Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A New Database on Financial Development and Structure

The authors introduce a new database of indicators of financial development and structure across countries and over time. This database is unique in that it unites a variety of indicators that measure the size, activity, and efficiency of financial intermediaries and markets. It improves on previous efforts by presenting data on the public share of commercial banks, by introducing indicators of the size and activity of non bank financial institutions, and by presenting measures of the size of bond and primary equity markets. The compiled data permit the construction of financial structure indicators to measure whether, for example, a country's banks are larger, more active, and more efficient than its stock markets. These indicators can then be used to investigate the empirical link between the legal, regulatory, and policy environment and indicators of financial structure. They can also be used to analyze the implications of financial structure for economic growth. The authors describe the sources and construction of, and the intuition behind, different indicators and present descriptive statistics.
Packaging, marketing, logistics and the environment: are there trade‐offs?

Identifies, via a mail survey of UK marketing executives, who makes the sales packaging (i.e. primary packaging) decision within the company, and the extent to which these individuals perceive trade‐offs between the traditional marketing and logistical functions of a sales package, and environmental pressures to reduce, recycle and reuse packaging. Finds that the primary function of sales packaging is to protect the product until it is ready for use. The marketing function carries the most influence within the organization when it comes to making the sales package decision and, in the majority of cases, sales packaging accounts for less than 10 per cent of overall product costs. Claims the majority of respondents did not see a trade‐off between the marketing and logistical function of the sales package and the environmental demands to reduce, recycle and/or reuse sales packaging. However, reports that respondents did agree that sales packaging is a major environmental concern and, assuming it is not possible to have a sales package which both enhances the saleability of the product and is compatible with the environment, the ability of the sales package to sell the product is more important than its compatibility with the environment.
The Differential Relations of Maternal and Paternal Support and Control to Adolescent Social Competence, Self-Worth, and Sympathy

The goal of this study was to examine how the parenting dimensions of both mothers and fathers independently and together predict adolescent outcomes in three domains: sympathy, self-worth, and social competence. One-hundred eight adolescents completed self-report measures on their perceived relationship with parents, sympathy, social competence, and self-worth. Perceived maternal supportandrigid control were the most consistent predictors of adolescent adjustment. High levels of perceived maternal support and low levels of maternal rigid control were related to adolescents’reports of sympathy, social competence, and self-worth. In contrast, support and control from fathers was generally unrelated to adolescent adjustment. The one exception was in predicting sympathy, where father support interacted with maternal support in predicting sympathy. When perceived support from fathers was high, maternal support was unrelated to sympathy. In contrast, when perceived supportfrom fathers was low, perceived maternal support was a statistically significant predictor of sympathy.
Customer responses to emotional labour in discrete and relational service exchange

As part of their jobs, many service employees are required to express certain emotions, such as positive affect toward service customers. Sometimes employees do not actually feel the emotions that they are expressing, resulting in what has been called “emotional labour. ” Although a number of scholars have examined how service employees respond to requirements for emotional labour, few have studied how customers respond to employees who are enacting emotional labour ‐ or its opposite, emotional effortlessness. Building from the impression management framework, this paper develops an operationalization of emotional labour and presents hypotheses about consumer responses to emotional labour and emotional effortlessness. It also proposes an adaptation of previous marketing applications of the impression management framework. The hypotheses are then tested in two laboratory experiments. Results suggest that perceptions of emotional effortlessness can have a significant and positive impact on customer evaluations, but only in relational (as opposed to discrete) service situations.
A review of internet marketing research over the past 20 years and future research direction

Purpose – The 20‐year review of marketing and selected business journals examines the internet marketing literature to determine how the literature has evolved in terms of quantity, content, and publication outlets. This article aims to provide a comprehensive review of the internet marketing literature. It offers a big picture view of the current state of the internet marketing literature and gives readers a sense of the quantity of internet marketing articles published, the scope of this research, and how this research has evolved in terms of content.Design/methodology/approach – Consistent with Schibrowsky et al., a content analysis was performed on 1,957 internet‐related marketing articles identified by searching the business source premier database. The paper reviews the internet marketing literature that has been published in the time period 2005‐2012 in marketing journals.Findings – The study revealed that 68.5 percent of the internet marketing research had been published in the last eight years. T.
Outcome after Robotic-Assisted Thymectomy in Children and Adolescents with Acetylcholine Receptor Antibody-Positive Juvenile Myasthenia Gravis

Abstract The aim of our study was to describe the long-term outcomes after robotic-assisted thymectomy in a cohort of acetylcholine receptor (AChR)-antibody (Ab)–positive, generalized juvenile myasthenia gravis (JMG). We retrospectively analyzed a cohort of 18 patients (15 females and 3 males) who underwent robotic-assisted thymectomy. At the time of diagnosis, 12/18 patients were prepubertal; the mean age was 9.8 years at the onset of the disease. All patients received therapy with pyridostigmine; additional immunotherapy included: corticosteroid therapy in 18/18, azathioprine in 14/18 patients, mycophenolate mofetil in 4/18, and cyclosporine in 1/18 patients. Eight patients received intravenous immunoglobulin and four plasma exchange. The mean age of patients at thymectomy was 11.7 years (range: 4.2–16 years). The mean duration of postoperative stay was 2.9 days. Thymectomy was followed by gradual clinical improvement (39% patients achieved clinical remission) and dose reduction in steroid therapy in all patients during the follow-up period (mean: 27.4 months). In children and adolescents with AChR-Ab–positive JMG, thymectomy has a beneficial effect on the weaning off immunosuppressive therapy in patients with generalized symptoms and should be considered as a part of multimodal therapy. Robotic-assisted thymectomy is a safe procedure with low morbidity and a comparable clinical outcome compared with the open sternal procedure.
Hyperacute Diffusion-Weighted Imaging Abnormalities in Transient Ischemic Attack Patients Signify Irreversible Ischemic Infarction

Background: To characterize the frequency and clinical features of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) abnormalities in the hyperacute phase of transient ischemic attacks (TIAs). Methods: We performed DWI in 21 consecutive patients with TIA (mean age 64 years; 17 men and 4 women) during both the hyperacute phase (within 6 h after onset) and subacute phase (within 2–9 days after onset). Results: DWI abnormalities were present in the hyperacute phase in 11 patients (positive group) and absent in the other 10 patients (negative group). These groups could not be differentiated based on the clinical characteristics. In the subacute phase, all 11 patients from the positive group had abnormalities on MRI including T2-weighted and fluid attenuation inversion recovery images as well as DWI, with lesions being located in regions similar to those observed in the hyperacute phase. Of the 10 patients in the negative group, new DWI abnormalities were noted in 2 during the subacute phase. Conclusions: Approximately half of TIA patients in whom MRI was performed in the hyperacute phase had DWI abnormalities, all of which persisted in the subacute phase. The findings suggest that essentially all hyperacute DWI abnormalities in TIA patients may indicate irreversibility and signify the presence of brain infarction.
Large‐scale troughs on Vesta: A signature of planetary tectonics

Images of Vesta taken by the Dawn spacecraft reveal large‐scale linear structural features on the surface of the asteroid. We evaluate the morphology of the Vesta structures to determine what processes caused them to form and what implications this has for the history of Vesta as a planetary body. The dimensions and shape of these features suggest that they are graben similar to those observed on terrestrial planets, not fractures or grooves such as are found on smaller asteroids. As graben, their vertical displacement versus length relationship could be evaluated to describe and interpret the evolution of the component faults. Linear structures are commonly observed on smaller asteroids and their formation has been tied to impact events. While the orientation of the large‐scale Vesta structures does imply that their formation is related to the impact events that formed the Rheasilvia and Veneneia basins, their size and morphology is greatly different from impact‐formed fractures on the smaller bodies. This is consistent with new analyses that suggest that Vesta is fully differentiated, with a mantle and core. We suggest that impact into a differentiated asteroid such as Vesta could result in graben, while grooves and fractures would form on undifferentiated asteroids.
The Sectoral And Institutional Structures And The Interactive Process Within Networks: The Genolyptus Case

This paper investigates the relations between this sectoral environment and the innovative strategies carried out by the companies. In this sense, the current article tries to empirically analyze network of companies from the perspective of the context (sectoral organization) it is embedded in. The focus is on the study of the routines (NELSON and WINTER, 1982) created within the network, and on the interaction of these tools with the Sectoral System of Innovation (BRESCHI and MALERBA, 1997). The authors show that such a context not only reduces the costs associated to the knowledge transfer processes between the companies, but also contributes to the setting of explicit standards for the coordination of the productive activities of the companies, thus facilitating knowledge transfer between the companies in the network.
Stress at work: a qualitative study among women and men in a Swedish telecom company

Stress at work is an increasing problem in Western societies, resulting in costs both for the organization involved and for the individual employees. However, despite the fact that female participation in the workforce has grown in recent years and women account for nearly 50% of the labour force in Sweden as well as in other Western societies (Bäckman and Edling, 2001; Vinnicombe and Sturges, 1995) studies on stress have largely been restricted to male populations (Lundberg, 1998; Skues and Kirkby, 1995). Studies that have included women, report gender differences in the kind of stressors that are perceived such as work-family conflict (Lundberg and Frankenhaeuser, 1999). In addition women are more often employed in jobs that have lower status, are less paid, require a lower level of qualification, and where career development is limited (Alexanderson and Östlin, 2001; Fielden and Cooper, 2002; Lundberg and Gonäs, 1998; Nelson and Burke, 2002). In our initial quantitative study (Torkelson and Muhonen, 2003) we surveyed 281 sales employees in a telecom company. The results showed only minor differences in perceived stress when comparing women and men at the same level in the organization. Instead the differences in perceived stress were found between managers and non-managers. However at a managerial level health problems were not predicted by the same factors for women and men. A majority of the studies that has been conducted in the area of stress have been performed with traditional surveys and scales. These methods have advantages as they are efficiently administrated and their reliability and validity are often expressed. The disadvantages are that they do not capture experiences that are unique to the specific situation (Narayanan, Menon and Spector, 1999). Several authors point out the need for alternative approaches such as using qualitative methods or a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to study stress at work (Cooper, Dewe and O ́Driscoll, 2001; Dewe, 2000). In the current study qualitative interviews were carried out in order to investigate stress at work from a gender perspective. The aim of the study was to gain knowledge and complex descriptions about stressors and coping at work for women and men working in similar positions and within the same jobs.
Singapore’s undergraduates: how they choose which bank to patronise

Undergraduates constitute an attractive segment of customers for retail banks in many countries of the world, including Singapore. This study, using a sample of Singapore’s undergraduates, sets out to establish a ranking of the various dimensions which influence their bank selection decision and seeks to determine how homogeneous undergraduates are in relation to their selection decision. Seven bank selection dimensions were identified, the most important being undergraduates should “feel secure”, while the least important dimension was “third party influences”. Responses between those “attending engineering courses and non‐engineering courses” were compared, as were those between “males and females” and “single and multiple bank users”. More significant differences were found when engineering undergraduates were compared with non‐engineering undergraduates. Irrespective of these differences, the sequencing of the seven selection dimensions was invariably in the same order.
PROFITABILITY OF MOMENTUM AND CONTRARIAN STRATEGIES IN THE COLOMBO STOCK EXCHANGE (CSE)

This paper examines the proﬁ tability of momentum and contrarian strategies in the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) around 1 to 12 months horizon covering the period from October 1991 to June 2005. We follow the same methodology of Jegadeesh and Titman (1993). The study ﬁ nds that momentum strategies are highly proﬁ table in the CSE. Examining between pre-and post-automation periods of the CSE, we ﬁ nd evidence that momentum strategies are signiﬁ cantly more proﬁ table during post-automation period. Keywords: Momentum Strategies, Contrarian Strategies, Colombo Stock Exchange For full paper: fmscresearch@sjp.ac. lk
Understanding the concept of supply chain resilience

Purpose – In the emerging disciplines of risk management and supply chain management, resilience is a relatively undefined concept. The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated perspective on resilience through an extensive review of the literature in a number of disciplines including developmental psychology and ecosystems. In addition, the paper identifies and addresses some of the current theoretical gaps in the existing research.Design/methodology/approach – Supply chain resilience has been defined by a number of disciplines. An integrative literature review is conducted in an attempt to integrate existing perspectives. This review also serves as the basis for the development of a conceptual model.Findings – The key elements of supply chain resilience and the relationships among them, the links between risks and implications for supply chain management, and the methodologies for managing these key issues are poorly understood. Implications for future research advocate testing the proposed mod.
Resolution of a mispaired secondary structure intermediate could account for a novel micro‐insertion/deletion (387 insA/del 8 bp) in the PYGM gene causing McArdle's disease

We report two siblings with McArdle's disease who are both compound heterozygotes for two non‐identical frameshift mutations in the PYGM gene; a previously reported 753 delA in exon 18 and a novel 387 insA/del 8 bp in exon 10. The novel mutation is predicted to result in premature termination of translation 33 amino acids downstream of the site of mutation, potentially encoding a severely truncated protein of 419 amino acids instead of 841 amino acids. The complete lack of myophosphorylase activity observed in muscle derived from one sibling suggests that this mutation has deleterious functional consequences. The underlying mechanism of mutagenesis may have been slipped mispairing mediated by the formation of a Moebius loop‐like secondary intermediate.
The Impact of Market Knowledge Competence on New Product Advantage: Conceptualization and Empirical Examination

Although the role of market knowledge competence in enhancing new product advantage is assumed widely in the literature, empirical studies are lacking because of an absence of the concept definition. In this study, the authors conceptualize market knowledge competence as the processes that generate and integrate market knowledge. The authors test the conceptual model using data collected from the software industry. The findings show that each of the three processes of market knowledge competence exerts a positive influence on new product advantage. The results also reveal a positive association between new product advantage and product market performance. The findings regarding the antecedents indicate that the perceived importance of market knowledge by top management has the largest impact on the processes of market knowledge competence.
Service quality: An international comparison of bank customers’ expectations and perceptions

In this article, empirical research findings are presented from an investigation of consumer expectations and perceptions of service quality. Customers of banks, in the UK and US, indicated the importance of a range of elements of service quality and their perceptions of the service actually received. A number of similarities and differences between UK and US respondents are highlighted together with evidence of the success to date of the banks in their delivery of service quality.
Absence of Beneficial Effect of Acute Normovolemic Hemodilution Combined with Aprotinin on Allogeneic Blood Transfusion Requirements in Cardiac Surgery

Background The efficacy of acute normovolemic hemodilution (ANH) in decreasing allogeneic blood requirements remains controversial during cardiac surgery. Methods In a prospective, randomized study, 80 adult cardiac surgical patients with normal cardiac function and no high risk of ischemic complications were subjected either to ANH, from a mean hematocrit of 43% to 28%, or to a control group. Aprotinin and intraoperative blood cell salvage were used in both groups. Blood (autologous or allogeneic) was transfused when the hematocrit was less than 17% during cardiopulmonary bypass, less than 25% after cardiopulmonary bypass, or whenever clinically indicated. Results The amount of whole blood collected during ANH ranged from 10 to 40% of the patients’ estimated blood volume. Intraoperative and postoperative blood losses were not different between control and ANH patients (total blood loss, control: 1,411 ± 570 ml, n = 41; ANH: 1,326 ± 509 ml, n = 36). Allogeneic blood was given in 29% of control patients (median, 2; range, 1–3 units of packed erythrocytes) and in 33% of ANH patients (median, 2; range, 1–5 units of packed erythrocytes;P = 0.219). Preoperative and postoperative platelet count, prothrombin time, and partial thromboplastin time were similar between groups. Perioperative morbidity and mortality were not different in both groups, and similar hematocrit values were observed at hospital discharge (33.7 ± 3.9% in the control group and 32.6 ± 3.7% in the ANH group; nonsignificant) Conclusions Hemodilution is not an effective means to lower the risk of allogeneic blood transfusion in elective cardiac surgical patients with normal cardiac function and in the absence of high risk for coronary ischemia, provided standard intraoperative cell saving and high-dose aprotinin are used.
Silicon Physical Unclonable Function resistant to a 1025-trial brute force attack in 90 nm CMOS

A CMOS 90 nm physical unclonable function (PUF) based on analog signal processing and process variability has been realized, resistant to a brute force attack of more than 1025 trials. Experimental measurements show that the circuit exhibits 38 µW power consumption. Process and temperature monitor and compensator keep the experimental BER below 0.1% at 125°C or with a 10% VDD variation, with excellent accelerated aging behavior.
A Configurational Approach to Comparative Corporate Governance

We seek to bring to the core of the study of comparative corporate governance analysis the idea that within countries and industries, there exist multiple configurations of firm level characteristics and governance practices leading to effective corporate governance. In particular, we propose that configurations composed of different bundles of corporate governance practices are a useful tool to examine corporate governance models across and within countries (as well as potentially to analyze over time changes). While comparative research, identifying stylized national models of corporate governance, has been fruitful to help us think about the key institutional and shareholder rights determining governance differences and similarities across countries, we believe that given the financialization of the corporate economy, current globalization trends of investment, and rapid information technology advances, it is important to shift our conceptualization of governance models beyond the dichotomous world of common-law/outsider/shareholder-oriented system vs. civil law/insider/stakeholder oriented system. Our claim is based on the empirical observation that there exists a wide range of firms that either (1) fall in the "wrong" corporate governance category; (2) are a hybrid of these two categories; or (3) should be placed into an entirely new category such as firms in emerging markets or state-owned firms. In addition, as Aguilera and Jackson (2003) argue, firms, regardless of their legal family constraints, their labor and product markets, and the development of the financial markets from which they can draw, have significant degrees of freedom to chose whether to implement different levels of a given corporate governance practice. That is, firms might chose to fully endorse a practice or simply seek to comply with the minimum requirements without truly internalizing the governance practice. An illustrative example of the different degrees of internalization of governance practices is the existing variation in firms' definition of director independence or disclosure of compensation systems. We first discuss the conceptual idea of configurations or bundles of corporate governance practices underscoring the concept of equifinal paths to given firm outcomes as well as the complementarity and substitution in governance practices. We then move to the practice level of analysis to show how three governance characteristics (legal systems, ownership and boards of directors) cannot be conceptualized independently, as each of them is contingent on the strength and prevalence of other governance practices. In the last section, we illustrate how different configurations are likely to playout across industries and countries, taking as the departing practice, corporate ownership.