Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relations between ph, oxygen partial pressure and growth in cultured cell spheroids

The PH gradients, oxygen partial‐pressure gradients and growth curves were measured for 7 different types of spheroids. Growth curves were measured in liquid overlay culture and thereafter the spheroids were attached to cover glasses and transferred to a chamber for micro‐electrode measurements. The spheroids were randomly divided for PH or pO2 measurements which then were made under conditions as identical as possible. The decreases in pO2 and pH, ΔpO2 and ΔPH were calculated as the difference between the values in the culture medium and the values 200 μm inside the spheroids. Each type of spheroid had a certain relation between ΔpO2 and ΔpH. The human colon carcinoma HT29, the mouse mammary carcinoma EMT6 and the hamster lung V79‐379A spheroids had high values of the quotient ΔpO2/ΔpH. The human thyroid carcinoma HTh7 spheroids and the 3 types of human glioma spheroids had lower quotients. There was a tendency for fast‐growing spheroids to have high quotients. Two extreme types of spheroids, HT29 (high quotient) and UII8 MG (Iow quotient) were analyzed for lactate production and oxygen consumption. The U‐II8 MG spheroids produced about 3 times more lactate and consumed about 3 times less oxygen than the HT29 spheroids. The differences in lactate production could not be explained by differences in the pyruvate Km values of lactate dehydrogenase. The results indicate that there are significant metabolic differences between the spheroid systems studied.
What is Meant by Services?

The marketing discipline has been concerned primarily with GOODS. Yet SERVICES are claiming an increasing share of the consumer's dollar. This author argues that marketing people should direct more of their attention to the services sector. What are the marketing characteristics of services? Are goods solely goods—services solely services? Is not the marketing of services by government agencies an appropriate province for marketing analysis? These are some of the questions considered here.
Kmasker - A Tool for in silico Prediction of Single-Copy FISH Probes for the Large-Genome Species Hordeum vulgare

Specific localization of large genomic fragments by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is challenging in large- genome plant species due to the high content of repetitive sequences. We report the automated work flow (Kmasker) for in silico extraction of unique genomic sequences of large genomic fragments suitable for FISH in barley. This method can be widely used for the integration of genetic and cytogenetic maps in plants and other species with large and complex genomes if the probe sequence (e.g. BACs, sequence contigs) and a low coverage (8-fold) of unassembled sequences of the species of interest are available. Kmasker has been made publicly available as a web tool at http://webblast.ipk-gatersleben.de/kmasker.
Réduction de l’espace de recherche dans une collection de documents non structurés

Les administrations constituent des archives de documents sans se soucier de leur réutilisation. C’est ainsi que contrairement au web où un effort de structuration des données facilite la recherche d’information, il n’est pas souvent aisé de retrouver le document adéquat lorsqu’on en a besoin. Les seuls outils disponibles sont en général les utilitaires fournis par les systèmes d’exploitation. Or ces outils s’appuient sur les techniques d’indexation qui ne fournissent pas toujours des résultats satisfaisants sur les collections de documents non structurés, le rendu d’une recherche étant aussi volumineux que la collection initiale. Cet article présente une approche qui vise à réduire l’espace de recherche en ordonnant le contenu de la collection des documents selon la pertinence par rapport à la requête de l’utilisateur. Cette approche se base sur un corpus issu du vocabulaire du domaine que nous couplons avec les algorithmes de classification non supervisé couramment utilisés en data mining. Most public/private organisations archive documents without worrying about their reuse. The documents are often stored in word processing format. Thus it is not easy to find the appropriate documentation when needed. The only tools available are generally the utilities provided by the operating systems. These tools are based on the indexation of the filenames and they do not produce satisfactory results since the filenames do not always contain the keywords of the search criteria. Thus the retrieval is made on a space as large as the initial collection. This paper presents an approach that aims to reduce the search space by ordering the contents of the collection of documents according to relevance to the user query. This approach is based on a corpus from the vocabulary of the domain that we couple with unsupervised classification algorithms commonly used in datamining.
Meta-Analysis Reveals no Significant Association between ERCC6 Polymorphisms and Bladder Cancer Risk

Background Numerous studies have been conducted to evaluate the association between excision repair cross-complementing group 6 (ERCC6) gene polymorphisms and bladder cancer risk, but their findings have been inconsistent. Here we performed a meta-analysis to attempt to clarify this association. Methods Studies were retrieved from the PubMed and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases up to October 1, 2015, with strict selection and exclusion criteria. A total of 5,032 samples, comprising samples from 2,475 bladder cancer patients and 2,557 controls from 5 studies, were included in the meta-analysis. The odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used to evaluate the strength of the associations. Results Regarding the Met1097Val polymorphism, no significant association with bladder cancer risk was found in any of the genetic models evaluated (Val vs. Met: OR = 1.10, 95% CI, 0.97-1.25; Val/Val vs. Met/Met: OR = 1.23, 95% CI, 0.86-1.75; Val/Val + Val/Met vs. Met/Met: OR = 1.12, 95% CI, 0.96-1.30; Val/Val vs. Met/Met + Val/Met: OR = 0.81, 95% CI, 0.57-1.14). Similarly, as regards the Arg1230Pro polymorphism, we also found no positive results. Conclusions According to the results of our meta-analysis, there is no evidence of a link between the ERCC6 gene polymorphisms and bladder cancer risk. Well-designed further studies, with larger sample sizes and adjustment for confounders such as smoking status, are needed to confirm these conclusions.
Libcitations: A measure for comparative assessment of book publications in the humanities and social sciences

Bibliometric measures for evaluating research units in the book-oriented humanities and social sciences are underdeveloped relative to those available for journal-oriented science and technology. We therefore present a new measure designed for book-oriented fields: the “libcitation count. ” This is a count of the libraries holding a given book, as reported in a national or international union catalog. As librarians decide what to acquire for the audiences they serve, they jointly constitute an instrument for gauging the cultural impact of books. Their decisions are informed by knowledge not only of audiences but also of the book world, e.g., the reputations of authors and the prestige of publishers. From libcitation counts, measures can be derived for comparing research units. Here, we imagine a match-up between the departments of history, philosophy, and political science at the University of New South Wales and the University of Sydney in Australia. We chose the 12 books from each department that had thehighest libcitation counts in the Libraries Australia union catalog during 2000–2006. We present each book’s raw libcitation count, its rank within its LC class, and its LC-class normalized libcitation score. The latter is patterned on the item-oriented field normalized citation score used in evaluative bibliometrics. Summary statistics based on these measures allow the departments to be compared for cultural impact. Our work has implications for programs such as Excellence in Research for Australia and the Research Assessment Exercise in the United Kingdom. It also has implications for data mining in OCLC’s WorldCat.
Light Fuel-Cell Hybrid Electric Vehicles Based on Predictive Controllers

This paper presents a predictive control-based fuel-cell hybrid electric vehicle system. Employing hybrid power sources, an ultracapacitor (UC), and a battery, the hybrid system maximizes the energy efficiency and protects the battery while achieving faster torque response based on predictive controllers residing in the boost converter, UC manager, and motor drive. The predictive controller implemented in the brushless dc (BLDC) motor drive improves the motor current response. Overall, the proposed hybrid system improves the dc-bus current response, and, hence, motor torque response, compared with a conventional proportional-integral (PI) controller-based system. The effectiveness of the proposed system has been verified through simulation and experiment.
Customers' credit card selection criteria in perspective of an emerging market

The credit card market has expanded radically in Pakistan, both in terms of cards variety and usage. A wide variety of local and international cards, issued by different domestic and foreign banks, is available in the market. Despite recent financial crisis, there are still huge potential for future growth and further penetration existing in Pakistan. The purpose of this study is to explore and investigate various attributes that customers consider of importance while selecting a credit card in Pakistan. The sample of this study was 800 credit cardholders. The information was collected from existing cardholders through a self-administered questionnaire. It contained questions related to credit card market, cardholder's profile and the relative importance of the main attributes that play a role in card selection. The data collected were then analyzed to find out the important factors that influence the credit card selection. The results show that convenience, economical use, both local and abroad, and sense of security are important attributes that customers consider while selecting a credit card. The findings of this study can be helpful for financial institutions to focus on the features, which customers consider important while selecting credit cards and can also be used for optimal marketing mix allocations in prevailing economic situation in the country. Key words: Credit card, important attributes, cardholder's profile, large acceptance.
The Effects of Website Quality on Customer e-Loyalty: The Mediating Effect of Trustworthiness

Website has been used as an efficient platform to tailor their products or services and as a unique profit mode of e-commerce. Due to this advance of the Internet, this study is mainly to examine the relationship between website quality and customer e-loyalty. The present study aims to explore the effect on website quality on customer e-loyalty through trustworthiness. SmartPLS (M3) was used as the main analytical tool to test the proposed research model. This study provides a theoretical framework combining website quality, trustworthiness, and customer e-loyalty and tests the proposed model empirically by targeting on online consumers. Trustworthiness enacts as the mediator. Based on the statistical analysis, there is a positive relationship is detected between website design and customer e-loyalty. However, the findings revealed that website content and website structure have negative influence on customer e-loyalty. The finding also disclosed that trustworthiness is positively related to customer e-loyalty. Theoretical and practical implications, limitations of the study, and recommendations for future research are discussed.
Performance measurement and benchmarking of a major innovation programme

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the problems encountered and the solutions developed when using benchmarking and key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor a major UK social house building innovation (change) programme. The innovation programme sought improvements to both the quality of the house product and the procurement process.Design/methodology/approach – Benchmarking and KPIs were used to quantify performance and in‐depth case studies to identify underlying cause and effect relationships within the innovation programme.Findings – The inherent competition between consortium members; the complexity of the relationship between the consortium and its strategic partner; the lack of an authoritative management control structure; and the rapidly changing nature of the UK social housing market all proved problematic to the development of a reliable and robust monitoring system. These problems were overcome by the development of multi‐dimensional benchmarking model that balanced the nee.
The measurement of end‐user computing satisfaction of online banking services: empirical evidence from Finland

Purpose – Although research into the adoption and use of online banking services has grown in many parts of the world, the centre of attention has been largely on determinants of online banking adoption, not on users' satisfaction with use. This paper aims to test and validate the End‐User Computing Satisfaction (EUCS) model in order to investigate online banking users' satisfaction with the service.Design/methodology/approach – A survey (n=268) was carried out using convenience sampling. An exploratory factor analysis followed by a confirmatory factor analysis run in LISREL 8.7 is used to test the validity of the model in an online banking context.Findings – The survey results support three constructs (content, ease of use, accuracy) from the original model, indicating that the modified EUCS model labelled EUCS2 can be utilized in analyzing user satisfaction with online banking among private customers.Research limitations/implications – The obtained model suffered from two cross‐loadings between individu.
Advertising and Services of Retail Shops in Spatial Competition

Consumers purchase various goods at retail shops. The demand behavior of consumers is constrained by shopping trip costs when these shops are separated spatially from rivals. Shopping trip costs give the spatial firm some monopoly power over customers in close proximity to the shop. Thus, the spatial firm can enlarge its market area by attracting consumers on the borderline of two markets. Then, advertising is one strategy to expand its market share. Some advertising results in spillover effects, which are present when the advertising of one firm increases the amount sold without advertising. Generally, the products that retail shops sell are homogeneous. Therefore, the advertising of these shops causes spillover effects. If such effects are present, each retailer would have incentive to become a free rider, that is, receive the benefits of advertising without the costs. If there were a way to differentiate retail shops, their advertising would not cause spillover effects. We consider that theirservices differentiate these shops. For example, an electric appliance store replaces lamp bulbs for senior customers ; fishmongers cook fish in ways that customers prefer (boiled, grilled, steamed, etc.) ; and bookstores give customers the information they seek about books. When retail shops supply these services, advertising of their services does not cause spillover effects. The purpose of this study is to analyze how retail shop advertising affects market share in spatial competition and what actions such shops can take to be more competitive than their rivals. The rest of the paper is structured as follows. Section 2 presents a simple survey of previous approaches to such research. Section 3 builds the basic model. Section 4 analyzes the effects of advertising. Section 5 concludes and discusses how retail shops can become more competitive than their rivals.
The Services Of General Interest In Romania: Legal And Institutional Aspects At National And Territorial Level

Before 1990, the services of general interest (SeGI) in Romania were entirely provided by the public authorities. Afterwards, the market was gradually liberalized and the SeGI captured the attention of private operators. Nowadays, the business sector is involved next to the public authorities in offering services of general interest so as to respond citizensâ€™ expectations. The cooperation between the public authorities and the business sector is more developed in the area of SeGI that prove to be profitable, such as waste service and public transport, rather than services that need high investments in infrastructure, such as electricity, gas and water supply service. Starting from these overall considerations this paper addresses the legal and institutional issues generated by the organising and the provision of SeGI, with a particular emphasis on the territorial distribution of competences and the derived responsibilities. It takes into consideration the classification of competences associated to local authorities as a result of the decentralisation process, which are divided into exclusive, shared and delegated ones. Two territorial levels are considered, namely the counties - LAU1 (the same as NUTS3) and the localities (municipalities, towns and communes) â€“ LAU 2. The development regions (NUTS2) are not considered as they are not administrative units and, consequently, do not have competences in the administration of the services of general interest. A series of drawbacks, inconsistencies are revealed followed by reflections on the solutions adopted by the authorities in favour of economic liberalisation and sustainable development of the local communities. They are derived from the Law of communitarian services of public utilities no. 51/2006, which is the main pillar of the policy framework for the public services in Romania. Thus, the public services in Romania could be provided by direct and indirect management. The latter might represent the solution that would directly support the cooperation between the local public administration authorities and the business sector and would indirectly generate the liberalization of services of general interest. The paper is based on the research conducted under the auspices of the on-going ESPON project â€œIndicators and perspectives for services of general interest in territorial cohesion and development â€“ SeGIâ€ (PS 1-16, No.094/2011), in which Bucharest Academy of Economic Studies is one of the partners involved. Keywords: services of general interest, competences, local administrative units, local development, public â€“ private cooperation JEL Classification: R12, R58, O18, L8, L9
Customer lifetime value research in marketing: A review and future directions

As we go through the information revolution, new marketing areas and issues are emerging that warrant in-depth research. New problems present themselves to investigation and old problems can be analyzed in better ways due to the availability of better data. Customer lifetime value (CLV) analysis is one such area in marketing that benefits from this new development. The notion of the lifetime value of a customer has been well accepted by both researchers and business practitioners. It is normally believed that long-lifetime customers are more profitable to a firm. Reichheld and Teal (1996) attributed the increase in profits from loyal customers to the price premium paid by loyal customers, the added profits from sales through referrals, profit from cost savings obtained by serving an old customer, and revenue growth from a loyal customer due to increase in sales to that customer. These can be considered as a summary of the commonly held reasons for increase in profitability from long-lifetime customers. For companies with a presence on the World Wide Web, Reichheld and Schefter (2000) noted that the general pattern of early losses followed by rising profits from an acquired and retained
Factors Motivating Sales Force in Pharmaceutical Industry: A Literature Review.

The sales force is an asset of any organization. Improving performance of sales force through motivation has always been a prime chore among organisation and researcher. Sales motivation entirely depends on the quality of management provided by the first-line sales controller. With the help of financial and non-financial incentives one can motivate the sales force effortlessly. This study is an attempt to evaluate the factors which affect motivation of sales force in pharma industry. These days, the main target for the sales force is to complete their objectives and quotas which is not that easy for them and for this the main activator is the motivation. The result shows that various factors like job security, wages, interesting work, promotion,
Surival and prognostic factors in 212 Italian patients with genetic hemochromatosis

Two hundred twelve Italian patients with genetic hemochromatosis (181 men, mean age 50 ± 11 yr; and 31 women, mean age 49 ± 10 yr) were followed for a median period of 44 mo (range = 3 to 218 mo). Alcohol abuse was present in 31 subjects (15%), and chronic HBV and HCV infection were seen in 19 (9%) and 35 (24%) of 145 cases tested, respectively. Twenty‐four patients (11%) had concomitant p‐thalassemia trait. Liver biopsy revealed cirrhosis in 146 and a noncirrhotic pattern in the other 66. Perls' stain was degree I11 in 37 patients and IV in 171 patients. One hundred eighty‐five patients underwent weekly venesection, and iron depletion was achieved in 122 cases after total iron removal of 3 to 41 gm. Death occurred in 44 patients after 3 to 198 mo and was due to hepatocellular carcinoma in 20 cases, liver failure in 10, extrahepatic cancer in six, heart failure in three and hemochromatosis unrelated causes in five. Cancer has developed in seven other patients still alive (hepatocellular in five and extrahepatic in two). No deaths were observed among noncirrhotic patients; cumulative survival rates in cirrhotic patients were 85%, 75%, 60% and 47% at 3, 5, 8 and 10 yr, respectively. Univariate analysis in the 146 cirrhotic patients showed that age greater than 60 yr, alcohol abuse, cardiomyopathy, skin pigmentation, portal hypertension, hypoalbuminemia, hypergammaglobulinemia and Child class B or C had significant negative prognostic value. At multivariate analysis, only alcohol abuse, γ‐globulins greater than 2.0 gm/dl and Child class B or C maintained their negative prognostic values (p < 0.01, hazard ratio 2.7; p < 0.001, hazard ratio 2.8; and p < 0.001, hazard ratio 4.3, respectively). (Hepatology 1992;15:655–659).
Analysis on electrical and optical properties of nitrogen incorporated amorphous carbon prepared by aerosol-assisted CVD method

We have successfully deposit the a-C and nitrogen doped a-C (a-C:N) using the custom-made Aerosol-assisted CVD (AACVD). Natural precursor, camphor oil (C10H16O) was selected as the carbon source. The electrical and optical properties were characterized by BUKOH KEIKI CEP2000 solar simulator system and Perkin Elmer LAMBDA 750 UV-vis-NIR spectroscope respectively. Five samples were prepared for the a-C and a-C: N respectively, with the deposition temperatures ranging from 400°C to 600°C. An ohmic contact was acquired between the carbon/metal configurations from the current-voltage solar simulator system. Higher conductivity at a-C: N, ~x10-2 Scm-1 is due to the decrease in defects since the spin density gap decrease with the nitrogen addition. Pure a-C exhibit absorption coefficient, a of 10 cm-1, whereas for a-C:N, a is of 10 cm-1. The high σ value is at a-C:N is due to the presence of more graphitic component (sp2 carbon bonding) in the carbon films.
Optimal price and quantity determination for retail electric power contracts

Considering the viewpoint of a retailer, this paper analyzes the problem of setting up contracts on both the supplier and end-user sides to maximize profits while maintaining an acceptable level of settlement risk. The proposed stochastic optimization model can assist retailers with these efforts and guide them in their contractual arrangements. A realistic example illustrates the capabilities of the methodology proposed.