Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Relationships Among Gender, Strategic Capabilities, and Performance of Small Retail Firms in Ghana

The study examines the direct and indirect effects of gender on business strategies, firm resources, business owners' skills, and performance of small firms in Ghana. Small businesses comprise about 90% of all enterprises and are recognized as a crucial and integral component of economic development aimed at sustained poverty reduction in Ghana. The ability of these firms to contribute to economic development is influenced by their business strategies, determined by the firm's resources and owner-manager's business skills. Structured questionnaires from 600 owner-managers of small retail shops in the Accra Metropolitan area were analyzed. Structural equation modeling using partial least-squares was used to examine the relationships between gender, business strategies, firm resources, business owners' skills, and performance. Results show that the gender of the owner-managers has a direct influence on business performance, resources, and skills; a partial influence on business strategies; and an indirect influence on performance through business strategies. The findings suggest that assistance programs aimed at addressing business performance should target gender differences to enhance women business owners' strategies, resources, and skills.
HEMODYNAMIC EFFECT OF INDIUM CHLORIDE IN PREGNANT RATS

Daily indium chloride doses of control (0) or 200 mg/kg were administered orally to pregnant Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats by gavage, on d 6-15 of gestation. On d 16 of gestation hemodynamic tests were performed; Arterial blood pressure, cardiac output (CO), and volume organ blood flow were determined with radioactive microspheres using the reference sample method (McDevitt & Nies, 1976). Indium chloride increased the cardiac index (CI), but did not change arterial blood pressure and total peripheral resistance (TPR). Indium decreased the organ fractions of the cardiac output to kidneys, ovaries, uterus, and placenta, while those to brain, lungs, and liver were not affected. In the placenta the blood flow was reduced significantly while the vascular resistance increased. The blood flow and vascular resistance did not change in the rest of the organs studied. The changes in arterial blood pressure, CO, CI, TPR, organ fraction of cardiac output, blood flow, and vascular resistance in most of the organs displayed normal responsiveness to noradrenaline (NA) infusion. The reduction of uterine and placenta fractions and placental blood flow, produced by NA infusion were significantly greater in control than in the indium-treated group. Data indicate that the hemodynamic changes induced by indium are detrimental to the fetus. Indium chloride exposure modifies the maternal effect of noradrenaline such that there is maternal survival at the expense of fetal mortality.
Re‐negotiating and re‐affirming in cross‐border marketing processes: a learning‐based conceptual model and research propositions

Relationship marketing is the paradigm which is currently seen to offer insight into the internationalising process. This paper takes these concepts and links them together with notions of culture and learning in novel ways. The knowledge impacts of national and corporate culture need to be understood in the international exchange processes at the heart of cross‐border/cultural marketing. Relationship creation can then be incorporated into organisational learning so that the organisation learns, understands and develops a memory. These processes are here combined into a conceptual learning‐based model of cross‐cultural marketing.
Employment Status and Commitment to Work in Professions

The main question in the article is to what degree underemployed and overemployed professionals are committed to the profession and the organization which employs them. Ten professional groups are included in the study and more than one in four respondents are either underemployed or overemployed. The results show that overemployment affects commitment to the profession and the organization negatively. Unexpectedly, underemployed professionals do not report weaker commitment either to the profession or to the organization compared to colleagues who work an equal but preferred number of hours.
Presentation of Other Comprehensive Income: Is There a Relationship with the Total Amount, the Sign and the Volatility of Such Accounting Items?

The paper analyzes the ways of reporting other comprehensive income (OCI) and their relationships with three different variables, i.e. the volatility, the sign and the total amount of such accounting items. In order to investigate the reasons of such relationships, the study considers the final annual financial statements approved for the accounting periods from 2009 (i.e. the first year in which the 2007 revision of IAS 1 was applied) to 2012 by Italian companies which are required to apply the International Financial Reporting Standards and to follow their updates since 2005. The choice of this specific sample is due to the willingness of verifying the ways of departing from a strong Italian accounting traditional culture which does not consider other comprehensive income (OCI items have never been mentioned by Italian civil code and have not been included in Italian financial reporting). Some preliminary results emphasize the relevance of OCI items. In each accounting period, the majority of the analyzed financial statements show a significant impact of OCI on net income (each amount in absolute value) over a materiality threshold of 10%. In some years also the difference between ROE measured with net income (NI) and ROE measured with comprehensive income (CI) is statistically significant. It demonstrates that the prominence of OCI in evaluating firmsO performance potentially should not be ignored. Moreover, the median of changes in OCI is greater than the one of changes in net income, showing that OCI is more volatile than NI. After such preliminary analysis, a logistic analysis has been implemented by considering the above-mentioned variables. Such study brings some important results confirming the significance of the relations between the ways of reporting other comprehensive income and both the sign and the total amount of such accounting items. The analysis has been implemented by using also different versions of the dependent variable in order to investigate the impact of the OCI presentation in two statements which are positioned in two different (i.e. following) pages. So, while the predominance in the use of two statements for OCI presentation shows the willingness to emphasize the traditional profit or loss section and may be related to the influence of a strong Italian accounting traditional culture, the reasons of the use of two different pages for such presentation may represent the signal of Oaccounts managementO.
New way to raise the V-Y advancement flap for reconstruction of the lower lip: Bipedicled orbicularis oris musculocutaneous flap technique

Abstract We describe a new way to raise the V-Y advancement flap, which is useful for reconstruction of the lower lip. Various other methods have been reported in the past, but it has been necessary to choose the most suitable method for each particular case. A V-Y advancement flap from the submandibular region is one of the useful techniques to reconstruct the lower lip, and it is suitable for a wide horizontal defect. However, the conventional V-Y flap is insufficiently mobile and the reconstructed vermilion is thin because of the limitation of the pedicle. In such a case, the reconstructed lip may sag or cause an embarrassing defect. We developed a new way to raise the flap to obviate these problems. We use the V-Y advancement flap from the inferior margin of the defect in a conventional way after excision of the tumour, and use a mucosal flap to reconstruct the vermilion border. The skin side of the V-Y flap is undermined, and the orbicularis oris muscles are preserved on both sides as pedicles. The flap is then raised as a bipedicled musculocutaneous flap, which has adequate movement. After the flap has been sutured, the superior margin of the flap is de-epithelialised, and used to create the volume of the vermilion border. Functionally and cosmetically good results were achieved.
The Organizational Pervasiveness of Entrepreneurial Orientation

While 30 years of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) research has demonstrated that EO provides critical insights into questions of organizational–level strategy and performance, how EO manifests inside organizations has received little attention. Instead of assuming that EO is homogenous, we examine the questions of how and why EO might pervade organizations heterogeneously along three dimensions: vertically across hierarchy levels, horizontally across business units, and temporally as an organization develops. We then present three models for how EO can dynamically pervade organizations and discuss how examining the pervasiveness of EO can further our understanding of entrepreneurship as an organizational phenomenon.
Exploratory Study on Selected Philippine Agricultural Commodity Import Statistics vis-à-vis Export Statistics of the Exporting Countries

Using the import data compiled by the Philippines and comparing these with data as reported by the exporting countries, this study aims to determine the disparity of the statistics from the two sources on the quantity and value of selected agricultural commodities for the years 2000 to 2005. The products covered by this study consist of wholly or semi-milled rice, maize (corn), live poultry, domestic fowls, ducks, geese, frozen meat of bovine animals, apples, oranges, onions and shallots, and garlic. The differences in statistics on the bilateral transactions (in terms of FOB values, quantities, and derived unit prices) are examined by using percentage differences, the implicit minimal measurement error (IMME), and the Wilcoxon Matched-Pair Signed-Ranks (Wilcoxon-MPSR) test. Results show that considerable discrepancies between import and export statistics do exist. The discrepancy may reflect both legitimate conceptual differences between Philippine imports and exports statistics of the exporting countries, as well as errors in reporting. The discrepancy is further substantiated by the results of the Wilcoxon-MPSR test, which show that these differences are significant.
Association between serum uric acid levels and cardiometabolic risk factors among Japanese junior high school students.

BACKGROUND The present study was designed to examine whether serum uric acid (SUA) levels were associated with cardiometabolic risk factors and to determine optimal cut-offs for SUA to identify multiple risk factors among Japanese junior high school students. METHODS AND RESULTS A total of 958 students (518 boys and 440 girls, aged 12.1-15.0 years) who were enrolled between April 2005 and June 2008 were divided into 4 groups according to SUA quartiles. Compared with the lowest quartile of SUA, prevalence of abdominal obesity, hypertension, and dyslipidemia was significantly increased in the highest quartile in boys and that of abdominal obesity was increased in the highest quartile in girls. The adjusted odds ratios (95% confidence interval) of the highest quartile of SUA for 2 or more cardiometabolic risk factors were 2.59 (1.16-5.79) for boys and 1.54 (0.43-5.56) for girls. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated that the most appropriate cut-offs for SUA to identify multiple cardiometabolic risk factors were 6.4 mg/dl for boys and 4.9 mg/dl for girls. CONCLUSIONS SUA was strongly associated with the prevalence of cardiometabolic risk factors among male Japanese junior high school students. The present study may provide insights into the role of SUA in the school screening system for the development of educational programs on prevention of lifestyle-related diseases among school children.
Return, Risk, and Yield: Evidence from Ex Ante Data

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between return and yield in the context of ex ante data from The Value Line Investment Survey and by examining the role of dividends as a proxy for risk. The use of ex ante data should substantially reduce the confounding of tax and information effects that has affected earlier studies. Heteroscedasticity is detected in the after-tax CAPM and found to be negatively related to yield and positively related to beta. Maximum likelihood methods are used to correct for heteroscedasticity and generate efficient coefficient estimates. Using data for each of the years 1973 through 1983, there is an overall positive relationship between expected return and yield. However, coefficient estimates of yield are highly variable from year to year. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DIVIDEND yields and security returns is currently a subject of extensive research in finance. Empirically, a positive relationship is found by Blume [5], Gordon and Bradford [12], Elton, Gruber, and Rentzler
Intra‐industry conformity in dividend policy

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of intra-industry conformity tendencies on dividend policy among a large sample of US firms. Design/methodology/approach - The paper explores mimetic influences on dividend policy. Consistent with prior institutional research, the paper measures mimetic pressures as institutional prevalence or the pervasiveness of a feature of dividend policy within a firm's relevant environment. Findings - The results reveal a significantly positive relationship between the lagged density of firms in the industry that pay a dividend and the probability of a focal firm paying a dividend. Moreover, for firms paying a dividend, results indicate that higher similarity in dividend payout among firms in the same industry induces more conformity between a focal firm and average industry practice. Overall, results are consistent with imitation in dividend policy. Research limitations/implications - The results support the view that future research on dividend policy should value social and behavioral factors more explicitly in order to arrive at a more overall and consistent explanation of firms' dividend policy. Moreover, the results also illustrate the relevance of alternative theories in explaining dividend policy. Practical implications - The results show that intra-industry benchmarking of dividend policy plays a significant role in the USA. Originality/value - This study documents the relevance of social imitation mechanisms behind dividend payout behavior and therefore adds to the current knowledge of the impact of behavioral processes on dividend policy.
Funding full‐time study through part‐time work

Full‐time students engaged in part‐time studies have been a subject of increasing academic attention. This study extends work in this area by examining: the extent to which full‐time undergraduate students undertake part‐time employment, the reasons for working whilst studying full‐time and the extent to which students relate their part‐time employment to full‐time study, and to their future career aspirations. The results indicated that the majority of students now undertake part‐time work, with the principal motivating factor to be financial necessity, with a smaller number seeking to gain experience to support their studies. This study has also uncovered the potential of the measuring scale developed and used. Good reliability and validity measures were reported and factor analysis indicated that the scale loaded on two factors: ‘aspirational’ (long‐term) and ‘functional’ (short‐term). The implications of findings for students, universities and employers are discussed as well as suggestions for future research direction.
MIMO control using MIMO communication: A Majorization condition for networked stabilizability

In this paper, we initiate the study of networked stabilization via a MIMO communication scheme between the controller and the plant. Specifically, the communication system is modeled as a MIMO transceiver, which consists of three parts: an encoder, a MIMO channel, and a decoder. In the spirit of MIMO communication, the number of SISO subchannels in the transceiver is often greater than the number of data streams to be transmitted. Moreover, the subchannel capacities are assumed to be fixed a priori. In this case, the encoder/decoder pair gives an additional design freedom on top of the controller, leading to a stabilization problem via coding/control co-design. The controller designer needs to design the encoder/decoder pair and the controller jointly so as to stabilize the system. We arrive at a necessary and sufficient condition on the subchannel capacities under which the coding/control co-design problem is solvable. Quite surprisingly, the condition is given in terms of a majorization type relation. As we go along, a systematic procedure is also put forward to perform the coding/control co-design. A numerical example is presented to illustrate our results.
Exploring the Relationship between Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction in Croatian Hotel Industry

Purpose – Transforming experiences is in this paper approached as a destination choice process for adventure tourists. This study seeks to explain conditions that support place identity and place dependence development in Tanzania. The study proposes a testable destination choice model of international visitors to Tanzania. Design/Methodology/Approach – The proposed order of the model is that perceived constraints and satisfaction depend on expectation and travel motivation and that these two may further predict place identity and place dependence. These measures capture our research questions. Visiting tourists to Tanzania were confronted at airport. During August and September of 2010, 700 filled questionnaires were gathered and 504 was usable for further analysis. Final questionnaires were analyzed using SPSS and SEM (AMOS). Main results – The findings support that tourism policymakers and other stakeholders may consider tourists’ behaviors, such as expectations, motivations, perceived constraints and satisfaction with place identity, to be related to destination attachment. Originality of the research – The paper strengthens several theoretical arguments. First, indicating the amalgamation of different tourists’ behaviors formed in a path-dependent order. One stage is planning the travel, another is during their stay and finally when building their attachment. Furthermore, attachment relate to future choices.ved hotel service quality dimensions in relation to customer satisfaction, reporting the findings from Croatia. Therefore, it contributes to the existing literature on service quality and customer satisfaction relationship in hotel industry.
The Timing and Persistence of Fiscal Policy Impacts on Growth: Evidence from OECD Countries

The literatures testing for aggregate short-run or long‐run growth impacts of fiscal policy use quite different methodologies. The former generally focuses on temporary fiscal ‘shocks’; the latter typically have no short‐run dynamics or assume homogeneity. We use regression methods that treat heterogeneous short‐run dynamics explicitly within a long‐run model. Results suggest that previously estimated ‘long‐run’ growth effects of fiscal policy are typically achieved quickly, consistent with results from short‐run models. In principle these short‐run effects ‘persist’; in practice regular fiscal policy changes in OECD countries mean that persistent increases or decreases in growth rates are rare.
UM-164: A Potent c-Src/p38 Kinase Inhibitor with In Vivo Activity against Triple-Negative Breast Cancer

Purpose: c-Src has been shown to play a pivotal role in breast cancer progression, metastasis, and angiogenesis. In the clinic, however, the limited efficacy and high toxicity of existing c-Src inhibitors have tempered the enthusiasm for targeting c-Src. We developed a novel c-Src inhibitor (UM-164) that specifically binds the DFG-out inactive conformation of its target kinases. We hypothesized that binding the inactive kinase conformation would lead to improved pharmacologic outcomes by altering the noncatalytic functions of the targeted kinases. Experimental Design: We have analyzed the anti–triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) activity of UM-164 in a comprehensive manner that includes in vitro cell proliferation, migration, and invasion assays (including a novel patient-derived xenograft cell line, VARI-068), along with in vivo TNBC xenografts. Results: We demonstrate that UM-164 binds the inactive kinase conformation of c-Src. Kinome-wide profiling of UM-164 identified that Src and p38 kinase families were potently inhibited by UM-164. We further demonstrate that dual c-Src/p38 inhibition is superior to mono-inhibition of c-Src or p38 alone. We demonstrate that UM-164 alters the cell localization of c-Src in TNBC cells. In xenograft models of TNBC, UM-164 resulted in a significant decrease of tumor growth compared with controls, with limited in vivo toxicity. Conclusions: In contrast with c-Src kinase inhibitors used in the clinic (1, 2), we demonstrate in vivo efficacy in xenograft models of TNBC. Our results suggest that the dual activity drug UM-164 is a promising lead compound for developing the first targeted therapeutic strategy against TNBC. Clin Cancer Res; 22(20); 5087–96. ©2016 AACR.
Health Behavior, Health Knowledge, and Schooling

The positive correlation between schooling and good health is well documented. One explanation is that schooling helps people choose healthier life-styles by improving their knowledge of the relationship between health behaviors and health outcomes. That is, schooling improves the household's allocative efficiency in producing health. This empirical study uses direct measures of health knowledge to test this explanation. Part of the relationship between schooling and the consumption of cigarettes, alcohol, and exercise is explained by differences in health knowledge. However, most of schooling's effects on health behavior remain after differences in knowledge are controlled for.
In the age of ‘liquid modernity’: self-initiated expatriates in Crete, their multi-generational families and the community

In this paper, we aim to broaden and deepen the current debate on expatriation in business and management discourse, and especially self-initiated expatriation. Following Bauman’s [Liquid Modernity (2000), Cambridge: Polity; Liquid Love, On the Frailty of Human Bonds (2003), Cambridge: Polity] critique of postmodern society and, employing an anthropological lens, we examine work-related expatriation as set within a wider life context. Whereas conventional expatriation research focus is on the workplace, the focus of this study is the wider community. We take a longitudinal approach demonstrating the essential fluid nature of expatriation in general, self-initiated expatriation in particular. We show the importance of multi-generational links as overall critical considerations in effecting decisions to move or stay; we also show how over time, changes in circumstances, career plans and demands of significant others, drive the expatriate agenda. We pay particular attention to non-traditional expatriates and issues of health and disability in the extended family. Finally, we document the importance of the wider family and of the community in the process of adjustment and in engendering a sense of belonging.
Elevated homocysteine: a new marker for dementia?

Seshadri S, Beiser A, Selhub J, Jacques PF, Rosenberg IH, D'Agostino RB, et al. Plasma homocysteine as a risk factor for dementia and Alzheimer's disease. N Engl J Med 2002;346:476-83. Background: Elevated homocysteine levels are associated with a variety of atherosclerotic diseases. [1][1] An