Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Commercial Friendships: Service Provider–Client Relationships in Context

The authors describe commercial friendships that develop between service providers and clients as one important type of marketing relationship. They report results of five studies that employ quantitative and qualitative data analysis. They develop a measure of commercial friendship, identify important correlates, and illustrate how friendships form. Context and tension between instrumental and expressive goals circumscribe commercial friendships, but friendships are associated with satisfaction, strong service loyalty, and positive word of mouth. Qualitative data illustrate varied temporal ordering among satisfaction, loyalty, and friendship for both service providers and clients. The authors identify implications of their findings for an array of industries in which commercial friendships may form.
Possible influence of the environmental pollutant bisphenol A on the cardiometabolic risk factors

Abstract Bisphenol A (BPA) is a ubiquitous environmental pollutant which is often associated with various health issues. In this study 103 healthy female volunteers in reproductive age from Serbian north province Vojvodina were enrolled and examined for the BPA exposure in the urine samples after 12 h of fasting. BPA was found in 35.92 % (37/103) of subjects. Statistically significant increment in waist circumference (p = 0.045) and waist-to-height ratio (p = 0.037) was observed among the BPA positive women in comparison with the women who had the same energetic balance and had not been exposed to BPA. Linear correlation was obtained between the BPA concentration in urine samples and body mass index (r2 = 0.35, p = 0.003) waist circumference (r2 = 0.21, p = 0.02) and waist-to-height ratio (r2 = 0.25, p = 0.01) among the obese. High energetic intake and reduced physical activity additionally pronounced BPA positive association with obesity. No statistically significant difference was observed in triglycerides, HDL and LDL cholesterol levels between the BPA exposed and BPA non-exposed female volunteers.
Vibration isolation analysis of elastic bearing based on train-track-bridge coupled vibration model

ABSTRCT: Elastic bearings have been used on simply supported bridges on high-speed railway in Taiwan to isolate train-induced vibration. However, their influence on dynamic behavior of the vehicle and bridge has not been fully investigated, and their vibration attenuation has not been quantificationally discussed. In this study, spring-damper elements with 12 degrees of freedom are established to simulate elastic bearings, and added to Train-Track-Bridge System. To explore the influence of elastic bearings on isolation performance, a simply supported box-girder bridge with a span of 32 m, was simulated as a case study. Based on the Train-Track-Bridge coupled vibration system, the influence of the elastic bearing on the response of the vehicle and bridge are firstly discussed. Wheel unloading rate and vertical acceleration of the vehicle are hardly influenced by the vertical stiffness of the bearing, yet influenced by the vehicle speed significantly. With the vertical stiffness of the bearing decreasing, the static component of the bridge response increases gradually, while the dynamic component of the bridge response firstly decreases and then increases. The analysis shows that the elastic bearing with suitable vertical stiffness won’t have negative effects on the response of the vehicle and bridge. Then the influence of elastic bearings on vibration isolation is researched. The analysis shows that, besides affected by the vertical stiffness of the bearing, the vibration isolation performance of elastic bearings might be also influenced by the vehicle speed. For the elastic bearing with vertical stiffness of 1800 kN/mm, the vibration attenuation is 14.64 dB in the frequency band of 0~80 Hz, and the vibration attenuation is 15.50 dB in the frequency band of 20~80 Hz, which makes the significant contributions to the vibration attenuation in the whole range. Because the natural frequency of the elastic bearing vibration isolation system exists in the frequency band of 10~20 Hz, vibration in the middle and high frequency band can be absorbed, and the vibration in its natural frequency range can be amplified. Based on the results, it can be seen that elastic bearings can be used to isolate vibration in the region where the environmental vibration needs to be controlled rigorously.
Readability and Content of Elder Abuse Instruments

ABSTRACT Since elder abuse was first acknowledged as a health care and social problem, incidence and prevalence of mistreatment has been assessed sparingly in the United States and other countries around the world. Standardized instruments for determining the prevalence of elder abuse have not been developed and other instruments measuring a person's function and spousal violence have been adapted for the measurement of elder abuse prevalence. The purposes of this paper are to (1) ascertain the reading grade level of the most frequently used elder abuse prevalence instrument's text and (2) determine the content validity of the instruments with respect to the types of elder abuse included in them. A review of the instruments used to measure elder abuse prevalence was completed and a questionnaire was developed to measure the reading grade level and type of elder abuse content in four instruments. The Fry Readability, Flesch Reading Ease, and McLaughlin Grading formulas were used to determine reading grade level. A questionnaire regarding content validity was sent to 69 faculty and staff in one university department and a 59% return was achieved. The Conflict Tactics Scale and the Hwalek-Sengstock Elder Abuse-Screening Test had the lowest mean score at the 6th grade reading level. Results of content analysis for types of elder abuse demonstrated none of the instruments are comprehensive. Instruments to measure the prevalence are needed which balance readability and content validity.
Follow the small? Information-revealing adoption bandwagons when observers expect larger firms to benefit more from adoption

We extend understanding of information‐revealing bandwagons by considering a common condition under which adoption of a practice by small organizations, rather than large ones, has a disproportionate influence on future adoption propensities. We hypothesize that when the value of adoption increases with organizational size, smaller adopters have such disproportionate influence because they allow observers better to infer that adoption will be profitable for their own organization. We elaborate the theory by predicting that alternative information sources moderate the influence of smaller adopters. Empirically, we test our theory with longitudinal data on the adoption of the ISO 9000 quality management standard. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Race/ethnicity differences in satisfaction with life among persons with traumatic brain injury.

OBJECTIVE To determine differences in life satisfaction at 1-year post-TBI among Caucasian, African American, Hispanic, and Asian individuals with TBI, after adjusting for covariates that significantly differ between ethnic groups and/or affect the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) at one year post-injury. DESIGN Retrospective study. SETTING Longitudinal dataset of the TBI Model Systems National Database. PARTICIPANTS 3,368 individuals with moderate to severe TBI (2478 Caucasian, 629 African American, 180 Hispanic, and 81 Asian/Pacific Islander) hospitalized between 1989 and 2005. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Satisfaction with Life Total score at 1 year post injury. RESULTS African Americans had 3.21 units lower SWLS scores one year post-injury than Asian/Pacific Islanders (95% CI = 0.61-5.81) and 1.99 units lower SWLS scores than Caucasians (95% CI = 0.97-3.00) after controlling for marital status, employment at admission, cause of injury, FIM at discharge, and LOS in acute care. CONCLUSIONS African Americans have poorer self-reported life satisfaction than Caucasians and Asians one year after TBI. This effect is not due to pre-injury marital or employment status, cause of injury, nor injury severity or functional status. Further research on the factors which might explain these differences is warranted, so that targeted rehabilitation programs can be designed and implemented that enhance quality of life for all individuals who have suffered a TBI.
Adaptive Bit-Interleaved Coded OFDM With Reduced Feedback Information

If the channel is static and is perfectly known to both the transmitter and the receiver, the water-filling technique with adaptive modulation is known to be optimal (Gallager, 1968). However, for orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) systems, this requires intensive traffic overheads for reporting channel state information on all subcarriers to the transmitter. In this paper, we consider an adaptive modulation and coding scheme for bit-interleaved coded OFDM with reduced feedback information satisfying a specified quality of service level. We propose a rate adaptation scheme, which utilizes the estimated bit error rate for supportable transmission rates. In this scheme, a user equipment chooses a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) level, which can provide the maximum spectral efficiency based on one OFDM symbol rather than on all subchannels. Then the user needs to send back only the selected MCS level index. The proposed scheme does not require the water-filling procedure, and the amount of the feedback information reduces to a single integer value irrespective of the number of subcarriers. Simulation results show that the proposed scheme can significantly reduce the system complexity while minimizing the performance loss compared to the optimum water-filling scheme.
A Trust-Based Consumer Decision Model in Electronic Commerce: The R ole of Trust, Risk, and Their A ntecedents

Are trust and risk important in consumers’ electronic commerce purchasing decisions? What are the antecedents of trust and risk in this context? How do trust and risk affect an Internet consumer’s purchasing decision? To answer these questions, we i) develop a theoretical framework describing the trust-based decision-making process a consumer uses when making a purchase from a given site, ii) test the proposed model using a Structural Equation Modeling technique on Internet consumer purchasing behavior data collected via a Web survey, and iii) consider the implications of the model. The results of the study show that Internet consumers’ trust and perceived risk have strong impacts on their purchasing decisions. Consumer disposition to trust, reputation, privacy concerns, security concerns, the information quality of the Website, and the company’s reputation, have strong effects on Internet consumers’ trust in the Website. Interestingly, the presence of a third-party seal did not strongly influence consumers’ trust.
Recreation Carrying Capacity and Management at Kailua Beach Park on Oahu, Hawaii

As popularity of Hawaii’s beaches and reefs increases, there is a need to measure and monitor recreation carrying capacity indicators to ensure that coastal resources and user experiences do not deteriorate. Objectives of this project were to measure: (a) social and facility indicators of recreation carrying capacity (e.g., crowding, encounters) to reveal thresholds when impacts become unacceptable; (b) support and opposition of management strategies for minimizing impacts (e.g., educate, limit use) and how situational factors (e.g., reef damage, use levels) differentially influence support; and (c) the extent of conflict among activity groups. Other concepts examined included recreationists' satisfaction with conditions, value orientations toward reefs, future use pattern changes (e.g., displacement), and demographic characteristics. Data were obtained from surveys of users at Kailua Beach Park (n = 921). Results showed that most users were swimmers, sunbathers, and beach walkers, and the majority of users were repeat visitors who resided in Hawaii. Most users had protectionist (i.e., biocentric, nature-centered) value orientations toward reefs. Overall satisfaction was extremely high and despite moderate encounters and crowding, most users encountered fewer people than their maximum tolerance, which was approximately 758 people at one time at Kailua Beach Park. There were not enough of some facilities (e.g., park benches) to accommodate current use and demand, suggesting that some facility capacity indicators had reached their thresholds. More education and interpretation was the most strongly supported management strategy. When rating acceptance of user education, the most important factor was recreation damage to reefs. In rating acceptance of limiting use, the most important factor was use level. When rating acceptance of improving site maintenance and providing more facilities, the most important factor was condition of facilities. There was minimal conflict among most groups at Kailua Beach Park, but approximately onethird of users reported conflict with windsurfers, kitsesurfers, and boaters (e.g., kayak, motor) at the site. Most users also believed that people handling or standing on coral was a problem at this site. Recommendations for management are discussed. Recreation Carrying Capacity and Management at Kailua Beach Park iii
Resource Use Efficiency in Rice Production: the Case of Kpong Irrigation Project in the Dangme West District of Ghana

This study was conducted to determine the efficiency of resource use in rice production with the Kpong Irri- gation Project (KIP) as a case study. Seventy farmers were selected using the simple random sampling technique. The Cobb-Douglass production function was used to estimate the coefficients of the various variables analysed and MPP, MVP and allocative efficiency index were also used to estimate the efficiency of resource use in the study area. The regression results showed that the farmers were in the second stage of production, which is, decreasing returns to scale (using the elas- ticities). The results of the efficiency computation indicated that land (6.63), fertilizer (1.76) and seed (10.84) were being underutilized and labour (0.000036) and chemicals were being highly over utilized in the study area. The study recom- mends that KIP should embark on repair works on the roads, provide appropriate machinery services and desilting the drains.
Emerging Firms And The Allocation Of Control Rights: A Bayesian Approach

This paper suggests that founders often use firm formation to exploit opportunities and must sometimes make organizing decisions about the allocation of control before the economic value of the opportunity can reliably be known even probabilistically. Motivated by questions surroundings such settings, we use incomplete contract theory and apply a Bayesian learning model to the allocation process of ownership control rights of founders in emerging firms. This model examines how founders learn and build on their prior beliefs, enabling them to allocate and change ownership control rights under differing conditions of risk and uncertainty.
Contribution of Khat Kellas and the Impacts of its Closure to Ethiopian Economy (The Case of Hararghe Khat Kella)

The researcher was intended to investigate the contribution of khat kellas and the impacts of its closure to Ethiopian economy the case of Hararghe khat kellas. Primary data has been collected through unstructured interview made to the employees of Oromia revenue bureau and Ethiopian revenue and custom authority and the secondary data has been collected from related documents, reports and books. In this regard, seven consecutive years’ data (2005-2011) was collected and analyzed by using ratios, percentage, and table and graph. This study has revealed that Hararghe khat kellas has a number of contribution to Ethiopian economy like employment generation, increase government revenue and decrease local consumption which in turn increases foreign exchange. Even if the government has closed these kellas with the intention of export promotion to increase foreign currency, it was not successful as there is no tax discrimination between khat consumed locally and exported. Tax treatment for both is the same and cannot get what it is intended for. Based on the finding of the study, conclusion and recommendations were forwarded.
Creating a sustainable competitive advantage at a high performing firm in Kenya

This article examines the role of both resource- and activity-based views of a firm in creating a sustainable competitive advantage. The research design is a case study of a consistently high-performing firm in the motor service industry in Kenya. To collect data, in-depth, semi-structured, face-to-face audio-taped interviews with senior managers including the chairman and CEO were employed. This study’s key finding is that tangible resources should possess the characteristics of rarity, valuability, inimitability and unsubstitutability which create sustainable competitive advantage and include state-of-the-art modern showrooms, service workshops, financial resources, spare parts warehouses and human resources. This research contributes to the development of a new theory that integrates the resource- and activity -based view of management, it provides a new research methodology and has implications for policy makers and business in the motor industry. The activity-based view framework is integrated with the resource-based view to explain the actual value creation process by means of tangible resources. Key words: Resource- and activity-based views, competitive advantage, activity drivers, Kenya.
Modal shift for greener logistics – the shipper's perspective

Purpose – A commonly suggested measure to make logistics greener is a shift to intermodal road‐rail transportation. Most research addresses the issue from the carrier's perspective, arguing for ways to improve the service production to better fit the shippers' demand. In this article the issue is addressed from the shipper's perspective. The purpose is to understand what contextual factors and operations changes that are possible and/or necessary for the shipper to make a fit to the current production system.Design/methodology/approach – Six case companies selling non‐bulk, fast moving goods are examined. These firms have gone against the mainstream and shifted modes of transport. They are investigated through a multiple case‐study design.Findings – The findings indicate that contextual factors stressed in the carrier‐focused literature, or rule of thumb decisions made by shipping logistics management, do not always clearly predict the success of a modal shift. However, some common denominators emerge amo.
Path analysis of atmospherics and convenience on flow: the mediation effects of brand affect and brand trust

Although there has been extensive research on retail environments and the effects of atmospherics on consumer behaviour, research of this nature in developing countries such as Malaysia is still scant in spite of the proliferation of shopping malls. In this study, the role of atmospherics and locational convenience was examined. The mediating effects of brand trust and brand affect were also tested on the relationship between the dependent variables: atmospherics and locational convenience on flow and the dependent variable using structural equations analysis. Data for the present study were collected from shoppers exiting shopping malls in Kuala Lumpur/Petaling Jaya. A total of 698 responses from 11 malls were analysed. Results show an absence of the direct effect of atmospherics and locational convenience on flow, contrary to findings of past research which show a direct effect on approach/avoidance behaviour. The present study supports findings of more recent studies that suggest the presence of intervening variables, i.e. the hypothesised mediating role of brand trust and brand affect on the relationship between atmospherics and flow, and between locational convenience and flow. Findings suggest that the pleasant environment and locational convenience together evoked brand affect and brand trust, which in turn affects flow. Gender effect on the hypothesised relationships was tested. Results show that male and female shoppers tended to respond differently to the exogenous variables of atmospherics and locational convenience. Limitations and directions for future research are suggested.
From cytokines to pragmatic designs: changing paradigms

Emily Cooley was a well‐respected medical technologist and morphologist with a remarkable skill set. She was highly regarded both professionally and personally. The “Emily Cooley Lectureship and Award” was established to honor her in particular and medical technologists in general. This article first reviews how a medical laboratory technologist was inspired to become a clinical researcher, then goes on to describe research that led to the discovery of cytokines as the cause of febrile nonhemolytic transfusion and the use of a pragmatic randomized controlled trial design to address evidence of harm when stored red blood cells were transfused. Important lessons for performing quality, meaningful research are highlighted.
Metaplastic breast carcinoma: A case report and systematic review of the literature

A 78‐year‐old retired woman was diagnosed with metaplastic breast carcinoma (MBC), a rare tumor, in our hospital. We reviewed 15 articles with a total of 1328 patients to determine the epidemiology, clinical features, biomarkers, histology, management and outcome of patients with this tumor. The mean age at presentation is 58.5 years (range 32–83). Eighty‐one percent of patients presented either with a breast mass or abnormal mammographic finding. Twenty‐three percent of patients had a family history of breast cancer. Estrogen receptors were only found in 12%, progesterone receptors in 10% and HER2 in 6% of patients. The main method of treatment was mastectomy (66.9%) in combination with chemotherapy (57%) and radiotherapy (47%). Five‐year disease‐free survival ranged between 40% and 84% and 5‐year overall survival ranged between 64 and 83%. We have further reviewed the nature of this disease in the light of advancement in genetics, such as microarray gene expression profiling. The relationship of MBC with triple‐negative tumor and basal‐like tumor is discussed. It is hoped that advances in genetics and biomarkers will bring forward the era of personalized medicine in the treatment of breast carcinoma.
Biomass Production and Assimilation of Dissolved Organic Matter by SAR11 Bacteria in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean

ABSTRACT Members of the SAR11 clade often dominate the composition of marine microbial communities, yet their contribution to biomass production and the flux of dissolved organic matter (DOM) is unclear. In addition, little is known about the specific components of the DOM pool utilized by SAR11 bacteria. To better understand the role of SAR11 bacteria in the flux of DOM, we examined the assimilation of leucine (a measure of biomass production), as well as free amino acids, protein, and glucose, by SAR11 bacteria in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. We found that when SAR11 bacteria were >25% of total prokaryotes, they accounted for about 30 to 50% of leucine incorporation, suggesting that SAR11 bacteria were major contributors to bacterial biomass production and the DOM flux. Specific growth rates of SAR11 bacteria either equaled or exceeded growth rates for the total prokaryotic community. In addition, SAR11 bacteria were typically responsible for a greater portion of amino acid assimilation (34 to 61%) and glucose assimilation (45 to 57%) than of protein assimilation (≤34%). These data suggest that SAR11 bacteria do not utilize various components of the DOM pool equally and may be more important to the flux of low-molecular-weight monomers than to that of high-molecular-weight polymers.