Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Brand Relationship Interaction on Brand Loyalty Based on Service-Dominant Logic

From a service-dominant logic perspective,this paper proposes a conceptual framework that utilizes the construct of relational benefits to explain the link between brand relationship interaction and brand loyalty in popular consumer brands context.The framework posits that brand relationship interaction has indirect impact on brand loyalty through identity-related benefits,confidence benefits and social benefits derived from the long-term relationship between consumers and brands.The results show that the role of the identityrelated benefits on repurchase is the most significant,the role of the confidence benefits on brand commitment is the most obvious and the social benefits has the most obvious influence on brand attachment.Moreover,brand sensitivity plays a moderating role on the mediating process that brand relationship interaction has indirect impact on brand loyalty via relationship benefits.
Exploring the Effects of Consumers′ Dissatisfaction Level on Complaint Behaviours

The level of consumer satisfaction (CS), dissatisfaction (CD) and complaint behaviours (CCB) is beginning to receive increased attention from practitioners and researchers. Most studies, however, have tended to investigate the cause and/or effects of (dis)satisfaction or complaint behaviours. Relatively less work has been done to understand the relationship between dissatisfaction (CD) and complaint behaviours (CCB). This relationship is examined expirically. From a critical evaluation of previous research, hypotheses for the non‐linear relationship and the moderating role for CD and CCB are developed for an exploratory study. Using data on banking and financial services dissatisfaction, these hypotheses are investigated empirically. The results suggest that CD plays a broad and pervasive role (i.e. linear, non‐linear, moderator) depending upon the CCB dimension considered. Several implications of the results for managers are discussed and guidelines for dissatisfaction management are provided.
Dragon wine: developments in the Chinese wine industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide an evolutionary view of the emerging wine industry in China.Design/methodology/approach – Research on industry evolution provides a background for the historical evolution of the Chinese wine industry. Case studies are used to illustrate the different strategies of the leading wine producers in China, and to identify the major concerns and challenges in the Chinese wine industry. Growth potentials and ongoing trends are supported with statistics from authoritative databases and Chinese wine industry associations.Findings – The Chinese wine market is characterized by an increasing concentration where the top four domestic producers dominate with 50 per cent market share. The lack of a wine culture makes brand marketing crucial to business success. Limited international efforts have been made by Chinese wine producers, although one winery has embarked on capturing 50 per cent of the global ice‐wine industry.Research limitations/implications – The paper provi.
Prevalence and clinical expression of HCV-genotypes in haemodialysis-patients of two geographically remote countries: Belgium and Saudi-Arabia.

Hepatitis C virus is the leading cause of acute and chronic liver disease in hemodialysis patients. There are at least six major HCV-genotypes, with a well documented geographical distribution in the general population. Moreover, HCV-genotype is one of the major determinants of the therapeutic response to Interferon Alpha in affected patients. Since the therapeutic outcome in HCV-positive hemodialysis patients, especially with regard to the different HCV-genotypes, is of interest, a multicentre epidemiologic study was performed in HCV-antibody positive hemodialysis patients of two geographically remote countries, i.e. in Flanders (Belgium) and in Saudi-Arabia. 184 chronic hemodialysis patients, with a positive second or third generation Elisa assay for HCV, were tested for HCV-viremia and HCV-genotype, using a 5' untranslated region (UR) nested PCR for the detection of HCV-RNA and subsequently type-specific probes to hybridize with HCV-RNA (Inno-Lipa). Additionally, clinical data were collected by means of a standardized questionnaire, thoroughly completed by the nephrologist in charge of each respective patient. Viremia was present in 79% of the patients (146 out of 184). The prevalence of HCV-genotypes differed significantly between Belgian and Saudi-Arabian dialysis-patients. In Belgian dialysis patients HCV-genotype 1b was most prevalent (i.e. 62%), while in Saudi-Arabian patients HCV-genotypes 4, 1b, and la were present in respectively 36,4%, 31,7%, and 25,8% of the HCV-PCR positive patients. Although there were significant differences between Belgian and Saudi-Arabian dialysis patients, no clinical data showed any significant correlation with the HCV-genotype. Transaminases, determined over a six months period, showed normal average values. Doubling of the transaminases, in at least one out of six measurements over a six monthly period, occurred only in 14% (alanine aminotransferase, ALT) and 10% (aspartate aminotransferase, AST) of the patients. In Belgian dialysis patients, HCV-genotype 4 (or HCV-genotype 5) significantly correlated with a more recent start of dialysis treatment. We conclude that there is a significant different geographical prevalence of HCV-genotypes in HCV-affected hemodialysis patients. None of the different HCV-genotypes shows any particular clinical expression. Transaminases are not a sensitive marker for ongoing HCV-replication in hemodialysis patients. In Belgian dialysis patients, a changing pattern of HCV-infection is suggested, with an increasing prevalence of HCV-genotype 4 (or HCV-genotype 5) in more recent years. These data suggest possible implications for the therapeutic strategy in dialysis patients.
Esterification of Free Fatty Acids in Crude Palm Oil Using Alumina-Doped Sulfated Tin Oxide as a Catalyst

— The conventional production of biodiesel from crude palm oil which contains large amounts of free fatty acids in the presence of a homogeneous base catalyst confronts the problems of soap formation and very low yield of biodiesel. To overcome these problems, free fatty acids must be esterified to their esters in the presence of an acid catalyst prior to alkaline-catalyzed transesterification. Sulfated metal oxides are a promising group of catalysts due to their very high acidity. In this research, alumina-doped sulfated tin oxide (SO 42- /Al 2 O 3 -SnO 2 ) catalysts were prepared and used for esterification of free fatty acids in crude palm oil in a batch reactor. The SO 42- /Al 2 O 3 -SnO 2 catalysts were prepared from different Al precursors. The results showed that different Al precursors gave different activities of the SO 42- /Al 2 O 3 -SnO 2 catalysts. The esterification of free fatty acids in crude palm oil with methanol in the presence of SO 42- /Al 2 O 3 -SnO 2 catalysts followed first-order kinetics.
Activation of Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor-1 Synthesis by Phorbol Esters in Human Promyelocyte HL-60

Summary HL-60 cells treated by PMA develop the monocyte adherent pheno-type and synthesize plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 (PAI-1). We focused our study on the identification of the PMA-activated protein kinase C (PKC) isoform and its downstream transduction pathway activating PAI-1 synthesis. Acquisition of the monocytic phenotype was evidenced by cell adherence (90-95%) and a sharp increase of CD 36 and receptor for urokinase plasminogen activator (uPAR) surface expression. Ro 31-8220, a specific inhibitor of PKC, prevented PMA-induced PAI-1 synthesis (mRNA and protein levels) and cell adhesion. To identify the PKC isoform, we took advantage of the HL-525 cell line, an HL-60 cell variant deficient in PKCβ gene expression. This defect prevents PMA to induce the differentiation process. HL-525 stimulated by PMA did not synthesize PAI-1 nor become adherent. However, in HL-525 cells either pretreated by retinoic acid that reinduces PKCβ gene expression or transfected with PKCβ cDNA, PMA significantly activated PAI-1 synthesis and adhesion of cells. Immunoblotting of active Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) p42/p44 in HL-60 cells showed a preferential and sustained activation of the p42 isoform by PMA over the p44 isoform. Ro 31-8220 significantly attenuated this activation. PD 098059 and U0126, both highly specific MEK inhibitors, efficiently prevented PMA-induced PAI-1 synthesis (mRNA and protein levels) and cell adhesion whereas SB203580, a specific inhibitor of stress-activated MAPK p38, did not. Results obtained from HL-60 and HL-525 cells indicate that the PMA-activated transduction pathway of uPAR expression involves a PKC isoform other than PKCβ. In conclusion, we propose that the pathway PKCβ-MEK-MAPK p42 is a potential linear route for PAI-1 synthesis leading to morphological changes and adherence linked to PMA-induced differentiation in HL-60 cells.
Early diagnosis of ataxia-telangiectasia using radiosensitivity testing.

OBJECTIVES To utilize radiosensitivity testing to improve early diagnosis of patients with ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T). STUDY DESIGN We established normal ranges for the colony survival assay (CSA) by testing cells from 104 patients with typical A-T, 29 phenotypic normal patients, and 19 A-T heterozygotes. We also analyzed 61 samples from patients suspected of having A-T and 25 patients with related disorders to compare the CSA with other criteria in the diagnosis of A-T. RESULTS When cells were irradiated with 1.0 Gy, the mean survival fraction (microSF +/- 1 SD) for patients with A-T was 13.1% +/- 7.2% compared with 50.1% +/- 13.5% for healthy control patients. These data served to define a diagnostic range for the CSA (ie, <21%), a normal range (>36%), and a nondiagnostic intermediate range of 21% to 36%. The mutations of patients with A-T with intermediate radiosensitivity tended to cluster around the functional domains of the ATM gene. CONCLUSIONS The CSA is a useful adjunctive test for confirming an early clinical diagnosis of A-T. However, CSA is also abnormal in other chromosomal instability and immunodeficiency disorders.
Phoneme Classification Using the Auditory Neurogram

In order to mimic the capability of human listeners identifying speech in noisy environments, this paper proposes a phoneme classification technique using simulated neural responses from a physiologically based computational model of the auditory periphery instead of using features directly from the acoustic signal. The 2-D neurograms were constructed from the simulated responses of the auditory-nerve fibers to speech phonemes. The features of the neurograms were extracted using the Radon transform and used to train the classification system using a deep neural network classifier. Classification performance was evaluated in quiet and under noisy conditions for different types of phonemes extracted from the TIMIT database. Based on simulation results, the proposed method outperformed most of the traditional acoustic-property-based phoneme classification methods for both in quiet and under noisy conditions. The proposed method could easily be extended to develop an automatic speech recognition system.
ESTABLISHMENT OF A TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT BANK AS A MEANS TO FACILATE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL LATVIA

Since the early 1990s, the population of Latvia has been declining steadily, due to a large extent to the net emigration of Latvians seeking better opportunities abroad. The adverse demographic change is particularly acute in rural communities. A different economic development strategy focusing on the implementation of innovative technology-based manufacturing activities in rural communities is urgently required.
Self-concept theory: applications in advertising

The notion of self-concept has been proven to be useful for thinking about a wide variety of marketing phenomena. Here, self-concept theory is applied to the issue of advertising effectiveness. Two frameworks are developed: one from an academic perspective (relying upon published literature) and the other from a managerial perspective (relying upon interviews with advertising managers). An attempt is made to bring these two approaches (academic versus practitioner) closer together.
Public nutrition and the role of the food industry

Purpose – With the global community increasingly dependent on the food industry for the supply of one of the most basic of human needs, there is an imperative to consider how it can contribute to improving public nutrition into the future. This paper aims to present some ways that food companies can review policy and practice to meet this responsibility in the 21st century.Design/methodology/approach – Based on a review of relevant literature published between the 1980s through to 2010, changing attitudes and practices in the food manufacturing sector are outlined. These are analysed in the light of coinciding trends in consumer expectations and behaviour, and the development of new technologies for food production and information transfer.Findings – Widespread concern about the environment, increasing technological innovation, growing knowledge of diet‐health relationships and changing patterns of diet‐related disease risks are redefining responsibilities across the food industry. Food companies have bee.
The Born Globals: A new generation of small European exporters

Over the last decade several studies have focused on what have been called International New Ventures or Born Globals – firms that engage in significant international activity a short time after being established. Building on an empirical study of small firms in Norway and France, it was found that more than half of the exporting firms established since 1990 could be classified as Born Globals. This implies that the Born Global issue is not limited to just a few firms, it includes the majority of newly established exporting firms. Furthermore, in terms of global orientation, export strategy, competitive advantages and market situation – the newly established, highly‐involved exporters possess similar characteristics to the old global firms. Also, newly established low level involvement exporters resemble old low level involvement exporters. Examining the differences between newly established firms with high or low export involvement levels revealed that a decision maker’s global orientation and market conditions (home and export markets) are important factors. Because this study found that a firm is either Born Global or “born as local”, the relevance of internationalization process stage models, as described in previous research, came into question. A key implication is that the decisions made during the establishment process of the firm may be more important to future export development than expected, according to the internationalization process models. In many countries export development programs target the established firms in order to help them succeed in export markets. Alternatively, our findings recommend that export assistance programs place their focus on newly established highly‐involved exporters.
Optimal production control in a discrete manufacturing system with unreliable machines and random demands

We consider a production control problem in a manufacturing system with a failure-prone machine and a stochastic demand. The objective is to minimize a discounted inventory holding and backlog cost over an infinite planning horizon. The optimal production control of continuous, stochastic manufacturing systems with a failure-prone machine and a constant demand has been considered in Akella and Kumar (1986). However, the problem of optimal production control for discrete stochastic manufacturing systems with uncertain demands remains open. In this paper, we investigate a case where the exogenous demand forms a homogeneous Poisson flow. Primarily, we show that the optimal production control for such a system is of the threshold control type. In addition, the explicit form of production control policy and the objective functions are provided. Numerical examples are included to demonstrate the results obtained in the paper and to compare with the one in Akella and Kumar.
Impact of culture on Business Ethics

Businesses in global world are interconnected with each other and practices at organizations for the compliance of business purpose. Organization cannot survive in isolation. The survival of organization depends upon the integration of business codes with the societal ethics and combinely format into an adjoined ethical practices prevailing saturate in market. Business ethics are gaining importance day by day which results into more saturation of business practices. The area of focus in this study is to investigate the effect of culture on ethics. Results proved in light of prior research that culture significantly effect on business ethics. Therefore it is very important need to give awareness to the employees so that firms can follow the ethics codes for doing business in good ethical ways.
Towards Improved Industrial Relations of Employees in Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute: The Case of Ambo Plant Protection Research Center, Ambo, Ethiopia

Industrial relations cover all such relationships that a business enterprise maintains with various sections of the society such as workers, state customers, and public who come into its contact. In other words, it is the study of the interactions among industry, its employees and the governments that oversee them. The general objective of the study is to assess the industrial relations of employees of Ambo Plant Protection Research Center (APPRC) and propose strategic measures for its improvement. The study employed comprehensive data collection methods whereby both secondary and primary methods of data collection methods were employed to address the objectives of the study. Data collected through structured questionnaire were analyzed with the help of simple descriptive statistics like frequencies and percentages and inferential statistics with the help of SPSS software (version 20). Promoting good governance and democracy, creating favorable working environment for employees and environment of good will and mutual cooperation, responding to employees’ reported problems promptly and positively; provision of trainings to employees on strategic issues and solutions; and encouraging employees to use modern technologies like ICTs in service delivery are some of the strategic measures proposed to improve the industrial relations of employees of Ambo Plant Protection Research Center.
Effect of Salt Reduction Intervention Program Using an Electronic Salt Sensor and Cellular Phone on Blood Pressure Among Hypertensive Workers

Abstract We investigated the effectiveness of a workplace intervention program that utilized self-monitoring of daily salt excretion by an electronic salt sensor and sent personalized e-mail advice via cellular phone. Forty-one hypertensive male workers were assigned to intervention and control groups, then counseled together. Intervention group members were asked to measure daily salt excretion and received e-mail advice. After 4 weeks, a greater decrease of blood pressure (BP) was observed in the intervention group, with significant reductions to daily salt excretion and home BP. The new intervention program is considered useful for BP control among hypertensive workers.
N‐linked glycoprotein synthesis and transport during G1 are necessary for astrocytic proliferation

The proliferation of astrocytes, purified by a selective detachment technique from mixed glial primary cultures derived from newborn rat cerebrum, was studied. The cells were synchronized by first inducing a quiescent state by removing fetal calf serum (FCS) from the culture medium for 2 days; reversal of the quiescent state by return of serum to the culture medium caused a marked increase in DNA synthesis 12‐24 hr later. 2‐Deoxyglucose, an inhibitor of dolichol‐linked oligosaccharide and thereby N‐linked glycoprotein biosynthesis, prevented not only an increase in glycoprotein biosynthesis in G1 phase of the cell cycle but also the burst of DNA synthesis that followed during S phase. Addition of mannose to the culture medium prevented the inhibitions by deoxyglucose of both glycoprotein and DNA synthesis. These data indicated an obligatory relationship in astrocytes between dolichol‐linked glycoprotein synthesis and DNA synthesis. To determine whether transport of the newly synthesized glycoproteins to the plasma membrane for incorporation therein or for secretion were necessary for DNA synthesis and astrocytic proliferation, we studied cells treated with monensin, an ionophore for monovalent cations, and an inhibitor of intracellular transport of glycoproteins. The presence of monensin in the first 12 hr after repletion of serum to synchronized astrocytes prevented progression to the S phase and cell proliferation; addition of monensin after the first 12 hr, at the onset of the S phase, had no effect on progression through S phase. Lectin‐staining methods combined with fluorescence microscopy demonstrated in monensin‐treated cells failure of intracellular glycoproteins to be transported to the plasma membrane. These data suggest that the glycoproteins synthesized during G1 and required for traverse of astrocytes through G1 and the S phase of the cell cycle must be transported to the cell surface. The nature of these proteins, e.g., whether plasma membrane components or secretory glycoproteins, and their specific functions remain to be elucidated.
The impact of the financial press on accrual anomaly and earnings management

This dissertation consists of two essays investigating the impact of news released in the financial press on accrual anomaly and earnings management. Sloan (1996) shows earnings announcements to be information events driving the correction process of the mispricing of accruals. The first essay focuses on news released in the financial press as an additional driver of the correction process. Using 83,016 Wall Street Journal news articles from 1993 to 2006, I find that in addition to earnings announcements, news in the financial press also reveals valuable information for the correction of accruals mispricing. Prior studies have documented that the existence of information asymmetry between managers and shareholders creates an information environment conducive to earnings management. In the second essay, I investigate the impact of news coverage on earnings management by classifying news articles into two distinct types of news: earnings-related News (EN) and non-earnings-related news (NEN). Based on 48,972 news items reported in the Wall Street Journal and 32,177 firm-years for firms traded on the NYSE/AMEX/NASDAQ between 1994 and 2004 fiscal-years, I find that NEN is positively related to the degree of information asymmetry, whereas EN is negatively related. More importantly, I find that NEN, which increases information asymmetry, is positively associated with earnings management, while EN, which reduces information asymmetry, is negatively associated. The results also show that these associations of NEN and EN with earnings management are more profound for firms engaging in income-increasing earnings management and for large-size firms. This dissertation improves the understanding of the role of financial press as an information intermediary in capital markets. %%%%%%%%