Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Affect of Innovation Strategies and their Connect to Company Performance

The management of innovation is made difficult by the complexity, unpredictability and pace of turbulence in the environment which compresses the time horizons for strategic planning and increases the investment risk The main purpose of this study was to investigate innovation management practices in technology intensive industries and to explore their relationship to company performance. A non-probability, judgment sample of companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) were taken. The study makes a contribution to the field of strategic management research by integrating the dimensions of several previous studies, to derive a more comprehensive taxonomy of innovation strategy dimensions. Two distinct innovation strategy factors obtained with the analysis were proved to positively influence the company performance dimensions and were classified as New Product Innovation and Process Innovation factors. The results show that innovation strategy choices can significantly affect company performance. It thereby indicates which of the underlying dimensions have the strongest relationship with company performance. From an industry perspective, the greatest significance of these findings may be that they accentuate the importance of innovation policy in strategic management. The substantial differences in performance associated with the dimensions do not necessarily indicate that a given company should choose a particular innovation strategy, but rather indicates that innovation policy decisions may have a substantial leverage on a company’s performance and should be analysed and exercised with care. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014. v5n9p60
Insecticidal activity of some Asteraceae plant extracts against Tribolium confusum

Sixteen aromatic plant extracts from three species belonging to the Asteraceae family, were obtained by using organic solvents of increasing polarity. They were tested for insect growth inhibition, contact toxicity and antifeedant activity against adults and larvae of confused flour beetle Tribolium confusum du Val (Coleoptera Tenebrionidae). Discs made of wheat were incorporated with a single dose of 1% of different extracts. The antifeedant effect, larval growth inhibition and mortality were evaluated in multiplechoice tests. Responses varied with plant-derived material extract, stage of insect and exposure time. Larval growth inhibition was significantly induced by methanolic and ethyl acetate extracts of Mantisalca duriaei Briq. et Cavill. and petroleum ether, chloroformic and methanolic extracts of Rhaponticum acaule DC. Antifeedant properties were detected in methanolic extracts of M. duriaei and R. acaule, petroleum ether and chloroformic extract of R. acaule and ethyl acetate extract of M. duriaei. Scorzonera undulata Vahl seemed to be, however, attractive to the flour beetle. For all extracts, mortality was higher for larvae than adults. It reached respectively 83%, 77% by using petroleum ether and methanol extracts of R. acaule. These results suggest that M. duriaei and R. acaule may be used in grain storage against insect pests.
Any Thing for Anyone? A New Digital Divide in Internet‐of‐Things Skills

The "Internet-of-Things" (IoT) promises social benefits across a range of policy areas, such as energy, health, transportation, public safety, and environmental policy, but attention to the skills needed by individuals who use it will be an important issue for public policy, in order to ensure full exploitation of these technologies and to avoid unintended consequences. We argue that comparative advantages of the IoT to people will vary based on differentiated skills and resources, enabling smaller groups of people to benefit, and disadvantaging others in new ways. This need for renewed attention to digital skills and knowledge might at first seem paradoxical, given that many of these technologies operate autonomously and behind the scenes. We discuss evolving digital technologies and related skills, and explain from a systems perspective how the IoT differs from prior technologies, with a premium placed on user knowledge and strategic skills. Finally, we bring together the issues of the digital divide and IoT skills, and set an agenda for future IoT public policy and research.
Effect of a Telephone Intervention upon Medication Adherence and Related Outcomes in Outpatients with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders (SSDs)

Background: Telephone intervention is an innovative option to provide needed problem solving interventions to improve medication adherence in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders (SSDs). Methods: This randomized controlled trial examined the effect of weekly Telephone Intervention-Problem Solving (TIPS) upon quantitative and qualitative measures of psychiatric and nonpsychiatric medication adherence in 119 stable outpatients with SSDs for nine months. Findings: Independent samples T-test revealed no significant differences in psychiatric or nonpsychiatric pill count adherence between groups; however 29% of experimental versus 19.6% of controls had serum antipsychotic levels within therapeutic range (NS). Conclusion: This study extends the literature on adherence in SSDs by describing a clinical sample of stable outpatients for nine months. Our next project will examine the effectiveness of TIPS boosters upon outcomes.
Palm Plantation Subsector : Internal and External Impact on Stock Returns Analysis

Palm plantation subsector is one of the alternative to invest in stock market. There has been a phenomenon with the decline trend of stock returns in the period of 2010-2015. As an export-based commodity subsector, currency depreciation should be increasing the issuers performance, but it shows the opposite. The CPO price decline trend shows that during the years of 2010-2015 has an impact to palm plantation subsector stock returns. In the year of 2016 CPO Price Increase and will become a positive sentiment. This study aimed to determine the impact of internal and external factors to the palm plantation stock returns in Indonesia Stock Exchange. The method used is data panel estimation with time period between 2010 to 2015 with seven issuers that has never been delisted within period. The result of this study indicates that the Quick Ratio (QR), Price EarningRatio (PER), and CPO price (HMS) has a significant impact on palm plantation subsector returns at the five percent level.
METHODS FOR ANALYSIS OF HUMAN AMNIOTIC FLUIDS

Analysis of bodyfluids is new interesting approach for researching air-pollution impact on human health. Bodyfluids make an internal environment of tissues and organs and therefore bodyfluids composition can affect their functions. Bodyfluids are in touch with outer environment mostly through the respiratory tract, and thus inhalation of polluted air may lead to penetration of some chemicals into the bodyfluids. Air-polluting suspended solid particles are able to penetrate biomembranes due to their size below 100nm. One of these biomembranes is placenta, which prevents from penetrating harmful substances to amniotic fluid. Amniotic fluid provides fetus protection and fetus nutrition from mother ́s blood. Therefore its composition is crucial for fetus development. Collected samples of human amniotic fluid were analyzed using the selected techniques: Raman microspectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersed spectrometer (SEM-EDS), Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Major natural compounds in human amniotic fluid are sodium chloride and organic compounds, mainly proteins,, that were analyzed by XRD, SEM-EDS, FTIR and Raman microspectroscopy. In collected samples were also found metal-based particles. These results were obtained by SEM-EDS and Raman microspectroscopy. SEM-EDS analysis seems to be most suitable, because it is quite fast and precise data obtaining. Compared to Raman microspectroscopy, which is more time-consuming method. However, Raman microspectroscopy is a valuable tool for point-phase-analysis. XRD analysis was not able to detect presence of metals and their compounds, because of its detection limit.
Biophotovoltaics: oxygenic photosynthetic organisms in the world of bioelectrochemical systems

The field of bioelectrochemical system (BES) research includes a wide range of emerging technologies that utilise microbes to catalyze anodic and/or cathodic reactions within a fuel cell setup, and has developed greatly in the last 2–3 years. Although the vast majority of BESs utilise organic substrates as a fuel source (e.g. microbial fuel cells), several systems have been developed that are fuelled by light energy. In this review we focus on and contextualise a specific subset of light-harvesting BESs, which we have called biophotovoltaic systems (BPVs). BPVs utilise oxygenic photosynthetic organisms, such as microalgal and cyanobacterial species, to harvest light energy to generate current, critically, in the absence of an organic feedstock. Here we discuss the state-of-the-art for all light-harvesting BESs and present a novel classification system to illustrate how BPVs integrate into the broad fields of BES and photovoltaic research. We compare and contrast the present understanding of electron transfer pathways in systems that use heterotrophic microbes with those in cyanobacteria-based BPVs. Finally we present, for the first time, an estimate of the achievable power outputs of this emerging technology.
Biophysical and economic implications for agriculture of +1.5° and +2.0°C global warming using AgMIP Coordinated Global and Regional Assessments

This study presents results of the Agricultural Model Intercomparison and Improvement Project (AgMIP) Coordinated Global and Regional Assessments (CGRA) of +1.5° and +2.0°C global warming above pre-industrial conditions. This first CGRA application provides multi-discipline, multi-scale, and multi-model perspectives to elucidate major challenges for the agricultural sector caused by direct biophysical impacts of climate changes as well as ramifications of associated mitigation strategies. Agriculture in both target climate stabilizations is characterized by differential impacts across regions and farming systems, with tropical maize Zea mays experiencing the largest losses, while soy Glycine max mostly benefits. The result is upward pressure on prices and area expansion for maize and wheat Triticum aestivum, while soy prices and area decline (results for rice Oryza sativa are mixed). An example global mitigation strategy encouraging bioenergy expansion is more disruptive to land use and crop prices than the climate change impacts alone, even in the +2.0°C scenario which has a larger climate signal and lower mitigation requirement than the +1.5°C scenario. Coordinated assessments reveal that direct biophysical and economic impacts can be substantially larger for regional farming systems than global production changes. Regional farmers can buffer negative effects or take advantage of new opportunities via mitigation incentives and farm management technologies. Primary uncertainties in the CGRA framework include the extent of CO2 benefits for diverse agricultural systems in crop models, as simulations without CO2 benefits show widespread production losses that raise prices and expand agricultural area.
Tuvalu, Sovereignty and Climate Change: Considering Fenua, the Archipelago and Emigration

Tuvalu is a Pacific atoll nation-state that has come to stand for predicaments implicating climate change, forced emigration and resettlement, and loss of territory and sovereignty. Legal and policy remedies seek to address such challenges by radically reframing how sovereignty is conceived. Drawing on literary and legal theory, we seek to extend such work in the terms of cultural geography and anthropology by considering how the archipelago and cultural practices known as fenua could be deployed as symbolic and material resources emphasizing mobility and connection, in contrast to normative ideas of sovereignty, whose orientation to territory imperils atoll states. Our fundamental argument is that legal and policy reforms addressing climate change emigration must be enriched by accounting for the emotional geographies that attend the changing real and conceptual borders of sovereignty and by creating alternative spaces of hope and action.
Production and bioavailability of autochthonous dissolved organic carbon: effects of mesozooplankton

A phytoplankton bloom and decay sequence was created in 2 laboratory containers and mesozooplankton was added to one container before the peak of algal biomass. Each day for 22 d, the net production of autochthonous dissolved organic carbon (DOC) was measured and on 5 occasions the degradation kinetics and the total pool of biodegradable DOC (BDOC) were assayed in experi- ments lasting 230 d. Net accumulation of new DOC was 235 and 280 µM in the containers with and without zooplankton, respectively. The best description of microbial DOC degradation was a 2-pool model and 1st order exponential decay. Without mesozooplankton present, the degradation experi- ments showed accumulation of a large pool of labile BDOC characterised by decay coefficients >0.2 d -1 . The least labile pools in the 2 containers had similar coefficients (average 0.02 d -1 ). The amount of newly produced recalcitrant DOC (RDOC) accounted for about 12% of new DOC. The differences observed with respect to degradation kinetics and net DOC production are explained by food web interactions and nutrient limitation. The presence of mesozooplankton resulted in high bacterial production keeping labile BDOC at low concentrations. In the container without meso- zooplankton, the bacterial uptake capacity was reduced, probably by a combination of protist grazing and nutrient limitation. Consequently, about 75 µM BDOC with a half-life of less than 3 d accumu- lated during the experiment. Mineralisation of the accumulated dissolved organic matter (DOM) during microbial degradation in a nutrient replete environment was measured as the decrease in DOC and net mineralisation/immobilisation of inorganic N and P. The mineralisation of DOC was accompanied by low mineralisation of N and P and even immobilisation of phosphate during degra- dation of DOM produced in the container with mesozooplankton present. Bacterial production of DON and DOP is believed to result in a recalcitrant DOM pool enriched in N and P, and the activity of mesozooplankton seems to enhance this scenario.
Endoscopic Ultrasound-Guided Fine Needle Aspiration of Suspected Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma: Yield of the First and Repeat Procedure

Background and study aims There is no consensus on how to manage patients with a high probability of pancreatic cancer, based on their clinical presentation and imaging, but have a non-diagnostic endoscopic ultrasound - fine needle aspiration. Our aim was to evaluate the yield of a single or if necessary multiple endoscopic ultrasound - fine needle aspiration procedures for the cytological diagnosis of a pancreatic mass. Patients and methods Retrospective review of patients undergoing endoscopic ultrasound - fine needle aspiration for the evaluation of a pancreatic mass at an academic tertiary-care center. The cytological diagnosis for each procedure was classified as either “diagnostic” or “non-diagnostic. ” Our protocol was to perform repeat endoscopic ultrasound - fine needle aspiration until a diagnostic result was obtained up to a maximum of 3 procedures. The final diagnosis was established on review of their cytopathology, clinical progression and/or surgical pathology. Results Between 2006 and 2010 there were 241 patients who underwent 288 endoscopic ultrasound - fine needle aspiration. Repeat procedures were undertaken in 43 (17.8%). The sensitivity of the initial endoscopic ultrasound - fine needle aspiration was 74.1%, which increased to 86.9% if repeat procedures were included. Pancreatic adenocarcinoma was the final diagnosis in 87.6% of patients. Inadvertent resection of benign lesions occurred in 6 (2.5%). On multivariate analysis, age >65 (OR 2.8, p=0.008) was the sole independent predictor of a diagnostic specimen. The operating characteristics of the first and repeated endoscopic ultrasound - fine needle aspiration were not significantly different. Conclusions Repeat endoscopic ultrasound - fine needle aspiration is appropriate in patients with an initial non-diagnostic result. Further investigation is required to determine techniques in which the diagnostic yield can be increased at the subsequent procedure.
Linking Customer Assets to Financial Performance

As more firms adopt a customer asset management approach to their business, it has become increasingly important to understand how customer management efforts relate to the financial performance of the firm. Of specific interest to shareholders is the relationship between traditional financial measures and customer-centric measures. The customer-centric measure that has received the most attention is customer lifetime value (CLV). In this article, the authors argue that the basic CLV model represents a useful foundation from which to begin to fill the gap between marketing actions and shareholder value. However, much work remains to be done before appropriate models can be developed that reflect the true value of a customer to the firm. Specifically, this article elaborates on how factors such as risk associated with customer behavior dynamics, social and competitive effects, and the effect of the product life cycle can be incorporated into the basic CLV model.
Effect Of Chemistry Practicals On Students’ Performance In Chemistry In Public Secondary Schools Of Machakos And Nairobi Counties In Kenya

: The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of chemistry practicals on students’ performance in chemistry in public secondary schools of Machakos and Nairobi counties in Kenya. The students’ performance in chemistry was determined from scores obtained by students in Students Achievement Tests (SATs) done just before and immediately after exposure to the topic under investigation. Descriptive and inferential statistics such as the mean and independent t-test were used to discuss the research findings. The study found that there is a positive relationship between the use of chemistry practicals and learners’ performance in chemistry. The results of the study indicate that the students had comparable performance in chemistry before treatment; that the performance of the students taught using chemistry practicals improved after the treatment; and that there was a significant difference in performance in the post test between the experimental and control groups. The study recommends that students should be taught using practicals so as to improve in performance in chemistry.
Evidence for 13‐carbon enrichment in oxalic acid via iron catalyzed photolysis in aqueous phase

To investigate the effect of photochemical aging on the stable carbon isotopic ratio (δ13C) of oxalic acid (OxA), a dominant organic species in atmospheric aerosols, we conducted a laboratory photolysis of OxA under H2O2‐Fe3+(Fe2+)‐UV system in aqueous phase and measuredδ13C of remaining OxA. Our results showed that a significant photolysis of OxA occurred with OH radical but the isotopic fractionation of OxA was insignificant. In contrast, in the presence of Fe3+ (Fe2+), we found a significant enrichment of 13C in remaining OxA. We also found that kinetic isotope effect (KIE) of OxA largely depends on photochemical age (irradiation time) and concentration ratios of OxA to iron; 3.20 ± 0.49‰ (2.18 ± 1.18‰) and 21.62 ± 5.41‰ in 90 min and 180 min irradiation, in which OxA and Fe3+ (Fe2+) ratios were 50:1 and 200:1, respectively. The enrichment of 13C in remaining OxA was more significant during the photolysis catalyzed by Fe3+ (7‰) than by Fe2+ (3‰) in 90 min irradiation when OxA and iron ratios are the same (50:1). This study provides a laboratory evidence for the isotopic enrichment of 13C in OxA with photochemical aging. This approach is useful for better interpretation of atmospheric isotopic measurements in terms of the extent of atmospheric processing of aerosols.
Genes involved in the development of Parkinson

Background: Parkinson’s disease is the second most important neurodegenerative disorder, affecting 3% of individuals older than 80 years of age. Main clinical symptoms are resting tremor, postural instability, bradykinesia and rigidity, with a good response to levodopa therapy.
Studying the impact of the Full-Network embedding on multimodal pipelines

This work is partially supported by the Joint Study Agreement no. W156463 under the IBM/BSC Deep Learning Center agreement, by the Spanish Government through Programa Severo Ochoa (SEV-2015- 0493), by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology through TIN2015-65316-P project and by the Generalitat de Catalunya (contracts 2014-SGR-1051), and by the Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST) program of Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST).
The mediating effect of environmental and ethical behaviour on supply chain partnership decisions and management appreciation of supplier partnership risks

Green supply chain management and environmental and ethical behaviour (EEB), a major component of corporate responsibility (CR), are rapidly developing fields in research and practice. The influence and effect of EEB at the functional level, however, is under-researched. Similarly, the management of risk in the supply chain has become a practical concern for many firms. It is important that managers have a good understanding of the risks associated with supplier partnerships. This paper examines the effect of firms’ investment in EEB as part of corporate social responsibility in mediating the relationship between supply chain partnership (SCP) and management appreciation of the risk of partnering. We hypothesise that simply entering into a SCP does not facilitate an appreciation of the risk of partnering and may even hamper such awareness. However, such an appreciation of the risk is facilitated through CR’s environmental and stakeholder management ethos. The study contributes further by separating risk into distinct relational and performance components. The results of a firm-level survey confirm the mediation effect, highlighting the value to supply chain strategy and design of investing in EEB on three fronts: building internal awareness, monitoring and sharing best practice.