Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strategy, structure, and performance of U.S. manufacturing and service MNCs: A comparative analysis

This study analyzes the strategy‐structure fit and its effect on the economic performance of 144 U.S. manufacturing and service multinational corporations (MNCs). The results indicate that MNCs, irrespective of being services or manufacturing, choose their organization structure consistent with the theoretical fit prescription for the kind of strategy they are pursuing. However, the strategy‐structure fit had no effect on service MNC economic performance. With manufacturing MNCs, mixed results regarding the fit‐performance linkage were found. Based on the findings, implications and directions for future research are suggested.
THE ROLE OF ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE ON INNOVATION CAPABILITY: AN EMPIRICAL STUDY

Creating and sustaining competitive advantages is the number one priority of any organisation. Companies are trying to be competitive through continously building their innovative capability and creating innovative product and services. Literature has identified several factors affecting the innovation capability of the firms. Organisational culture is argued to be one of them and has implication for innovation capability. This study takes organisational culture and explores its effect on innovation capability. Research hypotheses are developed from the related literatures and tested through the data collected from managers of the firms in Turkey. Data was analysed via Smart PLS program. The results reveal that adhocracy culture is positively related to innovation capability. The results provide evidence regarding the implications of organisational culture as well as enabling factors behind innovativeness of the firms.
UK Innovation Index 2014

This paper provides an update of the NESTA Innovation Index for 2014, and tries to calculate some facts for the “knowledge economy”. Building on the work of Corrado, Hulten and Sichel (CHS, 2005,9), using new data sets and a new micro survey, we (1) document UK intangible investment and (2) see how it contributes to economic growth. Regarding investment in knowledge/intangibles, we find (a) this is now 44% greater than tangible investment, in 2011, £127bn and £88bn respectively; (b) RD (d) the most intangible-intensive industry is the information and communications industry, where intangible investment is 19% of value added and (e) compared to the National Accounts, treating additional intangible expenditures as investment raises market sector value added growth in the 1990s and the early 2000s, but lowers growth in the late 2000s. Regarding the contribution to growth, for 2005-11, (a) intangible capital deepening accounts for 14% of labour productivity growth, against computer hardware, 8%; (b) TFP over the period was negative at -0.9% pa. ; (c) capitalising R&D adds 0.05% to input growth and 0.02% to output growth. On industries, manufacturing accounts for 35% of intangible capital deepening in the UK market sector, information and communication accounts for 17%, and financial services accounts for 14%.
NIH State-of-the-Science Conference Statement on Tobacco Use: Prevention, Cessation, and Control.

OBJECTIVE To provide health care providers, patients, and the general public with a responsible assessment of currently available data on tobacco use: prevention, cessation and control. PARTICIPANTS A non-DHHS, non-advocate 14-member panel included experts in the fields of medicine, general and pediatric psychiatry, addiction medicine, nursing, social work, population science, cancer prevention, minority health and health disparities, clinical study methodology, clinical epidemiology, and a public representative. A listing of the panel members and their institutional affiliations is included in the draft conference statement. In addition, 15 experts from pertinent fields presented data to the panel and conference audience. EVIDENCE Presentations by experts and a systematic review of the literature prepared by the RTI International-University of North Carolina Evidence-based Practice Center, through the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Scientific evidence was given precedence over anecdotal experience. CONFERENCE PROCESS The panel drafted its statement based on scientific evidence presented in open forum and on published scientific literature. The draft statement was presented on the final day of the conference and circulated to the audience for comment. The panel released a revised statement later that day at http://consensus.nih. gov. This statement is an independent report of the panel and is not a policy statement of the NIH or the Federal Government. CONCLUSIONS Tobacco use remains a very serious public health problem. Coordinated national strategies for tobacco prevention, cessation, and control are essential if the United States is to achieve the Healthy People 2010 goals. Most adult smokers want to quit, and effective interventions exist. However, only a small proportion of tobacco users try treatment. This gap represents a major national quality-of-care problem. Many cities and states have implemented effective policies to reduce tobacco use; public health and government leaders should learn from these experiences. Because smokeless tobacco use may increase in the United States, it will be increasingly important to understand net population harms related to use of smokeless tobacco. Prevention, especially among youth, and cessation are the cornerstones of strategies to reduce tobacco use. Tobacco use is a critical and chronic problem that requires close attention from health care providers, health care organizations, and research support organizations.
The impact of gamer motives, consumption, and in-game advertising effectiveness: a case study of football sport video games.

Sport video games (SVGs) are a highly consumed media source among 18- to 34-yr-old sport consumers. Many corporations have become advertisers or sponsors of SVGs to reach this consumer segment. This case study examined the systematic relationships among SVG motives, consumption levels, and sponsorship effectiveness. Research participants (N = 213) were SVG gamers who responded to a survey. The proposed hierarchical relationships were tested in a structural model analysis to determine the effectiveness of SVGs. The fit indices showed that the model fit the data well, indicating that, sequentially, SVG motivations influenced game play frequency, awareness of sponsoring brands in SVGs, attitude toward the sponsoring brands, and future purchase intentions of sponsoring products. Researchers and practitioners may consider applying SVG motivational factors to enhance SVG play frequency so as to enhance the awareness of and attitude toward sponsoring brands, which would in turn promote behavioral intentions for .
HOW LEGACY FIRMS CAN INTRODUCE RADICAL AND DISRUPTIVE INNOVATIONS: THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL ANALYSES.

The article discusses research pertaining to how legacy firms can introduce both radical and disruptive innovations. The technological opportunism of strategic business units has a positive impact on the radicalness dimension of innovations. A strategic business unit's willingness to cannibalize exhibits a positive, significant effect on the disruptiveness dimension, but not on the radicalness dimension. A firm's mainstream customer orientation has a significant, positive impact on the radicalness dimension, but a significant, negative impact on the disruptive dimension.
The baby boomer market maven in the United Kingdom: an experienced diffuser of marketplace information

ABSTRACT This study identifies and profiles market mavens among the baby boomer generation in the United Kingdom. Boomers are an important market segment, yet most advertising targets younger audiences, making word-of-mouth communications crucial among this older cohort. Findings suggest boomer mavens place great importance on ‘respect’ values, are particularly concerned with fashion and compared with non-mavens are more likely to try new brands, watch more television, hold positive attitudes towards advertising and seek out bargains. The study is useful to those businesses wishing to target a mature consumer who people perceive as a good source of marketplace information and who likes introducing new brands to others.
Does Market Differentiate between Sukuk and Bonds?

Sukuk securities have similar features with conventional bonds. The financial press has, however, inappropriately referred to Sukuk as Islamic bonds. This paper investigates Sukuk securities empirically by first examining the yields to maturities of Sukuk securities and conventional bonds of various issuers and maturities. Tests of differences in performance of the two classes of securities and Granger causality tests substantiate that these securities are different. This paper identifies some significant differences between the yield curves of Sukuk securities and those of conventional bonds of the same issuers for the same term and rating. Results show significant differences between the average yields of Sukuk and those of conventional bonds with the same quality and term issued by the same issuers from 2005 to 2014. Granger causality tests confirm that the yields of bonds do not Granger-cause the yields of Sukuk, verifying no causality between the two. There is strong empirical evidence that the two types of debt instruments are not the same. This prompts re-examination of investment advisory and valuation methodology currently applied in the Sukuk industry of 14 capital markets.
Using integrated information systems in supply chain management

The aim of this paper is to empirically test not only the direct effects of information and communication technology (ICT) capabilities and integrated information systems (IS) on firm performance, but also the moderating role of IS integration along the supply chain in the relationship between ICT external and capabilities and business performance. Data collected from 102 large Iberian firms from Spain and Portugal are used to test the research model. The hierarchical multiple regression analysis is employed to test the direct effects and the moderating relationships proposed. Results show that external and internal ICT capabilities are important drivers of firm performance, while merely having integrated IS do not lead to better firm performance. In addition, a moderating effect of IS integration in the relationship between ICT capabilities and business performance is found, although this integration only contributes to firm performance when it is directed to connect with suppliers or customers rather than when integrating the whole supply chain.
Effect of an intrauterine device on the gene expression profile of the endometrium.

CONTEXT The human endometrium acquires the ability to allow embryo attachment just for a specific period of time during each menstrual cycle. Understanding of the opposite functional status, referred to as refractoriness, can potentially be used to improve receptivity in infertile patients or as an interceptive approach to prevent gestation. OBJECTIVE The objective of the study was to analyze the endometrial gene expression profile induced by an inert intrauterine device (IUD) at the time of implantation. DESIGN We used a microarray containing more than 16,000 cDNAs to investigate the gene expression profile of receptive vs. refractory endometrium in the same women induced by the presence of an IUD. We compared the gene expression profile of endometrium obtained at LH+7 (window of receptivity) from the same women (n = 5) at the following time points: month 1, corresponding to the natural cycle before IUD insertion; month 3, just before IUD removal; and months 5 and 15. Data were validated by quantitative RT-PCR for IGF binding protein-3, peroxisome proliferative activated receptor-gamma, glycodelin, and leukemia inhibitory factor and immunohistochemistry for glycodelin. RESULTS We identified 147 genes significantly dysregulated in the refractory endometrium (78 up- and 69 down-regulated). Interestingly, 52 of these genes have previously been reported to be regulated during window of implantation. Surprisingly, the majority of genes (96.6%) remained dysregulated 2 months after IUD removal, but 1 yr later most of them (80%) returned to normal. CONCLUSIONS Our results reveal that a refractory endometrium in a fertile woman produced by an IUD is induced by preventing the normal transition to a receptive gene expression profile through effects on a specific subset or cluster of genes that impact on endometrial receptivity.
The effects of variations of auditory stimulation (music) and interspersed stimulus procedures on visual attending behavior in infants.

The results reported in Chapter II raised several questions. The demonstration of recovery of visual attention with the addition of auditory stimulation looked very much like the habituation-dishabituation patterns established in visual attention studies with older infants, although technically the procedures would not qualify as a demonstration of habituation in 5and 6-week-old infants. One purpose of the present study was to replicate the experiment with older infants in an age range in which visual response decrement and recovery within the visual modality had been clearly demonstrated. If the same patterns of results could be shown with 12-14-week-old infants, the case for claiming a wider definition of habituation might be strengthened. Another purpose of the present study was to vary the presentation of the auditory stimulus relative to the repeated and interspersed stimuli. Self had presented music only with the repeated (target) stimulus. In this study the effect of music with the target stimulus and the effect of uninterrupted music with both the target and interspersed stimuli were investigated. There has been no systematic study of the effects of continuous versus intermittent stimulation on infant behavior. However, Brackbill (1971) demonstrated that continuous stimulation in several sense modalities had a state-reducing effect for 1-month-old infants. Vlietstra and Wright (1971) found that intermittency of visual and auditory stimuli increased the salience of the stimuli in a cross-modal transfer problem for preschool children.
Who's who in brand communities – and why?

Purpose – Brand communities may manifest the ultimate degree of connectedness between a consumer and a brand. Research typically approaches such communities as collections of highly homogenous members but generally fails to recognize them as individual persons with their own idiosyncratic backgrounds and reasons to join the community. This article aims to explore whether a community population can be meaningfully segmented on the basis of different motivations to join.Design/methodology/approach – Information from two communities is collected, following the customer‐centric model of brand community of McAlexander et al. The relationship variables in this model are used as a segmentation basis in cluster analysis to identify various segments. Different kind of motivations can be identified with the relationship variables of the McAlexander et al. model.Findings – Multiple segments based on different consumption motivations exist. Two investigated communities show significant overlap in the identified segm.
Cancer Admission and Mortality in Workers Exposed to Ionizing Radiation in Korea

Objective: Cancer mortality and morbidity are described for the first time in all Korean workers exposed to ionizing radiation. Methods: Based on hospital admissions, Standardized Rate Ratios (SRR) and Standardized Mortality Ratios (SMR) were modeled with Poisson regression. Results: Cancer admissions during 2000 to 2005 were low compared with autoworkers with the exception of nuclear power workers (SRR = 1.13, 95% CI = 0.94–1.36). Thyroid cancer was statistically significantly elevated in women radiation workers in medical (SRR = 2.90, 95% CI = 1.05–7.94) and research institutions (SRR = 3.91, 95% CI = 1.36–11.0) and industry (SRR = 5.07, 95% CI = 1.56–15.6), and in all nuclear power workers (SRR = 2.59, 95% CI = 1.33–5.13), and there was a significant association with dose (ERR = 20.4 per Sv, 90% CI = −8 to 60, one-tailed P = 0.049). The 935 deaths revealed a healthy worker effect for all causes (SMR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.54–0.62) and all-cancer (SMR = 0.73, 95% CI = 0.64–0.82). Lung cancer (SMR = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.55–1.05) and leukemia (SMR = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.28–1.06) mortalities were also less than expected. Compared with autoworkers, radiation workers displayed decreased all-cause mortality except for nuclear power workers (statistically not significant). Conclusions: ERRs as high as 300 per Sv appear to be ruled-out in this population with regulated exposure to ionizing radiation while ERRs as high as 100 per Sv are not.
Consumers' need for uniqueness: short‐form scale development and cross‐cultural validation

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate cross‐culturally a short‐form, consumers' need for uniqueness (CNFU) scale. The length of the original scale (31 items) might have hindered its diffusion in research when questionnaire length and respondent fatigue are major considerations.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses survey‐based data from Israel, Slovenia, and the Palestinian Authority and uses a combination of statistical techniques, such as EFA, CFA, and structural equation modeling.Findings – In general, support was found for the cross‐cultural reliability and validity of the new, short‐form CNFU scale.Research limitations/implications – Future research can use the short‐form scale with additional confidence in its cross‐cultural reliability and validity.Practical implications – First, since CNFU appears not to be culturally bound, marketers can identify cross‐country segments of high‐CNFU individuals and use standardized marketing campaigns to reach them. Second, marketer.
Banker-Customer Interactions in Financial Services

The paper uses a series of focus discussion groups to examine the circumstances under which consumers of financial services perceive a benefit from having a banking relationship. Specifically, it attempts to understand what motivates consumers to form relationships with banks and to what extent this is determined by the decision making environment. To achieve this objective the paper draws upon the interaction and relationship marketing literature and examines banker-customer interactions when purchasing a range of financial services. The importance of the paper stems from the fact that it sheds light on the interaction mode and increased customer participation and, therefore, examines the opportunities for marketing, enhancing quality and improving customer retention.
IT‐based services and service quality in consumer banking

This paper explores the impact of information technology (IT) on service quality in the consumer‐banking sector. It proposes a service quality model that links customer perceived IT‐based service options to traditional service dimensions as measured by SERVQUAL in the context of customer perceived service quality and customer satisfaction. The model also incorporates several variables affecting customers’ perceptions of IT‐based services, and was tested by a structural equation modeling approach using sample data collected from retail bank customers. The results indicate that IT‐based services have a direct impact on the SERVQUAL dimensions and an indirect impact on customer perceived service quality and customer satisfaction. The analyses also show that customers’ evaluations of IT‐based services are affected by their preference towards traditional services, experiences in using IT‐based services, and perceived IT policies.
Mobile banking rollout in emerging markets: evidence from Brazil

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to investigate the perceived obstacles to the adoption of mobile banking services among Brazilian internet users and search for patterns according to socio‐demographics variables.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through an online survey involving the internet banking customers of a major Brazilian bank. A total of 3,585 usable cases were collected from customers who do not use any kind of mobile devices (cell phones, PDAs or Smartphones) to access electronic banking services. The main reasons for rejecting the service were explored using multidimensional scaling, while chi‐square tests were used to assess differences between socio‐demographic variables.Findings – The results indicate that the majority of respondents do not use any kind of mobile banking service. Perception of cost, risk, low perceived relative advantage and complexity were revealed to be the main reasons behind the reluctance to use the service. The influence of other background factors .
Retinal thinning in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients without ophthalmic disease

Importance Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal, rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disease that primarily affects motor neurons. Recently, three causative genes have been implicated in both ALS and glaucoma. However, it is still uncertain whether patients with ALS have neurodegeneration in their retinas. If so, retinal thickness measurements might be a useful biomarker for ALS progression. Previous work in this area has been inconclusive, as it has not taken into account the effect of ophthalmic diseases on retinal thinning. Objective To determine whether there are differences in retinal neurons in ALS patients utilizing spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). We tested the hypothesis that ALS patients exhibit retinal neurodegeneration that is not associated with ophthalmic diseases. Design, settings and participants Observational, comparative, cross-sectional study performed on patients recruited from the Duke University Medical Center ALS clinic. Patients underwent a comprehensive ophthalmologic examination to rule out ocular pathology. 21 patients met inclusion criteria. Two eyes with ocular pathology were excluded, leading to a total of 40 eyes of 21 patients included in the study. Retinal neurodegeneration was assessed by retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness measurement using SD-OCT (Spectralis; Heidelberg Engineering). Main outcomes and measures ALS disease severity, determined through the ALS Functional Rating Scale (ALSFRS-R); mean and six sector RNFL thickness values compared to age-adjusted values in the normative database provided by Heidelberg Engineering; RNFL thickness correlation with ALSFRS-R, ALSFRS-R progression rate, forced vital capacity (FVC), and visual acuity. Results ALSFRS-R mean score was 30+/-10. Mean RNFL thickness in ALS patients was 88.95 +/- 10.8 microns, significantly thinner than values in the normative database (95.81 +/- 0.8). These RNFL thickness values did not demonstrate correlation to ALSFRS-R score, ALSFRS-R progression rate, FVC, intraocular pressure, or visual acuity. Conclusions Using SD-OCT, our study shows that ALS patients without ocular pathology exhibit thinned retinal layers. Future studies are warranted to clarify the clinical relationship between retinal thinning and motor neuron loss in ALS.