Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
COOPERATION OR COOPETITION STRATEGY: WHAT IS THE BEST STRATEGY FACE TO COMPETITION’ INTENSITY AND STRATEGIC CAPABILITIES?

This study aims to decide on the question of the supremacy of coopetition’ strategies compared to pure cooperation’ strategies according to two explanatory factors both internally and externally. Through a sample of Tunisian industrial firms, the study confirms the simultaneous effect of competitive intensity and strategic capabilities on the nature of the strategy adopted. However, face to competition’ intensity, we conclude that strategic capabilities hold the highest weight in explaining coopetition and customer cooperation strategies, but the lowest weight when it comes to supplier cooperation. Also, we show the duality of recourse to the customer cooperation as well as the horizontal coopetition in front of the competition’ intensification. Even more, face to excessive competitive intensity, we find, surprisingly, the primacy of recourse to customer cooperation in face to horizontal coopetition. Moreover, our results also show that the strong need for strategic capabilities accentuates the use of coopetition to the detriment of cooperation.
Identification of markers of disease onset and progression in Huntington's Disease

Huntington’s Disease is a progressive, adult onset, neurodegenerative disease. It is inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion and is caused by a trinucleotide repeat expansion in huntingtin, which encodes the protein huntingtin. The length of the expanded trinucleotide repeats accounts for some, but not all of the age of onset of the condition. Despite the monogenic basis of Huntington’s disease, the clinical features display marked variability within families and between those who carry the same length expansion. The variability in age of onset and in clinical features is likely to be due to a number of environmental and other genetic factors. Identification of these factors may lead to novel therapeutic approaches. A number of potential disease modifying agents have been elucidated and are approaching clinical trials. Robust ‘biomarkers’ of disease onset and progression are essential for developing a framework for future clinical trials that have the ability to judge the efficacy of any therapeutic intervention. In this thesis I will present work arising from TRACK-HD, an international observational biomarker study of Huntington’s Disease which has identified a panel of biomarkers for use in future clinical trials. A number of subs-studies arising from TRACK-HD are also presented here. Firstly, a study investigating the use of Positron Emission Tomography and peripheral immune markers as biomarkers of disease progression followed by a candidate genetic modifier study focusing on immune pathways as genetic modifiers of age of onset in Huntington’s Disease.
Anti-inflammatory properties of L. casei loaded wheyprotein-alginate microparticles in animal model of colitis

Inflammatory bowel diseases are chronic conditions that affect large population and the drugs used for their treatment have great potential for manifesting adverse effects. Regular administration of probiotics incorporated in pharmaceutical and/or functional food products may significantly prolong, delay or diminish occurrence of these diseases or serve as supplements to conventional drugs. The probiotic L. casei has proved its beneficial effects in improving acquired immunity, decreasing colon inflammation, serum cholesterol and increased blood pressure, improving lactose tolerance, controlling irritable bowel syndrome and decreasing risk of colon cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the antiinflammatory properties of L. casei loaded in whey proteinalginate microparticles after oral administration to rats in which TNBS-colitis was induced. TNBS model appeared to show high correlation between the pathohistological, immunological and clinical features of the inflammation in IBDs. Comparing to the positive control, the total damage score and colon weight/body weight ratio decreased when L. casei was administered, with non-significant difference when free and encapsulated cells were administered (23% and 31% for the total damage score, and 5% and. 8% for the colon weight/body weight ratio, respectively). The activity of MPO was also decreased with the probiotic administration and the lowest value was observed when microparticulated probiotic was administered. Macroscopic and histological evaluation confirmed the higher potential of the microencapsulated probiotic to decrease the parameters of inflammation (Figure 1). Visible segments of ulcerations were not observed in the fourth group, while at the histological sections subepithelial polymorph nuclear infiltration was observed with preserved epithelium. Also, in this group, dilated blood vessels in submucosal layer and dilated intestinal glands were observed. In conclusion, the microparticluated L. casei showed high potential to be used as adjuvant therapy in IBD when incorporated in pharmaceutical dosage form or functional food product
The introduction and operation of standard costing at J&P Coats Ltd., 1925–1961: an institutional interpretation

ABSTRACT This study provides a history of the introduction and implementation of standard costing at J&P Coats Ltd, the British-based multinational thread manufacturers, between 1925 and 1961. By 1896, the firm had centralised sales and marketing, strategic and treasury management in its head office in Glasgow. The introduction of standard costing was intended to bring financial discipline within each of its home and overseas mills, to add to the central discipline and control which already existed across the company, as well as to facilitate some aspects of central accounting in Glasgow. The study ends in 1961, the year the company merged with Patons and Baldwins, another UK-based textile firm. As a theoretical lens, our history uses institutional theory, as it affects an understanding of the implementation and operation of new management accounting systems. In particular, we explore the concept that the development and use of new accounting systems may well be conditioned by both external and internal ‘institutions’, or ‘ways of doing things’. The Coats study responds to the call for longitudinal analyses of management accounting innovation from an institutional point of view. It shows how institutional factors affected the implementation and use of standard costing within the firm, operating through human actors and changing organisational structures. In addition, the study adds to what is known about the history and chronology of the development of standard costing in the UK, pointing out similarities and differences between what happened at Coats and other adopters. It underscores that what is known about the installation and usage of costing systems would benefit from an understanding of the institutional factors involved.
Staring at the West through Kremlin-tinted glasses: Russian mass and elite divergence in attitudes toward the United States, European Union, and Ukraine before and after Crimea

ABSTRACT In this paper, we investigatethe divergence in Russian public opinion between the masses and elites in terms of attitudes toward foreign countries in the post-Crimea era. To do so, we combine elite surveys conducted in Russia from 2000 to 2016 with an extensive database of Levada Center mass public opinion polling to test two competing models for explaining the observed divergence in mass and elite opinion: a demographic-driven Common Determinants model and a novel Kremlin Cueing model. More specifically, we assess the extent to which a set of demographic variables trained on a model of mass attitudes is able to predict elite attitudes. Our empirical evidence is more consistent with the predictions of the Kremlin Cueing model, indicating that, in some cases, elite opinion reacts very differently to shocks such as the Crimea crisis due to “where they sit” rather than who they are as individuals.
Eziologia del bruxismo notturno : una revisione della letteratura

: Bruxism is a para-function with tooth clenching and grinding. Particularly, the sleep bruxism is a frequent phenomenon that causes cephalalgia and muscular/joint pains to the awakening, besides an increased dental abrasion and sensibility. The etiology of sleep bruxism is uncertain: while the occlusal discrepancies and the anatomy of the bony structures of the orofacial region play only a minor role, others factors, like smoking, alcohol, drugs, systemic diseases, stress, trauma and heredity, appear to have an important role in the sleep bruxism genesis. Recent polysomnographic studies, suggest that sleep bruxism episodes are part of an sleep arousal response. The sleep arousal response is a sudden change in the depth of sleep. Besides the sleep bruxism appears to be an disturbance in the dopaminergic system. Further psychological factors (like stress, anxiety) are implicated in the aetiology of sleep bruxism as well. The aim of this paper is to review the literature on the aetiology of bruxism.
Pre- and postnatal nutrition – target for allergy risk reduction

Katri Niinivirta-Joutsa Preand postnatal nutrition – target for allergy risk reduction From Department of Pediatrics, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, the Doctoral programme of Clinical Investigation, University of Turku Graduate School (UTUGS), University of Turku and Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland. A rapid increase in allergic diseases in Western societies has led to the conclusion that our modern lifestyle is a risk factor for immune dysregulation. Potential culprits and benefactors are searched among early dietary and microbial exposures, which may act to program later allergic disease. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the role of early maternal and child nutrition in reducing the risk of child allergy. The study population comprised of 256 mother – child pairs from families with a history of allergy participating in a randomized controlled dietary counseling and probiotic intervention (Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG and Bifidobacterium lactis Bb12) study from early pregnancy onwards. The dietary counseling aimed for a diet complying with dietary recommendations for pregnant and lactating women, with special attention to fat quality. Maternal dietary counseling was reflected in cord blood fatty acids suggesting better essential fatty acid status in infants in the counseling group. Dietary counseling with probiotics or placebo had no effect on child allergy risk, but associations between maternal diet during pregnancy and breastfeeding and child allergic outcomes were found in secondary analyses. During pregnancy, milk intake was related to decreased and cheese intake to increased risk of child atopic eczema. During breastfeeding, intake of vitamin C was related to increased risk of asthma and intake of egg was related to decreased risk of atopic eczema. The timing of introduction of complementary foods to infant’s diet was not associated with risk of atopic eczema, when adjusted with parental opinion of child allergic symptoms (i.e., potential reverse causality). In conclusion, the results demonstrate that infant fatty acid supply can be modified via maternal dietary changes. In addition, interesting associations of maternal diet with child allergy risk were discovered. However, no difference in the incidence of allergic diseases with dietary counseling was observed. This suggests that more potent dietary interventions might be necessitated to induce clinical risk reduction of allergy. Highrisk families can safely adhere to dietary recommendations for pregnant and lactating women, and the results support the current conception that no additional benefit is gained with delaying introduction of complementary feeding.
Hemorragia intracerebral espontánea en México:: resultados del Registro Hospitalario Multicéntrico Nacional en Enfermedad Vascular Cerebral (RENAMEVASC)

Introduccion. Existe poca informacion respecto a la hemorragia intracerebral (HIC) en America Latina, y la existente ha sido derivada de registros hospitalarios de un solo centro con conclusiones no generalizables. El objetivo de este estudio es describir la frecuencia, etiologia, manejo y desenlace clinico de la HIC en Mexico. Pacientes y metodos. Se estudiaron pacientes consecutivos con HIC incluidos en el Registro Nacional Mexicano de Enfermedad Vascular Cerebral (RENAMEVASC), conducido en 25 centros de 14 estados de la Republica Mexicana. Se uso la Intracerebral Hemorrhage Grading Scale (ICH-GS) para estimar el pronostico a 30 dias. Resultados. De 2.000 pacientes con ictus agudo en el RENAMEVASC, 564 (28%) presentaron HIC espontanea (53% mujeres; edad media: 63 anos; rango intercuartilico: 50-75 anos). La hipertension arterial (70%), las malformaciones vasculares (7%) y la angiopatia amiloidea (4%) fueron las causas mas frecuentes. No se determino la etiologia en el 10% de los casos. Las localizaciones mas frecuentes fueron ganglionar (50%), lobar (35%) y cerebelosa (5%). La irrupcion hacia el sistema ventricular ocurrio en el 43%. La mediana en la escala ICH-GS al ingreso hospitalario fue de 8 puntos: el 49% presento 5-7 puntos; el 37%, 8-10 puntos, y el 15%, 11-13 puntos. La tasa de mortalidad a 30 dias fue del 30%, y el 31% mostro discapacidad grave. La sobrevida a 30 dias fue del 92% en pacientes con 5-7 puntos en la escala ICH-GS, mientras que se redujo al 27% en aquellos con 11-13 puntos. Conclusiones. En Mexico, la HIC representa casi un tercio de las formas de enfermedad vascular cerebral aguda, y la mayoria de los pacientes que la padecen presentan discapacidad funcional grave o muerte a 30 dias. La hipertension es la principal causa, por lo que el control de este importante factor de riesgo deberia reducir la carga sanitaria de la HIC.
Women with AIDS and Their Children

Health care policy and proposals for national health care reform have become some of the most contentious political issues of the decade. Garland Publishing announces a new series addressing the most significant issues in the area of health care policy and the business of health care in the United States. books in this multidisciplinary series will include studies of health care practice, the health care business, the implications of multicultural perspectives on health care for public policy, the impact of insurance on health care, and debates over national health care policy, including health care reform. This collection of timely works will offer significant scholarly perspectives on one of the most important issues in public policy.Women, especially African American and Latina women, comprise the fastest-growing group of people with AIDS in the United States. Most live in areas where poverty and crime are prevalent. The vertical transmission of HIV+/AIDS, in which transmission occurs in utero, is expected to become a leading cause of childhood death in the next decade. Most research on women with AIDS has ignored the psychological effects of the disease as associated with vertical transmission.Through interviews of women who are HIV+ or have AIDS, this book examines the women's reactions to AIDS and their relationships with their children as they cope with the disease. The findings indicate that most women with AIDS live in isolation and fear of disclosure. Psychological factors were found to be related to the progression of the disease, available support, and the existance of a reason to live. Maternal attachment is intensified with children with AIDS, or children whosecondition is uncertain. Women reported that they neglected themselves to care for their children, but that AIDS-related symptoms frequently prevented them from providing optimal care. Mothers looked to their healthy children for assistance with household tasks, childcare, and emotional support.
Preliminary Findings From Coding Student Design Journals

Since Fall 2000, mechanical engineering students at Montana State University have been required to keep design journals of their senior design projects. We have now accumulated over 70 journals on 21 design projects. We developed a coding scheme to code the journal data by design activity (problem definition, idea generation, engineering analysis, and design refinement), design level (concept, system, detail), planning, and formal reporting. The scheme was then used to code approximately one-third of the journal data collected to date. This paper will first describe the coding scheme and its development. It will then report some preliminary findings from the journal coding. Specifically, we will show that journal data can be used to produce time profiles of design activity over the course of the projects, estimates of the proportion of time spent in activity associated with the different codes, and comparisons of student processes to “good” design processes as documented in the literature. These findings should be of interest to design educators interested in assessing design processes. Finally, the paper will posit a number of hypotheses that arise from the data, for future consideration.
Examining cleft lip and palate as a lifelong disease: genetic investigation of causes and outcomes

Approved: ______________________________ Thesis Supervisor ______________________________ Title and Department ______________________________ Date 1 EXAMINING CLEFT LIP AND PALATE AS A LIFELONG DISEASE: GENETIC INVESTIGATION OF CAUSES AND OUTCOMES by Beth Noelle Davidson A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in Molecular and Cellular Biology in the Graduate College of The University of Iowa
Consumption of black tea and coffee and the risk of lung cancer

Objective: To investigate the associations between the consumption of black tea and coffee and lung cancer. Methods: This research was conducted using data from a Montreal lung cancer casecontrol study that included Canadian residents aged 35 to 75 years old recruited between 1996 and 2001. Cases were individuals diagnosed with lung cancer between 1996 and 1997 from one of 18 Montreal-area hospitals. Controls were randomly selected from the electoral list and frequency matched to the distribution of the cases by 5 year age groups, sex and electoral district. In total, 1130 cases and 1484 controls were included in this analysis. The odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between black tea and coffee consumption and lung cancer were estimated using unconditional logistic regression. Four aspects of the consumption were analyzed in separate multivariate models: the frequency of consumption, average daily amount of consumption, duration of consumption and cumulative consumption. Potential covariates included: age, sex, smoking, respondent status, ethnicity, alcohol intake, fruit and vegetable intake, energy intake, exposure to occupational agents and socioeconomic variables. Analyses by sex, smoking level and tumor histological type were also conducted. Results: No statistically significant association was observed between the consumption of black tea and lung cancer. There were indications that consuming black tea for 50 years or more was associated with an increase in the risk of adenocarcinoma relative to no consumption. A significant inverse association between the consumption of coffee and lung cancer was observed for occasional coffee drinkers when compared to never drinkers with an estimated OR (95%CI) of 0.32 (0.17 0.59). The duration of coffee consumption was not statistically significantly associated with lung cancer.
Understanding Donor-advised Funds: The Behavioral Economics, Macroeconomics, and Public Policies Relating to an Emerging Trend in Philanthropy

Donor-advised funds (DAFs) are changing the mode of philanthropy in the United States. The lack of research on DAFs leaves nonprofit managers and policymakers with little empirical evidence or theoretical framework. The purpose of this dissertation is to provide scholarly research about why people use DAFs, how they function within the nonprofit economy, and what public policies may most effectively address public concerns. To this end, the dissertation is a combination of three peer-reviewed scholarly articles covering these topics. The first article tests behavioral economic concepts relating to charitable giving that help to explain why people use DAFs. The results showed that lower prices of giving lead to increases in charitable giving amounts and that increases in agency lead to higher participation rates in giving. The second article addresses how money flows through DAFs to other charities, and how this grantmaking is affected by macroeconomic factors. The study uses a panel data set of about one thousand DAF sponsors over a ten-year period, and merges this data with four macroeconomic factors. The findings suggest that money flows relatively quickly through DAFs to other nonprofits, and that giving out of DAFs is more resilient to recession economies than other forms of charitable giving. The third article reviews the public policy debates around donor-advised funds and makes public policy recommendations. The paper starts by reviewing the three major policy issues with DAFs: 1) the timing of donations and tax deductions, 2) transparency issues, and 3) the costs to the federal government. After analyzing current proposals within a historical context, the paper makes recommendations designed for the best interest of the nonprofit sector as a whole. The dissertation as a whole represents a seminal effort to conduct empirical research on donor-advised funds to better understand them and provide a theoretical framework for public policy. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Social Welfare First Advisor Ram A. Cnaan
Firms’ performance and board size: A simultaneous approach in the European and American contexts

ABSTRACT The relation between performance and board size (BS) is analysed in the American and European contexts. It is found that return on assets (ROA) depends on BS defined as an endogenous explanatory variable. This potentially non-monotonous effect is modelled by introducing firm size and number of segments by board member as explanatory variables for ROA. BS net effect after accounting for the indirect effect resulting from these variables is negative. Differences in the results obtained for Tobin’s Q, strategic investors’ weight and equity to total assets, between America and Europe, suggest a more preventive management control in Europe.