Antecedents of industrial brand equity: An empirical study

Industrial branding has emerged as an important issue, allowing firms to gain substantial competitive advantage, especially in markets where product commoditization and electronic procurement are on the increase. This article proposes, and empirically validates, a theoretically structured approach to measure brand equity, its antecedents and its consequences for industrial products. The model distinguishes between product and corporate brand equity, uses buyer perceived performance on the dimensions of the marketing mix as antecedents of brand equity, and relates them to re-purchase and loyalty intentions.Economics ;

The Future of Cryptocurrencies: A Bearish & Bullish View

Despite its potential, the future of cryptocurrencies has been hindered by volatility, regulatory uncertainty, limited adoption, as well as issues like hacking, fraud, and scams. The high volatility of cryptocurrencies has made their value unpredictable. Institutional investors have largely stayed clear of the crypto market. Lack of a central authority and cross-border trading has made regulation challenging. To ensure the long-term adoption of cryptocurrency technology the issue of excessive energy consumption must be addressed. On the positive side, organizations worldwide are working to establish regulatory frameworks for cryptocurrencies and reduce uncertainty. The emergence of CBDCs may lead to greater acceptance of cryptocurrencies, despite privacy concerns. Cryptocurrencies face scalability challenges, but developers are addressing them with improved algorithms and alternative energy sources. With lower fees and increased privacy, cryptocurrencies offer viable financial opportunities to millions globally

A Multiclass Radiomics Method-Based WHO Severity Scale for Improving COVID-19 Patient Assessment and Disease Characterization From CT Scans.

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to evaluate the severity of COVID-19 patients' disease by comparing a multiclass lung lesion model to a single-class lung lesion model and radiologists' assessments in chest computed tomography scans. MATERIALS AND METHODS The proposed method, AssessNet-19, was developed in 2 stages in this retrospective study. Four COVID-19-induced tissue lesions were manually segmented to train a 2D-U-Net network for a multiclass segmentation task followed by extensive extraction of radiomic features from the lung lesions. LASSO regression was used to reduce the feature set, and the XGBoost algorithm was trained to classify disease severity based on the World Health Organization Clinical Progression Scale. The model was evaluated using 2 multicenter cohorts: a development cohort of 145 COVID-19-positive patients from 3 centers to train and test the severity prediction model using manually segmented lung lesions. In addition, an evaluation set of 90 COVID-19-positive patients was collected from 2 centers to evaluate AssessNet-19 in a fully automated fashion. RESULTS AssessNet-19 achieved an F1-score of 0.76 ± 0.02 for severity classification in the evaluation set, which was superior to the 3 expert thoracic radiologists (F1 = 0.63 ± 0.02) and the single-class lesion segmentation model (F1 = 0.64 ± 0.02). In addition, AssessNet-19 automated multiclass lesion segmentation obtained a mean Dice score of 0.70 for ground-glass opacity, 0.68 for consolidation, 0.65 for pleural effusion, and 0.30 for band-like structures compared with ground truth. Moreover, it achieved a high agreement with radiologists for quantifying disease extent with Cohen κ of 0.94, 0.92, and 0.95. CONCLUSIONS A novel artificial intelligence multiclass radiomics model including 4 lung lesions to assess disease severity based on the World Health Organization Clinical Progression Scale more accurately determines the severity of COVID-19 patients than a single-class model and radiologists' assessment

Investing in the Future

This paper attempts to address the challenges of how to invest in Synthetic Biology firms, most of which are relatively new start-ups and unprofitable. Valuing an early-stage firm with only a brief operating history, little or no operating profit (or even revenue), and an immature and untested business model, could be a formidable challenge. We propose a limited number of quantitative, and a larger number of qualitative criteria. An investor may consider these when faced with analyzing a new untried business, but one he/she believes has considerable potential for success in the future

Crypto vs. Dot-Com: A Comparison of Market Crashes

Abstract. The dot-com crash (2000-2002) resulted in a significant decline of technology stocks. A similar scenario was seen in the cryptocurrency market in 2022, as the value of digital assets experienced a sharp drop. Both market corrections share some similarities, such as the excitement surrounding new technologies and their potential impact on the global economy. However, the causes of these crashes are quite distinct. The dot-com crash was the result of multiple factors, including the overvaluation of tech stocks, lack of profitability among dot-com firms, and the general economic downturn. On the other hand, the cryptocurrency crash was mainly due to the rapid increase in crypto values, followed by a sudden drop, made worse by bankruptcies and allegations of mismanagement and fraud.The recovery process from both crashes was also different. After the dot-com crash, there was a lengthy period of consolidation and eventual rebound, while the crypto crash led to a shake-out in the market, leaving an uncertain future for the recovery of most cryptocurrencies. Despite the uncertain future of cryptocurrencies, they have already had a significant impact on the financial world. Most crypto projects will fade away, but established cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are expected to survive

Freedom and Rational Behavior: Making Choices and its Consequences amidst COVID-19

In this personal essay, freedom, and the freedom to choose are considered amidst the current COVID-19 pandemic. The question is raised how free we truly are and to what extent we are influenced by others. What role do social media play in disseminating false information and contribute to irrational behavior? People have the right to believe what they want, but not everything a person believes is right, which has consequences. This essay cites a number of scientific studies to support the detrimental effects of misleading information on the COVID-19 virus