Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An ethA-ethR-Deficient Mycobacterium bovis BCG Mutant Displays Increased Adherence to Mammalian Cells and Greater Persistence In Vivo, Which Correlate with Altered Mycolic Acid Composition

ABSTRACT Tuberculosis remains a major worldwide epidemic because of its sole etiological agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Ethionamide (ETH) is one of the major antitubercular drugs used to treat infections with multidrug-resistant M. tuberculosis strains. ETH is a prodrug that requires activation within the mycobacterial cell; its bioactivation involves the ethA-ethR locus, which encodes the monooxygenase EthA, while EthR is a transcriptional regulator that binds to the intergenic promoter region of the ethA-ethR locus. While most studies have focused on the role of EthA-EthR in ETH bioactivation, its physiological role in mycobacteria has remained elusive, although a role in bacterial cell detoxification has been proposed. Moreover, the importance of EthA-EthR in vivo has never been reported on. Here we constructed and characterized an EthA-EthR-deficient mutant of Mycobacterium bovis BCG. Our results indicate that absence of the ethA-ethR locus led to greater persistence of M. bovis BCG in the mouse model of mycobacterial infection, which correlated with greater adherence to mammalian cells. Furthermore, analysis of cell wall lipid composition by thin-layer chromatography and mass spectrometry revealed differences between the ethA-ethR KO mutant and the parental strain in the relative amounts of α- and keto-mycolates. Therefore, we propose here that M. bovis BCG ethA-ethR is involved in the cell wall-bound mycolate profile, which impacts mycobacterial adherence properties and in vivo persistence. This study thus provides some experimental clues to the possible physiological role of ethA-ethR and proposes that this locus is a novel factor involved in the modulation of mycobacterial virulence.
Effects of high-level exposure to lead on NK cell activity and T-lymphocyte functions in workers

1 NK and T cell functions were measured in peripheral blood lymphocytes of workers occupationally exposed to lead. 2 No differences were found in these functions even in those workers with higher levels of blood and urine lead and urinary δ-ALA than the currently accepted biological limit values as compared to controls. 3 We conclude that high chronic exposure to lead is not associated with an impairment or either T- or NK cell functions in man.
Service quality and customer retention: building long‐term relationships

The study extends the existing knowledge by taking a relationship perspective to study the effect of service quality on customer retention. We integrate business‐to‐business marketing literature with service quality literature to develop a model to capture relationship commitment and other influencing factors. The model is improved with help of semi‐structured interviews which is later tested through a survey of 241 companies in the advertising sector. Findings indicate that service quality indeed contributes to the long‐term relationships and customer retention.
Critical Success Factors In Implementing ITIL in the Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia: An Exploratory Study

This paper engages with the ITIL framework for IT service delivery within the specific context of the Ministry of Education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). A literature review process is used to develop a critical success factors (CSFs) for the implementation of the ITIL framework in an organisation, based on a series of models like TAM and UTAUT, and then put into an overall conceptual model of use behaviour towards ITIL described by [1]. The conceptual model is then deployed in the field through a series of interviews with IT professionals within the Ministry of Education in the KSA. The interviews are semi-structured, and were intended to draw out the corresponding factors for success and the factors that have hindered the implementation of ITIL within this organisation. The data confirm the view of the literature that strong leadership and management involvement is essential both as a success factor in its own right, and as the means by which other success factors are enabled. The findings of paper make two observations. First, the literature sets out a series of quite precise success factors that relate to project management, communication, and quality control. The data presented in this research project demonstrate that in practice it is hard to make clear all of these factors to such a level of detail within the Ministry of Education in Saudi. Second, the implementation of ITIL is more reflexive than the literature and the conceptual model would initially demonstrate.
Fixed-b Inference for Testing Structural Change in a Time Series Regression

This paper addresses tests for structural change in a weakly dependent time series regression. The cases of full structural change and partial structural change are considered. Heteroskedasticity-autocorrelation (HAC) robust Wald tests based on nonparametric covariance matrix estimators are explored. Fixed- b theory is developed for the HAC estimators which allows fixed- b approximations for the test statistics. For the case of the break date being known, the fixed- b limits of the statistics depend on the break fraction and the bandwidth tuning parameter as well as on the kernel. When the break date is unknown, supremum, mean and exponential Wald statistics are commonly used for testing the presence of the structural break. Fixed- b limits of these statistics are obtained and critical values are tabulated. A simulation study compares the finite sample properties of existing tests and proposed tests.
Invoking Learned Intermediary Rule in Malaysia

In the realm of pharmaceutical liability, failure to warn or to provide sufficient information such as adverse reaction or allergies of pharmaceutical products may cause manufacturers to be liable under the traditional common law of tort for the harm or death it causes. This article shows that manufacturers of prescribed pharmaceutical products may escape such liability if information and warnings have been conveyed to physicians; a learned intermediary between the manufacturers and the patients. The learned intermediary rule acts as a defence mechanism for manufacturers of pharmaceutical products as the physician is deemed as an intervening force that breaks the chain of causation in the law of negligence. Hence, the main focus of this article is to examine whether Malaysian courts would accept such a defence if invoked by the manufacturers. The objective of the article is to analyze and identify the learned intermediary between the manufacturer of a prescribed pharmaceutical products and patients under the relevant Malaysian statutes, particularly Poison Act 1952 and Medicines (Advertisement and Sale) Act 1956. In achieving the above objective, the authors adopts historical, comparison and also critical analysis methods. The finding of this article is that, it is an offence for pharmaceutical products to be sold or supplied directly to patients and strictly requires a learned intermediary such as physician to prescribe such products. Thus, it is concluded that the defence has its merits and therefore it is unlikely patients would be able to obtain compensation if this defence is invoked. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015. v6n2p428
Consuming postcolonial shopping malls

Abstract Through a naturalistic inquiry, we interpret shopping malls in India as post-colonial sites in which young consumers deploy the West in an attempt to transform their Third World identities. Shopping malls in former colonies represent a post-colonial hybridity that offers consumers the illusion of being Western, modern, and developed. Moreover, consumption of post-colonial retail arenas is characterised as a masquerade through which young consumers attempt to disguise or temporarily transcend their Third World realities. This interpretation helps us to offer insights into transitioning retail servicescapes of the Third World, which in turn helps to improve extant understanding of consumer identity and global consumer culture.
Analysis of the Applicability of BSC in the Performance Management of the China Government

Introducing the Balanced Scorecard into the government departments and constructing reasonable and effective index system to evaluate the performance of the government is favor to improve the evaluating quality of the government performance . The text describes the dilemma of the performance management of government at present, and discusses the applicability and conditions of BSC in the performance management of the China government.
Congenital heart defects through 30 years

Aim: To assess basic trends in epidemiology of congenital heart defects (CHDs). Method: Population based prospective observational study. Material: CHDs in infants born alive in a Norwegian county 1982-2011. Results: In 828/71 217 infants (12 per 1000) a CHD was diagnosed. The prevalence increased from 8 to 12 per 1000 after introduction of early echocardiography in newborns with suspected CHD from 1986 (p = 0.0001). Ventricular septal defect (VSD) was the dominating CHD (474; 57%). In 222 (27%) the CHDs were missed and diagnosed after discharge from hospital after birth. Twelve critical CHDs (causing death or requiring invasive procedures before 28 days of life) were missed. Prenatal diagnosis of critical CHDs increased from 4/67 (6%) born 1997-2006 to 4/11 (36%) born 2007-2011 (p = 0.01). In 177 (21%) a syndrome or extracardial defect occurred. The occurrence of CHDs associated with chromosomal disorders (60/73 (82%) trisomies) more than doubled from the cohort born in the first 10-year period 1982-1991 (0.6 per 1000) to the last 2002-2011 (1.4 per 1000) (p < 0.0001) in parallel with increasing births in women ≥ 35 years old in the population. 237 (29%) underwent therapeutic procedures (203 (86%) surgery, of whom 16 after initial catheter intervention, and 34 (14%) catheter intervention alone). 39/237 (16%) died, 101 (43%) were repaired and 97 (41%) had some minor residual defect. The death rate declined significantly from 65/532 (12%) born 1982-2001 to 11/296 (4%) born 2002-2011 (p = 0.0001). 37/76 (49%) deaths occurred within 28 days after birth. Conclusions: The rate of detection of CHDs increased substantially after introduction of echocardiography in newborns with suspected CHD, especially VSDs. Some critical CHDs were overlooked. The prenatal detection rate of such defects increased. The prevalence of CHDs with associated chromosomal disorders increased in parallel with increasing maternal age in the population. Most deaths occurred during the neonatal period. Increasing survival increases the load on long-term follow-up programmes.
Ostracism in Everyday Life: The Effects of Ostracism on Those Who Ostracize

ABSTRACT Ostracism is a negative interpersonal experience that has been studied primarily in laboratory settings. Moreover, these studies have focused primarily on how people feel when they have been ostracized. The present study extended this research by investigating ostracism as it occurs in daily life, focusing on how people feel about ostracizing someone. Using a method modeled after the Rochester Interaction Record (RIR), for two weeks, 64 participants (adults residing in the community) described what happened each time they ostracized someone. The questions in the diary were based on Williams’s (2001) need–threat model of ostracism. Most ostracism episodes were directed toward people of equal status, and participants reported lower levels of belonging but higher levels of control after ostracizing someone. Punitive ostracism was associated with more positive outcomes for the source than when people ostracized someone for other reasons.
Mass-matrix ansatz and flavor nonconservation in models with multiple Higgs doublets.

Motivated by the existence of three fermion generations, we consider models with three Higgs doublets (for each hypercharge). It is shown that, if the basic Yukawa coupling matrices are of the Fritzsch form or some generalizations thereof (two such examples are presented), then the neutral flavor-changing couplings have a hierarchical structure given by ${\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{\mathrm{ij}}$ \ensuremath{\surd}${m}_{i}$${m}_{j}$ , where ${\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{\mathrm{ij}}$ is a combination of mixing angles and the ${m}_{i}$'s are the relevant fermion masses. These couplings give a lower bound of the order of ${\ensuremath{\Delta}}_{\mathrm{ds}}$ times 1 TeV on the mass of the exchanged scalar from the neutral-kaon mass difference. If the Higgs-boson mass is not significantly greater than this limit, one expects DD\ifmmode\bar\else\textasciimacron\fi{} mixing comparable to the present experimental bound.
Contributory Factors to Library Staff Turnover Pattern and Retention in Academic Libraries of Public and Private Universities in Ethiopia

This paper presents a nationwide study on contributory factors that could influence library staff turnover pattern and retention in academic libraries of public and private universities in Ethiopia. The research design used for the study was a cross sectional survey method with documentary analysis; using clustered, purposive and proportional sampling with particular reference to quota sampling in the case of the sample sizes of both concerned 6 universities as well as 564 library staffs involved in the study from the universities/academic libraries in the country. For the purpose of data collection interview schedule, questionnaire, observation and document analysis used. The respondents agreed on the contributing factors to library staff turnover and retention in the academic libraries owned by governments and privately owned universities in Ethiopia. Based on the results, Lack of well-organized staff development program, Poor attitude of the society toward library staff, unsatisfactory salary, unfair or unequal treatment and others are the main contributors that force the library professionals to leave libraries.
Software salvaging based on conditions

This paper presents algorithms for isolating reusable functions in large monolithic programs. The functions to be isolated are specified in terms of either pre-conditions or binding conditions, and these are mapped onto predicates on program's variables. Code components whose execution is triggered and/or bound by these predicates are then isolated. Each component is a candidate to implement a reusable function. The algorithms exploit a representation of the subject program in the form of a program dependence graph. This work forms part of RE/sup 2/, a research project that addresses the wider issue of software reuse. RE/sup 2/ project aims to promote the reuse of software through the exploration of reverse engineering and re-engineering techniques to identify and extract reusable software components from existing systems. <<ETX>>
CEO Tenure, Independent Directors and Corporate Innovation

The separation of ownership and managerial control in public corporations increases the organizational implications of the CEO-Board relationship. Boards of Directors and CEOs play an integral role in shaping firm strategies; therefore, this study examines the effect of CEO tenure and the moderating influence of independent directors on corporate innovation. Using a data set of electronics firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corporations, this study finds an inverted-U relationship between CEO tenure and corporate innovation (i.e., R&D intensity and patents), supporting the view that CEOs experience life cycles. Additionally, independent director ratio exerts a positive moderating influence on the relationship between CEO tenure and corporate innovation, supporting the view that independent directors influence managerial choices by monitoring effectively and providing important resources. The findings provide one important managerial implication that firms competing on innovation may consider giving considerable weight to the nomination of more independent directors to the board because independent directors may serve as effective guardians and resource providers to encourage CEOs to focus on innovation.
Reporting of personality disorder symptoms in a forensic inpatient sample: Effects of mode of assessment and response style

Abstract Self-report measures of personality disorder are known to over-report personality disorder traits consistently relative to measures based on a clinical interview. This study tests the hypothesis that there is a relationship between a participant's tendency to give socially desirable responses and the discrepancy between their results on self-report and interview-based measures. The relative over-reporting of the self-report measure, the PDQ4, was confirmed, but no association was found between the magnitude of the over-reporting and the tendency to give socially desirable responses.
Feasibility of robotic stereotactic body radiotherapy of lung tumors with kilovoltage x‐ray beams

Purpose Robotic Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) for lung tumors is treatment modality that, for cases of inoperable lung tumors, has shown excellent treatment outcomes. The typical photon energy when delivering this type of treatments is 6 MeV. In this work, using Monte Carlo simulation and realistic patient models we evaluate the characteristics of the absorbed dose distributions that result when x‐ray beams of peak spectral energy of 220 keV are used to irradiate lung tumors assuming a robotic SBRT delivery mode. Methods Both male and female patient models, based on voxelized phantoms, are used in our study. Two types of tumors are considered: centrally and peripherally located lung tumors. The Monte Carlo code PENELOPE was used to calculate absorbed dose distributions for each of the beams used in the treatments which were assumed circular with diameter ranging from 1 cm–3 cm. An optimization algorithm was then applied to determine the appropriate beam weight necessary to accomplish the treatment objectives. The feasibility of our proposed approach is determined based on the guidelines set by Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 0813 for central tumors and RTOG 0915 for peripheral tumors. Results While the dose to the skin and bony structures is higher for the kilovoltage treatment, they are within the safe limits established by both RTOG 0813 and 0915. Conversely, the maximum dose to distant structures, such as the heart wall and esophagus, are up to 10 Gy higher for some of the megavoltage treatments but, again, within the limits recommended by the aforementioned clinical protocols. Conclusions We have shown that robotic SBRT of lung tumors using kilovoltage beams is feasible and that, therefore, it may represent an attractive alternative to the use of more expensive megavoltage linear accelerators, particularly in developing countries, where the high cost of such equipment poses an increasing economic burden.
Effects of recommendation systems on consumer inferences of website motives and attitudes towards a website

Drawing on the theoretical framework of consumer inferences of marketer motives, we explore consumer responses to different types of product recommendation provided by an e-commerce website (i.e. recommendation systems, RS). The findings demonstrate that RS for alternative brands only are most likely to lead to the consumer inference of a consumer-serving motive, followed by RS for both alternative brands and additional products, and RS for additional products only. In turn, the consumer inference of a consumer-serving motive has a positive influence on attitude towards the website. However, the consumer inference of a firm-serving motive does not mediate the effect of RS type on attitude towards the website. Further, the effect of RS type on attitude towards the website occurs only for consumers low in interpersonal trust. Theoretical and managerial implications are also discussed.
The Supply Chain Strategy Conundrum: To be Lean Or Agile or To be Lean And Agile?

There has been a tendency recently to see "lean" and "agile" as two distinct models of business operations. In this paper, the authors seek to reconcile the two paradigms and through case study examples show how they may successfully be combined. A fundamental requirement is that supply chain design be linked to corporate strategy and the needs of the market-place. Lean and agile principles are then juxtaposed according to the requisite business strategy via a time-space matrix. This determines whether the lean-agile principles are separated by time, by space or by both space and time.
The relationship between job satisfaction and organisational commitment among the South African Police Services in Stanger.

The aim of this study was to determine whether a relationship exists between job satisfaction and organisational commitment. A sample of 73 employees from the South African Police Services Stanger was utilised. Data was collected using questionnaires and unstructured interviews. The job satisfaction questionnaire designed by Weiss, Dawis, Lofquist and England (1977) was used to measure the different dimensions of job satisfaction whilst the organisational commitment questionnaire developed by Allen and Meyer (1990) was used to measure the different dimensions of organisational commitment. The results indicated variations in the subject's levels of job satisfaction, whereas moderate levels of affective, normative and continuous commitment was found. The correlation analysis showed no significant relationship among the dimensions of organisational commitment (Affective, Normative and Continuance). In terms of job satisfaction, significant relationships occurred among pay, working conditions, supervision, opportunities for advancement and recognition but there was no significant relationship among pay and equitable rewards. No significant relationship occurred between the dimensions of job satisfaction and affective and continuance commitment but there was a significant relationship between job satisfaction dimensions and normative commitment. There was no significant difference in the organisational commitment dimensions and job satisfaction dimensions among gender. No significant difference was found between affective and continuance commitment among the other biographical variables. However, there was a significant difference in the level of normative commitment among the age group, home language group and ethnic group. A significant difference was found between the job satisfaction dimensions and the other biographical variables. According to the results of the multiple regression, opportunities for advancement was the best predictor of affective commitment, working conditions, supervision, relation with co-workers and equitable rewards were the best predictors of normative commitment and relation with co-workers was the best predictor of continuance commitment.