Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Use of Reverberation Chambers to Determine the Shielding Effectiveness of Physically Small, Electrically Large Enclosures and Cavities

With the proliferation of small electric devices in recent years, along with various other applications, there is a growing need to test and determine the shielding properties or shielding effectiveness (SE) of physically small (but electrically large) enclosures or cavities. In this paper, we discuss how a reverberation chamber technique can be used to measure the SE of such enclosures. The approach consists of placing the small enclosure inside a reverberation chamber and using frequency stirring to excite the reverberation chamber. A small surface probe (i.e., a monopole) is mounted on the inside wall of the small enclosure to measure the power level inside the small enclosure. We present measured data from various other reverberation chamber approaches obtained from various enclosure configurations. The data from these other reverberation chamber approaches are used to validate the proposed approach. We also compared measured data to theoretical calculations of the SE for two small enclosures with circular apertures. These various comparisons illustrate that the proposed technique is a valid approach for determining the SE of physically small (i.e., cubic enclosure dimensions of the order of 0.1 m and smaller), but electrically large enclosures (that support several modes at the lowest frequency of interest).
Consumer perceptions of own brands: international differences

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show how relatively little is known about the consumer perceptions of own brands in the newly emerging markets of central and eastern Europe. The paper attempts to fill a gap in knowledge by investigating various aspects of consumer perceptions of Tesco own brands in the Czech Republic.Design/methodology/approach – The key data for this research were collected by structured questionnaires from Tesco supermarket customers in the Czech Republic and the UK. Non‐probability quota sampling was used and the sample was stratified according to gender, age and income.Findings – The results of the research indicate that the general view of Tesco own brands is slightly less positive among Czech than among British customers. However, significant differences emerge when these are examined in terms of income. Increases in income lead to a decrease in the favourability with which own brands are viewed in the Czech Republic – the opposite to the position in the UK. The age of con.
Cutthroat Capitalism versus Cuddly Socialism: Are Americans More Meritocratic and Efficiency-Seeking than Scandinavians?

There are striking differences in inequality and redistribution between the United States and Scandinavia. To study whether there are corresponding differences in social preferences, we conducted a large-scale international social preference experiment where Americans and Norwegians make distributive choices in identical environments. Combining the infrastructure of an international online labor market and that of a leading international data collection agency, we show that Americans and Norwegians differ significantly in fairness views, but not in the importance assigned to efficiency. We also provide causal evidence suggesting that fairness considerations are more fundamental for inequality acceptance than efficiency considerations.
Asymmetric Learning Capabilities and Stock Market Returns

Drawing on the alliance learning literature, we propose that a firm's relative capability to learn partner-specific know-how holds the key to understanding the learning race phenomenon and its performance consequences. Specifically, we argue that a firm with higher specific learning capability relative to its partner's will be rewarded with superior stock performance. We also contend that equity alliance governance and market similarity between partners moderate this relationship in opposite directions. Equity alliance governance motivates firms to suppress competitive learning and thus reduces the positive impact of the specific learning capability gap on abnormal stock returns, while market similarity between partners aggravates the learning race and strengthens the positive impact of the specific learning capability gap. Results of an event study of 610 R&D alliances in the U.S. computing and biopharmaceutical industries in the period 1984-2003 support our hypotheses. Our study contributes to a better understanding of the learning race, its contingencies, and its performance implications
ST-analysis in electronic foetal monitoring is cost-effective from both the maternal and neonatal perspective

Abstract Objective: Electronic foetal monitoring (EFM) together with non-invasive ST-analysis (STAN) has been suggested as a superior technique to EFM alone for foetal surveillance to prevent metabolic acidosis. This study aims to compare the cost-effectiveness of these two techniques from both maternal (short term) as neonatal (long term) perspective to guide clinical decision-making. Methods: We created two models: a maternal model, focused on the difference in mode of delivery as most important outcome, and a neonatal Markov model focused on the differences in metabolic acidosis – and its relationship to cerebral palsy (CP) – as the most relevant outcome to estimate the long-term cost-effectiveness. The cost to prevent one instrumental delivery was estimated in the maternal model. The costs to prevent one metabolic acidosis and the costs per quality adjusted life years were calculated in the neonatal model. Results: The average costs of STAN are only €34 higher when compared to EFM alone. From maternal perspective the cost of preventing one instrumental delivery was estimated at €2602. From neonatal perspective the cost to prevent one case of metabolic acidosis was €14 509. Over the long term, STAN becomes a dominant (cost saving) strategy if >1% of the patients exposed to metabolic acidosis acquire CP. Conclusions: Our study suggests that STAN, when compared to EFM alone, can be a cost-effective strategy from both a maternal and neonatal perspective.
Human Annexin A6 Interacts with Influenza A Virus Protein M2 and Negatively Modulates Infection

ABSTRACT The influenza A virus M2 ion channel protein has the longest cytoplasmic tail (CT) among the three viral envelope proteins and is well conserved between different viral strains. It is accessible to the host cellular machinery after fusion with the endosomal membrane and during the trafficking, assembly, and budding processes. We hypothesized that identification of host cellular interactants of M2 CT could help us to better understand the molecular mechanisms regulating the M2-dependent stages of the virus life cycle. Using yeast two-hybrid screening with M2 CT as bait, a novel interaction with the human annexin A6 (AnxA6) protein was identified, and their physical interaction was confirmed by coimmunoprecipitation assay and a colocalization study of virus-infected human cells. We found that small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated knockdown of AnxA6 expression significantly increased virus production, while its overexpression could reduce the titer of virus progeny, suggesting a negative regulatory role for AnxA6 during influenza A virus infection. Further characterization revealed that AnxA6 depletion or overexpression had no effect on the early stages of the virus life cycle or on viral RNA replication but impaired the release of progeny virus, as suggested by delayed or defective budding events observed at the plasma membrane of virus-infected cells by transmission electron microscopy. Collectively, this work identifies AnxA6 as a novel cellular regulator that targets and impairs the virus budding and release stages of the influenza A virus life cycle.
Alcoholism and major depression in women. A twin study of the causes of comorbidity.

BACKGROUND Although major depression (MD) and alcoholism co-occur in clinical and epidemiologic samples of women more often than expected by chance, the magnitude and causes of this comorbidity are uncertain. METHODS Personal interviews were conducted with 2163 female twins from a population-based twin registry. Bivariate twin analysis was performed using two definitions of MD and three definitions of alcoholism of varying diagnostic breadth. RESULTS Odds ratios ranged from 2.7 to 6.0 and were consistently higher using narrower diagnostic criteria for either disorder. Twin analyses found (1) no evidence for familial environmental factors for either MD or alcoholism; (2) significant genetic correlations, ranging from +. 4 to +. 6, between MD and alcoholism, which were higher using narrower criteria for alcoholism; (3) significant individual-specific environmental correlations, ranging from +. 2 to +. 4, for all but one of the diagnostic combinations, which were higher using narrower criteria for MD. CONCLUSIONS Comorbidity between MD and alcoholism in women is substantial and appears to result largely from genetic factors that influence the risk to both disorders, but common environmental risk factors also contribute. However, genetic factors exist that influence the liability to MD without influencing the risk for alcoholism and vice versa. Narrowing the diagnostic criteria for MD or alcoholism increases comorbidity, but for different reasons narrow diagnostic criteria for MD increase the environmental sources of comorbidity while narrow diagnostic criteria for alcoholism increase the genetic sources of comorbidity.
Genetics Haplogroup Heterogeneity of LHON Patients Carrying the m . 14484 T > C Mutation in India

CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, India SNONGC Department of Genetics and Molecular Biology, Vision Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, India Department of Neuro-Ophthalmology, Medical Research Foundation, Sankara Nethralaya, Chennai, India Department of Neurology, Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, India Department of Pathology, Nizam’s Institute of Medical Sciences, Hyderabad, India Department of Neurology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, India Department of Neuropathology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, India
Combined neuropsychological and neurophysiological assessment of drug effects on groups and individuals

An initial standardized approach for combining neuropsychological and neurophysiological measures in order to assess the neurocognitive effects of drugs in groups and individuals is introduced. Its application is illustrated with sedatives, antiepileptic drugs, psychostimulants, antihistamines, and intoxicants. Task performance, electroencephalography, and evoked potential measures during computerized attention and memory testing that are most sensitive to drug effects are identified in a sample population and then applied to individuals. In six example exploratory studies, drug effects were detected with an average area under curve (AUC) of 0.97 (p < 0.0001; 95% sensitivity, 96% specificity). In 10 example validation studies with other drugs and/or different subjects and populations, detection was strong in the eight studies with drugs and doses known to have significant neurocognitive effects (AUC 0.83, p < 0.0001; 82% sensitivity, 89% specificity), whereas no effect was detected in the two studies with drugs known to have faint neurocognitive effects (AUC 0.56, p > 0.10). Individual differences in response to different drugs with similar clinical uses, to varying doses of the same drug, and in pharmacodynamic response were then demonstrated. The significant (p < 0.01) increase in sensitivity and specificity of combined neuropsychological and neurophysiological measures compared with the former alone suggests that fewer subjects may be needed to assess the neurocognitive effects of drugs in future studies. The findings suggest that the concept of combining neuropsychological testing with simultaneous measures of neurophysiological function is worth further exploration.
Evaluation of plasma, erythrocytes, and brochoalveolar lavage fluid antioxidant defense system in sulfur mustard-injured patients

Introduction. Sulfur mustard (SM) is a strong alkylating agent that causes acute and chronic effects on different organs following exposure. Main late respiratory complications are chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, bronchiectasis, asthma, and bronchiolitis obliterans. It seems that oxidative stress plays a major role in pathogenesis of diseases. This study was undertaken to evaluate the long-term effect of SM on plasma, erythrocytes, and brochoalveolar lavage fluid antioxidant defense system in SM-injured patients. Methods. Brochoalveolar lavage fluid, plasma, and erythrocyte samples were taken from 54 patients in the case group exposed to SM and 25 controls with chronic respiratory disease without a history of exposure to SM. Results. Superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase activities in lavage fluid, plasma, and erythrocytes were significantly higher in case group. The increased glutathione S-transferase activity in lavage fluid was associated with a depletion of glutathione and an increase of malondialdehyde levels. There was no significant change observed in glutathione reductase activity. Conclusions. The data suggest that oxidative damage might have an important role for patients exposed to SM. SM may induce an oxidative stress response by depleting the antioxidant defense systems and increasing lipid peroxidation in lung cells.
Green Banking: Going Green

Green Banking is any form of banking from which the country and nation gets environmental benefits. A conventional bank becomes a green bank by directing its core operations toward the betterment of environment. Green Banking has become a buzz word in today’s banking world. It means developing inclusive banking strategies which will ensure substantial economic development and promoting environmental-friendly practices as well. This paper focuses on the Green Banking activities of the commercial banks of Bangladesh and we also tried to reason why this policy was adopted and make a comparison among he green banking practices of the commercial banks as well. The policy guidelines will also be focused. The regulations regarding Green Banking is going to be discussed as well.
Perceptions of Brazilian and Foreign Technology

The images of Brazilian and foreign technology in the Brazilian chemical polymer industry were found to be very different. Foreign technology was generally seen as being superior technologically and the Brazilian technology as being better adapted to the national markets, raw materials and labour skills. Executives from multinational firms had much more positive views of foreign technology than did those from Brazilian national companies. The implications for both suppliers of foreign technology and the Brazilian Government are examined.
Digital Curvature Estimation: An Operator Theoretic Approach

This thesis is divided into two parts. The first part is devoted to the curvature estimation of piecewise smooth curves using variation diminishing splines. The variation diminishing property combined with the ability to reconstruct linear functions leads to a convexity preserving approximation that is crucial if additional sign changes in the curvature estimation have to be avoided. To this end, we will first establish the foundations of variation diminishing transforms and introduce the Bernstein and the Schoenberg operator on the space of continuous functions and its generalization to the Lp-spaces. In order to be able to detect C2-singularities in piecewise smooth curves, we establish lower estimates for the approximation error in terms of the second order modulus of smoothness for Schoenberg’s variation diminishing operator. Afterwards, we consider smooth curve approximations using only finitely many samples of the curve, where the approximation, its first, and its second derivative converge uniformly to its corresponding part of the curve to be approximated. In this case, we can show that the estimated curvature converges uniformly to the real curvature if the number of samples goes to infinity. Based on the lower estimates that relates the decay rate of the approximation error with smoothness we propose a multi-scale algorithm to estimate the curvature and to detect C2-singularities. We numerically evaluate our algorithm and compare it to others to show that our algorithm achieves competitive accuracy while our curvature estimations are significantly faster to compute. The second part deals with generalizations of the established lower estimates for the Schoenberg operator. We will show that such estimates can be obtained for linear operators on a general Banach function space with smooth range provided that the iterates of the operator converge uniformly and a semi-norm defined on the range of the operator annihilates the fixed points of the operator. To this end, we will prove by spectral properties that the iterates of every positive finite-rank operator converge uniformly. As highlight of this thesis, we show a constructive way using a Gramian matrix where the dual fixed points operate on the fixed points of an operator to derive the limit of the iterates for an arbitrary quasi-compact operator defined on a general Banach space.
Earnings Management and Corporate Governance: An Empirical Study of the Listed Commercial Banks in Cyprus

This dissertation is an examination of the incentives, opportunities and disincentives for earnings management. The research was conducted for the listed, commercial banks in Cyprus. The period examined includes the years 2002-2011, for which the required information was available. After having considered the literature review, the regulations that affect banks‟ financial reporting and the results from interviews conducted the research hypotheses were formulated and tested with regressions. The conclusions drawn from this empirical analysis were as follows. The existence of a cash bonus and leverage did not create incentives for earnings management through the use of discretionary accruals. This finding was observed because the net profit was not considered in cash bonus decisions. In addition, most of the banks‟ debt was in the form of deposits; deposit schemes do not include covenants that have to be met like other debt contracts. Discretionary accruals were therefore saved so that they could be used to manage earnings and increase regulatory capital. The evidence suggests that when the capital adequacy ratio was low, earnings were managed in order to artificially boost the capital base. The empirical results confirm that regulators perceived banks as being adequately capitalized and hence did not scrutinize
Identifying the gap between stated and actual buying behaviour on organic products based on consumer panel data

Evaluating the German demand for organic food in the majority of cases has been done by interviews, which are restricted by massive overestimation of consumers themselves. By using consumer panels, it is possible to survey actual consumer behaviour in combination with consumer attitudes and socio-demographic data and also by additionally requested consumers’ stated buying behaviour. Such methodology enables exposure and quantification of the gap between stated and actual buying frequency. Also the dimension of conventional products bought by mistake, while intending to get organics, can be identified. These results may give considerations for prospective survey design and adjustment of marketing policy.
Autologous peripheral blood stem cell harvest and transplant in a patient with cold agglutinin disease secondary to lymphoma

Dear Sir, Cold agglutinin disease (CAD) is rare but can be associated with other conditions. Many of these are B-lymphoproliferative disorders. Our report concerns a case of relapsed non-Hodgkins lymphoma (NHL) with associated CAD. The patient needed a peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) autograft. Cold agglutinins can complicate PBSC harvests. We describe, in particular, how this potential problem was dealt with. A 61-year-old female presented in October 2014 with lethargy, palpitations and malaise. No abnormalities other than sinus tachycardia were found. Haemoglobin was 60 g L−1, haematocrit 17%, MCV 99 fL, bilirubin 34 μmol L−1 and haptoglobin <0.08 g L−1. Gross and microscopic RBC agglutination were seen. Liver function tests were normal. Lymphoproliferative disease was considered. CT showed enlarged lymph nodes above and below the diaphragm. Axillary lymph node biopsy showed a marginal-zone NHL with positive staining with bcl-2, CD20, CD79a, κ light chain and MUM-1 antibodies but negative with antibodies to CD3, CD5, CD10, CD21, CD23, bcl-6, l light chains, CD138 and CD43. Ki67 was 25–30%. Bone marrow trephine biopsy showed about 50% replacement with the lymphoma with histopathological and immunohistochemical characteristics similar to those in the lymph node biopsy. Flow cytometry showed clonal B-cells positive for CD19 (weak), CD20, CD22, CD38, FMC7 and kappa light chains. Previously, in 2009, the patient had had a squamous cell carcinoma excised, coeliac disease suspected (but not confirmed) and dermatitis herpetiformis. Interestingly, gross and microscopic RBC agglutination were seen then, but no follow-up studies were performed. There was no suggestion of acrocyanosis, discoloured urine, or seasonal variation in symptoms. She had three units of RBC transfused and was recommended a gluten-free diet but no other specific treatment. Between November 2014 and April 2015, the patient was treated with six courses of R-CVP (rituximabcyclophosphamide vincristine prednisolone) at standard doses and appeared to go in to clinical, radiological, and haematological remission. In October 2015, the patient re-presented with generalised lymphadenopathy, ascites and pleural effusion. Examination of bone marrow and ascitic fluid confirmed relapse.
KEPUASAN DAN LOYALITAS PETANI PADI TERHADAP PESTISIDA

Satisfaction and loyalty are important factors to mantain and to increase the level of sales. The purpose of this study was to analyze the satisfaction and loyalty to pesticides of paddy farmers. This study used crosssectional design with 100 farmers as samplesthat were chosen by simple random sampling in the village of Cikarawang, District Dramaga, Bogor, West Java. The data was collected by interview techniques using questionnaire.This research used one of pesticides brand that used by paddy farmers at study site. The results showed that the paddy farmers have already satisfied, this result was indicated by CSI value which was 79,14 percent and the proportion of loyalty level mostly in habitual buyer level as much as 41 percent farmers. The analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between the reference group of farmers and the satisfaction of farmers to the pesticides brand. In addition, there was also a significant positive correlation between the frequency of utilization and the brand loyalty of farmers. The model suggested that the family income per capita affect significantly on brand loyalty pesticides among paddy farmers.