Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Public Health Risk of Abattoir Operation in Zango Abattoir Zaria, Kaduna State Nigeria

Background: Abattoir activities are known to pollute the environment, posing significant public health concerns. These activities can predispose abattoir workers and individuals living close to abattoirs to certain infections. Aim: To determine the public health risk of abattoir operation in Zango Abattoir Zaria, Kaduna State Nigeria. Methodology: The abattoir was visited for a period of 1 week within the hours of 6.30 a.m to 9 a.m to determine various activities at the abattoir and to access public health concerns during its operation. Pre-tested structured questionnaires were distributed to all individuals processing
Optimization of physiological lipid mixtures for barrier repair.

Three stratum corneum lipids, ceramides, cholesterol (CHOL), and free fatty acids (FA), are required for permeability barrier homeostasis. Recent studies have shown that application of one or two of these lipids to perturbed skin delays barrier recovery; only equimolar mixtures allow normal recovery. We asked here whether any physiological lipid mixtures improve barrier repair, as assessed by transepidermal water loss. Whereas an equimolar ratio of ceramides, CHOL, and FA (either the essential fatty acid, linoleic acid, or the nonessential FAs, palmitic or stearic acids) allows normal repair, further acceleration of barrier repair occurs as the ratio of any of these ingredients is increased up to 3-fold. Similar preliminary results were obtained in damaged human skin. Likewise, while acylceramides alone delay barrier recovery, acylceramides: CHOL mixtures within a specific range of molar rations dramatically improve barrier repair. Furthermore, glycosyl ceramides, sphingomyelin, and triglycerides substitute effectively for ceramides and FA, respectively, but neither phospholipids nor cholesterol esters substitute for FA and CHOL, respectively. These studies show the specific requirements of selected stratum corneum lipid mixtures for optimized barrier repair in murine skin, with further validation in human skin. Utilization of physiologic lipids according to these parameters could lead to new forms of topical therapy for dermatoses (e.g., psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, and irritant dermatitis) triggered by abnormal barrier function.
Trading Responses to Analyst Reports by Investor Types: Korean Evidence

Using trading data from the Korean equity market, where individual investors are active, we investigate whether there is any difference amongst individual investors, domestic institutional investors and foreign institutional investors in trading responses to analyst reports. We also examine the determinants of the trading responses of each investor type to analyst reports where we use firm characteristics as well as analyst characteristics as the determinants of the release date trading volumes of each investor type. Our findings are as follows. First, individual investors are the most responsive investor group to the analyst reports suggesting that institutional investors (domestic and foreign) perceive analyst reports to be less informative than do the individual investors. In particular, individual investors respond to information on small to medium sized firms as well as optimistic forecasts suggesting that they tend to be the proverbial “suckers” of the market. Second, domestic institutional investors increase trading volumes for neglected firms characterized by large information asymmetry and firms with high volatility. Furthermore, the increase in trading volume by domestic institutional investors occurs prior to the release date of analyst reports, suggesting that domestic institutional investors are informed traders. Third, foreign institutional investors do not show meaningful responses to research reports by local analysts suggesting that foreign institutional investors do not find the information provided by local analysts informative. Our findings overall suggest that the research analysts act primarily as information transmitter repackaging disclosed information in the Korean market.
What is the precautionary cash value globally

While idle cash is costly for the firms, there are numerous advantages of large cash holding, such as ease of investment, management and reduced financial risk. In this study we examine the costs and benefits of cash holding in financially constrained and unconstrained firms in conjunction with business cycles and macro conditions, globally. Consistent with Faulkender and Wang (2006), we find high cash holding for financially constrained firms creates value in most countries. More importantly, the value of the cash holding is mostly prevalent in the presence of good investment opportunities in the industry. In industries with declining investment opportunities, high cash holding does not create value. In fact, in declining industries the financial constraints create value for the firms by restricting suboptimal investment. In addition, we show that large cash holding are also beneficial in financially unconstrained firms conditional on changes in macro condition.
The Situation of Social Capital in New Settlements of Developing Countries Case Study: Golbahar, Mashhad, Iran

The increasing growth of population in developing countries has provided a new situation in developing countries especially in Iran. The literature review of the research shows that the older parts of cities are unable to meet the increasing need for new houses in developing countries. Socioeconomic challenges and other environmental issues turned old parts of cities into deteriorating districts which result in increasing demand for new shelters. Therefore, generally new residential complexes are built and developed in new parts of the cities which are located in suburbs and its vicinities. But the main question is that whether those new city parts can perform their main duties especially in the area of social sustainability for the residents or not? As a result, the most important questions of the research are: (a) what does social sustainability mean? And what kinds of parameters can represent the meaning of social sustainability in residential complexes? And (b) how is the quality of social capital in new parts of developing cities in comparison with older parts? To answer the previous mentioned questions of research, the city of Mashhad has been chosen as a case study of analysis. The research is to compare Golbahar residential complex as a new-built districts with conventional residential areas of Mashhad. Two neighbourhoods are chosen from Golbahar new Settlements and two other samples will be chosen accidentally from the older parts of the city of Mashhad. Case study method and combined strategies have been adopted to analyze the samples. Survey techniques by means of diagnostic questionnaires have been adopted for data gathering. The results of the research show that the newer parts of cities have researched remarkable successes in some fields especially providing people with safe and modern shelters. But those are not so successful in social sustainability and had yet to increase the social capital of residents.
Corporate reputation, trait covariation and the averaging principle ‐ The case of the UK pensions mis‐selling scandal

Presents the results of an empirical investigation into whether the attribution by members of the public of an unfavourable reputational trait (e.g. dishonesty) to a company covaries with other traits ascribed to the same enterprise. Additionally it examines whether people aggregate successive pieces of unfavourable information received about a business to form a continuously worsening impression of it; or whether they mentally average bad news, so that successive adverse items can actually improve the overall impression – provided the later messages are not as damaging as the earlier ones. The study is based on the UK pensions mis‐selling scandal, which generated severe, long‐term media criticism of the large UK insurance companies. Hence it analyses a unique reputational management situation in that the firms involved are subject to continuous and intense scrutiny, protracted and hostile media coverage, periodic public censure by regulatory authorities, and interference in day‐to‐day management by government agencies. The proposition that pensions are an “avoidance product” is also explored.
TP53 overexpression is an independent adverse prognostic factor in de novo myelodysplastic syndromes with fibrosis

Bone marrow (BM) fibrosis is associated with poor prognosis in patients with de novo myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). TP53 mutations and TP53 (p53) overexpression in MDS are also associated with poor patient outcomes. The prevalence and significance of TP53 mutations and TP53 overexpression in MDS with fibrosis are unknown. We studied 67 patients with de novo MDS demonstrating moderate to severe reticulin fibrosis (MDS‐F). Expression of TP53 was evaluated in BM core biopsy specimens using dual‐colour CD34/TP53 immunohistochemistry with computer‐assisted image analysis. Mutation analysis was performed using next‐generation sequencing, or Sanger sequencing methods. TP53 mutations were present in 47·1% of cases. TP53 mutation was significantly associated with TP53 expression (P = 0·0294). High levels of TP53 expression (3 + in ≥10% cells) were associated with higher BM blast counts (P = 0·0149); alterations of chromosomes 5 (P = 0·0009) or 7 (P = 0·0141); complex karyotype (P = 0·0002); high‐ and very‐high risk IPSS‐R groups (P = 0·009); and TP53 mutations (P = 0·0003). High TP53 expression independently predicted shorter overall survival (OS) by multivariate analysis (P = <0·001). Expression of TP53 by CD34‐positive cells was associated with shorter OS and leukaemia‐free survival (P = 0·0428). TP53 overexpression is a predictor of poor outcome in patients with MDS‐F.
Construction plant breakdown criticality analysis – part 1:UAE perspective

Purpose – The purpose of this paper to develop a novel strategic approach to handle corrective maintenance procedure in the event of a breakdown/disruption of service. A proposal to minimize the recovery time and the breakdown cost in the system in construction plant is presented.Design/methodology/approach – The past plant breakdown records of a construction organization are considered for the analysis. From the previous breakdown records, a high level metric using Pareto analysis and the cause effect analysis is used to identify the main breakdown main codes (BMC) and the subsequent breakdown sub codes (BSC). Prioritized BMC and BSCs are used to formulate dedicated breakdown maintenance teams, which act swiftly in the event of the breakdown with the modified methods.Findings – The study was conducted, on four different types of heavy lifting/earth moving/material handling system equipment, which are used to load/unload/haul and transport construction materials. Failure due to tyre puncture and allied pr.
Evaluation of melanin‐related metabolites as markers of melanoma progression

Background. Urinary excretion of 5‐S‐cysteinyldopa (5‐S‐CD) has been used as a biochemical marker of melanoma progression. Melanomas produce not only 5‐S‐CD but also 5,6‐dihydroxyindole‐2‐carboxylic acid (5,6DHI2C) as major intermediates in melanin formation. 5,6DHI2C is then metabolized to the two O‐methyl derivatives, 5H6MI2C and 6H5MI2C. The aim of this study was to determine which marker in serum and urine most sensitively reflected the progression of melanoma.
Unemployment and serious suicide attempts

Background. This study used a case–control design to examine the association between unemployment and risk of medically serious suicide attempt. Method. A sample of 302 individuals who made serious suicide attempts was contrasted with 1028 randomly selected community control subjects. Results. Individuals who made serious suicide attempts reported higher rates of current unemployment (OR=4·2) than control subjects. This association was similar for males and females. However, even before adjustment for confounding factors it was evident that exposure to unemployment made only a small contribution to suicide attempt risk. The population attributable risk for exposure to unemployment was 7·3%. After adjustment for antecedent childhood, family and educational factors the association between unemployment and risk of serious suicide attempt was reduced but remained significant (OR=2·1), suggesting that common antecedent factors made a large contribution to risks of both unemployment and serious suicide attempt. When both antecedent family and childhood factors, and psychiatric morbidity were taken into account, unemployment was not significantly related to risks of serious suicide attempt. Conclusion. The results of this study provide support for the contention that much of the association between unemployment and suicidal behaviour is non-causal, and reflects common or correlated factors that contribute to risks of both unemployment and suicidal behaviour. Any remaining association between unemployment and suicide attempt risk appears to arise from the correlation that exists between unemployment and psychiatric disorder.
Analysis of the determinants of the sustainability of cattle marketing systems in Zambezi Region of north-eastern communal area of Namibia

This article aims to contribute to a better understanding of variables that influence the motivation behind the preferred choice of cattle marketing channels in north eastern communal area of Namibia. The data required for the study were collected through a small-scale survey, key informants in-depth interviews and review of secondary data were analysed using Multinomial Logistical Regression. The results showed that the majority (62%) of small scale cattle farmers preferred to trade through informal marketing channel (comprising open market, private sales and butcheries). The abattoir was the single most preferred channel for 38% and the only available formal market. Four factors are identified motivating cattle farmers to choose this marketing channel namely, the gender of the household head, marketing information received, education and number of livestock sold. The results also suggest that formal marketing is relatively relevant to farmers with large cattle numbers and meet the required standards from abattoirs. The study recommended that in order to increase the number of cattle marketed through the formal channels, there is need to improve overall herd size, as well as setting attractive prices coupled with reduced delays in making payments to the farmers for their livestock sold. Key words: Formal market, informal market, factors, sales, agriculture, livestock.
Too much delay fault coverage is a bad thing

Delay fault test application via enhanced scan and skewed load techniques is shown to allow scan-based delay tests to be applied that are unrealizable in normal operation. Rather than higher coverage being a positive feature, it is shown to have negative impact on yield and designer productivity. The use of functionally justified tests is defended by both a motivating example and data from benchmark circuits. Implications on overhead, yield, timing optimization, and test debug are discussed.
Sheep stromal‐epithelial cell interactions and ovarian tumor progression

Previous studies suggest that underlying ovarian stromal cues may regulate the ovarian surface epithelium. However, little is known about the interaction between ovarian stromal cells (OSC) and ovarian surface epithelial cells (OSE) under normal physiologic and pathologic conditions, largely because of the lack of a suitable model. In the current study, the OSC obtained from a sheep were immortalized with SV‐40 T/t antigen (designated IOSC) and telomerase reverse transcriptase (designated IOSCH), followed by transfection with the oncogenic allele of the human H‐Ras oncogene (designated IOSChR). IOSC cells transfected with H‐Ras before immortalization with telomerase were designated IOSCRH. These sheep OSCs were used in both in vitro and in vivo model systems to evaluate mechanisms by which OSCs influence ovarian tumor progression. Normal sheep OSCs were found to inhibit the growth of SKOV3 and OVCAR3 human ovarian cancer cells, but not normal sheep OSE and human OSE cells (hOSE137 cells). In contrast, IOSChR and IOSCRH cells stimulated the growth of normal sheep and human OSE cells, as well as cancer cells. These findings were confirmed by in vivo studies. Our data provide compelling support for the importance of stromal‐epithelial cell interactions during tumor progression, and show for the first time that immortalized and transformed OSCs promote growth of ovarian epithelial tumors. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Spectroscopic characterization of 57Fe-reconstituted rubrerythrin, a non-heme iron protein with structural analogies to ribonucleotide reductase.

Rubrerythrin, a contraction of rubredoxin and hemerythrin, is the trivial name given to a non-heme iron protein isolated from Desulfovibrio vulgaris (Hildenborough). This protein, whose physiological function is unknown, was first characterized by J. LeGall et al. [(1988) Biochemistry 28, 1636] as being a homodimer of subunit M(r) = 21,900 with four Fe per homodimer distributed as two rubredoxin-type FeS4 centers and one hemerythrin-type diiron cluster. Subsequent analysis of the amino acid sequence of the rubrerythrin gene [Kurtz, D. M. , Jr., & Prickril, B.C. (1991) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 181, 137] revealed an internal homology which suggested that each subunit can accommodate one diiron cluster. Here, we report a procedure for reconstitution of the as-isolated D. vulgaris rubrerythrin with 57Fe. The reconstituted protein was characterized by optical, electron paramagnetic resonance, and Mössbauer spectroscopies. The results indicate successful incorporation of 57Fe into the two types of sites and strongly suggest that each subunit of rubrerythrin can indeed accommodate one diiron cluster as well as one rubredoxin-type center. Combined with amino acid sequence analysis, the spectroscopic characterization further suggests that the rubrerythrin subunit contains a diiron site whose structure is more closely related to that in ribonucleotide reductase than to that in hemerythrin.
Design techniques for micropower low-voltage CMOS switched-capacitor delta-sigma modulator

The design of a micropower, low-voltage switched-capacitor delta-sigma modulator that consumes only 90 /spl mu/W at 1.5 V supply is described. The modulator is designed employing bootstrapped switches in order to facilitate low voltage operation. Low power dissipation is obtained through the use of biasing some transistors in weak inversion. The delta-sigma modulator achieves an 88 dB dynamic range and a peak signal to noise plus total harmonic distortion ratio of 67.1 dB with a sampling rate of 1 MHz and an oversampling ratio of 128.
Stock market reaction to strategic investment decisions

This study examines the stock market's reaction to public announcements of corporate strategic investment decisions. It includes a wide variety of strategic decisions: formation of joint ventures, research and development projects, major capital expenditures, and diversification into new products and/or markets. Three alternative hypotheses concerning the stock market's reaction to announcements of these decisions are tested. The Shareholder Value Maximization hypothesis predicts a positive reaction to corporate investments because the stock market rewards managers for developing strategies that increase shareholder wealth. The Rational Expectations hypothesis predicts no stock price reaction because investors expect managers to undertake periodic investments in order to maintain their firms' competitive fitness. The Institutional Investors hypothesis predicts a negative reaction to announcements of corporate investments. The U.S. capital markets are dominated by institutional investors who, in pursuit of superior quarterly performance, may disdain longterm investments because they reduce short-term earnings. Analysis of 767 strategic investment decisions announced by 248 companies in 102 industries indicates that the stock market's reaction to strategic investments conforms most closely to the predictions of the Shareholder Value Maximization hypothesis. This overall finding holds for investments of varying size and duration. The implications of a positive reaction by the stock market to investment announcements are drawn for corporate strategy research and management practice.
Spatial Dependence and Sampling of Phytoseiid Populations on Hass Avocados in Southern California

Abstract Research on phytoseiid mites has been critical for developing an effective biocontrol strategy for suppressing Oligonchus perseae Tuttle, Baker, and Abatiello (Acari: Tetranychidae) in California avocado orchards. However, basic understanding of the spatial ecology of natural populations of phytoseiids in relation to O. perseae infestations and the validation of research-based strategies for assessing densities of these predators has been limited. To address these shortcomings, cross-sectional and longitudinal observations consisting of >3,000 phytoseiids and 500,000 O. perseae counted on 11,341 leaves were collected across 10 avocado orchards during a 10-yr period. Subsets of these data were analyzed statistically to characterize the spatial distribution of phytoseiids in avocado orchards and to evaluate the merits of developing binomial and enumerative sampling strategies for these predators. Spatial correlation of phytoseiids between trees was detected at one site, and a strong association of phytoseiids with elevated O. perseae densities was detected at four sites. Sampling simulations revealed that enumeration-based sampling performed better than binomial sampling for estimating phytoseiid densities. The ecological implications of these findings and potential for developing a custom sampling plan to estimate densities of phytoseiids inhabiting sampled trees in avocado orchards in California are discussed.
A New Approach for Sub-Channels Assignment in Downlink Fourth Generation Mobile Systems

Problem statement: We proposed a new heuristic method for subchannels allocation problem in the context. Approach: In this system, OFDM transmission method has been used, in order to reduce the effect of multipath fading, OFDMA to achieve multiple access schemes and flexibility in resource allocation. Results: An adaptive method for subchannels allocation is necessary in order to exploit the multiuser diversity, to respect real time constraints and to maximize the capacity system. The proposed algorithm is based in the Channel State Information (CSI) of total mobiles stations present in the cell. The idea of this method is based in the statistic parameters of the gain of frequency response channel for every mobile station. These parameters are the key to organize the different MS’s and subchannels priority. Conclusion/Recommendations: Numerical results showed that the proposed algorithm outperforms an allocation scheme in terms of Bloc Error Rate, Higher system capacity and Fairness among active users, compared to others previous methods.
Managing Marketing Channel Opportunism: The Efficacy of Alternative Governance Mechanisms

The authors examine three governance mechanisms according to how well they mitigate opportunism in marketing channels. Using the U.S. hotel industry as the research context, the authors investigate how opportunism is limited by (1) ownership, (2) investment in transaction-specific assets, and (3) norms of relational exchange. They also investigate how various combinations of these governance mechanisms affect opportunistic behavior in hotel channels. Overall, the results generally support emphasizing relational norms in managing opportunism in marketing channels. The results also indicate that opportunism can be exacerbated when ownership or investments in transaction-specific assets are accentuated as governance mechanisms.