Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Determination of thyroid volume by ultrasonic scanning

A method for thyroid volume calculation based upon ultrasonic scanning is described. The accuracy of the method was estimated by comparing ultrasonically determined volumes with the volumes of surgically removed thyroid glands. The precision (i.e., reproducibility) was estimated by comparing the ultrasonic volumes determined by two separate investigators in a double blind fashion. The normal range of thyroid volume was evaluated in a group of volunteers. The accuracy was acceptable, but the precision was borderline and appears to be the limiting factor in the procedure. We concluded that at present this method offers no significant improvement over other methods currently in use. However, thyroid volume calculation based upon palpation of the gland cannot be standardized, and isotope scanning is a more comprehensive and expensive procedure. Several possibilities exist for improvement of the ultrasonic technique, and the procedure holds promise for the future.
International alliances in European retailing

Alliances within European retailing can be seen as either compact and tight alliances, with highly developed interactions amongst alliance partners, or as a much looser concept of collaborative activity amongst retailers. This paper accepts the broad definition of retail alliances that Dawson and Shaw (1992b) propose, and investigates whether this definition is helpful to the study of European retail alliance activity. The empirical work on which the findings are based was carried out by a two-stage survey, firstly of the alliance central secretariats, followed by a multi-lingual survey of the members of six out of the ten listed international alliances. (Of the ten alliances, two are single-company alliances and not really of relevance.) The research examines the alliances through the key elements of: supplier selection, buying price policy, operational order processing, co-ordination procedures within the alliance and the nature of the agendas of co-ordination meetings. Through the analysis of these ele.
The influence of a solid dielectric spacer on electron avalanches in nitrogen at atmospheric pressure

The temporal development of prebreakdown electron currents in nitrogen at atmospheric pressure and in a uniform electric field is investigated. These gap currents were determined by observation of changes in potential across a resistor in series with the one cm. long gap. While in previous work avalanche initiating electrons were released mainly through the use of spark gap radiation, here a short duration nitrogen laser pulse released electrons from the cathode. It has been found that the bridging of the gap by a solid, cylindrical insulating spacer alters the electron avalanche growth. A theoretical model is proposed to account for this previously unreported modification.
On Hand Hygiene Compliance and Diminishing Marginal Returns : An Empirically-Driven Agent-Based Simulation Study

Failure of healthcare workers to perform hand hygiene is one of the leading preventable causes of healthcare-associated infections. Despite targeted interventions to improve hand-hygiene compliance, rates remain relatively low (averaging less than 50%) in many healthcare settings. Since it is much harder to raise compliance rates when rates are already high, achieving 100% compliance may ultimately be infeasible or cost prohibitive. In this paper, we use agent-level simulations empirically grounded in fine-grained healthcareworker movement data collected by wearable sensors deployed in a working intensive care unit to explore the effect of hand-hygiene compliance on the spread of healthcare-associated infections. These simulations permit us to determine if a “law of diminishing returns” applies to hand hygiene: in other words, is achieving 100% compliance always worth the cost?
Ecological light pollution

Ecologists have long studied the critical role of natural light in regulating species interactions, but, with limited exceptions, have not investigated the consequences of artificial night lighting. In the past century, the extent and intensity of artificial night lighting has increased such that it has substantial effects on the biology and ecology of species in the wild. We distinguish “astronomical light pollution”, which obscures the view of the night sky, from “ecological light pollution”, which alters natural light regimes in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Some of the catastrophic consequences of light for certain taxonomic groups are well known, such as the deaths of migratory birds around tall lighted structures, and those of hatchling sea turtles disoriented by lights on their natal beaches. The more subtle influences of artificial night lighting on the behavior and community ecology of species are less well recognized, and constitute a new focus for research in ecology and a pressing conservation challenge.
The effect of risk based auditing on financial performance in commercial state corporations in Kenya

xii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION: . 1 1.1 Background of the Study . 1 1.1.1 Risk Based Audit . 2 1.1.2 Financial Performance . 3 1.1.3 The Effect of RBA on Financial Perfo rmance in Commercial State Corporations . 4 1.1.4 Commercial State Corporations . 5 1.2 Research Problem . 6 1.3 Objective of the Study . 7 1.4 Value of the Study . 7 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW . 9 2.
The Effect of the Changes of External and Intra-Organizational Factors on Share Price in Tehran Stock Exchange

The investigation of the determining factors of the changes of share price in Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) leads into the identification of the price changes and the improvement of investors' decision making and optimum resources assignment. The question is raised that what factors increase the value of a company. The present study aims to evaluate the effect of external and intra-organizational and economical factors on share price. The present study is applied in terms of the aim and is descriptive-correlation in terms of the method. The current study is ex - post facto design. The sample population was the selected companies listed in TSE during 2007-2011 eligible among 87 companies. The results of the study showed that among the internal, asset increase variable had positively significant effect on share price and share trading was considered as an external factor on share price. Inflation and foreign exchange rates as macro economical factors had significant effect on share price and the effect of foreign exchange was negative and inflation rate had positive effect.
An Analysis of the Impact of Minimum Capital Requirements on Commercial Bank Performance in Zimbabwe

The research sought to determine the role of capital on commercial bank performance in Zimbabwe. Descriptive correlation method was used in this research and the population includes senior commercial bank performance. Twenty executives were selected from each of the chosen banks and interviewed on various issues pertaining to bank capitalization and performance. This was augmented by some regression analysis to determine the magnitude of effect of capital on performance of selected banks. The banks were grouped into strata which were classified as undercapitalized, fairly capitalized and well capitalized as determined by the country’s central bank’s minimum capital levels of US$12.5 million for commercial banks. Findings revealed that there is a significant and positive relationship between commercial bank capitalization and its performance. The findings of this research cannot be generalized to all financial intermediaries let alone all companies since it had narrowed down to commercial banks. The research managed to elaborate on the relationship between capital levels and bank performance as well as the importance of capital to other bank operations. Other factors affecting bank performances were only highlighted, thus other studies can carried out which looks at those factors in detail for example the impact of internal control systems on bank stability and performance as well as the role played by non-interest income to overall bank profitability.
Securities Lending as Wholesale Funding: Evidence from the U.S. Life Insurance Industry

The existing literature implicitly or explicitly assumes that securities lenders primarily respond to demand from borrowers and reinvest their cash collateral through short-term markets. Using a new dataset that matches every U.S. life insurer’s bond portfolio, as well as their lending and reinvestment decisions, to the universe of securities lending transactions, we offer compelling evidence for an alternative strategy, in which securities lending programs are used to finance a portfolio of long-dated assets. We discuss how the liquidity and maturity mismatch associated with using securities lending as a source of wholesale funding could potentially impair the functioning of the securities market.
Intangible assets, international experience and the internationalisation speed of retailers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study draws on the resource- and knowledge based views (RBV/KBV) of the firm to explain the internationalisation speed of retail firms. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use a panel data set of 144 international retailers over a ten-year period and employ feasible generalised least squares analysis in order to assess the effect of intangible assets and international experience on internationalisation speed. Findings – The results support direct effects of intangible assets and international experience, while the latter effect is also moderated by firms’ home-region concentration. Research limitations/implications – The study investigates the determinants of retailers’ internationalisation speed. While research stresses the positive performance effects of rapid internationalisation, future research should investigate the role of internationalisation speed for the performance of retailers empirically. The findings support the usefulness of adopting a RBV/KBV.
Customer Orientation of Bank Employees and Culture

The competitive nature of the financial services market has placed increased importance on the satisfaction of customer needs. This study considers the customer orientation of the customer contact personnel in four banks. Specifically, the relationships between employee motivation, satisfaction, and role clarity, and customer orientation are assessed. Findings indicate that motivation, satisfaction, and role clarity are all directly related to customer orientation. However, when these variables are considered together, motivation and role clarity appear to have the greatest impact on the customer orientation of employees. In addition, tellers were found to be less satisfied and motivated than other customer contact personnel. Managerial implications based on these findings are also discussed.
The Relationship between Working Capital Management and Firm Performance: Evidence from Iran

Working capital management is one of the most important financial decisions in corporate. The optimum management of working capital will increase the corporate value, so the primary goal of this research is evaluating relationship between working capital management and corporate performance. We used factors such as return on total assets, return on owner’s equity and market value to book value ratio for evaluating corporate performance and net liquidity balance as criterion for evaluating of working capital management . For testing the research hypotheses, financial statements’ data of 56companies accepted in Tehran Stock Exchange has been used and for analyzing and testing hypotheses, one regression model and correlation method is used. Research results show that there are positive relationship between working capital management (NLB) and corporate performance.
Apnoea and bradycardia during epileptic seizures: relation to sudden death in epilepsy.

OBJECTIVE--To record non-invasively ictal cardiorespiratory variables. METHODS--Techniques employed in polysomnography were used in patients with epilepsy undergoing EEG-video recording at a telemetry unit. RESULTS--Apnoea (> 10, range > 10-63, mean 24 s) was seen in 20 of 47 clinical seizures (three secondary generalised, 16 complex partial, and one tonic) and 10 of 17 patients. Apnoea was central in 10 patients, but obstructive apnoea was also recorded in three of 10. Oxyhaemoglobin saturation (SpO2) dropped to less than 85% in 10 seizures (six patients). An increase in heart rate was common (91% of seizures). Bradycardia/sinus arrest was documented in four patients (mean maximum RR interval 5.36, range 2.8-8.6 s) but always in the context of a change in respiratory pattern. CONCLUSION--Ictal apnoea was often seen. The occurrence of bradycardia in association with apnoea suggests the involvement of cardiorespiratory reflexes. Similar mechanisms may operate in cases of sudden death in epilepsy.
E-Government Readiness Assessment for Government Organizations in Developing Countries

ICT has become an increasingly important factor in the development process of nations. Major barriers can be met in the adoption and diffusion of e-government services depending on the readiness of a country in terms of ICT infrastructure and deployment. This study aims to define organizational requirements that will be necessary for the adoption of e-government to resolve the delay of ICT readiness in public sector organizations in developing countries. Thus, this study contributes an integrated e-government framework for assessing the ICT readiness of government agencies. Unlike the existing e-government literature that focuses predominantly on technical issues and relies on generic e-readiness tools, this study contributes a comprehensive understanding of the main factors in the assessment of e-government organizational ICT readiness. The proposed e-government framework comprises seven dimensions of ICT readiness assessment for government organizations including e-government organizational ICT strategy, user access, e-government program, ICT architecture, business process and information systems, ICT infrastructure, and human resource. This study is critical to management in assessing organizational ICT readiness to improve the effectiveness of e-government initiatives.
Permanently Desiring the Temporary? Snapchat, Social Media, and the Shifting Motivations of Sports Fans

The social media application Snapchat has ascended rapidly, quickly becoming the third most utilized platform of millennials with a valuation as high as US$19 billion. A national survey of 125 respondents revealed that people using Snapchat to follow sports devote roughly the same amount of time to the platform as Facebook and more time than Twitter, Instagram, or Pinterest. Despite finding other platforms better for sport information seeking, relaxation, and interaction, respondents still reported using Snapchat as a main platform for facilitating sport fandom. Both sport fandom and identification bolstered likelihood of using Snapchat for sport-related interactions. Implications for communication and sport scholars and industry professionals are offered.
N-Terminal peptide labeling strategy for incorporation of isotopic tags: a method for the determination of site-specific absolute phosphorylation stoichiometry.

Determining the phosphorylation stoichiometry at specific sites in a phosphoprotein is a very challenging task. We describe here a novel mass spectrometry based method that is capable of measuring the absolute phosphorylation stoichiometry at specific sites without the need for specific internal standards, phospho-site antibodies or radioactivity. The method is based on a gentle chemical labeling strategy which specifically and differentially labels the N-terminus of all peptides in a sample with either a D(5)- or D(0)-propionyl group and measures the ratio of the abundance of the D(5)/D(0) peptide pairs simultaneously using mass spectrometry. Using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI), the method can measure absolute stoichiometry to within at least 10% and can be applied to both in vitro and in vivo phosphorylated peptides and proteins. Furthermore, this method can potentially be applied to the quantitative study of other types of protein post-translational modifications, and the profiling of protein expression on the proteome level.
Popular Nutrition-Related Mobile Apps: A Feature Assessment

Background A key challenge in human nutrition is the assessment of usual food intake. This is of particular interest given recent proposals of eHealth personalized interventions. The adoption of mobile phones has created an opportunity for assessing and improving nutrient intake as they can be used for digitalizing dietary assessments and providing feedback. In the last few years, hundreds of nutrition-related mobile apps have been launched and installed by millions of users. Objective This study aims to analyze the main features of the most popular nutrition apps and to compare their strategies and technologies for dietary assessment and user feedback. Methods Apps were selected from the two largest online stores of the most popular mobile operating systems—the Google Play Store for Android and the iTunes App Store for iOS—based on popularity as measured by the number of installs and reviews. The keywords used in the search were as follows: calorie(s), diet, diet tracker, dietician, dietitian, eating, fit, fitness, food, food diary, food tracker, health, lose weight, nutrition, nutritionist, weight, weight loss, weight management, weight watcher, and ww calculator. The inclusion criteria were as follows: English language, minimum number of installs (1 million for Google Play Store) or reviews (7500 for iTunes App Store), relation to nutrition (ie, diet monitoring or recommendation), and independence from any device (eg, wearable) or subscription. Results A total of 13 apps were classified as popular for inclusion in the analysis. Nine apps offered prospective recording of food intake using a food diary feature. Food selection was available via text search or barcode scanner technologies. Portion size selection was only textual (ie, without images or icons). All nine of these apps were also capable of collecting physical activity (PA) information using self-report, the global positioning system (GPS), or wearable integrations. Their outputs focused predominantly on energy balance between dietary intake and PA. None of these nine apps offered features directly related to diet plans and motivational coaching. In contrast, the remaining four of the 13 apps focused on these opportunities, but without food diaries. One app—FatSecret—also had an innovative feature for connecting users with health professionals, and another—S Health—provided a nutrient balance score. Conclusions The high number of installs indicates that there is a clear interest and opportunity for diet monitoring and recommendation using mobile apps. All the apps collecting dietary intake used the same nutrition assessment method (ie, food diary record) and technologies for data input (ie, text search and barcode scanner). Emerging technologies, such as image recognition, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence, were not identified. None of the apps had a decision engine capable of providing personalized diet advice.
Commentary (Markus/Studer)—Testicular Cancer: What’s New in Staging, Prognosis, and Therapy

The management of patients with clinical stage I nonseminomatous germ-cell tumors is still highly controversial. In a recent survey, urologists and oncologists were asked to state their choice of treatment for patients with clinical stage I nonseminomas who were at high risk for recurrence after orchiectomy. Not surprisingly, urologists chose retroperitoneal lymph node dissection over chemotherapy, while oncologists indicated a preference for adjuvant chemotherapy. [1]
Intention to shop online: A study of Malaysian baby boomers

Using the theory of planned behavior as the theoretical framework, this study aimed to examine the relationships between attitude towards online shopping, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control, and intention to shop online. Based on a sample of 146 baby boomers who are Internet users but not online shoppers, the study found that two of the three determinants--attitude towards online shopping and subjective norm--were significantly related to intention to shop online. Implications of the research findings and recommendations for future research were discussed. Key words: Online shopping, intention to shop online, attitude towards online shopping, theory of planned behavior.
Investor beliefs and relative content in the news media

We experimentally investigate how the content presented by the news media affects investor expectations and beliefs. We ask subjects to estimate the future stock price for twelve real (anonymous) listed companies. They received information about historical stock prices and extracts from real newspaper articles. The relative content discussed in the newspaper articles was manipulated, while keeping the absolute content unchanged. We found that subjects were more likely to expect higher (lower) future stock prices, be optimistic (pessimistic) about the economy and the potential of a stock, to perceive stock markets as more safe (risky), and to decide to buy (sell) stocks after reading positively (negatively) framed news.
How do shoppers behave online? An observational study of online grocery shopping

The pace of online shopping revenue growth means it is important for retailers and manufacturers to understand how consumers behave online compared with their behaviour in brick and mortar stores. We conducted a study in which the detailed behaviour of 40 shoppers was screen recorded while they each undertook an online shopping ‘trip’. The shopping trip comprised purchasing a basket of 12 commonly bought grocery categories at one of two major retailers. The shoppers were all inexperienced in online grocery shopping. Results show that online grocery shopping is fast, even for these consumers who were new to it – half of the online shoppers spent less than 10 seconds purchasing from a category. This result is very similar to that of past studies in physical stores. Indeed, half of all the 12 item-shopping trips took less than 10 minutes. Also, most purchases were made from the first category page displayed in the retailer's online store. Shoppers also consistently used the default display options chosen by the retailers but used a combination of navigational tools to find their products. We conclude that online shoppers do not behave differently from those offline in terms of time spent or effort expended. Online shopping, in the grocery context at least, seems to primarily reflect a desire for time efficiency on the part of the shopper. In that regard, online shopping seems very similar to in-store shopping. The study begins the job of documenting shopper behaviour into this new channel and provides practical knowledge for retailers and manufacturers. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.