Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Performance measurement of reverse logistics enterprise: a comprehensive and integrated approach

Purpose – Reverse logistics (RL) has gained considerable attention in the literature. The first objective of this study is to develop a comprehensive performance measurement (PM) framework and scorecard for RL enterprise. The second objective is to integrate analytical hierarchy process (AHP) approach for RL PM.Design/methodology/approach – The present work presents understanding RL performance and proposes a conceptual comprehensive reverse logistics PM framework and scorecard for managing RL enterprise. The framework developed in the paper is based on an extensive review of literature on RL, PM frameworks such as Balanced Scorecard and performance prism. It is further supported by AHP for calculation of overall comprehensive performance index (OCPI). Findings – The scorecard consists of six performance perspectives, as well as key performance measures. The relevance of these perspectives, especially from the reverse logistics viewpoint, has been authenticated. With respect to each perspective, measures h.
Industrial Structure and the Comparative Behavior of International Stock Market Indices

Stock Price Indices are compared across countries in an attempt to explain why they exhibit such disparate behavior. Three separate explanatory influences are empirically documented. First, part of the behavior can be attributed to a technical aspect of index construction; some indices are more diversified than others. Second, each country's industrial structure plays a major role in explaining stock price behavior. Third, for the majority of countries, a portion of national equity index behavior can be ascribed to exchange rate behavior. Exchange rates explain a significant portion of common currency denominated.national index returns, although the amount explained by exchange rates is less than the amount explained by industrial structure for most countries. Copyright 1992 by American Finance Association.
Voices in a university : a critical exploration of black students' responses to institutional discourse.

The context for this study is the period leading up to and the four years since the first democratic elections in South Africa in 1994. It is a critical exploration of black students' responses to university discourses as they begin their degrees, and an analysis of the extent to which Critical Language Awareness can be used to facilitate a greater understanding ofinstitutional conventions and practices. It includes a briefconsideration ofstudents' school experiences and then explores their perceptions of the university as a whole as well as of individual texts. The way in which language encodes asymmetrical power relations and is used to construct students' subjectivities within the institution is of central concern. The research methodology adopted here is critical action research. The study consists of two research cycles, a short pilot study and a longer eight week language teaching programme. This second cycle was carried out in 1991 at the University of Natal during a time marked by unprecedented political fluidity and the establishment ofnew institutional and social structures. The impact of these changes has been felt at every level as racial separation, uniformity and ethnic homogeneity, which were once dominant social norms, have been replaced by the movement towards an integrated social order defined by its diversity, difference, and
Neuromuscular effort predicts walk–run transition speed in normal and adapted human gaits

ABSTRACT Often, humans and other animals move in a manner that minimizes energy costs. It is more economical to walk at slow speeds, and to run at fast speeds. Here, we asked whether humans select a gait that minimizes neuromuscular effort under novel and unfamiliar conditions, by imposing interlimb asymmetry during split-belt treadmill locomotion. The walk–run transition speed changed markedly across different gait conditions: forward, backward, hybrid (one leg forward, one leg backward) and forward with speed differences (one leg faster than the other). Most importantly, we showed that the human walk–run transition speed across conditions was predicted by changes in neuromuscular effort (i.e. summed leg muscle activations). Our results for forward gait and forward gait with speed differences suggest that human locomotor patterns are optimized under both familiar and novel gait conditions by minimizing the motor command for leg muscle activation. Summary: Interlimb asymmetry changes the walk–run transition speed on a split-belt treadmill with speed or direction differences between legs; leg muscle activation (neuromuscular effort) predicts both novel and normal transition speeds.
Growth hormone (GH) regulation of gastric structure and function in the GH-deficient rat: up-regulation of intrinsic factor.

In a recent study we identified GH receptor/binding protein in cells of the gastric mucosa. In order to define the role of the GH receptor/binding protein in gastric function, we have investigated the effect of GH on gastric structure and function in the GH-deficient Lewis (dwarf) rat. Bovine GH, 65 micrograms/100 g body wt, was administered twice daily to adult male dwarf rats for 6 days (DW+) while control animals received vehicle only (DW-). Administration of GH produced a significant increase in body wt (P less than 0.001), stomach wt (P less than 0.01), and stomach to body wt ratio (P less than 0.05). GH administration also resulted in increased total gastric DNA, RNA, and protein content but did not produce significant differences in DNA, RNA, or protein content when normalized to stomach wt. Morphometric analysis of the gastric mucosa revealed a significantly (P less than 0.05) increased gastric epithelial height and mucosal surface area along with an increase in the proportion of nuclei with multiple nucleoli (P less than 0.01). The number of gastric mucosal cells in S-phase was determined by immunohistochemical detection of nuclear 5'-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporated during a 2 h pulse of BrdU. GH treatment resulted in a 74% increase (P less than 0.05) in the number of BrdU-labeled nuclei/mm2 mucosa relative to vehicle-injected control animals. A modification of Zimmerman's method for the differential staining of gastric mucosa was used to delineate cell type for morphometric analysis. This showed that the density of differentiated (parietal and chief) cell types was not significantly different between DW- and to DW+ animals. Soluble extracts of gastric mucosa were prepared for estimation of pepsinogen content and [57Co]cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12) binding. GH administration produced no significant change in pepsinogen content per mg protein and did not affect the relative levels of pepsinogen isoenzymes as determined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. GH administration did however result in an 86% increase (P less than 0.01) in [57Co]cyanocobalamin binding per mg protein. The increase in binding was totally displaceable by 1 microgram/ml unlabeled cyanocobalamin but not by 1 microgram/ml cobinamide dicyanide indicating it was the result of increased intrinsic factor rather than R protein. Sephadex S-300 gel filtration of mucosal extracts revealed an elution profile for [57Co]cyanocobalamin identical to that of purified porcine intrinsic factor and different from that of human salivary R protein. In conclusion, we have demonstrated that GH stimulates proliferation and enlargement of the gastric mucosa without significant alteration in cellular composition. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)
REVIEW OF EXPERIENCE WITH HOM DAMPED CAVITIES

The RF systems for the next generation of high luminosity electron-positron and proton-proton colliders face new challenges. To achieve the desired luminosities, ampere beam currents need to be stored in a large number of bunches spaced together closely. The high current puts severe demands on the power capability of input couplers, windows and higher mode couplers. The large number of bunches and tight bunch spacing makes control of multibunch instabilities a critical issue. It becomes imperative to reduce the beam-cavity interaction by lowering both the R=Q and theQ of higher order modes (HOM). Even the fundamental accelerating mode can cause coupled bunch instabilities. Both superconducting (SC) and normal conducting (NC) cavity designs have been prepared to meet the combined challenges of high power and low impedance. The cavity developmentsare in their advanced stages of beam tests and initial operating experience. We will briefly review the various designs. Our emphasis will be on system performance, operating experience at high power and with beam.
Capital structure and institutional setting: a decompositional and international analysis

The legal and institutional setting is more and more influential in firms’ financial decisions. Our article analyses firms’ capital structure in an international framework in order to assess the different level of debt use across countries and to identify both common and differential explanatory factors. Although the level of financial leverage is quite different, the factors that have traditionally driven capital structure decisions have much in common in all the legal and institutional settings. The performance and size of the firm, the assets tangibility and the growth opportunities have a relevant but differential effect across the different institutional systems. Consequently, our results suggest that the legal and institutional system of each country does not only affect firms’ capital structure but also creates the conditions to explain a differential effect of the common determinants of firms’ financial choices.
Stereotype Transmission and Maintenance Through Interpersonal Communication

In interpersonal communication, stereotypes are predominantly transmitted through language. Linguistic bias theory presupposes that speakers systematically vary their language when communicating stereotype-consistent and stereotype-inconsistent information. We investigate whether these findings can be extended to verbal irony use. The irony bias posits that irony is more appropriate to communicate stereotype-inconsistent than stereotype-consistent information. Three experiments support this hypothesis by showing that irony is found more appropriate (Experiments 1-2) and used more often (Experiment 3) in stereotype-inconsistent than in stereotype-consistent situations. Furthermore, linguistic biases have important communicative consequences, because they implicitly serve to maintain stereotypic expectancies. Experiment 4 shows that irony shares this characteristic with other linguistic biases, in that irony—compared to literal language—leads to more external attribution. Taken together, these results indicate that stereotypic expectancies are subtly revealed and confirmed by verbal irony, and that verbal irony plays an important role in stereotype communication and maintenance.
Effects of phenolics on vascular endothelial function

Purpose of review There continues to be considerable interest in the concept that antioxidant therapy may reduce cardiovascular risk. Phenols have antioxidant properties and may be important micronutrients. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated a strong link between phenolic intake and reduced cardiovascular risk, but the mechanism of benefit has not been determined. Recent findings Recent evidence has emerged that a number of phenolic compounds, particularly flavonoids, reverse vascular endothelial dysfunction. The normal endothelium plays a critical role in regulating vascular function, and endothelial dysfunction is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. The present article reviews the links between phenolic intake, endothelial function and cardiovascular risk. Summary Endothelium-derived nitric oxide bioactivity appears to be increased by supplementation with a number of phenols, and this may explain some of the favourable effects of high phenolic intake seen in epidemiological studies.
Day‐of‐the‐week and other market anomalies in the Indian stock market

Purpose – This paper attempts to investigate the presence of seasonal effects in the Indian stock market.Design/methodology/approach – The paper tests the efficiency of the Indian stock market through a number of hypotheses. Week day effects, day‐of‐the‐week, weekend, January and April effects are examined by applying a variety of statistical techniques.Findings – The results are interesting and contradict some of the findings found elsewhere. The negative Monday effect and the positive January effects are not found in India. Instead the Monday returns are positive while Tuesday returns are negative.Research limitations/implications – The seasonal effects in the Indian market have been examined by the two major indices, the Bombay Stock Exchange Index and the National Stock Exchange Index. However, it must be remembered that the Indian economy became deregulated from 1991 and this may have had an impact on the markets.Practical implications – This study indicates that the Indian stock market does not exhi.
D'une diversification spontanée à une diversification organisée

Durant ces vingt dernieres annees, les pays d’Afrique du Nord ont vu leur part dans le commerce mondial diminuer et ont connu des resultats relativement moyens en matiere de croissance economique. Ces performances peuvent en partie etre expliquees par un niveau insuffisant de diversification de l’appareil productif. Cet article vise a repondre a la question de savoir comment relancer et renforcer le processus de diversification afin de soutenir la croissance et d’ameliorer la competitivite des economies d’Afrique du Nord. Cela implique d’analyser les determinants de la diversification en Afrique du Nord. Parmi les determinants, il ressort que le taux d’investissement joue un role non negligeable dans ce processus. Cette analyse appelle le passage d’un regime economique ou la diversification est « spontanee » et resulte des initiatives d’acteurs economiques, dont le secteur prive local, a un regime ou la diversification serait le resultat d’un ensemble de politique et de choix largement organises et coordonnes.
Protection of intestinal anastomoses in septic environment with peritoneal graft and polyglycolic acid mesh: an experimental study.

We carried out an experimental study in dogs to evaluate the outcome of large bowel anastomosis with 6 stitches (Group C, n : 6) in a septic environment with protection by a polyglycolic acid (PGA) mesh (Group M, n : 12) or peritoneal graft (Group P, n : 12). Thirty dogs were used to compare the techniques. Two dogs in each group were re-operated after 3, 5, 7, 14, 28 and 90 days. They were evaluated for adhesion formation, lumen diameter (anastomotic index), clinical features, histologic appearance and quality of healing at the anastomotic sites. All dogs in group P and group M survived, whereas 2 dogs in the control group died of anastomotic leakage and 3 dogs were re-operated for anastomotic leakage and peritonitis. In group M, one dog was reoperated because of the anastomotic leakage and two dogs were reoperated because of the anastomotic stenosis. Also, 4 anastomoses showed evidence of moderate stenosis. In group P, three anastomoses were graded as minimal stenosis. Histopathologic evaluation showed more complete epithelization, less inflammation, and less adhesion in group P than group M. We could not find any study in the literature that described and compared both techniques. We report here the results of such a study.
An Empirical Analysis of Linear and Non-Linear Dependence of Stock Prices and Trading Volume in Asia Pacific Stock Market

This paper examines the casual dependence of price changes and trading volume by using linear and nonlinear models for Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand and Taiwan stock exchange from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2008. The empirical methods used include Unit-root tests, Granger causality tests and MA (5) GARCH (1,1). Granger Causality test demonstrates that for some countries, returns cause volume and volumes cause returns. The evidence indicates stronger evidence of returns causing volume than volume causing returns. The results present a significant relationship between trading volume and the value of price changes, the exogenous variable contributes some information to the return and volatility series for capturing the potential non-linear dependence of stock and trading volume in conditional variance to determine the contemporaneous and lagged volume effect after incorporation. Moreover, the findings suggest that the presence of current and past returns, trading volume adds some predictive power for future returns in these countries.
Measuring the Quality of ‘Comply or Explain’ Approach: Evidence from the Implementation of the Greek Corporate Governance Code

Purpose - – This paper provides evidence regarding the efficacy of the “comply or explain” approach in Greece and has three objectives: to improve our knowledge of the concept of this accountability mechanism, to elevate auditors’ potential role in the control of corporate governance (CG) statements and to contribute to the discussion about the reform of this principle; a prolonged dialogue that has been started by European Commission in the light of the recent financial crisis. Design/methodology/approach - – The approach taken is a content analysis of CG statements and Web sites of a non-probability sample of 144 Greek listed companies on the Athens Stock Exchange for the year 2011. Particularly, 52 variables were evaluated from an audit compliance perspective using a coding scheme. From this procedure, the level of compliance with Hellenic Federation of Enterprises (SEV) code, as well as the content of the explanations provided for non-compliance, were rated. Findings - – The results show that although the degree of compliance is low (the average governance rating is 35.27 per cent), the evaluation of explanations of non-compliance is even lower (from the 64.73 per cent of the non-compliance, the 40.95 per cent provides no explanation at all). Research limitations/implications - – The research limitations are associated with the content analysis methodology, as well as the reliability of CG statements. Practical implications - – This study indicates that companies on the one hand tend to avoid the compliance with these recommendation practices, raising questions regarding the effectiveness of the SEV code; while on the other, they are not in line with the spirit of the CG code, as they do not provide adequate explanations. These results assist practitioners and/or policy-makers in perceiving the efficacy of the “comply or explain” approach. Originality/value - – While there is a great body of research that has looked into the compliance with best practices, this study is different because it is the first one that rates not only the degree of the compliance with the code’s practices but also the content of the explanations provided for non-compliance. This is particularly interesting because it adds to the body of research by providing a new approach in measuring the quality of the “comply or explain” principle in-depth.
Transforming growth factor-β1 signaling promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition-like phenomena, cell motility, and cell invasion in synovial sarcoma cells

The epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the reverse process (the mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition [MET]) have been shown to be associated with tumor cell invasion and metastasis in different carcinomas. The EMT and MET have recently been shown to play a key role in the pathogenic processes of sarcomas, which are completely different from those of carcinomas. However, the definitive roles of the EMT in the tumorigenesis of synovial sarcomas remain unknown. Here, we explored whether transforming growth factor (TGF)-β signaling, an important oncogenic event in synovial sarcoma, modulates tumor cell characteristics related to the EMT, such as cell adhesion, migration, invasion, and proliferation. Interestingly, we found that TGF-β1 induced tumor cell activation, resulting in a tendency to aggregate and biphasic-like features. TGF-β1 also caused downregulation of E-cadherin and subsequent upregulation of N-cadherin, Snail, and Slug, which are responsible for EMT-like phenomena and increased cell motility and invasion. To further investigate the roles of TGF-β1 in the EMT, we established a SW982 cell line with stable TGF-β1 inhibition viaSB431542.These cells exhibited significantly decreased motility, migration, and proliferation (P = 0.001). Taken together, our data demonstrated that alterations in the TGF-β1/Smad signaling pathway could regulate the expression of EMT-related factors and the EMT process, resulting in changes in tumor cell invasion, migration, and proliferation in synovial sarcoma cells. These results may provide a important insights into therapeutic interventions and contribute to the present understanding of tumor progression in patients.
Personality traits and firm performance: the mediating effect of competitive advantage

Despites the popularity of personality traits in entrepreneurship study, previous studies have failed to find a conclusive relationship between personality traits and firm performance. This study aims to examine the mediating effect of competitive advantage on the linkage between personality traits and firm performance with the intention to revive the role of personality traits in predicting firms' success. The data is collected through questionnaire and analysed using multi-stage regression analysis. The results show that the firm competitive advantage is the significant mediator to the linkage between personality traits and firm performance and differentiation advantage has stronger mediating effect compared to lower cost. Based on the findings, the SME owner-managers are advised to capitalise on their entrepreneurial personality traits to build differentiation for their firms. The policy makers should assist the SME owner-managers to strengthen their personality traits.
The democratic legitimacy of codecision

This contribution develops a framework for evaluating the legitimacy of codecision. It uses democratic theory to clarify the role of legislative procedures in securing the legitimacy of political systems. It shows how that role requires public control with political equality and public justification. It uses that standard to show how legislative agenda-setting, Council voting weights, European Parliament elections and seat apportionments, national parliamentary scrutiny, justificatory practices, and control of judicial and administrative rule-making all affect the legitimacy of codecision. Overall the contribution concludes that the legitimacy of codecision is part of a predicament that can only be managed, not solved.
Microtubule‐Dependent Transport of Secretory Vesicles in RBL‐2H3 Cells

Antigen‐mediated activation of mast cells results in Ca2+‐dependent exocytosis of preformed mediators of the inflammatory response. To investigate the role of secretory vesicle motility in this response, we have performed time‐lapse confocal microscopy on RBL‐2H3 cells transfected with a green fluorescent protein‐Fas ligand fusion protein (GFP‐FasL). Green fluorescent protein‐labeled vesicles exhibit rapid, bidirectional movement in both resting and activated cells and can be localized adjacent to microtubules. Colchicine treatment inhibits the motility of secretory vesicles as measured by fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP). Colchicine also inhibits both the extent and the rate of exocytosis triggered by receptor activation or by Ca2+ ionophore, demonstrating that microtubule‐dependent movement of secretory vesicles plays an important role in the exocytic response.