Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The evolution of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) was established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) of 2010 as a major new center to evaluate and implement clinical comparative effectiveness research (CER). It is a private, non-profit, tax exempt corporation designed to “assist patients, clinicians, purchasers and policy makers in making informed health decisions by advancing the quality and relevance of evidence concerning the manner in which diseases, disorders and other health conditions can effectively and appropriately be prevented, diagnosed, treated, monitored and managed through research and evidence synthesis”. 1 2 The ACA's directive is that the institute “shall enter into contracts for the management of funding and conduct of research with government agencies and academic or private sector research entities and that it shall give preference to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH)”. The ACA established two independent and independently funded boards to control medical costs. The Independent Payment Advisory Board task is to implement target growth rates for Medicare while the PCORI's task is to evaluate and apply CER.1 3–5 The intent underlying the formation of the two panels is that they will, with their commingled effects on what care can be provided and what will be paid, provide high quality care at a reasonable cost. The supporters of the PCORI and ACA proclaim the advantages of the PCORI and CER.4 6–8 In a 2008 report exploring ways to reduce healthcare costs, the Congressional Budget Office wrote that CER would reduce total spending on healthcare in the USA by an estimated US$8 billion from 2010 to …
Determinants of 24-hour energy expenditure in man. Methods and results using a respiratory chamber.

Daily human energy requirements calculated from separate components of energy expenditure are inaccurate and usually in poor agreement with measured energy intakes. Measurement of energy expenditure over periods of 24 h or longer is needed to determine more accurately rates of daily energy expenditure in humans. We provide a detailed description of a human respiratory chamber and methods used to determine rates of energy expenditure over 24-h periods in 177 subjects. The results show that: fat-free mass (FFM) as estimated by densitometry is the best available determinant of 24-h energy expenditures (24EE) and explains 81% of the variance observed between individuals (24EE [kcal/d] = 597 + 26.5 FFM); 24EE in an individual is very reproducible (coefficient of variation = 2.4%); and even when adjusted for differences in FFM, there is still considerable interperson variability of the daily energy expenditure. A large portion of the variability of 24EE among individuals, independent of differences in body size, was due to variability in the degree of spontaneous physical activity, i.e., "fidgeting," which accounted for 100-800 kcal/d in these subjects.
Turnover of Appointed County Administrators in Large American Counties

Turnover of Appointed County Administrators in Large American Counties by Robert John Tekniepe Dr. Christopher Stream, Examination Committee Chair Professor of Public Administration University of Nevada, Las Vegas Researchers have suggested that American counties are emerging as leaders in local governance. This is mainly attributed to the fact that counties are being called upon to provide a whole host o f new services to an ever-growing suburban and an incorporated areas population. County administrators are known to play a critical role in the provision of these services, however, researchers know very little about the factors contributing to county administrator turnover. Several empirical analyses have explored tenure and turnover patterns of top-level government executives, yet these analyses have principally focused on local governments, e.g., municipalities. This paper is intended to extend existing research by examining how factors contributing to government performance, political uncertainty, and community instability affect appointed county administrator turnover in large American counties. This paper also attempts to determine whether an appointed administrator/managers’ level of
Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility : Framework Development and Application

This paper highlights the need to adopt a “Stakeholders and Critical Success Factors Approach” to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability issues, which is to give substance and credibility to a company’s commitment to sustainability principles by integrating economic, social, and environmental concerns with the planning and control process. The paper offers an “Integrated Sustainability Performance Management and Measurement Systems (SPMMS) framework as a comprehensive and holistic path for the implementation, measurement evaluation and reporting of CSR and sustainability concerns into the business organization.Then the framework is applied and tested on two leading companies in Sudan and Saudi Arabia. The testing of the framework is meant to examine the applicability of the approach in two distinct economic environments, Sudan and Saudi Arabia, each with its own unique economic infrastructure, business environment, corporate * Ph.D in Accounting, University of Gezira, Sudan. Senior Business Anayst, Tatweer Education Holding Company. P.O. Box 5117 – Riyadh, 11422, Saudi Arabia, email: Abdullahkhadir@tatweer.sa. His research interests include: management development research, corporate social responsibility, corporate performance and sustainability. ** Doctorate Finance, Southern Illinoy University, Canbondale USA, 1994. Professor of Accounting and finance, Department of Accounting and Financial Management School of Management Studies University of Khartoum, email: a.eljelly@uofk.edu. research interests include: capital markets, corporate performance and social responsibility. KUJMS Khartoum University Journal of Management Studies School of Management Studies. Vol.8, Issue1, 2014. 35 culture, reporting, and disclosure requirements and stakeholders’ orientations. The empirical testes show that the conceptual framework is successful in revealing the usefulness and richness of the non-financial information in measuring and reporting CSR and sustainability performance as well as the feasibility of producing integrated reports, linking business and CSR performance.
Nitric oxide triggers a concentration-dependent differential modulation of superoxide dismutase (FeSOD and Cu/ZnSOD) activity in sunflower seedling roots and cotyledons as an early and long distance signaling response to NaCl stress

Dark-grown sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) seedlings exhibit modulation of total superoxide dismutase (SOD;EC 1.15.1.1) activity in roots and cotyledons (10,000g supernatant) in response to salt stress (NaCl; 120 mM) through a differential, zymographically detectable, whole tissue activity of FeSOD and Cu/ZnSOD. Confocal laser scanning microscopic imaging (CLSM) has further shown that NaCl stress significantly influences differential spatial distribution of Cu/ZnSOD and MnSOD isoforms in an inverse manner. Dual action of nitric oxide (NO) is evident in its crosstalk with FeSOD and Cu/ZnSOD in seedling roots and cotyledons in control and NaCl− stress conditions. Cu/ZnSOD activity in the roots of 2 d old NaCl− stressed seedlings is enhanced in the presence of 125–1000 µM of NO donor (sodium nitroprusside; SNP) indicating salt sensitivity of the enzyme activity. Quenching of endogenous NO by cPTIO treatment (500, 1000 µM) lowers FeSOD activity in roots (-NaCl). Cotyledons from control seedlings show an upregulation of FeSOD activity with increasing availability of SNP (125–1000 µM) in the Hoagland irrigation medium. Quenching of NO by cPTIO provides evidence for an inverse correlation between NO availability and FeSOD activity in seedling cotyledons irrespective of NaCl stress. Variable response due to NO on SOD isoforms in sunflower seedlings reflects its concentration-dependent biphasic (pro- and antioxidant) nature of action. Differential induction of SOD isoforms by NO indicates separate intracellular signaling pathways (associated with their respective functional separation) operative in seedling roots as an early salt stress mechanism and in cotyledons as an early long-distance NaCl stress sensing mechanism.
Hierarchical representation of satisfactory consumer service experience

What conceptual organization underlies evaluative judgments in the mind of consumers? Drawing from the theory of cognitive schemata and from means‐end theory, here we show that customer evaluations can be represented as a set of self‐relevant, interconnected and hierarchically organized elements. Elements of the hierarchy are components of a satisfactory service experience that range from concrete service attributes (such as staff kindness), to higher level benefits (such as the feeling of being looked after), to more abstract values (such as happiness). To construct a hierarchical map of components and explain overall satisfaction the laddering technique was applied to a sample of hotel customers. Results suggest that the links between concrete attributes, high‐level benefits, and values provide a better explanation of overall satisfaction than service attributes alone.
Wearable and Portable eHealth Systems

In this article we have outlined the importance and role of personal health management systems (PHMSs) along with some technical challenges and opportunities. In addition, there are a number of other challenges that need to be considered in order to enable PHMSs to achieve the expected level of operational dependability and establish their place in healthcare. The integration of PHMSs in healthcare implies their interconnection with health information systems (HISs) and electronic health records (EHRs). The most important requirement arising from this is the need for interoperability between PHMSs and HISs/EHRs. The potential of wearable and portable PHMSs to enable the shift to citizen-centered personalized care has been demonstrated through the work carried out under the European Commission's Fifth and Sixth Framework Programmes.
Supplier selection problem for a retailer under random yield

Using a simple one-period model of a supply chain with one retailer and multiple risky suppliers, this paper studies questions of supplier selection and ordering policies among firms. A supplier is said to be unreliable when the quantity of goods effectively delivered by that supplier cannot correspond exactly to the order quantity. The question facing the retailer is to determine how many suppliers to contract and how much to order from each contracted supplier. We not only present the structural properties of the optimal ordering policy, but also analyze the effect of random yield and fixed ordering cost on the optimal policy and the retailer’s profit.
Chronic chlamydial genital infection in congenitally athymic nude mice

Congenitally athymic nude mice and their heterozygous counterparts were inoculated intravaginally with the chlamydial agent of mouse pneumonitis, a Chlamydia trachomatis biovar. Heterozygous mice resolved their infections in 20 days, whereas nude mice developed chronic infections which lasted at least 265 days and did not resolve within the time course of the experiments. Heterozygous mice produced high levels of antibody in both serum and secretions in contrast to nude mice, which produced very low levels of antibody in serum alone.
Data Quality and Curation

Data quality is an issue that touches on every aspect of the research data landscape and is therefore appropriate to examine in the context of planning for future research data infrastructures. As producers, researchers want to believe that they produce high quality data; as consumers, they want to obtain data of the highest quality. Data centres typically have stringent controls to ensure that they only acquire and disseminate data of the highest quality. Data managers will usually say that they improve the quality of the data they are responsible for. Much of the infrastructure that will emit, transform, integrate, visualise, manage, analyse, and disseminate data during its life will have dependencies, explicit or implicit, on the quality of the data it is dealing with.
Towards a Generic Governance Model for Service Oriented Architectures

Over the past years, Service-oriented Architecture (SOA) Systems have been recognized more and more as a serious alternative to common monolithic systems for Enterprise Architectures (EA). An SOA provides a flexible means of effectively mapping business processes to IT processes. However, large IT systems require consistent leadership – IT Governance. For SOAs, governance faces new challenges. A number of different approaches for SOA Governance Frameworks exist, which differ extensively in scope and capability, as most of them are product-driven and developed by software companies. In this paper, we outline and compare existing SOA Governance approaches and present our approach a Generic Governance Model for SOA.
Research on China E-business Entrepreneurship Performance Based on the Perspective of Social Network

Based on social network perspective, this paper examines the effects of strong-weak tie, social capital and structural hole on performance through the survey on 91 e-business entrepreneurship firms in China. The research implies that strong tie and the number of social capital and structural hole have great significance on China e-business venturing, and strong tie has common significance on its performance under the Guanxi network in China. So the e-business firms in China have to lay a strong emphasis on the establishment and maintenance of social network in order to get competitive advantage.
Who is Your Satisfied Customer

What causes consumer satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a product? Two psychological theories are provided as an explanation of the amount of perceived satisfaction. By categorizing consumers on the basis of their “activation level,” the marketer can affect the amount of resulting satisfaction. Doing this may require adjusting pricing, promotional, and distribution policies to suit the categories of “high sensation seekers” and “low sensation seekers. ” Marketers of services, among others, may find this consumer categorization process useful in developing made‐to‐measure offerings. Operators of shopping malls, hotels, travel agencies, car rental agencies, financial services, restaurants, and bars are naturals for the successful application of this concept.
DNA gyrase mutations in quinolone-resistant clinical isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae

Eight quinolone-resistant clinical isolates of Neisseria gonorrhoeae were shown to carry mutations in their GyrA proteins. Six isolates had a single amino acid change of serine to phenylalanine at the position corresponding to Ser-83 in Escherichia coli. In addition to the change of serine to phenylalanine, two isolates had another change of aspartic acid to asparagine at the position corresponding to Asp-87 in E. coli.
Continuity breeds Success? Exporter Heterogeneity, Performance and Sunk Costs*

This paper examines the performance characteristics of indigenous Irish manufacturing firms, focusing in particular on the differences between heterogeneous exporters. It uses a new conceptual framework that classifies firms on the basis of their exporting experience over the known life of the firm. We decompose manufacturing firms into two groups: firms that never exported and those that have experience in the export market. The latter are further decomposed into three types: intermittent, persistent and continuous exporters. The definitions of these various types of exporters are based on their export behaviour, specifically the duration of participation in the export market. We find that while exporters have superior performance characteristics to non-exporters when examined in aggregate, when we decompose by exporter type there is considerable heterogeneity in the performance exporters with continuous exporters having superior performance characteristics.
Strategies for Competition between Standards in the Japanese PDA Market: Focusing on Compatibility and Customizability

The Japanese PDA market supports three PDA standards-WindowsCE, PalmOS, and Zaurus. WindowsCE employs a strategy that focuses on compatibility with Windows-based software and hardware in the PC market, and therefore, one could assume, is better positioned for expansion than competing PDA standards. Yet, in fact it is not WindowsCE that has captured the largest share of the domestic PDA market, but the PalmOS. How has PalmOS been able to compete with WindowsCE and the latter's advantage in terms of compatibility? This paper examines this question by looking at the ways in which PalmOS has focused on ”customizability,” and examines the effectiveness of this approach as a strategy for success against rival standards.
Image segmentation using Gabor filter and K-means clustering method

Segmentation in digital images is a process to separate an object from a background so that the object can be processed for other purposes. Often also used in supporting technology related to the image to find the desired result point and solve the problem of image segmentation. Segmentation is an important step in processing object recognition in image images, so some areas like health, chemical industry, and some other fields desperately need this technique. The purpose of this research is to analyze the result of image segmentation using Gabor Filter and K-means Clustering method which is used to assist the initial process of image segmentation. Several studies have been produced and developed in relation to this field and produce quality output. This is a challenge for researchers to continue the research history of advanced image processing to improve the quality of research results obtained and increasingly shows the seriousness of interest of researchers in this field including the field of image processing. In the image segmentation research, the segmentation used the K-means Clustering method, while the feature extraction method uses Gabor filter.
Changes in cell-wall properties of wheat (Triticum aestivum) roots during aluminum-induced growth inhibition.

The effects of aluminum (Al) on root elongation, the mechanical extensibility of the cell wall, and the amount of cell-wall polysaccharides in the roots of Al-resistant (Atlas 66) and Al-sensitive (Scout 66) cultivars of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) were examined. Exposure to 10 &mgr;M AlCl3 for 6 h inhibited root elongation in Scout 66 but not in Atlas 66. It also decreased the mechanical extensibility of the cell wall in the roots of both cultivars, but prominently only in the roots of Scout 66. The amount of hemicellulose in the 10-mm region of root apex of Scout 66 was increased by the exposure to Al, especially in the apical regions. Al did not influence the neutral sugar composition of either pectin or hemicellulose in Scout 66 roots. However, Al increased the weight-average molecular mass of hemicellulosic polysaccharides and the amounts of wall-bound ferulic and diferulic acids in Scout 66 roots. These findings suggest that Al modifies the metabolism of cell-wall components and thus makes the cell wall thick and rigid, thereby inhibiting the growth of wheat roots.
A comparative study: Received signal strength based zone differentiation using mobile transmitters

This paper conducts a comparative study for zone differentiation techniques using two types of linearly polarized directional antennas. The antenna types are microstrip single patch and microstrip array patch. We employed array patch antenna with three elements in a previous work to track and identify hospital staff who approach patient's bed space. However, there was an inaccuracy in detection due to radiation overlapping and interference. An investigation was carried out using three single patch antennas by sweeping over the separating distance and orientation. The study concluded that the optimal separation between two adjacent antennas is 12 cm, and orientations of the right, center, and left antennas are 30°, 90°, and -30°, respectively. This configuration has resulted in 100% accuracy for zone differentiation.
Gamma Glutamyl Transferase and Lactate Dehydrogenase as Biochemical Markers of Severity of Preeclampsia

: ABSTRACT This study was conducted to examine the possible role of serum Gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT) and Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in the prediction of severity of preeclampsia. The study group comprised of 40 preeclamptic cases (22 with mild and 18 with severe) and 40 healthy normotensive pregnant controls. Serum samples of all the cases were assayed for GGT and LDH. Demographic, hemodynamic and laboratory data as well as serum GGT and LDH levels were compared among the three groups. The results indicated that severe preeclamptic cases had significantly increased levels of serum GGT and LDH. The symptoms in severe preeclamptic women were significantly increased in patients with GGT > 70 IU/L and LDH >800 IU/L. Elevated levels of serum GGT and LDH can be used as biochemical markers which reflects the severity of preeclampsia and useful for the management of preeclampsia to decrease maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality.
Mutational analysis of beta '260-309, a sigma 70 binding site located on Escherichia coli core RNA polymerase.

In eubacteria, the final sigma subunit binds to the core RNA polymerase and directs transcription initiation from any of its cognate set of promoters. Previously, our laboratory defined a region of the beta' subunit that interacts with final sigma(70) in vitro. This region of beta' contained heptad repeat motifs indicative of coiled coils. In this work, we used 10 single point mutations of the predicted coiled coils, located within residues 260-309 of beta', to look at disruption of the final sigma(70)-core interaction. Several of the mutants were defective for binding final sigma(70) in vitro. Of these mutants, three (R275Q, E295K, and A302D) caused cells to be inviable in an in vivo assay in which the mutant beta' is the sole source of beta' subunit for the cell. All of the mutants were able to assemble into the core enzyme; however, R275Q, E295K, A302D were defective for Efinal sigma(70) holoenzyme formation. Several of the mutants were also defective for holoenzyme assembly with various minor final sigma factors. In the recently published crystal structure of Thermus aquaticus core RNA polymerase (Zhang, G., Campbell, E. A., Minakhin, L., Richter, C., Severinov, K. , and Darst, S. A. (1999) Cell 98, 811-824), the region homologous to beta'(260-309) of Escherichia coli forms a coiled coil. Modeling of our mutations onto that coiled coil places the most defective mutations on one face of the coiled coil.
Perceived service quality management and loyalty in public versus private banks operations: some empirical evidence

The present study focuses on the banking industry and reveals several factors that influence customer perceptions of service quality. It examines the differences between private and public banks in terms of their customers' perceived service quality and their effect on loyalty. It further studies the elements of switching behaviour. It provides managers with appropriate tools to measure the service quality and loyalty level of their customer base, in an effort to build a sustainable competitive advantage. Several managerial implications founded on statistical analysis are presented. Limitations of the study are also reported.