Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Smoking Cessation after an Acute Coronary Syndrome

The hospitalization of a smoker patient constitutes a great opportunity to apply measures of smoking cessation. It is a moment when patients rethink about their lifestyles and are open to changes towards healthier habits. At this time behavioral treatments involving exercise, healthy food, and smoking cessation are associated with both a short and long-time benefit. Smoking cessation reduces substantially the occurrence of new cardiovascular events and mortality at six months [4,5], and accounts of an approximate 30% lower risk rate of death and myocardial infarction during the subsequent 3 to 7 years [6].
Inhibitory action of different doses of tripterygium hypoglaucum hutch on expression of hypoxia inducible factor-1 α in collagen II-induced arthritis rat model

To investigate the inhibitory action of different doses of tripterygium hypoglaucum hutch (THH) on the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 α(HIF-1 α) in collagen II-induced arthritis (CIA) rat model. Material and methods: CIA rat model was established. Rats were randomly divided into five groups. Rats in the treatment group were received high, moderate or low doses of THH for 30 ds, and drugs administered by gastrogavage. Morphological changes of ankle joints and arthritis index (AI) were observed. HIF-1 αexpression was examined by RT-PCR and immunohistochemical staining technique. Results: THH inhibited joint swelling and destruction in CIA, significantly reduced the volume of paw and arthritis index, suppressed HIF-1 αexpression and synovial membrane's proliferation in CIA. Conclusions: The results showed that THH had a good therapeutic effect on CIA rats. The mecha nism that HTT treatment RA may correlate with regulation of hypoxia inducible factor-1 αHIF-1 αexpres sion in both peripheral blood and synovial tissue.
The Pivotal Roles of Network Status in International Strategies Alliance and Assets Creation of Emerging Economies

The motivation of enterprises from emerging economies lies in their selection of international strategic alliance partners, while also considering market location, international expansion and technological exchanges. Based on the case study of Chinese Huawei Company, social network theory is adopted in this study to explore the influence of network status and creative assets on how these enterprises select their partners. These enterprises must select the central position in the network and then consider closer structural holes and rich creative assets as their strategic alliance partners.
Critical social marketing: investigating alcohol marketing in the developing world

Purpose – The World Health Organization (WHO) has expressed concern regarding alcohol consumption and related harms in developing nations. Concomitantly a growing evidence base suggests that alcohol marketing influences drinking behaviours. The purpose of this paper is to explore how critical social marketing can help assess the nature of alcohol marketing, and the effectiveness of its regulation, in developing countries.Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 14 alcohol marketing campaigns from India, Malawi, Malaysia, Nigeria, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Thailand are assessed against the regulatory codes governing alcohol marketing in the UK.Findings – The study found that alcohol marketing often contravened the UK regulatory codes. Critical social marketing offers a framework for research and analysis to assess the nature and impact of alcohol marketing, and to address alcohol related harms in developing countries.Research limitations/implications – This exploratory study is limited to a small conven.
Users' Perceptions of Various Aspects of Malaysian Internet Financial Reporting

The present study seeks to empirically investigate the perceptions of users of corporate annual report on the various aspects of internet financial reporting (IFR). Further, this paper examines the factors that influence companies in Malaysia to engage in IFR. Finally, perceptions of advantages and problems in using this new technology for financial reporting were also examined. The perceptions of users of corporate annual report were solicited using a survey mailed questionnaire of four different user-groups. The findings of this study suggested three main benefits to companies that engage in IFR: attracting foreign investors, promoting company wider to the public, and providing wider coverage. The findings also revealed that three main benefits to the users who collect financial information of companies via their website are: increasing timeliness and efficiency in obtaining financial information, making investment decision process easier and faster, and providing information for company inexpensively. The outcome of the analysis revealed that three factors that are perceived as important by responding firms to engage in IFR: enhancing corporate image, company teller with the technology development, and competitors in the industry. The findings also suggested three factors that inhibit firms from engaging in IFR: The required expertise from the company, the need to keep information updated to be of use, and the concern over security of information. Another important result revealed the increased information and analysis as the most important advantages from financial reporting on the Internet. Moreover, security problems are the disadvantages of placing financial information on the Internet. The evidence on Malaysia is relevant to other emerging capital markets. Finally, the implication of research findings and future research will also be discussed.
The leveraging of interfirm relationships as a distinctive organizational capability: a longitudinal study

In this paper we present a study of the structure of three lead firm‐network relationships at two points in time. Using data on companies in the packaging machine industry, we study the process of vertical disintegration and focus on the ability to coordinate competencies and combine knowledge across corporate boundaries. We argue that the capability to interact with other companies—which we call relational capability—accelerates the lead firm’s knowledge access and transfer with relevant effects on company growth and innovativeness. This study provides evidence that interfirm networks can be shaped and deliberately designed: over time managers develop a specialized supplier network and build a narrower and more competitive set of core competencies. The ability to integrate knowledge residing both inside and outside the firm’s boundaries emerges as a distinctive organizational capability. Our main goal is to contribute to the current discussion of cooperative ties and dynamic aspects of interfirm networks, adding new dimensions to resource‐based and knowledge‐based interpretations of company performance. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
An EPC Class-1 Generation-2 baseband processor for passive UHF RFID tag

Passive UHF RFID transponders (tags, in short) are mixed-signal Systems-on-Chip (SoCs) for remotely powered communications which must comply with stringent requirements on current consumption. This brief focuses on the design of a backend digital processor for UHF RFID tags targeting the Class-1 Generation- 2 EPC Protocol, and proposes different techniques for reducing its power consumption. After code validation with an FPGA, the processor has been synthetised in a 0. 35µm CMOS technology process and occupies 7mm2 including pads. The design also incorporates a 10-b rail-to-rail SAR ADC for sensory applications. Under maximum digital activity conditions, post-layout simulations show that the power consumption of the processor below 2. 8µW.
Motivations to participate in social tourism programmes: a segmentation analysis of the senior market

Although tourism is recognized as a major industry worldwide, it is not accessible to all yet. In order to increase seniors' access to tourism, some countries have developed social tourism programmes for this market. However, few studies analyse the relevance and the motivations for participating in these programmes. This paper presents a market segmentation of a Portuguese social tourism programme for seniors based on motivations and a comparison of the resulting segments regarding the following features: socio-demographic profile; travel behaviour; benefits obtained; satisfaction; and loyalty. A questionnaire-based survey yielded 667 valid responses. A K-means cluster analysis was adopted to segment the market, and clusters were compared using ANOVA, Kruskal–Wallis, and χ2 tests. Three clusters emerged: “the passive seniors”, “the socio-cultural seniors”, and “the active seniors”. Several statistically significant differences among the clusters were detected. The results highlight the importance of social tourism programmes for the senior market.
Empirical forecasting practices of a British university

This article is based on a single case study aimed at examining behavioral issues of forecasting, in particular the role and practice of forecasting in a British university settings. Key variables were identified in establishing associations between the variables that provide suitable criteria for the purpose of this study. Data collection was based on questionnaires distributed to people involved and interviews which were held with prominent staff of the University. Fisher-exact tests were performed to identify significant associations between variables. Results indicated the various levels of perceptions and practices of forecasting produced by the people involved at the University. The study implies that useful insights can be gathered through forecasting from a different perspective of the non-profit making service industry.
Changing Sidestep Cutting Technique Reduces Knee Valgus Loading

Background Common lower limb postures have been found when noncontact anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries occur during sidestep cutting tasks. These same postures have been linked to knee loadings known to stress the ACL. Hypothesis Whole body technique modification would reduce knee loading. Study Design Controlled laboratory study. Methods Experienced team sport athletes were recruited for whole body sidestep cutting technique modification. Before and after a 6-week technique modification training, participants performed sidestep cutting tasks while ground-reaction force and motion data were collected. A kinematic and inverse dynamics model was used to calculate 3-dimensional knee loading during sidestep cutting. Results At initial foot contact, the participants placed their stance foot closer to the body’s midline and held their torso more upright, in line with the aims of the technique modification training. This was accompanied by significantly lower peak valgus moments in the weight acceptance phase of stance. Both postural changes were correlated with the change in peak valgus moment. Conclusion Whole body sidestep cutting technique modification resulted in reduced knee loading. Clinical Relevance Implementation of whole body technique modification may produce effective ACL injury prevention programs in sports involving sidestep cutting.
Effect of Cross-Border Acquisitions on Businesses Performance of Slovak Acquiring Companies

Currently, businesses or companies apply various tools of financial engineering on improvement of their performance. One of such tools refers to acquisitions through which companies can profit from synergic effects, reduce operating cost and tax expenses, and improve their market position. This paper is aimed at examining the effect of cross-border acquisitions made by Slovak companies in order to improve their performance. Authors applied the method of simultaneous equation model to examine this relation. The result confirmed the hypothesis that cross-border acquisitions positively influence a company performance.
Location-privacy-aware review publication mechanism for local business service systems

Local business service systems (LBSS), such as Yelp and Dianping, play an essential role in making decisions like choosing a restaurant for our daily life. These systems heavily rely on individuals' voluntarily submitted reviews to build the reputation for nearby businesses. Unfortunately, the reviews expose users' private information such as visited places to the public and adversaries. Even worse, such location information is always public as it is the basic information of businesses, and adversaries could be anyone ranging from advertisement spammer to physical stalker. This paper formalizes the privacy preserving problem in local business service systems and propose a novel location privacy preserving framework. The framework can preserve users' location privacy in arbitrary local area and can maintain a good utility for both the system and every user. We evaluate our framework thoroughly towards real-world data traces. The results validate that the framework can achieve a good performance.
Presence of Argininosuccinate Synthetase in Glial Cells as Revealed by Peptide-Specific Antisera

The presence and the possibility of induction of argininosuccinate synthetase in a glial cell line were investigated. For this purpose, antisera were produced against peptides representing partial sequences 196-222 and 337-349, respectively, of the mouse liver enzyme. Both antisera were shown to be monospecific for argininosuccinate synthetase. In Western blot experiments, immunoreactivity was found in mouse liver and brain homogenates. Only weak immunoreactivity was detectable in homogenates of cultured glioma cells, C6-BU-1. However, when the glioma cells were treated with either bacterial lipopolysaccharide, interferon-gamma, or a combination of both, argininosuccinate synthetase immunoreactivity was increased. The findings demonstrate that this enzyme is present in glial cells and is induced under conditions which stimulate persistent production of nitric oxide. The antisera will be a valuable tool for further investigations on arginine synthesis in brain as well as peripheral cells.
Do Cross-Listings Drive Regulatory Convergence? Evidence from Germany

We analyse the cross listing behavior of German firms on the world's major stock exchanges. We find that only a very small minority of firms with capital market orientation cross list. The U.S. and Switzerland are the most popular locations. Taking into account the type of listing in the U.S., we find no evidence for traditional economic motives of cross listings: Firms do not position themselves to raise funds, to lower their cost of capital by shareholder diversification or to reduce agency costs by opting into a more stringent regulation. The economic motives for convergence of stock market regulation seem thin. Cross listing behavior is therefore unlikely to have an impact on the future shape of the stock exchanges.
Employee Turnover In The Small Business: Practical Insights From Urban Child Care Centers

This paper investigates the claims of alarming turnover rates in the childcare work force (as claimed by the Center for the Childcare workforce) in the context of organizational literature. Data collected from 70 childcare centers of New York City partially support the traditional claim that behavioral variables (such as job satisfaction and commitment) explain variations in turnover rate. Additionally, it claims that negative work outcomes (or work itself could be cause of voluntary turnover) in this instance, the behavior problem, discipline problem, funding uncertainty and the like may be included in any deterministic model of employee turnover. Finally, this study did not find overwhelming evidence supporting the alarming rate of turnover in the childcare centers.
I rapporti fra impresa e proprietà

This paper is an attempt to deepen the relationships between firms and their ownership, where the latter is characterised by a mixture of interests belonging to different subjects who are able to exert pressure on the firm’s management. A model is derived from the analysis of the extant literature. The model intends to describe how the established ownership structure might affect corporate performance, taking into account the expectations and the prerogatives of firm’s shareholders. In this vein, the model is not only intended to explore the multiple relationships that tie together firms to their ownership but also to clarify how these relationships affect, given the institutional environment and the established governance mechanisms, firms’ performance.
YbiV from E. coli K12 is a HAD phosphatase

The protein YbiV from Escherichia coli K12 MG1655 is a hypothetical protein with sequence homology to the haloacid dehalogenase (HAD) superfamily of proteins. Although numerous members of this family have been identified, the functions of few are known. Using the crystal structure, sequence analysis, and biochemical assays, we have characterized ybiV as a HAD phosphatase. The crystal structure of YbiV reveals a two domain protein, one with the characteristic HAD hydrolase fold, the other an inserted a/b fold. In an effort to understand the mechanism we also solved and report the structures of YbiV in complex with beryllofluoride (BeF3-) and aluminum trifluoride (AlF3) which have been shown to mimic the phosphorylated intermediate and transition state for hydrolysis, respectively, in analogy to other HAD phosphatases. Analysis of the structures reveals the substrate binding cavity, which is hydrophilic in nature. Both structure and sequence homology indicate ybiV may be a sugar phosphatase, which is supported by biochemical assays which measured the release of free phosphate on a number of sugar-like substrates. We also investigated available genomic and functional data in an effort to determine the physiological substrate.
Corporate Financial Distress and Organizational Performance: Causes, Effects and Possible Prevention

Business environment is constantly changing as a result of recent economic decline and, survival and sustainability is now an assiduous task, as corporate financial failure has negatively affected organizational performance; hence the need for this study: corporate financial distress and organizational performance. This study examines the causes, effects and possible solution of the dependent and independent variables. In the cause of this study, literature was reviewed, four hypotheses proposed, tested and analyzed using cronbach alpha; and the individual results came out high mean and high standard deviation (on the various variables) with a p value of 0.000˂0.05 coefficient. The findings revealed that lack of financial discipline, technological failure, over investment of fixed assets and government policies are major factors of corporate financial distress. Based on the foregoing, we recommend among others that: corporate organizations should watch out for decline in sales, avoid high leverage and avoid over investment in fixed assets.
Opioids for the treatment of arthritis pain

Introduction: Centrally acting opioids are well established in the treatment of acute, surgical and cancer pain. However, their use in chronic noncancer pain (CNCP) is controversial because of side effects such as tolerance, somnolence, respiratory depression, confusion, constipation and addiction. Chronic arthritis and other musculoskeletal diseases are among the leading causes of CNCP. Areas covered: This manuscript will discuss the role of conventional opioids in chronic arthritis. In addition, future developments and strategies exploiting peripheral effects of opioids on pain and inflammation will be outlined. Expert opinion: Aims in drug development include the design of peripherally restricted opioid agonists, selective targeting of endogenous opioids to sites of painful injury and the augmentation of peripheral ligand and receptor synthesis, for example, by gene therapy. Although a large number of peripherally acting opioid compounds have been developed, clinical Phase III studies have not been published so far. Another strategy is to augment the effects of endogenously released opioid peptides by the inhibition of their degrading enzymes. Technology-oriented research is needed to find novel ways of peripheral restriction of opioids. Such analgesics would be desirable for their lack of central side effects and of adverse effects typical of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (gastrointestinal ulcers, bleeding, myocardial infarction and stroke).
Transaction costs and outreach of microfinance institutions in Uganda

*Corresponding author. E-mail: bnatamba@mubs.ac. ug Tel. : +256782170980 Microfinance institutions (MFIs) world over have been identified as critical institutions to nations’ quest for solutions to their development challenges. The microfinance industry, which over the past years came under pressure to fill the poverty gap and become self-sustaining, has to some respect succeeded in doing so. In Uganda, several Microfinance institutions have set foot in the past decade. However, their outreach programs are still unnoticed. This study was undertaken as a result of the low outreach of MFIs, leaving some sections of Ugandans not in reach of microfinance services. The fact that these institutions are formed to fight poverty through outreach to the poor populations, their effect is expected to be much higher than what it is today. A quantitative research design was used in this study. Data were gathered using a questionnaire from 286 respondents that were purposively selected from 30 microfinance institutions operating in Eastern Uganda. These included; managers, credit administrators, supervisors, loan officers, product heads and clients. The data were coded and analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis methods. The findings indicate that there is a significant positive relationship between transaction costs of MFIs and outreach (r=.525, p<.05). Findings further indicate that MFIs are incurring high transaction costs to serve clients. This in turn affects their abilities to reach clients.
Left Ventricular Postmyocardial Infarction Remodeling Studied by Combining MR-Tagging With Delayed MR Contrast Enhancement

Objectives:We sought to monitor the evolution of noninfarcted and infarcted myocardium function in the process of left ventricular (LV) remodeling after a reperfused myocardial infarction. Material and Methods:Pigs (n = 8) were subjected to reperfused infarction. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed at 3 days and 8 weeks after infarction. Regional circumferential shortening (Ecc) and principal strain L1 in the infarcted, peri-infarcted, and remote myocardium were evaluated by tagged cine MRI combined with matched late enhancement data (Gadolinium-DOTA-enhanced IR-GRE) Global LV function was evaluated by cine MRI. Animals were euthanized after the second imaging session and tissue samples from the different myocardial regions were obtained for histopathologic study. Results:There was a significant deterioration in Ecc between the 3-day and 8-week studies in the peri-infarcted myocardium at apex (−9.9% ± 4.5% to −6.5 ± 3.9; P = 0.046) whereas it remained stable for all other regions at all levels. A trend toward improvement in Ecc existed in the infarcted myocardium when infarction transmurality was less than 50% of the LV wall (−7.5% ± 0.8% to −12.2% ± 2.9% P = 0.06). Ecc in infarcted myocardium was significantly inferior (P < 0.002) to that in remote and peri-infarcted myocardium at the apical level (2.7% ± 2.6% vs. −14.4% ± 3.3% and −9.9% ± 4.5%, respectively). Global LV function substantially deteriorated after infarction and was associated with a significant LV dilation. Conclusion:These results confirm the hypothesis that scarred myocardium imposes additional functional burden to the peri-infarcted myocardium.