Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Variance vs average: supply chain lead‐time as a predictor of financial performance

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of supply chain lead‐time averages and variability on an organization's financial performance.Design/methodology/approach – The “executive” list for manufacturers, consisting of 1,264 individuals of the Institute of Supply Management provided the study's sampling frame, with surveys sent to 402 firms and responses obtained from 210 firms. The empirical model is tested using LISREL.Findings – The results show that as variance in supply chain lead‐times increases, the financial performance of the organization decreases. Of equal significance, the results show that average supply chain lead‐times have no direct impact on financial performance. The results also indicate that demand uncertainty associates with greater supply chain lead‐time variance and that production technology routineness associates with lower supply chain lead‐time variance. Product complexity and organizational size have no impact on supply chain lead‐time variance or supply cha.
Addition of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole to ceftazidime during parenteral treatment of melioidosis is not associated with a long-term outcome benefit.

gical excision versus antibiotic treatment for nontuberculous mycobacterial cervicofacial lymphadenitis in children: a multicenter, ran-domized, controlled trial. To the Editor—Tablet or capsule administration is difficult in young children or patients with dysphagia, and most an-tituberculosis drugs are not available in liquid formulations. Pharmacies can prepare extemporaneous dosage forms, but stability data are limited for such preparations [1]. Therefore, we tested the stability of tuberculosis drugs in common foods that might be palatable for children. Tablets (or capsules) of isoniazid, rif-ampin, rifapentine, pyrazinamide, etham-butol, ethionamide, and cycloserine were individually crushed (or opened) and transferred to beakers containing 30 g of chocolate pudding (Hunt's Snackpack, no sugar added), grape jelly (Safeway Con-cord), or peanut butter (Safeway Creamy) or to a beaker containing a 1:1 concentration of methanol and water as the control. In addition, isoniazid and rifapentine were tested in 7-Up soda and orange juice. Each drug-food mixture was blended thoroughly. Paired samples for each mixture were frozen at 0, 1, 2, and 4 h after preparation. Final dilutions were extracted and assayed according to standard operating procedures at the National Jewish Medical and Research Center (Denver, CO). For each drug, the median percentage recovery for each pair of samples at each time point was calculated, and the median and range of recovery for all pairs and time points were calculated. Drug stability over time was assessed by plotting median recovery versus time. For all drugs and time points, there was у93% recovery from pudding, у89% recovery from jelly, and у80% recovery from peanut butter. Recoveries of ! 90% were seen for pyrazinamide mixed with jelly or peanut butter and for either rif-ampin or ethambutol mixed with peanut butter. Recovery was close to 100% for isoniazid and rifapentine mixed with orange juice or 7-Up soda, although isoni-azid recovery was as low as 85% in the latter. Recovery over 4 h trended downward for isoniazid, pyrazinamide, and cy-closerine mixed in grape jelly and for pyr-azinamide and rifapentine mixed in peanut butter. In clinical practice, tablets are crushed (or capsules are opened), and their contents are mixed with several different types of foods to improve acceptability to selected patients. We tested oral antituber-culosis drugs in a variety of mixtures that might be acceptable to children. These tuberculosis drugs proved to be stable for up to 4 h in sugar-free chocolate pudding and, in most cases, remained stable in the other mixtures tested. These data suggest …
Is rationalist institutionalism correct? Markets and domestic structures in the 1992/93 ERM crisis.

This thesis investigates the influence of domestic institutional structures on international financial market sentiment during financial crises. It asks whether rationalist institutionalism is correct by suggesting that financial market participants make optimising rational choices about domestic institutions when assessing whether exchange rate commitments by national policymakers are consistent with domestic policy constraints. To clarify the issue I have undertaken an empirical study of market sentiment from a procedural angle. I use focused structured comparison as a means of undertaking an investigation of the process of market decision-making during a single historical episode in which the credibility of currency commitments was at stake, the 1992/93 ERM crisis. This approach allowed for a rigorous detailed longitudinal reconstruction of how domestic institutional variables, which have been identified by rationalist institutionalism as critical for monetary policy outcomes (financial structure, wage bargaining structure, political structure), influenced market sentiment towards pound sterling, the French franc and the D-mark. I conclude that, firstly, market participants took account of domestic institutional structures in a broadly rational fashion. But given that, in the practice of financial market trading, information is incomplete and the cognitive capacities of market analysts are limited, market rationality is bounded and not optimising. Market participants "satisfice": they economise on their decision-making by stopping the process of assessment at a practically acceptable, rather than an optimal solution. This leads to inefficient market outcomes manifested in unstable expectations about institutions and lack of robustness in institutional analysis. Secondly, market sentiment is characterised by uncertainty about the structural underpinnings of political exchange rate commitments, allowing considerable room for national policy-making autonomy through strategic interaction between national policymakers and international financial markets. Thirdly, the practical nature of decision-making by financial market participants has not been recognised by rationalist institutionalism, explaining its theoretical ambiguities regarding the influence of domestic institutions on market sentiment.
Structure of marketing decision making and international marketing standardisation strategies

Purpose – Research concerning marketing standardisation is still developing. A new research theme has recently emerged, wherein it is suggested that the structure of marketing decision making is likely to be a factor of marketing standardisation strategy. This study aims to add insights to this new research field. Based on the outcome of previous studies, it aims to propose and test a research framework concerning the relationships among environmental factors, the structure of decision making and marketing standardisation/performance. This study seeks to focus on the two most important programme elements: promotion and product.Design/methodology/approach – The study used the experience of 78 firms operating in the European Union (EU) region to achieve its research objectives. The data used were collected through a postal survey. This analysis used both partial least square (PLS) and hierarchical regression analysis methods to examine its research framework.Findings – The study has generated a framework fo.
Exploring the relationship between corporate, internal and employer branding - an empirical study

Purpose – The corporate branding concept places an emphasis on employees' attitudes and behaviours. This has given rise to internal branding and employer branding, which argue for a closer alignment between the employees' values and those of the corporate brand. However, few studies have attempted to provide a platform by which the two concepts could be synergised to achieve a strong, consistent corporate brand. This paper therefore seeks to explore and demonstrate how the three concepts of branding are interrelated through a new framework.Design/methodology/approach – Three bodies of literature (corporate branding, internal branding, and employer branding) were selected for review and examination in terms of their implications for the proposed framework that conceptualises the relationships between the three areas.Findings – The review of the literature highlights the importance of employer branding and internal branding, and its potential to support the corporate brand‐building initiatives, whilst maint.
Introduction to a general crystallography.

The definition of an extended crystallographic group is given, based on an n-dimensional Euclidean space, carrier of a faithful integral representation of a permutation group of atomic positions. The Euclidean crystallography of normal crystals and the higher-dimensional one applied to incommensurately modulated crystals, intergrowth crystals and quasicrystals are special cases of a general crystallography. The same is true for the multimetrical crystallographic characterization of ice and of snow crystals. This approach can also be applied to single molecules, leading to what may be denoted as molecular crystallography. It possibly allows non-trivial structural relations between atomic positions belonging to the asymmetric unit of the molecular point group to be obtained. Two simple molecules, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, are treated as illustrative examples.
Region-based image coding with multiple algorithms

The wide usage of small satellite imagery, especially its commercialization, makes data-based onboard compression not only meaningful but also necessary in order to solve the bottleneck between the huge volume of data generated onboard and the very limited downlink bandwidth. The authors propose a method that encodes different regions with different algorithms. The authors use three shape-adaptive image compression algorithms as the candidates. The first one is a JPEG-based algorithm, the second one is based on the object-based wavelet transform method proposed by Katata et al. (1997), and the third adopts Hilbert scanning of the regions of interest followed by one-dimensional (1-D) wavelet transform. The three algorithms are also applied to the full image so that one can compare their performance on a whole rectangular image. The authors use eight Landsat TM multispectral images and another 12 small satellite single-band images as their data set. The results show that these compression algorithms have significantly different performance for different regions.
The Prevalence of Abnormal Magnetic Resonance Imaging Findings in Asymptomatic Knees

The purpose of this study was to prospectively evaluate the prevalence of abnormal magnetic resonance imag ing scans of the knees of asymptomatic subjects. A pro spective analysis of magnetic resonance imaging to ar throscopic findings in symptomatic knees was also performed. The prevalence of meniscal tears found in asymptomatic knees was 5.6% (medial meniscus, 1.9%; lateral meniscus, 3.7%). Other abnormal findings included a prevalence of 1.9% for degenerative changes of the medial femoral condyle and 3.7% both for ganglion cysts and patellofemoral joint articular car tilage degenerative changes. There was also a preva lence of 24.1% of Grade II signal changes of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus. Statistical comparison of our results to previous studies revealed that the magnetic resonance imaging scan readings on the asymptomatic knees in this study were accurate and lesions were correctly identified. We recommend that clinicians match clinical signs and symptoms with mag netic resonance imaging findings before instituting sur gical treatment because of a 5.6% prevalence of meniscal tears in the asymptomatic population. The sig nificance of the high percentage of posterior horn medial meniscal Grade II signal changes is unknown.
Corporate Social Responsibility and CSR Communication according to the Society

The aim of my study is to access the knowledge of the CSR, to examine the usage of CSR communication tools and to survey the attitude to CSR activities concerning classical music. In the study firstly the definition of CSR was described this is how the corporate social responsibility can be interpreted. Then the CSR communication tools were demonstrated and the hypotheses were formulated. In the main part ofthey writing the online questionnaire was examined with SPSS program on which it was researched that how the people know Corporate Social Responsibility within the CSR activities concerning classical music, and it was examined how people inform about CSR, which CSR communication tools are the most used. The main research questions were: 1. How well does the Hungarian population know the term of CSR? 2. What CSR communication tools does the society use for being informed about Corporate Social Responsibility? 3. What is the attitude of Hungarian population to social responsibility within the classical music issue of CSR activities?
The financing of young firms. How persistent are borrowing constraints

Are investments by new firms constrained by access to financing? If so, are the constraints persistent or do firms overcome their financing problems during the first years of operation? We examine the role of capital constraints by estimating the relation between founders' initial wealth and firm size during the first years of operation. Similar to previous studies, we find a positive impact of entrepreneurs' wealth prior to start-up on the start-up size of entrepreneurial firms, but this effect decreases during the first five years of operation. We also document a high degree of economic mobility among entrepreneurial firms during the first years of operation. This is primarily driven by a disproportional increase in debt financing among the smallest firms, indicating that capital constraints for entrepreneurs are transitory.
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND FINANCIAL RESTATEMENTS AMONG MALAYSIAN LISTED COMPANIES

The objectives of this research are to examine the extent of financial restatement in Malaysia; to reveal the reasons that had led to financial statements restatements; and to investigate whether the corporate governance characteristics are associated with financial restatement. Using the US Government Accountability Office’s definition on restatement, the study identifies firms that restated their financial statements during the period of 2002 to 2005 which totaled to only thirty-one companies. Our results show that the reason for misstating the accounts was to inflate earnings. Incorporating non-restating sub-sample firms, we find that the nomination committee of the firms that restated is less independent and managerial ownership is found be higher for the firms that restated their accounts. The logistic regression analysis indicates that the extent of ownership by outside blockholders is able to constraint managers from misstating accounts, consistent with Dechow, Sloan and Sweeney (1996). Our results also show that the firms with high level of debts and listed on Main Board of Bursa Malaysia are more likely to commit in financial misstatement, consistent with previous findings (Dechow et al., 1996; Kinney and McDaniel, 1989; Richardson et al., 2002). This research is significant as it provides evidence on the role of corporate governance, especially the ownership by outside blockholders, on the incident of financial misstatements in an emerging economy.
Clinical outcomes model in renal cell cancer patients treated with modified vaccinia Ankara plus tumor-associated antigen 5T4

Aims We developed an outcomes model to select patients for renal cell cancer vaccine immunotherapy. Materials and methods We examined clinical data from 2 phase II studies of modified vaccinia Ankara as vector to express 5T4 (MVA-5T4), calculated progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), and created risk groups based on the number of factors involved. Results Median OS was 12.4 months; median PFS was 3.6 months. Significant factors (p<0.05) included neutrophils (both), bone metastases (OS), ECOG performance status (OS), lactate dehydrogenase levels (both), prior therapy with tyrosine kinase inhibitors plus immunotherapy (OS), Fuhrman grade (OS), and 5T4-specific ELISPOT response (PFS). By group, median OS was not reached in patients with favorable risk (censored at cutoff), was 13.7 months in those with intermediate risk and 4.0 months in those with poor risk. Conclusions Further validation of this model will identify the patients most likely to respond to MVA-5T4 and provide a framework for outcomes models for other vaccine therapies.
Immunoregulatory effects of HIV‐1 Nef protein

During HIV infection, the perturbation of the adaptive and innate immune responses contributes to the progressive immunosuppression leading to an increased susceptibility to opportunistic infections and neoplastic diseases. Several impairments observed in HIV‐infected patients include a gradual loss of CD4+ T cells, CD8+ T cell dysfunction, and a decreased number and function of natural killer (NK) cells. Moreover, a functional impairment and variation in the number of DC and B cells were observed during HIV infection. HIV‐1 codes for proteins, including the accessory Nef proteins, that interacting with immune cells may contribute to AIDS pathogenesis. Here, we review the recent progress on the immunomodulatory effect of the accessory Nef protein and its role in the pathogenesis of HIV‐1 infection. © 2009 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
Impact of Gender Differences on the Evaluation of Promotional Emails

ABSTRACT Advertisers are recognizing the internet's potential for helping firms directly communicate with consumers using media rich emails. Though the efficiency of such emails cannot be denied, their effectiveness needs to be assessed. It is argued that components of promotional emails are likely to be evaluated differently by males and females. The results from a survey suggest that women and men differ in their evaluation of information content and the visual presentation used in emails. Compared to men, women were also more concerned about privacy and preferred to use the media to build social contacts. Implications for using promotional emails are discussed.
Who’s Leading, Who’s Following? Leader-member Exchange Theory and Voluntary Sport Boards

Abstract Utilising leader-member exchange theory developed by Dansereau, Graen and Haga, this paper analyses the dyadic relationship between leaders (board chairs and paid executives) and members (volunteer board members) of the boards of Australian voluntary sportorganisations. The paper specifically examines the quality of leader-member exchanges that exist within a sample of 34 Queensland state sporting organisations. It was found that board chairs and executives perceived the quality of their leader-member exchanges to be higher than their respective relationships with board members, indicating the existence of shared leadership within the board.
Relationship and Market Conditions: Outcomes in Marketing Channels

Purpose: In today's highly competitive business environment, many organizations are tending to reduce the number of suppliers to focus on establishing stable and close relationships with a small number of them. The study here analyzes the influence of both market and relationship conditions on trust, commitment, and customer loyalty. Methodology/Approach: Empirical research was conducted by collecting information from a sample of 304 retailers. A structural equations model is estimated. Findings: Results support a positive influence of relationship value on trust and, in turn, on long-term orientation and commitment, with the latter as a strong antecedent of customer loyalty. In contrast, dependence on the main supplier does not seem to exert a significant effect on long-term orientation and commitment. Originality/Value/Contribution: The evidence suggests that relationship conditions are important for creating value in B2B settings. Results shed additional light on the process of calculating, creating and claiming value.
Cabozantinib versus everolimus, nivolumab, axitinib, sorafenib and best supportive care: A network meta-analysis of progression-free survival and overall survival in second line treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma

Background Relative effect of therapies indicated for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma (aRCC) after failure of first line treatment is currently not known. The objective of the present study is to evaluate progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) of cabozantinib compared to everolimus, nivolumab, axitinib, sorafenib, and best supportive care (BSC) in aRCC patients who progressed after previous VEGFR tyrosine-kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatment. Methodology & findings Systematic literature search identified 5 studies for inclusion in this analysis. The assessment of the proportional hazard (PH) assumption between the survival curves for different treatment arms in the identified studies showed that survival curves in two of the studies did not fulfil the PH assumption, making comparisons of constant hazard ratios (HRs) inappropriate. Consequently, a parametric survival network meta-analysis model was implemented with five families of functions being jointly fitted in a Bayesian framework to PFS, then OS, data on all treatments. The comparison relied on data digitized from the Kaplan-Meier curves of published studies, except for cabozantinib and its comparator everolimus where patient level data were available. This analysis applied a Bayesian fixed-effects network meta-analysis model to compare PFS and OS of cabozantinib versus its comparators. The log-normal fixed-effects model displayed the best fit of data for both PFS and OS, and showed that patients on cabozantinib had a higher probability of longer PFS and OS than patients exposed to comparators. The survival advantage of cabozantinib increased over time for OS. For PFS the survival advantage reached its maximum at the end of the first year’s treatment and then decreased over time to zero. Conclusion With all five families of distributions, cabozantinib was superior to all its comparators with a higher probability of longer PFS and OS during the analyzed 3 years, except with the Gompertz model, where nivolumab was preferred after 24 months.
Poverty and Risky Sexual Behaviours: Evidence from Tanzania

Background: This paper investigates the influence of socioeconomic status on specific HIV/AIDS knowledge and the relationship between poverty and risky sexual behaviour in Tanzania. Poverty is one of the key factors that influence exposure of both men and women to the risk of contracting HIV. Poorer men and women are more likely than wealthier men and women to be exposed to HIV infection because they engage in higher-risk sexual behaviour. Methods: Analysis involved the use of data from the 2010 Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey (DHS). Data analysis involved univariate analysis for dependant and independent variables, bivariate analysis, and thereafter multivariate logistic analysis for generating the odds ratio and confidence intervals (CIs) for each predictor. Results: We found that education, wealth, mobility, employment, and media exposure have a strong association with knowledge that a healthy-looking person can have HIV/AIDS. Poverty influences higher-risk sexual behaviour for both men and women—defined here as sex with a non-marital, non-cohabiting partner. Poverty and lack of education among men and women are associated with lower rates of condom use. Results also show that poorer men are more likely than richer men to report paying for sex. Conclusion: Poverty, lack of education, low mobility, and earlier sexual debut are among the major factors associated with risky sexual behaviour. More efforts on poverty reduction, more investment in education, and better facilitation of easy access to media need to be undertaken in order to reduce the vulnerability of poor people to contracting HIV/AIDS.