Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measuring the value of plastic and reusable grocery bags

Using data from an online survey of grocery store customers in Logan, Utah, we estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for continued use of plastic grocery bags, and willingness to accept (WTA) for switching to reusable grocery bags. We find evidence to suggest that, on average, individuals have a greater aversion to plastic-bag taxes than an affinity for reusable-bag subsidies. All else equal, older and lower-to-middle-income individuals, as well as larger-sized households, are more likely to switch to using reusable bags exclusively when faced with a tax on plastic bags. Lower-to-middle-income individuals, as well as women in general, are more likely to switch away from using plastic bags when provided with a subsidy for reusable bags. Our results help quantify the extent to which plastic-bag taxation and reusable-bag subsidisation might induce shoppers to switch from plastic to reusable bags for their grocery trips.
The impact of job satisfaction, adaptive selling behaviors and customer orientation on salesperson's performance: exploring the moderating role of selling experience

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating effects of selling experience on the relationship between job satisfaction and sales performance, customer orientation and sales performance, and adaptive selling behaviors and sales performance, taking the context of B2B insurance selling.Design/methodology/approach – Using a sample of 380 business‐to‐business insurance salespersons from an emerging market (India) to validate their model, the authors tested several hypotheses using structural equation modeling (SEM). Findings – The results suggest that experience works with customer‐oriented selling in making the more experienced salespersons better performers. It was also found that for less experienced salespersons, the impact of job satisfaction on performance is weaker than for more experienced salespersons. In addition, it was found that more experienced salespersons' performance is better explained using job satisfaction and customer‐oriented selling rather than their adaptive sell.
Fasciotomy in crush injury resulting from prolonged pressure in an earthquake in Turkey

Objectives: The authors report on the patients treated in a clinic who were injured in the earthquake that took place in north western part of Turkey in 1999 and was reported to be measured at 7.4 on the Richter scale. This catastrophe killed over 16 000 people while injuring more than 23 000 people. The type of housing was varied and entrapment occurred in single, two or more storey buildings. Methods: 35 patients were admitted to the plastic surgery department after the earthquake. The hospital is about 400 km from the disaster site. Although all the transported victims had intravenous lines, few had adequate volume replacement. Sixteen had an urgent fasciotomy at the time of admission. The procedures were performed between 8 and 21 hours after extrication. After fasciotomy, all non-viable muscle content was removed but an attempt was made to retain as much viable muscle as possible. Results: Amputation was required on four patients (25%). Fasciotomy incisions were closed with skin grafting in eight cases, and with primary closure in four cases. Conclusion: Prompt fasciotomy in earthquake victims will be both life saving and can prevent some of the severe and dangerous complications after crush syndrome.
Volunteer tourists’ length of stay in Ghana: influence of socio-demographic and trip attributes

ABSTRACT Length of stay is an important variable in tourist expenditure, satisfaction and destination image. While studies exist on mainstream tourists’ length of stay, it still remains an elusive area in volunteer tourism. This paper contributes to knowledge about volunteer tourism length of stay by providing exploratory insights into the influential factors of volunteer tourists’ length of stay. The paper presents the findings of 410 volunteer tourists to Ghana. The results of the study reveal that volunteer tourists’ length of stay is influenced by some demographic variables and trip attributes including: country of origin, typology of volunteers, schooling status, expenditure of the destination, and nature of placement. The implications of the results are discussed.
Sensitive mRNA Detection by Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization Using Horseradish Peroxidase-labeled Oligodeoxynucleotides and Tyramide Signal Amplification

With the ongoing progress in human genome projects, many genes are discovered whose function and/or expression pattern are not known. Most of these genes are expressed in relatively low abundance compared to housekeeping genes such as elongation factor-1α and β-actin. Gene expression is studied by Northern blot assays or by semiquantitative PCR methods. Another method is the visualization of transcripts in tissue or cell cultures by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). However, for low-abundance RNA detection, this method is hampered by its limited detection sensitivity and by the interference of background signals with specific hybridization signals. Background signals are introduced by nonspecific hybridization of probe sequences or nonspecific binding of antibodies used for visualization. To eliminate background signals derived from both sources and to benefit from the peroxidase-driven tyramide signal amplification (TSA), we directly conjugated horseradish peroxidase (HRP) to oligodeoxynucleotides (ODNs) and used these probes to study in the bladder cancer cell line 5637 the expression of various cytokine genes which, according to Northern hybridization and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays, are expressed at levels up to 10,000-fold less than abundantly expressed housekeeping genes. The results show that reduction of probe complexity and the limited use of immunocytochemical detection layers strongly reduces noise signals derived from nonspecific binding of nucleic acid probe and antibodies. The use of the HRPODNs in combination with TSA allowed detection of low-abundance cytokine mRNAs by FISH.
PHISHING, PHARMING AND IDENTITY THEFT

Identity theft is the fastest growing crime in America, occurring when the criminal obtains confidential information from an individual or business and uses it to access private financial accounts. In today’s world of information technology, many thieves prey on their victims via the Internet. The level of disclosure of personal information in many of today’s information age transactions is what leaves so many individuals and businesses open to identity theft. Two of the most common ways that thieves acquire personal information to aid them in identity theft are phishing and pharming. Phishing utilizes bulk e-mail messages to entice recipients into revealing personal information. Pharmers, on the other hand, cast a wide net for the unwary. There is a huge potential reward for criminals who succeed in these malicious acts. In addition, now that organized crime has become involved, the money available to help thieves carry out the crimes is immense.
Involvement of the p53 tumor suppressor in repair of u.v.-type DNA damage.

The tumor suppressor p53 plays a central role in the cellular responses to genotoxic stress. Besides its well known role in activation of the G1 checkpoint after exposure to agents like ionizing radiation and its role in apoptosis, the possibility exists that p53 may have additional roles, such as in DNA repair. For example, p53, is known to bind to single strand DNA such as would occur during repair events, and the proteins encoded by two p53-regulated genes have previously been found to bind to at least one protein involved in DNA damage processing including nucleotide excision repair (NER). NER is an important and versatile DNA repair mechanism, which is the major pathway for repair of u.v. -type lesions and damage by a variety of important carcinogens and mutagens. If components of the p53 pathway are involved in NER, then disruption of p53 function by mutations or expression of certain viral proteins could have important implications in carcinogenesis and cancer treatment. In the present study we show that disruption of normal p53 function in human colon carcinoma RKO cells with either the human papillomavirus E6 oncoprotein or a dominant-negative mutant p53 transgene results in reduced repair of u.v. -induced DNA damage. The E6 and mutant p53-containing cell lines demonstrated reduced repair of u.v. -induced DNA lesions in host cell reactivation experiments with reporter plasmids, and reduced repair in in vitro DNA repair assays. With this in vitro assay, extracts from the E6- and mutant p53-containing lines also showed loss of induced repair following cellular u.v. -irradiation. The reduced DNA repair activity of the transfected cell lines also correlated with reduced clonogenic survival following u.v. -irradiation. These results indicate that p53 and/or p53-regulated gene products function in the NER pathway and that this process is inducible by DNA damage.
Staphylococci in the Newborn

3. Haemoglobinuria. -This apparently had all the clinical features of haemoglobinuria of exertion (Whitby and Britton, 1946). Its aet-iology is obscure. Regarding the part played by exertion in these cases, all that can be said is that the patients were ambulant the previous day, but not to any great extent. Blood urea remained unraised and urine did not at any time before the onset of haemoglobinuria show evidence of nephritis or necrosing nephrosis due to toxic action of lead, or of haemoglobinurqc ne hrosis following haemoglobinuria. The possibility that it was caused by an acute haemolytic crisis due to lead cannot be ruled out. It appears that the blood was almost completely cleared 9f its oxyhaemoglobin content when a sample was taken for examination, whereas the urine collected at the same time was that which had accumulated in the bladder for at least four hours. Subsequent samples of urine had been markedly and progressively clear. The amount of blood destroyed by haemolysis seems to have been small, as shown by the red-cell counts before and after the haemolysis. The first sample of haemoglobinuric urine had been passed from seven to nine hours before the collection of venous blood. Haemolysis had no doubt taken place earlier than this. During this period the haemoglobin in the blood could have been easily cleared by the kidneys. Hence the apparent similarity to haemoglobinuria of exertion. 4. Erythrocyzosis. -This accompanied the symptoms of acute Parkinsonism very closely. In all probability it was of the same nature as polycythaemia described in encephalitis lethargica and Huntington's chorea by Moehlig and Bates (1933). 5. Pallor. -This was not a feature of any of the cases recorded by Cassells and Dodds. Its presence in my two cases was a pointer to its causation by lead.
International retail divestment

The divestment of international retail operations is an under‐explored area of research. Conceptual and theoretical developments within retailing have tended to focus on those organisations that have sustained international development rather than on those organisations who have experienced market failure and strategic withdrawals from international markets. The paper discusses two prominent UK cases where market withdrawal has been a feature of international activity. A cross‐case analysis is then used to identify issues for further research activity. In particular, the cross‐case analysis uses the existing constructs that have emerged from the general literature to explain divestment activity while highlighting the limitations of using these constructs within the retail sector. The paper concludes by noting the limitations of existing frameworks that seek to explain the internationalisation process without due consideration of the divestment process.
Discovery of Potent Tyrosyl-DNA Phosphodiesterase 1 Inhibitors Using in silico Virtual Screening & Network Analysis for Evolution of Allosteric Communication in 3-ketosteroid Receptors

Tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase I (TDP1) plays an important role in repair of topoisomerase I-DNA complexes in vivo, and its inhibitors have the potential to enhance the efficacy of the Top1-targeting drugs in anticancer therapy. Nevertheless a large number of TDP1 inhibitors have been reported, none of them has inhibition activity in vivo. We present a virtual screening protocol to explore potent TDP1-selective inhibitors. 3-ketosteroid receptors belong to nuclear receptor family, and their DNA binding domains interact with glucocorticoid response elements (GREs) to regulate gene transcription. With evolution, all of them can bind to activating response element ((+)GRE), but only some exhibit the ability to bind to negative glucocorticoid response element (nGRE). It was found that evolutionary mutations are important to change their binding functions. We have presented dynamic network models to elucidate allosteric communication for selected evolutionary homologues, discussing the correlation between binding characteristics and epistatic mutations from network theory. INDEX WORDS: DNA repair, Topoisomerase, Chemotherapy, Nuclear receptor, Epistasis, Correlation Network DISCOVERY OF POTENT TYROSYL-DNA PHOSPHODIESTERASE 1 INHIBITORS USING IN SILICO VIRTUAL SCREENING & NETWORK ANALYSIS FOR EVOLUTION OF ALLOSTERIC COMMUNICATION IN 3-KETOSTEROID RECEPTORS
REAL TIME HIGH DYNAMIC RANGE IMAGE USING MULTIPLE EXPOSURE FUSION

A multiple exposure fusion to enhance the dynamic range of an image is proposed. The construction of high dynamic range images (HDRIs) is performed by combining multiple images taken with different exposures and estimating the irradiance value for each pixel. This is a common process for HDRI acquisition. During this process, displacements of the images caused by object movements often yield motion blur and ghosting artifacts. To address the problem, this paper presents an efficient and accurate multiple exposure fusion technique for the HDRI acquisition. Our method simultaneously estimates displacements and occlusion and saturation regions by using maximum a posterior estimation and constructs motion-blur-free HDRIs. Discrete wavelet transform is applied in order to decompose an input image into different sub bands. Then the high frequency sub bands as well as the input image are interpolated. Then all these sub band are combined to generate a new high resolution image by using inverse DWT (IDWT). Then to achieve a fused image. KeywordsDynamic Range Images (HDRI), Markov Random Field, Maximum A Posteriori, Discrete Wavelet Transform, Multiple Exposure.
Fluorosugars inhibit biological properties of different enveloped viruses

Both 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-glucose and 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-mannose were found to be potent inhibitors of the synthesis of infectious Semliki forest and fowl plague virus in chicken embryo cells and also of pseudorabies virus grown in rabbit kidney cells. It was found that the pseudorabies virus-mediated cell fusion and the synthesis of functional hemagglutinin of fowl plague virus were blocked. In all cases the 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-mannose-caused inhibition was stronger than the 2-deoxy-2-fluoro-D-glucose- or 2-deoxy-D-glucose-mediated blocks. Studies on the virus-specified proteins from Semiliki forest virus-infected cells grown in the presence of the inhibitors show that the target of the fluorosugar action, parallel to the well-studied effects of 2-deoxy-D-glucose, is the glycoprotein biosynthesis.
Harnessing the power of genomics and immunoinformatics to produce improved vaccines

The role of cellular immunity as a mediator of protection against disease is gaining recognition, particularly with regard to the many pathogens for which we presently lack effective vaccines. As a result, there is an ever-increasing need to understand the T-cell populations induced by vaccination and, therefore, T-cell epitopes responsible for triggering their activation. Although the characterization and harnessing of cellular immunity for vaccine development is an active area of research interest, the field still needs to rigorously define T-cell epitope specificities, above all, on a genomic level. New immunoinformatic epitope mapping tools now make it possible to identify pathogen epitopes and perform comparisons against human and microbial genomic data sets. Such information will help to determine whether adaptive immune responses elicited by a vaccine are both pathogen-specific and protective, but not crossreactive against host or host-associated sequences that could jeopardize self-tolerance and/or human microbiome–host homeostasis. Here, we discuss advances in genomics and vaccine design and their relevance to the development of safer, more effective vaccines.
Sequence of a Novel Abscisic Acid- and Drought-Induced cDNA from Wild Tomato (Lycopersicon chilense)

Lycopersicon chilense is a wild relative of the cultivated tomato, a natural inhabitant of extremely arid regions in South America (Rick, 1983). The objective of our work is to understand the molecular mechanisms of drought resistance in this plant and exploit its drought-resistance-related genes to improve the performance of the cultivated tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) under water deficiency. In this report, we present the nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences of one drought- and ABA-induced cDNA clone from this species. This clone, designated pLC30-15, contains a cDNA insert of 1100 bp (Table I). The first AUG (at position 241) defines a long open reading frame of 618 nucleotides encoding a polypeptide of 206 amino acid residues. The calculated molecular mass and isoelectric point of the polypeptide are 23,164 D and 5.1, respectively. Three direct Lys-rich repeats of 15 amino acid residues were found, the third one being a perfect duplication of the second. The protein is highly hydrophilic and is predicted to be composed mostly of a helices. Alignment of the amino acid sequences shows that the pLC30-15-encoded protein shares several characteristics in common with other desiccation- and ABA-induced proteins, such as dehydrins from barley and maize (Close et al., 1989) and TAS14 from tomato (Godoy et al., 1990). All of these proteins lack Cys and Trp and are ovenvhelmingly hydrophilic. In addition, these proteins contain several conserved amino acid regions: a cluster of Ser and several Lys-rich repeats. The conserved sequences of these proteins may correspond to essential domains of their tertiary structures and are critica1 to their function in plants' response to water deficit. However, the present protein is unique by its high content of Glu (21.8%) and Lys (19.4%). Moreover, no significant similarities were found in either the intervening sequences between the homologous boxes or in the N-terThis work was supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to Z.T. and from Fonds Pour la Formation de Chercheurs et l'Aide i la Recherche to G.B. and Z.T.
Option Framing and Product Feature Recommendations: Product Configuration and Choice

When configuring a customized product, consumers must decide which product features to include. While many times firms allow consumers to add features to a base item (hereinafter referred to as additive option framing), it is also possible in some settings to remove undesired features from a fully equipped product (subtractive option framing). At the same time, companies not only provide different option-framing formats, but also include recommendations from different sources such as what other customers have chosen previously or what is recommended by the company. This research provides evidence from two field experiments using a German car manufacturer's online configurator that customer recommendations in an additive option-framing format affect customer spending equally well as subtractive option framing. A follow-up experiment reveals that customer recommendations lead to increased positive thoughts about the recommended option, which stimulates consumers’ intention to buy the final product.
The impact of bias temperature instability for direct-tunneling ultra-thin gate oxide on MOSFET scaling

This paper presents a new reliability scaling scenario for CMOS devices with direct-tunneling ultra-thin gate oxide. Device degradation due to bias-temperature instability (BTI) was studied. First, the stress voltage dependence of BTI results indicate that the direct-tunneling electron and/or hole transport does not play a major role in the degradation mechanism. Secondly, it was found that the threshold voltage change caused by BTI for the PMOSFET limits the device lifetime, which is shorter than that defined by hot-carrier induced degradation for the NMOSFET. It originates from the difference of supply voltage dependence between BTI and hot-carrier degradation.
Excitation Retrieval of Microwave Linear Arrays From Phaseless Far-Field Data

A methodology to recover the excitations of microwave linear arrays from the measurements of far-field magnitude only is proposed. The approach combines tools from convex optimization (to solve the phase retrieval problem) and a simple measurement procedure (to mitigate the non-uniqueness of the solution). Numerical simulations in various representative and realistic configurations of noise and measurement sampling are presented and discussed. They show that it is possible to perfectly retrieve the array excitations from only the knowledge of far-field magnitude by simply solving a convex optimization problem. In addition, the proposed approach, that only calls for readily available routines, is stable with respect to noise since the reconstruction performances degrades gracefully as the signal to noise ratio decreases.
Impact of SNS Ad Type and Product Involvement on Consumers' Purchasing Intentions 1

The use of SNS has been increasing globally and the SNS has been used to satisfy different purposes of social groups over the years. In the beginning, the SNS were formed using e-mail, newsgroup, etc., where information was shared among relatively homogeneous groups of people. Now different groups including corporations have been using SNS such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube for their social media marketing. The SNS marketing can facilitate the purchase of consumers to help increasing sales. Our study investigated the impact of SNS on the type of advertising depending on the involvement of the product to the sense of usefulness or ease of consumers' purchase intention. According to the results, advertising for low- involvement products can be more important than the high-involvement product.
Review on Factors Affecting Quality of B2C Website

There has been a phenomenal growth in e-commerce in last few years and it still growing. The most successful and experienced companies related to E-Commerce realize that key determinant of success and failure of any website are not merely a web presence or low price but the delivery on high quality websites along with its security. A framework and model is required to attain the desired quality of website. Evaluation criteria include design, security, usability and performance for websites etc. This paper provides a review based on different authors to establish Quality. The main goal are identifying factors through different research papers and categorizing these factors.