Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of Internet in empowering consumers: the case of group buying

Provoked by recession and reduction in purchasing power, consumers have used the Internet to group on and strengthen their position against retailers in order to achieve quantity discounts. The phenomenon of online group buying, in a form that has maddened the shoppers worldwide, was launched by U.S. based Groupon.com in year 2008. Group buying web sites act as intermediaries between sellers (producers, local retailers and service providers) on one side and buyers (customers) on the other. The purpose of this paper is to introduce the general and scientific public with a new form of Internet commerce that found a way to turn the economic crisis to its benefit and to present the findings of a research conducted among university students in Croatia. The purpose of the research % %
Effects of methylmercury exposure on the immune function of juvenile common loons (Gavia immer)

We conducted a dose‐response laboratory study to quantify the level of exposure to dietary Hg, delivered as methyl‐mercury chloride (CH3HgCl), that is associated with suppressed immune function in captive‐reared common loon (Gavia immer) chicks. We used the phytohemagglutinin (PHA) skin test to assess T‐lymphocyte function and the sheep red blood cell (SRBC) hemagglutination test to measure antibody‐mediated immunity. The PHA stimulation index among chicks receiving dietary Hg treatment did not differ significantly from those of chicks on the control diet (p = 0.15). Total antibody (immunoglobulin [Ig] M [primary antibody] + IgG [secondary response]) production to the SRBC antigen in chicks treated with dietary methylmercury (MeHg), however, was suppressed (p = 0.04) relative to chicks on control diets. Analysis indicated suppression of total Ig production (p = 0.025 with comparisonwise α level = 0.017) between control and 0.4 μg Hg/g wet food intake treatment groups. Furthermore, the control group exhibited a higher degree of variability in antibody response compared to the Hg groups, suggesting that in addition to reducing the mean response, Hg treatment reduced the normal variation attributable to other biological factors. We observed bursal lymphoid depletion in chicks receiving the 1.2 μg Hg/g treatment (p = 0.017) and a marginally significant effect (p = 0.025) in chicks receiving the 0.4 μg Hg/g diet. These findings suggest that common loon chick immune systems may be compromised at an ecologically relevant dietary exposure concentration (0.4 μg Hg/g wet wt food intake). We also found that chicks hatched from eggs collected from low‐pH lakes exhibited higher levels of lymphoid depletion in bursa tissue relative to chicks hatched from eggs collected from neutral‐pH lakes.
Homeostasis of the Nonfat Components of Migrating Birds

Obesity in migratory birds appears to differ from obesity in man in that gains and losses in body weight do not involve changes in the tissue structure of the body; fat is added to and used from preexisting tissue spaces without appreciable change in the water content or the nonfat dry weight of the body as a whole. Evidence is presented which supports the hypothesis that the nonfat body is essentially homeostatic during migration despite very large scale changes in total body weight.
The Methods and Metrics of the Boston Area Diary Study

The authors discuss the conceptual framework, methods, and findings of the Boston Area Diary Study (BADS) to provide insights into the problems and prospects of survey research on philanthropy. First, the conceptual foundations and the operationalization of the variables are discussed. Next, the research design and methodology are described, and the findings are briefly summarized. Next, two validity measures are presented: a comparison of the BADS results with those subsequently obtained by The Gallup Organization from interviews with the same participants and a study of possible Hawthorne effects produced by repeated interviewing. Next, some specific recommendations are made for the operationalization and measurement of giving and volunteering and for improvements to field procedures. In the conclusion, the authors reflect on the implications of careful research methodology for an adequate assessment of the range and level of care in society.
Cryptosporidium parvum in environmental samples in the Sligo area, Republic of Ireland: a preliminary report

To detect Cryptosporidium in environmental specimens in the Republic of Ireland, grab samples of river water were prepared by calcium carbonate flocculation, and marine mussel tissue homogenated prior to testing with a fluorescently labelled monoclonal antibody and fluorescence microscopy. The parasite was detected in both river waters and marine mussels (Mytilus edulis). Filter feeders such as Mytilus edulis may be of value as biological monitors for the presence of cryptosporidial oocysts in sea water. The presence of Cryptosporidium in river and marine waters and, in particular, contaminating mussels used for human consumption, has obvious health implications.
Thyroid autoimmunity in pregnancy and its influences on maternal and fetal outcome in Iran (a prospective study)

Abstract Aim of the study: Thyroid dysfunction and autoimmunity are common problems in women of child-bearing age. It could be associated with pregnancy morbidities in the mother and fetus. Due to lack of sufficient data about the prevalence of thyroid autoimmunity in pregnant women in Iran, and controversies about its complications on pregnancy outcomes, this study was conducted. Materials and methods: This is a prospective study on 600 singleton pregnant women in 15–28 weeks of pregnancy; they were residents of Fars province. We evaluated the prevalence of preeclampsia, intra-uterine growth retardation (IUGR), preterm delivery and low Apgar score and their association with TSH, thyroid peroxidase (TPO), and thyroglobulin (Tg) antibodies. Results: Prevalence of anti-TPO and anti-Tg positivity is 12.8% and 8.5% among Iranian pregnant women. Mothers with either positive TPO or Tg antibody have a higher risk of preeclampsia (p = 0.019), preterm delivery (p < 0.001), IUGR (p < 0.001), and low first minute Apgar score (p < 0.001). This association was independent of thyroid dysfunction for preterm delivery (RR = 5, p < 0.001), and low Apgar score neonates (RR = 8.8, p < 0.001), but this association for preeclampsia was due to thyroid dysfunction (RR = 3.7, p = 0.003). About IUGR in either TPO or Tg positive mothers, this association results from the additive effect of thyroid dysfunction and thyroid autoimmunity (RR = 8.3, p < 0.001). Cesarean section delivery was significantly higher in abnormal TSH/positive anti-Tg mothers (p = 0.045). Conclusion: Thyroid autoimmunity independent of thyroid dysfunction could have significant adverse outcomes in the mother and fetus. Further investigation should be done to reveal the significance of screening and treating the thyroid autoimmunity during pregnancy.
Determinants of Quantitative and Qualitative Employment Growth: A Comparison between R&D-oriented and Other Start-ups in Japan

Start-ups are expected to contribute to innovation and job creation. Several studies have been conducted so far on the determinants of employment growth, but still little is known about the differences between R&D-oriented and other start-ups. Moreover, we argue that not only the quantitative, but also the qualitative employment growth (changes in workforce composition) matters in evaluating the contributions by start-ups. We empirically examine the determinants of quantitative and qualitative employment growth in Japanese start-ups based on a unique panel dataset, comparing between R&D-oriented and other firms. Empirical results show that 1) founder's human capital (education and work experience) does not significantly affect quantitative employment growth, while work experience positively affects the share of regular workforce, 2) R&D-oriented start-ups do not differ from the other start-ups in quantitative and qualitative employment growth, and 3) public subsidies at start-up increase both quantitative and qualitative employment growth of the R&D-oriented, but not of the other start-ups.
Brand equity in higher education

Purpose – The potential to provide customers with information about experience and credence qualities in advance of purchase has resulted in widespread recognition of the significance of brands in relation to consumer choice in the service sector. Arguably, what is of particular significance in this process is brand equity – the value that the consumer ascribes to the brand. The main objective of this research is to enhance academic understanding of brand equity in the higher education (HE) sector and explore the implications for management practice.Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative data collected via a self‐completion survey are used to test a model of brand equity in the context of HE. The empirical setting is Egypt which, following liberalization, has a mixture of public and private provision and an increasingly competitive environment. It provides an example of an emerging market where building brand equity is likely to be an important component of organizational strategy.Findings – The resul.
IMPACT OF THE ALCOHOLIC DRINKS CONTROL ACT, 2010 ON MARKETING STRATEGIES IN EAST AFRICAN BREWERIES LIMITED

All companies attempt to increase their business profitability and sustainability through innovative brand marketing strategies. This study sought to address the impact of the ADCA, 2010 on marketing strategies which included all promotional activities, market penetration strategies, corporate social responsibility activities and the quality of alcoholic drinks with reference to EABL. The statement of the problem in this study is that there have been reduced sales for both alcohol manufactures and the retailers in the industry since the enactment of the ADCA, 2010. The increased licensing fees imposed on operating outlets for selling alcoholic drinks which has seen most outlets close down. EABL has also stopped sponsorships of sports events that would enable the company to sell alcoholic drinks in these events. This has forced EABL to reduce their production of alcoholic drinks in the factory. The findings of the study concluded that the ADCA, 2010 affected the marketing activities of EABL and the company should innovate new brands that are affordable, establish a solid market for the canned beer in the take home trade, educate the public on the importance of consuming quality alcoholic drinks from reputable companies and vigorously market their brands beyond the borders. The beneficiary of this project is to all the stakeholders in the alcoholic drinks industry from the manufactures, producers and retail customers of alcoholic drinks who need to embrace new and innovative approaches to marketing and promoting the products in order to stay profitable, to sustain their businesses. This project will benefit the stakeholders to be able to understand the ADCA, 2010 abide by the law and protect the consumers from the harmful effects of excessive consumption of alcohol and educate them on the dangers of illicit brews.
Relationship Marketing and Supplier Logistics Performance: An Extension of the Key Mediating Variables Model

Summary Firms are increasingly relying on relational exchanges to govern buyer–supplier relationships. While the antecedents to these relationships have been studied extensively in the marketing channels and supply chain management literature, relatively little research has considered the performance outcomes of such exchanges. The current study contributes to this stream of research by extending Morgan and Hunt's key mediating variables (KMV) model to examine how the five key endogenous variables from the KMV model affect supplier logistics performance. The findings suggest that cooperation and uncertainty are significantly related to supplier logistics performance, while supplier acquiescence, functional conflict and propensity to leave the relationship have no significant impact.
Global Supply Chains and International Competitiveness

The emergence of global supply chains, that is the organization of production processes in factories that are part of a network of suppliers located in different countries and specialized in specific production phases, brings about a number of major changes in the way the global economy works and interacts. To explore more in detail this phenomenon from a microeconomic perspective, in this paper we provide evidence on Business Groups, that is network-like forms of hierarchical organization between legally autonomous firms spanning both within and across national borders. Exploiting a unique dataset of 270,474 headquarters controlling more than 1,500,000 (domestic and foreign) affiliates in all countries worldwide, we find that business groups account for a significant part of value-added generation in both developed and developing countries, with a prevalence in the latter. In order to characterize their boundaries, we introduce an entropy-like metric able to summarize the hierarchical complexity of a group and its trade-off between exploitation of knowledge as an input across the hierarchy and the associated communication costs. When relating these metrics to the performance of affiliates across business groups, we find a robust (albeit non-linear) positive relationship between a group’s hierarchical complexity and productivity which dominates the already known correlation between vertical integration and productivity. Results are in line with the theoretical framework of knowledge-based hierarchies developed by the literature, in which intangible assets are a complementary input in the production processes.
miR‐196a Regulates Proliferation and Osteogenic Differentiation in Mesenchymal Stem Cells Derived From Human Adipose Tissue

The elucidation of the molecular mechanisms that govern the differentiation and proliferation of human adipose tissue‐derived mesenchymal stem cells (hASCs) could improve hASC‐based cell therapy. In this study, we examined the roles of microRNA (miRNA)‐196a on hASC proliferation and osteogenic differentiation. Lentiviral overexpression of miR‐196a decreased hASC proliferation and enhanced osteogenic differentiation, without affecting adipogenic differentiation. Overexpression of miR‐196a decreased the protein and mRNA levels of HOXC8, a predicted target of miR‐196a. HOXC8 expression was decreased during osteogenic differentiation of hASCs, and this decrease in HOXC8 expression was concomitant with an increase in the level of miR‐196a. In contrast, inhibition of miR‐196a with 2′‐O‐methyl‐antisense RNA increased the protein levels of HOXC8 in treated hASCs and was accompanied by increased proliferation and decreased osteogenic differentiation. The activity of a luciferase construct containing the miR‐196a target site from the HOXC8 3′UTR was lower in LV‐miR196a‐infected hASCs than in LV‐miLacZ‐infected cells. RNA interference‐mediated downregulation of HOXC8 in hASCs increased their proliferation and decreased their differentiation into osteogenic cells, without affecting their adipogenic differentiation. Our data indicate that miR‐196a plays a role in hASC osteogenic differentiation and proliferation, which may be mediated through its predicted target, HOXC8. This study provides us with a better knowledge of the molecular mechanisms that govern hASC differentiation and proliferation.
Variation in hydraulic conductivity of mangroves: influence of species, salinity, and nitrogen and phosphorus availability

We investigated how species identity and variation in salinity and nutrient availability influence the hydraulic conductivity of mangroves. Using a fertilization study of two species in Florida, we found that stem hydraulic conductivity expressed on a leaf area basis (K-leaf) was significantly different among species of differing salinity tolerance, but was not significantly altered by enrichment with limiting nutrients. Reviewing data from two additional sites (Panama and Belize), we found an overall pattern of declining leaf-specific hydraulic conductivity (K-leaf) with increasing salinity. Over three sites, a general pattern emerges, indicating that native stem hydraulic conductivity (K-h) and K-leaf are less sensitive to nitrogen (N) fertilization when N limits growth, but more sensitive to phosphorus (P) fertilization when P limits growth. Processes leading to growth enhancement with N fertilization are probably associated with changes in allocation to leaf area and photosynthetic processes, whereas water uptake and transport processes could be more limiting when P limits growth. These findings suggest that whereas salinity and species identity place broad bounds on hydraulic conductivity, the effects of nutrient availability modulate hydraulic conductivity and growth in complex ways.
Vigilance decrement and speed of habituation of the GSR component of the orienting response.

The present study was designed to investigate the relationship between auditory vigilance performance and speed of habituation of the GSR component of the orienting response (OR) to auditory stimuli. Fast habituators (n = 7) displayed a greater rate of vigilance decrement than slow habituators (n = 7), suggesting a more rapid onset of a phase of low arousal in these subjects.
Filling the Bandwidth Gap in Distributed Complexity for Global Problems ⋆

Communication complexity theory is a powerful tool to bound time complexity lower bounds of distributed algorithms for global problems such as minimum spanning tree (MST) and shortest path. While it often leads the nearly-tight lower bounds for many problems, polylogarithmic complexity gaps still lies between the currently best upper and lower bounds. In this paper, we propose a new approach for filling the gaps. Using this approach, we achieve tighter deterministic lower bounds for MST and shortest path. Specifically, for those problems, we show the deterministice Ω( √ n)-round lower bound for graphs with O(n) hop-count diameter, and the deterministice Ω( √ n/ logn) lower bound for graphs with O(logn) hop-count diameter. The main idea of our approach is to introduce a new function we call permutation identity and utilize its two-party communication complexity lower bound.
Pre‐transplant risk factors predicting post‐transplant cytomegalovirus infection in liver transplant recipients

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection causes significant morbidity and mortality among transplant recipients. Although it is still not clear if a preemptive strategy is superior to a prophylactic strategy, many transplant programs elect for preemptive treatment for post‐transplant CMV infection. In order to improve the preemptive strategy, we analyzed a series of liver recipients by means of quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Ninety‐one liver transplant recipients were monitored by real‐time PCR for CMV, and the results were analyzed in terms of preoperative conditions. Multivariate analysis revealed fulminant hepatic failure as an underlying disease (odds ratio, 6.8; 95% CI, 1.2–39.2), while an ABO‐incompatible graft (odds ratio, 5.0; 95% CI, 1.3–19.1), and a serological combination of the donor (D) being positive with the recipient (R) being negative for CMV (D+/R−) (odds ratio, 5.8; 95% CI, 1.3–26.0) were independently associated with the development of significant CMV infection. Patients with risk factors had higher peak CMV DNA concentrations than those without, and developed CMV infections faster (P = 0.0002). Screening of recipients according to risk factors and PCR monitoring may result in an optimization of the preemptive strategy.
Power Sharing in Angle Droop Controlled Microgrids

Component mismatches and parameters drifts drastically affect stability and long-term operation of droop-controlled inverter-based microgrids. This paper analyzes and illustrates the impact of design variations and parameter drifts between angle droop controlled inverter-interfaced sources in a microgrid. It is shown that microgrid stability is very sensitive to parameter drifts, especially in frequency. A coordination control scheme that uses internode communications is proposed for improving the stability margin and ensuring the desired power sharing. Conditions for stability are derived and simulation results are presented to validate the performance of the proposal.
Efficacy of botulinum toxin type-A and swallowing treatment for oropharyngeal dysphagia recovery in a patient with lateral medullary syndrome.

BACKGROUND Wallenberg's syndrome (WS) is known as posterior inferior cerebellar artery syndrome. Dysphagia has been reported from 51% to 94% of the patients, ranging from mild to severe. CASE REPORT We reported a case of a patient (male; 52 years) with WS. MRI showed an intense hypodense area in the dorsolateral part of the ponto-medullary junction. The clinical signs were severe dysphagia, fed by PEG (FOIS 1; PAS 7), sialorrhea, trismus and ataxia. CLINICAL REHABILITATION IMPACT Dysphagia was treated by botulinum toxin type-A (BoNT-A), which was injected into the parotid and submandibular salivary glands, temporalis and masseter muscles, cricopharyngeal muscle associated with specific swallowing exercise and food trails. The 3-months follow-up showed significant saliva reduction and improvement of swallowing to from PEG feeding to consistent oral intake of food (FOIS 3, PAS 5). The treatment with BoNT-A combined with swallowing rehabilitation was fundamental in order to restore the swallowing functions.
Integrating effect of consumer perception factors in predicting private brand purchase in a Korean discount store context

Purpose – Despite proven strategic significance and wide acceptance of private label products (PB), our understanding of PB in international markets is limited. The purposes of this study are to propose a model that integrates four consumer characteristic variables (price consciousness, value consciousness, perceived price variation, and consumer innovativeness) toward PB attitude and purchase intention, and to test the model in two product categories, grocery and home appliances, in a South Korean discount store context.Design/methodology/approach – A total of 168 usable data (87 for food and 81 for home appliances were collected using mall intercept method from female shoppers at one Korean discount store in Seoul, Korea.Findings – The findings revealed that, depending on the product category, contribution of the factors varies. Among four consumer characteristics, only three in each category exhibited direct and indirect association with PB purchase intention. Perceived quality variability in a food ca.