Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
On Firm Growth and Innovation - Some New Empirical Perspectives Using French CIS, 1992-2004

The aim of this paper is to examine whether firms that innovate, experience higher rates of growth than firms that do not. Our analysis is based on different models and econometric methodologies applied to several waves the Community Innovation Surveys (CIS) for French industry, during 1992–2004. Our main findings are that innovative firms grow more than non-innovative ones. The estimation techniques give results that are quite robust to the effects of different types of innovation on firm growth. In particular, the quantile regression results show that the coefficient of innovation is higher for firms with the highest growth rates, a result that is robust to different measures of the dependent variable.
Sex chromosome aneuploidy rates in the somatic cells of infertile men.

OBJECTIVE A large number of studies have shown that the prevalence of somatic chromosome abnormalities detectable with karyotyping is higher in infertile men. However, a normal somatic karyotype does not exclude the chance of having low level mosaicism. STUDY DESIGN Eleven men with severe oligozoospermia and 10 healthy, fertile men were included in this study. All the patients had severe oligozoospermia with sperm counts < or =3,000,000/ mL. All participants had normal physical findings and testicular volume. The probe for dual-color fluorescence in situ hybridization consisted of an alpha satellite sequence in the centromeric region of chromosome X (DXZ1) and satellite III DNA at the Yq12 region of chromosome Y (DYZ1). RESULTS The sex chromosome aneuploidy rate was significantly higher in subjects than in controls (p<0.001). The median incidence of sex chromosome aneuploidy in the oligozoospermic group was 4.5% (range, 0.8-7.3%), while in the control group it was 0.7% (range, 0.2-1.2%). , CONCLUSION The incidence of aneuploidy in somatic cells is significantly greater in oligozoospermic men than in normal controls. That may suggest that chromosome instability is a result of altered genetic control during mitotic cell division. Our results demonstrate that men with oligozoospermia have an elevated risk for sex chromosome abnormalities in their somatic cells.
Exploratory factor analysis of skills requirement for PPP contract governance

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the skills required for effective contract management of public–private partnership (PPP) projects over their contract duration. The growing body of literature indicating the lack of expertise in managing PPP-related projects within the public sector prompted this study. Design/methodology/approach The study, being an exploratory one, relied on a survey of 207 survey responses from a sample of PPP experts across the globe. The data from the survey are a rich mix of responses from public policy experts, construction professionals, project finance experts, lawyers and academic researchers in PPP. Findings It was found through exploratory factor analysis that project management, financial engineering, negotiations, risk management, forecasting, stakeholder management and technical skills were very critical for successful contract management of PPP projects. It was also found that regional characteristics influence skills prioritisation. Research limitations/implications The results of this study can be validated on larger data sets in specific countries and across regions, sectors and variety of PPP projects. Currently, the authors conducted a general survey using convenience sampling. Practical implications The results send a clear signal to practitioners that infrastructure regulation training programs cannot be generalised. Training should be tailored to reflect regional and country-specific characteristics. Originality/value The increasing failures and remunicipalisations of privately financed infrastructures is a cause for concern. Little attention has been given to the complicity of PPP regulatory institutions responsible for contract governance of such projects. Studies are increasingly pointing to the absence of critical PPP skills among institutions responsible for managing PPP contracts. This lack of capacity has resulted in poor oversight of private companies providing public services resulting in poor services, and financial recklessness which threaten the sustainability of service provision.
How does diversity affect district innovation systems? Findings from a comparative study of european ceramics

This research applies Nelson’s (1993) primary typology of enterprises to understand why the propensity for innovation varies across ceramics district innovation systems in Europe. We use innovation systems and industrial district theories to explore the innovation capacity of the two most important ceramic tile industrial districts in Europe—Emilia Romagna in Italy and Castellon in Spain. Our analysis shows that, in both districts, innovation plays a decisive role in allowing companies to maintain competitiveness in a globalizing market. However, by comparing the composition of their district innovation systems, our analysis shows that: (i) although levels of competition in both districts are similar, cooperation is stronger in Italy; (ii) scarce technology and advanced service providers in Spain make it predominantly a follower in the adoption of innovation; (iii) higher innovation intensity in Italy is due to diffusion of technology from firms in neighbouring districts specialized in other industry sectors. We provide strong evidence indicating that differences in the industry mix shape both national and district innovation systems.
The effect of varying quantities of inorganic iodide (carrier) on the urinary excretion and thyroidal accumulation of radioiodine in exophthalmic goiter.

An ideal tracer experiment may be defined as one in which the quantity of labeled material added to the organism is too small to increase signifi-. cantly the total quantity of the material which is already present within the body, and therefore is incapable of altering the metabolic equilibriums being studied. From this point of view an ideal tracer dose of I131 3 in studies of thyroid physiology in man would be one which was carrier-free (that is, containing no added I127) and which contained the smallest quantity of radioactivity which the nature of the experiment and the sensitivity of the apparatus would permit. Several investigators of thyroid function in the human have employed carrier-free doses of I131 usually in a dose of 100 microcuries. This quantity of radioiodine represents an extraordinarily minute amount of the element by weight (8.1 x 10-4 microgram) and, dissolved in 100 cc. of water, represents a 6.2 x 10-11 molar solution. Because of concern over the possibility of significant losses by adsorption on glass surfaces from such extremely dilute solutions, we have preferred to employ for "tracer" doses 100 microcuries of 131 mixed with 0.1 mg. of stable iodide (1127) = 7.7 x 107 molar solution. Such a dose falls short of the ideal conditions for a tracer study in that it does increase to an appreciable extent the total store of inorganic iodide in the body. It has the virtue of having approximately the magnitude of the
Decreased Expression of Maxi-K+ Channel β1-Subunit and Altered Vasoregulation in Hypoxia

Background—Hypertension, a major cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, can result from chronic hypoxia; however, the pathogenesis of this disorder is unknown. We hypothesized that downregulation of the maxi-K+ channel β1-subunit by hypoxia decreases the ability of these channels to hyperpolarize arterial smooth muscle cells, thus favoring vasoconstriction and hypertension. Methods and Results—Lowering O2 tension produced a decrease of maxi-K+ β1-subunit mRNA levels in rat (aortic and basilar) and human (mammary) arterial myocytes. This was paralleled by a reduction of the β1-subunit protein level as determined by immunocytochemistry and flow cytometry. Exposure to hypoxia also produced a decrease of open probability, mean open time, and sensitivity to the xenoestrogen tamoxifen of single maxi-K+ channels recorded from patch-clamped dispersed myocytes. The number of channels per patch and the single-channel conductance were not altered. The vasorelaxing force of maxi-K+ channels was diminished in rat and human arterial rings exposed to low oxygen tension. Conclusions—These results indicate that a decrease of the maxi-K+ channel β1-subunit expression in arterial myocytes is a key factor in the vasomotor alterations induced by hypoxia.
British SMEs’ e-commerce technological investments and firm performance: an RBV perspective

Despite the heated debate on the Information Technology (IT) investment–performance paradox, the resource-based view (RBV) has received relatively little attention as an approach to explain such phenomena, particularly in the small and medium enterprise (SME) and e-commerce context. This study draws on the RBV perspective to empirically examine the association between SME e-commerce investments and firm performance. We collected firm-level data from 430 British SMEs across 16 industry sectors. Results demonstrate that RBV provides strong theoretical support, that is, business resources, human resources, and external resources (i.e. e-commerce readiness) strongly contribute to enhanced firm performance. The sophistication of SMEs' e-commerce websites contribute to firm performance, but those firms' capital investments in IT and e-commerce training per se are not significant performance drivers. Our findings suggest that UK SMEs can and do differentiate themselves on the basis of their e-commerce capability, which is created by the synergistic combination of e-commerce resources with other organisational resources and capabilities.
Type 1 diabetes and epilepsy: More than a casual association?

To the Editors: In 2006, McCorry et al. reported a strong epidemiologic association between type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) and claimed that this link would support an autoimmune pathogenesis for IGE (McCorry et al., 2006). However, O’Connel and coworkers did not confirm an increased risk of epilepsy among a series of patients with T1DM (O’Connell et al., 2008). We reviewed 249 T1DM patients (145 male; mean age 16.3 € 7.02 years, range 1.7–34.5 years; mean age at disease onset 7.7 € 6.9 years; range 0.8–18 years) attending the Diabetes Clinic at G. Gaslini Institute, Genoa, where a collaborative network provides epidemiologic data by an active surveillance model (Cotellessa et al., 2003). Extensive research was undertaken through the electronic database and subjects not followed up during the previous year were excluded. Epilepsy was diagnosed when ‡2 unprovoked euglycemic seizures (blood glucose >3.9 and <11.1 mmol/L) and syndromic classification (Commission on Classification and Terminology of the ILAE, 1989) was confirmed by reviewing clinical (family history, seizures type onset and frequency, response to treatment) and instrumental [electroencephalography (EEG), neuroimaging] data. Among 249 T1DM patients, 6 showed the electroclinical features of idiopathic epilepsy (4 IGE, 2 focal idiopathic epilepsy) (Table 1). In this group, mean age of T1DM onset was 4.6 € 2.7 years; mean age at first seizure was 6.7 € 4.4 years. None of these patients had a family history of epilepsy in firstand second-degree relatives. In all patients but one (case 4), T1DM preceded epilepsy onset, with a mean of 2.8 years (range 0.7–6.9 years). Patient 1 had concomitant celiac disease. Dosage of glutamic-acid decarboxylase antibodies (GADA) was available in two patients at T1DM diagnosis and in all cases at the last follow-up (Table 1). The high proportion of IGE observed in our series (4 of 249, 1.6%) (Hauser & Banerjee, 2008) confirms the data reported by McCorry et al. (McCorry et al., 2006). In all patients but one, T1DM manifested years before epilepsy. This may simply reflect different age of onset of the two conditions. Alternatively, it could support an autoimmune mechanism starting with T1DM and then affecting the central nervous system (McCorry et al., 2006). We did not perform GADA evaluation methodically at epilepsy onset in our patients, so that no definitive conclusion can be drawn about the existence of a pathogenetic link between GADA and epilepsy in T1DM patients (Striano et al., 2008). Interestingly, the patient with partial response to antiepileptic therapy (case 4) is the only one with recent GADA positivity. Because of the retrospective analysis, epilepsy could be underrecognized or overestimated in our T1DM population, but this is unlikely to explain the higher than expected degree of the association. Because both epilepsy and T1DM are serious worldwide problems with high medical and social management costs, this possible association deserves further investigation by prospective studies involving multiple centers.
Modèle d'endommagement par fatigue : application aux enrobés bitumineux

Le passage repete de poids lourds entraine des degradations par fatigue des materiaux bitumineux qui affectent, a long terme, la durabilite des strutures de chaussees. Pour etudier l'endommagement par fatigue des couches d'enrobes bitumineux, des essais de fatigue en laboratoire sont realises. Lors de ces essais, l'evolution de la raideur decroit selon une evolution caracteristique en trois phases. Un modele d'endommagement non local isotrope est propose pour ecrire la perte de module du materiau soumis a un chargement de fatigue. Partant des observations experimentales, deux lois d'evolution de l'endommagement sont proposes. Ce modele d'endommagement 3D est implante dans le code elements finis Castem 2000. Une procedure de saut de cycles specifique est programmee afin de permettre la simulation de plusieurs millions de cycles de chargement. La base de donnees experimentales, utilisee pour l'identification et la validation du modele, est issue d'un programme international de la RILEM co-pilote par le LCPC. L'identification est effectuee a partir d'essais de traction compression uniaxiale et d'essais de flexion sur eprouvette trapezoidale normalisee. Les effets thermiques viscoelastiques, artefacts des essais classiques en laboratoire sont evalues.
IMPAIRMENT OF CONTRAST DISCRIMINATION IN AMBLYOPIC EYES

Abstract— A successive two‐alternative, forced‐choice procedure incorporating a double‐interleaved staircase was used to measure monocular contrast discrimination in strabismic and/or anisometropic amblyopes, strabismics without amblyopia, and normals. Standard contrast was 25%, with comparison contrasts starting at 10 and 40%. Spatial frequencies were 0.5, 2.0, and either 4.0 or 8.0 c deg‐1. The amblyopic eye consistently required more contrast than the fellow dominant eye for the task. Results in each eye of the normals and strabismics without amblyopia were similar and normal. The findings clearly demonstrate impairment of contrast discrimination in amblyopic eyes, presumably due to early abnormal visual experience. Such impairment could contribute to the increased steady‐state accommodative error found in amblyopic eyes.
How Consumers Navigate Ethical Tensions in a Marketplace: Swedish Dairy Marketplace as Context

This research examines how consumers navigate ethical tensions in a marketplace, which applies to the Swedish dairy marketplace. This qualitative research takes a phenomenological approach and consists of 12 interviews with consumers. Our findings show that consumers use social values, ideologies and brands when they navigate ethical tensions in a marketplace. We find that consumers use three strategies based on social values, ideologies and brands in order to navigate ethical tensions. These consumer strategies are; 1) Use symbolic meanings to find and manage their ethical standpoint, 2) Polarize and dramatize the ethical tensions, 3) Identify political meanings. Consumers use these three strategies when they navigate since the strategies enable the consumers to manage ethical tensions in the marketplace. The way consumers navigate ethical tensions allow them to express and reflect over their ethical standpoint. We can see an interdependence between social values, ideologies and brands, where brands work as guidance for the consumers when they navigate ethical tensions. This study contributes to existing literature by combining brands as resources with ethical consumption, and applies it to the context concerning the contemporary dairy discussion in Sweden consisting of ethical tensions.
The b Gene of Pea Encodes a Defective Flavonoid 3′,5′-Hydroxylase, and Confers Pink Flower Color1[W][OA]

The inheritance of flower color in pea (Pisum sativum) has been studied for more than a century, but many of the genes corresponding to these classical loci remain unidentified. Anthocyanins are the main flower pigments in pea. These are generated via the flavonoid biosynthetic pathway, which has been studied in detail and is well conserved among higher plants. A previous proposal that the Clariroseus (B) gene of pea controls hydroxylation at the 5′ position of the B ring of flavonoid precursors of the anthocyanins suggested to us that the gene encoding flavonoid 3′,5′-hydroxylase (F3′5′H), the enzyme that hydroxylates the 5′ position of the B ring, was a good candidate for B. In order to test this hypothesis, we examined mutants generated by fast neutron bombardment. We found allelic pink-flowered b mutant lines that carried a variety of lesions in an F3′5′H gene, including complete gene deletions. The b mutants lacked glycosylated delphinidin and petunidin, the major pigments present in the progenitor purple-flowered wild-type pea. These results, combined with the finding that the F3′5′H gene cosegregates with b in a genetic mapping population, strongly support our hypothesis that the B gene of pea corresponds to a F3′5′H gene. The molecular characterization of genes involved in pigmentation in pea provides valuable anchor markers for comparative legume genomics and will help to identify differences in anthocyanin biosynthesis that lead to variation in pigmentation among legume species.
Laryngeal Melanosis

Objective Laryngeal melanosis (LM) is an unusual condition. Little is known about its clinical significance. To learn more about this unusual disorder, we prospectively gathered data on a series of patients with LM and compared the data with the summarized findings from the cases currently available in the literature. Study Design Case series with planned data collection. Setting Two hundred fifty-five–bed urban indigent care hospital located on a university medical center campus. Subjects and Methods Demographics, history, examination findings, and concurrent head and neck disorders were prospectively recorded for all patients with LM who presented to our institution between 2005 and 2012. Results Eighteen patients with laryngeal melanosis were enrolled. All patients are African American, and all have a history of chronic tobacco use. The most common presenting symptom was dysphonia, and examination most often revealed flat, pigmented lesions of the larynx. Nine patients (50%) had concomitant squamous cell carcinoma of the upper aerodigestive tract. There are 19 previous cases of laryngeal melanosis reported by 12 different authors, with a concomitant carcinoma rate of 26%. Our patients are similar in age and are all African American, with a greater percentage of women and greater rate of concomitant carcinoma. Our study represents the single largest case series of laryngeal melanosis and is more complete given the prospective nature of the data collection. Conclusion Laryngeal melanosis is an unusual disorder that is associated with chronic tobacco use. Clinicians should be aware of the association between laryngeal melanosis and squamous cell carcinoma and perform a thorough evaluation for concomitant carcinoma.
Analysis Of The Relationship Between Disclosure Quality And Dividend Payouts From The Agency Theory Perspective

This study examines the effect of disclosure quality on dividend policy when the level of agency problem is taken into account and empirically tests the outcome and substitution hypotheses.We find evidence consistent with the outcome hypothesis; that is, disclosure quality is positively related to dividend payouts. In addition, high agency cost firms with better disclosure quality are associated with a stronger propensity to pay dividends and larger payouts. The results highlight the important governance role of disclosure quality. This study shows that despite the high agency cost problem, so long as there is high disclosure quality, shareholders can safeguard their interests by demanding higher dividends payouts.
Gender, Age and Locus of Control as Correlates of Remedial Learners’ Attitude towards English Language

The study sought to explain remedial learners’ attitude towards English language using three variables: gender, age and locus of control. Three properly validated instruments were used to collect data on the relevant variables from 385 remedial English learners randomly selected from 5 remedial education centers in Ibadan, Nigeria. Data analysis involved the use of multiple regression to explain the relationship between learners’ attitude towards English and the 3 independent variables. The results showed that gender, age and locus of control, when acting together, predict attitude and at the individual level of contribution, only one variable– locus of control was significantly predictive of attitude towards English language. These findings have far-reaching implications for adult and non-formal education practitioners and other stakeholders interested in improving the lots of several learners out there, in English language. Keywords: Gender, age, locus of control, remedial learners, attitude towards English
Prognostic factors in myelodysplastic syndromes: critical analysis of the impact of age and gender and failure to identify a very‐low‐risk group using standard mortality ratio techniques

We studied the prognostic value of age and gender by survival, and by standard mortality ratio (SMR) analyses, in 203 untreated patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS); 57 refractory anaemia (RA), 23 refractory anaemia with ringed sideroblasts, 41 refractory anaemia with excess blasts (RAEB), 3 RAEB in transformation (RAEB‐T) and 79 chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML), aged 23–89 years (median 69, M/F 0.5), who were all karyotyped. Median survival was 36 months. Adverse prognostic factors were: high bone‐marrow blast percentage, complex karyotype, low platelet count, age>60 years, low or high WBC count, haemoglobin<10g/dl, male gender. However, the standard mortality ratio (i.e. mortality compared to that of an age‐ and sex‐adjusted population) was not different between male and female patients. Patients<60 had a higher SMR than older patients. Therefore the prognostic values of age and gender for survival in MDS patients may reflect, at least in part, a characteristic of the population. Furthermore, even in low‐risk groups defined by scoring system we were unable to define a subgroup of patients with a mortality similar to that of the normal population, especially in MDS patients aged<60.
Growing Export Performance of Transition Economies: EU Market Access Versus Supply Capacity Factors

Remarkable growth of export performance of transition economies has been one of the most outstanding features of the transition and EU integration processes. The paper looks at the reasons behind this phenomenon. Following Redding and Venables (2003, 2004), and Fugazza (2004), we distinguish between foreign/EU market access and internal supply capacity factors. EU market access has been of great importance for export performance but does not explain the inter country differences. Inter country differences in export performance are explained by internal supply capacity factors, where stable institutional setup, structural reforms, and targeted FDI are in the forefront.