Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Factors Affecting the Acceptance of Smartphone Diet Applications

This article investigated factors affecting customers’ intention to use smartphone diet applications (apps) when ordering food and bev- erages at foodservice businesses. An online questionnaire was designed and empirical data was collected from 395 respondents.Study participants were asked to interact with a smartphone diet app simulation prior to responding the survey questions. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Study results indicate that individuals are more likely to adopt smartphone dietapps if they are perceived to be useful and enjoyable. Social norms appear to play a significant role in adopting smartphone apps. Individuals with higher personal innovativeness tend to use such apps more often. Study results can assist restaurant operators in developing specific marketing strategies to target particular segments by designing such diet apps and developing menus for niche segments. This is one of the first studies looking at whether smartphone apps can assist individuals in ordering healthier and specific diet menu items at restaurants. This study offers specific theoretical and practical implications.
THE INFLUENCE OF CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY (CSR) ACTIVITIES ON BUILDING CORPORATE REPUTATION

Purpose – In business environment, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is becoming increasingly an important issue for every stakeholder. Organizations are being reputable through CSR activities. The aim of this chapter is to examine the relationship between CSR and corporate reputation, and determine the role of CSR activities in corporate reputation building process.Design/methodology/approach – An extensive literature research is conducted in order to develop the theoretical framework that supports the positive role of CSR activities on corporate reputation.Findings – As CSR activities affect the consequences that have a positive impact on corporate reputation, findings show that CSR enables firms to improve reputation with a broad range of stakeholders including employees (internal customers), customers (external customers), suppliers, competitors, bankers, and investors.Research limitations/Implications – However this research is a theoretical study, for further studies an empirical research model may be developed for investigating the relationship between CSR and corporate reputation. These dimensions should be measured and the hypothesis about the positive relationship between CSR and corporate reputation may be statistically tested.Practical implications – This theoretical study may be useful for the board of directors and managers since they should become aware of the importance of one of the growing areas of corporate reputation and CSR. They are also increasingly being encouraged to engage CSR activities into their organization's vision, identity, brand, and reputation. Based on societal expectations of stakeholders, organizations should develop and improve their CSR programs and reflect these developments to their reputation mechanisms.Originality/Value of the paper – This study is valuable to understand the corporate reputation practices that enhance and demonstrate the value of reputable organizations. It is also attractive to compare other dimensions of corporate reputation such as emotional appeal, workplace environment, and corporate reputation with CSR.
Employment in the US textile and apparel industries

Purpose – To examine the impact of changes in the US textile and apparel industries on employment patterns at the state level compared with the nation as a whole during the period of 1997‐2003.Design/methodology/approach – Secondary data sources were analyzed to develop an overall picture of changes happening in the North Carolina industries compared with the USA overall. A focus on North Carolina, a primary location of the industries within the USA, permits a micro‐level examination of changes in employment trends for one state in comparison with those of the industries nation‐wide. Three industries form the bulk of the data examined: Textile Mills (NAICS‐313), Textile Product Mills (NAICS‐314), and Apparel Manufacturing (NAICS‐315). Findings – An overall decrease in employment and number of units for all three industries was found. The number of establishments in the North Carolina textile complex decreased by 25 percent and employment by almost 50 percent. The state losses resembled those of the nation .
PENGARUH GOOD CORPORATE GOVERNANCE TERHADAP KUALITAS PELAPORAN KEUANGAN PADA PERUSAHAAN MANUFAKTUR

This study describes the corporate governance linking between the various participants in the company who determine the direction of the company's performance: This study aims to determine the effect of good corporate governance to the quality of financial reporting in manufacturing companies. Good Corporate Governance is measured from institutional ownership, managerial ownership and the board of commissioners and supporting variables such as firm age (Age) and leverage enterprise and financial reporting quality is measured through a questionnaire distributed by 65 respondents. The statistical method used is a simple linear regression analysis. Sample research is a manufacturing company in 2012. Based on the results of hypothesis testing can be concluded that the leverage effect on the Quality of Financial Reporting; while BOC, Institutional Ownership, Managerial Ownership and firm age (Age) does not affect the quality of financial reporting. Keywords : BOC, Managerial Ownership, Leverage, Age, Quality of Financial Reporting
The time window of MRI of murine atherosclerotic plaques after administration of CB2 receptor targeted micelles: inter‐scan variability and relation between plaque signal intensity increase and gadolinium content of inversion recovery prepared versus non‐prepared fast spin echo

Single fast spin echo scans covering limited time frames are mostly used for contrast‐enhanced MRI of atherosclerotic plaque biomarkers. Knowledge on inter‐scan variability of the normalized enhancement ratio of plaque (NERplaque) and relation between NERplaque and gadolinium content for inversion‐recovery fast spin echo is limited. Study aims were: evaluation of (1) timing of MRI after intravenous injection of Cannabinoid‐2 receptor (CB2‐R) (expressed by human and mouse plaque macrophages) targeted micelles; (2) inter‐scan variability of inversion‐recovery fast spin echo and fast spin echo; (3) relation between NERplaque and gadolinium content for inversion‐recovery fast spin echo and fast spin echo. Inversion‐recovery fast spin echo/fast spin echo imaging was performed before and every 15 min up to 48 h after injection of CB2‐R targeted or control micelles using several groups of mice measured in an interleaved fashion. NERplaque (determined on inversion‐recovery fast spin echo images) remained high (∼2) until 48 h after injection of CB2‐R targeted micelles, whereas NERplaque decreased after 36 h in the control group. The inter‐scan variability and relation between NERplaque and gadolinium (assessed with inductively coupled plasma‐ mass spectrometry) were compared between inversion‐recovery fast spin echo and fast spin echo. Inter‐scan variability was higher for inversion‐recovery fast spin echo than for fast spin echo. Although gadolinium and NERplaque correlated well for both techniques, the NER of plaque was higher for inversion‐recovery fast spin echo than for fast spin echo. In mice injected with CB2‐R targeted micelles, NERplaque can be best evaluated at 36–48 h post‐injection. Because NERplaque was higher for inversion‐recovery fast spin echo than for fast spin echo, but with high inter‐scan variability, repeated inversion‐recovery fast spin echo imaging and averaging of the obtained NERplaque values is recommended. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Identifying The Factors Affecting The Consumer Credit Card Ownership: Empirical Evidence From Turkey

In this study, factors that determine consumersâ€™ ownership of credit card have been analyzed using Binom Logit Model. For this purpose, 18 and over population was taken into consideration with the questionnaire method in Sivas, a province in Turkey, in 2011. Sample size was determined with Probability Sampling Method. Dependent variable of the study is to have or not to have a credit card. Independent variables include consumersâ€™ social, economic and demographical attributes. It has been determined that upon credit card ownership; variables including gender, education level and age of household head, marital status, employment of housewife, the number of people in the family with an income, usefulness of the credit card and payment of debts on time have statistically important effects.
Deep vascular schizogony of Plasmodium knowlesi in Macaca mulatta. Distribution in organs and ultrastructure of parasitized red cells.

Abstract The distribution in organs and the ultrastructure of red cells of Macaca mulatta parasitized with Plasmodium knowlesi were compared with results of previous studies with Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium coatneyi. Schizonts of P. knowlesi were more numerous in the peripheral blood, especially at high parasitemia, than in the other two malaria infections. At low parasitemia, schizonts of P. knowlesi were trapped principally in the periportal hepatic sinusoids and in the submucosal venules of small intestine. As parasitemia increased, parasitized red cells were concentrated in other organs, many cerebral capillaries and venules being filled by them. Red cells infected with P. falciparum and P. coatneyi disappeared from the peripheral circulation as the parasites matured (deep vascular schizogony) and were trapped in the heart, adipose tissue, and, to a lesser extent, in other organs. In both infections, knob-like protrusions on the red cell membrane were seen by electronmicroscopy. The absence of cerebral sequestration in P. falciparum and P. coatneyi at low parasitemia may reflect the efficiency with which their schizonts were removed at other sites. An occasional electron-dense invagination of plasma membrane of red cells infected with P. knowlesi was observed by electronmicroscopy; no knob-like protrusions were seen. We conclude that the mechanism for deep, vascular schizogony in P. knowlesi differs from that in P. falciparum and P. coatneyi.
Nature Tourism, Conservation, and Development in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

The book provides an evaluation of, and policy advice on key environmental, social, and economic issues concerning the development of nature tourism. Using KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa as a case study, it highlights both the benefits, and trade-offs I promoting, an managing sustainable nature-tourism development, and it assesses how policy can enhance nature tourism's contribution to economic growth, poverty reduction, and conservation. The book's contributors explore three key issues. First, they consider the importance of moving beyond development of a wildlife industry, to the creation of a true nature tourism economy, that supports biodiversity conservation. Second, they explore the role of the private sector in contributing to equitable development, and job creation, while generating conservation finance. Third, they consider alternative pricing, and other market mechanisms that can help make nature tourism more viable, and growth-oriented. Ultimately, the authors argue, economic development, equity, and conservation objectives can be balanced.
Evolutionary Innovation and High Tech Policy: What Can We Learn from Israel's Targeting of Venture Capital?

The paper analyzes Israel’s Innovation and High Tech Policy from a Systems-Evolutionary (S/E) and Life Cycle Perspectives with a focusing on the targeting of the Venture Capital Industry during the 1990s. Other related research strongly suggested that the emergence of Venture Capital (VC) during that decade was a central vector in the re-configuration of Israel’s high tech industry into a Silicon Valley, start up intensive, model of high tech. The paper undertakes a qualitative assessment of the central VC-directed program-Yozma; and compares it both with a prior failed program (Inbal) and with VC policies of other countries. It concludes that in all likelihood, Government intervention was justified and its impact was high. Absence of a clear policy evaluation methodology in the literarure that follows S/E principles implies that the main thrust of the analysis lies in the framing of policies rather than in undertaking a quantitative analysis of economic impact. Israel’s success in its Venture Capital policies (with Venture Capital defined ‘strictly’ in the sense of early phase equity-based finance and support of high tech start ups) contrasts with the seemingly weak impact of policies adopted by other countries, including OECD countries. Moreoever, and in contrast to much of the relevant literature, it also raises the possibility that targeting high tech clusters is possible provided adequate background and, even more important, adequate pre-emergence conditions have been fulfilled. In Israel those conditions were such that Yozma managed to spark a cumulative, auto-catalytic process of VC industry emergence.Success in the implementation of ‘targeted’ Innovation and High Tech Policy (and more specifically, of Venture Capital industries) must be adequately timed, must explicitely consider the domestic and external environments of the country, and must be coordinated with other policy actions. The paper ends with a systematic analysis of VC policy failure.
Business strategy, technology policy and firm performance

This paper presents a study of the relationships among select business strategy dimensions, technology policy dimensions, and firm performance. The research sought to identify how these variables interrelate at the bivariate and multivariate levels. Data were collected from 103 manufacturing-based firms representing 28 mature industries. Results show that technology policy choices vary widely across firms with different business strategies, and that business strategy affects the strength of the relationship between firm performance and particular technology policies.
A Contingency Approach: The Effects of Spokesperson Type and Service Type on Service Advertising Perceptions

Abstract Recent growth in the U.S. economy has been in the service sectors, and increased understanding of the marketing and advertising of services is critical to sustaining this growth. This paper investigates issues related to the advertising of common retail services. Results from an empirical study into the relative effectiveness of four types of spokespersons for a hedonic and a utilitarian retail service indicate that a created character fits well with the hedonic service but not with the utilitarian service. The celebrity spokesperson performed well for both types of services, but effects varied across service type. The hypothesized contingency relationship between spokesperson type and service type was supported.
Epidemiological aspects of biliary tree tumors in a region of northern Italy: emerging trends and sex-based differences

Background Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) and gallbladder cancer are the second cause of liver malignancy after hepatocellular carcinoma. Epidemiological data point to an increase in the incidence of CCA in both western and eastern countries; however, data on more recent years are lacking. Aims The aim of this study was to elucidate the more recent epidemiology of CCA and gallbladder carcinoma in north-east Italy using automatically collected regional data on hospital admissions over a 10-year period. Materials and methods We performed a retrospective analysis of the Veneto region (north-east Italy) database of patients’ hospital discharge records, identifying cases with the following codes: intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (155.1), primary gallbladder cancer (156.0), and primary extrahepatic biliary tract cancer (156.1). Hospitalizations were recorded according to the surgical or medical procedures involved (based on International Classification of Diseases-9 procedure codes), and only the first hospitalization was considered for the 2005–2009 period. Results The number of hospitalizations for biliary tumors as a whole has remained stable over the past 10 years. The hospitalization rate of intrahepatic CCA is increasing; this cancer is more frequent in males than in females. The hospitalization rate for gallbladder cancer is increasing with age. However, the figures for extrahepatic CCA have remained stable over the past 10 years. The duration of survival was significantly longer for patients who underwent radical surgery than for those who did not. Conclusion Efforts are needed to prevent CCA, bearing in mind the emerging conditions associated with its onset. Secondary prevention of these tumors will substantially improve the duration of survival.
A Study of Economic Assessment of Urban Park Management by Using Contingent Valuation Method - The Case of Busan APEC Memorial Park -

This study evaluated economic value recognized by the residents for the pleasant urban park management using contingent valuation method(CVM) to APEC Memorial Park in Pusan in terms of private fund development for the management of the city park. As a result, the estimated amount payable by each household for the management of APEC Memorial Park in Busan was between 5,673 won and 8,358 won. If such amount is expanded to households in park hosting area, it was 2.2~2.3 times of the park management budget in 2012, which demonstrates the willingness to pay (WTP) of residents for pleasant park was higher than the management budget. Social factors of respondents affecting WTP for city park management operation included age, educational level and income level. Those with high age and high education level had higher WTP. And, WTP was much affected by the use of park and recognition of residents. In particular, those with high frequency in the use of parks had higher WTP, and the users with more than once per week had 1.1 times higher WTP than overall WTP. Then, the satisfaction of park rather than recognition of necessity of park had led to higher WTP. Accordingly, it is necessary to manage park facility management and use program operation to enhance park satisfaction and it is also required to develop a park culture distribution policy to link such recognition to donation.
Topiramate for Migraine Prevention

Migraine is a costly, recurrent condition that affects 28 million individuals in the United States yet remains underdiagnosed and undertreated. In 2004, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved topiramate for the prevention of migraine in adults, joining three other agents with this indication: divalproex sodium, propranolol, and timolol. We evaluated the role of topiramate in the treatment of migraine based on published literature and our clinical experiences. A qualitative systematic search of the literature from January 1966–December 2004 was conducted by using MEDLINE, and other pertinent literature was reviewed. Three large, randomized, placebo‐controlled trials of topiramate for migraine prevention in individuals experiencing 3–12 attacks/month have been published, as have several small studies and a comparator trial with propranolol. Based on the results of these studies, 100 mg/day is the optimum topiramate dosage in terms of efficacy and tolerability. Using that dosage, the number of migraine attacks/month decreased by approximately two. Several other secondary outcome measures were also significantly reduced including the number of days/month with migraine and the use of acute treatment/attack. Suboptimal efficacy was shown with 50 mg/day, whereas 200 mg/day caused considerably more tolerability issues. Paresthesia was dose related and the most common cause of attrition. Cognitive dysfunction and weight loss were also commonly reported. The reduction by two migraines/month demonstrated with topiramate in clinical trials is similar to the published results for other preventive agents, though most of those studies were small, antiquated, and poorly designed. In contrast, the topiramate trials enrolled a larger number of patients and closely adhered to the International Headache Society research recommendations, strengthening the quality of results. Topiramate 100 mg/day is an effective option in adults who require migraine prophylaxis. Although the published efficacy results of the various migraine preventive agents are comparable, the superior study design of the topiramate trials warrants consideration of topiramate as an agent of choice for migraine prevention. Future studies of any preventive agent should include more refined quality‐of‐life outcomes.
Employee commitment in retail banking: identifying and exploring hidden dangers

Through literature review and empirical research conducted with employees of a large retail bank, three different types of employee commitment (internalised commitment, identification commitment and compliance commitment) are defined and explored. It is argued that high levels of internalised commitment are essential for the successful implementation of the emerging relationship banking strategy. The research reveals the worrying finding that employees show unexpectedly low levels of internalised commitment, coupled with higher than expected levels of compliance commitment. Combined with respondents low intention to leave, the case bank seems to have many employees who, while reluctant to leave, seem at best unable, and at worst unwilling to embrace new change initiatives and who consequently show low levels of identification with the values of the organisation. Implications for internal marketing and relationship banking are discussed.
2008 SEC Short Selling Ban: Impacts on the Credit Default Swap Market

On September 17, 2008, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued an emergency order banning the shorting of 797 financial stocks. This paper studies the impact of the short selling ban on the credit derivatives market by investigating credit default swap (CDS) prices during the period that the ban was in effect. The hypothesis is proposed that the short selling ban on 797 financial stocks led market participants to enter CDS contracts to reflect positions that the participants had formerly entered through short sales, thus driving up CDS rates. Analysis compares the CDS prices of firms protected by the ban to the CDS prices of similar firms in the S&P 500 not covered by the ban. Tests are also conducted using metrics from the bond and equities markets to determine if the results from the CDS market are unique to the CDS space. A linear regression technique is used to test the significance of the ban on CDS prices. The study results indicate that the CDS prices of firms covered by the short selling restrictions experienced significant dislocations during the period of the ban.