Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Genotoxicity of cadmium chloride in the marine gastropod Nerita chamaeleon using comet assay and alkaline unwinding assay

This paper presents an evaluation of the genotoxic effects of cadmium chloride (CdCl2) on marine gastropod, Nerita chamaeleon following the technique of comet assay and the DNA alkaline unwinding assay (DAUA). In this study, the extent of DNA damage in gill cells of N. chamaeleon was measured after in vivo exposure to four different concentrations (10, 25, 50, and 75 µg/L) of CdCl2. In vitro exposure of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2; 1, 10, 25, and 50 µM) of the gill cells showed a significant increase in the percentage tail DNA, Olive tail moment, and tail length (TL). Significant changes in percentage tail DNA by CdCl2 exposure were observed in all exposed groups of snails with respect to those in control. Exposure to 75 µg/L of CdCl2 produced significant decrease in DNA integrity as measured by DAUA at all duration with respect to control. In vivo exposure to different concentrations of CdCl2 (10, 25, 50, and 75 µg/L) to N. chamaeleon showed considerable increase in DNA damage as observed by both alkaline comet assay and the DAUA. The extent of DNA damage in marine gastropods determined by the application of alkaline comet assay and DAUA clearly indicated the genotoxic responses of marine gastropod, N. chamaeleon to a wide range of cadmium concentration in the marine environment. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Environ Toxicol 30: 177–187, 2015.
Workers' Enterprises and the Taste for Production: The Arts, Sport and Other Cases

This paper shows that the standard result according to which labour-managed (LM) firms produce a lower amount of output, as compared with profit-maximizing firms, is reversed if production per se gives utility and the workers' membership of LM firms is set before market decisions. Under the same hypotheses, the LM firms set a higher product quality than the profit-oriented ones, ceteris paribus. The considered hypotheses are appropriate in several sectors, but they are particularly relevant in the case of the performing arts.
Reversal of Genetic Salt-Sensitive Hypertension by Targeted Sympathetic Ablation

The sympathetic nervous system plays an important role in some forms of human hypertension as well as the Dahl salt-sensitive rat model of hypertension; however, the sympathetic targets involved remain unclear. To address this, we examined the role of the renal and splanchnic sympathetic nerves in Dahl hypertension by performing sham surgery (n=10) or targeted sympathetic ablation of the renal nerves (renal denervation, n=11), the splanchnic nerves (celiac ganglionectomy, n=11), or both renal and splanchnic nerves (n=11) in hypertensive Dahl rats. Mean arterial pressure increased from ≈120 mm Hg, while on a 0.1% sodium chloride diet, to ≈140 mm Hg after being fed a 4.0% sodium chloride diet for 3 weeks. At that point, rats underwent sham or targeted sympathetic ablation. Four weeks after treatment, mean arterial pressure was lower in renal denervated (150.4±10.4) and celiac ganglionectomized (147.0±6.1) rats compared with sham rats (165.0±3.7) and even lower in rats that underwent both ablations (128.4±6.6). There were no differences in heart rate or fluid balance between sham and renal denervated rats; however, rats that underwent either celiac ganglionectomy or both ablations exhibited marked tachycardia as well as sodium and water retention after treatment. These data suggest that targeted sympathetic ablation is an effective treatment for established hypertension in the Dahl rat and that the kidneys and the splanchnic vascular bed are both independently important targets of the sympathetic nervous system in this model.
The Partnering Role of Salespeople in a Business-to-Business Setting

ABSTRACT The salesforce plays a crucial boundary-spanning role between an organisation and its customers. Recently, Weitz and Bradford (1999) have argued that the sales function needs to take a far greater role in forming relationships with customers than it has done in the past. This will have implications for the way organisations manage their salesforce. This research seeks to examine changes in the role of sales in a business-to-business setting. Based upon in-depth interviews this research finds support for the requirement that salespeople need to form “partnerships” with customers. Organisational support for salespeople consisted of using virtual teams and a customer focused culture.
Responsible innovation toward sustainable development in small and medium-sized enterprises: a resource perspective

What resources do small enterprises need to develop responsible innovations that enhance sustainable development? Does lack of resources prevent innovation toward sustainability in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) or can innovations be created with scarce resources? This study investigates environmentally and socially responsible innovations of SMEs from a resource perspective, based on empirical data from 13 Nordic SMEs. The findings indicate that SMEs can create responsible innovations with very different resource combinations. The most common resource combination comprises equity, research and development cooperation, networks, industry knowledge and reputation. Except for financial capital in the form of equity, which appears a necessary condition for responsible innovation from SMEs, resource needs vary between technological and business model innovations. Creating business model innovations appears to be possible with scarce resources, at the very least with equity and social capital. Environmental technology innovations call for more abundant resource combinations. In particular industry knowledge appears to be a key resource for such innovations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment
Shared Prosperity: Links to Growth, Inequality and Inequality of Opportunity

Focusing on the welfare of the less well off as a measure of real societal progress is the fundamental principle underlying the WBG indicator of"shared prosperity", namely income growth of the bottom 40 percent in every country. This paper uses a database assembled by the World Bank Group to investigate some basic characteristics of shared prosperity, particularly its relationship with overall economic growth and inequality. Initial estimates using this dataset of 79 countries show that median income growth of the bottom 40 percent (circa 2005-2010) was 4.2 percent, a high number in comparison to the 3.1 percent per capita income growth of the overall population. In addition, the low and lower-middle income countries appear to be trailing the upper middle and high income countries in boosting shared prosperity. Establishing conceptual links between income growth of the bottom 40 percent, the overall growth rate and reviewing existing evidence on how these relate to inequality, the paper discusses two main ideas. First, shared prosperity is strongly correlated with overall prosperity implying that the whole host of policies that are important to generate and sustain growth remain relevant. Second, boosting shared prosperity will also require a concerted effort to strengthen the social contract, particularly in the area of promoting equality of opportunity. Growing evidence suggests that improving access for all and reducing inequality of opportunities -- particularly those related to human capital development of children -- are not only about"fairness"and building a"just society", but also about realizing a society's aspirations of economic prosperity.
Malignant melanoma of the skin. I. The association of tumor depth and type, and patient sex, age, and site with survival

The occurrence and behavior of cutaneous melanomas in a group of 1123 patients studied prospectively, is described in terms of histologic type, tumor thickness and levels of invasion, the patients' sex and age, and the anatomic location of the primary tumors. Associations amongst these attributes, and with survival, are also examined. The characteristics of the patients in this study (who on average are somewhat younger, and have better prognoses and survivals than those reported by most other groups) are compared with data obtained (primarily over the past decade) in other geographical areas, and with different patient populations. Evidence is presented that sex, tumor location, and age (in the case of males) are also predictive of survival.
Why Democracies Make Superior Counterterrorists

The conventional wisdom is that terrorists tend to target democracies because they are uniquely vulnerable to coercion. Terrorists are able to coerce democracies into acceding to their policy demands because liberal countries suffer from two inherent counterterrorism constraints: (1) the commitment to civil liberties prevents democracies from adopting sufficiently harsh countermeasures to eradicate the terrorism threat, and (2) their low civilian cost tolerance limits their ability to withstand attacks on their civilian populations. This article tests both propositions of the conventional wisdom that (a) terrorists attack democracies over other regime types because (b) liberal constraints render democracies vulnerable to coercion. The data do not sustain either proposition: illiberal countries are the victims of a disproportionate number of terrorist incidents and fatalities, and liberal countries are substantially less likely to make policy concessions to terrorists, particularly on issues of maximal importance. A plausibility probe is then developed to explain why democracies have a superior track record against terrorists. The basic argument is that liberal countries are comparatively resistant to coercion—and hence inferior targets—because they are superior counterterrorists. Liberalism's commitment to civil liberties and low civilian cost tolerance are, in the aggregate, actually strategic assets that help democracies prevail in counterterrorist campaigns, thereby reducing the incentives for terrorists to target this regime type. These findings have important implications for how democracies can defend their liberal values and physical security in the age of terrorism.
The effect of competitive strategy, task uncertainty and organisation structure on the usefulness and performance of management accounting system (MAS)

The purpose of this study takes a view of the responsibility center to examine the effect of competitive strategy, organisational structure and task uncertainty on the usefulness of management accounting system (MAS) information and MAS performance. The research sample includes 138 production departments in Taiwan. The major findings of this study are: 1) There is a significant relation between competitive strategy and the usefulness of MAS information; besides, there is also a significant positive relationship between the usefulness of MAS information and MAS performance. 2) When manufacturing departments adopt differentiation strategy, they face higher task uncertainty that would takes shape of decentralisation organisation structure; moreover, there is also a positive relationship between decentralisation and the usefulness of MAS information.
The Local Community as an Ecology of Games

The local community can be usefully conceptualized as an ecology of games. In the territorial system a variety of games goes on: banking, newspaper publishing, contracting, manufacturing, etc. The games give structures, goals, roles, strategies, tactics, and publics to the players. Players in each game make use of players in the others for their particular purposes. A banker uses the politician, the newspaperman, or the contractor in his game and is, in turn, used by them in theirs. The interaction of the games produces unintended but systemically functional results for the ecology. An over-all top leadership and social game provide a vague set of commonly shared values that promotes co-operation in the system though it does not provide a government.
Festival Management: A Case Study Perspective

A case study analysis of festival management is presented to determine how the tourism potential of these events can be improved. The results highlight some of the unique management problems that festival organizers face which are often a reflection of the stage of growth of the organization and stage in the product life cycle. Recommendations for festival organizers and tourism agencies are provided.
Is 'Benchmark Beating' by Australian Firms Evidence of Earnings Management?

We investigate the extent to which Australian firms that report small profits and/or small increases in earnings (i.e. benchmark beaters) have done so by the upward manipulation of these earnings. Although evidence of an unusually large number of firms managing to just beat such earnings benchmarks has been interpreted as evidence of earnings management, this approach fails to identify those firms that are the manipulators from those where unbiased earnings fall naturally into the benchmark beating group. Our results suggest that caution is required in interpreting benchmark beating as an indicator of the extent of earnings management. Using several methods for estimating the unexpected accrual component of earnings, we show that although benchmark beaters have larger positive unexpected accruals than other firms, a similar result holds when firms with small losses or earnings declines (i.e. 'just miss' firms) are compared with other firms. Moreover, there is no statistically significant difference between unexpected accruals for the benchmark beating and just miss groups. At a minimum, we reject the joint hypothesis that unexpected accruals capture earnings management and that an unusual kink around zero in the distribution of earnings levels or earnings changes is caused by earnings management. Copyright 2005 Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand.
Corporate Governance Mechanisms and Disclosure in Medium-sized Listed Firms: Substitutes or Complements?

This paper, focusing on a non-Anglo-Saxon market, attempts to advance knowledge in the understanding of the complementary/substitute relationship between governance mechanisms and corporate disclosure in medium-sized listed firms. The manuscript applies content analysis techniques and proposes a disclosure quality score index, based on the quantity, the variety and the completeness of information disclosed. Moreover, OLS regression analysis is performed for testing the explanatory power of internal and external corporate governance mechanisms as determinants of communication quality. The results demonstrate the relevance of internal control mechanism, as well as their current substitutive nature respect to disclosure. In addition, empirical evidence show that a diffuse ownership along with the existence of a high number of committees are associated with increased qualitative levels of voluntary disclosure.
Measuring efficiency, effectiveness and performance of Indian public sector banks

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to appraise the efficiency, effectiveness, and performance of 27 public sector banks (PSBs) operating in India by using a two‐stage performance evaluation model.Design/methodology/approach – Using the cross‐sectional data for the financial year 2006/2007, the technique of data envelopment analysis has been used for computing the efficiency and effectiveness scores for individual PSBs. The overall performance scores have been derived by taking the product of efficiency and effectiveness scores.Findings – The empirical results reveal that high efficiency does not stand for high effectiveness in the Indian PSB industry. A positive and strong correlation between effectiveness and performance measures has been noted. Further, on the efficiency front, State Bank of Travancore appears as an ideal benchmark, while State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur, and State Bank of Mysore emerge as ideal benchmarks on the effectiveness front.Practical implications – The practical implication.
Noninvasive MR imaging-guided focal opening of the blood-brain barrier in rabbits.

PURPOSE To determine if focused ultrasound beams can be used to locally open the blood-brain barrier without damage to surrounding brain tissue and if magnetic resonance (MR) imaging can be used to monitor this procedure. MATERIALS AND METHODS The brains of 18 rabbits were sonicated (pulsed sonication) in four to six locations, with temporal peak acoustic power ranging from 0.2 to 11.5 W. Prior to each sonication, a bolus of ultrasonographic (US) contrast agent was injected into the ear vein of the rabbit. A series of fast or spoiled gradient-echo MR images were obtained during the sonications to monitor the temperature elevation and potential tissue changes. Contrast material-enhanced MR images obtained minutes after sonications and repeated 1-48 hours later were used to depict blood-brain barrier opening. Whole brain histologic evaluation was performed. RESULTS Opening of the blood-brain barrier was confirmed with detection of MR imaging contrast agent at the targeted locations. The lowest power levels used produced blood-brain barrier opening without damage to the surrounding neurons. Contrast enhancement correlated with the focal signal intensity changes in the magnitude fast spoiled gradient-echo MR images. CONCLUSION The blood-brain barrier can be consistently opened with focused ultrasound exposures in the presence of a US contrast agent. MR imaging signal intensity changes may be useful in the detection of blood-brain barrier opening during sonication.
The Determinants of International Financial Integration

Abstract It is generally accepted that there has been an increase in the degree of international financial integration over the last two decades. As a result, international financial integration has become a topical area of research for many financial economists. To enrich the literature in this area, our paper provides an empirical investigation into identifying the potential “drivers” of international financial integration including policy on capital controls, the level of economic and educational development, economic growth, institutional and legal environment, trade openness, financial development and tax policy. Overall, the results provide strong evidence in support of our choice of drivers of international financial integration.
An analysis of linkage between economic value added and corporate social responsibility

Purpose – Research findings indicate that there is positive relationship between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and company's reputation but relationship between CSR and company's profitability has not been explored in the Indian context. CSR level of business firms in India is increasing in terms of both amount of the disclosure and the number of participating firms. Therefore the purpose of this paper is to explore the link between good financial performance measure and other indicators of corporate responsibility. This paper also aims at studying the trend of disclosure of CSR reporting by Indian companies.Design/methodology/approach – This study seeks to investigate the relationship between ethical commitment and financial performance over the four‐year period, through statistical regression and correlation analysis. Studies of few Indian companies who have successfully implemented CSR initiatives have also been analyzed to investigate the level and nature of engagement of Indian companies in s.
Brain development, mental health and addiction: a podcast series for undergraduate medical education

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of developing the early brain and biological development and addictions podcast series for first and second year medical students. This paper also presents the findings from an evaluation of the introductory podcast in this series of 13 podcasts. Design/methodology/approach – Three focus groups were held with a total of 19 participants representing ten universities across Canada as well as one college and one foundation. Each focus group was audiotaped and then transcribed verbatim. The coding process consisted of grouping the common codes together to form themes based on the W(e)Learn framework. Findings – Findings suggested that most participants were enthusiastic regarding the potential of the podcast project not only for the intended audience but also for all medical students and residents as well as continuous healthcare education. However, findings also suggest that other participants were not as fervent about the potential of the progra.
Randomized controlled trial of intraputamenal glial cell line–derived neurotrophic factor infusion in Parkinson disease

Glial cell line–derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) exerts potent trophic influence on midbrain dopaminergic neurons. This randomized controlled clinical trial was designed to confirm initial clinical benefits observed in a small, open‐label trial using intraputamenal (Ipu) infusion of recombinant human GDNF (liatermin).
POLITICS AND CONFLICTS: A STUDY OF EBIRALAND, NIGERIA (1977-2007)

One important area in conflict studies which has not been given adequate attention in the literature is intra or sub-ethnic conflict. Inadequate research in this area is further exacerbated by the paucity of literature on the relationship between politics and conflict especially at intra-ethnic level. The study prompted by these gaps, therefore, interrogated the impact of politics on clan identity and conflicts; examined the relationship between intra and inter-party clashes and communal unrest; and analyzed the relationship between economic and socio-cultural variables and conflicts in Ebiraland. The study adopted qualitative and quantitative techniques to capture the nature of conflicts in the area. The research method encapsulated the use of survey which involved questionnaire administration, and complemented with interview and focus group discussion. The study came up with the following findings among others: while colonialism laid the foundation of communal conflicts in Ebiraland, political competition and other economic and socio-cultural factors especially from 1979 intensified the conflicts. The Study also found that, an average Ebira is pugilistic and tends to display aggressive tendency at minor provocation. It further identified a relationship between the unequal and lopsided political structure of Kogi State and violence in Ebiraland. The politicization of the existing cultural homogeneity by some political elements using as canon fodders the large number of unemployed youths was also discovered as a major trigger of conflict. Accordingly, the study recommended the need for youth mass employment; government regulatory measure on cultural activities; rotation of key political offices and justiciable distribution of resources and amenities among the ethnic groups in Kogi State. The study concluded that adherence to the proffered suggestions would mitigate the occurrence of conflict in Ebiraland.
Intracellular sensing of microbes and danger signals by the inflammasomes

Summary: The cells of the innate immune system mobilize a coordinated immune response towards invading microbes and after disturbances in tissue homeostasis. These immune responses typically lead to infection control and tissue repair. Exaggerated or uncontrolled immune responses, however, can also induce acute of chronic inflammatory pathologies that are characteristic for many common diseases such as sepsis, arthritis, atherosclerosis, or Alzheimer’s disease. In recent years, the concerted efforts of many scientists have uncovered numerous mechanisms by which immune cells detect foreign or changed self‐substances that appear in infections or during tissue damage. These substances stimulate signaling receptors, which leads to cellular activation and the induction of effector mechanisms. Here, we review the role of inflammasomes, a family of signaling molecules that form multi‐molecular signaling platforms and activate inflammatory caspases and interleukin‐1β cytokines.