Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The role of organisational learning in the adoption of environmental logistics practices: empirical evidence from Korea

This paper considers the potential role of organisational learning (OL) in the relationship between stakeholder pressure and the adoption of environmental logistics practices. It is believed that, as a strategic resource, OL explains how logistics firms address environmental challenges and thus attain their environmental aims. Accordingly, we employed a hierarchical moderated regression analysis using a data set of 127 Korean logistics firms. The findings suggest that high learning-oriented logistics firms are more capable of adopting specific environmental practices, which may be associated with creating sustainable competitive advantages.
Index System of Logistics Performance in Supply Chain

Being an important part of supply chain, the logistics especially its operation performance has great influence on the supply chain. According to correlative theories, the authors bring forward an index system for logistics performance in supply chain based on competition. Then, they use DEMATAL method to analyze the interaction between the indexes and optimize them. Finally, they adopt analytic network process (ANP) to evaluate the weight of each index.
Balanced Vision from Balanced Scorecard for Corporate Strategic Management

Abstract: The Balanced Scorecard is a framework for strategic performance management that has been designed to help an organisation to monitor its performance and manage the execution of its strategy. The concept of Balanced Scorecard is very much significant in the present era of emerging intense global competition. The Balanced Scorecard is an organizational framework for implementing and managing strategy at all levels of an enterprise by linking objectives, initiatives and measures to an organization’s strategy. This article tries to evaluate the various facets of Balance Scorecard approach in corporate strategic management. Despite theoretical superiority and richness, the Balanced Scorecard approach for measuring corporate performance has some practical complexities which are mostly associated with its development and implementation. A strategic orientation driven by actual shareholders’ needs and expectations, focused on the organization’s mission and supported by an integrated performance-measurement system like the Balanced Scorecard can greatly support the management in routing their organization in right direction and facing the competitive challenges of contemporary period.
Protective Effect of Akkermansia muciniphila against Immune-Mediated Liver Injury in a Mouse Model

Accumulating evidence indicates that gut microbiota participates in the pathogenesis and progression of liver diseases. The severity of immune-mediated liver injury is associated with different microbial communities. Akkermansia muciniphila can regulate immunologic and metabolic functions. However, little is known about its effects on gut microbiota structure and function. This study investigated the effect of A. muciniphila on immune-mediated liver injury and potential underlying mechanisms. Twenty-two C57BL/6 mice were assigned to three groups (N = 7–8 per group) and continuously administrated A. muciniphila MucT or PBS by oral gavage for 14 days. Mouse feces were collected for gut microbiota analysis on the 15th day, and acute liver injury was induced by Concanavalin A (Con A, 15 mg/kg) injection through the tail vein. Samples (blood, liver, ileum, colon) were assessed for liver injury, systemic inflammation, and intestinal barrier function. We found that oral administration of A. muciniphila decreased serum ALT and AST and alleviated liver histopathological damage induced by Con A. Serum levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines (IL-2, IFN-γ, IL-12p40, MCP-1, MIP-1a, MIP-1b) were substantially attenuated. A. muciniphila significantly decreased hepatocellular apoptosis; Bcl-2 expression increased, but Fas and DR5 decreased. Further investigation showed that A. muciniphila enhanced expression of Occludin and Tjp-1 and inhibited CB1 receptor, which strengthened intestinal barriers and reduced systemic LPS level. Fecal 16S rRNA sequence analysis indicated that A. muciniphila increased microbial richness and diversity. The community structure of the Akk group clustered distinctly from that of mice pretreated with PBS. Relative abundance of Firmicutes increased, and Bacteroidetes abundance decreased. Correlation analysis showed that injury-related factors (IL-12p40, IFN-γ, DR5) were negatively associated with specific genera (Ruminococcaceae_UCG_009, Lachnospiraceae_UCG_001, Akkermansia), which were enriched in mice pretreated with A. muciniphila. Our results suggested that A. muciniphila MucT had beneficial effects on immune-mediated liver injury by alleviating inflammation and hepatocellular death. These effects may be driven by the protective profile of the intestinal community induced by the bacteria. The results provide a new perspective on the immune function of gut microbiota in host diseases.
Prediction of Propensity for Enterprise Cloud Computing Adoption

Cloud computing (CC) can offer significant benefits to enterprises. However, it can pose some risks as well, and this has led to lower adoption than the initial expectations. For this reason, it would be very useful to develop ‘predictive analytics’ in this area, enabling us to predict which enterprises will exhibit a propensity for CC adoption. In this direction, we investigate the use of six well-established classifiers (fast large margin Support Vector Machine, Naive Bayes, Decision Tree, Random Forest, k-Nearest Neighbor, and Linear Regression) for the prediction of enterprise level propensity for CC adoption. Having as our theoretical foundation the Technology – Organization – Environment (TOE) framework, we are using for this prediction of set of technological (concerning existing enterprise information systems), organizational and environmental characteristics. Our first results, using a dataset collected from 676 manufacturing firms of the glass, ceramic and cement sectors from six European countries (Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Spain, and UK) through the e-Business W@tch Survey of the European Commission, are encouraging. It is concluded that among the examined characteristics the technological ones, concerning the existing enterprise systems, seem to be the most important predictors.
Nocturnal Hypoxia and Arterial Lactate Levels in Sleep-Related Breathing Disorders

Background: Lactate may be useful in pointing out the higher risk subgroups in sleep-related breathing disorders (SRBD) with various patterns of hypoxemia. We aimed to search whether morning and night lactate levels are related to apnea-hypopnea, hypoventilation, and hypoxemia in patients with SRBD and to compare it with patients without SRBD (No-SRBD). Methods: Eighty patients with suspected SRBD underwent polysomnography (PSG) testing. SRBD patients had obstructive sleep apnea syndrome with or without sleep-related hypoventilation/hypoxemic conditions. Patients without SRBD were in the control group. Measurements included pulmonary function testing, PSG, analysis of arterial blood gases, and arterial lactate before and after PSG. Arterial lactate was compared with SRBD and No-SRBD patients. Results: Morning lactate was significantly higher in the SRBD group than the No-SRBD group (1.65 ± 0.48 and 1.35 ± 0.57 mmol/L, respectively) (P = 0.003). Lactate levels at night and the change overnight in lactate levels were not significantly different between groups. After an adjustment for age, gender, and body mass index, lactate levels before PSG were related to the apnea-hypopnea index (beta: 0.004, 95% CI: 0.000–0.008) and the rate of sleep-time spent under 90% oxygen saturation (T90%). The following morning lactate level was correlated with the T90% (beta: 0.005, 95% CI: 0.000–0.010). After an adjustment for lactate levels before PSG, lactate in the morning was correlated with T90% (beta: 0.004, 95% CI: 0.000–0.008). Conclusion: As a marker of tissue hypoxia, arterial lactate may be used to assess the severity of SRBD.
The Determinants Of European Bank Profitability

The rate of return earned by a financial institution is affected by numerous factors. These factors include elements internal to each financial institution and several important external forces shaping earnings performance. The type of explanation would determine possible policy implications and ought to be taken seriously. This paper reviews the literature on bank performance studies and classifies the bank profitability determinants. The second part of the paper quantifies how internal determinants (“within effects” changes) and external factors (“dynamic reallocation” effects) contribute to the performance of the EU banking industry as a whole in 1994-1998. We construct OLS and fixed effects models, and the results provide a new perspective for understanding the impact of changes in competition on the performance of the EU banking industry. The estimation results suggest that the profitability of European banks is influenced not only by factors related to their management decisions but also to changes in the external macroeconomic environment. The results are in contrast to studies that have examined the structure-performance relationship for European banking and find a positive effect of the concentration and/or market share variables on bank profitability.
Agricultural credit market participation in Finoteselam town, Ethiopia

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to identify the proportion of farmers with constrained and unconstrained participation in the agricultural credit market and estimate the parameters that determine agricultural credit market participation in Finoteselam town, Ethiopia. Design/methodology/approach - The study followed cross-sectional study design where primary data were collected from 210 households through a questionnaire survey in Finoteselam town, north western Ethiopia. A combination of purposive and random sampling techniques was employed. Descriptive statistics were used to identify the proportion of farmers with different levels of participation in the agricultural credit market. The bivariate probit model was estimated to identify the parameters that determine smallholder credit market participation. Findings - The study revealed that 48 percent of smallholder farmers are constrained non-participating (i.e. rationed out) from the agricultural credit market due to lack of access to the service, 44.8 percent of them are constrained participating, 2.4 percent unconstrained participating and 4.8 percent of them are unconstrained non-participating. Estimation results of the bivariate probit model indicated that variables such as high dependency burden, large landholding size, household's labor endowment, participation in off-farm employment activities and incurring unforeseen expenses increased the probability of households to participate in agricultural credit markets. On the other hand, village dummy variable, old age of household head and borrowing from other sources decreased the probability of households participating in the agricultural credit market. Practical implications - The findings raise policy concerns to devise a mechanism for creating a functioning rural insurance market, improve the labor market for encouraging off-farm employment activities, devise wealth-creating schemes and address the credit need of those smallholder farmers who are still rationed out from the agricultural credit market. Originality/value - Little has been done on the subject of agricultural credit market participation in Ethiopia. Hence, this research will add to the thin literature on the subject.
Management Accounting in Indonesia: Analysis of Current Systems, Potential for Change and Forces behind Innovation

The paper begins with a- description of the current practice of management accounting in Indonesia and the degree to which management accounting systems and management accountants are expected to change during the next ﬁve years. This is followed by an empirical examination of the relationship between management accounting innovation in lndonesia and such factors as organization hierarchy, system design, company performance, size, and age. As predicted, results from this study indicated that the level of management accounting system innovation can be predicted by the level of hierarchy and the nature of organizational design. Increased hierarchy has a negative association with innovation in management accounting systems. Similarly, organizations that are process oriented use more innovative management accounting systems than functionally oriented organization. Key words: innovation, management accounting, hierarchy, lndonesia.
Voluntary Joint Audit and Earnings Quality: Evidence from Italian SMEs

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of a joint audit system on the quality of a firm’s financial statements, investigating the association between the presence of a double auditor and the occurrence of small positive earnings, which can be considered the consequence of earnings management practices and a signal of poor earnings quality. Furthermore, we develop a second research question in order to assess the factors that determine the choice of voluntarily resorting to a joint audit system. This paper uses a sample of Italian industrial non-listed SMEs, stratified in order to fulfill certain requirements (in terms of asset value, turnover and number of employees) that make it mandatory to appoint at least one audit body (the statutory board) according to the Italian law. Logistic regression models have been used to test the research hypotheses. The main finding is the confirmation that a joint audit system does positively affect earnings quality and the reliability of firms’ financial statements. Regarding the decision to be audited by two different auditors, the main determinants are more linked to the size and organizational complexity of the firm than to agency conflicts or leverage ratio.
From physical and functional to continuity with pre-stroke self and participation in valued activities: A qualitative exploration of stroke survivors’, carers’ and physiotherapists’ perceptions of physical activity after stroke

Abstract Purpose: Physical activity (PA) improves fitness, functioning, health and wellbeing after stroke. However, many survivors are inactive. This study explored survivors’, carers’ and physiotherapists’ beliefs about PA to identify how these support or hinder PA participation. Methods: Semi-structured in-depth interviews with community dwelling stroke survivors (n = 38); two focus groups involving six carers each; two focus groups, respectively, involving seven and eight stroke rehabilitation physiotherapists from clinical and community settings. Data were audio-recorded and transcribed. Analysis was structured using the Framework Approach to identify themes and a dynamic, conceptual model. Findings: Desired outcomes and control over outcome achievement were key concepts. For survivors and carers, PA supported participation in valued activities, providing continuity with pre-stroke sense of self. Carers adopted motivating strategies for PA to support recovery and participation in shared activities. In contrast, physiotherapists prioritised physical and functional outcomes and viewed survivors’ control of outcomes as limited which was reflected by the support they provided. Conclusions: Individualised interventions that account for social and environmental influences on behaviour appear vital to enabling survivors to participate in meaningful physical activities. Such interventions should facilitate development of shared perspectives among physiotherapists, carers and survivors of PA and related outcomes and provide tailored strategies to facilitate PA participation. Implications for Rehabilitation Physical activity after stroke rehabilitation is important for fitness, health, functioning and well-being. Reasons for survivors participating or not in physical activity after stroke are complex and varied. Physiotherapists and carers influence survivors’ participation in physical activity but their views about how to do this do not always match, or do they always complement the views of survivors. Integrated approaches to supporting physical activity that account for survivors’ preferences and recognise the carers’ role should be developed and applied by physiotherapists and other health professionals.
Queueing behavior of Hybrid ARQ wireless system with finite buffer capacity

The queueing behavior of Hybrid Automatic Repeat reQuest (ARQ) system over wireless channel is analyzed in this paper. The wireless channel is modeled as a two-state Markovian process. Arriving packets, which are saved in a first-in-first-out (FIFO) buffer before being transmitted over a wireless channel, may be blocked due to buffer overflow. We obtain the closed-form expressions of queueing state probabilities and queueing delay. For large buffer capacity, we derive a new coefficient of the exponential approximation for buffer overflow probability which fits the simulation results much better than before.
Redefining the Money Market

The money market has traditionally been defined as the market for marketable short-term securities. It has deep historical roots. Today, it is not an illuminating definition. The genesis of interest rates, which is the quintessence of monetary policy implementation, does not originate in market for marketable short-term securities. It is found in the non-marketable interbank debt market, and spreads out from there. Therefore, the logical starting point in defining the money market is that it embraces all short-term lending and borrowing, direct and indirect via the financial intermediaries. In addition, money creation, that is, new bank lending and its corollary bank deposit creation, is firmly in the province on the money market. Given these, we offer an alternative definition of the money market.
Research on the Dividend Policy of Listed Company and Fluctuation Effect of Stock Market

Based on the dividend policy and theory, this article takes the events that A stock of all the listed banking companies (16 in total) issued dividend in the CSI stock market for 5 years from 2008 to 2012 as the investigation samples to inspect the relevance of dividend policy with the fluctuation of stock price and transaction volume, thus to prove the dividend policy is an efficient mechanism for information transmission.
The effect of specific internal audit function features on the demand for internal auditors in South Africa

This study explored specific features of the internal audit function in South Africa that affects the demand for internal auditors in this country. The study compared the views of chief audit executives of large listed companies with those working for other (smaller) South African companies. There were differences in the views held by these two groups of executives. The results showed that most employees in an internal audit function are employed at a senior internal auditor level and although staff movements occur, the incumbent chief audit executive remains in that position for a relatively lengthy period. There is a shortage of competent internal auditors at various levels in South Africa, especially in the operational/performance and financial audit areas. Other features that were investigated in the study include experience, qualifications and remuneration of chief audit executives, internal audit vacancies per specialisation field, and recruitment sources. Various areas for future research were identified, including exploring the need to introduce a formal traineeship programme for internal auditors, the skills requirements at different internal audit post levels, and the standing of the Certified Internal Auditor designation in the work environment.
Decomposing the Impact of Advertising: Augmenting Sales with Online Search Data

Unlike sales data, data on intermediate stages of the purchase funnel (e.g., how many consumers have searched for information about a product before purchase) are much more difficult to acquire. Consequently, most advertising response models have focused directly on sales and ignored other purchase funnel activities. The authors demonstrate, in the context of the U.S. automotive market, how consumer online search volume data from Google Trends can be combined with sales data to decompose advertising's overall impact into two underlying components: its impacts on (1) generating consumer interest in prepurchase information search and (2) converting that interest into sales. The authors show that this decompositional approach, implemented through a novel state-space model that simultaneously examines sales and search volumes, offers important advantages over a benchmark model that considers sales data alone. First, the approach improves goodness-of-fit, both in and out of sample. Second, it improves diagnosticity by distinguishing advertising effectiveness in interest generation from its effectiveness in interest conversion. Third, the authors find that overall advertising elasticity can be biased if researchers consider only sales data.
Customer retention practices of small, medium and large hotels in South Africa : an exploratory study

With the increasing competitive environment organizations are continually looking for innovative ways to not only acquired but also to retain their customers. The aim of this study is to establish the perceptions of hotel management of all sizes of hotel regarding the importance of customer retention practices. An interviewer administered, in office survey was used to collect data from a representative sample of 56 hotels in Gauteng province, South Africa. Probability, stratified, sampling was used to separate hotels according to ownership type and size. The findings indicate that no significant associations exist between the research variables and hotel size. It is evident, however, that significant differences exist between medium and large hotels when it comes to weekend guests who stay for business, as well as leisure, purposes. The study contributes to the relatively limited knowledge of services marketing in the hospitality industry, specifically in the hotel sector. Key words: Customer retention management, relationship marketing, compatibility management, customer defection, service failure, service recovery, hotels.
Sub 5 ps SiGe bipolar technology

A SiGe bipolar technology for mixed digital and analog RF applications is presented. Balanced device performance is achieved with a transit frequency f/sub T/ of 155 GHz at a collector emitter breakdown voltage BV/sub CEO/ of 1.9 V, a maximum oscillation frequency f/sub max/ of 167 GHz, and 4.7 ps ring oscillator gate delay. With a 99 GHz dynamic frequency divider and a 19 GHz LNA with 2.2 dB noise figure state-of-the-art results for high-speed digital and analog applications are demonstrated.