]). We also show a mapping from Dictator to XOR that is 3-local, 2-Lipschitz, and its inverse is O(log(n))-Lipschitz, where by L-local mapping we mean that each output bit of the mapping depends on at most L input bits. Next, we consider the problem of finding functions such that any mapping between them must have large average stretch, where the average stretch of a mapping φ is defined as $${\sf avgstretch}(\phi) = {\mathbb E}_{x,i}[{\sf dist}(\phi(x),\phi(x+e_i)]. $$ We show that any mapping φ from XOR to Majority must satisfy avgStretch(φ) ≥ c$\sqrt{n}$ for some absolute constant c > 0. In some sense, this gives a ‘function analogue’ to the question of Benjamini, Cohen and Shinkar (FOCS 2014 [1]), who asked whether there exists a set A ⊆ {0,1}n of density 0.5 such that any bijection from {0,1}n−1 to A has large average stretch. Finally, we show that for a random balanced function f: {0,1}n → {0,1}n, with high probability there is a mapping φ from Dictator to f such that both φ and φ−1 have constant average stretch. In particular, this implies that one cannot obtain lower bounds on average stretch by taking uniformly random functions.
An Investigation of the Possibilities of Measuring Personality Traits With the Strong Vocational Interest Blank1

obtain, with this single test, certain personality measures as well as the vocational interest scores now available. With this object in mind, the present study analyzes the relationship between responses on the Strong Vocational Interest Blank and scores on certain personality tests to determine how well the traits measured by these tests can be measured by the Strong Blank. The idea of evaluating other factors than vocational interest with the Strong Vocational Interest Blank is not new. Strong has used his Blank to measure masculinity and femininity (20) and also interest maturity (18, 19). Young and Estabrooks (21) studied the relation of personality and interest tests to scholastic success. They found that the Strong Vocational Interest Blank showed evidence of being the most significant predictive measure after they had made an item analysis of several tests.
Molecular markers for predicting recurrence, progression and outcomes of bladder cancer (do the poster boys need new posters?)

Purpose of review Molecular markers for bladder cancer recurrence and progression continue to drive many research programmes. Translating the laboratory findings into the clinical environment where these markers are used in clinical decision making has proved problematic. In the clinical arena, stage and grade are still the main focus for decisions about patient management. There is however an evolution in bladder cancer research from single-marker/single-pathway research to a more global assessment of the tumour cell with DNA microarrays and proteomics. Recent findings In the last year, DNA microarray assessment has revealed several interesting molecular markers such as p33ING1 and DEK. Parallel ‘conventional’ single-pathway research has focused on new novel markers such as HER2/neu, survivin and matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2). Molecular markers that have a long-standing association with bladder cancer progression such as p53, E-cadherin and Ki-67 have been reviewed by both single-marker studies and by microarray studies and their status remains important. Summary It is an exciting time in the molecular biology research of bladder cancer as the focus changes to assess the global genetic and protein expression within tumour cells. From such a wealth of information it is likely that molecular markers will make the translation from benchside to bedside.