Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Front-line responses to customer orientation programmes: a theoretical and empirical analysis

Programmes designed to strengthen customer orientation among front-line service workers represent one of the most common forms of culture change initiatives within service organizations. Despite their importance to contemporary management theory and practice, we know relatively little about how employees react to interventions of this kind, and why they react as they do. The paper aims to address this gap in the literature. It does this through an analysis of front line reactions to a major customer care initiative in one of the largest supermarket chains in the UK. Using data from a large-scale employee survey carried out in seven stores, we first propose a general typology of employee responses to customer care programmes. We then examine some typical employee profiles associated with the main types of response. The analysis is placed within a wider theoretical context consisting of a critical overview of the main theories which might help explain the nature of general and individual reactions to culture change programmes. To this end, we address and draw upon a variety of literatures and debates linked to various aspects of organization and management, industrial psychology, training and development and critical discourse analysis.
ECO-EPIZOOTIOLOGIC STUDY OF FRANCISELLA TULARENSIS, THE AGENT OF TULAREMIA, IN QUÉBEC WILDLIFE

Abstract In Canada, Francisella tularensis, the zoonotic bacterial agent of tularemia, affects mostly snowshoe hares (Lepus americanus), muskrats (Ondatra zibethicus), and beavers (Castor canadensis). Despite numerous studies, the ecologic cycle and natural reservoirs of F. tularensis are not clearly defined. We conducted a cross-sectional study to estimate the prevalence of F. tularensis in snowshoe hares, muskrats, and coyotes (Canis latrans) in four regions of Québec, Canada, and to describe the risk of infection in relation to host and environmental characteristics at three spatial scales. Between October 2012 and April 2013, trappers captured 345 snowshoe hares, 411 muskrats, and 385 coyotes. Blood samples were tested by microagglutination tests, and DNA extracts of liver, kidney, lung, and spleen of snowshoe hares and muskrats were tested by real-time PCR to detect past and active infection to F. tularensis, respectively. Individual host characteristics, including body condition, age, and sex, were evaluated as risk factors of infection, along with ecologic characteristics of the location of capture extracted from geographic databases. Prevalences of antibody to F. tularensis and 95% confidence intervals were 2.9% (1.4–5.1%) in coyotes, 0.6% (0.1–2.1%) in hares, and 0% (0.0–0.9%) in muskrats. Francisella tularensis DNA was not detected by real-time PCR in the pools of four organs from muskrats and hares, but F. tularensis type AI was detected during testing of the individual organs of two antibody-positive hares. Exact logistic regression analyses showed that age was a significant predictor of antibody detection in coyotes, as were the proportion of forest and the proportion of area considered as suitable habitat for hares in the environment around the location of capture of the coyotes. Our results suggest a terrestrial cycle of F. tularensis in the regions studied.
Research Articles: China's External Environmental Policy: Understanding China's Environmental Impact in Africa and How It Is Addressed

Many Chinese economic actors in Africa have come under harsh criticism for the alleged environmental impact of their activities. This impact is not always documented, is uneven across the continent, and should be compared to that of business actors from other countries—in particular from the OECD. One major factor accounts for the recorded differences: the policy and regulatory framework within which these business actors operate. The African weak state is not conducive to the adoption of robust standards and their subsequent implementation. However, the shift in Chinese policy at home on environmental issues is already producing some changes for the state-owned companies, and there is a growing concern in China's leading circles about the international image of the nation and its companies turning global.
Why Does Public Investment Fail to Raise Economic Growth? The Role of Corruption

type="main"> In an endogenous growth model with information asymmetry between the government and the bureaucracy, the bureaucrats can falsely report of high-quality high-cost procurement, while providing low-quality low-cost product. This reduces the quality of public services, but inflates the public spending, which in effect reduces growth. We test our results by using three-stage least squares method in a panel set up for a system of four equations on growth, public investment, corruption and private investment. Our primary results are twofold. First, corruption increases public investment. Second, corruption reduces the returns to public investment and makes it ineffective in raising economic growth.
The “strategy frame” and the four Es of strategy drivers

Purpose – There is vast literature and widely different views on strategy. This necessitates an organizing framework that smoothly integrates and places different conceptualizations of strategy in the proper perspective. The purpose of this paper is to clear possible confusion about the concept of strategy and help navigate the different streams of the strategy river with confidence and ease.Design/methodology/approach – A comprehensive review of strategy literature is undertaken and the underlying principles and governing ideas are extracted. These are reconstructed to form the basis of the “strategy frame”. Findings – The “strategy frame” produced the four Es of strategy, which represent the strategic thinking drivers behind the different conceptualizations of strategy. The framework attempts to address all major strategy issues and to combine different schools of thought spanning the spectrum of strategy dimensions, tensions, and paradoxes. It interweaves competing schools of thought in the strategy fie.
Explaining the differences between two previous meat generic advertising studies

United States producer organizations spend millions of dollars on generic advertising of both beef and pork and other promotion programs designed to stimulate consumers' demand for meat. Producers need to know if the money allocated to generic advertising and these promotion programs is effective in increasing the demand for meat. Past research disagreed about the effectiveness of meat generic advertising. Models of Ward and Lambert and Brester and Schroeder are reestimated and tested for misspecification. The Ward and Lambert Model is shown to be fragile. The statistically significant effect of advertising disappears with minor changes in the data and with a change in the sample period. lEcon-Lit citations: Q110, M370, C530r © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
The Compelling Case for Stronger and More Effective Leverage Regulation in Banking

Excessive leverage (indebtedness) in banking endangers the public and distorts the economy. Yet current and proposed regulations only tweak previous regulations that failed to provide financial stability. This paper discusses the forces that have led to this situation, some of which appear to be misunderstood. The benefits to society of requiring that financial institutions use significantly more equity funding than the status quo are large, while any costs are entirely private because of banks’ ability to shift some of their costs to others when they use debt. Without quantitative analysis, I outline improved regulations and how they can be implemented.
American repatriate employees' retrospective assessments of the effects of cross-cultural training on their adaptation to international assignments

With 10 to 50 per cent of expatriates curtailing their assignments early, and the cost of foreign placement estimated at $500,000, training for expatriates needs to be improved. This study investigates different methods of training, and the results as perceived by repatriates. Repatriates were asked about the amount and type of cross-cultural training they had received and their effectiveness and productivity during the overseas assignment. Repatriates' responses included specific comments about their individual and familial experiences. It was hypothesized that managers who receive rigorous cross-cultural training before and during the assignment will not suffer intense culture shock and will become effective more rapidly than managers who have not had cross-cultural training. The results demonstrated that integrated cross-cultural training does reduce the time necessary to adjust and to achieve cultural proficiency and reduces the time necessary to become effective and productive in the assignment.
Local service delivery choices in Portugal: A political transaction costs framework

Abstract In recent years, Portugal has witnessed a large increase in municipal corporations to deliver public services. This article addresses the important question of why Portuguese municipalities choose municipal corporations to deliver certain services, while other services remain provided by in-house bureaucracies. We argue that political transaction costs in local service delivery, linked both to the characteristics of goods and services and to the political and financial features of the municipality, prevent or facilitate delivery by municipal corporations. Using data from 278 Portuguese local governments, multivariate probit models are employed to test hypotheses derived from this political transaction costs framework. Results support the idea that services involving the collection of user fees are more likely to be transferred to municipal corporations. The political and socio-economic context has to be considered in this decision-making process. Local officials ignoring this information are likely to create service delivery mechanisms that are economically inefficient and/or politically unresponsive.
The sustainability of start-up firms among formerly wage-employed workers

In this paper we study the survival of start-up firms among former wage workers in Spain. We use well-known duration model techniques in order to analyse the duration of their self-employment spells distinguishing between those that end in unemployment from those that end in exit to a new paid employment. We address the question of how long these workers remain self-employed before entering into unemployment or returning to paid employment. Our findings show that a higher survival rate in self-employment is associated with men, prime-age workers and individuals with higher previous labour turnover. Moreover, longer unemployment spells are found to speed up the rate of transition to unemployment and to reduce that to paid employment. Finally, the probability of exiting decreases with duration in self-employment, and women are more likely than men to become unemployed after a self-employment experience.
Purification and some physical properties of a chymotrypsin-like protease of the larva of the hornet, Vespa orientalis.

A chymotrypsin-like endopeptidase has been purified by ion-exchange chromatography, affinity chromatography, and gel filtration. The enzyme preparation is homogeneous in the ultracentrifuge and disc electrophoresis. The enzyme is proved to be free from any other proteolytic activities. The molecular weight of the proteinase as determined with several techniques (ultracentrifugation, gel filtration and electrophoresis without dodecylsulfate) is in the range between 13000–14000; however, by dodecylsulfate gel electrophoresis a molecular weight of 23000 was obtained. The obtained physical constants of hornet chymotrypsin are: sedimentation coefficient s020,w= 1.96 × 10−13 S, diffusion coefficient D020,w= 131 μm2s−1, partial specific volume v= 0.737 ml g−1, frictional ratio f/fmin= 1.04, and degree of hydration = 0.1 g per g protein.
DUAL LANGUAGE PROGRAMS: KEY FEATURES AND RESULTS

INTRODUCTION The growth of so-called “dual language programs” has been swift over the last decade (Loeb, 1999), particularly during the last few years. Despite the apparent growth, however, one must be cautious. What school districts describe as dual language programs is not always clearly aligned with the technical definition -enrichment education programs that foster language equity and are organized with the goals of bilingualism and biliteracy for all children, language minority and mainstream students alike.
Palestinian Diaspora in Transnational Worlds: Intergenerational Differences in Negotiating Identity, Belonging and Home

The study reveals that the social connections of the second generation with the homeland facilitated by technological advances have resulted in the transnational nature of Palestinian Canadians of second generation, as they are more familiar with these technologies than the first generation. It also reveals that social contexts, such as the family and ethnic union, can strengthen the sense of belonging of the second-generation to transnational social spaces that, in turn, facilitate the development of transnational practices. Young Palestinian Canadians demonstrate strong solidarity and sympathy with the Palestinians living under the occupation or in the refugee camps. Such bonds greatly enhance their Palestinian identity; however, the process of identification has altered, particularly for the second generation. For them, Palestine is a significant source of identification but not the only source. Thus, their identities can be referred to as “global identity”. To the second-generation Palestinian Canadians, maintaining social interaction with family members is important. Solidifying and rejuvenating these ties mean physical attachment and actual journeys to visit family and friends in the country of origin. These findings are in line with the emergent diaspora literature that suggests that, analogous to the first generation; second-generation immigrants may experience transnationalism at the level of practice the same as the first generation. Thus, it is concluded that second-generation Palestinian immigrants have strong transnational belonging and are keenly participating in transnational activities.
A combinatorial procedure for finding isolating neighbourhoods and index pairs

Synopsis We present a purely combinatorial procedure for finding an isolating neighbourhood and an index pair contained in a given set, being a finite union of cubes in Rs. It is applied for a computer-assisted computation of the Conley index of an isolated invariant subset of the Hénon attractor. As a corollary, it is shown that the Hénon attractor contains periodic orbits of all principal periods except for 3 and 5.
Development of a simple and rapid diagnosis method for swine edema disease to specifically detect Stx2e protein by immunochromatographic test

Edema disease in piglets is caused by Shiga toxin 2e (Stx2e)‐producing Escherichia coli. However, there is currently no available Stx2e‐specific immunochromatographic test strip to differentiate Stx2e from other types of Shiga toxin 2. In the present study, to develop an Stx2e‐specific immunochromatographic test strip, we isolated nine different monoclonal antibody‐producing hybridoma clones from Stx2e toxoid‐immunized mice and confirmed that six antibodies were A subunit‐specific whereas three antibodies were B subunit‐specific. Only one A subunit‐specific monoclonal antibody (45B2) was cross‐reactive with prototype Stx2 (Stx2a) at the same sensitivity, but the remaining eight monoclonal antibodies were not. In immunochromatographic tests using the highly sensitive antibodies, test strips using some combinations of gold colloid‐conjugated monoclonal antibody with the B subunit‐specific monoclonal antibody on the membrane detected Stx2e, but not other types of Shiga toxin 2. These test strips had the ability to detect Stx2e in the culture supernatant of clinically isolated Stx2e gene‐positive strains, but not in those of Stx2e gene‐negative strains. These results indicate that our test strip is practical for the specific detection of Stx2e to diagnose swine edema disease.
Maribavir Antagonizes the Antiviral Action of Ganciclovir on Human Cytomegalovirus

ABSTRACT The cytomegalovirus (CMV) UL97 kinase inhibitor maribavir antagonized the anti-CMV effect of ganciclovir, increasing the ganciclovir 50% inhibitory concentration against a sensitive strain by up to 13-fold. Antiviral activities of foscarnet and cidofovir were unaffected by maribavir.
The Political Economy of African Population Change

Sub-Saharan Africa stands firmly at one end of the demographic and development continuum. Demographically it ranks highest in the world in its recent level of population increase at 2.5 percent per annum over the period 1990-2003 though this marks a decrease from the 2.9 percent of the previous decade. The region combines this growth with by far the lowest life expectancy at birth of any part of the world at 46 years in 2002 or 17 years below the next lowest South Asia; alarmingly life expectancy has fallen by six years between 1995 and 2003 a drop to be explained almost entirely by the impact of HIV/AIDS. Economically Africas estimated gross national income per capita of $490 in 2003 was likewise the lowest among world regions just below South Asia at $510 although in purchasing power parity terms the discrepancy was much greater giving Africans only two-thirds the effective income of their South Asian counterparts (ibid.). Africas recent political record has been uneven with a significant number of countries showing signs of improvement in their previous levels of stability multi-party democracy and good governance set against several of the worlds worst cases of state failure and political collapse. Its economic growth rate has also moved sharply upward in recent years largely as a result of the boom in primary product prices driven by Chinas industrialization. All in all however it is depressingly hard to disagree with the common conceptualization of the continent as an economic political and humanitarian "problem" even though it may be going too far to condemn it roundly as a "failure. " (excerpt)
Asymptotic Analysis for the Narrow Escape Problem

Consider a domain whose boundary is reflecting, except for a finite number of absorbing sets (“windows”) with small radius. The narrow escape problem is concerned with estimating the expected time that it takes for a Brownian particle initially inside the domain to reach one of the windows and thus exit from the domain; when the particle hits the boundary at any point which is not in any of the windows, it is reflected back into the domain. The problem is motivated, for example, by a protein, or any other molecule in the cytoplasm of a cell, which moves randomly in the cytoplasm until it hits the cell membrane at one of the channels that enable it to exit the cell. In this paper we derive by rigorous mathematical analysis asymptotic estimates on the expected escape time, up to the order of the size of windows.
On the Dynamics of Inequality in the Transition

Inequality has increased in many of the transition economies. At the same time, spending on education has declined. In this paper we survey the factors driving these changes. We then set up a small general equilibrium model to simulate the effect of different policy choices on the path of inequality over the transition. We show that the policies selected in Central Europe engender a relatively rapid spike in inequality but with a Kuznets curve. In the simulations that broadly capture features of the policy regime dominating in Russia and the FSU, we find no Kuznets curve. We then turn to the longer run and look at the way in which both trade liberalization and technological and organizational change are likely to affect the relative demand for types of labour. We show how substantial technological and organizational change - obvious features of transition - can result in raising inequality. Persistence in inequality can be expected to depend critically on the pace at which the acquisition of skills takes place in the economy - and, hence, on the evolution of the educational system. As such, policies aimed at raising adaptability - such as quality educational systems - can be expected to dampen the increase in wage inequality.
PRINCIPAL SUCCESSION AND THE MICROPOLITICS OF EDUCATORS IN SCHOOLS: SOME INCIDENTAL RESULTS FROM A LARGER STUDY

Principal turnover has the potential to impact seriously school morale and values as teachers attempt to adjust to new administrators and their possible shifts in focus. In an era of mandated school improvement, teachers in schools with new administrators have to deal not only with changes in district, state and/or provincial policies, but also with adapting to the new principal. To understand the process of adaptation, this article presents an exploration of micro-politics between teachers and principals at the time of administrator succession and notions of the changing interplay between power and authority.
Efficiency Consequences of Rate Regulation in Insurance Markets

Despite the presence of many and diverse sellers of insurance in most markets, insurance prices in some markets remain subject to regulation by state governments. Insurance rate regulation has a long and storied history in this country and the reasons for its continued existence are subject to debate and interpretation. This paper critically examines the arguments for rate regulation and discusses the consequences of this regulation for the insurance marketplace. It first provides a brief overview of the history, scope and objectives of insurance rate regulation, examines the most prevalent justifications for rate regulation and argues that they are incorrect or incomplete. It then turns to the consequences of rate regulation for insurance market outcomes making use of both economic theory and empirical evidence from academic studies of regulated insurance markets. The paper concludes that insurance rate regulation entails high costs for society and for insurance consumers, and that alternative policies for meeting regulatory objectives should be considered.
Andrew Carnegie and the foundations of contemporary entrepreneurial philanthropy

This paper focuses upon the relationship between the business and philanthropic endeavours of world-making entrepreneurs; asking why, how and to what ends these individuals seek to extend their reach in society beyond business. It presents an original model of entrepreneurial philanthropy which demonstrates how investment in philanthropic projects can yield positive returns in cultural, social and symbolic capital, which in turn may lead to growth in economic capital. The model is applied to interpret and make sense of the career of Andrew Carnegie, whose story, far from reducing to one of making a fortune then giving it away, is revealed as more complex and more unified. His philanthropy raised his stock within the field of power, helping convert surplus funds into social networks, high social standing and intellectual currency, enabling him to engage in world making on a grand scale.