Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Business intelligence and nosocomial infection decision making

Nosocomial infection prevention in healthcare units it is very important to improve patient’s well-being and safety. This prevention can be done by manipulating and analysing real data to identify critical processes and areas inside the healthcare unit, and monitoring indicators generated from data. The main goal of this paper is to evaluate the applicability of the Business Intelligence tools and concepts to healthcare and their performance as a Clinical Decision Support System, analyzing the evolution of nosocomial infection in the Centro Hospitalar do Porto, by defining a set of indicators that can help the nosocomial infection management and inducing Data Mining models to predict the occurrence of nosocomial infections (sensitivity of 91%). A Business Intelligence system composed by the presentation of a set of indicators and a Data Mining part capable of predict the occurrence of infection can provide important information to support healthcare professionals in their decisions.
Interconnect Explorer : A High-level Power Estimation Tool for On-Chip Interconnects

Today, System on Chip (SOC) are more and more complex and require many computational resources, implying a large volume of data to be stored or to be transmitted. To transfer this data from memory to processor or from one processor to another, on-chip interconnect buses or networks have to be used. In state-of-the-art SOC, interconnect can represent up to 50% of the total power consumption [1,2]. Moreover, the transistor and wire dimension scaling has a strong impact on propagation time; indeed the propagation time of a wire is higher than the gate one [2]. Therefore, power and delay estimation and optimization due to interconnections has become a major issue in SOC design. It is thus essential to take interconnect power consumption and delay into account during the first design stages of systems. To do this, we developed a high-level estimation tool (called Interconnect Explorer) which allow user to obtain very fast power and delay estimations of his interconnect network based on both some platform parameters and application data that are handled by the bus. The first thing to know is how designers usually obtain the interconnect network power estimation. As illustrated on Fig. 1 for an hardware design process point of view, designers have to extract from the layout (which means very late in the design process) physical characteristics of the interconnect (spacing, width, height and so on) to compute the wire resistance and capacitance, crosstalk capacitance and buffer resistance and capacitance. With these characteristics and with the data handled by the bus, designers are able to obtain power consumption estimation according to SPICE simulations. In this paper, we propose, a high-level estimation tool which, from the application data, compute fast and accurate Power/Energy estimations (error less than 3% compared to SPICE). This paper is organised as follows, the contribution section will describe how Interconnect Explorer has been developed. The results section will present the tool validation by showing how fast and accurate Interconnect Explorer is. Last section will conclude this paper and will discussed what the tool benefits are.
Planarity Based Algorithms for Minor Embedding in Grid Graphs

We present heuristic algorithms for minor embedding planar graphs in grids. Our work is motivated by the development of quantum computing hardware that performs quantum annealing. This hardware can be used to solve hard combinatorial problems, but requires the graph of each problem instance to be minor embedded in a graph that models the hardware. Hence, there is a need for practical minor embedding algorithms. We restrict our attention to planar graphs, and thus are able to make use of existing graph drawing methods. We present two algorithms for minor embedding planar graphs in grid graphs, and provide an experimental evaluation of one.
The Operating Impact of Buyouts in Sweden

We analyze the magnitude and determinants of private equity sponsored buyouts' impact on the operating profitability in Swedish buyout companies exited between 1998 and H1 2006. Whereas previous empirical studies have primarily been biased towards reverse LBOs, this article analyzes buyouts irrespective of exit type. We perform an industry adjusted event study to detect abnormal operating performance and impact on the companies' employees. Our analysis suggests that buyouts have a significant positive impact on the companies' operating performance. Further, we find that measurable variables commonly associated with the private equity value creation process, such as wage-level reductions, labor force restructuring, leverage and management ownership, have a low explanatory value for the magnitude of the operating impact.
From Measurement to Ownership: The Evolution and Organizational Implications of Modern Performance Management

Excerpt] At the core of performance management and human resources more generally is the idea that people make the difference in organizations. Research has shown time and time again that effective deployment of human capital is a key differentiator in business. People, and more specifically their distinct knowledge and skills, function as the most reliable source of competitive advantage for companies in today’s economy. Realizing the need for continual development of the workforce, American companies spent an estimated total of $164.2 billion, or $1,196 per employee, on workforce training and development in 2012. Effective performance management has the ability to significantly enhance such development efforts; employees could increase their productivity by as much as 26% under effective performance management systems. As companies strive to do more with less, properly designed and executed performance management functions as an essential mechanism for increasing employee productivity and continually improving business results.
Economic Evaluation of an Integrated Health and Social Care Program for Heart Failure Through 2 Different Modeling Techniques

Introduction: An integrated health and social care program for patients with heart failure (HF) was implemented at the Friuli-Venezia Giulia deployment site as part of the SmartCare European project. The objective of this study was to validate 2 different decision modeling techniques used to perform the economic evaluation. Methods: Data were collected during the SmartCare project which enrolled 108 patients with HF and followed for more than 6 months. The techniques used were Markov and discrete event simulation models. In both cases, a cost-effectiveness analysis and a budget impact analysis were carried out. The former was used to assign priority to the intervention and the latter to assess its sustainability. Analyses were conducted from the perspective of the Regional Health Authority. Results: Results were similar with both types of model. Cost-effectiveness analysis found no significant differences in quality of life, but the intervention generated significant cost savings, becoming the dominant option. Data extrapolation showed no benefits in terms of mortality or hospital admissions, but budget impact analysis also predicted annual savings, as a significant number of in-hospital days were avoided. In budget analysis, both models predicted early, increasing and cumulative annual savings. Discussion: The integrated program was dominant as it provided better outcomes and lower total costs, and thus, decision-makers should prioritize it. Besides, the work demonstrates the capacity of decision modeling to become a complementary tool in managing integrated health and social care models.
Attenuation of Dopaminergic Neuronal Dysfunction in Caenorhabditis elegans by Hydrophilic Form of Curcumin

Curcumin (CUR), the principal curcuminoid and the “yellow coloring matter” of turmeric, has been demonstrated to exhibit protective activity against various neurologic diseases. Owing to its hydrophobic in nature, CUR is insoluble in water, and its poor solubility in aqueous solution remains a major barrier in its bioavailability and clinical efficacy. In view of this, in the present study, we rendered the CUR hydrophilic by making an ‘inclusion compound’ with gamma cyclodextrin (γCD) and evaluated its neuroprotective efficacy by employing the model system Caenorhabditis elegans. Both wild-type and transgenic strain of C. elegans [expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP) specifically in the dopaminergic neurons [BZ555 (Pdat-1: GFP] were treated with either the well-known neurotoxin, 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) or Monocrotophos (MCP), a neurotoxic insecticide. We examined the ameliorative effect of CUR on phenotype (in terms of locomotion), reproductive parameters (brood size, egg-laying) and longevity. Further, neurotoxicity was assessed by monitoring neurodegeneration of dopaminergic neurons and acetylcholinesterase activity. We found that CUR treatment marginally increased egg laying, brood size and the survival (by 3d). Interestingly, it also significantly decreased the dopaminergic neurodegeneration with a marginal restoration of acetylcholinesterase activity among worms exposed to either OHDA or MCP. Our findings provide evidence for the potential of CUR to ameliorate neuronal dysfunction in the worm model and suggest its use as a therapeutic molecule against PD.
Optimized Fuzzy and Neuro-Fuzzy Controller Based MPPT Using MOHGA Applied for a Solar Photovoltaic Module

Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is a significant technique in order to handle the maximum power utilization of the photovoltaic regulator. By this technique, the operated voltage is perturbed from the closed-loop control algorithm untill reaching the MPP by changing the duty cycle ratio of the DC-DC converter ciucuit. To achieve this power management, this paper integrated offline genetic algorithm (GA) with fuzzy logic (FL) and neuro-fuzzy (NF) to proposed FL controller (FLC-GA) and NF controller (NFC-GA). A MultiObjective Hierarchical GA (MOHGA) is applied to select the control rules silmutaneously to fine the tuned system parameters. Furthermore, the intentional aim of this paper is to find a minimum set of fuzzy rule that can achieve the MPP with acceptable accuracy. Conseqently, the optimized FLC-GA and optimized NFC-GA are alternately proposed to optimize the complexity of the FLC-GA and NFC-GA in order to avoid the overfitting computation which may lead to miss the MPP. The measured voltage and current are directly computed the slope of P-V curve and its change to set as the inputs of the controller while the duty cycle ratio is generated for the controlled output at the given various change weather conditions. Unlike focusing only on the change of the irradiance effect, in this work the panel temperature changing is together considered especially for the case of low irradiance and high temperature. Fast risetime response at the transient state and the stabilzed accuracy at the steady state are used as the controlled performance assesments. In order to prove the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid controllers, the simulations are tested before the practically implementation by using Matlab/Simulink. From the simulation results, the FLC-GA dominantly performs the best stabilized accuracy compared to the optimized NFC-GA, the NFC-GA, the optimized FLC, the conventional FLC, the IC method and the P&O method respectively. In the case of the rise time, the optimized NFC-GA dominantly performs the fastest tracking to the MPP than the NFC-GA, the optimized FLC-GA, the conventional FLC, the FLC-GA, the P&O method, and the IC method respectively. Trading off between the fast time response and stabilized accuracy, the optimized NFC-GA performs most the best.
Ethics of Tax Evasion: Evidence from Self-employed Tax-payers' of Dessie Town Administration, Ethiopia

Tax evasion in most developing countries is so widespread and development is much exacerbate by the fact that not many of these countries have made an effort to measure the ethical reasons that taxpayers give. This study, therefore, is designed to describe the ethics tax evasion in Dessie town administration, Ethiopia by taking evidence from 336 randomly selected self-employed taxpayers through a 7 point likert scale questionnaire. Accordingly, this study result shows that tax evasion is ethical in certain situations, and sometimes it is unethical in some other situations. The top mean score ranked arguments that taxpayers gave to justify tax evasion include government corruption, unfair tax system, government discrimination against political affiliation, tax un-affordability, when the money collected is wasted, and high tax rate. In contrary, tax evasion is not ethical when most of the money collected is spent wisely, if the money collected is spent on worthy projects, when the money collected is spent on projects that do benefit taxpayers, and when the money collected is spent on projects that do not benefit taxpayers. The other finding of this study is that the ethics of tax evasion is different among gender, as well as over academic status of the respondents. Females oppose tax evasion than male i.e. females are more ethical than male. Likewise, educated are more ethical than uneducated, this is with the view that tax evasion is unethical. In general, the overall finding of this study indicated that the government should aware the taxpayers that there is proper administration, fair tax system and money collected are spent wisely.
Strategy Implementation: The Story of Start-ups

An increasing number of start-ups, a rising importance of strategy implementation but a lack of knowledge about strategy implementation at start-ups? This research compares the strategy implementation process of start-ups to the process of their incumbent colleagues. The starting point of this research are eight levers of successful strategy implementation. Results of this study showed that start-ups do not attach the same value to the same levers that incumbents do. For instance, cross-functional integration and collaboration, the exercising of strategic leadership and the strategic shaping of culture were not experienced as relevant (in contrast to incumbents). This study also tested organizational characteristics of start-ups and incumbents that were found in literature. Results showed that these characteristics are not present in every case. These findings also suggest that the hypothesis that incumbent organizations follow a mechanistic structure and start-ups follow an organic structure is too ad hoc.
Combining knowledge to generate novelty: a study of disclosed ideas for life science inventions

This paper investigates how a combination of diverse sources of knowledge is important for generation of new ideas and addresses how institutional infrastructures and practices support integration of knowledge across organizations in medicine and life sciences. To do so, the paper investigates new product ideas that emerge from hospital and university employees, and looks at the extent of interaction between clinical and scientific environments in the idea generation process. The paper utilizes data about all new product ideas within life science that were reported in South-Eastern Norway in 2009 to 2011, as well as information about the individuals and teams that had been involved in disclosing these ideas. Interviews with inventors have also been carried out. The study shows that interaction across scientific and clinical domains is common and important for generating new product ideas. More than half of the disclosed life science ideas in the database come from groups representing multiple institutions with both scientific and clinical units or from individuals with multiple institutional affiliations. The interviews indicate that the infrastructure for cross-domain interaction is well-developed, particularly for research activities, which has a positive spillover effect on invention activities.
DNA Computation: Applications and Perspectives

The computational capability of living systems has intrigued researchers for years. Primarily, the focus has been on implementing aspects of living systems in computational devices. Computer literal peoples expand their hand to the molecular biologist and chemist to explore the potential for computation of biological molecules line Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) and Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) which are information carrying molecules. In this context, DNA computation is basically a collection of specially selected DNA strands whose combinations will result in the solution to some problems. DNA computation rather DNA-based computing is at the intersection of several threads of research. Main advantages of DNA computation are miniaturization and parallelism over conventional silicon-based machines. The informationbearing capability of DNA molecules is a cornerstone of modern theories of genetics and molecular biology. In this paper we have tried to focus on some key issues regarding the used and implementation DNA-based devices in life science field. We have also tried to suggest its advantage over silicon computers.
Exploring the Usage of Social Networking Websites: Perceptions and Opinions of Romanian University Students

Social networking websites (SNWs) have become a popular virtual meeting place allowing users to voluntarily post personal information, send and receive message, stay connected online with their offline friends and new online friends, or share photos, videos, bookmarks, blogs, private messages and join groups. People are spending ample amount of time on social networking websites such as You Tube, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Hi5 etc., and this high usage has also brought changes in the way people behave. These social networking websites present a variety of features for their users to facilitate socialization. This paper presents the results of a study aiming to identify the Romanian student opinions regarding SNWs. The main findings of this study are: the most frequently visited and most popular social networks among Romanian student are You Tube and Facebook; the majority of the respondents use social networking websites a few times a day; only a small part of the respondents know how social networking websites use published and other type of information; the usage of SNWs is related with the usage of computers and internet. Also the most important functions of SNWs for Romanian student are: communication (including communication in interest groups), learning and exchanging information, exchanging photo, video, friend search and texting.
Older Adults on Electronic Commerce: A Literature Review

Electronic commerce keeps proliferating in the globalized market, and according to the market trends in both academic and commercial studies, the youth segment seems to be the primary objective of market strategies and the greater subject of academic studies. However, there is not much information about if the same situation in the market applies to the older adult segment, despite the growth in the number of older persons in many countries. To have a broader understanding of this matter, we carried out a review of the literature about this topic, with particular emphasis on the older adult's acceptance of electronic commerce, mobile commerce, mobile phones and the factors that influence their use of the technology. We also discuss some utilization of model and investigation theories, and we propose some directions for future research in this area.
Economic Development : Study Implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility of Pt. Semen Gresik to Create Public Welfare

Nowadays, companies are increasingly developed, which is at the same time increasing the social gap and the surrounding environmental damage. Therefore, it is urgent to increase the awareness to reduce these negative impacts through Corporate Social Responsibility of the related companies.The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of variables corporate social responsibility to social welfare around Gresik by analyzing the influence of CSR variables consisting of items: CSR goals, corporate social issues, and corporate programs related to community well-being in Gresik. The sample of the study is selected using purposive sampling technique with 59 consumers who receive assistance from PT Semen Gresik CSR. To collect the data, survey methods is used in the form of explanatory research. The primary research data is questionnaires, while the secondary data are related literature, internet sources, and interviews. The collected then is sort and analyzed using a Likert scale, while test the validity and reliability is conducted using statistical crosstabs by SPSS 16.0 software.Based on multiple linear regression analysis the results using the t test, it can be concluded that the corporate variables related programs partially affect the social live welfare. While, based on the results of the standardized Beta Coefficients respectively, it is revealed that corporate variables related programs pose dominant influence on the welfare of the community Gresik. So, the result is from Variabel CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility Goal, Corporate Social Issue, Corporate Related Program) does not have significance effect to social live welfare around PT Semen Gresik. Keywords : CSR, Corporate Related Program, Social Live Welfare
Patient's perceived factors that influence return to work after stroke

Stroke continues to be a major health problem for both developing and developed countries. An increasing number of survivors are within the working age range and thus still have much of their working life remaining. This study aimed to establish the rate of return to work (RTW) and the factors that infl uence RTW after stroke. This was a quantitative cross sectional study comprising 97 participants from various rehabilitation units in Gauteng province. The mean age of study participants was 51 ± 10.5 years. The RTW rate was 34%. The most common reasons for RTW were fi nancial (77%) and enjoyment of work (77%). The most common reasons for not returning to work were upper limb dysfunction (61%) and walking diffi culties (53%). Being depressed and not paying life insurance or monthly car repayments decreased the likelihood of RTW.
Quality and patient experience: A six-dimensional approach for the future of healthcare

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has significantly altered the American healthcare system. Through the establishment of the ACA, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced Value-Based Purchasing (VBP), a pay-for-performance program, to the hospital payment system. From a community hospital’s standpoint, a multifaceted approach to quality and patient satisfaction on better managing the health of the community was recognized: what begins in the community ends in the hospital as a valuable indicator for each individual’s well-being. This article depicts the process of utilizing a six-dimensional approach on engaging stakeholders to improve quality of care and patient satisfaction: (1) inpatient, (2) emergency department, (3) employee, (4) physician relationships, (5) outpatient, and (6) community. As the effect of the ACA becomes more prominent, hospitals should maintain their organizational flow and care coordination through the six-dimensional approach to bring patients and their families back to the center of their care.