Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
New venture resources, international entrepreneurial capability and performance of Malaysian Halal international new ventures

In globalisation of business, International Entrepreneurial Capability (IEC) has become an essential requirement for internationalisation and competition of firms in global markets. Globalisation has created a new and dynamic world economy and the International New Ventures (INVs) phenomenon. However, there is little knowledge about its significant role in International Performance (IP), while the literature depicts a few investigations in new venture resources and IP from the perspective of IEC. Hence, the general objective of the study is to examine and identify the relationship between new venture resources and IP through IEC. The research questions of this study are in line of determining whether the associations between new venture resources and IP are significant through the IEC. This study adopts a mixed method through sequential explanatory design in order to answer the research questions.The sampling design in quantitative used probability approach which involves simple random sampling, while the qualitative part utilised non-probability by purposeful approach. Samples of 220 respondents from companies of Halal Malaysian INVs have been selected as sample. The data were analysed by Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with AMOS (ver.16.0) and SPSS software. It can be concluded that, Technological Knowledge (TK) and Managerial Knowledge (MK) as new venture resources directly influencing IP. Managers should be concerned with the quality of procedures using TK and MK by choosing the necessary strategies. Accordingly, Malaysian Halal INVs are predicted to find better opportunities and ways to improve their IPs. In this vein, IP has been affected by International Marketing Capability (IMC), Innovation and Risk-taking Capability (IRC), and new venture resources (TK and MK), while International Networking Capability (INC) has not provided the mediation role in the relationship between new venture resources and IP. In addition, the qualitative results of the study confirm the majority of outcomes in quantitative phase of the study. By considering the results of this research, the researcher believes that managers of INVs should pay more precise attention to the significant role of IEC in the relationship between new venture resources and international performance, because of productive presence in the global markets.
Scale-space analysis of event-related fMRI data using higher harmonics

Scale-space analysis is able to detect activation at various scales from a functional MR brain slice. Though scale space analysis has been used in functional MRI, its use has been limited to periodic block-based experiments. This paper extends scale space analysis to event-related experiments. Furthermore, the method uses higher harmonics of stimulus frequency, which contain considerable energy especially in periodic event-related data. The use of these harmonics results in a chi-square random field of higher degree and improves accuracy in activation detection.
Axons regulate the expression of shaker‐like potassium channel genes in Schwann cells in peripheral nerve

We examined potassium channel gene expression of two members of the Shaker subfamily, MK1 and MK2, in sciatic nerves from rats and mice. In Northern blot analysis, MK1 and MK2 probes detected single transcripts of ∼8 kb and ∼9.5 kb, respectively, in sciatic nerve and brain from both species. Polymerase chain reaction amplification of a cDNA library of cultured rat Schwann cells using MK1‐ and MK2‐ specific primers produced DNA fragments that were highly homologous to MK1 and MK2. To determine whether these channel genes were axonally regulated, we performed Northern blot analysis of developing, permanently transected, and crushed rat sciatic nerves. The mRNA levels for both MK1 and MK2 increased from P1 to P15 and then declined modestly. Permanent nerve transection in adult animals resulted in a dramatic and permanent reduction in the mRNA levels for both MK1 and MK2, whereas normal levels of MK1 and MK2 were restored when regeneration was allowed to occur following crush injury. In all cases, MK1 and MK2 mRNA levels paralleled that of the myelin gene P0/sb. Elevating the cAMP in cultured Schwann cells by forskolin, which mimics axonal contact but not myelination, did not induce detectable leveles of MK1 and MK2 mRNA by Northern blot analysis. Further, the level of MK1 mRNA in the vagus nerve, which contains relatively fewer myelinating Schwann cells and relatively more non‐myelinating Schwann cells than the sciatic nerve, is reduced relative to the sciatic nerve. In conclusion, we have identified two Shaker‐like potassium channel genes in sciatic nerves whose expressions are regulated by axons. We suggest that MK1 and MK2 mRNA are expressed in high levels only in myelinating Schwann cells and that these Shaker‐like potassium channel genes have specialized roles in these cells.
NUTRITIVE COMPOSITION OF CHANNA STRIATUS FISHES AFTER 2 , 4-D PESTICIDE TREATMENT

In the present study six commercially important fish Channa striatus were treated with different dose grade of 2,4-D pesticide. After a period of treatment the nutritional changes in the fish tissue was estimated biochemically. The moisture content in the Channa striatus fishes after treatment varies from 62.6% and the highest is found in non treated group. Analysis of protein showed much fluctuation. It ranged from 17.04% to 38.09% in treated group. The level of carbohydrate and fatty acid content is much reduced after 2,4-D treatment. This study focuses the deleterious effect of 2,4-D usage in aquaculture vicinity.
Efficient vulnerability detection based on an optimized rule-checking static analysis technique

Static analysis is an efficient approach for software assurance. It is indicated that its most effective usage is to perform analysis in an interactive way through the software development process, which has a high performance requirement. This paper concentrates on rule-based static analysis tools and proposes an optimized rule-checking algorithm. Our technique improves the performance of static analysis tools by filtering vulnerability rules in terms of characteristic objects before checking source files. Since a source file always contains vulnerabilities of a small part of rules rather than all, our approach may achieve better performance. To investigate our technique’s feasibility and effectiveness, we implemented it in an open source static analysis tool called PMD and used it to conduct experiments. Experimental results show that our approach can obtain an average performance promotion of 28.7% compared with the original PMD. While our approach is effective and precise in detecting vulnerabilities, there is no side effect.
Integrative genomic analysis of medulloblastoma identifies a molecular subgroup that drives poor clinical outcome.

PURPOSE Medulloblastomas are heterogeneous tumors that collectively represent the most common malignant brain tumor in children. To understand the molecular characteristics underlying their heterogeneity and to identify whether such characteristics represent risk factors for patients with this disease, we performed an integrated genomic analysis of a large series of primary tumors. PATIENTS AND METHODS We profiled the mRNA transcriptome of 194 medulloblastomas and performed high-density single nucleotide polymorphism array and miRNA analysis on 115 and 98 of these, respectively. Non-negative matrix factorization-based clustering of mRNA expression data was used to identify molecular subgroups of medulloblastoma; DNA copy number, miRNA profiles, and clinical outcomes were analyzed for each. We additionally validated our findings in three previously published independent medulloblastoma data sets. RESULTS Identified are six molecular subgroups of medulloblastoma, each with a unique combination of numerical and structural chromosomal aberrations that globally influence mRNA and miRNA expression. We reveal the relative contribution of each subgroup to clinical outcome as a whole and show that a previously unidentified molecular subgroup, characterized genetically by c-MYC copy number gains and transcriptionally by enrichment of photoreceptor pathways and increased miR-183∼96∼182 expression, is associated with significantly lower rates of event-free and overall survivals. CONCLUSION Our results detail the complex genomic heterogeneity of medulloblastomas and identify a previously unrecognized molecular subgroup with poor clinical outcome for which more effective therapeutic strategies should be developed.
Impact of Crime on Firm Entry: Evidence from South Africa

In this paper, we analyse the relationship between crime and the entry of firms across local municipalities in South Africa. We use data on the incidence of crime, sourced from the South African Police Service, and a unique database of business registrations over the period 2003 to 2011, to show that crime reduces business entry. These results are robust to the use of rainfall shocks as an instrumental variable for crime, in order to control for potential bias arising from the fact that crime might be a consequence, rather than a cause of the entry of firms. This paper highlights the importance of strong local institutions that can lower the costs of doing business for business dynamism. Our study has implications for employment and economic growth at the regional level and hence for dealing with regional inequality.
ANTIBIOTIC SENSITIVITY PATTERN OF STAPHYLOCOCCUS AUREUS IN ABAKALIKI, NIGERIA

Objective: To investigate the sensitivity pattern of Staphylococcus aureus isolates obtained from clinical specimens including urine, wound, high vaginal swab and semen to commonly used antibiotics. Methodology: The susceptibility patterns of these isolates were determined using the disc diffusion and agar well diffusion methods. Results: Out of 174 samples, 51 (29.2%) yielded S. aureus with the highest isolation from semen (66.7%) and the least from urine (15.6%). Following the disc diffusion, the highest sensitivity was recorded for Ofloxacin (65%) while the least was for Co-trimoxazole (6%). Amoxicillin, Ampicillin, Tetracycline and Cloxacillin recorded 37%, 19%, 8% and 11% respectively. Also, following the agar well diffusion method, the highest sensitivity was recorded for Ofloxacin (65%) and the least for Co-trimoxazole (8%). The other drugs recorded the following readings; Amoxycillin (37%), Ampicillin (21%), Tetracycline (23%) and Cloxacillin (13%). Conclusions: The study recommends the use of Ofloxacin in the treatment of S. aureus infections in the study area. It also underscores the need for sensitivity testing before the administration of antibiotics for the treatment of Staphylococcal infections.
Transmission Mechanism of Monetary Policy and Bank Credit in Nigeria

This paper on transmission mechanism of monetary policy and bank credit, explored the empirical importance of credit. It adds to the existing literature in two ways. First, it analyses in a systematic way both endogenous and exogenous instruments of monetary mechanism using information on the country’s main economic objectives as a proxy for bank credit availability by providing a framework in which to analyse the evidence in controlling money and credit. Second, by using bank’s prices (rather than quantities) it provides an alternative way to disentangle loan supply from loan demand shift in the ‘credit channel’ literature. The paper also provides empirical evidence on the role of banks in the monetary transmission process. The principal channel appears through lending to firms, which influences entire economy investment. The existence of an effective banking industry is necessary for every economy because it create the necessary environment for economic growth and development through its role in intermediating funds from surplus to deficit economic units. This stimulates investment economic growth, and employment as well as international trade and payment. The bottom line is that credit is an important part of the transmission process of Nigerian Monetary Policy.
A Survey on Human Motion Detection and Surveillance

Over years detecting human beings in a video scene of a surveillance system is one of the most active research topics in computer vision. This interest is driven by wide applications in many areas such as virtual reality, smart surveillance and perceptual interface, human gait characterization person counting in a dense crowd, person identification, gender classification, and fall detection for elderly people. Video surveillance system mainly deals with tracking and classification of moving objects. The general processing steps of human motion detection for video surveillance includes modeling of environments, detection of motion, object detection and classification human detection, activity recognition and behavior understanding. The aim of this paper is to review recent developments and analyze future open directions in visual surveillance systems.
Software defect prediction based on stability test data

Software defect prediction is an essential part of evaluating product readiness in terms of software quality prior to the software delivery. As a new software load with new features and bug fixes becomes available, stability tests are performed typically with a call load generator in a full configuration environment. Defect data from the stability test provides most accurate information required for the software quality assessment. This paper presents a software defect prediction model using defect data from stability test. We demonstrate that test run duration in hours is a better measure than calendar time in days for predicting the number of defects in a software release. An exponential reliability growth model is applied to the defect data with respect to test run duration. We then address how to identify whether estimates of the model parameters are stable enough for assuring the prediction accuracy.
Triple-threshold-voltage 9-transistor SRAM cell for data stability and energy-efficiency at ultra-low power supply voltages

Supply voltage scaling is a commonly used technique for saving energy in microprocessors. The scalability of power supply voltage is limited by the data stability and write ability requirements of SRAM cells in memory cache. Noise margins of memory cells shrink, thereby degrading reliability and causing failure at lower power supply voltages. A triple-threshold-voltage nine-transistor SRAM cell that is capable of reliable operation at ultra-low power supply voltage levels down to 390mV is presented in this paper. While offering comparable or higher data stability, the tri-Vt 9T SRAM array lowers the leakage power consumption, energy per read cycle, and energy per write cycle by up to 94.5%, 22.8%, and 34.5%, respectively, as compared to the conventional 6T SRAM arrays that operate at the nominal VDD = 1.2V in a TSMC 65nm CMOS technology.
Beak and feather disease virus (BFDV) prevalence, load and excretion in seven species of wild caught common Australian parrots

Pathogens pose a major risk to wild host populations, especially in the face of ongoing biodiversity declines. Beak and feather disease virus (BFDV) can affect most if not all members of one of the largest and most threatened bird orders world-wide, the Psittaciformes. Signs of disease can be severe and mortality rates high. Its broad host range makes it a risk to threatened species in particular, because infection can occur via spill-over from abundant hosts. Despite these risks, surveillance of BFDV in locally abundant wild host species has been lacking. We used qPCR and haemagglutination assays to investigate BFDV prevalence, load and shedding in seven abundant host species in the wild in south-east Australia: Crimson Rosellas (Platycercus elegans), Eastern Rosellas (Platycercus eximius), Galahs (Eolophus roseicapillus), Sulphur-crested Cockatoos (Cacatua galerita), Blue-winged Parrots (Neophema chrysostoma), Rainbow Lorikeets (Trichoglossus moluccanus) and Red-rumped Parrots (Psephotus haematonotus). We found BFDV infection in clinically normal birds in six of the seven species sampled. We focused our analysis on the four most commonly caught species, namely Crimson Rosellas (BFDV prevalence in blood samples: 41.8%), Sulphur-crested Cockatoos (20.0%), Blue-winged Parrots (11.8%) and Galahs (8.8%). Species, but not sex, was a significant predictor for BFDV prevalence and load. 56.1% of BFDV positive individuals were excreting BFDV antigen into their feathers, indicative of active viral replication with shedding. Being BFDV positive in blood samples predicted shedding in Crimson Rosellas. Our study confirms that BFDV is endemic in our study region, and can inform targeted disease management by providing comparative data on interspecies variation in virus prevalence, load and shedding.
A quad channel 11-bit 1 GS/s 40 mW Collaborative ADC based enabling digital beamforming for 5G wireless

A 4×11-bit 1 GS/s 40 mW Collaborative ADC in 65nm CMOS is presented for a 4-Ch MIMO receiver. It utilizes the correlation information between channels to perform energy efficient digitization of received signals. By utilizing 8 SAR units each with 6-bit level of resolution, four level of ADC resolutions (11, 9, 6, and 6-bit), is achieved dynamically for optimal performance. This collaborative ADC in compare to all-11 and all-9 bit has an area and power reduction of 50% and 41% respectively with only 10% degradation in overall SNDR.
Gain of function mutant of complement factor B K323E mimics pathogenic C3NeF autoantibodies in convertase assays

Abstract Complement convertases are enzymatic complexes, which play a critical role in propagation and amplification of the complement cascade. Under physiological conditions, convertases decay shortly after being formed in either spontaneous or inhibitor-driven process. Prolongation of their half-life by C3NeF autoantibodies that prevent convertase dissociation results in pathogenic condition often manifested by renal diseases. However, the diagnosis of convertase abnormalities is difficult due to the labile nature of these enzymes and low credibility of existing methods. Only recently, two-step functional assays employing C5-depleted serum or C5 inhibitors were introduced. Their advantage is convertase formation in the physiological milieu of whole serum and the drawback is inter-assay variability due to variations in rabbit erythrocytes used for the haemolysis-based readout. Abovementioned problems demand the application of the internal standard in each experiment. Obtaining a defined preparation of autoantibodies is complicated due to ethical and practical considerations. We found that recombinant, his-tagged factor B (fB) variant K323E retains full hemolytic activity and possess the ability to form convertases with prolonged half-life either in fB-depleted serum or when mixed with normal human serum. Such dominant character of K323E mutation allows using recombinant protein as a reference in functional convertase assays, not limited to these using rabbit erythrocytes. Additionally, our results demonstrate that gain of function mutations in complement components mimic the phenotype of C3NeF. Hence, patients with such “genetic C3NeF” would not benefit from B-cell depletion (e.g. by rituximab) and therefore should be properly diagnosed in order to choose suitable therapeutic intervention.
Issues to consider: the federal Unified Budget Act and the lack of following Generally Accepted Accounting Principles and implications for future liabilities

The United States Unified Budget Act (UBA) was implemented in 1969. Subsequently, all federal revenues, even those designated as going to trust funds, were used to determine each current fiscal year’s Unified Budget’s size of the surplus or deficit. Social Security and other trust funds are held in trust and by mandate and all are used to hold Treasury securities. The time period of data used in this paper is from 1940 through 2012. Any domestic or foreign holders of U.S. Treasury bonds need to have a complete picture of the financial status of the United States federal government. China and Japan hold more U.S. Treasury securities than any other foreign country. Yet most of the debt is held domestically in the USA. The UBA employs a cash accounting system, instead of an accrual system. In order for the public to have a more complete picture of future federal obligations, we propose this level of transparency. In addition to presenting the UBA cash accounting system dollar amounts, both the Congressional Budget Office and the President’s Office of Management and Budget should publicly provide estimated accrual accounting system dollar amounts. Any reputable, large business firm does so and even some small business firms do.
Gap junctional communication in the human corneal endothelium and epithelium

Purpose. Gap junctional communication in the epithelium and endothelium of human corneas was studied. The influence of corneal storage on endothelial gap junctions was also examined. Methods. Donor human corneal cells were injected with carboxyfluorescein while surrounding cells were monitored for traces of fluorescence. Dye-spread coefficients were measured in corneal endothelial cells. Western blot and immunohistochemical analysis of the endothelium and epithelium was employed to determine if connexin 43 was present. Results. Dye coupling occurs in both the epithelium and endothelium of the human cornea. Epithelial dye coupling was extensive in the basal layers but less apparent in the superficial layers. Endothelial dye coupling was similar to that reported for rabbit corneas. Western blot and immunohistochemical analyses demonstrated the presence of connexin 43 in both cell types. Conclusions. Gap junctional communication occurs in the endothelium and epithelium of human corneas, and both cell types express connexin 43. These results are similar to previous rabbit studies, thereby strengthening the use of the rabbit cornea as a gap junction model.
A New Precursor Route to Semiconducting Zinc Oxide

We demonstrate a new precursor route toward solution-processed films of the II-VI semiconductor zinc oxide (ZnO). Spray pyrolysis of aqueous solutions of the zinc salt zinc chloride (ZnCl2) onto a substrate heated to at least 250 °C gives films that are insoluble in water, display an absorption edge at 365 nm, and when electrically gated display thin film transistor characteristics similar to ZnO films derived via the established zinc acetate (ZnAc) precursor route; we, therefore, identify it as ZnO. Control experiments attempting spray pyrolysis of aqueous zinc sulfate solutions, and delayed pyrolysis of cold-sprayed and dried ZnCl2 films, do not lead to semiconducting films. Formation of ZnO from an aqueous Zinc salt requires the simultaneous presence of zinc ions, chloride ions, and water, at the time of pyrolysis. We, therefore, suggest that the actual ZnO precursor is the ZnClxH2O(4-x) species that forms when ZnCl2 dissolves in water [The Journal of Chemical Physics 39, 3436 (1963)]. The reported process is easy to upscale for large area ZnO coatings, e.g., on window panes for thermal control, as no organic solvent vapors are released.