Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Employability and job search after compulsory reemployment courses: the role of choice, usefulness, and motivation

Compulsory reemployment courses aim to increase unemployed people's chances of reemployment by enhancing their employability and job search activities. However, the course outcomes vary greatly. This study examined the conditions and mechanisms that influence the outcomes of reemployment courses. In a two-wave study of 643 participants, we assessed participants’ course experience (perceived choice and perceived usefulness), motivation for finding reemployment (internalisation), and employability and job search before and after the course. The results confirmed that a more internalised motivation was positively related to most course outcomes. Unexpectedly, perceived choice was unrelated to internalised motivation and course outcomes. Instead, high perceived choice was beneficial for motivation and some course outcomes only when the participants perceived the course to be useful for finding reemployment but was detrimental when they perceived the course to be useless. Perceived usefulness was also directly and positively related to the participants’ internalised motivation, which was in turn positively associated with most employability dimensions and job search activities after the course. Our results imply that the compulsory nature of reemployment courses may not be detrimental to people's motivation and course outcomes as long as they perceive the course to be useful for finding reemployment.
Acceptability and Adherence in a Chemoprevention Trial among Women at Increased Risk for Breast Cancer Attending the Modena Familial Breast and Ovarian Cancer Center (Italy)

Chemoprevention for women at risk for breast cancer has been shown to be effective, but in actual practice, women's uptake of chemoprevention has been poor. We explored factors that influence acceptability, adherence, and dropout in the International Breast (Prevention) Intervention Study during our first 3 years of activity at the Modena Familial Breast and Ovarian Cancer Center. We evaluated socio‐demographic characteristics, health status, adherence, and side effect intensity. Semi‐structured interviews analyzed reasons for accepting/refusing/stopping the trial. A total of 471 postmenopausal women were invited to participate, of which 319 declined to participate (68%), 137 accepted to participate (29%), and 15 participants did not make a final decision (3%). Breast cancer‐related worries and trust in our preventive and surveillance programs were the most frequent reasons for accepting. Side effect‐related worry was the most frequent reason for refusing. General practitioners' and family members' opinions played an important role in the decision‐making process. Adherence significantly decreased after a 12‐month follow‐up, but it remained unchanged after 24‐ and 36‐month follow‐ups. Mild/moderate side effects reported by women did not change after 12 months of treatment. Forty percent of women withdrew from the study due to complaints of side effects. We concluded that chemoprevention trials are difficult medical experiments and that the process of deciding about whether or not to participate is based mainly on beliefs and values. This study has important clinical implications. During counselling with prospective participants, it is important to emphasize the potential benefits and to promote an informed choice. How participants make decisions, their belief systems, and their perception of risk are all factors that should be investigated in future research.
Consumer personality and bandwagon consumption behaviour

Scholars recently acknowledged the emergence of a ‘new luxury’ category of products and brands that are attainable to a larger group of consumers whilst having luxury connotations of prestige. New luxuries that seduce the masses, termed “masstige” (Silverstein & Fiske, 2003) products and brands, are particularly salient to bandwagon consumption behaviour as they have a lower price than traditional luxuries whilst attracting prestige associations (Truong, McColl, & Kitchen, 2009). Current bandwagon literature largely ignores consumer related variables and focuses on the information portrayed to create a bandwagon effect. Therefore, the propensity to engage in bandwagon consumption and the source of individual difference dependent on personality is yet to be explored. The following dissertation utilises Mowen’s (2000) Meta-Theoretic Model of Motivation and Personality (3M Model) as a unifying framework to investigate which individual personality traits lead to ‘new luxury’ bandwagon consumption behaviour. An empirical study was conducted by investigating actual consumers of two new luxury brands; Jeffrey Campbell Shoes and Karen Walker. Individual difference in personality and bandwagon consumption behaviour was investigated through the use of a self-administered online questionnaire. The findings suggest unlike Mowen’s (2000) argument for a 4-level hierarchy model, the compound traits did not have a significant impact on the situational level traits. The research suggests a 3-level parallel hierarchical model consisting of elemental level traits at the broadest reference level 3, followed by compound traits and situational traits at reference level 2, and lastly the most concrete trait, bandwagon consumption behaviour, which resides at reference level 1. Individual factors that positively influenced the bandwagon consumption phenomenon include the elemental trait – the need for material resources, the compound trait – self-efficacy, and the two situational level traits – present time perspective and fashion consciousness. The adapted 3M Model was able to account for 25.1 percent of the variance in the bandwagon consumption variable, which is well above Mowen’s (2002) suggested level of 5 to 10 percent variance tolerance. In this instance the 3M Model was found as being more predictive than the traditional Five Factor Model of personality, which accounted for only 3.5 percent of the variance of the consumption behaviour. This suggests in certain instances five factors may not be adequate in accounting for particular consumption phenomenon. The 3M Model utilises a number of theoretical perspectives including control theory, evolutionary psychology, trait theory, and hierarchical models of personality. It unifies various theoretical perspectives within personality research and provides a holistic approach that can be applied to conduct future research.
Individual Differences in Task-Induced Stress in Customer Service Personnel

Sources of stress during customer service work include the cognitive demands of handling inquiries. This study investigated predictors of individual differences in subjective stress response to a simulation of the customer service ‘task’. 86 trainee operators completed personality and dispositional coping measures, and then performed the simulated task. Stress states and situational appraisals and coping were assessed using validated questionnaires. Results showed that task performance generated stress reactions characterized by increased distress but decreased worry, similar to reactions to working memory tasks. Both dispositional and situational measures predicted stress states. Multiple regressions showed that effects of dispositional measures were mediated by situational appraisal and coping measures, consistent with cognitive, ‘transactional’ theories of stress. Task-induced stress may be a significant real-world problem requiring intervention. Organizations may also select more ‘hardy” operators using the scales employed in this study.
The Television Advertising Battleground in the 2004 Presidential Election

This article discusses the televised political advertising used in the 2004 US presidential campaign. Using content analysis to describe 315 television advertisements sponsored by George W. Bush, John Kerry, and independent groups, the study found that both candidates focused more on issues rather than image in their campaign advertising, but differences were found in the top issues addressed by each campaign. For instance, terrorism and defense spending were the major topics for Bush, whereas Kerry's ads focused more on health care and the economy. Advocacy groups played a significant role in the campaign advertising battle, and their ads were more negative than the candidate ads.
Characterizing Value as an Experience

Within contemporary discourse around service-dominant logic, phenomenologically (experientially) determined value has been placed at the center of value discussion. However, a systematic characterization of value in the experience has not been presented to date. In this article, the authors outline four theoretical propositions that describe what value in the experience is, which are then illustrated using a narrative data set. The propositions consider both lived and imaginary value experiences and posit that current service experiences are influenced by previous and anticipated service experiences. The article contributes to the service literature by characterizing value in the experience as an ongoing, iterative circular process of individual, and collective customer sense making, as opposed to a linear, cognitive process restricted to isolated service encounters. The authors recommend that service researchers should consider the use of interpretive methodologies based on the four theoretical propositions outlined in order to better understand the many ways that service customers experience value in their lifeworld contexts, which extend well beyond the service organization’s zone of influence. Service managers should also consider how a richer understanding of past, current, and imaginary value in the context in service customers’ individual lifeworld contexts might generate novel insights for service innovations.
Family bond and family obligation: Continuity and transformation

In examining family relations in contemporary China the article reports the findings of an empirical investigation, which are discussed in terms of recent accounts in the specialist literature. While the individualization thesis suggests that the bonds between family members are diminishing and that family obligations are similarly less significant than they used to be, it is shown here that family bonds and obligations remain strong, even though the grounds on which they are performed and the attitudes and emotions associated with them have undergone change since China’s marketization from the 1980s. The individualization thesis neglects the process of reinterpretation and re-negotiation of filial obligation, and fails to appreciate that modification of filial behaviour is initiated not only by the younger generation but also by the older. The article shows that contemporary filial relations are less concerned with authority, and more directed to financial and emotional support for parents, and from parents to children both adult and dependent.
Traffic grooming, routing, and wavelength assignment in optical WDM mesh networks

In this paper, we consider the traffic grooming, routing, and wavelength assignment (GRWA) problem for optical mesh networks. In most previous studies on optical mesh networks, traffic demands are usually assumed to be wavelength demands, in which case no traffic grooming is needed. In practice, optical networks are typically required to carry a large number of lower rate (sub-wavelength) traffic demands. Hence, the issue of traffic grooming becomes very important since it can significantly impact the overall network cost. In our study, we consider traffic grooming in combination with traffic routing and wavelength assignment. Our objective is to minimize the total number of transponders required in the network. We first formulate the GRWA problem as an integer linear programming (ILP) problem. Unfortunately, for large networks it is computationally infeasible to solve the ILP problem. Therefore, we propose a decomposition method that divides the GRWA problem into two smaller problems: the traffic grooming and routing problem and the wavelength assignment problem, which can then be solved much more efficiently. In general, the decomposition method only produces an approximate solution for the GRWA problem. However, we also provide some sufficient condition under which the decomposition method gives an optimal solution. Finally, some numerical results are provided to demonstrate the efficiency of our method.
The Clinical Utility of Plasma Epstein–Barr Virus DNA Assays in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma: The Dawn of a New Era?

AbstractIn this study, we assessed the potential of plasma Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) DNA assays to predict clinical outcomes in a large sample of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients and proposed a risk stratification model based on standardized EBV DNA load monitoring.We conducted a meta-analysis of 14 prospective and retrospective comparative studies (n = 7 836 patients) to evaluate the correlation between pretreatment plasma EBV DNA (pre-DNA), midtreatment plasma EBV DNA (mid-DNA), posttreatment plasma EBV DNA (post-DNA), the half-life value of plasma EBV DNA clearance rate (t1/2), and clinical outcomes. Our primary endpoint was overall survival (OS). Our secondary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS), distant-metastasis-free survival (DMFS), and local-regional-failure-free survival (LRFS). High pre-DNA, detectable mid-DNA, detectable post-DNA, and slow EBV DNA clearance rates were all significantly associated with poorer OS, with hazard radios (HRs) equal to 2.81, 3.29, 4.26, and 3.58, respectively. Pre-DNA, mid-DNA, and post-DNA had the same effects on PFS, DMFS, and LRFS.Plasma EBV DNA assays are highly prognostic of long-term survival and distant metastasis in NPC patients. Based on the results of this meta-analysis, we propose a 4-grade systematic risk stratification model. Given the inherent limitations of the included studies, future well-designed randomized clinical trials are required to confirm to the findings of this analysis and to contribute to the development of individualized treatment strategies for NPC patients.
Higher education and graduate employment in Italy

Analyse de la structure du systeme educatif de l'enseignement superieur en Italie et de l'organisation des filieres d'etudes et de leurs durees respectives. L'auteur presente egalement des donnees statistiques visant a expliquer la nature du taux d'emploi des jeunes diplomes.
The Interactive-Compensatory Model of Reading

The interactive-compensatory model of reading was developed primarily to explain developmental and individual differences in the use of context to facilitate word recognition during reading. The work leading up to the model is summarized, and more recent empirical studies are described. One major implication derived from these studies and other recent research is that the Goodman-Smith psycholinguistic "guessing game" is an inaccurate conceptualization of individual differences in context use. When a context is adequately instantiated, less-skilled readers utilize context to facilitate word recognition just as much, if not more, than skilled readers.
PATIENT AND PARENT MOTIVATION FOR ORTHODONTIC TREATMENT

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine patient and parents/guardian motivation for seeking orthodontic treatment and the influence of age and gender. Material and Methods: The sample comprised 92 subjects divided into three groups ;aged ranged from 7–10 years,11-18 years and 19-30 years. All participants completed same questionnaire, designed to assess motivation for orthodontic treatment. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS version 20.0. Pearson’s chi-square test were applied for comparing motivational factors among gender and three age groups. Results: In this sample , the desire to improve aesthetics was the main motivational factor for undergoing orthodontics treatment. With increasing age, patients were more aware of their malocclusion. The motivation for treatment decreased with increasing age due to peers and surroundings. Ten percent of older patients were motivated by future improvements in health & only 5 per cent of the examined subjects started treatment because other children made fun of them. Influence of parents on patients decreased with increasing age. No statisticallysignificant difference by gender or age of the children was found. Conclusions: Improvement in dental aesthetics was the principle motivational factor for the adoloscents (48 per cent), their parents/guardians (17 per cent), and adult patients (34 per cent) seeking orthodontic treatment.
Towards an Appropriate Receiver Beamforming Scheme for Millimeter Wave Communication: A Power Consumption Based Comparison

At millimeter wave (mmW) frequencies, beamforming and large antenna arrays are an essential requirement to combat the high path loss for mmW communication. Moreover, at these frequencies, very large bandwidths are available to fulfill the data rate requirements of future wireless networks. However, utilization of these large bandwidths and of large antenna arrays can result in a high power consumption which is an even bigger concern for mmW receiver design. In a mmW receiver, the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) is generally considered as the most power consuming block. In this paper, primarily focusing on the ADC power, we analyze and compare the total power consumption of the complete analog chain for Analog, Digital and Hybrid beamforming (ABF, DBF and HBF) based receiver design. We show how power consumption of these beamforming schemes varies with a change in the number of antennas, the number of ADC bits (b) and the bandwidth (B). Moreover, we compare low power (as in [1]) and high power (as in [2]) ADC models, and show that for a certain range of number of antennas, b and B, DBF may actually have a comparable and lower power consumption than ABF and HBF, respectively. In addition, we also show how the choice of an appropriate beamforming scheme depends on the signal-to-noise ratio regime.
Disease prevalence in geriatric horses in the United Kingdom: veterinary clinical assessment of 200 cases.

REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY Geriatric horses (aged ≥ 15 years) represent a substantial proportion of the equine population, yet few studies have investigated the prevalence of diseases within this population in the UK. OBJECTIVES To describe the findings of veterinary clinical examination of 200 geriatric horses and ponies in north west England and north Wales, and to assess the effect of animal age and type (horse or pony) on the presence or absence of clinical signs and veterinary diagnosed health problems. METHODS From responses to a cross-sectional postal questionnaire survey of owners of geriatric horses (n = 918/1144), 200 horses were randomly selected to receive a veterinary clinical examination covering the major body systems. RESULTS Twenty-six percent of animals were overweight (body condition score, BCS, >3/5) and 4.5% were underweight (BCS <2/5). Seventy-one percent had a dermatological abnormality and 22% displayed hirsutism or abnormal moulting. Ophthalmic lesions frequently identified included vitreous degeneration (66.0%), cataracts (58.5%) and senile retinopathy (33.7%). The prevalence of cardiac murmurs was 20%. Whilst only 7.5% of animals had a spontaneous cough during the examination, 18.5% had some form of nasal discharge and 22% had abnormalities on thoracic auscultation at rest. Following rebreathing, 13.6% developed marked abnormalities consistent with lower airway disease. When assessed at walk, 18.6% were lame on at least one limb, while 50.5% were lame in trot. The majority of animals (83.5%) had a reduction in range of motion in at least one joint. Eighty percent of animals had hoof abnormalities. Dental abnormalities were identified in 95.4% of animals, with cheek teeth diastemata, excessive wear/cupped out teeth and focal overgrowths the most frequently identified conditions. CONCLUSIONS AND POTENTIAL RELEVANCE This study has identified many prevalent clinical signs of disease in geriatric horses. Description of the most prevalent health problems and further identification of risk factors for these conditions will aid in targeted improvements in veterinary care, owner education and welfare.
Leader Cultural Intelligence in Context

Despite clear calls from industry to better understand cross-cultural leadership competencies, academic research on leader cultural intelligence (CQ) is remarkably sparse. To date, very few empirical studies have examined the unique contribution of leader CQ to leadership performance outcomes beyond the effects of competing leadership competencies. Data from 99 culturally diverse organizational leaders and 321 of their followers demonstrated that leader CQ predicted follower perceptions of leader performance and team performance in contexts where work teams were characterized by significant ethnic and nationality diversity. Furthermore, leader CQ predicted follower perceptions of leader performance and team performance on culturally diverse work teams beyond the effects of leader emotional intelligence and other leadership competencies. Implications for cultural intelligence theory, future research directions, and management practice are discussed.
Violent acts: why do they do it?

There are problems associated with mainstream sociological and criminological research into youth violence. Conventional frameworks ignore the interpretive component of violence and thus fail to treat youth violence as a form of action in which motivations, moral impulses and feelings are constitutive of the action. Young people historically have had little opportunity to enter into dominant discourses about violence. This paper reports on the accounts of 29 young people who have been directly involved in violence. Those young people were asked to define violence and describe what personal and collective meanings they attach to their actions.
Image Coding via Wavelets

The application of two wavelet transforms to image compression is discussed. It is noted that the Haar transform, with proper bit allocation, has performance that is visually superior to an algorithm based on a Daubechies filter and to the discrete-cosine-transform-based Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) algorithm at compression ratios exceeding 20:1. In terms of the root-mean-square error, the performance of the Haar transform method is basically comparable to that of the JPEG algorithm. The implementation of the Haar transform can be achieved in integer arithmetic, making it very suitable for applications requiring real-time performance.
The factor structure of test task characteristics and examinee performance

The present study focuses on the task characteristics of reading passages and key sentences in a test of second language reading. Using a new methodological approach to describe variation in test task characteristics and explore how differences in these characteristics might relate to examinee performance, it posed the two following research questions: First, how do the characteristics of the texts used in a high-stakes test of English for Academic Purposes reading vary? Second, what relationships exist between its text characteristics and examinee performance? An expanded test task characteristics instrument was constructed, following Freedle and Kostin (1993) and Bachman et al. (1996), and adding a large number of syntactic features (Celce-Murcia and Larsen-Freeman, 1999). Ratings and numerical counts were compiled for three forms of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) Reading Comprehension Section. Taking items as the object of measurement, the results were then used in a series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, along with IRT (item response theory) parameter estimates for the items in question.