Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An investigation into the initial barriers to internationalization: Evidence from small UK retailers

Purpose – This paper is the result of empirical research funded by The British Academy. The overall purpose of the study is to investigate the initial barriers to internationalization experienced and perceived by small retailers based in the UK and the role of government support in addressing such obstacles.Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative, multiple case research design is adopted. This involves semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with the senior manager/decision‐maker in six retail SMEs based in the UK and the analysis of company documentation and information from a range of secondary sources.Findings – The findings from the case study data highlight internal and external barriers to internationalization relating to management: lack of vision, fear of losing control, lack of knowledge; the company: transfer of retail concept overseas, lack of resources, lack of consolidation in domestic market; and the external environment: legislation, currency, cultural differences and logistics. The finding.
Intravascular haemolysis during prolonged running on asphalt and natural grass in long and middle distance runners

Abstract Surface features such as uneven playing surfaces, low impact absorption capacity and inappropriate friction/traction characteristics are connected with injury prevalence whereas force impact during foot strike has been suggested to be an important mechanism of intravascular haemolysis during running. We aimed to evaluate intravascular haemolysis during running and compare the effect of running on two different types of surfaces on haemolysis. We selected two surfaces (asphalt and grass) on which these athletes usually run. Participants were randomly assigned to group A (asphalt) or group B (grass) with 10 athletes in each group. Each athlete completed one hour of running at the calculated target heart rate (60–70%). Venous blood samples were collected before and immediately after running. We measured unconjugated bilirubin (UBR) (mg · dl−1), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (μ · ml−1), haemoglobin (g · l−1) and serum ferritin (ng · ml−1) as indicators of haemolysis. Athletes who ran on grass demonstrated an increase in the haematological parameters (UBR: P < 0.01, LDH: P < 0.05) when compared to athletes who ran on asphalt (UBR: P < 0.05, LDH: P = 0.241). Our findings indicate that intravascular haemolysis occurs significantly after prolonged running. Furthermore, we conclude that uneven grass surface results in greater haemolysis compared to asphalt road.
The Psychologic Effects of Immobilization on the Pediatric Orthopaedic Patient

This offering for two (2) contact hours is sponsored by the National Association of Orthopaedic Nurses, which is accredited as a provider of continuing education in nursing by the Eastern Regional Accrediting Committee of the American Nurses' Association. NAON has been approved as a provider of continuing education by the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN Provider Number 03432), and the Florida Board of Registered Nursing (Provider Number 2751007), and the Iowa Board of Nursing (Provider Number 180). Awarding of contact hours is contingent upon successful (75% correct) completion of the test questions.
Performance of the Mini Nutritional Assessment Score in the Detection of Vitamin D Status in an Elderly Greek Population

The primary aim of the study was to explore the potential relationship between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels and Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA) score, a surrogate for protein energy undernutrition, in elderly (≥65 years old) subjects with and without a hip fracture. A secondary aim of the study was to provide estimates of the MNA discriminatory performance in the detection of subjects with low levels of 25(OH)D (<20 ng/ml). The study population consisted of 101 patients with a hip fracture, recruited from a single urban Hospital in Athens, Greece, and 85 community dwelling subjects with no history of hip fracture. Serum 25(OH)D was measured, nutritional status was determined by the MNA questionnaire in all subjects, and linear correlation between variables was investigated. Receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed and discriminatory performance was further assessed by calculating positive and negative likelihood ratios (LR). MNA scores were significantly correlated with 25(OH)D levels (rho=0.685, p<0.001) and this finding was robust in both groups and unaffected by gender. ROC curve analysis demonstrated an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.860 [standard error (SE): 0.026, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.810–0.910], which provided a significantly better estimation of 25(OH)D status than simple guess (p<0.001). The lowest cutoff value in MNA score, providing a sensitivity over 90% was 25.25, which was associated with a sensitivity of 90.9% and a specificity of 53.6%. The same analysis revealed acceptable results only within hip fracture patients. MNA score might be a satisfactory surrogate marker for 25(OH)D levels with which it is linearly correlated. However, it appears that its discriminatory performance, as a diagnostic tool for 25(OH)D insufficiency, is rather suboptimal.
High-grade ovarian serous carcinoma patients exhibit profound alterations in lipid metabolism

Ovarian cancer is a very severe type of disease with poor prognosis. Treatment of ovarian cancer is challenging because of the lack of tests for early detection and effective therapeutic targets. Thus, new biomarkers are needed for both diagnostics and better understanding of the cellular processes of the disease. Small molecules, consisting of metabolites or lipids, have shown emerging potential for ovarian cancer diagnostics. Here we performed comprehensive lipidomic profiling of serum and tumor tissue samples from high-grade serous ovarian cancer patients to find lipids that were altered due to cancer and also associated with progression of the disease. Ovarian cancer patients exhibited an overall reduction of most lipid classes in their serum as compared to a control group. Despite the overall reduction, there were also specific lipids showing elevation, and especially alterations in ceramide and triacylglycerol lipid species were dependent on their fatty acyl side chain composition. Several lipids showed progressive alterations in patients with more advanced disease and poorer overall survival, and outperformed CA-125 as prognostic markers. The abundance of many serum lipids correlated with their abundance in tumor tissue samples. Furthermore, we found a negative correlation of serum lipids with 3-hydroxybutyric acid, suggesting an association between decreased lipid levels and fatty acid oxidation. In conclusion, here we present a comprehensive analysis of lipid metabolism alterations in ovarian cancer patients, with clinical implications.
Political Ideology in the Arab World: Accommodation and Transformation

Introduction. Ideological thought and practice in the Arab region 1. Retreat from secularism in Arab nationalist and socialist thought 2. A more inclusive Islamism? The Wasatiyya trend 3. Framing a cross-ideological alliance 4. The Egyptian movement for change: intellectual antecedents and generational conflicts 5. Yemen's joint meeting parties: origins and architects Conclusion. Ideological rapprochement, accommodation, transformation - and their limits.
Individual differences in responsivity to social rewards: Insights from two eye-tracking tasks

Humans generally prefer social over nonsocial stimuli from an early age. Reduced preference for social rewards has been observed in individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). This preference has typically been noted in separate tasks that measure orienting toward and engaging with social stimuli. In this experiment, we used two eye-tracking tasks to index both of these aspects of social preference in in 77 typical adults. We used two measures, global effect and preferential looking time. The global effect task measures saccadic deviation toward a social stimulus (related to ‘orienting’), while the preferential looking task records gaze duration bias toward social stimuli (relating to ‘engaging’). Social rewards were found to elicit greater saccadic deviation and greater gaze duration bias, suggesting that they have both greater salience and higher value compared to nonsocial rewards. Trait empathy was positively correlated with the measure of relative value of social rewards, but not with their salience. This study thus elucidates the relationship of empathy with social reward processing.
Genetic analysis of a rabies virus host shift event reveals within-host viral dynamics in a new host

Abstract Host shift events play an important role in epizootics as adaptation to new hosts can profoundly affect the spread of the disease and the measures needed to control it. During the late 1990s, an epizootic in Turkey resulted in a sustained maintenance of rabies virus (RABV) within the fox population. We used Bayesian inferences to investigate whole genome sequences from fox and dog brain tissues from Turkey to demonstrate that the epizootic occurred in 1997 (±1 year). Furthermore, these data indicated that the epizootic was most likely due to a host shift from locally infected domestic dogs, rather than an incursion of a novel fox or dog RABV. No evidence was observed for genetic adaptation to foxes at consensus sequence level and dN/dS analysis suggested purifying selection. Therefore, the deep sequence data were analysed to investigate the sub-viral population during a host shift event. Viral heterogeneity was measured in all RABV samples; viruses from the early period after the host shift exhibited greater sequence variation in comparison to those from the later stage, and to those not involved in the host shift event, possibly indicating a role in establishing transmission within a new host. The transient increase in variation observed in the new host species may represent virus replication within a new environment, perhaps due to increased replication within the CNS, resulting in a larger population of viruses, or due to the lack of host constraints present in the new host reservoir.
Rising College Expectations among Youth in the United States: A Comparison of the 1979 and 1997 NLSY

We examine the rise in college expectations among 15- and 16-year-olds in the 1979 and 1997 NLSY. Probit models estimate the effects of gender, race/ethnicity, family characteristics, and local economic conditions on the probability of expecting a college degree. Race/ethnic differences and the influences of family resources and county economic conditions declined between 1979 and 1997. In contrast, girls became more likely to expect a college degree than boys, and family structure grew in importance over time. Family resources and structure appear to shape expectations largely through differences in school peers, teacher quality and interest, and past academic performance.
An ultra-low voltage comparator with improved comparison time and reduced offset voltage

This paper presents the design of a modified StrongArm regenerative comparator in 0.13-μm CMOS technology, operating at a supply voltage of 200-mV. The comparator uses a pair of cross-coupled P-type transistors to replace the conventional cross-coupled inverters, improving the comparison time and voltage headroom. A robust S-R latch is proposed to solve the race condition which occurs when the S-R latch enters a forbidden state especially during ultra-low supply voltage operation. As a result, the circuit shows up to 1.8× voltage offset reduction and 73% less sensitivity in the delay per input voltage difference (delay/log(ΔVIN)), which is about 65ns/decade, compared to conventional latched comparators.
Determinants of weaning and survival among patients with COPD who require mechanical ventilation for acute respiratory failure.

The decision to institute MV in patients with COPD and ARF is difficult because the risk of complications is high and the long-term prognosis is poor. We reviewed our experience with 95 COPD patients with ARF requiring MV. Fifty-five patients required MV for more than two weeks, 72 were weaned successfully, and 59 died within one year of follow-up. Survival was associated with premorbid level of activity (p less than .001), FEV1 (p less than .01), serum albumin level (p less than .05), and severity of dyspnea (p less than .01). Cor pulmonale on ECG, premorbid hypercarbia, and history of left ventricular failure were also more common among those who died. Weaning from MV was associated with premorbid level of activity (p less than .001), FEV1 (p less than .001), albumin level (p less than .05), and negative inspiratory pressure (p less than .001) and respiratory rate during T-piece trial (p less than .01). The duration of intubation was associated only with premorbid level of activity (p less than .01). Predictive models for the weaning success and the one-year survival were developed.
The N-terminal domains of FLASH and Lsm11 form a 2:1 heterotrimer for histone pre-mRNA 3’-end processing

Unlike canonical pre-mRNAs, animal replication-dependent histone pre-mRNAs lack introns and are processed at the 3’-end by a mechanism distinct from cleavage and polyadenylation. They have a 3’ stem loop and histone downstream element (HDE) that are recognized by stem-loop binding protein (SLBP) and U7 snRNP, respectively. The N-terminal domain (NTD) of Lsm11, a component of U7 snRNP, interacts with FLASH NTD and these two proteins recruit the histone cleavage complex containing the CPSF-73 endonuclease for the cleavage reaction. Here, we determined crystal structures of FLASH NTD and found that it forms a coiled-coil dimer. Using solution light scattering, we characterized the stoichiometry of the FLASH NTD-Lsm11 NTD complex and found that it is a 2:1 heterotrimer, which is supported by observations from analytical ultracentrifugation and crosslinking.
Adaptive forecasts, hysteresis, and endogenous fluctuations

This paper considers fluctuations and policy in an economic model with multiple steady states due to a production externality. In the absence of policy changes, the driving forces generating fluctuations are exogenous random productivity shocks. However, because there are multiple steady states, large productivity shocks can shift the economy between high-and low- level equilibria, providing an additional endogenous source of fluctuations. The scope for macroeconomic policy is large since changes in policy can also shift the economy between equilibria. In this setting macroeconomic policy exhibits hysteresis (irreversibilities) and threshold effects and can be used to eliminate endogenous fluctuations.
Complete chloroplast genome of the Oriental white oak: Quercus aliena Blume

Abstract The complete chloroplast (cp) genome sequence of the Oriental white oak: Quercus aliena Blume, the first sequenced member of the section Quercus, is reported in this study. The length of cp genome size is 160,921 bp, with 36.9% GC content. A pair of 25,841 bp inverted repeat regions (IRs) is separated by a 90,258 bp large single copy region (LSC) and an 18,980 bp small single copy region (SSC). This genome contains 115 unique genes, including 89 coding genes, four rRNA genes, and 39 tRNA genes. Border analysis of cp genome of Quercus aliena and other 10 most closely related cp genomes revealed that most Fagaceae species have high similarity either in structure or distribution of these genes except for Trigonobalanus doichangensis.
Relevance of age at slaughter on meat quality of turkeys stunned with CO2

ABSTRACT 1. The objective of this work was to determine the effect of slaughter age and stunning method on the quality of turkey meat from poultry processing plants. 2. One hundred B.U. T. Premium turkeys were divided into 4 groups of 25 animals according to slaughter age (15 or 17 weeks) and CO2 stunning procedure (G1 stepwise: step1: 30% CO2, 15 s; step 2: 55% CO2, 40 s; step 3: 70% CO2, 45 s; G2: progressive increase of the CO2 concentration at a rate of 0.8% per s for 100 s). The quality of the breast meat was determined in fillets taken at different post-mortem times. 3. There were differences between the stunning groups for several variables (pH: 6.01 ± 0.01 and 5.95 ± 0.02; a*: −1.84 ± 0.05 and −2.21 ± 0.04; b*: 4.99 ± 0.15 and 4.68 ± 0.16; drip loss: 0.85 ± 0.02 and 0.71 ± 0.02 for G1 and G2, respectively), while no significant differences were found for L*, cooking loss and texture analysed with a Warner Bratzler Shear Force cell (WBSF). 4. Slaughter age had a significant effect on all the parameters studied (pH: 6.01 ± 0.01 and 5.95 ± 0.01; a*: −2.21 ± 0.05 and −1.88 ± 0.05, b*: 5.50 ± 0.17 and 4.42 ± 0.15; drip loss: 0.71 ± 0.02 and 0.86 ± 0.02, cooking loss: 12.56 ± 0.22 and 14.69 ± 0.16 for turkeys slaughtered at 15 and 17 w, respectively) except on L* and WBSF. 5. The ageing of the meat affected pH, colour values, drip loss and WBSF, with differing degrees of evolution: mean values of L* (39.36 ± 0.35. 45.77 ± 0.20 and 46.30 ± 0.24, for 20 min, 24 h and 7 d post mortem, respectively) and drip loss (0.75 ± 0.03 and 0.84 ± 0.02 for 24 h and 7 d post mortem, respectively) increased, those of a* (−1.77 ± 0.08, −1.94 ± 0.07 and −2.22 ± 0.05 for 20 min, 24 h and 7 d post mortem, respectively) and WBSF decreased (3.73 ± 0.06 and 2.63 ± 0.04 for 24 h and 7 d post mortem, respectively), those of pH decreased in the first 24 h and remained stable for the next 6 d (6.19 ± 0.02, 5.87 ± 0.01 and 5.88 ± 0.01), and those of b* increased in the first 24 h post-mortem and remained stable for the next 6 d (3.26 ± 0.31, 5.86 ± 0.16 and 5.47 ± 0.08). 6. The results revealed no critical differences between stunning methods, and suggest that animals slaughtered at 15 weeks present higher quality meat than those slaughtered at 17 weeks.
The wall of the chick embryo aorta harbours M-CFC, G-CFC, GM-CFC and BFU-E.

In the 3- to 4-day avian embryo, after the first wave of haemopoiesis which derives in the yolk sac from haemopoietic stem cells formed in situ, haemopoietic cells emerge in an intraembryonic site, the wall of the aorta. In this paper, we demonstrate that this site harbours M-CFC, G-CFC, GM-CFC and late and early BFU-E. In serum-free medium, the growth of M-CFC and GM-CFC was strictly dependent on CSF present in fibroblast-conditioned medium (FCM). The growth of G-CFC was improved when FCM was replaced by a minute quantity of chicken and fetal calf serum. Like erythroid progenitors from bone marrow, BFU-E detected here required anaemic chicken serum to differentiate into haemoglobinized cells. The frequency of the different types of haemopoietic progenitors in the aortic population was very high: 80 M-CFC, 25 G-CFC, 4 GM-CFC and 70 BFU-E for 12,500 aorta cells, i.e. two to eight times more frequent than in the bone marrow population, depending on the type of progenitors.
Effects of a recombinant surfactant protein-C-based surfactant on lung function and the pulmonary surfactant system in a model of meconium aspiration syndrome*

Objective:Meconium aspiration syndrome (MAS) remains a relevant cause of neonatal respiratory failure and is characterized by severe impairment of pulmonary gas exchange, surfactant inactivation, and pronounced inflammatory changes. Surfactant administration has been shown as an effective treatment strategy in MAS. The present study aimed at investigating the impact of a recombinant surfactant protein (SP)-C-based surfactant on pulmonary gas exchange and lung function in this model of neonatal lung injury. Furthermore, SP-B and -C were determined on the transcriptional and protein level. Design:Laboratory experiment. Setting:University laboratory. Subjects:Twenty three newborn piglets (median age 6 days, weight 1900–2500 g). Interventions:Piglets were intubated and mechanically ventilated and then received 20% sterile meconium (5 mL/kg) for induction of lung injury. After 30 mins, animals were randomized for control (n = 7, MAS controls), recombinant SP-C surfactant (n = 8), or natural surfactant (n = 8). Surfactant preparations were administered as an intratracheal bolus (75 mg/kg), and animals were ventilated for another 330 mins. Nonventilated newborn piglets at term (n = 28; median weight 1484 g, range 720–1990 g) served as a healthy reference group (healthy controls). Measurements and Main Results:Lung function variables, arterial blood gas samples, and lung tissues were obtained. Expression of SP-B and -C messenger RNA was quantified in left lung lobe tissue using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Protein concentrations were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy were performed in tissue samples of the right lung lobe. Compared with healthy controls, SP-B messenger RNA expression was significantly increased in MAS (p < .02), whereas SP-C messenger RNA expression was found to be significantly reduced (p < .001). SP concentrations, however, were not significantly different. Although a significant improvement of gas exchange and lung function was observed after surfactant administration in both groups, surfactant messenger RNA expression and protein concentrations were not significantly altered. Scanning and transmission electron microscopy showed severe pulmonary ultrastructural changes after meconium aspiration improving after surfactant treatment. Conclusions:Impairment of lung function in MAS, associated with marked changes in SP messenger RNA expression, can be sufficiently treated using recombinant SP-C-based or natural surfactant. Despite improved lung function and gas exchange as well as pulmonary ultrastructure after treatment, pulmonary SP messenger RNA expression and concentrations remained significantly affected, giving important insight into the time course following surfactant treatment in MAS.