Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A resource-based view of retail competitive advantage

This paper investigates the relationships between brand, market and learning orientation with competitive advantage in the context of the UK retail industry. The results indicate that both brand and learning orientations have a significant positive relationship with competitive advantage. However, market orientation was not found to have a significant influence on retail competitive advantage. These findings suggest that market orientation may result in competitive parity only, while superiority in the retail sector is dependent on the speed of earning and the application of knowledge in the form of a strong brand orientation.
Destination Image: A Meta-Analysis of 2000–2007 Research

Determining destination image is a complex task, and the construct is often subjectively assessed. No standardized system of analysis exists to determine destination image and its related components, resulting in a variety of techniques and strategies being used. This study provides a comprehensive review of conceptual and empirical research on destination image published between January 2000 and October 2007 with the aim of identifying current and emerging trends in the area of destination image studies. Meta-analysis of 152 articles that discuss various strategies for destination image assessment summarizes the state of destination image research and examines new destination image assessment approaches. The findings are contrasted to earlier destination image reviews where appropriate.
Recognition and pricing of the generators contribution to the network voltage support in a market environment

The paper deals with a very crucial ancillary service required for the transmission network voltage support by generators: the so called ldquovoltage servicerdquo (VS). In a competitive electricity market, the dispatchers are pushed to achieve reliable operation standards, so they have to manage the voltage service in a way to warrant adequate covering of the system demand also under perturbed or congested operating conditions, offering to the customers increased quality, security and economy of the electrical energy supply. According to that, the voltage duty is examined with reference to relevant aspects such as: The contribution of wide area voltage regulation system allowing a very effective voltage service, with a simple and inexpensive operational effort; the costs and benefits related to the voltage service to be considered in the transmission tariff; the way to guaranteeing a correct economical recognition of the contribution to network voltage support given by each generator, a pricing criteria for the voltage service; and the perspective of a centralized operation, supervision and accounting of the VS supplied and consumed. In this last framework, the paper also discuss the complex problem of the correct measure and computing of the power plant contribution to the network voltage regulation, showing the criticism of the present generalized situation where the generators efforts in terms of reactive power delivery/absorption is not generally representative of their concrete contribution to the network voltage support. The paper also shows the simplicity, correctness and indubitableness of indicators of the generators contribution to network voltage support, in case the considered generators operate under secondary voltage regulation (SVR).
Digestion of selected foods by Yunnan snub-nosed monkey Rhinopithecus bieti (Colobinae).

Three digestion trials were conducted to quantify aspects of digestive physiology in the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey Rhinopithecus bieti, a foregut fermenter that feeds primarily on lichens. Mean retention time (MRT, the average time plastic markers spent in the animal) had a mean estimate of 47 hr (n = 3) with high variability between trials (standard deviation = 17 hr). Recently captured animals, presumably with gut flora and digestive physiology close to wild animals, had a longer retention time than did long-term captives, although lack of standardization across trials (such as in activity level) confounds analysis. Apparent digestibilities for dry matter (71-80%) were in line with other studies of colobine digestion, but fall below those of ruminant ungulates feeding on lichens. Fecal analysis accurately determined the relative proportions of leaves vs. lichens in diets; mature leaves and lichens were not nutritional equivalents but appeared to be physiological equivalents in terms of digest passage. Fecal analysis does not, however, accurately determine the relative proportions of food types with different digestibilities, such as fruit vs. leaves.
Autologous CLL cell vaccination early after transplant induces leukemia-specific T cells.

BACKGROUND Patients with advanced hematologic malignancies remain at risk for relapse following reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). We conducted a prospective clinical trial to test whether vaccination with whole leukemia cells early after transplantation facilitates the expansion of leukemia-reactive T cells and thereby enhances antitumor immunity. METHODS We enrolled 22 patients with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), 18 of whom received up to 6 vaccines initiated between days 30 and 45 after transplantation. Each vaccine consisted of irradiated autologous tumor cells admixed with GM-CSF-secreting bystander cells. Serial patient PBMC samples following transplantation were collected, and the impact of vaccination on T cell activity was evaluated. RESULTS At a median follow-up of 2.9 (range, 1-4) years, the estimated 2-year progression-free and overall survival rates of vaccinated subjects were 82% (95% CI, 54%-94%) and 88% (95% CI, 59%-97%), respectively. Although vaccination only had a modest impact on recovering T cell numbers, CD8+ T cells from vaccinated patients consistently reacted against autologous tumor, but not alloantigen-bearing recipient cells with increased secretion of the effector cytokine IFN-γ, unlike T cells from nonvaccinated CLL patients undergoing allo-HSCT. Further analysis confirmed that 17% (range, 13%-33%) of CD8+ T cell clones isolated from 4 vaccinated patients by limiting dilution of bulk tumor-reactive T cells solely reacted against CLL-associated antigens. CONCLUSION Our studies suggest that autologous tumor cell vaccination is an effective strategy to advance long-term leukemia control following allo-HSCT. TRIAL REGISTRATION Clinicaltrials.gov NCT00442130. FUNDING NCI (5R21CA115043-2), NHLBI (5R01HL103532-03), and Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Translational Research Program.
The impact of brand orientation on managerial practice: a quantitative study of the UK's top 500 fundraising managers

This paper explores the impact of brand orientation on the managerial practices of fundraising managers in the top 500 UK charities and, in particular, on their ability to attract voluntary income. A series of hypotheses was tested including whether level of brand orientation is associated with different patterns of influence within charities, with the range and type of brand communicators used and with the extent to which organisational objectives are fulfilled. A key finding of the research was that high brand-oriented fundraising managers attract significantly more voluntary income than low brand-oriented fundraisers, but that level of brand orientation was not related to statutory income. Such findings are consistent with current theory and practice of branding in which a brand is perceived as a product or organisation plus, where the plus indicates a unique set of values which allows differentiation and hence, donor choice, within competitive environments. Copyright © 2002 Henry Stewart Publications
Credit Supply and Corporate Policies

This paper develops a model of corporate investment and financing decisions that differs from previous contributions by recognizing that firms may face uncertainty regarding their future access to credit markets. We show that accounting for credit supply uncertainty is critical in understanding corporate policy choices and use the model to explain a key set of stylized facts in corporate finance. Notably, our model provides an explanation for the conservative debt policy puzzle. The model also explains why firms may appear to time the market when issuing common stock. Finally, the model explains why negative shocks to the supply of credit may hamper investment even if firms have enough financial slack to fund all profitable investment opportunities internally.
Individual Differences in Valuing Mates' Physical Attractiveness

To investigate correlates of valuing physical attractiveness in a mate, it was hypothesized that valuing physical attractiveness in a mate would correlate with sex and valuing promiscuous sex, status, personal physical attractiveness, beauty, and order. Men and women college students completed measures of the extent to which they valued physical attractiveness in a mate and other variables. Valuing physical attractiveness in a mate was correlated with sex (men valued physical attractiveness in a mate more than did women) and valuing promiscuous sex and status, and, for women, valuing personal physical attractiveness. The results were explained in terms of evolutionary theory.
Verification of bio-radiolocation method with respiratory plethysmography for non-contact remote breathing monitoring

Verification of bio-radiolocation with standard respiratory plethysmography during parallel registration of different types of breathing movements of subjects is performed. For all couples of synchronized signals corresponding to the both methods cross correlation and spectral functions are calculated and estimates of their generalized characteristics are defined. The obtained results revealed bio-radiolocation to be a reliable remote method for non-contact respiratory monitoring.
Do get in touch

Postcards from the hospital may lead to fewer episodes of self harm E ngland and Wales's recent national guideline about the early care of people who have deliberately harmed themselves1 was launched to the media with the sorry admissions that “170,000 people a year attend emergency departments because they have self-harmed, of those an estimated 80,000 never receive a psychological assessment or follow-up even though the risk of committing suicide after self harming one or more times is 100 times greater than the average risk in the population” and “few people providing care in casualty understand why people self harm and don't know how to help them effectively. ” People who harm themselves also have an increased morbidity and mortality not related to suicide.2 The report by Carter and colleagues in this issue (p 805) describes one of the largest trials in self harm so far carried out.3 In a largely unselected sample of people attending the emergency department because of self poisoning in Newcastle, Australia, the researchers randomly allocated half to a simple, low cost procedure—sending them a series of postcards …
The Effect of Advertising on Consumer Price Sensitivity

The authors investigate how increased advertising affects consumer price sensitivity. First, a conceptual framework integrating the role of advertising content is presented. Next, a methodology for studying the impact of advertising on consumer price sensitivity to brand purchase quantity and consumption is developed. Analyses of diary panel data for an established, frequently purchased brand from an ADTEL advertising field experiment clearly demonstrate that increased advertising lowers price sensitivity. Further, this effect is strong in the high price sensitivity segment for purchase quantity and consumption. In the low price sensitivity segment the effect is marginal. Additional support for these results was obtained by choosing different cutoff points for high sensitivity segmentation.
Economics of Unconventional Gas

With the sharp recent rise in well drilling and particularly well stimulation costs, some are concerned that much of the unconventional gas resource in the U.S. is becoming uneconomic. Concerns about the economic viability of unconventional gas have been raised since the initial pursuit of this resource, sometimes rightly so. However, in our view, improvement in the unconventional gas knowledge base and technology progress using industry/government partnerships can maintain the economic viability of this large, often marginally productive resource. Past reservoir characterization methods and traditional means of linking a wellbore to the low permeability unconventional gas reservoir are no longer sufficient. As such, the discussion of the economic viability of unconventional gas is as much a story of technological advance and the pursuit of efficiency, as introduced in the third and fourth articles in this series, as it is a story of costs, financial risks and wellhead prices.
Singing in the brain.

Aside from humans, songbirds have by far the most elaborate communicative sounds of any organism. Most complex of all are their songs (e.g., Fig. 1), which are learned and culturally transmitted between generations, often enriched by invention and improvisation (1–3). The specialized subsystem in the songbird brain that sustains this behavior, first described in 1976 (4), eventually became known as the song system (SS) (Fig. 2) (5, 6). One circuit, including the nuclei HVC (high vocal center) and RA (robust nucleus of the archistriatum), is essential for producing song motor patterns throughout life; the other, the anterior forebrain circuit, is more important for song development and plasticity (7–9). Electrophysiological studies have demonstrated that these circuits contain neurons active during singing and neurons responsive to the sounds of song (10–13). Figure 1 The winter wren, Troglodytes troglodytes , has one of the most elaborate bird songs. A male has a repertoire of 5–10 song types, each up to 10 sec in duration. Song types share many phrases, patterned in different sequences, as in these three songs of male 1 (1 A–C). Male 2 (2A), a neighbor, shares some phrases, but arranges them differently (54). Figure 2 A schematic cross section of the songbird brain depicting the traditionally defined song system and associated auditory areas. A network of discrete areas is devoted to song learning and production: the “motor pathway” (in black) is required throughout life for normal song production; the anterior forebrain circuit (in blue) is more important for song learning and plasticity. The NCM is one of the interconnected telecephalic auditory areas (in red), including the thalamorecipient area field L, that project directly and indirectly to the song system. For song system abbreviations, see Brenowitz et al. (3). Methods for functional localization using activation of …
blaCTX-M-1/9/1 Hybrid Genes May Have Been Generated from blaCTX-M-15 on an IncI2 Plasmid

ABSTRACT Three hybrid CTX-M β-lactamases, CTX-M-64, CTX-M-123, and CTX-M-132, with N and C termini matching CTX-M-1 group enzymes and centers matching CTX-M-9 group enzymes, have been identified. The hybrid gene sequences suggested recombination between blaCTX-M-15 and blaCTX-M-14, the two most common blaCTX-M variants worldwide. However, blaCTX-M-64 and blaCTX-M-123 are found in an ISEcp1-blaCTX-M transposition unit with a 45-bp “spacer,” rather than the 48 bp usually associated with blaCTX-M-15, and 112 bp of IncA/C plasmid backbone. This is closer to the context of blaCTX-M-55, which has one nucleotide difference from blaCTX-M-15, on IncI2 plasmid pHN1122-1. Here, we characterized an IncI2 plasmid carrying blaCTX-M-15 with a 45-bp spacer (pHNY2-1) by complete sequencing and also sequenced IncI2 plasmids carrying blaCTX-M-64 (pHNAH46-1) or blaCTX-M-132 (pHNLDH19) and an IncI1 plasmid carrying blaCTX-M-123 (pHNAH4-1). pHNY2-1 has the same ISEcp1-blaCTX-M-IncA/C insertion as pHN1122-1, pHNAH46-1, and pHNLDH19, and all four plasmid backbones are almost identical. pHNAH4-1 (IncI1 sequence type 108 [ST108]) carries a transposition unit that includes a 2,720-bp fragment of the IncI2 backbone, suggesting ISEcp1-mediated transfer of blaCTX-M-IncA/C-IncI2 to an IncI1 plasmid. All three hybrid blaCTX-M genes may have resulted from recombination between blaCTX-M-14 and blaCTX-M-15 with a 45-bp spacer on an IncI2 plasmid. Five additional Escherichia coli isolates of different sequence types from different provinces, farms, and/or animals had blaCTX-M-64 on a pHNAH46-1-like IncI2 plasmid and 9 had blaCTX-M-123 on a pHNAH4-1-like IncI1 ST108 plasmid. Thus, epidemic IncI plasmids may be responsible for the spread of blaCTX-M-64 and blaCTX-M-123 between different animals and different locations in China.
The Evolutionary Mechanism of Network Organization Based on Social Capital Theory

Based on the research of two dimensionality of social capital,this paper constructs the theoretical model of network organization evolution.This model gives another explanation to evolutionary mechanism of network,that is to say,the essential of evolutionary mechanism of network is the different nodes copy and reconstructs network connections driven by network benefits.The results of this paper can also provide some tips to the evolutionary rule of multinational companies,strategy alliance and outsourcing network.
A public key infrastructure in ambient information and transaction systems

Conventional security infrastructures in the Internet cannot be directly adopted to ambient systems, especially if based on short-range communication channels: Personal, mobile devices are used and the participants are present during communication, so privacy protection is a crucial issue. As ambient systems cannot rely on an uninterrupted connection to a Trust Center, certiffed data has to be veriffed locally. Security techniques have to be adjusted to the special environment. This paper introduces a public key infrastructure (PKI) to provide secure communication channels with respect to privacy, confidentiality, data integrity, non-repudiability, and user or device authentication. It supports three certiffcate levels with a different balance between authenticity and anonymity. This PKI is currently under implementation as part of the iCity project.
Ultrastructural evidence of calcium involvement in experimental autoimmune gray matter disease

Experimental studies have suggested that increased calcium and inappropriate calcium handling by motoneurons might have a significant role in motoneuron degeneration. To further define the involvement of calcium in motoneuron loss we used the oxalate‐pyroantimonate technique for calcium fixation and monitored the ultrastructural distribution of calcium in spinal motoneurons in experimental autoimmune gray matter disease (EAGMD). In cervical and hypoglossal motoneurons from animals with relatively preserved upper extremity and bulbar function, increased calcium precipitates were present in the cytoplasm as well as in mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi complex without significant morphologic alterations. In surviving lumbar motoneurons of animals with hindlimb paralysis, however, there was massive morphological destruction of intracellular organelles but no significant accumulation of calcium precipitates. These findings suggest that altered calcium homeostasis is involved in motoneuron immune‐mediated injury with increased calcium precipitates early in the disease process and decreased to absent calcium precipitates later in the pathogenesis of motoneuron injury. J. Neurosci. Res. 60:98–105, 2000 © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
SEMIOSEM : une mesure de similarité conceptuelle fondée sur une approche sémiotique

Cet article propose une nouvelle mesure de similarite conceptuelle baptisee SEMIOSEM (Semiotic-Based Similarity Measure). La premiere originalite de cette mesure est de prendre en compte les trois dimensions semiotiques de la conceptualisation sous-jacente a une ontologie de domaine : l’intension (i.e. les proprietes utilisees pour definir les concepts et la structure de la hierarchie de subsomption), l’extension (i.e. les instances des concepts) et l’expression (i.e. les termes utilises pour denoter a la fois les concepts et leurs instances). Ainsi, SEMIOSEM vise a aggreger et enrichir des mesures existantes de types intensionnel et extensionnel. La seconde originalite de cette mesure est d’etre sensible au contexte dans lequel l’utilisateur met en œuvre SEMIOSEM. Ce contexte s’exprime au moyen d’un corpus, d’un ensemble d’instances et d’une valeur caracterisant son etat emotionnel. Ainsi, SEMIOSEM s’avere etre plus flexible, plus robuste et plus proche du jugement de l’utilisateur que les autres mesures de similarite, lesquelles sont generalement fondees sur un seul aspect d’une conceptualisation et ne prennent pas en compte le contexte d’utilisation. Mots-cles : Mesure de similarite, Semiotique, Mesure semantique, Proximite conceptuelle.
Successful Genome-Wide Scan in Paired Blood and Buccal Samples

Interest in genome-wide association studies to identify susceptibility alleles for cancer is growing, and several are currently planned or under way. Although the feasibility of collecting buccal cell samples as an alternative to venous blood samples as a source of genomic DNA has been shown, the validity of using DNA from buccal cells for genome-wide scans has not been assessed. We used 46 paired buffy coat and buccal cell samples to test the feasibility of using DNA from buccal cells for genotyping with the HumanHap300 Bead Chip (v.1.0.0) on the Illumina Infinium II platform. Genotyping was successful in every sample, regardless of DNA yield or sample type. Of the 317,502 genotypes attempted, 315,314 (99.3%) were successfully called. Completion rates were similar for buffy coat and buccal cell samples (99.63% and 99.44%, respectively; P = 0.15). Completion rates <99% were observed in only four samples and did not differ by specimen type. The paired samples showed exceptionally high concordance (99.96%). These results show that buccal cell samples collected and processed under optimal conditions can be used for genome-wide association studies with results comparable to those obtained from DNA extracted from buffy coat. (Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2007;16(5):1023–5)