Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
International collaboration and bidding through the high technology defence industry: a technical note

The central aim of this paper is to link the competitive performance of small defence firms to their ability to adapt to changes in the Ministry of Defence procurement process favouring more European collaboration. The paper draws upon an extensive research study focused on small, high technology defence firms in the UK. The empirical analysis on the ability to create and sustain competitive advantages focuses on strategic determinants, and those inter‐organisational variables that influence the performance of small firms in tendering for defence sub‐contracts on major European offset programmes. The theoretical underpinnings of the study are based on a strategic positioning approach to bidding, which is underpinned by the positioning school of strategy that grew out of Porter’s conceptual work on competition, a major theme of which is the proposed relationship between industry structure, strategy and performance. The authors’ methodology was to use percentage success rate as a measure of success for the period 1998 through to mid‐1999.
A perspective of the students of higher forestry education

Higher forestry education has an important role to play in the future of the world's forests. The future decision makers, the students of today, will need to possess adequate skills to be able to meet the future challenges. Forests are significant to the well being of society, and therefore the foresters need to be able to serve the needs of society. The forestry curriculum in many universities is based on the traditional, forestry‐related subjects. Without undermining the importance of teaching these basic elements of forestry, the content of the forestry curricula must be reconsidered. The perspective painted by the current forestry education is often narrow and outdated. The true importance of forests and forestry in the wider context is not necessarily well recognised. Sufficient working tools are required to meet the challenges of professional working life. Besides a good knowledge base of forestry, various complementary skills are needed. Good communication and language skills, along with technical knowledge, are the basic requirements in all professions. Higher forestry education needs to meet the new challenges of the changing world of forestry. It is possible either to adapt to the change or to become part of it. Universities wishing to play a role in redefining the role of foresters need to radically change their ways of working. The key issues to improve the representation of the universities are: • Participation: Due to the lack of representation of higher education in the national and international discussion, higher forestry education is often omitted from discussion into the future of the forestry sector. • Communication: Improved communication should be emphasised in both external co‐operation and internal interactions of the universities. • Partnership: Competently functioning partnerships between the universities and other stakeholders in the forestry sector ensure not only a free and vigorous exchange of information, but also highlight the importance of education in the forestry sector.
SETTING INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS IN HUMAN RESOURCES

As a result of globalization, more organizations are expanding internationally, which makes human resources increasingly mobile and global. In this context, managing workforce governed by a global culture is becoming increasingly difficult for the organization's human resources departments from the country of origin. Harmonization of human resource management practices and procedures through development of standards in this area is essential to ensure processes effectiveness and quality improvement. In this paper, we review standardization efforts in human resources management and we propose the development of a general standard for this area in order to enable multinational organizations to successfully manage human resources in countries with different cultures.
The Role of Self-Efficacy in Sales Education

Sales education programs are undergoing rapid growth and dynamic change as more business and other undergraduate students pursue sales jobs as desirable career entry points. The number of collegiate sales programs has grown dramatically over the past decade, and sales educators today are increasingly focused on teaching experientially. That is, they seek to link theory to industry practice to prepare students more effectively for in-demand sales careers. Sales knowledge and sales-related self-efficacy have been established clearly to be determinants of future sales performance in industry. This article is a first step in examining the role self-efficacy plays within the context of sales education. More than 500 students, who have completed or are currently enrolled in at least one sales course at one of approximately 20 colleges, completed an 85-item survey for this study. The responses were analyzed using structural equation modeling techniques. The authors recommend specific methods for sales educators to more effectively develop sales knowledge and sales-based self-efficacy so that students are well-prepared to “hit the ground running” in the early stages of their sales careers.
Postoperative Environmental Enrichment Attenuates Fimbria-Fornix Lesion-Induced Impairments in Morris Maze Performance

Male Wistar rats were given a bilateral or a unilateral transection of the fimbria-fornix; subsequently they were kept in standard laboratory housing conditions or in enriched environments for 6 weeks, after which they were tested in the Morris maze. In the acquisition phase of the experiment rats with a bilateral lesion of the fimbria-fornix were markedly impaired in their ability to locate the hidden platform, while rats with unilateral lesions displayed no such impairment. However, rats with a bilateral lesion displayed a less severe deficit when they had been housed postoperatively in the enriched environment. In the retention phase of the experiment rats with a bilateral lesion swam markedly less time in the platform zone only when they had been housed in standard conditions. They also spent more time in the edge zone than the other groups. Rats with a bilateral lesion that were housed enriched did not swim more in the edge zone. Despite their good performance during acquisition they did not display a clear preference for the platform zone. Thus, it was speculated that enriched rats with a bilateral lesion had learned to leave the side of the pool to search for the platform and with the aid of this different strategy improved their performance.
Diversity and classification of mycorrhizal associations

Most mycorrhizas are‘balanced’mutualistic associations in which the fungus and plant exchange commodities required for their growth and survival. Myco‐heterotrophic plants have‘exploitative'mycorrhizas where transfer processes apparently benefit only plants. Exploitative associations are symbiotic (in the broad sense), but are not mutualistic. A new definition of mycorrhizas that encompasses all types of these associations while excluding other plant‐fungus interactions is provided. This definition recognises the importance of nutrient transfer at an interface resulting from synchronised plant‐fungus development. The diversity of interactions between mycorrhizal fungi and plants is considered. Mycorrhizal fungi also function as endophytes, necrotrophs and antagonists of host or non‐host plants, with roles that vary during the lifespan of their associations. It is recommended that mycorrhizal associations are defined and classified primarily by anatomical criteria regulated by the host plant. A revised classification scheme for types and categories of mycorrhizal associations defined by these criteria is proposed. The main categories of vesicular‐arbuscular mycorrhizal associations (VAM) are and of ectomycorrhizal associations (ECM) are‘epidermal’epidermal ECM occur in certain host plants. Fungus‐controlled features result in categories of VAM and ECM. Arbutoid and monotropoid associations should be considered subcategories of epidermal ECM and ectendomycorrhizas should be relegated to an ECM morphotype. Both arbuscules and vesicles define mycorrhizas formed by glomeromycotan fungi. A new classification scheme for categories, subcategories and morphotypes of mycorrhizal associations is provided.
An investigation of the frequency of bacteraemia following dental extraction, tooth brushing and chewing

Abstract We conducted a study to determine the frequency of bacteraemias following dental extraction and common oral procedures, namely tooth brushing and chewing, and the relationship between bacteraemia and oral health in black patients. Positive blood cultures were detected in 29.6% of patients after dental extraction, in 10.8% of patients after tooth brushing and in no patients after chewing. No relationship between the state of oral health, which was assessed using the plaque and gingival indices, and the incidence of bacteraemia was found. The duration of bacteraemia was less than 15 minutes. One patient had a positive blood culture prior to dental extraction; his oral health status was poor. Our study confirmed that bacteraemia occurs after tooth brushing.
Contrarian Hedge Funds and Momentum Mutual Funds

We study how hedge fund performance is related to the presence of mutual funds operating in the same asset class. We argue that hedge funds are able to exploit the constraints of the mutual funds related to both the high correlation between flows and value of investment and their tendency to cater to investors by invest in stocks that are 'hot'. Hedge funds exploit these features of the mutual funds, especially the domestic ones. We show that the performance of the hedge funds is significantly higher when mutual fund market coverage is higher. This effect is mostly concentrated among domestic mutual funds and is stronger the higher investment horizon of the hedge funds. A high presence of the mutual fund industry helps to explain 28% of the yearly hedge fund performance. Hedge funds are more likely to be 'alpha' in the presence of a high degree of mutual fund market coverage and their probability of survival is higher. Hedge funds employ contrarian strategies at the very moment in which mutual funds ride market expectations. The degree by which hedge funds react to changes in public information is directly related to the degree of mutual fund market coverage.
Privatization of The Banking Sector in Pakistan. The Case Study of MCB ABL

NThe present study aims at examining the privatization of banking sector in Pakistan, its impact on efficiency, economy, employment and new products and services as well as on legal environment. For this purpose economic model was used to judge efficiency of banking sector for pre-and- post period of privatization. The model shows that banking sector in Pakistan after privatization of few banks improved its efficiency. Liquidity ratios of the banks have improved. Numbers and values of deposits have increased. Profitability of the banks increased. Value of non-performing loans is controlled. However, spread rate is still higher as compared to pre-privatization period. New products and services have been created to facilitate the customers. Impact on economy, in the sense of mobilization of savings, increase in loan advances and credit, as well as investment have shown an upward trend. Quality of assets of all banks has improved. The study shows that the numbers of employees have decreased in banking sector but this decrease is not alarming. The salary and remuneration to management / employees show increase; meaning better return to services of employees. For a new vision of the banking sector and to prevent financial mishaps in future, the State Bank of Pakistan and Government of Pakistan are required to develop a new regulatory system for privatized banks
Transitions between community complexes : a case study analysing gradients through mountain ridges in South Hungary

The study of boundaries is a recurring theme in ecology. However, boundaries have been examined mainly on fine scales (between communities) and on coarse scales (between biomes), while boundaries of intermediate scales (e.g. between community complexes) are quite neglected. In this study, we analysed boundaries between mesic and xeric community complexes in a sub-Mediterranean karst area of South Hungary. We applied the moving split window (MSW) technique for boundary analysis. First, since the behaviour of MSW concerning complex vegetation patterns is not fully understood, we prepared artificial datasets (simulated communities) to test its capacities. Second, we established north-south oriented belt transects across mountain ridges of the Villány Mts, and investigated the transition between the community complexes of differently exposed slopes. Using MSW, we were able clearly to distinguish between transitional zones and zones that do not represent real transitions: peaks in the Z-score profile of MSW merge only in the case of transitional zones. Moreover, we found that peaks merge depending on the independence (distinctness) of the transitional zone: when it is distinct, peaks merge only at the largest window widths. In the Villány Mts, transitions seem to occur mostly in the grasslands north of the ridges. We demonstrated that these grasslands can be regarded as boundaries between mesic and xeric complexes or as zones in their own right, with their own two boundaries. Interpretation depends upon the scale of observation.
SURFACE IMPEDANCE CONTROL FOR SOUND ABSORPTION: DIRECT AND HYBRID PASSIVE/ACTIVE STRATEGIES

Abstract Some active impedance control experiments in an anechoic chamber are reported. Further active methods are developed for the design of locally controlled absorption liners in air, whose basic principles were described by Olson and May and subsequently investigated practically by Guicking and his colleagues at the beginning of the 80's. Two methods are described and tested. In the first, processing of the acoustic pressure and velocity information from close to the membrane of a control loudspeaker is used to produce a desired impedance. In the second active and passive means are combined: the impedance of the rear face of a porous layer is actively controlled so as to make the front face normal impedance take on a prescribed value. The impedance matching performance of both systems subject to an incident acoustic field including a single secondary loudspeaker is studied for both normal and oblique incidence. The combination of active and passive methods is a pragmatic approach, the aim of which is to simplify the control system for impedance control over extensive areas of wall. Indeed, the association of active control with a porous material allows the active system to be reduced in complexity to a simple active pressure release. Even though somewhat sub-optimal for sound absorption, the hybrid passive/active systems support feedback methods and lead to highly absorptive coatings.
Hyperbaric-oxygen therapy for acute carbon monoxide poisoning.

Carbon monoxide appears to be the leading cause of injury and death due to poisoning worldwide.1 A colorless, odorless, tasteless gas, carbon monoxide is produced by the incomplete combustion of any carbon-containing fuel. Prevention of carbon monoxide poisoning requires public education on the safe operation of appliances, heaters, fireplaces, and internal-combustion engines, as well as increased emphasis on the installation of carbon monoxide alarms.1 Despite the ubiquitous presence of carbon monoxide in our environment, its known threat to public health, and more than a century of scientific investigation, the mechanisms of injury and methods of treating carbon monoxide poisoning are .
Post-transplant malignancy: reducing the risk in kidney transplant recipients

Introduction: The growing and aging of the end-stage kidney disease population, and improvements in short-term kidney transplant outcomes, have increased the number of patients receiving and living with kidney transplants who are at risk for the long-term complications of transplantation. Cancer has become a major cause of death following kidney transplantation, increasing the need to better understand the risk of post-transplant malignancy and to adapt patient management to minimize that risk. Areas covered: This paper reviews the scope of the problem of post-transplant malignancy, its pathogenesis, and strategies for prevention, with attention to the impact of various immunosuppressive strategies. A Medline search was conducted, reviewing English-language publications from 1948 to February 2011. Expert opinion: Post-transplant malignancy, one of the most common causes of death following transplantation, is linked to both modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors. The current armamentarium of pharmacotherapy and the possibilities for immunologic monitoring in the future hold the potential for tailoring post-transplant care to minimize the risk of post-transplant malignancy without sacrificing graft survival to optimize outcomes following transplantation.
Knowledge needed by an agile enterprise

Today, precious capital is spent searching for talented people (past, present, and future) and the knowledge they possess. In the innovation economy, the ability to sense the need to quickly muster a groups of talented people, providing different perspectives focused on an objective look at the enterprise with respect to its environment, with the needed knowledge, in sufficient time, and with appropriate attention to create the solution to the need to enable the organization to respond immediately when a threat or opportunity arises, will define the competitive leaders. This ability is the constraining and therefore strategic resource Leading in the innovation economy-requires a frictionless integration of relevant experience, values, information content within context, and expert insight within the organization that exists within the individual mind to thrive on change, and to capitalize on it by staying ahead of change and competitors. In the innovation economy, a company must ensure its employees learn quicker, and put into practice knowledge faster, than existing and emerging competitors. To achieve this frictionless integration, an organization must learn continuously and continuously develop, share, mobilize, cultivate, review, and spread knowledge thereby providing the organization with a framework for evaluating and incorporating new understanding, information, and knowledge. That is why the ability of an organization to learn, thereby improving existing skills and acquiring new ones, forms its most strategic, as well as tactical, competitive advantage.
Advertising and the S-Curve: A New Approach

A flexible class of sigmoid or “S-shaped” functions useful in estimating the relationship between advertising and sales or market share is developed. The class, called the “odds” models, consists of functions able to depict relationships ranging from diminishing returns to nonsymmetric S-curves, including different saturation levels and nonzero intercepts. Which one of the member models applies to a given set of data can be determined on the basis of the estimated advertising coefficient, and thus it is easy to identify whether or not the relationship under analysis is S-shaped.
Delayed Treatment with Aminoguanidine Decreases Focal Cerebral Ischemic Damage and Enhances Neurologic Recovery in Rats

Delayed treatment with aminoguanidine (AG), a relatively selective inhibitor of inducible nitric oxide synthase, ameliorates brain damage produced by occlusion of the rat's middle cerebral artery (MCA). We investigated whether the protection exerted by AG is dose-dependent and whether it is associated with improved neurologic outcome. We also studied the effect of the timing of administration of AG relative to the induction of cerebral ischemia. Halothane-anesthetized spontaneously hypertensive rats underwent permanent MCA occlusion distal to the lenticulostriate branches. Neurologic deficits were assessed daily by the postural reflex test and beam balance test. Infarct volume was determined in thionin- stained sections 96 hours after ischemia and values corrected for swelling. Treatment with AG (intraperitoneally, twice daily), starting 24 hours after MCA occlusion, decreased neocortical infarct volume in comparison to vehicle-treated rats. After correction for swelling, the decrease was 8 ± 12% at 50 mg/kg (n = 8; P > .05; analysis of variance), 25 ± 13% at 100 mg/kg (n = 7; P < .05), 30 ± 16% at 200 mg/kg (n = 7; P < .05) and 32 ± 9% at 400 mg/kg (n = 5; P < .05). Twenty-four hours after induction of ischemia neurologic deficits scores did not differ between treated and untreated rats (P > .05). However, from 48 to 96 hours after ischemia, neurologic deficits improved significantly in rats treated with AG (100 to 400 mg/kg) compared to rats in which vehicle was administered (P < .05). The decrease in neocortical infarct volume was greatest when AG (100 mg/kg; twice daily) was administered 12 (26 ± 17%; n = 9) or 24 hours (25 ± 13; n = 7) after MCA occlusion. The findings show that AG decreases ischemic brain damage dose-dependently and improves neurologic recovery. Delayed treatment with AG may be a therapeutic strategy to selectively target the evolution of ischemic damage that occurs in the post-ischemic period.
Influence of airway pressure on genioglossus activity during sleep in normal children.

RATIONALE Most children with obstructive sleep apnea are able to sustain stable breathing during portions of sleep, despite an anatomic predisposition toward airway collapse. This suggests that additional determinants of airway patency are active, such as neuromuscular compensation. OBJECTIVES/METHODS Using a custom intraoral surface electrode to record pharyngeal dilator muscle activity (the genioglossus [EMGgg]), we evaluated the muscle, ventilatory, and arousal responses to negative-pressure challenges during sleep in 19 healthy control children. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS In response to these challenges, we observed (1) marked variability in individual EMGgg responsiveness (peak EMGgg [mean+/-SD], 214+/-101% baseline), which was consistent within subjects; (2) a relationship between EMGgg activity and inspiratory flow and airway collapsibility; (3) reflex increases in flow (peak flow increase from challenge breaths 1-5 [mean+/-SD], 49+/-41% baseline) and respiratory rate often sufficient to sustain minute ventilation near baseline levels, without arousal; and (4) arousal threshold to be highest in stage 4, intermediate in stage 2, and lowest in REM sleep. CONCLUSIONS Healthy children have wide variation in upper airway neuromuscular compensatory responses and arousal thresholds that could represent intermediate phenotypes affecting the expression of sleep apnea. Children with robust upper airway neuromuscular responsiveness, or a very high arousal threshold, may be able to sustain minute ventilation when challenged with negative airway pressure.