Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measuring reference price perceptions for new product categories: which measure is best?

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide guidance within the reference price literature by investigating which is the best measure of reference price for the, as yet, unstudied context of new product categories. The paper also intends to examine another reference price issue for the new product category context: whether greater price uncertainty in this context makes it worthwhile to measure consumer confidence in reference price perceptions.Design/methodology/approach – This research uses the experimental method to determine which measures of reference price are best suited to the new product context, by removing all other confounding influences.Findings – The findings confirm that consumers tend to evoke the fair price concept for new product categories and the expected price concept for existing categories. The paper also finds that confidence in reference price measures, while theoretically useful, does not add to the understanding of reference price effects in new product categories, probabl.
Hormone replacement therapy and cancer risk: A systematic analysis from a network of case‐control studies

To provide comprehensive and quantitative information on the benefits and risks of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) on several cancer sites, we systematically examined the relation between HRT use and the risk of various cancers in women aged 45–79 by using data from a framework of case‐control studies conducted in Italy between 1983 and 1999. The overall data set included the following incident, histologically confirmed neoplasms: oral cavity, pharynx, larynx and esophagus (n = 253), stomach (n = 258), colon (n = 886), rectum (n = 488), liver (n = 105), gallbladder (n = 31), pancreas (n = 122), breast (n = 4,713), endometrium (n = 704), ovary (n = 1,614), urinary bladder (n = 106), kidney (n = 102), thyroid (n = 65), Hodgkin's disease (n = 26), non‐Hodgkin's lymphomas (n = 145), multiple myeloma (n = 65) and sarcomas (n = 78). The control group comprised 6,976 women aged 45–79 years, admitted for a wide spectrum of acute, nonneoplastic conditions. Odds ratios (OR) and the corresponding 95% confidence intervals (CI) for use of HRT were derived from multiple logistic regression equations. There was an inverse association between ever use of HRT and colon (OR = 0.7), rectum (OR = 0.5) and liver cancer (OR = 0.2), with a consistent pattern of protection for duration of use. An excess risk was found for gallbladder (OR = 3.2), breast (OR = 1.1), endometrial (OR = 3.0) and urinary bladder cancer (OR = 2.0). These data from a southern European population add some useful information on the risk‐benefit assessment of HRT among postmenopausal women. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Family Firm Governance and Financial Policy Choices in Newly Public Firms

Manuscript Type. Empirical. Research Question/Issue. Using agency theory and socioemotional wealth perspective as the theoretical framework, we evaluate the extent to which financing choices subsequent to going public and their economic consequences differ for family firms relative to non‐family firms. Research Findings/Insights. Our results suggest that family firms maintain higher post‐IPO leverage and longer debt maturity structure relative to non‐family firms. Further, family firms raise less external capital subsequent to going public relative to non‐family firms. The reluctance of family firms to raise post‐IPO capital, however, results in higher investment sensitivity to internal cash flows and consequently inefficient investment. In addition, family firm financing choices differentially influence various facets of post‐IPO performance. Theoretical/Academic Implications. This study suggests that agency conflicts among firm stakeholders as well as socioemotional wealth considerations are important determinants of family firm financing behavior subsequent to going public. Further, ownership structure is an important determinant of the extent IPO firms capitalize on the opportunity to raise capital subsequent to going public to finance investments. Practitioner/Policy Implications. Our results offer insights to entrepreneurs, managers, venture capitalists, and other capital market participants with regard to the link between firm ownership structure and the economic benefits of going public.
Dexmedetomidine versus ketamine infusion to alleviate propofol injection pain: A prospective randomized and double-blind study

Background and Aims: The use of propofol as the most common induction agent and the high prevalence of propofol injection pain (PIP) highlight the significance of finding the ideal combination of drug, dosage and mode of administration of premedicants to alleviate PIP. A number of bolus drugs with variable efficacy have been studied to reduce PIP. The aim of our study was to assess the efficacy of single dose intravenous (IV) infusion of dexmedetomidine 0.5 μg/kg compared with ketamine 0.5 mg/kg to alleviate PIP. Methods: In this prospective, randomised and double-blind study, 108 patients undergoing elective surgeries under general anaesthesia were randomly allocated to two groups: Group D to receive dexmedetomidine 0.5μg/kg or Group K to receive ketamine 0.5 mg/kg in 20 ml of normal saline over 10 min. Immediately after the infusion, 1% propofol 2 mg/kg IV was injected over 25 s. The patients were assessed for pain every 5 s by asking the question ′does it hurt? ′ until the loss of consciousness. The pain scoring was done using McCririck and Hunter scale. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS 17.0. Results: The incidence of PIP and moderate-severe PIP was higher with Group D (79.6%; 16.7%) compared with Group K (40.7; 1.9%) (P < 0.001; 0.016). No patient in either group had arm withdrawal upon propofol injection. The incidence of hypertension and tachycardia was statistically significant in Group K as compared to Group D (P = 0.027). Conclusion: There was no difference in elimination of the arm withdrawal response and in incidence of moderate to severe PIP between the groups.
Superovulation and fertility in the pig

1. The effects of gonadotrophins administered during the follicular phase of the oestrous cycle were studied in forty gilts; these were purebred Large White or Large White crosses weighing from 200-275 lb. 2. Superovulation was induced by a subcutaneous injection of PMS; half of the animals received in addition an intramuscular injection of LH. 3. All animals which received gonadotrophins exhibited normal oestrous behaviour and only four of the gilts failed to come into oestrus by Day 21 of the cycle. 4. A relationship has been established between the PMS dose and the mean ovarian response. 5. An injection of LH was not essential for ovulation after treatment with PMS. Similarly, it had no significant effect on ovarian response. 6. Egg recovery was 75% in the group of animals that exhibited fertility. Of these eggs, 93% were fertilised and undergoing cleavage.
Characteristics of Common Stock Holdings of Insurance Companies

This article investigates the stock market portfolios of insurance company portfolio managers and compares the characteristics of their equity holdings with those of other (noninsurance) institutional equity portfolios. The main finding is that the cross-sectional determinants documented by earlier researchers for aggregate institutional ownership levels in firms do not have the same explanatory power for levels of ownership of insurance companies. On the other hand, these same firm characteristics have significantly high explanatory power regarding the decision of insurance companies to invest in a firm.
Developing culturally sensitive cancer genetics communication aids for African Americans

The goal of this project was to develop educational materials to communicate genetic health information in a culturally sensitive manner. These materials were designed to communicate information about cancer risk, genetic testing options, and health management options in an African American kindred with a known BRCA1 mutation. Educational materials were pilot‐tested in four African American focus groups varying in socioeconomic status and gender. The audiotaped focus groups consisted of presentation of the educational materials, followed by a feedback session led by an African American facilitator. Qualitative analysis of the focus group transcripts identified important themes and the educational materials were revised in response to the participants' suggestions. The products included a booklet and a flip chart for use in educational sessions. Focus group participants recommended a substantial reduction in technical detail, and recommended that information be personalized and made relevant to the lives of the target population. Other critical themes included the importance of building trust in the medical system and avoiding words and images that have strong negative associations in the African American community. Strategies that were successful included nontechnical images to explain genetic concepts, clip art images to energize and personalize word slides, vibrant color, identifiably African American figures, and the development of themes relevant to many African Americans. The use of these materials in an ongoing study offering BRCA1 counseling and testing to a large, rural Louisiana‐based kindred will provide additional feedback about the effectiveness of the culturally tailored genetic education and counseling materials. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
How Customer Experience Affects the Customer-Based Brand Equity for Tourism Destinations

ABSTRACT In this study we examine the impact of customer experience (CE) on customer-based brand equity (CBBE) for tourism destinations. Breaking down CE into the constituents of service performance, word-of-mouth(WOM), and advertising, we use a structural equation model to test survey data gathered from Mainland Chinese outbound tourists. We found that destination service performance (DSP) has the most significant impact on destination brand equity, followed by WOM. Advertising does not show a significant effect. This study also confirms the structure of destination brand equity. Based on results, this study offers some managerial insights into the effective building of destination brand equity.
Empirically assessing the impact of BPR on manufacturing firms

Business process re‐engineering(BPR) has been touted by many as dramatic improvements become necessary for organizations to improve competitiveness and remain strong participants in economic development. While as a concept BPR is like “motherhood and apple pie”, in practice there are many unsuccessful cases. Aims to identify and rate the importance of factors proposed as important for successfully implementing BPR projects in organizations, the extent to which various problems and benefits are being encountered, the extent to which proposed BPR objectives are being included in project plans and are actually being derived, and the impact of BPR projects on specific business processes and on the organization as a whole. Tests several basic hypotheses regarding the BPR implementation process, and makes recommendations for managers to focus attention and resources on factors important to success, and to proceed in a fashion which minimizes the risk of failure.
Unsupervised-Learning-Based Feature-Level Fusion Method for Mura Defect Recognition

Mura defect recognition has long been a challenging task in displays, such as the liquid-crystal display (LCD), organic light-emitting diode display and polymer light-emitting diode display. In this paper, we propose an unsupervised-learning-based feature-level fusion approach for mura defect recognition. The approach is known as a joint-feature-representation-based defect recognition framework method. This method concentrates on obtaining effective and sufficient features for mura defects by fusing handcrafted and unsupervised-learned features in a complementary manner. To demonstrate the performance, several experiments are carried out to compare this method with some widely used feature extraction approaches. Experimental results show that the proposed method is more robust and accurate. They also indicate that it is compatible with different unsupervised-learning-based algorithms and handcrafted feature descriptors. Finally, the proposed method is implemented in the vision inspection equipment for recognizing mura defects in thin-film-transistor-LCD panels. It exhibits high robustness and improves the recognition performance by nearly 20% compared with the traditional handcrafted feature descriptors.
Measuring Diversity on the Supreme Court with Biodiversity Statistics

This article aims to accomplish two goals. The first is to introduce some of the more common statistical measures of biodiversity to the empirical study of law. The second is to measure the diversity of background on the current Supreme Court using diversity indices commonly used in ecology. We treat the Supreme Court as if it is an ecosystem, and life experiences and traits as if they are different species, and ask whether diversity in seven categories (race/ethnicity, religion, professional background, geographic background, economic background, education, and political party) has grown or shrunk over time. We then combine these categories to create a single overall diversity measure. The results demonstrate that although the current Supreme Court is more diverse overall than the long‐term historical average, there has been a recent downward trend in overall diversity, driven by decreases in diversity of educational background, geographic background, and, to a lesser extent, religious diversity. However, diversity of professional background and of childhood economic background has remained high in recent years, and racial diversity has increased greatly.
Low oxygen tension alleviates oxidative damage and delays cellular senescence in G6PD-deficient cells

Previous studies have shown that glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD)-deficient cells are under increased oxidative stress and undergo premature cellular senescence. The present study demonstrates that G6PD-deficient cells cultured under 3% oxygen concentration had an extended replicative lifespan, as compared with those cultured under atmospheric oxygen level. This was accompanied by a reduction in the number of senescence-associated β-galactosidase (SA-β-Gal) positive and morphologically senile cells at comparable population doubling levels (PDL). Concomitant with the extension of lifespan was decreased production of reactive oxygen species. Additionally, lifespan extension was paralleled by the greatly abated formation of such oxidative damage markers as 8-hydroxy-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) as well as the oxidized and cross-linked proteins. Moreover, the mitochondrial mass increased, but the mitochondrial membrane potential ΔΨm decreased in cells upon serial propagation. These changes were inhibited by lowering the oxygen tension. Our findings provide additional support to the notion that oxidative damage contributes to replicative senescence of G6PD-deficient cells and reduction of oxidative damage by lowering oxygen tension can delay the onset of cellular senescence.
Customer Concentration Risk and the Cost of Equity Capital

This study investigates the relation between customer concentration and a supplier׳s cost of equity capital. We hypothesize that a more concentrated customer base increases a supplier׳s risk, which results in a higher cost of equity. Our results show a positive association between customer concentration and a supplier׳s cost of equity, and this relation is more pronounced for suppliers that are more likely to lose major customers or that are more prone to larger losses if they lose such customers. Further, results from a propensity score matched sample analysis and instrumental variables regressions imply that our findings are robust to accounting for endogeneity. We also provide evidence that a supplier with a concentrated base of safer government customers has a lower cost of equity. Finally, we document a positive relation between corporate customer concentration and a supplier’s cost of debt. Overall, our findings suggest that the composition and concentration of a supplier’s customer base significantly impact its financing costs.
Patience , Turnout , and Political Opportunity Structure

Why do people vote? A rational voter must overcome her immediate cost of voting, while the expected policy outcome will not be realized in the near future. Indeed, recent studies find a positive correlation between turnout and patience, an important personality trait which is pivotal to a wide range of behaviors. However, I argue that the effect of patience on turnout should be contingent on the political opportunity structure. Patience would increase turnout only if the voter perceived that the future policy outcome would be different depending on the election result. This hypothesis is supported by the cross-sectional 2014 Comparative Congressional Election Survey. Furthermore, a survey experiment through Amazon MTurk including a newly-proposed treatment was implemented to manipulate the level of patience and examine the causal relationship between patience and turnout. The experimental result shows that a voter who was treated to increase her patience will instead decrease the voting intention if she sees no difference between the two major parties, but increase if the perceived ideological difference is large enough. Hence, patience is a political virtue not simply because it increases turnout, but because it increases people’s responsiveness to the political opportunity structure.
Organic Carbon-14 in the Amazon River System

Coarse and fine suspended particulate organic materials and dissolved humic and fulvic acids transported by the Amazon River all contain bomb-produced carbon-14, indicating relatively rapid turnover of the parent carbon pools. However, the carbon-14 contents of these coexisting carbon forms are measurably different and may reflect varying degrees of retention by soils in the drainage basin.
Factors affecting the nature and effectiveness of subjective revision in sales forecasting: An empirical study

Recent empirical results have indicated that sales forecasts obtained from a quantitative model can be improved through subjective revision undertaken by management. This study seeks to determine the extent to which the improvement in forecast performance is dependent upon the individual revising the forecast rather than the specific product under consideration. As any improvement in the forecast is a direct consequence of the adjustment effected, differences in the nature of revision among the individuals concerned and between different types of product are also examined. The results reveal no statistically significant differences between the managers involved in revision activity in terms of their ability to improve the forecast; on the other hand, significant differences in the number of forecasts improved were found between different types of product. As far as the nature of subjective revision is concerned, the results show a significant variation both between different types of product and between managers. Further, the improvement in forecast performance obtained through revision was found to be positively related to the relative size of the adjustment applied.
Evidence on Relationships among Alternative Measures of Concentration: A Tool for Analysis of LDC Inequality

The evidence on economic inequality in nearly all developing countries is both seriously incomplete and of moderate to poor quality. In addition, information often corresponds to distributions which appear to be less revealing and useful than other ones; thus it can be argued that the frequently available distribution of income among households ranked by household income is less helpful than the seldom found distribution of consumption among persons ranked by per capita household consumption. Whether one's objective is to assess inequality in some absolute sense or (especially) to make comparisons across countries or evaluate trends over time, it is useful to know whether systematic relationships exist among various measures of inequality, in particular between those most commonly available and those conceptually most interesting. Illustrative comparisons of a variety of inequality indicators are presented. They suggest that in developing countries the concentration of income among persons (assuming equal distribution within the family) does not differ much from the concentration among households. They also suggest that the concentration of consumption is somewhat less unequal than that of income, the ratio of the respective Gini coefficients tending to cluster around 0.85 to 0.90.
Reflections from the riot zone: The Fair Go Project and student engagement in a besieged community

This article describes and evaluates a pedagogical intervention aimed at improving student engagement in a very disadvantaged and low socio-economic status community in Australia. The intervention took place at a time of great community unrest and provides a contrast between wider public and media perceptions of poor communities and efforts at community renewal through education. A theoretical framework of student engagement developed in a research project into student engagement and students in poverty is introduced and then classroom changes that work within this framing are discussed. Finally, data showing results from the intervention are presented.
Organizational structure, support mechanism, and commercialization performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of organizational structure (OS) of innovation teams and the external support mechanism on the commercialization of a small‐ and medium‐sized new venture.Design/methodology/approach – Taking the perspective of inter‐organizational cooperation, this paper tries to adopt complementary view of transaction cost economics and resource dependency theory and employ enterprises in incubation centers in Taiwan as the empirical subjects. More specifically, this paper analyzes how organization structure (formalization, decentralization, specialization, and socialization) and the support mechanism (technology support, management training, administrative support, and commercial support) affect commercialization as well as the interactive effectiveness of organization structure and support mechanism for new ventures in incubation centers.Findings – Based on the results of the empirical investigation of enterprises in incubation centers, three conclusio.
Technological knowledge, spillover and productivity: evidence from Taiwanese firm level panel data

Using a panel data on Taiwanese manufacturing firms from 1990–1997, this study investigates the relationship among technological knowledge, spillover and productivity. In addition to R&D stock, we also employ patent counts to construct the output-side indicators of knowledge and spillover to explore the relationship between knowledge and productivity. We find a very significant contribution of R&D, patents and spillover stock to productivity. In addition, the magnitude of the patent stock coefficient is substantially larger than that estimated by R&D stock. Our results imply that innovative activity investment has been very productive in increasing output for Taiwanese manufacturing firms in the 1990s.