Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SMEs’ Intention towards Sustainable Entrepreneurship

Environmental degradation could be considered as one of the negative consequences of entrepreneurial activities. As such, entrepreneurs are urged to be proactive in resolving environmental problems through sustainable entrepreneurship. However, this new practice has not been fully accepted and exercised by many SMEs. Moreover, the studies pertaining to sustainable entrepreneurship are also very scarce in the literature. Therefore, this paper was conducted to investigate the contexts that directly and indirectly influence the SMEs owner-managersâ€™ intention towards sustainable entrepreneurship. A model was developed based on Theory of Planned Behaviour and Entrepreneurial Event Model. This study surveyed 404 SMEs in Malaysia by using self-administered questionnaires. It found that owner-managersâ€™ intention towards sustainable entrepreneurship was rather encouraging. In addition, factors such as positive sustainable value, favourable sustainable attitude, supporting social norm and sufficient governmental legislation directly increased the intention towards sustainable entrepreneurs. Moreover, those factors were also found to indirectly influence the intention through individualâ€™s perception. As such, this paper pointed out some critical factors that should be emphasized in promoting and developing sustainable entrepreneurship. Some recommendations for future studies have also been given at the last part of this paper.
Handedness in the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus).

For about 20 months the development of hand preferences in 21 experimentally naive common marmosets (Callithrix jacchus) was examined in 15 different tests. Test preferences were compared with their spontaneous behavior preferences in such contexts as feeding, grooming, play, and others. In the spontaneous use of the hands, only eight animals showed a significant lateral preference (2 left-handed, 6 right-handed). During the test period, however, the number of handed marmosets increased to 19 (5 left-handed, 14 right-handed). Most of the animals fluctuated considerably in their preference levels, a situation which led to a remarkable test response inconsistency of handedness. When the test situation was changed, complete reversals of handedness were more frequent than weakening or strengthening of a particular preference. The animals' emotions during the test session and environmental variables affected handedness significantly. None of the tested marmosets showed an increase of hand preference from the first to the last test. Our results indicate that Callithrix is ambidextrous rather than handed.
Enriching the ECSI model using brand strength in the retail setting

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of the retailer’s brand strength as a potential predictor of loyalty. It also examines the role of customer satisfaction (CS) to the retailer’s loyalty as well as its impact on the retailer’s brand strength. Design/methodology/approach The study was conducted in the grocery context and in a market under recession using the European Customer Satisfaction Index (ECSI) model. Data were collected through a telephone survey from 2,000 participants responsible for the household grocery shopping with a quota of 250 respondents from each of the leading grocery retailers in Greece. A formative measurement model was developed and the collected data were analyzed using partial least square path modeling. Findings The findings revealed that the strength of the retailer’s brand and CS influence retail loyalty and that brand strength mediate the strength of CS to loyalty. Results also suggested that the expectations and the perceptions toward the retailer’s product offering are the most important drivers of CS and loyalty. Thus, the study has proved the importance of the functional store attributes to CS and loyalty in the grocery store setting. Originality/value Research examining the suitability of the ECSI model in the grocery setting and in a market under economic crisis is scarce. This paper addresses these shortcomings by examining a customer loyalty model which incorporates the brand strength construct and investigates the role of brand strength as a potential predictor of loyalty as well as the role of CS in the brand strength and loyalty.
Modeling of flicker noise in n-channel FinFETs: Mobility fluctuations in the subthreshold region

In this work, the flicker noise in n-channel FinFETs has been modeled. The model has been developed by considering both mobility and carrier number fluctuations in the weak, moderate and strong inversion regions of operation of FinFETs. It has been demonstrated that mobility fluctuations cannot be neglected in FinFETs under the weak inversion region of its operation. For validation purpose, the model results have been verified with experimental data. Good agreement between the model results and experimental data has been observed.
Effect of Hydroxyurea on Procyclic Trypanosoma brucei: an Unconventional Mechanism for Achieving Synchronous Growth

ABSTRACT Procyclic Trypanosoma brucei cells were synchronized with 0.2 mM hydroxyurea. The cells did not arrest at the G1/S boundary but proceeded through one round of replication and arrested near the end of S phase. The mitochondrial genome (kinetoplast DNA network) replicated, forming two progeny networks, but the repair of minicircle gaps was inhibited.
Surgical outcomes in 118 patients with Rathke cleft cysts.

OBJECT Microscopic Rathke cleft cysts are a common incidental autopsy finding, but some Rathke cleft cysts can become sufficiently large to cause visual impairment, hypothalamic-pituitary dysfunction, and headaches. In this study patients were evaluated pre- and postoperatively to ascertain the clinical significance of surgical intervention on endocrine and visual improvement. Factors correlated with cyst recurrence were also evaluated. METHODS A retrospective analysis was conducted in 160 patients with Rathke cleft cysts who were treated between 1984 and 1995 and completed at least a 5-year follow-up period. Of these 160 patients, 118 initially exhibited symptoms of visual impairment or endocrine dysfunction, became symptomatic during the follow-up period, or were found to have cyst enlargement. These 118 patients underwent transsphenoidal surgery. Forty-two patients with incidental lesions that demonstrated no growth on magnetic resonance (MR) images were followed up without an operation. Complete resection, as observed on MR images 3 months postoperatively, was obtained in 114 (97%) of 118 patients. Vision improved postoperatively in 57 (98%) of 58 patients. Hypogonadism improved in 11 (18%) of 62 patients, growth hormone deficiency resolved in 14 (18%) of 78 patients, and hypocortisolemia resolved in one (14%) of seven patients. Twenty-two patients (19%) began to exhibit symptoms of diabetes insipidus, which had not been present preoperatively. The total 5-year recurrence rate was 18% (21 of 118 patients), with 12 patients requiring a repeated operation. Surgical and pathological factors that were found to be statistically associated with recurrence were the use of a fat and/or fascial graft for closure (p < 0.01) and the presence of squamous metaplasia in the cyst wall (p < 0.01). The extent of resection of the cyst wall was not associated with an increased rate of recurrence. In 42 (69%) of 61 patients the incidental cysts did not progress on imaging studies or clinically. CONCLUSIONS This is the largest series of patients with symptomatic Rathke cleft cysts who received operative intervention and participated in the longest postoperative follow up reported in the literature. The high recurrence rate (18%) supports the theory that a relationship exists between a symptomatic Rathke cleft cyst and craniopharyngioma. Improvements in visual and endocrine dysfunction can be expected after surgical decompression of the optic apparatus and the hypothalamic-pituitary axis.
Prophylaxis of lipopolysaccharide‐induced shock by α‐galactosylceramide

The NKT cell ligand α‐galactosylceramide and its synthetic homologue KRN7000 stimulate rapid and copious secretion of IFN‐γ and TNF‐α release, both of which are key mediators of LPS‐induced shock. We showed that KRN7000, injected before or within 2 h after LPS challenge, was able to prevent endotoxic shock. KRN7000 induced survival when the mice were injected 6, 9, or 12 days before the first injection of LPS, and this protective effect was associated with reduction upon subsequent challenge in the levels of IFN‐γ, TNF‐α, MCP‐1, and an increase of IL‐10. Further analysis showed that the animals treated with KRN7000 prior to LPS challenge had lower numbers of F4/80+, NKT, and NK cells and lower percentages of NKT cells that stained for intracytoplasmic IFN‐γ when compared with mice that were not treated with KRN7000. When MCP‐1 was injected in KRN7000‐treated mice, the lethal effect of LPS challenge was restored, and the numbers of F4/80+, NKT, and NK cells increased to levels similar to those in untreated mice following LPS challenge. Taken together, our data demonstrated that KRN7000, injected from 6 to 12 days before the first administration of LPS, prevented endotoxin shock by inhibiting IFN‐γ, TNF‐α, and MCP‐1 release.
The design and implementation of marine management strategies in Cambodia

This research examines marine management strategies in Cambodia, with the aim of addressing key issues relating to the design, implementation and management of marine protection systems. The establishment of marine protected areas in developing countries is perceived to solve many of the issues currently facing the marine environment. However, in reality this is not the case. A majority of the world's marine protected areas are considered ineffective, with issues relating to the environmental understanding and appropriate governance of such strategies. Implementing marine management is an extremely complex process, with many factors, stakeholders and individual site-specific variables and it has long been understood that an integrated social-ecological approach is preferable. This thesis aims to build a more comprehensive picture of the implementation of marine management strategies into developing communities and addresses a number of research gaps. This thesis provides key information on the current extent and health of coral reefs in the Koh Sdach Archipelago, and identies changes in the health of those reefs between 2002 and 2013 in the absence of marine management. The socio-economic impacts of the current management programmes used to protect the Cambodian coastal zone have been examined, and identify the perceptions of community members relating to governance, change and threats surrounding marine management. This work highlighted issues relating to the effective governance of areas at multiple institutional levels, stressing the need for increased governmental support and communication within and between management organisations. Finally, the suitability of volunteer and community-based coral reef monitoring was assessed. Despite only being a preliminary study into the potential applications of such systems, the results suggested that the use of both volunteers and community members in the collection of coral reef health data could contribute to the current deficit in monitoring data.
The Arrival of Fast Internet and Employment in Africa

To show how fast Internet affects employment in Africa, we exploit the gradual arrival of submarine Internet cables on the coast and maps of the terrestrial cable network. Robust difference-in-differences estimates from 3 datasets, covering 12 countries, show large positive effects on employment rates—also for less educated worker groups—with little or no job displacement across space. The sample-wide impact is driven by increased employment in higher-skill occupations, but less-educated workers’ employment gain less so. Firm-level data available for some countries indicate that increased firm entry, productivity, and exporting contribute to higher net job creation. Average incomes rise. (JEL F14, J23, J24, J63, L86, O15, O33)
Dipyridamole Decreases Protease-Activated Receptor and Annexin-V Binding on Platelets of Poststroke Patients with Aspirin Nonresponsiveness

Background: Although controversial, the phenomenon of aspirin resistance (AR) has been correlated in some small studies with poor clinical outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease. Even less is known regarding the role of AR in the poststroke population. The reason for and the underlying mechanism of AR is unknown. We hypothesized that excessive formation of thrombin on the platelet surface may contribute to this phenomenon and assessed how dipyridamole affects multiple platelet and thrombin generation biomarkers in AR patients after ischemic stroke. Methods: Whole blood samples from 20 poststroke AR patients were pretreated with dipyridamole, simulating the therapeutic range, and then incubated for 45 min at 37°C. Platelet characteristics were assessed by aggregometry, cartridge-based analyzer, and receptor expression by flow cytometry. Markers of thrombin generation were measured in the autologous plasma by ELISA. Results: Pretreatment of blood with dipyridamole resulted in 22–26% diminished expression of intact PAR-1 receptor (p = 0.021 and p = 0.024) and 28–31% decrease of annexin V binding (p = 0.031 and p = 0.02) after incubation with 2 µg/ml and 4 µg/ml of dipyridamole, respectively. Platelet aggregation and thrombin generation markers were not affected in vitro by dipyridamole. Conclusions: Dipyridamole may be capable of overcoming increased prothrombinase complex formation and be in part able to compensate for AR in patients with moderate carotid stenosis. This phenomenon may explain the clinical advantages of Aggrenox®, known to reduce ischemic events in poststroke patients as proven in clinical trials, though an additional antithrombotic benefit beyond the platelet inhibition by aspirin alone.
Inductive power transfer for electric vehicle charging: Technical challenges and tradeoffs

Inductive Power Transfer (IPT) is widely considered as an alternative to conventional conductive Electric Vehicle (EV) battery chargers for the unique advantages of the contactless power supply. In this article, the power electronics design trade-offs between the automotive requirements of high efficiency, high compactness, and low cost are analyzed for IPT systems. Pareto fronts show that physical limits severely restrict a compact and cost-effective design of the IPT coils. The challenge of realizing a competitive contactless solution is emphasized by a comparison of existing IPT systems to state-of-the-art conductive chargers. An overview of today's technology barriers is provided and the future perspectives for IPT are critically discussed.
A consumer-based brand equity model for the luxury and upscale hotel sector

Luxury and upscale hotels, in common with businesses in other service industries and more broadly, seek to develop a strong brand that will contribute to a long-term competitive advantage. However, research on consumer-based brand equity in luxury and upscale hotels is limited. Therefore, the current research, based on fundamental theories of brand equity development established in the packaged goods and the service industries including hotels, has developed a consumer-based brand equity model for the luxury and upscale hotel sector. A mixed methods research design was employed. A qualitative study was first conducted using focus groups with the data being content analysed to explore the brand equity development process from the consumer’s perspective. Afterwards, a quantitative examination was administered using an online questionnaire and inferential data analyses including structural equation modelling to identify significant brand equity dimensions and antecedents, and their interrelationships. Research findings highlighted that consumer-based brand equity in the luxury and upscale hotel sector can be assessed by two dimensions: a commonly identified dimension of brand choice and a new dimension of online brand advocacy. The findings indicate that in today’s digital hotel market where consumers frequently communicate about a brand online, consumer advocacy online becomes a strong predictor of consumer-based brand equity. The current research supported the commonly identified brand equity antecedent of brand image and revealed five additional brand equity antecedents in the luxury and upscale hotel sector, including customer relationship management, social image congruence, brand affect, brand trust and consumer-generated content. In particular, customer relationship management as reflected by a brand’s effort in building relationships with individual consumers was found to be the most influential to brand equity development. The study also found that brand equity development in the luxury and upscale hotel sector is driven by unique brand characteristics, including the
Combined treatment with benzylamine and low dosages of vanadate enhances glucose tolerance and reduces hyperglycemia in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats.

Semicarbazide-sensitive amine oxidase (SSAO) is highly expressed in adipose cells, and substrates of SSAO, such as benzylamine, in combination with low concentrations of vanadate strongly stimulate glucose transport and GLUT4 recruitment in 3T3-L1 and rat adipocytes. Here we examined whether acute and chronic administration of benzylamine and vanadate in vivo enhances glucose tolerance and reduces hyperglycemia in diabetic rats. Acute intravenous administration of these drugs enhanced glucose tolerance in nondiabetic rats and in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. This occurred in the absence of changes in plasma insulin concentrations. However, the administration of benzylamine or vanadate alone did not improve glucose tolerance. The improvement caused by benzylamine plus vanadate was abolished when rats were pretreated with the SSAO-inhibitor semicarbazide. Chronic administration of benzylamine and vanadate exerted potent antidiabetic effects in STZ-induced diabetic rats. Although daily administration of vanadate alone (50 and 25 micromol x kg(-1) x day(-1) i.p.) for 2 weeks had little or no effect on glycemia, vanadate plus benzylamine reduced hyperglycemia in diabetic rats, enhanced basal and insulin-stimulated glucose transport, and upregulated GLUT4 expression in isolated adipocytes. In all, our results substantiated that acute and chronic administration of benzylamine with low dosages of vanadate have potent antidiabetic effects in rats.
Dream Content Analysis of Male Schizoprhenic Patients *

This study explored two hypotheses — that the dream report content of groups are different from each other; and that with significant psychological change in a group there will be significant alteration in their dream report content. This study supported the first hypothesis — different groups do indeed have different dream report content (male paranoid schizophrenics compared to male college students); but did not support the second hypothesis — that with significant psychological change, dream report content altered (male paranoid schizophrenics before treatment and after improvement). The failure to support the second hypothesis may be related to the small number of content items compared and to the psychological states of the patients not being sufficiently different. It was possible to extract from the dream reports some areas of concern for the male paranoid schizophrenic patient, which suggested an avoidance of and a withdrawal from bodily concerns and interpersonal relationships. If there are before and after differences in dream report content they may be mostly related to the increase of active activities relative to passive ones following improvement and to a decrease in negative statements in the dream reports.
Ownership structure and performance of professional service firms in a declining industry: Evidence from Vietnamese securities firms

This study posits that the declining industry is a good institutional environment to examine the relationship between ownership structure and firm performance of Vietnamese securities firms. This downturn decreases the return on investment of the industry and creates incentives for managers to expropriate shareholders more severely. In addition, different groups of shareholders recognizing the status of the industry may have their own reactions which are likely to affect firm performance. Using pooled OLS regression with a sample of 240 observations from 56 Vietnamese securities firms over the period from 2009 to 2016, we find supporting evidence of convergence-of-interest with a significantly negative relationship between insider ownership and profitability. In addition, foreign ownership is also positively related to firm performance. Firm size affects positively firm performance while number of employees has a negative impact on profitability.
BSR & BHPR, BOA, RCGP and BSAC guidelines for management of the hot swollen joint in adults.

The clinical presentation of a hot swollen joint is common and has wide differential diagnosis. The most serious is septic arthritis, with a case fatality of 11%. Delayed or inadequate treatment leads to joint damage. These guidelines focus on the diagnosis and management of septic arthritis. Hot swollen joints commonly have other underlying diagnoses, including crystal arthritis, reactive arthritis and a monoarticular presentation of polyarthritis.
F‐actin waves, actin cortex disassembly and focal exocytosis driven by actin‐phosphoinositide positive feedback

Actin polymerization is controlled by the phosphoinositide composition of the plasma membrane. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying the spatiotemporal regulation of actin network organization over extended length scales are still unclear. To observe phosphoinositide‐dependent cytoskeletal dynamics we combined the model system of frustrated phagocytosis, total internal reflection microscopy and manipulation of the buffer tonicity. We found that macrophages interacting with IgG‐coated glass substrates formed circular F‐actin waves on their ventral surface enclosing a region of plasma membrane devoid of cortical actin. Plasma membrane free of actin cortex was strongly depleted of PI(4,5)P2, but enriched in PI(3,4)P2 and displayed a fivefold increase in exocytosis. Wave formation could be promoted by application of a hypotonic shock. The actin waves were characteristic of a bistable wavefront at the boundary between the regions of membrane containing and lacking cortical actin. Phosphoinositide modifiers and RhoGTPase activities dramatically redistributed with respect to the wavefronts, which often exhibited spatial oscillations. Perturbation of either lipid or actin cytoskeleton‐related pathways led to rapid loss of both the polarized lipid distribution and the wavefront. As waves travelled over the plasma membrane, wavefront actin was seen to rapidly polymerize and depolymerize at pre‐existing clusters of FcγRIIA, coincident with rapid changes in lipid composition. Thus the potential of receptors to support rapid F‐actin polymerization appears to depend acutely on the local concentrations of multiple lipid species. We propose that interdependence through positive feedback from the cytoskeleton to lipid modifiers leads to coordinated local cortex remodeling, focal exocytosis, and organizes extended actin networks. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.