Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dealer Dependence Levels and Reciprocal Actions in a Channel of Distribution in a Developing Country

The primary purpose of this article is to expand our understanding of the dependence and reciprocal action constructs in distribution channel relationships. The authors develop a conceptual framework for channel relationships involving the exchange of industrial products within sellers' markets in developing countries. The framework is tested with data collected in the tungsten carbide tool industry in India. Results are generally supportive of the conceptual framework and illustrate the need to (1) take the channel context into account in developing channel theory and (2) perform empirical studies in a wide variety of channel settings.
Effect of breed on growth performance and carcass composition of Aberdeen Angus, Charolais, Hereford and Simmental bulls

Breed effects on live weight gain, slaughter characteristics and carcass composition were compared in Aberdeen Angus, Charolais, Hereford and Simmental bulls. The experiment extended over 2 years and involved totally 96 animals. The target slaughter live weights were determined 550 kg for earlier maturing breeds Aberdeen Angus and Hereford and 630 kg for later maturing breeds Charolais and Simmental. Charolais and Simmental gained more rapidly (P < 0.05) than Aberdeen Angus while Hereford were intermediate. Hereford had lower (P < 0.05) dressing percentage than the other breeds. Percentages of grade I meat were significantly higher (P < 0.05) in Charolais and Simmental. The highest percentage of separable fat was recorded in Hereford ( P < 0.05). Charolais and Simmental had lower (P < 0.05) thickness of subcutaneous fat over MLLT than Aberdeen Angus and Hereford. The later maturing bulls generally tended to achieve higher live weight gains during the experiment, produced less fat and had higher percentage of meat from high priced joints in comparison with earlier maturing animals.
Transparency and Disclosure: Overview of Methodology and Study Results - United States

At a time when distrust of corporate management is at an all-time high and the media are increasing their focus on corporate governance, Standard & Poor's has published a study that examines the transparency and disclosure (T&D) practices of major public companies around the globe. This article describes how the Standard & Poor's T&D study was conducted and what the finding reveal, addressing such questions as: Which companies provide the most extensive disclosure in their basic corporate filings? Which companies disclose above and beyond what the law requires? Are there significant differences among the T&D practices of various regions and within regions? What is the significance of the T&D rankings? How can T&D be improved? Standard & Poor's T&D rankings have a wide distribution across countries and regions and reveal some interesting findings about practices within and among the different countries and regions. For U.S. companies, there are significant differences in the amount of disclosure provided in annual reports. T&D rankings based on annual reports for the U.S. companies studies are correlated to the determinants of expected returns, such as market risk, size, and the price-to-book ratio.
The Emotional Needs of Care Recipients and the Psychological Well‐Being of Informal Caregivers: Implications for Home Care Clinicians

In this exploratory study, 77 informal caregivers of older persons in Ohio completed telephone interviews that included questions regarding their perceived difficulty providing emotional and physical care, perceived quality of care, demographic items including caregivers' health status, and a measure of their psychological well-being. Findings suggest that psychological well-being of informal caregivers is diminished when they experience greater difficulty meeting the care recipients' emotional care needs, are in poorer health, or are older. Suggestions for clinical implications and future research based on these findings are discussed.
Judgments of Deservingness: Studies in the Psychology of Justice and Achievement

This article presents a review and conceptual analysis of the concept of deservingness that incorporates the effects of personal values, perceived responsibility, ingroup-outgroup relations, and like-dislike relations. Selected studies show that reactions to another's success or failure and to the rise or fall of “tall poppies” or high achievers depends on the degree to which the positive or negative outcome is seen to be deserved; that individual differences in personal values and in value syndromes may be assumed to affect deservingness via the subjective values assigned to actions and outcomes; that group membership, status, interpersonal liking-disliking, and perceived moral character also affect judgments of deservingness; and that deservingness is a key variable that mediates how observers react to penalties imposed on the perpetrators of different kinds of offense. It is argued that the inclusion of deservingness goes beyond approaches in which perceived responsibility is accorded central status by adding a further link in the causal chain, thus enabling a more complete consideration of the effects of justice and value variables on how people react to positive and negative outcomes for both self and other.
Optimization of bandpass optical filters based on TiO2 nanolayers

Abstract. The design and realization of high-quality bandpass optical filters are often very difficult tasks due to the strong correlation of the optical index of dielectric thin films to their final thickness, as observed in many industrial deposition processes. We report on the optimization of complex optical filters in the visible and NIR spectral ranges as realized by ion beam-assisted electron beam deposition of silica and titanium oxide multilayers. We show that this process always leads to amorphous films prior to thermal annealing. On the contrary, the optical dispersion of TiO2 nanolayers is highly dependent on their thickness, while this dependence vanishes for layers thicker than 100 nm. We demonstrate that accounting for this nonlinear dependence of the optical index is both very important and necessary in order to obtain high-quality optical filters.
“The Net Generation”: Children and Young People, the Internet and Online Shopping

Children have long been acknowledged as playing an important role within family purchasing decisions, with their ability to directly and indirectly influence family purchasing. In addition to their role within the family, children are seen as an important group of consumers in their own right due to their individual purchasing power. Over recent years the use of the Internet by children has increased and they are commonly portrayed as confident and able users of Internet technology. It is important to understand how the Internet will be used by children as an additional shopping medium and to explore the issues surrounding this use. This paper reports on data collected during an in-depth study exploring family purchasing behaviour and the role of the Internet. The findings discussed address a specific and important aspect of the data, namely the use of the Internet as a shopping medium by children for purchases for themselves. A number of important themes were identified including; use of the Internet as an information source, factors surrounding purchase influence, payment barriers and children’s level of online consumer skills.
The impact of high spatial frequency atmospheric distortions on weak-lensing measurements

High-precision cosmology with weak gravitational lensing requires a precise measure of the point spread function across the imaging data where the accuracy to which high spatial frequency variation can be modelled is limited by the stellar number density across the field. We analyse dense stellar fields imaged at the Canada–France–Hawaii Telescope to quantify the degree of high spatial frequency variation in ground-based imaging point spread functions and compare our results to models of atmospheric turbulence. The data show an anisotropic turbulence pattern with an orientation independent of the wind direction and wind speed. We find the amplitude of the high spatial frequencies to decrease with increasing exposure time as t^(−1/2), and find a negligibly small atmospheric contribution to the point spread function ellipticity variation for exposure times t > 180 s. For future surveys analysing shorter exposure data, this anisotropic turbulence will need to be taken into account as the amplitude of the correlated atmospheric distortions becomes comparable to a cosmological lensing signal on scales less than ∼10 arcmin. This effect could be mitigated, however, by correlating galaxy shear measured on exposures imaged with a time separation greater than 50 s, for which we find the spatial turbulence patterns to be uncorrelated.
The Path Dependence of Organizational Reputation: How Social Judgment Influences Assessments of Capability and Character

Drawing upon theory on social judgments and impression formation from social psychology, this paper explores the socio-cognitive processes that shape the formation of favorable and unfavorable organizational reputations. Specifically, we suggest that stakeholders make distinctions between an organization’s capabilities and its character. We explain the nature and function of each and articulate the manner in which judgment heuristics and biases manifest in the development of capability and character reputations. In doing so, this research explores both the positive and negative sides of organizational reputation by examining the manner in which different types of reputations are built or damaged, and how these processes influence the ability of managers to enhance and protect these reputations.
Cooperative guidance law design for simultaneous attack with multiple missiles under directed communication topologies

This paper concerns the guidance law design problem of multiple missiles simultaneously attacking a non-maneuvering target under a directed communication topology. With using the relative range between the missile and the target over their closing speed as the time-to-go estimate of the missile, a cooperative guidance law in a fully distributed fashion is designed to synchronize the missiles' time-to-go estimates, and furthermore ensure the consensus of the missiles' real times-togo. The validity of the proposed method is demonstrated both in theoretical analysis and in simulation results.
A simple running model with rolling contact and its role as a template for dynamic locomotion on a hexapod robot

We report on the development of a robot’s dynamic locomotion based on a template which fits the robot’s natural dynamics. The developed template is a low degree-of-freedom planar model for running with rolling contact, which we call rolling spring loaded inverted pendulum (R-SLIP). Originating from a reduced-order model of the RHex-style robot with compliant circular legs, the R-SLIP model also acts as the template for general dynamic running. The model has a torsional spring and a large circular arc as the distributed foot, so during locomotion it rolls on the ground with varied equivalent linear stiffness. This differs from the well-known spring loaded inverted pendulum (SLIP) model with fixed stiffness and ground contact points. Through dimensionless steps-to-fall and return map analysis, within a wide range of parameter spaces, the R-SLIP model is revealed to have self-stable gaits and a larger stability region than that of the SLIP model. The R-SLIP model is then embedded as the reduced-order ‘template’ in a more complex ‘anchor’, the RHex-style robot, via various mapping definitions between the template and the anchor. Experimental validation confirms that by merely deploying the stable running gaits of the R-SLIP model on the empirical robot with simple open-loop control strategy, the robot can easily initiate its dynamic running behaviors with a flight phase and can move with similar body state profiles to those of the model, in all five testing speeds. The robot, embedded with the SLIP model but performing walking locomotion, further confirms the importance of finding an adequate template of the robot for dynamic locomotion.
Transgenic Rice Plants Expressing a Novel Antifreeze Glycopeptide Possess Resistance to Cold and Disease

Freezing injury and disease are both restrictive factors in crop production. In order to improve the tolerance ability to these stresses, a better way is to carry out genetic engineering by transferring dualfunctional genes. A predicted rice antifreeze glycopeptide gene was purposefully selected from rice blast-induced cDNA library. Northern blot demonstrated that the gene is expressed not only in blast-infected rice leaves, but also in low temperature-treated rice. In addition, the expressed protein in Escherichia coli exhibits strong antifreeze activities. The gene was overexpressed in rice plants transformed via Agrobacterium tumefacient EHA105. Overall 112 T0 transformants were obtained in this research. Cold tolerance and disease resistance of T1 transformants were, respectively, investigated. The results showed that plants containing overexpressed transgene can withstand D1 ∞C for 24 h without severe chilling injury after thawed, and that disease symptoms of the parallel transformants are highly reduced in response to blast infection, when compared with controls. The relationship of the gene and several pathogenesis-related protein genes to be chosen was analyzed and discussed. All these results confirmed the dual role of the cloned gene, and implied that genetic engineering using this kind of gene is a promising method to reduce biotic and abiotic stresses
Aggressive Variant of Morphologically Typical T Large Granular Lymphocyte Leukemia/Lymphoma Lacking NK Cell Markers

A 46-year-old woman with a previous diagnosis of sarcoidosis presented with morphologically typical large granular lymphocyte (LGL) leukemia/lymphoma with an aggressive clinical course. Epstein-Barr virus DNA was detected in peripheral blood mononuclear cells by PCR. The phenotype was typical of the T cell lineage (CD2+ CD3+ CD5+ CD7+ CD8+ TCRαβ+) but with the absence of the CD16, CD56, CD57 NK cell markers. In addition, the LGLs expressed CD122 (p75) in the absence of CD25 which is characteristic of LGLs. These leukemic LGLs did not exhibit NK activity. The clonal nature of this proliferation was demonstrated by the rearrangement of the TCRγ gene. This phenotypically unusual but morphologically typical LGL leukemia/lymphoma may represent the clonal expansion of a minor normal subset of T-LGLs which do not express any NK cell markers, probably corresponding to in vivo activated T cells.
Interaction of Branch Migration Translocases with the Holliday Junction-resolving Enzyme and Their Implications in Holliday Junction Resolution*

Background: Bacillus subtilis RuvAB and RecG translocases and RecU resolvase are crucial in homologous recombination. Results: RecU interacts with RuvB and re-localizes it at a Holliday junction (HJ). RuvB stimulates RecU. RecG and RuvAB unwind HJs. Conclusion: A RecU·HJ·RuvAB complex might be formed. Significance: RecU, which interacts with RecA, may help to discriminate between RuvAB and RecG at HJs. Double-strand break repair involves the formation of Holliday junction (HJ) structures that need to be resolved to promote correct replication and chromosomal segregation. The molecular mechanisms of HJ branch migration and/or resolution are poorly characterized in Firmicutes. Genetic evidence suggested that the absence of the RuvAB branch migration translocase and the RecU HJ resolvase is synthetically lethal in Bacillus subtilis, whereas a recU recG mutant was viable. In vitro RecU, which is restricted to bacteria of the Firmicutes phylum, binds HJs with high affinity. In this work we found that RecU does not bind simultaneously with RecG to a HJ. RuvB by interacting with RecU bound to the central region of HJ DNA, loses its nonspecific association with DNA, and re-localizes with RecU to form a ternary complex. RecU cannot stimulate the ATPase or branch migration activity of RuvB. The presence of RuvB·ATPγS greatly stimulates RecU-mediated HJ resolution, but the addition of ATP or RuvA abolishes this stimulatory effect. A RecU·HJ·RuvAB complex might be formed. RecU does not increase the RuvAB activities but slightly inhibits them.
Failure of endodontic treatment: The usual suspects

Inappropriate mechanical debridement, persistence of bacteria in the canals and apex, poor obturation quality, over and under extension of the root canal filling, and coronal leakage are some of the commonly attributable causes of failure. Despite the high success rate of endodontic treatment, failures do occur in a large number of cases and most of the times can be attributed to the already stated causes. With an ever increasing number of endodontic treatments being done each day, it has become imperative to avoid or minimize the most fundamental of reasons leading to endodontic failure. This paper reviews the most common causes of endodontic failure along with radiographic examples.
Are commercial properties a good hedge against inflation? Evidence from selected commercial centres in Lagos

The paper examined the inflation hedging capacity of office and shop properties in Lagos Metropolis from 1998-2008 using data from registered Estate Surveyors' and Valuers' firms. Five locations were selected for the study based on the pace of commercial activities. A total of 35 firms that operated above 20 years were used as sample size to capture the trend in practice. The study used descriptive statistics to show the trend of returns on commercial real estate investments in percentage against the change of inflation during the period under review. Rental values were used due to the difficulty in obtaining evidence of sale as at the time of the study. The results reveal that in the short run, office property does not provide a good hedge against inflation but, does so in the long run; while shop property does not hedge against inflation both in the long and in the short runs. Investors who are into direct real estate investment should look more at office properties and, if location is anything to go by, those locations that have shown better prospects are recommended to be sought after.
A reproducible microcosm biofilm model of subgingival microbial communities

OBJECTIVE To develop a reproducible subgingival microcosm biofilm model. MATERIAL AND METHODS Subgingival plaque samples were collected from four deep pockets (probing pocket depth ≥6 mm) in each of seven patients with periodontitis and from shallow pockets (probing pocket depth ≤3 mm) in two periodontally healthy donors. An active attachment model and a peptone medium (Thompson et. al., Appl Environ Microbiol 2015;81:8307-8314) supplemented with 30% serum was used. Biofilms were harvested at 2 and 4 weeks. DNA of dead cells was blocked for amplification by propidium monoazide treatment. Composition was analyzed using 16S rRNA gene amplicon pyrosequencing. Similarities between the biofilm samples were assessed by non-metric multidimensional scaling using the Bray-Curtis similarity index and similarity percentage analysis. Data from duplicate experiments, different biofilm sources and different biofilm age were compared. RESULTS The non-metric multidimensional scaling revealed a strong clustering by the inoculum source, the donor and their periodontal status. Statistically significant differences were found between the sources of inoculum (P=.0001) and biofilm age (P=.0016). Furthermore, periodontitis biofilms (P) were distinct in composition from health-derived biofilms (H) by genera: Porphyromonas (P=19%; H=0%), Filifactor (P=10%; H=0%), Anaeroglobus (P=3%; H=0%), Phocaeicola (P=1.5%; H=0%), Parvimonas (P=19%; H=14%), Fusobacterium (P=2%; H=26%), Peptostreptococcus (P=20%; H=30%), Veillonella (P=7%; H=8%) and 57 other genera. Similarity distances (Bray-Curtis) (mean 0.73, SD 0.15) and the Shannon diversity index (mean 2, SD 0.2) revealed no differences between duplicate experiments (P=.121). CONCLUSION This biofilm model allows reproducible production of complex subgingival microbial communities.
MENA Countries in the Competition for FDI: Designing an Exchange Rate Strategy

This paper highlights the impact of the exchange rate arrangement on inward foreign direct investment in MENA countries. We use an econometric equation where inward FDI in each country depends on various exchange-rate related determinants. We simulate the impact of a fixed peg to the euro in three MENA countries. The Euro-med area appears very heterogeneous, with Turkey unambiguously experiencing gains from pegging to the euro, while Morocco and Israel are in a much more mixed situation. In any case, the gain would be lower should many emerging countries follows the same strategy, because competition would increase among recipient countries. We conclude that stabilizing MENA currencies against the euro would exacerbate the competition with the
Complex Network-Oriented Analysis on Business Service Ecosystem

Service-oriented approach has changed the pattern of providing products and services in business area. Through supply chain on the online platform, many business entities (consumers and providers) can now make business transactions in a more extensive and convenient way. As huge business entities and their complex correlations exist and evolve continuously, this system is regarded as Business Service Ecosystem (BSE). It is critical to discern BSE's topology structure and evolution rule, to support its management. In this paper, first, business correlation model and key features of BSE are investigated; then, a Complex Network-oriented Analysis Framework (CNOAF) is proposed, which aims to solve the above problem, and a Time-based Correlation Bipartite Graph is established as the core model to deal with correlation; finally, an empirical study of marine logistic service indicates the effectiveness of CNOAF, and several valuable insights are obtained for its development.
Briefing: Public–private partnerships in the GCC: a changing landscape

A new law creating the legal framework for public–private partnerships in Dubai was issued by the Dubai government on 20 September 2015. It came into force in November 2015 and may well change the legal and financial structure of major projects across the Emirate. This is part of a growing trend in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries towards public–private partnership (PPP) structures as economies that have traditionally been dependent on oil revenue are looking to ensure greater economic productivity and diversification coupled with a more efficient management of risk. In this article the provisions of the new PPP law in Dubai and also the current PPP trends across the GCC region are considered in detail.
Experience With the Metasul Total Hip Bearing System

The author and Sulzer Medical Technology Ltd, Switzerland, have developed a new generation of metal on metal bearing total hip joints. The design is different than the McKee type prostheses in that the cobalt chrome alloy heads and cups (Metasul) are of the highest precision with controlled loose fitting. These allow low friction and low wear of approximately 5 μm per year. It is anticipated that debris related late loosening will be avoided by the use of this design. Approximately 30,000 Metasul bearings have been produced. The first 110 Weber metal on metal hip implants have been analyzed. No adverse effects from the wear of the new metal on metal components have been noted in this series.