Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do corporate sustainability practices enhance organizational economic performance

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to clarify the relation between sustainability practices and financial and market performance, and also, the role of non-financial performance outputs in this relation. Corporate sustainability is a growing area of importance for organizational development. Managing sustainability practices successfully is an imperative in achieving competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach – Using empirical data based on a large-scale survey among organizations in five countries (i.e. Germany, Poland, Serbia, Slovenia and Spain), this paper utilized mediation analysis to estimate and test the mediated effects in a multiple mediator model. As such, the sizes of indirect effects of sustainability practices on financial and market performance through potential mediators were estimated. Findings – The results showed that innovation performance exerts a mediation effect in the relation between sustainability practices and financial and market performance. The main conclusion is that a greater engagement in sustainability practices leads to an increased innovation performance, which in turn leads to financial and market performance. Originality/value – This paper is one of the first attempts to empirically validate sustainability exploitation and sustainability exploration practices. Besides, the analysis of the direct and indirect effects of sustainability exploration and sustainability exploitation practices on financial and market performance has not been yet addressed to a great extent.
Inner‐core fine‐scale structure from scattered waves recorded by LASA

[1] Recent observations of inner-core scattering (ICS) waves provide evidence that the outermost 300 km of the inner-core has strong heterogeneities with a length scale of a few kilometers. These waves follow a path similar to that of the inner-core–reflected waves PKiKP and were originally observed in data from 16 events in the distance range 58 to 73 recorded by the Large Aperture Seismic Array (LASA). Here we present additional observations of the ICS waves from a total of 78 events recorded by LASA at distances from 18 to 98. We use a modified version of the Generic Array Processing software package to identify ICS waves on the basis of travel time, back azimuth, ray parameter, amplitude, and coherence. There are 44 events that produce clear ICS waves. We then perform forward modeling of the observed ICS waves using a Monte Carlo seismic phonon method that allows for multiple scattering along the raypath. Most of the ICS waves appear without a visible PKiKP phase, initially grow in time, and have a spindleshaped envelope. The duration, risetime, and decay rates of the observed ICS waves can be best explained by small-scale volumetric heterogeneities in the outermost few hundred kilometers of the inner core. The average Qc value for the 44 events is � 600. Most clear ICS waves are found for raypaths sampling the Pacific Ocean and Asia, and relatively few observations are from the Atlantic Ocean, roughly consistent with the recently observed hemispheric difference in the inner-core structure.
Dust Overloading of Lungs: Investigations of Various Materials, Species Differences, and Irreversibility of Effects

ABSTRACT In separate inhalation investigations, rodents (Wistar rats, Fischer-344 rats, Syrian golden hamsters, NMRI and C57BL mice) were exposed to various dusts such as test toner (polymer pigmented with carbon black), polyvinyl chloride, carbon black, diesel exhaust and two crystalline forms of titanium dioxide (anatase and rutile). The animals inhaled various concentrations (0.8 to 64 mg/m3) of these particles for up to 2 years. Alveolar clearance retardation was detectable above a retained pulmonary burden of 0.5 mg per rat lung, and a substantial decrease in the clearance rate (about a factor of 6) was observed following heavy dust loading, exceeding 10 mg dust per rat lung. Above a threshold lung burden, signs of lung overloading persisted 15 months after cessation of exposure in F-344 rats. Retardation of alveolar clearance was also observed in hamsters, commencing at higher lung burdens (normalized to lung weight) than in rats. At high dust exposure levels, persistent pulmonary inflammation was p.
Plasma enhancement of femtosecond laser-induced electromagnetic pulses at metal and dielectric surfaces

Abstract. In a previous report, we have shown that the long wavelength, electromagnetic-pulsed (EMP) energy generated by ultrashort (38 fs) laser pulse ablation of a metal target is enhanced by an order of magnitude due to a preplasma generated by a different, 14-ns-long laser pulse. Here, we further investigate this EMP enhancement effect in a 2- to 16-GHz microwave region with different target materials and laser parameters. Specifically, we show a greater than two orders of magnitude enhancement to the EMP energy when the nanosecond and ultrashort laser pulses are coincident on a glass target, and greater than one order of magnitude enhancement when the pulses are coincident on a copper target.
Effect of a high-resolution differencing scheme on finite-volume predictions of viscoelastic flows

Improved accuracy and enhanced convergence rate are achieved when a finite-volume method (FVM) is used in conjunction with a high-resolution scheme (MINMOD) to represent the stress derivatives in the constitutive equation, because it avoids oscillations of the solution field near sharp stress gradients. Calculations for the benchmark flow of an upper-convected Maxwell fluid through a 4:1 plane contraction were carried out at a constant Reynolds number of 0.01 and varying Deborah numbers in four consistently refined meshes, the finest of which had a normalised cell size of 0.005 in the vicinity of the re-entrant corner. The MINMOD scheme was able to provide converged solutions up to Deborah numbers well beyond those attained by other second-order accurate schemes. The asymptotic behaviour of velocity and stresses near the re-entrant corner was accurately predicted as compared with Hinch’s theory [1]. The simulations improved previous results for the same flow conditions obtained with less accurate schemes, and the present results can be used as benchmark values up to a Deborah value of 3 with quantified numerical uncertainties. © 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Asymmetric Membrane Capsule: New Prospects in Osmotic Delivery

Osmotic drug delivery remains an area of interest for its potential in answering many formulation related problems. However it suffers from a number of drawbacks which made it difficult to fully unleash this concept. With the advent of new technologies like asymmetric membrane capsules (AMCs); new doors have got opened in this field. Asymmetric membrane capsules are based on the concept of osmotic pressure but are much simpler to manufacture. Further, they can be suitably optimized by varying the parameters like concentration of pore former, polymer, osmotic agents and solubility enhancers to cater the specific needs of a particular formulation. The concept can be utilized to deliver a number of drugs belonging to different pharmacological categories. However the work in this field is still in infancy. Present review emphasizes on the conceptual as well as formulation related aspects of asymmetric capsules. It also addresses the developmental work done in this field. Keywords: Controlled drug delivery, Osmosis, Asymmetric membrane, in situ pore formation, Phase inversion, Wet process.
Cyberthosis: Rehabilitation Robotics With Controlled Electrical Muscle Stimulation

Each year, following an accident or illness, over 200 new cases of paraplegia occur in Switzerland, and 1000 in France. This makes 7’000, respectively 40'000 para- etraplegic patients in these countries. Since the Second World War, methods available for the treatment of medullar trauma at the moment of lesion, and for re-education, have evolved considerably. Nowadays, these methods allow in around 80% of medullar injuries, limitation of the damage to a partial lesion of the spinal cord. Unfortunately, only 10% of these patients ever recover autonomous walking Zach G.A. , 2000]. Today paraplegics often benefit from walking re-education programmes on treadmills. Two, occasionally three physiotherapists are required to mobilise the patient’s legs and pelvis. Unfortunately this work is extremely hard on the staff, and the movements are difficult to reproduce and obviously non-quantifiable. These manual treatments are slowly being replaced by robotic rehabilitation [Reinkensmeyer et al., 2004], much more capable of providing the repetitive and precise exercises demanded by modern methods. However, in cases where residual voluntary capacity is absent, or where there is muscular atrophy, the movements made are purely passive. The Cyberthosis Project presented below, allows active re-education, and preliminary testing has confirmed its great efficacy.
Seismic evidence for an 850 km thick low‐velocity structure in the Earth's lowermost mantle beneath Kamchatka

We detect an 850 km thick low‐velocity structure in the Earth's lowermost mantle beneath Kamchatka surrounded by and overlying a 210 km thick high‐velocity D′′ structure. The velocity structure is constrained by modeling the observed anomalously broadened waveforms for seismic shear waves sampling the lowermost mantle recorded at large distances from 90° to 100°. Waveform modeling analyses reveal that the low‐velocity anomaly has a stem with a diameter of about 550 km in the lowermost 210 km of the mantle and a cap with a diameter of about 1600 km. The low‐velocity structure of the cap decreases from 0% at the top to −1.5% at about 400 km above the core‐mantle boundary (CMB) and to −1.2% at 210 km above the CMB. We suggest that the geometrical and velocity features of the low‐velocity anomaly indicate that it may represent a localized mantle plume undetected before in the lower mantle.
Water mass distribution and ventilation time scales in a cost-efficient, three-dimensional ocean model

A cost-efficient, seasonally forced three-dimensional frictional geostrophic balance ocean model (Bern3D) has been developed that features isopycnal diffusion and Gent–McWilliams transport parameterization, 32 depth layers, and an implicit numerical scheme for the vertical diffusion. It has been tuned toward observed chlorofluorocarbon (CFC-11) inventories and deep ocean radiocarbon signatures to reproduce the ventilation time scales of the thermocline and the deep ocean. Model results are consistent with the observed large-scale distributions of temperature, salinity, natural and bomb-produced radiocarbon, CFC-11, anthropogenic carbon, 39 Ar/Ar, and estimates of the meridional heat transport. Root-mean-square errors for the temperature and salinity fields are 1 K and 0.2 psu, comparable to results from the Ocean Carbon-Cycle Model Intercomparison Project. Global inventories of CFC-11 and anthropogenic carbon agree closely with observation-based estimates. Model weaknesses include a too-weak formation and propagation of Antarctic Intermediate Water and of North Atlantic Deep Water. The model has been applied to quantify the recent carbon balance, surface-to-deep transport mechanisms, and the importance of vertical resolution for deep equatorial upwelling. Advection is a dominant surface-to-deep transport mechanism, whereas explicit diapycnal mixing is of little importance for passive tracers and contributes less than 3% to the modeled CFC-11 inventory in the Indo-Pacific. Decreasing the vertical resolution from 32 to 8 layers causes deep equatorial upwelling to increase by more than a factor of 4. Modeled ocean uptake of anthropogenic carbon is 19.7 GtonC over the decade from 1993 to 2003, comparable to an estimate from atmospheric oxygen data of 22.4 6.1 GtonC.
ERAD 2006 Proceedings of Characteristics of polarimetric radar variables and their precipitation type dependence in a highly humid oceanic region

Characterization of cloud microphysical properties such as raindrop size distributions (DSD) is required for accurate radar rainfall estimation. Hydrometeor identification above an altitude of 0oC also provides indispensable information for rain retrieval algorithms for radars and microwave radiometers on satellites (e.g., TRMM and GPM). In addition, understanding of these microphysical properties is necessary to clarify precipitation growth mechanisms. One approach to evaluate a variation of microphysical properties is to investigate its differences between precipitation types. Several previous studies have proposed the difference in properties of DSD in stratiform and convective precipitation (e.g., Waldvogel 1974; Tokay and Short 1996; Hashimoto and Harimaya 2003). Yuter and Houze (1997) also confirmed the presence of two populations corresponding to smalland large-drop spectra. But the separation of precipitation into convective and stratiform regions did not distinguish these two DSD properties. There are still difficulties and uncertainties in precipitation type classification based on the microphysical properties. It is necessary to document and compare the microphysical properties between individual precipitation cases.
Changes in pteropod distributions and shell dissolution across a frontal system in the California Current System

We tested the sensitivity of the vertical distributions and shell dissolution patterns of thecosome pteropods to spatial gradients associated with an eddy-associated front in the southern California Current System. The aragonite saturation horizon (Ωarag = 1.0) shoaled from >200 to 1.4, while peak dissolution occurred in depths where Ωarag = 1.0 to 1.4. Vertical habitat compression and increased shell dissolution may be expected to accompany future shoaling of waters that are undersaturated with respect to aragonite.
TABLE Local and Systemic Factors Which Have Been Suggested as Influencing Residual Ridge Resorption

Following tooth loss, the mandible shows an extensive loss of bone in some individuals. This may pose a significant problem in the prosthodontic restoration of function and esthetics. The many factors which have been proposed as being responsible for the inter-individual variation in post-extraction remodeling mean that a perfunctory analysis of the literature, in which well-controlled, relevant studies are scarce, may not provide the whole story. This article reviews the local and systemic factors which may play a role in the post-extraction remodeling of the mandible. Since severe residual ridge resorption may occur even when the bone status in the rest of the skeleton is good and vice versa, it is concluded that local functional factors are of paramount significance. It is now essential to determine how they can be modified and applied to help maintain ridge height and quality in our aging, edentulous population.
Stratospheric effects of Mount Pinatubo aerosol studied with a coupled two‐dimensional model

A new interactive radiative-dynamical-chemical zonally averaged two-dimensional model has been developed at Goddard Space Flight Center. The model includes a linear planetary wave parameterization featuring wave-mean flow interaction and the direct calculation of eddy mixing from planetary wave dissipation. It utilizes family gas phase chemistry approximations and includes heterogeneous chemistry on the surfaces of both stratospheric sulfate aerosols and polar stratospheric clouds. This model has been used to study the effects of the sulfate aerosol cloud formed by the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991 on stratospheric temperatures, dynamics, and chemistry. Aerosol extinctions and surface area densities were constrained by satellite observations and were used to compute the aerosol effects on radiative heating rates, photolysis rates, and heterogeneous chemistry. The net predicted perturbations to the column ozone amount were low-latitude depletions of 2-3% and northern and southern high-latitude depletions of 10-12%, in good agreement with observations. In the low latitudes a depletion of roughly 1-2% was due to the altered circulation (increased upwelling) resulting from the perturbation of the heating rates, with the heterogeneous chemistry and photolysis rate perturbations contributing roughly 0.5% each. In the high latitudes the computed ozone column depletions were mainly a result of heterogeneous chemistry occurring on the surfaces of the volcanic aerosol. Temperature anomalies predicted were a low-latitude warming peaking at 2.5 K in mid-1992 and high-latitude coolings of 1-2 K which were associated with the high-latitude ozone reductions. The sensitivity of the predicted perturbations to changes in the specification of the planetary wave forcings was examined. The maximum globally averaged column ozone depletions ranged from 2 to 4% for the cases studied.
New Product Introduction and Incumbent Response Strategies: Their Interrelationship and the Role of Multimarket Contact

In this article, the author studies the determinants of both new product introduction and incumbent response strategies in a single integrated framework. Building on previous research in strategic management, industrial organization, and marketing, the author conceptually identifies the factors that potentially influence these strategies, develops hypotheses about the impact of the key factors on these strategies, and focuses on the interrelationship between new product introduction and incumbent response strategies and on the role of multimarket contact in these strategies. To test these hypotheses, the author formulates models of introduction and response strategies, including an anticipated incumbent reaction formation model. The results of the empirical analysis show that new product introduction strategy is influenced significantly by incumbent reaction strategy, and vice versa. The relationship of a new product's marketing spending to the anticipated incumbent reaction is different for incumbents of different sizes. The analysis shows that higher spending by a new brand results in incumbent response that is significantly lower in magnitude. The results also show that multimarket contact leads to both lower introduction spending and milder incumbent response. The author discusses the managerial implications of these results.
Treatment of Arthrodesis of Neuropathic Joint By Trans Calcaneal Interlocking Nail : A Case Report

Effects of neurological affliction of joints were first described by Charcot in 1868 [1]. Diabetes mellitus is currently the most common cause of neuroarthropathy [2]. Abnormal nociception and proprioception lead to progressive destruction of the joint. Management of Charcot's arthropathy by definitive surgical treatment remains a challenge despite technical advances in treatment modalities. In the diabetic population, ankle neuroarthropathy constitutes 3% to 10% of all cases. This leads to significant instability, fracture and collapse of ankle mortise and carries a high risk of amputation of the lower limb [3–7]. There has been change in the philosophy of surgical management of neuroarthropathy, from amputation to limb salvage. Sir John Charnley used uniplanar external fixator with compression clamps for ankle arthrodesis with variable success. Recent studies have shown good results with deformity correction and arthrodesis with internal fixation [8,9]. The principal goal of surgical intervention is to achieve a stable plantigrade foot without any deformity and to prevent re-ulceration [10]. There are numerous methods proposed to obtain a stable arthrodesis of the ankle joint [11–13]. External fixation or internal fixation have been used, however, there are still controversies over the most successful and reproducible method. In this backdrop, the present case report elicits neuropathic joint of the right ankle treated by trans calcaneal interlocking nail under spinal anaesthesia.
Moored surface buoy observations of the diurnal warm layer

An extensive data set is used to examine the dynamics of diurnal warming in the upper ocean. The data set comprises more than 4700 days of measurements at five sites in the tropics and subtropics, obtained from surface moorings equipped to make comprehensive meteorological, incoming solar and infrared radiation, and high-resolution subsurface temperature (and, in some cases, velocity) measurements. The observations, which include surface warmings of up to 3.4°C, are compared with a selection of existing models of the diurnal warm layer (DWL). A simple one-layer physical model is shown to give a reasonable estimate of both the magnitude of diurnal surface warming (model-observation correlation 0.88) and the structure and temporal evolution of the DWL. Novel observations of velocity shear obtained during 346 days at one site, incorporating high-resolution (1 m) upper ocean (5–15 m) acoustic Doppler current profile measurements, are also shown to be in reasonable agreement with estimates from the physical model (daily maximum shear model-observation correlation 0.77). Physics-based improvements to the one-layer model (incorporation of rotation and freshwater terms) are discussed, though they do not provide significant improvements against the observations reported here. The simplicity and limitations of the physical model are used to discuss DWL dynamics. The physical model is shown to give better model performance under the range of forcing conditions experienced across the five sites than the more empirical models.
The Cultural Diversity of German Companies’ Executive Boards and the Success of Their Internationalisation

The sociocultural composition of executive boards has a long-term relevance for the success of their companies and their organisation’s internationalisation. Companies must weigh the possible advantages of having employees from different cultural backgrounds against possible inefficiencies caused by cultural misunderstandings. Using on Upper Echelon theory and Social Capital theory we hypothesised that cultural diversity has a positive effect on internationalisation success. We used the “Blau Index” to calculate cultural diversity and measured internationalisation success as the level of internationalisation, a common success measure in internationalisation studies. Data were generated from companies’ annual reports. SMT members’ citizenships were additionally validated by internet-based business-oriented social networks. Controlling for team size and company size effects did not change our conclusions. Using a panel analysis, this article examines the effect of the level of cultural diversity in the boards of the DAX30 companies on their success in internationalising. Complementing previous studies, a slight but significant positive correlation was evident, assuming that a higher internationalisation success can be found in firms having a culturally diverse senior