Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Employees' perceptions of HR investment and their efforts to remain internally employable: testing the exchange-based mechanisms of the ‘new psychological contract’

This study investigates the relationship between perceived investment in employee development (PIED) and the internal employability efforts that such perceptions are assumed to influence under the terms of the ‘new psychological contract’. A cross-sectional survey among 238 employees in a Norwegian IT and management consulting firm provides support that PIED relates positively to employees' openness to develop themselves and adapt to changing work requirements (‘internal employability orientation’) and their active pursuit of new competencies and career trajectories within the organization (‘internal employability activities’). However, our findings challenge widely held claims that investment in employee development elicits these responses by way of the reciprocal mechanisms of a social exchange relationship. While PIED is found to relate positively to employees' perceptions of a social exchange relationship with their organization, these positive exchange experiences are not supported to influence internal employability outcomes. Our findings do support, however, that PIED relates negatively to perceived economic exchange relationships that in turn undermine internal employability orientations. Suggestions for future research and implications for practice are discussed.
Hubble Space Telescope Parallaxes of AM CVn Stars and Astrophysical Consequences

We present absolute parallaxes and relative proper motions for five AM CVn stars, which we obtained using the Fine Guidance Sensors on board the Hubble Space Telescope. Our parallax measurements translate into distances dAM CVn = 606 pc, dHP Lib = 197 pc, dCR Boo = 337 pc, dV803 Cen = 347 pc, and dGP Com = 75 pc. From these distances we estimate the space density of AM CVn stars and suggest that previous estimates have been too high by about an order of magnitude. We also infer the mass accretion rates, which allows us to constrain the masses of the donor stars, and we show that relatively massive, semidegenerate donor stars are favored in all systems except GP Com. Finally, we give updated estimates for the systems' gravitational wave signals, based on their distances and the inferred masses of the binary components, which are relevant for future space missions such as the proposed Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). We show that all systems but GP Com are excellent candidates for detection with LISA.
Leadership behaviours: effects on job satisfaction, productivity and organizational commitment

Background Research in the west has shown that job satisfaction, productivity and organizational commitment are affected by leadership behaviours. The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of leadership behaviours on employee outcomes in Singapore. Very little research related to this subject has been done in health care settings in this country. The comparison of the results of the different types of settings and samples will allow a better understanding of the relationshiop between leadership behaviours and employee outcomes and thus help to determine if leadership is worth the extra effort. Method The study explored the relationships between five leadership behaviours identified by Kouzes and Posner and the employee outcomes of registered nurses practising in the general wards, intensive care units and the coronary care unit in an acute hospital. Survey questionnaires were used to elicit responses from 100 registered nurses and 20 managers belonging to the organization. Data collected included demographic characteristics and the degree to which the five types of leadership behaviours were used as perceived by the nurse managers and the registered nurses. In addition, the level of nurse job satisfaction, the degree of productivity and the extent of organizational commitment are described. Findings The findings show a similar trend to the original studies in the United States of America. Use of leadership behaviours and employee outcomes were significantly correlated. The regression results indicate that 29% of job satisfaction, 22% of organizational commitment and 9% of productivity were explained by the use of leadership behaviours. Recommendations are made in the light of these findings.
A Research Study of Hand Gesture Recognition Technologies and Applications for Human Vehicle Interaction

This paper describes the primary and secondary driving task together with Human Machine Interface (HMI) trends and issues which are driving automotive user interface designers to consider hand gesture recognition as a realistic alternative for user controls. A number of hand gesture recognition technologies and applications for Human Vehicle Interaction (HVI) are also discussed including a summary of current automotive hand gesture recognition research.
Root causes for iBGP routing anomalies

Today, spreading global routing information within an Autonomous System (AS) is usually implemented by means of internal BGP (iBGP), a particular operational mode of the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) [1]. Considering the research activities around BGP, anomalies turned out to be one major issue of iBGP: But even if the trouble iBGP anomalies induce in practice is well known for nearly a decade [2], [3], new iBGP extensions still define highly problematic protocol modifications. Apparently, protocol designers are either not aware of the conceptual defects that induce anomalies or validating correctness appears to be too complex. In this paper, we provide a basis to solve both problems. Focussing the basic correctness properties of routing protocols, we will show that iBGP anomalies are caused by five root causes. These causes provide protocol designers with a tool set to reveal problematic properties of a concept and verify correctness. Based on exemplary studies for two common iBGP architectures, we will provide detailed guidance for practical usage.
Mechanism of one-legged jumping robot with artificial musculoskeletal system

This paper describes the mechanism and vertical jumping pattern of a one-legged jumping robot that can mimic the muscular and skeletal system of a human leg. The jumping robot has a waist, a thigh, a shin, a foot, and a toe. Its weight is 12.34 kg, and its height is 1010 mm. It has a total of 13 actuators: 10 mono-articular types and 3 bi-articular types. Two kinds of pneumatic artificial muscles such as mono-articular and bi-articular muscles are installed in the rear and the front of the thigh and shin to antagonize each other. For a vertical jump, a joint angle pattern is developed based on the linear and angular momentum. The effectiveness of the mechanism and the jumping pattern of the robot are verified through simulations and experiments.
Evaluating Geographic Routing Protocols for Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks

VANET has emerged as a new network environment for intelligent transportation applications. Numerous research issues have recently been identified and should be tackled before real implementations of pervasive vehicular applications and location-based services. The design and the implementation of efficient and scalable routing protocols constitute one main issue. In this paper, the performance of three geographic routing protocols are studied and evaluated using network simulator ns2 in city environments. Several performance metrics, such as endto-end delay and packet delivery ratio, are evaluated and results are reported to provide an assessment of the suitability of these protocols for vehicular ad hoc networks.
Muslim Women in War and Crisis: Representation and Reality

Note from the Editor: Transliteration and Key Terms Introduction Faegheh Shirazi Part I: Central and South Asia Indonesia Chapter 1. The Peace Brokers: Women of Aceh and Ambon Sya'afatun Almirzanah India Chapter 2. Nation and Selfhood: Memoirs of Bengali Muslim Women Shamita Basu Afghanistan Chapter 3. From Refugee Camp to Kabul: The Influence of Fundamentalism on Afghanistan's Politics and Women Carol Mann Chapter 4. Gendered Aid Interventions and Afghan Women: Images versus Realities Lina Abirafeh Chechnya Chapter 5. "Black Widows" in the New York Times: Images of Chechen Women Rebels Sara Struckman Part II: The Middle East and North Africa Iran Chapter 6. The Islamic Republic of Iran and Women's Images: Masters of Exploitation Faegheh Shirazi Iraq Chapter 7. Widows' Doomsday: Women and War in the Poetry of Hassan al-Nassar Abbas Kadhim Chapter 8. Images and Status: Visualizing Iraqi Women Nada Shabout Lebanon Chapter 9. In Search of Identity: Hijab Recollections from West Beirut Nada S. Fuleihan Chapter 10. Leadership of Lebanese Women in the Cedar Revolution Rita Stephan Tunisia and Algeria Chapter 11. Images of Manipulation: Subversion of Women's Rights in the Maghreb Nadia Marzouki Part III: Europe and the United States Former Yugoslavia Chapter 12. Images of Women in Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Neighboring Countries, 1992-1995 Zilka Spahic-Siljak Spain Chapter 13. Muslim Women in the Spanish Press: A Subaltern Image Angeles Ramirez Great Britain Chapter 14. The 7/7 London Bombings and British Muslim Women: Media Representations, Mediated Realities Fauzia Ahmad United States Chapter 15. Images of Muslim Women in Post-9/11 America Omar Sacirbey Bibliography List of Contributors Index
An Analytic Scheme for Online Handwritten Bangla Cursive Word Recognition

In this article, we describe a prototype system for recognition of online handwritten cursive words of Bangla, a script used by more than 200 million people of India and Bangladesh, two neighboring countries of Asia. To the best of our knowledge, in the literature, there does not exist any work on recognition of such online Bangla cursive words. Here, we propose an analytic recognition approach, which involves segmentation of the input Bangla word. Modified quadratic discriminant function classifier is used for recognition of segmented strokes based on a chain code histogram based feature vector. Finally, an input word is recognized by a verification module, which uses a set of rules for construction of characters from strokes. We carefully selected a set of 100 Bangla words such that each basic character and vowel modifier of this script occurs at least in two words. A total of 10000 handwritten online word samples provided by 50 native Bengali writers of different groups with respect to age, education, sex and income have been used in the present study.
The Effect of International Remittances on Economic Growth in Kenya

A booming interest in the topic of international remittances has developed over the past few years on the part of academics, donors, international financial institutions, commercial banks, money transfer operators, microfinance institutions, and policy makers. The surge of remittances to countries of origin in the last two decades and foreign direct investment (FDI) to developing countries, has reignited debate on their development potential in receiving countries. Alongside the interest in remittances, there is also growing recognition of the importance of transnational practices in shaping the relationship between migration and remittances. The 2003 World Bank report noted that remittances are more stable than other kinds of external financial flows and indeed seem to be counter cyclical. The main objective this study was to determinate the effect of international remittances on the economic growth in Kenya. The study also investigated the causality between international remittances and economic growth. The data used was sourced from World Bank’s Development Indicators for the period 1993 to 2013. The study used Granger Causality to investigate the causality between international remittances on economic growth in Kenya. The ordinary least squares estimation was used to determine the effect of international remittances on economic growth. From the discussion of the findings above, it can be concluded that the international remittances indicators are significant factors influencing the economic growth in Kenya. Thus it can be concluded that economic growth in the Kenya is largely driven by international remittances.
Ju n 20 09 Fixation for Distributed Clustering Processes

We study a discrete-time resource flow in Zd, where wealthier vertices attract the resources of their less rich neighbors. For any translation-invariant probability distribution of initial resource quantities, we prove that the flow at each vertex terminates after finitely many steps. This answers (a generalized version of) a question posed by Van den Berg and Meester in 1991. The proof uses the masstransport principle and extends to other graphs. AMS Subject Classifications: 60K35, 90B15, 68M14.
The drivers of consumer value in the ECR Category Management model

This paper critically evaluates the proposed structure and contents of a frequently discussed Category Management (CM) model in the Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) context. Based on this we present an extensive empirical study where the data from a survey of 202 household representatives are merged with their actual purchasing data taken from a consumer purchase panel (>30,000 purchase observations). The results from an exploratory factor analysis and subsequent multiple regression analyses show that the investigated CM model needs to be amended by personnel and point-of-sale aspects as they affect Consumer Value significantly. The investigated differences between the drivers of Consumers' Value call for including both survey and consumer purchase data and consequently incorporating attitudinal and behavioural aspects into Category Management.
The Role of Policy Rule Misspecification in Monetary Policy Inertia Debate

Operational monetary policy rules are characterized by a parsimonious specification and are therefore prone to specification error when estimated on real data. I devise a policy rule estimation procedure, which is robust to marginal misspecification, and study the effects of specification error in least squares. I find the robust evidence of upward bias in policy inertia in least squares applied to most commonly used Taylor type rule. In effect, least squares learning of a central bank can lead to increasing monetary policy inertia over time.
Sunk-Cost Hysteresis

Despite its important theoretical, empirical and policy implications, sunk-cost hysteresis has not been characterized for the case of model consistent, or rational expectations (previous studies assume that firms believe the forcing variable is generated by some ad hoc, time invariant process such as an iid or Brownian motion process). This omission is significant since if firms do have forward-looking expectations, the existing characterizations cannot be used for empirical testing, or as a guide in developing appropriate econometric techniques. Furthermore, policy conclusions based on such characterizations may be misleading. This paper demonstrates the possibility and characterizes the nature of sunk-cost hysteresis for a broad class of assumptions on the forcing variable process. Most notably this class includes rational or model consistent expectations. Specifically, we show that the firm's problem with a quite general forcing variable process can be reduced to be formally identical to the iid case. Additionally we analytically show that (i) the hysteresis band tends to widen with greater sunk costs, (ii) the effect of greater volatility on the band width depends upon the specific nature of the process generating the uncertainty, and (iii) greater persistence in the shocks has the effect of making well-entrenched firms more likely to exit and of narrowing the band for marginal firms. Lastly we show that the possibility of sunk-cost hysteresis is robust to a number of modifications of the basic sunk cost model.
Association Between Catalase Gene Polymorphisms and Risk of Chronic Hepatitis B, Hepatitis B Virus-Related Liver Cirrhosis and Hepatocellular Carcinoma in Guangxi Population

AbstractReactive oxygen species (ROS) play critical roles in hepatocarcinogenesis. The catalase (CAT) enzyme is involved in the repair of ROS. Therefore, we investigate the association between CAT gene polymorphisms and the risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A total of 715 subjects were divided into 4 groups: 111 chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients, 90 hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related liver cirrhosis (LC) patients, 266 HBV-HCC patients, and 248 healthy controls. The polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism strategy was used to detect CAT gene rs1001179, rs769217, and rs7943316 polymorphisms.Binary logistic regression analyses adjusting for sex, age, ethnicity, smoking and alcohol consumption, and body mass index suggested that subjects carrying the rs769217 T allele were at marginally increased risk of CHB, LC, and HCC, with adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of 1.51 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.04–2.20, P = 0.029), 1.48 (95% CI = 1.03–2.14, P = 0.035), and 1.51 (95% CI = 1.14–1.98, P = 0.004), respectively. Similarly, those individuals carrying the rs769217 TT genotype had a moderately increased risk of CHB, LC, and HCC, with adjusted ORs of 2.11 (95% CI = 1.05–4.22, P = 0.035), 2.00 (95% CI, 1.01–3.95, P = 0.047), and 1.93 (95% CI = 1.14–3.28, P = 0.015), respectively. Moreover, subjects carrying the rs769217 CT genotype and at least 1 copy of the T allele (dominant model) were 1.78 times and 1.83 times more likely to develop HCC, respectively (OR = 1.78, 95% CI = 1.16–2.73, P = 0.009 and OR = 1.83, 95% CI = 1.23–2.71, P = 0.003). This association between CAT rs769217 T alleles and HCC risk is significantly strengthened among men, nonsmokers, nondrinkers, and among individuals <50 years of age. Furthermore, we found 1 high-risk haplotype GTA for CHB (OR = 1.45, 95% CI = 1.05–2.01) and 1 protective haplotype GCA for HCC risk (OR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.52–0.87). We did not found any significant difference in CAT rs1001179 and rs7943316 polymorphisms between controls and cases.Our findings suggest that the CAT rs769217 T allele is associated with increased risk of CHB, HBV-LC, and HBV-HCC in Guangxi population.
Evaluation of the rat tissue reaction to experimental new resin cement and mineral trioxide aggregate cement

Objectives New resin cement (NRC) has been developed as a root repairing material and the material is composed of organic resin matrix and inorganic powders. The aim of this study was to compare the rat subcutaneous tissue response to NRC and mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) cement and to investigate the tissue toxicity of both materials. Materials and Methods Sixty rats received two polyethylene tube-implants in dorsal subcutaneous regions, MTA and NRC specimens. Twenty rats were sacrificed respectively at 1, 4 and 8 wk after implantation and sectioned to 5 µm thickness and stained with Hematoxylin-Eosin (H-E) or von-Kossa staining. The condition of tissue adjacent to the implanted materials and the extent of inflammation to each implant were evaluated by two examiners who were unaware of the type of implanted materials in the tissues. Data were statistically analyzed with paired t-test (p < 0.05). Results In specimens implanted with both NRC and MTA, severe inflammatory reactions were present at one wk, which decreased with time. At eighth wk, MTA implanted tissue showed mild inflammatory reaction, while there were moderate inflammatory reactions in NRC implanted tissue, respectively. In NRC group, von-Kossa staining showed more calcification materials than MTA group at eighth wk. Conclusions It was concluded that the calcium reservoir capability of NRC may contribute to mineralization of the tissues.
INTERSEGMENTAL MODULATION BY PERIPHERAL AFFERENTS IS MODIFIED IN HEMIPARESIS FOLLOWING STROKE

Intersegmental pathways linking quadriceps (Quads) to soleus (Sol) were explored in 11 stroke subjects and compared to those of 14 healthy controls. Relationships between changes in these circuits and motor impairment were also assessed. Subjects were seated and the effects of the conditioning stimulation of femoral nerve (FN) over the voluntary isometric contraction of Sol at 20% and 40% of maximal EMG were measured. FN stimulation produced a shortlasting (26 ± 1 ms) and brief (8 ± 2ms) facilitation (25 ± 44%) of Sol EMG, in 40% of controls. In stroke subjects, this facilitation had a similar latency and duration but was observed in a greater proportion of patients (64%) and with an increased amplitude (111 ± 99 %). This abnormal facilitation was correlated to spasticity (r=0.88; p<0.001). In all control subjects, the facilitation was followed (34 ± 4 ms after FN stimulation) by an inhibition (decrease of 48 ± 22%) of Sol EMG, for a duration of 59 ± 34 ms. In contrast, hemiparetic subjects did not show on average the FN-induced inhibition of Sol EMG. It is argued that the malfunction of intersegmental circuits could contribute to the motor impairment observed at the paretic lower limb.
A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis of the Relationship between Market and Book Values

Practitioners and academics often use book values instead of market values when market data is not available. This is appropriate only if market values and book values are related. In this paper a theoretical model of the relationship between market values and book values is developed and this model is tested directly using time-series analysis. The results obtained suggest that although market values and book values may differ in the short run there is a linear relationship between them in the long run. However a simple dynamic forecast of the model suggests that it could take more than 10 years for the two series to approach each other after a shock to one or both of the series. That is, the long run may be too long to be of any practical use.
Spatio-Temporal Analysis

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study is to present the result of spatio – temporal analysis of Inflation rate inEast Java Indonesia. Vector Autoregressive (VAR) is used to do the analysis. The conclusion of thisstudy are inflation rates in almost all the cities namely Madiun, Probolinggo, Jember and Malanginfluenced by the inflation rate of Surabaya in the previous month. Moreover the inflation rate ofMalang is also influenced by the inflation rate of Kediri in the previous month and inflation rate ofKediri is influenced by the inflation rate of the Sumenep in previous month. While the inflation rateof Surabaya and Sumenep not affected by the inflation rate of any city.Keywords: Spatio-temporal, Inflation Rate, Vector Autoregressive, IndonesiaMathematics Subject Classification: 6207, 62P20Computing Classification System: G.1. 6
Value of alkaline phosphatase, 5'-nucleotidase, gamma-glutamyltransferase, and glutamate dehydrogenase activity measurements (single and combined) in serum in diagnosis of metastasis to the liver.

We assessed, in 98 patients with cancer, the diagnostic value of measuring serum alkaline phosphatase, 5'-nucleotidase, gamma-glutamyltransferase, and glutamate dehydrogenase activities as an aid to detection of liver metastases. All four enzymes showed diagnostic value, but 5'-nucleotidase appeared to have the greatest. It showed the lowest false-positive results (7.4%) with the highest predictive value of a positive test (85.7%) and agreement (81.3%). gamma-Glutamyltransferase showed the lowest proportion of false-negative results (2.8%), but was the least specific 35% false-positive results). Analysis of various test combinations showed that the best agreement (77.5%) was obtained when the patients were divided into those who had no or only one abnormal test result, and those who had two or more abnormal test results. However, this was not better than the agreement for 5' nucleotidase alone (81.3%). The agreement of 5'-nucleotidase and gamma-glutamyltransferase (i.e., both tests were positive or negative) was excellent (91.4%), but such agreement included only 67% of the patients with liver metastases.