Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Environmental Uncertainty and Positive Performance of Small Firms: The Roles of Key Mediators

The thesis of this research is that environmental uncertainty can act as a driver for small firms to be innovative resulting in a positive impact on performance. This paper examines the role of environmental uncertainty and its impact on performance through the mediating effects of strategic business activities, decision making style, relationships and strategic orientation. The research examines how strategic business activities drive decision making style and relationships. A combination of strategic business activities, decision making style, and relationships creates a firm’s strategic orientation, and these in turn impact a firm’s financial performance. This research tests the various hypothesized relationships by developing and testing a path model. A representative sample of 152 small firms is used to test the research model and the associated hypothesized path relationships. The various antecedent and mediating variables affect a firm’s financial performance and explain about 31% of the variance.
PERSISTENT LEFT SUPERIOR VENA CAVA WITH BILATERAL AZYGOS SYSTEM IN AN ADULT

The condition to be described was discovered during routine dissecting-room work in a man aged 88, who had no history of any illness during life, and whose death was due to bronchopneumonia. The left subclavian and internal jugular veins united in the neck to form a left superior vena cava which passed directly down over the arch of the aorta and the pulmonary trunk to lie between the left auricle anteriorly and the pulmonary vessels and bronchus in the root of the left lung posteriorly (Fig. 1). The vessel then turned to the right in the posterior part of the coronary sulcus and became continuous with the coronary sinus: its total length from origin to termination was 15 cm. On the arch of the aorta, the left vena cava received the left internal mammary and superior intercostal veins, and just before its termination it was joined by the left marginal vein from the anterior part of the
A 250 mW, 60 frames/s 1280/spl times/720 pixel 9 b CMOS digital image sensor

Many imaging systems with industrial and machine vision applications now require sensors with a combination of >1 Mpixel revolution and >30 frames/s rate. This must be achieved at low cost and with minimum impact on system complexity or power consumption. Reported CCDs have this level of performance. However, the inherent analog nature of CCDs leads to a requirement for driving large external loads at high frequency from the image sensor. CMOS active pixel sensors (APS) are ideal for these applications due to the possibility for on-chip signal processing (especially analog-to digital converters [ADC]) integration and inherent low power consumption. This advantage is especially important in large-format high speed imaging applications. Other CMOS image sensors reported to date have either targeted small-format applications or are low frame rate devices. This 1280(H)x 720(V) CMOS APS capable of 60 frames/s operation includes on-chip, 10b, column-parallel, self-calibrating ADCs with 9b performance. Four 10b wide digital output ports support a data rate of 55.3 Mpixels/s. The sensor is in a standard 0.5/spl mu/m 2P2M technology and has power consumption <250 mW.
Proteomic Approach to Identification of Proteins Reactive for Abasic Sites in DNA *

Apurinic/apyrimidinic (AP) sites, a prominent type of DNA damage, are repaired through the base excision repair mechanism in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes and may interfere with many other cellular processes. A full repertoire of AP site-binding proteins in cells is presently unknown, preventing reliable assessment of harm inflicted by these ubiquitous lesions and of their involvement in the flux of DNA metabolism. We present a proteomics-based strategy for assembling at least a partial catalogue of proteins capable of binding AP sites in DNA. The general scheme relies on the sensitivity of many AP site-bound protein species to NaBH4 cross-linking. An affinity-tagged substrate is used to facilitate isolation of the cross-linked species, which are then separated and analyzed by mass spectrometry methods. We report identification of seven proteins from Escherichia coli (AroF, DnaK, MutM, PolA, TnaA, TufA, and UvrA) and two proteins from bakers’ yeast (ARC1 and Ygl245wp) reactive for AP sites in this system.
Competing Smartphone brands: Understanding brand rivalry between two brand communities.

COMPETING SMARTPHONE BRANDS: UNDERSTANDING BRAND RIVALRY BETWEEN TWO BRAND COMMUNITIES Alexandra Sponga Advisor: University of Guelph, 2013 Professor May Aung This thesis is an investigation of brand rivalry between two competing brands. The number of Smartphone users in Canada is rising and is not expected to slow anytime soon. Two major Smartphone brands have emerged as competing brands in this product category: Samsung and Apple. When two strong companies emerge brand rivalry can manifest. Brand rivalry seems to be under studied in the consumer behaviour literature, yet is common amongst consumers. Current literature pertaining to brand rivalry focuses primarily on the ‘dark’ side of this concept, manly oppositional brand loyalty and brand rivalry. Utilizing focus groups, this study gains a more holistic view of the interaction between opposite brand community members. The findings extend the existing literature by offering evidence of the ‘lighter’ side to brand rivalry. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to share my sincere appreciation for the support and guidance provided by my advisor Professor May Aung throughout my M.Sc. research. Thank you for your ongoing encouragement and faith. Your grace and professionalism has inspired me to be kind and confident in all that I do. I am truly fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with such a great person, advisor and academic. Thank you to the rest of my committee: Professors Paul Anglin and Lianne Foti for sharing feedback and insight throughout this process. Most importantly, I would like to express my gratitude for teaching me to be more critical in my thoughts. To the entire Department of Marketing and Consumer Studies, it has been a pleasure working in such a positive environment. Special thanks to Rita Raso, Cori Wells, and Domenica Alderton. To my fellow students, my friends, it has been a privilege to be surrounded by such successful hard working individuals. I am grateful for the kindness of my roommates, Steve and Dylan, and the support and love from my best friend Sean. Most importantly, I wish to thank my mom, my role model. I appreciate your consistent push; challenging me despite occasional resistance. Thank you for believing in me. I am grateful for every opportunity you have provided me, especially my career in education. This thesis is dedicated to you mom, because “I always need a little competition”.
PENGARUH CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY TERHADAP NILAI PERUSAHAAN DENGAN PROSENTASE KEPEMILIKAN MANAJEMEN SEBAGAI VARIABEL MODERATING

This research was aimed to expose the effect of corporate social responsibility to the company's value with managerial ownership as a moderating variable. In this research, corporate social responsibility as dependent variable, company's value as independent variable and •managerial. ownership as moderating variable. Sampels in this research were 41 manufacture company in Kompas Index 100 at 2008- 2009. Data processing in this research was supported by statistic program (SPSS). The data analyst' was carried on by regression analysis The result from the analysis showed that corporate social responsibility was affected to company's value and managerial ownership was not a moderating variable in the relationship between corporate social responsibilityand company's value.
Influence of the Social-Demographic Features on Women's Motivation to Set Up Their Own Business

We are witnessing considerable changes in the labor market in today’s economy, which is based on knowledge. Labor awareness is growing in the society and it is accompanied by the problem of equal professional opportunities for women and men. The purpose of the present work is to assess the relation existing between selected socialdemographic features such as: age, sex, marital status, education, size of the place of residence, family status, professional situation before starting one’s own activity, and the motivation to set up one’s own enterprise. The factors having a crucial influence on establishing one’s own economic activity have been divided into external and internal ones. Amongst the external factors, the following ones have been listed: convenient market circumstances, lack of other possibilities, lack of satisfaction with the previous work, lack of growth possibilities, unemployment, parental model, family relations, the „glass ceiling” effect, flexible work time and the crisis. On the other hand, internal factors included: pursuit of independence, the internal need for action, the need of fair earnings, the need to be „one’s own boss “, the need to fulfill one’s personal ambition, the need to dominate, the need to prove value, the disposition to take risk, the values inculcated at home. In the present work, the author compared the influence of selected features in the enterprises run both by women and men. The empirical material was collected amongst male and female owners of small and medium-sized enterprises (employing up to 249 people) established before 2008 in Poland. The substantive data concern the period 2008-2010. The survey research in the form of a direct interview (240 questionnaires) was carried out in the first half of 2011 by the students of the 2nd grade studies at the Poznań University of Economics. The collected material has been processed by the methods of descriptive statistics and the method of correlation and regression. Hanna Mizgajska, Dorota Płóciennik
Optimal Tracking Performance for SIMO Feedback Control Systems: Analytical Closed-Form Expressions and Guaranteed Accuracy Computation

This paper is concerned with the H2 optimal tracking problem under a control input penalty. Analytical closed-form expressions are derived for the best performance levels for the cases of single-input-multiple-output LTI continuous-time systems and single-input-single-output sampled-time systems, which extend previous results. Moreover a numerical algorithm is developed which, given a continuous-time plant, computes the best performance level in a manner that guarantees accuracy. The obtained results are demonstrated on some numerical examples
Reduced striatal dopamine D2 receptors in people with Internet addiction

An increasing amount of research has suggested that Internet addiction is associated with abnormalities in the dopaminergic brain system. We hypothesized that Internet addiction would be associated with reduced levels of dopaminergic receptor availability in the striatum compared with controls. To test this hypothesis, a radiolabeled ligand [11C]raclopride and positron emission tomography was used to assess dopamine D2 receptor binding potential in men with and without Internet addiction. Consistent with our prediction, individuals with Internet addiction showed reduced levels of dopamine D2 receptor availability in subdivisions of the striatum including the bilateral dorsal caudate and right putamen. This finding contributes to the understanding of neurobiological mechanism of Internet addiction.
TimeSets: Timeline visualization with set relations

In this article, we introduce a novel timeline visualization technique, TimeSets, that helps make sense of complex temporal datasets by showing the set relationships among individual events. TimeSets visually groups events that share a topic, such as a place or a person, while preserving their temporal order. It dynamically adjusts the level of detail for each event to suit the amount of information and display estate. Various design options were explored to address issues such as one event belonging to multiple topics. A controlled experiment was conducted to evaluate its effectiveness by comparing it to the KelpFusion method. The results showed significant advantage in accuracy and user preference.
Impact of Biometric Technology on Deposit Money Banks Performance in Nigeria

This study investigates impact of biometric technology on deposit money banks performance in Nigeria with special emphasis on eight selected banks in Asaba, Delta State. The specific objectives of the study was to determine the impact of biometric on banking services and ways fraud can be reduce through biometric technology. Analysis of variance was the statistical technique used for the analysis while data were presented by use of tables, percentages and means. The study revealed that biometric technology has significant impact on banking services, this could be due to the fact that the Central Bank requires banks to increase their deployment of new technologies to protect customers’ interest and loyalty. We conclude that banks should adopt adequate security tool like biometric technology that will help them to provide high level of security for every of their transactions to gain customers’ trust and avoid regulatory fines and recommend that banks should develop more customized software that can record relevant information in all channels of banking so that banks can establish whether unauthorized transactions has taken place or not.
Angiogenic Growth Factors: Their Effects and Potential in Soft Tissue Wound Healing

Since their discovery 30 years ago, angiogenic growth factors have been demonstrated to stimulate neovascularization in vitro and in animal studies. Over the last decade, knowledge gained in the field of angiogenic growth factors has grown immensely. These angiogenic growth factors exist in four major families: fibroblast growth factor (FGF), transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), and epidermal growth factor (EGF). Each has the ability to induce soft tissue vascularization in microgram quantities. In animal models, FGF, TGF-β, PDGF, and EGF have been shown to enhance soft tissue wound healing. In human clinical trials, EGF and a mixture of PDGFs have been demonstrated to accelerate epidermal regeneration in cutaneous wounds. These factors have considerable therapeutic potential in the areas of soft tissue wound healing and otolaryngology. This article reviews important aspects of angiogenic growth factors and discusses their future potential in soft tissue wound healing.
[Expressions of metastatic tumor antigen 1 and hypoxia-inducible-factor l alpha in lung cancer and their clinical significance].

OBJECTIVE To explore the correlation of the expressions of metastatic tumor antigen 1 (MTA1) and hypoxia-inducible-factor l alpha (HIF-1alpha) to the clinical features of lung cancer. METHODS The expressions of MTA1 and HIF-1alpha proteins in 59 lung cancer patients were detected by immunohistochemistry. RESULTS Positive staining of MTA1 and HIF-1alpha was found in 54.24% and 50.85% of the patients, respectively. MTA1 expression was not found to correlated to any of the clinical parameters. HIF-1alpha expression was significantly lower in poorly differentiated than in moderately and well differentiated lung cancer (P<0.05), and a positive association between the expressions of MTA1 and HIF-17alpha were noted (P<0.05). CONCLUSION MTA1 and HIF-1alpha overexpression occurs in lung cancer possibly as an important factor of lung carcinogenesis. MTA1 may promote lung carcinogenesis by enhancing HIF-1alpha protein activity.
Chemical studies on the exudate and developing sclerotia of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) DeBary.

The exudate from sclerotia of 6-day-old cultures of Sclerotinia sclerotiorum (Lib.) DeBary was found to contain cations, lipids, ammonia, amino acids, proteins, and various enzymes. Disc-gel electrophoretic patterns of proteins, peroxidase, and polyphenoloxidase isoenzymes of the exudate differed from those of sclerotial extracts. Specific activities for catalase, peroxidase, polyphenoloxidase, and β-glucosidase enzymes of the exudate and sclerotial extracts were very similar. Cellulolytic and polygalacturonase activities for the exudate and sclerotial extracts were demonstrated. The nature and origin of the exudate are briefly discussed.
Componentwise Error Estimates for Solutions Obtained by Stationary Iterative Methods

In stationary iterative methods for solving linear systems Ax = b, the iteration x (k+1) = Hx (k) + c, where H and c are the iteration matrix derived from A and the vector derived from A and b, respectively, is executed for an initial vector x (0) . We present a theorem which yields componentwise error estimates for x (k) , and clarify the relation between
Conversion of Network Problem with Transfer Nodes, and Condition of Supplying the Demand of any Sink from the Particular Source to the Transportation Problem

In this article we present an algorithm for converting a network problem with several sources and several sinks including several transfer nodes and condition of supplying the demand of any sink from a particular source to the transportation problem. Towards this end, and considering the very special structure of transportation algorithm, after implementing the shortest path algorithm or solving model 2 and determining the paths by the minimum cost, we let the algorithm to behave with any of these shortest paths as an arc. Although this problem is soluble by linear programming with network structure, but by converting it to transportation problem an efficient method may be proposed for solving it.
Anti-Endothelial Cell Antibodies in Systemic Sclerosis

Systemic sclerosis (SSc), or scleroderma, is characterized by early vascular endothelial cell (EC) damage, followed by cutaneous and visceral fibrosis. There is substantial interest in the role of anti-EC antibodies (AECA) in SSc as recent findings have brought new insights into the understanding of
Natural‐host animal models indicate functional interchangeability between the filamentous haemagglutinins of Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella bronchiseptica and reveal a role for the mature C‐terminal domain, but not the RGD motif, during infection

Bacteria of the Bordetella genus cause respiratory tract infections. Both broad host range (e.g. Bordetella bronchiseptica) and human‐adapted (e.g. Bordetella pertussis) strains produce a surface‐exposed and secreted protein called filamentous haemagglutinin (FHA) that functions in adherence and immunomodulation. Previous studies using B. pertussis and cultured mammalian cells identified several FHA domains with potential roles in host cell interactions, including an Arg‐Gly‐Asp (RGD) triplet that was reported to bind integrins on epithelial cells and monocytes to activate host signalling pathways. We show here that, in contrast to our previous report, the fhaB genes of B. pertussis and B. bronchiseptica are functionally interchangeable, at least with regard to the various in vitro and in vivo assays investigated. This result is significant because it indicates that information obtained studying FHA using B. bronchiseptica and natural‐host animal models should apply to B. pertussis FHA as well. We also show that the C‐terminus of mature FHA, which we name the MCD, mediates adherence to epithelial and macrophage‐like cells and is required for colonization of the rat respiratory tract and modulation of the inflammatory response in mouse lungs. We could not, however, detect a role for the RGD in any of these processes.
From individual to organization : knowledge sharing within firms and knowledge protection between firms

This dissertation aims to synthesize relevant theories on knowledge sharing and knowledge protection from multiple disciplines that advance our understanding of the factors that facilitate knowledge sharing within firms and impede imitation between firms. It consists of an introduction, conclusion, and three independent studies on different topics. The first study investigated the antecedents to hierarchical knowledge sharing within organizations in China. The second one explored employees' preference for different knowledge sharing tools. The third study analyzed organizational strategies to protect key knowledge against counterfeiters. Quantitative design and qualitative method were applied in this research. Through regression modeling and between-subject design, the empirical findings of the study on a medium-sized Chinese company (N=860) revealed antecedents to employees' knowledge sharing with their supervisors. The identified independent variables that had direct effects were affect-based trust, power distance, and affect commitment. In an attempt to identify the determinants of employees' usage of different knowledge sharing tools, between-subject design helped to identify the key effects of openness to give and seek knowledge, trust, and role-breadth self-efficacy. Finally, the third study suggests a comprehensive anti-counterfeit strategy model aimed at helping companies to understand different sources of threats within the unique Chinese environment. This strategy model is aimed at examining and improving companies' existing corporate strategies against counterfeiting, and, lastly, it aims at developing and introducing new and effective approaches against counterfeiting. The model includes five different strategic perspectives, and implications for practice and suggestions for future research were drawn from the study findings.
A Secure Distributed Cloud Storage System Achieving Data Secrecy and Load Balance

Cloud storage is widely used and has become prevalent over the past decade. It has very desirable properties such as scalability, fault tolerance, robustness, and data availability and accessibility. Several Cloud index structures have been proposed for equality queries, range queries, or other purposes. However, Cloud system is fraught with security risks and many security issues still exist in Cloud system. For solving these security issues, in our paper, we propose a secure and balanced storage system for Cloud system. The system offers load balance, secrecy, integrity, and robustness for data protection. It is efficient, reliant, resilient and scalable.
Overexpression of EIF 5 A 2 correlates with tumor progression and predicts poor prognosis in cervical cancer

Background: Eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A2 (EIF5A2) has been demonstrated to play important roles in tumor progression. However, the role of EIF5A2 in cervical cancer remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the expression and clinicopathological significance of EIF5A2 in cervical cancer. Methods: The mRNA expression level of EIF5A2 was analyzed in 10 pairs of cervical cancer and adjacent non-cancerous tissues by semi-quantitative real time-PCR assay. Immunohistochemistry was performed to assess EIF5A2 protein expression in 124 paraffin-embedded, archived cervical cancer samples. Survival analysis and Cox regression analysis were performed to investigate the clinicopathological significance of EIF5A2 expression. Results: Our data revealed that EIF5A2 was frequently overexpressed in cervical cancer tissues compared to normal adjacent noncancerous cervical tissues. Moreover, high expression of EIF5A2 in is strongly associated with advanced FIGO stage (P=0.005) and parametrial invasion (P=0.041). Cervical cancer patients with higher Parametrial invasion expression had substantially shorter overall (P=0.038) and recurrence-free (P<0.001) survival times than patients with lower parametrial invasion expression. Multivariate analysis revealed that parametrial invasion might be an independent prognostic factor for breast cancer patients (P=0.017). Conclusions: Our study showed that EIF5A2 expression was positively associated with progression and aggressiveness of cervical cancer, and that EIF5A2 could serve as an independent prognostic marker in cervical cancer patients.