Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Ruzita, J. and Parnell, J. A. (2008). Competitive strategy and performance measurement in the Malaysian context: An exploratory study

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of competitive strategy and performance measurement in the Malaysian context by applying a modified version of Conant et al’s generic strategy scale and categorizing Malaysian firms along the Miles and Snow business strategy typology. Design/methodology/approach – Competitive strategy and performance measurement were assessed via survey. A total of 975 firms were randomly selected from the directory of Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) as listed in 2003. Overall, 133 surveys were returned, 120 of which were usable for analysis. Findings – Results suggest that Malaysian firms view competitive strategy differently and are more likely than their Western counterparts to emphasize the use of financial measures of organizational performance. Findings also highlight the difficulties faced when Western measurement scales are employed in non-Western emerging nations. Research limitations/implications – Because greater emphasis was placed on financial rather than non-financial measures, results indicate a statistically significant different improvement only in sales growth and ROI performance among the three strategy categories. Strategy researchers should focus their attention to the use of multiple performance measures in assessing firm’s performance as shown by the significant different in the use of customer satisfaction and loyalty measures, as well as employee satisfaction and training measures. Originality/value – These findings hold relevance for executives responsible for the formulation and implementation of business strategy. A better understanding of the relationship between business strategy and performance measures using the BSC perspectives of measures has been provided. The study provides some useful insights into the role of performance measures. In addition, this study conveys the message to top managers and designers of performance measurement tools–most notably the balanced scorecard– should pay particular attention to non-financial performance measures in implementing their organization’s strategy.
Analysis of Active Power Control for VSC–HVDC

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the limitations and the key dynamics of closed-loop active power control systems for voltage-source converter (VSC) HVDC, regarding stability, performance, and robustness. Detailed dynamic models are derived and the controllability and robustness issues for VSC active power control are identified. Limitations imposed by ac system strength, converter operating point, and current control design on the stability and performance of the two leading active power control principles are addressed, using frequency-response analysis and time-domain simulations. The dynamic interactions between the active power control design and the dc voltage droop control are examined. The simulations are performed using average-value VSC models and a high-fidelity modular multilevel converter model. Impacts of the active power control design on dynamic behaviors of multiterminal dc (MTDC) systems are investigated using a four-terminal model. This paper provides a systematic study on the key stability and performance issues associated with the active power control. Furthermore, the methodology offers a framework for the analysis of more complex active power and dc voltage droop controllers for future MTDC systems.
Control of atopic eczema with pimecrolimus cream 1% under daily practice conditions: results of a > 2000 patient study

Background Pimecrolimus cream 1% has been shown to effectively control atopic eczema (AE) when applied twice daily from the first signs or symptoms of AE until clearance. Moreover, pimecrolimus cream 1% has a favourable safety profile, lacking topical corticosteroid‐related side‐effects such as skin atrophy, making it particularly useful to treat delicate body regions (e.g. the face).
Inherited Proliferative Vitreoretinopathies of Childhood

There are a number of inherited, childhood disorders of the retinal vasculature that result in vitreoretinal proliferation. These include familial exudative vitreoretinopathy (FEVR), Norrie disease (ND), incontinentia pigmenti (IP), autosomal dominant neovascular inflammatory vitreoretinopathy (ADNI
Asymptomatic carotid stenosis: screening and management.

the management of asymptomatic carotid stenosis can be a dilemma to the primary care physician. In this review, we hope to update the reader on current insights into asymptomatic carotid atherosclerosis. Carotid stenosis is defined as the atherosclerotic narrowing of the proximal internal carotid artery exceeding 70% in severe cases and 50% in moderate cases. The prevalence of carotid stenosis in Western countries increases with age. A recent Western European population study placed the prevalence of moderate asymptomatic stenosis at 4.2% and severe stenosis at 1.7%. The prevalence was found to increase with age and be higher in males, with 12.5% of men being diagnosed with moderate stenosis. Fisher first described the pathophysiology of carotid atherosclerosis in 1951. Since then it has increasingly been recognized as a risk factor and cause of stroke. A population based study of subjects older than 55 found that the presence of a severe carotid plaque burden increased the relative risk of a non-lacunar infarction in the anterior circulation by 3.2 times and increased the risk of a lacunar infarction by 10.8 times. Accordingly, asymptomatic carotid stenosis has become an important cerebrovascular topic for the primary care physician.
Spatial Transfer of Knowledge in High Technology Milieux: Learning Versus Collective Learning Processes

CAPELLO R. (1999) Spatial transfer of knowledge in high technology milieux: learning versus collective learning processes, Reg. Studies 33 , 353‐365 . An analysis of the definitions provided so far in the literature shows ambiguities in the conceptualization of collective learning. A parallel analysis of the concepts of learning and collective learning is provided, and similarities and differences underlined. One of the main distinguishing features of collective learning is embedded in the element of ‘club externality', while ‘continuity' and ‘dynamic synergies' are common properties of learning and collective learning. These reflections lead to some interesting empirical questions which are investigated in the empirical part of the paper. In particular, the empirical analysis addresses the questions: (1) is it true that collective learning is not the result of co-operative behaviour, but of a collective behaviour; and (2) is it true that collective learning is the way of achieving new creative resources .
Protecting third parties in human subjects research.

consider the following hypothetical study submitted to an Institutional Review Board (IRB). An investigator proposes to compare the effectiveness of two commercially available kits that test for the presence of cockroach allergens in the home. Exposure to cockroach allergens can exacerbate asthma and cause other respiratory problems. ' The study will recruit 50 heads of households through newspaper and radio advertisements to participate in the study. Volunteers will be asked to use each of the two test kits according to instructions and to complete a questionnaire on their experience afterward. As part of the study, a professional exterminator will examine each home following the use of the test kits to ascertain whether cockroaches are present. If appropriate, the exterminator will apply a commercially available pesticide in areas of the home to exterminate cockroaches and place pesticide traps in strategic spots to reduce the likelihood of future cockroach presence. Two months after use of the test kits, heads of households will be asked to use each of the kits a second time and to complete the questionnaire. Informed consent will be obtained from all heads of households asked to use the test kits and
Stable multigigahertz pulse-train formation in a short-cavity passively harmonic mode-locked erbium/ytterbium fiber laser.

We demonstrate a short-cavity erbium-ytterbium fiber laser that is passively mode locked by a saturable Bragg reflector with a fundamental repetition rate of 235 MHz . The laser operates in the soliton regime and under passive harmonic mode locking with 11 pulses in the cavity and produces output pulse trains at 2.6 GHz with transform-limited 270-fs pulses and 1.6 mW of average power. Within the cavity the multiple pulses form a stable pattern with fixed, nearly equal pulse-to-pulse temporal spacings, causing the output pulse train to have timing offsets of less than 15 ps. A slow gain-recovery model is proposed to explain the pulse-train self-organization.
Fungal volatiles: an environmentally friendly tool to control pathogenic microorganisms in plants

Abstract Fungi are an extraordinary and immensely diverse group of microorganisms that colonize many habitats even competing with other microorganisms. Fungi have received recognition for interesting metabolic activities that have an enormous variety of biotechnological applications. Previously, volatile organic compounds produced by fungi (FVOCs) have been demonstrated to have a great capacity for use as antagonist products against plant pathogens. However, in recent years, FVOCs have been received attention as potential alternatives to the use of traditional pesticides and, therefore, as important eco-friendly biotechnological tools to control plant pathogens. Therefore, highlighting the current state of knowledge of these fascinating FVOCs, the actual detection techniques and the bioactivity against plant pathogens is essential to the discovery of new products that can be used as biopesticides.
Early and long-term outcomes of heart failure in elderly persons, 2001-2005.

BACKGROUND The treatment of chronic heart failure has improved during the past 2 decades, but little is known about whether the improvements are reflected in trends in early and long-term mortality and hospital readmission. METHODS In a retrospective cohort study of 2 540 838 elderly Medicare beneficiaries hospitalized with heart failure between January 1, 2001, and December 31, 2005, we examined early and long-term all-cause mortality and hospital readmission and patient- and hospital-level predictors of these outcomes. RESULTS Unadjusted in-hospital mortality declined from 5.1% to 4.2% during the study (P < .001), but 30-day, 180-day, and 1-year all-cause mortality remained fairly constant at 11%, 26%, and 37%, respectively. Nearly 1 in 4 patients were readmitted within 30 days of the index hospitalization, and two-thirds were readmitted within 1 year. Controlling for patient- and hospital-level covariates, the hazard of all-cause mortality at 1 year was slightly lower in 2005 than in 2001 (hazard ratio, 0.98; 95% confidence interval, 0.97-0.99). The hazard of readmission did not decline significantly from 2001 to 2005 (hazard ratio, 0.99; 95% confidence interval, 0.98-1.00). CONCLUSIONS Early and long-term all-cause mortality and hospital readmission rates remain high and have improved little with time. The need to identify optimal management strategies for these clinically complex patients is urgent.
Hospital morbidity and mortality following total laryngectomy Experience of 374 operations

Introduction Three hundred and seventy-four cases undergoing total laryngectomy for primary laryngeal disease in the one surgical unit over a 22-year period were reviewed retrospectively. Post-operative complications were assessed in relation to age, previous therapy and extent of resection. Since the routine peri-operative use of triple antibiotic cover including metronidazole, there has been a dramatic decrease in the rate of major complications and reduction in length of hospitalization. The salivary fistula rate has fallen from 37 per cent to 10 per cent. The median duration of stay has fallen from 26 to 15 days. Previous radiotherapy and age greater than 70 years made little difference to the complication rate.
Reversible low voltage electrowetting with SiO2 capillary window for optical imaging

This work reports the reversible low voltage electrowetting and liquid oscillation with SiO2 capillary window for optical imaging. The optical window with and without Grycerol liquid penetration into SiO2 capillaries has been demonstrated. The reversible electrowetting phenomenon has been achieved with low voltage supply of 8 V. The controlled liquid oscillation by pulse source has been observed. Additionally, the predicting response of switching speed between two states with and without liquid penetration into capillaries has been investigated by a fluidic numerical simulation.
YeeU enhances the bundling of cytoskeletal polymers of MreB and FtsZ, antagonizing the CbtA (YeeV) toxicity in Escherichia coli

All free‐living bacteria carry the toxin–antitoxin (TA) systems controlling cell growth and death under stress conditions. YeeU–YeeV (CbtA) is one of the Escherichia coli TA systems, and the toxin, CbtA, has been reported to inhibit the polymerization of bacterial cytoskeletal proteins, MreB and FtsZ. Here, we demonstrate that the antitoxin, YeeU, is a novel type of antitoxin (type IV TA system), which does not form a complex with CbtA but functions as an antagonist for CbtA toxicity. Specifically, YeeU was found to directly interact with MreB and FtsZ, and enhance the bundling of their filamentous polymers in vitro. Surprisingly, YeeU neutralized not only the toxicity of CbtA but also the toxicity caused by other inhibitors of MreB and FtsZ, such as A22, SulA and MinC, indicating that YeeU‐induced bundling of MreB and FtsZ has an intrinsic global stabilizing effect on their homeostasis. Here we propose to rename YeeU as CbeA for cytoskeleton bundling‐enhancing factor A.
Using OXSIM for path planning

We present a new version of our robot manipulator planning toolbox, OXSIM. OXSIM is designed to greatly simplify the building of planners by providing core competence in three-dimensional geometry. This is done by the provision of efficient routines for computing the distance between parts of the robot and its environment. A new version of OXSIM, written in C++, provides an object-oriented interface to the basic system, which will increase its ease of use.
Divergency in the specificity of the induction and maintenance of neonatal suppression

Neonatal treatment of BALB/c mice with anti‐VHT15 antibodies suppresses serum expression of VH T15 immunoglobulins in adult animals (2 months) which remains for over 8 months in half of the cases. Suppressed mice, however, contain control numbers of B cells expressing genes of the S107 VH family and producing VH T15 after mitogenic stimulation. Furthermore, immunization with phosphorylcholine (PC) breaks suppression and stimulates the production of VH T15 anti‐PC antibodies. These animals, however, contain no detectable B lymphocytes expressing the T15 idiotype and produce no T15 idiotype‐positive antibodies in response to PC. These results are discussed in the context of lymphocyte repertoire selection.
Low-Stringency Single-Specific-Primer PCR as a Tool for Detection of Mutations in the rpoB Gene of Rifampin-Resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis

ABSTRACT By the low-stringency single-specific-primer PCR technique, a highly sensitive and rapid method for diagnosis of rifampin resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis was established. Seven rifampin-resistant and five rifampin-susceptible specimens were analyzed. Rifampin resistance was determined by MIC measurement. A complex electrophoretic pattern consisting of many bands was obtained for both susceptible and rifampin-resistant isolates. The same pattern was obtained for all of the susceptible specimens, but differences between resistant and susceptible isolates were found. DNA sequencing showed that a particular mutation produces a specific electrophoretic pattern.
Special Symposium on Empirical Strategies in International Development Research

Institutions as rule systems shape actors’ incentives, and hence choices. Yet, demonstrating this empirically has proven tricky. Development scholars have increasingly debated whether institutions and, by extension, policies have an independent, causal effect on behavior and, therefore, on outcomes of interest such as health, education, nutrition, access to credit, and capital investments. Researchers have grappled with the possibility that omitted variables and reverse causation confound their ability to make inferences about the ultimate effect of institutions and policies on development. At the heart of this dilemma is the so-called Riker problem (Riker, 1980). Institutions shape human behavior, but at the same time are themselves the outcomes of human choices. Hence, it can be problematic to claim, based on correlations or anecdotal evidence alone, that they have an independent effect on behavior. Development scholars have since invested considerable effort in trying to pin down the direction of causality from observational data through innovative research strategies. They have drawn on the econometric literature on selection and endogeneity issues (Heckman, 1979), as well as the potential outcomes framework (Rubin, 1974). There has been particular enthusiasm about instrumental variables, matching methods, and regression discontinuity. However, skeptics question the extent to which these techniques can truly address causal inference. Experimentalists note that analyses that employ observational data do not provide reliable information about the nature and magnitude of the bias that potentially plagues their findings (Gerber, Green, & Kaplan, 2004). Paralleling this development, donors and development practitioners have begun to demand more solid evidence for whether the projects they invest in actually produce the intended outcomes. The burgeoning area of field experiments that employ randomized control trials (RCTs) has addressed these concerns, while raising new ones. The randomization of interventions provides superior inferences about causality over studies that use observational data. Random assignment ensures that the expected pretreatment level of the outcome of interest will be identical across treatment and control groups, therefore eliminating the possibility that omitted variables will confound the finding that there are statistically significant posttreatment differences between these groups. Propelled by the work of pioneering researchers affiliated with the Poverty Action Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, field experiments in development studies have increasingly evaluated a disparate set of policy questions in diverse settings. For example, Chattopadhyay and Duflo (2004) evaluate the effect
Evaluation of Recombinant 2009 Pandemic Influenza A (H1N1) Viruses Harboring Zanamivir Resistance Mutations in Mice and Ferrets

ABSTRACT Recombinant influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 wild-type (WT) and zanamivir-resistant E119G and Q136K neuraminidase mutants were generated to determine their enzymatic and replicative properties in vitro, as well as their infectivity and transmissibility in mice and ferrets. Viral titers of recombinant E119G and Q136K mutants were significantly lower than those of the WT in the first 36 h postinoculation (p.i.) in vitro. The E119G and Q136K mutations were both associated with a significant reduction of total neuraminidase (NA) activity at the cell surface of 293T cells, with relative total NA activities of 14% (P < 0.01) and 20% (P < 0.01), respectively, compared to the WT. The E119G mutation significantly reduced the affinity (8-fold increase in Km) but not the Vmax. The Q136K mutation increased the affinity (5-fold decrease in Km) with a reduction in Vmax (8% Vmax ratio versus the WT). In mice, infection with the E119G and Q136K mutants resulted in lung viral titers that were significantly lower than those of the WT on days 3 p.i. (3.4 × 106 ± 0.8 × 106 and 2.1 × 107 ± 0.4 × 107 PFU/ml, respectively, versus 8.8 × 107 ± 1.1 × 107; P < 0.05) and 6 p.i. (3.0 × 105 ± 0.5 × 105 and 8.6 × 105 ± 1.4 ×105 PFU/ml, respectively, versus 5.8 × 107 ± 0.3 × 107; P < 0.01). In experimentally infected ferrets, the E119G mutation rapidly reverted to the WT in donor and contact animals. The Q136K mutation was maintained in ferrets, although nasal wash viral titers from the Q136K contact group were significantly lower than those of the WT on days 3 to 5 p.i. Our results demonstrate that zanamivir-resistant E119G and Q136K mutations compromise viral fitness and transmissibility in A(H1N1)pdm09 viruses.
A Randomized Controlled Trial Testing the Efficacy of the Creating Opportunities for Parent Empowerment Program for Parents of Children With Epilepsy and Other Chronic Neurological Conditions

Abstract Background: Parents of children with epilepsy and other neurological conditions live with a feeling of constant uncertainty. The uncertainty associated with caring for a child with a neurological condition produces stress, which leads to decreased parental belief in caregiving skills, anxiety, and depression, ultimately altering parental functioning resulting in an increase in child behavioral problems. The stress associated with caring for children with neurological conditions is unlike caring for children with other chronic conditions. Neurological conditions are unpredictable, and there are often no warning signs before an acute event. This unpredictability accompanied with stigma results in social isolation and impacts family functioning. In addition, children with neurological conditions have a higher rate of psychological comorbidities and behavior problems when compared with children with other chronic conditions. This produces an additional burden on the parents and family. Study Design: This randomized controlled trial tested the efficacy of the Creating Opportunities for Parent Empowerment intervention for parents of children with epilepsy and other neurological conditions. This intervention was administered at three intervals: (a) during hospital admission, (b) 3 days after hospital discharge by telephone, and (c) 4–6 weeks after hospital discharge. Results: Forty-six parents of children admitted to the inpatient neuroscience unit at Boston Children’s Hospital participated in the study. Several study limitations resulted in an inadequate sample size to obtain the power necessary to reach statistically significant results for most of the research questions. A one-between, one-within multivariate analysis of variance revealed that the main effect of time was significant for differences in state anxiety for both the usual care group and the intervention group, F(1, 20) = 9.86, p = . 005, indicating that state anxiety for both groups combined was more pronounced during the hospitalization. A one-between, one-within multivariate analysis of variance showed that the effect of the interaction between time and group was significant for internalized behavior assessment system score only (p = .037) because the usual care group reported a significant decrease in internalizing behavior scores in their children over time. Conclusions: Findings from this study have significant implications for clinical practice and future research. Parents of children with neurological conditions often struggle to manage a constant feeling of uncertainty in their daily lives. Nurses possess the knowledge and expertise necessary to identify the psychosocial needs of these parents and provide education and support as needed. Future research should focus on designing interventions to meet the needs of these families and develop strategies to help improve the quality of life for both the parent and child living with a neurological condition.