Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Briefing: Promoting construction health and safety through procurement

The use of procurement as an instrument to promote improved occupational safety practices among suppliers has received little attention. There is also limited guidance on how to improve standards through procurement. Part 1 of this briefing note sets out the impact of poor health and safety practices on poverty and why using procurement can help to raise health and safety standards. Part 2 provides guidance on how this can be achieved through the procurement process.
Public-Private Partnerships for Tollway Construction and Operation: Risk Assessment and Allocation from the Perspective of Investors

This study aims to assess and allocate the key risk events for public-private partnerships in Indonesian tollway construction and operation. The data were collected from a risk assessment survey of tollway companies in Indonesia based on two perspectives: the degrees of occurrence and impact. The top-ranked risk events (18 out of 55 risks) generated from the value-of-risk index are the focus of this study and the relationships among risk events are analysed and explained using risk mechanism models. Risks related to land acquisition were identified as the major risk events in the Indonesian tollway business and 10 out of the 18 top-ranked risk events were judged as suitable for assumption by the government. The weather risk should be shared by both parties with the remaining risks borne by the investor. The findings are expected to be useful for government review of regulations and practices and for private sectors interested in investing in tollway projects.
Strategies of family businesses in a newly globalized developing economy

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the opportunities and threats faced by family businesses (FBs) from globalization in a developing country environment and how those businesses responded strategically to these factors.Design/methodology/approach – The research employs a questionnaire survey involving 108 firms listed in a database comprising 235 family businesses (FBs) obtained from the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Doha, Qatar. The principal analytical technique employed is structural equation modeling.Findings – The results indicate that the availability of opportunities arising from globalization seems to be more important to FBs than the threats that they may face as a result of globalization. Also, the availability of collaborative networks represents an opportunity for the FBs to expand their business overseas that in turn influence them to look for sources of funds to expand their business. Finally, the availability of the sources of funds not only influences the firms’ re.
Evidence for a role of protein kinase C zeta subspecies in maturation of Xenopus laevis oocytes

A number of studies have demonstrated the activation of phospholipase C-mediated hydrolysis of phosphatidylcholine (PC-PLC) both by growth factors and by the product of the ras oncogene, p21ras. Evidence has been presented indicating that the stimulation of this phospholipid degradative pathway is sufficient to activate mitogenesis in fibroblasts as well as that it is sufficient and necessary for induction of maturation in Xenopus laevis oocytes. However, the mechanism whereby PC-PLC transduces mitogenic signals triggered by growth factors or oncogenes remains to be elucidated. In this study, data are presented that show the involvement of protein kinase C zeta subspecies in the channelling of the mitogenic signal activated by insulin-p21ras-PC-PLC in Xenopus oocytes as well as the lack of a critical role of protein kinase C isotypes alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and epsilon in these pathways.
In Vivo and in Vitro Structure-Activity Relationships and Structural Conformation of Kisspeptin-10-Related Peptides

Kisspeptins, the natural ligands of the G protein-coupled receptor KISS1R, comprise a family of related peptides derived from the proteolytic processing of a common precursor encoded by the KISS1 gene. Among those, Kisspeptin-10 (Kp-10) contains the basic residues to retain full functional activity and exhibits higher receptor affinity and biopotency than longer forms of the peptide. Although kisspeptins were first characterized by their ability to inhibit tumor metastasis, recent studies have revealed that the KISS1/KISS1R system plays an essential role in the neuroendocrine control of the reproductive axis. In this context, development and functional analysis of Kp-10 analogs may help in the search for new agonists and antagonists as valuable tools to manipulate the KISS1/KISS1R system and hence fertility. We report herein functional and structural analyses of a series of Ala-substituted rat kp-10 analogs, involving [Ca2+]i responses in rat kiss1r-transfected Chinese hamster ovary cells, dynamic luteinizing hormone (LH) responses in vivo, and NMR structural studies. In vitro assays revealed that Ala substitutions in positions 6 or 10 of kp-10 resulted in a significant increase in EC50 values (>6.46 × 10-6 M versus 1.54 to 2.6 × 10-8 M for rat and human Kp-10, respectively) and a substantial decrease in the proportion of responsive cells coupled to a marked increase in the time required to reach maximal response. In vivo assays showed that Ala6 substitution diminished and Ala10 substitution eliminated LH secretory responses, whereas coadministration of each analog failed to affect the LH-releasing ability of kp-10. Molecular modeling under NMR restraints revealed that kp-10 exhibits a helicoidal structure between the Asn4 and Tyr10 residues, with mixed α- and 310-helix characteristics. Ala6 substitution induced limited destabilization of the helix around the position of the substitution. Ala10 substitution was found to totally disrupt the helical structure in the C-terminal region of the molecule. Taken together, our results indicate that positions 6 and 10 are critical for kp-10 action at kiss1r and suggest that modifications in these positions could lead to the generation of new kisspeptin agonists and/or antagonists with altered functional and perhaps binding properties. Furthermore, they emphasize the importance of using combined, multidisciplinary approaches, including in vivo studies, to reliably evaluate structure function properties of novel kisspeptin analogs.
A strategic review of operations and marketing functions in retail banks

Purpose – Aims to examine the performance affects of strategic integration in retail banking services.Design/methodology/approach – Using a survey of retail banking executives, it is examined as to how the role of operations and marketing areas can assist retail banks to shape their competitive strategies.Findings – It is found that proactiveness and competitive strategy substantially affect a retail bank's performance based on the strength of integration of operations and marketing areas.Research limitations/implications – Research is limited to retail banking services.Originality/value – The research broadens the scope of the strategic fit concept towards the analysis of performance effects due to functional integration in retail banks.
Research on machine learning method-based combination forecasting model and its application

A novel combination forecasting model is presented in this paper, which combines single ones based on machine learning. The model has been applied to the prediction of five cities' election in Taiwan with combining the exposure rate and the approval rate, which obtains good results. The exposure rate is the frequency of a candidate's appearances in the news and approval rate is the proportion of the positive information of a candidate. And the polarity of a review is predicted by sentiment classification based on machine learning techniques. A novel method of feature extraction is used in sentiment classification, which makes the classifier effectively assign the review a type of polarity. Meanwhile, this paper proposes a method of feature clustering and extending based on the synonym dictionary, which obviously reduces the dimension of feature vector and improve the F-score of sentiment classification.
Analysis of estrogen receptor (ERalpha and ERbeta) and progesterone receptor (PR) polymorphisms in uterine leiomyomas.

BACKGROUND Leiomyomas are the most common tumors in women, found in up to 30% of women in active reproductive life. These tumors are estrogen- and progestin-responsive. In fact, they do not occur before menarche, undergoing rapid increase in size during pregnancy with consequent fetal wastage. Conversely, they can regress or even calcify after menopause or castration. Given the central role of sex steroids in uterus trophism, estrogen and progesterone receptors are important mediators of hormonal bioeffects, and the genes encoding these receptors become easy candidates for uterine proliferative disorders. MATERIAL/METHODS We examined the distribution of common polymorphisms of ERalpha, ERbeta and PR genes in 413 Caucasian females: 225 post-menopausal healthy controls and 188 premenopausal women affected by uterine leiomyomas. The polymorphisms were evaluated both in constitutive and tissue DNA by PCR amplification, specific endonuclease digestion, and then detection with agarose or polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. RESULTS The observed allele frequencies did not deviate from the expected Hardy-Weinberg distribution in our population. In case-control analysis, no variant frequency of the studied genes differed significantly between control subjects and patients. CONCLUSIONS Polymorphisms in the genes encoding for ERalpha, ERbeta and PR did not correlate with the occurrence of uterine leiomyomas in our Caucasian population.
From whence it came

Web 2.0 technologies are empowering consumers to co-produce online brand communications and thereby co-create brand meaning. As both consumers and marketers are increasingly using video-sharing websites to showcase their brand communication efforts, viewers of these ads are inadvertently becoming part of the co-production process as they create context around the ads (in the forms of reviews, comments and ratings). The environment in which such online advertisements are viewed has significant effects on consumer perceptions of the ad message, and ultimately impacts the persuasive properties and efficacy of the ad. This study reports on research conducted to test the source effects of consumer-generated advertising. Schlinger’s Viewer Response Profile (VRP) is used to assess the impact of three source variables: ad creator, ad popularity and motivation for creation of the ad. Findings confirm the importance of popularity ratings on consumer ad evaluation, and also suggest that certain source effects result in consumers being more critical in their evaluation of the ads.
Comparative thermodynamic analysis of cyclic nucleotide binding to protein kinase A

Abstract We have investigated the thermodynamic parameters and binding of a regulatory subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) to its natural low-molecular-weight ligand, cAMP, and analogues thereof. For analysis of this model system, we compared side-by-side isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC) with surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Both ITC and SPR analyses revealed that binding of the protein to cAMP or its analogues was enthalpically driven and characterised by similar free energy values (ΔG=-9.4 to -10.7 kcal mol-1) for all interactions. Despite the similar affinities, binding of the cyclic nucleotides used here was characterised by significant differences in the contribution of entropy (-TΔS) and enthalpy (ΔH) to ΔG. The comparison of ITC and SPR data for one cAMP analogue further revealed deviations caused by the method. These equilibrium parameters could be complemented by thermodynamic data of the transition state (ΔH ≠, ΔG ≠, ΔS ≠) for both association and dissociation measured by SPR. This direct comparison of ITC and SPR highlights method-specific advantages and drawbacks for thermodynamic analyses of protein/ligand interactions.
Service quality at banks and credit unions: what do their customers say?

Bank and credit union customers were surveyed to determine bank and credit union service quality performance. The results of our study indicate that credit unions rate significantly higher than banks on 11 of the 14 service quality questions: access; courtesy; communication; credibility; security; empathy; tangibles; basic service; fairness; fixing mistakes; and guarantees. The findings also indicate that neither banks nor credit unions do a good job of surveying customer needs or retaining customers. Other results indicate that 50 percent of total respondents surveyed reported that they had stopped using a financial service provider because of poor service performance. The vast majority of that group reported that their decision was made because a bank failed to provide adequate service.
Direct marketing on the internet: An empirical assessment of consumer attitudes

This article reports results of a survey conducted to ascertain attitudes toward advertising and direct marketing on Internet. Results indicate that respondents react negatively to untargeted “cyber-junk” but are more favorable toward targeted marketing communication efforts. The Internet also allows marketers to target and communicate with highly involved and interested consumers, both domestic and global. The strengths and weaknesses of using Internet as a direct marketing medium are assessed.
An Agency Theory of Open Innovation

Open innovation is the practice of combining internal R&D efforts with external sources of knowledge. While project developers allocate effort between internal development and external knowledge processing, knowledge brokers search for relevant external ideas. When external knowledge is potentially complex to exploit, a firm faces a trade-off in the decision to "open up'' its innovation process. This trade-off and the resulting degree of openness are affected by internal agency conflicts which determine the firm's ability to absorb external knowledge. The model provides several predictions regarding the optimal degree of openness which shed light on existing empirical evidence.
The non-response of pension funds to climate change and human rights

Our analysis suggests that pension funds face challenges when they implement into practice the usual definition of responsible investment: the integration of environmental, social and corporate governance factors into investment decision making. The current definition of responsible investment seems to allow various interpretations and may therefore discourage pension funds from developing clear responsible investment practices that would allow them to address public policies such as climate change and human rights.
An account of the quality of life of patients after treatment for non‐functioning pituitary tumours

OBJECTIVE Studies assessing quality of life in GH‐deficient adults have shown varying results. This may be due to a number of factors including varying causes of GH deficiency, the use of radiotherapy in treatment and patient selection. We aimed to assess whether anterior pituitary hormone deficiency or external pituitary radiotherapy influenced the quality of life of patients with non‐functioning pituitary tumours.
Comparison of Insulin Hypersensitivity of Adrenalectomized and of Hypophysectomized Dogs.∗ †

Summary and Conclusions The adrenaleo-tomized dog is more sensitive to insulin than the normal dog but less sensitive than the hypophysectomized dog. This is true so long as the adrenalectomized dog, whether with or without DCA maintenance, is still well-nourished and tested only in the post-absorptive state. It is concluded that the adrenal cortical atrophy is an important factor in the production of the insulin hypersensitivity of the hypophysectomized dog. However, absence of an anterior pituitary factor (other than ACTH) is also of great importance in the production of this metabolic abnormality.
Factors influencing organic food purchase in India – expert survey insights

Purpose – The paper aims to document the findings of an expert survey in the organic food category in India. It seeks to highlight the relative importance attached by the experts to key explanatory variables in the consumers' purchase process of organic food. It attempts to integrate with the relevant consumer survey findings published in India in recent times in organic food category.Design/methodology/approach – The list of experts was prepared by including regular and well‐known speakers in different agri enclaves and summits and who are members of different food industry bodies. Experts were contacted through judgmental sampling method. Feedback on the expert questionnaires was collected from July to October 2007 from 33 highly knowledgeable senior experts primarily through face‐to‐face personal surveys and through e‐mail surveys.Findings – Importance placed on health motivation has the highest average rating and is one of the lowest standard deviations among the explanatory variables in the expert su.
Indian and American Guidance on Psychosocial Care of Persons with Diabetes

RefeRences 1. Sanyal D, Majumder A, Chaudhuri SR, Chatterjee S. Thyroid profile and autoantibodies in type 1 diabetes subjects: A perspective from Eastern India. Indian J Endocrinol Metab 2017;21:45-50. 2. Marita AR, Rane S, Mokal RA, Nair SR, Irani A. Autoantibodies against GAD65 and IA-2 in recently diagnosed type 1 diabetic children from Western India. Diabet Med 2004;21:956-7. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial‐ShareAlike 3.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non‐commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
Earnings Misreporting, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and Changes in CEO Compensation

This paper examines changes in executive compensations structure following restatements of prior period earnings, and whether the passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) influences how firms react to accounting misreporting when they modify their CEO compensation contracts. Based on a sample of firms that restated their earnings for the period of 1997-2005 and a sample of matched control firms, we find that restatement firms significantly reduce their equity-based compensation awards to executives in a two-year or three-year period following the restatements, when compared with the control firms. The reduction is especially significant for restatements of a more severe nature. We also find that equity-based compensation has been significantly reduced for both the restatement and the non-restatement firms after the enactment of the SOX. Prior studies indicate the potential link between option-based CEO compensation and the propensity of misreporting. The findings from this study suggest that restatements are associated with subsequent decreases in the option-based components in executive contracts, thus highlighting the long term compensation consequence of earnings restatements for executives.
The use of joint ventures to accomplish Aboriginal economic development: two examples from British Columbia

“Aboriginal economic development” differs from other forms of development by emphasizing aboriginal values and community involvement. Joint ventures, while providing business advantages, may not be able to contribute to aboriginal economic development. This paper examines two joint ventures in the interior of British Columbia to examine their ability or inability to contribute the extra dimensions of development desired by aboriginal communities. The AED framework examines business structure; profitability; employment; aboriginal capacity in education, experience, and finance; preservation of traditional values, culture and language; control of forest management over traditional territory; and community support. Established in the context of unresolved land claims, both enterprises partially contribute to aboriginal economic development, but in different ways and with different overall results.
Expertise of Laboratories in Viral Load Quantification, Genotyping, and Precore Mutant Determination for Hepatitis B Virus in a Multicenter Study

ABSTRACT A national evaluation study was performed in 14 specialized laboratories with the objective of assessing their capacities to provide (i) hepatitis B virus (HBV) viral loads (VL), (ii) HBV genotypes, and(iii) identification of precore/core mutants. The panel consisted of 12 HBV DNA-positive samples with VLs from 2.8 to 9.1 log10 copies/ml, different HBV genotypes (A to F), and 3 mutant and 9 wild-type samples at nucleotide 1896. The coefficients of variation of the mean VLs ranged from 2.4% to 10.4% with the Cobas HBV Monitor assay, from 1.8% to 5.5% with the Cobas TaqMan 48, from 1.5 to 26.2% with RealArt HBV PCR, and from 0 to 7% with branched DNA (bDNA). The Cobas Monitor assay underestimated the VLs of genotype F samples, with differences ranging from 1.4 to 2.4 log10 copies/ml. The accuracies of genotype determinations ranged from 33% to 100%, and those of precore mutant determinations ranged from 25 to 100%. This study showed some drawbacks of two widely used assays: (i) Cobas Monitor has a narrow dynamic range and underestimates genotype F sample VLs and (ii) bDNA shows poor sensitivity and may fail to identify patients with low VLs. With higher performance in terms of analytical sensitivity combined with a larger dynamic range and an ability to quantify the main genotypes equally, real-time PCR methods appear more appropriate for accurate monitoring of HBV DNA quantification. Furthermore, the clinical implications of HBV genotyping and the determination of precore/core mutants need to be clearly stated to justify the standardization of these methods.
Ownership Structure, Tax Regime, and Dividend Smoothing: International Evidence

We investigate dividend smoothing behaviors of approximately 6,000 firms from 28 countries. The data find a wide variation in the extent of dividend smoothing across countries, while US firms smooth dividends the most. Firms with a concentrated ownership structure adjust their dividends quickly, especially when the target dividend level is lower than dividends of previous years. Companies located in a classical tax system have lower target dividend levels and in turn smooth dividends more than companies in a partial or full imputation system. These results suggest US firms adjust their dividend payments only slowly due to the dispersed ownership structure and tax system.