Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An overview of existing performance measurement frameworks in the context of world class manufacturing performance measurement

Performance measurement plays a significant role in order to sustain an improved performance. An enterprise's measurement system strongly affects the behaviour of people, both inside and outside. If organisations are to survive and prosper in information age competition, they must use a measurement system derived from their strategies and capabilities. As enterprises introduce world class manufacturing (WCM) techniques, they need new methods of performance measurement to control and improve their production plants. Recent studies provide a useful framework for performance measurement and strategic alignment. The paper first highlights the imperatives of a performance measurement system for manufacturing excellence then discusses existing performance measurement systems and their limitations in measuring world class manufacturing performance. Finally, the paper suggests that there is a need to develop a new performance measurement system and proposed a framework for world class manufacturing performance measurement.
Immunohistochemical markers of carcinoma in situ of the testis also expressed in normal infantile germ cells

Carcinoma in situ of the testis is an intratubular, pre‐invasive lesion preceding germ cell tumour. In adult men, carcinoma in situ cells differ in several aspects from normal germ cells. For example, placental‐like alkaline phosphatase and/or the epitopes for the monoclonal antibodies M2A, 43‐9F and TRA‐1–60 are not seen in normal germ cells, whereas their presence is considered a specific sign of carcinoma in situ. As it is known that placental‐like alkaline phosphatase and the epitope for TRA‐1–60 are expressed in normal fetal germ cells it is possible that the markers could appear in normal infantile germ cells in a period after birth before they lose their expression. In children, carcinoma in situ cells may be difficult to identify morphologically and the use of the markers could be of great value. However, little information is available on the expression of the markers of adult carcinoma in situ in normal infantile germ cells. We investigated gonads from 66 boys less than 15 years old who died suddenly. Their deaths were unrelated to testicular disease. Immunohistochemical staining with anti‐placental‐like alkaline phosphatase antibody and monoclonal antibodies TRA‐1–60 and 43–9F were performed. We found that these markers were expressed in some normal infantile germ cells until the age of 1 year. Therefore, these markers are not suitable for diagnosis of carcinoma in situ during the early postnatal period of life. Furthermore, our findings of placental‐like alkaline phosphatase and the epitope for TRA‐1–60 in normal germ cells before birth indicate that the markers of adult carcinoma in situ cells are of embryonic origin. This is in accordance with the hypothesis that carcinoma in situ cells are fetal germ cells malignantly transformed during fetal life, although re‐expression of the antigens could provide an alternative explanation.
Children's Food Store, Restaurant, and Home Food Environments and Their Relationship with Body Mass Index: A Pilot Study

This pilot research assessed the feasibility and utility of a study designed to examine the relationship between children's BMI and food store, restaurant, and home food environments. Home visits were conducted with sixth-grade children (N = 12). BMI z-scores were calculated with weight and height measurements. Nutrition Environment Measures Surveys evaluated children's food environments. The study protocol involved a feasible time duration, minimal missing data for primary variables, and participant satisfaction. Potential design problems included the homogeneous store environments and low restaurant exposure of the sample recruited from one school, and the adequacy of a single cross-sectional measure of the home environment.
Short versus conventional term glucocorticoid therapy in acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease - the "REDUCE" trial.

BACKGROUND International guidelines advocate a 10 to 14-day course of systemic glucocorticoid therapy in the management of COPD exacerbations. The optimal duration of therapy is unknown and glucocorticoids have serious adverse effects. The aim of this trial is to demonstrate non-inferiority of a five-day compared to a 14-day course of systemic glucocorticoids with respect to COPD outcome, thereby significantly reducing steroid exposure and side effects in patients with COPD exacerbations. METHODS This is a randomised, placebo-controlled, non-inferiority multicentre trial. Patients with acute COPD exacerbation are randomised to receive 40 mg of prednisone-equivalent daily for 14 days (conventional arm) or glucocorticoid treatment for 5 days, followed by placebo for another 9 days (intervention arm). Follow-up is 180 days. The primary endpoint is time to next exacerbation. Secondary endpoints include cumulative glucocorticoid dose, time to open-label glucocorticoid therapy, glucocorticoid-associated side effects and complications, duration of hospital stay, death, change in FEV1, need for assisted ventilation, clinical outcome assessed by standardised questionnaires, and suppression of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. RESULTS Mean age (± SD) of patients who finished the study was 70 ± 11 years. 12% had mild or moderate disease, whereas severe and very severe stages were found in 30 and 58%, respectively. At the time of inclusion, 20% of patients were under treatment with systemic glucocorticoids. CONCLUSIONS If the strategy of significantly reducing cumulative exposure to glucocorticoids while taking advantage of their beneficial short-term effects proves to be successful, it will warrant a change in common glucocorticoid prescription practice, thereby improving the management of COPD.
The Time Varying Properties of Credit and Liquidity Components of CDS Spreads

This paper investigates the role of credit and liquidity factors in explaining corporate CDS price changes during normal and crisis periods. We find that liquidity risk is more important than credit risk regardless of market conditions. Moreover, in the period prior to the recent ‘Great Recession’ credit risk plays no role in explaining CDS price changes. The dominance of liquidity effects casts serious doubts on the relevance of CDS price changes as an indicator of default risk dynamics. Our results show how multiple liquidity factors including firm specific and aggregate liquidity proxies as well as an asymmetric information measure are critical determinants of CDS price variations. In particular, the impact of informed traders on the CDS price increases when markets are characterised by higher uncertainty, which supports concerns of insider trading during the crisis.
A restructuring service cluster algorithm ABC optimised based on virtual resource selection probability

Virtual resources (VR) clustering represents a valuable advantage in terms of organisation, readability and efficiency for resource exploration. Service clusters often embed VR based on predetermined clustering methods e.g. hierarchical methods, partionning methods, fuzzy clustering, and density-based algorithms. Meanwhile, after several resource explorations and selections, the agent-based system, denoted cloud platform in cloud manufacturing (CMfg), is able to gather statistical data concerning service requirements along with the probabilities of service clusters and their related VR to be selected. Consequently, the structure and definition of service clusters can be re-considered according to the probability of a set of VR to be selected. This article proposes a clustering method based on selection probability and ABC (Artificial Bee Colony) algorithm optimised. The present research also focuses on the global definition and improvements of the CMfg clustering process and the restructuring trigger function. Finally, the relevance and efficiency of the restructuring service cluster method are demonstrated in the precision and performance evaluation section.
BOARD GENDER DIVERSITY, CORPORATE REPUTATION AND MARKET PERFORMANCE

This study examines the association between corporate transparency, ethical orientation of Fortune 500 companies, the number of females represented on the board of directors as reported in the 2010 annual report data and respective stock performance. Our basis for this judgement was whether the firm was listed on either (both) Ethisphere Magazine’s 2010 ‘World’s Most Ethical Companies’ or (and) Corporate Responsibility Magazine’s 2010 ‘100 Best Corporate Citizens List’. Our results indicate that, as the number of women directors increased, the probability of a corporation appearing in these lists increases. Finally, while being on one of these lists did not increase corporate return data in a statistically significant sense, it did dramatically reduce the degree of negative returns.
PENGARUH NILAI TUKAR TERHADAP HARGA SAHAM SETELAH INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING (IPO)

This study aims to examine the effect of exchange rate on stock prices after Initial Public Offering (IPO) on companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange. Observations made on 137 companies that conduct an IPO in the period of 2009 to 2014. The purposive sampling method undertaken in this study resulted in 78 companies that became the research sample. Data analysis technique used in this research is simple regression model. The test results prove that exchange rate has positive but not significant effect on stock price after IPO. The value of determination coefficient is 0.047 (4.7%) indicating that the exchange rate variation can only explain 4.7% against stock price variation after IPO. The other 95.3% is another variable not included in this study.
Strategies and new business models in intermodal hinterland transport

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AGO4 is specifically required for heterochromatic siRNA accumulation at Pol V‐dependent loci in Arabidopsis thaliana

In plants, 24 nucleotide long heterochromatic siRNAs (het-siRNAs) transcriptionally regulate gene expression by RNA-directed DNA methylation (RdDM). The biogenesis of most het-siRNAs depends on the plant-specific RNA polymerase IV (Pol IV), and ARGONAUTE4 (AGO4) is a major het-siRNA effector protein. Through genome-wide analysis of sRNA-seq data sets, we found that AGO4 is required for the accumulation of a small subset of het-siRNAs. The accumulation of AGO4-dependent het-siRNAs also requires several factors known to participate in the effector portion of the RdDM pathway, including RNA POLYMERASE V (POL V), DOMAINS REARRANGED METHYLTRANSFERASE 2 (DRM2) and SAWADEE HOMEODOMAIN HOMOLOGUE 1 (SHH1). Like many AGO proteins, AGO4 is an endonuclease that can 'slice' RNAs. We found that a slicing-defective AGO4 was unable to fully recover AGO4-dependent het-siRNA accumulation from ago4 mutant plants. Collectively, our data suggest that AGO4-dependent siRNAs are secondary siRNAs dependent on the prior activity of the RdDM pathway at certain loci.
Optoelectronic oscillators for microwave and mm-wave generation

Photonics based oscillators generate mm-wave signals with high spectral purity at frequencies as high as 100 GHz, and beyond. The use of optical components provides the added benefit of reduced size and power consumption, while maintaining low phase noise. This paper reviews the basis of the optoelectronic techniques on which photonics oscillators are based, and provides a review for the latest advances in the field.
Managing Large-Scale Capital Inflows: The Case of the Czech Republic, Poland and Romania

Many emerging market economies have in the recent past experienced a surge in capital inflows that may threaten their economic and financial stability. The IMF in early 2011 proposed a framework intended to guide Fund advice to policymakers on how to best respond to such inflows, including both macroeconomic instruments and so-called capital flow management measures (CFMs). The paper applies this framework to three countries that have experienced elevated capital inflows after the onset of the 2008 global financial crisis - the Czech Republic, Poland, and Romania. It finds that the evaluation of the macroeconomic criteria as prescribed by the framework does not support the use of CFMs, but instead advocates macroeconomic policies as the first line of defense against large-scale capital inflows. This finding is by and large consistent with the IMF’s policy advice given to country authorities in the context of surveillance missions.
Global Liquidity: A Review of Concepts, Measurement and Impact on Asset Prices and a Study of the Possible Impact on the Indian Stock Market

In this paper we try to understand the concept of global liquidity and take a preliminary look at its possible impact on emerging economy stock markets like India’s. Through most of the paper we follow studies by the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), the European Central Bank (ECB), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to discuss the concept of global liquidity from a financial stability point of view, and specify the factors driving such liquidity and the interactions that enhance the effects of official liquidity provided by the central banks. We also list some recently proposed indicators as measures of global liquidity and see whether they may perform better in terms of predicting financial instabilities. We then use such an indicator to understand how the post-crisis surges in global liquidity impact Indian stock markets.
Effect of Experimentally Induced Hypothyroidism on the Parotid Gland of Adult Male Albino Rats and the possible Role of Thyroid Hormone Supplementation

Thyroid hormones; T3 and T4 are essential for physiological functions of almost all body tissues. The current study was carried out to investigate the effect of hypothyroidism on the histological structure of parotid salivary gland of the rat. This study was conducted using 30 male albino rats. They were divided into three groups, 10 rats each: group 1 (control group), group2 (hypothyroid group) which received carbimazole (NeoMercazol); antithyroid drug; at a dose of 0.05 mg/day for 3 weeks, and group 3 (thyroid hormone-supplemented animals). At the end of the experiment, the animals were sacrificed. Parotid specimens from all groups were processed for light and electron microscopic studies. Biochemical analysis was carried out to measure the serum levels of triiodothyronine, T4 and TSH. Statistical analysis was carried out. Hypothyroid acini had irregular outlines and were widely separated. Congested blood vessels and cellular infilteration were seen in the interstitial space. The interlobular ducts appeared dilated. Mallory's trichrome stained sections clarified extensive collagen fibers in parotid gland. Immunohistochemical stained sections of hypothyroid group showed weak immune reaction for bcl2 in the cytoplasm of parotid cells. Ultrastructural alterations of parotid cells in hypothyroid group were observed. Some acinar cells showed variable sized vacuoles in their cytoplasm. The parotid gland of thyroid supplemented group still contained distorted acinar cells and did not return to its normal histological structure. In conclusion. The level of T3, T4 decreased and that of TSH increased in the experimental group when compared with control group. Also, there were changes in the histological structure of the parotid salivary gland of the teated group thus, it is recommended to early diagnosis of hypothridism with rapid interfercence.
Regulation of the cerebral vessels; new aspects.

In 1954 an interesting paper by Meyer, Fang, and Denny-Brown1presented evidence that makes possible a new interpretation of some puzzling features in the response of cerebral arteries to autonomic stimulation. For the past 20 years there has been general acceptance of the thesis that arteries of the mammalian brain are regulated to a minor extent by vasomotor nerves.2The evidence in favor of this is strong. There remain unexplained, however, atypical findings, such as the following: Section of the sympathetic trunk in the neck causes prompt dilatation of cutaneous branches of the external carotid artery, but no dilatation of the pial arteries; sympathetic nerve degeneration (following excision of cervical ganglia) causes increased epinephrine sensitivity of the pupil but not of the pial arteries. The purpose of the present article is threefold: (1) to illustrate ways in which pial arteries differ from extracranial arteries; (2) to consider a
Improved correction for population stratification in genome‐wide association studies by identifying hidden population structures

Hidden population substructure can cause population stratification and lead to false‐positive findings in population‐based genome‐wide association (GWA) studies. Given a large panel of markers scanned in a GWA study, it becomes increasingly feasible to uncover the hidden population substructure within the study sample based on measured genotypes across the genome. Recognizing that population substructure can be displayed as clustered and/or continuous patterns of genetic variation, we propose a method that aims at the detection and correction of the confounding effect resulting from both patterns of population substructure. The proposed method is an extension of the EIGENSTRAT method (Price et al. [ 2006 ] Nat Genet 38:904–909). This approach is computationally feasible and easily applied to large‐scale GWA studies. We show through simulation studies that, compared with the EIGENSTRAT method, the new method requires a smaller number of markers and yields a more appropriate correction for population stratification. Genet. Epidemiol. 2007. Published 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Satellite Payloads Pay Off

Software-Defined Satellite Payloads Based on Microwave Photonics! Satellite communication offers a number of distinct features that are not readily available with other means of communication, such as seamless coverage of remote and sparsely populated areas, reliable data relay for deep-space exploration, inherent multicasting and broadcasting capabilities, and reliable performance in extreme conditions (e.g., war, earthquakes, and other adverse events) [1], [2]. In recent years, the steep rise in mobile multimedia applications and increased space exploration activity have created unprecedented opportunities for innovative satellite communication. According to a report provided by the Satellite Industry Association in September 2014, the global revenue of the satellite communication industry for 2013 reached US$189.2 billion-60% of global space revenue and 4% of global telecommunications revenue [3]. Apple, Google, Amazon, Facebook, and many other large technology companies are currently seeking to bolster their satellite communication systems in the next five to ten years, fostering a continuous increase of revenue in this area.
Attention, reliability, and validity of perceptual asymmetries in the fused dichotic words test

The present experiment investigated the claim that the fused dichotic words test (FDWT) is affected minimally by attentional factors. A total of 40 right-handed undergraduate students were randomly assigned to either a free recall or exogenous cueing condition. In the free recall condition, participants circled on a response sheet the word corresponding to the percept they heard for each trial. In the exogenous cueing condition, a lateralised tone cue was presented with a stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of either 150 or 450 ms. Participants responded by circling the word presented to the ear where the tone sounded. Results of the free recall condition showed the expected large right ear advantage (REA). In the exogenous cueing condition, the significant SOA by ear of presentation interaction predicted by an attentional explanation of perceptual asymmetries was obtained. Specifically, the REA obtained at the 150 ms SOA was reduced at the 450 ms SOA for both correct responses and intrusions. These findings suggest that, contrary to claims conveyed in the literature, the FDWT is subject to the influences of attention. This supports the claim that the large and reliable laterality effects obtained with the fused dichotic words test are due in part to a consistent attentional bias.
Effect of Raw-Milk Cheese Consumption on the Enterococcal Flora of Human Feces

ABSTRACT Enterococci are one of the major facultative anaerobic bacterial groups that reside in the human gastrointestinal tract. In the present study, the composition of the enterococcal fecal flora in three healthy humans was analyzed before, during, and after the daily consumption of ∼125 g of a raw-milk Cheddar-type cheese containing 3.2 × 104 enterococci/g of cheese. Enterococcal counts ranged between 1.4 × 102 and 2.5 × 108 CFU/g of feces and differed from subject to subject and from week to week. The cheese contained mainly Enterococcus casseliflavus and a small population of Enterococcus faecalis. Clonal relationships were determined by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis. Before and after consumption of the cheese, samples from humans contained mainly Enterococcus faecium, with some of the clones being resident. During consumption of the cheese, one particular transient clone of E. faecalis, clone Fs2, which was present in small numbers in the cheese, largely dominated the feces. Two clones of E. casseliflavus from the cheese were also found in the feces of one of the subjects during cheese consumption. These results suggest that a clone need not be present in a food in high numbers to establish itself in the intestine.
Where next in kidney cancer?

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Case study ‐ the leveraging of brand equities to create a category champion: Nestlé’s management of Crosse & Blackwell

The paper focuses on how Nestle, the Swiss based food multinational, is attempting to reinvigorate its long established British sub‐ house brand Crosse & Blackwell so that it can spearhead the company presence in key sectors of the UK food market. Brand bonding, the process which involves the transfusion of brand equities from corporate and product assets and associations, is applied. The role integrated marketing communications effort is playing in securing the desired position for Crosse & Blackwell, namely that of an innovative, convenient, tasty solution to food needs, is examined. The issue of the optimal presence for the house brand Nestle is raised.