Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Adequacy of the Supply of Professional Advisory Services to Manufacturing Firms in Rural Mid Wales

The central question addressed is whether the services supplied by rural accountants and solicitors are appropriate for the needs of manufacturers in rural mid Wales and, if not, whether the rural location places manufacturers located there at a disadvantage. The research is based on face to face interviews with accountants and solicitors to identify typical services supplied. Banks are included to consider alternative sources of financial advice. Services are contrasted with specialist services provided by urban practices (relatively inaccessible to rural firms). Interviews are also conducted with manufacturing firms to establish their use o j and satisfaction with, suppliers. Contrasts are drawn with satisfaction levels recorded by firms with closer access to specialist suppliers. The research indicates that very small firms make greatest use of local services and are therefore at greater risk if there is a shortfall in the quality or quantity offinancial or legal advisory capacity available in rural Mid Wales.
A review and comparison of six sigma and the lean organisations

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to review and compare six sigma and the lean organisation approaches to process improvement. The basis for combination and compatibility is evaluated and a holistic approach proposed.Design/methodology/approach – The examination is based on the author's extensive practical consulting and training experience with diverse six sigma, lean and business process improvement programmes in numerous companies across Europe and worldwide, as well as theoretical development of his previous published work.Findings – The paper contends that the current literature on the compatibility and combination of six sigma and lean is limited and disappointing when examined for a common model, theoretical compatibility or mutual content or method, but that they can be effectively combined into one system.Research limitations/implications – The study is experience‐based and not supported by a specific‐quantitative investigation.Practical implications – Companies pursuing six sigma and lean im.
Enhanced mechanical properties of wires fabricated by PVA and water-soluble multiwall carbon nanotubes

We present the test of mechanical properties of a new PVA composite wire reinforced with water-soluble MWNT. The composite wires of poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) and multi wall carbon nanotubes (MWNT) were prepared by simple coating process and the effect of carbon nanotubes on the mechanical properties of PVA was investigated. Compared to PVA coating wires, the addition of 5 wt. % MWNT intensively increased the tensile strength and Young's modulus of PVA composite fibers by over 60%. The toughness of the composites was increased remarkably by adding a small amount of MWNTs in relation to the unique specialities of the carbon nanotubes.
MANAGERIAL PERCEPTIONS OF MARKETING PLANNING[1]

The literature on marketing planning is largely prescriptive in nature, with little reporting of empirical research. Additionally, the latter has been mostly concerned with classifying the official planning procedures that organizations have adopted. This article reports research which has investigated the perceptions of individual managers towards marketing planning. the overall result is that many differences of perception were identified, including major differences between managers in the same organizations. This insight also allowed for the development of a number of theoretical propositions.
Phonetic differences for dialect clustering

In this paper we investigate differences and similarities between dialects using unsupervised learning. We used a binary phonetic representation to cluster utterances from different Arabic and English dialects. This phonetic representation aims to capture phonetic patterns such as vowel and consonant length. We tested this representation on an Arabic dataset containing utterances from speakers of four dialects: Egyptian, Gulf, Levantine, and North African. We validate our approach on an English dataset containing utterances from speakers from Bradford, Cardiff, Dublin, and Liverpool.
Employee disengagement: is there evidence of a growing problem?

Purpose – The article discusses employee disengagement, a phenomenon where employees are at work but are minimizing their work contribution.Design/methodology/approach – Examples of disengagement are discussed as well as possible causes. This is a call for further research in order to examine whether employee disengagement is rampant in our organizations, and on the increase while being largely ignored by managers, or whether it is a myth and should be of little concern to anyone.Findings – The phenomenon of employee disengagement appears to be correlated with conditions where there is a lack of psychological identification and psychological meaningfulness. Disengagement also appears to be maximized under conditions of poor leadership and when levels of trust between managers and subordinates are low. Evidence suggests that there are large discrepancies in the methods and the scales used to measure employee engagement and disengagement.Practical implications – There is much conflicting and anecdotal evide.
Size Asymmetry, Trade, and Militarized Conflict

A measure—trade efficiency—that models the extent to which individual economic entities within two countries trade with each other is used to investigate the claim that symmetrical dependence on trade between two states is required for the trade bond to reduce the probability of interstate conflict. This measure is better suited to study this question than existing measures since it is by definition uncorrelated with asymmetries in country size. The relationship between the different conceptions of interdependence and militarized conflict is explored in an expected utility model of trade, distribution of resources, and conflict. For the particular pacifying mechanisms of trade studied here, the model supports the view that trade reduces the incentives for conflict but that this effect is most clearly seen in relatively symmetric dyads.
Optimal Income Taxation With Quasi‐Linear Preferences Revisited

With quasi-linear in leisure preferences, closed-form solutions for the marginal tax rates and the marginal utility of consumption under utilitarian and maxi-min objectives depend only on the skill distribution. Bunching induced by binding second-order incentive conditions also depends only on the distribution, but does not affect solutions in the non-bunched range. These are affected if bunching is caused by binding non-negative income constraints. Specific skill distributions are considered and it shown that the pattern of marginal tax rates depend critically on whether or not the skill distribution is truncated at the upper end.
Cities and the Governing of Climate Change

Studies of the urban governance of climate change have proliferated over the past decade, as municipalities across the world increasingly place the issue on their agendas and private actors seek to respond to the issue. This review examines the history and development of urban climate governance, the policies and measures that have been put into place, the multilevel governance context in which these are undertaken, and the factors that have structured the posibilities for addressing the issue. It highlights the limits of existing work and the need for future research to provide more comprehensive analyses of the achievements and limitations of urban climate governance. It calls for engagement with alternative theoretical perspectives to understand how climate change is being governed in the city and the implications for urban governance, socioenvironmental justice, and the reconfiguration of political authority.
Entrepreneurship's Next Act

Entrepreneurship has become firmly established as a legitimate scholarly discipline dedicated to new value creation by individuals and corporations. To be influential in shaping managerial practice and public policy, we believe that time has come for a substantive shift in the focus, content and methods of entrepreneurship research. We discuss ways this shift could occur, highlighting the need to recognize the multiple dimensions of entrepreneurial activities, the importance of examining the heterogeneous aspects of context and factoring them into future theory building and testing efforts, and delineating the microfoundations of entrepreneurship. We also discuss how to strengthen the link between entrepreneurship research and public policy.
Synthesis, Physico-chemical, Spectral and Hypoglycemic Activity of Samarium Complex of Glimepiride, An Oral Antidiabetic Drug

This paper deals with the synthesis and characterization of a glimepiride-samarium complex a rare earth's metal. Glimepiride is an oral hypoglycemic agent. The conductometric titrations were conducted using monovariation method which shows the ligand metal ratio as 2:1. Molar conductance value indicate that complex is non-ionic in nature. Analytical results agree to the molecular formula (C 24 H 34 N 4 O 5 S) 2 Sm.4H 2 O. Rare earth's element Sm shows the high coordination sites. The structure of the complex was assigned as hexagonal in which ligand moleculas joining the central Sm(III) atom with nH 2 O molecules. Infrared spectral studies have supported coordination of sulphonyl oxygen on one side and enolic oxygen attached from other side and four water molecule attached by four co-ordination sides with the samarium ion. Mass spectral and nuclear magnetic resonance studies of the complex proposed structure of the complex on the basis of analytical data.
Multinationals and changing national business systems in Europe: towards the ‘shareholder value’ model?

This article reviews recent development in employment relations in MNCs, within the context of the varied and changing business systems within Western Europe. Focusing on Germany, France, Sweden and the UK, we analyse both the effects of national corporate governance systems on MNCs, and the extent to which MNCs specifically, and globalisation more widely, have affected the nature of national business and employment systems. While elements of a move towards a more ‘Anglo-Saxon’, economically liberal model of corporate governance and employment relations can be detected in all four countries, this is far from complete. Cross-national differences in business systems within Europe therefore continue to exert effects upon MNCs.
Preliminary evidence of accumulation of stress during translocation in mantled howlers

Translocation—an extensively used conservation tool—is a potentially stressful event, as animals are exposed to multiple stressors and cannot predict or control the changes in their environment. Therefore, it may be expected that during a translocation program stress accumulates and social behavior changes. Here, we present data from a translocation of four adult mantled howlers (Alouatta palliata), which was conducted in southern Veracruz (Mexico). We found that stress (measured in fecal corticosterone) increased during translocation, but that the rate of both affiliative and agonistic interactions remained unchanged. Females showed higher levels of corticosterone than males throughout translocation, although no sex differences were observed in social interactions. Our findings provide a preliminary evidence for accumulation of physiological stress during translocation in primates, and may have implications for decisions concerning releasing practices. Am. J. Primatol. 72:805–810, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
How hybrid managers act as “canny customers” to accelerate policy reform: A case study of regulator-regulatee relationships in the UK’s tax agency

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to analyse role transition for professionals moving towards hybrid managerial roles. Specifically, the authors examine reforms to the national tax agency in the UK, focusing on attempts to shift hybrid managers away from a focus on tax compliance, to a greater customer focus. This extends understanding of the relationship between New Public Management (NPM) and the public professions, by offering greater insight into the dynamic between regulators and regulatees, as professionals are co-opted into management roles that encompass greater customer orientation. Design/methodology/approach - – The authors draw on documentary data relating to reform from 2003 to 2012 and 43 semi-structured interviews with senior tax inspectors co-opted into hybrid manager roles. Findings - – The findings support established accounts of the effect of NPM reform to public professions, as these professionals are co-opted into hybrid management roles. Some hybrid managers resist, others embrace the demands of the new role. Linked to a hitherto neglected aspect of analysis (the extent to which hybrid managers embrace a greater customer orientation) the findings also show a more novel third response: some hybrid managers leave the national tax agency for opportunities in the private sector. These public-to-private professionals the authors call “canny customers”. Canny customers are ideally placed to exploit aspects of NPM reform, and thereby accelerate changes in the governance of public agencies, but in a way that might undermine the function of the tax agency and tax professions. Practical implications - – In regulatory settings, policy reform to co-opt professionals into hybrid managerial roles may have mixed effects. In settings where a focal dynamic is the regulator-regulatee relationship, effective governance will require understanding of the labour market to temper excess influence by those hybrid managers who become canny customers, otherwise, in settings where it is easy for individuals to move from regulator to regulatee, the pace and consequences of reform will be harder to govern. This runs the danger of eroding professional values. The specific case of tax professionals reflects themes in the literature examining hybridisation for accountants, and provides novel insight into the dynamics of professionalism that extend to the case of accountants. Originality/value - – The contribution is to extend the literature on role transition of professionals. The authors focus on hybrid managers in the context of a regulatory agency: the UK national tax agency. Policy reforms associated with hybridisation emphasised customer orientation. The authors highlight labour market characteristics impacting the regulator-regulatee dynamic, and an as yet unexplored, unintended consequence of reform. The public professional who leaves for the private sector becomes a “canny customer” who can exploit and accelerate reform.
Management of diabetic retinopathy: a systematic review.

CONTEXT Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is the leading cause of blindness in the working-aged population in the United States. There are many new interventions for DR, but evidence to support their use is uncertain. OBJECTIVE To review the best evidence for primary and secondary intervention in the management of DR, including diabetic macular edema. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION Systematic review of all English-language articles, retrieved using a keyword search of MEDLINE (1966 through May 2007), EMBASE, Cochrane Collaboration, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology database, and the National Institutes of Health Clinical Trials Database, and followed by manual searches of reference lists of selected major review articles. All English-language randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with more than 12 months of follow-up and meta-analyses were included. Delphi consensus criteria were used to identify well-conducted studies. EVIDENCE SYNTHESIS Forty-four studies (including 3 meta-analyses) met the inclusion criteria. Tight glycemic and blood pressure control reduces the incidence and progression of DR. Pan-retinal laser photocoagulation reduces the risk of moderate and severe visual loss by 50% in patients with severe nonproliferative and proliferative retinopathy. Focal laser photocoagulation reduces the risk of moderate visual loss by 50% to 70% in eyes with macular edema. Early vitrectomy improves visual recovery in patients with proliferative retinopathy and severe vitreous hemorrhage. Intravitreal injections of steroids may be considered in eyes with persistent loss of vision when conventional treatment has failed. There is insufficient evidence for the efficacy or safety of lipid-lowering therapy, medical interventions, or antivascular endothelial growth factors on the incidence or progression of DR. CONCLUSIONS Tight glycemic and blood pressure control remains the cornerstone in the primary prevention of DR. Pan-retinal and focal retinal laser photocoagulation reduces the risk of visual loss in patients with severe DR and macular edema, respectively. There is currently insufficient evidence to recommend routine use of other treatments.
Symposium on Macroeconomics 1 Fresh Water, Salt Water, and Other Macroeconomic Elixirs*

Viewed from a distance of 10 000 miles. the dominant features of American academic macroeconomics are the world-wide prominence of its leading creative thinkers, and the surprising insularity of its scholastic debares. Nothing heems further from the main macroeconomic concerns of the United States. not to mention of the 23 other industrialized nations that constitute the OECD. than the 'fresh water. salt water' dichotomy between new-classical and new-Keynesian traditions which has dominated the coffee-break oral tradition of American macroeconomic conferences for the past decade. I suggest here that the 'salinity criterion' no longer serves its original purpose of describing the central disputes in American macroeconomics. not only because i t is no longer geographically accurate but. much more important. because ( I) it leads commentators greatly to exaggerate the influence that newclassical economics ever had on the main battlefield of any academic debate-the campaign for the minds of the young. and (2) because it is no longer relevant to the central unsolved puzzles concerning macroeconomic behaviour.
Politics, Institutions, and Welfare Spending in Industrialized Democracies, 1960–82

We examine the roles of democratic politics and political institutions in shaping social welfare spending in 18 contemporary capitalist democracies. We explore the social spending consequences of government partisanship, electoral competition and turnout, and the self-interested behaviors of politicians and bureaucrats, as well as such relatively durable facets of political institutions as neocorporatism, state centralization, and traditionalist policy legacies. Pooled time series analyses of welfare effort in 18 nations during the 1960–82 period show that electoral turnout, as well as left and center governments increase welfare effort; that the welfare efforts of governments led by particular types of parties show significant differences and vary notably with the strength of oppositional (and junior coalitional) parties; and that relatively neocorporatist, centralized, and traditionalistic polities are high on welfare effort. Overall, our findings suggest that contrary to many claims, both partisan and nonpartisan facets of democratic politics and political institutions shape contemporary social welfare effort.
Evaluation of the Clinical Performance of the cobas 4800 HPV Test in Patients Referred for Colposcopy

ABSTRACT The clinical performance of the cobas human papillomavirus (HPV) test for detection of high-grade disease in a colposcopy-referred population was compared with that of Hybrid Capture 2 (HC2). The overall agreement between the tests was 92.3%. Clinical sensitivity and specificity for detection of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2 or greater (CIN2+) were 90.0% and 55.5% for cobas and 90.5% and 50.2% for HC2, respectively. In conclusion, both tests showed comparable performance for detection of CIN2+.
Effect of Chewing Xylitol Containing and Herbal Chewing Gums on Salivary Mutans Streptococcus Count among School Children

Background: The present study aims to assess and compare the reduction in salivary Mutans Streptococci counts after chewing Xylitol, herbal and placebo gums among high school children. Methods: The study was conducted among 72 school children (12–15 years) from 3 randomly selected schools (blocks). Xylitol, herbal and placebo gums were randomly allocated to 3 blocks. Subjects were instructed to chew one pellet four times a day for 21 days. The mean reduction in salivary Streptococcus mutans count was assessed. Results: The 100% Xylitol sweetened chewing gum “Xylitol”has shown statistically significant reduction in salivary Mutans Streptococci colony forming units at the end of 21 days (P < 0.01). The reduction was not statistically significant in herbal and placebo chewing gum. Conclusions: Hundred percentage Xylitol sweetened chewing gum was found to be more effective in reducing salivary Mutans Streptococci count when compared to herbal and placebo chewing gums.
Sink or Swim? Water security for growth and development

Achieving basic water security, both harnessing the productive potential of water and limiting its destructive impact, has always been a societal priority. To capture this duality, water security is defined here as the availability of an acceptable quantity and quality of water for health, livelihoods, ecosystems and production, coupled with an acceptable level of water-related risks to people, environments and economies. This paper looks broadly at those countries that have achieved water security, the paths they chose and the costs they paid, and those countries that have not achieved water security and how this constrains economies and societies. It defines three typologies: countries that have harnessed hydrology, those hampered by hydrology and those that are hostage to hydrology. It finds that countries remaining hostage to hydrology are typically among the world's poorest. They face “difficult” hydrologies often characterized by high inter- and intra-annual rainfall and runoff variability, where the level of institutional and infrastructure investment needed is very high and the ability to invest is low. This paper seeks to capture the dynamics of achieving water security in a hypothetical water and growth “S-curve”, which illustrates how a minimum platform of investments in water institutions and infrastructure can produce a tipping point beyond which water makes an increasingly positive contribution to growth and how that tipping point will vary in different circumstances. As there are inevitable trade-offs, achieving water security is never without social and environmental costs; in some countries these are significant, often unforeseen and even unacceptable. This brief analysis suggests that the only historically demonstrated path to achieving water security at the national level has been through investment in an evolving balance of complementary institutions and infrastructure, but that lessons exist for following this basic path in more sustainable and balanced ways. Insights are provided for balancing and sequencing investments, adapting to changing values and priorities, and pushing down the social and environmental costs. The paper concludes that most water-insecure countries today face far greater challenges than those that achieved water security in the last century and are wealthy countries today. They face more difficult hydrologies and a greater understanding of and therefore greater responsibility for, the social and environment trade-offs inherent in water management. As the costs of poor countries not achieving water security, in terms of human suffering, sustained poverty, constrained growth and social unrest, would be very high, achieving water security is a challenge that must be recognized and must be met.