Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Political Marketing: Structure and Process

Suggests that political campaigners are faced with marketing problems and opportunities. Acknowledges the increasing professional marketing activity in political campaigns. Examines the similarities and differences between elections and other marketplaces. In considering marketing in the political/electoral context, upholds the convention of examining the distinctive marketing features of the “industry”, and drawing out the management implications of these. Presents a model of political marketing in terms of structural and process characteristics. Structural characteristics include the nature of the product, the organization and the market; outlines the marketing management implications of these. Process characteristics are concerned with the procedures and systems which govern marketing activity and their implications; briefly proposes appropriate strategic responses for each.
A Conserved Glutamate Residue in Transmembrane Helix 10 Influences Substrate Specificity of Rabbit OCT2 (SLC22A2)*

OCT1 and OCT2 are involved in renal secretion of cationic drugs. Although they have similar selectivity for some substrates (e.g. tetraethylammonium (TEA)), they have distinct selectivities for others (e.g. cimetidine). We postulated that “homolog-specific residues,” i.e. the 24 residues that are conserved in OCT1 orthologs as one amino acid and in OCT2 as a different one, influence homolog-specific selectivity and examined the influence on substrate binding of three of these conserved residues that are found in the C-terminal half of the rabbit orthologs of OCT1/2. The N353L and R403I substitutions (OCT2 to OCT1) did not significantly change the properties of OCT2. However, the E447Q replacement shifted substrate selectivity toward an OCT1-like phenotype. Substitution of glutamate with cationic amino acids (E447K and E447R) abolished transport activity, and the E447L mutant displayed markedly reduced transport of TEA and cimetidine while retaining transport of 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium. In a novel homology model of the three-dimensional structure of OCT2, Glu447 was found in a putative docking region within a hydrophilic cleft of the protein. In addition, six residues identified in separate studies as exerting significant effects on OCT binding were also found within the putative cleft region. There was a significant correlation (r2 = 0.82) between the IC50 values for inhibition of TEA transport by 14 different compounds and their calculated KD values for binding to the model of rabbit OCT2. The results suggest that homology modeling offers an opportunity to direct future site-directed studies of OCT/substrate interaction.
Concurrent Renting and Selling in a Durable-Goods Monopoly Under Threat of Entry

This article analyzes the choice of contract (sales or rental) of a durable-goods monopolist facing a threat of future entry. Although in the absence of such a threat a monopolist would prefer to rent his entire output, we show that the threat of entry alters that preference. There is an optimal preentry contract mix, involving both rental and sales. If both firms behave as Cournot duopolists after entry, the optimal choice of preentry contracts enables the erstwhile monopolist to gain the same profits as he would if he behaved as a von Stackelberg leader.
Segmenting the Vacation Market by Novelty-Seeking Role

Segmenting the Alaska vacation market using novelty-seeking roles resulted in both theoretical and managerial insights. The three novelty-motivated segments differed with respect to travel-group characteristics, behaviors, and attitudes. The results indicated that Cohen's tourist role typology, the social group concept, and Clawson and Knetsch'sfive stage model of the travel experience furnish useful constructs for formulating models of tourism behavior. The segmentation model also yielded actionable information for tourism marketers.
Structural Properties of Silkworm Small Heat-Shock Proteins: sHSP19.9 and sHSP20.8

sHSP20.8 and sHSP19.9 are silkworm small-heat shock proteins (sHSPs) comprising a number of polypeptides of molecular sizes of several tens of kilodaltons as subunits. The structural properties of sHSPs were investigated. sHSP19.9 was found to be aggregated by itself during incubation at 60 °C. Aggregation was suppressed in the presence of dithiothreitol and at high ionic strength. In contrast, sHSP20.8 was not aggregated. Aggregation of sHSP19.9 was partially suppressed by sHSP20.8 and in the presence of catalase as a target protein. Based on changes in small-angle X-ray scattering, it is possible that the molecular size of sHSP19.9 is larger than that of sHSP20.8, and that their molecular sizes increase with increasing temperature in a reversible, biphasic manner. sHSPs did not protect catalase from thermal inactivation, but protected it from precipitation by forming a soluble complex. sHSP20.8 and sHSP19.9 with dithiothreitol were stable against lyophilization, autoclaving at 120 °C, and boiling.
A Core Physical Exam for Medical Students: Results of a National Survey

Purpose Medical students are traditionally taught the physical exam as a comprehensive battery of maneuvers, yet they express uncertainty about which maneuvers are “core” and should be performed routinely on patients and which ones should be performed only when clinically indicated. The authors sought to determine whether educator consensus existed on the concept and the specifics of a core physical exam for students. Method The authors developed a 45-maneuver core physical exam to be performed by a medicine clerkship student on every newly admitted patient, with the expectation that it would be supplemented by clinically indicated additional maneuvers. From 2011 to 2012 they sent surveys to physical diagnosis course directors (PDCDs) and internal medicine clerkship directors (IMCDs) from all 132 U.S. allopathic medical schools to determine the extent of their agreement with the proposed 45 maneuvers and their opinions about the concept of a core exam. Results Seventy-one percent (94/132) of PDCDs and 63% (83/132) of IMCDs responded to the survey. In total, 84% (111/132) of all schools surveyed were represented by either their PDCD or IMCD. Of the 45 proposed maneuvers, 37 were deemed “core” by a majority of respondents. The majority of IMCDs preferred a slightly leaner 37-maneuver core exam than the majority of PDCDs, who voted for 41 maneuvers. Conclusions Among PDCDs and IMCDs, there was openness to teaching medical students a streamlined core physical exam to which other maneuvers are added as clinically indicated. These educators closely agreed on the maneuvers this core exam should include.
The intellectual capital multiple: a new tool for relative valuation of a firm - theoretical presentation and empirical application to Italian companies

This paper proposes a new multiple, based on intellectual capital, as a new tool for relative valuation of a firm. The intellectual capital multiple (ICM), also disaggregated in three multiples, based on the intellectual capital components (human, structural and relational capital), can be added to the traditional financial-based multiples (e.g., price/earnings, EV/EBITDA, EV/sales, etc.) to improve the techniques of valuation based on the so-called comparables. An empirical analysis on a sample of firms listed in the Italian Stock Exchange has been carried out to validate the new method, by comparing the intellectual capital-based multiples with the traditional financial-based enterprise multiples. Findings show that, especially in certain sectors mainly characterised by a high use of intellectual capital resources (software and telecommunications), ICMs can be considered as valid and reliable. The ICMs can lead researchers and practitioners towards discovering a new 'intangible' valuation tool to be placed alongside 'tangible' valuation methods.
A structural model of supply chain management on firm performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationships among supply chain management (SCM) practices and their impacts on firm financial and non‐financial performance. This paper contributes to SCM literature by exploring a structural model connecting the relationships among external customer‐firm‐supplier integration, internal SCM contextual factors, and various dimensions of firm performance.Design/methodology/approach – In order to understand the interactions between SCM practices and firm performance, this paper considers four internal contextual factors, namely: human resource management, quality data and reporting, design management, and process management. Three levels of firm performance are also examined in this paper, including internal operational performance, external customer satisfaction, and firm financial performance. A structural model was further constructed by integrating external SCM, internal SCM contextual factors, and firm performance. The sample data were collected fro.
Do Menstrual Hygiene Management Interventions Improve Education and Psychosocial Outcomes for Women and Girls in Low and Middle Income Countries? A Systematic Review

Background Unhygienic and ineffective menstrual hygiene management has been documented across low resource contexts and linked to negative consequences for women and girls. Objectives To summarise and critically appraise evidence for the effectiveness of menstruation management interventions in improving women and girls’ education, work and psychosocial wellbeing in low and middle income countries. Methods Structured systematic searches were conducted in peer-reviewed and grey literature to identify studies evaluating education and resource provision interventions for menstruation management. Individual and cluster randomised controlled trials were eligible for inclusion, as were non-randomised controlled trials. Study characteristics, outcomes and risk of bias were extracted using a piloted form. Risk of bias was independently assessed by two researchers. Results Eight studies described in ten citations were eligible for inclusion. Studies were highly heterogeneous in design and context. Six included assessment of education-only interventions, and three provided assessment of the provision of different types of sanitary products (menstrual cups, disposable sanitary pads, and reusable sanitary pads). A moderate but non-significant standardised mean difference was found for the two studies assessing the impact of sanitary pad provision on school attendance: 0.49 (95%CI -0.13, 1.11). Included studies were heterogeneous with considerable risk of bias. Trials of education interventions reported positive impacts on menstrual knowledge and practices, however, many studies failed to assess other relevant outcomes. No trials assessed or reported harms. Conclusions There is insufficient evidence to establish the effectiveness of menstruation management interventions, although current results are promising. Eight trials have been conducted, but a high risk of bias was found and clinical heterogeneity precluded synthesis of most results. Whilst trials provided some indication of positive results, further research is needed to establish the role of menstruation hygiene management in education performance, employment and other psychosocial outcomes. This review provides a concise summary of present trials and highlights improvements for future work.
The Impact of Financial Liberalization on Stock Price Volatility in Emerging Markets

Is financial market liberalization, i.e., increased accessibility for international investors, in emerging economies a conduit to greater stock price volatility? If so, capital controls may be a useful policy option. Using daily returns for 10 emerging markets coupled with a world index, we find that South Korea, Mexico, and Turkey suffered from greater volatility, Argentina, Chile, Malaysia, and the Philippines experienced diminished volatility, and no definitive pattern can be discerned for the other countries after market liberalization. Our result is important because our sample period includes the Asian financial crises.J. Comp. Econom. , June 2000, 28(2), pp. 321–339. National Chung-Cheng University, Chia-Yi, Taiwan 621; Clarion University of Pennsylvania, Clarion, Pennsylvania 16214-1232.
Current Account Deficits in Rich Countries

Current account imbalances have increased steadily in rich countries over the past 20 years. While the U.S. current account deficit dominates the numbers and the news, other countries, especially within the euro area, are also running large deficits. These deficits are different from the Latin American deficits of the early 1980s, or the Mexican deficit of the early 1990s. They involve rich countries; they reflect mostly private saving and investment decisions, and fiscal deficits often play a marginal role; and the deficits are financed mostly through equity, FDI foreign direct investment, and own-currency bonds rather than through bank lending. Yet there appears to be a widely shared concern that these deficits are too large, and government intervention is required. My purpose is to examine the logic of this argument. I ask the following question: Assume that deficits reflect private saving and investment decisions. Assume also that people and firms have rational expectations. Should the government intervene, and, if so, how? To answer the question, I construct a simple benchmark. In the benchmark, the outcome is “first best” and there is no need nor justification for government intervention. I then introduce simple distortions in either goods, labor, or financial markets, and characterize the equilibrium in each case. I derive optimal policy and the implications for the current account. I show that optimal policy may or may not lead to smaller current account deficits. I see the model and the extensions very much as a first pass. Sharper conclusions require a better understanding of the exact nature and the extent of distortions, which we do not have yet. Such understanding is needed, however, to improve the quality of the current debate.
Incidence and Predictors of Complications and Mortality in Cerebrovascular Surgery: National Trends From 2007 to 2012.

BACKGROUND Cerebrovascular surgery offers potentially lifesaving treatments for intracranial vascular pathology yet bears substantial risks in the form of perioperative complications and mortality. OBJECTIVE To better characterize the risks associated with cerebrovascular surgery by broadly investigating the incidence of complications, patient-level predictors of complications, and mortality using the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database, a prospective, audited, national data set. METHODS All cerebrovascular cases were extracted from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program with the use of Current Procedural Terminology codes. Complication and mortality rates were analyzed with univariate and multivariate statistical analyses. RESULTS A total of 1141 cases were analyzed. The rate of complications was nearly twice that of previous estimates: Almost one-third of patients (30.9%) experienced at least 1 complication, which was significantly associated with 30-day mortality (odds ratio, 7.76; 95% confidence interval, 4.27-14.10; P < .001). Emergency surgery was associated with higher mortality rates (15.1%) than nonemergency procedures (2.3%). Significant predictors of complications included preoperative ventilator dependence, emergency surgery, bleeding disorders, diabetes mellitus, and alcohol abuse. Significant predictors of mortality included postoperative coma >24 hours, preoperative or postoperative ventilator dependence, black or Asian race, and stroke. The most common complications were ventilator dependence (64.5% in patients ventilated preoperatively, 8.4% in patients not ventilated preoperatively), bleeding requiring transfusion (10.2%), reoperation within 30 days (9.6%), pneumonia (7.3%), and stroke (7.3%). CONCLUSION Cerebrovascular surgery is associated with significant risks of morbidity and mortality. Mitigation of these risks requires broader, patient-centered understanding of risk factors and complications specific to cerebrovascular surgery, as presented in this article. These findings pave the way for improving patient safety and outcomes in cerebrovascular surgery. ABBREVIATIONS AVM, arteriovenous malformationCI, confidence intervalNSQIP, National Surgical Quality Improvement ProjectOR, odds ratio.
Diagnosis of viability in early pregnancy with vaginal sonography.

The detection rate of embryonic heart action using vaginal sonography was evaluated in 363 normal singleton pregnancies in the first trimester. Visible cardiac activity was present at the earliest at a gestational age of 40 days; in addition, the smallest chorionic cavity had a mean diameter of 9.3 mm, the lowest human chorionic gonadotropin (beta‐hCG) concentration (calibrated against the first international reference preparation) measured 6,770 mIU/mL, the thinnest trophoblast was 1 mm, and the shortest crown‐rump length was 2 mm. Cardiac pulsations were identified in all cases either at a menstrual age greater than or equal to 46 days, a beta‐hCG greater than or equal to 47,171 mIU/mL, a mean chorionic cavity diameter greater than or equal to 18.3 mm, or a trophoblast thickness greater than or equal to 5 mm. The heart rate (mean +/‐ SD) increased from 110 +/‐ 8 beats per minute (bpm) at 5 weeks menstrual age to 170 +/‐ 6 bpm at 9 weeks and declined thereafter to 159 +/‐ 3 bpm at 13 weeks. Vaginal sonography enables a rapid and reliable assessment of embryonic life in early pregnancy.
On the integration of the Internet into informal science communication

The present analysis looks at how scientists use the Internet for informal scientific communication. It investigates the relationship between several explanatory variables and Internet use for social communication, information retrieval and information dissemination in a cross-section of scientists from seven European countries and five academic disciplines (astronomy, chemistry, computer science, economics, and psychology). The analysis confirmed some of the results of previous US-based analyses. In particular, it corroborated a positive relationship between scientific productivity and Internet use. Furthermore, the relationship was found to be non-linear, with very productive (non-productive) scientists using the Internet less (more) than would be expected according to their productivity. Also, being involved in collaborative R&D and having large networks of collaborators is associated with increased Internet use, again with a non-linear relationship for the latter variable. In contrast to older studies, the analysis did not find an equalizing effect of higher Internet use rates for potentially disadvantaged researchers. Obviously, everybody who wants to stay at the forefront of research and keep up-to-date with developments in their research fields has to use the Internet. This also applies to renowned academics who are very well integrated into invisible colleges, and to social scientists – in our analysis economists and psychologists – who do not have lower usage rates than their peers from the natural sciences when it comes to the most common tools such as e-mail and the World Wide Web.
Employing Raman spectroscopy to qualitatively evaluate the purity of carbon single-wall nanotube materials.

Carbon single-wall nanotubes (SWNTs) have highly unique electronic, mechanical and adsorption properties, making them interesting for a variety of applications. Raman spectroscopy has been demonstrated to be one of the most important methods for characterizing SWNTs. For example, Raman spectroscopy may be employed to differentiate between metallic and semi-conducting nanotubes, and may also be employed to determine SWNT diameters and even the nanotube chirality. Single-wall carbon nanotubes are generated in a variety of ways, including arc-discharge, laser vaporization and various chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques. In all of these methods, a metal catalyst must be employed to observe SWNT formation. Also, all of the current synthesis techniques generate various non-nanotube carbon impurities, including amorphous carbon, fullerenes, multi-wall nanotubes (MWNTs) and nano-crystalline graphite, as well as larger micro-sized particles of graphite. For any of the potential nanotube applications to be realized, it is, therefore, necessary that purification techniques resulting in the recovery of predominantly SWNTs at high-yields be developed. It is, of course, equally important that a method for determining nanotube wt. % purity levels be developed and standardized. Moreover, a rapid method for qualitatively measuring nanotube purity could facilitate many laboratory research efforts. This review article discusses the application of Raman spectroscopy to rapidly determine if large quantities of carbon impurities are present in nanotube materials. Raman spectra of crude SWNT materials reveal tangential bands between 1500-1600 cm(-1), as well as a broad band at approximately 1350 cm(-1), attributed to a convolution of the disorder-induced band (D-band) of carbon impurities and the D-band of the SWNTs themselves. Since the full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) intensity of the various carbon impurity D-bands is generally much broader than that of the nanotube D-band, an indication of the SWNT purity level may be obtained by simply examining the line-width of the D-band. We also briefly discuss the effect of nanotube bundling on SWNT Raman spectra. Finally, sections on employing Raman spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy coupled with additional techniques, to identify the separation and possible isolation of a specific nanotube within purified SWNT materials is provided. Every SWNT can be considered to be a unique molecule, with different physical properties, depending on its (n, m) indices. The production of phase-pure (n, m) SWNTs may be essential for some nanotube applications.
A critique on accounting for the mudarabah contract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the accounting treatment for mudarabah contract and its implications on the reliability and fairness of the financial statements. In addition, the paper also aims to explore the effect of provisions and reserves on profit allocation among unrestricted investment account holders (UIAHS). Design/methodology/approach – This study reviews the accounting treatment for mudarabah contract as stated in the Accounting Standards for Islamic Financial Institutions issued by the AAOIFI and compares it with other financial reporting frameworks, especially the IFRS.Findings – The paper finds that presenting UIAHS in a separate category in the financial position statement (balance sheet), without reclassifying the assets in the financial position statement to reflect the assets attributable to UIAHS, suggests undue bias in the financial statements. This contradicts the concepts of full disclosure and true and fair view of the financial statements. The paper also reveals t.