Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
EFFECT OF TREATMENT WITH CYCLOSPORINE VERSUS AZATHIOPRINE ON INCIDENCE AND SEVERITY OF CYTOMEGALOVIRUS INFECTION POSTTRANSPLANTATION

The incidence and severity of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection were evaluated in 24 renal transplant patients treated with steriods and cyclosporine and compared with 40 patients treated with steroids and azathioprine: 58% of patients receiving azathioprine and 33% of patients receiving cyclosporine required additional therapy with antithymocyte globulin (ATG) to treat steroid-resistant rejections. CMV antibody titers and cultures of urine and saliva were determined monthly for 4–6 months following transplant in all patients. Both the frequency of CMV infection (occurring in 58% of patients on steroids and cyclosporine and in 48% of patients on steroids and azathioprine) and its severity (21% of cyclosporine-treated patients and 22% of azathioprine-treated patients with symptoms) were similar in both groups. Use of ATG was associated with an increased incidence of CMV disease, especially for patients in the azathioprine group. Both the incidence of CMV disease, and the number of patients with symptoms in the azathioprine group were significantly lower when patients who had received ATG were excluded from analysis. When results were analyzed in just the cadaveric recipients in each group, the incidence and severity of CMV infection tended to be higher in azathioprine-treated patients compared with those maintained on cyclosporine. This could have been explained by the more frequent use of ATG in 84% of azathioprine maintained patients compared with 35% of cyclosporine
Predicting lexical accent perception in native Japanese speakers: An investigation of acoustic pitch sensitivity and working memory†

Spoken language perception may be constrained by a listener's cognitive resources, including verbal working memory (WM) capacity and basic auditory per- ception mechanisms. For Japanese listeners, it is unknown how, or even if, these resources are involved in the processing of pitch accent at the word level. The present study examined the extent to which native Japanese speakers could make correct- ness judgments on and categorize spoken Japanese words by pitch accent pattern, and how verbal WM capacity and acoustic pitch sensitivity related to perception ability. Results showed that Japanese listeners were highly accurate at judging pitch accent correctness (M = 93%), but that the more cognitively demanding accent categorization task yielded notably lower performance (M = 61%). Of chief interest was the finding that acoustic pitch sensitivity significantly predicted accuracy scores on both perception tasks, while verbal WM had a predictive role only for the catego- rization of a specific accent pattern. These results indicate first, that task demands greatly influence accuracy and second, that basic cognitive capacities continue to support perception of lexical prosody even in adult listeners.
Design and Integration of an All-Magnetic Attitude Control System for FASTSAT-HSV01's Multiple Pointing Objectives

The FASTSAT-HSV01 spacecraft is a microsatellite with magnetic torque rods as it sole attitude control actuator. FASTSAT s multiple payloads and mission functions require the Attitude Control System (ACS) to maintain Local Vertical Local Horizontal (LVLH)-referenced attitudes without spin-stabilization, while the pointing errors for some attitudes be significantly smaller than the previous best-demonstrated for this type of control system. The mission requires the ACS to hold multiple stable, unstable, and non-equilibrium attitudes, as well as eject a 3U CubeSat from an onboard P-POD and recover from the ensuing tumble. This paper describes the Attitude Control System, the reasons for design choices, how the ACS integrates with the rest of the spacecraft, and gives recommendations for potential future applications of the work.
Ladies' purchase intention during retail shoes sales promotions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine ladies' buying behaviour during shoes sales promotions in Malaysia, using the highly validated Belk's Model.Design/methodology/approach – Using this validated model, the main research framework consists of Social Surroundings (SS), Temporal Perspective (TP), Task Definition (TD), Physical Surrounding (PS), used as predictors for Sales Promotion Purchase (SPP). Ethnic groups are used as a moderator for this study.Findings – The results identify few key predictors during shoes sales promotion. Ladies expressed the importance of first day sales for first buyer's advantage, and they preferred large shops with music. Moreover, due to the multi‐racial society in the country, ethnic group interaction on the model did not indicate impact of consumer differences affecting the sales promotion purchase. That is, during a specific festive season sale, all ethnic groups take full advantages of the sale.Research limitations/implications – This implies that Belk's Model .
Role of CD4+ T-Lymphocytes in Rejection by Mice of Fetal Pig Proislet Xenografts

The role of T-lymphocyte subpopulations in the rejection of fetal pig proislet (islet precursor) xenografts in mice was examined with in vivo administration of monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) to CD4+ (GK1.5) and CD8+ (49–11.1) T-lymphocyte subsets. The data indicate that the rejection process is T-lymphocyte dependent and mediated by CD4+ T-lymphocytes. The in vivo administration of MoAbs specific for graft-borne pig leukocytes failed to prevent xenog raft rejection in fully immunocompetent transplant recipients.
The quality and the determinants of environmental reporting of electricity generating companies: An international comparison

Any use you make of these documents or images must be for research or private study purposes only, and you may not make them available to any other person. Authors control the copyright of their thesis. You will recognise the author's right to be identified as the author of this thesis, and due acknowledgement will be made to the author where appropriate. You will obtain the author's permission before publishing any material from their thesis.
E-government and administrative power: the one-stop-shop meets the turf war

Some recent reports have suggested that progress on integrated e-government has been disappointingly slow. Some of lack of progress is undoubtedly due to over-optimism and problems with legacy systems and underdeveloped infrastructures. However, other less visible obstacles can also cause problems. One key problem is localised power and territorial games.
Just-in-time: review of empirical studies

This study is a review of literature and empirical studies on the subject of Just-in-Time (JIT), conducted by a selection of articles published in international journals included in the ISCTE Business School Ranking, released since the 1980s to the present days. The purpose of this research was to compare the key features and benefits of JIT reported by the theory with the practice reported by companies in empirical studies already conducted. In addition, the percentage of use and the importance of JIT in different countries were also analyzed. A small case study of a Japanese enterprise – Mazda Motor Corporation – was also conducted in order to complement the investigation on the subject. As a result, it became clear that there were companies using JIT philosophy with distinct features and benefits that were not reported in the literature on the subject. The United Kingdom had the highest percentage of JIT use, and in broad terms, JIT was not frequently used in the majority of the countries surveyed. One reason for this can be explained by the fact that companies did not attribute a high degree of importance for JIT practices. This means that the companies analyzed did not implement JIT practices extensively.
Architecture of a Low Cost Technology Solution Integrating Mobile Financial Services with Aadhaar Authentication to Accelerate Financial Inclusion in India

Mobile phone technology is increasingly emerging as a high potential and well suited channel for delivering mobile money and other ﬁnancial services in a convenient and secure manner, allowing service delivery at low cost and in a ubiquitous manner. It offers the potential to significantly extend the outreach of ﬁnancial and banking services to millions of people. In particular, the reach and affordability of mobile phones in rural India can be leveraged to meet the basic ﬁnancial requirements of poor and unbanked people. Aadhaar (the unique bio-metric identity from UIDAI) authenticated mobile ﬁnancial services along with the Business Correspondent model for service delivery, can address mainstream banks’ major barriers to serving the low income market: the need for extensive high cost branch infrastructure, managing high volumes of low value transactions; fulﬁlling Know Your Customer (KYC) requirements; addressing Anti Money Laundering (AML) and Combating the Financing of Terrorism (CFT); and convenient anytime/anywhere delivery of services, that the banked customers have access to, through ATMs and Internet banking. This paper attempts to explore the potential of mobile technology and Aadhaar in extending banking and micro-ﬁnancial services to the unbanked.
Valuation of IPOs with Negative Earnings

IPO firms are new to the market and presumably more opaque than other public companies. Determining the value of these firms is challenging and even more difficult when earnings are negative. I value U.S. IPOs between 1994 and 2013 especially with negative earnings using a variety of different and novel techniques. The results suggest that IPOs with negative income are valued higher than other IPO firms. These higher valuations are in large part due to the increased marketing efforts of venture capitalists and underwriters. The findings show that venture capitalists and underwriters have market power to generate a high investor perception of IPOs and create investor demand, which boosts valuation. These high-valued IPOs tend to underperform in the long-run as valuation premia converge toward peer levels. Due to higher levels of uncertainty and overconfidence, IPOs with negative income seem to be different and more exposed to marketing hype than other IPOs.
Federal Reserve communications and newswire coverage

In this article, we explore the determinants of newswire coverage of Federal Reserve (Fed) communications. Our sample covers all 344 forward-looking communications made in the period May 1999 to May 2004. We find, first, that there is a higher likelihood of newswire coverage for monetary policy reports and speeches by Chairman Greenspan than for testimony and speeches by other Fed members. Furthermore, communications with an explicit monetary policy inclination or tone different from the current interest rate path are particularly likely to be covered. However, the release of important macroeconomic news reduces the likelihood of newswire coverage. Second, speeches by regional Fed presidents are relatively less likely to be reported than speeches by Board members. Nevertheless, newswire coverage of Fed president speeches is more likely if central bank communication is stale. Finally, our results indicate that Ben Bernanke played a distinguished role even before his Chairmanship.
Service quality perspectives and satisfaction in private banking

Examines the effects of service quality on customer satisfaction from two distinct methodological perspectives. Specifically, a study utilizing a sample of international private banking customers is conducted wherein service quality is operationalized via two distinct and well‐known measures – SERVQUAL and Technical/Functional Quality. These two service quality measures are subsequently compared and contrasted as to their ability to predict customer satisfaction. To further assess the validity of these findings, two moderators of the service‐quality/customer‐satisfaction relationship are introduced and evaluated. Finally, this research examines the potential utility of employing separate measures for customer satisfaction from the perspectives of both technical and functional aspects of the service delivery process. Overall, our findings are of importance to service managers as they strive to identify efficient and effective approaches for improving quality. The paper explores the theoretical and practica.
GREEN MARKETING : POLICIES AND PRACTICES FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Green revolution, going green, environmental protection, sustainable life style, sustainable development, protecting our earth and many more has become a natural phenomenon in our everyday life. Green marketing is a tool used by many companies in various industries to follow this trend. There has been a lot of literature review on green marketing over the years, this paper analysis the impact of green marketing strategies on customer satisfaction and environmental safety using comprehensive literature review. As a result, this paper can be used by researchers who need to find out the impact of green marketing on customer satisfaction and environmental safety. Green marketing is a phenomenon which has developed particular importance in the modern market. This concept has enabled for the re-marketing and packaging of existing products which already adhere to such guidelines. Additionally, the development of green marketing has opened the door of opportunity for companies to co-brand their products into separate line, lauding the green-friendliness of some while ignoring that of others. Such marketing techniques will be explained as a direct result of movement in the minds of the consumer market. As a result of this businesses have increased their rate of targeting consumers who are concerned about the environment. The paper identifies the particular segments of green consumers and explores the challenges and opportunities businesses have with green marketing.
Computerized tomography in chronic alcoholics.

Computerized tomography (CT) has made it possible to study the gross anatomy of the brain during life without significant risks or discomfort to the subject. While its main role has been in the diagnosis of intercranial space-occupying lesions and hydrocephalus, over the past 5 yr the technique has been used increasingly in the diagnostic evaluation and study of patients with vascular, demyelinating and degenerative brain diseases and in the detection of brain damage due to exogenous agents such as alcohol. As a result, CT studies carried out in Australia, Canada, and Europe have shown a high incidence of brain atrophy in chronic alcoholics and have provided important insights into the natural history of alcohol-related brain damage
New car retailing: an assessment of car manufacturers’ fairness on main dealers

This study focuses on the relationship between car manufacturers and dealers in the control of marketing strategies and retail distribution of new cars in the UK. It examines the role of manufacturers’ fairness (i.e impartiality – the manufacturer is seen to play fair) in developing long-term relationships between relatively smaller and larger dealers. Two components of fairness, the retail marketing procedural fairness (the fairness of the marketing processes used by the manufacturer in relation to its main dealers) and retail distributive fairness (the fairness of the outcomes received by the dealer for carrying the manufacturer’s car model), are investigated. The study reveals strong evidence suggesting that dealers’ perceptions of both the retail marketing processes and retail distributive fairness enhance a quality relationship. Furthermore, the results show that the quality of a relationship is determined by the level of outcomes (beneifts or burden) and uncertainty within the UK car market. Conclusions and limitations are presented.
MUC2 is the prominent colonic mucin expressed in ulcerative colitis.

BACKGROUND--It has been shown that MUC2 is the prominent mucin synthesised in healthy colon. AIM--To identify the predominant mucins in ulcerative colitis (UC) and to study their biosynthesis. METHODS AND RESULTS--Mucin was purified from UC resection specimens. This mucin on sodium dodecylsulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) presented as one, high molecular weight, periodic acid/Schiff's reagent (PAS) stainable band. Amino acid composition showed a close resemblance to that of MUC2. Immunoprecipitation with a specific anti-MUC2 antiserum confirmed that this mucin was MUC2. In addition, on the mRNA level MUC2 was also the most prominent mucin expressed in UC. Polyclonal antiserum was elicited, mainly recognising mucin peptide epitopes of UC and normal colonic mucin. Biosynthetic studies with [35S]amino acids showed that the MUC2-precursor in UC displayed a molecular mass on SDS-PAGE of approximately 600 kDa. This precursor was converted into a mature MUC2 with anomalous mobility on SDS-PAGE of 550 kDa and was secreted. Only this 550 kDa band could be labelled with [35S]sulphate and stained by PAS. CONCLUSIONS--This study shows that in parallel with the mucin expression in healthy controls, MUC2 is the major mucin expressed in UC. Qualitatively, MUC2 biosynthesis seems unchanged in UC.
All Phox Homology (PX) Domains from Saccharomyces cerevisiae Specifically Recognize Phosphatidylinositol 3-Phosphate*

Phox homology (PX) domains are named for a 130-amino acid region of homology shared with part of two components of the phagocyte NADPH oxidase (phox) complex. They are found in proteins involved in vesicular trafficking, protein sorting, and lipid modification. It was recently reported that certain PX domains specifically recognize phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PtdIns-3-P) and drive recruitment of their host proteins to the cytoplasmic leaflet of endosomal and/or vacuolar membranes where this phosphoinositide is enriched. We have analyzed phosphoinositide binding by all 15 PX domains encoded by theSaccharomyces cerevisiae genome. All yeast PX domains specifically recognize PtdIns-3-P in protein-lipid overlay experiments, with just one exception (a significant sequence outlier). In surface plasmon resonance studies, four of the yeast PX domains bind PtdIns-3-P with high (micromolar range) affinity. Although the remaining PX domains specifically recognize PtdIns-3-P, they bind this lipid with only low affinity. Interestingly, many proteins with “low affinity” PX domains are known to form large multimeric complexes, which may increase the overall avidity for membranes. Our results establish that PtdIns-3-P, and not other phosphoinositides, is the target of all PX domains in S. cerevisiae and suggest a role for PX domains in assembly of multiprotein complexes at specific membrane surfaces.
Effects of livelihood strategies on adoption of farm-specific land management practices among crop farmers in South West, Nigeria.

Adoption of Land Management Practices (LMP) among crop farmers in Nigeria has not been effective, due, among others, to neglect of Livelihood Strategy (LS) in LMP programme intervention. This study investigated the nexus between LS and LMP. Multistage random sampling was used to collect primary data from 400 farmers in South West Nigeria. Probit regression model was used to analyze data for 2007 production season. Farmers engaged in staple Crops/Off-farm Income (LS1=30.0%); StapleCrops/WagesandSalary (LS2=22.5%);LS1/Vegetable/Fruits/Livestock Production (LS3=27.5%); LS3/Tree Crops (LS4=20.0%). Farmers adopt multiple LMPs for crop production. Agronomic Practices (AP = 80.0%) was preferred to other LMPs including Soil Management Practices (SMP = 65.0%), Conservation Practices (CP = 60.0%), Structural and Mechanical Erosion Control Practices (SMECP = 34.0%). The effect of other LS relative to LS1 on LMP reveals that households pursuing LS3 and LS4 are more likely to use SMECP and CP. LS2 households are more likely to use AP and SMP. The probability of adoption of SMECP, AP, SMP and CP increases with farmers' membership of CBO and years of education. Topography, farm size cultivated and tenancy security increase probability of adoption of SMECP. Adopters of AP and SMP cultivate small land and had contact with extension agent. Users of CP cultivate crops on slopy farm land. Farmers in rainforest belt are more likely to adopt SMECP and CP. Reverse is the case for AP and SMP. Thus, sustainable food policy and LMP programmes requires understanding of LS of the farming households.
Measurement of electric fields due to time-varying magnetic field gradients using dipole probes

The operation of dipole probes in measuring electric fields in conductive media exposed to temporally varying magnetic fields is discussed. The potential measured by the probe can be thought of as originating from two contributions to the electric field, namely the gradient of the scalar electric potential and the temporal derivative of the magnetic vector potential. Using this analysis, it is shown that the exact form of the wire paths employed when using electric field probes to measure the effects of temporally varying magnetic fields is very important and this prediction is verified via simple experiments carried out using different probe geometries in a cylindrical sample exposed to a temporally varying, uniform magnetic field. Extending this work, a dipole probe has been used to measure the electric field induced in a cylindrical sample by gradient coils as used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Analytic solutions for the electric field in an infinite cylinder are verified by comparison with experimental measurements. Deviations from the analytic solutions of the electric field for the x-gradient coil due to the finite length of the sample cylinder are also demonstrated. For more information on this article, see medicalphysicsweb.org
A spectroscopic multiplicity survey of Galactic Wolf-Rayet stars. II. The northern WNE sequence

Most massive stars reside in multiple systems that will interact over the course of their lifetime. Classical Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars represent the final end stages of stellar evolution at the upper-mass end. As part of a homogeneous, magnitude-limited ($V\leq12$) spectroscopic survey of northern Galactic WR stars, this paper aims to establish the observed and intrinsic multiplicity properties of the early-type nitrogen-rich WR population (WNE). We obtained high-resolution spectroscopic time series of the complete magnitude-limited sample of 16 WNE stars observable with the 1.2 m Mercator telescope at La Palma, typically providing a time base of about two to eight years. We measured relative radial velocities (RVs) using cross-correlation and used RV variations to flag binary candidates. Adopting a peak-to-peak RV variability threshold of 50 km/s as a criterion found an observed multiplicity fraction of 0.44$\pm$0.12. Using an updated Monte Carlo method with a Bayesian framework, we calculated the three-dimensional likelihood for the intrinsic binary fraction, the maximum period, and the power-law index for the period distribution for the WNE population. We also re-derived multiplicity parameters for the Galactic WC population. We found an intrinsic multiplicity fraction of $0.56\substack{+0.20 \\ -0.15}$ for the parent WNE population. For the Galactic WC population, we re-derive an intrinsic multiplicity fraction of $0.96\substack{+0.04 \\ -0.22}$. The derived multiplicity parameters for the WNE population are quite similar to those derived for main-sequence O binaries but differ from those of the WC population. The significant shift in the WC period distribution towards longer periods is too large to be explained via expansion of the orbit due to stellar winds, and we discuss possible implications of our results.