Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Self‐service technology adoption: comparing three technologies

Purpose – Advances in technologies have allowed service providers to incorporate many different technologies into the delivery of their services. These technologies have been implemented in the service encounter for the customer to use with varying degrees of success. This research aims to focus on the examination of factors that influence consumer attitudes toward, and adoption of, self‐service technologies (SSTs). Design/methodology/approach – A conceptual model of the adoption process for SSTs is developed and tested across three different technologies used in the banking industry. One of these technologies (ATMs) has been available for many years and is widely adopted, another technology (bank by phone) has been available for many years but has not been widely adopted, and the third technology (online banking) is relatively new to the marketplace. Data were collected using a random telephone survey of banking customers in a three‐state area of the northeast USA and analyzed using structural equation mo.
Can We Talk? The Impact of Willingness to Recommend on a New-to-Market Service Brand Extension Within a Social Network

Adoption of new services in the marketplace, and the impact that word of mouth (WOM) has on adoption, has long been of interest to marketers. Managers have therefore become increasingly interested in measuring WOM activity most commonly through the recommend intention metric. The circumstances under which the predictive ability of this metric can be established, however, are not clear. This research provides the first longitudinal examination of the relationship bet ween recommend intention and the adoption of a new-to-market service (NTMS) brand extension. Analysis is conducted using anonymized data provided by a large U.S. telecommunications provider for 791 customers and their corresponding telephone network (11,552 individuals). The findings indicate an interaction effect where recommend intention predicts new service adoption only when the recommending customers are more recent adopters of the service and are in more frequent contact with the potential customer. Therefore, when managers are using the recommend intention metric to predict adoption, there is a need to take into consideration the exposure of the individual to others in their network and the timing of their adoption.
Connectivity control and performance optimization in Wireless Robotic Networks: Issues, approaches and a new framework

In Wireless Robotic Networks (WRNs), robots interact with each other to fulfill complex tasks such as target tracking, area coverage or environment monitoring. When designing the interactive controller with a more realistic consideration, connectivity needs to be maintained instead of simply assumed. In this paper, we give an introduction on how to maintain the connectivity of a communication graph which corresponds to a WRN. Due to the limited communication range of robots, proximity-limited communication models are used for the co-operative control problem and the connectivity maintenance problem in WRNs. Therefore, we review two kinds of proximity-limited communication models in this paper: the disk-based communication model and the hysteresis-based communication model. In addition, we present some network performance optimization work that based on communication metrics of Bit Error Rate (BER) and Signal to Interference plus Noise Ratio (SINR). Finally, we propose a new framework that involves the connectivity control and the network performance optimization, and potential solutions are discussed accordingly.
Randomized Trial Piriformis Syndrome : Comparison of the Effectiveness of Local Anesthetic and Corticosteroid Injections : A Double-Blinded , Randomized Controlled Study

Methods: Fifty-seven patients having unilateral hip and/or leg pain with positive FAIR test and tenderness and/or trigger point at the piriformis muscle were evaluated. Out of 50 patients randomly assigned to 2 groups, 47 patients whose pain resolved at least 50% from the baseline after the injection were diagnosed as having PS. The first group (n = 22) received 5 mL of lidocaine 2% while the second group (n = 25) received 4 mL of lidocaine 2% + 1 mL of betametazone under the guidance of ultrasound.
Metabolism of dexamethasone in the human kidney: nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide-dependent 11beta-reduction.

Recently, two distinct isoenzymes of 11beta-hydroxysteroid-dehydrogenase (11beta-HSD) have been cloned and characterized in several species: The isoenzyme 11beta-HSD-I is widely distributed, bidirectional, prefers NADP(H) and has a low substrate affinity. The isoenzyme 11beta-HSD-II seems to exclusively oxidize physiological glucocorticoids, uses NAD as cosubstrate, has high substrate affinity, and is only found in mineralocorticoid target tissues and the placenta. Synthetic steroids fluorinated in position 9, however, are rapidly reduced by human kidney cortex slices. We attempted to find out which isoenzyme is responsible for this unexpected reductase activity. We studied the 11beta-HSD activity towards cortisol (F)/cortisone (E) and dexamethasone (D)/11-dehydro-dexamethasone (DH-D) in microsomes prepared from human kidney cortex. For the reaction E to F (not for DH-D to D! ), glucose-6-phosphate and glucose-6-phosphate-dehydrogenase had to be added as a NADH/NADPH-regenerating system. Oxidation of F to E: NAD was the exclusively used cosubstrate; the affinity [Michael's constant (Km) for F = 25.5 nmol/L] and the maximum velocity (Vmax = 22.9 nmol/mg/min) were high. Reduction of E to F: Without the NADH/NADPH-regenerating system, this reaction was very slow. With this system, the Km value for E was in the nanomolar range (80.6 nmol/L) and the Vmax value was very low (0.88 nmol/mg/min). The reaction was clearly NADH-preferring. For the steroid pair F/E, the quotient Vmax(oxidation)/Vmax(reduction) (=26) demonstrates an equilibrium far on the 11-keto side. Oxidation of D to DH-D: With NAD as the only used cosubstrate, the kinetic analysis is compatible with the existence of two different NAD-dependent isoenzymes: Km for D = 327 nmol/L, Vmax = 53.5 nmol/mg/min and Km for D = 81.2 nmol/L; Vmax = 20.4 nmol/mg/min. Reduction of DH-D to D: The maximum velocity was higher than that of all other reactions tested: Vmax = 226.0 nmol/mg/min. The reaction was exclusively NADH-dependent; the Km value for DH-D was 68.4 nmol/L. For D/DH-D, the ratio Vmax(oxidation)/Vmax(reduction) was 0.24, demonstrating a shift to reductase activity with the reaction equilibrium far on the 11-hydroxy side. The reaction F to E was inhibited by E, DH-D, and D in a concentration-dependent manner. In conclusion, the cosubstrate dependence, the Km value of the oxidation of F and the product inhibition are in good correspondence with data for the cloned human 11beta-HSD-II. The NADH-dependent 11beta-reduction of E and especially of DH-D are inconsistent with the dogma of an unidirectional 11beta-HSD-II. The preference of D for the reductase reaction in human kidney slices is probably caused by the fluor atom in position 9, is catalyzed by 11beta-HSD-II, and leads to an activation of 11-DH-D to D in the human kidney.
Plant phenolic 4-coumaric acid protects against intestinal inflammation in rats.

BACKGROUND Many plants contain significant amounts of 4-coumaric acid (4CA), a compound with antioxidant properties in vitro and in vivo. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of 4CA pretreatment on DNA oxidative stress induced by intestinal inflammation in rodents. METHODS 4CA (50 mg/kg) was administered to rats for 14 days mixed in the diet. Colitis was induced on days 13 and 14 by administering 6% (w/v) dextran sodium sulphate (DSS) in the drinking water. RESULTS In the colon mucosa, DSS treatment increased myeloperoxidase activity (P < 0.05), oxidative DNA damage (P < 0.01), and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression (P < 0.01) and reduced superoxide dismutase-2 (SOD-2) expression (P < 0.05). It was found that treatment with 4CA prior to DSS-induced inflammation reduced oxidative DNA damage (P < 0.01), COX-2 over-expression (P < 0.01) and restored SOD-2 gene expression to control levels. Similar effects were observed with nimesulide administered p.o. (5 mg/kg, 1 day before and during DSS treatment). PGE levels in plasma and colon mucosa were increased by DSS treatment and this effect was inhibited by pretreatment with 4-CA (P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Mild acute intestinal inflammation induced by DSS can be inhibited by 4-CA and this action is associated with the suppression of COX-2 expression and activity.
Communication via responsibility reporting and its effect on firm value in Finland

In this paper, we have first analyzed the responsibility reporting literature with an emphasis on the linkage between reporting and firm performance and firm valuation. Based on the literature review, we have developed a research question: How does the communication via responsibility reporting affect firm value? The market valuation of listed Finnish firms through a conventional valuation model combined with responsibility reporting is analyzed. The starting point for our valuation was the Ohlson model. We expanded upon the conventional valuation by studying whether communication via responsibility reporting is related to firm valuation. Our research question is linked to the broader academic question of whether earnings worth as an information source has been erased over the last few years. In addition to that, we contribute to the literature that tries to understand the link between corporate social responsibility and firm performance/share performance. Specifically, we focused on responsibility reporting according to the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and especially on whether the existence of those reports provides a further explanation for firm value. Our sample was a population type that covered all listed Finnish firms that have adopted GRI. No other responsibility reporting practice was used by listed firms in their responsibility reporting communication during the years 2002–2005. The other necessary information for valuation models was obtained from Thomson Financial Services (commercial database). The applied model supported the conclusion that communication via GRI responsibility reporting is an important explanatory factor for firms’ market value. The result indicates that responsibility reporting is a part of a firm’s communication tools in order to decrease information asymmetry between managers and investors. In other words, GRI responsibility reporting is called for in order to produce a more precise market valuation of a firm.
Evaluative cues and services: the effect of consumer knowledge

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight into the use of evaluative cues by consumers in a services context. In particular, the paper investigates the extent to which consumers' familiarity and objective/subjective expertise affect the degree to which functional and non-functional cues are used in evaluating investment products. The methodology for the study is quantitative, involving a random telephone sample of 1002 respondents broadly representative of the UK population. Means scores for various constructs are used in a regression analysis to test three hypotheses. The findings indicate that greater familiarity is associated with the importance of functional, rather than non-functional, cues in financial services evaluation, as is greater objective expertise. However, no relationship is apparent between subjective expertise and cue utilisation. The study has significant managerial implications, as an informed understanding of how cue utilisation varies with consumers' familiarity and expertise will assist managers in their attempts to formulate marketing strategies that appeal to targeted customer segments. Overall, the paper provides a novel insight into the appropriate conceptualisation of evaluative cues in a services setting, as well as an enhanced understanding of how consumers’ utilisation of such cues in their evaluations of a high credence financial services is contingent upon familiarity and expertise.
Marked Epitope- and Allele-Specific Differences in Rates of Mutation in Human Immunodeficiency Type 1 (HIV-1) Gag, Pol, and Nef Cytotoxic T-Lymphocyte Epitopes in Acute/Early HIV-1 Infection

ABSTRACT During acute human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection, early host cellular immune responses drive viral evolution. The rates and extent of these mutations, however, remain incompletely characterized. In a cohort of 98 individuals newly infected with HIV-1 subtype B, we longitudinally characterized the rates and extent of HLA-mediated escape and reversion in Gag, Pol, and Nef using a rational definition of HLA-attributable mutation based on the analysis of a large independent subtype B data set. We demonstrate rapid and dramatic HIV evolution in response to immune pressures that in general reflect established cytotoxic T-lymphocyte (CTL) response hierarchies in early infection. On a population level, HLA-driven evolution was observed in ∼80% of published CTL epitopes. Five of the 10 most rapidly evolving epitopes were restricted by protective HLA alleles (HLA-B*13/B*51/B*57/B*5801; P = 0.01), supporting the importance of a strong early CTL response in HIV control. Consistent with known fitness costs of escape, B*57-associated mutations in Gag were among the most rapidly reverting positions upon transmission to non-B*57-expressing individuals, whereas many other HLA-associated polymorphisms displayed slow or negligible reversion. Overall, an estimated minimum of 30% of observed substitutions in Gag/Pol and 60% in Nef were attributable to HLA-associated escape and reversion events. Results underscore the dominant role of immune pressures in driving early within-host HIV evolution. Dramatic differences in escape and reversion rates across codons, genes, and HLA restrictions are observed, highlighting the complexity of viral adaptation to the host immune response.
Program Transformation Templates for Tupling Based on Term Rewriting

Chiba et al. (2006) proposed a framework of program transformation of term rewriting systems by developed templates. Contrast to the previous framework of program transformation by templates based on lambda calculus, this framework provides a method to verify the correctness of transformation automatically. Tupling (Bird, 1980) is a well-known technique to eliminate redundant recursive calls for improving efficiency of programs. In Chiba et al.'s framework, however, one can not use tuple symbols to construct developed templates. Thus their framework is not capable of tupling transformations. In this paper, we propose a more flexible notion of templates so that a wider variety of transformations, including tupling transformations, can be handled.
How to Use Multichannel Behavior To Predict Online Conversions

Advertisers use multiple online channels to reach consumers over the Internet. Yet, to the current authors' knowledge, little is known about how prior user behavior across these advertising channels can be used to predict conversions. To address this issue, the authors of the current paper drew on advertising-response and purchase decision-making theory, as well as findings about user search and information processing on the web. Analyzing a clickstream data set (electronic records of users' online activity), the authors found that consumer reactions to advertising messages through multiple channels were strong predictors of purchase propensity. Advertisers, the authors believe, can use the results to predict purchasing behavior based on prior reactions to multichannel online advertising and develop individualized targeting strategies.
Entrepreneurial Orientation and New Venture Performance: The Moderating Role of Intra- And Extraindustry Social Capital

This study advances research on entrepreneurial orientation and social capital by examining how the configuration of a founding team's intra- and extraindustry network ties shapes the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and new venture performance. Using an original data set of 90 new ventures in the emerging open source software industry, we found that the combination of high network centrality and extensive bridging ties strengthened the focal link. Among firms with few bridging ties, centrality weakened the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and performance. Overall, these findings contribute to a better understanding of when network centrality represents an asset or a liability for entrepreneurial firms.
Parasites of the relict fauna of Ceylon. IV. Zeylanurotrema lyriocephali gen. et sp. nov. and other trematodes from mountain lizards and a rodent.

An initial survey of the helminth parasites of several endemic vertebrate hosts, particularly relict agamid lizards, collected in the montane zone of Ceylon, has shown a general paucity of trematode species.Paradistomoides ceratophorae (Dollfus, 1923) is reported from the gall bladder and liver of Ceratophora stoddarti and of two new hosts, Cophotis ceylanica and Calotes nigrilabris. A new urotrematid genus and species, Zeylanurotrema lyriocephali, is described from the urinary bladder of the relict hump-nosed lizard, Lyriocephalus scutatus. The new genus is characterised by the absence of œsophagus and cirrus sac, the location of the ovary near the testes, in the posterior quarter of the body, far caudad of the acetabulum, and the enlargement of the distal portion of the uterus into a thin-walled, non-muscular sac.The near-cosmopolitan species, Brachylaemus (Brachylaemus ) advena Dujardin, 1843, is reported from the small intestine of an endemic rodent, the Highland Spiny Rat, Mus mayori.
The impact of board profiles and CSR practices towards firms' accounting return: Top MSWG ranked companies

This paper provides evidence on the relationship between board profiles, corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices and firms' accounting return in Malaysian companies. Age of directors, education background, term of tenure and number of directorship are used for board profiles proxy, while CSR disclosure report is used as a proxy for CSR practices. Following traditional approach, the firm financial performance is measured using accounting return which is return on assets (ROA) and profit margin (PROFIT). The sample of the study is the 2008 top 150 Minority Shareholder Watchdog Group (MSWG) ranked companies over a period of 3 years from 2006 to 2008. The findings indicate within the period of analysis there is a positively significant relationship between term of tenure and firms' accounting return measured by ROA. The result also suggests the education background and CSR practice have significant and positively relationship with firms' accounting return measured by profit margin. On the other hand, firm size is found to have an adverse impact on profit margin. The present paper provides useful information that offer great value to Malaysian companies, policymakers, academics and other stakeholders to take into consideration in identifying the corporate governance characteristics and CSR disclosure that will enhance firms' accounting return.
Coordination and Lock-In: Competition with Switching Costs and Network Effects

Switching costs and network effects bind customers to vendors if products are incompatible, locking customers or even markets in to early choices. Lock-in hinders customers from changing suppliers in response to (predictable or unpredictable) changes in efficiency, and gives vendors lucrative ex post market power - over the same buyer in the case of switching costs (or brand loyalty), or over others with network effects. Firms compete ex ante for this ex post power, using penetration pricing, introductory offers, and price wars. Such 'competition for the market' or 'life-cycle competition' can adequately replace ordinary compatible competition, and can even be fiercer than compatible competition by weakening differentiation. More often, however, incompatible competition not only involves direct efficiency losses but also softens competition and magnifies incumbency advantages. With network effects, established firms have little incentive to offer better deals when buyers’ and complementors’ expectations hinge on non-efficiency factors (especially history such as past market shares), and although competition between incompatible networks is initially unstable and sensitive to competitive offers and random events, it later 'tips' to monopoly, after which entry is hard, often even too hard given incompatibility. And while switching costs can encourage small-scale entry, they discourage sellers from raiding one another’s existing customers, and so also discourage more aggressive entry. Because of these competitive effects, even inefficient incompatible competition is often more profitable than compatible competition, especially for dominant firms with installed-base or expectational advantages. Thus firms probably seek incompatibility too often. We therefore favour thoughtfully pro-compatibility public policy.
Corporate Governance, agency conflicts and auditor choice

This paper analyzes the factors driving auditor choice in Spanish listed companies. Besi- des complexity and size of the audited company, there are other reasons explaining the profile of the auditing firm chosen, such as the need to disclose among market participants accounting information endorsed by a reputed auditor, or the desire to mitigate existing agency conflicts. Our analysis focuses primarily on the latter, as well as on the analysis of the impact of Corporate Governance practices -re- garding the size, composition and activity of the Board and the Audit Committee-, on the decision to hire a quality and highly reputed auditor. We find evidence that the demand for quality auditors is ex- plained not only by the desire to mitigate potential agency conflicts and avoid associated costs, but al- so in terms of the adoption of Corporate Governance good practices, an issue ignored by previous stu- dies. Leverage, the existence of shareholders with a significant share and accounting discretion appear as the main factors driving the choice of a reputed auditor in order to mitigate agency conflicts. On the other hand, the degree of independence and activity of the members of the Board and Audit Commit- tee, and the size of Audit Committee, appear to be relevant explanatory factors. Our results are robust
Internet marketing in the internationalisation of UK SMEs

This paper presents the preliminary results of a large‐scale survey which examined Internet marketing applications in the inter‐nationalisation of UK SMEs. Although there are some examples of innovative practice, few UK SMEs are utilising the full potential of the World Wide Web (WWW) in international marketing. In this respect, practice in the UK lags several years behind that in the US. Given that the Internet will have a revolutionary impact on the conduct of international trade, a major education and training initiative is required to improve knowledge and understanding in this area and to encourage more effective use of the Internet to support SME internationalisation. In the absence of such an initiative, a further decline in the UK's international competitive position can be expected as other nations embrace the global marketing opportunities made possible by the Web.
VIABILITY OF INTERNET BANKING AS AN OPERATIONS STRATEGY IN COMMERCIAL BANKS, KENYA

v TABLE OF CONTENTS . vi LIST OF TABLES . viii LIST OF FIGURES . ix CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION . 1 1.1 Background of the Study . 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem . 6 1.3 Research Objectives . 8 1.4 Value of the Study . 9 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW . 10 2.1 Technology Innovations in Bank Operations . 10 2.2 Technology Management Process Frameworks . 15 2.3 Empirical Studies on Internet Banking . 17 2.4 Operations Strategy . 20 2.5 Summary . 23