Sodium butyrate is a sodium salt of a volatile short-chain fatty acid (butyric acid) used to prevent Salmonella Enteritidis infection in birds. Three groups of fifty 1-d-old broilers each were fed the following diets: T0 = standard broiler diet (control); T1 = standard broiler diet supplemented with 0.92 g/kg of an additive with free sodium butyrate (Gustor XXI B92); and T2 = standard broiler diet supplemented with 0.92 g/kg of an additive with sodium butyrate partially protected with vegetable fats (Gustor XXI BP70). Twenty percent of the birds were orally infected with Salmonella Enteritidis at d 5 posthatching and fecal Salmonella shedding was assessed at d 6, 9, 13, 20, 27, 34, and 41 of the trial. At d 42, all birds were slaughtered and 20 of them dissected: crop, cecum, liver, and spleen were sampled for bacteriological analyses. Both butyrate-based additives showed a significant reduction (P < 0.05) of Salmonella Enteritidis infection in birds from d 27 onward. However, the partially protected butyrate additive was more effective at the late phase of infection. Partially protected butyrate treatment successfully decreased infection not only in the crop and cecum but also in the liver. There were no differences in the spleen. These results suggest that sodium butyrate partially protected with vegetable fats offers a unique balance of free and protected active substances effective all along the gastrointestinal tract because it is slowly released during digestion.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a holistic view on e-learning-related concepts as a basis for an e-learning strategy. Furthermore, it aims to shed light on the level of application of existing open-source learning management systems (LMS) by the public and private universities of Cyprus. Due to a currently existing information gap in the field, the study should rather be seen as an exploratory descriptive snapshot to create initial awareness based on which further hypotheses can be derived for future studies. Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative research has been conducted in this study with an online questionnaire distributed to all the public and private universities in Cyprus. Findings – The conducted research analysis results clearly illustrate the comparisons among different features and services of an e-learning platform. Additionally, the analysis results highlighted the tendency of the participants toward a social learning environment which was considerably high in using social networks and other collaboration platforms, as students were more attracted to those e-learning platforms that integrate social learning elements such as various social media tools. Research limitations/implications – The only data collection method used was the online questionnaire. Even though it provided the researchers with sound and useful outcomes in a considerably short time, the validity of the results was not properly justified. The findings cannot claim to be representative. The main reason of selecting only one type of data collection method, i.e. questionnaire was the limited time of completing the research. Another significant limitation was the very low co-operation level of some of the universities under study which resulted in having less reliable results, as the response rates of some universities were merely 1 per cent. Originality/value – This research study provides a comprehensive body of knowledge about LMS and e-learning, in general, within the public and private universities in Cyprus. In other terms, the results of this study enhance the existing knowledge about the e-learning features as well as demonstrating the tendency of the students toward social learning within an LMS.

This study tests a new framework for capturing the different training needs required to become interculturally competent. Indications for the need for specialized training methods differentiated by target segments are provided. Many researchers have suggested that an overgeneralization of cultural differences within a proposed framework can lead to a gap between the skills being learned and the application of these skills in organizational practices. It has been also suggested that a “one‐size‐fits‐all” approach might not be effective, as various aspects of the training need to be tailored in order to fit the culture and the specific organization. Comparing the short‐term and long‐term benefits of various training options, a problem arises when an individual has learned to be competent within a particular cultural setting but, in fact, she or he is not able to transfer that knowledge and use it appropriately in another cultural setting. We used a questionnaire to test not only the dimension of intercultural competence but also the level of emotional intelligence, communication styles, and character traits and the degree of correlation of these concepts. We also compare low‐context and high‐context cultures as an attempt to distinguish different subcategories of different cultural trends and needs. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to focus on the development of a business failure prediction model on a sample of small and medium-sized firms with head offices located in the region of Castilla y León (Spain), in order to prove the significance of non-financial information on the prediction of business failure. Design/methodology/approach -In order to reach the authors' aim, one of the most used predictive statistical methods in this field (logistic regression) is applied, in which the authors consider financial ratios and non-financial information as potential variables to predict failure. But before developing the respective models, in order to reduce the number of variables, a principal components analysis (PCA) is first applied. Then, the achieved results with this analysis are used in the prediction step, so as to estimate the models. Findings -The results of the predictive method show that non-financial information, which becomes significant in the developed models, helps financial ratios to improve the ability to predict failure, so any business failure model should also consider both types of information to be accurate. Originality/value -Most of the developed business failure prediction models have used a paired sample with the same number of failed and non-failed firms, which has the drawback of not being representative of the population from which it is chosen. In order to obtain a representative sample, a random sampling method is applied, on the basis of the population size and composition. The selected sample assures that parameter estimates are not inconsistent and biased, as the statistical methods assume.