Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Consumer responses to elimination of overpackaging on private label products

Purpose – Eliminating overpackaging is a central question in sustainable development, and poses a dilemma for retailers. Since packaging is a differentiation tool for private labels, eliminating it could limit the capacity to give those labels an equivalent image to national brands just as much as it could be a sustainable development opportunity and a positioning instrument. Drawing on the attribution theory framework, this article examines how eliminating overpackaging influences consumers’ perception of products sold under generic and mimic private labels, and their purchase intention. Methodology – This research uses a 2 (overpackaging: present vs. absent) x 2 (brand concept: generic vs. mimic private label) between-subjects experiment on a convenience sample of 217 French consumers. The conceptual framework was tested using ANCOVA and mediation analyses. Findings – Our experiment shows that eliminating overpackaging does have an influence on mimic private labels’ image, particularly on perceived quality, convenience and environmental friendliness. We also find that this influence negatively transfers to purchase intention for mimic private labels through lower perceived quality and convenience. No such effect appears for generic private labels’ image. Value – This study addresses an issue as yet unexplored in marketing – the effect of overpackaging on private label products – and proposes areas for managerial and societal reflection relevant to retail chains interested in eliminating overpackaging.
Optimal architectures of elongated viruses

Many viruses protect their genetic material by a closed elongated protein shell. Unlike spherical viruses, the structure of these prolates is not yet well understood, and only a few of them have been fully characterized. We present the results of a simple phenomenological model, which describes the remarkable structures of prolate or bacilliform viral shells. Surprisingly, we find that the special well-defined geometry of these elongated viruses arises just as a consequence of free-energy minimization of a generic interaction between the structural units of the capsid. Hemispherical T-number caps centered along the 5-, 3-, and 2-fold axes with hexagonally ordered cylindrical bodies are found to be local energy minima, thus justifying their occurrence as optimal viral structures. Moreover, closed elongated viruses show a sequence of magic numbers for the end-caps, leading to strict selection rules for the length and structure of the body as well as for the number of capsomers and proteins of the capsid. The model reproduces the architecture of spherical and bacilliform viruses, both in vivo and in vitro, and constitutes an important step towards understanding viral assembly and its potential control for biological and nanotechnological applications.
A three-stage heuristic combined neural-network algorithm for channel assignment in cellular mobile systems

A three-stage algorithm of combining sequential heuristic methods into a parallel neural network is presented for the channel assignment problem in cellular mobile communication systems in this paper. The goal of this NP-complete problem is to find a channel assignment to requested calls with the minimum number of channels subject to interference constraints between channels. The three-stage algorithm consists of: (1) the regular interval assignment stage; (2) the greedy assignment stage; and (3) the neural-network assignment stage. In the first stage, the calls in a cell determining the lower bound on the total number of channels are assigned channels at regular intervals. In the second stage, the calls in a cell with the largest degree and its adjacent cells are assigned channels by a greedy heuristic method. In the third stage, the calls in the remaining cells are assigned channels by a binary neural network. The performance is verified through solving well-known benchmark problems. Especially for Sivarajan's benchmark problems, our three-stage algorithm first achieves the lower bound solutions in all of the 13 instances, while the computation time is comparable with existing algorithms.
Environmental exposure to tobacco smoke and lung function in young adults.

The relationship between lung function and environmental exposure to tobacco smoke (passive smoking) was studied in 293 nonsmoking young men and women, 15 to 35 yr of age. A self-administered mailed questionnaire was used to assess the lifetime environmental exposure to cigarette smoke at home and at work for each subject. Lung function information used here had been gathered in the course of a previous study of the determinants of lung function in early adulthood. In men, maximal midexpiratory flow rate (FEF25-75) decreased in relation to an index of cumulative lifetime environmental exposure to tobacco smoke at home, after taking into account the effects of cumulative exposure at work as well as age, height, body size, respiratory pressures, and cooking fuels used at home. The components of this exposure index most closely related to the reduction in FEF25-75 were maternal smoking habits and exposure to second-hand smoke during childhood. In women, the diffusing capacity of the lung (DLCO) decreased in relation to cumulative exposure to tobacco smoke at work, after accounting for the effects of cumulative lifetime exposure at home and the other factors mentioned above. These findings contribute to the gathering evidence that environmental exposure to tobacco smoke is harmful to respiratory health, and suggest that the effects are not insignificant. For instance, the FEF25-75 of a young man 20 yr of age who had never smoked and always lived at home would be 800 ml less if both his parents smoked than if they did not. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Pore pressure generation in sand with bentonite: from small strains to liquefaction

The paper examines the effect of small percentages of bentonite on pore pressure generation in loose sands, from small strains all the way to liquefaction. It relies on resonant column, static triaxial and cyclic triaxial tests conducted on specimens prepared by dry-mixing Ottawa sand and bentonite, at a skeleton relative density of 35% ± 5%. Two main variables are investigated: the percentage of bentonite (3% and 5% by dry mass of the sand), and the duration of the ageing period preceding shear (1 to 10 days). The presence of bentonite increases the shear strain needed to initiate the generation of excess pore pressures in resonant column tests; in cyclic tests it reduces the mean pore pressure generated per loading cycle and allows the specimen to sustain an increased loss of effective stress before liquefaction initiates, both effects contributing to an increased resistance to liquefaction. These effects are further enhanced with prolonged pre-shear ageing. Additionally, under static conditions, the be.
Obesity is associated with increased arterial stiffness from adolescence until old age

Objective To our knowledge, only two previous studies have investigated the age dependence of the relationship between the characteristics of large arteries and excessive body weight. We therefore investigated whether the relationship between arterial stiffness and body mass index (BMI) was consistent across an age range from 10 to 86 years. Methods Using a cross-sectional population-based design, we randomly recruited 1306 individuals (median age 43.9 years; 50.5% women). Using a wall-tracking ultrasound system, we measured the properties of the carotid, femoral and brachial arteries and carotid–femoral pulse wave velocity. We analysed men and women separately while adjusting for significant covariates, including age, mean arterial pressure, heart rate, current smoking, alcohol intake and use of antihypertensive drugs. Results Before and after adjustment, arterial diameter increased with BMI in all territories, with an opposite trend for arterial distensibility. In men and women, the relationships of brachial and femoral properties with BMI were consistent across the whole age range. In men and women, carotid distensibility decreased more with BMI at young than old age. In middle-aged and older women, but not in men of any age, pulse wave velocity increased with higher BMI. Conclusions Across a wide age range, the diameter and stiffness of muscular arteries increased with higher BMI. In elastic arteries, the relationship between arterial stiffness and BMI was more complex and varied with sex and age. The mechanisms underlying the influence of adiposity on the properties of muscular and elastic arteries and the reversibility of these associations by weight reduction at young age need further clarification.
Sensory Impairment, Use of Community Support Services, and Quality of Life in Aged Care Clients

Objective: To assess influences from visual or hearing impairment on use of community support services and health-related quality of life in aged care clients. Method: The authors sampled 284 frail elderly individuals presenting for assessment in Sydney, Australia. Moderate to severe visual impairment was defined as visual acuity <20/80 (better eye), and moderate to severe hearing loss as hearing thresholds >40 decibels (better ear). Community support services included home-delivered meals, home help, and community nurse visits. Results: After adjusting for age, sex, and two or more comorbid conditions, moderate to severe visual impairment, but not moderate to severe hearing loss, was significantly associated with increased use of community services (adjusted odds ratio 2.8, 95% confidence interval = 1.0—7.8). Conclusion: Moderate to severe visual impairment was associated with an increased likelihood of community service utilization in this aged care client sample.
The Last Glacial Termination

Warming Up For the past half-million years, our planet has passed through a cycle of glaciation and deglaciation every 100,000 years or so. Each of these cycles consists of a long and irregular period of cooling and ice sheet growth, followed by a termination—a period of rapid warming and ice sheet decay—that precedes a relatively short warm interval. But what causes glacial terminations? Denton et al. (p. 1652) review the field and propose a chain of events that may explain the hows and whys of Earth's emergence from the last glacial period. Pulling together many threads from both hemispheres suggests a unified causal chain involving ice sheet volume, solar radiation energy, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, sea ice, and prevailing wind patterns. A major puzzle of paleoclimatology is why, after a long interval of cooling climate, each late Quaternary ice age ended with a relatively short warming leg called a termination. We here offer a comprehensive hypothesis of how Earth emerged from the last global ice age. A prerequisite was the growth of very large Northern Hemisphere ice sheets, whose subsequent collapse created stadial conditions that disrupted global patterns of ocean and atmospheric circulation. The Southern Hemisphere westerlies shifted poleward during each northern stadial, producing pulses of ocean upwelling and warming that together accounted for much of the termination in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica. Rising atmospheric CO2 during southern upwelling pulses augmented warming during the last termination in both polar hemispheres.
Use of topical lidocaine, diphenhydramine hydrochloride, nystatin, and gabapentin swish in treatment for post-radiation neuropathy and oral mucositis.

The pain caused by cancer treatment-related oral mucositis is often described as the most excruciating symptom (1). Frequently, it leads to reduced ingestion, malnutrition, and sometimes postponement or withdrawal of the therapy (1). For health care providers, adequate pain treatment is a major challenge. Treatments that have varying degrees of success include antibiotics, antifungal, antivirals, opioids, benzydamine oral rinse, and palifermin (2,3). Topical pain management is invariably administered in most patients due to its favorable risk-benefit profile and adjuvant role (2,3). However, topical treatment of mucositis pain today is based on empiricism and not on scientific evidence (2,3). We report the use of a novel topical mixture of lidocaine, diphenhydramine hydrochloride, nystatin, and gabapentin along with a course of oral opioids for radiation-induced intractable oral pain.
Two new species of Dendrobrachia Brook, 1889 (Cnidaria: Octocorallia: Dendrobrachiidae) from the north-eastern Atlantic and western Mediterranean

Examination of recent benthic material collected during several cruises in the Gulf of Cadiz (NE Atlantic) and the Strait of Sicily (Mediterranean) has allowed the taxonomic reassessment of some previously identified specimens belonging to the monogeneric gorgonian family Dendrobrachiidae Brook, 1889. Dendrobrachia fallax Brook, 1889 is the type species of the single genus in this family, and was originally described from Ascension Island (South Atlantic). Subsequently, other authors reported the presence of this species in Cape Verde Islands (north-eastern Atlantic) and some Mediterranean localities (Alboran Sea and the Strait of Sicily). The study of the specimen from the Prince of Monaco collections in Cape Verde Islands, and recently collected material from the Gulf of Cadiz (north-eastern Atlantic) and in the south of Malta (Mediterranean), materials previously considered as D. fallax , allow us to recognize two undescribed species in this genus. All previous records of D. fallax from the north-eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean should be considered incorrect. Opresko and Bayer (1991) added two additional species of Dendrobrachia. Two new species are described here and compared with their congeners.
Magnocellular Channel Subserves the Human Contrast-Sensitivity Function

There is evidence that the human contrast-sensitivity function (CSF) is mediated by the spatiotemporal characteristics of magno and parvo neurons early in the visual pathway. In this study we use a measure of contrast gain derived from simple reaction times, to investigate the neural substrates of suprathreshold performance. The results reveal the activity of two mechanisms having distinctly different contrast-gain characteristics. Comparing these to neurophysiological data, we find that the magnocellular system dominates close-to-threshold detection and probably forms the basis of the achromatic CSF, whereas the parvocellular system dominates detection at higher contrasts, when the magnocellular system saturates.
Reference distributions for the positive acute phase serum proteins, α1‐acid glycoprotein (orosomucoid), α1‐antitrypsin, and haptoglobin: A practical, simple, and clinically relevant approach in a large cohort

Most clinical conditions are accompanied by corresponding changes in serum levels of some, if not all, of the acute phase proteins. While conditions that affect the acute phase proteins are usually inflammatory in nature, non‐inflammatory conditions also can cause changes (e.g., malnutrition, some malignancies without secondary inflammation, and genetic polymorphism). Only after the confounding effects of non‐inflammatory conditions are taken into account can these measurements be used to detect and stage the inflammatory process and to evaluate the impact of treatment. In this third article in a series, reference ranges for serum levels for three of the acute phase proteins that increase during inflammation are examined: α1‐acid glycoprotein (orosomucoid), α1‐antitrypsin, and haptoglobin. The study is based on a cohort of 55,199 Caucasian individuals from northern New England, tested in our laboratory between 1994 and 1999. Measurements were standardized against CRM 470 (RPPHS) and analyzed using a previously described statistical approach. Individuals with unequivocal laboratory evidence of inflammation (C‐reactive protein of 10 mg/l or higher) were excluded. Levels of α1‐acid glycoprotein changed little during life and between the sexes. Levels of α1‐antitrypsin varied somewhat by age, rising slightly beyond age 55; males followed a pattern similar to that for females. For this protein, it was necessary to apply two equations to describe the lower levels associated with certain phenotypes. Haptoglobin levels fell significantly during the first decade of life for both males and females and climbed thereafter. Males and females displayed a similar pattern. When values were expressed as multiples of the age‐ and gender‐specific median levels, the resulting distributions fitted a log–Gaussian distribution well over a broad range. When patient data are normalized in this manner, the distribution parameters can be used to assign a centile corresponding to an individual’s measurement, thus simplifying interpretation. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 14:284–292, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Hemodynamic effects of medetomidine in the dog: a dose titration study.

OBJECTIVE To characterize the hemodynamic effects of medetomidine administered intravenously at doses ranging from 1 to 20 microg/kg, and to determine whether these effects are dose dependent. STUDY DESIGN Prospective randomized multidose trial. ANIMALS Twenty-five clinically normal male beagles (5 groups of 5), aged 1 to 4 years and weighing 13.5 +/- 1.7 kg. METHODS Medetomidine, at a dose of 1, 2, 5, 10, or 20 microg/kg, was administered intravenously at time 0. Heart rate, arterial pressure, central venous pressure, mean pulmonary arterial pressure, pulmonary capillary wedge pressure, body temperature, cardiac output, and packed cell volume were measured immediately before and at selected times after medetomidine administration (3, 7, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, and 60 minutes in all groups, at 90 minutes for the 10 and 20 microg/kg groups, and at 120 minutes for the highest dose). Cardiac index, stroke index, rate-pressure product, systemic vascular resistance index, pulmonary vascular resistance index, and left and right ventricular stroke work indices were calculated. The degree of sedation was subjectively scored by an observer who was blinded to the treatment used. RESULTS Heart rate, rate-pressure product, cardiac index, and left and right ventricular stroke work indices decreased below baseline values. Central venous pressure and systemic vascular resistance index increased above baseline measurements. Except in the 2 microg/kg group, after an initial and short lasting increase, a prolonged decrease in arterial pressure was observed. CONCLUSIONS Hemodynamic changes were observed with the intravenous (IV) administration of medetomidine, at any dose. However, the two lowest doses (1 and 2 microg/kg) produced less cardiovascular depression. CLINICAL RELEVANCE Medetomidine is an alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonist widely used in dogs, producing sedation, analgesia and cardiovascular depression. When using IV medetomidine, a reduction of the recommended dosage (ie, +/-30 to 40 microg/kg) by up to 6 times did not significantly influence the cardiovascular effects.
CUDA Implementation of  ${\rm TE}^{z}$-FDTD Solution of Maxwell's Equations in Dispersive Media

This letter presents the graphic processor unit (GPU) implementation of the finite-difference time domain (FDTD) method for the solution of the two-dimensional electromagnetic fields inside dispersive media. The FDTD is truncated by the convolutional perfectly matched layer (CPML) and the piecewise-linear recursive-convolution (PLRC) formulation is used for modeling dispersive media. By using the newly introduced Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) technology, we illustrate the efficacy of GPUs in accelerating the FDTD computations by achieving significant speedup factors with great ease and at no extra hardware/software cost. We validate our approach by comparison to exact and other simulated results, which show favorable agreements. The effect of the GPU-CPU memory transfers on the speedup factor will be also studied.
Al 0.40 in 0.02 Ga 0.58 N based metal-semiconductor-metal photodiodes for ultraviolet detection

High crystalline quality Al0.40 In0.02Ga0. 58N film has been achieved on GaN buffer by metalorganic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE). The metal-semiconductor-metal (MSM) structured visible blind photodetector was fabricated based on the Al0.40 In0.02Ga0. 58N film. The current-voltage measurement indicated an obvious Schottky behavior, the barrier height was calculated to be 0.98 e V. With an applied bias of 10 V, the photodetector showed a peak responsivity of 0.065 A/W at 295 nm with a cutoff wavelength at 310 nm. Furthermore, the ultraviolet-visible rejection ratio (R295 nm/R450 nm) was more than two orders of magnitude at 10 V bias. It was also found another response peak at 360 nm corresponding to the band gap of GaN, Which proved our photodetector can be used for dual band detection in ultraviolet region. In addition, it was also found that the slower increased of the responsivity when the |bias| was above 3V was attributed to radiative and Auger recombination.
Saving Face or Sharing Personal Information? A Cross-Cultural Study on Knowledge Sharing

Knowledge sharing within an organisation is increasingly important in today's fast-moving and knowledge-based economy (Chow et al., 2000, Journal of Management Accounting, 12, 65–95; Bukowitz and Petrash, 1997, Research Technology Management, 40, 24–31). This empirical study examines the interaction effects of national culture and group members' relationship (in-group/out-group) on knowledge-sharing attitude. A total of 197 Chinese undergraduate students and 111 American undergraduate students participated in the study. The first finding was that both Chinese and American students were more willing to share personal knowledge with in-group members than with out-group members. Furthermore, the results showed that same working experience between group members was more important than same national cultural background in determining people's attitude towards knowledge sharing. Another interesting finding was that Chinese participants were more willing to share personal information with an American stranger (out-group) than a Chinese stranger (in-group), while American participants showed no such difference. In summary, these findings indicate that a global organisation should take both national culture and in-group/out-group factors into consideration to facilitate knowledge sharing.
Comparative study of cone beam computed tomography and intraoral periapical radiographs in diagnosis of lingual-simulated external root resorptions.

BACKGROUND Owing to a lack of symptoms and difficult visualization in routine intraoral radiographs, diagnosis of external root resorptions can be challenging. AIM The goal of this study was to compare two image acquisition methods, intraoral radiographs and cone beam computed tomography (CBCT), in the diagnosis of external resorption. MATERIAL AND METHODS Thirty-four maxillary and mandibular bicuspids were divided into three groups. Perforations measuring 0.3 and 0.6 mm in diameter and 0.15 and 0.3 mm in depth, respectively, were made on the lingual root surfaces in thirty teeth, and four were used as controls. Next, teeth were mounted on an apparatus and radiographed at mesial, distal, and orthoradial angulations. CBCT images were also taken. The analysis of the intraoral radiographic and tomographic images was carried out by two experts using standardized scores. Data were then compared statistically. RESULTS A strong agreement between the examiners was observed in both diagnosis methods, the intraoral radiographic (r = 0.93) and the tomographic analysis (r = 1.0). Tomography had higher statistically significant detection values than intraoral radiography (P < 0.05). In intraoral radiographs, the detection was significantly greater (P < 0.05) in the mandibular bicuspids, compared with their maxillary counterparts. The ability to detect 0.6-mm perforations by intraoral radiography was significantly higher than that of 0.3-mm perforations (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION Cone beam computed tomography showed better diagnostic ability compared with intraoral radiography, regardless of the tooth or the dimensions of the resorption evaluated.