Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
How to Make Reengineering Really Work

Companies often squander their energies on attractive-looking projects that fail to produce bottom-line results A study of reengineering projects in over 100 companies reveals how difficult these projects are to plan and implement and, more important, how often they fail to achieve real business-unit impact. The study identified two factors -- breadth and depth -- that are critical in translating short-term, narrow-focus process improvements into long-term profits. Successful projects at Banca di America e di Italia, Siemens Nixdorf Service, and ATT measurements and incentives; organizational structure; information technology; shared values; and skills. Successful reengineering projects in diverse industries and locations demonstrate how companies can expand the dimensions of their reengineering projects. Senior executives at Banca di America e di Italia (BAI), AT&T, and Siemens Nixdorf Service, for example, set broad goals, from creating a paperless bank at BAI to becoming the most customer-responsive and skilled computer-servicing company at Siemens Nixdorf. They then completely restructured all organizational elements -- anything from the layout of BAI's branch offices to the skills required of AT&T's salespeople -- in order to implement the new designs successfully. Ultimately, however, a reengineering project -- like any major change program -- can produce lasting results only if senior executives invest their time and energy. As the experiences of BAI, AT&T, and Siemens Nixdorf reveal, large-scale reengineering exacts extraordinary effort at all levels of an organization. Without strong leadership from top management, the psychological and political disruptions that accompany such radical change can sabotage the project. …
Are rheumatologists adhering to the concepts window of opportunity and treat-to-target? Earlier and more intense disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug treatment over time in patients with early arthritis in the PEARL study.

OBJECTIVES To analyse changes over time in the treatment with disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs and biological therapies prescribed to patients from an early arthritis register and whether these changes had an impact on their outcome. METHODS This was a longitudinal retrospective 2-year study based on data collected in the PEARL study. The population was clustered in three groups depending on year of symptoms onset (2000-2004, 2005-2009, 2010-2014). Intensity of disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drug treatment was calculated and the percentage of patients receiving biological therapy during the first 2-year follow-up was collected. Disease activity and remission at the end of follow-up, as well as radiological progression were the outcomes analysed. Multivariable analyses were fitted to determine which variables including the three period times were associated with the outcomes. RESULTS A significant increase in treatment intensity was observed in patients with undifferentiated arthritis, getting closer to that prescribed to patients fulfilling the 1987 RA criteria at the last period studied (2010-2014). This finding was associated with a significantly higher percentage of patients in remission and lower progression of the erosion component of the Sharp van der Heijde score. CONCLUSIONS During the last 15 years, the treatment of patients with early arthritis in our hospital has been progressively increased and it has been associated with significantly better outcomes.
Adult neurogenesis and the plasticity of the dentate gyrus network

The granule cell layer (GCL) of the dentate gyrus contains neurons generated during embryonic, early postnatal and adult life. During adulthood there is a continuous production of neuronal cohorts that develop and functionally integrate in the preexisting circuits. This morphogenic process generates a stratified GCL, with the outermost layers containing dentate granule cells (DGCs) generated during perinatal life, and the innermost layers containing adult‐born DGCs. In this review we analyse the functional profile of the different neuronal populations of the GCL, with an emphasis on adult‐born neurons as they develop, mature and integrate in the dentate gyrus network. We focus on the contribution of adult‐born neurons to activity‐dependent synaptic modification in the dentate gyrus and, in turn, discuss how network activity modulates integration and survival of new neurons.
Thrombocytopenia alters early but not late repair in a mouse model of Achilles tendon injury

Besides their hemostatic function, platelets can express key factors involved in tissue healing. However, the role of platelets in tendon healing following acute injury is poorly understood. We investigated this role by injecting male C57BL/6 mice with an antiplatelet antibody to induce thrombocytopenia. Placebo animals received serum only. The right Achilles tendon was sectioned and sutured using the 8‐strand technique that allows immediate weight bearing. Platelet depletion did not alter the accumulation of neutrophils and macrophages or cell proliferation. A slight increase in vascularization was observed 7 days postinjury in tendons from thrombocytopenic mice relative to placebo animals, but the effect had disappeared by day 14. Furthermore, collagen content had a tendency to decrease in Achilles tendons under thrombocytopenia when compared with placebo treatment at 7 days posttrauma. This was correlated with a decline in maximal stress sustained by tendons at day 14 but not after 28 days. The impact of thrombocytopenia was otherwise negligible, as force relaxation and stiffness were similar in the two groups. Our findings demonstrate that platelets modulate early tendon repair following rupture, although the effect is limited over time. Nevertheless, platelets are not essential for the recruitment of inflammatory cells, proliferation, angiogenesis, and tendon maturation.
Randomised comparison of G-CSF-mobilized peripheral blood mononuclear cells versus bone marrow-mononuclear cells for the treatment of patients with lower limb arteriosclerosis obliterans

Summary Previous studies have suggested that the lower limb arteriosclerosis obliterans (LASO) could be improved by autologous transplantation of either bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMNC) or G-CSF-mobilized peripheral blood mononuclear cells (M-PBMNC). However, the number of patients observed was very limited, and little information is available regarding comparison. The present randomised trial was designed to assess which is the better option. One hundred fifty patients with LASO were randomised to either group A (76 cases implanted with M-PBMNC) or group B (74 cases implanted with BMMNC), and followed up for 12 weeks. Primary outcomes were safety and efficacy of treatment, based on ankle-brachial index (ABI) and rest pain, and analysis was per protocol. Significant improvement of the main clinical index was observed in both groups after transplantation. No transplantation-related complication was observed in either group. Comparative analysis revealed that at 12 weeks after cell implantation, improvement of ABI (difference 0.06 ± 0.01; p<0.0001), skin temperature (difference 0.55 ± 0.25; p=0.028), and rest pain (difference –0.57 ± –0.15;p<0.0001) was significantly better in groupA patients than group B patients. However, there was no significant difference between two groups for pain-free walking distance, transcutaneous oxygen pressure, ulcers, and rate of lower limb amputation. Autologous transplantation of either M-PBMNC or BMMNC significantly promotes improvement of limb ischaemia in patients with LASO. Comparative analysis indicated that M-PBMNC should be more practical in comparison with BMMNC in the treatment of LASO.
Active Nitric Oxide Produced in the Red Cell under Hypoxic Conditions by Deoxyhemoglobin-mediated Nitrite Reduction*

Recent studies have generated a great deal of interest in a possible role for red blood cells in the transport of nitric oxide (NO) to the microcirculation and the vascular effect of this nitric oxide in facilitating the flow of blood through the microcirculation. Many questions have, however, been raised regarding such a mechanism. We have instead identified a completely new mechanism to explain the role of red cells in the delivery of NO to the microcirculation. This new mechanism results in the production of NO in the microcirculation where it is needed. Nitrite produced when NO reacts with oxygen in arterial blood is reutilized in the arterioles when the partial pressure of oxygen decreases and the deoxygenated hemoglobin formed reduces the nitrite regenerating NO. Nitrite reduction by hemoglobin results in a major fraction of the NO generated retained in the intermediate state where NO is bound to Hb(III) and in equilibrium with the nitrosonium cation bound to Hb(II). This pool of NO, unlike Hb(II)NO, is weakly bound and can be released from the heme. The instability of Hb(III)NO in oxygen and its displacement when flushed with argon requires that reliable determinations of red blood cell NO must be performed on freshly lysed samples without permitting the sample to be oxygenated. In fresh blood samples Hb(III)NO accounts for 75% of the red cell NO with appreciably higher values in venous blood than arterial blood. These findings confirm that nitrite reduction at reduced oxygen pressures is a major source for red cell NO. The formation and potential release from the red cell of this NO could have a major impact in regulating the flow of blood through the microcirculation.
The effect of experience quality on behavioral intentions of domestic tourists in visiting water parks

Abstract this study proposed a model to assess visitor experience quality and its effect on their image, perceived value, delight, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions in Iranian water parks. Based on convenience sampling, a sample of 384 visitors at five water parks in Mashhad, Iran was selected. Data were subjected to partial least squares analysis based on structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings of this study showed that quality of visitors’ experiences significantly affects water park image, perceived value, and visitor’s satisfaction. Also, water park image significantly affects perceived value, delight, and visitor’s satisfaction. Moreover, perceived value and water park image exert a direct influence on customer satisfaction, and they also positively affect behavioral intentions. But, the visitor’s delight affects indirectly and through satisfaction on behavioral intentions. Therefore, the results of this study will assist water parks management to develop and implement market-orientated service strategies both to increase experience quality and water park image and to enhance perceived value, delight, and satisfaction among visitors. It is hoped such changes will increase visitors’ favorable behavioral intentions such as revisit and positive word of mouth from the water park in the future.
Analysis of multimodal time series data of robotic environment

Autonomous mobile robots equipped with an array of sensors are being increasingly deployed in disaster environments to assist rescue teams. The sensors attached to the robots send multimodal time series data about the disaster environments which can be analyzed to extract useful information about the environment in which the robots are deployed. A set of data mining tasks that effectively cluster various robotic environments have been investigated. The effectiveness of these data mining techniques have been demonstrated using an available robotic dataset. The accuracy of the proposed technique has been measured using a manual reference cluster set.
Effects of mechanical deformation on energy conversion efficiency of piezoelectric nanogenerators

Piezoelectric nanogenerators (PNGs) are capable of converting energy from various mechanical sources into electric energy and have many attractive features such as continuous operation, replenishment and low cost. However, many researchers still have studied novel material synthesis and interfacial controls to improve the power production from PNGs. In this study, we report the energy conversion efficiency (ECE) of PNGs dependent on mechanical deformations such as bending and twisting. Since the output power of PNGs is caused by the mechanical strain of the piezoelectric material, the power production and their ECE is critically dependent on the types of external mechanical deformations. Thus, we examine the output power from PNGs according to bending and twisting. In order to clearly understand the ECE of PNGs in the presence of those external mechanical deformations, we determine the ECE of PNGs by the ratio of output electrical energy and input mechanical energy, where we suggest that the input energy is based only on the strain energy of the piezoelectric layer. We calculate the strain energy of the piezoelectric layer using numerical simulation of bending and twisting of the PNG. Finally, we demonstrate that the ECE of the PNG caused by twisting is much higher than that caused by bending due to the multiple effects of normal and lateral piezoelectric coefficients. Our results thus provide a design direction for PNG systems as high-performance power generators.
Disparate Impact and Pregnancy: Title VII's Other Accommodation Requirement

There has been a good deal of attention focused recently on questions concerning how employers are allowed to treat pregnant women in the workplace under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has issued revised guidance addressing issues of pregnancy, including the requirements imposed by Title VII with respect to the accommodation of disabling conditions experienced by women who are pregnant or who have recently given birth. And the United States Supreme Court has recently decided a case, Young v. United Parcel Service, Inc., which addresses the circumstances under which an employer will be found to have violated Title VII’s prohibition against intentional discrimination for refusing to provide the same accommodation to women affected by pregnancy as that employer provides to a number of other categories of employees. The disparate treatment theory, on which both the Young case and the EEOC guidance are focused, is undoubtedly an important resource for women who are affected by pregnancy and childbirth to seek accommodations similar to those provided to other employees. But neither the Young case nor the new EEOC guidance focuses on the provision of Title VII that is most likely to provide a mandate for employers to provide accommodation to women affected by pregnancy who experience temporary inability to perform part or all of their job functions. That provision, not raised at all in the decision before the Supreme Court and slighted by the EEOC guidance, is the prohibition on employers maintaining even pregnancy-neutral policies and practices that disproportionately disadvantage women on the basis of pregnancy and cannot be justified by business necessity. It is the disparate impact theory, rather than the disparate treatment theory, in which Title VII’s requirement to accommodate pregnancy is most likely to be found.
Dynamic Resource Allocation for Full-Duplex OFDMA Wireless Cellular Networks

This paper focuses on the resource allocation in a full-duplex (FD) multiuser single cell system consisting of one FD base-station (BS) and multiple FD mobile nodes. In particular, we are interested in jointly optimizing the power allocation (PA) and subcarrier assignment (SA) for uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) transmission of all users to maximize the system sum-rate. First, the joint optimization problem is formulated as nonconvex mixed integer program, a difficult nonconvex problem. We then propose an iterative algorithm to solve this problem. In the proposed algorithm, the PA is obtained by employing the SCALE algorithm, whereas the SA is updated by a gradient method. Finally, we present numerical results to demonstrate the significant gains of our proposed design compared to that due to two fast greedy algorithms.
Transcriptional Suppression of Sertoli Cell Timp2 in Rodents Following Mono-(2-ethylhexyl) Phthalate Exposure Is Regulated by CEBPA and MYC1

ABSTRACT Our previous studies showed that the prototypical testicular toxic phthalate monoester, mono-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (MEHP), suppresses Sertoli cell TIMP2 levels and allows for the activation of MMP2 in seminiferous epithelium. Activation of MMP2 is important for triggering germ cell apoptosis and instigating germ cell detachment from Sertoli cells. These novel findings led us to examine the transcriptional regulation of the Timp2 gene that accounts for the decrease in Sertoli cell TIMP2 levels following MEHP exposure. Sequential deletion of the Timp2 5′-upstream activating sequence (1200 bp) was used to survey transcriptional activation in the Timp2 promoter region in response to MEHP. Results indicate that under control conditions in rat Sertoli cells, CCAAT enhancer-binding protein alpha (CEBPA) acts as a transactivator to initiate Timp2 gene transcription, and its action is deactivated by exposure to MEHP. By contrast, MYC protein acts as an inhibitor of Timp2 gene transcription, and its activity is increased after MEHP treatment. Addition of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) to cells causes translocation of CEBPA into the Sertoli cell nucleus and rescues MEHP-suppressed TIMP2 levels. Down-regulation of TIMP2 expression by MEHP exposure is blocked by forskolin (a cAMP-elevating agent), suggesting that the decrease in Sertoli cell TIMP2 expression following MEHP exposure is cAMP-dependent. Taken together, these data indicate that MEHP both disrupts the FSH-stimulated cAMP signaling pathway and activates the inhibitory signaling mediated by MYC protein, to ultimately account for the cellular mechanism underlying the decreased expression of TIMP2 in Sertoli cells.
Pro con debate: the use of regional vs systemic analgesia for neonatal surgery

In recent years the inclusion of regional techniques to pediatric anesthesia has transformed practice. Simple procedures such as caudal anesthesia with local anaesthetics can reduce the amounts of general anesthesia required and provide complete analgesia in the postoperative period while avoiding large amounts of opioid analgesia with potential side effects that can impair recovery. However, the application of central blocks (epidural and spinal local anesthesia) via catheters in the younger infant, neonate and even preterm neonate remains more controversial. The potential for such invasive maneuvers themselves to augment risk, can be argued to outweigh the benefits, others would argue that epidural analgesia can reduce the need for postoperative ventilation and that this not only facilitates surgery when intensive care facilities are limited, but also reduces cost in terms of PICU stay and recovery profile. Currently, opinions are divided and strongly held with some major units adopting this approach widely and others maintaining a more conservative stance to anesthesia for major neonatal surgery. In this pro‐con debate the evidence base is examined, supplemented with expert opinion to try to provide a balanced overall view.
A new instruction overlapping technique for anti-disassembly and obfuscation of x86 binaries

The problem of correctly recovering assembly instructions from a binary has received much attention and both malware and license validation code often relies on various anti-disassembly techniques in order to complicate analysis. One well-known anti-disassembly technique is to use overlapping code such that the disassembler starts decoding from an incorrect byte, but still recovers valid code. The actual code which is supposed to be executed is instead hidden inside a decoy instruction, and is overlapped with the disassembled code. We propose and investigate a new novel anti-disassembly method that allows for exceptional flexibility in the hidden instructions, while at the same time providing a disassembled main path that is executable. This allows the approach to be very efficient against static linear sweep disassembly, but also to be more difficult to detect using dynamic analysis methods. The idea is to utilize highly redundant instructions, e.g., multibyte no-operation instructions, and embed the hidden code in the configurable portions of those instructions. By carefully selecting wrapping instructions, providing overlaps, the hidden execution path can be crafted with great flexibility. We also provide a detection-algorithm, together with testing results, for testing software such that the hidden execution path can be identified.
Challenging the understanding of significant improvement and outcome in schizophrenia – the concept of reliable and clinically significant change methods

Significant changes of schizophrenia patients during inpatient treatment were evalutaed and compared to established outcome criteria. The concept of reliable and clinically significant change methods was applied to three hundred and ninety‐six patients suffering from a schizophrenia spectrum disorder. First, information on whether or not the change of the patient's condition is sufficient in order to declare that it is beyond a measurement error or random effect (= reliable change) was evaluated and in a second step it was observed if the reliable change was clinically meaningful (= clinically significant change). Different Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale for Schizophrenia (PANSS) thresholds were applied to define the clinically significant change (40, 45 and 50 points). These changes were then compared to established outcome criteria such as response and remission. Seventy‐nine of the 396 patients (20%) showed a reliable improvement of symptoms, whereas 70% improved without achieving a reliable change of their condition. Of the 79 patients achieving a reliable change during treatment 8‐15% concurrently showed a clinically significant change depending on the respective PANSS threshold. In contrast, 56% of the patients achieved response and 60% were in remission at discharge when applying established outcome criteria. Our results showed that a rather small number of schizophrenia patients were found to reliably change during inpatient treatment, with even less patients achieving a clinically significant change. The concept of reliable and clinically significant changes revealed to be a lot more stringent than today's established outcome criteria and should be critically evaluated regarding its use in schizophrenia patients. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.