Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The moderating influence of strategic orientation on the strategy formation capability–performance relationship

An effective strategy formation capability is a complex organizational resource—a dynamic capability that should lead to superior performance. Strategy scholars have examined the strategy formation capability from many perspectives. However, no study has examined a comprehensive model of strategy formation in the context of the firm's strategic orientation. We develop and examine such a model. The results show that strategic orientation moderates the relationship between different elements of the strategy formation capability and performance. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Theory of Power and Conflict in Channels of Distribution

This review article develops an integrated overview of the present status of the theory of power and conflict in marketing channels. It includes a presentation of the conceptual foundation provided by behavioral science and a report on empirical contributions of the marketing literature. Since there appear to be many problems with the empirical work done in the area, both methodological and conceptual, the article also presents some proposals for clarification and theoretical development.
Glycinergic mIPSCs in mouse and rat brainstem auditory nuclei: modulation by ruthenium red and the role of calcium stores

Spontaneous miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents (mIPSCs) recorded in central neurons are usually highly variable in amplitude due to many factors such as intrinsic postsynaptic channel fluctuations at each release site, site‐to‐site variability between release sites, electrotonic attenuation due to variable dendritic locations of synapses, and the possibility of synchronous multivesicular release. A detailed knowledge of these factors is essential for the interpretation of mIPSC amplitude distributions and mean quantal size. We have studied glycinergic mIPSCs in two auditory brainstem nuclei, the rat anteroventral cochlear nucleus (AVCN) and the mouse medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB). Our previous results have demonstrated the location of glycinergic synapses on these neurons to be somatic, thus avoiding electrotonic complications. Spontaneous glycinergic mIPSCs were recorded from AVCN and MNTB neurons in brainstem slices, in the presence of TTX to block action potentials, and 6‐cyano‐7‐nitroquinoxaline‐2, 3‐dione, (±)‐2‐amino‐5‐phosphonopentanoic acid and bicuculline to block glutamatergic and GABAergic synaptic currents. Ruthenium red (RuR), which was used to increase the frequency of mIPSCs, significantly changed the shape of most (90 %) mIPSC amplitude distributions by increasing the proportion of large‐amplitude mIPSCs. The possibility was investigated (following previous evidence at GABAergic synapses) that large‐amplitude glycinergic mIPSCs are due to synchronous multivesicular release initiated by presynaptic calcium sparks from ryanodine‐sensitive calcium stores. Interval analysis of mIPSCs indicated that the number of potentially undetected (asynchrony < 0.5 ms) multivesicular mIPSCs was low in comparison with the number of large‐amplitude mIPSCs. Ryanodine, thapsigargin and calcium‐free perfusate did not reduce the frequency of large‐amplitude mIPSCs (> 150 pA), arguing against a significant role for presynaptic calcium stores. Our results support previous evidence suggesting that RuR increases miniature postsynaptic current (mSC) frequency by a mechanism that does not involve presynaptic calcium stores. Our results also indicate that at glycinergic synapses in the AVCN and MNTB, site‐to‐site variability in mIPSC amplitude, rather than multivesicular release, is a major factor underlying the large range of amplitudes of glycinergic mIPSCs.
Measuring User Innovation: What Can a Standard Innovation Survey Tell Us?

In this paper, we explore the amount and impact of firms that can be considered being user innovators. Using the Swiss Innovation Survey, we identify a sample of innovative firms that we explore with regard to their commitment to R&D. We thereby create a measure for informal innovation—that is, innovation not explicitly planned and budgeted—by identifying innovative firms that do not conduct any R&D. We argue that user innovators are the main source of such technological innovation and propose two methods to measure the usually hidden (informal) activities. First, by defining user innovators as non-R&D innovators, we show that they comprise 46% of all innovating firms. Furthermore, they represent more than one third of the economic impact induced by product and process innovations. A second method defines user innovators as over-innovators in an innovation function. Exploring the residuals, we show that user innovators in process technology comprise about 38% of process innovating firms and that they represent 37% of reduced costs in the economy. Furthermore, for these user innovators, 40% of costs reductions are found to be induced by users (within the firms). Thus, about 15% of the overall cost reductions in the economy comes from user innovation within firms.
Engineering cooperation: How Americans and Russians manage joint operation of the International Space Station

The 1990s agreements that created the International Space Station (ISS) described the effort as a partnership of equals, a joint venture between organizations that remained independent in terms of many procedures, norms, goals, and the assumptions underlying these factors. As a result, successful joint ISS operations required the participants, most notably the American and Russian space programs, to reconcile different procedures, norms, and training regimes, as well as the beliefs that underlie these practices. Drawing on a combination of operational experience, first-hand observation, and interviews, this paper focuses on how the two programs reduced conflict and engendered cooperation. It also uses the ISS experience to consider how future joint efforts can be designed to minimize conflict between international partners.
Increasing small business participation in VET: a “hard ask”

Governments in Australia, like those in other countries, have sought to increase small business participation in vocation education and training (VET). Given concerns about business sustainability and small businesses’ contribution to employment and economic performance, governments have sought VET responses that are commensurate with small business needs. However, given small business reluctance and resistance to participate in structured VET programs, the task of increasing participation remains a particularly difficult request; a “hard ask”. Taking an Australian perspective, it is proposed that achieving this goal will require changes to the orientation of VET provisions, enhanced support and facilitation instead of market‐based provisions. Furthermore, a broadening of both the pedagogy and definition of structured VET are probably needed to increase participation by small business.
Trait-based Language for Smart Cyber-Physical Systems

The problem this paper aims to target is how to hoist the cooperation of software components, acting as autonomous agents and forming coalitions, at the architectural level in smart cyber-physical systems (sCPS). This is a hard problem as coalitions can be overlapping, nested, and dynamically formed and dismantled based on several criteria. To target this issue, we propose and implement an architecture description language (TCOF-ADL) based on Scala internal DSL, that describes architecture and formation of dynamic coalitions of components. To raise the level of expressivity, we introduce the concept of domain-specific extensions (traits) of the core TCOF-ADL to reflect different concerns—such as movement in a 2D map, state-space modeling of physical processes, statistical reasoning about uncertainty. This allows configuring the ADL for the needs of a specific application case and facilitates reuse. To evaluate our approach, we show how it can be beneficially used in addressing the coordination of agents within the RoboCup Rescue Simulation League. This work was partially supported by the project no. LD15051 from COST CZ (LD) programme by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic. Trait-based Language for Smart Cyber-Physical Systems Tomas Bures1, Ilias Gerostathopoulos2, Petr Hnetynka1, Frantisek Plasil1, Filip Krijt1, Jiri Vinarek1, Jan Kofron1 1 Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Prague, Czech Republic {surname}@d3s.mff. cuni.cz 2 Fakultät für Informatik, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
Boards of directors and firm performance: the effect of multiple directorships

We analyse the influence of multiple directorships (busyness) on the performance of the Spanish listed firms between 2007 and 2009. We find a nonlinear relation due to the combination of a reputation effect and a dedication effect. For low levels of multiple directorships, the reputation effect prevails, so that serving on more boards of directors means more skills and more incentives to perform directorial duties, with a positive impact on the firm’s performance. After a certain threshold (our results point to around four boards), the dedication effect prevails as directors become overwhelmed attending to the duties of too many boards.
A randomized two‐stage design for phase II clinical trials based on a Bayesian predictive approach

The rate of failure in phase III oncology trials is surprisingly high, partly owing to inadequate phase II studies. Recently, the use of randomized designs in phase II is being increasingly recommended, to avoid the limits of studies that use a historical control. We propose a two‐arm two‐stage design based on a Bayesian predictive approach. The idea is to ensure a large probability, expressed in terms of the prior predictive probability of the data, of obtaining a substantial posterior evidence in favour of the experimental treatment, under the assumption that it is actually more effective than the standard agent. This design is a randomized version of the two‐stage design that has been proposed for single‐arm phase II trials by Sambucini. We examine the main features of our novel design as all the parameters involved vary and compare our approach with Jung's minimax and optimal designs. An illustrative example is also provided online as a supplementary material to this article. Copyright © 2014 JohnWiley & Sons, Ltd.
Polish final purchasers’ expectations towards the features of dairy product packaging in the context of buying decisions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify and to make an in-depth analysis of importance of the environmental elements of dairy product packaging during consumer buying decisions process according to these elements’ compliance with consumer expectations. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is of theoretical and empirical character. In the theoretical part, the cognitive-and-critical analysis of the world’s literature on marketing and marketing management was applied. In the empirical part, such research methods were used as: questionnaire survey for gathering primary data and statistical analysis (including factor analysis and cluster analysis) for the analysis of the primary data and for the statistical reasoning, which made the basis for the final conclusions. Findings – On the basis of the research, it is possible to state that: environmental features of dairy product packaging are of great significance for the respondents, and meeting their expectations in this respect influences positive.
Some Audiological, Psychological, Educational and Behavioral Characteristics Of Children With Bilateral Otitis Media With Effusion: A Longitudinal Study

This paper describes a longitudinal study of a group of children who had bilateral otitis media with effusion at age five and who were compared with a group of children with normal ears at that age. OME was defined as Type B tympanograms and features of OME by otomicroscopic examination and normal as Type A tympanograms in both ears again confirmed by otomicroscopy. Results are reported for hearing (ages 5, 7, 9, 11), intelligence (3, 5, 7, 9, 11), language development (3, 5, 7, 9), speech articulation (5, 7, 9), reading attainment (7, 9, 11), and behaviour problems (5, 7, 9, 11). Children with bilateral OME at age five had a moderately high degree of hearing loss at that age and continued to have a significant degree of hearing loss at subsequent ages. The degree of later hearing loss was small. When the mean IQs over the years were combined, there was no significant difference between the groups. The bilateral OME group gained significantly lower average scores in both verbal comprehension and expression. Also, the combined speech articulation and the reading test scores were significantly lower in the bilateral OME group. Teachers, but not parents, reported significantly more behaviour problems in the bilateral OME group over the period studied. Because this was the first longitudinal study of what was assumed to be the consequences of bilateral OME to be reported, further such research is recommended. In the meantime, the results were interpreted as supporting the hypothesis that bilateral OME has long term adverse effects on children and that current efforts towards the early identification and treatment of bilateral OME should be continued. These efforts, however, should be targeted well before age five and possibly prior to age three.
A meta-analysis of trials comparing Cypher and Taxus stents in patients with obstructive coronary artery disease.

AIMS Drug-eluting stents have been shown to be superior to bare metal stents in reducing restenosis rates. Recently head-to-head trials comparing sirolimus-eluting stents and paclitaxel-eluting stents have been reported. An early combined analysis of these comparative trials is needed. The present meta-analysis was carried out to compare the effects of sirolimus-eluting stents with paclitaxel-eluting stents on the restenosis rate, major adverse cardiac events and late loss of arterial lumen diameter in patients with obstructive coronary artery disease. METHODS Electronic (Medline, Cochrane and Embase) and manual search (Index Medicus and cross references of retrieved articles) were carried out for all the relevant articles up till March 2005. Only randomized trials with adequate data for calculation of odds ratio for restenosis rates and major adverse cardiac events using the method of DerSimonian & Laird and standardized mean difference for late loss of arterial lumen diameter were included. RESULTS Four studies were found to be eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Restenosis rate and late loss of arterial lumen diameter were significantly reduced by sirolimus-eluting stents as compared with paclitaxel-eluting stents (OR 0.598, 95% CI 0.400, 0.893, pooled mean difference -0.414, 95% CI -0.492, 0.336, respectively). The incidence of major adverse cardiac events was less with sirolimus-eluting stents as compared with paclitaxel-eluting stents (OR 0.727, 95% CI 0.518-1.018) but the results were not statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS Sirolimus-eluting stents are superior to paclitaxel-eluting stents in decreasing restenosis rate and late loss of arterial lumen diameter. However, no statistically significant difference in major adverse cardiac events was noted between the two stents.
Multiple Time Scale Attribution for Commodity Trading Advisor (CTA) Funds

Commodity trading advisors (CTAs) make directional investments in liquid futures and forward markets. Since CTAs generally do not engage in security selection or relative value trades, their performance depends to a large extent on funds ability to time market exposures. We analyze CTA return attribution, splitting returns into contributions from asset class (beta) factors and market timing factors. For each asset, we use timing factors at several frequencies. The highest frequency (e.g., daily) timing factors are absolute values of asset returns, while lower frequency (e.g., weekly or monthly) timing factors also use high-frequency returns. Average fund returns net of beta and market timing contributions are called residual alpha. For CTAs, the market timing contribution varies by frequency. By combining timing factors at different frequencies, we estimate aggregate market timing alpha and residual alpha; this latter quantity is around -8% per year for CTA indexes, with transaction costs being a potential contributor.
Inflammatory Myofibroblastic Tumor Presenting with Diabetes Insipidus in an Eight-Year-Old Boy: A Case Report

Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumors (IMT) develop as a non-neoplastic proliferation of myofibroblasts in a myxoid to collagenous stroma admixed with inflammatory cells. The symptoms depend on the specific location of the tumor, which can be anywhere, but is particularly in the respiratory system. Thus, patients with IMT can present with a variety of findings. A pediatric patient with IMT who presented with cough, breathlessness, polyuria-polydipsia, and convulsions is described in this report.
New Test of Asset Pricing Models in China

Asset Pricing is a longstanding problem in finance. In this paper, we evaluate both the one factor model and the Fama-French three factor model for the Chinese capital market from 1997-2004. The model specifications include (i) without an intercept, (ii) with an intercept and (iii) with a jump component. A generalized spectral derivative test recently proposed by Hong and Lee (2005a, 2005b) is used for model specification analysis. The empirical results show that the intercept does not help improve the goodness of fit for both one factor and three factor models. Moreover, it cannot reduce the model specification error either. Although jump factors could greatly improve the goodness of fit of asset pricing models, it has little impact on reducing the specification errors. BM and SIZE factors could efficiently improve the goodness of fit of asset pricing models and reduce the specification error, indicating that BM and HML are important for explaining the change of stock returns. However, not all portfolios passed the Hong and Lee (2005a, 2005b) test. There exist some unexplained parts in Chinese stock returns. Other risk factors or nonlinear return relationships should be considered to explain Chinese capital asset returns.
EFFECT OF IN OVO INJECTION WITH NEWCASTLE DISEASE VACCINE, MULTIVITAMINS AD 3E, AND OMEGA -3 ON PERFORMANCE AND IMMUNE RESPONSE OF BROILER

E into an egg embryo on performance and immune response of broiler. Onday 18 of incubation when the eggs transferred from incubator to hatcher, 400 fertilized eggs (100 eggs for each group)were injected with 0.1 ml saline solution as a control (T1), 0.1 ml ND vaccine (T2), 0.1 ml ND vaccine plus 0.1multivitamins AD
Characterization of Transgenic Mice with Targeted Disruption of the Catalytic Domain of the Double-stranded RNA-dependent Protein Kinase, PKR*

The interferon-inducible, double-stranded RNA-dependent protein kinase PKR has been implicated in anti-viral, anti-tumor, and apoptotic responses. Others have attempted to examine the requirement of PKR in these roles by targeted disruption at the amino terminal-encoding region of the Pkr gene. By using a strategy that aims at disruption of the catalytic domain of PKR, we have generated mice that are genetically ablated for functional PKR. Similar to the other mouse model of Pkr disruption, we have observed no consequences of loss of PKR on tumor suppression. Anti-viral response to influenza and vaccinia also appeared to be normal in mice and in cells lacking PKR. Cytokine signaling in the type I interferon pathway is normal but may be compromised in the erythropoietin pathway in erythroid bone marrow precursors. Contrary to the amino-terminal targeted Pkr mouse, tumor necrosis factor α-induced apoptosis and the anti-viral apoptosis response to influenza is not impaired in catalytic domain-targetedPkr-null cells. The observation of intact eukaryotic initiation factor-2α phosphorylation in these Pkr-null cells provides proof of rescue by another eukaryotic initiation factor-2α kinase(s).
The value of extended framework of TAM in the electronic government services

Spanish City Halls are making a great effort to develop citizen-targeted online services in an attempt to enhance their effectiveness and reduce expenses. Hence, citizens’ engagement is essential for the adoption of e-Government services. In this research, an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is developed to test citizen engagement towards online e-Government services from a sample of 307 citizens who used the benefits adviser tool within a Spanish City Hall. To achieve this goal, a structuring equation model is developed and tested to confirm the explanatory power of attitude towards a technology on citizen engagement. The results obtained suggest that the core constructs of TAM (perceived usefulness, ease of use and attitude) significantly affect users’ citizen engagement. This study also reveals a general support for attitude towards a technology as a determinant of citizen engagement in e-Government services. The implications of the findings are discussed and useful insights are provided on what policy to follow to establish the appropriate conditions to build citizens’ engagement intent.
Management of Knowledge Workers

We study how firm-specific complementary assets and intellectual property rights affect the management of knowledge workers. The main results show when a firm will wish to sue workers who leave with innovative ideas and the effects of complementary assets on wages and on worker initiative. We show that firms protected weakly by complementary assets must sue leaving workers in order to obtain positive profits. Moreover, firms with more complementary assets pay higher wages and have lower rates of turnover, but the higher pay has a detrimental effect on worker initiative. Finally, our analysis suggests that strengthening firms’ property rights protection reduces turnover costs but weakens worker initiative.