Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Maxima of the Q-index: graphs without long paths

This paper gives tight upper bound on the largest eigenvalue q(G) of the signless Laplacian of graphs with no paths of given order. The main ingredient of our proof is a stability result of its own interest, about graphs with large minimum degree and with no long paths. This result extends previous work of Ali and Staton.
Pharmacokinetics of Active Components of Yokukansan, a Traditional Japanese Herbal Medicine after a Single Oral Administration to Healthy Japanese Volunteers: A Cross-Over, Randomized Study

Context Yokukansan (YKS) is a traditional Japanese herbal medicine called kampo medicine in Japan. Its extract comprises seven crude drugs: Atractylodis lanceae rhizoma, Poria, Cnidii rhizoma, Uncariae uncis cum ramulus, Angelicae radix, Bupleuri radix, and Glycyrrhizae radix. YKS is used to treat neurosis, insomnia, as well as behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia. Objective To confirm the exposure and pharmacokinetics of the active components of YKS in healthy volunteers. Design, Setting, and Participants A randomized, open-label, 3-arm, 3-period, crossover trial was conducted on 21 healthy Japanese volunteers at the Kochi Medical University between May 2012 and November 2012. Interventions Single oral administration of YKS (2.5 g, 5.0 g, or 7.5 g/day) during each period. Main Outcome Measure Plasma concentrations of three active compounds in YKS, namely 18β-glycyrrhetinic acid (GA), geissoschizine methyl ether (GM), and hirsuteine (HTE). Results The mean maximum plasma concentrations (Cmax) of GM and HTE increased dose-dependently (ranges: 0.650–1.98 ng/mL and 0.138–0.450 ng/mL, respectively). The times to maximum plasma concentration after drug administration (t max) were 0.500 h for GM and 0.975–1.00 h for HTE. The apparent elimination half-lives (t 1/2) were 1.72–1.95 h for GM and 2.47–3.03 h for HTE. These data indicate the rapid absorption and elimination of GM and HTE. On the other hand, the C max, t max, and t 1/2 of GA were 57.7–108 ng/mL, 8.00–8.01 h, and 9.39–12.3 h, respectively. Conclusion We demonstrated that pharmacologically active components of YKS are detected in humans. Further, we determined the pharmacokinetics of GM, HTE, and GA. This information will be useful to elucidate the pharmacological effects of YKS. Trial Registration Japan Pharmaceutical Information Center JAPIC CTI-121811
Exploring the competitive advantage through ERP systems : from implementation to applications in agile networks

The purpose of this thesis is to contribute empirical evidence focusing on sustainable competitive advantage through ERP systems. It identifies the shift towards strategic positioning while moving in different ERP stages and industrial environments. The work starts from the premise that advanced ERP processes are simply commodities insinuating competitive convergence. The literature considers IT and strategy but few texts deal with understanding ERP resources over time in order to become source of sustainable advantage. As companies undergo transformation or strive to develop new approaches to competition, it is particularly significant to investigate this venture. The exploratory inquiry in this dissertation aims to develop insights by a combination of qualitative and quantitative research traditions. The dual approach seeks to integrate the best research practices for contribution to the pertinent stakeholders. The first section is the introductory part followed by publications including case studies and surveys conducted on the basis of the gaps identified between theory and practice. The work is limited in scope and the intention is to appreciate knowledge acquired from the studies instead of drawing rigid extensive conclusions. However, the study traces that the ERP systems do provide competitive advantage, the sustainability depending on integrating to meet the business needs and building uniqueness. The implication is to capitalize on the potential of ERP, the idea being not to imitate competitors but to tailor applications to the company's overall strategy.
Neo-liberalism and the Nordic welfare model: a study of the Liberal Alliance and ideological adaptation in Denmark

This article explores whether and how the neo-liberal ideology has adapted to the Nordic welfare model by studying the attitudes of voters and grass-roots members of the Danish party Liberal Alliance towards the welfare state. This inquiry into one of the key issues for the neo-liberal ideology is inspired by theory on how an ideology will adapt to its context. The expectation outlined in the article is for the neo-liberals of this party to favour features that make the Nordic welfare model distinctive – extensive governmental responsibility, especially for children and the elderly, and a universalistic approach to providing welfare. I have explored this question using a mixed-methods approach, where I analyse a survey of voters and interviews with grass-roots members of the party. Combined this shows that the neo-liberals in Liberal Alliance do support a role for the welfare state that extends beyond a minimum welfare state, especially for the care of children, but they view old age and retirement mostly as a problem each individual must deal with. Regarding the universalistic approach to providing welfare, the neo-liberals seem torn between two different tendencies, one being a perception of a fair way to provide welfare and the other the idea of a selective welfare state as a neo-liberal core idea, which leads to ambivalent attitudes. I argue that this results in a form of the neo-liberal ideology that has adapted to the Nordic welfare model.
Brave new World of Warcraft: a conceptual framework for active escapism

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the phenomenon of active escapism – a unique form of experiential consumption that engages fantasy and role-play as a means of coping. In contrast with passive forms of escapism, whereby consumers act as observers (e.g. watching a movie), active escapism provides consumers with the opportunity to directly interact with mediated realities, whether constructed in a virtual space (e.g. a video game) or the real world. Design/methodology/approach Within the context of video game consumption, a conceptual framework for active escapism comprised antecedents, processes and consequences is established through literature review, depth interviews and naturalistic inquiry. Findings The findings suggest that active escapism functions as a coping mechanism when consumers are confronted with external stressors that threaten either their sense of identity or control. While other forms of emotion-focused coping relieve stress through psychological avoidance (i.e. refocusing of attention away from stressors), active escapism provides the benefits of affirmation and empowerment through projective fantasy (i.e. role-play) and presence (i.e. immersion into a mediated reality). Originality/value The conceptual framework established by this analysis gives insight into the structure of active escapism as a theoretical construct, providing a foundation for future research. Managerial implications for consumer escapism (e.g. branded in-game content) are discussed.
Subspace Clustering and Label Propagation for Active Feedback in Image Retrieval

In recent years, relevance feedback has been studied extensively as a way to improve performance of content-based image retrieval (CBIR). However, since users are usually unwilling to provide many feedbacks, the insufficiency of the training samples limited the success of relevance feedback. To tackle this problem, we propose two coupled algorithms: (i) overlapped subspace clustering to select representative images for user’s feedback; and (ii) multi-subspace label propagation to include unlabeled data in the training process. As these two algorithms are both working on sub feature spaces of the image database, they can not only deal with the insufficient training samples but also well capture the user’s attention during the retrieval process. Experimental results on a large database of general-purposed images demonstrated the high effectiveness of our proposed algorithms.
Strategic leadership and executive innovation influence: an international multi-cluster comparative study

This study investigates the relationship of strategic leadership behaviors with executive innovation influence and the moderating effects of top management team (TMT)'s tenure heterogeneity and social culture on that relationship. Using survey data from six countries comprising three social cultures, strategic leadership behaviors were found to have a strong positive relationship with executive influence on both product–market and administrative innovations. In addition, TMT tenure heterogeneity moderated the relationship of strategic leadership behaviors with executive innovation influence for both types of innovation, while social culture moderated that relationship only in the case of administrative innovation. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Conservative Surgical Management of Stage I Bisphosphonate-Related Osteonecrosis of the Jaw

Purpose. To report the efficacy of conservative surgical treatment for stage I bisphosphonate-related osteonecrosis of the jaw (BRONJ). Materials and Methods. This study reports the clinical outcomes of 63 patients treated for BRONJ stage I (according to Ruggiero's staging system) at the Oral Pathology and Laser-Assisted Surgery Unit of the University of Parma between January 2004 and January 2011. Surgical interventions were performed, under local analgesia, in patients unresponsive for a period of six months to noninvasive treatments such as cycles of local or systemic antibacterial therapy combined or not to low level laser therapy, ozone therapy, or Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy. All interventions were performed after the consultation of oncologist or physician. Results. In our experience, conservative surgical treatment is associated with the highest number of BRONJ healed sites in stage I disease. Complete healing was observed in 92.6% of sites surgically treated. Conclusions. This study confirms that treatment of patients affected by minimal bone exposition, (stage I of BRONJ), through conservative surgical strategies, possibly with laser, may result in a high control of the disease in the long term.
The ECVAM International Validation Study on in Vitro Tests for Acute Skin Irritation: Report on the Validity of the EPISKIN and EpiDerm Assays and on the Skin Integrity Function Test a

ECVAM sponsored a formal validation study on three in vitro tests for skin irritation, of which two employ reconstituted human epidermis models (EPISKIN™, EpiDerm™), and one, the skin integrity function test (SIFT), employs ex vivo mouse skin. The goal of the study was to assess whether the in vitro tests would correctly predict in vivo classifications according to the EU classification scheme, “R38” and “no label” (i.e. non-irritant). 58 chemicals (25 irritants and 33 non-irritants) were tested, having been selected to give broad coverage of physico–chemical properties, and an adequate distribution of irritancy scores derived from in vivo rabbit skin irritation tests. In Phase 1, 20 of these chemicals (9 irritants and 11 non-irritants) were tested with coded identities by a single lead laboratory for each of the methods, to confirm the suitability of the protocol improvements introduced after a prevalidation phase. When cell viability (evaluated by the MTT reduction test) was used as the endpoint, the predictive ability of both EpiDerm and EPISKIN was considered sufficient to justify their progression to Phase 2, while the predictive ability of the SIFT was judged to be inadequate. Since both the reconstituted skin models provided false predictions around the in vivo classification border (a rabbit Draize test score of 2), the release of a cytokine, inter-leukin-1α (IL-1α), was also determined. In Phase 2, each human skin model was tested in three laboratories, with 58 chemicals. The main endpoint measured for both EpiDerm and EPISKIN was cell viability. In samples from chemicals which gave MTT assay results above the threshold of 50% viability, IL-1α release was also measured, to determine whether the additional endpoint would improve the predictive ability of the tests. For EPISKIN, the sensitivity was 75% and the specificity was 81% (MTT assay only); with the combination of the MTT and IL-1α assays, the sensitivity increased to 91%, with a specificity of 79%. For EpiDerm, the sensitivity was 57% and the specificity was 85% (MTT assay only), while the predictive capacity of EpiDerm was not improved by the measurement of IL-1α release. Following independent peer review, in April 2007 the ECVAM Scientific Advisory Committee endorsed the scientific validity of the EPISKIN test as a replacement for the rabbit skin irritation method, and of the EpiDerm method for identifying skin irritants as part of a tiered testing strategy. This new alternative approach will probably be the first use of in vitro toxicity testing to replace the Draize rabbit skin irritation test in Europe and internationally, since, in the very near future, new EU and OECD Test Guidelines will be proposed for regulatory acceptance.
Social entrepreneurship: the foundation of tomorrow's commercial business models?

Social and commercial entrepreneurship are often said to be two contrasting disciplines that are, at best, only tenuously related. Even though there is a lack of consensus on how to define both social and commercial entrepreneurship, most definitions of social entrepreneurship commonly state that solving social problems demands a narrow, specialised focus, whilst commercial entrepreneurship is often seen as a more conventionally 'business'-like activity. In this article, we put forward our arguments using theoretical discussion backed up by practical case studies to show that many of today's commercial business models are based on ideas with a social intention. Our findings on the economic importance of innovative social business ideas highlight the importance of social entrepreneurship, and the importance of encouraging social aspects in teaching, practical entrepreneurship support and research. In fact, we even find that social and commercial entrepreneurship are highly interrelated phenomena, which should not be treated as separate disciplines.
Introducing Pseudo-Singularity Points for Efficient Fingerprints Classification and Recognition

Fingerprint classification and matching are two key issues in automatic fingerprint recognition. Generally, fingerprint recognition is based on a set of relevant local characteristics, such as ridge ending and bifurcation (minutiae). Fingerprint classification is based on fingerprint global features, such as core and delta singularity points. Unfortunately, singularity points are not always present in a fingerprint image: the acquisition process is not ideal, so that the fingerprint is broken, or the fingerprint belongs to the arch class. In the above cases, pseudo-singularity-points will be detected and extracted to make possible fingerprint classification and matching. As result, fingerprint processing involves few steps and, in the same way, fingerprint matching involves the comparison of few features with recognition rates comparable to the standard minutiae based systems. The experiments trials have been conducted on many official Fingerprint Verification Competition (FVC) databases. The achieved results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach, obtaining a False Acceptance Rate (FAR) = 1.22% and a False Rejection Rate (FRR) = 9.23% with FVC2002 DB2-A database. In the best of case, a FAR=0.26% and a FRR=7.36% with FVC2000 DB1-B database is achieved. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first recognition system based only on singularity regions.
POLITENESS IN COMPLIMENT RESPONSES OF MALAYSIA CHINESE UNDERGRADUATES

Politeness appears to be a prevalent concept in human interaction, and to date, many models of politeness have been put forward in the literature. This study analyses a corpus of compliment responses (CRs) in Malaysian Chinese undergraduates according to the Politeness Principles of Gu (1992) with a view to examine the politeness in responding to compliments. The data in the present study were collected from 30 undergraduates in a local university through role-play scenarios, with a focus on the variables of topic (appearance, character, ability and possession), social distance and social status. The findings of the study show that Malaysian Chinese undergraduates chose various politeness strategies in their CRs among different circumstances. Malaysian Chinese undergraduates’ politeness is greatly influenced by collectivism in Chinese culture so they are more others-oriented. Therefore, they are greatly governed by the Accordance Maxim in CRs by using Acceptance, especially Appreciation strategies. With the assimilation of English, Malaysian Chinese undergraduates are also likely to keep the Refinement Maxim in which indirect responses such as giggling/smiling are frequently used to show great politeness . Nevertheless, the preference of politeness strategies may vary between nowadays Malaysian Chinese and other Chinese generations as there is less preference of Self-denigration Maxim among them in communication.
Family Expressiveness and Emotion Understanding: A Meta-Analysis of One Aspect of Parental Emotion Socialization

EATON, KIMBERLY LINHART. Family expressiveness and emotion understanding: A meta-analysis of one aspect of parental emotion socialization. (Under the direction of Amy G. Halberstadt.) Associations between family styles of expressing emotion and children’s skill in understanding emotion were examined using a meta-analytic strategy for synthesizing the studies in this area. Moderating variables of emotion valence, age group, and measurement independence in the relationship between family expressiveness and outcomes in children were measured, as well as differences in the operationalization of expressiveness, understanding, who is the ‘family’, and other research design elements. Parents’ overall expressiveness and negative-submissive expressiveness exhibited a significant negative relationship with children’s emotion understanding over age. Negative family expressiveness and children’s emotion understanding tended to be curvilinearly related across age (an inverted U-shaped relationship). Explanations for these relations and future goals for research are discussed.
Tourists’ Destination Loyalty through Emotional Solidarity with Residents: An Integrative Moderated Mediation Model

This study proposes a theoretical model integrating two lines of tourism research: emotional solidarity and destination loyalty. In order to test the proposed model, a survey of visitors to Cape Verde islands was undertaken. Structural equation modeling and moderated mediation analysis were implemented to assess the relationships involving visitors’ emotional solidarity with residents, satisfaction, and destination loyalty. The three dimensions of emotional solidarity were considered in the study: feeling welcomed, sympathetic understanding, and emotional closeness. Results indicate that visitors’ feeling welcomed and sympathetic understanding directly influence loyalty. In particular, the relationships involving visitors’ feeling welcomed by residents, emotional closeness with residents, and sympathetic understanding with residents and loyalty were all mediated by satisfaction. Additionally, gender was found to moderate the conditional indirect effects of emotional closeness and feeling welcomed on loyalty (via satisfaction). Such relationships were stronger among male visitors. Implications as well as future research opportunities are offered.
Short Communication: Relationship between Urinary Neutrophil Gelatinase-Associated Lipocalin and Noninfectious Pyuria in Dogs

Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) is a neutrophil-derived protein whose concentration increases in plasma and urine with ongoing renal damage. Urinary leucocytes can be a potential source of urinary NGAL. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of urinary neutrophil count and other urinary parameters on urinary NGAL values in urine with negative culture. Urinalysis, urine culture, and determination of urinary NGAL were performed on 33 clinically healthy nonproteinuric dogs with negative urinoculture. The median uNGAL concentration in dogs in this study population was 9.74 ng/mL (IQR 1.93–25.43 ng/mL). In samples with WBCs > 5 hpf (mean 15.9, 6–50 leucocytes/hpf), median uNGAL value was significantly higher than that in samples with WBCs < 5 hpf (mean 0.9, 0–3 leucocytes/hpf), (4.96 pg/mL (0.29–11.34) and 23.65 pg/mL (20.04–29.80), resp. ; P = 0.0053). The severity of urinary pyuria and the UPC value were correlated with uNGAL concentration. The results of our study show that urinary NGAL concentration is correlated with WBCs number in urinary sediment of dogs with negative urinoculture. The present study suggests that noninfectious pyuria is significantly correlated with urinary NGAL values and might influence uNGAL values.
TransCom model simulations of CH4 and related species: linking transport, surface flux and chemical loss with CH4 variability in the troposphere and lower stratosphere

A chemistry-transport model (CTM) intercompar- ison experiment (TransCom-CH4) has been designed to in- vestigate the roles of surface emissions, transport and chemi- cal loss in simulating the global methane distribution. Model simulations were conducted using twelve models and four model variants and results were archived for the period of 1990-2007. All but one model transports were driven by reanalysis products from 3 different meteorological agen- cies. The transport and removal of CH4 in six different emission scenarios were simulated, with net global emis- sions of 513± 9 and 514± 14 Tg CH4 yr 1 for the 1990s
Remembering the color of objects: an ERP investigation of source memory.

Subjects studied pictures of common objects outlined in either red or green and were asked to memorize the objects and their associated colors. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during subsequent inclusion (i.e. item) and exclusion (i.e. source) memory tasks. The main goal of the experiment was to determine if brain signatures for familiarity and recollection, two behavioral processes thought to account for episodic memory performance, would be observed in the pattern of ERP results. For correctly recognized items, early, posterior old/new effects were recorded (approximately 300--600 ms) that did not differ in magnitude or scalp distribution between item and source memory tasks. A subsequent long-duration occipitally focused negativity (approximately 800 ms peak) was evident in the source but not the item memory task. The ERPs associated with 'source errors' in the source memory task also showed robust early old/new effects. However, 'source error' ERPs lacked frontal scalp activity compared to those associated with correct source attribution. The data suggest that a recollective response may require frontal involvement whereas a decision based on familiarity may not.