Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effects of total quality management on customer service management in the Nigerian banking industry: an empirical analysis

This paper investigates the effectiveness of the critical success factors (CSFs) of total quality management (TQM) on customer service management (CSM) in the Nigerian banking industry. The empirical study was conducted via a survey on six, out of the 22 banks that have implemented TQM due to the 2004 consolidation exercise of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Using the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) 2001 award framework, factors manifesting customer service management were regressed on the key factors manifesting successful TQM. The results posit that, for TQM to be successfully implemented, workers must be allowed to set goals and performance monitoring, effective communication, commitment and support from the top management, careful alignment of corporate strategy with TQM strategy, clear and compelling TQM vision, constant review of TQM implementations to align with plans and budgets, effective process review and controls, quality improvement measurement systems and IT infrastructures. The model provides predictive implications on improved CSM, given the activities of CSFs manifesting successful TQM. Hence, to improve CSM, banks could control their TQM programme.
UvA-DARE ( Digital Academic Repository ) Optimization of fluorescent proteins for novel quantitative multiparameter microscopy approaches

Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: http://uba.uva. nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible.
Social Capital and the Irish Drug Scene: Rural Youth, Cocaine and Irish Travellers

Semi structured interviews were undertaken with a random sample of 220 students from schools and youth training centres within a rural area of the South Eastern region of Ireland. The results show that against the backdrop of rising drug use prevalence, the attitudes towards drug use of both adolescent users and abstainer have become more liberal and ‘normalised’.
Tracking With a Hierarchical Partitioned Particle Filter and Movement Modelling

We present an approach to track human subjects using an articulated human framework. First, we describe the articulated hierarchical human model. Second, we develop a stochastic hierarchical, partitioned, particle filter based on the natural structure and limb dependency of the human body. We apply this to track human subjects in video sequences using likelihoods adapted to the hierarchical process. Finally, we evaluate the effectiveness of the described approach using publicly available datasets.
Process Design and Economics for Conversion of Lignocellulosic Biomass to Ethanol: Thermochemical Pathway by Indirect Gasification and Mixed Alcohol Synthesis

This design report describes an up-to-date benchmark thermochemical conversion process that incorporates the latest research from NREL and other sources. Building on a design report published in 2007, NREL and its subcontractor Harris Group Inc. performed a complete review of the process design and economic model for a biomass-to-ethanol process via indirect gasification. The conceptual design presented herein considers the economics of ethanol production, assuming the achievement of internal research targets for 2012 and nth-plant costs and financing. The design features a processing capacity of 2,205 U.S. tons (2,000 metric tonnes) of dry biomass per day and an ethanol yield of 83.8 gallons per dry U.S. ton of feedstock. The ethanol selling price corresponding to this design is $2.05 per gallon in 2007 dollars, assuming a 30-year plant life and 40% equity financing with a 10% internal rate of return and the remaining 60% debt financed at 8% interest. This ethanol selling price corresponds to a gasoline equivalent price of $3.11 per gallon based on the relative volumetric energy contents of ethanol and gasoline.
The effect of environmental regulation on the locational choice of Japanese foreign direct investment

This article assesses the impact of environmental regulation (ER) in host countries on Japanese foreign direct investment (FDI) decision-making. It tests the pollution haven hypothesis using data on national (ER) standards and Japanese inward FDI in five dirty industries (iron and steel industry, nonferrous metals industry, chemicals industry, paper and pulp industry, nonmetallic products industry). The results do not support the pollution hypothesis. On the contrary, inward Japanese FDI appears to be attracted to countries which have committed themselves to a transparent and stable environment regulatory environment, suggesting that the quality of the regulatory framework in terms of its certainty and transparency has a greater influence on foreign investors’ choice of location than the level of environmental regulatory measures.
Rapid and reversible regulation of collagen XII expression by changes in tensile stress.

We studied the expression of the fibril-associated collagen XII by fibroblasts cultured on attached (stretched) or floating (relaxed) collagen I gels. Accumulation of collagen XII in the medium as determined by semiquantitative immunoblotting was 8-16 times higher under stretched compared to relaxed conditions. Northern blot experiments showed that tensile stress controls collagen XII expression at the mRNA level. Tenascin-C mRNA levels were also influenced, whereas relative amounts of fibronectin and matrix metalloproteinase-2 mRNA were barely affected. The response to a change in tensile stress is rapid, since de novo biosynthesis of collagen XII was fully down-regulated 12 h after relaxation of a stretched culture. To demonstrate that the effect is also reversible, we mounted collagen gels with attached cells to movable polyethylene plugs. The cultures were relaxed or stretched at intervals of 24 and 48 h, and media samples were analyzed every 24 h. By ELISA, the amount of collagen XII secreted into the medium was found to increase or decrease in accordance with the tensile stress applied. This is evidence that the mechanical stimulus per se, rather than an indirect secondary effect, was responsible for the observed changes in collagen XII production.
Bipartite Role of Heat Shock Protein 90 (Hsp90) Keeps CRAF Kinase Poised for Activation*

CRAF kinase maintains cell viability, growth, and proliferation by participating in the MAPK pathway. Unlike BRAF, CRAF requires continuous chaperoning by Hsp90 to retain MAPK signaling. However, the reason behind the continuous association of Hsp90 with CRAF is still elusive. In this study, we have identified the bipartite role of Hsp90 in chaperoning CRAF kinase. Hsp90 facilitates Ser-621 phosphorylation of CRAF and prevents the kinase from degradation. Co-chaperone Cdc37 assists in this phosphorylation event. However, after folding, the stability of the kinase becomes insensitive to Hsp90 inhibition, although the physical association between Hsp90 and CRAF remains intact. We observed that overexpression of Hsp90 stimulates MAPK signaling by activating CRAF. The interaction between Hsp90 and CRAF is substantially increased under an elevated level of cellular Hsp90 and in the presence of either active Ras (RasV12) or EGF. Surprisingly, enhanced binding of Hsp90 to CRAF occurs prior to the Ras-CRAF association and facilitates actin recruitment to CRAF for efficient Ras-CRAF interaction, which is independent of the ATPase activity of Hsp90. However, monomeric CRAF (CRAFR401H) shows abrogated interaction with both Hsp90 and actin, thereby affecting Hsp90-dependent CRAF activation. This finding suggests that stringent assemblage of Hsp90 keeps CRAF kinase equipped for participating in the MAPK pathway. Thus, the role of Hsp90 in CRAF maturation and activation acts as a limiting factor to maintain the function of a strong client like CRAF kinase.
Measuring customer satisfaction with internet banking: an exploratory study

The purpose of this study is to develop a measurement instrument for customer satisfaction with internet banking (IBCS). A web survey was used with the subjects being internet banking users of Taiwanese banks. A total of 226 valid questionnaires were obtained with an 85% response rate. For the development of a standardised instrument, an exploratory factor analysis was used. The study demonstrates that all the items in the Doll and Torkzadeh instrument for end-user computing satisfaction measures are still valid in the context of internet banking, and that IBCS depends heavily on security and trust considerations on the internet.
Tripchlorolide ameliorates experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis by down‐regulating ERK1/2‐NF‐κB and JAK/STAT signaling pathways

Tripchlorolide (T4), an extract of the natural herb Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F, has been found to possess anti‐inflammatory and immunosuppressive actions. In the current study, these actions were evaluated in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), an animal model of multiple sclerosis by scoring the clinical signs, observing the infiltration of inflammatory cells and myelin sheath in the lumbar spinal cord of EAE mice. The results demonstrated that T4 (at a dose of 40 μg/kg) significantly reduced the severity of EAE and slowed down the ongoing EAE. Further analysis showed that T4 suppressed the mRNA and protein levels of the transcription factors T‐bet and RoRrt and mRNA levels of IFN‐γ and IL‐17 in the spinal cords. Furthermore, T4 down‐regulated the ERK1/2‐NF‐κB and JAK/STAT signaling pathways. At 40 μg/kg, T4 did not induce side effects on hematological parameters. These findings suggest that T4 ameliorates EAE by immunosuppression, providing a new insight into T4 application in multiple sclerosis treatment.
Export Diversifi cation and Economic Growth

www.growthcommission.org contactinfo@growthcommission.org Commission on Growth and Development Montek Ahluwalia Edmar Bacha Dr. Boediono Lord John Browne Kemal Derviş Alejandro Foxley Goh Chok Tong Han Duck-soo Danuta Hübner Carin Jämtin Pedro-Pablo Kuczynski Danny Leipziger, Vice Chair Trevor Manuel Mahmoud Mohieldin Ngozi N. Okonjo-Iweala Robert Rubin Robert Solow Michael Spence, Chair Sir K. Dwight Venner Ernesto Zedillo Zhou Xiaochuan
Hypermutation Is a Key Factor in Development of Multiple-Antimicrobial Resistance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa Strains Causing Chronic Lung Infections

ABSTRACT Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most relevant pathogen producing chronic lung infections in patients with chronic underlying diseases such as cystic fibrosis (CF), bronchiectasis, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Hypermutable (or mutator) P. aeruginosa strains, characterized by increased (up to 1,000-fold) spontaneous mutation rates due to alterations of the DNA mismatch repair (MMR) system have been found at high frequencies in the lungs of CF patients, but their role in other chronic processes is still unknown. Sixty-two P. aeruginosa isolates from 30 patients with underlying non-CF chronic respiratory diseases (22 with bronchiectasis and 8 with COPD) and documented chronic infection were studied. Antibiotic susceptibility profiles and mutation frequencies were determined, and complementation assays using the cloned wild-type mutS gene and molecular epidemiology studies (pulsed-field electrophoresis, [PFGE]) were performed with these strains. Thirty-three (53%) of the isolates were hypermutable, and 17 (57%) of the 30 patients were colonized by hypermutable strains. Strains from 11 of the 17 patients were found to be defective in the MMR mutS gene by complementation assays. Interpatient transmission of strains was ruled out by PFGE. Multiple-antimicrobial resistance was documented in 42% of the hypermutable strains in contrast to 0% resistance in the nonhypermutable strains (P < 0.0001). Hypermutable P. aeruginosa strains are extremely prevalent in chronic infections in contrast to what has been described in acute processes, suggesting a role of hypermutation in bacterial adaptation for long-term persistence. Furthermore, hypermutation is found to be a key factor for the development of multiple-antimicrobial resistance, and therefore these findings are expected to have important consequences for the treatment of chronic infections.
Use of Farnesoid X Receptor Agonists to Treat Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is a common cause of liver related morbidity and mortality. It is closely linked to underlying insulin resistance. It has recently been shown that bile acids modulate insulin signaling and can improve insulin resistance in cell based and animal studies. These effects are mediated in part by activation of farnesoid x receptors by bile acids. In human studies, FXR agonists improve insulin resistance and have recently been shown to improve NAFLD. The basis for the use of FXR agonists for the treatment of NAFLD and early human experience with such agents is reviewed in this paper.
A brief history and recent developments in day‐of‐the‐week effect literature

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief review of pre-2003 work on the weekend effect and then discuss how recent selected work has extended our knowledge of the subject. Design/methodology/approach - Results of recently published studies are organized and summarized by research question and outcomes. Findings - While early literature found a fairly consistent weekend effect, with positive returns on Fridays and negative returns on Mondays, more recent research shows the effect moving to other days, reversing or vanishing. Research limitations/implications - While it is difficult to compare studies made across different time periods, the direction of present research gives insight into how markets are adjusting to the weekend effect anomaly. Practical implications - Investors may find it very hard to adequately identify a trading strategy based on current research. Originality/value - This work conveniently synthesizes and presents current research findings from a variety of published sources.
Demands for Child Care and Household Labour Supply in Australia

Demands for formal and informal child care are estimated using a bivariate Tobit model. Predicted costs of child care are incorporated in the households' budget constraint and a discrete choice labour supply model is estimated. Separate models are estimated for couples and lone parents. Increases in the prices and costs of child care lead to reductions in labour supply for lone parents and partnered mothers. Results suggest the average elasticities in Australia are closer to those found in the UK and are smaller than the estimates for Canada and the US. Effects are stronger for single parents and mothers facing low wages.
The Effect of State-endorsed Arbitration Institutions on International Trade

During the past two decades, the study of new institutional economics (NIE), with a focus on international and domestic legal-economic institutions, has made a considerable contribution to the understanding of international trade. The findings in this literature provide important information and insights for policy makers and government officials planning to promote international trade through institutional reform. This study seeks to contribute to the literature on the institutions–trade link by focusing on state-endorsed arbitration institutions, an area that has largely been neglected by scholars of international political economy. The effect of state-endorsed arbitration institutions on external trade has practical, theoretical and policy-making significance. First, these institutions are of practical importance in dispute resolution. They may impose systematic effects on contract performance and hence the transaction costs associated with international exchanges. During the post-war period, commercial arbitration has replaced court adjudication as the principal method for settling international business disputes.2 This unprecedented development of arbitration is characterised by the emergence of state-endorsed arbitration institutions that reveal the considerable involvement of state power. Thus, as an integral part of the most frequently used method of dispute resolution, state-endorsed arbitration institutions, should be included in analyses of international trade that seek to fully understand business operations. The effect of state-endorsed arbitration institutions on trade is also theoretically important. The existing literature on law and economics is essentially divided on the issue of whether the involvement of state power in commercial arbitration is conducive to the resolution of contract disputes. On the one hand, state-centric analyses hold that, given the profound influence of the modern sovereign state on socioeconomic activities, contracts are hardly enforceable without the support of state power, and commercial arbitration makes no exception on the issue of enforceability. Thus, the involvement of state power is seen as inalienable to the practice of commercial arbitration and the contribution of state power as indisputably positive. Community-centric scholars, on the other hand, emphasise the importance of communal sanctions independent of state power. They argue New Political Economy, Vol. 13, No. 4, December 2008
Intrauterine Hyperglycemia Increases Insulin Binding Sites but Not Glucose Transporter Expression in Discrete Brain Areas in Term Rat Fetuses

Diabetic pregnancy results in several metabolic and hormonal disorders, both in the embryo and the fetus of different species, including humans. Insulin is a potent modulator of brain development and is suggested to promote the differentiation and maturation of hypothalamic or related extrahypothalamic structures, which are directly involved in neural inputs to the pancreas. Because these structures are known to be specifically responsive both to insulin and glucose, we examined the effects of 48-h hyperglycemic clamps in unrestrained pregnant rats on insulin binding and glucose transporter expression in hypothalamic and extrahypothalamic-related areas of their fetal offspring. The main result was an increase in insulin binding in the ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus (VMH), the arcuate nucleus (AN), and the lateral hypothalamus (LH), and in the nucleus of the tractus solitarius (NTS) for extrahypothalamic areas (+30% in the VMH, +37% in the AN, +25.8% in the LH, and +37.3% in the NTS). The deleterious effect of brain hyperinsulinism during the late gestational stage does not seem to act through glucose transporter (GLUT) expression, inasmuch as no relationship between GLUT level and hyperinsulinism in brain areas could be observed. The specific increase in insulin binding in areas involved in the nervous control of metabolism could be a factor in the increased glucose intolerance and impairment of insulin secretion that was previously observed in the adult rats from hyperglycemic mothers.
RETURNS PAID TO EARLY SOCIAL SECURITY COHORTS

"Previous research generally concludes that early participants in the Social Security system received a very good "deal"-better than later participants received, and much better than future participants are likely to get. However, researchers do not know the values of those deals and their distribution across individuals and groups largely because the necessary data have not been available. The study here uses the Social Security Administration's 1988 Continuous Work History Sample (CWHS) to calculate early participants' real internal rates of return to contributions. The study analyzes sex, race, household type, income, and birth cohorts and employs new Census Bureau mortality projects to forecast more accurately how life expectancies and benefit streams vary by race as well as by sex and birth cohort". Copyright 1993 Western Economic Association International.
Measuring YouTube Content Delivery over IPv6

We measure YouTube content delivery over IPv6 using ∼100 SamKnows probes connected to dual-stacked networks representing 66 different origin ASes. Using a 34-months long (Aug 2014-Jun 2017) dataset, we show that success rates of streaming a stall-free version of a video over IPv6 have improved over time. We show that a Happy Eyeballs (HE) race during initial TCP connection establishment leads to a strong (more than 97%) preference over IPv6. However, even though clients prefer streaming videos over IPv6, we observe worse performance over IPv6 than over IPv4. We witness consistently higher TCP connection establishment times and startup delays (∼100 ms or more) over IPv6. We also observe consistently lower achieved throughput both for audio and video over IPv6. We observe less than 1% stall rates over both address families. Due to lower stall rates, bitrates that can be reliably streamed over both address families are comparable. However, in situations, where a stall does occur, 80% of the samples experience higher stall durations that are at least 1s longer over IPv6 and have not reduced over time. The worse performance over IPv6 is due to the disparity in the availability of Google Global Caches (GGC) over IPv6. The measurements performed in this work using the youtube test and the entire dataset is made available to the measurement community.
Growth fractions in malignant non‐Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) as determined in situ with the monoclonal antibody Ki‐67

The proportion of proliferating cells in malignant non‐Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) was determined in situ by immunostaining with the monoclonal antibody Ki‐67, which reacts with a nuclear antigen that is present only in proliferating cells. A highly significant correlation could be demonstrated between the proportion of Ki‐67 positive cells and the classification into high and low‐grade NHL according to the Kiel classification. 93·8 per cent of high‐grade and 88·5 per cent of low‐grade malignancies were correctly allocated to these groups using the percentage of Ki‐67 positive cells as discriminant parameter. On the basis of the medians, the degree of proliferation also paralleled the succession of entities within the Kiel classification. Within most of these different entities, however, the ranges of Ki‐67 positive cells varied considerably, indicating that the growth fractions within these groups are rather heterogeneous. Thus it might be useful to determine the growth fraction of each individual case of NHL, because this might be of prognostic value.
Are Price Limits Priced? Evidence from the Taiwan Stock Exchange

In this article, a multifactor asset pricing model incorporating a price limit factor is developed to explain the cross section of asset returns following closely the mimicking portfolio methodology of Fama and French (1996). Differing regulatory environments in the Asian region suggest that empirical studies consider the features of each market. Price limits on the daily movement of stock prices are common in the emerging markets of Asia; however, research on the sensitivity of asset prices to price limits has been lacking. Prior research suggests that price limits are a significant institutional feature of the Taiwan Stock Exchange and this market is used for empirical analysis. Our findings show that the overall market factor, firm size and price limits capture the cross section of average stock returns in a meaningful manner. However, caution is needed as the relationship between excess returns, firm size and price limits remains primarily at an empirical level. Opinion also remains divided as to whether explanatory factors in addition to the market are in fact a premium for risk, or are simply associated with firm characteristics.