Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An evaluation of consumer buying criteria and its impact on the purchase of commoditized laptops

Laptop vendors are constantly looking for new ways to differentiate themselves. The commodization of this market precipitates a deeper view into what drives a consumer purchase of one brand over another. Do certain demographic profiles exist that are more likely to purchase a particular brand? Do certain product or brand attributes serve as the final decision criteria in the purchase process? What is compelling between laptop brands to drive selection? Results support the premise that relationships exist and that consumers are more likely to purchase one brand over another based on age, education level, gender or technical competence. The likely selection of a laptop brand can also be associated with a particular product or brand attribute. A better understanding of the laptop consumer enhances a vendor’s ability to properly segment and market the message to the right audience, increasing the likelihood of purchase. Implications for laptop vendors and recommendations for them as well as future research are presented.
Regulation of subfoveal choroidal blood flow in age-related macular degeneration.

PURPOSE To assess the capability of the subfoveal choroidal circulation to regulate its blood flow in response to an acute increase in ocular perfusion pressure in the eyes of healthy elderly persons or of subjects with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). METHODS Changes of subfoveal choroidal blood velocity (ChBVel), volume (ChBVol), and flow (ChBF) induced by isometric exercise were determined using laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF) in 19 young healthy volunteers (group 1), 24 elderly healthy volunteers with mild macular pigment distribution changes (group 2), and 23 subjects with subfoveal classic neovascularization caused by AMD (group 3). RESULTS Isometric exercise induced significant increases in mean ocular perfusion pressure (PPm) of 19.5% +/- 4.9%, 20.2% +/- 3.8%, and 23.2% +/- 4.2%, for groups 1, 2, and 3, respectively (mean +/- 95% confidence interval). In groups 1 and 2, the increase in PPm did not induce significant changes in the mean values of the different LDF parameters. In group 3, however, ChBF increased significantly by 12.4% +/- 5.0%. No significant correlations were found between age and the changes of each of the LDF parameters and of PPm at the end of squatting for the young and elderly healthy groups. CONCLUSIONS In response to an acute, moderate increase in PPm induced by isometric exercise, subfoveal choroidal blood flow behaves similarly in young and elderly healthy persons and is not significantly different from its value at rest. In contrast, in patients with neovascular AMD, this flow increases, indicating altered regulation in response to the increase in PPm.
Advertising as a Signal in an Internet Auctions Market

In this paper we undertake an empirical study of advertising in an online auctions market, or, more precisely, advertising on eBay. The type of advertising that we consider works as follows: at the time of listing the item on eBay, sellers are offered the option of incurring an extra fee in return for having their product listed first when buyers search for specific items. Our empirical methodology combines a model of choice on the part of the seller as to whether or not to advertise with a novel model of demand in an auction market environment. Because we explicitly model the process of arrival of new bidders, we can estimate the effect of advertising on the number of bidders, the distribution of bidders' valuations, and the final selling price. Using the structural model, we can also measure the effect of this form of advertising on the revenues of the seller and the market intermediary, as well as its effect on consumer surplus. Our results indicate that advertising in this market represents a signal of quality and facilitates the match between buyers and sellers. Accordingly, revenues for sellers and the market intermediary increase, and interestingly buyer surplus increases as well.
Effects of male sterility on female remating in the Mediterranean fruitfly, Ceratitis capitata

Mating–induced reductions in female receptivity are common in insects. These responses are of interest because of their utility in insect pest control. In addition, the control of receptivity is likely to be the subject of sexual conflict over remating frequency. We investigated the specific effect of male sterility on female receptivity in an important pest species, the Mediterranean fruitfly (medfly), in which sterile males are often used for population suppression. Sterile males performed less courtship, obtained significantly fewer first and second matings than fertile males, and reduced female receptivity significantly less effectively than did fertile males. We modelled the likelihood of fertile matings and show that the low mating success of sterile males represents a significant problem for medfly sterile insect technique (SIT) programmes.
Depression and Mortality

To determine the prevalence rates of major depressive disorder and of depressive symptoms and their relationship to mortality in nursing homes, research psychiatrists examined 454 consecutive new admissions and followed them up longitudinally for 1 year. Major depressive disorder occurred in 12.6% and 18.1% had depressive symptoms; the majority of cases were unrecognized by nursing home physicians and were untreated. Major depressive disorder, but not depressive symptoms, was a risk factor for mortality over 1 year independent of selected physical health measures and increased the likelihood of death by 59%. Because depression is a prevalent and treatable condition associated with increased mortality, recognition and treatment in nursing homes is imperative. ( JAMA . 1991;265:993-996)
Some Effects of Price Discounting on Discounted and Competing Brands' Sales

This research monitored daily sales of promoted and competing products (for cornflakes, fruit juice and washing powder) before, during and after a price discount promotion. The supermarket provided daily sales figures from checkout scanners for the discounted product and its key competitors. Sales were monitored for three periods: 1. A period of three weeks prior to the discount promotion to enable establishment of a base sales level. 2. The week during which the discount ran. 3. A post-promotion period of three weeks, to allow a comparison of post-promotion and base level sales. Sales during the promotion period increased markedly for each discounted product. When the discount period ended, sales declined for each brand, however, in most cases sales remained above the weekly sales level recorded before the promotion commenced. Unlike the cornflakes and washing powder though, sales of the fruit juice declined to below base level following the promotion. In general, sales of competitors' products declined during the discount week. However, in some cases they increased, though never to the levels recorded by the promoted brand. Some implications of these results are discussed.
The Best of Both Worlds? Impact Investors and Their Role in the Financial versus Social Performance Debate

Over the last decades, management scholars have tried to examine whether profitability can be achieved with actions that also improve social and environmental performance. More recently, this debate has gained new traction with the emergence of the so-called "impact investors," who not only avoid firms with negative practices, but also actively seek projects with proven metrics of social impact. In other words, they represent a new class of investors where financial and social performance are expected to be harmonized. In this paper we aim to understand how impact investors approach financial and social goals, and the mechanisms used to gauge and reconcile these performance dimensions. Given the still evolving stage of the impact investing industry, we follow a grounded theory approach using data from qualitative interviews and discussions groups with investment funds, social entrepreneurs, non-profit organizations and other actors in the industry. We then contribute with a novel theoretical framework proposing how different types of impact investors and contractual arrangements emerge in two situations: when financial and social goals are naturally aligned ("complements") and when pursuing superior profitability might undermine actions to increase social performance ("substitutes").
Entrepreneurship: Issues and Solutions Evidence From Nigeria

This paper discusses the evolution and current development of principles and practice of entrepreneurship in Nigeria. It also examines the effect of entrepreneurship in fostering economic growth and development. The methodology adopted was the narrative-textual case study (NTCS) method, which is preferred because of the absence of sequential data related to entrepreneurship and sustainable economic growth in Nigeria. However, interviews were also conducted. We recommend that there should be proper policy coordination and policy stability; reforms in the educational curriculum to prepare students for self-reliance; and fixing the power sector-Nigeria’s basic infrastructure. When we have flourishing micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), gainful employment will be created, wealth created will be distributed evenly and economy is developed.
The role of risk in consumer behavior.

R AYMOND Bauer first formally proposed that consumer behavior be viewed as risk taking in 1960.1 Over a dozen years have passed since that proposal was made, and during that period a substantial body of research has been conducted and published. However, most of this research has examined relatively narrow aspects of risk taking and has been conducted without a broader, comprehensive theoretical structure. This lack of a comprehensive theory of risk taking seems to have worked to obscure the emerging picture of risk as the pivotal element in consumer behavior. Further, once perceived risk has been identified in a purchase situation, there seems to be some reasonable evidence that subsequent consumer behavior can be determined in accordance with such risk. If this view is correct, marketing managers may now have the opportunity to use the various elements of the marketing mix with considerably greater precision than has been possible in the past. This article attempts to construct a comprehensive theory of risk taking in consumer behavior by specifying the principal concepts involved and the interrelationships between the concepts. In addition, some of the research relevant to these concepts and interrelationships is presented. Finally, the author suggests how the theory might be tested and put to work in marketing decisions. The concept of theory used here is in the spirit of Baumol when he says:
Nonprofit Education: Course Offerings and Perceptions in Accredited U.S. Business Schools

Given the continuing need for professional nonprofit managers, a trend toward more businesslike models for administrating nonprofits seems likely. However, the level of business school involvement in the education of future nonprofit managers is largely unknown. Given direction from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB; the premier accreditation body for U.S. business schools) for an education that not only enhances a student's ability to contribute to an organization but to the greater society as well, it seems likely that an increased attention to a curricular focus on business educations that aids the training of future professional nonprofit organization managers might be likely. This study examines the status of nonprofit management, marketing, finance, accounting, social entrepreneurship, social marketing, fundraising courses, programs, and faculty in a sample of U.S. AACSB-accredited business schools. The perceptions of these business schools' leaders with regard to offering or not offering to participate in nonprofit management education are also explored.
Agreement and disagreement utterance detection in conversational speech by extracting and integrating local features

This paper presents a novel framework to automatically detect agreement and disagreement utterances in natural conversation. Such a function is critical for conversation understanding such as meeting summarization. One of the difﬁculties of agreement and disagreement utterance detection in natural conversation is ambiguity in the utterance unit. Utterances are usually segmented by short pauses. However, in conversations, multiple sentences are often uttered in one breath. Such utterances exhibit the characteristics of agreement and disagreement only in some parts, not the whole utterance. This makes conventional methods problematic since they assume each utterance is just one sentence and extract global features from the whole utter-ance. To deal with this problem, we propose a detection framework that utilizes only local prosodic/lexical features. The lo-cal features are extracted from short windows that cover just a few words. Posteriors of agreement, disagreement and others are estimated window-by-window and integrated to yield a ﬁ-nal decision. Experiments on free discussion speech show that the proposed method, through its use of local features, offers signiﬁcantly higher accuracy in detecting agreement and disagreement utterances.
Estimating Time-Varying Capital Market Integration In The EMU

This paper analyzes the effect of the European monetary unification and economic liberalization in a sample of three EMU (France, Germany, Netherlands) and two non-EMU (U.K. and Switzerland) countries, as well as the European market index and a currency index, using data from March 1984 to November 2002. We utilize a multivariate GARCH framework and estimate jointly all parameters in the model. The study reveals that financial markets in Europe followed a gradual integration process. We also find that the Euro countries generally display higher degrees of market integration compared to the non-Euro countries in our sample.
Synthesis and Properties of DNA Containing Cyclonucleosides

Here, we present efficient syntheses of the R and S diastereomers of 8,5′-cyclo-2′-deoxyadenosine and 6,5′-cyclo-2′-deoxyuridine. We incorporated these interesting nucleosides into DNA to study how the cyclo linkage affects the stability of duplex formation.
Impact of Working Capital Management on Profitability of Micro and Small Enterprises in Ethiopia: The Case of Bahir Dar City Administration

Working capital management is one of the most important and challenging aspect of the overall financial management that needs a series consideration in firm’s financial decision. Efficient management of WC is a fundamental part of the overall corporate strategy in creating value. In light of this the purpose of this study is to examine impact of working capital management on profitability of micro and small enterprises with special reference to Bahir Dar city administration using a sample of 67 micro and small enterprises. Data for this study was collected from the financial statements of the enterprises listed on Bahir Dar city micro and small enterprises agency for the year 2003. Variables entered in this study were number of days accounts receivable, number of days inventory, number of day’s accounts payable, cash conversion cycle controlling for CATA ratio, CLTA ratio GEAR and enterprise size. This study applied Pearson’s correlation and OLS regression with a cross sectional analysis. The result shows that there is a strong positive relationship between number of days accounts payable and enterprises profitability. However, number of days accounts receivable, number of days inventory and cash conversion cycle have a significant negative impact on profitability. By shortening cash conversion cycle an enterprise’s profitability be increased.
Management of the crushed chest

Thoracic injuries are very common among trauma victims. This article reviews the current literature on the management of multiple aspects of the care of the patient with severe chest injury. The mechanics of chest injury are complex and varied. Chest wall injuries are the most common and noticeable manifestation of thoracic trauma. Overall morbidity and mortality are primarily determined by associated injuries. New ventilatory strategies permit oxygenation of the severely hypoxic patient. Acute pain management modalities offer the potential of decreasing associated pulmonary complications. Surgical chest wall fixation is clearly indicated in extreme cases of pulmonary herniation and chest wall disruption. There are potential benefits of surgical fixation in other settings, although further trials are needed.
Rethinking Service Recovery Strategies

Researchers and practitioners have invested heavily in identifying effective complaint management strategies. However, most of the strategies identified to date occur only after a service failure occurs. This article proposes that antecedent states such as an ongoing rapport with service employees can also provide service recovery benefits. Four independent studies test this approach and indicate that an existing rapport between the customer and service provider results in increased postfailure customer satisfaction, increased repatronage intentions, and decreased negative word of mouth. Yet results for complaint intentions suggest that rapport does not increase the propensity for customers to complain about poor service. These results are discussed in terms of their implications for research and practice.
Specific APO E genotypes in combination with the ACE D/D or MTHFR 677TT mutation yield an independent genetic risk of leukoaraiosis

Objective – Ischaemic demyelination of the white matter of the brain is a frequent clinical entity. In the neuroimaging terms, it is referred to as leukoaraiosis. We earlier found that the co‐occurrence of the homozygous methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) 677TT and angiotensin‐converting enzyme D/D (ACE D/D) genotypes yielded a highly significant moderate risk of leukoaraiosis. On the assumption of further genetic interactions, we have now investigated whether the different apolipoprotein E (APO E) genotypes, in pairwise combinations with the MTHFR 677TT or ACE D/D mutation, could lead to an increased risk of leukoaraiosis.
Quality of hemodialysis water in a resource‐poor country: The Nigerian example

Hemodialysis (HD) patients are exposed to large volumes of water, separated from patients' blood by semipermeable membrane of dialyzers. Chemical contaminants in poorly treated water impact negatively on quality of life of these patients. This survey was carried out to assess the HD water quality in Lagos, Nigeria. Ten milliliters of feed and treated water from all six HD centers in Lagos were tested for aluminum, copper, zinc, magnesium, calcium using atomic absorption spectrometry; sodium and potassium were tested using flame photometry, fluoride with molecular photoluminescence method; sulfate using turbidimetry, nitrates measured by cadmium column reduction method, chloramines and free chlorine were measured using N, N‐diethyl‐1‐P‐phenylenediamine colorimetric method. Information on sources of feed water, frequency of testing of HD water, methods of water treatment, type of water purification system and maintenance was also obtained. All centers used borehole as main source of water supply. None of the centers met Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) guidelines for most chemical contaminants. Only chlorine (0.48 ± 0.07 mg/L) and potassium (3.9 ± 0.95 mg/L) levels met AAMI standards after treatment. Mean levels of chemical contaminants in treated water were as follows: aluminum 0.04 ± 0.01 mg/L, zinc 0.27 ± 0.08 mg/L, chloramines 0.16 ± 0.03 mg/L, fluoride 1.83 ± 0.40 mg/L, sulfate 117 ± 86.1 mg/L which were mildly elevated; calcium 126.00 ± 22.7 mg/L, sodium 179 ± 25.6 mg/L, and nitrate 70.5 ± 50.8 mg/L, which were markedly elevated; and magnesium 8.3 ± 3.38 mg/L, which was moderately elevated above AAMI recommended levels. HD water quality is poor in our environment. Concerted efforts are required to ensure good quality water for HD.
Effect of chemical irrigants and medicaments for endodontic treatment on dentin bonding

Purpose: To evaluate the bond strengths of two different types of resin luting cements to dentin treated with chemical irrigants and medicaments for root canal treatment. Materials and Methods: The bovine incisors were ground with silicon carbide paper to expose a dentin. Dentin surface was treated with either 3% hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), 5% sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl), the combination of H2O2 and NaOCl (H2O2/NaOCl), formocresol (FC), or calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) for 60 s, then rinsed and air dried. Dentin without any treatment was used as the control group. The area for bonding was then demarcated with a vinyl tape (4 mm-in-diameter hole), and bonded using one of two resin cement, Super-Bond C&B or Panavia F according to the manufactures’ instructions. After storage in water for 1 day, tensile bond strengths were measured using a universal testing machine. Results: For Super-Bond C&B, statistically lower early bond strengths were obtained in the experimental group compared with the control. In the case of Panavia F, the early bond strengths decreased significantly in H2O2, H2O2/NaOCl, and Ca(OH)2, while no influence of NaOCl and FC on early bond strengths was observed. However, the visual inspection showed a large increase of adhesive failures between the resin and dentin occurred with the experimental groups, which was marked for both resin cements. Conclusion: The early bond strengths of resin cements to dentin were adversely influenced by the chemical irrigants and medicaments for root canal treatment. (Int Chin J Dent 2003; 3: 7-12.)
An overview of Education data in South Africa: an inventory approach

This paper provides an overview of the various datasets pertaining to education in South Africa that are informing or could inform policy making in education. The paper serves as an inventory for anyone interested in understanding what data is available, how it may be accessed, what the quality of the data is and in what formats it may be accessed. The paper is divided into three parts. The first part provides a description of existing education datasets and the basic data elements contained in each of these datasets. When discussing each of the existing education datasets, the paper addresses the quality of the education data available in South Africa. The first part also refers to the policy implications and the important role that data plays in policy-formulation. No information system on its own is comprehensive enough to provide all the information needed in strategic decision-making. Hence, part two of this paper discusses the need for data integration as an important data management strategy. The third part examines the effectiveness of implementing a learner unit record system nationally in comparison with the EMIS system that is currently in place and that is based on aggregate or summary institution–level data.
Heart rate variability is related to leucocyte count in men and to blood lipoproteins in women in a healthy population of 35‐year‐old subjects

Jensen‐Urstad M, Jensen‐Urstad K, Ericson M, Johansson J (Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden). Heart rate variability is related to leucocyte count in men and to blood lipoproteins in women in a healthy population of 35‐year‐old subjects. J Intern Med 1998; 243: 33–40.
The Organizational Taxonomy: Definition and Design

Organizational typologies provide an effective data storage and retrieval system, as well as a means for theory development. However, existing typologies are typically limited, failing to meet broad standards. This article discusses contemporary organizational classification in the context of empirical, theoretical, and evolutionary perspectives. Consideration is given to the theoretical and numerical basis for grouping organizations, and an overview is provided of the conceptual and operational development of hierarchical taxonomies and the selection of organizational variables.