Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Information technology, contract and knowledge in the networked economy: a biography of packaged software for contract management

In this research I investigate the intersection of information and communication technology (ICT), contract and knowledge in the networked economy as illuminated by the “life” of contract management software (CMS). The failure of CMS to fulfill market expectations provides the motivating question for this study. Based on interview, survey and archival data, I construct a “biography” of CMS from a market perspective informed by the theory of commoditization as well as studies of markets from economic sociology. From the latter, I draw upon the theory of performativity in markets to identify in the failure of CMS a series of breakdowns in performative assumptions and operations normally at work in the making of a packaged software market, ranging from a failure in classification performativity to a detachment of marketized criteria, in the form of analyst ratings, from the underlying software product and vendors. This catalog of breakdown indicates that packaged software production implicates multiple levels of commoditization, including financialized meta-commodities and marketized criteria, in a dynamic I theorize as substitution of performance. I explore the implications of my findings for packaged software and for process commodities more generally, suggesting, inter alia, that process commoditization may revolve around contract and information exchange rather than product definition. I go on to propose an open theorization of contract as a technology of connectedness, in a relationship of potential convergence, complementarity and substitution with ICT, interpenetrating and performative. My contributions are to information systems and organizations research on the topics of packaged software and the relationship of ICT, contract and organizational knowledge; and to economic sociology on the topics of performativity in markets and product qualification in process commoditization.
Biomarkers, Atherosclerosis and Cardiovascular Events

The 57th Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology was held in Chicago (IL, USA) between 29 March and 1 April 2008. It was attended by nearly 30,000 participants from around the world. The conference was highlighted by the presentation of 13 late-breaking clinical trials and 13 late-breaking abstracts.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TRADING VOLUME AND STOCK RETURNS IN THE JSE SECURITIES EXCHANGE IN SOUTH AFRICA

This study examines the relationship between trading volume and stock returns in the JSE Securities Exchange in South Africa. The study looked at the price and trading returns of the FTSE/JSE index from July 22, 1988 till June 11, 2012. The study revealed that stock returns are positively related to the contemporary change in trading volume. Further, it was found that past returns were not affected significantly by changes in trading volumes. The results present a significant relationship between trading volume and the absolute value of price changes. Autoregressive tests were used to explore whether return causes volume or volume causes return. The results suggest that volume is influenced by a lagged returns effect for the FTSE/JSE index. Therefore, return seems to contribute some information to investors when they make investment decisions.
Adaptive Arrays for Broadband Communications in the Presence of Co-Channel Interference

We present an adaptive detection (AD) for broadband communication in the presence of co-channel interference (CCI). In the case of imperfect channel estimation, a robust AD (RAD) is proposed to maintain the good performance. We also show that both AD and RAD can be further improved by using an iterative scheme, referred to as iterative AD (IAD) and iterative RAD (IRAD), respectively. Numerical examples show that all the proposed methods outperform the conventional maximum likelihood sequence estimator (MLSE) significantly, and that they are also computationally more efficient.
The sexist behaviour of immune checkpoint inhibitors in cancer therapy?

Background Immune checkpoint inhibitors, targeting the molecules CTLA-4, PD-1 and PD-L1, showed efficacy against several type of cancers and are currently used in clinical practice. An important biological variable that influences innate and adaptive immunity is the sex, acting through genetic, hormonal and environmental factors. The overall differences between sexes could be crucial to evaluate the response to ICIs. Materials and methods We performed a meta-analysis of Phase II-III Clinical Trials published up to June 2017 in which anti-CTLA-4, anti-PD-1 and anti-PD-L1 were studied. We extracted the OS and PFS HR differentiated by sex from subgroups analysis of each trial. We analyzed the three classes of drugs separately. Results We selected 36 Phase II-III Clinical Trials, 9 of which reported results for OS and 6 for PFS. We analyzed 2 Clinical Trials for OS with anti-CTLA-4, including 1178 patients, observing a benefit for males vs females (HR 0.65, 95% CI 0.55-0.77 vs HR 0.79, 95% CI 0.65-0.96, p 0.078). Not statistically significant results were observed with anti-PD-1 neither for OS (males vs females: HR 0.72, 95% CI 0.64-0.83 vs HR 0.81, 95% CI 0.70-0.94, p 0.285) neither for PFS (males vs females: HR 0.66, 95% CI 0.52-0.82 vs HR 0.85, 95% CI 0.66-1.09, p 0.158). We cannot perform a meta-analysis for anti-PD-L1 due to the lack of data. Conclusions Different mechanisms could be involved in sex differences with regard to immunotherapy. These differences could be relevant to identify immunological targets in order to draw studies exploring novel combinations of immunotherapy agents.
Intellectual Capital Management s and Enterprise Resource Planning s Implementation Effects on Supply Chain s Performance

In the global competition environment, enterprises have to focus on their Supply Chains performance to have a competitive advantage. The use of both Intellectual Capital Management (ICM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are the most important factors that affect system performance. However, there are many other factors affecting the performance of Supply Chain and these factors have to be inspected in accordance to some metrics. The ICM literature has produced tens of models to support the various ICM activities, such as identification, measurement, valuation, acquisition and reporting of intellectual capital. Nevertheless, the practice of applying various ICM models seems to be a fairly new issue in many countries and organizations. Turkey is one of those countries that have just been introduced with ICM. In this study, a questionnaire-based research has been made on Turkish enterprises to analyze ICM’s and ERP’s effects on Supply Chain performance. Understanding of these relationships is vital for realizing the importance of ICM and ERP. Questionnaire results have been analyzed with statistical methods to summarize the current situation in Turkish enterprises. Results of this study have showed that both ERP and ICM have positive effects on improving the performance of Supply Chain system. Also these results can be used in the comparison of international differences of the effects of ERP implementations and application of ICM models on Supply Chain performance. Keywords: Intellectual Capital Management, Enterprise Resource Planning, Supply Chain Management, Performance;
Robust and reliable multimedia transmission over the Internet. (Transmission robuste et fiable du multimédia sur Internet)

In this thesis, we propose models to evaluate the performance of real-time multimedia applications. Besides, we propose a model for AIMD protocols. The first subject we study is a simple error correction (FEC) mechanism. We first model the network as an M/M/1/K queuing system. We assume a linear utility function relating the audio quality and the amount of redundancy. The redundancy of packet i is carried by packet i+f. Our analysis shows that, even for the case f->inf, this simple FEC scheme always leads to a quality deterioration. Next, we model the bottleneck router as an M/G/1/K queue. We consider two cases that may contribute to a quality improvement: (a) multiplexing the audio flow with an exogenous flow, and (b) considering non-linear utility functions. Under these assumptions, we show that this FEC scheme can lead to a quality improvement. The second subject investigated is about playout delay algorithms. We propose a set of moving average algorithms allowing to control the average loss rate in an audio session. We study and compare the performance of our algorithms by simulation with real packet traces. The third subject we study is about the performance of AIMD protocols. We propose, at the best of our knowledge, the first analytical model for this kind of protocols accounting for delay variability. The model is based on stochastic difference equations. It provides a closed-form expression for the throughput and for the window size in steady state. We show by analysis and simulation that an increase in delay variability improves the performance of AIMD protocols.
Threshold Gate Approximations Based on Chow Parameters

Seven methods are compared for deriving approximate realizing weights and threshold for a threshold function, given its Chow parameters. These include use of the parameters themselves, methods published by Dertouzos and the author, and several new methods. The comparison is made over all seven-argument self-dual threshold function types, and establishes a certain "geometric rule" as best. One third of the types were exactly realized by the approximation, and the average number of mistakes was very small.
The effect of remittances on emigration intentions in Egypt, Morocco, and Turkey

Are remittances determined by altruism or enlightened self-interest, and do they trigger additional migration? In this paper these two questions are examined empirically in relation to data from Egypt, Turkey, and Morocco for households with family members living abroad. It is shown, firstly, that one cannot argue exclusively either for altruism or self-interest as motives, since for each country the data tell a different story and both motives can be identified as driving forces behind remittance behaviour. The general conclusion of this study is that the family ties and the net earnings potential of migrants have stronger effects on the flow of remittances than the net earnings potential of the households in the country of origin. Secondly, because the receipt of remittances has a positive effect on the emigration intentions of household members still living in the country of origin, the receipt of remittances may contribute to new flows of migration, particularly in the case of Morocco.
Effects of hearing and vision impairments on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment

Many standardized measures of cognition include items that must be seen or heard. Nevertheless, it is not uncommon to overlook the possible effects of sensory impairment(s) on test scores. In the current study, we investigated whether sensory impairments could affect performance on a widely used screening tool, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Three hundred and one older adults (mean age = 71 years) completed the MoCA and also hearing and vision tests. Half of the participants had normal hearing and vision, 38% impaired hearing, 5% impaired vision, and 7% had dual-sensory impairment. More participants with normal sensory acuity passed the MoCA compared to those with sensory loss, even after modifying scores to adjust for sensory factors. The results suggest that cognitive abilities may be underestimated if sensory problems are not considered and that people with sensory loss are at greater risk of cognitive decline.
Effects of the Interval between Exposure to a Novel Environment and the Occurrence of Shock on the Freezing Responses of Rats

Rats were exposed to a novel environment (E1) at time T1, given a footshock at time T2, and tested for freezing in E1 or in a second environment (E2). The function relating freezing to the T1-T2 interval among rats tested in E1 was an inverted U-shape. Rats exposed to short T1-T2 intervals displayed just as much freezing in E2 as in E1, whereas rats exposed to longer intervals froze less in E2 than in E1. These differences between the freezing responses in E1 and in E2 were obtained when the T1-T2 intervals were varied, but time spent in the shocked E1 was equated. Rats given two shocks in E1 differentiated between E1 and E2 when the initial shock occurred some time after exposure to E1, but not when the initial shock was presented shortly after that exposure. Rats shocked some time after exposure to E1 on Day 1 and shortly after exposure to that environment on Day 2 differentiated between E1 and E2 more than did rats exposed to the reverse sequence of T1-T2 intervals. The results were attributed to the formation of a network of connections among the E1 cues in rats exposed to moderate or long T1-T2 intervals, and to an impairment in the formation of this network as a result of the conditioning of a subset of cues in rats exposed to short T1-T2 intervals.
Assessment of Climate Change and Atmospheric CO2 Impact on Winter Wheat in the Pacific Northwest Using a Multimodel Ensemble

Simulations of crop yields under climate change are subject to uncertainties whose quantification is important for effective use of projected results for adaptation and mitigation strategies. In the US Pacific Northwest (PNW), studies based on single crop models and weather projections downscaled from a few general circulation models (GCM) have indicated mostly beneficial effects of climate change on winter wheat production for most of the 21st century. In this study we evaluated the uncertainty in the projection of winter wheat yields at 7 sites in the PNW using five crop growth simulation models (CropSyst, APSIM, DSSAT, STICS and EPIC) and daily weather data downscaled from 14 GCMs for 2 representative concentration pathways (RCP) of atmospheric CO2 (RCP4.5 and 8.5). All crop models were calibrated for high, medium, and low precipitation dryland sites and one irrigated site using 1979–2010 as the baseline period. All five models were run from years 2000 to 2100 to evaluate the effect of future conditions (precipitation, temperature and atmospheric CO2) on winter wheat grain yield. Simulations of future climatic conditions and impacts were organized into three 31-year periods centered around the years 2030, 2050 and 2070. All models predicted a decrease of the growing season length and crop transpiration, and increase in transpiration-use efficiency, biomass production, and yields, but with substantial variation that increased from the 2030s to 2070s. Most of the uncertainty (up to 85%) associated with predictions of yield was due to variation among the crop models. Maximum uncertainty due to GCMs was 15% which was less than the maximum uncertainty associated with the interaction between the crop model effect and GCM effect (25%). Large uncertainty associated with the interaction between crop models and GCMs indicated that the effect of GCM on yield varied among the 5 models. The mean of the ensemble of all crop models and GCMs provided a robust indication of positive effects of future environmental conditions on winter wheat yield during this century at all sites studied, with greater beneficial effect under water stressed conditions than under well-watered conditions, and under RCP8.5 than RCP4.5.
Application of ENN-1 for Fault Diagnosis of Wind Power Systems

Maintaining a wind turbine and ensuring secure is not easy because of long-term exposure to the environment and high installation locations. Wind turbines need fully functional condition-monitoring and fault diagnosis systems that prevent accidents and reduce maintenance costs. This paper presents a simulator design for fault diagnosis of wind power systems and further proposes some fault diagnosis technologies such as signal analysis, feature selecting, and diagnosis methods. First, this paper uses a wind power simulator to produce fault conditions and features from the monitoring sensors. Then an extension neural network type-1- (ENN-1-) based method is proposed to develop the core of the fault diagnosis system. The proposed system will benefit the development of real fault diagnosis systems with testing models that demonstrate satisfactory results.
FLIGHT FROM BLIGHT VS. NATURAL EVOLUTION: DETERMINATS OF HOUSEHOLD RESIDENTIAL LOCATION CHOICE AND SUBURBANIZATION

Using a unique dataset on the characteristics, origin, and destination of households who engaged in intrametropolitan moves in the Columbus, Ohio area, we estimate a hybrid conditional logit choice model of residential location that separately identifies the push/pull influence of local public goods, namely school quality and public safety, from household income and other lifecycle effects. Our results provide evidence of both a "natural evolution" of households, due to income and household structural changes, as well as a "flight from blight", due to higher crime rates, lower school quality, and lower quality of housing stock in the central city. In comparing the magnitudes of these variables, we find that the influence of public school quality is consistently larger than the influence of household income across all locations and particularly in the central city. Rather than being largely a result of the "natural evolution" of households as incomes grow over time, our results provide evidence that the central city's inferior public goods, most notably school quality, have played a much more dominant role in pushing households to suburban locations. This finding has important implications for central city, suburban, and exurban communities that seek to counteract the movement of population to the outer suburbs and beyond.
Visualization of the Human Mental Nerve through Intact Oral Mucosa

Although sex eral methods have been used to demonstrate the capillary circulation in the intact mucous membrane, no method has been developed to make peliphetal nerves visible. Ohservations in previous ieseatch (KOZAIM, J Dent Res 47: 328-336, 1968) on expetimentally induced, in tramucosal petech ial hemort hage sL ggested that the compression techniqutie used to facilitate the counting of petechiae also permitted the dlii ect visualization of the human mental nerve branches. Essentially, the labial tissues aye blanched by compression so that the 1)oocl extravasated from ruptured capillaries appeals in sharper contrast. WVe noted, lowexer, that the branches of the mental neive also became sisible, that is, they appealed as ivhite strands against a yellossish, tissue background. It became appatent that this method had a signifia.11nt potential fot anatomic and nesnologic studies, and we redesigned it to serxe those ends. The visualization technique (onsists of the placement of the lowest surface of a plate of clear plastic an eighth inch thick and withi rounded edges to the mucosal sin face of a patient's lower lip (Fig 1) The concave edge of the plate is shaped to correspond to the buccal contour of the alveolar aruc to which it is gentlx approximated. The tip of the middle finger of the investigators right hand compresses the lip from the skin sot face in the region of the mental nerxe; thtus, the tissues l iate blanched and contrast is created between the white branches of
Experimental analysis of the frequency impact on the MIMO channel capacity between 2 and 12 GHz in an office environment

In this paper, the influence of the frequency band on the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) channel capacity in an office environment is researched. This study is based on an extensive measurement campaign between 2 and 12 GHz in line-of-sight (LOS) and non-line-of-sight (NLOS) conditions.
Managing brand presence through social media: the case of UK football clubs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute knowledge on the issues and benefits associated with managing brand presence and relationships through social media. UK football clubs are big businesses, with committed communities of fans, so are an ideal context from which to develop an understanding of the issues and challenges facing organisations as they seek to protect and promote their brand online. Design/methodology/approach – Due to the emergent nature of social media, and the criticality of the relationships between clubs and their fans, an exploratory study using a multiple case study approach was used to gather rich insights into the phenomenon. Findings – Clubs agreed that further development of social media strategies had potential to deliver interaction and engagement, community growth and belonging, traffic flow to official web sites and commercial gain. However, in developing their social media strategies they had two key concerns. The first concern was the control of the brand presen.
Filtering of discrete-time for noise in coefficient matrix based on H∞ control

This paper presents a new approach to designing filter that deals with noise added in coefficient matrix. The problems we face in practice are always coefficient unstable, which due to multiple noises in the system. We assume that the problem can be expressed in discrete-time state delays. The main idea to solve the problem is keeping the system under linear theory, and filtering noises at the same filter. The results of the filter problem are used to solve the corresponding output-feedback problem. Asymptotic stability is proofed with H∞ control theory, and designing filter is calculated with Linear Matrix Inequality (LMI) method. At last an example is illustrated to show efficiencies of the filter.
Assessing Financial Vulnerability in the Nonprofit Sector

Effective nonprofit governance relies upon understanding an organization’s financial condition and vulnerabilities. However, financial vulnerability of nonprofit organizations is a relatively new area of study. In this paper, we compare two models used to forecast bankruptcy in the corporate sector (Altman 1968 and Ohlson 1980) with the model used by nonprofit researchers (Tuckman and Chang 1991). We find that the Ohlson model has higher explanatory power than either Tuckman and Chang’s or Altman’s in predicting four different measures of financial vulnerability. However, we show that none of the models, individually or combined, are effective in predicting financial distress. We then propose a more comprehensive model of financial vulnerability by adding two new variables to represent reliance on commercial-type activities to generate revenues and endowment sufficiency. We find that this model outperforms Ohlson’s model and performs substantially better in explaining and predicting financial vulnerability. Hence, the expanded model can be used as a guide for understanding the drivers of financial vulnerability and for identifying more effective proxies for nonprofit sector financial distress for use in future research.