Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pancreatic cancer: Overview of descriptive epidemiology

Pancreatic cancer mortality rates have been increasing in high‐income countries between the 1950s and the 1980s, and have leveled off or declined thereafter, particularly in men. To provide a global overview of recent pancreatic cancer mortality, we analyzed official death of the world certification data derived from the World Health Organization for 35 European countries and 19 other countries over the period 1980–2007. In 2007, the highest mortality rates from pancreatic cancer were in the Baltic countries, and some central/eastern and northern European countries (over 9.5/100 000 men and 6/100 000 women), whereas the lowest ones were in Latin America and Hong Kong (below 5/100 000 men and 3/100 000 women). Japan, the USA, Russia and the European Union (EU), as well as the largest countries in the EU, had rates around 7–9/100 000 men and 5–6/100 000 women. In the early 2000s, rates have been approximately stable in many European countries, as in the USA, Japan, and Australia. In Nordic countries and the UK, where declines in rates have been observed between the 1980s and the 1990s, mortality from pancreatic cancer has tended to rise over most recent calendar years. Some persisting rises were still found in men from a few countries of southern and central/eastern Europe (with low rates in the past), as well as in the EU overall, and in women from European and Asian countries. Recent trends were generally more favorable in young adults (30–49 yr), suggesting that overall trends are likely to improve in the near future. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Emergency Risk Analysis based on Knowledge Element

Scientific risk analysis of emergency is helpful to make correct contingency plans for Emergency Management Agency and to reduce event loss.However,most emergency risk analyses are under restrictions of multi factors,high dimensional data,small samples and incomplete information,and cannot fully recognize the risk of an emergency.In emergency system viewpoint and under the assistance of knowledge element model,projection pursuit method and information diffusion theory,a method of emergency risk analysis is developed in this paper based on knowledge element.By making use of the knowledge element model,the common ontological characteristics are described.Reducing dimensionality of the observed data on the input elements through searching for the optimum projection direction of the standard data on emergency risk grade,risk information contained in the observed data of the input elements is diffused into the points of the risk index universe on the output elements,and the emergency risk probability is carried out.Taking a lake as an example,risk of the water pollution is graded according to the national standard of environmental quality for surface water,with the data collected from 8real-time monitoring sites of the lake.The results show that the emergency risk analysis based on knowledge element could analyze and evaluate potential risk of an emergency according to the risk standard grade and the observed data on site.The model of emergency risk analysis based on knowledge element expands the study of risk analysis and provides a scientific basis for the emergency management.Further,the results will provide references to emergency risk analysis in the dangerous areas where real-time monitoring system has been established.
Cost effectiveness of the antibiotic removal device for processing blood cultures.

The antimicrobial removal device (ARD) blood culture system has been reported to increase the sensitivity of isolation of pathogenic microorganisms in bacteremic patients who are already on antibiotics. To determine the usefulness of this system to the clinician for the diagnosis of bacteremia and to determine the additional cost incurred by the use of the system, the microbiological results at two hospitals over a period of two years were compared. A total of 25,124 standard blood cultures (SBC) were performed with a positive culture rate of 10.7 percent. Of the 858 specimens processed by ARD alone, 68 (7.9 percent) were positive. There were a total of 2,657 specimens from 910 patients that were processed simultaneously using both systems. Both ARD and SBC were negative in 2,249 specimens, and 290 blood cultures from 107 patients grew the same organism using both systems. Thirty-one specimens from 12 patients grew pathogenic bacteria from ARD bottles; in each the SBC culture was negative. However, in 21 patients (44 specimens) bacteremia was detected only in SBC with negative cultures from ARD bottles.Thus, in the vast majority of the cases, SBC alone was sufficient to detect bacteremia, even in the patient with recent or concomitant antibiotic therapy. The total processing cost was calculated for the cases in which SBC and ARD were performed simultaneously and was found to be $6,588 for SBC and $15,005 for ARD. The comparative cost per bacteremic patient detected by the two methods was $46.40 for SBC and $555.75 for ARD.
Characterization of muscles from boars, barrows, and gilts slaughtered at 100 or 110 kilograms: differences in fat, moisture, color, water-holding capacity, and collagen.

For characterization of ether-extractable fat content (EE), L*, a*, and b* color, and water-holding capacity (WHC), 12 muscles or muscle groups were dissected from 48 pork carcasses of boars, barrows, or gilts that were fed diets either at minimum (LO) or 1% above (HI) their protein requirements and slaughtered in two separate trials at 100 or 110 kg. In both trials across muscles, gilts and boars had lower (P < .05) EE than barrows. In the 110-kg trial, boars had lower (P < .001) EE than gilts. In the 100-kg trial, boars on LO diets had lower (P < .001) WHC than all other groups, and both boar groups had lower (P < .05) WHC than gilts. No differences (P > .05) in WHC were seen in the 110-kg trial. In the 100-kg trial, gilts had lower L* (P < .05) than boars and barrows, but in the 110-kg trial boars had lower L* (P < .05) than barrows and gilts. The lowest (P < .05) a* values were for boars in the 100-kg trial and for boars on LO diets in the 110-kg trial. In both trials, the serratus ventralis had more (P < .001) EE than all other muscles. In both trials, the semitendinosus had higher (P < .001) L* and the longissimus had lower (P < .01) a* and b* than all other muscles. The numerous differences observed among muscles may help identify optimal uses for the entire pork carcass.
Managing complexity in agile global fashion industry supply chains

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the agile supply chain management practices adopted by UK clothing retailers in order to effectively manage the supply of innovative, high-margin, high-fashion content product offerings in a complex global environment. Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach was adopted examining the whole of the global retail fashion supply chain, from typical UK-based retailers through to their main production and logistics suppliers based in two low-cost locations, China and Romania. The cases of the UK retailers were followed by a study tour of China and Romania, where ten cases of fabric and finishing manufacturers, intermediaries and logistic providers were carried out. Findings – Many aspects of accepted risk management and agile practice, such as market sensitivity, postponement activities and collaborative information-sharing partnerships were apparent in the early product definition and the later product delivery stages of the supply chain. However, the responsibility for supply, including the key aspect of managing the complex supply network, was almost exclusively left to intermediaries located in low-cost countries. These intermediaries in the main could best achieve agile supply from a significantly underutilized low-cost country supply network through a traditional adversarial price and lead time auction sourcing process. Research limitations/implications – While the cases considered reflected what seemed to be a typical and widely adopted approach to managing such a supply chain, this may not, of course, be the only approach taken by organisations in the clothing industry. Originality/value – By examining a whole supply chain associated with agile supply in an important sector, the paper identifies the relative importance of some existing practices and brings into sharper focus those most relevant to this type of supply. The paper also identifies key elements of contemporary supply chain management practice, namely the growing use of global supply for innovative products and the essential and valuable role played by intermediaries in such supply chains.
Factors Affecting Internet Banking Behavior in Bangladesh: An Analysis on the Perspective of Gender and Educational Background

Despite the increasing number of online users and products that are being offered on the Web, there is relatively little work that specifically examines the role of gender and educational level on the attitudes of Internet users in the Bangladesh context. Our findings reveal that there is a general consensus amongst Singaporeans that the Internet is a convenient medium for information search or making purchases. The better-educated respondents seem to be less concerned with security issues. They also perceive that Internet shopping provides better prices and more cost savings. Females indicate a strong dislike for not being able to savour a physically fulfilling shopping experience online.
Dynamics of bed use in accommodating emergency admissions: stochastic simulation model

Abstract Objective: To examine the daily bed requirements arising from the flow of emergency admissions to an acute hospital, to identify the implications of fluctuating and unpredictable demands for emergency admission for the management of hospital bed capacity, and to quantify the daily risk of insufficient capacity for patients requiring immediate admission. Design: Modelling of the dynamics of the hospital system, using a discrete-event stochastic simulation model, which reflects the relation between demand and available bed capacity. Setting: Hypothetical acute hospital in England. Subjects: Simulated emergency admissions of all types except mental disorder. Main outcome measures: The risk of having no bed available for any patient requiring immediate admission; the daily risk that there is no bed available for at least one patient requiring immediate admission; the mean bed occupancy rate. Results: Risks are discernible when average bed occupancy rates exceed about 85%, and an acute hospital can expect regular bed shortages and periodic bed crises if average bed occupancy rises to 90% or more. Conclusions: There are limits to the occupancy rates that can be achieved safely without considerable risk to patients and to the efficient delivery of emergency care. Spare bed capacity is therefore essential for the effective management of emergency admissions, and its cost should be borne by purchasers as an essential element of an acute hospital service. Key messages Acute hospitals which operate at bed occupancy levels of 90% or more face regular bed crises, with the associated risks to patients Management interventions should focus on measures with long term benefits to counteract the growth trend in demand for admission Many initiatives have only a short term effect; they briefly delay the worst effects but do not address the growing mismatch between supply and demand Evaluating management interventions year on year at a single hospital is futile—any effects are swamped by random variations
Renal Vein Leiomyoma: A Rare Entity with Review of Literature

Tumors of vascular origin are unusual. These tumors are predominantly malignant and commonly arise from the inferior vena cava. Benign smooth muscle tumors arising from renal vein are very rare. We present a case of leiomyoma of renal vein in a post-menopausal woman that clinically resembled a retroperitoneal paraganglioma.
Investment under Uncertainty and Correlated Privately Known Costs

This paper studies the behavior of two firms after a new investment opportunity arises. Firms either invest immediately or wait until market uncertainty is resolved. Two types of separating equilibrium are possible when sunk costs are private information. In the first type the firm with lower cost invests first. In the second type the firm with higher cost invests first leading to a smaller industry surplus. The results indicate that the second type is possible only for strictly negatively correlated sunk costs. Numerical analysis illustrates that when first mover advantage is large, the firm that delays the investment should be almost certain about its rival’s sunk cost. When market risk increases, the equilibria can exist when the firm is less certain.
Customer Loyalty the Effects of Service Quality and The Mediating Role of Customer Relationship Marketing TelKom Speedy in Jember Area

The research is to exam the influence of service quality on customer loyalty via customer relationship marketing amongst users of Telkom Speedy. SPEEDY is a Telkom’s product of End to End Internet Access Service with a basis of Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) technology which is able to transmit data and voice simultaneously through one ordinary telephone line with the guaranteed speed according to the service package launched from modem to BRAS (Broadband Remote Access Server). Appropriate measures were identified and a postal survey was undertaken among 220 distributed randomly to personal users of Telkom Speedy in Jember Area East Java. The measurement of service quality items are based on Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry that consisted of five items plus six items of customer loyalty based on the work of Roberts, Varki and Brodie. Customer relationship marketing (CRM) was measured using four items based on Morgan and Hunt (1994). This research used structural equation model (SEM) and the result show that customer relationship marketing does play a mediating role in the effect of service quality on customer loyalty. The findings provide usable model for assurance item to enhance service quality, which contributes to high customer relationship marketing and loyalty.
Competency & Capabilities Based Competition and the Role of Information Technology: The Case of Trading by a Finland-based Firm to Russia

AbstractThis paper argues that the traditional value chain and industry cluster analysis approaches appear to be obsolete for assessing the competitive edge of a firm in the new global information economy. The author proposes the use of a resource-based view (RBV) to identify core competencies and capabilities of a firm. The proposed approach is utilized to analyze the core competencies and capabilities of a Finland-based firm1 that trades with Russia and to illustrate the role of information technology. The approach stops short of offering prescriptions to develop new competencies; but the conclusions suggest (i) that a framework be developed to provide insights into organizational development, and (ii) that the role of IT in building new competencies be given more attention by researchers.
Tailoring Recommendations for a Multi-Domain Environment

Recommender systems are acknowledged as an essential instrument to support users in finding relevant information. However, the adaptation of recommender systems to multiple domain-specific requirements and data models still remains an open challenge. In the present paper, we contribute to this sparse line of research with guidance on how to design a customizable recommender system that accounts for multiple domains with heterogeneous data. Using concrete showcase examples, we demonstrate how to setup a multi-domain system on the item and system level, and we report evaluation results for the domains of (i) LastFM, (ii) FourSquare, and (iii) MovieLens. We believe that our findings and guidelines can support developers and researchers of recommender systems to easily adapt and deploy a recommender system in distributed environments, as well as to develop and evaluate algorithms suited for multi-domain settings.
Determinants of Expense Ratio in Open End Mutual Funds of Pakistan

funds are one of the most studied and interesting areas of research in developed countries due to efficient risk management and higher returns through professional asset managers. These funds increase the return of small investors as well as reduce the unsystematic risks in the financial decisions. Previous literatures of Mutual funds primarily discussed performance and expense ratio of the different categories of the funds. However, the determinants of expense ratio analyzed in the current study have not been previously examined in the context of Pakistan. One of the major factor which contributes in order to improve performance of mutual funds have been ignored, is expense ratios specially related to age, size and nature of fund category. The study revealed that all variables including age, size, nature and sponsors of the fund have significant impact on the expense ratio of fund. Further, except size of fund, positive relation was observed with the age, nature and sponsors of fund with expense ratio. The study revealed that expense ratio of mutual fund industry is ranging between three to four percent which is comparably high from the regional market. The regulator needs to cap the expense ratio at certain level to avoid any additional cost paid by the investors. Further, the investor should pay special attention towards expense ratio with reference to their sponsors, its maturity level and quality of management to earn better returns.
A CRM system for Social Media

The social Customer Relationship Management (CRM) landscape is attracting signicant attention from customers and enterprises alike as a sustainable channel for tracking, managing and improving customer relations. Enterprises are taking a hard look at this open, unmediated platform because the community eect generated on this channel can have a telling eect on their brand image, potential market opportunity and customer loyalty. In this work we present our experiences in building a system that mines conversations on social platforms to identify and prioritize those posts and messages that are relevant to enterprises. The system presented in this work aims to empower an agent or a representative in an enterprise to monitor, track and respond to customer communication while also encouraging community participation.
SIB: noise reduction in fingerprint-based indoor localisation using multiple transmission powers

Research efforts into indoor localisation have focused on improving the accuracy of location estimates. In this paper, we propose a novel approach called SIB that uses RSSI values from low-power transmissions to exclude the noisy measurements from usual high-power RSSI measurements. SIB can effectively reduce the effect of noise in fingerprint-based localisation according to our analysis on the function of power loss ratio to transmission distance. Our results, based on evaluation in a real-world environment with noisy data, show a decrease in the geometric error of 85% in our indoor localisation.
A novel buffer-map exchange mechanism for pull-based P2P VoD streaming systems

For content delivery in Peer-to-Peer (P2P) video streaming systems there are two main approaches: push-based and pull-based. In P2P Video-on-Demand (VoD) systems, neighbor peers might watch the same video with very large differences in viewing point; thus using push-based approach is not sufficient for these systems. Also, with using pull-based approach, peers need large buffers to achieve better quality of service, and must send large size buffer-maps to their neighbors, which is not efficient. In this paper, we study buffer-map exchange challenges in pull-based P2P VoD streaming systems and propose an adaptive mechanism for decreasing bandwidth and computational overhead via sending only a portion of information included in the buffer-map with regard to the viewing point of each neighbor. The bandwidth overhead analysis of the proposed mechanism is validated by network simulation and the results show that our mechanism effectively reduces bandwidth overhead.
Real time spectra and wavelength correlation maps: New insights into octave-spanning supercontinuum generation and rogue waves

This paper reports on the use of dispersive time stretching for real time measurements of a high power Ti:Sapphire generated SC spanning 550-1100 nm, and the use of a wavelength correlation map to directly reveal the physics of different processes contributing to the SC. The SC was generated in 12 cm of photonic crystal fiber (790 nm zero dispersion) pumped by 5 kW peak power 200 fs pulses at 810 nm. The average OSA spectrum and 1000 shot-to-shot spectra using time-stretching in 100 m of specially designed normally-dispersive fiber. The real time spectra show significant fluctuations and the rare appearance of extreme frequency shifting rogue solitons (RS) is observed. The mean of the real-time measurements is in excellent agreement with the average OSA spectrum, confirming measurement fidelity.
A Model of the Relationship among Consumer Trust, Web Design and User Attributes

One important aspect of consumer relationships is trust. Conducting business on the Web is relatively new compared to traditional business and many of the factors related to consumer trust related to the Web remained unexplored. To increase our understanding about trust building on the Internet, this article studies trust with a focus on its relationship to Web design characteristics, specifically perceived quality of presentation, perceived ease of navigation, and several user attributes: prior internet experience, Web users’ self efficacy, and gender differences. A research model is proposed that builds upon prior research on trust. A survey is developed based on the constructs and relationships in the model. The data analysis and results confirm five out of eight of the hypotheses associated with the model. Theoretical and practical implications are provided. [Article copies are available for purchase from InfoSci-on-Demand.com]
Option Returns and Volatility Mispricing

We study the cross-section of stock options returns and find an economically important source of mispricing in individual equity options. Sorting stocks based on the difference between historical realized volatility and market implied volatility, we find that a zero-cost trading strategy that is long (short) in straddles, with a large positive (negative) difference in these two volatility measures, produces an economically important and statistically significant average monthly return. The results are robust to different market conditions, to firm risk-characteristics, to various industry groupings, to options liquidity characteristics, and are not explained by linear factor models.
Investigating the Connection between Awareness and Internet Non-Use

Empirical studies on technology adoption usually are based on data from self-reported measures, and a large subset of this literature draws on the Theory of Planned Behaviour TPB or Technology Acceptance Model TAM. However, for non-Internet users, self-reported measures and these theoretical frameworks face important limitations: non-users often are under-informed about the technology and are unable to accurately explain their non-use. In addition, the measurement instruments in the TAM/TPB literature often are not applicable to non-users. Addressing these issues, this paper examines non-Internet users' awareness of the Internet's benefits and its impact on adoption intention. Focusing on the under-informed, this approach substitutes awareness for perceived usefulness or affective attitude. Test results demonstrate good predictive power on non-Internet users' adoption intention, calling for caution when applying these commonly used analytical tools to study late-adopters of technology.