Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Challenges faced by new entrepreneurs

An entrepreneur is one who plays significant role in the economic development of a country. Basically an entrepreneur can be regarded as a person who has the initiative, skill and motivation to set up a business or an enterprise of his own and who always looks for high achievement. He is a catalyst of social change and works for the common good. He looks for opportunities, identifies them and seizes them mainly for economic gains. An entrepreneur is a person who is able to express and execute the urge, skill; motivation and innovative ability to establish a business or industry of his own either alone or in collaboration with his friends. His motive is to earn profit through the production or distribution of socially beneficial goods or services. He is enriched with the inborn qualities of adventurism, willingness to face risks, innovative urge and creativity and is eager to make dynamic changes in the production process, introduce innovations and to find out new uses for raw materials. But now there is so many challenges faced by new entrepreneurs i.e., lack of patience in solving problems, lack of sustained motivation, Inability to dream and use subconscious etc. In addition to this the other challenges includes; developing vision and ideas, raising capital, assembling a team, finding the right location, finding the right employees, finding good customers, overcoming competition, unforeseen challenges and expenses, keeping up with industrial changes and trends and exiting the business.
Targeting VDAC-bound hexokinase II: a promising approach for concomitant anti-cancer therapy

Introduction: Enhancement of glucose metabolism and repression of oxidative phosphorylation followed by the Warburg effect is the common hallmark of cancer cells. Hexokinase II (HKII) plays a dual role – first, HKII up-regulation results in increased glycolysis rates. Second, association of VDAC and HKII contributes to inhibition of apoptosis through repression of the formation of mitochondrial permeability transition pores. Areas covered: In this review, the role of HKII in evasion of apoptosis, aspects of HKII expression regulation, novel approaches targeting HKII and VDAC–HKII complexes and their application areas are discussed. Expert opinion: The dual role of HKII in cancer cells makes it an attractive target for anti-cancer therapy. Several agents, either synthetic or plant-derived, that target hexokinase and induce VDAC–HK complex dissociation have been identified to date. Targeting hexokinase, HK–VDAC complexes as well as other glycolytic proteins not only improves the efficacy of commonly used drugs. The most prominent benefit of this approach is the ability to overcome drug resistance, for example, to cisplatin or sorafenib. In some cases, it could create an insurmountable challenge for selection of appropriate therapy. Future studies and trials should address the issue of how to transfer these approaches into clinical practice.
Explaining industrial importers' commitment from an emerging market perspective: theoretical and managerial insights

Purpose – This study seeks to provide insights concerning the predictors of industrial importers' commitment to their foreign suppliers in a relationship paradigm involving an emerging market. Design/methodology/approach – Integrating a review of the relevant importer-exporter and distributor-supplier relationship literature, a model of importer commitment was developed. Based on survey data obtained from industrial importers for an emerging market, CFA and SEM were employed to test the proposed theoretical model. Findings – The findings significantly support the theoretical framework and most of the hypothesized path relationships in the model. Predictors such as importers' knowledge significantly and positively influenced commitment through the intermediation of trust, supplier opportunism had a significant and negative effect on importer commitment, again through the intermediation of trust, and transaction-specific investment had a direct effect on industrial importers' commitment. Supplier's opportun.
Franchisee Satisfaction: Causes and Consequences

A trend has been developing in the United States towards the use of vertical marketing systems. Of the many types of vertical marketing systems, franchising has become one of the most dominant. This is evidenced, in part, by the nearly one‐third of retail sales in 1973 that were through franchised retailers (US Department of Commerce, 1974). The success of the franchise form of distribution hinges upon franchisors and franchisees both contributing skills and resources, frequently however franchisees and franchisors become dissatisfied with the other's contributions and actions. This dis‐satisfaction in some cases leads to substantial friction. Although it is not clear that conflict (friction) will always decrease channel efficiency it is probably safe to assume that continued conflict would be dysfunctional in a franchise channel. It is therefore the purpose of this article to discuss and empirically test several propositions about the franchisee's satisfaction with his franchisor.
Correction: A transcription factor network specifying inhibitory versus excitatory neurons in the dorsal spinal cord

The proper balance of excitatory and inhibitory neurons is crucial for normal processing of somatosensory information in the dorsal spinal cord. Two neural basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors (TFs), Ascl1 and Ptf1a, have contrasting functions in specifying these neurons. To understand how Ascl1 and Ptf1a function in this process, we identified their direct transcriptional targets genome-wide in the embryonic mouse neural tube using ChIP-Seq and RNA-Seq. We show that Ascl1 andPtf1a directly regulate distinct homeodomain TFs that specify excitatory or inhibitory neuronal fates. In addition, Ascl1 directly regulates genes with roles in several steps of the neurogenic program, including Notch signaling, neuronal differentiation, axon guidance and synapse formation. By contrast, Ptf1a directly regulates genes encoding components of the neurotransmitter machinery in inhibitory neurons, and other later aspects of neural development distinct from those regulated by Ascl1. Moreover, Ptf1a represses the excitatory neuronal fate by directly repressing several targets of Ascl1. Ascl1 and Ptf1a bind sequences primarily enriched for a specific E-Box motif (CAGCTG) and for secondary motifs used by Sox, Rfx, Pou and homeodomain factors. Ptf1a also binds sequences uniquely enriched in the CAGATG E-box and in the binding motif for its co-factor Rbpj, providing two factors that influence the specificity of Ptf1a binding. The direct transcriptional targets identified for Ascl1 and Ptf1a provide a molecular understanding of how these DNAbinding proteins function in neuronal development, particularly as key regulators of homeodomain TFs required for neuronal subtype
PROBLEMS WITH NON-DESTRUCTIVE SURFACE X-RAY DIFFRACTION RESIDUAL STRESS MEASUREMENT

Because surface measurements are non-destructive, xray diffraction is often considered as a method of residual stress measurement for quality control testing. Unfortunately, errors caused by the presence of a subsurface stress gradient as well as difficulties in interpreting surface results often limit the usefulness of surface data. The magnitude of the potential errors, both in measurement and in interpretation, depends upon the nature of the subsurface residual stress distribution which can only be determined destructively. Although residual stress distributions subject to these problems are commonly encountered in practice, the question of the validity of non-destructive surface results is seldom adequately considered. Examples are presented showing common residual stress distributions produced by grinding, nitriding and shot peening which are subject to errors in measurement and/or interpretation when measured only at the surface. The methods for determining the subsurface residual stress distributions and correction for penetration of the x-ray beam are discussed along with examples of their application. The need to determine the subsurface stress distribution in order to verify the accuracy of surface measurements is emphasized.
Managerial Career Concern and Mutual Fund Short-termism

Mutual fund investors reward short run performance with large inflows. Fund managers facing strong performance-related flows are shown to focus more on short horizon investments. Further tests of causality suggest that fund manager’s short investment horizons are caused by their investors’ short horizons, but not the other way around. Fund managers subject to severe short-term tend to invest in larger stocks and growth stocks. Controlling for size, book-to-market and momentum effects, the stocks invested by higher turnover fund managers tend to generate lower return going forward, consistent with a hypothesis that these fund managers are inflating the demand for shorter-horizon investment opportunities and neglecting longer-horizon investment opportunities. The portfolio formed based on shorting the high turnover stocks and longing the lowest turnover stocks generates substantial abnormal return during 1992 to 2003.
ANALYSIS OF EFFECTS OF WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT ON PROFITABILITY OF MANUFACTURING COMPANIES: A CASE STUDY OF LISTED MANUFACTURING COMPANIES ON NAIROBI SECURITIES EXCHANGE

Working capital management involves the management of the most liquid resources of the firm which includes cash and cash equivalents, Inventories and trade and other receivables. Most firms do not hold the correct amount of working capital and this has been a major obstacle to their overall profitability. The study analyzed the effects of working capital management on the profitability of manufacturing firms listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. The study utilized a diagnostic research design and targeted the 9 listed manufacturing firms trading on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. However, the study covered 6 of the targeted manufacturing companies, 3 were either not trading or had in complete records at the time of the study. Data was obtained from document analysis of consolidated financial reports of years ending December: 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. Multiple regression and correlation analyses were carried out on the data to determine the relationships between components of working capital management and the gross operating profit of the firms. The study established that gross operating profit was positively correlated with Average Collection Period and Average Payment Period but negatively correlated with Cash Conversion Cycle. The relationship between Inventory Turnover in Days and gross operating profit was insignificant. Profitability of manufacturing firms depends upon effective working capital management. The study therefore recommended that managers should focus on reducing cash conversion cycles, collect receivables as soon as possible because it is better to receive inflows sooner than later and delay payment of creditors in order to invest the money in short term securities which are profitable.
A Simultaneous Approach to Market Segmentation and Market Structuring

The authors define a market segment to be a group of consumers homogeneous in terms of the probabilities of choosing the different brands in a product class. Because the vector of choice probabilities is homogeneous within segments and heterogeneous across segments, each segment is characterized by its corresponding group of brands with “large” choice probabilities. The competitive market structure is determined as the possibly overlapping groups of brands corresponding to the different segments. The use of brand choice probabilities as the basis for segmentation leads to market structuring and market segmentation becoming reverse sides of the same analysis. Using panel data, the authors obtain the matrix of cross-classification of brands chosen on two purchase occasions and extract segments by using the maximum likelihood method for estimating latent class models. An application to the instant coffee market indicates that the proposed approach has substantial validity and suggests the presence of submarkets related to product attributes as well as to brand names.
Urbanization and Housing Investment

This paper provides the first systematic empirical assessment of the pace at which housing investment has responded to rising demand from urbanization. The assessment used National Accounts Statistics to build a data set of residential housing investment for more than 90 countries. The data set explicitly accounts for investment by households, the government, and the private sector. The analysis finds that housing investment follows an S-shaped trajectory taking off around per capita GDP of about $3,000 (US$2005) and tapering down at per capita GDP around $36,000 (US$2005). The analysis also finds that between 2001 and 2011, housing investment in low-income economies averaged 4.56 percent of gross domestic product and 9.12 percent in upper-middle-income economies. An important finding is that countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have housing elasticities similar to comparable low-income and lower-middle-income economies. In financing housing investment, the paper finds that developing countries tend to rely much more on domestic savings and government debt, whereas high-income Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries lever capital markets by tapping foreign savings. Not only does excessive reliance on domestic savings and government debt increase the sensitivity of housing investment to the cyclicality of growth of gross domestic product, it also can potentially crowd out investments in health and education.
Management of peritonsillar abscess

Abstract A prospective, randomized clinical trial was conducted on 60 patients with confirmed peritonsillar abscess to: (1) compare the safety and efficacy of permucosal needle aspiration with that of incision and drainage; (2) assess whether admission to hospital and treatment with intravenous antibiotics is necessary; (3) culture the pus obtained, in order to decide on a rational antibiotic regime. Of the 60 patients, 30 were randomized to the needle aspiration group, and 30 to the incision and drainage group. The initial success rate was 87 per cent (26 of 30 patients) with needle aspiration, and 90 per cent (27 of 30 patients) with incision and drainage. Two patients required hospital admission, for rehydration and intravenous antibiotics. The commonest organisms cultured were streptococci (62 per cent); 97 per cent of all patients responded to penicillin. This study indicates that most patients with peritonsillar abscess may successfully and safely be treated by permucosal needle aspiration, and oral penicillin, on an outpatient basis.
The Influence of Customer Relationship Marketing Strategies on Supply Chain Relationships: The Moderating Effects of Environmental Uncertainty and Competitive Rivalry

Purpose: A firm's customer relationship marketing strategy also may affect its attitudinal loyalty toward its main supplier. Furthermore, environmental uncertainty and competitive rivalry could moderate this relationship. This research investigates both questions. Methodology/Approach: The empirical study involves a structured survey of 141 industrial firms. A structural equation technique with EQS 6.1 estimated the causal model. Multi-sample analysis revealed whether environmental uncertainty and/or competitive rivalry act as moderators. Findings: The influence of customer relationship marketing on attitudinal loyalty toward the main supplier is positive but indirect, working through effective communication, satisfaction, and trust. However, when environmental uncertainty is high, the negative direct effect becomes significantly more intense, and when competitive rivalry is high, the positive indirect effect through satisfaction and trust is less intense. Originality/Value: This study explores potential new paths in the relationship marketing field. Most scholars focus on the influence of a firm's relationship marketing strategy on customers' loyalty, but no previous works consider its potential influence on the firm's relationship with other partners in the supply chain, notably its strategic suppliers. Research Implications: Structured academic research on this topic is lacking, even though many firms have implemented customer relationship programs. Supply-side researchers must evaluate the effects of such programs. Furthermore, this study combines different theoretical approaches. Practical Implications: Practitioners can use the findings to segment their customer base and develop specific programs adapted to each target.
Comparison of Three Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assays for Serologic Diagnosis of Contagious Agalactia in Sheep

Serologic diagnosis of ovine contagious agalactia (Mycoplasma agalactiae) with the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) developed by Agence Française de Séceurité Sanitaire des Aliments (AFS-SA) may produce a few false-positive (FP) and false-negative (FN) results. When the prevalence of disease is low, these erroneous results may generate problems for eradication schemes. To prevent this, 2 commercial ELISAs were compared with the AFSSA ELISA. Flocks of known status were selected and classified into 4 categories: true positive (TP), FP, true negative (TN), and FN; 20 sheep per flock were submitted for blood sampling. A flock was considered positive when at least 1 out of 20 sera was positive or 2 sera were doubtful. In the flock, the diagnostic sensitivity of the 3 kits was very good (100%), and the diagnostic specificity showed an improvement from 46% (AFSSA test) to 88% and 92% (commercial tests). Considering individual animals, very few positive ewes were detected within TN or FP flocks; the proportion of positive ewes varied greatly from one kit to another (48% to 82%) within TP flocks. The kinetics of antibody response in sheep experimentally infected with various field strains of M. agalactiae were quite similar with all 3 ELISAs. The agreement between the 3 tests, assessed using the kappa value, varied from moderate to good (respective values of 0.56, 0.61, and 0.86). The 2 commercial ELISAs showed better performances, probably because of a superior analytical sensitivity, and are a good alternative for the serodiagnosis of contagious agalactia in sheep.
Distributed frequency control of inertia-less AC microgrids

In this paper, we introduce a generation control architecture for microgrids that ensures stable and synchronized operation at a specific frequency. We also propose a distributed implementation of this architecture that relies on two distributed algorithms that adhere to a communication network interconnecting the controllers present at each bus. The first algorithm enables the generators to determine set-points that result in stable and synchronized operation given a known set of load bus power demands, whereas the second one enables the generators to drive their commands to the aforementioned set-points. We demonstrate our proposed controller and its distributed implementation via numerical simulations.
Protecting Browsers from Network Intermediaries

Network intermediaries relay traffic between web servers and clients, and are often deployed on the Internet to provide improved performance or security. Unfortunately, network intermediaries can actually do more harm than good. In this thesis, we articulate the dangers of network intermediaries, which motivates the need for pervasive encryption. We further seek to understand the reasons why encryption isn’t more widely deployed and fix them. The existence of network intermediaries makes web security particularly challenging, considering that network intermediaries may operate (1) erroneously, or (2) maliciously. We verified that 7% of Internet users are behind proxies that allow either IP hijacking attacks or cache poisoning attacks, and that 0.2% of encrypted connections on a large global website were intercepted without authorization. While the need for encryption is clear, many websites have not deployed Transport Layer Security (TLS) due to performance concerns. We identified three opportunities to reduce the performance overhead of TLS without sacrificing security: (1) prefetching and prevalidating certificates, (2) using short-lived certificates, and (3) configuring elliptic curve cryptography for forward secrecy.
Resource Cooptation Via Social Contracting: Resource Acquisition Strategies for New Ventures

Analyzes the acquisition of resources through social transactions by independent entrepreneurs and corporate entrepreneurs, with a focus primarily on the corporate entrepreneurs. These social transactions include previous working relationships, voluntary connections, and community ties for independent entrepreneurs. Corporate entrepreneurs steal personnel time, appropriate materials, and conceal development activities. The importance of these social transactions in securing key resources for little to no cost is demonstrated through two examples: a Cuban American in the United States and a Swedish venture manager in a European mini-conglomerate. Two types of venture managers are discussed – the administrative venture manager and the social transactions-oriented manager. Cooptation is identified as the mechanism by which resources can be obtained. Two types of cooptation, legitimacy and underutilized goods, are presented. It is proposed that the social transactions-oriented managers are more likely to co-opt legitimacy (primiarly through association or endorsement) than are the administrative venture managers. Begging, borrowing, scavenging, and amplifying are the four strategies used for taking advantage of underutilized activities. This cooptation process involves the exploitation of social assets. These social assets are built by sharing information, solving and receiving help with problems, giving and receiving favors, and creating opportunities for people to demonstrate their skills and competence. Reasons why it is difficult for corporate entrepreneurs to take advantage of network resources are provided. The propositions presented in this analysis can provide the basis for future research. (SRD)
High-fidelity view of the structure and fragmentation of the high-mass, filamentary IRDC G11.11-0.12

Star formation in molecular clouds is intimately linked to their internal mass distribution. We present an unprecedentedly detailed analysis of the column density structure of a high-mass, filamentary molecular cloud, namely IRDC G11.11-0.12 (G11). We use two novel column density mapping techniques: high-resolution (FWHM=2", or ~0.035 pc) dust extinction mapping in near- and mid-infrared, and dust emission mapping with the Herschel satellite. These two completely independent techniques yield a strikingly good agreement, highlighting their complementarity and robustness. We first analyze the dense gas mass fraction and linear mass density of G11. We show that G11 has a top heavy mass distribution and has a linear mass density (M_l ~ 600 Msun pc^{-1}) that greatly exceeds the critical value of a self-gravitating, non-turbulent cylinder. These properties make G11 analogous to the Orion A cloud, despite its low star-forming activity. This suggests that the amount of dense gas in molecular clouds is more closely connected to environmental parameters or global processes than to the star-forming efficiency of the cloud. We then examine hierarchical fragmentation in G11 over a wide range of size-scales and densities. We show that at scales 0.5 pc > l > 8 pc, the fragmentation of G11 is in agreement with that of a self-gravitating cylinder. At scales smaller than l < 0.5 pc, the results agree better with spherical Jeans' fragmentation. One possible explanation for the change in fragmentation characteristics is the size-scale-dependent collapse time-scale that results from the finite size of real molecular clouds: at scales l < 0.5 pc, fragmentation becomes sufficiently rapid to be unaffected by global instabilities.