Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improvement Research of Customer Segmentation in Knowledge Intensive Business Services

Knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS) show the service specialized, knowledgeable, customized features, which determines its customers with a highly participatory and interactive. The reasonable classification of the customer will contribute to offering better solutions for the problem to meet customer's demand. Combined with features of KIBS customer services, this paper points out that the market segmentation is no longer limited to variables of customer behavior characteristics, poses the afterwards market segmentation strategy based on attitude variables. Describes traditional K-means and SOFM cluster methods, proposes SVC algorithm to conduct market segmentation. Through application case of market segmentation the paper contrasted clustering effect of three methods, improving the ability to determine the effect of classification and advantages.
Quality of teleoperator adaptive control for telerobotic operations

Extensive studies have been conducted on telerobotic operations for decades due to their widespread applications in a variety of areas. Most studies have been focused on two major issues: stability and telepresence. Few have studied the influence of the operation status of the teleoperator on the performance of telerobotic operations. As subnormal operation status of the teleoperator may result in insufficient and even incorrect operations, the quality of teleoperator (QoT) is an important impact on the performance of the telerobotic operations in terms of the efficiency and safety even if both the stability and telepresence are guaranteed. Therefore, this paper investigates the online identification of the QoT and its application to telerobotic operations. The QoT is identified based on five QoT indicators which are generated based on the teleoperator’s brain EEG signals. A QoT adaptive control method is designed to adapt the velocity and responsivity of the robotic system to the operation status of the teleoperator such that the teleoperation efficiency and safety can be enhanced. The online QoT identification method was conducted on various teleoperators and the QoT adaptive control method was implemented on a mobile manipulator teleoperation system. The experimental results demonstrated the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed methods.
Adaptation of a data warehouse to variable information demand of enterprises

In order that data warehouses can accomplish their role in integrated management support computer systems, they must reproduce the state of a company at any point in time and take into account an evolutionary character of a company and its environment, time-variable needs of their users. To reproduce on-line the state of the company, its environment and needs of the data warehouse’s users, it is to extend the function in the data warehouse and make it possible to carry out systematically the measurement as well as to evaluate how the data warehouse is conformed to the needs of its users, to the company, and how the company is conformed to its environment. Owing to that it will be possible to conform iteratively the data warehouse to new company’s states, its environment and new needs of the data warehouse’s users (decision-makers). A concept of such method is presented in this article.
Molecular Analysis of Clostridium difficile PCR Ribotype 027 Isolates from Eastern and Western Canada

ABSTRACT The prevalence and characteristics of PCR ribotype 027 strains of Clostridium difficile have come into question following recent outbreaks in Eastern Canada and elsewhere. In order to determine the distribution of this strain in other regions in Canada, we screened a bank of 1,419 isolates recovered from three different Canadian health regions between 2000 and 2004. Among isolates from a Montreal area hospital, PCR ribotype 027 strains represented 115/153 strains (75.2%) from 2003 to 2004, but ribotype 027 strains were absent in 2000 and 2001. In Calgary, by contrast, ribotype 027 rates have remained relatively stable over 4 years of surveillance, representing 51/685 (7.4%) hospital isolates and 62/373 (16.6%) strains from the community (P < 0.001). PCR ribotype 027 accounted for 8/135 (5.9%) hospital isolates in the Fraser Health Region in 2004. repetitive extragenic palindromic PCR was used to subtype a random selection of 027 isolates from each region. All 10 of the isolates from Quebec were of a single subtype, which was also dominant among isolates from Alberta (8/10 isolates) and British Columbia (6/8 isolates). Comparative sequencing of the tcdC repressor gene confirmed the documented 18-bp deletion and identified a second, single-base-pair deletion at position 117. Both deletions were conserved across all three provinces and were identified in a United Kingdom reference strain. The presence of a frameshift in the early portion of the tcdC gene implies serious functional disruption and may contribute to the hypervirulence of the 027 phenotype. PCR ribotype 027 strains appear to be widely distributed, to predate the Montreal outbreak, and to have measurable community presence in Western Canada.
Bankruptcy Prediction Using Multiple Intelligent Agent System via a Localized Generalization Error Approach

Company Bankruptcy costs a loss of billions of dollars to banks each year. Thus bankruptcy prediction is a critical part of a bank's loan approval decision process. Traditional financial models for bankruptcy prediction are no longer adequate for describing today's complex relationship between the financial health and potential bankruptcy of a company. In this work, a multiple classifier system (embedded in a multiple intelligent agent system) is proposed to predict the financial health of a company. In our model, each individual agent (classifier) makes a prediction on the likelihood of bankruptcy based on only partial information of the company. Each of the agents is an expert, having certain part of the knowledge (represented by features) of the company. The decisions of all agents are combined together to form a final bankruptcy prediction. Preliminary experiments show that our model out-performs other existing methods using the benchmarking Compustat American Corporations dataset.
PV output power smoothing using flywheel storage system

A large penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) characterizes the next generation power grid. Yet the intermittent nature of such resources introduces new challenges in the power grid. In this paper, we explore the employment of flywheels to smooth the output power of a fluctuating energy resource. We introduce an energy management approach that is based on moving average (MA) and linear programming (LP) to optimize the operation of the flywheel storage system to smooth the output of a PV system. The MA is tracked to reduce the fluctuation whereas optimization is used to find the optimal charging and discharging periods that takes into consideration the production forecast. The results demonstrate the ability of the approach to mitigate the output power fluctuation of a photovoltaic system.
Patients with coronary artery disease not amenable to traditional revascularization: prevalence and 3-year mortality.

Objectives: To determine the contemporary prevalence of and mortality in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) not amenable to revascularization. Background: A growing number of patients have severe CAD with ongoing angina despite optimal medical therapy which is not amenable to traditional revascularization. Limited data exist on contemporary prevalence and outcome for these patients. Methods: Clinical and angiographic data were reviewed for 493 consecutive patients undergoing coronary angiography and revascularization if indicated. Patients were categorized into six groups: (1) normal coronary arteries, (2) CAD 70% with complete revascularization by percutaneous intervention or coronary artery bypass grafting, (4) CAD >70% with partial revascularization, (5) CAD >70% treated medically, and (6) CAD >70% on optimal medical therapy with no revascularization option. All-cause mortality at 3 years was determined. Results: Prevalence for groups 1–6 was 14.8, 19.5, 36.9, 12.8, 9.3, and 6.7%, respectively. Three-year mortality increased with angiographic severity of CAD: 2.7, 6.3, 8.2, 12.7, 17.4, and 15.2%, respectively. Patients with incomplete revascularization (groups 4–6, n = 142) had higher mortality than completely revascularized patients (groups 1–3, n = 351): 14.8 vs. 6.6% (P = 0.004). Conclusions: In a contemporary series of patients undergoing coronary angiography, 28.8% (142/493) of patients had significant CAD and did not undergo complete revascularization, including 12.8% partially revascularized, 9.3% managed medically, and 6.7% with “no-option. ” These patients had higher mortality at 3 years (14.8 vs. 6.6%, P = 0.004) when compared with completely revascularized patients. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Evaluation of bioreductive activation of anticancer drugs idarubicin and mitomycin C by NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase and cytochrome P450 2B4

This study attempted to investigate the ability of microsomal NADH-cytochrome b5 reductase and cytochrome P450 2B4 to reductively activate idarubicin and mitomycin C. In vitro plasmid DNA damage experiments and assays using purified hepatic enzymes were employed to examine their respective roles in the metabolic activation of anticancer drugs. Mitomycin C was found to be not a good substrate for microsomal b5 reductase unlike P450 reductase. It produced low amounts of strand breaks in DNA when incubated with b5 reductase and its one-electron reduction by purified enzyme was found as negligible. Our findings revealed that P450 reductase-mediated metabolism of idarubicin resulted in a large increase in single-strand DNA breaks, whereas, b5 reductase neither catalyzed the reduction of idarubicin nor mediated the formation of DNA damage in the presence of idarubicin. The reconstitution studies, on the other hand, have identified rabbit liver CYP2B4 isozyme as being a potential candidate enzyme for reductive bioactivation of idarubicin and mitomycin C. Thus, the present novel findings strongly suggest that while b5 reductase could not play a key role in the cytotoxic and/or antitumor effects of idarubicin and mitomycin C, CYP2B4 could potentiate their activity in combination with P450 reductase.
Emerging Markets Portfolio Creating a Latin American Portfolio Peruvian Case Study

The case study seeks to identify the most important issues encountered in developing a new portfolio in a Latin America country, exploring several alternatives which include not only stock and sovereign bonds but also more sophisticate products such as American Depositary Receipt (ADR) or Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) from emerging countries, and determine what are the risks involved in the process following not only Basil III standards, but also the local best practice recommend by the local regulators. The study at the beginning used historical information (normal distribution formulas) of several equities and bonds (n = 142) and then selected five Peruvian instruments (one of this involved at least 25 equities, N = 5, n = 30) and then other 30 (one of this include an ETF, N = 30, n = 55) in order to determine the best return and risk combination for an emerging market portfolio. Besides, the additional objective is to examine and introduce the reader in some statistics formulas used in finance and risk management. Senior management must evaluate the issues associated with the new portfolio and strategy developed.
Mapping is Not Sufficient for Specifying Position in Visual Space

The general view is that one knows where an object is located in visual space on the basis of which neurons it activates. But there is reason to believe that a radically different method of specifying position is needed, one which identifies the position using coordinates. Those who study motor systems assume such coordinates, but the question of how the sensory system could derive these values is given no attention.
Identifying Intra-household Welfare Distribution

The paper proposes a new application of the collective model of household be- haviour to the analysis of intra-household inequality using the answers to the ques- tions on subjective welfare. The collective approach attributes to each household member distinct preferences and assumes that household decisions are Pareto efficient. The individual choices are guided by the sharing rule describing the intra-household decision making. So far, most empirical studies based on the collective approach have been restricted to the identification of the sharing rule up to a constant. This study extends the work of Kalugina, Radtchenko, Sofer (2009) and proposes a new method of the sharing rule identification using the information on individual welfare satisfaction as an additional source of analysis. In spite of different sources of identification used in the two analyses and substantial differences of the econometric models adopted according to the identification sources, the results of the sharing rule estimation are qualitatively and quantitatively similar to those obtained in Kalugina, Radtchenko, Sofer (2009).
Genetic differentiation of the Cabo Verde Archipelago population analysed by STR polymorphisms

Summary Allele frequencies for 17 STR loci were analyzed in a sample of unrelated males from the Cabo Verde Archipelago. The samples were gathered in such a way that the origin of the subjects was perfectly identiﬁed, and they could be included in one of the leeward or windward groups of islands. This study reveals that there are signiﬁcant differences between both groups of islands, and between Cabo Verdeans and other populations from sub-Sahara Africa including the Guineans, the most probable source population for Cabo Verdeans. This study conﬁrms mtDNA data and, together with HLA and Y chromosome data already published, shows that the Cabo Verde population is sub-structured and atypical, diverging substantially from mainland sub-Saharan populations. Overall these differences are most probably due to admixture between sub-Saharan slaves brought into the islands and other settlers of European origin. In the absence of a clear indication of a different ethnic composition of the ﬁrst sub-Saharan settlers of Cabo Verde, the differentiation exhibited in both groups of islands can be most probably be attributed to genetic drift.
Stem Cell Therapy for Articular Cartilage Repair: Review of the Entity of Cell Populations Used and the Result of the Clinical Application of Each Entity

Background: Following successful preclinical studies, stem cell therapy is emerging as a candidate for the treatment of articular cartilage lesions. Because stem cell therapy for cartilage repair in humans is at an early phase, confusion and errors are found in the literature regarding use of the term stem cell therapy in this field. Purpose: To provide an overview of the outcomes of cartilage repair, elucidating the various cell populations used, and thus reduce confusion with regard to using the term stem cell therapy. Study Design: Systematic review. Methods: The authors systematically reviewed any studies on clinical application of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) in human subjects. A comprehensive search was performed in MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Web of Science, and Scopus for human studies that evaluated articular cartilage repair with cell populations containing MSCs. These studies were classified as using bone marrow–derived MSCs, adipose tissue–derived MSCs, peripheral blood–derived MSCs, synovium-derived MSCs, and umbilical cord blood–derived MSCs according to the entity of cell population used. Results: Forty-six clinical studies were identified to focus on cartilage repair with MSCs: 20 studies with bone marrow–derived MSCs, 21 studies with adipose tissue–derived MSCs, 3 studies with peripheral blood–derived MSCs, 1 study with synovium-derived MSCs, and 1 study with umbilical cord blood–derived MSCs. All clinical studies reported that cartilage treated with MSCs showed favorable clinical outcomes in terms of clinical scores or cartilage repair evaluated by MRI. However, most studies were limited to case reports and case series. Among these 46 clinical studies, 18 studies erroneously referred to adipose tissue–derived stromal vascular fractions as “adipose-derived MSCs,” 2 studies referred to peripheral blood–derived progenitor cells as “peripheral blood–derived MSCs,” and 1 study referred to bone marrow aspirate concentrate as “bone marrow–derived MSCs. ” Conclusion: Limited evidence is available regarding clinical benefit of stem cell therapy for articular cartilage repair. Because the literature contains substantial errors in describing the therapeutic cells used, researchers need to be alert and observant of proper terms, especially regarding whether the cells used were stem cells or cell populations containing a small portion of stem cells, to prevent confusion in understanding the results of a given stem cell–based therapy.
Role of skeletal muscle in thiazolidinedione insulin sensitizer (PPARgamma agonist) action.

Thiazolidinedione (TZD) insulin sensitizers are specific agonists of peroxisome proliferator activated receptor (PPAR)gamma. However, their mechanism of action and the in vivo target tissue(s) that mediate insulin sensitization remain poorly defined. Although PPARgamma messenger RNA expression has been reported in skeletal muscle, the expression of PPARgamma within myocytes in intact muscle tissue has not been examined. An antipeptide PPARgamma antibody was generated; immunohistochemistry was then used to demonstrate that PPARgamma is present within nuclei of myocytes [in both skeletal (white and red fibers) and cardiac tissue (rodent and human)]. The effect of insulin sensitizer treatment on muscle insulin action was studied using ob/ob mice after 4 days dosing with a potent (6 nM PPARgamma Kd) TZD (10 mg/kg x day). 2-deoxyglucose (2-DOG) uptake was then assessed in freshly isolated soleus muscles from lean vs. ob/ob vs. TZD-treated ob/ob mice. In lean mouse muscles, 2-DOG uptake was stimulated by 82%, 95%, 165% (with 25, 100, 2000 microU/ml insulin); muscles from ob/ob were severely insulin resistant (<80% stimulation with 2000 microU/ml insulin). Muscles from TZD-treated ob/ob displayed a normal insulin response with 100 (71%) or 2000 (158%) microU/ml insulin. Additional studies were performed using ZDF rats treated with/without TZD for 7 days. In vivo 2-DOG glucose uptake into soleus, gastrocnemius, and diaphragm muscles was measured during euglycemic-hyperinsulinemic clamp. Compared with lean rats, muscle 2-DOG uptake in ZDF was reduced by 52% (soleus) or 71% (diaphragm). Partial (40-60%) normalization of the reduced 2-DOG uptake was evident in TZD-treated ZDF rats. In contrast to the effect of in vivo treatment on muscle insulin action, preincubation of isolated soleus muscles from naive lean or ob/ob mice for 5 h with 100 nM TZD did not affect insulin-stimulated 2-DOG uptake. We conclude: 1) PPARgamma is expressed in myocytes within skeletal and cardiac muscle. 2) In vivo activation of PPARgamma by treatment of insulin-resistant mice/rats with a potent TZD corrects impaired muscle insulin action. 3) The lack of a direct effect on muscle after 5 h in vitro TZD incubation suggests that changes in insulin action may require a longer duration of PPARgamma activation or that improved muscle insulin sensitivity may result from an indirect in vivo effect of PPARgamma activation (e.g. changes in systemic lipid metabolism).
Suppressor of Cytokine Signaling-1 Ameliorates Expression of MCP-1 in Diabetic Nephropathy

Background: Janus kinase (JAK)/signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT) contribute to diabetic nephropathy. Suppressor of cytokine signaling-1 (SOCS-1) is one of the negative feedback regulators of JAK/STAT signaling. This study investigated the effect of SOCS-1 on the JAK/STAT pathway and MCP-1 expression in diabetic nephropathy. Methods: Streptozotocin-induced diabetic mice received pEF-FLAG-I/mSOCS-1 plasmid or pEF-FLAG-I vector for 4 weeks and were compared with age-matched nondiabetic mice. Functional and pathologic markers, expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and TGF-β1 and phosphorylation of STAT1 and STAT3 were assessed. The effect of SOCS-1 on the expression of MCP-1 in mesangial cells under high glucose conditions was also examined.Results: Urine albumin excretion and renal hypertrophy were alleviated in diabetic mice by overexpression of SOCS-1. The expression of TGF-β1 and MCP-1 and the activation of STAT1 and STAT3 were significantly inhibited in diabetic kidney by gene delivery of SOCS-1. In cultured mesangial cells, overexpression of SOCS-1 markedly suppressed high glucose-induced MCP-1 expression. Conclusions: This study suggests that SOCS-1 may attenuate renal damage by ameliorating MCP-1 expression and regulation of the phosphorylation of JAK/STAT in diabetic mice.
Clinical performance of the CLART human papillomavirus 2 assay compared with the hybrid capture 2 test

Persistent infection by high‐risk human papillomavirus (HR‐HPV) is a cause of cervical cancer. The use of HPV detection in cervical screening programs may improve the ability to identify women at risk of cervical cancer. Therefore, the development of appropriate methods for the detection of HR‐HPV is essential. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical performance of the CLART Human Papillomavirus 2 assay (CLART) in comparison with the Hybrid Capture 2 test (HC2), using a clinical cut‐off of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse. Discrepant results were analyzed further by the PapilloCheck HPV genotyping system. In the 425 studied women, HR‐HPV positivity rates were similar by both tests (CLART‐13 HR‐HPV: 63.1%; CLART‐17 HR‐HPV: 64.7%; HC2: 64.5%). Agreement between CLART‐13 HR‐HPV (κ = 0.969; concordance level 98.6%), CLART‐17 HR‐HPV (κ = 0.974; concordance level 98.8%), and HC2 were very good. When 13 HR‐HPV types were considered, the two tests showed a clinical sensitivity of 96% (95% CI: 92.6–97.9). The clinical specificity of CLART‐13 HR‐HPV was 73.6% (95% CI: 66.7–79.5) for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse, which was comparable to HC2 (71.4%; 95% CI: 64.3–77.5). When all 17 HR‐HPV types were considered, CLART showed a clinical sensitivity of 96.9% (95% CI: 93.8–98.5) and a clinical specificity of 71.9% (95% CI: 64.9–78.0). In conclusion, the CLART assay is efficient, sensitive, reproducible, and has a similar performance to HC2 for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or worse. Furthermore, this assay has the advantage of detecting and genotyping 35 HPV types by a single test, which can provide additional information on the predictive value of infection with HR‐HPV. J. Med. Virol. 83:272–276, 2011. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Translational animal models of autism and neurodevelopmental disorders

Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder whose diagnosis is based on three behavioral criteria: unusual reciprocal social interactions, deficits in communication, and stereotyped repetitive behaviors with restricted interests. A large number of de novo single gene mutations and chromosomal deletions are associated with autism spectrum disorders. Based on the strong genetic evidence, mice with targeted mutations in homologous genes have been generated as translational research tools. Mouse models of autism have revealed behavioral and biological outcomes of mutations in risk genes. The field is now poised to employ the most robust phenotypes in the most replicable mouse models for preclinical screening of novel therapeutics.