Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
INFLUENCE OF POWER DISTANCE ON EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT AND MULTINATIONAL CORPORATION PERFORMANCE IN KENYA

A study was carried out with the specific objectives as to establish the influence of power distance on the strength of the relationship between employee empowerment and organization performance and to establish whether there is a direct relationship between employee empowerment and organization performance. Data for the study was collected using a questionnaire which contained measurements of power distance, employee empowerment and non-financial measures of performance of organizations. A pilot study was conducted to pre-test the questionnaire using a sample of 10 respondents. The questionnaire consisted of a Likert type scale ranging from 5 – very great extent to 1 – not at all. A census study of 60 multinational corporations operating in Kenya was conducted. The response rate was 65%, which is, 39 firms were interviewed. These results confirmed that the strength of the relationship between employee empowerment and MNC performance in a host country is influenced by power distance. The result (r = 0.608, < 0.01) showed a moderate relationship between employee empowerment and MNC performance. The magnitude of the correlation coefficient implies a moderate relationship (r = 0643, p < 0.01) between employee empowerment and organization performance.
Building connectomes using diffusion MRI: why, how and but

Why has diffusion MRI become a principal modality for mapping connectomes in vivo? How do different image acquisition parameters, fiber tracking algorithms and other methodological choices affect connectome estimation? What are the main factors that dictate the success and failure of connectome reconstruction? These are some of the key questions that we aim to address in this review. We provide an overview of the key methods that can be used to estimate the nodes and edges of macroscale connectomes, and we discuss open problems and inherent limitations. We argue that diffusion MRI‐based connectome mapping methods are still in their infancy and caution against blind application of deep white matter tractography due to the challenges inherent to connectome reconstruction. We review a number of studies that provide evidence of useful microstructural and network properties that can be extracted in various independent and biologically relevant contexts. Finally, we highlight some of the key deficiencies of current macroscale connectome mapping methodologies and motivate future developments.
Innovationen im Mobile Government - Eine Analyse von Dienstattraktivitäten und Motivationen von deutschen Kommunen

ABSTRACT (ZUSAMMENFASSUNG) Stadte und Gemeinden stehen unter einem immerwahrenden Sparzwang. Gleichzeitig ergeben sich mit der wachsenden Beliebtheit des mobilen Internets innovative Anwendungsszenarien des Mobile Government. Diese Arbeit analysiert ein breites Spektrum an Mobile Government-Diensten aus der Sicht von kommunalen IT-Entscheidern und untersucht die organisationalen Faktoren, welche die wahrgenommene Attraktivitat dieser Dienste beeinflussen. Hierzu wird auf Basis der Literatur sowie einer Serie von Interviews ein Modell bestehend aus drei Hauptdimensionen ( Effizienzstreben, Innovationsstreben und IT-Erfahrenheit) abgeleitet. Wir testen das Modell empirisch mit Hilfe des Partial Least Square-Ansatzes in einer Erhebung mit 50 deutschen Stadten und clustern die Falle entsprechend der postulierten Dimensionen. Die Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass sich die Motivationen in Stadten mit hoher Auspragung der wahrgenommenen Dienstattraktivitat signifikant von denen mit geringer Auspragung unterscheiden und dass die Innovatoren und IT-Erfahrenen unter den Stadten in den nachsten drei Jahren deutlich starker in mobile Dienste investieren werden Eals andere Kommunen.
Strategic control : milestones for long-term performance

Strategic control is concerned with measuring and rewarding strategic performance against pre-set goals, in the same way as budgetary control measures and rewards financial achievement against pre-set budgets. But strategy is long-term and budgeting is short-term. So how does an organization reconcile strategy with budgeting and ensure that managers achieve both budgetary and strategic targets? This book shows how to control a company's strategic direction on an everyday basis. It shows how strategic "milestones" can be woven into business plans, how they can be evaluated, changed and integrated with day-to-day activities. It also shows how this sort of planning can inject new motivation into managers, and encourage a new entrepreneurial spirit in a company.
The Cytochrome P 450 4 A / F-20-Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic Acid System : A Regulator of Endothelial Precursor Cells Derived from Human Umbilical Cord Blood

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) contribute to physiological and pathological neovascularization. Previous data have suggested that the cytochrome P450 4A/F (CYP4A/F)-20-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (20-HETE) system regulates neovascularization. Therefore, we studied whether the angiogenic effects of the CYP4A/F-20-HETE system involve regulation of EPC function. We extracted human umbilical cord blood and isolated EPCs, which express AC133 CD34 and kinase insert domain receptor (KDR) surface markers and contain mRNA and protein for CYP4A11 and CYP4A22 enzymes, as opposed to mesenchymal stem cells, which only express negligible amounts of CYP4A11/22. When EPCs were incubated with arachidonic acid, they produced 20HETE, which stimulated the cells to proliferate and migrate, as did vascular endothelial growth factor. Incubation with 1 M N-hydroxy-N -(4-butyl-2-methylphenyl)formamidine (HET0016), a selective inhibitor of 20-HETE synthesis, reduced the proliferative and migratory effects of vascular endothelial growth factor and also significantly abolished EPC migration mediated by stromaderived factor-1 , as did (6,15) 20-hydroxyeicosadienoic acid. Coculturing EPCs and endothelial cells on a Matrigel matrix led to tube formation, which in turn was inhibited by both HET0016 and 20-hydroxyeicosadienoic acid. We concluded that the CYP4A/F20-HETE system is expressed in EPCs and can act as both an autocrine and a paracrine regulatory factor.
On the explanatory power of sovereign credit ratings

Sovereign credit ratings for developed economies have been highly volatile during the recent years of economic crisis. The extent to which these ratings affect sovereign bond yields is not clear-cut. Investigating data for Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain with respect to Germany, for the period 7/13/2006 – 5/14/2012, it is found that sovereign credit ratings have significant, independent explanatory power with respect to sovereign bond yield spreads, over and above their correlation with other publicly available information. The direction of the causal effect is found to run from sovereign credit ratings to bond yield spreads. Credit ratings fully capture the effect of sovereign debt; they complement the effects of contagion, ECB policy, liquidity, current account balance, GDP growth and unemployment measures.
Gay Men from Heterosexual Marriages

ABSTRACT In the current study, the attitudes, behaviors and experiences of 26 gay or bisexual men who were married to a woman are examined. Data are provided on childhood family background and experiences, sexual practices with men, reasons for entering marriage, and the “coming out” process. The frequency of childhood sexual experiences was associated with unsafe sexual practices with other men in adulthood. Attitudes toward lesbians and gay men were more negative now than at the time of marriage. The two most frequent reasons for marriage were that it seemed natural, and a desire for children and family life. The results support the hypothesis that internalised homophobia is a factor that leads men into mixed-orientation marriages. Cognitive consistency theory is used to explain the eventual marriage breakdown.
Decision making for IT service selection in Swedish SMEs : A study with focus on Swedish Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

ProblemThere is a lack of knowledge about how Swedish SMEs make decisions on IT service selection. There is also lack of information about the attributes of IT service providers that are most important to Swedish SMEs. By discovering these attributes, IT service providers could focus on improving their services in those dimensions and become more attractive for Swedish small and medium enterprises.PurposeThe purpose of this research is to investigate the decision making process over selection of IT services for small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Sweden. Additionally, this research intends to discover the most important features (attributes) of an IT service provider in its selection.What are the steps involved in decision-making process? What decision-making methods can be used to help explain the process that goes on in the minds of the decision makers? What aspects influence their behaviour when decision makers prefer one service provider to another? IT service comprises of internet-based services such as web hosting, email services, online backup services and cloud apps or locally offered IT services such as IT helpdesk. The candidates who were interviewed were employees or entrepreneurs who work and live in Sweden.MethodThis research was conducted with an inductive approach using mono method for semi-structured interviews for primary data collection. Secondary data collection was multiple-source through literature reviews in order to learn about different attributes and current knowledge about this subject. The research method was qualitative with exploratory strategy in order to get insights into managers’ decision-making processes. Sampling was non-probability purposive method with sample size as saturation method. The focus was illustrative and method chosen as typical case.ConclusionThe conclusions of this thesis illustrates that the important attributes (features) of IT services required by Swedish SMEs are the requirement that the service is being offered from Sweden, due to tax conformity laws and security matters. Moreover, SAT, WADD, FRQ and EBA are decision-making heuristics in use by the companies in selection of suitable IT services.
Attribute oriented induction with star schema

This paper will propose a novel star schema attribute induction as a new attribute induction paradigm and as improving from current attribute oriented induction. A novel star schema attribute induction will be examined with current attribute oriented induction based on characteristic rule and using non rule based concept hierarchy by implementing both of approaches. In novel star schema attribute induction some improvements have been implemented like elimination threshold number as maximum tuples control for generalization result, there is no ANY as the most general concept, replacement the role concept hierarchy with concept tree, simplification for the generalization strategy steps and elimination attribute oriented induction algorithm. Novel star schema attribute induction is more powerful than the current attribute oriented induction since can produce small number final generalization tuples and there is no ANY in the results.
Swedish Business R&D and its Export Dependence

Sweden has seen a rise in business R&D-intensities and dependence on exports to make its economy grow since the early 1990s. This paper examines the role of foreign sales in stimulating R&D as compared to a domestic sales effect, and finds, in line with the literature, that R&D rises proportionally to sales in cross-sections from 1991 to 2001. Among manufacturing firms, foreign sales are distinctly more associated with an increase in R&D than domestic sales. For service firms, domestic sales are as important as foreign. The results are consistent with the hypotheses that manufacturing firms more easily separate production from R&D, economize on transport costs and are subject to learning-by-exporting effects. In general, the results highlight the dependence on openness in stimulating R&D in a small economy, especially among manufacturing firms.
Video Aesthetic Quality Assessment by Temporal Integration of Photo- and Motion-Based Features

This paper presents a new method for accessing the aesthetic quality of videos. It consists of two processes: aesthetic features construction and temporal integration. First, our method combines both photo-based and motion-based visual clues to extract the aesthetic features for each frame in a video. We introduce new motion-based features built from optical flow and salient region extraction, and show their effectiveness to enhance the estimation of aesthetic values. Then, a temporal-order-aware framework that integrates the frame-based features is presented to further improve the evaluation accuracy by taking the time-varying properties into consideration. The experimental results demonstrate that our approach can accomplish remarkable improvement for aesthetic quality assessment of videos.
First and second trimester antenatal screening for Down's syndrome: the results of the Serum, Urine and Ultrasound Screening Study (SURUSS).

The matching criteria were gestation (using an ultrasound crown–rump length or biparietal diameter measurement), duration of storage, and centre. Screening performance of the individual markers and combinations of markers together with maternal age was assessed using standard methods. In addition pairs of first and second trimester serum samples from 600 controls were tested to secure a larger set in which screening performance could be deter­ mined using distribution parameters based on dates (time since first day of the last menstrual period).
Phenotypic analysis of mice deficient in the major myelin protein MOBP, and evidence for a novel Mobp isoform

Myelin‐associated oligodendrocytic basic protein (MOBP) is a recently identified major component of central nervous system (CNS) myelin. We previously reported a detailed characterization of the genomic region encompassing the Mobp gene, elucidating the complex series of transcript splicing responsible for the generation of its diverse family of protein isoforms. These basic, positively charged polypeptides display spatial and temporal expression patterns consistent with a potential role in the compaction and maintenance of the myelin sheath. MOBP isoforms have also been localized to the nucleus and the microtubular network of oligodendrocytes; transcript corresponding to one isoform is present during embryonic development. Recent reports have identified a role for this protein family in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis, but a clear function for the wild‐type protein has remained unclear. We report a detailed analysis of a targeted mutation of Mobp, which results in the deletion of the translational start site and most of the coding sequence of MOBP, and the deletion of the entire coding sequence corresponding to a novel, putative MOBP isoform. Our analyses clearly demonstrate that MOBP‐deficient mice develop normally, generate intact compact CNS myelin, and demonstrate no obvious clinical phenotype. Furthermore, in contrast with another recent study, we find that Mobp null mice demonstrate no significant influence on the axonal diameter of myelinated axons. Although MOBP is not essential for myelination, it appears that its absence is not simply compensated for by increased expression of the “classic” myelin basic protein (MBP). GLIA 39:256–267, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Venture Capital Trade Sale Exits

Even though venture capital trade sale exits are the most common and successful exit vehicle, historically most academic attention has been given to IPO exits. This thesis takes the first steps towards opening the black box that is trade sale exits. The thesis is paper-based, and the main academic contributions belong to the four papers appended. This document opens with an introduction to the field of study as well as overall reflections in order to offer the reader a contextual background. Paper one is based on a literature review, while paper two through four are based on an inductive multiple-case study covering 19 venture capital trade sale exits from Norway and the U.S. Paper one conducts an extensive literature review of venture capital exits in general, leading up to the development of a model denoted The Road to Venture Capital Exit. This model identifies the variables that influence the exit process in the different phases, and describes how these variables influence the exit process. Paper two explores the relation between pre-planned exit strategies and value-adding, and suggests the existence of two different venture capitalist mindsets; the Tailor and the Architect. The Tailor uses exit possibilities as an addition to traditional deal evaluation criteria, has a pre-planned exit strategy, and adds value with exit in mind. The Architect does not use exit possibilities as an evaluation criteria, and adds value in a more general manner. Paper three examines the relationship between the venture capitalist and the entrepreneur during the trade sale exit process, finding that this relationship is characterized more by consensus and cooperation than by conflict and defection. Further, it is found that four factors influence the relationship during the exit process, and are determining for the conflict level. These factors are: pre-investment alignment, strategic hurdles and personal motives faced by the entrepreneur, the reputation and connectedness of the venture capitalist, and the probability for entrepreneurial recycling. Paper four explores the role of financial advisors in trade sale exits, by looking closer at why advisors are utilized, as well as by examining the factors determining the choice of a specific advisor. It is found that advisors are considered especially useful in bargaining situations, through playing the role of bad cops, and also by letting venture capitalists and entrepreneurs focus on their primary tasks. With regards to selection criteria, venture capitalists emphasize industry experience, prior relations and the size of the advisory firm. Finally, the findings are integrated in a framework explaining the role of financial advisors in venture capital trade sale exits.
Symmetry of Retinal Parameters Measured by Spectral-domain OCT in Normal Young Adults

Purpose:To determine interocular differences in retinal parameters in a population of young adults using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. Methods:In the Sydney Adolescent Vascular Eye Study, young adults aged 16 to 19 years received a standardized eye examination encompassing retinal photography, spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (Cirrus HD-OCT; Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA) and best-corrected visual acuity. Interocular differences in retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and macular parameters together with sex and ethnic variations for these differences were determined. Results:In the 1500 subjects tested, right eyes had thicker average RNFL than left eyes (0.3 &mgr;m, P=0.0074). There were no significant interocular differences in central macular or macular cube average thickness. After adjusting for interocular difference in axial length, right eyes had slightly smaller total macular volume than left eyes (−0.0082 mm3, P=0.008). The 2.5% to 97.5% limits of asymmetry were 9.3 &mgr;m for average RNFL, 8 &mgr;m for average macular thickness, and 0.20 mm3 for total macular volume. In the outer inferior quadrant, there was a greater macular thickness asymmetry in females than males (−0.7 &mgr;m, P=0.037). In the inferior RNFL quadrant (−2.6 &mgr;m, P=0.0013) and in the outer inferior macular quadrant (1.6 &mgr;m, P=0.0018), white individuals had greater symmetry than East Asians. Conclusions:In this study, we report the degree of interocular symmetry of RNFL and macular parameters measured by Cirrus HD-OCT in healthy young adults.
57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 Poly : A Reliable and Energy Efficient Topology Control Protocol for Wireless Sensor Networks

Energy efficiency and reliability are the two important requirements for mission-critical wireless sensor networks. In the context of sensor topology control for routing and dissemination, Connected Dominating Set (CDS) based techniques proposed in prior literature provide the most promising efficiency and reliability. In a CDS-based topology control technique, a backbone – comprising a set of highly connected nodes – is formed which allows communication between any arbitrary pair of nodes in the network. In this paper, we show that formation of a polygon in the network provides a reliable and energy-efficient topology. Based on this observation, we propose Poly, a novel topology construction protocol based on the idea of polygons. We compare the performance of Poly with three prominent CDS-based topology construction protocols namely CDS-Rule K, Energy-efficient CDS (EECDS) and A3. Our simulation results demonstrate that Poly performs consistently better in terms of message overhead and other selected metrics. We also model the reliability of Poly and compare it with other CDS-based techniques to show that it achieves better connectivity under highly dynamic network topologies.
Study of a localized meningococcal meningitis epidemic in Burkina Faso: incidence, carriage, and immunity.

BACKGROUND To better understand localized meningococcal meningitis epidemics, we evaluated a serogroup A (NmA) epidemic in Burkina Faso by surveillance, carriage, and seroprevalence studies. METHODS During March-April 2006, cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients suspected to have meningitis in 3 epidemic villages were analyzed by culture or polymerase chain reaction. We assessed meningococcal carriage and serogroup-specific serum bactericidal antibody titers with baby rabbit complement (rSBA) in a representative population sample (N = 624; age range, 1-39 years). A serogroup A/C polysaccharide vaccine campaign occurred in parallel. RESULTS Cumulative incidence of Nm meningitis was 0.45% and varied among villages (0.08%-0.91%). NmA carriage prevalence was 16% without variation by vaccination status. NmA carriage and anti-NmA seroprevalence varied by village and incidence. In the 2 villages with highest incidence and seroprevalence, presence of rSBA titers ≥8 was associated with NmA carriage (odds ratio [OR], 9.33 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.90-45.91]) and vaccination ≤4 days earlier (OR, 0.10 [95% CI, .03-.32]). Visibly purulent or Nm meningitis was significantly associated with recent flulike symptoms and exposure to kitchen smoke (risk ratios >15). CONCLUSIONS A surge of NmA carriage may be involved in the development of meningococcal epidemics and rapidly increase anti-NmA seroprevalence. Flulike infection and kitchen smoke may contribute to the strength of epidemics.
The NAO humanoid: a combination of performance and affordability

This article presents the design of the autonomous humanoid robot called NAO that is built by the French company Aldebaran-Robotics. With its height of 0.57 m and its weight about 4.5 kg, this innovative robot is lightweight and compact. It distinguishes itself from its existing Japanese, American, and other counterparts thanks to its pelvis kinematics design, its proprietary actuation system based on brush DC motors, its electronic, computer and distributed software architectures. This robot has been designed to be affordable without sacrificing quality and performance. It is an open and easy-to-handle platform where the user can change all the embedded system software or just add some applications to make the robot adopt specific behaviours. The robot's head and forearms are modular and can be changed to promote further evolution. The comprehensive and functional design is one of the reasons that helped select NAO to replace the AIBO quadrupeds in the 2008 RoboCup standard league.