bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Determinants of customer loyalty in Kenya: does corporate image play a moderating role?
Authors: Kipkirong Tarus Daniel , Rabach Nicholas 
Published: September 2013

Purpose– Although previous studies have attempted to explain why some customers remain loyal to a product or service provider and/or why others switch, few studies have interrogated the role of social pressure as well as the moderating role of corporate image.Methodology– The paper uses a composite measure of customer loyalty which provides both behavioral aspects and attitudinal loyalty. Survey data derived from a sample of 140 users of mobile services in Kenya was used and the hypotheses was tested using moderated regression analysis.Findings– The results indicate that perceived service value, service quality and social pressure were significant predictors of customer loyalty, while customer satisfaction was not significant. Corporate image was found to moderate the relationship between service value, service quality, social pressure and customer loyalty.Research limitations– Even though the study utilized a sample similar to other existing studies, future research should use larger samples, different measures of variables and different contexts.Implications– To improve on customer loyalty, mobile telecommunication firms in Kenya should place more emphasis on the value offered to customers as well as the needs of the social units like family, friends and colleagues. Moreover, telecommunication firms should invest in good corporate image in order to realize the benefits of customer loyalty.Originality/value– The study adds value to the understanding of the determinants of customer loyalty. More importantly, social pressure is an important determinant of customer loyalty. Second, corporate image plays a moderating role in customer behavior. Thus firms eager to engender customer loyalty should invest in corporate image.
Service quality and relative performance of public universities in East Africa
Authors: K. Cheruiyot Thomas , C. Maru Loice 
Published: September 2013

Purpose
– Service quality and relative performance of public universities in East Africa.

Design/methodology/approach
– Exploratory survey of three public universities in East African countries namely Moi, Makerere and Dar es salaam universities from three East African countries of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, respectively. Student perceptions are elicited on service quality and relative performance. Comparative analysis is done. A sample size of 450 respondents from a target population of
>
50,000 is derived using a multistage sampling technique. Structured questionnaire is used to extract both nominal and ordinal data, the latter utilizing items anchored on a five-point Likert scale. Modified SERVQUAL and performance were standardized. Descriptive, one-way ANOVA, factor analysis, Pearson product moment correlation and multiple regression was used to analyze the data.

Findings
– Modified SERVQUAL dimensions were confirmed, centrality of tangibility and reliability established, while importance of responsiveness was disapproved. Relative variation in service quality and relative performance across three countries universities was found to be significant. Finally significant effect of service quality on performance of universities was also established.

Research limitations/implications
– Service quality and relative performance in higher education could be subjected to international verification and evaluation at the risk of cultural and contextual bias.

Practical implications
– The paper provides insights on the relative importance of service quality dimensions and their effects on relative performance. This guides practitioners on prioritization of the service quality dimension that are central to relative performance.

Social implications
– Knowledge of the key dimensions of service quality that are central to relative performance and their variation across institutional contexts guides institutions of higher education in fulfilling their social responsibility to customers by meeting their expectations in service quality.

Originality/value
– The value of this paper lies in the application of SERVQUAL model to higher education in an international context. Evaluation of link between service quality and relative performance, and also examining variation across universities under unique cultural and contextual situations.
Overall picture of an emerging neonatal infectious disease induced by a superantigenic exotoxin mainly produced by methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus
Authors: Takahashi Naoto , Imanishi Ken'ichi , Uchiyama Takehiko 
Published: September 2013

ABSTRACTSince 1992, many neonates in neonatal intensive care units in Japan have been developing fever and systemic exanthema. Immunological analyses of neonates with these symptoms has revealed that the bacterial superantigen, toxic shock syndrome toxin‐1 (TSST‐1) is the cause. The name neonatal TSS‐like exanthematous disease (NTED) has been applied to this condition. The most striking clinical finding has been that none of the term neonates have developed shock or died of NTED. The timing of NTED epidemics has coincided with the spread of emerging TSST‐1‐producing methicillin‐resistant Staphylococcus aureus clones in Japan. The low frequency of pregnant women with positive anti‐TSST‐1 antibody titers could be one reason for the spread of NTED in Japan. Neonates have immune tolerance against TSST‐1 and may actively suppress the immune response to NTED with interleukin‐10. According to the T cell responses in infants or young children with diseases induced by TSST‐1, the pathophysiology of TSST‐1‐related diseases may be age‐dependent. The precise mechanism of anergy and deletion of specific T cells stimulated with TSST‐1 should be investigated in neonates infected with NTED. Both NTED and TSS might provide good models for analyzing the mechanism(s) of neonatal immune tolerance and the age‐dependence of human immunity. This disease has not only become representative of diseases caused by superantigens, but has also yielded a considerable amount of evidence about human immune reactions against superantigens.
Physical interpretation of degeneracies of the Christoffel equation in the theory of anisotropic elasticity
Authors: Goldin S.V. 
Published: September 2013

ABSTRACTAccording to the classical approach to physical interpretation of multiple roots of the Christoffel equation in the theory of elastic wave propagation in anisotropic media, a sum of isonormal plane waves propagating in the direction of acoustic axes can have either arbitrary or circular polarization. The main question posed in this paper is as follows: can one apply conclusions drawn for plane waves to other phenomena, in particular, to waves generated by a point source? The paper proposes a new principle of physical interpretation of degeneracies stating that any assessment of the polarizations (and the group velocities) of waves propagating in anisotropic media is reasonable if there exists an experiment with a point source in which the assessment agrees with the general symmetry of the experiment. From the viewpoint of this interpretation, all degeneracies are considered on the wavefront. The inferences drawn from the performed analysis might appear surprising: in all considered cases of degeneracies (such as conic axes, tangent degeneracy on the symmetry axis of infinite order in transversely isotropic media, intersections of the slowness surfaces), ambiguity in determination of the polarization vectors either does not exist for any experiment or can be removed based on the symmetry of an experiment. A condition for convexity of the slowness surface of the fastest wave is formulated in this context.
Genomic Resources Notes accepted 1 June 2013–31 July 2013
Authors:   Genomic Resources Development Consortium, Bensch Staffan , Coltman David W. , Davis Corey S. , Hellgren Olof , Johansson Tomas , Malenfant René M. , Moore Stephen S. , Palinauskas Vaidas , Valkiūnas Gediminas 
Published: September 2013

AbstractThis article documents the public availability of (i) raw transcriptome sequence data, assembled contigs and UniProt BLAST hits from common crossbill (Loxia curvirostra) and Plasmodium relictum (lineage SGS1) obtained from a controlled infection experiment; and (ii) raw transcriptome sequence data and 66 596 SNPs for the white‐tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus).
A New Oviraptorid Dinosaur (Theropoda: Oviraptorosauria) from the Late Cretaceous of Jiangxi Province, Southern China
Authors: Xuefang WEI , Hanyong PU , Li XU , Di LIU , Junchang LÜ 
Published: September 2013

Abstract:A new oviraptorid dinosaur Jiangxisaurus ganzhouensis gen. et sp. nov., is erected based on a partial skeleton from the Upper Cretaceous Nanxiong Formation of Ganzhou City, Jiangxi Province. The new taxon differs from other oviraptorids in the weakly downturned rostrum of the lower jaw, much‐elongated mandible with a height‐to‐length ratio being about 20% and the length ratio of radius to humerus of about 0.70. This species not only adds a new member to oviraptorid dinosaurs, but also provides more information about oviraptorid paleogeographical distribution in southern China.
The Aghajari (Upper Fars) Formation in the Folded Zagros Zone, Iran: Insights to Identify Facies, Architectural Elements, Fluvial Systems, Petrography and Provenance
Authors: SAHRAEYAN Mohammad , BAHRAMI Mohammad , HEJAZI Sayed Hassan 
Published: September 2013

Abstract:The Aghajari Formation, called also the Upper Fars, develops throughout the Folded Zagros Zone and its thickness in the type section in southwest of Iran is 2966 meters. To analyze the sedimentary basin of this Formation, lithofacies, architectural elements and petrofacies of the related deposits in a section in southeast of Sarvestan in Fars Province of Iran with a thickness of 2221.45 meters were examined. Microscopically studying thin sections, the petrography and the occurrence of the deposits were determined. In this section, 16 lithofacies, 10 architectural elements and 2 sandstone petrofacies were identified. The lithofacies were divided into two major and minor groups, in which the major lithofacies consist of coarse‐grained (Gh, Gp, Gt and Gm), medium‐grained (Sh, Sp, St, Sl, Sm, Sr and Ss and fine‐grained ones (Fm, Fl and Fsm), and the minor lithofacies were evaporative and mixed silisiclastic‐carbonate. The identified architectural elements are CH, SB, GB, LA, DA, CR, CS, LV, LS, CH (FF) and FF. By combining evidences from facies analysis and architectural elements together, the Aghajari Formation was divided into three parts in which the related sedimentation environments, from top to bottom, are gravel, gravel‐sand and fine‐grained meandering river respectively. There have also been playas and shoreface in the lower part. Based on petrography, the sandstones of this formation were classified into two groups: litharenite and sublitharenite. The origin of these deposits (sandstones) was appointed to the recycled orogeny and the source of quartz is low and medium to high metamorphic rank. Using the field evidences, the paleocurrent direction was achieved indicating the direction of the paleocurrent from northwest to southeast at the time of deposition. It is hoped that these data can be used in the interpretation of the basin and reconstruction of the paleogeography in the local and regional scales.
Petrochemical Characteristics and Timing of Middle Eocene Granitic Magmatism in Kooh‐Shah, Lut Block, Eastern Iran
Authors: ABDI Maryam , KARIMPOUR M. H. 
Published: September 2013

Abstract:The Kooh‐Shah region located in a Tertiary volcanic–plutonic belt of the Lut Block in eastern Iran comprises several subvolcanic intermediate to acidic intrusive rocks, diorite to syenite in composition, which have intruded into volcanic rocks. The Kooh‐Shah granitoid rocks are characterized by enrichment in large ion‐lithophile elements (LILE: e.g. Sr, Ba, Rb) and depletion in high field‐strength elements (HFSE: e.g. Nb, Ta, Ti). The chondrite‐normalized REE patterns are characterized by moderate LREE enrichment (La/Yb)N=6.01–10.01, medium‐heavy REE enrichment, and absence of Eu anomalies. The Kooh‐Shah intrusive rocks are metaluminous, shoshonitic with calc‐alkaline affinity and high values of magnetic susceptibility, and classified as the magnetite‐series of oxidant I‐type granitoids. The age of Kooh‐Shah granitoid rocks based on zircon U–Pb age dating is 39.7±0.7 Ma (=Middle Eocene) and the ranges of their initial 87Sr/86Sr and 143Nd/144Nd ratios are from 0.704812 to 0.704920 and 0.512579 to 0.512644, respectively, when recalculated to an age of 39 Ma. The initial cNd isotope values for the Kooh‐Shah intrusive rocks range from −0.18 to 1.09. This geochemical data indicates that the Kooh‐Shah granitoid rocks formed from depleted mantle in an island arc setting. The geochemical signature of the studied granitoid rocks represents a characteristic guide for future exploration of copper‐gold porphyry‐type deposits in the Lut block.
Differential Hydrocarbon Accumulation Controlled by Structural Styles along the Southern and Northern Tianshan Thrust Belt
Authors: Yan SONG , Mengjun ZHAO , Shihu FANG , Benliang LI , Shaobo LIU , Qingong ZHUO 
Published: September 2013

Abstract:The Kuqa and the Southern Junggar foreland thrust belts, which lie to the southern and northern Tianshan, respectively, were formed under a strong compressional tectonic setting. Due to the differential propagation and deformation under the control of the décollement horizon, the structural deformation styles differ in the Kuqa and Southern Junggar thrust belts. Imbricated stacking is developed in the Kuqa thrust belt, forming a piggyback imbricated pattern of faulted anticline and fault‐block structural assemblage dominated by salt structures. In contrast, wedge‐shaped thrusts are developed in Southern Junggar, mainly forming vertical laminated patterns of multi‐wedge‐structure stacks strongly influenced by the décollement horizons. The different deformation patterns and structural styles of the north and south of Tian Shan control the contrasting characteristics of hydrocarbon accumulation in the foreland thrust belts of the Kuqa and the Southern Junggar thrust belts, including the variance in the hydrocarbon trap types, pathway systems and hydrocarbon‐bearing horizons. Proven by the hydrocarbon accumulation research and exploration achievements, recent exploration targets should focus on sub‐salt piggyback imbricated structural patterns in the Kuqa and the deep laminated patterns in the Southern Junggar thrust belt.
Characteristic of Gravity and Magnetic Anomalies in the Daba Shan and the Sichuan basin, China: Implication for Architecture of the Daba Shan
Authors: Jisheng ZHANG , Rui GAO , Qiusheng LI , Ye GUAN , Haiyan WANG , Wenhui LI 
Published: September 2013

Abstract:The Dabashan nappe structural belt links the Hannan block to the west with the Huangling block to the east between Yangxian and Xiangfan. The Dabashan arc‐shaped fold belt formed during late Jurassic and was superposed on earlier Triassic folds. To achieve an improved understanding of the deep tectonics of the Dabashan nappe structural belt, we processed and interpreted the gravity and magnetic data for this area using new deep reflection seismic and other geophysical data as constraints. The results show that the Sichuan basin and Daba Mountains lie between the Longmenshan and Wulingshan gravity gradient belts. The positive magnetic anomalies around Nanchong‐Tongjiang‐Wanyuan‐Langao and around Shizhu result from the crystalline basement. Modeling of the gravity and magnetic anomalies in the Daba Mountains and the Sichuan basin shows that the crystalline basement around Nanchong‐Tongjiang‐Wanyuan‐Langao extends to the northeast underneath the Wafangdian fault near Ziyang. The magnetic field boundary in the Zhenba‐Wanyuan‐Chengkou‐Zhenping area is the major boundary of the Dabashan nappe thrusting above the Sichuan Basin. This boundary might be the demarcation between the south Dabashan and the north Dabashan structural elements. The low gravity anomaly between Tongjiang and Chengkou might be partly caused by thickened lower crust The local low gravity anomaly to the south of Chengkou‐Wanyuan might result from Mesozoic strata of low density in the Dabashan foreland depression area.
Legal substance use and the development of a DSM‐IV cannabis use disorder during adolescence: the TRAILS study
Authors: Prince van Leeuwen Andrea , Creemers Hanneke E. , Verhulst Frank C. , Vollebergh Wilma A. M. , Ormel Johan , van Oort Floor , Huizink Anja C. 
Published: September 2013

AbstractAimsTo examine whether early onset of tobacco or alcohol use, and continued use of tobacco or alcohol in early adolescence, are related to a higher likelihood of developing a cannabis use disorder during adolescence.Design and settingData were used from four consecutive assessment waves of the TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS), a general Dutch population study. TRAILS is an ongoing longitudinal study that will follow the same group of adolescents from the ages of 10 to 24 years.ParticipantsThe sample consisted of 1108 (58% female) adolescents (mean ages at the four assessment waves are 11.09, 13.56, 16.27 and 19.05 years, respectively)MeasurementsCannabis use disorders were assessed using the Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 (CIDI). Adolescent tobacco and alcohol use were assessed using self‐report questionnaires.FindingsEarly‐onset tobacco use [odds ratio (OR) = 1.82, confidence interval (CI) = 1.05–3.14, P < 0.05], but not early‐onset alcohol use (OR = 1.33, CI = 0.84–2.12, P > 0.05), was associated with a higher likelihood of developing a cannabis use disorder. Similarly, adolescents who reported continued use of tobacco (OR = 2.47, CI = 1.02–5.98, P < 0.05), but not continued use of alcohol (OR = 1.71, CI = 0.87–3.38, P > 0.05), were more likely to develop a cannabis use disorder.ConclusionsEarly‐onset and continued tobacco use appear to predict the development of a cannabis use disorder in adolescence, whereas early onset and continued alcohol use do not.
An assay that may predict the development of IgG enhancing allergen‐specific IgE binding during birch immunotherapy
Authors: Selb R. , Eckl‐Dorna J. , Vrtala S. , Valenta R. , Niederberger V. 
Published: September 2013

AbstractBackgroundIt has been shown that birch pollen immunotherapy can induce IgG antibodies which enhance IgE binding to Bet v 1. We aimed to develop a serological assay to predict the development of antibodies which enhance IgE binding to Bet v 1 during immunotherapy.MethodsIn 18 patients treated by Bet v 1‐fragment‐specific immunotherapy, the effects of IgG antibodies specific for the fragments on the binding of IgE antibodies to Bet v 1 were measured by ELISA. Blocking and possible enhancing effects on IgE binding were compared with skin sensitivity to Bet v 1 after treatment.ResultsWe found that fragment‐specific IgG enhanced IgE binding to Bet v 1 in two patients who also showed an increase of skin sensitivity to Bet v 1.ConclusionOur results indicate that it may be possible to develop serological tests which predict the induction of unfavourable IgG antibodies enhancing the binding of IgE to Bet v 1 during immunotherapy.
Modes of Attentiveness: Reading for Difference in Geographies of Homelessness
Authors: May Jon , Cloke Paul 
Published: September 2013

AbstractHegemonic accounts of urban homelessness, focusing on attempts to restrict homeless people's presence in public space, stress the punitive nature of current homelessness policy. In contrast, in this paper we explore the “messy middle ground” of the UK homeless services system. Examining Stacey Murphy's (2009) (Antipode 41(2):305–325) arguments regarding a shift to a “post‐revanchist” era in San Francisco, we chart the apparent similarities between developments in San Francisco and changes to the management of street homelessness bought in to effect by the New Labour government in the UK, and assess the extent to which such developments might be read as holding in tension more obviously punitive and supportive trends usually viewed as necessarily oppositional. In the final part of the paper we present a re‐reading of recent changes to the management of street homelessness in the UK through a postsecular lens. We suggest that this lens provides the possibility for a much more optimistic reading of homeless services and of the grammars of homelessness and urban (in)justice more broadly, and make the case for an alternative mode of academic attentiveness open to sometimes subtle and smaller‐scale yet nonetheless important examples of different ways of understanding and doing.
The effect of Ginkgo biloba extracts on the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of cilostazol and its active metabolites in healthy Korean subjects
Authors: Kim Ho‐Sook , Kim Ga‐young , Yeo Chang‐Woo , Oh Minkyung , Ghim Jong‐lyul , Shon Ji‐Hong , Kim Eun‐Young , Kim Dong‐Hyun , Shin Jae‐Gook 
Published: September 2013

AimsThe primary objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of Ginkgo biloba extracts (GBE) on the pharmacokinetics of cilostazol and its metabolites. The secondary objective was to assess the effect of GBE on the pharmacodynamics of cilostazol.MethodsA randomized, double‐blind, two‐way crossover study was conducted with 34 healthy Korean subjects. All subjects were given an oral dose of cilostazol (100 mg) plus GBE (80 mg) or cilostazol (100 mg) plus placebo twice daily for 7 days. Plasma concentrations of cilostazol and its active metabolites (3,4‐dehydrocilostazol and 4′‐trans‐hydroxycilostazol) were measured using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectroscopy on day 7 for pharmacokinetic assessment. The adenosine diphosphate‐induced platelet aggregation and bleeding time were measured at baseline and on day 7 for pharmacodynamic assessment.ResultsThe geometric mean ratios of area under the concentration–time curve for dosing interval for cilostazol plus GBE vs. cilostazol plus placebo were 0.96 (90% confidence interval, 0.89–1.03; P = 0.20) for cilostazol, 0.96 (90% confidence interval, 0.90–1.02; P = 0.30) for 3,4‐dehydrocilostazol and 0.98 (90% confidence interval, 0.93–1.03; P = 0.47) for 4′‐trans‐hydroxycilostazol. The change of aggregation after administration of cilostazol plus GBE seemed to be 1.31 times higher compared with cilostazol plus placebo, without statistical significance (P = 0.20). There were no significant changes in bleeding times and adverse drug reactions between the treatments.ConclusionsCo‐administration of GBE showed no statistically significant effects on the pharmacokinetics of cilostazol in healthy subjects. A large cohort study with long‐term follow‐up may be needed to evaluate the possible pharmacodynamic interaction between cilostazol and GBE, given that there was a remarkable, but not statistically significant, increase in inhibition of platelet aggregation.