Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The strategic planning of SMEs in Malaysia: Types of strategies in the aftermath of economic downturn

During economic downturns, strategic management might be useful for SMEs as they need strategies to survive. The research here looks at whether formal strategic planning is relevant to SMEs and if the Wheelen and Hunger (2008) strategic planning model is applicable to SMEs in the Asian context.For this paper, the aim is to determine the types of strategies that SMEs used in their planning in the period after the economic downturn in 2008-2009.The sample comprised of SMEs in the northern region of Malaysia which covers Perlis, Kedah and Penang and data was collected between September 2010 and December 2010.The findings show that most of the SMEs have strategic planning which resembles the Wheelen and Hunger strategic planning model suggesting that the model is applicable to SMEs in Malaysia.In addition, SMEs seems to prefer proactive strategies such as corporate growth strategies and differentiation for their business strategies.
Learning lessons from stock transfer: the challenges in delivering second stage transfer in Glasgow

The 2003 housing stock transfer in Glasgow was designed to empower tenants through 'community ownership' of social housing. It involved a unique two-tier stock transfer process. From the outset, citywide housing management was devolved to a network of Local Housing Organisations. This was to be proceeded by further, smaller Second Stage Transfers in order that these organisations may own as well as manage their local housing stock. Implementing this political ambition has however been a fraught and difficult process. Indeed, more than five years on, few organisations have been able to realise their ambitions for local ownership through Second Stage Transfer. Drawing on recent empirical research, this paper seeks to outline progress to date, as well as emphasise the financial and organisational barriers that have undermined aspirations for community ownership in practice.
Effects of arginine, vitamin E and vitamin C on cardiopulmonary function and ascites parameters in broilers exposed to cold temperature

Two identical experiments were conducted to evaluate the combined effects of arginine (AR), vitamin E (VE) and vitamin C (VC) on cardiopulmonary performance and ascites parameters of broilers reared under cold environmental temperature. One d old male broilers were fed a basal corn-soybean meal diet (CTL, 1.2 % AR and 40 IU VE), the basal diet supplemented with 1% AR and either 200 IU VE (AE group), or 500 mg of VC (AC group), or a combination of VE and VC (AEC group) at the same level per kg of feed. Pulmonary arterial pressure (PAP) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) were recorded in clinically healthy anesthetized birds (28-42 d old) before and after an epinephrine challenge (EPI, 0.5 mg/kg BW i.v.), Amino-guanidine Hemisulphate (AG, 100 mg/kg BW i.v.) and N-Nitro L-Arginine Methyl Ester (L-NAME 50 mg/kg BW, i.v.) at 20 min intervals. The PAP increased 30 s after EPI in all birds, but the peak PAP was lower in the AEC group than in all the other birds. After 120 s of challenge the PAP was lower in AEC birds compared to the other birds. The PAP returned to pre-EPI levels within 300 s in all groups. The PAP was increased ( P< 0.05) within 60 s after the AG and L-NAME challenge in all groups, but no differences were found among groups. Plasma nitric oxide (NO) was higher in the AEC birds than in all the other groups before and after challenge. Our results showed that birds fed AEC maintained a lower PAP than the CTL birds after EPI elicited an increase in cardiac output and this can be explained by a higher production of NO. A combination of AR, VE, and VC may have complementary effects against oxidative stress, protecting the endothelium and preserving NO function.
And aberrant DNA methylation regulated the pathogenesis of myelodysplastic syndromes , myeloid neoplasms with an inherent risk of transformation to acute myeloid leukemia or childhood acute

Catechol is one of phenolic metabolites of benzene that is a general occupational hazard and a ubiquitous environmental air pollutant. Catechol also occurs naturally in fruits, vegetables and cigarettes. Previous studies have revealed that 72 h exposure to catechol improved hemin-induced erythroid differentiation of K562 cells accompanied with elevated methylation in erythroid specific genes. In present study, K562 cells were treated with 0, 10 or 20 μM catechol for 1–4 weeks, hemin-induced hemoglobin synthesis increased in a concentrationand time-dependent manner and the enhanced hemoglobin synthesis was relatively stable. The mRNA expression of α-, βand γ-globin genes, erythroid heme synthesis enzymes PBGD and ALAS2, transcription factor GATA-1 and NF-E2 showed a significant increase in K562 cells exposed to 20 μM catechol for 3 w, and catechol enhanced hemin-induced mRNA expression of these genes. Quantitative MassARRAY methylation analysis also confirmed that the exposure to catechol changed DNA methylation levels at several CpG sites in several erythroid-specific genes and their far upstream of regulatory elements. These results demonstrated that long-term exposure to low concentration of catechol enhanced the hemin-induced erythroid differentiation of K562 cells, in which DNA methylation played a role by up-regulating erythroid specific genes.
Prevalence of Functional Ankle Instability and Its Association with risk factors In Basketball Players of Punjab

Background: Ankle injuries are the most common injuries in the game of basketball with high rate of recurrence owing to development of subsequent functional ankle instability (FAI). The prevalence of Functional Ankle Instability following ankle sprain in Indian basketball players is not reported. Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the Prevalence of FAI and examine its Association with extrinsic and intrinsic risk factors in Basketball Players of Punjab. Methods: Sample of this survey comprised of 213 (M-112, F-101) basketball players of age group 17-25 years (mean age = M-20.85±2.10, F-20.35±2.15). Scheduled interview and measurement of Evertor – Invertor strength by strain gauze and range of motion by universal goniometer was the tool of data collection. Presence of FAI was determined by Cumberland Ankle Instability Tool (CAIT) Score using the score of 28 and below as cutoff point for ankle instability. Cross tabulation with chi square and t-test were the tools for statistical analysis. Results: The prevalence of functional ankle instability (FAI) was 57.74%. Players with FAI had significantly less evertor strength (t-2.03) and decreased range of motion of inversion (t-3.00). History of previous ankle sprain (OR-0.062) inadequate treatment (OR-8.61) and irregular stretching during warm up (OR-2.03) were the risk factors significantly associated with FAI. Conclusion: Prevalence of FAI among basketball players is high. History of recurrent ankle sprain, poor evertor strength, decreased range of inversion and inadequate physiotherapy has emerged as the major risk factors of FAI. These deficits could be corrected by designing exercise program emphasising on evertor strengthening, proprioceptive training as well as range of motion exercises for ankle joint.
What Impact has Work-life Balance on Employees Job Satisfaction in the Retail Sector in Ireland?

Work-life balance (WLB) is an ever growing core attribute to business practices, business developments and this is supported by the growing number of research studies on the impact of WLB on organisations and on their employees (Gregory & Milner, 2009). The literature presented shows that WLB does have a significant bearing on employees and their employers through different ways. Any unbalance of an employee’s WLB can have detrimental effects if the unbalance of work/life is favouring work over their lives. This study’s primary focus is to assess how employee’s job satisfaction is determined by their WLB. The individuals this research is focused on is employees working in the retail sector throughout Ireland. For the purpose of this study, quantitative research methods was chosen. A specific population sample was chosen amongst participants who are working in Ireland’s leading children’s toy retailer. 100 surveys were distributed with 50 male and 50 female participants completing and returning the surveys. The scales used in the study were analysed through the SPPS computer data system to study the Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients and for analysing the data recovered along with other tests used in the results chapter. The author didn’t undertake qualitative research as a large range of participants and responses was wanted with quantitative the best approach for this reason. Literature on this area of research argues that qualitative research is best suited to gain individuals experiences and attitudes towards the topic of discussion. However, literature says quantitative research is more reliable (Pathak, et al., 2013). The author wanted to gain the thoughts and insight of employees who worked as sales assistants and not management and as many as possible to gather greater data and in hindsight achieve more reliable results. The study confirmed that a WLB is greatly associated with job satisfaction for employees working in the retail sector and based on the participant’s responses, this study can confirm that there is a relationship between WLB practices and the well-being of employees.
Defining Intercultural Education for Social Cohesion in Malaysian Context.

Schools are considered as powerful institutions that are capable of fostering a sense of coherence and common identity to integrate students of different ethnic, social, and cultural origins. Effective implementation of intercultural education at schools can facilitate social integration. However, it is important that the design and implementation of intercultural education be guided by the knowledge and understanding of the issues and patterns of discrimination and complexities within its context. This qualitative study explored perspectives of key stakeholders involved in the education process to define a framework for intercultural education in Malaysian context for successful social cohesion. The findings are discussed in terms of practical application for educators, researchers, and policymakers.
TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS ON THE USE OF ICT IN INDONESIAN EFL LEARNING CONTEXT

Abstract: This study aims to investigate teachers’ perceptions towards the implementation of ICT in EFL teaching and learning process. The present study applied descriptive qualitative method, and the data were collected through open-ended questionnaire and interview to gain relevant data. The results of the present study were in line with the previous findings from the studies conducted by Park & Son (2009); Barnawi (2009); and others. The research findings of the present study discovered that there were three benefits of using ICT in English teaching and learning process; namely, helping the teachers to conduct interesting and enjoyable learning activities, promoting learner autonomy, and motivating the students to learn. The present study also reveals some challenges encountered by the teachers in using ICT in EFL classes and strategies to overcome the challenges. Overall, the teachers’ perceptions towards the utilization of ICT in English teaching were positive. Thus, it is recommended to use ICT in English teaching and learning process. Keywords : English language teaching, ICT, teachers’ perceptions.
ULTIMATE BOUNDEDNESS OF SOME THIRD ORDER ORDINARY DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

We prove the ultimate boundedness of solutions of some third order nonlinear ordinary differential equations using the Lyapunov method. The results obtained generalize earlier results of Ezeilo, Tejumola, Reissig, Tunc and others. The Lyapunov function used does not involve the use of signum functions as used by others.
Reproductive Patterns of Two Sympatric Ranid Frogs, Rana latouchii and R. sauteri, with Comments on Anuran Breeding Seasons in Taiwan

A physiological constraint hypothesis suggested that anuran breeding season will be similar among closely related species that shares the same environments. We conducted a test of that hypothesis that the seasonal reproductive pattern would be similar between two sympatric congeneric species of ranid frogs, Rana latouchii and R. sauteri, by examining testicular, fat body, liver and ovary cycles. In total, 196 and 78 of R. latouchii and R. sauteri adult frogs, respectively, were collected from Central Taiwan during the period from July 1996 to July 1997. Both species were classified as prolonged breeders, from which R. latouchii exhibits breeding activity throughout the year, whereas R. sauteri is breeding activly from October to November, and thus seemingly are contrasted to the physiological constraint hypothesis. The breeding season is similar among populations of R. latouchii, but is different among populations of R. sauteri from those conspecific in Taiwan. In both adult females attained larger snout-vent length (SVL), body mass (BM), head length (HL), and head width (HW) than males. Neither R. latouchii nor R. sauteri showed a significant positive correlation between female ovary mass and female SVL. Also, timing of reproduction in four other anurans from the present study site is also discussed.
Full Title: COMPARATIVE STUDY OF THE NEUROTOXICOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF TRAMADOL AND TAPENTADOL IN SH-SY5Y CELLS Running Head: Tramadol and tapentadol neuronal toxicity

Opioid therapy and abuse is increasing, justifying the need to study their toxicity and underlying mechanisms. Given opioid pharmacodynamics at the central nervous system, the analysis of toxic effects in neuronal models gains particular relevance. The aim of this study was to compare the toxicological effects of acute exposure to tramadol and tapentadol in the undifferentiated human SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell line. Upon exposure to tramadol and tapentadol concentrations up to 600 μM, cell toxicity was assessed through evaluation of oxidative stress, mitochondrial and metabolic alterations, as well as cell viability and death mechanisms through necrosis or apoptosis, and related
Gravitational torques imply molecular gas inflow towards the nucleus of M 51

The authors would like to thank the anonymous referee for a helpful report, as well as Daniela Calzetti, Nick Z. Scoville and Mari Polletta for making the HST/F190N mosaic available to us. We also appreciate valuable comments from Francoise Combes and Sebastian Haan. We acknowledge financial support to the DAGAL network from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007- 2013/ under REA grant agreement number PITN-GA-2011-289313. M.Q. acknowledges the International Max Planck Research School for Astronomy and Cosmic Physics at the University of Heidelberg (IMPRS-HD). S.G. B. thanks support from Spanish grant AYA2012-32295. J.P. acknowledges support from the CNRS programme “Physique et Chimie du Milieu Interstellaire” (PCMI). M.Q. , S.E. M. , D.C. and A.H. acknowledge funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) via grants SCHI 536/7-2,SCHI 536/5-1, and SCHI 536/7-1 as part of the priority program SPP 1573 “ISM-SPP: Physics of the Interstellar Medium”.
A representative survey of the dynamics and energetics of FRII radio galaxies

We report the first large, systematic study of the dynamics and energetics of a representative sample of Fanaroff–Riley type II (FR II) radio galaxies with well-characterized group/cluster environments. We used X-ray inverse-Compton and radio synchrotron measurements to determine the internal radio-lobe conditions, and these were compared with external pressures acting on the lobes, determined from measurements of the thermal X-ray emission of the group/cluster. Consistent with previous work, we found that FR II radio lobes are typically electron dominated by a small factor relative to equipartition, and are overpressured relative to the external medium in their outer parts. These results suggest that there is typically no energetically significant proton population in the lobes of FR II radio galaxies (unlike for FR Is), and so for this population, inverse-Compton modelling provides an accurate way of measuring total energy content and estimating jet power. We estimated the distribution of Mach numbers for the population of expanding radio lobes, finding that at least half of the radio galaxies are currently driving strong shocks into their group/cluster environments. Finally, we determined a jet power–radio luminosity relation for FR II radio galaxies based on our estimates of lobe internal energy and Mach number. The slope and normalization of this relation are consistent with theoretical expectations, given the departure from equipartition and environmental distribution for our sample.
Cointegration and causality analysis of dynamic linkage between stock market and equity mutual funds in Australia

Abstract The existing literature finds conflicting results on the magnitude of price linkages between equity mutual funds and the stock market. The study contends that in an optimal lagged model, the expectations of future prices using knowledge of past price behaviour in a particular equity mutual fund category will improve forecasts of prices of other equity mutual fund categories and the stock market index. The evidence shows that the long-run pricing of equity mutual funds is cointegrated with the stock market index. In the short run, the results indicate that some equity mutual fund categories possess both long-run and short-run exogeneity with the stock market. Therefore, the short-run dynamic indicates short-run Granger causal links running between different equity mutual fund categories.
Markers of Prognosis in Neurodegenerative Dementia

Background: A prognostic marker should provide information about course and outcome of disease, e.g. predict time to a given endpoint or rate of progression due to disease in patients or subgroups of patients. Prognostic markers could be targeted to apply during the entire clinical course or just during distinct stages of the disease. Aim: The aim of this thesis is to identify, review and qualify possible indicators, including biological markers to predict course and time of survival in the two most common types of neurodegenerative dementia; AD and DLB/PDD. Study populations: I. 142 patients with AD. II. 79 patients with AD and 49 patients with DLB. III. 30 patients with DLB/PDD. IV. 32 patients with DLB PDD. Results: I. Patients with very high T-tau levels performed worse on cognitive tests at baseline, and exhibited a more rapid cognitive decline during follow up. Very high T-tau levels were also associated with a deviating cognitive profile characterized by symptoms from the medial temporal lobes. II. Patients with DLB had shorter length-of-survival compared to patients with AD, from the time of diagnosis, from the time of MMSE 20±1 and from the time of MMSE 17±1. III. Patients with persistent orthostatic hypotension exhibited shorter length-of-survival compared to patients with no or mild orthostatic hypotension. Patients with constipation and / or urinary incontinence, in addition to persistent orthostatic hypotension, had the shortest survival. IV. Patients, who received memantine instead of placebo during the first 6 months of follow-up, had a longer length-of survival. Patients, who responded positively to memantine lived longer compared to the non-responders. Conclusions: This thesis adds to current knowledge by reporting on studies on potential biomarkers that predict more rapid deterioration or shorter length-of-survival in neurodegenerative dementia. However, our findings must be confirmed in future research with larger study samples.
New PLS analysis approach to wine volatile compounds characterization by near infrared spectroscopy ( NIR )

This work aims to explore the potential of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy to quantify volatile compounds in Vinho Verde wines, commonly determined by gas chromatography. For this purpose, 105 Vinho Verde wine samples were analyzed using Fourier transform near infrared (FT-NIR) transmission spectroscopy in the range of 5435 cm to 6357 cm. Boxplot and principal components analysis (PCA) were performed for clusters identification and outliers removal. A partial least square (PLS) regression was then applied to develop the calibration models, by a new iterative approach. The predictive ability of the models was confirmed by an external validation procedure with an independent sample set. The obtained results could be considered as quite good with coefficients of determination (R) varying from 0.94 to 0.97. The current methodology, using NIR spectroscopy and chemometrics, can be seen as a promising rapid tool to determine volatile compounds in Vinho Verde wines.
Cartel Pricing Dynamics, Price Wars and Cartel Breakdown

This paper gives an unified explanation of some of the most widely known facts of the cartel literature: prices gradually rise, then remain constant, there can be price wars and some cartels break down. In this model consumers are loss averse and efficiency of a competitive fringe is not publicly observable. In the best collusive equilibrium, the price expectation can be so low that loss aversion makes consumers not buy at the maximal collusive price: firms then set a lower price that rises in time with consumers’ expectations. This increasing price path is bounded from above by the presence of the fringe. If the fringe sets a low price during a sufficient number of periods, there can be price wars and collusion can eventually break down.
Japanese Brome Impacts on Western Wheatgrass in Northern Great Plains Rangelands: An Update

Japanese brome (Bromus japonicus Thunb.) is an annual grass that has invaded thousands of hectares of Northern Great Plains rangelands. We studied the effect of Japanese brome on the current year's increase in biomass in a plant community in the Northern Great Plains dominated by western wheatgrass [Pascopyrum smithii Rydb. (Love)]. In our experiment, brome seedlings were either removed or left in place in replicated l-m2 plots. Above-ground biomass of western wheatgrass increased (891 to 1,095 kg ha-) with the removal of Japanese brome. However, total above-ground biomass decreased (1,873 to 1,334 kg ha-1) when brome was reduced in early spring (708 to 12 kg ha-'). Increased biomass of western wheatgrass resulted from increases in the density of tillers and not in the weight of each tiller. Since the effect of removing brome did not vary among the combinations of site and year, similar outcomes can be expected over a wide array of environmental conditions, such as among years with variable April to late-June or midJuly precipitation or stands with varying percents of brome and western wheatgrass. Thus, we conclude that the presence of annual Japanese brome reduces the biomass of important grasses in the Northern Great Plains.