Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pre‐ and postnatal development of efferent connections of the cochlear nucleus in the rat

Although the connections of the auditory brainstem nuclei are well described in adult mammals, almost nothing is known concerning how and when these connections develop. The purpose of the present study was to describe the development of the efferent projections of the cochlear nucleus (CN), the first central relay station in the ascending auditory pathway of mammals. We used two tracers in rats aged between embryonic day 15 (E15) and postnatal day 14 (P14; birth in the rat is at E22 = P0). The carbocyanine dye DiI was applied into the CN in aldehyde‐fixed tissue. The second tracer, biocytin, was applied into the ventral acoustic stria in an in vitro slice preparation.
How to Go Beyond Turing with P Automata: Time Travels, Regular Observer !-Languages, and Partial Adult Halting

In this paper we investigate several variants of P automata having infinite runs on finite inputs. By imposing specific conditions on the infinite evolution of the systems, it is easy to find ways for going beyond Turing if we are watching the behavior of the systems on infinite runs. As specific variants we introduce a new halting variant for P automata which we call partial adult halting with the meaning that a specific predefined part of the P automaton does not change any more from some moment on during the infinite run. In a more general way, we can assign ω-languages as observer languages to the infinite runs of a P automaton. Specific variants of regular ω-languages then, for example, characterize the red-green P automata.
Big4 Compliance with Changes to Audit Reporting Standard ASA2007-1: A Note

Auditors have a valuable reputation for being quality providers of audit and assurance services. Recent changes to an Australian auditing standard (ASA 700 The Auditor’s Report on a General Purpose Financial Report) provided a rare opportunity to assess one aspect of auditor quality between Big4 auditors - compliance with new Auditing Standards. The mandated changes to ASA 700 were hurried into force, potentially catching less aware auditors off-guard.We examined all auditor’s reports issued by the Sydney partners of the Big4 audit firms between 1 July 2007 and 29 May 2008 for compliance with the new standard. We find that 13% failed to comply with the amended provisions of ASA700. We also noted 18% using either confusing and/or inconsistent language to describe the IFRS compliant financial statements being audited. Furthermore, this aspect of audit quality is variable across the Big4 brand in Sydney.While these results may be explainable in terms of the relative effectiveness of internal control systems the audit firms put in place to keep partners technically up to date with changes in regulations, it seem clear that the hasty introduction of new auditing standards is unlikely to produce timely and consistent compliance.
Slow Food: From Farm to Healthy Body

Slow Food is a movement devoted to the preservation and promotion of personal, environmental and community health through lifestyle changes which focus on good, clean and fair food. Good refers to food that is healthy and nutritious for the body. Food grown sustainably as in organic agriculture contains higher levels of beneficial compounds such as vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals. Clean food contains no toxic or harmful compounds that can cause detrimental effects on health. Pesticides and other chemicals are often used in food production; as a result they are found in the final product and are often detected in the surrounding environment. Organically produced food includes many practices that allow it to fit into the Slow Food model. Included in these are, the increased presence of phytochemicals, vitamins and other nutrients as well as decreased concentrations of pesticide residues. Additionally, cover cropping and use of manures improves soil quality for future crops. Fair includes food that economically benefits the producer and the community. Local food systems, cohesively fit into the Slow Food model and help improve the society, economy, and environment of the community. Thus Slow Food is a sustainable model, which if implemented in a community would greatly benefit the health of the citizens, environment and economy.
Student Travel Experiences: Memories and Dreams

This article explores the influence of past memorable tourism experiences on future travel aspirations. A sample of British students were asked to name their most memorable holiday place and give a reason for their choices. The results show that places are memorable for a range of external, social and personal reasons but that the most commonly cited memory is of socialising with friends in Mediterranean beach resorts. The influence of destination management in creating these experiences seems limited. Instead the resort serves as a space in which the tourists create their own experiences. When these memories were compared with the students' choice of dream destination, there was little evidence of a ‘travel career’ plan, with no significant links between previous memorable experiences and the aspirations for future destinations or types of holiday.
Identity, intended image, construed image, and gnreputation: An interdisciplinary framework and suggested terminology

Many scholars across various academic disciplines are investigating the following questions: What do individuals know or believe about an organization? How does a focal organization (and/or other interested entity) develop, use, and/or change this information? and How do individuals respond to what they know or believe about an organization? Cross-disciplinary research that centers on these questions is desirable and could be enhanced if researchers identify and develop consistent terminology for framing these questions. The authors work toward that end by identifying four central ‘viewpoints’ of an organization and proposing labels to represent each of these viewpoints:identity, intended image, construed image, andreputation.
Island Tourism or Tourism on Islands?

Islands are, and always have been, fascinating places. Associated with notions of remoteness, separateness, difference and the exotic, they are the stuff of romance and adventure, of fantasy and escape, of 'otherness'. Not surprisingly, then, islands have long been the subject of myth and legend or, as Gillis (2007: 274) puts it, they 'have long held a central place in Western cultures' mythical geographies. They have been associated for centuries with heroic journeys and holy quests, imagined realms of magical transformations. ' Since Plato first described Atlantis, the lost city still sought by historians, archaeologists and others, islands have stirred the imagination of writers, artists and poets, and more contemporary literature is replete with tales of fantasy, discovery, survival, love, mystery and transformation in island settings. Indeed, Baldacchino (2008: 44) suggests that the 'richness of literary and cultural islanding', or the dominance of islands in literature, art, cinema and other cultural endeavour, is such that it is easy to forget that islands are real, physical entities. A similar point is made by Hay (2006: 30) who argues that 'so powerful is the metaphorical idea of the island that it can be deployed in the absence of even the slightest reference to the reality of islands. '
An empirical study of the repatriation of female managers : an emerging issue for European multinationals

In recent years, researchers have paid considerable attention to the issues of adjustment to international assignments, while comparatively little research activity has been paid to the topic of repatriation. Despite the growth in numbers of women in international management, very few studies have been conducted outside North America on the topic of repatriation of female corporate executives. This paper reports on the experiences of re-entry to home organizations and home countries by an exclusively senior sample of female international managers based in western Europe. The findings establish that the repatriation stage of an international career move may be even more stressful than expatriation. The findings also establish that female international managers experience more difficulties than their male counterparts because of their pioneering roles. The paper suggests that home-based mentors and access to networks while abroad are important factors in contributing to the successful repatriation of international managers.
The Earnings Effects of Marketing Communication Expenditures During Recessions

This study examines associations between company earnings and marketing communication (i.e., advertising and promotion) expenditures during recessions. Data date to 1971, a period covering five recessionary periods. Using cross-sectional time series analysis, the data reveal that changes in firms' advertising and promotion expenditures are related to changes in firms' current and future earnings, conditional on product classification. In addition, differential effects occur for changes during recessions compared to nonrecessionary periods. Specifically, the link between advertising and promotion spending increases and future earnings is stronger and more immediate during recessions. Decreases in advertising and promotion spending during recessions have a delayed relationship with future earnings.
Environment CSR initiatives of manufacturing units in India - An empirical study

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns into their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis. Especially, manufacturing firms in developing countries such as India the world’s 'manufacturing floors' – are under heavy scrutiny from many parties. This paper is an effort to research the status of CSR activities relating to ‘environment’ in Indian manufacturing sector. A review of literature shows little is available on the status of environment CSR practices in the manufacturing sector. This paper obtains data through a survey of 50 manufacturing companies belonging to automobile, cement, chemical, pharmaceutical and textile sectors. The findings reveal the emergence of environment CSR as corporate focus. The paper also provides suggestions on enhancement of environment CSR in the Indian manufacturing units. Key words: Corporate social responsibility, stakeholders, environment, India.
Conformation‐dependent activation of type II adenylyl cyclase by protein kinase C

Phorbol ester treatment enhanced the catalytic activity of type II adenylyl cyclase overexpressed in insect cells. In cells coexpressing type II adenylyl cyclase and protein kinase C‐α, type II adenylyl cyclase catalytic activity was higher even in the absence of phorbol ester treatment; phorbol ester treatment further and markedly enhanced type II adenylyl cyclase catalytic activity. However, this enhancement, either by phorbol ester treatment or by coexpression of protein kinase C‐α, was lost following membrane solubilization with detergents. This attenuation was unaffected by phosphatase inhibitor or salts. In contrast, membrane solubilization did not affect forskolin‐stimulated type II adenylyl cyclase catalytic activity. Purified type II adenylyl cyclase was stimulated by forskolin and Gsα, but not by protein kinase C‐α. Therefore, a specific mammalian protein kinase C isoenzyme can activate type II adenylyl cyclase, but the mechanism clearly differs from that underlying either Gsα‐ or forskolin‐mediated stimulation. J. Cell. Biochem. 64:492–498. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Perivascular Nitric Oxide Delivery to Saphenous Vein Grafts Prevents Graft Stenosis after Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting: A Novel Sheep Model

Objectives: Graft stenosis is a major complication of coronary artery bypass grafting with autologous saphenous vein grafts. Nitric oxide (NO) is believed to prevent this phenomenon. We studied the effect of perivascular application of an NO donor on the degree of stenosis of such grafts in an ovine model. Methods: Twenty white Iranian ewes were randomized to coronary artery bypass grafting using autologous saphenous vein grafts with application of an elastomer gel containing diethylenetriamine NO adduct in 0.9% sodium chloride solution around the grafted vessel (intervention group) or with the gel containing the saline solution alone (controls). Graft vessels were studied after 1 year using spot angiography and histological examination. Results: The mean degree of stenosis was significantly lower in the intervention group than in the controls as found by histology (92.3 ± 5.5 vs. 80.9 ± 8.3%; p = 0.004). Although the difference in the angiographic score was not significant, the mean score was still lower in the intervention group (9.5 ± 11.3 vs. 12.0 ± 11.8). Conclusions: Perivascular application of an NO donor was, at least histologically, effective in reducing graft stenosis in our ovine model. This can be a step toward the development of drug-eluting coronary artery bypass grafts.
How many measurements to make a decision?

Every day, nephrologists rely on biological values to diagnose kidney disease or complications, to make the decision to treat or not to treat, and to assess the efficacy of treatments. At first glance, a biological criterion seems easy to use because the result of the measurement is almost always quantitative and provided with a reference interval that helps in the recognition of whether a given result falls within or outside the “normal range” and how far it falls outside the range. More difficult is to determine, during a patient's follow-up, whether a biological value significantly differs from the previously measured value in the same patient. The reality is much more complex because of the inherent variability of biological values. Laboratory analytes are subject to three main sources of variation: Preanalytical, analytical, and biological. Preanalytical variation can be minimized by standardizing sampling procedures and handling of specimens. A recent study (1) revealed that the nature of the blood specimen type (plasma or serum) can induce a large variability in parathyroid hormone (PTH) concentrations; consequently, it is advisable to use one specified collection method to reduce the variability in PTH measurement. Analytical variation can be a major source of variation …
Automatic Generation of a Daily Space Schedule

Construction team members who develop and analyze a schedule for production must identify workflows, solicit trade partner input to look for opportunities for improving production, identify production constraints, and communicate the schedule to craftsmen in the field. To clarity field work, such schedules must consider the resource ‘space. ’ Space scheduling helps to visualize a critical path method (CPM) schedule or a line of balance (LOB) schedule developed using a location-based management system (LBMS). Additionally, production team members need to keep their schedules current. To address these needs, this paper presents a program to quickly generate and adjust a visual space schedule, by project phase. This provides the production team with a visual control mechanism, a means to perform space conflict and sensitivity analysis during planning, a means to track daily goals during execution, as well as a starting point for more detailed 4D CAD analysis. The researchers developed their space scheduling program during planning and are currently using it in the construction of an urgent care center at an existing hospital in northern California. 20 out of 146 days (14% of the scheduled duration) were identified in the space schedule as potential savings and 12 of those days have been realized thus far. Expected results of this implementation are improved productivity due to detailed space scheduling and the daily goal setting; increased communication between trades when they need to negotiate impinging for some time on the space assigned to another trade; and an increased awareness of the work flow at a daily level by trade partners due to the visual schedule. This results in greater predictability of the project’s delivery.
Risk of mortality following widowhood: age and sex differences by mode of death.

This study examines how spouses' deaths from sudden or lengthy illnesses differentially affect the mortality risks of surviving widows and widowers by age. Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we find the mortality risk differs by gender, age, and type of widowhood. For nonelderly (< 65) widowers, there is an elevated risk when their wives died suddenly. For older (> or = 65) widows, the mortality risk is lower than that of comparably aged married women when their husbands died after a long-term illness. These gender, age, and mode-of-death differences are consistent with role theory and theories of social support.
Exchange relationships in consumer markets

Discusses the validity of classifying transaction and relationship exchanges (and marketing theories) according to whether the selling firm is operating in consumer or industrial markets. It is only recently that relationship marketing, and thus the exchange relationship paradigm, has started to become an alternative approach to consumer markets. Aims at understanding if the work of the Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) can be applied to end‐user consumer markets. There is a series of reasons behind this decision; however, the most relevant one is trying to bring a very extensive body of theoretical work within the realm of consumer marketing. First, lists the interaction and network approach assumptions (to be associated with the concept of exchange relationships), next, analyzes and reformulates these assumptions and finally, suggests that the interaction and network approach can be applied to consumer markets, showing that both transaction and relationship exchanges may co‐exist in all markets, regardless of the product/service sold or client/ market served.
Climate Change, Disasters and Development: Testing the Waters for Adaptive Governance in India

Amidst complex social-ecological dynamics of localities and future uncertainties posed by global environmental challenges like climate change, there is a need of practicing the principles of learning and flexibility in public policy process. In this study we illustrate the importance of adaptive governance paradigm as an approach for bringing coherence between climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction in India. We comment on the type and extent of integration between climate policy and disaster management in the evolving policy landscape of India and cite certain paradoxes in actual practice. We look towards Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) as a diagnostic tool for informing policy in place of the dominant donor–recipient models of knowledge generation and dissemination. In our diagnosis of urban and rural flooding in India, we found lack of transparency, coordination, local sensitivity and inclusivity in governance leading to a trust deficit among citizens and government institutions, compliance issues, struggle for change in power structures and access to more information while there is willingness for meaningful learning among different stakeholders given the opportunities for social learning. We suggest that pedagogy for ongoing capacity building programmes in India for climate policy and disaster management should incorporate such tools to enable an environment of social learning in consultations and facilitate cognitive abilities to comprehend knowledge from diverse sources. It is only through governance mechanisms for shared understanding which can usher the much desired fit between science, policy and practice.
Enhancing Mobile Coupon Redemption in Fast Food Campaigns

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how managers can strategize different aspects of mobile coupon promotions to enhance their redemption rates.Design/methodology/approach – A secondary data set of campaign designs and responses were provided by a Midwestern mobile marketing firm. The data is further analyzed using ANOVAs and mean comparisons.Findings – Consumers are more responsive to coupon designs which are congruent with the nature of the product. For utilitarian products they respond more to “smarter” deals with dollar or percent off, and for hedonic products they respond more to the timing of receiving the message.Practical implications – Marketers need to better understand local customer demographic profiles to be able to identify their lifestyle- convenient timings, needs and cravings, so that coupons can be accordingly designed.Originality/value – This paper examines behavioral data in a new (mobile) medium of direct marketing, which allows us to capture data across a wider range of physical situations than traditional media, adding more richness and validity to the findings of our research.
Present and future of I/O-buffer behavioral macromodels

Modern Signal and Power Integrity (SI/PI) verification flows rely on accurate models for complex I/O-buffers that drive and receive electrical signals on high-speed channels. The sheer density of modern integrated circuits makes detailed transistor-level descriptions computationally cumbersome to the point where they become unusable for system-level simulations. Fortunately, transistor-level descriptions may be replaced with more compact representations that approximate the input/output buffers behavior with considerable accuracy while providing a simulation speedup of several orders of magnitude. Known as behavioral models, surrogate models or macromodels, these computationally efficient equivalents have become a de-facto industry standard in SI/ PI simulations. This paper presents an overview of the state-of-the-art in I/O-buffer behavioral modeling, introducing the main features of both standard and emerging solutions. Open issues and future research directions are also discussed.
'Honeycomb' tegmen: multiple tegmen defects associated with superior semicircular canal dehiscence.

OBJECTIVE To report the coexistence of multiple tegmen defects, forming a 'honeycomb' pattern, together with dehiscence of the superior semicircular canal. CASE REPORTS We describe three cases in which the above findings were noted, and we review the relevant literature. CONCLUSION Superior semicircular canal dehiscence is defined as the absence of portions of bone over the canal along the floor of the middle fossa. Most published articles describe the defect as an isolated finding which is either unilateral or bilateral. Studies on temporal bones show either a defect over the superior semicircular canal or isolated defects over the tegmen. We describe three cases in which we found multiple tegmen defects, giving a characteristic honeycomb appearance, coexisting with dehiscence over the superior semicircular canal. This finding, which supports the theory of a developmental defect as the origin of the condition, has not previously been reported. A literature review is presented, with discussion of the aetiology and management of superior semicircular canal dehiscence.