Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Marketing and corporate profitability: the case of Greek firms

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the contribution of marketing and research and development (R&D) strategies to the profitability of Greek companies. Design/methodology/approach - With the use of secondary data the current research uses variables related to advertising and branding and also R&D expenses for Greek companies. Findings - Results show that there is no significant relationship between R&D intensity and profitability. R&D is not a leading factor to profitability, despite what the literature review supports. Originality/value - Different variables contribute to a company's profitability. There is little research related to the impact of corporate profitability and marketing. The present study is a first attempt to measure the impact of marketing activities and the corporate profitability on the Greek business environment.
Real Wages, Demand and Employment in the UK 1921–1938: A Disaggregated Analysis

This paper uses the Layard and Nickell model of the labour market to examine the determinants of employment at a sectoral level for the interwar UK economy. Sectoral level data permits examination of the differing responses to changes in the determinants of employment. Estimation of employment functions indicates significant elasticities with respect to aggregate demand variables across a wide range of sectors but less support for a negative real wage effect, particularly in those industries responsible for major losses in employment. The evidence is therefore more consistent with the low-aggregate-demand explanation of labour market behaviour than it is with the high-real-wage hypothesis. Copyright 1997 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd and the Board of Trustees of the Bulletin of Economic Research
Phosphorylation-induced Change of the Oligomerization State of αB-crystallin*

αB-crystallin in cells can be phosphorylated at three serine residues in response to stress or during mitosis (Ito, H., Okamoto, K., Nakayama, H., Isobe, T., and Kato, K. (1997) J. Biol. Chem. 272, 29934–29941 and Kato, K. , Ito, H. , Kamei, K. , Inaguma, Y. , Iwamoto, I. , and Saga, S. (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273, 28346–28354). In the present study, we determined effects of phosphorylation of αB-crystallin on its oligomerization state, mainly by using site-directed mutagenesis, in which all three phosphorylation sites were substituted with aspartate to mimic the phosphorylation state (3D-αB). From results of sucrose density gradient centrifugation, we found that wild type αB-crystallin (wt-αB) and 3D-αB sedimented in fractions corresponding to apparent molecular masses of about 500 and 300 kDa, respectively. Chaperone-like activity of 3D-αB was significantly weaker than that of wt-αB. When wt-αB and 3D-αB were expressed in COS-m6 cells, they sedimented at positions corresponding to apparent molecular masses of about 500 and 100 kDa, respectively. In U373 MG human glioma cells, αB-crystallin was observed as large oligomers with apparent molecular masses about 500 kDa and the oligomerization size was reduced after phosphorylation induced by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate and okadaic acid. Coexpression of luciferase and wt-αB or 3D-αB in Chinese hamster ovary cells caused protection of the enzyme from heat inactivation although the degree of protection with 3D-αB was less than that with wt-αB. From these observations, it is suggested that phosphorylation of αB-crystallin causes dissociation of large oligomers to smaller sizes molecules and reduction of chaperone-like activity, like in the case of HSP27.
Canada in the Global Economy:An Overview

On the cusp of the millennium and as the century that was supposed to belong to Canada draws to a close, we find ourselves as a medium-sized nation exercising an influence out of all proportion to our size. This special issue on Canada in the Global Economy gives us a chance to sum up where we have been and look forward to where we might be oing. All the papers contained in this issue were delivered at the annual policy conference of the Canadian Association for Business Economics.
Social entrepreneurship: a different model?

Purpose – This paper is concerned with developing a framework which allows both economic and social entrepreneurship to be analysed. Design/methodology/approach – The framework is developed to accommodate the often neglected collective or pluralistic dimension of entrepreneurship. It draws on the behavioural approach to adopt a straightforward definition of social entrepreneurship – focusing on the creation of a social enterprise (co-operative, mutual or voluntary organisation). The paper is exploratory, developing a conceptual framework, based on some case studies of social enterprises in a range of business sectors, in the UK. Findings – The findings from this small scale study provide interesting models of entrepreneurship that contrast with conventional models for SMEs. Research limitations/implications – The research has implications for research on conventional entrepreneurship, as well as creating a basis for developing the new field of social entrepreneurship. Practical implications – The paper provides policy implications for more effective support of social entrepreneurship. Originality/value – The paper establishes the importance of some distinctive factors in social entrepreneurship for policy and further research.
Conditions for successful human resource information systems

Despite the widespread use of computer-based human resource information systems (HRIS), previous research has not identified the conditions that support successful sytems. This article presents the results of a survey of users who interact directly with a computer-based HRIS to do their work. The relationships between individual/task, organizational, and system conditions, plus two measures of systems success are examined. The results indicate that system conditions were the most important antecedents of success. The availability of internal support for users also represented a critical condition. Overall, the findings of this study provide support for a model of HRIS success and present a basis for planning, designing, and implementing successful systems. Finally, this study brings with it new questions for HRIS research. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Changes in segmental timing in slow and fast metronome-synchronized speech

Temporal characteristics of individual segments are affected by various global and local factors, such as tempo, syllable structure or position of a segment within the word. This has been shown for many languages, but since the general trends may be language specific, the present study investigates such effects for Czech. The material included 28 natural phonotactically complex words spoken by 24 subjects in synchrony with metronome beats at two different tempi. The lexical units were carefully selected with regard to their phonological structure. The results demonstrate interactions of tempo with the effects of final lengthening, segment type and onset complexity, suggesting non-linearity in the temporal changes.
Cosmic-Ray Exposure Ages of Large Presolar SiC Grains

Abstract Among presolar SiC grains found in the Murchison carbonaceous meteorites (average size less than 0.5 μm) are very large grains, ranging in size up to 50 μm. We interpret 6Li excesses measured in eight of these grains as being the result of spallation reactions by Galactic cosmic rays during the time the grains spent in the interstellar medium before their incorporation into the meteorite. Derived interstellar exposure ages range from 40 My to 1 Gy, the highest values being consistent with theoretical expectations of interstellar grain lifetimes. Although six grains have almost identical C and Si isotopic compositions, their exposure ages are very different. This observation, combined with low trace element contents, and unusual grain sizes, raises fundamental questions about their stellar sources.
Public and private faces in web spaces:how Goffman's work can be used to think about purchasing medicine online

Medicines and drugs are subject to national, state or federal regulation. The misuse, illegal consumption and purchase of drugs and medicines is not a new phenomenon, but it is one which the Web may enable or magnify, opening up as it does access to online information and purchasing. People can use the Web to discuss buying medicines online and provide new opportunities to avoid stigmatisation and manage their illnesses and medicine purchasing in a private or backstage spaces. This paper discusses how Erving Goffman’s analyses of social behaviour and interaction are useful for understanding digital interactions and can be fruitfully applied to the specific problem of understanding the act of buying medicines online. Goffman’s connections to symbolic interactionism, and the development of his ideas regarding dramaturgy and interaction as performance, as well as his concepts of the presentation of self and stigma are investigated to show how these ideas are pertinent for scholars interested in studying the Web and digital communication. The paper also draws on recent studies which have applied Goffman’s concepts to the digital realm before proceeding to propose how Goffman’s ideas can be used to understand new health behaviours, such as the purchasing of prescription medicines via the Web, via the presentation and discussion of initial findings of a study concerning the observation of online forums
Lenses from Brown‐Norway pigmented rats are more tolerant to in vitro ultraviolet irradiation than lenses from Fischer‐344 albino rats

Purpose: To investigate if the previously shown difference in in vivo‐induced ultraviolet B radiation (UVR‐B) cataractogenesis between pigmented and albino rats can be seen also with in vitro irradiation. The shielding effect of the iris and UVR absorption in the anterior segment is nullified, and inherent differences in lenticular UVR‐B sensitivity between the strains may be revealed.
Development of the Intestinal Bacterial Composition in Hospitalized Preterm Infants in Comparison with Breast-Fed, Full-Term Infants

The establishment and succession of bacterial communities in hospitalized preterm infants has not been extensively studied. Because earlier studies depended on classical cultural techniques, their results were limited. This study monitored the establishment and succession of the neonatal microbiota in the first weeks of life by analyzing the 16S rDNA variety in fecal samples applying PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE). Fecal samples from 29 preterm infants hospitalized in a neonatal intensive care unit, including samples from antibiotic-treated infants and one with neonatal necrotizing enterocolitis, were subjected to PCR-DGGE analysis. Daily DGGE profiles from all preterm infants during the first 4 wk were obtained and analyzed. In addition, feces of 15 breast-fed, full-term infants and a variety of clinical bacterial isolates were examined and compared with the PCR-DGGE profiles of the preterm infants. During the first days of life, the DGGE profiles were rather simple but increased in their complexity over time. It became obvious that not only the intraindividual band-pattern similarity increased over time, but also the interindividual. During the observation period, similarity values (Cs) increased in each preterm infant from 0 to 80%, whereas interindividual Cs increased from 18.1 to 57.4%, revealing the acquisition of a highly similar bacterial community in these infants. In contrast, Cs-values obtained for breast-fed, full-term infants were rather low (11.2%). Escherichia coli, Enterococcus sp. , and Klebsiella pneumoniae were the bacteria most commonly found in all preterm infants. The interindividual bacterial composition in hospitalized preterm infants is more similar in comparison with breast-fed, full-term infants and is not necessarily influenced by birth weight, diet, or antibiotic treatment.
The EU Annual Budgetary Procedure: The Existing Rules and Proposed Reforms of the Convention and Intergovernmental Conference 2002-04

This article analyses the proposed reform of the annual budgetary procedure of the European Union (EU) during the 2002-04 Convention and Intergovernmental Conference (IGC). We offer two findings. First, the European Parliament already has the power to reduce agricultural and fisheries spending subject to support from a blocking minority in the Council. Hence, a reduction of the Union's spending on agriculture and other areas of compulsory expenditure is not dependent on a reform of the budgetary procedure. Second, the proposal from the Convention would have increased EP budgetary powers while the procedure adopted by the IGC strengthens the hand of the Council, removing Parliament's right to overrule it. In constitutional bargaining, we see that Parliament gains in a deliberative forum where unanimity is not required, while it loses in a closed IGC. Copyright (c) 2007 The Author(s); Journal compilation (c) 2007 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Implementing user based collaborative filtering to build a generic product recommender using Apache mahout

Due to steady growth of e-commerce market, advancement in data mining and data intelligence technologies, recommender systems are becoming more powerful and accurate. Not only it has the prospects to help the customers as discussed in the previous paper, Collaborative Filtering Based Simple Restaurant Recommender, the businesses can also drive the sales of their products and generate more revenue. This paper is an extension to Collaborative Filtering Based Simple Restaurant Recommender aimed at giving procedures and steps to build a generic product recommender based on user based collaborative filtering, by using open source platform, Apache mahout.
Inside the P/E Ratio: The Franchise Factor

This article looks "inside" the DDM-based price/earnings ratio and provides a surprisingly simple model of the future investment opportunities required to support an above-market PIE. The analysis is done under the idealized assumptions of certain returns, no taxes and no leverage. Further, all stocks are taken to be priced according to the dividend discount model. Under these conditions, the ingredients of PIE expansion can be separated into two factors-(1) a Franchise Factor that represents the PIE impact of new investments at a specified return and (2) a growth measure that reflects the magnitude of these new investment opportunities. The Franchise Factor depends on the return available on new investments. For at-market-rate r turns, the Franchise Factor is zero. Consequently, investments that provide such returns do not add to the PIE. Only investments that provide above-market returns lead to a positive Franchise Factor and an above-market PIE. Two surprising results of the analysis are the small size of the Franchise Factor and the extraordinary magnitude of growth required to raise PIE significantly. For example, a firm with an ROE 300 basis points above the market rate must have franchise investment opportunities equivalent, in present-value terms, to five times its current book value to support a PIE that is twice the market rate. The decomposition of the PIE suggested in this article allows the analyst to cut through the confusion that can arise from the standard DDM formulation, which intertwines assumptions regarding a constant-growth process, implicit return levels and dividendpayout policies. As a result, the Franchise Factor approach can provide a sharper understanding of the real ingredients that lead to higher equity values and better PIE multiples.
Balancing localization and globalization:exploring the impact of firm internationalization on a regional cluster

This paper explores the impact of firm internationalization on regional industrial clusters. The past decade has witnessed the popularization of two intertwined trends in geographic competitiveness: globalization and localization. While previous research has sought to understand and analyse how multinational enterprises pursue strategies to capture critical expertise and resources in dynamic regional environments, to date only limited efforts have sought to explore how internationalization affects ‘cluster’ relationships among locally founded, rapidly growing firms. Specifically, this paper explores whether the internationalization of local firms weakens the local relationships associated with industrial clusters. It reports the findings of research conducted on the internationalization of a cluster of companies in the photonics industry. Twenty-three senior executives were interviewed, face-to-face. Grounded theory methodology was applied to the data to create a new conceptual framework to explore how internationalization impacts the embedded social relationships of locally established firms. The findings suggest that, as firms internationalize, intimate local relationships become less significant. As local companies mature and their sales and markets expand, they develop new capabilities and operations. Firms pursuing strategies to develop capabilities outside their home region gain access to outside resources and, in turn, elect to reorient their level of intra- vs. inter-cluster interaction.
Progenitor-cell mobilization after low-dose cyclophosphamide and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor: an analysis of progenitor-cell quantity and quality and factors predicting for these parameters in 101 pretreated patients with malignant lymphoma.

PURPOSE To define parameters that predict for rapid engraftment after peripheral-blood stem-cell (PBSC) transplantation, progenitor thresholds, the proportion of patients who achieve these thresholds with a standardized mobilization regimen, and the factors that predict for mobilization efficiency. PATIENTS AND METHODS One hundred and one patients with pretreated lymphoma were mobilized with cyclophosphamide 1.5 g/m2 and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), with the first apheresis performed when the recovery WBC count was > or = 5.0 x 10(9)/L. The relationship between the number of progenitor cells collected and patient age, sex, diagnosis, prior radiotherapy, and time since last chemotherapy was determined by multivariate analysis. The relationship between these factors, progenitor numbers returned, post-PBSC G-CSF, and hematologic recovery was performed in 81 patients following chemotherapy with carmustine (BCNU), etoposide, cytarabine, and melphalan (BEAM protocol). RESULTS No BEAM recipients had delayed neutrophil recovery beyond 28 days. Delayed platelet recovery occurred in 7.4% and minimum and optimum thresholds of 1 x 10(6) and 3.5 x 10(6) CD34+ cells/kg and 1 x 10(5) and 3.5 x 10(5) granulocyte-macrophage colony-forming cells (GM-CFC)/kg were established. Hematologic recovery was adversely affected by prior treatment with mini-BEAM, and neutrophil recovery was accelerated by post-PBSC G-CSF. The minimum GM-CFC threshold was achieved with a single apheresis in 83% of patients and in 90% with two aphereses. The optimal threshold was achieved with two leukaphereses in 69% of patients. Prior radiotherapy adversely affected mobilization. CONCLUSION Hematopoietic recovery following PBSC is dependent on progenitor-cell number infused and affect of previous chemotherapy on progenitor quality. Progenitor-cell mobilization is adversely affected by prior radiotherapy. The minimum threshold of GM-CFC required is achieved in most patients with a single apheresis, but an optimal collection usually requires at least two harvests.
The role of (transnational) social capital in the start-up processes of immigrant businesses: The case of Chinese and Turkish restaurant businesses in Finland

The article focuses on the business start-up process of Chinese and Turkish restaurant owners in Finland. Of particular interest are the role of social capital in establishing restaurant businesses and how variations in access to bonding and bridging social capital can explain differences between the two groups. The study is based on two sets of research: one which concentrates on Chinese restaurant owners and the other on the owners of Turkish, kebab fast-food outlets in southern Finland. Regardless of the general similarities of the groups, a closer look at the start-up processes and business activities reveals distinct patterns and processes associated with the entry pattern in Finland: that is, who entered Finland, why they entered the country and how. The two studies indicate that relevant social capital can be accumulated in different ways depending on the migration pattern of the group.
Characterization of Selective Exosite-Binding Inhibitors of Matrix Metalloproteinase 13 That Prevent Articular Cartilage Degradation in Vitro

Matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP-13) has been shown to be the main collagenase responsible for degradation of articular cartilage during osteoarthritis and therefore represents a target for drug development. As a result of high-throughput screening and structure–activity relationship studies, we identified a novel, highly selective class of MMP-13 inhibitors (compounds 1 (Q), 2 (Q1), and 3 (Q2)). Mechanistic characterization revealed a noncompetitive nature of these inhibitors with binding constants in the low micromolar range. Crystallographic analyses revealed two binding modes for compound 2 in the MMP-13 S1′ subsite and in an S1/S2* subsite. Type II collagen- and cartilage-protective effects exhibited by compounds 1, 2, and 3 suggested that these compounds might be efficacious in future in vivo studies. Finally, these compounds were also highly selective when tested against a panel of 30 proteases, which, in combination with a good CYP inhibition profile, suggested low off-target toxicity and drug–drug interactions in humans.
Does it matter who you talk to?: The role of nancial advice sources in portfolio resonses to taxes

This paper tests whether a household’s source of financial advice affects the tax responsiveness of its equity portfolio. I use data from the 2001 and 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) which provides information to construct household financial portfolios and marginal tax rates. The survey additionally asks respondents about the sources of information used when making decisions about investment and borrowing. I assess which sources of advice likely reflect different levels of financial sophistication. I then test whether household responses to the Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 were the same across household using different sources of financial advice. I find evidence that households who seek advice from financial professionals, through networking (family, friends, and work colleagues), or use their own devices are significantly more tax responsive than those who rely on media sources for financial advice. ∗I am grateful to my dissertation committee members, Amy Dittmar, Matthew Shapiro, Joel Slemrod and Jeff Smith for invaluable guidance, to Kevin Moore for assistance with using the Survey of Consumer Finances data, and to Daniel Feenberg for assistance with the NBER TAXSIM model. Josh Cherry, Sebastien Bradley, Osborne Jackson, Michael Gideon, Todd Pugatch, and Michael Stevens provided useful feedback. †Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Economics, University of Michigan: lkawano@umich.edu Does it matter who you talk to? Laura Kawano
Differentiation strategy, high-performance human resource practices, and firm performance: moderation by employee commitment

Drawing on the inducement–contribution perspective, we examined a moderated mediation model demonstrating how differentiation strategy affected firm performance indirectly through high-performance human resource (HPHR) practices. Data were collected from 81 service firms in an eastern province of China. Path analytic tests supported the findings that employee commitment (EC) moderated the fully mediated relationship between differentiation strategy and firm performance through HPHR practices. Specifically, a stronger EC enhanced positive associations between differentiation strategy and HPHR practices, and between HPHR practices and firm performance.