Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Managing Customer-Initiated Contacts with Manufacturers: The Impact on Share of Category Requirements and Word-of-Mouth Behavior

The authors examine behavioral outcomes following a customer-initiated contact (CIC) with a manufacturer and develop a framework to explain the impact of vendor performance during a CIC on a customer's share of category requirements with a focal brand and word-of-mouth incidence following contact. The authors propose customer characteristics and context-specific factors that may relate to differences in the key characteristics of the underlying source model of share of category requirements and word of mouth. The authors then assess the overall importance of the explanatory variables in the source model and simultaneously test for systematic differences related to CIC-specific factors using survey data from more than 1700 CICs that involve more than 60 brands. A key assumption in much prior research that has examined customer–firm interactions is that CIC-specific factors, if they are included at all, create an automatic regularity that must be controlled for. The authors propose and find an additional effect. The responsiveness to factors under a firm's control varies across CICs, and therefore firms that adapt their processing have an advantage. Rather than provide a uniform response to all CICs, the authors' results offer managers several guidelines on how to customize their responses to the various CIC types and how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their firms' CIC management efforts.
An outbreak of bovine tuberculosis in two herds in south west Scotland--veterinary and human public health response.

BACKGROUND Although the incidence of bovine tuberculosis in UK cattle has declined markedly, outbreaks still occur. There is often confusion as to how veterinary and human public health agencies should interact in such circumstances. We report an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis which occurred in South West Scotland in 1992. METHODS The outbreak, which affected two cattle herds, and potentially involved 17 humans, was discovered when visible tuberculous lesions were found at routine post mortem examination of a calf. Investigation of animals and humans, exchange of information between human and veterinary public health agencies, and subsequent control measures followed the guidance of a recently produced protocol. RESULTS Tuberculin testing of other animals in the index herd revealed 11 reactors. Testing of the herd of origin of these animals revealed 84 reactors out of 261 animals. Movement restrictions were placed on the index herd, and all the animals in the herd of origin were slaughtered. The humans were screened primarily by history and tuberculin skin testing. Eleven of them required chest X-rays (all were normal) and six were given prophylactic chemotherapy with isoniazid. Nobody developed clinical illness. CONCLUSION The use of an agreed protocol proved to be very helpful to both human and veterinary public health agencies in the investigation and control of an outbreak of bovine tuberculosis. There is a clear need for better human screening tests.
Best-Price Guarantees as a Quality Signal

This paper shows that best-price guarantees can enhance welfare, in contrast to findings in recent literature. While a high-quality monopolist can signal its quality strictly through high prices, using both price and a best-price guarantee may allow the firm to signal its quality with a smaller price distortion. A low-quality monopolist will not mimic its high-quality counterpart by offering a best-price guarantee, because the accompanying restrictions are too costly. Best-price guarantees are similar to money-back guarantees and other more general contracts in their ability to allow less costly signaling. The welfare enhancing capabilities of these contracts imply that the antitrust authorities should regard them more favorably.
2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, an Exogenous Modulator of the 3′α Immunoglobulin Heavy Chain Enhancer in the CH12.LX Mouse Cell Line

Transcriptional regulation of the Ig heavy chain gene involves several regulatory elements, including the 3′α enhancer, which is composed of four distinct regulatory domains. DNA binding sites for several transcription factors, including B cell-specific activator protein, nuclear factor for immunoglobulin κ chain in B cells, and octamer have been identified within the 3′α enhancer domains and are believed to be important in regulating 3′α enhancer activity. We have identified an additional DNA binding motif, the dioxin-responsive element (DRE), which can contribute to 3′α enhancer regulation. 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), a known disrupter of B cell differentiation (i.e., decreased plasma cell formation, inhibition of μ heavy chain expression, and suppression of IgM secretion), induces binding of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) nuclear complex to DREs. TCDD also induces AhR binding to the hypersensitive (hs)4 domain of the 3′α enhancer. Interestingly, TCDD enhances LPS-induced activation of the hs4 domain but profoundly inhibits LPS-induced activation of the complete 3′α enhancer. Furthermore, site-directed mutational analysis demonstrated that a DRE and κB element in the hs4 domain is modulated by TCDD in lipopolysaccharide-activated B cells. We propose that the AhR is a novel transcriptional regulator of the 3′α enhancer, which can mediate, at least in part, the effects of TCDD on the 3′α enhancer and its domains, putatively contributing to a marked suppression of IgM production.
Moderating Effects of MNCs’ Size in the Relationship between Degree of Inter-Firm Technology Transfer and Local Firms’ Performance

The inter-firm technology transfers (TT) through international joint ventures (IJVs), among others, have significantly contributed to a higher degree of local innovation performance/capabilities, technological capabilities, competitive advantage, organizational learning effectiveness, productivity, technological development of local industry, and the economic growth of the host country. Since the focus of inter-firm TT in developing countries has shifted to degree of technology transfer, organizations in developing countries are attempting to assess not only the significant role of technology transfer in strengthening their corporate and human resource performance but also the influence of other critical variables such as MNCs’ size (MNCSIZE), age of JVs, country of origin, and MNC’s type of industries that could significantly moderate the relationship. Based on the underlying knowledge-based view (KBV) and organizational learning (OL) perspectives, the main objective of this paper is to empirically examine the moderating effect of size of MNCs (large vs. medium/small MNCs) in the relationships between degree of inter-firm technology transfer and two dimensions of local firms’ performance: corporate and human resource performances. Using the moderated multiple regression (MMR) analysis, the theoretical models and hypotheses in this study were tested based on empirical data gathered from 128 joint venture companies registered with the Registrar of Companies of Malaysia (ROC). The results revealed that size of MNCs has significantly affected the relationships between degrees of technology transfer and local firms’ human resource performance; where the relationship was found stronger for large MNCs as compared to medium/small MNCs. However, size of MNCs did not significantly moderate the relationship between degree of technology transfer and local firms’ corporate performance. The study has bridged the literature gaps in such that it offers empirical evidence and new insights on the significant moderating effects of size of MNCs in the relationships between degree of inter-firm technology transfer and local firms’ performance technology using the Malaysian sample.
Twitter as a Rapid Response News Service: An Exploration in the Context of the 2008 China Earthquake

Micro‐blogging websites (such as twitter), a new information channel, was widely reported as outperforming the mainstream information channels in numerous ways during the massive 2008 China earthquake, including beating the first official mainstream news released from the USGS to report the initial tremor (BBC May 12 2008). According to Twitter.com, there have been noticeable spikes of twitter usage during disasters and other large events, serving as an extremely powerful and effective fast response news service. This raises some important exploratory questions: What kind of information can micro‐blogging provide regarding disaster news? Of what quality is the information provided by micro‐blogging? Can the modern communication tool – micro‐blogging, replace the mainstream media information channel or merely supplement it in distributing disaster news? How do twitter (and other micro‐blogging services) compare with the mainstream information channels during the different timeframes in terms of information quality and collective intelligence? For this research paper, we will use Twitter as a proxy for micro‐blogging in general, the mainstream media information channel as the benchmark, and the massive 2008 Sichuan earthquake as our research subject. At the time of the Sichuan earthquake, Twitter was universally available in the China mainland. The aim of this exploratory study is to shed some light on how micro‐blogging can provide integrated and speedy information regarding disaster news.
In vitro neuronal and glial differentiation from embryonic or adult neural precursor cells are differently affected by chronic or acute activation of microglia

The contribution of microglia to the modulation of neurogenesis under pathological conditions is unclear. Both pro‐ and anti‐neurogenic effects have been reported, likely reflecting the complexity of microglial activation process. We previously demonstrated that prolonged (72 hr) in vitro exposure to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) endows microglia with a potentially neuroprotective phenotype, here referred as to “chronic”. In the present study we further characterized the chronic phenotype and investigated whether it might differently regulate the properties of embryonic and adult neural precursor cells (NPC) with respect to the “acute” phenotype acquired following a single (24 hr) LPS stimulation. We show that the LPS‐dependent induction of the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)‐1α, IL‐1β, IL‐6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α was strongly reduced after chronic stimulation of microglia, as compared with acute stimulation. Conversely, the synthesis of the anti‐inflammatory cytokine IL‐10 and the immunomodulatory prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) was still elevated or further increased, after chronic LPS exposure, as revealed by real time PCR and ELISA techniques. Acutely activated microglia, or their conditioned medium, reduced NPC survival, prevented neuronal differentiation and strongly increased glial differentiation, likely through the release of proinflammatory cytokines, whereas chronically activated microglia were permissive to neuronal differentiation and cell survival, and still supported glial differentiation. Our data suggest that, in a chronically altered environment, persistently activated microglia can display protective functions that favor rather than hinder brain repair processes. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Variability in 28-day outcomes for very low birth weight infants: an analysis of 11 neonatal intensive care units.

A retrospective study of all infants weighing 701 to 1,500 g born at 11 neonatal intensive care centers during 1983 and 1984 was performed to determine whether two specific 28-day outcomes, survival and survival without the need for supplemental oxygen, varied among the centers. Survival without the need for supplemental oxygen was chosen as a reflection of infants surviving without chronic lung disease. There were 1,776 live-born infants delivered during the 2-year study period. Of these infants, 85% (1,512) survived 28 days, a range of 80% to 92% at the individual centers. A total of 60% (1,056) of the infants were alive without supplemental oxygen on day 28, a range of 51% to 70% at the individual centers. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that both survival on day 28 (chi 2 = 23.9, P less than .01) and survival without supplemental oxygen on day 28 (chi 2 = 44.2, P less than .0001) varied significantly among centers after the effects of birth weight, gender, and race were taken into account. Female gender, nonwhite race, and increased birth weight were factors associated with improved rates of survival and survival without supplemental oxygen. The magnitude of outcome variation among centers was estimated by using the logistic regression models to predict what the outcomes would be if each center were to treat a standardized population consisting of all 1,776 study infants. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
The Influence of Short Message Service (SMS) Advertising on the Purchase Behaviour of Young Consumers in a Tertiary Institution in Ghana

Technology has advanced the use of text messaging (SMS) as an advertising medium in recent times. Thus telecom operators in Ghana use SMS advertising (SMS ad) to gain the attention of prospective consumers to patronize their products. Young people have been the major drivers of mobile phone and SMS, however, the factors that induce them to accept mobile devices as an advertising medium and to purchase a product are not yet fully understood. The perception of both young and female consumers has also not been explored to allow advertisers to plan effective campaigns to elicit the response of this segment of the market. This study examines the attitudes and factors that drive consumers’ acceptance of SMS ads and purchase behaviour. A stratified random sampling was done in one of the leading Polytechnics in Ghana, and self-administered questionnaires were completed by 80(students) respondents, aged between 18-35 years. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 16.0) was used to analyze the data gathered. It was observed that consumers’ perception of informativeness of SMS ads are positively correlated to their overall attitudes towards SMS ad and purchase behaviour while irritation and trust were attitudes which had a negative correlation on their purchase behaviour. Permission and trust are identified in this study as important elements that ensure the success of SMS ads. The advertiser is advertised to develop innovative strategy to capture the attention of young male consumers who have disaffection for SMS ads.
Trade Credit Financing: How Expensive is it Really?

This paper models the firm's choice of short-term finance between intermediated loans and trade credit. We argue that one important benefit of supplier credit is to increase the availability of institutional financing. If the use of trade credit is perceived as a favourable signal that is informative of the creditworthiness of the borrower, some firms will use trade credit in addition to conventional institutional loans despite its higher cost. The model predicts that firms with high agency costs and information opacity will rely heavily on suppliers to finance their short-term operational expenditures. The empirical analysis is based on the estimation of a system of simultaneous equations. We solve the identification problem arising in this context by using an alternative method based on the heteroskedasticity of the structural shocks. Our estimation is drawn upon a large unbalanced panel of public and private UK firms covering a ten year period (1994-2003). The evidence is consistent with the predictions of the model in that trade credit increases the availability of institutional loans.
The End of Mandatory Retirement in the US : Effects on Retirement and Implicit Contracts

This paper analyzes the economic effects of the end of mandatory retirement. It takes advantage of the unique variation in institutions affecting retirement behavior to study the change in labor force participation, job attachment and wages of older workers from the 1970s to the 1990s. In the 1970s, about 40% of male employees in the US were covered by rules mandating retirement at age 65. Then, in 1978 and 1986, mandatory retirement was abolished by stepwise amendments of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act. These changes have not been previously studied, possibly due to a lack of appropriate data. To mimic the ideal experiment offered by the change in legislation, I impute coverage of mandatory retirement to data from the monthly Current Population Survey and compare labor force trends for workers with highand low-probabilities of coverage before and after the change. The results indicate that workers covered by mandatory retirement had a very high incidence of retirement at age 65, which declined significantly following the elimination of mandatory retirement. Overall, the results suggest that the labor force of workers 65 and older rose by 10% to 20% with the end of mandatory retirement. Neither job tenure nor wage-profiles of older workers were affected by the change.
On Degenerate Double-loop L-shapes

Most of the results about the L-shapes of double-loop networks are given in terms of the four parameters l, h, p, n. But these parameters are not well defined in the degenerate case. Recently, Cheng and Hwang proposed an efficient algorithm to compute the four parameters l, h, p, n of an L-shape which works for both the regular and the degenerate cases. On the other hand, Chen and Hwang gave a set of rules to determine the four parameters l, h, p, n of a degenerate L-shape. Unfortunately, the solutions given by the above two methods do not always coincide. In this paper, we investigate their respective meanings and their relations. We also prove that, in the degenerate case, the set of rules given by Chen and Hwang is the most reasonable one among all known methods.
Effect of smoking and time on cognitive function in the elderly without dementia

Objective: To examine the association between smoking and changes in cognitive function over time in elderly persons without dementia. Methods: The results of neuropsychological tests grouped into domains of memory, abstract-visuospatial, and language, from several intervals over a 5-year period in 791 elderly patients without dementia or cognitive impairment. Smoking history was categorized as never, current, or past smokers and related to the slope of performance in each cognitive domain using generalized estimating equations. Results: Performance in all cognitive domains declined over time. Memory performance declined more rapidly among current smokers aged >75 years than in nonsmokers similar in age, including those who never smoked or had quit smoking. The effect was stronger among those without an APOE-ε4 allele. There was no association between smoking and performance in any cognitive domain in persons aged <75 years, and there was no association between past smoking and performance on any of the three cognitive factors at any time interval in either age group. Conclusion: Current smokers aged >75 years perform more poorly on cognitive tests and appear to decline in memory more rapidly than their peers who do not smoke, especially if they lack the APOE-ε4 allele. Smoking does not affect cognitive performance in those persons aged <75 years.
Whose Beliefs Drive Trade in the Stock Market? Evidence from Household Belief Dispersion and Trading Volume

We document a robust positive relationship between the belief dispersion about macroeconomic conditions among household investors and the stock market trading volume, using more than 30 years of household survey data and a novel approach of measuring belief dispersions. Notably, such a relationship prevails even after various series of professional analysts’ belief dispersion are controlled for. Consistent with a causal effect, such a relationship is more pronounced for belief dispersion among individuals who are more likely to own stocks, and for trading volume of stocks that are more visible to household investors and stocks that are more sensitive to macroeconomic conditions. Our analysis suggests that beliefs of household investors are strong drivers of trading volume in the stock market. ∗We thank Robert Barsky, Campbell Harvey, Chris Carroll, Richard Green, Harrison Hong, Stephen Sharpe, Tyler Shumway, George Tauchen, LarryWall, Wei Xiong, Frank de Jong, Nitish Sinha, an anonymous editor, and several anonymous referees, and conference and seminar participants for helpful discussions. We thank Patrick McCabe for his help on the ICI data, Eugenio Pinto for I/B/E/S data, and Min Wei and Scott Konzem for Blue Chip data. The views expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System or its staff.
Radioimmunotherapy of B-cell lymphoma with [131I]anti-B1 (anti-CD20) antibody.

BACKGROUND Many patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphomas are not cured by current therapies, and new approaches to treatment are needed. As part of an ongoing phase 1 study, we examined the effect of radioimmunotherapy with 131I-labeled B-cell-specific anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody in 10 patients with CD20-positive B-cell lymphomas in whom primary chemotherapy had failed. METHODS AND RESULTS Anti-B1 (anti-CD20) mouse monoclonal antibody trace-labeled with 131I (15 mg containing 5 mCi) was given intravenously at approximately one-week intervals: first, without pretreatment with unlabeled anti-B1 antibody, to all 10 patients; then, with pretreatment with 135 mg of unlabeled antibody, to 8 patients; and then, with pretreatment with 685 mg, to 2 patients. Serial quantitative gamma-camera images and measures of whole-body radioactivity were obtained after each tracer dose. All known disease sites larger than 2 cm could be imaged. The effect of a pretreatment dose of unlabeled anti-B1 antibody on targeting of the tumor with the radiolabeled antibody was variable. The pretreatment dose of unlabeled antibody that produced the highest ratio of the tumor dose to the whole-body dose in tracer studies was then used to deliver higher doses of radioactivity for radioimmunotherapy in nine patients. Three patients received doses designed to deliver 25 cGy to the whole body (two patients treated twice, six to eight weeks apart), four patients received 35 cGy (one patient treated twice), and two patients received 45 cGy (one patient treated twice); each dose contained 34 to 66 mCi of activity. Six of the nine treated patients had tumor responses, including patients with bulky or chemotherapy-resistant disease: four patients had complete remissions, and two had partial responses. Three patients had objective responses to tracer infusions before they received radioimmunotherapeutic doses. Of the four patients with complete remissions, one remained in remission for eight months and the other three continue to have no disease progression (for 11, 9, and 8 months). There was mild or no myelosuppression. CONCLUSIONS Radioimmunotherapy with [131I]anti-B1 antibody is a promising new treatment for lymphoma.