Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Adopting a service logic for marketing

Following the article by Vargo and Lusch (2004), the use of a service-dominant logic has become an international topic for discussion. In the present article, following the research tradition of the Nordic School, the contribution of service marketing to marketing at large is discussed. In this article a service logic is compared to a goods logic. It is concluded that a service logic fits best the context of most goods producing businesses today. These conclusions are similar to those proposed by Vargo and Lusch (2004). However, there are differences as well, as the approach of the Nordic School is to study services directly in their marketing context and report on how changing marketing contexts influence the logic required for effective marketing.
Which path to power? Workplace networks and the relative effectiveness of inheritance and rainmaking strategies for professional partners

This article begins a systematic conceptualization and measurement of partner careers in professional service firms. Taking a relational approach, we identify two strategies for investing in social networks—inheritance and rainmaking strategies—that help build partner careers by generating client revenue. We study how investments in these networking strategies lead to the differences in partners’ client revenues. Using client billings and personnel records from a large law firm, we conduct fixed effects regressions on partners’ intrafirm relationships and client revenues. We find that both inheritance and rainmaking are associated with more client revenues in subsequent periods. In addition, we find important gender and racial differences in the effectiveness of these strategies. Although the inheritance strategy has positive effects for male and non-minority partners, it has negative effects for female and minority partners. Conversely, the rainmaking strategy is more effective for female partners than for male partners. In this way, the findings contribute not only to our understanding of professional service firms and partner careers but also to research on diversity and inequality mechanisms.
THE MOTIVATIONAL ROLES OF EDUCATIONAL MANAGERS IN PROMOTING SCHOLARLY RESEARCH AND PUBLISHING ACTIVITIES AT PRIVATE COLLEGES: WITH REFERENCE TO SAUDI ARABIA

There has been an increasingly widespread awareness that academics need to engage in scholarly research activities. This could potentially enhance both individual and institutional performance and thereby the positive contribution that academic institutions can make to society. This paper aims to investigate the role if educational mangers in promoting the scholarly research and publishing activities at the private college. Saudi Arabia is a young country and interesting case to examine. A private college was selected to conduct the research within. Survey was distributed among many academic participants. The main finding of this study is that the most highly recommended motivational strategies to promote scholarly research at the college are to minimise the dissatisfiers and provide incentives, rather than to threaten and/or impose punishments on academic staff.
Bioelectrical impedance analysis for the prediction of fat-free mass in lambs and lamb carcasses.

Ninety-eight commercial crossbred lambs, average weight 55.1 kg (+/- 4.95), were used to evaluate bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) as a prediction method for fat-free tissue from live lambs and lamb carcasses. Lambs were transported to the abattoir, restricted from feed for 10 h, weighed (LWt), and measured for body resistance (Rs, ohms), body reactance (Xc, ohms), and distance between detector terminals (L, cm). Following slaughter, hot carcasses were weighed (HCWt; average 31.4 +/- 2.8 kg) and impedance measurements of Rs, Xc, and L were recorded from readings on the dorsal and lateral sides of the carcasses. Temperatures (average = 39.2 degrees C) were recorded. Carcasses were chilled for 24 h. Cold carcass weights (CWt; average 31.1 +/- 2.8 kg) and temperatures (average = 1.0 degrees C) were recorded and BIA measurements were repeated. Carcasses were split down the midline and right sides were ground three times and sampled for chemical analysis of fat, moisture, ash, and protein. Fat-free mass (FFM) was calculated as [Wt-(Wt x %Fat)]. Fat-free soft tissue (FFST) was calculated as the sum of carcass chemical protein and carcass water. Regression equations predicting fat-free tissue for the live lambs (FFMlive and FFSTlive), hot carcasses (FFMhot and FFSThot), and cold carcasses (FFMcold and FFSTcold) were developed. The independent variables LWt, Rs, and Xc accounted for 77.7% (residual mean square error [RMSE] = 1.97 kg) of the variation in FFMlive and 78.6% (RMSE = 1.78 kg) of the variability of FFSTlive. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Studies on Determinants and Consequences of Financial Reporting Quality

markdownabstractAbstract The purpose of this dissertation is to investigate determinants and consequences of financial reporting quality. The first study examines the impact of high quality financial reporting on private firms’ access to bank debt and trade credit capital. The results suggest that high quality financial reporting does have economic consequences even in the presence of private communication that serve as alternative information asymmetrymitigating mechanisms. The second study investigates the relation between auditor size and audit quality for private firms in a setting in which large auditors have materially weak incentives to retain their audit quality advantage. My analysis provides evidence that the otherwise positive relation between auditor size and audit quality reverses when the incentives of large auditors to deliver superior audit quality become sufficiently weak. The third study examines the effect of the political connections of auditors on audit quality. The results suggest that politically connected offices deliver superior audit quality than nonpolitically connected offices. However, the positive relation between audit office political connectedness and audit quality dissipates for those clients that are politically connected themselves. Overall, the three studies of this dissertation highlight the importance of auditor incentives in shaping financial reporting quality as well as the significance of accounting information even in settings with low demand for high quality financial reporting.
U.S. Banking Sector Operational Losses and the Macroeconomic Environment

Using supervisory data from large financial institutions, we document a significant association between U.S. bank holding companies' operational losses and the state of the macroeconomic environment. Banks face greater aggregate losses in a weakening environment, with such a relationship driven by high-severity individual loss events. In addition, macroeconomic conditions are related to aspects of operational losses beyond size. In a strengthening economy, banks take longer to detect the occurrence of operational losses, although they are able to recover proportionately more. Our analysis provides new evidence on the exposure of financial institutions to economic downturn risk and macroeconomic shocks with implications for risk management practices and supervisory policy.
Managerial Ownership and Information Opacity

This study examines the effect of equity ownership by managers on a firm's information environment vis-a-vis its effect on analyst forecast accuracy and analyst following. We collect a sample of over 26,000 observations on managerial ownership during 1988-2002 and find that managerial ownership is negatively related to both the accuracy of analysts' consensus earnings forecasts and analyst coverage. Interestingly, this negative relation is most pronounced for firms with impending "bad news. " We also find that firms with greater managerial ownership are less likely to issue a management earnings forecast, particularly in anticipation of bad news. Our results are consistent with the view that managerial entrenchment leads to information opacity, reducing forecast accuracy and discouraging analyst coverage. We further document a positive relation between analyst coverage and firm value, particularly for firms with greater managerial ownership and a relatively poor governance structure, suggesting that investors view analyst coverage as an alternative governance mechanism to mitigate managerial entrenchment. However, our evidence of reduced analyst following indicates that this monitoring activity appears to be lacking when it would be most beneficial.
Brain oscillatory 4–30 Hz electroencephalogram responses in adolescents during a visual memory task

Brain oscillatory responses of the 4–30 Hz electroencephalogram frequencies were assessed in 12 adolescents (mean age 14 years) during a visual N-back task with four memory load conditions (0-back, 1-back, 2-back, and 3-back). Theta frequency range (approximately 4–6 Hz) responses were elicited in all memory load conditions. The magnitude and duration of alpha frequency range (approximately 8–12 Hz) responses varied as a function of memory load. Beta frequency range (approximately 15–20 Hz) responses were modulated by both task difficulty and cognitive strategy. The differences between the memory load conditions were most prominent between the 0-back and 1-back conditions in the approximately 10 and 20 Hz electroencephalogram frequencies. Dynamic alpha and beta rhythm brain oscillatory responses are related to the cognitive processes in adolescence.
Socio-Economic Constraints on Goat Farming In the Lowveld of Swaziland - A Case Study of Matsanjeni

This study was designed to focus on why subsistence livestock farmers concentrate mainly on cattle rearing instead of diversifying the livestock sector to incorporate small ruminants particularly goats which can sustain under a diverse climatic conditions. Areas of interest in this study were socioeconomic and cultural factors namely; social status, ownership, dignity, prestige, taste, lack of information on sustainable goat farming, customary activities, income and market that influence farmers’ preference of cattle over goats. A survey study was carried out to about 124 subsistence livestock farmers, where 58 owned cattle only, 34 owning goats only and 32 had both goats and cattle. Data was collected from all the farmers through personal interviews guided by a questionnaire. The findings revealed that the lack of formal market opportunities for selling goats was one of the major hindrances against goat farming. Also, high socio-economic and cultural status accorded to cattle by livestock farmers makes the livestock industry to be continuously monopolized by beef production.
Consumer satisfaction with occupational health services: should it be measured?

OBJECTIVES To find answers in the literature to the questions if, why, and how consumer satisfaction with occupational health services (OHSs) should be measured. METHODS Publications about the concept of consumer satisfaction with health care and surveys of consumer satisfaction with occupational health care were reviewed. RESULTS For care providers, surveys of consumer satisfaction can be useful to improve quality or as indicators of non-compliant behaviour among patients. For clients, satisfaction surveys can be helpful for choosing between healthcare providers. Satisfaction is made up of an affective component of evaluation and a cognitive component of expectations. Also, in occupational health care, patient satisfaction is measured by dimensions such as the humanness and competence of the care provider similar to health care in general. However, there are dimensions that are specific to occupational health—such as the perceived independence of the physician, unclear reasons for visiting an OHS, and the perceived extent of knowledge of OHS professionals about the patient's working conditions. Dimensions of client satisfaction are mostly similar to patient satisfaction but include more businesslike aspects. They are different for the two groups of client, employers and employees. To measure consumer satisfaction in occupational healthcare specific questionnaires must be constructed. To achieve the highest possible reader satisfaction guidelines are provided for construction of a questionnaire. CONCLUSIONS Consumer satisfaction is a complex theoretical concept, but it is relatively easy to measure in practice and can be a valuable tool for quality improvement. Consumers' evaluations of occupational health services will become increasingly important due to changes in the organisation of occupational health care. Occupational healthcare providers are encouraged to measure the consumer satisfaction of their services.
Managing IT service management implementation complexity: from the perspective of the Warfield Version of systems science

The Warfield version of systems science supports a wide variety of application areas, and is useful to practitioners who use the work program of complexity (WPOC) tool. In this article, WPOC is applied to information technology service management (ITSM) for managing the complexity of projects. In discussing the application of WPOC to ITSM, we discuss several steps of WPOC. The discovery step of WPOC consists of a description process and a diagnosis process. During the description process, 52 risk factors are identified, which are then narrowed to 20 key risk factors. All of this is done by interviews and surveys. Root risk factors (the most basic risk factors) consist of 11 kinds of common ‘mindbugs’ which are selected from an interpretive structural model. This is achieved by empirical analysis of 25 kinds of mindbugs. (A lesser aim of this research is to affirm that these mindbugs developed from a Western mindset have corresponding relevance in a completely different culture: the Peoples Republic of China.) During the diagnosis process, the relationships among the root risk factors in the implementation of the ITSM project are identified. The resolution step of WPOC consists of a design process and an implementation process. During the design process, issues related to the ITSM application are compared to both e-Government operation and maintenance, and software process improvement. The ITSM knowledge support structure is also designed at this time. During the implementation process, 10 keys to the successful implementation of ITSM projects are identified.
Site of protein digestion in steers fed sorghum grain diets. II. Effect of grain processing methods.

Seven crossbred, abomasally fistulated yearling steers (400 kg) were used in two digestion trials (crossover design) to study the effect of processing sorghum grain on the site and extent of feed and microbial protein digestion. Steers were fed an 81.5% sorghum grain diet in which the grain was either dry-rolled (DR; four steers) or steam-processed, flaked (SPF; three steers). At the end of the first trial steers were switched to the opposite treatment. Dysprosium (21 to 23 micrograms/g of feed) was used as a digesta marker. Feed, abomasal contents and fecal grab samples were collected at 12-h intervals during a 6-d total fecal collection period. Organic matter (OM) intake for SPF and DR grain diets averaged 6,426 and 6,787 g/d, respectively. Compared with DR, SPF increased (P less than .05) the apparent total digestibility and ruminal digestibility of OM. Trichloroacetic acid precipitable protein consumed by the steers was lower (P less than .05) for SPF than the DR treatment. Processing method had no effect on ruminal digestion of crude protein (CP), bacterial protein (BP) synthesis, quantity of CP entering the small intestine or on total digestion of feed protein. There was a trend for increased total and post-ruminal digestion of CP with the SPF diet. Post-ruminal digestion of BP was increased (P less than .05) by SPF grain as compared with DR. Percentage of non-BP digested ruminally, post-ruminally or in the total tract was not significantly affected by processing method. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
A COMPARISON OF BIOELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE AND NEAR-INFRARED INTERACTANCE TO SKINFOLD MEASURES IN DETERMINING MINIMUM WRESTLING WEIGHT IN COLLEGIATE WRESTLERS

A COMPARISON OF BIOELECTRICAL IMPEDANCE AND NEAR-INFRARED INTERACTANCE TO SKINFOLD MEASURES IN DETERMINING MINIMUM WRESTLING WEIGHT IN COLLEGIATE WRESTLERS. Donald C. Diboll and Jeffrey K. Moffit. JEPonline. 2003;6(2):26-36. The NCAA Wrestling Weight Certification Program (WWCP) requires minimum wrestling weight (MWW) at 5% body fat (euhydrated condition) be determined for all athletes. Only hydrodensitometry and skinfold measures (SF) are accepted by the WWCP to determine MWW, although other methods are potentially less costly and/or require less technical skill to perform. The purpose of this study was to determine if whole-body bioelectrical impedance (BIA) and near-infrared interactance (NIR) methods are comparable to the SF method in estimating MWWs. Twenty-five male division I collegiate wrestlers had MWWs determined under hydrated conditions via BIA (RJL Systems) using three different equations, NIR (Futrex), and the 3-site SF method accepted by the WWCP (criterion). Pearson correlations (r) indicate significant relationships between SF and both BIA (all equations) and NIR (r ranged from 0.978 to 0.921; p<0.001), and standard errors of the estimates (SEE) were small (best BIA equation SEE=2.1 kg; NIR SEE=2.8 kg). However, limits of agreement (Bland-Altman plots) and total error measures, considered to be more appropriate for evaluating these comparisons, suggest both BIA and NIR MWWs, utilizing the equipment and prediction equations in this study, do not compare closely enough to SF MWWs to be considered suitable methods for the WWCP.
New Organocatalytic Asymmetric Synthesis of Highly Substituted Chiral 2-Oxospiro-[indole-3,4′-(1′,4′-dihydropyridine)] Derivatives

Herein, we report our preliminary results concerning the first promising asymmetric synthesis of highly functionalized 2-oxospiro-[indole-3,4′-(1′,4′-dihydropyridine)] via the reaction of an enamine with isatylidene malononitrile derivatives in the presence of a chiral base organocatalyst. The moderate, but promising, enantioselectivity observed (30%–58% ee (enantiomeric excess)) opens the door to a new area of research for the asymmetric construction of these appealing spirooxindole skeletons, whose enantioselective syntheses are still very limited.
Bovine Streptococcus uberis Intramammary Infections and Mastitis

Lyme disease is a multisystem disease caused by infection with Borrelia. Cardiac involvement occurs during the disseminated phase of the disease, usually within weeks to a few months after the onset of infection. The most common clinical feature of Lyme carditis is atrioventricular (AV) conduction block, however, it can also cause cardiomyopathy and myopericarditis. With widespread travel, we need tests that have high sensitivity, irrespective of the borrelial species and the area where it was acquired. We believe that C6 peptide test will help us diagnose imported Lyme disease earlier in the course than the current CDC recommended two-tiered approach which might result in delayed or missed diagnosis.
Comparison of the cariogenicity of some processed cheeses.

AIM Cheeses have been investigated for their potential cariogenicity in several studies and have been shown to produce little change in the resting pH in dental plaque and little or no demineralisation of enamel in most intra-oral cariogenicity studies. The aim of the present study was to investigate the cariogenicity of four processed cheese formulations. METHODS Enamel demineralisation was measured intra-orally in bovine enamel, and aliquots of 10g of each test cheese were used to assess plaque pH using the plaque harvesting technique after the San Antonio criteria. In a second experiment, the same cheeses were assessed for their effects on enamel using the intra-oral cariogenicity test (ICT) with bovine enamel. RESULTS None of the four cheeses caused pH drops below the critical pH and two of the cheeses raised the pH slightly. The effects on pH were all significantly different from those of the sucrose saliva control. None of the cheeses produced microhardness changes that were statistically significantly different from the saliva control. CONCLUSION None of these cheeses as tested were found to lead to acidogenicity and by inference to be cariogenic. They were therefore deemed to be safe for teeth when used as a food.
Risk factors for post-thyroidectomy haematoma

Abstract Background: There has been increasing emphasis on performing ‘same-day’ or ‘out-patient’ thyroidectomy to reduce associated costs. However, acceptance has been limited by the risk of potentially life-threatening post-operative bleeding. This study aimed to review current rates of post-operative bleeding in a metropolitan teaching hospital and identify risk factors. Method: Medical records of patients undergoing thyroidectomy between January 2007 and March 2012 were reviewed retrospectively. Pre-operative, operative and pathological data, and post-operative complication data, were examined. Results: The study comprised 205 thyroidectomy cases. Mean age was 51.6 years (standard deviation = 14.74), with 80 per cent females. Unilateral thyroidectomy was performed in 81 cases (39.5 per cent) and total thyroidectomy was performed in 74 cases (36.1 per cent; 5.3 per cent with concomitant lymph node dissection). Nine patients (4.4 per cent) suffered post-operative bleeding, of which six required re-operation. Analysis showed that post-operative systolic blood pressure of 180 mmHg or greater was associated with post-operative bleeding (p = 0.003, chi-square test). Conclusion: Rates of significant post-operative bleeding are consistent with recent literature. Post-operative hypertension, diabetes and high post-operative drain output were identified as independent risk factors on multivariate analysis; when identified, these may be caveats to same-day discharge of thyroidectomy patients.