protected function initializeAttribute(array $attr)
    {

        // load the entity type ID for the value from the system configuration
        $entityTypeId = $this->getEntityTypeId();

        // initialize the data to load the EAV attribute option
        $value = $this->getValue(ColumnKeys::VALUE);
        $storeId = $this->getRowStoreId(StoreViewCodes::ADMIN);
        $attributeCode = $this->getValue(ColumnKeys::ATTRIBUTE_CODE);

        // try to load the EAV attribute option
        if ($attributeOption = $this->loadAttributeOptionByEntityTypeIdAndAttributeCodeAndStoreIdAndValue($entityTypeId, $attributeCode, $storeId, $value)) {
            return $this->mergeEntity($attributeOption, $attr);
        }

        // simply return the attributes
        return $attr;
    }