Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of relationship marketing in behavioural intentions of medical tourism services and guest experiences

PurposeThis paper entails a reflection on medical tourism services and guest experiences. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how relationship marketing relates to other relevant variables in consumer’s behavior applied to medical tourism contexts and guest experiences. This study aims at discussing the customer behavior in healthcare management and medical tourism contexts and addresses the predisposition for the destination and the influence of relationship marketing on behavioral intentions.Design/methodology/approachThe paper starts from a conceptual framework based on relationship marketing theory. From this theoretical base, the concepts of trust, commitment and cooperation and behavioral intentions are derived. A theoretical model is developed specifying antecedents of satisfaction and loyalty in healthcare management and medical tourism contexts.FindingsThe conceptual model shows that tourist destinations in the context of healthcare and medical tourism can be managed together with the study of the tourist consumer behavior and should focus on aspects that reinforce relationship marketing to the site, as planning services excellence, communication strategies, promotion services, integrated experiences and combating seasonality.Originality/valueThis study has already identified that the global movement of tourism is seemingly showing an increased focus on the niche product or niche service. In this case, the question seems to be whether the further growth in demand for healthcare management and medical tourism – as a niche tourism example – products will continue until they take a form of mass tourism. The new vogue of medical tourism forces to challenge and re-visit the power relationships that exist within contemporary tourism and the host–guest relationship.
Optimizing Portable Pulse Oximeter Measurement Accuracy and Consistency During Exercise

Purpose: Monitoring oxygen saturation (SpO2) in some patient populations during exercise is vital. The objectives of this study were to determine whether under conditions of artificial hypoperfusion pulse oximeter performance during exercise was influenced by sensor type, attachment clip reinforcement, or a low pressure arm cuff. Methods: Six different portable oximeter models were tested on study participants at rest with a control (normothermic) and experimental (hypothermic) hand. Oximeters were then tested during treadmill walking at 1 and 2 mph with the experimental hand remaining hypothermic. Electrocardiographic measurements of heart rate were also taken simultaneously. Results: There were differences in SpO2 values between oximeter pairs following cold exposure at rest for most models (5 out of 6) but during walking for only 1 model. There were also differences between oximeter and electrocardiographic heart rate measurements for some models when study participants walked on a treadmill at 1 mph (1 out of 6) and 2 mph (3 out of 6). Conclusions: Results suggest that oximeter performance is better when measuring SpO2 than heart rate. Cold-induced hypoperfusion caused inaccuracies in SpO2 measurements, which were greater at rest than during exercise. Study results also suggest that some pulse oximeters perform better when the oximeter sensor attachment clip is reinforced with an elastic band.
The impact of monetary rewards for online reviews

Purpose To encourage buyers to contribute product reviews, some online sellers offer monetary rewards. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of monetary rewards on buyers’ purchase decisions and review contributions, as well as the impact on the seller’s price decisions and profit. Design/methodology/approach The authors consider an online seller in a two-stage setting. Prior to Stage 1, the profit-maximizing seller sets the price and decides whether to offer a monetary reward secretly to motivate online reviews. Then, a continuum of buyers arrives and makes purchase decisions at the beginning of each stage. First-stage buyers may contribute reviews if they are satisfied, which will affect demand in the second stage. Using this analytical framework, the authors analyze the impact of monetary rewards. Findings If the monetary reward is small, it decreases the seller’s profit and fails to generate more reviews. It also increases price, leading to a decline in total demand. Thus, when the reward is lower than a certain threshold, all buyers are worse off. Only when the reward exceeds the threshold are buyers who contribute reviews better off. Profit and total demand both increase in review quality, while the price may either increase or decrease in it. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first to analyze theoretically the impact of monetary rewards on buyers’ purchase decisions, review contributions and on online sellers’ decisions.
Activation without Proteolysis of Anti-σ Factor RsiV of the Extracytoplasmic Function σ Factor σV in a Glucolipid-Deficient Mutant of Bacillus subtilis

Extracytoplasmic function (ECF) σ factors are a crucial link in the process of bacterial response to environmental stresses, in which bacteria transmit information across the cytoplasmic membrane. Among the seven ECF σ factors of Bacillus subtilis σV, which is sequestered by transmembrane anti-σ factor RsiV under normal growth conditions, responds to lysozyme. When B. subtilis cells are challenged by lysozyme, the lysozyme-bound RsiV undergoes two successive proteolysis steps, by a signal peptidase and RasP protease, and releases σV. An unchallenged B. subtilis ugtP mutant lacking glucolipids exhibited higher σV activity than wild type. However, the activation occurred in the absence of RasP, and no proteolysis of RsiV was observed. It is likely that a conformational change, not proteolysis, of RsiV leads to this activation of σV in the absence of glucolipids. Replacement of the C-terminal region of RsiV with that of RsiW, the cognate σ factor of which, σW, is not activated in the ugtP mutant, indicated that the C-terminal extracytoplasmic region of RsiV was necessary for the response to glucolipid deficiency.
Process improvement for mechanical extraction of low-viscosity clear banana juice

Low-viscosity clear banana juice is traditionally produced using a rudimentary mechanical process of kneading a mixture of ripe high-tannin banana and grass. The aim of this study was to come up with a new efficient and hygienic process that does not require use of grass. According to a new process, peeled ripe high-tannin Pisang Awak banana fingers were mashed in a blender, without addition of grass, until pulp agglomeration occurred. The mashed pulp was pressed to separate clear banana juice. The process successfully produced clear banana juice with low-viscosity (1.85 × 10-3 Pa.s), high content of dissolved solids (27 - 28°Brix), and average density of 1120 kg.m-3. Juice yield increased with mashing time up to 60% (w/w), and degree of ripeness until fruit colour was mostly yellow, but juice extraction failed for overripe banana. Condensed tannins decreased with ripening and juice extraction was possible as long as condensed tannin concentration was above 0.68% (w/w) of peeled banana. Therefore, low-viscosity clear banana juice can be produced in a more hygienic condition using the new process. Key words: Clear banana juice, Pisang Awak, mechanical banana juice extraction, condensed tannins.
Does Corruption Affect Foreign Direct Investment: Evidence From East Asian Countries

Globalization has resulted in a significant increase in the FDI inflows. The impact of corruption on FDI inflow has been extensively studied in previous research. However, this topic has received scarce attention in Asians economies countries. Asian Economies is different from other Europe, Africa, North America and South America as rapid growth have seen in recent years. To fill the research gap, we collected data for seven South Asians countries. Based on the collected data, we first find out the effect of corruption on FDI. The results showed a positive and significant effect of corruption on FDI and supporting the helping hand theories of corruption which suggesting that South Asian countries should bring political stability and good governance, peace to attract more MNC, make strong law and its implementation to make corruption lessen.
Estado del arte en la enseñanza del pensamiento computacional y la programación en la etapa infantil

Aprender a programar es la nueva alfabetización del siglo XXI. El pensamiento computacional, estrechamente relacionado con la programación, requiere pensar y resolver problemas con diferentes niveles de abstracción y es independiente de los dispositivos de hardware. En este artículo se analizan las principales iniciativas relacionadas con el pensamiento computacional en las escuelas, el uso de herramientas específicas, tales como los kits de robótica o entornos de programación educativa, y principales estrategias de enseñanza-aprendizaje utilizadas en educación infantil.
Resource Management Techniques for Multi-Stage Jobs with Deadlines Running on Clouds

The objective of this thesis is to devise effective resource management techniques for processing a workload comprising an open stream of multi-stage jobs on a distributed computing environment, such as a private cluster or a set of resources acquired a priori from a public cloud. Each job is associated with a service level agreement (SLA) characterized by an earliest start time, an execution time, and an end-to-end deadline. The two important operations in resource management that this thesis focuses on are resource allocation (matchmaking) and scheduling. Given a pool of jobs to execute, a matchmaking algorithm chooses the resources to be allocated to a given job, whereas a scheduling algorithm determines the order in which these jobs are to be executed for achieving the desired system objectives. Multi-stage jobs have multiple phases of execution and require processing from multiple system resources. Resource management techniques for processing MapReduce jobs (used for facilitating Big Data analytics), as well as other multi-stage jobs such as scientific workflows characterized by multiple phases of execution and different types of precedence relationships, are considered. The key techniques devised in this thesis research include: (1) resource management techniques based on decomposing the end-to-end deadline of a multi-stage job into components (e.g., sub-deadlines) each of which is associated with a specific task in the job, (2) alternative resource management algorithms that use optimization techniques, and (3) techniques for handling inaccuracy/error in user estimates of job execution times (submitted as part of the SLA). A comprehensive and rigorous performance evaluation of the resource management techniques is conducted using prototyping and measurement on a real system deployed on a cloud as well as simulation.
Triumph through texting: Restoring learners’ interest in grammar

Abstract It is usually the case that learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) are exposed to language materials in class only, and of course in such a short space of time, they do not always find enough chance to practice English grammar features and become aware of their grammar mistakes. As a potential solution to this problem, the current study inspects the impact of using cell phones, specifically text messages (via short message service) as supplementary tools, on Iranian elementary level EFL learners’ grammar learning. In the first phase of the study, 60 students aged 14 were randomly divided into experimental and comparison groups. Throughout the 12 weeks of treatment, the participants in the experimental group received 120 text messages containing grammar exercises, whereas the participants in the comparison group received a similar number of vocabulary messages as a placebo treatment and were otherwise treated exactly the same as the experimental group. A researcher-made grammar test was used to estimate whether presenting grammar exercises via text messages has any impact on language learners’ grammar learning. The results demonstrated that there was a significant difference (p<0.05) in the grammar learning of the participants who practiced grammar points through text messages and those who did not. The researchers also interviewed various stakeholders, comprising ten students, five parents, the teacher, and the school principal. A qualitative content analysis was carried out to find themes relevant to the stakeholders’ beliefs about making use of text messages for learning grammar. The findings suggest that text messages can be useful for learning grammar points, since they engage learners’ interest and encourage them to study more in order to text the correct answers when they are outside their classrooms.
Measuring Intellectual Capital of Turkish Banks Listed on Borsa Istanbul Banking Index (BIST XBANK) with the Market Value / Book Value Method and Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC) Model

Intellectual capital is a critical concept to realize and reflect the real value of organizations. This study took advantage of Market Value (MV) / Book Value (BV) method and Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC) model to measure and compare intellectual capital of Turkish banks listed on Borsa Istanbul Banking Index (BIST XBANK). Also, financial indicators such as Return on Assets (ROA), Return on Equity (ROE), Leverage, (LEV), Capital Adequacy Ratio (CAR) and intellectual capital performance indicators such as MV/BV ratio, Human Capital Efficiency (HCE), Structural Capital Efficiency (SCE), Capital Employed Efficiency (CEE) and VAIC of banks were compared. Research also ran a Pearson Correlations Test to investigate the relationship between these indicators and to test the hypothesis. Data were gathered from Istanbul Stock Exchange - ISE (Borsa Istanbul), Public Disclosure Platform (KAP), Banks Association of Turkey – TBB (Türkiye Bankalar Birliği), Banking Regulation and Supervision Agency (BRSA), Fortune Turkey, Anadolu Agency and Hurriyet.
Factors affecting intention to use e-banking in Jordan

Purpose Despite the wide availability of internet banking, levels of intention to use such facilities remain variable between countries. The purpose of this paper is to focus on e-banking in a country with low intention to use e-banking – Jordan – and to explain the slow uptake. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative method employing a cross-sectional survey was used as an appropriate way of meeting the research objectives. The survey was distributed to bank customers in Amman, Jordan, collecting a total of 328 completed questionnaires. SPSS and AMOS software were used, and multiple regression and artificial neural networks were applied to determine the relative impact and importance of e-banking predictors. Findings The statistical techniques revealed that several major factors, including perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, security and reasonable price, stand out as the barriers to intention to use e-banking services in Jordan. Originality/value This study theorizes a series of implications on intention to use e-banking. It draws the attention of Jordanian banks to the full functionality of their e-banking systems, emphasizing positive safety features, which could contribute to changing negative customer perceptions. It also contributes to eliciting the theory of customer value among banks by focusing on how they should properly enhance their use of shared value. Moreover, it will present to managers how e-banking predictors can send meaningful and timely information to customers.
Payment System Innovations and Financial Intermediation: The Case of Indonesia

This paper explores the relationship between innovations in payment systems and financial intermediation. By focusing on excess reserves and the currency demand, we provide evidence on the extant transmission mechanism. In this direction, we applied the generalized method of moments (GMM) and vector error correction model (VECM) techniques to a dataset collated for Indonesia. We found that the currency demand affects financial intermediation whilst observing a limited role of excess reserves in affecting financial intermediation. We discovered that credit card payments have a statistically significant effect on the currency demand, whereas debit card payments only influence financial intermediation in the long run. In addition, the real-time gross settlement (RTGS) exerts upward pressure on excess reserves. The findings are of great importance, as they provide support for policies that favor payment migration to an electronic platform, particularly that of card-based payment systems.
SLAM-aware, self-supervised perception in mobile robots

Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) is a fundamental capability in mobile robots, and has been typically considered in the context of aiding mapping and navigation tasks. In this thesis, we advocate for the use of SLAM as a supervisory signal to further the perceptual capabilities in robots. Through the concept of SLAM-supported object recognition, we develop the ability for robots equipped with a single camera to be able to leverage their SLAM-awareness (via Monocular Visual-SLAM) to better inform object recognition within its immediate environment. Additionally, by maintaining a spatially-cognizant view of the world, we find our SLAM-aware approach to be particularly amenable to few-shot object learning. We show that a SLAM-aware, few-shot object learning strategy can be especially advantageous to mobile robots, and is able to learn object detectors from a reduced set of training examples. Implicit to realizing modern visual-SLAM systems is its choice of map representation. It is imperative that the map representation is crucially utilized by multiple components in the robot’s decision-making stack, while it is constantly optimized as more measurements are available. Motivated by the need for a unified map representation in vision-based mapping, navigation and planning, we develop an iterative and high-performance mesh-reconstruction algorithm for stereo imagery. We envision that in the future, these tunable mesh representations can potentially enable robots to quickly reconstruct their immediate surroundings while being able to directly plan in them and maneuver at high-speeds. While most visual-SLAM front-ends explicitly encode application-specific constraints for accurate and robust operation, we advocate for an automated solution to developing these systems. By bootstrapping the robot’s ability to perform GPSaided SLAM, we develop a self-supervised visual-SLAM front-end capable of performing visual ego-motion, and vision-based loop-closure recognition in mobile robots. We propose a novel, generative model solution that it is able to predict ego-motion estimates from optical flow, while also allowing for the prediction of induced scene
MANAJEMEN PEMBELAJARAN GERAK UNTUK ANAK

Manajemen pembelajaran gerak di taman kanak-kanak meliputi kegiatan merencanakan, melaksanakan, dan melakukan evaluasi. Kegiatan perencanaan yang dapat dilakukan adalah memahami kurikulum, melihat kebutuhan perkembangan anak, mempertimbangkan lingkungan, dan membuat program pembelajaran jangka panjang dan pendek. Pelaksanaan pembelajaran gerak untuk anak terbagi atas tiga tahap yaitu tahap pengenalan, tahap keahlian, dan tahap puncak. Kegiatan evaluasi/penilaian pembelajaran gerak dimulai dalam tiga kelompok yaitu penilaian terstruktur, tidak terstruktur, dan transdisiplin. Praktek pembelajaran gerak untuk anak TK dilakukan dengan pendekatan tematik integratif dan pendekatan saintifik. Kata kunci : manajemen pembelajaran, gerak dasar
Corporate financial health assessment: methods and tools for emerging markets

The paper address the methodological approaches to the corporate financial health assessment. The research purpose was to systematize corresponding methods and tools in the context of investment monitoring, with an emphasis on the level of financial development. The research methodology was based on the assumption that there are three key theoretical foundations for corporate financial health assessment: bankruptcy prediction, investment analysis and financial systems assessment. The main prerequisite of the research is that the choice of methods and tools to the corporate financial health assessment in emerging markets lies in the field of bankruptcy prediction models. Besides, it is advisable to analyze the potential of structural models for bankruptcy prediction, the principles of which are most closely related to investment analysis. Finally, the results of methodological approaches systematization in the research field need to be adjusted to the instruments of financial systems assessment. The research shows that the specifics of corporate financial health assessment in the emerging markets is associated with its theoretical, methodological and informational support. The focus of relevant methods and tools remains in the plane of bankruptcy prediction models. The models based on market indicators can be applied to public companies, but their applicability should be tested taking into account information limitations. Factors of corporate financial health, in turn, can be subdivided into market and specific ones, being adjusted for the level of financial development.