Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The internationalization of emerging market firms: motivations and approaches

In spite of the growing international presence of companies from different emerging economies, most studies on firms internationalization are still grounded in the paradigms of Western countries. Most of them refer only to outward-oriented activities and do not take into account the so-called inward internationalization. It seems then important to analyze more in-depth these two issues with particular reference to the context of an emerging economy such as the one of China. The determination of Chinese firms to address their initial international competitive weaknesses, and the strategies they employ to do so, appear to have been inadequately recognized in literature that remains too wedded to the thesis that internationalization proceeds on the basis of prior competitive advantage (Child and Rodriguez, 2005). This traditional view in fact gives insufficient weight to the role of both ‘inward’ and ‘outward’ internationalization in addressing competitive disadvantages through learning and asset acquisition. The purpose of this study is to analyze the unique motivations and routes to internationalization among private owned Chinese firms. Using a qualitative methodology based on multiple case studies, the research will contribute to existing literature by combining some elements of the mainstream theories on the field of IB with a new perspective emerging from the analysis of Chinese private-owned firms routes to internationalization. The opportunity for an extension of the existing theoretical frameworks will be considered. The present work will also lead to a better understanding of their competitive position and relationships with foreigners within the international context.
Bone formation in adipose‐derived stem cells isolated from elderly patients with osteoporosis: a preliminary study

We have explored the osteogenic potency of adipose‐derived stem cells from osteoporotic patients (opASCs). opASCs were osteogenically induced in vitro with collagen I hydrogel or in culture plate. Detection of alkaline phosphatase (ALPase) and cell mineralisation, and quantitative RT‐PCR of collagen I, osteocalcin and bone sialoprotein were undertaken. Proliferation and morphology studies were also performed. After 14 days, opASCs‐collagen I hydrogel composite was implanted into nude mice for 4 weeks prior to radiographic and histological analysis. Staining of ALPase and cell mineralisation was strongly positive in opASCs. Fibroblast‐like opASCs induced with collagen I hydrogel were evenly distributed and proliferated at a higher rate than in culture plates, showing similar growth curves for both genders. Expression of ALPase activity, cell mineralisation and osteogenic specific genes were higher in opASCs with collagen I hydrogel (male samples had better osteogenicity than female samples) than in culture plates. After implantation for 4 weeks, radiopaque area signifying new bone tissue was observed in opASCs‐collagen I hydrogel composite, with no donor gender differences. Thus opASCs with collagen I hydrogel have adequate osteogenic potency and offer new possibilities for osteoporosis‐related bone tissue engineering in male and female patients.
The availability of vending machines, school stores and snack shops and student's poor dietary intake

OF THE THESIS The Availability of Vending Machines, School Stores and Snack Shops and Student’s Poor Dietary Intake by Nafissatou A. Cisse Master of Public Health with a Concentration in Health Promotion San Diego State University, 2011 Obesity has had a devastating effect in the United States especially on children. In the United States (U.S) childhood obesity has more than tripled in the past 30 years. Children in the U.S spent the majority of time in school and have access to Foods of Minimal Nutritional Value (FMNV); this access might facilitate dietary behaviors that lead to obesity. The purpose of this cross sectional study was to identify the types of competitive food in vending machines, school stores and snack shops in San Diego County schools. Secondly, to determine whether the availability of FMNV in vending machines, school stores and snack shops are associated with poor dietary intake among students. This thesis conducted secondary data analyses of 198 participants in the Healthy Smiles program, ages 8 through 13 years. Analyses included descriptive, chi-square test, Mann Whitney U test and logistic regression. Predictors were selected based on the Behavioral Ecological Model (BEM). Selfadministered surveys were developed at the Center for Behavioral Epidemiology and Community Health (C-BEACH). A total of 25% of students attending public schools reported having a vending machine compare to 31.7% attending private schools. Also, 53.5% of students attending public schools reported having a school store/snack shop in comparison to 31.7% of students in private school (p≤.05). Students who reported the availability of FMNVs (French fries and chips, cookies, candies or cake and soda) in their school’s vending machine/school store reported a higher number of friends consuming such food items during lunch (p ≤.05). After controlling for demographic factors, the strongest predictor for buying French fries and chips was the parents’ consumption of 6 or more chips in the last month (Adjusted odds ratio=3.20; 95% confidence interval, 1.04-9.82). More studies should be conducted to examine the overall scope of competitive foods in schools. Additional research that examines parent’s dietary intake and its influence on youth should be implemented.
Development of an efficient face detection and tracking system for mobile devices

In this paper, we propose efficient face detection and tracking system for mobile interaction. To detect face rapidly, the proposed system adopts color filtering based efficient region selection method. Then the proposed system tracks the detected face based on particle filter. By integrating efficient face detector and face tracker, the proposed system can be used as user interface for mobile interaction. A set of experiment on PC and mobile environment are presented. The proposed system greatly reduce overall computational time and number of false positives.
Perceived Automated Service Quality as a Determinant of Customer Satisfaction: A Study on Online Travel Services in India

Technology has induced a paradigm shift in travel and tour industry over the last decade or so. The Indian travel and tour operators have gradually ensured a systemic upgradation on technology platform as far as their operations are concerned by adopting information communication technologies (ICTs), particularly, the internet. This transformation has ensured elevation in significance of perceived electronic or automated service quality as researchers have identified automated service quality to be an important determinant of long-term competitive advantage and customer retention. The study focuses on measurement of automated service quality and its possible linkage with customer satisfaction with an empirical study on online travel service provider . The study is not only significant from the point of view of the industry chosen as it continues to grow exponentially but also critical from the behavioural perspectives of the customers as perception of conventional service quality gradually gets diluted in the digitized operational platform. The study revealed a strong and positive relationship between perceived automated service quality and customers satisfaction and further confirmed that the former is an effective predictor of the latter one.
Community Leadership: Development and the Evolution of Leadership in Himeshima

Abstract Leadership is the driving force behind development and the channel through which the characteristics to improve community capacity flow. Community agents are the mechanisms through which community actions are performed and through which development subsequently occurs. This paper discusses the role of community agents and their importance in both utilising and fostering community capacity to proceed with community improvements. The case of Himeshima, a small island of Japan, highlights the individuals, key institutions, and networks that guided the community from development through rural revitalisation. This paper demonstrates the importance of community agents and that community leadership is an outcome of community capacity development. Community leadership enables members of the community to take initiative according to their shared vision to facilitate the achievement of community objectives. This work contributes to the discussion on rural development, community capacity building, and leadership progression.
Improved Linear Combination of Two Estimators for a Function of Interested Parameter

In this paper, we consider the problem of improving the efficiency of a linear combination of two estimators when the population coefficient of variation is known. We generalized the discussion from the case of a parameter to a function of are interested parameter. We show that two estimators obtained from a improved linear combination of two estimators and a linear combination of two improved estimators are equivalent in terms of efficiency. We also show how a doubly-improved linear combination of two estimators can be constructed when the population coefficient of variation is known.
Localized proton NMR spectroscopy in different regions of the human brain in vivo. Relaxation times and concentrations of cerebral metabolites

High‐resolution proton NMR spectra of normal human brain in vivo have been obtained from selected 27‐ and 64‐ml volumes‐of‐interest (VOI) localized in the insular area, the occipital area, the thalamus, and the cerebellum of normal volunteers. Localization was achieved by stimulated echo (STEAM) sequences using a conventional 1.5‐T whole‐body MRI system (Siemens Magnetom). The proton NMR spectra show resonances from lipids, lactate, acetate, Nacetylaspartate (NAA), γ‐aminobutyrate, glutamine, glutamate, aspartate, creatine and phosphocreatine, choline‐containing compounds, taurine, and inositols. While T1 relaxation times of most of these metabolites were about 1100–1700 ms without significant regional differences, their T2 relaxation times varied between 100 and 500 ms. The longest T2 values of about (500 ± 50) ms were observed for the methyl protons of NAA in the white matter of the occipital lobe compared to (320 ± 30) ms in the other parts of the brain. No significant regional T2 differences were found for choline and creatine methyl resonances. The relative concentrations of NAA in gray and white matter were found to be 35% higher than those in the thalamus and cerebellum. Assuming a concentration of 10 mM for total creatine the resulting NAA concentrations of 13–18 mMare by a factor of 2–3 higher than previously reported using analytical techniques. Cerebral lactate reached a maximum concentration of about 1.0 mM. © 1989 Academic Press, Inc.
A minimum mean squared error estimator for single channel speaker separation

The problem of separating out the signals for multiple speakers from a single mixed recording has received considerable atten- tio ni n recent times. Most current techniques are based on the principle of masking :i n order the separate out the signal for any speaker, frequency components that are not believed to be- long to that speaker are suppressed. The signals for the speaker is reconstructed fro mt hepartial spectral information that re- mains. In this paper we present a different kind of technique - one that attempts to estimate all spectral components for the desired speaker. Separated signals are derived from the com- plete spectral descriptions so obtained. Experiments show that this method results in superior reconstruction to masking based methods. form representations of the various speakers by hidden Markov models (HMMs). The parameters of the HMM for any speaker are learnt from training data recorded from the speaker. In addi- tion, Roweis assumes that the log energy in any frequency band of the mixed signal at any time can be attributed to only one of the speakers. This "log-max" assumption is justified by two observations. First, when two or more speakers speak simulta- neously, at any time, any given frequency band is usually domi- nated by a single speaker. Second, in any given frequency band the disparity in the energy levels of the dominant speaker and the other speakers is such that the logarithm of the sum of the energies of the individual speakers can be well approximated by the logarithm of the energy of the dominant speaker. In or- der to reconstruct the signal for any speaker, Roweis estimates the mask for that speaker, i.e. the identity of the time-frequency locations where the speaker dominates. The entire signal is re- constructed entirely from the masked spectrum for the speaker, i.e. fro mt he spectral components identified by the mask. The results achieved with this method are remarkably good. Hershey et. al. (6) augment audio recordings with visual features, such as lip and facial movement, in order to enhance the separation. Additionally, the ys eparate the signal into mul- tiple frequency bands, which are then processed independently. As in Roweis' algorithm, the signals for the individual speakers are reconstructed from masked spectra.
Web co-word analysis for business intelligence in the Chinese environment

Purpose – The study seeks to apply Web co‐word analysis to the Chinese business environment to test the feasibility of the method there.Design/methodology/approach – The authors selected a group of companies in two Chinese industries, collected co‐word data for the companies, analyzed the data with multidimensional scaling (MDS), and then compared the MDS maps generated from the co‐word data with business situations to find out if the co‐word method works.Findings – The study found that the Web co‐word method could potentially be applied to the Chinese environment. The study also found the advantages and disadvantages of the Web co‐word method vs the Web co‐link method.Originality/value – Knowing the applicability of the Web co‐word method to the Chinese environment contributes to the knowledge of this new Webometrics method. Mining business information from the Web is more valuable when applied to a foreign country where language and culture barriers exist. To use the co‐word method, one does not have to.
The validation of international consultation on incontinence questionnaires in the Greek language.

AIMS The objective of this study was to validate four specific International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaires (ICIQ) modules in the Greek language: (i) the ICIQ-FLUTS long form (ICIQ-FLUTS-LF), (ii) the ICIQ-FLUTS, (iii) the ICIQ-FLUTS-SEX, and (iv) the ICIQ-Vaginal Symptoms Questionnaire (ICIQ-VS), originally validated in English. METHODS The English questionnaires were initially translated into Greek, then back-translated into English and final modifications were made after testing the questionnaires on a sample of patients. To validate the translated questionnaires, the following tests were undertaken: Content/face validity, internal consistency (reliability) and stability (test-retest reliability). RESULTS A total of 122 women participated in the study. Eighty-nine presented with pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and/or urinary incontinence (UI) symptoms and 33 attended an outpatient gynecological clinic without POP/UI symptoms. All modules showed excellent content/face validity (missing values 0-2.5%). Cronbach's alpha test for internal consistency showed satisfactory to excellent reliability (0.876 for ICIQ-FLUTS-LF, 0.85 for ICIQ-FLUTS, and 0.83 for ICIQ-VS), with the exception ICIQ-FLUTS-SEX which was 0.69. The test-retest reliability showed moderate to near-perfect agreement (weighted kappa value 0.52-0.99). CONCLUSIONS The Greek versions of the ICIQ-FLUTS-LF, ICIQ-FLUTS, and ICIQ-VS questionnaires were successfully validated. Our data showed that the ICIQ FLUTS-SEX questionnaire, as it stands in its current English version, cannot be reliably used to assess sex symptoms in the Greek female population.
β-naphthoflavone induction of CYP1A in brain of juvenile lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush Walbaum)

SUMMARY Many environmental pollutants induce expression of the cytochrome P450 (CYP) 1A subfamily of genes. We integrated cellular and molecular biological techniques to examine the effects of β-naphthoflavone (BNF) exposure in lake trout brain CYP1A distribution and dynamics. Over a 32-day time-course, real time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (Q-RT-PCR) results showed that CYP1A mRNA induction in response to BNF exposure occurred rapidly and continued to rise in the BNF-treated lake trout after 4 h, with a peak at or after 2 days. Messenger RNA levels fell after 4 days, and this trend continued after 16 days of exposure. In situ hybridization indicated that CYP1A mRNA was universally elevated in the brain of BNF-exposed fish and was mainly expressed in the endothelia and occasionally in the glial cells. CYP1A immunoreactivity was induced in the olfactory bulb and valvula cerebelli of BNF-treated fish. Other brain areas showed constitutive CYP1A immunoreactivity in both control and BNF-treated fish. Some BNF-treated fish contained multifocal hemorrhages in the brain tissue, and these fish had overall depressed CYP1A immunoreactivity in the brain. The relationship between transcriptional and translational effects of BNF exposure in the brain of juvenile lake trout is discussed.
Visual Discomfort and Natural Image Statistics

Images with excessive energy at medium spatial frequencies (Fernandez and Wilkins, 2008 Perception 37 1098–1113), or that have high color contrast and little or no luminance contrast (Wilkins et al, 2008 Perception 37 Supplement, 144–145) appear uncomfortable or aversive and can induce headaches in hypersensitive observers. Such stimuli are uncharacteristic of natural images, and we examined whether visual discomfort more generally increases with deviations from the spatial and chromatic properties of natural scenes. Observers rated the level of discomfort or artistic merit in color images generated from noise or random overlapping rectangles (Mondrians). In one set, the slopes of the amplitude spectra for luminance or chromatic contrast were varied independently to create images ranging from strongly blurred to sharpened relative to a ‘natural’ 1/f spectrum. Perceived blur was dominated by the luminance slopes, with discomfort rated lowest for ∼1/f spectra. In a second set of focused Mondrians, color was varied along different axes in the L–M versus S–LM chromatic plane. Discomfort ratings were lowest around bluish–yellowish axes that are again typical of natural outdoor scenes. A final set varied in the levels of both luminance and chromatic contrast. Discomfort increased with increasing color contrast or decreasing luminance contrast, and tended toward lower ratings for images with balanced levels of luminance and color contrast. Notably, these ratings of discomfort were not related to judgments of artistic merit. Thus, for both spatial and chromatic content, the least aversive images corresponded to characteristic properties of the natural visual environment, and may reflect a normalization of visual coding to the natural world.
IT Affordances in Online Social Commerce: Conceptualization Validation and Scale Development

IT affordances have gained much attention in theoretically interpreting social media-associated behavior in information systems literature and played a crucial role in conceptually realizing IT-implicated mechanisms of human-computer interaction. But these efforts have been practically impeded in empirical research due to the lack of a validated scale. Here we address a context-specific conceptualization and a fine-grained measurement for IT affordances in online social commerce (OSC). We used a mixed-method approach to conduct a rigorous and comprehensive instrumental-development and validation procedure. We found that IT affordances in OSC are a multidimensional and formative construct, which consists of visibility, metavoicing, triggered attending, guidance shopping, social connecting, and trading. Results of psychometric properties based on two datasets (n=255 and n=326) show the scale is reliable and valid. The findings provide a theoretical springboard for further research and implication for practice.
Logistics Information System Adoption and Firm Performance in the Suppliers Automotive Industry in Spain

The aim of this paper is to study the adoption of logistic information systems (LIS) in the automotive supplier industry of Spain and their implications on firm performance. We conducted a survey on more than 200 companies. Using a structural equation model, estimated by the Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique, we find out that the adoption of LIS produces a direct but weak positive outcome on firm performance and a significant impact over logistic performance and flexibility.
Preparation and Characterization of a Novel Monoclonal Antibody Against the Extracellular Domain of Human Transferrin Receptor.

Human transferrin receptor (hTfR1), a type II homodimeric transmembrane protein, is extensively expressed at low levels in most normal human tissues. However, the expression level of hTfR1 in some tumor tissues and the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is comparatively higher. Therefore, we developed an hTfR1 monoclonal antibody 2C9, which may be utilized to deliver drugs across the BBB through receptor-mediated endocytosis in the future. 2C9 was obtained by hybridoma cells fused by the SP2/0-Ag14 cell line and splenic B cells from hTfR1-immunized BALB/c mice. In this study, we used indirect ELISA, Western blot, and immunofluorescence to explore the characterization and application of MAb 2C9. The results showed that the affinity constant (Kaff) of the MAb 2C9 produced from ascites was 2.85 × 10-8 M and its isotype is IgG2a (Kappa chain). Above all, this report provides a more comprehensive protocol to produce monoclonal antibodies against the extracellular domain of hTfR1.
Marketing “smart” medical innovation: physicians' attitudes and intentions

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate physicians' attitudes toward smart fabric medical innovation and more specifically to examine how perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness affect physicians' attitudes and intention to use smart fabric technology.Design/methodology/approach – Data for this study were collected using a web‐based survey instrument delivered via email to a randomly selected group of physicians (n=207) responses with no missing data). Physicians were chosen because physicians' acceptance is key to social acceptance of smart medical innovations, whether as an instrument to further their efforts to monitor patients through telemedicine or to expand their diagnostic capabilities.Findings – Significant effects were found for the direct relationships between attitude and intention to use and between perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. However, the relationships between attitude on intention to use, perceived usefulness on intention to use and perceived ease of.