Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gene Disruption of Tissue Transglutaminase

ABSTRACT Transglutaminase 2 (TGase 2), or tissue transglutaminase, catalyzes either ɛ-(γ-glutamyl)lysine orN 1,N 8-(γ-glutamyl)spermidine isopeptide bonds. TGase 2 expression has been associated with apoptosis, and it has been proposed that its activation should lead to the irreversible assembly of a cross-linked protein scaffold in dead cells. Thus, TGase 2-catalyzed protein polymerization contributes to the ultrastructural changes typical of dying apoptotic cells; it stabilizes the integrity of the apoptotic cells, preventing the release of harmful intracellular components into the extracellular space and, consequently, inflammation and scar formation. In order to perform a targeted disruption of the enzyme, we prepared a construct deleting part of exons 5 and 6, containing the active site, and intron 5. Complete absence of TGase 2 was demonstrated by reverse transcription-PCR and Western blot analysis. TGase activity measured on liver and thymus extracts showed, however, a minimal residual activity in TGase 2−/− mice. PCR analysis of mRNA extracted from the same tissues demonstrated that at least TGase 1 (normally present in the skin) is also expressed in these tissues and contributes to this residual activity. TGase 2−/− mice showed no major developmental abnormalities, and histological examination of the major organs appeared normal. Induction of apoptosis ex vivo in TGase 2−/− thymocytes (by CD95, dexamethasone, etoposide, and H2O2) and in vitro on TGase 2−/−mouse embryonal fibroblasts (by retinoids, UV, and H2O2) showed no significant differences. A reduction in cross-linked apoptotic bodies with a modestly increased release of lactate dehydrogenase has been detected in some cases. Together our results show that TGase 2 is not a crucial component of the main pathway of the apoptotic program. It is possible that the residual enzymatic activity, due to TGase 1 or redundancy of other still-unidentified TGases, can compensate for the lack of TGase 2.
International case studies: To what extent is ICT infused into the operations of SMEs?

Purpose – The paper seeks to overcome previous research limitations by examining both macro (industry, country) and micro (functions, enterprise) level phenomena within the information communication technologies (ICT) use of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs). Australia and Germany were chosen because both recognise the importance of SMEs.Design/methodology/approach – The study adopted an interpretivist philosophy and a qualitative case study method that enables gathering data which are rich in detail. Semi‐structured, on‐site interviews were carried out in eight firms of various classifications.Findings – The study found that, for micro enterprises, ICT is only emerging in the form of systems that have the potential to facilitate the interactions with the outside. Small enterprises rely heavily on personal interactions, which they supplement with the use of ICT. In medium enterprises, ICT is more extensively used in interactions, both internally and with the environment. The differences between Au.
Organization Behaviour and Development-Related Issues in Effective Implementation of ISO 9001

The demand for ISO 9001 certification is increasing, both from the public and private sectors. The adoption of a quality management system should be a strategic decision of an organization. The design and implementation of an organization's quality management system is influenced by varying needs, particular objectives, the products provided, the processes employed and the size and structure of the organization. It is necessary to explore the issues related to effective implementation of ISO 9001. The objective of this article is to scrutinize the OBD issues, facts, and problems related to implementing ISO 9001 in various industries in order to collect and categorize these factors and issues for finding common critical factors. Authors tried to find related data from each industry with the aim of internet, observation, interview, and questionnaire. After data collection, the Meta analysis will be used to achieve probable common factors or factors that have had more influence on implementing ISO9001 successfully. The influential issues in effective implementation of ISO9001 can be classified into internal and external issues. There are several OBD-related issues like organizational culture, leadership commitment, team working and communication that have a crucial role in this area. The three most important OBD–related issues are organizational culture, leadership commitment and team working.
Management and Cost Accounting: Student's Manual

For over thirty years, Colin Drury has been at the forefront of helping students learn the key concepts and processes in management and cost accounting through his textbooks. Now in its tenth edition, Management and Cost Accounting has been the leading textbook in the field for three decades, and continues to blend theory and practice in language that is clear and accessible. As well as covering everything students need to know for management accounting and cost accounting modules on undergraduate courses, or postgraduate students studying these topics for the first time, this book will also help prepare those taking the professional accounting bodies’ management and cost accounting examinations. The new edition has been completely updated to reflect recent developments in the field, and now includes additional emphasis on value creation, and links strategic performance management more closely to divisional financial performance measurement. An entirely new chapter has also been added looking at the challenges management accountants will face in the future.
Establishing supply chain partnerships: lessons from Australian agribusiness

Many agribusiness firms in Australia are buying into the concept of SCM but are not sure how to apply it. Provides some guidance for firms who are considering following the SCM track. Presents a checklist for auditing potential supply chain partners which has proved useful in focusing the minds of potential partners on the key issues of trust and relationship management.
Cervical‐cancer screening: Attendance and cost‐effectiveness

The influence of attendance on the health effects and cost‐effectiveness of cervical‐cancer screening was studied, both for organized screening programmes and for spontaneous screening. The asymmetric distribution of smears among the female population and the higher risk incurred by women who never or only occasionally attend screening appear crucial in determining the health effects of screening. An increase in attendance rate induces a substantial rise in health effects and a less than proportionate rise in costs, thus improving cost‐effectiveness. Wider screening coverage, in order to increase the number of life‐years saved, is achieved more efficiently by encouraging a greater number of women to attend than by inviting the same number of women to attend more often, i.e., with a shorter interval between successive screens. Spontaneous screening is characterized by high coverage for younger women and low coverage for middle‐aged and older women. This leads to a small amount of health effects and poor cost‐effectiveness as compared with organized screening.
Students’ perceptions of education for sustainable development in the accounting and business curriculum at a business school in New Zealand

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to explore students’ perceptions and understandings of, and attitudes towards, education for sustainable development (ESD) at Delta Business School (DBS) in New Zealand[1]. The aim is to extend the limited literature on students’ perceptions of ESD within an accounting and business curriculum. Design/methodology/approach - – To ascertain the students’ evaluations of their ESD, a survey was administered to 60 accounting and business students at DBS. The survey data were supplemented with interview evidence from 20 of the 60 students to obtain a deeper understanding of the students’ evaluations. Findings - – A majority of the students perceive ESD as a “good thing. ” Students were supportive of the sustainable business learning experience offered at DBS. The results suggest that students’ knowledge of sustainable business practices improved significantly from their studies. Practical implications - – The paper should assist education providers to assess how students perceive ESD. This may help bring about changes, to improve the teaching of sustainable development. Universities can be the main providers of ESD, but other educational providers such as the professional accounting bodies will also need to manage the development of ongoing education processes. Most students at DBS believe they are obtaining a good understanding of the concept of sustainability. Originality/value - – There is a shortage of research concerning how students perceive sustainable development education. This paper contributes to the discussion of what to incorporate in sustainable education programmes, to help students properly to understand sustainable development. We believe accounting and business education should develop graduates into broad-minded thinkers with a capacity for independent and critical thought. This will prepare them for future leadership roles.
The Effect of Sustainability on Retail Values, Rents, and Investment Performance: European Evidence

This paper is the first to focus on the effects of sustainability on the investment performance of a European retail portfolio comprising 128 properties in the Netherlands and extends the existing range of studies on the office and residential sectors in the United States. As the data sample is an existing fund portfolio, all attributes of the properties are known. Environmental sustainability is measured by the Dutch energy label, which compares with ENERGY STAR in the U.S. Through OLS regressions, we examine whether a sustainability premium exists. We find that green retail properties have a significantly higher income return of 0.52%, while, counterintuitively, non-green retail properties appear to have significantly higher rents and values. After controlling for various factors, however, the sustainability effects become insignificant. This contradicts some of the findings in the office and residential sectors. We attribute this to the importance of traditional retail location theory factors, which co.
Experimental observation of batchelor dispersion of passive tracers

We report the first detailed experimental observation of the Batchelor regime [G. K. Batchelor, J. Fluid. Mech. 5, 113 (1959)], in which a passive scalar is dispersed by a large scale strain, at high Peclet numbers. The observation is performed in a controlled two-dimensional flow, forced at large scale, in conditions where a direct enstrophy cascade develops [J. Paret, M. -C. Jullien, and P. Tabeling, Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 3418 (1999)]. The expected k(-1) spectrum is observed, along with exponential tails for the distributions of the concentration and concentration increments and logarithmlike behavior for the structure functions. These observations, confirmed by using simulated particles, provide a support to the theory.
NGO Accountability and Sustainable Development in Nigeria

This paper empirically investigates the type of and for whom NGO Accountability is practised in Nigeria with a view to enhancing sustainable development in the country. In-depth interviews on accountability related issues were conducted with managers of an international and a national NGO from Lagos State of Nigeria. The interview was supported by content review of accounts and reports of the selected NGOs. The findings of this study represent a hierarchical conception of accountability privileging a narrow range of stakeholders, which is short-term in focus and not strategic. The findings are situated in the context of what the literature says about NGO Accountability. This work could enhance the frontier of knowledge in NGO Accountability especially in a developing country like Nigeria.
Texture analysis of differently reconstructed PET images

The insufficient number of projections and the statistics of radioactive decay are supposed to lead to different textures in the images reconstructed by the diverse algorithms used in positron emission tomography (PET). In our study, four reconstruction methods were examined, including the filtered backprojection and three algebraic approaches. Grey-level morphological operators were used to extract the texture. To quantify the observations, we used the texture parameters directionality, fractal dimension, and lacunarity. By increasing the number of iteration steps, each of the algebraic reconstruction methods evolve the texture from coarse to fine granularities, but, surprisingly, during the iteration process all methods follow a quite similar `trail' of possible textures within the active zone. The texture of the termination points of the movement have been compared with the result that the `hills' and `valleys' of the activity distribution are located in the same positions. The texture derived from the filtered backprojection is included in the set of textures produced by the algebraic methods. Artefacts are restricted to zones without activity. We found that the texture is independent of the number of counts when more than ten counts are registered in each pixel within the examined region of interest. A high reliability in the reconstructed images is given. All methods allow texture based tissue classification.
Long‐term culture of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 resulting in loss of glycosylation sites

Cultures of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV‐1) provided a model for the study of mutations in the absence of host antibodies. Replicate cultures of biological and molecular clones of HIV‐1 were passaged weekly for 30 or 34 weeks. Eight regions of HIV‐1 genomic RNA were analyzed by means of single‐strand conformation polymorphism analysis and nucleotide sequencing. Six mutations were detected in the biological clones. Two were G→A substitutions. The frequency of mutations was higher in V1 compared to that in other regions (P = 0.01). Three mutations involved loss of potential glycosylation sites in V1. These results show that mutations in the viral genome may result from selection by factors other than host immune pressures. J. Med. Virol. 63:197–202, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Inter-divisional Domain Overlap and Product Differentiation

Using data on the U.S. automobile industry between 1979 and 1999, we have investigated the impact of inter-divisional domain overlap on a division’s product differentiation vis-a-vis sister divisions. The results show that the higher the level of inter-divisional domain overlap, relative to the focal division’s own domain, the higher the chances of locating a new product closer to the existing products of a sister division, thereby decreasing product differentiation vis-a-vis this sister division. We argue that this is due to a high level of similar capabilities between the two divisions and the division with less distinctive capabilities may have little choice but to launch a new product that is close to the products of the other division.
The influence of sketch quality on perception of product-idea creativity

Abstract This paper explores the relationship between the quality of a sketch and how others perceive the creativity of the idea portrayed by the sketch. In this study, sketch quality is characterized through its line work, perspective, and proportions. Four different toaster ideas were each sketched by four people with different backgrounds and levels of sketching proficiency. Then, 360 reviewers ranked the toasters for idea creativity, referring to a set of four sketches: one sketch for each toaster concept. The level of sketch quality for each toaster concept was varied among one of four quality levels. Higher quality idea sketches were found to correlate with higher creativity rank (p > 0.005), and lower quality sketches correlated with a lower creativity rank (p > 0.0005). A toaster idea portrayed with the highest quality level of sketch was 2.3 times more likely to be ranked as the most creative idea within the given set of idea sketches. The results underscore the importance of how an idea is presented, and support the need for sketching instruction in engineering and design curriculum.
Stock Right Incentive,Research Investment and Sustainable Development of Enterprises——Evidence from Chinese Listed Companies

The authors firstly construct the theoretical analysis framework of stock right incentive,research investment and sustainable development of enterprises,and make an empirical analysis on the related data from Chinese listed companies from 2002 to 20005.Based on the results,the paper finally draws some important conclusions and the author put forward some suggestion to handle with the relation.
Association of Human Protein-tyrosine Phosphatase κ with Members of the Armadillo Family*

We have identified a human receptor-like protein-tyrosine phosphatase (PTP) in the mammary carcinoma cell line SK-BR-3, which represents the human homolog of murine PTPκ (Jiang, Y.-P., Wang, H., D'Eustachio, P., Musacchio, J. M., Schlessinger, J., and Sap, J. (1993) Mol. Cell. Biol. 13, 2942-2951) and was therefore termed hPTPκ. We show here that hPTPκ expression is dependent on cell density and find it colocalized with two members of the arm family of proteins, β-catenin and γ-catenin/plakoglobin, at adherens junctions. Using both in vitro and in vivo binding assays, we demonstrate specific complex formation between endogenous hPTPκ and β- and γ-catenin/plakoglobin. In addition, we present evidence that suggests that β-catenin may represent a substrate for the catalytic activity of hPTPκ. The identification of specific binding partners for this receptor-like PTP provides insight into the mechanisms of its biological action and suggests a role for hPTPκ in the regulation of processes involving cell contact and adhesion such as growth control, tumor invasion, and metastasis.
The Impairment of Purchased Goodwill: Effects on Market Value

This paper examines the value relevance of goodwill impairment and the information content of impairment announcements with the introduction of Financial Reporting Standard (FRS) 11 in the UK in 1998 which allowed an annual impairment review as an alternative to capitalisation and subsequent systematic amortisation of goodwill. In contrast to systematic amortisation of capitalised goodwill, our results suggest that goodwill impairment is associated with economically significant reductions in market value. We also find evidence of a significant negative market reaction to goodwill impairment announcements. The negative impact is greater for firms with a higher proportion of assets carried as goodwill and for firms that release little information prior to the announcement. Our results also confirm previous findings that capitalised goodwill is significantly associated with market value in the year of acquisition, but weakens thereafter; and that systematic amortisation of capitalised goodwill is not value-relevant.
The Empirical Investigation of the Extent of Disclosure in Annual Reports of Banking Sector in Sri Lanka

Currently, in Sri Lanka, the Banking Sector plays a major role in the country’s economy, contributing about 6% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Overall objective of an effective banking system will ensure a steady economic growth in the country. One of the vital requirements on the aspect of financial reporting, for maintaining an effective banking system, is the provision of adequate disclosures in the banks’ published documents such as annual report. Because, adequate public disclosure facilitates a more efficient allocation of capital between banks and it helps the market to accurately assess and compare the risk and return prospects of individual banks. However, in reviewing Sri Lankan literature, there are few empirical studies assessing the adequacy of disclosure in annual reports of banking companies. Therefore, this study aims to investigate both the extent of disclosures in annual reports and association between company- specific attributes and total disclosures of banking companies in Sri Lanka. For this purpose, a sample of 15 banking companies with the inclusion of both private and public sector banks was selected. In those banking companies, a total of 150 items of information were examined by using un-weighted disclosure index. The association between total disclosure level and company-specific attributes namely, size, profitability, board composition, age, assets-in-place, and market discipline is also examined in this study with the use of Ordinary Least Square regression model. Consequently, it is revealed that the Sri Lankan banking companies are more compliance in disclosing mandatory items, than voluntary items. The findings also indicate that size, profitability, board composition, and market discipline variables are significant in explaining the level of disclosure.
Developing and sustaining joint enterprises in a transitional economy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review and discuss the role of the project champion and the project champion's experience in a business capacity building project in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The project champion mentored and fostered joint enterprises between and across actors engaged in the production, processing, distribution, retailing and exporting of lamb meat and cheese derived from sheep milk. The article aims to analyse and compare the experiences and knowledge from this project with that of knowledge in extant studies on demand chain integration and inter‐firm alliances.Design/methodology/approach – A case study was crafted from information accessed from the project champion, key informants and information about the project presented in the web sites of the United States Agency for International Development and the project champion. The experiences presented in the case study were critically examined and evaluated with the findings in extant studies on inter‐firm allian.
Business intelligence in support of business strategy

While all organizations start their business intelligence (BI) initiatives with the expectation of success, many struggle to align their technology approach to BI with specific business goals and objectives and as a result, deliver solutions that fail to meet business needs. But the fact is that organizational and political realities often prevent BI efforts from being fully aligned with the business. It can be difficult to get around organizational and political issues to open up the lines of communication between business and IT. Even if business and IT have a great relationship in the organization, maybe a more structured approach for helping promote a common understanding around the alignment of business goals and objectives for BI with the technology investments being made to support them will be needed. In the paper we suggest and explain such an approach that we call Mission Driven BI Architecture (MDBIA).