Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Success factors of selective information technology outsourcing in enterprise resource planning projects in Israel

IT Outsourcing (contracting-out of Information Technology services) has become a pivotal economic trend in recent decades. This study traces the interlacing of IT Outsourcing with Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software systems. Little research has considered the reciprocal relations between these two phenomena. This was the gap in knowledge addressed by the research. More specifically, the research investigated: why organisations turn to IT Outsourcing providers to implement and maintain ERP systems and what are the success factors for selective IT Outsourcing within ERP projects in Israel. Field research was conducted in organisations during 2006-2008, employing IT Outsourcing for ERP systems in two stages: Stage One used qualitative data-collection tools: five semi-structured interviews and fifteen open-ended questionnaires. Inductive content and thematic analysis conducted on data from these tools produced themes that formed the basis for a closed-ended questionnaire used in the next stage. Stage Two employed seventy two closed-ended questionnaires. Quantitative data from this questionnaire underwent deductive statistical analysis to test and confirm findings from Stage One. Results indicated that significant differences between ERP package-based centralised cross-organisational systems and the out-dated self-developed legacy IT systems produced different organisational requirements for IT Outsourcing services. Respondents thought it essential to employ IT Outsourcing for ERP projects, noting different motivations for this strategy. Respondents identified four success factor groups for IT Outsourcing in ERP projects, grading the factors according to relative importance. Management commitment and support was the most important success factor group. The research showed that organisations that implement ERP systems regard it as essential to employ the IT Outsourcing services since they provide experienced updated experts. Organisations stress that they need these services to ensure effective, operable systems, understanding that initially there is little cost reduction. Management commitment, wise choice of vendors and intelligent contracting can establish successful vendor-organisation collaboration. Contribution to knowledge is made by offering a better understanding of the unique phenomenon of IT Outsourcing within ERP projects in Israel, motivations to use and success factors
GeneMatcher Aids in the Identification of a New Malformation Syndrome with Intellectual Disability, Unique Facial Dysmorphisms, and Skeletal and Connective Tissue Abnormalities Caused by De Novo Variants in HNRNPK

We report a new syndrome due to loss‐of‐function variants in the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K gene (HNRNPK). We describe two probands: one with a de novo frameshift (NM_002140.3: c.953+1dup), and the other with a de novo splice donor site variant (NM_002140.3: c.257G>A). Both probands have intellectual disability, a shared unique craniofacial phenotype, and connective tissue and skeletal abnormalities. The identification of this syndrome was made possible by a new online tool, GeneMatcher, which facilitates connections between clinicians and researchers based on shared interest in candidate genes. This report demonstrates that new Web‐based approaches can be effective in helping investigators solve exome sequencing projects, and also highlights the newer paradigm of “reverse phenotyping,” where characterization of syndromic features follows the identification of genetic variants.
12C(p,n)12N reaction at 135 MeV.

We report observations from the (p,n) reaction on $^{12}\mathrm{C}$ at 135 MeV. The experiment was performed with the beam-swinger neutron time-of-flight system at the Indiana University Cyclotron Facility. Neutrons were detected in large-volume plastic scintillation detectors located in three detector stations at 0\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}, 24\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}, and 45\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{} with respect to the undeflected beam line; the flight paths were 91 m, 91 m, and 74 m, respectively. Overall time resolutions of about 825 ps provided energy resolutions of about 350 keV in the first two stations and about 425 keV in the third station. The angular distributions for states with excitation energies up to 10 MeV are presented and comparisons are made with DWIA calculations that use one-body density matrices from 0\ensuremath{\Elzxh}\ensuremath{\omega} and 1\ensuremath{\Elzxh}\ensuremath{\omega} shell-model calculations. New information is deduced on the excitation energies, widths, and spin-parity assignments for several energy levels of $^{12}\mathrm{N}$. \textcopyright{} 1996 The American Physical Society.
Fault tolerant control system design with explicit consideration of performance degradation

A new approach is proposed for active fault tolerant control systems (FTCS), which allows one to explicitly incorporate allowable system performance degradation in the event of partial actuator fault in the design process. The method is based on model-following and command input management techniques. The degradation in dynamic performance is accounted for through a degraded reference model. A novel method for,selecting such a model is also presented. The degradation in steady-state performance is dealt with using a command input adjustment technique. When a fault is detected by the fault detection and diagnosis (FDD) scheme, the reconfigurable controller is designed automatically using an eigenstructure assignment algorithm in an explicit model-following framework so that the dynamics of the closed-loop system follow that of the degraded reference model. In the mean time, the command input is also adjusted automatically to prevent the actuators from saturation. The proposed method has been evaluated using the lateral dynamics of an F-8 aircraft against actuator faults subject to constraints on the magnitude of actuator inputs. Very encouraging results have been obtained.
MOPPS: a scheme for managing parallel scientific programs in a distributed architecture

MOPPS, a system under development at Santa Clara University, which employs a new solution to the problem of managing programs which solve scientific and engineering applications on a distributed computer environment, is introduced. The core of MOPPS is an intelligent program manager that builds a database of the execution performance of parallel programs it manages under different conditions. The manager then applies that knowledge to improve the performance of future runs. The program manager learns from experience. MOPPs is not locked into a specific architecture, programming language, or operating system. It looks at a program as a collection of functions that do specific scientific programming tasks. <<ETX>>
How the Business Strategies of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises are Affected Based on Their Size and Business Focus

The Current global environment requires that enterprises should have a clearly determined vision and direction, which they want to head for. This paper deals with the process management of small and medium sized enterprises according to the number of employees and business focus. The aim is to analytically describe the business strategies of surveyed small and medium sized enterprises and their differences based on company size and business focus. Furthermore, to statistically analyse and compare the causal effect between strategy selection and affiliation to examined categories of small and medium sized enterprises. Statistical analysis deals with relative frequencies, graphical analysis and the Kruskal Wallis test complemented by analysis of the correlation coefficient. The results show, except in the case of analytical description of strategies within surveyed small and medium sized enterprises, findings dealing with causal effects of strategy selection between surveyed enterprises according to their business activities too. This article was supported by a grant project GAJU 039/2013/S.
New aspects of pre-eclampsia: lessons for the nephrologist.

Pre-eclampsia was first described in 1843 when John Lever from Guy’s hospital in London discovered proteinuria in women with puerperal convulsions. Today, this pregnancy syndrome is defined by new onset of hypertension and proteinuria during the last trimester. From population-based studies, pre-eclampsia is reported to affect 3–5% of all pregnancies [1], resulting in substantial maternal and foetal morbidity and mortality worldwide. The exact aetiology is still unknown, but our understanding of pre-eclampsia has improved in recent years. The pathophysiologic changes include disturbances in the vascular development of placenta resulting in placental hypoperfusion and ischaemia. The damaged placenta, in turn, secretes a wide range of anti-angiogenic factors into the maternal circulation that is believed to cause a systemic endothelial cell dysfunction and microangiopathy [2]. In the kidneys, these endothelial damages result in glomerular capillary endotheliosis and proteinuria. Glomerular endotheliosis is characterized by deposition of fibrin and fibrinogen material in and beneath the endothelial cells as well as endothelial swelling, resulting in obliteration of the endothelial fenestrae and loss of the capillary space [3]. Although these renal changes in general are believed to resolve completely after delivery, recent evidence suggests that pre-eclampsia may leave a permanent renal damage.
A Safer World Financial System: Improving the Resolution of Systemic Institutions

Most countries lack an effective framework for dealing with failing systemically important financial institutions (SIFIs). This report argues that any serious attempt to stabilize the global financial system must include carefully crafted policies for restructuring these "too big to fail" cross-border institutions. The report recommends approaches for resolving SIFIs in a way that will maintain national sovereignty, enhance international financial integration, and preserve financial stability. Copublished with the International Center for Monetary and Banking Studies (ICMB)
Work Design Drivers of Organizational Learning about Operational Failures: A Laboratory Experiment on Medication Administration

Operational failures persist in hospitals, in part because employees work around them rather than attempt to prevent recurrence. Drawing on a process improvement tool—the Andon cord—we examine three work design components that may foster improvement-oriented behaviors: 1) blockages to prevent workarounds; 2) a support person to assist with problem-solving; and 3) education portraying operational failures as “waste” to be removed from the system. Using laboratory experiments, we test each component’s impact on whether hospital nurses speak up about medication administration problems and contribute improvement ideas. We find that each component provides its own contribution to organizational performance. Blockages encourage people to suggest improvement ideas, while education sparks improvement suggestions even when there are no blockages. Blockages can backfire, however, if they are difficult to work around in a policy-compliant manner and problem-solving support is unavailable. Under these conditions, blockages led to a risky workaround associated with a 10X overdose of insulin. Risky workarounds can be mitigated with a readily-available support person, whose presence also elicits higher levels of speaking up about operational failures.
Oxidative Stress and Reduced Vitamins C and E Levels Are Associated with Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) still remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. In Nigeria, there is little information on antioxidant status of TB patients. In this study, effects of oxidative stress markers and vitamins C and E were investigated in pulmonary TB patients at- tending a health care facility in Nigeria. Methods: Sputum specimens were processed for acid-fast bacilli (AFB) while rifampicin resistance was determined by GeneXpert/Rif assay. Patients were screened for HIV after adequate counselling. Assays for hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), malondialde- hyde (MDA), protein carbonyl (PC), myeloperoxidase (MPx), xanthine oxidase (XO), catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione S-transferase (GST), glu- tathione peroxidase (GPx), α-tocopherol and ascorbic acid were estimated using standard me- thods. Results: Of the 83 recruited subjects, 29 (34.9%) were AFB negative, 30 (36.1%) were AFB positive while 24 (29.0%) were positive for rifampicin resistance. Overall, HIV prevalence was 6.0% while higher rate of 16.7% was found among the rifampicin resistant subjects. Plasma con- centrations of H2O2, MDA and PC and also MPx and XO activities were significantly higher among rifampicin resistant subjects compared with AFB positive and AFB negative groups (P < 0.05). Plasma concentration of GSH and the activities of SOD, GST and GPX were significantly reduced in rifampicin resistant subjects compared with the 2 other groups (P < 0.05). The plasma activity of CAT was similar between rifampicin resistant and AFB positive subjects but significantly lower when compared with AFB negative group. Rifampicin resistant subjects had significantly lower concentrations of α-tocopherol and ascorbic acid compared with 2 other groups (P < 0.05). Con- clusion: This study revealed that resistance of TB patients to rifampicin may be due to induction of oxidative stress. Administration of vitamins C and E may be beneficial by reducing the severity of the disease. * Corresponding author.
Strategic Alliances in the Telecommunications Sector. An EC Competition Assessment

Strategic alliances can be defined as contractual co-operation agreements between two legally independent companies operating on the same horizontal level of the market, the purpose of which is to strengthen the competitiveness of the undertakings concerned through the achievement of strategic competitive advantages. Having its origin in theories of business management, the term has over the last decade become somewhat of a buzzword and a very popular form of co-operation between international undertakings. The objective of this working paper has therefore been to analyse the term “strategic alliance” according to Article 81 of the EC Treaty and its subordinated regulations and principles, e.g. what new types of circumstances may arise and what possible consequences may these have on competition in the relevant markets? The special emphasis, however, lies on the question whether the existing legal framework and legal principles of the EC Treaty offer a sufficient basis in order to make an adequate assessment of the phenomenon? A particular emphasis of this paper will also lie on the telecommunications sector, a market which over the last decade has been particularly affected and influenced by strategic alliances. 4 CFE Working paper series no. 21 5 Strategic Alliances in the Telecommunications Sector
Allocation of multiport memory with ports of different type in register transfer level synthesis

At present, there is no efficient synthesis approach for multiport memory synthesis in data path design and only single port memory is considered for register allocation in most synthesis systems. An efficient method, partitioned dependence matrix (PDM), is presented to explore the design space for multiport memory synthesis in which the maximum number of read ports can be same as or different from the maximum number of write ports according to the design constraints. The design generator based on the PDM method was developed and implemented to facilitate the register transfer (RT) level synthesis. The input to the design generator is a behavioral description at the RT level which is viewed as a code sequence. PDM provides the memory mechanism as the output. <<ETX>>
Synchronous reluctance and interior permanent magnet motors

This paper focuses on the key notions about analysis and design of synchronous reluctance and an interior permanent magnet motors. The aim is to highlight not only the advantages of such machines but also some drawbacks of theirs, such as the low power factor and the torque ripple. The strategies to reduce such a drawbacks are also reported. Machines adopting Ferrite magnets instead of rare-earth permanent magnet are considered. It is shown that the reduction of the performance is quite limited thanks to the anisotropic structure, compensating the use of low energy PMs by means of the reluctance torque component. At last, fractional-slot winding concepts are summarized, highlighting some tricks to overcome the high torque ripple in such a machines.
Combination of Poly I:C and arsenic trioxide triggers apoptosis synergistically via activation of TLR3 and mitochondrial pathways in hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Poly I:C (polyinosinic acid:polycytidylic acid), an analogue of dsRNA (double‐stranded RNA), can lead to apoptosis in human cancer cells and has been used as an adjuvant to treat cancer patients. ATO (arsenic trioxide) is used effectively in the treatment of HCC (hepatocellular carcinoma). We sought to evaluate whether Poly I:C could enhance the potentiation of ATO in HCC. Combination of Poly I:C and ATO synergistically inhibited the growth of SMMC‐7721 cells. Treatment with Poly I:C alone or combined with ATO‐activated TLR3 (Toll‐like receptor 3) pathway, increased ROS (reactive oxygen species) generation and mitochondrial dysfunction. The combined treatment also caused caspase‐3, −8, −9 activation. Moreover, the combined therapy caused Bcl‐2 and survivin down‐regulation, Bax up‐regulation and Bid activation. In conclusion, the Poly I:C and ATO combination is potentially a novel and effective approach for the treatment of HCC.
Getting into your Head(ache): the Information Content of Advertising in the over-the-counter analgesics industry

We study how much information firms include in their advertisements and what determines their choices. We use data from advertisement videos from the US OTC analgesics industry between 2001 and 2005 to measure information content in ads. For each video we code the number of cues it contains. The correlation between any two cues is rarely large, suggesting that each cue provides different information. We find: i) brands with inherently better characteristics (e.g. faster relief) transmit more information; ii) comparative advertisements contain significantly more information than self-promotion ads; iii) market share is negatively associated with the amount of information content; iv) a higher market share of the generic version of a brand is also associated with less information by the brand. Not controlling for endogeneity of market share and the decision to use comparative advertising would lead to significant estimation bias. Result (iii) is consistent with recent theoretical work that larger firms disclose less information, while result (iv) indicates the likely presence of information spillovers from brands to their generic counterparts.
Coordinative control on output regulation of multi-agent systems with general nonlinear dynamics

In this paper, the output regulation problem of a multi-agent system with general nonlinear dynamics is addressed. To solve this problem, the nonlinear distributed coordinative controller is designed, so that the agents can asymptotically track the reference or reject disturbance. The reference or disturbance signals are generated by an exosystem, which can be considered as active leaders or the environmental disturbance in the multi-agent systems. Finally, a numerical simulation example is provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the main results.
Trends in Hepatitis C Virus Infection Among Patients in the HIV Outpatient Study, 1996–2007

Background:Coinfection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) contributes increasingly to the morbidity and mortality of persons infected with HIV. We assessed HCV infection screening practices and determined trends in the prevalence of HCV infection in the HIV Outpatient Study (HOPS) from 1996 to 2007. Methods:We calculated the proportion of patients eligible to be tested for HCV infection (i.e., never tested or previously tested negative) and the prevalence of HCV infection annually from 1996 to 2007 by sociodemographic, clinical, and HIV risk category characteristics. We used multiple logistic regression analyses to evaluate factors independently associated with HCV testing. Results:A total of 7618 patients were active in the HOPS from 1996 through 2007. The proportion of eligible patients tested for HCV infection increased from 10.7% in 1996 to 76.6% in 2007 and increased among all demographic and risk groups. Overall HCV prevalence decreased from 36.7% in 1996 to 19.7% in 2007; decreases in prevalence occurred among all groups except for injection drug users (IDUs). In multivariable analysis, age older than 35 years, nonwhite race, Hispanic ethnicity, high-risk heterosexual and IDU risk categories, and at least 3 years of enrollment in the HOPS were associated with increased odds of having been tested for HCV infection. Conclusions:Screening for HCV infection in the HOPS has improved, although a sizable fraction of patients remain unscreened. The decline in overall HCV infection prevalence from 1996 to 2007 resulted primarily from a decline in the fraction of all prevalent infections in the cohort attributable to IDU patients.
Effects of Resveratrol (trans-3,5,4′-Trihydroxystilbene) Treatment on Cardiac Remodeling following Myocardial Infarction

Resveratrol (RES; trans-3,5,4′-trihydroxystilbene) has been shown to improve health and slow the progression of disease in various models. Several cardioprotective mechanisms have been identified including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antifibrotic actions. Each of these actions is thought to have the ability to attenuate the pathophysiology underlying the deleterious cardiac structural remodeling that results from acute myocardial infarction (MI). Therefore, we evaluated the effect of resveratrol treatment on the progression of cardiac remodeling after MI. Four groups of rats (sham, n = 6; sham + RES, n = 21; MI, n = 26; MI + RES, n = 24) were treated for 13 weeks, starting 7 days before ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Serial transthoracic echocardiography revealed that resveratrol had no effect on MI-induced left-ventricular and left-atrial dilatation or reduction in left-ventricular fractional shortening. Consistent with these findings, resveratrol did not improve the deterioration of hemodynamic function or reduce infarct size at 12 weeks post-MI. Resveratrol-treated animals did, however, show preserved cardiac contractile reserve in response to dobutamine administration. Radioligand binding revealed that MI reduced β-adrenergic receptor density. Resveratrol administration increased β-adrenoceptor density, so that resveratrol-treated MI rats had β-adrenoceptor densities similar to normal rats. Real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction revealed that MI-induced changes in sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase 2 and transforming growth factor β-1 expression were unaltered by resveratrol, whereas MI-induced increases in atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) and connective tissue growth factor (CTGF) expression were attenuated. Resveratrol treatment does not improve cardiac remodeling and global hemodynamic function post-MI but does preserve contractile reserve and attenuate ANF and CTGF up-regulation.