Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Internal Market Structures

A distinguishing feature of contemporary organizations is the growing number of internal employees providing services to other employees. General Electric, Hewlett Packard, Dell Computer, Cisco, and other firms have enhanced service units and functions within their organizations. Nevertheless, much of what we know about these internal services is inadequate. Moreover, control of these internal services tends to be based erroneously on traditional concepts of hierarchies. Despite the growing importance of internal services, it has been difficult to assess their value or “price. ” Without proper consideration of value, goods and services may be offered at less than their appropriate value. This article introduces organizing principles based on internal market structures as an alternative perspective to rethink the impact and control of internal services. The authors also present eight specific propositions that describe the structure, functions, politics, processes, and pricing of internal market structures. Implications are provided for academicians and practicing managers.
Use of the sole stenting technique for the management of aneurysms in the posterior circulation in a prospective series of 20 patients.

OBJECT The use of intracranial stents in stent-assisted coil embolization is now a current neurosurgical practice worldwide. The clinical utility of these stents in the sole stenting (SS) technique, however, has not been thoroughly described, and the published reports of this experience are scarce. This study was designed to evaluate SS treatment of dissecting and nondissecting aneurysms of the posterior circulation. METHODS This prospective and descriptive study was conducted in 20 consecutive patients who harbored single aneurysms of the posterior circulation and who were treated using the SS approach in the last 3 years. The clinical and radiological assessment and follow-up of the patients were evaluated using the modified Rankin scale as well as with computed tomography angiography and digital subtraction angiography at discharge and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months. RESULTS Eleven of the 20 patients had subarachnoid hemorrhages, 3 presented with ischemia, 1 presented with brainstem compression, and the remaining 5 patients had incidentally discovered, asymptomatic lesions. Only 1 patient had a complication (occipital infarction) attributable to the SS procedure. One patient died of rebleeding 2 weeks after the procedure. At 1 month, 40% of the patients had a subtotal or total occlusion, which increased to 55% at 3 months and 85% at 6 months, with a final subtotal or total occlusion rate of 80% at 1 year. The SS procedure in 1 case was considered a failure at 6 months because no change had been noted since the 1-month follow-up. One case showed partial occlusion and 1 case showed recanalization. CONCLUSIONS Use of SS for aneurysms in the posterior circulation complex is a safe and effective technique, demonstrating an occlusion rate of 80% at the 1-year follow up.
Characterization of tumor angiogenesis with dynamic contrast‐enhanced MRI and biodegradable macromolecular contrast agents in mice

The efficacy of polydisulfide‐based biodegradable macromolecular contrast agents for characterizing tumor angiogenesis was investigated in a mouse model using dynamic contrast‐enhanced MRI (DCE‐MRI). Biodegradable macromolecular MRI contrast agents, gadopentetate dimeglumine (Gd‐DTPA) cystamine copolymers (GDCC), and Gd‐DTPA cystine copolymers (GDCP), with molecular weights of 20 and 70 kDa were used in the study. Gadodiamide (Gd [DTPA‐BMA]) and albumin labeled with Gd‐DTPA [albumin‐(Gd‐DTPA)] were used as the controls. The DCE‐MRI studies were performed in nude mice bearing prostate tumor xenografts from the MDA‐PCa‐2b cell line. Tumor angiogenic kinetic parameters, including endothelial transfer coefficient (KPS), fractional tumor plasma volume (fPV), and permeability surface area product (PS), were estimated from the DCE‐MRI data using a two‐compartment model. The KPS and fPV values estimated by the biodegradable macromolecular contrast agents were between those estimated by Gd(DTPA‐BMA) and albumin‐(Gd‐DTPA). The parameters estimated by the agent with a slow degradation rate and high molecular weight, GDCP‐70 (KPS = 2.09 ± 0.50 ml/min/100 cc and fPV = 0.075 ± 0.021), were closer to those by albumin‐(Gd‐DTPA) (KPS = 1.43 ± 0.64 ml/min/100 cc and fPV = 0.044 ± 0.007) than by other agents with relatively low molecular weight or rapid degradation rate. The polydisulfide‐based biodegradable macromolecular contrast agents are promising for characterizing tumor vascularity and angiogenesis with DCE‐MRI. Magn Reson Med 60:1347–1352, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Economics of Ecotourism: A Galápagos Islands Economy‐Wide Perspective*

Ecotourism, the fastest growing sector of the largest industry on earth, is strongly advocated by major conservation groups as a way to help conserve nature. Its potential for generating income while creating incentives for conservation has sparked academic discussion regarding the meaning of ecotourism and attention to the design of integrated conservation and tourism projects. With a few exceptions, economists have been absent from these discussions. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) and the Ecotourism Society define ecotourism as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people. ” A basic premise of this article is that there may be trade-offs between these two goals. Expanding tourism can generate pressures for demographic growth by widening the economic disparities between tourist destinations and outside economies, stimulating migration to fill jobs linked directly or indirectly to tourism. This may create a tourism-income-population growth spiral at nature destinations inviting to tourists. Researchers have observed what appears to be a strong association between tourism and local population growth. A few economists have assessed ecotourism’s potential for generating income, but economic research into ecotourism’s impacts and its potential for creating conservation incentives is sparse. Current insights along these lines come primarily from noneconomists. Sven Wunder notes that “when economic aspects are treated, it is mostly without quantification that would allow for a
The Efficiency of Monetary Exchange in Search Equilibrium

Search theoretic models of money emphasize monetary exchange as the outcome of economic environments characterized by bilateral trading frictions. This paper analyzes the efficiency of monetary exchange in a search model of fiat money where individuals invest costly effort in the exchange process. Because the optimal effort each individual trader invests in exchange is based upon the private rather than social gains from trade, decentralized monetary equilibria are shown to be inefficient relative to the social optimum. However, for an appropriate division of the gains from trade given to buyers and sellers, it is possible to attain social efficiency. The nature of these search externalities for monetary exchange and their implications for policy are evaluated and discussed. Copyright 1997 by Ohio State University Press.
Industrial Clusters: Complexes, Agglomeration and/or Social Networks?

The concept of industrial clusters has attracted much attention during the past decade, both as descriptive of an increasingly important phenomenon and as a basis for effective public intervention in the economies of lagging city-regions. However, there is much ambiguity in the way in which this concept is used, presenting an obstacle both to empirical testing and to realistic assessments of policy relevance. In this paper, we distinguish three ideal-typical models of processes which may underlie spatial concentrations of related activities, with very different implications both in terms of relevant evidence and the scope for promotional policies. Survey data for the London conurbation are used to explore the relation between concentration and different forms of linkage, with results which point to the dominance of pure agglomeration effects in this context at least.
Clinical diagnoses before age 75 and men's survival to their 85th birthday: the Manitoba follow-up study.

PURPOSE Of all Canadian and American men who live to age 75 years, about half can expect to live to age 85. Our objective is to examine how clinical diagnoses made before age 75 relate to a man's survival to age 85 years. DESIGN AND METHODS Since 1948, a cohort of 3,983 young men (mean age of 31 years at entry) has been followed with routine contact and medical examinations to prospectively document incident disease. Over 62 years of follow-up, 2,414 of the cohort lived to celebrate their 75th birthday. Of these survivors, 1,060 (44%) died before their 85th birthday. Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine the effects of ischemic heart disease, cancer, cerebrovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, peripheral arterial disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease on all-cause mortality between age 75 and 85 years. RESULTS Modeled as six binary risk factors at age 75 years, all were significantly (p < .01) and independently related to 10-year mortality. Multivariate risk ratios ranged from 1.36 to 1.46 except for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with a risk ratio of 1.85 (95% CI: 1.38, 2.49). The cumulative 10-year probability of survival from age 75 to 85 among men with none of these diagnoses was 63%, 52% for any one diagnosis, 39% for two diagnoses, and 22% for three or more diagnoses. IMPLICATIONS Joint independence of these six common clinical diagnoses implies that each is important and their effects on mortality are cumulative.
Design and Performance Analysis of a Miniature, Dual-Frequency, Millimeter Wave Linear Phased Array Antenna

A dual-band phased array antenna prototype for the Federal Communication Commission automotive short-range radar and long-range radar operating at 25.5 and 76.5 GHz with a scaling factor of 1:20 is presented in this paper. A complete design methodology for dual-band phased array antenna is also proposed. A dual-band bowtie antenna that satisfies the application requirements is designed and fabricated. An isolation technique is adopted to minimize the coupling between the closely spaced elements in the array. A full scaled prototype is fabricated on FR4 substrate. The simulated and measured results are in good agreement.
Audio Assisted Robust Visual Tracking With Adaptive Particle Filtering

The problem of tracking multiple moving speakers in indoor environments has received much attention. Earlier techniques were based purely on a single modality, e.g., vision. Recently, the fusion of multi-modal information has been shown to be instrumental in improving tracking performance, as well as robustness in the case of challenging situations like occlusions (by the limited field of view of cameras or by other speakers). However, data fusion algorithms often suffer from noise corrupting the sensor measurements which cause non-negligible detection errors. Here, a novel approach to combining audio and visual data is proposed. We employ the direction of arrival angles of the audio sources to reshape the typical Gaussian noise distribution of particles in the propagation step and to weight the observation model in the measurement step. This approach is further improved by solving a typical problem associated with the PF, whose efficiency and accuracy usually depend on the number of particles and noise variance used in state estimation and particle propagation. Both parameters are specified beforehand and kept fixed in the regular PF implementation which makes the tracker unstable in practice. To address these problems, we design an algorithm which adapts both the number of particles and noise variance based on tracking error and the area occupied by the particles in the image. Experiments on the AV16.3 dataset show the advantage of our proposed methods over the baseline PF method and an existing adaptive PF algorithm for tracking occluded speakers with a significantly reduced number of particles.
Fundamental analysis of resistive nano-crossbars for the use in hybrid Nano/CMOS-memory

As a possible successor for CMOS memory, hysteretic materials organized in crossbar structures are currently being investigated. Here, passive materials are of special importance as they maintain their functionality even when scaled down to the nanometer domain. With their regularity and inherent device density so-called nano-scaled crossbars seem to be very interesting for future components beyond the present scope of the ITRS-CMOS roadmap. But, due to their passive behavior they will not be capable of operating on their own without active devices that restore signal levels. This work investigates the limitations resistive hysteretic crossbars face due to their very nature and what performance CMOS read circuits will have to offer to let hybrid circuits result in a functional new technology.
Journal of Enterprise Information Management Critical success factors for ERP implementations in Belgian SMEs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the critical success factors of ERP implementations in Belgian SMEs and to identify those success factors that are specific to a SME environment. Design/methodology/approach – The authors survey the literature to discover and classify critical success factors that are potentially applicable to small and medium-sized enterprises. Through a survey and a multiple case study within four Belgian companies, the authors investigate which of these critical success factors apply to SMEs. Findings – The results show that most of the success factors found in the literature apply to SMEs. Nevertheless, distinct differences were found as well. Some factors, such as a clear scope definition and a standardised infrastructure, are not regarded as critical success factors for SMEs. Moreover, SMEs tend to rely relatively heavily on the input of consultants, who they use as a source of knowledge and experience. Moreover, SMEs need to be able to adjust their businesses quickly to be able to exploit their niche to the fullest extent. Research limitations/implications – The research is limited to Belgian enterprises. Originality/value – For SMEs, it is particularly important to recognise the elements for a successful ERP implementation. This paper examines the critical success factors of ERP implementations in small and medium-sized enterprises, while the existing literature on critical success factors of ERP implementations focuses on large enterprises. KeywordsManufacturing resource planning, Critical success factors, Small to medium-sized enterprises, Belgium Paper type Research paper Introduction ERP systems are extensive, integrated software systems supporting the internal operations of an enterprise. They bring about enormous investments in software and in package customisation. Many cases are known of ERP implementations failing to deliver the promised functionality and even endangering the future of the implementing company. The best-known example is probably the ERP project carried out by the American company FoxMeyer, which supposedly led to the bankruptcy of the company in 1996 (Scott, 1999). The company claims to have suffered damages of $500 million because of the malfunction of the ERP system, implemented in 1993. However, a survey in the USA revealed that 70 per cent of companies implementing ERP consider the project successful (Mabert et al., 2000). More than 55 per cent of companies admit that the planned budget was exceeded, by an average of 60.6 per cent. When these budget overflows are counted as failures, the success rate of ERP implementations does not reach 50 per cent. The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight. com/1741-0398.htm
Modeling and Reduction of Conducted EMI of Inverters With SiC JFETs on Insulated Metal Substrate

This paper presents the suppression of conducted common-mode (CM) electromagnetic interference (EMI) in an inverter for motor drive with discrete silicon carbide (SiC) JFETs attached on top of the insulated metal substrate (IMS). The EMC performance of the IMS inverter is compared with that of a heat sink inverter in a similar circuit layout. Both are under the same influence of parasitic capacitive couplings between the SiC JFET drains and the substrate base plate. It is found that although the application of conventional CM filters effectively suppresses the emitted noise in the low-frequency (LF) range, the influence of this capacitive coupling results in slight or no improvement in the middle-frequency (MF) and high-frequency (HF) ranges. To deal with this problem, a system CM equivalent circuit model with extracted parasitic parameters is proposed. The model is able to evaluate the filter insertion losses over a broad conducted EMI frequency band, which is essential to achieve an optimized filter design balanced between performance and cost. The presented experimental and calculated results form the step-by-step guideline that effectively suppresses the generated EMI to comply with the standard prescribed by IEC61800-3 C2: Qp.
Framework for Sinhala Sign Language recognition and translation using a wearable armband

Sign Language is the main communication method of hearing & speaking impaired people and their main obstacle in the general society is the communication difficulty with normal hearing people. The aim of this research is to bridge above gap by proposing a framework for recognize Sinhala sign language gestures and translate them in to natural language. In order to preserve both functional and usability aspects of the solution, this study has used a non-invasive wearable gesture recognition armband. The approach is to use a combination of gestural data (surface Electromyography) that measures the muscle activity and spatial data (accelerometer, gyroscope & orientation) that measures hand movements for the sign recognition. The mapping has been done by implementing multiple artificial neural networks under the supervised machine learning technique. As a result, the study provided 100% accuracy for person dependent (personalized) study and 94.4% accuracy for person independent (generalized) study.
Life Insurance Business in Akwa Ibom State: Challenges and Strategic Options

This paper investigates the challenges faced by life insurers in Akwa Ibom State as well as possible leeway to improving life insurance patronage in the state. This investigation becomes necessary given the growing concern by government toward better healthcare service for its citizen. The study employed a survey research design where data were collected from respondents chosen from eleven select insurance companies and analyzed using simple percentage statistics. The result indicates that income, low level of insurance culture, apathy, customer satisfaction, Information Technology alignment, growth and cost efficiency, and transparency and disclosure all constitute challenges to insurance business in the State. Based on these findings, it was concluded that income, low level of insurance culture etc., exert considerable effect of varying degrees on the life insurance business in the State. It is recommended, among others, that life insurance products should be made affordable by insurance companies by adopting a pricing strategy that will minimize executive excesses and maximize profit even when the product are sold at premium price. More awareness should be created among consumers and government should create jobs for its citizens to empower them reasonably enough to be able to buy life insurance in the State.
Optimal Time Consistent Monetary Policy

We discuss the issue of time consistency of monetary policy. We develop a simple and intuitive procedure to derive analytically the unconditionally optimal (UO) policy in a general linear-quadratic set-up, a perspective stressed by Taylor (1979) and Whiteman (1986). We compare the UO perspective on optimal monetary policy with alternative approaches. We use our approach in simple backward- and forward-looking models and argue that the UO perspective is worthy of renewed interest.
CREDIBILITY: THE BAYESIAN MODEL VERSUS BIJHLMANN'S MODEL

"Credibility" is becoming as much of a catchword for life and health insurance actuaries as it is for casualty actuaries. Life and health insurance actuaries are better acquainted with Bayesian credibility models for estimating pure premiums, while casualty actuaries are better acquainted with the models of Hans Biihlmann. This paper examines the compatibility of the two models, in the hope that this exploration will prompt a greater crossfertilization of ideas between the actuarial branches.
Corticospinal projection patterns following unilateral section of the cervical spinal cord in the newborn and juvenile macaque monkey

Immediately following a unilateral section of the midcervical spinal cord that interrupts the dorsolateral, lateral, and ventral columns, the macaque monkey has a severe flaccid paralysis on the side of the lesion. Recovery of hand function is rapid, and, although it is incomplete, within a few months, the monkey uses the initially disabled hand and fingers with considerable skill. We examined the accompanying changes in the pattern of projection of corticospinal neurons to the cervical spinal cord that occurred following such a lesion. Spinal section was done both in newborn and juvenile macaques, and the postlesion period was followed for up to 150 weeks. Corticospinal neuron populations were visualized by using both anterogradely and retrogradely transported labels, and their origins, spinal pathways, and terminations were examined at intervals during the period of recovery of hand function. Immediately following unilateral section of the spinal cord at C3, sampled counts of soma profiles of retrogradely labeled neurons indicated that there was a profound reduction in the corticospinal projection to the hemicord caudal to the lesion. The few labeled corticospinal axons spared by the lesion bypassed the spinal lesion by descending in the contralateral cord and then crossing the midline caudal to the lesion. A few corticospinal axons may also have bypassed the lesion in the ipsilateral ventromedial column when this was not fully interrupted by the lesion. In every monkey, we observed a similar, profound reduction in the corticospinal (and rubrospinal) projections to the hemicord caudal to the lesion: This pattern did not alter significantly over an extended recovery period. An unchanging corticospinal projection to the cervical spinal cord contralateral to the lesion was also visualized in each monkey and resembled that seen in the normal macaque. Although the resolution of the labeling and counting procedures used precluded the identification of small increases in the numbers of corticospinal neurons projecting to the hemicord caudal to the lesion, we concluded that there was no substantial reconstruction of this projection over a recovery period of more than 2 years. J. Comp. Neurol. 381:282‐306, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss Inc.