Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Impact of Team Reputation and Team Quality on the Loyalty of the Fans of Iranian National Volleyball Team: A Mediating Role of Satisfaction

Background. Attention to the loyalty of fans to the long-term success of sports organizations has become increasingly important. On this note, it seems necessary to pay attention to the variables that predict and influence the loyalty of spectators. Objectives. The aim of this study was to determine the mediating role of satisfaction in the effect of team reputation and team quality on the loyalty of the fans of national volleyball team in Iran. Methods. For this reason, five Ponzi et al. (2011) team reputation, Oliver (1980) satisfaction, Mahony (2000) behavioral loyalty, and Zhang et al. (1997) team quality questionnaires were used. Asample of 261 fans that were present at the World League Championship to see the Iranian national volleyball teams were randomly selected and questionnaires were distributed among them. Results. The results of structural equation modeling showed that team quality and team reputation are strong predictors of loyalty of fans (β = 0.691, β = 0.681). In addition, the satisfaction of fans has a mediating role in the relationship between team reputation and team quality with loyalty of fans (β = 0.043, p < 0.05). Conclusion. In view of the fact that the impact factor of two team quality and team reputation variables on the loyalty was high, paying attention to these two variables is very important in the formation of loyalty of the fans of the national team of Iran and strong strategies must be devised to achieve this.
Setting the Scene: Partners’ Leadership Behavior and Employees’ Perceptions of Work Performance in Professional Service Firms

The effect of leadership behavior on work performance is highly context sensitive. We address this notion by investigating leadership behavior in one important but understudied organizational context—namely, professional service firms (PSFs). We examine how partners’ leadership behavior in a PSF relates to employee self-leadership, creative climate, and work performance (N = 442). The results show that partners’ consideration leadership behavior is positively related to employees’ perceived work performance. Moreover, partners’ consideration and intellectual stimulation leadership behavior are especially important drivers of self-leadership and creative climate in a PSF, which in turn are positively related to employees’ work performance. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
The relationship between stategic compensation practices and affective organizational commitment

The study, conducted in universities of medical sciences, seeks to investigate the relationships among strategic compensation practices, psychological contract, and affective organizational commitment. In addition, the study aims to test the mediating effect of psychological contract in the relationship between strategic compensation practices and affective organizational commitment. The study sample comprised 301 non academic staff in the universities of medical sciences in Iran. Results reveal that strategic compensation practices led to perceived fulfillment of psychological contract and the latter, in turn, led to higher affective organizational commitment. In addition, employees with higher levels of affective organizational commitment who perceived a fulfillment of psychological contract were less likely to leave an organization. There was significant relationship between employees’ psychological contract and their affective organizational commitment. The study’s findings are generalizable to other universities of medical sciences and perhaps to similar universities in the Iran. Future research should examine the antecedents and consequences of affective organizational commitment in other universities in Iran. The study suggested that to avoid intention to leave and retain employees who identify with their values and goals, organizations ought to provide effective strategic compensation practices in decision-making. Implications of the findings of this study and possible directions for future research are also discussed.
Red giant stellar collisions in the Galactic Centre

We show that collisions with stellar-mass black holes can partially explain the absence of bright giant stars in the Galactic Centre, first noted by Genzel et al. We show that the missing objects are low-mass giants and asymptotic giant branch stars in the range 1-3 M-circle dot. Using detailed stellar evolution calculations, we find that to prevent these objects from evolving to become visible in the depleted K bands, we require that they suffer collisions on the red giant branch, and we calculate the fractional envelope mass losses required. Using a combination of smoothed particle hydrodynamic calculations, restricted three-body analysis and Monte Carlo simulations, we compute the expected collision rates between giants and black holes, and between giants and main-sequence stars in the Galactic Centre. We show that collisions can plausibly explain the missing giants in the 10.5 < K < 12 band. However, depleting the brighter (K < 10.5) objects out to the required radius would require a large population of black hole impactors which would in turn deplete the 10.5 < K < 12 giants in a region much larger than is observed. We conclude that collisions with stellar-mass black holes cannot account for the depletion of the very brightest giants, and we use our results to place limits on the population of stellar-mass black holes in the Galactic Centre.
Alliances and Corporate Governance

We study the link between a firm's quality of governance and its alliance activity. We consider alliances as a commitment technology that helps a company’ Chief Executive Officer overcome agency problems that relate to the inability to ex ante motivate division managers. We show that well-governed firms are more likely to avail themselves of this technology to anticipate ex post commitment problems and resolve them. The role of governance is particularly important when the commitment problems are more acute, such as for significantly risky/long-horizon projects (“longshots”) or firms more prone to inefficient internal redistribution of resources (conglomerates), as well as in the absence of alternative disciplining devices (e.g., low product market competition). Governance also mitigates agency issues between alliance partners; dominant alliance partners agree to a more equal split of power with junior partners that are better governed. An “experiment” that induces cross-sectional variation in the cost of the alliance commitment technology provides evidence of a causal link between governance and alliances.
Precore/Core Region Mutations in Hepatitis B Virus DNA Predict Postoperative Survival in Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA is prone to mutations because of the proofreading deficiencies of HBV polymerase. We have identified hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) survival-associated HBV mutations in the X protein region of HBV DNA. In the present study, we extend our research to assess HCC survival-associated HBV mutations in the HBV precore/core (PreC/C) region. The PreC/C region was amplified and sequenced and the HBV mutations were identified according to the NCBI database (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/5536). The relationships between the mutations in the PreC/C region and HCC survival were analyzed. Survival curves were generated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and comparisons between the curves were made using the log-rank test. Multivariate survival analysis was performed using a Cox proportional hazards model. After adjusting for clinical characteristics, the 1915, 2134, 2221, 2245 and 2288 mutational sites were identified as statistically significant independent predictors of HCC survival by multivariate survival analysis using a Cox proportional hazards model. In addition, the mutational site of 1896 was identified for its association with survival at a borderline significance level. A total of five mutations in the precore/core region were identified as independent predictors of postoperative survival in HCC patients. The analysis of HBV DNA mutations may help identify patient subgroups with poor prognosis and may help refine therapeutic decisions regarding HCC patients.
Graduate Applicant Intentions and Behavioral Beliefs: The Role of Protected Group Status

Laws promoting equal employment opportunity (EEO) in favor of applicants from “protected groups” are commonplace in many countries. The present study compared graduate applicants from protected vs. unprotected groups. Drawing on the theory of planned behavior and on social cognitive theory we explored how intentions to apply for jobs are shaped by behavioral beliefs (internal factors) and protection status (external factor). Results from structural invariance analysis showed that, overall, beliefs influenced applicant intentions similarly in both groups. However, relative weights analysis revealed notable differences in the relative influence of attitude and norm beliefs. The findings suggest that recruitment practitioners and scholars may better understand how applicant intentions are formed if the role of protection status is considered in conjunction with applicant beliefs.
Margin requirements across equity-related instruments: how level is the playing field?

Investors can participate in the returns on the Standard and Poor's 500 composite index in a variety of ways, and these alternatives exist because they differ in important respects. This article assesses one dimension of these differences-margin requirements. ; Focusing on equity-related instruments, the author develops a model to simulate the values arising from several identical positions obtained by combinations of stocks and stock derivatives. The results are then used to assess the costs of margin requirements on alternative strategies. The primary conclusion is that the playing field is more level than a cursory focus on initial margin requirements might indicate. The costs associated with margin requirements on equities or stock indexes are essentially fixed costs. On the other hand, costs of margin requirements on derivatives, particularly on futures contracts, have a low fixed cost component but are more sensitive to the price of the underlying security. Investors may be choosing their strategies based on their tolerance for risk and may be sorting themselves into different markets, allowing all instruments to be financially viable.
Color evolution from z = 0 to z = 1

Rest frame Stroemgren photometry (3500 A, 4100 A, 4750 A, and 5500 A) is presented for 509 galaxies in 17 rich clusters between z = 0 and z = 1 as a test of color evolution. Our observations confirm a strong, rest frame, Butcher-Oemler effect where the fraction of blue galaxies increases from 20% at z = 0.4 to 80% at z = 0.9. We also find that a majority of these blue cluster galaxies are composed of normal disk or post-starburst systems based on color criteria. When comparing our colors to the morphological results from Hubble Space Telescope HST imaging, we propose that the blue cluster galaxies are a population of late-type, low surface brightness objects which fade and are then destroyed by the cluster tidal field. After isolating the red objects from Butcher-Oemler objects, we have compared the mean color of these old, non-star-forming objects with spectral energy distribution models in the literature as a test for passive galaxy evolution in ellipticals. We find good agreement with single-burst models which predict a mean epoch of galaxy formation at z = 5. Tracing the red envelope for ellipticals places the earliest epoch of galaxy formation at z = 10.
Biases in the Australian High Quality Temperature Network

Various reports identify global warming over the last century as around 0.7°C, but warming in Australia at around 0.9°C, suggesting Australia may be warming faster than the rest of the world. This study evaluates potential biases in the High Quality Network (HQN) compiled from 100 rural surface temperature series from 1910 due to: (1) homogeneity adjustments used to correct for changes in location and instrumentation, and (2) the discrimination of urban and rural sites. The approach was to compare the HQN with a new network compiled from raw data using the minimal adjustments necessary to produce contiguous series, called the Minimal Adjustment Network (MAN). The average temperature trend of the MAN stations was 31% lower than the HQN, and by a number of measures, the trend of the Australian MAN is consistent with the global trend. This suggests that biases from these sources have exaggerated apparent Australian warming. Additional problems with the HQN include failure of homogenization procedures to properly identify errors, individual sites adjusted more than the magnitude of putative warming last century, and some sites of such poor quality they should not be used, especially under a “High Quality” banner.
Merlot Journal of Online Learning and Teaching Patterns of Engagement in Connectivist Moocs

Connectivist massive open online courses (cMOOCs) represent an important new pedagogical approach ideally suited to the network age. However, little is known about how the learning experience afforded by cMOOCs is suited to learners with different skills, motivations, and dispositions. In this study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 29 participants on the Change11 cMOOC. These accounts were analyzed to determine patterns of engagement and factors affecting engagement in the course. Three distinct types of engagement were recognized – active participation, passive participation, and lurking. In addition, a number of key factors that mediated engagement were identified including confidence, prior experience, and motivation. This study adds to the overall understanding of learning in cMOOCs and provides additional empirical data to a nascent research field. The findings provide an insight into how the learning experience afforded by cMOOCs suits the diverse range of learners that may coexist within a cMOOC. These insights can be used by designers of future cMOOCs to tailor the learning experience to suit the diverse range of learners that may choose to learn in this way.
Training Teachers to Teach Probability

In this paper we analyze the reasons why the teaching of probability is difficult for mathematics teachers, describe the contents needed in the didactical preparation of teachers to teach probability and analyze some examples of activities to carry out this training. These activities take into account the experience at the University of Granada, in courses directed to primary and secondary school teachers as well as in an optional course on Didactics of Statistics, which is included in the Major in Statistical Sciences and Techniques course since 1996. The aim is encouraging other colleagues to organize similar courses at their universities, either as part of their official programs or in their postgraduate training.
Usage-based web recommendations: a reinforcement learning approach

Information overload is no longer news; the explosive growth of the Internet has made this issue increasingly serious for Web users. Users are very often overwhelmed by the huge amount of information and are faced with a big challenge to find the most relevant information in the right time. Recommender systems aim at pruning this information space and directing users toward the items that best meet their needs and interests. Web Recommendation has been an active application area in Web Mining and Machine Learning research. In this paper we propose a novel machine learning perspective toward the problem, based on reinforcement learning. Unlike other recommender systems, our system does not use the static patterns discovered from web usage data, instead it learns to make recommendations as the actions it performs in each situation. We model the problem as Q-Learning while employing concepts and techniques commonly applied in the web usage mining domain. We propose that the reinforcement learning paradigm provides an appropriate model for the recommendation problem, as well as a framework in which the system constantly interacts with the user and learns from her behavior. Our experimental evaluations support our claims and demonstrate how this approach can improve the quality of web recommendations.
A Bias-Variance Approach for the Nonlocal Means

This paper deals with the parameter choice for the nonlocal means (NLM) algorithm. After basic computations on toy models highlighting the bias of the NLM, we study the bias-variance trade-off of this filter so as to highlight the need of a local choice of the parameters. Relying on Stein's unbiased risk estimate, we then propose an efficient algorithm to locally set these parameters, and we compare this method with the NLM with optimal global parameter.
The Human Use of Insects as Food and as Animal Feed

Edible insects are afood resource tbat continues to be tapped extensiuely by populations in tbe rural Third World, wbile continuing to be ignored by food and agricultural scientists. Tbe unfounded V'estern auersion to insects asfood sbould no longer stand in the way of attempts, tbrougb ad-L)ocacy, research, and extetzsion, to increase tbe contribution tbat insects can make to buman nutrition. OST EUROPEANS AND NORTH AMERICANS are barely, if at all, a'ware that insectS have played an important role in human nutrition. The older literature contains numerous accounts provided by explorers, naturalists, anthropologists, and assorted travelers describing the use of insects as food by the indigenous peoples of most of the world. The desert loclst, Scbistocerca gregaria (ForskAl) (Orthoptera: Acrididae), well-known as a destroyer of crops, was itself in earlier , times a maior source of food in northern Africa and the Middle East. the following account from Algeria: The natives are well disposed to carry out orders for the destruction of the locusts, since they use them for food. Around Tougourt every tent and house has prepared its store of locusts , on the average about 200 kilo to each tent. Sixty camel loads (9000 kilo) are the quantities of locusts accumulated daily in the Ksours of the Oued-Souf. They are a valuable resource for the poor population. To presen'e them, they are first cooked in salt water, then dried in the sun. The natives collect and prepare such considerable stocks that apart from their own needs, they have some for trading on the markets of Tou-gourt, Temacin, etc. I have in my hands now two boxes of ireshly prepared locusts and I convinced myself that they are quite an acceptable food. The taste of shrimps is verv pronounced ; with time they lose their quality Although few insects other than the desert locust were used as food in northern Africa, hundreds of species have been used in central and southern Africa, Asia, Australia, and Latin America. the reported total approximates 500 species in more than 260 genera and 70 families of insect. The actual numbers are probably far greater than the numbers reported, howeveq for two reasons, both attributable to the well-known Vestern coolness toward the idea of insects as food. In his study of the food habits of the Yukpa of Colombia and Ven-ezuela, Ruddle (1973,95) stated: "Foraging for insects has generally been overlooked bv most visitors to …
Factors Affecting Work Performance among Nurses in Delivering Health Service for the National Health Insurance Patients at Dr. Moewardi Hospital, Surakarta

Background: The performances of the doctors and the nurses are especially important in accomplishing health care in a continuous and effective way. It is important to examine all organizational, individual, social factors that especially affect the performances of the doctors and nurses holistically. The purpose of this study was to assess factors affecting work performance among nurses in delivering health service for the national health insurance patientsat Dr. Moewardi Hospital, Surakarta. Subjects and Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out in Dr. Moewardi Hospital, Surakarta, Central Java. A sample of 150 nurseswho provided health services to the National Health Insurance patientswas selectedfor this study by proportional random sampling. The dependent variable was work performance. The independent variables were work satisfaction, work motivation, and supervision. The data were collected by questionnaire and analyzed by path analysis run on Stata 13. Results: Work performance was affected by work satisfaction (b=0.88; 95%CI=0.05 to 1.71; p=0.037), work motivation (b=0.81; 95%CI=-0.06 to 1.68; p=0.070), and supervision (b=0.97; 95%CI=0.18 to 1.76; p=0.016). Work performance was also indirectly affected by motivation. Conclusion: Work performance is affected by work satisfaction, work motivation, and supervision. Work performance is also indirectly affected by motivation. Keywords: work performance, motivation, supervision, satisfaction, nurses Correspondence: Nureesa Doloh. Masters Program in Public Health, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Jl. Ir. Sutami No. 336 A, Surakarta 57126, Central Java.Email: nursenuris2015@gmail.com. Mobile:+62895414785888. Journal of Health Policy and Management (2018), 3(1): 20-25 https://doi.org/10.26911/thejhpm.2018. 03.01. 03
Racial Discrimination and Experience of New Possibilities Among Chinese International Students

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the coping strategies of internalization (e.g., attributing the causes or responsibility of racial discrimination events to oneself) and resistance (e.g., confronting others for their discriminatory behaviors) moderated the association between racial discrimination and experience of new possibilities for Chinese international students. Experience of new possibilities refers to the positive psychological changes associated with finding new opportunities after a traumatic, negative event such as racial discrimination. A total of 258 Chinese international students in the United States completed an online survey. Results indicated that an association between perceived racial discrimination and experience of new possibilities was significantly positive for female Chinese international students with a higher use of the internalization coping or a lower use of resistance coping. However, this association was significantly positive for male Chinese international students with a lower use of the internalization coping or a higher use of resistance coping.