Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Formal Authority in Buyer Evaluation of Business Research Suppliers: A Scandinavian Case

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on organizational buying of complex services, specifically external purchasing of business research. Based on relevant literature it was expected that key decision makers, though motivated to evaluate complex experience and credence attributes such as suppliers competence (Darby and Karni 1973), would tend to use more simple search attributes such as price and reputation in attitude formation processes. Moreover, the formal authority level of key decision-makers was expected to moderate the relative impact of search versus experience/credence attributes. Hypotheses were tested and largely supported by the data from a survey of 52 major Scandinavian buyers of business research. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.
An Investigation on Health Condition and Sports Behavior of Peasant Workers in Pearl River Delta

Through using the method of literature review,questionnaire and structural interview,and based on physical measurements,this paper investigated the health condition and the sports behavior of the peasant workers in the pearl river delta(PRD),and the corresponding influencing factors are under our concern as well.The result shows that:the self-estimated health of the peasant works in PRD scores low in general and the age difference is very significant,the same is true of their psychological conditions.Their body conditions,especially cardiorespiratory function,can not be optimistic and are worse than the rural population of the same age.Society and environment,work and life,sports attitude and competence are the main factors influencing their sports behavior.Their sports time and intensity is much less than urban citizens,their sports activities are concentrated in the easy-to-implement events which require low cost,simple skills and less space.Few factories and enterprises in PHD organize their peasant workers to carry out sports activities,while the peasant workers are poor in making sports arrangements of their own.Moreover,the serious lack of sports facilities and the general lack of health and sports knowledge turn up to be the main factors influencing their sports behaviors.
Incorporating patients’ assessments of satisfaction and quality: an integrative model of patients’ evaluations of their care

This study investigates the apparent methodological shortcomings of the current literature that considers patients’ evaluations of their care. In an effort to resolve the evident discrepancies between stated assertions and empirical evidence, integrates the two prominent streams of research to produce a more comprehensive model. Results suggest that just two distinct dimensions of the care experience were found to capture 74 per cent of the variance in satisfaction‐quality, with patients’ sociodemographic differences accounting for only 1 per cent.
C5b‐9 complement complex in autoimmune demyelination and multiple sclerosis: Dual role in neuroinflammation and neuroprotection

Complement system activation plays an important role in innate and acquired immunity. Activation of complement leads to the formation of C5b‐9 terminal complex. While C5b‐9 can promote cell lysis, sublytic assembly of C5b‐9 on plasma membranes induces cell cycle activation and survival. Multiple sclerosis (MS) and its animal model experimental allergic encephalomyelitis (EAE) are inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system (CNS) mediated by activated lymphocytes, macrophages/microglia and the complement system. Complement activation may contribute to the pathogenesis of these diseases through its dual role: the ability of activated terminal complex C5b‐9 to promote demyelination and the capacity of sublytic C5b‐9 to protect oligodendrocytes (OLG) from apoptosis. By inducing EAE in C5‐deficient mice, we showed that complement C5 promotes remyelination and protects oligodendrocytes from apoptotic cell death. These findings indicate that activation of complement C5b‐9 plays a pro‐inflammatory role in the acute phase of the disease, but may also be neuroprotective during the chronic phase of the disease.
Board Knowledge and the Use of Fairness Opinions

We examine whether board characteristics can explain why a value decreasing fairness opinion (FO) is purchased by an acquiring firm and whether these characteristics alter the market’s reaction to the use of a FO. We find that larger, more independent boards are more likely to obtain a FO as are boards with more directors facing reelection pressure. Boards with busy directors are less likely to use a FO. These results suggest that the board’s motivation and incentives are important in explaining the use of a FO. In addition, we find that board characteristics both moderate and exacerbate the market’s reaction to the use of a FO. When a FO is used by a busy board, the market reacts more negatively to the merger announcement. In contrast, board independence and the average service years for directors seem to moderate the market’s reaction to the FO. Our empirical evidence supports a sophisticated market reaction, where the market recognizes the board’s motivation when assessing the effect of the FO.
Drivers for Malaysian SMEs to Go Green

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) around the world have little knowledge about environmental management and do not understand the concept of environmental management. The concept of green is still very new to Malaysian SME owners/managers, although many green conferences, seminars and campaigns have been carried out for quite some time. The concept for green process and products in Malaysia is at the infancy stage. The drivers of environmental behavior in SMEs are relatively under-researched (Worthington & Patton, 2005) and more needs to be done to help SME owner-managers adopt environmental initiatives (Hitchens et al., 2003) as poor environmental performance is not simply the outcome of negative attitudes by SME owner-managers to the environment. This study identifies five key drivers of environmental management practice for SMEs go green. The five drivers are: economic benefits, financial incentives, stakeholders demand, legislation, resources, motivation and knowledge. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) is considered as the most appropriate theory to study the drivers of green environment behavior and to investigate the owners’/managers’ perception and attitude towards Malaysian SMEs’ green concept.
Culture results of heart valves resected because of streptococcal endocarditis: insights into duration of treatment to achieve valve sterilization.

OBJECTIVES To analyse the culture results of heart valves removed following streptococcal endocarditis in order to gain insight into the duration of treatment required for valve sterilization. PATIENTS AND METHODS Retrospective review of 131 episodes of streptococcal endocarditis: 94 due to alpha-haemolytic streptococci; 15 due to beta-haemolytic streptococci; 10 due to nutritionally deficient streptococci; eight due to the Streptococcus anginosus group and four due to Streptococcus pneumoniae. Patients had their valves removed during antimicrobial treatment. Culture results were analysed with respect to duration of treatment before surgery. RESULTS For alpha-haemolytic streptococci, 17 (18%) valves were culture-positive and 77 (82%) culture-negative after a median (range) of 4 (1-20) and 16 (4-58) days of treatment, respectively, P < 0.001. For beta-haemolytic streptococci, two valves (13%) were culture-positive; both patients had received < or = 4 days of treatment. Four patients (40%) with nutritionally deficient streptococci were culture-positive, and had received < or = 8 days of treatment. For the S. anginosus group, two valves (25%) were culture-positive; both patients had received < or = 4 days of treatment before operation. Overall, only one of 131 (0.8%) valves was culture-positive after 14 days of treatment. All valves infected with beta-haemolytic streptococci, nutritionally deficient streptococci and the S. anginosus group, who were treated for more than 8 days before surgery, were culture-negative. CONCLUSIONS Our findings support current treatment guidelines for endocarditis caused by alpha-haemolytic streptococci. We suggest that the recommended duration of treatment for endocarditis resulting from other streptococci may be excessive and treatment trials evaluating 2 and 4 week regimens are justified.
Learning to identify interesting links in intelligent information discovery

In the age of information overload intelligent agents have proven themselves as a very useful tool for discovering information of interest on the Web. The information seeking process may be either static, by utilizing existing search engines or using collaborative techniques, or dynamic, by actively browsing the Web. In the second case, agents need to evaluate encountered hyperlinks and choose the promising ones for continuing their autonomous navigation. In this paper we describe a new learning method for identifying interesting links in autonomous information discovery and we present the preliminary results from applying the new method into difficult query domains.
Influence of ethnicity on response to asthma drugs

Introduction: Understanding variability in the response to asthma medications is essential to ensure appropriate prescribing. Given that there are increased asthma treatment failures observed in ethnic minorities receiving asthma therapeutics, it is fundamental to understand the factors related to ethnicity that can modify the response to asthma therapy. Areas covered: Race/ethnicity is an important determinant of drug response and therefore contributes to interindividual variability. It is generally recognized that its effects on drug response are determined by both genetic and environmental factors to a varying extent, depending on the ethnic groups and probe drugs studied. Also, adherence to therapy can influence pharmacological response to asthma therapeutics. Expert opinion: Health-care professionals might never use the treatment in their patients irrespective of their ethnicity and thus inadvertently increase ethnic health inequality. However, our understanding of whether and/or how ethnicity influences pharmacological response to asthma therapeutics is still very scarce. A holistic, integrative systems biology approach that combines large-scale molecular profiling traits (e.g., transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic traits) and genetic variants could help to personalize the treatment of asthmatic patients regardless of race/ethnicity.
Associations of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms With Marijuana and Synthetic Cannabis Use Among Young Adult U.S. Veterans: A Pilot Investigation.

OBJECTIVE This study involves a pilot investigation of associations between marijuana and synthetic cannabis use with PTSD symptoms among a young adult sample of U.S. veterans. METHOD In a cross-sectional survey of a community sample of 790 young adult U.S. veterans, we assessed demographics, combat severity, marijuana and synthetic cannabis use, expectancies of marijuana use, and PTSD symptoms. RESULTS Overall, 61.8% and 20.4% of our sample reported lifetime and past-month marijuana use, whereas 17.0% and 3.4% reported lifetime and past-month synthetic cannabis use. Veterans screening positive for PTSD were more likely to use marijuana and synthetic cannabis in their lifetime and in the past month. Positive PTSD screens, as well as greater expectancies that marijuana leads to relaxation and tension reduction, were associated with past-month marijuana use in logistic regression analyses. Expectancies moderated the relationship between PTSD and marijuana use, such that those with positive PTSD screens reporting higher levels of relaxation and tension-reduction expectancies were most likely to report past-month marijuana use. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest an association of PTSD symptoms with marijuana and synthetic cannabis use among young adult U.S. veterans. Future research should further investigate the link between PTSD and marijuana use, as well as the rates and consequences of synthetic cannabis use among veterans.
On the distinction between functional development and functional maintenance

The large amount of work on information systems being taken up by maintenance activities has been one of the arguments of those announcing a ‘software crisis’. In this article we have investigated the applicability of this statement, and propose instead to look at the percentage of work being done on functional maintenance to assess the efficiency of the information system support in an organization, seen from the end-user's point of view. A survey with results from 52 Norwegian organizations on development and maintenance of information systems has been performed, and some of the results are presented in the article. These are compared with results from similar investigations acting as calibration for our more novel results on functional development and maintenance. This is the first time to our knowledge that figures for functional maintenance have been investigated in a survey. From a functional point of view, the situation is better than previously perceived. Still, almost 45% of the work being done on computerized information systems in organizations is functional maintenance, i.e. not improving the information system support of the organization functionally. The amount of functional maintenance appears to be negatively correlated with the size measures for the organization, and with organizations having a well-developed maintenance and development methodology, although further investigations should be performed to uncover the mechanisms of functional maintenance.
Offshoring and firm innovation: The moderating role of top management team attributes

This study attempts to increase the understanding of how offshoring influences the introduction of new products and services. Focusing on the offshoring of those business functions that provide direct knowledge inputs for innovation (i.e., production, R&D, and engineering), we propose that offshoring has an inverted U‐shaped influence on firm innovativeness. Additionally, we provide an upper echelon contingency perspective by considering the moderating role of two top management team (TMT) attributes (i.e., informational diversity and shared vision). Using a cross‐industry sample with lagged data, we find that offshoring has an inverted U‐shaped influence on firm innovativeness and that this relationship is steeper in firms with high TMT informational diversity and in firms with low TMT shared vision. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Epidemiology of Staphylococcus Aureus Infections in Patients on Hemodialysis

Abstract Objective: To determine the epidemiology of Staphylococcus aureus infections in hemodialysis patients. Method: S aureus isolates from surveillance cultures and from sites of infection were evaluated by both bacteriophage typing and restriction endonuclease digestion of plasmid DNA. Setting: A hemodialysis unit in Brugge, Belgium. Organisms: S aureus isolates from 11 chronic hemodialysis patients who had participated in the placebo arm of a previously reported placebo-mupirocin comparative study. Results: Of 75 S aureus isolates evaluated, 63 were from cultures of nares and 12 from infections (three arteriovenous fistula infections, four wound infections, and five bacteremias). All isolates were typed by bacteriophages and 56 (75%) had plasmids. Three patients developed 12 infections. Eleven infections were caused by isolates previously identified in surveillance cultures. Only one infection was caused by a strain not identified previously in surveillance cultures. Conclusion: These results support the hypothesis that S aureus isolates causing infections in hemodialysis patients are of endogenous origin.
Determinants of CSR practices: analysis of the influence of ownership and the management profile mediating effect

The purpose of this article is to study the relevance of ownership and top management characteristics in the implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Specifically, it is proposed that ownership structure characterised by the presence of large shareholders is related to CSR activities and that this relationship may be mediated by the CEO management profile in accordance with the Agency–Stewardship approach. The results of mediation analysis on a sample of 101 non-listed companies in Spain show that those with a higher ownership concentration tend to be run by managers whose profile is closer to the steward than the agent model and to be more involved in CSR activities. Our findings also support the existence of the suggested mediating effect. This article goes further than existing research on owners and top managers as determinants of CSR and unveils new ways to address this topic empirically.
Shear stress induces a longitudinal Ca2+ wave via autocrine activation of P2Y1 purinergic signalling in rat atrial myocytes

Cardiac myocytes are subjected to fluid shear stress during the cardiac cycle and haemodynamic disturbance. A longitudinally propagating, regenerative Ca2+ wave is initiated in atrial myocytes under shear stress. Here we determine the cellular mechanism for this shear‐induced Ca2+ wave using two‐dimensional confocal Ca2+ imaging combined with pressurized fluid flow. Our data suggest that shear stress triggers the Ca2+ wave through ryanodine receptors via P2Y1 purinoceptor–phospholipase C‐type 2 inositol 1,4,5‐trisphosphate receptor signal transduction in atrial myocytes, and that this mechanotransduction is activated by gap junction hemichannel‐mediated ATP release. Shear‐specific mechanotransduction and the subsequent regenerative Ca2+ wave may be one way for atrial myocytes to assess mechanical stimuli directly and alter their Ca2+ signalling accordingly.
Financial integration, financial turmoil and risk premia in emerging markets

The aim of this article is to study the dynamics of financial integration and of the risk premia in emerging markets. Accordingly, we estimate a variant of the International Asset Pricing Model (IAPM) developed by Errunza and Losq (1985) and Carrieri et al. (2007), allowing for time-varying stock market integration, in which we include the foreign currency risk. Our sample consists of monthly data for 12 emerging stock markets over the period 1988−2012. We find that the evolution of financial integration is broadly consistent with the de jure measure of capital openness, but much less sticky. Moreover, while the financial integration of emerging stock markets displays an upward trend, it has also registered short-term reversals episodes during crises. The upward trend in financial integration does not reduce the local market risk premium component as much as could be expected, as regional crises strengthen the idiosyncratic character of the risk premium. Finally, the recent global crisis has induced a reassessment of the world market risk premium for all emerging countries, highlighting the global nature of the crisis.
Classifying Services to Gain Strategic Marketing Insights

The diversity of the service sector makes it difficult to come up with managerially useful generalizations concerning marketing practice in service organizations. This article argues for a focus on specific categories of services and proposes five schemes for classifying services in ways that transcend narrow industry boundaries. In each instance insights are offered into how the nature of the service might affect the marketing task.
An Excess of the Proinflammatory Cytokines IFN-γ and IL-12 Impairs the Development of the Memory CD8+ T Cell Response to Chlamydia trachomatis

The obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common cause of bacterial sexually transmitted disease in the United States and the leading cause of preventable blindness worldwide. Transfer of cultured Chlamydia-specific CD8+ T cells or vaccination with recombinant virus expressing an MHC I–restricted Chlamydia Ag confers protection, yet surprisingly a protective CD8+ T cell response is not stimulated following natural infection. In this study, we demonstrate that the presence of excess IL-12 and IFN-γ contributes to poor memory CD8+ T cell development during C. trachomatis infection of mice. IL-12 is required for CD8+ T cell expansion but drives effector CD8+ T cells into a short-lived fate, whereas IFN-γ signaling impairs the development of effector memory cells. We show that transient blockade of IL-12 and IFN-γ during priming promotes the development of memory precursor effector CD8+ T cells and increases the number of memory T cells that participate in the recall protection against subsequent infection. Overall, this study identifies key factors shaping memory development of Chlamydia-specific CD8+ T cells that will inform future vaccine development against this and other pathogens.
Footprints in the Sands of Time: A Comparative Analysis of the Effectiveness of Customer Satisfaction and Customer–Company Identification over Time

Previous research has identified customer satisfaction and customer–company identification as two of the most important concepts in relationship marketing. Yet despite their proclaimed importance, research on their long-term effectiveness is surprisingly scarce. Furthermore, comparative research acknowledging the concepts' different theoretical roots and illuminating the differences in their long-term effectiveness is lacking. In addition, little is known about how competitive actions affect the long-term effectiveness of both concepts. This study makes a first attempt to address these research gaps and offers a comparative analysis of the effectiveness of customer satisfaction and customer–company identification in driving important customer outcomes over time. Latent growth analyses of rich longitudinal data from customers over nine measurement points spanning 43 weeks (n = 6,930) show that customer satisfaction and customer–company identification have positive initial effects on customers' loyalty and willingness to pay but differ in their ability to maintain these positive effects over time. Whereas the positive effects of customer satisfaction decrease more rapidly, the effects of customer–company identification are significantly more persistent. Analysis of the moderating effects of relative competitive advertising suggests that customer–company identification is more effective at immunizing customers against competitive actions.
Antecedents and consequences of in‐store experiences based on an experiential typology

Purpose – This paper aims to verify the hypothetical relationships between antecedent and consequence variables of consumer's shopping experiences based on an experiential typology advocated by Schmitt.Design/methodology/approach – First, the study takes a holistic view of shopping experiences by adopting three experiential components (sensory, affective, and rational) with a view to uncovering the roles of antecedent (shopping motives) and consequence (impulse buying) of shopping experiences. Specifically, the study seeks to affirm the effects of shopping motives on shopping experiences for three types of retail store (department store, discount store, and internet store) and two product types (perfume and detergent). Second, the study confirms whether store type and product type influence the kind of experience preferred by shoppers and verifies whether types of product and store moderate the relationship between shopping motives and shopping experiences. Thirdly, the study investigates the effects of s.