Retailers like Best Buy and JC Penney have already announced efforts to ramp up one-on-one interaction to drive customers back to their stores, looking ahead to perhaps a renaissance of traditional customer service.

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Smith also pointed to ongoing worries that the Federal Reserve will be looking to scale back its quantitative-easing efforts in the months ahead.

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In looking ahead, Mr. Ayer's experience at Alaska brings him back to what's basic at any other business: First worry about making money.

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Looking ahead to the beginning of the workweek, Giuliani reminded commuters about carpooling restrictions going back into effect Monday.

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While other research has been done in this area, it has tended to be retrospective - looking back at the event leading up to an outbreak - rather than using that data to try to look ahead to the next one, they said.

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