Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A model of customer loyalty and corporate social responsibility

– This paper aims to examine the roles of corporate social responsibility (a non service‐related concept) and perceived service quality (a service‐related concept) in determining the attitudinal and behavioral loyalty of customers in the retail banking sector in Bangkok, Thailand. , – The study is quantitative in nature using the responses of 275 bank customers who answered a survey questionnaire. Data analysis was performed using partial least squares (PLS), a variance‐based structural equation modeling method. , – The results of the study demonstrate that corporate social responsibility (CSR) has a significantly strong and positive association with attitudinal loyalty. Perceived service quality mediated the relationship between CSR and repeat patronage intentions (behavioral loyalty). Direct effects were reported between perceived service quality and both attitudinal and behavioral loyalty. A positive relationship between attitudinal and behavioral loyalty was demonstrated. , – While the results are clear and have strong salience for the retail banking industry, future research should take into account the specific industry context within the national culture. , – The study provides a set of findings relating to CSR initiatives and perception of service quality that could be readily incorporated into banks' corporate strategic plans. , – The paper demonstrates an empirical operationalization of CSR initiatives measured from the customers' point of view, and from which banks could learn for corporate strategy development.
CSR and Environmental Criteria in Supplier Selection

The supplier selection issue in today's world does not simply depend on price anymore. Other non- price criteria such as quality, delivery and overall capability are gradually gaining equal importance. Because of the globalization of trade, the world is becoming an increasingly open and global marketplace where the intense competition is urging companies to reduce the cost and development time of a new product. Companies are forced to take every possible factor into consideration when making the strategic decision to minimize costs and product development time. That means besides taking price into consideration, companies now also has to assess the overall capability of the suppliers, such as production capability, technological capability, company reputation and other factors that are hard to be quantified, in order to make the most informed decision to strive for a balance between lowering profits and rising costs. Different companies have their own ways in carrying out the supplier selection process that aligns with their corporate strategy. This paper is interested in what criteria are used in supplier evaluation and the ranking of the criteria importance. In particular, the focus is the incorporation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and environmental responsibility (ER) requirements into supplier selection. With the increasing awareness of CSR and ER, large international corporations have been paying more attention in selecting suppliers that are capable of adhering to the practice of sustainability. Hence, this paper aims to find out what criteria or performance indicators are adopted by companies to assess their suppliers, and how much importance CSR and ER contributes to the final decision of the selected supplier. A multi-agent system is implemented with a multi criteria decision making model to incorporate the criteria identified for evaluating supplier performance and selecting the most suitable supplier.
A contract-based training system for rural physicians: follow-up of Jichi Medical University graduates (1978-2006).

CONTEXT The number of studies on long-term effects of rural medical education programs is limited. Personal factors that are associated with long-term retention of physicians in rural areas are scarcely known. PURPOSE The authors studied the outcomes of Jichi Medical University (JMU), whose mission is to produce rural doctors, and analyzed the characteristics of its graduates who engaged in rural practice even after their 9-year obligation of rural practice. METHOD A retrospective cohort study was conducted including 2,988 JMU students who graduated between 1978 and 2006. Baseline data were collected at matriculation and graduation. Workplace addresses were surveyed in 2000, 2004, and 2006. Follow-up rates were 98.7%, 98.2%, and 98.0% respectively. FINDINGS After their obligation period, JMU graduates were 4 times more likely than non-JMU graduates to work in rural areas. The higher proportion of JMU graduates in rural areas did not change significantly between 1994 and 2004. The rural recruitment rate of post-obligation JMU graduates was somewhat lower than rates reported for top rural medical education programs in the United States. In multivariate analyses, rural upbringing and primary care specialty were positively associated with having a rural address in at least one post-obligation study year (OR 1.89 [95% CI 1.27-2.81]; and 7.63 [4.37-13.34], respectively) and settlement (ie, having a rural address over multiple years) after the contract (1.90 [1.04-3.48]; and 32.07 [4.43-232.24], respectively). Graduation from a private high school had a negative association with recruitment (0.56 [0.33-0.96]). CONCLUSIONS JMU was successful in increasing the number and retention of rural physicians. Rural origin and primary care specialty have a positive impact on both recruitment and retention after the rural obligation.
Does country of origin matter for low‐involvement products?

This empirical study focusses on consumers’ attitude to low‐involvement products, bread and coffee, in a newly‐industrialized nation. Using data from 236 consumers in Singapore, the study examines the influence of country of origin (COO) relative to other product attributes in consumers’ evaluation of domestic and foreign food products. The results indicate that COO does matter when consumers evaluate low‐involvement products but, in the presence of other extrinsic cues (price and brand), the impact of COO is weak and brand becomes the determinant factor. In addition, the results suggest that a country's positive image in some product categories does not necessarily carry over to other product categories. The implications of these findings for marketing food products internationally are discussed.
Influenza Infection Causing Manic Psychosis

Although depression is well known as a sequel to influenza, mania is not. We describe a patient with a severe psychotic illness who first showed features of a confusional state but then developed a manic psychosis. The occurrence of functional affective psychoses during or following systemic physical illness has been well described (Bonhoeffer, 1909; Kraepelin, 1921; Kiloh, 1961; Post, 1965), but the nature of the relationship has never been clear. In some instances, the physical illness may simply act as a form of non-specific stress precipitating the mental disorder; evidence for a more direct patho-physiological relationship has been lacking. When, in addition to a background of physical illness, a patient shows disorientation and clouding of consciousness together with signs of a manic psychosis, the diagnostic problem is especially difficult, particularly so since a confusional state can occur as part of a severe manic illness (Maudsley, 1895; Kraepelin, 1921). Conversely, hypomanic symptoms can occur in an organic psychosis (Bonhoeffer, 1909).
Top Executive Compensation: Implications and Recommendations for Reform

This article outlines the implications and recommendations that arise from the findings from a previous empirical research undertaken by the author. In general, the findings suggest that company performance is not a major determinant of top executive compensation. Rather, subjective measures and company size are likely to be the more important determinants of top executive compensation. The findings also suggest that under the condition of ownership concentration, the major role of the board of directors may not be monitoring top executives and setting their compensation. Instead, the major role of the board of directors may be to provide external links, expertise and advice to the company. The findings of the study further suggest that under the condition of ownership concentration, chief executives who hold the chair or vice-chair of the board are unlikely to use their power to benefit themselves. The findings suggest that the assumptions and predictions of agency theory should not be generalised to non–Anglo-American settings such as Hong Kong, and are unlikely to offer an explanation of top executive compensation—at least for the major listed companies in Hong Kong. Other theories such as stewardship theory may offer a better explanation of top executive compensation, especially in a business environment such as Hong Kong. The findings indicate that it may be wise for company shareholders and regulatory policy-makers in Hong Kong to consider Hong Kong’s unique institutional and cultural contexts as they reform compensation policies for Hong Kong’s top executives.
Lotka's Law and Computer Science Literature

An experiment to verify the satisfaction of Lotka's law, with the papers published in the area of computer science, is reported. It is seen that the estimates of this law deviate considerably from the observations. Need for further experiments to verify Lotka's law in the area of applied sciences and engineering is emphasized.
Service quality and customer loyalty perspectives on two levels of retail relationships

This study attempts to examine the impact of service quality dimensions on customer loyalty, on two levels of retail relationships: person‐to‐person (salesperson level) and person‐to‐firm (store level). A total of 1,261 surveys were administered to shoppers who were leaving a large chain departmental store in Victoria, Australia. The results showed that service quality is positively associated with customer loyalty, and that the relationship between the two is stronger at the company level, rather than at the interpersonal level. Specifically, among the dimensions of service quality, the most significant predictor of customer loyalty at a company level is tangibles, while the most significant predictor of customer loyalty at an interpersonal level is empathy. Further discussion and managerial implications can be drawn from these findings.
Engineering Students' Academic and on-the-Job Training Performance Appraisal Analysis

This study determined the level of academic performance and OJT performance based on the assessment of immediate superiors of 233 engineering student-trainees from Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) in Batangas City. This research utilized the quantitative descriptive as well as qualitative methods of research and data were collected using documentary analysis of computed grades and comments from the employers. LPU Engineering students as observed by their immediate superiors were courteous, honest, have good moral character, with self-efficacy, good in oral communication, patient and positive thinkers. Mechanical engineering students who performed well in their assigned task during their OJTs also obtained notable ratings in general and professional education courses. It is contrary to the finding that the performance of Industrial Engineering students who obtained higher academic ratings have lower job performance. The researcher formulated an Internship manual that would serve as a guide for the training of the students in the four engineering programs of LPU.
Selection criteria of Lebanese consumers in the global snack food industry: country of origin perceptions

Purpose – This paper aims to study country of origin perceptions of Lebanese consumers with respect to potato chips, the correlation involved between country of manufacture and consumer behavior; purchase intent; and product quality.Design/methodology/approach – Four hypotheses in respect to country of origin perceptions on potato chip purchases were tested. The research was conducted in three phases: qualitative research was done to determine key attributes in potato chip selection, these findings were used to create a questionnaire, and a sample from 326 Lebanese consumers was collected.Findings – The paper finds that there are demographic differences in the evaluation of potation chips. The evaluation of specific attributes did not vary by country of origin and there were no differences in overall quality perceptions by country of origin. Snack food purchases appear to be low involvement purchases based on experiential qualities. Brand awareness and purchase appear not to be linked.Research limitations.
Stochastic Chaos in a Neuronal Model

Neuronal firing is one of the main information carriers in nervous systems. It has been reported that highly fluctuating, aperiodic "noise-like" inputs, similar to those occurring in areas of nervous systems, evoke reliable firing. To explain this surprising result it has been suggested that (i) the high frequency components of such inputs or a resonance phenomenon are responsible for reliable firing, with (ii) internal biophysical noise being the potential major inherent source of unreliability. Conversely, the present study shows that such fluctuating inputs do not always lead to reliability, even in the absence of noise. Using the noise-free FitzHugh–Nagumo model, we demonstrate a regime in which reliable firing never occurs. To analyze the changes responsible for unreliable firing we use methods from the Random Dynamical Systems theory. This is done through careful numerical investigations since no analytical solutions are known to our system. More precisely, from the observation that the stationary distributions remained qualitatively unchanged throughout the area of interest we conclude that the switch from reliable to unreliable firing is not associated to a phenomenological stochastic bifurcation. However, this change of behavior corresponded to a dynamical stochastic bifurcation, with the leading Lyapunov exponent of the system becoming positive. The bifurcation resulted also in a change of the stochastic attractor from a single stochastic equilibrium to one reminiscent of a strange attractor. The combination of these results lead us to argue that the unreliable firing results from stochastic chaos, and that such a phenomenon may limit the reliability of neurons in nervous systems.
Interdepartmental Integration: A Definition with Implications for Product Development Performance

Improved interdepartmental integration yields improved product development performance. But what do we mean by interdepartmental integration? Is it increased interaction between the various departments involved in product development—in other words, more meetings and other formal information flows between R&D marketing and manufacturing? Or is the term integration another way of saying collaboration—that is, various departments working collectively toward common goals? Or are collaboration and interaction both important elements of interdepartmental integration? Kenneth B. Kahn presents the results of a study exploring how collaboration and interaction affect product development performance and product management (post-launch) performance. Survey respondents are marketing, manufacturing, and R&D department managers working for firms in the electronics industry. It is hypothesized that both collaboration and interaction between departments will positively influence product development performance and product management performance. It is further hypothesized that collaboration will have a stronger effect than interaction. The survey responses indicate that collaboration has a strong, positive effect on performance. (The only exception is the effect of manufacturing managers' collaboration with marketing on product development success; the effect of this variable is not statistically significant). However, interaction does not have a significant effect on product development performance or product management performance. In fact, the responses indicate negative effects for meetings and the exchange of documented information. The results support increased emphasis on company policies that facilitate collaboration between departments as opposed to those that only stress meetings and documented information exchange. Although a certain level of interaction is necessary throughout the product development process, such interaction doesn't lead to success; collaboration makes the difference between success and failure. To best manage interdepartmental integration, managers should first assess their firm's levels of interdepartmental collaboration and interaction. The scales presented in this study can be used for this benchmarking effort. The results of this assessment can be used for developing and implementing an action plan for improving interdepartmental integration. For example, a manager faced with a prevailing interaction philosophy might seek to reduce the number of meetings or the amount of paperwork flowing between departments.
Foreign Direct Investment and Productivity Spillovers: Updated Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

The paper discusses the inflows of foreign direct investment into the CEE countries and focuses on analysis of productivity spillovers. An overview of the relevance of foreign firms in the CEE economies is presented. Using firm-level data on manufacturing industries for the period 2000â€“-2005, the total factor productivity of domestic firms is estimated using the Petrin and Levinsohn (2003) method and subsequently related within a panel data model to foreign presence in the same industry and in industries linked via the production chain. The presence of productivity spillovers is tested for across several sub-samples to detect possible conditionalities.
Wine Tourism Marketing Alliances Application of Importance—Performance Analysis

This study evaluates a collaborative wine tourism marketing alliance (Wine Islands Project) consisting of small to medium sized tourism enterprises (SMTEs) and wineries whose alliance forms part of the overall activities of a horizontally integrated wine network. An on-line questionnaire administered to Wine Islands Project partners in December 2006 asked respondents to rate importance and performance measures related to the potential outcomes of the Wine Islands Project. Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) revealed that the partners perceived the majority of measures as important, but underperforming relative to their importance. A segmentation of the sample using business type revealed that wineries rated the performance of the measures more highly than other businesses in the sample. Segmentation by business life stage revealed businesses in Life Stage 2 (6–8 years) and Life Stage 4 (16 plus years) perceived most measures as highly performing and those businesses in Life Stage 1 (0–5 years) and Life Stage 3 (9–15 years) rated most measures as underperforming relative to their importance. Findings suggest that segmenting results by business type and life stage adds valuable insights into understanding variability of perceptions of the performance of this marketing alliance. This should allow alliance and network managers to focus efforts to improve underperforming areas and, more importantly, identify those benefits that may act as incentives for tourism businesses to participate in such cooperative activities. This paper adds to our understanding of wine tourism marketing alliance and network development, and contributes to the SMTE literature by its application of IPA to examine the benefits of participation in a collaborative marketing activity.
Late Gastrointestinal Bleeding and Protein Loss after Distal Small‐Bowel Resection in Infancy

Four children who underwent extensive small-bowel resection in infancy developed recurrent iron deficiency anemia due to gastrointestinal bleeding between 4 and 12 years later. The initial resections were required for multiple ileal atresia (n = 2) and gastroschisis (n = 2). Three patients have had melena and one had persistently guaiac-positive stools. Three patients had protein-losing enteropathy, and in one there was persistent hypoalbuminemia. Colonoscopy identified circumferential ulcerative lesions at the surgical anastomosis (n = 2) and at laparotomy another patient had well-defined linear ulcers close to the surgical anatomosis. Histology demonstrated focal ulceration with chronic inflammation, but did not show granulomata, crypt abcesses, or malignancy. Multiple imaging procedures and gastroduodenoscopy failed to identify an alternative bleeding source. Medical therapy including iron, antacids, sucralfate, H2 antagonists, and cholestyramine was ineffective. Two patients have undergone anastomotic resection. One experienced symptomatic recurrence 4 months after surgery. Repeat colonoscopy found ulceration at the new anatomosis with similar histology. The other patient remains asymptomatic 7 months postsurgery. Recurrent gastrointestinal hemorrhage due to anastomotic ulceration, of unknown etiology, appears to be a late complication of small-bowel resection in infancy.
Multivariate Outlier Detection With High-Breakdown Estimators

In this paper we develop multivariate outlier tests based on the high-breakdown Minimum Covariance Determinant estimator. The rules that we propose have good performance under the null hypothesis of no outliers in the data and also appreciable power properties for the purpose of individual outlier detection. This achievement is made possible by two orders of improvement over the currently available methodology. First, we suggest an approximation to the exact distribution of robust distances from which cut-off values can be obtained even in small samples. Our thresholds are accurate, simple to implement and result in more powerful outlier identification rules than those obtained by calibrating the asymptotic distribution of distances. The second power improvement comes from the addition of a new iteration step after one-step reweighting of the estimator. The proposed methodology is motivated by asymptotic distributional results. Its finite sample performance is evaluated through simulations and compared to that of available multivariate outlier tests.
Robustness of the Rotary Catalysis Mechanism of F1-ATPase*

Background: Three catalytically charged residues of F1-ATPase, P-loop lysine, general base, and arginine finger, are thought to be indispensable for catalysis. Results: Alanine-substituted mutants of the catalytic residues of F1-ATPase drove rotations. Conclusion: The catalytic residues contribute to efficient catalysis but are not indispensable to chemo-mechanical energy coupling of F1-ATPase. Significance: The chemo-mechanical coupling mechanism of F1-ATPase is far more robust than previously thought. F1-ATPase (F1) is the rotary motor protein fueled by ATP hydrolysis. Previous studies have suggested that three charged residues are indispensable for catalysis of F1 as follows: the P-loop lysine in the phosphate-binding loop, GXXXXGK(T/S); a glutamic acid that activates water molecules for nucleophilic attack on the γ-phosphate of ATP (general base); and an arginine directly contacting the γ-phosphate (arginine finger). These residues are well conserved among P-loop NTPases. In this study, we investigated the role of these charged residues in catalysis and torque generation by analyzing alanine-substituted mutants in the single-molecule rotation assay. Surprisingly, all mutants continuously drove rotary motion, even though the rotational velocity was at least 100,000 times slower than that of wild type. Thus, although these charged residues contribute to highly efficient catalysis, they are not indispensable to chemo-mechanical energy coupling, and the rotary catalysis mechanism of F1 is far more robust than previously thought.