Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FIRM STRATEGIES IN THE COMPETITION FOR DOMINANCE OF NETWORKED BUSINESS SYSTEMS

The dissertation aims to contribute to the body of research on firm strategies in the context of network externalities, in order to better understand firm level competitive behaviour. The dissertation specifically focuses on the interaction of different types of firms when the focal firms are competing for dominance in an evolving networked business system. The research question is: What are the drivers affecting competitive behaviour in a network externality context, and what are the firm and aggregate level consequences of the competitive actions? The study uses bibliometric methods to map the scientific discourse about the phenomenon. The mapping highlights the relevant theoretical approaches investigating the phenomenon, including the evolutionary perspective on economics and population ecology. Researchers of these approaches have identified positive and negative feedback mechanisms leading to different competitive outcomes. Positive feedback is associated with divergence and diversification, while negative feedback is associated with congruence, imitation, and competitive effects. The dissertation investigates the positive and negative mechanisms in an empirical setting. The investigation focuses on one business environment at the time of the commercial introduction of a new technology. The investigated period was the launch of digital television in the United Kingdom between 1998-2002, the era between the commercial launch and an industry shakeout. The study builds on data from interviews, press releases, trade journals, internet discussion fora and stock market information. With the case approach, the dissertation aims at offering a rich view of the field while subjecting it to methodological and data triangulation. The analysis proceeds from the case narrative to social network analysis, content analysis, and qualitative comparative analysis. The case evidence describes how firms engaged in intense, resource-draining competition, with an outcome of increased aggregate adoption rates. In contrast to earlier work on network externalities, the dissertation emphasises that firms imitate at an early stage of market creation. The study shows that all firms including the industry leader are inclined to follow competitors’ behaviour at a time of intense rivalry. Building on previous research and the case examination, a new competitive metaphor and an integrated model of network market competition are developed. The dissertation contributes to the understanding of firm strategies in the presence of significant network externalities and proposes implications for managers and policy makers.
Job Satisfaction and Its Determinants among Chinese Rural-to-urban Migrant Workers

Job satisfaction has been proved to be negatively correlated with labor mobility (Freeman, 1977). China faces a huge labor shortage and this problem worsens as migrant workers stay at their home provinces. This paper examines job satisfaction and its determinants among Chinese rural-urban migrant workers. This analysis is based on a number of previous theoretical and empirical studies. Data is used from the Chinese Household Income Project (CHIP) 2002 Rural-urban Migrant Household Survey. Migrant workers’ job satisfaction is proved to be much more sensitive to expected future income, and this paper ascertains the positive relations between expected future income and job satisfaction. Unlike previous studies, this paper finds that the greater the geographical distance is between a rural-urban migrant worker’ home province and current working province, the lower the migrant worker’ job satisfaction. However, the job satisfaction can be augmented if migrant workers have many friends in their working cities. Additionally, migrant workers’ job satisfaction is an inverted U-shaped curve in educational attainment. Being discriminated against by urban workers lowers migrant workers’ job satisfaction. This study carries some policy implications – softening institutional restrictions, enhancing the enforcement of the Labor Law, and emphasizing education in rural China – which may abbreviate the rift of the great labor shortage.
Risk-Taking Propensity in Older Adolescents: Internalizing Symptoms, Gender, and Negative Reinforcement

Objective: Engagement in risk behaviors, including substance use, risky sex, and violence, tends to increase throughout adolescence into young adulthood. One motivational process that may underlie risk behaviors during adolescence is negative reinforcement. Moreover, gender and internalizing symptoms (e.g., depression and anxiety) may both convey risk for negative reinforcement–based risk taking. Along these lines, the aims of the current study were to (a) examine gender differences in negative reinforcement–based risk-taking propensity and (b) examine internalizing symptoms as a moderator of the relationship between gender and negative reinforcement–based risk-taking propensity. Method: Participants included 103 youth between the ages of 18 and 21 (50.49% female, age M(SD) = 19.41(1.06)) who were recruited from a large Mid-Atlantic university between September 2013 and November 2014. Participants completed self-report assessments of internalizing symptomatology and a computerized behavioral analog assessment of negative reinforcement–based risk-taking propensity. Results: Results indicated that, overall, female older adolescents were riskier under conditions of negative reinforcement than male older adolescents. In addition, internalizing symptoms significantly moderated the relationship between gender and negative reinforcement–based risk-taking propensity such that the relationship between gender and negative reinforcement–based risk-taking propensity was nonsignificant at high levels of internalizing symptoms, and female gender was significantly positively predictive of heightened negative reinforcement–based risk-taking propensity at low levels of internalizing symptoms. Conclusions: Thus, although female youth overall were riskier, the predictive utility of gender for negative reinforcement–based risk taking may be most relevant at low levels of internalizing symptoms. Results are discussed in terms of implications for future prevention and intervention.
Collateral Shocks and Corporate Employment

We examine the impact of real estate collateral values on corporate employment. Our empirical strategy exploits regional variation in local real estate price growth, firm-level data on real estate holdings, as well as establishment-level data on employment and the location of firms' operations from the U.S. Census Bureau. Over the period from 1993 until 2006, we show that a typical U.S. publicly-traded firm increases employment expenditures by $0.10 per $1 increase in collateral. We show this additional hiring is funded through debt issues and the effects are stronger for firms likely to be financially constrained. These firms increase employment at establishments outside of their core industry focus and away from the location of real estate holdings, leading to regional spillover effects. We document how shocks to collateral values influence labor allocation within firms and how these effects show up in the aggregate.
THROMBOSIS AND HEMOSTASIS Desmolaris, a novel factor XIa anticoagulant from the salivary gland of the vampire bat ( Desmodus rotundus ) inhibits in ﬂ ammation and thrombosis in vivo

the salivary gland genes from the vampire bat Desmodus rotundus identified Desmolaris as a novel 21.5-kDa naturally deleted (Kunitz 1-domainless) form of tissue factor pathway inhibitor. Recombinant Desmolaris was expressed in HEK293 cells and characterizedasaslow,tight,andnoncompetitiveinhibitoroffactor(F)XIabyamechanism modulated by heparin. Desmolaris also inhibits FXa with lower affinity, independently of protein S. In addition, Desmolaris binds kallikrein and reduces bradykinin generation in plasma activated with kaolin. Truncated and mutated forms of Desmolaris determined that Arg32 in the Kunitz-1 domain is critical for protease inhibition. Moreover, Kunitz-2 and the carboxyl-terminus domains mediate interaction of Desmolaris with heparin and are required for optimal inhibition of FXIa and FXa. Notably, Desmolaris (100 m g/kg) inhibited FeCl 3 -induced carotid artery thrombus without impairing hemostasis. These results imply that FXIa is the primary in vivo target for Desmolaris at antithrombotic concentrations. Desmolaris also reduces the polyphosphate-induced increase in vascular permeability and collagen- and epinephrine-mediated thromboembolism in mice. Desmolaris emerges as a novel anticoagulant targeting FXIa under conditions in which the coagulation activation, particularly the contact pathway, plays a major pathological role. ( Blood . 2013;122(25):4094-4106)
Geometrically Based Statistical Channel Models for Outdoor and Indoor Propagation Environments

This paper presents a geometrically based statistical channel model with scatterers that are randomly distributed around the base station within a circle that is determined by the coverage area of the base-station antenna. The joint probability density function (pdf) of time of arrival (TOA)/angle of arrival (AOA), the marginal pdf of AOA, and the marginal pdf of TOA are derived for a general distribution of scatterers around the base station. Rayleigh and exponential distributions are selected as special cases for discussion. Comparisons between our theoretical calculations and the empirical results, as well as the measurement data that are reported in the literature, show that the Rayleigh distribution scatterer model can be applied to an outdoor microcell propagation environment, while the exponential distribution scatterer model gives accurate results for an indoor office/laboratory propagation environment.
Understanding customer‐specific factors underpinning internet banking adoption

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to deepen our understanding of customers' actual internet banking behaviour by combining the construct of technology readiness with the technology acceptance model and demographics, such as age and gender, into one integrated framework.Design/methodology/approach – The customer‐specific internet banking acceptance model (CSIBAM) is validated through 435 UK internet banking users.Findings – The results indicate the importance of customer‐specific factors in predicting actual behaviour. Technology readiness, age and gender moderate the beliefs‐intention relationship. Customers with varying levels of technology‐related views and demographics hold different beliefs about technology. The relationship between usefulness and behaviour was stronger for younger males with high levels of optimism and innovativeness (explorers and pioneers), whilst the relationship between ease of use and behaviour was stronger for older females with a high level of discomfort (paranoids and la.
High-tech, innovative products: identifying and meeting business customers' value needs

Purpose – During the industrial purchasing process of high-tech, innovative products, various decision-influencers within buying companies evaluate the attractiveness of the manufacturer's market offering; namely the “value” of the offering. This paper aims to identify the various tangible and intangible value elements requested by the business customer, and the stage(s) of the purchasing process in which these value considerations take place. Design/methodology/approach – This paper develops a framework that will effectively guide manufacturers of high-tech, innovative products to market, and customize, their offer throughout the different stages of prospective business customers' purchasing process. Findings – The findings, derived from in-depth interviews, demonstrate that manufacturers should focus on distinctive product-, service-, and supplier-related value elements, and that the particular elements depend on the different decision-influencers, as well as the different stages of the purchasing process. Originality/value – The paper discusses some avenues for future research in the marketing of high-tech products.
Theoretical framework of LSSC

In order to build a theoretical framework for further study on Logistics Service Supply Chain(LSSC),the evolution mechanism,essence,structural model,characteristics,basic management theories and methods of LSSC are analyzed qualitatively and systematically on the basis of literatures review of service supply chain.It is indicated that LSSC which integrates logistics resources mainly through supply contracts is a capability chain and value-added service chain,obtaining and integration of logistics capability is the key to LSSC optimization,and the content of LSSC management includes capability,information,process and relationship management.
Responsibility in the Supply Chain: Interorganisational management of environmental and social aspects in the supply chain - Case studies from the textile sector

This thesis is about the intersection between Corporate Social Responsibility and Supply Chain Management. I call this upstream CSR, the phenomenon that arises when an issue on a company’s CSR agenda becomes an issue for its sourcing and supply management operations. Upstream CSR as a phenomenon is not without controversies, but it also holds an important potential for reducing negative environmental, and social, impacts associated with production and consumption. Companies’ ability to manage, and assume responsibility for, environmental aspects upstream in their respective supply chains is in fact critical if we are to realise the promise of life cycle thinking. A deeper understanding of this phenomenon is therefore of relevance not just for corporate practitioners but also for policy makers and any other group of stakeholders who seek to reduce the environmental impacts of products in a life cycle perspective. Through the means of two in-depth case studies in the textile sector, each covering several tiers of a specific supply chain, this thesis provides a deeper understanding of how companies may address the task of influencing and verifying environmental and social aspects that occur upstream in the supply chain. By combining the findings from the empirical research with an in-depth review of pertinent literature this thesis also provides a framework through which this complex phenomenon can be understood and further explored. (Less)
Antiplatelet treatment with cilostazol after stent implantation

Objectives To evaluate the efficacy of cilostazol, a new synthetic inhibitor of phosphodiesterase, in preventing stent thrombosis after successful implantation. Design Preliminary prospective study. Setting A single coronary care unit in Japan. Patients Elective, bailout, or primary stents were implanted in 85 consecutive patients with 93 lesions. Primary stent implantation was performed in 18 patients with acute myocardial infarction. Patients received 200 mg cilostazol and 243 mg aspirin after stenting. Main outcome measures Stent thrombosis, major and minor complications, and side effects were assessed in the six months after stenting. Results Gianturco-Roubin stents were implanted in 37 lesions, Wiktor stents in 55, and Palmaz-Schatz stents in 27. Multiple stents were used in 26 lesions. There was no mortality, stent thrombosis related Q wave myocardial infarction, emergency bypass surgery, repeat intervention, or vascular complications in the six months of follow up. Acute or subacute closure did not occur after stenting. There were no serious side effects such as leucopenia and/or abnormal liver function for three months. Cilostazol was withdrawn in one patient because of skin rash. Patients who underwent primary stenting had no clinical events, such as acute or subacute thrombosis, or side effects. Conclusions Cilostazol is an effective antiplatelet agent with minimum side effects after elective, bailout, or primary stent implantation.
Disloyalty: a closer look at non‐loyals

Seeks to revisit the theoretical basis for the concept of loyalty through a consideration of the state of “no loyalty”, which we term “disloyalty”. This category is present in the model proposed by Dick and Basu, but is seen to be of less interest than other categories. Here we argue that a more analytical approach to this category might provide a unique insight into loyalty behaviours, but specifically might aid an understanding of the nature of the challenge associated with widening the loyal customer base. We propose the following categories of disloyals: disturbed, disenchanted, disengaged and disruptive. These four categories can be mapped onto a grid with attitudinal and behavioural dimensions. The characteristics of each of these groups are outlined. Segmentation on the basis of these different types of disloyalty could have implications for marketing strategies. The relationships between the different categories of disloyals and Dick and Basu’s categories of loyals may be important in mapping the development of customer relationships. Finally, proposals are made for further research.
Violence Against Women and the Perinatal Period

Violence against women affects millions of women, including women who are pregnant or have recently given birth. During pregnancy, a woman's history of past abuse increases her risk of depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. And these increase the risk of pregnancy and neonatal complications. Women who have experienced past or current abuse are also at high risk for postpartum depression, which can affect their relationships with other adults and their babies. Violence against women can also affect women's ability to breastfeed, although abuse survivors often express an intention to breastfeed and are more likely to initiate breastfeeding than their nonabused counterparts. Current abuse, depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, social isolation, lack of social support, and cessation of breastfeeding all have negative health effects for mothers and babies.
Job satisfaction and team work: the role of supervisory support

The link between teamwork and job satisfaction was investigated in a sample of 48 manufacturing companies comprising 4708 employees. Two separate research questions were addressed. First, it was proposed that supervisor support would be a weaker source of job satisfaction in companies with higher levels of teamworking. Multilevel analysis indicated that the extent of teamwork at the company level of analysis moderated the relationship between individual perceptions of supervisor support and job satisfaction. Second, it was proposed that the extent of teamwork would be positively related to perceptions of job autonomy but negatively related to perceptions of supervisor support. Further, it was proposed that the link between teamwork and job autonomy would be explained by job enrichment practices associated with teamwork. Analyses of aggregated company data supported these propositions and provided evidence for a complex mediational path between teamwork and job satisfaction. Implications for implementing teamwork in organizations are discussed.
Neuroticism, Uncertainty, and Foreign Investment

Building on previous research that has established a link between neuroticism and the tendency to avoid uncertainty, and revealed the way foreign securities are perceived by investors, we explore whether variation in the personality trait of neuroticism affects foreign portfolio investment. Contrary to typical studies of personality, we use cross-country observational data, which allows us to analyse the effects of individuals’ decisions, and not merely the possibly biased responses of study participants. Results demonstrate that investors from countries that have a high mean neuroticism score generally invest less in foreign equities than investors from other countries, and that this tendency is also – but to a smaller extent – present when considering investments in foreign debt securities. The paper also contributes to the literature by showing that the individuals from countries with a higher mean level of neuroticism invest less in countries that are culturally dissimilar to the country the investor comes from. An analysis of the variation in the level of global market uncertainty, and the levels of uncertainty in the countries making and receiving the investment shows that neurotics’ reluctance to invest is mostly driven (from a temporal perspective) by the level of uncertainty in their own country.
Seeking the Ideal Form: Product Design and Consumer Response

The physical form or design of a product is an unquestioned determinant of its marketplace success. A good design attracts consumers to a product, communicates to them, and adds value to the product by increasing the quality of the usage experiences associated with it. Nevertheless, the topic of product design is rarely, if ever, encountered in marketing journals. To bring needed attention to the subject of product design and enable researchers to better investigate design issues, the author introduces a conceptual model and several propositions that describe how the form of a product relates to consumers’ psychological and behavioral responses. After presenting this model, the author describes numerous strategic implications and research directions.
Modern food retailing buying behaviour in Africa: the case of Tanzania

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore modern food retail buyers’ behaviour in developing economies using the case of Tanzania. This paper provides an insight into the decision-making practice of modern food retail buyers’ behaviour in emerging modern food distribution systems, where the buying task involves balancing the retailer’s commercial interests with more stringent government regulations that shape food business in the region. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative case study approach was used for the study. The researcher used semi-structured interviews with retailers for data collection and corroborated them with secondary data. Data were thematically analysed. Findings – The study shows that the criteria used by modern food retailers in the selection of local food suppliers are reliability, quality, trade credit and legal certification. The task is further complicated by the overlapping food certification requirements of various government agencies, which impose limitations on the buyers’ decision. Due to the exploratory nature of the study and its focus on the context of a particular geographical marketplace, the findings may not be generalizable to other countries. Originality/value – This is the first academic study of the criteria used by modern food retailers in the selection of local food suppliers in Tanzania.
Biochemical indicators of whole-body gamma-radiation effects in the pig.

PURPOSE Validation of the pig as an experimental animal model for dose assessment after ionizing irradiation. MATERIALS AND METHODS The evolution of haematological and biochemical parameters was followed for up to 7 days after irradiation in pigs exposed to whole-body 60Co gamma-radiation at doses between O and 6 Gy. RESULTS Some biochemical indicators showed significant variations: amylase, LDH, alkaline and acid phosphatases, ALT and iron. None of the studied parameters alone presents a reliable dose-effect relationship; however, there was evidence that the combination of lymphocyte and neutrophil counts and the determination of LDH, ALT, AST and urea levels allowed some dose determination, independent of time, if blood samples were taken within 7 days post-irradiation. CONCLUSION The results confirm the main problems of biochemical dosimetry. However, the pig model could represent a useful alternative to the non-human primate in radiobiology research, especially in the case of partial-body exposure. A multiparametric approach to dose assessment seems to be possible in the pig model. Confirmation should be carried out using blood samples from patients undergoing radiotherapy treatment.