Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
MEASURING SERVICE QUALITY IN MANAGEMENT EDUCATION IN SELECT INSTITUTIONS AFFILIATED TO GBTU (FORMERLY UPTU)

In today‟s world of competitive environment, rendering quality service is key competing weapon for success. To gain competitive advantage, customer service and quality are the two most driving forces for the service providers. In order to sustain in the business and to retain their share and profitability it is imperative for the service providers to provide quality service to their customers. Thus, service quality has become predominant part of all advanced organization‟s strategic plan. Considering any other service, measuring service quality is an important issue in management education. Management education is one of the professional and higher education course. Higher education possesses all the characteristics of service industry such as it has both the customer and service providers. The main aim of this study was to examine the students‟ expectation and perception towards the service quality in management education and also to understand how the students perceive the quality service provided in the select management institutes affiliated to GBTU (Formerly UPTU). Therefore, based on the literature SERVQUAL model has been widely used in the study of management education service in particular. In 1988, the first service quality measurement model was developed by Parasuraman et al. known as Service Quality (SERVQUAL). He developed five dimensions showing significance to the measurement of service quality, namely (a) Tangibles (physical facilities and equipment), (b) Reliability (performing the promised service), (c) Responsiveness (willingness to help customers), (d) Assurance (courtesy of employees to convey trust) and (d) Empathy (individualized attention provided to customers). This demonstrates that „measuring service quality‟ plays a vital role in upholding the standards in the process of delivering quality education. For the purpose of this study an enhanced approach to using SERVQUAL is adopted for measuring service quality in management education. The methodology has been applied in select management institutes affiliated to GBTU (Formerly UPTU). The proposed instrument was tested at five management institutes of GBTU. Based on convenience sampling on 500 students employing a survey instruments that measure five dimensions of quality attributes. An analysis demonstrates the usefulness of the approach in gathering students‟ perception, analyzing them and suggestions has been to put forward to the management institutes of GBTU. Five quality dimensions viz., teaching, co-operation & support, facilities, convenient and reliability are identified based on principal component factor analysis. The result shows that students are satisfied with quality service on dimensions like teachings, convenient, facilities, co-operation but least satisfied with the dimension reliability. The empirical findings enables the management institutes to develop a monitoring system for management education and also to take out guidelines on service parameters where they could adopt in order to have competitive advantage over their competitors.
Marketing Communications: theory and applications

Marketing Communications, by Rossiter and Bellman, is the definitive new text in the field. It is the only textbook in marketing communications that draws comprehensively from both the academic literature and the applied literature, and from Europe and Australasia as well as the U.S.A. Marketing Communications covers all contemporary forms of marcoms - brand advertising and direct-response advertising, sales promotion, corporate image advertising, sponsorship, PR, personal selling and telemarketing - and includes a special chapter on social marketing campaigns. A consistent, logical planning approach is followed throughout, and the book is full of useful theoretical frameworks and procedures. No other book on marcoms comes close to this one for being comprehensive and contemporary. Marketing Communications is suitable for undergraduate and post-graduate students as well as marketing practitioners.
Pyrrole‐Imidazole Polyamides: Automated Solid‐Phase Synthesis

In this unit, the fully automated solid‐phase synthetic strategy of hairpin Py‐Im polyamides is described using triphosgene (BTC) as a coupling agent. This automated methodology is compatible with all the typical building blocks, enabling the facile synthesis of polyamide libraries in 9% to 20% yield in 3 days. © 2015 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Purchasing in Construction Companies

A significant part of the cost of a construction project, up to 90%, consists of purchased goods and services. Suppliers thereby have a large impact on the quality, price and time of projects. Purchasing management is therefore important for the outcome of a project. The aim of research covered by this thesis is to describe and analyse purchasing management and its interrelation with the supplier relationships and the production process. The research design was twofold: theory building and case studies. In the latter, the initial phase was inductive through studies of industrialized building, changing to abductive and, thereafter, deductive when tentative theories were tested within construction companies. The findings were that maintaining supplier relationships and, at the same time, retaining competition with several suppliers are desirable. The construction industry has been portrayed by some researchers as price-driven with respect to the choice of suppliers. The research reveals that the choice of suppliers is based to a large extent on long-term relationships, where the trustworthiness of suppliers plays an important part. Through long-term relationships, the project team can rely on the experiences acquired from previous purchases to overcome problems of coordination, communication and integration. It is important for construction companies to recognize that the project team possesses significant knowledge about the nature of services and products delivered by different subcontractors and suppliers. Decisions that are not made in collaboration with those involved in production can lead to lower quality, higher cost and later project delivery than might otherwise be the case. A combination of skills purchasing and construction seems appropriate for project managers. The theoretical contributions of the research consist of: (1) a framework on waste and coordination; (2) a framework comparing value-driven and market-driven purchasing; (3) a portfolio matrix considering the aspects of intensity and time perspective in purchaser-supplier relationships; (4) a framework to serve as a guide to describe and analyse the purchasing process in the companies that were examined; and (5) a portfolio matrix to portray purchasing in construction companies based on the findings. (Less)
Export Determinants Study Reveals Strategy's Weakness

In this paper, the authors try to reveal export expansion determinants of local firms using sample data of the questionnaire answered by 342 Jiangsu-based manufacturing enterprises. Studies show that supply-chain partnership is an important force driving exports of local Chinese manufacturers; firm size and export intensity take on a “U-shaped” nonlinear dependence relation; industrial cluster as a location factor has a saliently positive effect on exports. It is noteworthy that factors stressed in classical trade theory like technical innovation, human capital and capital intensity have not become export determinants of local Chinese manufacturing enterprises. Further, we discovered that firms vary widely in terms of export determinants with their different sizes, which warns us that our local manufacturing enterprises may be captured and locked at the low end of the global value chain (GVC) by large international buyers, thus handicapped from further sharpening their export competitive edge.
Whom are you promoting? Positive voluntary public disclosures and executive turnover

Research summary: This paper uses signaling theory to bring together two complementary research streams that have largely ignored each other: strategic human resource management and media relations management. We argue that when publicly traded firms voluntarily and publicly disclose positive information about their value creation and appropriation activities, they also send positive signals to managerial labor markets regarding executives' capabilities. Accordingly, we hypothesize a positive association between public disclosures and voluntary executive turnover. An analysis of pharmaceutical and communications equipment firms from 1990 to 2004 supports this prediction, underscoring the need to understand better the effects of voluntary public disclosures on a firm's ability to protect its human capital. More generally, our results highlight the importance of considering the impact of a single signal on multiple receivers. Managerial summary: Given the organizational benefits of positive media coverage, the considerable effort that firms put into managing their image in the media is not surprising. We argue and show, however, that when a firm enhances its public image it also improves its executives' positions in the managerial labor market and, by so doing, increases their likelihood of voluntarily leaving the firm. In particular, we find that corporate press releases, an important mechanism for managing information released in the public domain to signal a firm's competitive advantages, may result in unintentional loss of senior management talent. This trade-off suggests that firms should increase coordination between their strategy, human resources, and corporate communications/investor relations departments to ensure that they collectively weigh the benefits and costs of publicly disclosing value-relevant information. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Low complexity flexible filter banks for uniform and non-uniform channelisation in software radios using coefficient decimation

A new approach to implement computationally efficient reconfigurable filter banks (FBs) is presented. If the coefficients of a finite impulse response filter are decimated by M, that is, if every Mth coefficient of the filter is kept unchanged and remaining coefficients are replaced by zeros, a multi-band frequency response will be obtained. The frequency response of the decimated filter will have bands with centre frequencies at 2πk/M, where k is an integer ranging from 0 to M−1. If these multi-band frequency responses are subtracted from each other or selectively masked using inherently low complex wide transition-band masking filters, different low-pass, high-pass, band-pass and band-stop frequency bands are obtained. The resulting FB, whose bands’ centre frequencies are located at integer multiples of 2π/M, is a low complexity alternative to the well-known uniform discrete Fourier transform FBs (DFTFBs). It is shown that the channeliser based on the proposed FB does not require any DFT for its implementation unlike a DFTFB. It is also shown that the proposed FB is more flexible and easily reconfigurable than the DFTFB. Furthermore, the proposed FB is able to receive channels of multiple standards simultaneously, whereas separate FBs would be required for simultaneous reception of multi-standard channels in a DFTFB-based receiver. This is achieved through a second stage of coefficient decimation. Implementation result shows that the proposed FB offers an area reduction of 41% and improvement in the speed of 50.8% over DFTFBs.
Commodity Payments, Farm Business Survival, and Farm Size Growth

In the last 25 years, U.S. crop farms have steadily declined in number and grown in average size, as production has shifted to larger operations. Larger farms tend to receive more commodity program payments because most payments are tied to a farm’s current or historical production, but whether payments have contributed to farm growth is uncertain. This study uses farm-level data from the census of agriculture to determine whether there is a statistical relationship between farm commodity program payments and greater concentration in production. The analysis indicates that, at the regional level, higher commodity program payments per acre are associated with subsequent farm growth. Also, higher payments per acre are associated with higher rates of farm survival and growth.
Content of the Business Communication Course: An Analysis of Coverage

This study examined 229 responses from members of the Association for Business Communication (United States) who rated the importance of 30 business commu nication concepts. The concepts were divided into six categories: communication theory, written communication, oral communication, employment communica tion, technology, and current business communication issues. Respondents also reported the amount of class coverage they provided for each topic. Of the 30 con cepts, 23 were rated as moderately or greatly important. Gaps occurred in some categories between their perceived importance and their actual class coverage. The five most important concepts centered on written communication and were ranked as follows (from highest to lowest ): Use correct grammar and sentence structure, write memoranda, write persuasive news, write good news/positive message let ters, and write reports.
State Government Managers' Practices in Workforce Planning and Talent Management: An Interpretive Case Study

Faced with looming talent shortages and changing workforce demographics, strategic workforce planning and talent management are taking prominent roles within organizations’ efforts to shape strategies. State governments must find ways to attract develop and engage employees in a new era of competitiveness. This was an interpretive case study to explore workforce planning and talent management practices in a state government from the unique perspective of managers: to understand how they apply workforce planning and talent management and the challenges they face in those practices. The study site was a state government, located in the Midwest region of the United States. Interviews were conducted with 12 participants who were full-time permanent managers representing multiple agencies with diverse missions in state government. Their experiences and stories provided rich insights into state government: navigating administration changes, managing more with fewer employees and resources and working in the public eye. The overarching themes that emerged from the study included (a) conditions of management in state government, (b) varying practices in workforce planning and talent management, (c) factors that limit talent management, and (d) activities to elevate talent management in state government. These study’s findings may not be applicable to other state governments however the study identifies the compelling need to ensure state governments’ capacities to effectively compete for talent. The need to engage leadership commitment, ensure systems alignment, and increase managerial capacity for talent management will be of paramount importance in state government’s ability to attract, develop, and retain key talent in an increasingly competitive employment market.
Managing the value delivery process

This paper introduces a reference model for the life cycle of a logical business unit (LBU). It goes on to explain how the model was deduced from empirical data generated during participation by the authors in a series of change management interventions in various organisations situated in the West of Scotland. Case studies are used from these interventions to illustrate how the application of reliability‐engineering concepts was used to explore the performance of business processes in delivering stakeholder value. It is recommended that “generate” “decommission” and “remedial” business processes are added to a widely used business process framework. This new framework when used for lifecycle planning of LBUs in conjunction with the LBU life cycle model can assist businesses in reliable delivery of stakeholder value.
Variable spreading factor-OFCDM with two dimensional spreading that prioritizes time domain spreading for forward link broadband wireless access

This paper proposes the optimum design for adaptively controlling the spreading factor in orthogonal frequency and code division multiplexing (OFCDM) with two-dimensional spreading according to the cell configuration, channel load, and propagation channel conditions, assuming the adaptive modulation and channel coding (AMC) scheme employing QPSK and 16QAM data modulation. Furthermore, we propose a two-dimensional channelization code assignment scheme to achieve skillfully orthogonal multiplexing of multiple physical channels. Computer simulation results elucidate that bit-interleaving in the frequency domain is superior to chip-interleaving especially for a full channel load because bit-interleaving exhibits a large randomization effect of burst errors, while still maintaining code orthogonality. In time domain spreading, the optimum spreading factor, except for an extremely high mobility case such as for the fading maximum Doppler frequency f/sub D/ = 1500 Hz, becomes SF/sub Time/ = 16, and it should be decreased to SF/sub Time/ = 8 for such a very fast fading environment using 16QAM modulation. When the channel load is light such as C/sub mux//SF = 0.25 (C/sub mux/ and SF denote the number of multiplexed codes and total spreading factor, respectively), the required average received signal energy per symbol-to-background noise power spectrum density ratio (E/sub s//N/sub 0/) is reduced as the spreading factor in the frequency domain is increased up to say SF/sub Freq/ = 32 for QPSK and 16QAM modulation, respectively (Note that, nevertheless, 16QAm modulation under such a lighter channel load condition is replaced by QPSK modulation together with two fold the channel load as 16QAM to achieve the same information bit rate). Meanwhile, when the channel load is close to full such as when C/sub mux//SF = 0.94, the optimum spreading factor in the frequency domain is SF/sub Freq/ = 1 for 16QAM modulation and SF/sub Freq/ = 1 to 8 for QPSK modulation according to the delay spread. Consequently, by setting several combinations of spreading factors in the time and frequency domains, the near maximum link capacity is achieved both in cellular and hot-spot cell configurations assuming various channel conditions.
Suicide and self-harm following prescription of SSRIs and other antidepressants: confounding by indication.

AIM To identify the incidence and risk of suicide and self harm, among patients prescribed antidepressant drugs. METHODS A retrospective cohort study, with nested case control, of patients identified from a nonrandom sample of general practices in New Zealand from 1996 to 2001. A total of 57 361 patients who received a prescription for a single antidepressant were identified from the RNZCGP Research Unit Database. Suicides within 120 days of a prescription were identified from the New Zealand National Mortality Database and self-harm events within 120 days of a prescription were identified from the New Zealand Hospital discharge database. RESULTS 26 suicides and 330 episodes of self-harm were identified within 120 days of an antidepressant prescription. On univariate analysis the association, expressed as OR (95% CI), between selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and self harm and suicide were 2.26 (1.27-4.76) and 1.92 (0.77-4.83), respectively. When corrected for the confounding effects of age, gender and depression/suicidal ideation there was an association between SSRIs and self harm, OR 1.66 (95% CI 1.23-2.23), but not for suicide, 1.28 (0.38-4.35). Paroxetine was a significant risk factor for suicide on univariate analysis, 4.23 (1.19-14.95), but not when corrected for age, gender and depression/suicidal ideation, 2.76 (0.30-24.87). CONCLUSIONS Age, gender and pre-existing depression/suicidal ideation are important confounders in observational studies of the association between antidepressants and suicide or self harm.
Quality of Life after Stroke: The Importance of a Good Recovery

Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is a recognized and important outcome after stroke. An increased survival and the presence of moderate impairment in long-term stroke survivors impact their HRQoL. Methods: HRQoL measures and HRQoL determinants in stroke survivors are reviewed. Results: Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability in western countries. Specific HRQoL scales have been developed in the last years, such as the Stroke Impact Scale, the Stroke Specific Quality of Life Scale, the Stroke and Aphasia HRQoL Scale, and the Burden of Stroke Scale. Disability and poststroke depression are consistent determinants of HRQoL. Other determinants include female sex, coping strategies, and social support. Poststroke depression affects HRQoL, functional recovery, cognitive function and healthcare use in stroke survivors. Stroke caregivers have lower HRQoL, greater prevalence of stress and depression, economical burden, and changes in social relationships. Advancing age and anxiety in patients and caregivers, high dependency and poor family support identify caregivers at risk of adverse outcomes. Conclusions: Physical and psychosocial well-being is greatly affected in stroke survivors and their caregivers.
Factors that Influence the Acceptance of Social-Networking Advertising

Investments on online advertising have increased in the last decade. Large amounts of money have been invested in different media such as search engine sites. Recently, due to the growing membership on social-networking sites (SNS), social-networking advertising (SNA) has appeared as an important medium for online advertising. Although many organizations are investing in SNA, effectiveness of SNA remains unclear. The purpose of this study, therefore, is to analyze factors that affect the acceptance of SNA using the theory of planned behavior (TPB). Results of this study may provide additional insight into the understanding of online consumer behavior and improving the effectiveness of SNA.
Layout placement optimization with isolation rings for high-voltage VLSI circuits

In the literature, there are many EDA works related to the layout placement of analog VLSI circuits. However, few of them are discussing about the placement of high-voltage VLSI circuits. Compared with typical circuits, the design of high-voltage circuits often requires isolation rings around transistors for better protection. Because isolation rings will occupy large chip area, it is necessary to develop proper EDA tools for the placement optimization with isolation rings to reduce the chip cost. In this paper, a placement optimization flow is proposed to consider both symmetry constraints and isolation rings for the layout automation of high-voltage circuits. Through changing the location of transistors inside every isolation rings, different shapes of isolation rings will be considered simultaneously during the placement algorithm to optimize the layout area. According to the experimental results, the proposed placement algorithm is able to reduce the chip area for high-voltage designs with isolation rings and still keeps the algorithm efficiency.
Effect of Market Comovements on International Mutual Fund Managers' Portfolio Holdings

Do market comovements affect international portfolio investment? We examine whether there are systematic changes made to the holdings of equities listed on U.S. stock exchanges by foreign fund managers when their home markets become more correlated with the U.S. We concentrate on international equity mutual fund managers based in 41 countries. We find that foreign fund managers increase their holdings of U.S. stocks post structural breaks in the return comovements between their home markets and the U.S. equity market. Our results are robust to various controls for the determinants of cross-border asset flows associated with information asymmetry.