Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Russian manufacturing industry - gaining competitiveness through organisational excellence: a study of quality practices, leadership and cultural differences

During and after perestroika in Russia, the number of state grders gradually decreased, which resulted in the scaling down of production volumes, employee layoffs and a wave of imported goods which made a few Russian industrial sectors redundant. The August 1998 crisis was a turning point for the Russian industry. It shattered a speculative sector of the Russian economy, dramatically decreased import and created psychological and economical background for the development of the Russian manufacturing industries. Because of the weak rouble, export increased and with it came the pressure from foreign partners to improve quality. From this point an interest in quality systems based on ISO 9000 started to grow. But in the environment of increasing globalisation and expectations of joining WTO, in 1-2 years, the issues of effectiveness in management and improving quality are not only issues of expansion, but more of survival in the domestic market. In order to survive, Russian manufacturing companies need to improve the competitiveness of their products both in the world and domestic markets. One approach to improving industrial competitiveness that has received considerable emphasis in all Western economies during the last 25 years or so can be referred to broadly as the quality movement. This movement started with a focus on the implementation of quality management systems (the ISO 9000 standards, previously BS 5750), followed by the influence of the Japanese total quality management (TQM) practices, leading finally to the present-day emphasis on organisational and business excellence. This project discusses the applicability of the Western quality practices in Russian manufacturing companies, including their suitability to the Russian national culture. Potential limitations for implementation of these 'practices are given along with the recommendations for their adaptation 'to the Russian economic environment. The research methodology has been constructed to achieve set research objectives. The recommendations made are a result of an analysis of a comprehensive literature review and three surveys carried out in St Petersburg manufacturing companies.
Success factors of virtual research teams – Does distance still matter?

Purpose of the exploratory study in this paper is to provide a first test of the transferability of success factors known from virtual teams to an innovative virtual research team. Investigating a real R&D cooperation with two virtual (regional & national) and one local research groups permits a comparative analysis of the influence of geographical distance. Though success factors seem to be somehow transferable, the geographical distance is still an influencing factor on the perception in virtual research teams. Based on results of this case study and 18 interviews, a ranking of success factors is provided which may help research managers in understanding where to place emphasis situationally on in order to successfully manage a virtual research team.
Enamel matrix derivative versus guided tissue regeneration in the presence of nicotine: a histomorphometric study in dogs.

AIM The goal of this histometric study was to compare the healing process of dehiscence-type defects treated by enamel matrix derivative (EMD) or guided tissue regeneration (GTR) under the effect of nicotine in the dog model. MATERIALS AND METHODS Eight mongrel dogs were used. Buccal osseous dehiscences were surgically created on the mesial roots of the mandibular third and fourth pre-molars. The defects were exposed to plaque accumulation for 3 months. After this period, the defects were randomly assigned to one of the treatments: open flap debridement (OFD), EMD or GTR with a resorbable membrane. During 4 months, the dogs received subcutaneous administration of nicotine (2 mg/kg twice a day with a 12 h interval between the applications). After this period, the animals were killed and the blocks were processed. The histometric parameters evaluated included gingival recession, epithelial length, connective tissue adaptation, new cementum and new bone. RESULTS A superior length of new cementum was observed in the sites treated by EMD in comparison with OFD (p< or =0.05). No statistically significant differences were observed between GTR and the other groups. CONCLUSIONS In the presence of nicotine, EMD may promote more new cementum formation than OFD while GTR failed to provide a significant difference.
The role of urban boundary layer investigated with high-resolution models and ground-based observations in Rome area: a step towards understanding parameterization potentialities

Abstract. The urban forcing on thermodynamical conditions can greatly influence the local evolution of the atmospheric boundary layer. Heat stored in an urban environment can produce noteworthy mesoscale perturbations of the lower atmosphere. The new generation of high-resolution numerical weather prediction models (NWP) is nowadays often applied also to urban areas. An accurate representation of cities is key role because of the cities' influence on wind, temperature and water vapor content of the planetary boundary layer (PBL). The Advanced Weather Research and Forecasting model WRF (ARW) has been used to reproduce the circulation in the urban area of Rome. A sensitivity study is performed using different PBL and surface schemes. The significant role of the surface forcing in the PBL evolution has been investigated by comparing model results with observations coming from many instruments (lidar, sodar, sonic anemometer and surface stations). The impact of different urban canopy models (UCMs) on the forecast has also been investigated. One meteorological event will be presented, chosen as statistically relevant for the area of interest. The WRF-ARW model shows a tendency to overestimate the vertical transport of horizontal momentum from upper levels to low atmosphere if strong large-scale forcing occurs. This overestimation is partially corrected by a local PBL scheme coupled with an advanced UCM. Moreover, a general underestimation of vertical motions has been verified.
Iron Overload Coordinately Promotes Ferritin Expression and Fat Accumulation in Caenorhabditis elegans

The trace element iron is crucial for living organisms, since it plays essential roles in numerous cellular functions. Systemic iron overload and the elevated level of ferritin, a ubiquitous intracellular protein that stores and releases iron to maintain the iron homeostasis in cells, has long been epidemiologically associated with obesity and obesity-related diseases. However, the underlying mechanisms of this association remain unclear. Here, using Caenorhabditis elegans, we show that iron overload induces the expression of sgk-1, encoding the serum and glucocorticoid-inducible kinase, to promote the level of ferritin and fat accumulation. Mutation of cyp-23A1, encoding a homolog of human cytochrome P450 CYP7B1 that is related to neonatal hemochromatosis, further enhances the elevated expression of ftn-1, sgk-1, and fat accumulation. sgk-1 positively regulates the expression of acs-20 and vit-2, genes encoding homologs of the mammalian FATP1/4 fatty acid transport proteins and yolk lipoproteins, respectively, to facilitate lipid uptake and translocation for storage under iron overload. This study reveals a completely novel pathway in which sgk-1 plays a central role to synergistically regulate iron and lipid homeostasis, offering not only experimental evidence supporting a previously unverified link between iron and obesity, but also novel insights into the pathogenesis of iron and obesity-related human metabolic diseases.
Increased Survival and Vascularity of Random‐Pattern Skin Flaps Elevated in Controlled, Expanded Skin

Controlled clinical tissue expansion, a new technique of providing donor tissue, results in an increase in surface area of expanded skin. The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of controlled tissue expansion on the surviving lengths of random-pattern skin flaps elevated in expanded tissue. In five pigs the surviving lengths of flaps raised in skin expanded for 5 weeks using a 250-cc rectangular Radovan-type tissue expander were compared with the survival lengths of flaps elevated in tissue in which a similar prosthesis was not expanded, bipedicle flaps delayed for 5 weeks, and control acutely raised random-pattern flaps. The expanded flaps had a mean increase in surviving length of 117 percent over control flaps, which was statistically significant. The delay flaps had an increase in survival of 73 percent over control flaps, which was also statistically significant. There was no significant difference in survival between expanded flaps and delayed flaps. Morphologic studies using radiographic techniques on one pig demonstrated increased vascularity with tissue expansion. The results of this work demonstrate that in addition to providing increased surface area with controlled expansion, flaps raised in expanded skin have a significantly augmented surviving length. The mechanism for this increased vascularity with expansion is not known at this time, but it may be due to physical forces associated with expansion acting as a stimulus for angiogenesis.
Assessment of Internal Doses in Emergency Situations

The need for assessing internal radiation doses in emergency situations was demonstrated after accidents in Brasil, Ukraina and other countries. Lately more and more concern has been expressed regarding malevolent use of radiation and radioactive materials. The scenarios for such use are more difficult to predict than for nuclear power plant or weapons accidents. Much of the results of the work done in the IRADES project can be adopted for use in various accidental situations involving radionuclides that are not addressed in this report. If an emergency situation occurs in only one or a few of the Nordic countries, experts from the other countries could be called upon to assist in monitoring. A big advantage is then our common platform. In the Nordic countries much work has been put down on quality assurance of measurements and on training of dose asessment calculations. Attention to this was addressed at the internal dosimetry course in October 2005. Nordic emergency preparedness exercises have so far not included training of direct measurements of people in the early phase of an emergency. The aim of the IRADES project was to improve the preparedness especially for thyroid measurements. The modest financial support did not enable the participants to make big efforts but certainly acted as a much appreciated reminder of the importance of being prepared also to handle situations with malevolent use of radioactive materials. It was left to each country to decide to which extent to improve the practical skills. There is still a need for detailed national implementation plans. Measurement strategies need to be developed in each country separately taking into account national regulations, local circumstances and resources. End users of the IRADES report are the radiation protection authorities.
Evaluation of Financial Forecasts An empirical study of revenue forecast accuracy and bias within M&A

Prior research has found evidence of management forecast bias and accuracy to significantly differ across a number of determinants. However, little research has been carried out during non-normal operations such as mergers and acquisitions (M&A). It can be argued that this context can induce further financial incentives on managers resulting in overly optimistic forecasting behavior. The purpose of this master thesis was to investigate revenue forecast issued by the target firm undertaking M&A activity. In conjunction to previous research, this thesis analyzed forecasts with respect to (1) firm size, (2) financial condition, (3) industry and (4) business cycle. The findings were based on a cross-sectional study with primary data from 103 revenue forecasts issued by the target firms during the years 2005-2011. The results showed that the revenue forecasts were generally optimistic with an average bias of 17 percent over a three-year period. In addition, smaller firms and firms with higher variation in historical revenues exhibited a significantly higher degree of optimistic bias and lower accuracy. No statistical significance was found between forecast accuracy and bias across the selected industries. A positive significance was found in bias between macroeconomic (GDP) forecasts and managerial forecasts, implying that similar overestimations and underestimations were prevalent during the business cycle. In contrast to earlier research findings, financial condition was not shown to explain forecast performance with any significance. Conclusively, the findings in this study contributes to research with new evidence regarding managerial forecasting behavior in M&A and provides insights that may support practitioners within M&A transactions to better understand the implications of revenue forecasting in this context.
Effect of inhaled nitric oxide on hemodynamics and VA/Q inequalities in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Nitric oxide (NO) has been reported to be an endothelium-derived relaxing factor, and hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction seems to be enhanced by inhibitors of endothelially dependent vascular relaxation. We examined the circulatory effects of inhalation of 15 ppm NO in air in 14 hypoxic patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Of these patients 4 breathed 100% O2 before NO. The effects of NO inhalation on pulmonary gas exchange were also studied in 12 of these patients using the multiple inert gas elimination technique, 3 of whom breathed air, 100% O2, and 15 ppm NO in air in succession. Under baseline conditions, both mean +/- SD pulmonary artery pressure and pulmonary vascular resistance were increased (Ppa = 24.3 +/- 10.4 mm Hg and PVR = 3.3 +/- 1.1 mm Hg/L/min, respectively). Although the pulmonary circulatory effects were not immediate, with no detectable changes after 1 min NO inhalation, Ppa and PVR fell significantly (-19.1 +/- 10.5%, p < 0.02 and -29.3 +/- 15.1%, p < 0.02, respectively) after 10 min NO inhalation. Moreover, the extent of the NO-induced reduction in Ppa was found to depend on the level of baseline pulmonary arterial hypertension. No systemic circulatory effects were observed. The mean VA/Q ratio and the dispersion of ventilation and blood flow distributions were not altered by NO inhalation, although there was a significantly higher percentage of ventilation (7.3 +/- 7.3%, p < 0.05) in poorly and unperfused areas (VA/Q > 10). (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Differences of small intestinal bacteria populations in adults and children with/without celiac disease: Effect of age, gluten diet, and disease

Background: Scientific evidence has revealed microecological changes in the intestinal tract of celiac infants. The objective of this work is the study of bacterial differences in the upper small intestine in both adults (healthy, untreated celiac disease [CD], and CD treated with a gluten‐free diet) and children (healthy and untreated CD). Methods: Intestinal bacterial communities were identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing of DNA extracted from duodenal biopsies. Results: Analysis of the sequences from adults and children showed that this niche was colonized by bacteria affiliated mainly with three phyla: Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, and Bacteroidetes. In total, 89 different genera were identified in adults and 46 in children. Bacterial richness was significantly lower in the children than in the adults. A global principal component analysis of the bacterial communities of both healthy and untreated CD patient groups (including both children and adults) revealed a strong effect of age in principal component 1—clustering all adults and children separately—and a possible effect of the disease in adults with untreated patients clustering separately. Conclusions: There are bacterial differences in the upper small intestine between untreated children CD patients and untreated CD adults due to age. There are bacterial differences in the upper small bacteria microbiota between treated and untreated CD adults due to treatment with a gluten‐free diet. (Inflamm Bowel Dis 2011;)
Acute care and antibiotic seeking for upper respiratory tract infections for children in day care: parental knowledge and day care center policies.

BACKGROUND Children who attend day care are high consumers of antibiotics. Studies suggest that physicians prescribe unnecessary antibiotics for upper respiratory tract infections (URIs) for children who attend day care on the basis of perceived pressure from parents and/or day care centers. OBJECTIVE To determine both parental and day care-level predictors of acute care and antibiotic seeking for children who attend day care. METHODS We conducted a day care center-based cross-sectional survey of parents and day care center staff. Two hundred eleven parents of children attending 36 day care centers in Massachusetts completed a survey. Day care center staff completed a separate survey addressing their day care center's policies for ill children. RESULTS Few parents reported day care staff pressure to seek care from a physician (3.9%) or antibiotics (1.9%). In multivariate models, higher parental knowledge about URIs was related to decreased acute care seeking for 3 upper respiratory symptoms (clear rhinorrhea, green rhinorrhea, and cough) in the absence of fever (odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals: 0.45 [0.31-0.65], 0.66 [0.52-0.85], and 0.57 [0.45-0.72], respectively). Parent-reported acute care seeking was not related to a day care center's polices for exclusion or physician clearance for these illnesses. Similar results were also found for the parental belief that antibiotics expedite return to day care for these symptoms. CONCLUSION Although it has been suggested that inappropriate day care center policies for exclusion motivate parental acute care and antibiotic seeking, this study suggests that parental knowledge is a more important predictor of these reported behaviors than are day care center policies.
Corporate Social Responsibility Reporting

The appearance of the idea of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is a consequence of the works introduced by international organizations in order to establish the rules of sustainable development. Accordingly 1 , we assume a collective responsibility to advance and strengthen the interdependent and mutually reinforcing pillars of sustainable development—economic development, social development, and environmental protection —at local, national, regional, and global levels. CSR is a concept according to organizations, generally on a voluntary basis, pursues a policy which takes into account social, environmental, and local business. Otherwise, the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) defined CSR as 2
Large Listed Firms in Europe : Impact of legal tradition and ownership structure onperformance

This paper investigates the impact of legal tradition and ownership on investment performance in large European listed firms. Europe is of special interest in this sense since the legal systems differs widely. Anglo Saxon, Scandinavian, German as well as French variants of legal systems can be found in representative forms in a concentrated geographical area. It is also interesting as the dispersed ownership pattern discussed and theoretized in much of the corporate governance literature is only common in Anglo Saxon countries. Most countries show a rather concentrated ownership of listed firms. This study differs from earlier studies by concentrating on large listed firms. These are firms in which shareholder protection should be most important for handling typical corporate governance problems. The results show in line with the expectations that performance is lower in these large firms. Somewhat unexpectedly the results also indicate that the Anglo Saxon legal system is no guarantee for good governance and importance. A possible explanation is that shareholder protection changes over time in a fashion that does not always follows legal origin demarcations.
Descriptive epidemiology of enteric disease in Chennai, India

SUMMARY There are very few data on the prevalence of coccidian enteric parasites among low-income adults hospitalized in Chennai, India. Stool samples from 200 patients were screened for selected parasites, enteric bacterial pathogens, and other protozoa over a 3-month period. The study identified 42 (21%) Cryptosporidium, 36 (18%) V. cholerae, 17 (9%) Salmonellla, 12 (6%) Isospora, six (3%) helminths, five (3%) Shigella, one (1%) Cyclospora, one (1%) other protozoan, and 0% V. parahaemolyticus cases. Co-infection was present in 21 patients. Cryptosporidium was detected in 17 (81%) of co-infected patients. Our findings highlighted the relatively high proportion of patients in this population with Cryptosporidium and Isospora and suggest that further study be undertaken to determine the utility of broader use of diagnostic testing for coccidian parasites in India. Detection may be beneficial because isosporiasis is treatable and both Isospora and Cryptosporidium are important pathogens in AIDS patients.
Phase I Study of Nab-Paclitaxel plus Gemcitabine as Neoadjuvant Therapy for Borderline Resectable Pancreatic Cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIM The aim of this study was to investigate the safety and feasibility of neoadjuvant nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine therapy for patients with borderline resectable pancreatic carcinoma (BRPC). PATIENTS AND METHODS The study was a prospective single-center phase I trial for patients with BRPC. The primary endpoint was the toxicity, and secondary endpoints were the resection rate, the R0 resection rate and quality of life (QOL) regarding the peripheral sensory neuropathy (PSN). This trial was registered on the UMIN Clinical Trials Registry (UMIN000018382) and on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02506803). RESULTS The overall rate of any grade and grade 3-4 events (CTCAE ver. 4.0 criteria) were 100% and 90%. The majority of these adverse events represented expected neutropenia. The resection and R0 resection rates were 80% and 70%, respectively. CONCLUSION We found that neoadjuvant nab-paclitaxel plus gemcitabine therapy was safe and feasible without stringent selection of patients with BRPC.
The Mediating Effect of Supply Chain Agility on the Relationship Between SCOR Business Analytic Solution and Supply Chain Performance

At the global competition in the modern era, have different products to suit customer requirements contracts made available to them. As a result, companies can no longer afford to do all alone. In a competitive market, the enterprises and productive addition to the organization and the internal resources, required to manage and monitor resources and associated elements outside the organization. So today is the implementation of supply chain management as one of the foundations of e-business infrastructure around the world. This study with supply chain operation reference (SCOR) model investigated effect of supply chain agility and relationship between business analytic and supply chain performance.