Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An empirical examination of customers’ adoption of m-banking in India

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify factors impacting the adoption of m-banking. Design/methodology/approach – To attain the above objective a conceptual model was developed based on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and diffusion of innovation (DOI). Primary data were collected using questionnaire from 600 customers and the data were analyzed using SPSS and AMOS. Findings – The study found empirical evidence for positive relationship between perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and Social Influence to positive attitude towards m-banking. However, no support was found for FC, benevolence and privacy and security to attitude towards m-banking. The study found support for the relationship between attitude towards m-banking and intention to adopt m-banking. Practical implications – The study has practical implications for managers. The study suggests that m-banking adoption can be increased by improving the customer's perception of benevolence and privacy and security. Originality/value.
Critical Service Encounters: The Employee's Viewpoint

In service settings, customer satisfaction is often influenced by the quality of the interpersonal interaction between the customer and the contact employee. Previous research has identified the sources of satisfaction and dissatisfaction in service encounters from the customer's point of view; this study explores these sources in service encounters from the contact employee's point of view. Drawing on insights from role, script, and attribution theories, 774 critical service encounters reported by employees of the hotel, restaurant, and airline industries are analyzed and compared with previous research. Results generally support the theoretical predictions and also identify an additional source of customer dissatisfaction—the customer's own misbehavior. The findings have implications for business practice in managing service encounters, employee empowerment and training, and managing customers.
Statistical Analysis of Causality between Capital Structure and Firm Profitability: Evidence from Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract This research is designed to examine the relationship between the capital structure and profitability of non-financial firms in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the ten years period, from 2003-2012. The goal is to prove the existence of the relationship between the firm’s capital structure choice and its profitability. The analysis is extended by including the debt structure and differentiating between the types of debt such as the long-term and the short-term ones. Canonical correlation and multiple regression analysis are used. The results of the multivariate canonical correlation analysis provide support to a hypothesis that the capital structure and profitability have statistically significant relationships. Furthermore, the findings provide support that firms develop different patterns of profitability depending on the capital structure choice. We found that an increasing proportion of short-term debt and long-term debt in the overall liability of the firm reduces its profitability.
Co-innovation: the role of online communities

Firms are developing online communities that facilitate online communication of their consumers for innovation purposes, such as new product development or virtual product design. This is forming co-innovation, innovation with end users. This study selects a case study of an online community to investigate the process of innovation on this community and what factors drive co-innovation. Based on social capital theory and a social media perspective, the research has a number of implications. The results of content analysis of this online innovation community show that the interconnectivity of users produces social capital, which in turn drives co-innovation. Integrating social capital theory and social media can develop a theoretical background in the area of co-innovation and suggest practical implications for the market. Drivers, process and types of co-innovation are discussed in this paper. Limitations and future research direction are suggested at the end of this research.
Job Motivation As A Predictor Of Job Satisfaction Among Professional And Non- Professional Library Staff In Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma

Human capital formation of any country depends to a large extent on the level of human capital development. So, it is important that people are properly developed, effectively managed and efficiently motivated in order to achieve high productivity which will have a spill over on the nation’s economic productivity. This study examined job motivation as a predictor of job satisfaction among professional and non-professional library staff in Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma. The study reveals that there are motivational packages that significantly predict the satisfaction of library staff and there is no significanct difference between the satisfaction derived by professional and non-professional library staff. The study further showed that library staff derived most satisfaction from salary/pay, library policies and administration, advancement and personal growth and job security. Therefore, the management of library should intensify and sustain policies that will enhance these factors. Since needs are not static, top management should ensure regular survey of staff satisfaction in the library sub-unit of the institution in order to have a well satisfied workforce that can discharge better services to library users.
Dual inhibition of BDNF/TrkB and autophagy: a promising therapeutic approach for colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common digestive cancer in the Western world. Despite effective therapies, resistance and/or recurrence frequently occur. The present study investigated the impact of two survival pathways—neurotrophic factors (TrkB/BDNF) and autophagy—on cell fate and tumour evolution. In vitro studies were performed on two CRC cell lines, SW480 (primary tumour) and SW620 (lymph node invasion), which were also used for subcutaneous xenografts on a nude mouse model. In addition, the presence of neurotrophic factors (NTs) and autophagy markers were assessed in tissue samples representative of different stages. On the basis of our previous study (which demonstrated that TrkB overexpression is associated with prosurvival signaling in CRC cells), we pharmacologically inhibited NTs pathways with K252a. As expected, an inactivation of the PI3K/AKT pathway was observed and CRC cells initiated autophagy. Conversely, blocking the autophagic flux with chloroquine or with ATG5‐siRNA overactivated TrkB/BDNF signaling. In vitro, dual inhibition improved the effectiveness of single treatment by significantly reducing metabolic activity and enhancing apoptotic cell death. These findings were accentuated in vivo, in which dual inhibition induced a spectacular reduction in tumour volume following long‐term treatment (21 days for K252a and 12 days for CQ). Finally, significant amounts of phospho‐TrkB and LC3II were found in the patients’ tissues, highlighting their relevance in CRC tumour biology. Taken together, our results show that targeting NTs and autophagy pathways potentially constitutes a new therapeutic approach for CRC.
The Bank Lending Channel with Endogenous Money - A Simple Macro Model

The growth and deepening of financial markets entailed the expectation that the bank lending channel of monetary policy transmission would lose its importance. The paper explains why, on the contrary, the banking sector has become a major locus of origination and amplification of macro-financial shocks. Mutual feedback mechanisms between the financial and the real sector are analysed and simulated by using a simple standard macro model with an integrated banking system. A comparison of the efficiency of various Taylor Rule extensions explores whether monetary stabilisation can be improved by additional interest rate reactions to asset prices, bank lending, bank leverage or the spread between the loan and the policy rate.
Pain prevalence in a pediatric hospital: raising awareness during Pain Awareness Week.

BACKGROUND Despite the evidence and availability of numerous validated pain assessment tools and pain management strategies for infants and children, their use remains inconsistent in clinical practice. OBJECTIVES To describe the prevalence of pain, pain assessment and pain management practices at a tertiary pediatric hospital in Canada. METHODS The cross-sectional study design involved a combination of interviews with children and⁄or caregivers, and chart audits in five inpatient units. Information regarding pain intensity, painful procedures and pain management strategies was obtained from children and⁄or caregivers by interview. Patient charts were reviewed for information regarding pain assessment, pain scores, and pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions. RESULTS Sixty-two children (four days to 17 years of age) participated. Most children or their caregivers (n=51 [84%]) reported that pain was experienced during their hospitalization, with 40 (66%) reporting their worst pain as moderate or severe. Almost one-half reported analgesics were administered before or during their most recent painful procedure. Nineteen (32%) reported sucrose, topical anesthetics or nonpharmacological interventions were used; however, they were documented in only 17% of charts. Pain scores were documented in 34 (55%) charts in the previous 24 h. The majority of the children or their caregiver (n=44 [71%]) were satisfied with pain management at the study hospital. CONCLUSIONS Most infants and children had experienced moderate or severe pain during their hospitalization. Analgesics were frequently used, and although nonpharmacological strategies were reported to be used, they were rarely documented. Most parents and children were satisfied with their pain management.
A process theory of relationship ending

This research is about the ending of business relationships: what that is, why it happens, and how an extant relationship dissolves. Ending of buyer‐seller relationships has very recently attracted increased research attention. This article adds to the existing knowledge by developing a process model to understand, in particular, how dissolution advances in a professional service context. The model aims to attend the major shortcomings of existing research and distinguishes three conceptual categories: the type of relationship and its ending, the factors that influence the process, and the ending process per se. It is concluded that the ending process is always both temporally and contextually embedded and to a significant degree actor‐driven; a picture of idiosyncrasy rather than deterministic development. The article ends by discussing managerial implications and making suggestions for future research.
Cohesion or Confusion? Towards a Typology for Organizational Learning Research

The study of organizational learning is no longer in its infancy. Since Cyert and March first introduced the notion in the early 1960s, a plethora of books and journal publications have presented their own interpretations of the meaning and significance of the term. Despite such endeavours, there is little common agreement about what organizational learning represents and how future research may build cumulatively upon the many diverse ideas articulated. The intention here is by no means to address these issues, which have been comprehensively examined elsewhere. The purpose is rather to compare and contrast approaches in order to analyse similarities and dissimilarities, together with research challenges, for each approach. This is achieved by presenting a comparative framework to categorize the literature according to (a) its prescriptive/explanatory bias and (b) in line with the level of analysis, examining whether there is a focus on the organization as a whole or upon individuals and their work communities instead. The review concludes by presenting some preliminary suggestions for cross-quadrant research. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2006.
MICROECONOMIC EFFECTS OF COMPETITION ON PRODUCTIVITY IN THE EU

Differences in the toughness of competition are likely to be one of the major determinants of the large dispersion in productivity, costs and output prices across firms even within narrowly defined sectors and geographical markets. This dissertation examines how increase in the intensity of international competition affects productivity and other performance measures: at the firm, industry, and geographical market levels. The dissertation combines three empirical studies of three distinct types of changes in the competition environment. The first empirical study investigates the effects of the changes in foreign competition in the form of entry of multinational firms on the total factor productivity growth, innovation and the ways of knowledge-sourcing by incumbent firms. The analysis is based on firm-level panel data from Estonia. I use an instrumental variables approach to identify the effects. Notably, I find no significant short-term effects on productivity growth of incumbents. However, I find that the entry of multinational firms is associated with increase in innovation activities of incumbents and knowledge sourcing from other firms. The second empirical study investigates the effects of entry and market structure on output price distribution across firms within spatially differentiated markets. Recent heterogeneous-producer models of competition and trade outline new effects how tougher competition affects across-firm price, productivity and cost distributions in the same sector and market. This chapter tests the implications of these models based on a case study of the European airline sector and a unique airfare dataset. I find some confirmation to the prediction that in more competitive environments, there will be less output price dispersion across firms. The third essay studies the effects of liberalisation and changes in entry costs on performance of the aviation sector. I use an event study of the enlargement of the European Union (EU) and the Single European Aviation Market in 2004 and employ difference-in-differences and synthetic control methods to study their effects on volume of airline passengers.
Effects of Mobile Design Quality and Innovation Characteristics on Intention to Use Mobile Tourism Guide

— This study investigates theoretical model of tourist intention in the context of mobile tourism guide. The research model consists of three constructs: mobile design quality, innovation characteristics, and intention to use mobile tourism guide. In order to investigate the effects of determinants and examine the relationships, partial least squares is employed for data analysis and research model development. The results show that mobile design quality and innovation quality significantly impact on tourists’ intention to use mobile tourism guide. Furthermore, mobile design quality has a strong influence on innovation characteristics, and cannot be the moderator on the relationship between innovation characteristics and tourists’ intention to use mobile tourism guide. Our findings propose theoretical model for mobile research and provide an important guideline for developing mobile application.
ADALINE-Network-Based PLL for Position Sensorless Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor Drives

To diminish the harmonic ripple in the rotor position estimation error for sensorless interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM) drives, an adaptive linear neural (ADALINE)-network-based filter with a quadrature phase-locked loop (PLL) position observer is proposed. A fundamental model-based sliding-mode observer is used to obtain back electromotive force information. The harmonic content in the position estimation error caused by inverter nonlinearities and flux spatial harmonics is analyzed. According to the harmonic characteristics of the estimated rotor position, the ADALINE-network-based filter is adopted to track and compensate the selective harmonic ripple in the rotor position estimation error through continuously updating the filter weights online. Whereby, the position estimation accuracy can be improved and the position sensorless control performance can be promoted. The proposed method was verified for a 2.2-kW position sensorless IPMSM drive. Experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the method in suppressing the harmonic ripple in the rotor position estimation error.
The Analysis of Czech Investment Funds Performance

The paper presents the analysis of efficiency of equity funds performance in the Czech Republic. The study took place between January 2004 and December 2010 and is based on the measures of returns frequently mentioned in financial literature. In general, the empirical results do not confirm the occurrence of abnormal returns that could be statistically significant. However, periodical returns of Czech investment funds indicate the existence of competition in the sector but without a competitive advantage of particular funds. The results obtained by the application of the single-index asset pricing model (CAPM) and four-factor Carhart model indicate an influence of the market factor on funds returns. The performance dependence of investment funds in consecutive periods was hardly observed. The findings encourage further investigations of investment fund performance in the Czech Republic in future, when more data will be available.
Detection of intracranial hemorrhage with susceptibility-weighted MR sequences.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Detection of hemorrhage is important in the diagnosis and management of a variety of intracranial diseases. We evaluated the sensitivity of the following sequences for depicting chronic hemorrhagic foci associated with susceptibility dephasing: gradient-recalled echo (GRE) imaging, GRE-type single-shot echo-planar imaging (GRE-EPI), spin-echo-type single-shot echo-planar imaging (SE-EPI), turbo spin-echo (TSE) imaging, half-Fourier single-shot turbo spin-echo (HASTE) imaging, and segmented HASTE (s-HASTE) imaging. To our knowledge, no previous comparison has been made with these techniques in the same patient. METHODS Fifty patients with suspected chronic hemorrhage were examined prospectively with the above six sequences. Contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), sensitivity to detection of lesions, conspicuity of internal architecture, and sensitivity to small hemorrhagic foci were evaluated. RESULTS Hemorrhagic foci were found in 35 patients. The CNR of the GRE, GRE-EPI, SE-EPI, TSE, s-HASTE, and HASTE sequences was 30.9, 23.7, 3.6, 6.1, -29.3, and -13.1, respectively; the number of small hemorrhagic foci detected was 85, 96, 44, 22, two, and one, respectively, for the supratentorial white matter; 70, 40, 19, four, zero, and zero, respectively, for the supratentorial cortical/subcortical region; and 73, 50, 26, 37, zero, and zero, respectively, for the infratentorial/skull-base region. CONCLUSION The GRE sequence was best for detecting susceptibility dephasing associated with chronic intracranial hemorrhage. GRE-EPI, while comparable to GRE in the supratentorial compartment, was reduced in its sensitivity near the skull base, and may be used as an alternative to GRE in uncooperative, unsedated, pediatric, or claustrophobic patients. SE-EPI should not be used in screening for intracranial hemorrhage.
17GHz Neutral Line Associated Sources: Birth, Motion, and Projection Effect

New results and the confirmation of some older suggestions concerning the nature of solar microwave Neutral Line associated Sources (NLSs) were obtained by using data acquired with the Nobeyama Radioheliograph at 17GHz along with coronal magnetic field magnetograms extrapolated from full-disk longitudinal magnetograms. The used method of extrapolation is applicable for active regions with rather arbitrary position on the solar disk, and allows us to avoid projection effects in observed longitudinal magnetograms. An application of this method was demonstrated for the period of 2003 October–November. We found NLSs to be widespread at 17GHz. The NLSs are located just above, or in close vicinity to, the inversion line of the radial component of the coronal magnetic field in the place of a close contact of opposite magnetic polarities, where a horizontal magnetic component has local maxima. We briefly address the birth, motions of NLSs, their transformations into sunspot-associated sources, and vice versa. We also add a set of observational facts in evidence for the presence of 17GHz NLSs in active regions, which produce powerful flares.
Gender, age, body mass index, and IGF-I individually and jointly determine distinct GH dynamics: analyses in one hundred healthy adults.

BACKGROUND GH secretion is quantifiable as mean, peak, and nadir GH concentrations; degree of irregularity (approximate entropy); and spikiness (brief staccato-like fluctuations). HYPOTHESIS Distinct GH dynamics reflect relatively distinct (combinations of) subject variables, such as gender, age, body mass index (BMI), and IGF-I concentrations. LOCATION The study took place at a clinical translational research unit. SUBJECTS Subjects included 100 healthy adults ages 20-77 yr (59 women and 41 men), BMI 18-42 kg/m(2), and IGF-I 9.2-38 nmol/liter. MEASURES Immunofluorometric GH assay was done on 10-min samples collected for 24 h. RESULTS Stepwise forward-selection multivariate regression analysis revealed that mean GH concentrations were simultaneously determined (overall r = 0.36; P < 0.001) by gender (higher in women, P < 0.001), BMI (negatively, P < 0.001), and IGF-I (positively, P < 0.001). Peak GH levels were influenced (r = 0.28) by both BMI (P < 0.001) and IGF-I (P = 0.001). Nadir GH values were jointly affected by gender (higher in women, P = 0.005) and BMI (negatively, P = 0.001). GH approximate entropy was triply defined (r = 0.29) by gender (greater irregularity in women, P < 0.001), age (P = 0.022), and BMI (P = 0.008) and dually (r = 0.25) by gender (P = 0.0001) and BMI (P = 0.017) if sex steroids were included. GH spikiness was determined (r = 0.29) by gender (higher in women, P = 0.0016) and BMI (positively, P = 0.0002). CONCLUSION In healthy adults, combinations of gender, age, BMI, and IGF-I specify distinct GH dynamics, thus requiring balanced representation of these variables in comparative GH studies.
Performance of distributed memory methods in multiprocessing clusters

The availability of multiprocessing workstations offers the opportunity to simultaneously apply both shared and distributed memory parallel processing techniques to a single application. It has been assumed that using the data sharing formalisms native to the specific machine would yield performance superior to those obtained with a more general message passing system. We compared the performance of pure message passing methods with a combination of message passing and shared memory data sharing techniques and found that the benefit of the added complexity of dual level programming is negligible or non-existent.
The effect of brand extensions on product brand image

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of fit, familiarity, perceived quality and attitude towards the brand on product brand image after an extension and also to examine whether the product image of a brand is diluted as a result of brand extension.Design/methodology/approach – The model adopted for the study is based on that developed by Martinez and de Chernatony. A questionnaire consisting of seven constructs (general brand image, product brand image, quality, familiarity, fit, attitude, and demographic characteristics) was administered to 474 respondents. Convenience sampling and face‐to‐face survey methods were used. The brands and extensions used in the study were the same as in the Martinez and de Chernatony study. The difference between these two studies is that, while Martinez and de Chernatony have investigated the effects of brand extension on both general brand image and product brand image, in this study general brand image is examined only before the extensions in.