Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Building an International Financial Services Firm: How Successful Firms Design and Execute Cross-Border Strategies

A new era of global banking and insurance is emerging, with leading banks eager to serve international markets. This book explores the issues that arise for banks in their strategic choices as they move into these new international markets. Building an International Financial Services Firm challenges conventional assumptions from the international management literature on topics such as the limits of globalization, the importance of cultural and institutional distance, the nature of economies of scale and scope, the existence of first mover advantages, the logic behind the global value chain configuration, the speed and timing of market entry, as well as organizational architecture. It focuses on fundamental strategic decisions such as when, where, and how to enter foreign markets and how to design the organizational architecture of the multinational financial services firm. Using simple theoretical frameworks illustrated by case examples, this book provides a thorough guide to the challenges of the international market for financial services firms, both for those working in the financial services industry, and researchers studying the area.
A Preliminary Study for a Technology Course Reform

This is an in-progress preliminary study that will help to identify problems and clarify expectations and needs for the pre-service teachers who must take a required course named EDCT203 (Technology Applications in Education) in the college of Education at Ohio University. The study shall shed some light on many aspects of the course preparations including syllabus design, change of learning and teaching strategies , and software selections.
Exploring anomaly detection in systems of systems

The loosely coupled interoperability of heterogeneous existing systems, together with the ongoing replacement of monolithic systems design with Off-The-Shelf (OTS) approaches, promotes a new architectural paradigm that is called System of Systems (SoS). In SoSs, independent and autonomous constituent systems (CSs) cooperate to achieve higher-level goals. Some inherent challenges are that boundaries of the SoS may be partially unknown and the components may be governed by different authorities, affecting the ability to observe the system as a whole. Further, novel challenges related to dependability and security are introduced, such as the detection of emerging and possibly unexpected behaviors resulting from the interconnection of previous disconnected CSs. In this paper we explore these challenges questioning if a novel mindset to error, malware or intrusion detection is needed when dealing with SoSs. With the support of a state of the art review, we first identify the design principles and the performance targets of a monitoring and anomaly detection framework. Then we discuss these principles at the light of SoS fundamentals. Ultimately, we propose an approach to design a monitoring and anomaly detection framework for SoSs aggregating i) monitoring approaches ii) SoS properties, and iii) anomaly detection techniques.
Augmentation With Amisulpride for Schizophrenic Patients Nonresponsive to Antipsychotic Monotherapy

Despite the effectiveness of antipsychotic medications in treatment of schizophrenia, about 30% of patients who receive an adequate treatment have significant persisting symptoms. The problem of treatment-resistant psychosis is an important and difficult one. The aim of this study was to retrospectively evaluate the efficacy and safety of amisulpride augmentation in treatment-resistant schizophrenic patients. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report about resistant schizophrenic and schizoaffective patients treated with the combinations of risperidone and amisulpride and ziprasidone and amisulpride. Data were collected from patient records. A total of 15 resistant schizophrenic patients (7 men, 8 women, 54.0 ± 16.9 years old) were included in the study. Before addition of amisulpride, the patients were treated with monotherapy by atypical neuroleptics (clozapine, olanzapine, risperidone, or ziprasidone). The mean amisulpride dose was 693.3 ± 279.6 mg/d. The mental state of 12 (80%) patients treated with combination was improved. Three (20%) patients showed no change in their mental state. Only 2 patients treated with a combination of risperidone and amisulpride had mild side effects. The results are preliminary and require confirmation in a randomized controlled trial. The authors suggest that amisulpride may be a promising option as an augmentation strategy in treatment-resistant schizophrenic patients.
Orlistat-induced oxalate nephropathy: an under-recognised cause of chronic kidney disease

Two patients developed kidney failure due to oxalate deposition in the kidney while taking orlistat. Cessation of orlistat was followed by partial recovery of kidney function. The mechanism by which orlistat causes hyperoxaluria and the management of orlistat-induced oxalate nephropathy is reviewed. We suggest that all patients taking orlistat are at risk of this condition, which may develop insidiously and is easily overlooked. Monitoring of kidney function of patients taking orlistat is warranted.
Characterization of Pneumonia Due to Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus in Dogs

ABSTRACT Streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus has been linked to cases of acute fatal pneumonia in dogs in several countries. Outbreaks can occur in kenneled dog populations and result in significant levels of morbidity and mortality. This highly contagious disease is characterized by the sudden onset of clinical signs, including pyrexia, dyspnea, and hemorrhagic nasal discharge. The pathogenesis of S. equi subsp. zooepidemicus infection in dogs is poorly understood. This study systematically characterized the histopathological changes in the lungs of 39 dogs from a large rehoming shelter in London, United Kingdom; the dogs were infected with S. equi subsp. zooepidemicus. An objective scoring system demonstrated that S. equi subsp. zooepidemicus caused pneumonia in 26/39 (66.7%) dogs, and most of these dogs (17/26 [65.4%]) were classified as severe fibrino-suppurative, necrotizing, and hemorrhagic. Three recently described superantigen genes (szeF, szeN, and szeP) were detected by PCR in 17/47 (36.2%) of the S. equi subsp. zooepidemicus isolates; however, there was no association between the presence of these genes and the histopathological score. The lungs of S. equi subsp. zooepidemicus-infected dogs with severe respiratory signs and lung pathology did however have significantly higher mRNA levels of the proinflammatory cytokines tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and interleukin 8 (IL-8) than in uninfected controls, suggesting a role for an exuberant host immune response in the pathogenesis of this disease.
The American Woman's Pre-World War I Freedom in Manners and Morals

THE Twenties have been alternately praised or blamed for almost everything and its opposite;' but most historians hold, whether to praise or to condemn, that this decade launched the revolution in manners and morals through which we are still moving today. This judgment seems to be part of an even more inclusive one in American historiography to exceptionalize the Twenties. No other decade has invited such titles of historical caricature as The Jazz Age, This Was Normalcy, Fantastic Interim, or The Perils of Prosperity. Richard Hofstadter's classic, The Age of Reform, subtly reinforces this view by seeing the Twenties as "Entr'acte," an interim between two periods of reform, the Progressive era and the New Deal, which themselves display discontinuity.2 Revisionism, in the form of a developmental interpretation of the relationship between the Progressive era and the Twenties, has been gaining strong support in recent years. De-emphasizing the disruptive impact of World War I, Henry F. May asked whether the 1920s could be understood fully "without giving more attention to the old regime. "3 He declared that "Immediately prewar America must be newly explored," especially "its inarticulate assumptions-assumptions in such areas as morality, politics, class and race relations, popular art and literature, and family life. "4 May pursued his inquiry in The End of American Innocence and showed that for the purposes of intellectual history, at least, the Twenties
Nicotine for schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND The proportion of people with schizophrenia who smoke is very high, and as a rule, they tend to be heavier smokers when compared to the general population and those with other psychiatric disorders. Nicotine, the psychoactive component in tobacco, is thought to produce psychological effects that help to alleviate psychotic symptoms. OBJECTIVES To examine the effects of nicotine and related products in the treatment of schizophrenia. SEARCH STRATEGY We electronically searched the Cochrane Schizophrenia Group's Register (April 2005), supplemented with manually inspecting references of all identified studies and by contacting authors of studies where required. SELECTION CRITERIA We included all randomised clinical trials comparing nicotine or related products as a sole or adjunctive treatment for people with schizophrenia or other similar serious, non-affective psychotic illness. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS Citations and, where possible, abstracts were independently inspected by reviewers and the papers ordered were scrutinised and quality assessed. We extracted and evaluated data independently and analysed on an intention to treat basis. We would have calculated fixed effect relative risk (RR), number needed to treat/harm (NNT/H) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) for binary outcomes and for continuous non-skewed data we would have calculated weighted mean differences. We would have excluded data if loss to follow-up had been greater than 50% and inspected the data for heterogeneity. MAIN RESULTS We did not find any trials that met the inclusion criteria. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS There ought to be further research of nicotine for schizophrenia by parallel group design randomised controlled trials investigating the effects of nicotine on symptoms of schizophrenia as well as on side effects of antipsychotic drugs. We further note that authors and journals should conform to the CONSORT guidelines when publishing the research articles, especially when disclosing all the data available from a particular study.
Accounting for service quality to customers in the efficiency of water companies: evidence from England and Wales

This paper investigates the role of service quality to customers in the efficiency assessment of water companies in England and Wales. To achieve this, data envelopment analysis techniques are employed to compute the technical efficiency of the water companies following two approaches: (i) traditional assessment based on quantity variables (without the inclusion of service quality variables) and, (ii) alternative assessment considering quantity and service quality variables as undesirable outputs. The analysis covers 22 water and sewerage companies and water only companies providing drinking water services. The results indicate that the traditional efficiency assessment reveals a high level of technical efficiency suggesting that the English and Welsh water industry is mature and one of the challenges it faces is improving the service quality. When introducing service quality variables in the evaluation, the average scores of technical efficiency slightly decrease. It suggests that on average water companies do not necessarily provide high quality of service meaning that the traditional efficiency assessment favours their performance. Quality of service supplied to customers within a water sector matters and should be taken into account during the benchmarking process as it could assist regulated companies and regulators to improve performance and incentives respectively.
Nonlinear excitation of a rotational mode in a piezoelectrically excited square-extensional mode resonator

We present an experimental study of the nonlinear behavior of a square-extensional (SE) mode microelectromechanical resonator, actuated with a piezoelectric AlN thin film. The acoustic vibration fields of the device are characterized using laser probing. A nonlinear vibration behavior of the SE mode is observed above a drive power level of −10 dBm such that the vibration amplitude of the SE mode saturates and a rotational in-plane vibration mode is excited at a significantly lower frequency (0.725 MHz) than the SE mode (16.670 MHz). Interestingly, the measured ∼10 nm saturation amplitude of the SE mode is more than a decade below the amplitude value at which mechanical or electromechanical nonlinearities are estimated to become significant.
The Mechanism of an Immature Secretion Phenotype of a Highly Frequent Naturally Occurring Missense Mutation at Codon 97 of Human Hepatitis B Virus Core Antigen

ABSTRACT A very frequent missense mutation at codon 97 of human hepatitis B virus (HBV) core antigen (HBcAg) has been found in chronic carriers worldwide. Functional characterization of this mutant revealed one intracellular and two extracellular phenotypes in contrast to wild-type HBV: (i) a 6- to 12-fold decrease in the level of the full-length relaxed circular DNA, a 4- to 5-fold decrease in the plus-strand DNA, and an approximately 1.8-fold decrease in the minus-strand and overall DNA levels in the intracellular viral core particles; (ii) a 5.7-fold increase in the immature secretion of Dane particles, containing minus-strand, single-stranded virion DNA; and (iii) a significant reduction of nonenveloped core particles in the medium. The steady-state levels of mutant and wild-type core proteins expressed from the same vector appeared to be similar. Using a complementation assay and gradient centrifugation analysis, we demonstrated that this mutant core protein alone is necessary and sufficient for immature secretion. The decreased level of intracellular HBV DNA is caused by both the cis defect of the mutant genome and thetrans defect of the mutant core protein. We have dissected further the relationship between the intracellular and extracellular phenotypes of mutant F97L. The pleiotropic effects of the HBcAg codon 97 mutation were observed consistently in several different experimental settings. The mechanism and biological significance of these findings are discussed.
Kinematic Robot-Based Evaluation Scales and Clinical Counterparts to Measure Upper Limb Motor Performance in Patients With Chronic Stroke

Background. Human-administered clinical scales are the accepted standard for quantifying motor performance of stroke subjects. Although they are widely accepted, these measurement tools are limited by interrater and intrarater reliability and are time-consuming to apply. In contrast, robot-based measures are highly repeatable, have high resolution, and could potentially reduce assessment time. Although robotic and other objective metrics have proliferated in the literature, they are not as well established as clinical scales and their relationship to clinical scales is mostly unknown. Objective. To test the performance of linear regression models to estimate clinical scores for the upper extremity from systematic robot-based metrics. Methods. Twenty kinematic and kinetic metrics were derived from movement data recorded with the shoulder-and-elbow InMotion2 robot (Interactive Motion Technologies, Inc), a commercial version of the MIT-Manus. Kinematic metrics were aggregated into macro-metrics and micro-metrics and collected from 111 chronic stroke subjects. Multiple linear regression models were developed to calculate Fugl-Meyer Assessment, Motor Status Score, Motor Power, and Modified Ashworth Scale from these robot-based metrics. Results. Best performance—complexity trade-off was achieved by the Motor Status Score model with 8 kinematic macro-metrics (R = .71 for training; R = .72 for validation). Models including kinematic micro-metrics did not achieve significantly higher performance. Performances of the Modified Ashworth Scale models were consistently low (R = .35-.42 for training; R = .08-.17 for validation). Conclusions. The authors identified a set of kinetic and kinematic macro-metrics that may be used for fast outcome evaluations. These metrics represent a first step toward the development of unified, automated measures of therapy outcome.
Environment and plasticity of myogenesis in teleost fish

SUMMARY Embryonic development in teleosts is profoundly affected by environmental conditions, particularly temperature and dissolved oxygen concentrations. The environment determines the rate of myogenesis, the composition of sub-cellular organelles, patterns of gene expression, and the number and size distribution of muscle fibres. During the embryonic and larval stages, muscle plasticity to the environment is usually irreversible due to the rapid pace of ontogenetic change. In the early life stages, muscle can affect locomotory performance and behaviour, with potential consequences for larval survival. Postembryonic growth involves myogenic progenitor cells (MPCs) that originate in the embryo. The embryonic temperature regime can have long-term consequences for the growth of skeletal muscle in some species, including the duration and intensity of myotube formation in adult stages. In juvenile and adult fish, abiotic (temperature, day-length, water flow characteristics, hypoxia) and biotic factors (food availability, parasitic infection) have complex effects on the signalling pathways regulating the proliferation and differentiation of MPCs, protein synthesis and degradation, and patterns of gene expression. The phenotypic responses observed to the environment frequently vary during ontogeny and are integrated with endogenous physiological rhythms, particularly sexual maturation. Studies with model teleosts provide opportunities for investigating the underlying genetic mechanisms of muscle plasticity that can subsequently be applied to non-model species of more ecological or commercial interest.
Self-Esteem and Performance in Attentional Tasks in School Children after 4½ Months of Yoga

Introduction: Physical activity is known to improve self-esteem of children. Low self-esteem causes distraction of attention which leads to decline in performance in attentional tasks. The performance of a child at school depends on multiple factors, a major factor being attention. Hence, the present study was designed to see (i) the effect 4½ months of yoga practice had on children's (a) performance in attentional tasks, (b) self-esteem and (ii) the correlation between yoga performance and (a) academic performance, (b) behavior with peers, (c) behavior with teachers, (d) punctuality, (e) participation in extra-curricular activities. Methods: Participants were 116 children with group mean age ± standard deviation; 10.2 ± 0.6 years. We assessed them for (i) self-esteem using Indian Adaptation of Battle's Self Esteem Inventory for Children and (ii) performance in attentional tasks using two different tests, i.e., six letter cancellation test (SLCT) and digit letter substitution test (DLST) and (iii) the teacher's rating scale which analyzed the teacher's assessment of the children's academic performance, behavior with peers, behavior with teachers, punctuality, yoga practice, and participation in extracurricular activities on an analog scale, before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed with PASW (SPSS Statistics 24) using the t-test for paired data. Results: There was a significant improvement in the scores of (i) SLCT (P < 0.001), (ii) DLST (P < 0.001), (iii) social self-esteem (P < 0.01), (iv) academic self-esteem (P < 0.001), and (v) total self-esteem (P < 0.001) after 60 min/day of yoga practice for 4½ months. Pearson correlation showed a positive correlation between yoga performance and the behavior with teachers (r = 0.221 and P < 0.05). Conclusions: Yoga practice is beneficial for school children as it improves attention, concentration, memory, motor speed, and self-esteem (social, academic and total). In addition, improved yoga performance improves behavior with teachers, thus improving discipline in school.
Determinants and Competitiveness of Indo-Canadian Bilateral Trade

Using augmented import and export demand functions, the paper examined the determinants and competitiveness of Indo-Canadian bilateral trade during 1996 second quarter to 2010 first quarter. They were estimated by including Canadian FDI inflows and exchange rate volatility, along with the traditional variables (viz., relative prices and real income) as explanatory variables. Further, ARDL model was used to estimate long and short-run relationships among the variables. The results revealed that the traditional variables responded well to import demand, rather than to export demand. While Canadian FDI inflow had marginal effect on India’s short run export demand, no such long run influence could be traced. Exchange rate volatility exercised positive effect on export demand in both the long and short-run, but revealed marginal negative effect on import demand in both the periods. Thus, the study indicated high scope for bilateral trade and FDI flows between India and Canada.
Specific efflux of glutathione from the basolateral membrane domain in polarized MDCK cells during ricin-induced apoptosis.

Although the depletion of reduced glutathione (GSH) has been observed in a variety of apoptotic systems, little is known about the mechanism of GSH depletion. In this study we used polarized MDCK cells to study the GSH flux during ricin-induced apoptosis. Here we report that the specific accumulation of GSH occurred in the basolateral medium during ricin treatment with similar kinetics to in apoptotic changes such as an increase in caspase-3 like activity and DNA fragmentation, while there was no significant increase in the GSH level in apical medium. These results suggest that GSH efflux occurred through a GSH-specific channel or transporter located in the basolateral membrane domain of polarized MDCK cells undergoing apoptosis. Treatment with other protein toxins such as modeccin, Pseudomonas toxin, and diphtheria toxin, which can induce apoptotic cell death, also resulted in selective GSH efflux from the basolateral side. Thus, GSH efflux through a specific transporter may be a common step of apoptosis induced by these toxins, while these toxins have different intoxication mechanisms leading to protein synthesis inhibition. Pretreatment of cells with Z-Asp-CH(2)-DCB, a caspase family inhibitor, inhibited ricin-induced basolateral GSH efflux as well as DNA fragmentation, suggesting that the activation of caspases, i.e. those that are inhibited by Z-Asp-CH(2)-DCB, is implicated in the opening of the GSH transporter.