Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Alteration of the Serum N-glycome of Mice Locally Exposed to High Doses of Ionizing Radiation*

Exposure of the skin to ionizing radiation leads to characteristic reactions that will often turn into a pathophysiological process called the cutaneous radiation syndrome. The study of this disorder is crucial to finding diagnostic and prognostic bioindicators of local radiation exposure or radiation effects. It is known that irradiation alters the serum proteome content and potentially post-translationally modifies serum proteins. In this study, we investigated whether localized irradiation of the skin alters the serum glycome. Two-dimensional differential in-gel electrophoresis of serum proteins from a man and from mice exposed to ionizing radiation showed that potential post-translational modification changes occurred following irradiation. Using a large-scale quantitative mass-spectrometry-based glycomic approach, we performed a global analysis of glycan structures of serum proteins from non-irradiated and locally irradiated mice exposed to high doses of γ-rays (20, 40, and 80 Gy). Non-supervised descriptive statistical analyses (principal component analysis) using quantitative glycan structure data allowed us to discriminate between uninjured/slightly injured animals and animals that developed severe lesions. Decisional statistics showed that several glycan families were down-regulated whereas others increased, and that particular structures were statistically significantly changed in the serum of locally irradiated mice. The observed increases in multiantennary N-glycans and in outer branch fucosylation and sialylation were associated with the up-regulation of genes involved in glycosylation in the liver, which is the main producer of serum proteins, and with an increase in the key proinflammatory serum cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, and TNFα, which can regulate the expression of glycosylation genes. Our results suggest for the first time a role of serum protein glycosylation in response to irradiation. These protein-associated glycan structure changes might signal radiation exposure or effects.
Solar ultraviolet radiation effects on biological systems.

Ultraviolet climatology is outlined including atmospheric ozone and factors affecting terrestrial ultraviolet radiation. Solar dosimetry in photobiology and terrestrial UV monitoring are discussed. Molecular and cellular ultraviolet photobiology are described. The effect of solar UV on aquatic life and plants is outlined. The effects of solar UV on human skin such as sunburn, tanning, vitamin D3 production, photo-ageing, melanomas and skin cancer are described. The effect of solar UV on the eye is discussed.
Driving Profitability by Encouraging Customer Referrals: Who, When, and How

Many firms are now using referral marketing campaigns to harness the power of word of mouth and to increase referrals to acquire new customers. Prior research has identified a method of computing the value of referrals using only a customer's actual past referral behavior to compute customer referral value (CRV). In this article, the authors develop and test a new four-step approach to compute CRV. In addition, they determine the behavioral drivers of CRV and then identify the most effective methods of targeting the most promising customers on the basis of their customer lifetime value (CLV) and CRV scores. The authors illustrate and test this approach through four separate field experiments with firms from two industries: financial services and retailing. They find that to maximize profitability, it is critical to manage customers in terms of both their CLV and CRV scores and that understanding the behavioral drivers of CRV can help managers better target the most profitable customers with their referral marketing campaigns.
Iso 14001: Greening Management Systems

This study brings to the fore many issues that have been widely speculated regarding facilities that adopt ISO 14001 EMSs, and validates as well as dispels some of the rhetoric associated with ISO 14001-certified facilities. It discusses three very different manufacturing facilities that have adopted ISO 14001 EMSs, what factors led to the decisions to certify their EMSs, and the internal and external outcomes they have experienced as a result of ISO 14001 certification. The cases illustrate that internal outcomes are surprisingly similar for all three facilities. All of the facilities have increased their employee involvement in environmental management, improved document control and manufacturing efficiency, and increased their focus on non-regulated impacts. Interestingly, the external outcomes due to ISO 14001 adoption have varied more widely across the case facilities, but include improved vendor contracts, increased customer satisfaction, increased ability to market products domestically, increased access to international markets, and some regulatory benefits.
The integration of quality function deployment and Kansei Engineering: An overview of application

As a result of today’s globalized world and robust development of emerging markets, consumers are able to select from an endless number of products that are mostly similar in terms of design and properties, as well as equivalent in function and performance. The survival of businesses in a competitive ambience requires innovation, consumer loyalty, and products that are easily identifiable by consumers. Today’s manufacturers have started to employ customer research instruments to survive in the highly industrialized world—for example, Conjoint Analysis, Design of Experiments and Semantic Design of Environment. However, this work only attempts to concentrate on Kansei Engineering and Quality Function Deployment. Kansei Engineering (KE) is deemed as the most appropriate method to link consumers’ feelings, emotions or senses to the properties of a product because it translates people’s impressions, interests, and feelings to the solutions of product design. Likewise, Quality Function Deployment (QFD) enables clearer interpretation of the needs of consumers, better concepts or products, and enhanced communication to internal operations that must then manufacture and deliver the product or services. The integration of both KE and QFD is believed possible, as many product manufacturers and businesses have started to utilize systematized methods to translate consumers’ needs and wants into processes and products. Therefore, this work addresses areas of various integrations of KE and QFD processes in the industry, in an effort to assist an integration of KE and QFD. This work aims to provide evidence on the integration mechanism to enable successful incorporation of consumer’s implicit feelings and demands into product quality improvement, and simultaneously providing an overview of both KE and QFD from the perspective of a novice.
Divisionalization, product cannibalization and product location choice: Evidence from the U.S. automobile industry

Divisionalization, Product Cannibalization and Product Location Choice: Evidence from the U.S. Automobile Industry. (December 2003) Eui Jeong, B.B.A., Seoul National University; M.B.A., Seoul National University Co-Chairs of Advisory Committee: Dr. Javier Gimeno Dr. Albert A. Cannella, Jr. This study argues that a firm’s product location choice may be a function of the firm’s way of splitting the product market (i.e., divisionalization) and the concern for product cannibalization at the division and the firm levels. The focus of this study is at the division level and a division’s new product location choice vis-à-vis its own products (intra-divisional new product distance), the products of a rival division of competing firms (inter-firm divisional new product distance), and the products of a sister division of the same firm (intra-firm divisional new product distance). The hypotheses were tested using data on the U.S. automobile industry between 1979 and 1999. The results show that a focal division with a high level of inter-firm divisional domain overlap with a rival division, relative to the focal division’s own domain, is more likely to locate its new product (here new car model) closer to that rival’s existing car models. And it was also found that divisional density affects a division’s new product location choice. But this study didn’t find any significant role of divisional status on new product location choice. And contrary to our expectation, the results of intra-firm divisional domain overlap and new product location choice suggest that inter-divisional
Trends and Challenges in Corporate Real Estate

Abstract We provide an insight into the current and future role of CRE managers. Typical roles and responsibilities of CRE managers are described, with a focus on the key defining characteristic of CRE being the link point between the organisation and the property industry. The challenges of managing conflicting demands between different parts of the organisation are explored. We give our views on the current challenges for CRE managers, with the development of sound business strategies, effective teams and project delivery performance being the key to successful CRE. We find that competence in the property arena is no more than a pre-requisite for the CRE role. An exceptional CRE manager must also understand their organisation and possess excellent leadership, management and communication skills. We conclude that the focus of advisers and academics should be on helping CRE managers extend their reach and capabilities in organisational management, through the transfer of leading business and strategic thought into the CRE environment.
Marketing olive oil in Greece

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the issues related to the promotion and marketing of olive oil, by the Greek company Minerva S.A. Thus, the product, its target market and competition are examined, a SWOT analysis is performed and the marketing mix is presented.Design/methodology/approach – Since the aim of this study was to examine the marketing practices of the company Minerva S.A. , the case study method was preferred because its fundamental characteristic is the “focus on a particular setting or event”. Findings – The findings showed that the company offers high quality products in good prices and is a market leader. However, it faces severe competition. The company advertises its olive oil products and conducts intense promotional campaigns to promote them in the local market and abroad. Exports are a good opportunity to increase sales.Originality/value – This paper is one of the few that have examined the promotion and marketing of olive oil worldwide and it is one of the very few tha.
Effects of Information on Loan Access: A Case of Small and Medium Enterprises in Kenya

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether inaccess to information affect small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in accessing loans from commercial banks in Meru County Municipality. The descriptive research design was used. The specific objective of the study was to determine the relationship between access to information and access to bank loan by SMEs. The target population consisted of 599 SMEs registered, licensed and operating within Meru County Municipality. A sample size of 60 SMEs was selected using stratified random sampling. Primary data was collected by use of administered questionnaires that were hand delivered to the respondents of the SMEs owners. Data collected was presented in frequency tables. The Pearson Chi-Square statistics measures the significance of the relationship between the variables while eta statistic measures the degree of the relationship. The SPSS version 21 statistical software was used to analyse the collected data. Pearson Chi –Square statistic was used to test research hypotheses and the significance of relationships between the variables of the study. Access to information was found to influence SMEs loan access from Commercial Banks by SME owners. Recommendations from the study were that the banks should adopt the relationship lending that has succeeded in other countries. The SME owners should be provided with adequate information by the banks and also they should also give the appropriate information to the banks which would enhance trust between the SME owners and the banks eliminating the fear of high business risk. The banks should provide tailor- made products for their different types of customers.
Risk Pooling with Transshipment Under Fill-Rate Based Inventory Decisions

satisfies multiple streams of demands. The impact of risk pooling is then drawn by comparing the optimal inventory solutions for the two different models, and the optimal inventory decisions for both models are derived by assuming a decision maker optimizes his or her expected profit or cost. Practitioners, however, often make inventory decisions by trading off inventory cost against customer service levels. The natural question then is: What is the impact of risk pooling when inventory decisions are based on customer service level constraints instead of profit maximization? This paper focuses on one particular form of risk pooling, transshipment, under the assumption that inventory decisions are made under a constraint on the fill rate (i.e., the fraction of demand met immediately from on-hand stocks), and studies the impact of transshipment on a supply chain that consists of one upstream firm (manufacturer) and multiple downstream firms (retailers) among which inventories can be transshipped. Our analysis demonstrates that the effects of transshipment on the supply chain members' performance are quite different under fill rate based inventory decisions from under the profit-maximization based inventory decisions. We show that, as expected, transshipment benefits the retailers more when the retailers' demands are less correlated or more retailers participate in inventory transshipment. However, under the fill rate based inventory decisions, the impacts of transshipment on the manufacturer's performance are not affected by the product margin as in the profit maximization framework. In particular, if the retailers have only one purchasing opportunity, they always order less with transshipment. Consequently, transshipment among retailers always hurts the manufacturer. Moreover, transshipment hurts the manufacturer more when the retailers' demands are less correlated or more customers participate in inventory transshipment. For the infinite horizon with lost sales case, the retailers' expected orders remain the same with transshipment, and the retailers' orders become less variable with transshipment. Consequently, transshipment benefits the manufacturer.
GPU-based Visual Odometry for Autonomous Vehicle Applications

One popular task under several computer vision applications is camera pose estimation under video sequences. In previous work, several camera pose estimations approaches have been developed and several algorithms have been proposed. Unfortunately, most previous formulations iterative behavior and depend on nonlinear optimizations applied over some geometric constraint and this limits the performance under embedded applications. For real-time embedded applications, another approach, more efficient in terms of computational size and processing speed could be reached via hardware-based solutions, for example GPU-based solutions. In this work, we present a GPU-based solution for the camera pose problem. As early formulation we focused our algorithm for an autonomous vehicle application. Preliminary results are encouraging and show the viability of the proposed approach.
Measuring readmissions: focus on the time factor.

OBJECTIVE To assess the effects of choosing different time-intervals of observation when using unplanned readmissions as an outcome indicator. DESIGN A conceptual model was developed based on the risk curve. The model assigned readmissions above a background level as 'related' to the earlier episode of illness. The characteristics of the hazard curve were used to estimate how the rates of related and unrelated readmissions varied with time. SETTING Patients living in a region of Middle Norway served by eight acute-care hospitals and discharged in the year 1996. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE The conditional risk (hazard rate) of having an unplanned readmission. The information gathered allowed inclusion of readmissions to all hospitals in the area, and to make risk corrections for deaths. RESULTS The identified proportion of readmissions judged as related to the earlier episode of illness was found to be very sensitive to changes in the time interval. With the commonly used interval of 30 days, 0.5 of all related readmissions were identified, while 0.7 of the readmissions included at this time were estimated as related ones ('true positives'). The hazard curve was different for medical and surgical patients, but the corresponding proportions of related and unrelated readmissions were relatively similar. Adjusting for deaths in the observation period did not result in significantly different risk curves. CONCLUSION When unplanned readmissions are used as an outcome indicator, the measure is susceptible to the choice of time interval. The operative characteristics must be interpreted in the context of where it is intended that the indicator should be used.
CORPORATE REPORTING ON THE INTERNET: AN INVESTIGATION ON TURKISH LISTED COMPANIES

The main purpose of this paper is to examine the potential factors that may affect the level of corporate internet reporting of Turkish companies. The sample of the study consists of 92 firms listed on the BIST-100 index at the end of 2011. In order to investigate the companies’ corporate reporting practices on the internet, corporate internet site of the companies for the year of 2012 were analyzed through content analysis. In addition to that, based on the literature review, size, industry type, profitability, leverage, ownership structure and corporate governance are considered as the independent variables that may influence the companies’ corporate reporting practices on the internet. According to result of the study, 97 percent of the companies listed on the BIST-100 index disclose a significant portion of information on their corporate internet site. Results of the analysis indicate that listing on corporate governance index and leverage affect the firms’ corporate reporting practices on the internet. However, size, industry type and ownership structure are the variables that its effect could be different as to content, design and total score of the corporate reporting on the internet.
Superannuation and Insurance: Related Parties and Member Cost

Superannuation trustees nominate insurance companies to provide tax-advantaged coverage to members on an exclusive basis. We compare the premiums paid by members to the benefits received, and investigate whether the ‘relatedness’ of the trustee and insurance provider has an impact on members’ net insurance costs. Focusing on 52 retail sector funds, we find that the most relevant characteristic is whether the trust deed establishing the superannuation fund required the trustee to use a related insurance provider. We find that members of these funds purchase more insurance, and that their coverage is in the form of higher-cost products.
CYSTATHIONINE SYNTHESIS AND DEGRADATION IN BRAIN, LIVER AND KIDNEY OF THE DEVELOPING MONKEY

Abstract— The concentration of cystathionine, along with the specific activities of the enzymes involved in its synthesis and degradation, cystathionine synthasc and cystathionase, respectively, have been measured in brain, liver and kidney of the developing Rhesus monkey from mid‐gestation, through birth and neonatal life, to maturity. The concentration of cystathionine and the specific activity of cystathionine synthase are low in fetal brain. Both parameters increase slowly after birth and reach values found in adult brain at approx 3 months of postnatal age. The activity of cystathionase in brain is low throughout development.
Yellow fever outbreak in Kaffrine, Senegal 1996: epidemiological and entomological findings

In November 1996 a yellow fever (YF) outbreak occurred near Kaffrine in the central part of Senegal. Thirty‐six deaths were notified, all children under 15 years of age. The YF diagnosis was confirmed by MAC‐ELISA or by virus isolation. The immune status against YF virus of a sample population of 449 individuals was determined, and 31 confirmed cases and 69 asymptomatic cases were reported. Distribution of YF cases and incidence rate decreased with age, while the attack rate was stable in all age groups. Larva indices were high and Aedes aegypti was common in all villages, causing man‐to‐man transmission. The greatest risk of YF disease was lack of immunity, especially in individuals <20 years of age. The outbreak was rapidly controlled by an emergency immunization campaign. YF epidemics occurred in Senegal over two consecutive years. The last outbreak reached the main road to Dakar and the risk of spread to urban areas has increased.
The role of the calcium-sensing receptor in disorders of abnormal calcium handling and cardiovascular disease

Purpose of reviewThe calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR) has a central role in parathyroid gland function. Genetic alterations in CaSR are well known to cause inherited forms of abnormal calcium homeostasis. This review focuses on studies investigating the role of CaSR in common disorders of abnormal calcium handling and in cardiovascular calcification. Recent findingsGenetic population studies tested the association of common allelic CASR variants with serum and urine calcium levels, kidney stone disease, primary hyperparathyroidism and bone mineral density. The results of these association studies suggested either minor or no effects of CASR variants in these phenotypes. Decreased expression of CaSR was associated with the etiology of cardiovascular calcification in individuals with advanced chronic kidney disease. SummaryIonized calcium plays a central role in the physiology of many organ systems and disease states, but the roles of CaSR other than as illustrated by Mendelian forms of CaSR dysfunction remain unclear. The contributions of CaSR to bone mineral homeostasis, vascular calcification and other forms of cardiovascular disease need further investigation.
Analyzing service failures and recoveries: a process approach

Service recovery has attracted increasing attention in recent years as a result of the premise that service failures are inevitable, but dissatisfied customers are not. However, many methodological obstacles, e.g. the question of how failure and recovery incidents are collected, have not been overcome yet. In this article, the author suggests a process approach by which not only dissatisfied or complaining customers are surveyed but due attention is paid to a representative sample of both satisfied and dissatisfied customers. This approach is supported by the corresponding results, which is not surprising, since failure incidents and recoveries are indeed specific to indvidual processes. An analysis of the effect of good recoveries resulted in the recovery paradox being found in all but one process type.