Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strategic Technology Management As A Causality To South African Company Performance

Cutting edge technology management goes beyond basic research and development (R&D). Increasingly, corporate strategists are making a more precise distinction between “technology” and “technology management. ” The main purpose of this study was to develop an empirically derived classification system (taxonomy) for sustaining industry leadership, through the relationships that exist between technology and innovation strategy, technology management and company performance. A non-probability, judgment sample of companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) were taken. Seminal research studies were used to identify a set of technology strategy, technology management and innovation strategy dimensions. Four distinct technology factors obtained with the analysis, were proved to positively influence the company performance dimensions and were classified as Control Market Planning, Product Development Intensity, R&D Commitment and Technology Focus factors. As a result a conceptual model has been developed to demonstrate the integrated properties of this new proposed taxonomy of technology and innovation. The results show that strategic technology management choices can significantly affect company performance.
An Analysis of Modern Approaches to the Delivery of Unwanted Emails (Spam)

Background: A new way of spam sending was discovered. Old spam techniques not effective now, spammers find new ways. Analysis: The analysis shows that spammers find new ways to bypass very efficient tools to catch spam like DNSBL, SPF and some others. Findings: New discovered approach uses cheap domain names and cheap hosting services to imitate legal mail servers. Conclusion: New anti-spam tools needed to fight against new spam sending wave.
Clusters or un‐clustered industries? Where inter‐firm marketing cooperation matters

Purpose – This paper aims to focus on the perceived role of clusters in inter‐firm cooperation and social networks.Design/methodology/approach – The study was carried out in a region of Latin America where limited research has been conducted in terms of inter‐firm relationships. Managers from three key natural resources‐based industries in Chile participated in the survey; one of these industries constituted a well‐defined cluster whereas the other two did not. The survey assessed managers' perceptions of the benefits and opportunities of inter‐firm cooperation in strategic marketing activities.Findings – Results support the advantages of clusters. Managers of firms which are part of clustered industries tend to perceive more benefits and opportunities for inter‐firm co‐operation in marketing activities. Additionally, significant differences between clustered and non‐clustered industries in terms of their co‐operation behavior and objectives were found.Research limitations/implications – The findings shed.
Is there Inter-Regional Systemic Risk Contagion? An Investigation of Inter-Regional Systemic Risk Spillover Effects using the ESS-indicator and Bank CDS Spreads

During the 2007-2009 financial crisis certain events in the American financial system affected financial markets around the globe. Moreover, since the onset of the euro zone sovereign debt crisis, the systemic risk in Europe also appeared to affect the banking sector risk in other regions. While both effects are mentioned frequently in the public discourse on banking sector risk contagion and regulation, a scientific examination of these inter-regional contagion effects is to the best of our knowledge not available. In this paper we fill this gap and analyze the inter-regional systemic risk contagion effects between the regional relative expected systemic shortfall (ESS) indicator and alternatively the regional bank CDS spreads of the American, Asia-Pacific, European as well as the Middle East and Russia sub-samples in Lahmann/Kaserer (2011) by means of Granger-causality tests and impulse response analysis in vector autoregressive frameworks during four sub-periods between October 2005 and April 2011.We find that during the financial crisis period the systemic risk in America leads the systemic risk in other regions and during the euro zone sovereign debt crisis period the impact of the European systemic risk on the banking sectors in other regions is more pronounced. Moreover, additional lead-lag relationships are observed.
The DNA damage checkpoint protein ATM promotes hepatocellular apoptosis and fibrosis in a mouse model of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease

Steatoapoptosis is a hallmark of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and is an important factor in liver disease progression. We hypothesized that increased reactive oxygen species resulting from excess dietary fat contribute to liver disease by causing DNA damage and apoptotic cell death, and tested this by investigating the effects of feeding mice high fat or standard diets for 8 weeks. High fat diet feeding resulted in increased hepatic H2O2, superoxide production, and expression of oxidative stress response genes, confirming that the high fat diet induced hepatic oxidative stress. High fat diet feeding also increased hepatic steatosis, hepatitis and DNA damage as exemplified by an increase in the percentage of 8-hydroxyguanosine (8-OHG) positive hepatocytes in high fat diet fed mice. Consistent with reports that the DNA damage checkpoint kinase Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated (ATM) is activated by oxidative stress, ATM phosphorylation was induced in the livers of wild type mice following high fat diet feeding. We therefore examined the effects of high fat diet feeding in Atm-deficient mice. The prevalence of apoptosis and expression of the pro-apoptotic factor PUMA were significantly reduced in Atm-deficient mice fed the high fat diet when compared with wild type controls. Furthermore, high fat diet fed Atm−/− mice had significantly less hepatic fibrosis than Atm+/+ or Atm+/− mice fed the same diet. Together, these data demonstrate a prominent role for the ATM pathway in the response to hepatic fat accumulation and link ATM activation to fatty liver-induced steatoapoptosis and fibrosis, key features of NAFLD progression.
Exploring and Enforcing Application Security Guarantees vis Program Dependence

We present Pidgin, a program analysis and understanding tool that allows developers to explore the information flows that exist in programs and specify and enforce security policies that restrict these information flows. Pidgin uses program-dependence graphs (PDGs) to precisely capture the information flows within a program. PDGs can be queried using a custom query language to explore and describe information flows in programs. A developer can specify strong information security policies by asserting that specific queries return no results (i.e., asserting the absence of certain information flows in the program). To check whether a program satisfies a security policy, a developer can simply evaluate the query against a program’s dependence graph. The query language is expressive, supporting a large class of precise, application-specific security guarantees. Pidgin can be used to explore information security guarantees in legacy programs, or to support the specification, enforcement, and modification of information security requirements during program development. We describe the design and implementation of Pidgin and report on using Pidgin both to explore security guarantees in existing open-source applications, and to specify and enforce security guarantees during application development.
Treatment challenges with profound behaviour disturbance after traumatic brain injury: A case report

Abstract Background: Severe behavioural disturbances exhibited during the earliest stages of recovery from severe traumatic brain injury often limit the ability to provide standard care. Studies that focus on treatment options for inpatients with such behaviours are scarce. There is limited guidance on how to approach therapy that will maximize the patient’s tolerance and participation and how to measure meaningful progress. Case report: This case study describes how the use of an innovative treatment approach to improve attention was beneficial in rehabilitation of a patient with severe traumatic brain injury whose profound behaviour disturbances substantially precluded participation in traditional therapies. The study shows how rehabilitation utilizing an interactive virtual reality-robotics environment that minimized distractions was associated with improved engagement in therapy, decreased disruptive behaviour during treatment and more sensitive measurement of progress. Conclusion: These results may be instructive in how technology can be used to modify therapy sessions to make them accessible to patients with profound behaviour disturbance and how meaningful progress can be measured even in the absence of gains in traditional metrics.
Borrower attitudes, lender attitudes and agricultural lending in rural China

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the lender-borrower relationship as it relates to Sannong loans for agricultural and rural financial markets by Rural Credit Cooperatives (RCCs) and other rural lenders. This paper is motivated by recent reforms to the rural credit market designed to encourage increased lending, particularly to farmers. Little is understood about the lender-borrower relationship in rural China. This paper fills that gap. Design/methodology/approach – The paper investigates relational attitudes between 120 loan officers at RCCs in China's costal Shandong province, paired with a field survey using matched questions to 394 farm households in the same region. Pairing lenders’ perception toward borrowers regarding RCC microcredit lending mechanism, against borrowers’ perception toward lenders and how themselves were perceived by lenders in the same regards, the paper investigates the degree of disconnect between lenders and with distinct cluster groupings based on their per.
A Research Agenda for Therapeutic Recreation Revisited

The purpose of this research was to determine therapeutic recreation (TR) efficacy research areas of importance to members of the National Therapeutic Recreation Society (NTRS). Additionally, the study sought to determine how past TR research priorities compared with current priorities. Replicating portions of Carruthers' 1997/98 study, a Delphi technique was used to identify research items of highest priority to NTRS members (N = 131). Top ranked items emphasized TR's impact on client- and health care-specific outcomes. Nine new research priorities were identified. Some TR research items pertaining to newer populations and environments were notably absent, however. Overall, agreement of items indicated that areas exist for collaborating to advance a research agenda in TR and provided direction for the allocation of research funds.
A NEW SPECIES OF BURROWING CRAYFISH VIRILASTACUS RETAMALI (DECAPODA: PARASTACIDAE) FROM THE SOUTHERN CHILE PEATLAND

Abstract Virilastacus retamali, a new species of burrowing parastacid, is described from the peatland in Rucapihuel located along the Coastal Cordillera from the province of Osorno, southern Chile. This is the third species of the genus Virilastacus described to date. It differs from V. araucanius and V. rucapihuelensis in the following morphological characters: 1) large eyes; 2) short rostral carina; 3) long antennal scale with prominent spine at the distal end of its external margin; 4) basal podomere of the antennula with a prominent ventral spine; 5) posterior plate of the epistome bears a cluster of prominent anterolateral tubercles; 6) ventral surface of the ischiopodite of the third maxilliped with a band of prominent tubercles and abundant pilosity; 7) U-shaped cervical groove; and 8) subtriangular telson. Finally, the habitat also differs from that of congeneric species, with V. retamali inhabiting a geogenous peatland whereas the other two species inhabit semi-marshland. We also present a complete phylogeny of the Chilean freshwater crayfish showing the distinct position of this new species. Finally, we assess all the Chilean species for conservation status using the IUCN Red List Criteria.
Knowledge dissemination in the global service marketing community

Purpose – The evolution of the service marketing field was marked by the emergence of a global, vigorous and tolerant community of service marketing researchers. This paper seeks to examine the history of the service marketing community and argues that it may be an archetype for building the emergent global service research community.Design/methodology/approach – The study combines qualitative and quantitative approaches. The authors interviewed four pioneering service scholars and also collected descriptive data (e.g. Authorship, Affiliation, Title, Keywords) of all service related articles published in 13 top peer‐reviewed marketing and service journals over the last 30 years (5,432 articles; 6,450 authors). In a dynamic analysis the authors mapped global collaboration between countries over time and detected clusters of international collaboration.Findings – Findings suggest a growing international collaboration for the USA and the UK, while for other countries like Israel the global collaboration star.
Voice enabled interface for interactive tour-guide robots

This paper considers design methodologies in order to develop voice-enabled interfaces for tour-guide robots to be deployed at the Robotics Exposition of the Swiss National Exhibition (Expo.02). Human-robot voice communication presents new challenges for the design of fully autonomous mobile robots, in that interactivity must be robot-initiated in conversation and within a dynamic adverse environment. We approached these general problems for a voice enabled interface, tailored to limited computational resources of one on-board processor, when integrating smart speech signal acquisition, automatic speech recognition and synthesis, as well as dialogue system into the multi-modal, multisensor interface for the Expo tour-guide robot. We also focus on particular issues that need to be addressed in voice-based interaction when planning specific tasks and research experiments for Expo.02 where tour-guide robots will interact with hundred of thousands of visitors for six months, seven days a week, ten hours per day.
Collaboration and technology linkages: a strategic supplier typology

This study uses frameworks from the strategic management and operations strategy literatures to explore the relationships among collaboration, technology, and innovation in small and medium‐sized manufacturers. Statistical analysis of the responses of 200 New Hampshire manufacturing companies in four SIC code industries (fabricated metals, industrial equipment, electrical and electronic equipment, and instruments) leads to the development of a strategic supplier typology which is useful in explaining the differences in the composition and performance of various types of suppliers. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Regulation of d-Xylose and d-Arabitol Catabolism by Aerobacter aerogenes

Aerobacter aerogenes strain PRL-R3 possesses inducible enzyme pathways for the catabolism of d-xylose and d-arabitol. d-Xylose is the apparent inducer for d-xylose isomerase and d-xylulokinase. d-Arabitol is the apparent inducer for d-arabitol dehydrogenase and a separate d-xylulokinase. Both kinases had similar Km values and substrate specificities, and could not be separated by sucrose gradient centrifugation or polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. They could be differentiated, however, by their separate regulation, their inhibition by antisera, and by the cold sensitivity of the kinase of the d-arabitol catabolic pathway.
Knowledge Management Practices in the Context of Supply Chain Integration

Knowledge can be a strategic resource for any organization. Today, it is considered the cornerstone for the development of core competencies that will generate competitive advantages. This knowledge is not found exclusively within organizations, but may be shared through business relationships developed within the supply chain through the interconnection of value-added activities among business partners. This article seeks to study the relationship between supply chain and knowledge management practices. The results of a study of 163 Quebec (Canada) manufacturing companies (almost 90% of which are small- and medium- sized enterprises) confirmed our hypothesis that the deployment of integrated supply chain management practices with both upstream and downstream partners is associated with more effective knowledge management processes. Although this relationship is not linear, a more comprehensive, integrated vision of the supply chain‐both upstream and downstream‐leads to an awareness of the value of the knowledge exchanged. This awareness also results in the implementation of measures to protect knowledge deemed to be strategic.
The 3-D map building of AUV based on D-S information fusion

In this paper, a three-dimensional (3-D) map building approach is proposed for path planning with obstacle avoidance of Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) in the unknown dynamic environment. Firstly, establishing the environment model and sonar model and the sonar readings are converted to probability values. Then, the map data is updated by using D-S information fusion and the 3-D dynamic grid map is built. Finally, illustrate the feasibility of D-S information fusion on map building by comparing the real map and the dynamic map.
Growth and Improvement of Information Communication Technology in Kenya

For more than a decade, development partners have been advocating the application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a tool for poverty alleviation in developing countries. Various approaches have been suggested and implemented in various countries including Kenya. Using the data from National Small Medium Enterprises Baseline Survey 1999 and Economic Survey of 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 among others, this paper examines the performance of the ICT sector against national policy objectives.
Integrating qualitative research with trials in systematic reviews

An example review from public health shows how integration is possible and some potential benefits The value of including data from different types of studies in systematic reviews of health interventions is increasingly recognised. A recent editorial accepted that qualitative research should be included in systematic reviews, but pointed to a “daunting array of theoretical and practical problems. ”1 This article presents an approach to combining qualitative and quantitative research in a systematic review. We describe how we used this approach in a systematic review of interventions to promote healthy eating among children, full details of which are available.2 The review question was: “What is known about the barriers to, and facilitators of, healthy eating among children aged 4-10 years? ” The specific focus of the review was fruit and vegetable intake. We searched for two types of research: controlled trials (randomised or non-randomised) that examined interventions to promote healthy eating and studies that examined children's perspectives and understandings (views studies), often by using qualitative research methods—for example, in-depth interviews and focus groups. [][1] But will she eat her greens? Credit: PAUL DARRAH/REX We used conventional systematic review methods: sensitive searching, systematic screening, and independent quality assessment. These methods found 33 trials and eight qualitative studies that met our prespecified inclusion criteria. We assessed studies for quality and reliability according to standards for their specific study types; they were then synthesised individually by using methods appropriate to the study. We conducted a meta-analysis with the data extracted from trials, used qualitative methods to synthesise the textual data extracted from the qualitative studies, and then integrated the findings from the qualitative synthesis with those from the meta-analysis. This gave us one review with three syntheses (fig 1). Fig 1 Stages of the review We maintained the key principles of avoiding bias and maximising … [1]: /embed/graphic-1.gif
A Structural Equations Analysis of the Impact of Price Promotions on Store Performance

Guided by past research, conventional wisdom in the retailing area, and microeconomic theory, the authors develop a series of hypotheses about the effects of loss leaders, in-store price specials, and double coupon promotions on overall store sales, profit, and traffic. The resulting system of structural relationships is tested and cross-validated with data from two large supermarkets. The findings indicate that (1) though most of the loss leader promotions had no effect on store profit, those loss leaders that did affect profit did so through their effect on store traffic rather than through their effect on sales of the promoted items, (2) double coupon promotions affected profit by increasing sales of products purchased with a coupon rather than by increasing store traffic, and (3) in-store price specials appear to have had no effect on store profit, sales, or traffic. The results of the study also emphasize the importance of building store traffic to increase retailer profit and of examining the effects of price promotions within the context of a system of relevant equations.
Oligomeric and Fibrillar Species of Amyloid-β Peptides Differentially Affect Neuronal Viability*

Genetic evidence predicts a causative role for amyloid-β (Aβ) in Alzheimer's disease. Recent debate has focused on whether fibrils (amyloid) or soluble oligomers of Aβ are the active species that contribute to neurodegeneration and dementia. We developed two aggregation protocols for the consistent production of stable oligomeric or fibrillar preparations of Aβ-(1–42). Here we report that oligomers inhibit neuronal viability 10-fold more than fibrils and ∼40-fold more than unaggregated peptide, with oligomeric Aβ-(1–42)-induced inhibition significant at 10 nm. Under Aβ-(1–42) oligomer- and fibril-forming conditions, Aβ-(1–40) remains predominantly as unassembled monomer and had significantly less effect on neuronal viability than preparations of Aβ-(1–42). We applied the aggregation protocols developed for wild type Aβ-(1–42) to Aβ-(1–42) with the Dutch (E22Q) or Arctic (E22G) mutations. Oligomeric preparations of the mutations exhibited extensive protofibril and fibril formation, respectively, but were not consistently different from wild type Aβ-(1–42) in terms of inhibition of neuronal viability. However, fibrillar preparations of the mutants appeared larger and induced significantly more inhibition of neuronal viability than wild type Aβ-(1–42) fibril preparations. These data demonstrate that protocols developed to produce oligomeric and fibrillar Aβ-(1–42) are useful in distinguishing the structural and functional differences between Aβ-(1–42) and Aβ-(1–40) and genetic mutations of Aβ-(1–42).
Formation of a coronary artery aneurysm after inflation of a PercuSurge GuardWire distal protection balloon

Formation of aneurysms in the coronary arteries with the use of the PercuSurge distal protection system has not been reported. We describe a 54‐year‐old man with acute myocardial infarction who was treated with the PercuSurge system. Angiography performed 2 weeks later revealed an aneurysm in the area of inflation of the distal protection balloon. Catheter Cardiovasc Interv 2005;64:82–84. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.