Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
European Conference on Information Systems ( ECIS ) 5-15-2012 CONSIDERING THE RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF OUTSOURCING RELATIONSHIP QUALITY

Outsourcing relationship quality (ORQ) has shown to be an important construct in previous research on outsourcing effectiveness. But, while there are various works that have conceptualized and operationalized ORQ as a rich and multi-dimensional construct, other studies which consider ORQ as (usually mediating) component of their theoretical models make hardly use of those works but often use less rich constructs. The research on hand attempts bridging the gap between those two groups of works. A multi-dimensional ORQ construct is used to evaluate the relative importance of different ORQ dimensions, such as commitment, trust, etc., in regard to different dimensions of outsourcing success (overall satisfaction, goal achievement, service quality). For example, while many studies use trust as proxy for ORQ, our study shows that, depending on the outcome variable, other ORQ dimensions might be more relevant and should be used instead or additionally. Thus, the main contribution is identifying those ORQ dimensions which are most relevant regarding different outsourcing success variables. Future studies on outsourcing success factors will have a better ground to argue for or against using certain ORQ dimensions in their studies. Moreover, the study sensitizes managers for different distinct ORQ dimensions and their importance for a successful outsourcing relationship.
Transport Infrastructure Investment and Demand Uncertainty

In transportation planning, there can be long lead times to adapt capacity. This article addresses two questions. First, in a one mode world (e.g., rail or road), what is the optimal capacity choice when faced with uncertain demand, long lead times, and congestion. Using a simple analytical model, it is shown that when demand is inelastic, it is socially optimal to invest more than if only the expected level of demand is taken into account. In this case, it may be beneficial to overinvest in capacity because congestion costs are an increasing function of relative use. This result holds with or without optimal tolling. The second question deals with 2 competing modes in which only one mode has long lead times for capacity, whereas the other has flexible capacity. This is typical for the competition between high-speed rail and air for the medium distance trips (500–1,000 km), or for the competition between inland waterways and trucks for freight. We find that overinvestment is less justified because the substitute mode can more easily absorb the high-demand outcomes.
Aging and Neuroeconomics: Insights from Research on Neuromodulation of Reward-based Decision Making

Abstract ‘Neuroeconomics’ can be broadly defined as the research of how the brain interacts with the environment to make decisions that are functional given individual and contextual constraints. Deciphering such brain-environment transactions requires mechanistic understandings of the neurobiological processes that implement value-dependent decision making. To this end, a common empirical approach is to investigate neural mechanisms of reward-based decision making. Flexible updating of choices and associated expected outcomes in ways that are adaptive for a given task (or a given set of tasks) at hand relies on dynamic neurochemical tuning of the brain’s functional circuitries involved in the representation of tasks, goals and reward prediction. Empirical evidence as well as computational theories indicate that various neurotransmitter systems (e.g., dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin) play important roles in reward-based decision making. In light of the apparent aging-related decline in various aspects of the dopaminergic system as well as the effects of neuromodulation on reward-related processes, this article focuses selectively on the literature that highlights the triadic relations between dopaminergic modulation, reward-based decision making, and aging. Directions for future research on aging and neuroeconomoics are discussed.
An Experimental and Modeling Investigation of Synthetic Jets in a Coflow Wake

A round synthetic jet injected in a coflow wake is investigated experimentally in order to estimate the spreading and decaying rates of the jet while compensating for the actuator wake. The flow field of the jet and wake is measured using hot-wire anemometry. The spatial evolution of the synthetic jet is modeled similarly to a continuous turbulent jet in a coflow with some modifications for the pulsatile nature of the synthetic jet and the wake behind the flow actuator. The model employs an integral formulation that conserves the excess momentum flux in the jet along with a hypothesis which asserts that the rate of growth of the shear layer is proportional to the velocity of the dominant eddies in the jet relative to the surroundings. The characteristic velocity and length scales are derived from a corresponding top hat velocity profile. The jet in the far field is observed to exhibit self-similar behavior, as distinguished by the overlapping of the excess mean velocity profiles if scaled by the self-simi.
Running on empty: high self-esteem as a risk factor for exercise addiction

Abstract Background: Few studies have examined the theorized predictors of exercise addiction. Furthermore, research on exercise addiction has paid little to no attention to an individual’s social and cultural context. Using objectification theory, the present study examined (a) body shame as a positive predictor of exercise addiction, (b) self-esteem as a negative predictor of exercise addiction, and (c) self-esteem as a mediator of the positive relation between body shame and exercise addiction among college student women. Method: Participants were 322 undergraduate women at a large university in the Northeast. Results: Results corroborate body shame as a significant positive predictor of exercise addiction; however, contrary to hypotheses, self-esteem emerged as a positive predictor of exercise addiction when controlling for body shame. Finally, the test of the mediation model revealed self-esteem was partially mediating the relation between body shame and exercise addiction, indicating competitive mediation. Conclusions: Results shed light on the potential predictors of exercise addiction, extend objectification theory in relation to exercise addiction, and provide a sociocultural context for understanding the exercise addiction among young adult women. Further, new directions for targeted treatments aimed at reducing body shame are discussed.
Irregular Magnetic Fields in Interstellar Clouds and Variations in the Observed Circular Polarization of Spectral Lines

The strengths of magnetic fields in interstellar gas clouds are obtained through observations of the circular polarization of spectral line radiation. Irregularities in this magnetic field may be present because of turbulence, waves, or perhaps other causes, and may play an essential role in the structure and evolution of the gas clouds. To infer information about these irregularities from the observational data, we develop statistical relationships between the rms values of the irregular component of the magnetic field and spatial variations in the circular polarization of the spectral line radiation. The irregularities are characterized in analogy with descriptions of turbulence—by a sum of Fourier waves having a power spectrum with a slope similar to that of Kolmogorov turbulence. For comparison, we also perform computations in which turbulent magnetic and velocity fields from representative MHD simulations by others are utilized. Although the effects of the variations about the mean value of the magnetic field along the path of a ray tend to cancel, a significant residual effect in the polarization of the emergent radiation remains for typical values of the relevant parameters. A map of observed spectra of the 21 cm line toward Orion A is analyzed and the results are compared with our calculations in order to infer the strength of the irregular component of the magnetic field. The rms of the irregular component is found to be comparable in magnitude to the mean magnetic field within the cloud. Hence, the turbulent and Alfvén velocities should also be comparable.
Positive Metacognitions and Meta-Emotions as Predictors of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Posttraumatic Growth in Survivors of a Natural Disaster

ABSTRACT Exposure to natural disasters can lead to both negative and positive mental health consequences (i.e., posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD] and posttraumatic growth [PTG]). While there is evidence linking metacognition to these outcomes, the focus is mostly on maladaptive metacognitions. The present study investigated the role of positive metacognitions and meta-emotions (i.e., confidence in extinguishing perseveration [Extinguishing], confidence in interpreting emotions as cues [Interpreting], and confidence in setting flexible and attainable hierarchies of goals [Setting]) on PTSD and PTG among Filipino typhoon survivors. Findings supported a model wherein Extinguishing and Setting, but not Interpreting, predicted PTSD and PTG through posttraumatic cognitions.
Asymmetric N-Cadherin Expression Results in Synapse Dysfunction, Synapse Elimination, and Axon Retraction in Cultured Mouse Neurons

Synapse elimination and pruning of axon collaterals are crucial developmental events in the refinement of neuronal circuits. While a control of synapse formation by adhesion molecules is well established, the involvement of adhesion molecules in developmental synapse loss is poorly characterized. To investigate the consequences of mis-match expression of a homophilic synaptic adhesion molecule, we analysed an asymmetric, exclusively postsynaptic expression of N-cadherin. This was induced by transfecting individual neurons in cultures of N-cadherin knockout mouse neurons with a N-cadherin expression vector. 2 days after transfection, patch-clamp analysis of AMPA receptor-mediated miniature postsynaptic currents revealed an impaired synaptic function without a reduction in the number of presynaptic vesicle clusters. Long-term asymmetric expression of N-cadherin for 8 days subsequently led to synapse elimination as indicated by a loss of colocalization of presynaptic vesicles and postsynaptic PSD95 protein. We further studied long-term asymmetric N-cadherin expression by conditional, Cre-induced knockout of N-cadherin in individual neurons in cultures of N-cadherin expressing cortical mouse neurons. This resulted in a strong retraction of axonal processes in individual neurons that lacked N-cadherin protein. Moreover, an in vivo asymmetric expression of N-cadherin in the developmentally transient cortico-tectal projection was indicated by in-situ hybridization with layer V neurons lacking N-cadherin expression. Thus, mis-match expression of N-cadherin might contribute to selective synaptic connectivity.
THE ANAEROBIC BACTERIAL FLORA OF THE MOUSE CECUM

Refinements of the anaerobic technique such as the utilization of prereduced media and the removal of traces of oxygen from the gases used by passage through a hot copper oven resulted in quantitative and qualitative improvements in the recovery of anaerobic bacteria from the cecum of SPF mice. The commonest morphologic types of bacteria in the mouse cecum were tapered rods. These characteristically gave "speckled" colonies on agar plates. Those identified were species of the genera Fusobacterium, Eubacterium, and Clostridium. Several of the morphologic types seen with phase microscopy still could not be cultivated. The implications of these findings for the study of the intestinal flora are discussed.
Transactions of the American Mathematical Society Character Theory and Rooted Maps in an Orientable Surface of given Genus: Face-colored Maps

The character theoretic approach [5] to the enumeration of rooted maps in an orientable surface of arbitrary genus is extended to 2-face-colorable rooted maps. In particular, we show that there exists, for each genus, a correspondence between the set of 2-colored triangulations and a set of 2-colored rooted maps of all lower genera with a distinguished subset of vertices.
The effects of conceptual processing versus suppression on analogue PTSD symptoms after a distressing film.

BACKGROUND Researchers have begun to scrutinize the assumption that active processing in response to a traumatic event is beneficial whereas avoidance of thoughts, emotions and reminders about the traumatic event is detrimental. Indications that avoidance is not always detrimental come from studies on grief and debriefing. AIMS In an analogue experimental study, the hypothesis was tested that conceptually-driven processing immediately after a distressing film is more successful in reducing analogue PTSD symptoms than suppression of thoughts and images related to the film. METHOD Ninety students watched a distressing film after which they were instructed to either elaborate on the meaning of the film (conceptual processing) (n = 31), suppress all thoughts and images of the film by performing a task (n = 29), or were given no instruction (n = 30). Four hours later, analogue PTSD symptoms were assessed. RESULTS The results showed that conceptually-driven processing does not result in fewer analogue PTSD symptoms than suppression. CONCLUSIONS It is speculated that suppression may only be dysfunctional when individuals interpret their symptoms negatively or when suppression is believed to be dysfunctional.
Genetic structure and diversity in Oryza sativa

The population structure of domesticated species is influenced by the natural history of the populations of pre-domesticated ancestors, as well as by the breeding system and complexity of the breeding practices exercised by humans. Within Oryza sativa, there is an ancient and well-established divergence between the two major sub-species, indica and japonica, but finer levels of genetic structure are suggested by the breeding history. In this study, a sample of 234 accessions of rice was genotyped at 169 nuclear SSRs and two chloroplast loci. The data were analyzed to resolve the genetic structure and to interpret the evolutionary relationships between groups. Five distinct groups were detected, corresponding to indica, aus, aromatic, temperate japonica and tropical japonica rices. Nuclear and chloroplast data support a closer evolutionary relationship between the indica and aus, and between the tropical japonica, temperate japonica and aromatic groups. Group differences can be explained through contrasting demographic histories. With the availability of rice genome sequence, coupled with a large collection of publicly available genetic resources, it is of interest to develop a population-based framework for the molecular analysis of diversity in O. sativa.
Secure transmission with artificial noise in millimeter wave systems

The use of millimeter wave is an effective way to meet the data traffic demand of the 5G wireless communication system. For the new propagation characteristics of millimeter wave, in this paper, we study the secure transmission with artificial noise under slow fading channels considering multipath propagation in millimeter wave systems. Firstly, when partial eavesdropper's channel state information is known at the transmitter, an artificial noise transmission strategy which depends on directions of the destination's and the eavesdropper's propagation paths is proposed. Then we analyze the secrecy outage probability (SOP) through an on-off transmission scheme. Furthermore, we minimize the SOP subject to a secrecy rate constraint and derive a closed-form optimal power allocation between the information bearing signal and artificial noise. Numerical results are provided to show the superiority of the proposed scheme.
Investigating the Role of Presence in Collaborative Online Shopping

A large number of studies investigating business-to-consumer e-commerce have focused exclusively on online shopping by individuals, although consumers often desire to conduct their shopping activities with others. This study has therefore attempted to study collaborative online shopping by looking at two types of presence that are of particular relevance to this context, namely, telepresence and social presence. Telepresence is one’s mental state in which a shopper feels physically present within a virtual shopping store, while social presence refers to the degree to which a medium allows a shopper to establish personal connection with his/her shopping buddies. A model is developed to explain how telepresence and social presence jointly affect consumers’ continuance intention to use collaborative shopping, through the mediating effects of perceived usefulness and shopping enjoyment. The model was tested in a survey and was supported by the empirical results.
Exploring employee retention and intention to leave within a call centre

Orientation: Call centre organisations are plagued with high levels of employee turnover and are challenged by effectively retaining their staff. Research purpose: The study sets out to establish factors that affect the retention of call centre agents and to determine call centre agents’ intention to leave. Research design, approach and method: The study is quantitative in nature, which follows a cross-sectional approach. Data were collected using an established questionnaire, the retention factor management scale. Psychometric properties of the questionnaire for validity and reliability were assessed using factor analysis and Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, respectively, to ensure internal consistency. Data were collected using a convenience sample, and the participants of the study are call centre agents. The sample yielded a response rate of 282 respondents. Subsequently, data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Main findings: The findings reflect that a relationship between the retention factors and intention to leave exists, whereby compensation contributes the most towards intention to leave. Practical and managerial implications: Recommendations are made for the retention factors of call centre agents, which when implemented have the potential to enhance employee retention. Contribution: The study provided valuable insights to management within call centre organisation towards employee retention and provided recommendations and strategies aligned to factors that will enhance retention, which human resource practitioners need to be cognisant of.
Effects of solar UV radiation on aquatic ecosystems and interactions with climate change

Recent results continue to show the general consensus that ozone-related increases in UV-B radiation can negatively influence many aquatic species and aquatic ecosystems ( e.g. , lakes, rivers, marshes, oceans). Solar UV radiation penetrates to ecological significant depths in aquatic systems and can affect both marine and freshwater systems from major biomass producers (phytoplankton) to consumers ( e.g. , zooplankton, fish, etc. ) higher in the food web. Many factors influence the depth of penetration of radiation into natural waters including dissolved organic compounds whose concentration and chemical composition are likely to be influenced by future climate and UV radiation variability. There is also considerable evidence that aquatic species utilize many mechanisms for photoprotection against excessive radiation. Often, these protective mechanisms pose conflicting selection pressures on species making UV radiation an additional stressor on the organism. It is at the ecosystem level where assessments of anthropogenic climate change and UV-related effects are interrelated and where much recent research has been directed. Several studies suggest that the influence of UV-B at the ecosystem level may be more pronounced on community and trophic level structure, and hence on subsequent biogeochemical cycles, than on biomass levels per se .
Hybrid Dynamic Trees for Extreme-Resolution 3D Sparse Data Modeling

This paper presents the hybrid dynamic tree (HDT), a novel adaptive tree-based data structure for representing high-resolution sparse volumes. Roughly speaking, HDTs combine dense volumetric grids with sparse octrees in a way that makes them both more compact and better-suited to GPUs than state-of-the-art alternatives. For our motivating applications in computer-aided design and manufacturing(CAD/CAM), we show 2× reductions in storage on realistic inputs compared to these alternatives, additionally, we show up to 16 fix speedups over multicore CPU implementations on a specific computational bottleneck known as an offset surface computation. Indeed, these combined improvements allow us to perform offsetting on a single node at resolutions well beyond that of the prior work and the capabilities of current commercial packages. And beyond CAD/CAM, HDTs may find applications in 3D geometric modeling problems for a variety of domains, including medical imaging and graphics.
Guide to Interpreting Disease Responses in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia

With the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia, the course of the disease has been altered from an acute, rapidly progressive terminal disorder to a serious condition with high remission rates when patients are compliant with long-term treatment. The goal of therapy is to prevent transformation to the accelerated or blast crisis phases, which are associated with poor survival. Knowledge of the appropriate monitoring tests and treatment milestones, as well as the ability to interpret responses, allows advanced practitioners (APs) to effectively communicate key aspects of management to their patients. Monitoring patient responses to TKIs and identifying suboptimal responses early on offer APs the opportunity to reevaluate and adjust therapeutic treatment options. One of the causes of treatment failure is noncompliance; thus, educating patients on the importance of adhering to treatment and identifying reasons for noncompliance are of major importance. Because intolerance to TKIs may lead to discontinuation, frequent monitoring of side effects and response to treatment, open communication, patient education, and careful management are all essential in helping patients remain compliant with therapy. This review discusses the AP’s role in helping patients achieve their best response to TKI therapy and optimize their long-term outcomes.
On the capacity of spatially correlated MIMO Rayleigh-fading channels

In this paper, we investigate the capacity distribution of spatially correlated, multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) channels. In particular, we derive a concise closed-form expression for the characteristic function (c.f.) of MIMO system capacity with arbitrary correlation among the transmitting antennas or among the receiving antennas in frequency-flat Rayleigh-fading environments. Using the exact expression of the c.f. , the probability density function (pdf) and the cumulative distribution function (CDF) can be easily obtained, thus enabling the exact evaluation of the outage and mean capacity of spatially correlated MIMO channels. Our results are valid for scenarios with the number of transmitting antennas greater than or equal to that of receiving antennas with arbitrary correlation among them. Moreover, the results are valid for an arbitrary number of transmitting and receiving antennas in uncorrelated MIMO channels. It is shown that the capacity loss is negligible even with a correlation coefficient between two adjacent antennas as large as 0.5 for exponential correlation model. Finally, we derive an exact expression for the mean value of the capacity for arbitrary correlation matrices.