Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Camel's milk protects against aluminum chloride-induced normocytic normocromic anemia, lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress in erythrocytes of white albino rats.

Problem statement: Aluminum (Al) is an indifferent element from a toxi cological point of view. In recent years, however, Al has been implica ted in the pathogenesis of several clinical disorders. One of the most frequently described pro blem in aluminum toxicity is anemia. The present study was carried out to determine the effectivenes s of Camel's milk in alleviating the toxicity of aluminum chloride (AlCl 3) on certain hematological parameters, lipid peroxi dation and oxidative stress enzyme in the RBC's of white albino rats. Approach: Ten rats per group were divided into three treatment groups: Group one were rats given normal saline and served as control group, group two were rats treated with 1 ml of AlCl 3 (0.5 mg kg -1 body weight) and named AlCl 3 treated rats, group 3 were rat treated with 1ml fresh camel's milk 10 min before the administration of AlCl 3 (0.5 mg kg -1 body weight) and named Camel's milk and AlCl 3 treated rats. Rats were orally administered their respective doses every day for 30 days. Evaluations were made for hematological parameters in the blood and for lipid peroxidation and oxidative stre ss enzymes activities in the RBC's. Results: Results obtained showed that oral AlCl 3 treatment caused a significant decrease (p<0.05) i n total erythrocytes count, blood Hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrite (PCV) and Serum iron levels, where as the values of Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV), Mean Hemoglobin Concentration (MHC), Mean Corpuscular Hemoglobin Concentration (MCHC) and Total Ion Binding Capacity (TIBC) didn't change. Also oral administration of AlCl 3 induced free radicals and as a result caused an in crease the concentration of Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances (TBARS) and decreased activities of Superoxide Dismutase (SOD) and Catalsae (CAT) in the RBCs homolysate. The oral administration of Camel's milk before the administration of AlCl 3, alleviated it's toxic effect. Camel's milk admini stration resulted in a significant increase (p<0.05) in the in total eryth rocytes count, blood hemoglobin (Hb), hematocrite (PCV) and Serum iron with No change in the values of MCV, MHC, MCHC and TIBC when compared to AlCl 3 treated rats. Camel's milk reduced free radicals p roduction and oxidative stress status in the RBC's noticed by the significant decr eased levels of TBARS and increased activities of SOD and CAT when compared to AlCl 3 treated rats. Conclusion: our data proved that there is an alternation in the hematological parameters and ant ioxidant system in the red blood cells of rats administered aluminum chloride orally, whereas oral administration of Camel's milk prior the administration of Aluminum chloride protects the re d blood cell form toxic effect of aluminum.
Plasma fetuin‐A is associated with endothelial dysfunction and subclinical atherosclerosis in subjects with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), a hepatic manifestation of metabolic syndrome (MetS) is closely associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Fetuin‐A is associated with MetS and NAFLD. We investigated the relationship of circulating fetuin‐A level with markers of endothelial dysfunction and presence of carotid atherosclerosis in subjects with NAFLD.
ICT-Mediated Adaptive Capacity of Environmental Third Sector in Australia

Australia has relied extensively on thousands of environmental third sector organisations (ETSOs) to care and plan for environmental protection. Although the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to enable these organisations has been increasingly recognised ETSOs in general have slipped under the radar of ICT-oriented practices. The aim here is to respond to this gap and examine the differences in adaptive capacity between ICT adopter and non-adopter ETSOs in Perth, Western Australia. Based on the findings, which indicate that the majority of organisations are either overlooking or under-exploiting the potential of ICTs, it is recommended that existing environmental strategies that rely on ETSOs need to institutionalise ICT-specific support for these organisations.
Mortality from cardiovascular disease among interregional migrants in England and Wales

Abstract Objective: To investigate the extent to which geographical variations in mortality from ischaemic heart disease and stroke in Britain are influenced by factors in early life or in adulthood. Design: Longitudinal study of migrants. Subjects: 1% sample of residents in England and Wales born before October 1939 and enumerated at the 1971 census (the Office of Population Censuses and Surveys' longitudinal study). Main outcome measure: 18221 deaths from ischaemic heart disease and 9899 deaths from stroke during 1971-88 were analysed by areas of residence in 1939 and 1971. These included 2928 deaths from ischaemic heart disease and 1608 deaths from stroke among individuals moving between 14 areas defined by the major conurbations and nine standard administrative regions of England and Wales. Results: The southeast to northwest gradient in mortality from ischaemic heart disease was related significantly to both the 1939 area (χ2=6.09, df=1) and area in 1971 (χ2=5.05, df=1). Geographical variations in mortality from stroke were related significantly to the 1939 area (χ2=4.09, df=1) but the effect of area in 1971 was greater (χ2=8.07, df=1). The effect of 1971 area on mortality from stroke was largely due to a lower risk of death from stroke among individuals moving into Greater London compared with migrants to the rest of the South East region (χ2=4.54, df=1). Conclusions: Geographical variations in mortality from cardiovascular disease in Britain may be partly determined by genetic factors, environmental exposures, or lifestyle acquired early in life, but the risk of fatal ischaemic heart disease and stroke changes on migration between areas with differing mortality. The low risk of death from stroke associated with residence in Greater London is acquired by individuals who move there. Key messages Key messages In a large nationally representative cohort these variations persisted after adjustment for indices of socioeconomic status Similar variations were found among individuals who lived in the same area in 1939 as in 1971, suggesting that the geographical pattern of mortality from cardiovascular disease cannot be attributed to selective migration Mortality from cardiovascular disease was influenced by factors associated with area of residence in adult life, but circumstances earlier in life seem to have some independent influence The low risk of fatal stroke associated with living in Greater London was acquired by individuals who lived there, regardless of place of residence 40 years previously
Cepstral Peak Prominence: A More Reliable Measure of Dysphonia

Quantification of perceptual voice characteristics allows the assessment of voice changes. Acoustic measures of jitter, shimmer, and noise-to-harmonic ratio (NHR) are often unreliable. Measures of cepstral peak prominence (CPP) may be more reliable predictors of dysphonia. Trained listeners analyzed voice samples from 281 patients. The NHR, amplitude perturbation quotient, smoothed pitch perturbation quotient, percent jitter, and CPP were obtained from sustained vowel phonation, and the CPP was obtained from running speech. For the first time, normal and abnormal values of CPP were defined, and they were compared with other acoustic measures used to predict dysphonia. The CPP for running speech is a good predictor and a more reliable measure of dysphonia than are acoustic measures of jitter, shimmer, and NHR.
The Role of Internal Audit Function in Supporting Good Corporate Governance Implementation in PT. Astra International, Tbk (Case Study in the Division of Sales Operation Audit)

This study is aimed to understand the roles of Internal Audit Function (IAF), specifically Sales Operation Audit (SOA), in supporting Good Corporate Governance (GCG) implementation based on the result from external reviewers in PT. Astra International, Tbk. Case study was employed as the research method and designed to answer the research questions. The thematic and content analyses were used for interpreting the data. Moreover, the data collection methods were interview, observation and documentation. The findings of this study point out three main roles of IAF, specifically SOA, in supporting GCG implementation, which reviews corporate risk, provides assurance towards corporate control and assists business activities. In reviewing corporate risk, it requires the auditor to identify and control the risk. Then, in giving assurance towards corporate control, the evaluation of internal control is conducted. The last, in assisting the business activity, auditors become the business partner for management. This study has several implications which are classified into theory, practice, and policy. The theoretical implication refers to IAF which has roles in supporting GCG implementation which can contribute to the development of science, particularly in the audit disciplines. In the field of practical implication, GCG nowadays becomes the important part of company and its good performance will indicate the business sustainability. In addition, Group Audit and Risk Advisory have the key roles which could form them as the important function in Astra. Thus, it is appropriate for them to enlarge their roles for the achievement of company’s long-term objectives. The last is implication in terms of policy which is appropriate for regulators and standards setters to continue in encouraging the companies in Indonesia to implement the principles of GCG by creating other initiative activities and/or adding up the incentives, such as the rewards, ease of access, or other motivational things for the companies. Key words: Internal Audit Function, Good Corporate Governance, PT. Astra International, Tbk.
From Distributional Semantics to Conceptual Spaces: A Novel Computational Method for Concept Creation

Abstract We investigate the relationship between lexical spaces and contextually-defined conceptual spaces, offering applications to creative concept discovery. We define a computational method for discovering members of concepts based on semantic spaces: starting with a standard distributional model derived from corpus co-occurrence statistics, we dynamically select characteristic dimensions associated with seed terms, and thus a subspace of terms defining the related concept. This approach performs as well as, and in some cases better than, leading distributional semantic models on a WordNet-based concept discovery task, while also providing a model of concepts as convex regions within a space with interpretable dimensions. In particular, it performs well on more specific, contextualized concepts; to investigate this we therefore move beyond WordNet to a set of human empirical studies, in which we compare output against human responses on a membership task for novel concepts. Finally, a separate panel of judges rate both model output and human responses, showing similar ratings in many cases, and some commonalities and divergences which reveal interesting issues for computational concept discovery.
Evaluating a corporate strategy

The Swedish agricultural sector is currently undergoing a substantial structural change. The number of farm enterprises is continuously decreasing and the average farm size is increasing. In combination with increasing number of competitors in the insurance market, the competitive rivalry within this market has increased significantly. With this knowledge in mind, Lansforsakringar Uppsala initiated this study, which aims to provide an understanding of customer’s view on customer value, related to agricultural insurance and financing. The intention is to investigate if Lansforsakringar’s view on customer service corresponds with the customer’s view and whether there are any signs of strategic drift. The empirical data was collected in form of a case study. This was achieved by studying Lansforsakringar’s strategic framework as well as performing three interviews within the company. Further, the customer’s view on customer value was collected in ten interviews carried out with current and former customers. The empirical data was then put in relation to theories and literature on strategy, resource-based theory on competitive advantage, and customer orientation. The results indicate that there are no immediate signs of strategic drift. The results also show that Lansforsakringars strategy is well suited for the company’s characteristics and resources. However, even though the strategy corresponds well to the customer’s view on customer value, the empirical data indicate that the implementation of some parts of the strategy still needs attention. If more attention is not focused on these factors, there is an increasing risk of strategic drift in the future. The most important factors to focus on are; • Personal relation to the customers: One of the most important values for the customers is to have a personal relation to the company. To achieve this, it is of great importance that the customers are aware of who their contact person is. • Enhance synergies: It is of great importance to enhance the synergies between bank and insurance operations and to convince the customers that this is a service that is superior to the competitors’. The key factor to achieve this is to increase efficiency and collaboration in-house. • The local attachment: It is very important to communicate the benefits of Lansforsakringars local attachment. It is also important to enhance these benefits. This can be achieved by mobilise the local representatives, and make them more active in the market. • High quality: Lansforsakringar has chosen a differentiation strategy, that focus on high quality over low cost. In order to maintain credibility, it is of great importance to never fail in the delivery of this quality. Such a failure can in log run undermine the company’s reputation.
Bcl10 plays a critical role in NF-κB activation induced by G protein-coupled receptors

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) play pivotal roles in cell proliferation, differentiation, and survival. Although many studies indicate that the stimulation of GPCRs leads to NF-κB activation, the molecular mechanism by which GPCRs induced NF-κB activation remains largely unknown. Bcl10 is an essential adaptor molecule connecting antigen receptor signaling cascades to NF-κB activation in lymphocytes. However, the function of Bcl10 in nonlymphoid cells remains to be determined. In this study, we demonstrated that the deficiency of Bcl10 resulted in the defect in NF-κB activation induced by either expressing the constitutively active mutant of G protein or stimulation of cells with lysophosphatidic acid or endothelin-1, which activate their GPCR. In contrast, TNF-α-, LPS-, and integrin-induced NF-κB activation was not affected in Bcl10-deficient cells. Together, our results provide genetic evidence showing that Bcl10 is a key signaling component mediating NF-κB activation induced by GPCRs in nonlymphoid cells.
Impact of working environment on employee's productivity: A case study of Banks and Insurance Companies in Pakistan

Work environment plays an important role in an organization. Most of the problems faced by employees are related to working environment. The level of productivity can be increased through developing a conducive working environment in the organization. The basic objective of this study is to measure the impact of working environment on productivity of employees. The organizations like banks and insurance companies were selected for conducting this research study. A closed ended questionnaire was developed to get feedback from target audience and different statistical methods were used to derive results from the collected data. It was observed that the factors like supervisor support, relation with co-workers, training and development, attractive and fast incentives and recognition plans, adequate work load at work place are helpful in developing a working environment that has positive impact on employee’s level of productivity in the organizations. Key Words : working environment, workers’ productivity, recognition plan.
Relaxin in Normal and Pathogenic Pregnancies

Serum relaxin concentrations were quantitated throughout pregnancy. Relaxin levels were higher in the first than in either succeeding trimester of pregnancy. Relaxin concentrations in third-trimester twin pregnancies were not significantly different from those in singleton pregnancies. Relaxin levels in toxemic pregnancies were similar to those of normal pregnancy. In contrast, relaxin concentrations in pregnancies beyond 43 weeks' gestation and in women with premature labor were significantly lower than levels in normal women in the third trimester of pregnancy.
The role of marketing

Research concerning the impact of marketing in the development of small enterprise research is extremely limited. Explores the role of marketing in the development of small enterprise research through the examination of 42 marketing‐related studies of small firm settings. Defines small enterprise research (SER) as all main articles published during the 1986‐1992 period in the Journal of Small Business Management; International Small Business Journal; Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice; Journal of Business Venturing; Small Business Economics; and Asia Pacific International Management Forum. The three major research thrusts that are identified from this literature are: marketing as a culture; marketing as a strategy; and marketing as tactics. Discusses key issues and findings associated with each thrust.
The relationship between governance practices, audit quality and earnings management : UK evidence

This thesis examines two empirical studies. Firstly, it examines the relationship between corporate governance characteristics (relating to the size, composition of independent members, financial expertise and meeting frequency of boards of directors and audit committee) and audit quality. Secondly, the study investigates the effectiveness of corporate governance characteristics and higher quality auditors in constraining earnings management. There are three proxies of audit quality employed: audit fees, non-audit fees and industry specialist auditors. Based on data obtained from the FTSE 350 between 2005 and 2008, the first empirical findings suggest that independent non-executive directors on board demand an additional and extensive audit effort from the auditor in order to certify their monitoring function, resulting in an increase in the audit fees and the perceived audit quality. The results also indicate a positive relationship between independent board and non-audit fees, suggesting that independent board support the view that the joint provision of audit and non-audit services does not necessarily compromise auditor independence, but rather that it broadens the auditors’ knowledge and improves audit judgement. The findings from the second empirical study suggest that higher quality auditors (which either charge higher audit fees or are industry specialist auditors) are likely to reduce earnings manipulation. However, no evidence suggests that NAS fees affect earnings management. In addition, the current study finds inconsistent results linking the corporate governance characteristics and opportunistic earnings. Overall, both findings are consistent with agency theory, which states that independent board and higher quality auditors are associated with effective monitoring, which in turn helps to improve the quality of financial reporting. The findings are of potential interest to policy makers, professionals and boards of directors, especially on issues relating to audit quality and the mandating of corporate governance practices.
The impact of competitive fee tendering on construction professional service quality

It is less than fifteen years since the associations representing construction professionals in the UK surrendered to Government pressure, and abolished mandatory fee scales, predicting as they did so that abolition would inevitably lead to a decline in the standard of service provided to clients. Competitive fee tendering is now the principal route for the appointment of construction professionals in the UK and during the recent recession, fee levels fell to unprecedented low levels. The main aim of this research project is to ascertain whether fee tendering has led to a decline in service quality. The research commences with a literature review of professional services in a construction industry context. The framework for the review is the three stage consumer behaviour model and the variables identified by the literature search are then developed into a process model. The model is underpinned by the important variables to be investigated - the method of appointment and clients' perceptions of service quality. A literature review of these subjects leads to the development of one main hypothesis (that clients' perceptions of service quality are lower for fee tendered appointments) and four subhypotheses. The hypotheses are tested by the analysis of data arising from the assessment of 244 professional consultants by their clients. The main research instrument is a measurement scale developed by comparing four previous studies, with the much used SERVQUAL scale (Parasuraman, Zeithami and Berry, 1991), providing the main foundation of the scale. The data do not support the main hypothesis - either for the entire client sample or for public sector clients only. However the hypotheses that service quality is higher when care is taken with the pre-selection of tenderers and when adequate weighting has been given to ability, are supported. The thesis concludes with implications for the professions and for clients, and with recommendations for further research.
Foreign direct investment and total factor productivity in OECD countries: evidence from aggregate data

Foreign direct investment (FDI) can be a source not just of capital, but also of new technology and intangibles such as organizational and managerial skills, and marketing networks. In this study, a panel data approach is used to study the effects of FDI on aggregate Total Factor Productivity in a sample of 16 OECD countries. We have implemented a statistical descriptive model that allows us to show that FDI has a positive impact on TFP, possibly because FDI is a channel through which technologies are transferred internationally.
WINE AND WEB MARKETING STRATEGIES: THE CASE STUDY OF ITALIAN SPECIALITY WINERIES

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the level of internet marketing in use and the web marketing strategies models implemented by the Italian Speciality Wineries (ISWs). Design/methodology/approach – The paper surveyed a sample of 272 high quality wineries. The analysis of the existing web sites has been conducted through an adapted 7Cs model. The 7Cs model data analysis has been developed both at a univariate and a multivariate level. The entrepreneur's perception of internet marketing has been analysed through a market research questionnaire.Findings – The use of internet marketing by the ISWs is at an initial stage. “Show‐case” is the main purpose while functionality is the most important web site characteristic. Five groups of wineries have been identified through cluster analysis. The web marketing approaches implemented revolve around the choice to effect online sales. The web marketing strategies map highlights that the future development of the ISWs web marketing models goes in two different d.