Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
INFLUENCE OF SERVICE PROCESS INNOVATION ON COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE IN THE BANKING SECTOR IN KENYA

Banking sector organizations are gaining competitive advantage anchored on service process innovations as the key differentiating factor for banks (Kandaphully, 2002). However, it is regrettable that some banks in Kenya have lost sight of the key goals anchored on serving customer needs, through improved efficiency and augmented financial benefits. The main objective of this study was to analyze the influence of service process innovations in the banking industry towards competitive advantage. The study added to the literature by addressing the role of service process innovations and competitive advantage and this assumed relationship was moderated by the government regulations in banking sector. The study adopted a triangulation design involving a cross sectional approach. A pilot study was conducted to test reliability and validity of instruments. The target population included all the 44 bank incorporated in Kenya. Stratified random sampling technique was applied where the CEOs, directors and branch managers of all banks in Nairobi were targeted. Heterogeneous purposive sampling technique was used to select the bank customers for interview schedule. Data was collected by use of closed and structured questionnaires and interview schedule. Collected data was analyzed using SPSS V18.0 and statistical analysis focused on correlation between variables and analysis of variance among the variables. Multivariate analysis techniques was applied where a PCA method was applied to reduce the set of factors to a manageable scale, analysis of relationship was done using SEM. Pearson correlation coefficient was computed to test linear relations. The test of statistics was carried out at 5% significance level. The study established that service process innovations are very important in influencing competitive advantage in the banking sector.
Technological Diffusion: Alternative Theories and Historical Evidence

This paper presents an interpretive survey of the neoclassical and evolutionary approaches to modeling the process of technological diffusion, with an orientation that is distinct in two important respects from existing surveys. First, the present survey is designed to provide a comparative overview of the alternative approaches within a unified framework of analysis. The objective is to bring out the areas of convergence as well as divergence between the approaches, and address the issue of whether the approaches could be considered as complementary rather than as alternatives. Second, the survey attempts to link the theoretical methodologies to the variety of empirical and historical evidence, and evaluate how the theories best fit the evidence on the dynamics of the technological diffusion process.
Non-rigid registration of 2-D/3-D dynamic data with feature alignment

vi Chapter 1: Introduction . 1 1.1 Background . 1 1.2 Main Contributions . 2 1.3 Organization . 3 Chapter 2: Related Work . 4 2.1 Harmonic Maps and Surface Parameterization . 4 2.2 Volumetric Mapping . 5 2.3 Dynamic Data Registration . 5 2.4 Boundary Method and MFS . 7 2.5 Feature-aligned Texture Mapping . 8 Chapter 3: Dynamic Harmonic Texture Mapping using Methods of Fundamental Solutions . 9 3.
PROTECTIVE ROLE OF MELATONIN ON SOME BIOCHEMICAL ASPECTS OF NICOTINE ADMINISTRATION ON BRAIN OVARIECTOMIZED FEMALE RATS

The protective effect of melatonin against the damage of nicotine on the brain in ovariectomized female rats (OVX) was investigated. Cigarette smoking is common in societies worldwide and has been identified as injurious to human health. The data revealed that nicotine,a major component of cigarette smoke ( at a dose of 2 mg/ KG b.wt.) resulted in a significant increase in total proteins, lipid peroxides (LPO), total cholesterol and phospholipids, and a significant decrease in acetylcholenesterase activity (AChE) and glutathione content (GSH). Melatonin administration at dose (5 mg/kg b.wt.)to nicotine treated rats showed significantly ameliorated changes in total proteins, acetylcholenesterase (AChE) , glutathione content (GSH) , lipid peroxides (LPO) , total cholesterol (TC) and phospholipids (Ph). The obtained results suggest that the protective effect of melatonin is mediated through decreased oxidation of lipids , thus minimizing the risk posed by nicotine .
Empirical Analysis of Commercial Housing Sales Based on EARCH(1,1) Model

Since the 1980s, China’s commercial housing market has shown an unprecedented rapid development, and the commercial houses still has a high price. This paper studies the sales rate of commercial housing sales to find an appropriate model, and it analyzes the volatility of the commercial housing market to describe the sustainable development of the commercial housing market. By selecting month data of China’s commercial housing sales from January 2006 to October 2018, this paper uses EViews7.2 and the ARMA Model as the tool in order to establish EARCH(1,1) through the method of quantitative analysis. It is found that the yield of commercial housing sales has obvious cluster, asymmetry and leverage effect, and the impact of adverse news on the commercial housing market is more significant than the impact of favorable news.
Micropolitical Workings in Semi-Professional Football

This paper seeks to illuminate the micropolitical strategies that Gavin (a pseudonym) used in an attempt to persuade the players, the assistant coach, and the chairman at Erewhon City Football (soccer) Club to “buy into” his coaching program and methods. Data for the study were collected through in-depth, semistructured interviews, and a reflective log relating to those interviews. The interviews were transcribed verbatim with the subsequent transcripts being subject to a process of inductive analysis. Ball’s (1987) micropolitical perspective, Kelchtermans’ and Ballet’s (2002a, 2002b) work on micropolitical literacy, and Goffman’s (1959) writings on the presentation of the self, are used to make theoretical sense of the specific strategies used by Gavin in an attempt to persuade the players to see the merits of his coaching.
A biodiversity status profile of sub-tidal and inter-tidal habitats of the Rekawa, Ussangoda and Kalametiya area

Being an island, Sri Lanka is rich in coastal and marine habitats. Sub-tidal habitats such as coral and rocky reefs are abundant, along with large soft bottom habitats. In addition, inter-tidal and coastal habitats are an important part of the marine ecosystem and provide shelter for a large number of plant and animal species. The coastline along the Rekewa, Ussangoda and Kalametiyah area is particularly rich in both animal and plant diversity, of both national and international importance. However, increasing population, poverty, over-fishing, shell mining, coral mining and overgrazing by livestock are creating serious threats to both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. IUCN Sri Lanka conducted an assessment of the biodiversity of the inland and sub-tidal ecosystems within the RUK area as part of a project supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) of the UNDP to conserve the biodiversity of this globally significant area.
An Analysis of The Impact of Agro-Ecological Zones on The Influence of The Key Factors That Affect Food Security: The Case of The Embu County in Kenya

This paper is based on the results of a study that was carried out to determine the impact of agro-ecological zones (AEZs) on the influence of the key factors that affect household food security through a case study in the Embu County of Kenya. The Embu County was chosen for a case study because it is endowed with most of the various types of AEZs found in Kenya. The three agro-ecological zones covered in the case study were the Sunflower-Zone (UM 4 and LM 3), the Coffee Zone (UM 1-3) and the Tea Zone (LH 1-2), based on [1] categorization of the AEZs in Kenya. The study analyzed and evaluated the food security data collected from 384 farm-households which had randomly been selected from the three AEZs in the Embu County using a 4-stage cluster sampling method. Household caloric acquisition method was used to compute a household food security index (HFSI) that was used to measure the household food security status.nbsp Previous studies had established that the key factors that influence food security in Kenya include farm size, access to and use of modern technologies in farming, access to agricultural extension services, farm household size, age and education level (literacy) for the head of household and household dependency ratio. This study found that the AEZs had a significant impact on the effects of the key factors that influence household food security in Kenya. The effect of farm size on food security was found to be positive in the Sunflower and Tea zones, but not in the Coffee Zone. Technology adoption was found to have a significant effect on food security in the Sunflower and Coffee Zones, but not in the Tea Zone. Access to agricultural extension was found to have a significant effect on food security in the Coffee and Tea zones, but not in the Sunflower Zone. Household size was found to have a significant effect on food security in the Sunflower and Coffee zones, but not in the Tea Zone. The dependency ratio was found to have a significant effect on food security in the Coffee and Tea Zones but not in the Sunflower Zone. The age of the household head and/or wife was found to have a significant effect on food security in the Tea Zone, but not in the Coffee and Sunflower Zones. The level of education for the head of the household was found to have a significant effect on food security in the Sunflower Zone but not in the Coffee and Tea Zones. On the basis of the study findings, it is concluded that the effects of the factors that influence food security vary by the AEZs. Therefore, AEZ-specific measures are recommended to enhance household food security in different areas of Kenya.
Transgenic Bt cotton inhibited arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus differentiation and colonization

Chen X.H. , Zhang R. , Wang F.L. (2017): Transgenic Bt cotton inhibited arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus differentiation and colonization. Plant Soil Environ. , 63: 62–69. The present study investigated the impact of transgenic Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) cotton on several aspects of arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus Funneliformis mosseae. The results showed that Bt cotton significantly inhibited spore germination and pre-symbiotic hyphal growth. The appressorium density, arbuscule frequency and colonization intensity in Bt roots were also decreased. The statistical analysis demonstrated that the transformation event resulted in the inhibition of hyphal development and colonization. The reduced interaction between AM fungi and plants could affect nutrient uptake and transportation in plant-fungus symbiosis. The mechanism might involve the direct toxicity of Bt toxins or the interference of signal perception between AM fungus and Bt cotton.
Evaluation of Nephroprotective and Antidiabetic Effects of Gundelia tournefortii Aqueous Extract on Diabetic Nephropathy in Male Mice

Background and objectives: Due to the rapid growth of global interest in use of ethno medicinal plants, their effects and safety assessment have become substantial. Gundelia tournefortii has been used as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, anti-fungal, and antibacterial agent. In the present study, nephrprotective and antidiabetic properties of Gundelia tournefortii aqueous extract (GTAE) on diabetic mice has been assessed. Methods: Seventy mice were used and diabetes was induced by administration of 150 mg/kg of alloxan monohydrate intraperitoneally in 60 mature male mice and they were randomly divided into 6 groups. Also one group (10 mice) was considered as the negative control group which received normal saline. The treatment groups received glibenclamide 10 mg/kg (G10) and 5, 10, 20 and 40 mg/kg of GTAE through gavage for 20 days. Also, one group was considered as the non-diabetic control. On the last day, levels of blood glucose, urea and creatinine were measured in serum. After tissue processing, 5 μm sections of the kidneys were prepared and were stained by hematoxylin and eosin and used for stereological analysis. Results: GTAE at all doses and G10 significantly (p≤0.05) reduced the raised levels of blood glucose, creatinine and urea as compared to the untreated diabetic mice. Multipledoses of GTAE and G10 significantly (p≤0.05) decreased the volume and length of renal structures, compared to the diabetic untreated group. Conclusion: According to the obtained results, GTAE groups can regulate the levels of biochemical parameters and inhibit kidney damages in alloxan induced diabetic mice. It appears that GTAE can be suggested for treatment of diabetes as an anti-diabetic supplement or drug.
The Evolution of a Christian Business School’s Mission - Bringing “Business As Mission” to a Business School’s Mission

Colleges of business typically seek accreditation to achieve legitimacy and raise their reputations. Major business school accreditors (AACSB, ACBSP, and IACBE) all base their accreditation standards on college-created mission statements. This paper describes how one Christian business school developed a unique mission statement in response to both accreditation standards and as a spiritual transformation catalyst. This statement calls for the college to “develop business leaders who embrace the values and virtues of Jesus,” and it is now being inculcated through curricular and co-curricular activities. This paper details how three programs in particular: Business as Mission, Servant Leadership, and Service Learning—manifest and lend credence to the mission.
A Survey on Methods for Reconstructing Surfaces from Unorganized Point Sets

This paper addresses the issue of reconstructing and visualizing surfaces from unorganized point sets. These can be acquired using different techniques, such as 3D-laser scanning, computerized tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and multi-camera imaging. The problem of reconstructing surfaces from their unorganized point sets is common for many diverse areas, including computer graphics, computer vision, computational geometry or reverse engineering. The paper presents three alternative methods that all use variations in complementary cones to triangulate and reconstruct the tested 3D surfaces. The article evaluates and contrasts three alternatives. Article in English
Epigenetic Programming of Blood Vessel Identity

EPIGENETIC PROGRAMMING OF BLOOD VESSEL IDENTITY. Aaron W. Aday, Lihua J. Zhu, and Nathan D. Lawson. Program in Gene Function and Expression, UMass Medical School, Worcester, MA. (Sponsored by Michael Simons, Section of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT). Recent studies have revealed details of the signaling pathways controlling blood vessel development and function. However, little is known about what controls endothelial cell identity in different blood vessel types. It is important to identify transcriptional control elements that function in endothelial cells in order to examine their roles in differentiation and vascular development. Certain histone modifications can serve as molecular markers for these regulatory elements. Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by deep sequencing (ChIP-Seq) allows one to identify DNA sequences bound by these histones, and mapping to a reference genome permits localization of putative enhancer and promoter regions enriched for modified histones. By using this technology to identify global epigenetic modifications associated with transcriptional activation in endothelial-expressed genes, one can locate cis-regulatory elements that may play essential roles in controlling cell type-specific gene expression and defining blood vessel identity. In an effort to identify cis-regulatory elements that control endothelial gene expression, we have performed ChIP-Seq on zebrafish embryos. Similar to previous studies, promoters are enriched for modifications such as trimethylation of histone 3 at the fourth lysine residue (H3K4me3). Monomethylation of histone 3 at the same position (H3K4me1) is less strongly enriched at promoter elements and often localizes up and downstream of predicted gene sequences or in intronic regions. In several cases, these corresponding sequences are evolutionarily conserved and map to known transcription factor binding sites. We have also analyzed ChIP-Seq data from endothelial cells isolated from zebrafish embryos by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), and this vascular dataset has a unique epigenetic signature compared to whole embryos. Finally, we performed in vivo reporter assays and confirmed that some of the candidate enhancer elements identified through ChIP-Seq are able to drive gene expression. Together, these resources will allow us to better understand the transcriptional regulatory networks that are responsible for endothelial cell heterogeneity.
Corruption Measurement: The Case of Russian Federation

This study develops the approach of corruption measurement based on the income-expenditure comparison. Using micro-level data on reported household earnings, expenditures and assets provided by Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey for the period 2000-2009 we find that households with workers in the public sector receive lower earnings than their private sector counterparts, but enjoy the same level of consumption expenditures, in other words there exists an expenditure-income gap in favor of the public sector. Controlling for the reported level of earnings, households with workers in the private sector do not show neither a significantly higher probability of possessing country houses, cars and computers, nor living in better housing conditions, nor having higher financial wealth. The analysis of current and accumulated savings, risk aversion and volatility of wages does not show any sign of distinction between two sectors. Thus, differences in assets and precautionary motives of workers cannot reconcile the sizeable expenditure-income gap. Unexplained differences are referred to unreported income, or bribes.
Genetic Stock Structure of Frigate Tuna (Auxis thazard) Along Indian Coast Based on PCR-RFLP Analyses of mtDNA D-Loop Region

Frigate tuna (Auxis thazard) is an epipelagic, neritic as well as oceanic species. In present study, genetic variation was surveyed using PCR-RFLP of mitochondrial DNA D-loop region to test for the presence of stock structure of frigate tuna along the Indian coast. A total of 364 individuals were sampled from eight major fishing zones along the Indian coast. PCRRFLP analyses of D-loop revealed significant genetic heterogeneity between samples of Port-Blair and rest of the Indian coast. Population genetic structure was also corroborated by significant value of global test of population differentiation among samples (P = 0.01). Therefore, the null hypothesis of single genetic stock of frigate tuna along the Indian coast can be rejected. The results of present study suggest the two genetic stocks of frigate tuna across the coastal waters of India.
Relative Neighbourhood Networks for Archaeological Analysis

: This paper describes a method for discovering meaningful relationships in a point set, based on the concept of relative neighbourhood, which can be applied to groups of archaeological sites or artefacts. In contrast to notions that use linear distances, such as nearest neighbour, the relative neighbourhood concept explores “regions of influence” belonging to pairs of points. This allows extracting several types of proximity networks using only the spatial coordinates of the point set. As explained in the paper, relative neighbourhoods can reveal more effectively the contextual relationships of sites or artefacts. The paper also explains how to measure two connectivity properties called integration and control, which are useful to understand the degree of accessibility and relative importance of each node within the network structure.
Examining the Relationships between Ethical Issues in Franchising Business Success and Characteristics of Franchising Businesses: A Study in Turkey

Franchising offers growth opportunities for firms operating in global markets; however, cultural differences and national regulations in new markets can create ethical challenges and conflicts that could impact the success of franchising operations. Also, franchisors and franchisees have ethical obligations toward each other that must be properly managed for a mutually beneficial franchising relationship to exist. This study builds on earlier work that identified clusters of ethical issues that, from the perspective of franchisees in Turkey, are important for the long-term success of both franchisorfranchisee relationships and the franchising system in Turkey. In this paper, the earlier work is extended by examining the impact of six different franchising characteristics on the perceived importance of ethical issues in long-term franchising business success. The paper also discusses the implications of these findings for successful relationships between franchisors and franchisees.
When is the Spirit of Capitalism Effective for Economic Development

By incorporating endogenous innovation and wealth preference into the growth model, this paper aims to combine two important factors of economic development — “creative destruction,” as emphasized by Schumpeter (1912) and modelized by Aghion and Howitt (1992), and the “spirit of capitalism,” proposed by Weber (1905). Zou (1994) introduced this “spirit of capitalism” into the modern growth analysis by reinterpreting the Kurz (1968) model, wherein a preference on asset accumulation is introduced into the Ramsey model. By uniting these two factors, we obtain the result that this preference basically stimulates the long-term growth rate, and that it is eﬀective when the economy has a too low innovation eﬃciency. However, the eﬀect is small for an economy with a suﬃciently high innovation eﬃciency.