Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Relational Humility: Conceptualizing and Measuring Humility as a Personality Judgment

The study of humility has progressed slowly due to measurement problems. We describe a model of relational humility that conceptualizes humility as a personality judgment. In this set of 5 studies, we developed the 16-item Relational Humility Scale (RHS) and offered initial evidence for the theoretical model. In Study 1 (N = 300), we developed the RHS and its subscales—Global Humility, Superiority, and Accurate View of Self. In Study 2, we confirmed the factor structure of the scale in an independent sample (N = 196). In Study 3, we provided initial evidence supporting construct validity using an experimental design (N = 200). In Study 4 (N = 150), we provided additional evidence of construct validity by examining the relationships between humility and empathy, forgiveness, and other virtues. In Study 5 (N = 163), we adduced evidence of discriminant and incremental validity of the RHS compared with the Honesty-Humility subscale of the HEXACO–PI (Lee & Ashton, 2004).
Nurses' Views on Work Enabling Factors

Objective In this study nurses' views on work enabling factors, priority issues for improvement, and stress and satisfaction levels were examined. Background This research builds on previous work studies that empirically established work dimension indices related to individual and organizational outcomes. A survey tool was adapted so it replicated previous instrument development research, as well as explored its practicality as a benchmark and process tool in healthcare organizations. Methods A descriptive design was used in a single institution employing a self-report survey. Results All of the enabling factors were found to be important to nurses. The lowest-rated factors related to manager-staff relationships, congruent with open-ended responses that identified improving management as the highest priority. Unlike previous studies, job insecurity and trust were not issues, and nurses predominantly (92%) reported that quality care was provided. Conclusions A simple enabling index and survey tool can be used to proactively assess work environments, so that conditions can be improved before they lead to morale, sickness, and retention problems. The survey results provide important feedback that can prompt discussions about how workplaces can become healthier, more productive, and rewarding places for nurses.
Vascular Access and New Trends

Patients suffering from end-stage renal disease (ESRD) treated with renal replacement therapy is a continuously growing population [1–3]. Hemodialysis is the most preferable modality among them [4], making a suitable permanent vascular access (VA) vital for their treatment. The ultimate purpose is the successful creation of a well-functioning, long-lasting VA, capable of delivering adequate dialysis to the patient with the minimum of complications under its appropriate management. In the last years in this field of nephrology, very few changes have taken place. Three types of permanent VA are in use, arteriovenous fistula (AVF), arteriove‐ nous grafts (AVGs), and cuffed central venous catheters (CVCs). Long-lasting survival, adequate blood flow, and low complications rate are necessary characteristics of them. Native forearm AVF best fulfills this criteria and is the first choice of VA, the first native arteriovenous fistula (AVF) described in 1966 by Brescia and Chimino [5]. The second choice is upper arm AVF, followed by AVG and last one cuffed CVC [6–8]. Vascular access dysfunction is respon‐ sible for 20% of dialysis patients’ hospitalizations in the USA [9], making it one of the most important causes of morbidity [10], while the annual cost of VA creation and maintenance is over 1 billion dollars yearly [11], with arteriovenous graft (AVG) cost be more than fivefold higher than AVF [12]. Thus, VA is called the “Achilles’ heel” of hemodialysis [13].
Beginning teachers’ professional socialization in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan: The challenges and coping strategies

This qualitative study examines and develops an in-depth understanding of two beginning teachers’ professional socializations in post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan. The study is a historical and descriptive account that provides insights into the impact of socio-political upheaval on the lives of two beginning teachers. The study focuses on the challenges the teachers faced in their initial stages of work and on how they addressed these. The teachers’ professional socialization stories are described in three realms: classroom, school and community. The study examines in greater detail the professional and relational challenges that the two beginning teachers faced while interacting with their pupils, administrators, colleagues, pupils’ parents and education officials. In addition to the typical challenges of adjusting to school culture, rules and regulations and classroom management faced by beginning teachers, these individuals had to deal with additional tribulations that have manifested after and because of the collapse of the former USSR. These include insufficient resources for schools, inadequately qualified and inexperienced colleagues, high student drop-out rates, a constantly changing curriculum, lack of textbooks, low salaries with frequent delays and deductions. These young teachers, despite their circumstances, emerge as caring and considerate individuals who adopted a variety of responses, including maintaining their values and performance, while at the same time attempting to influence others as they protected themselves from criticisms. The combination of social strategies and micropolitical tactics proved useful in examining the beginning teachers’ broader positions and specific tactics of addressing the crucial challenges. The study offers insights for school administrators, experienced teachers and education authorities at district, provincial and national levels. It points out the importance of assisting beginning teachers in improving performance, retention and long-term personal and professional well-being. The thesis also highlights some of the major challenges of conducting qualitative studies in the Central Asian context. Finally, the study also revealed that there is a need to develop educational research
Tourism Technical Analysis System

Accurate forecasts of tourism demand are prerequisites in the decision making process in many organizations in the private and public sectors. Any information concerning the future evolution of tourism flows is of great importance to hoteliers, tour operators and other industries concerned with tourism, services or transportation. In the last few decades international tourism demand has attracted substantial academic interest, resulting in a wide range of successful forecasting approaches. Much attention has been paid to econometric models that use regression techniques to estimate the underlying relationship between tourism demand and its determinants; unfortunately, empirical studies suggest that these models usually fail to outperform simple time series models. The current study focuses on an alternative approach, the Tourism Technical Analysis System (TTAS), incorporating the use of technical analysis techniques and building on the similarities between stock and tourism markets. The absolute and directional accuracy of TTAS is evaluated in relation to a range of time series and econometric methods for forecasting international tourism demand, using as a benchmark well-known published research.
Miniature Multimode Monolithic Flextensional Transducers

Traditional flextensional transducers classified in seven groups based on their designs have been used extensively in 1-100 kHz range for mine hunting, fish finding, oil explorations, and biomedical applications. In this study, a new family of small, low cost underwater, and biomedical transducers has been developed. After the fabrication of transducers, finite-elements analysis (FEA) was used extensively in order to optimize these miniature versions of high-power, low-frequency flextensional transducer designs to achieve broad bandwidth for both transmitting and receiving, engineered vibration modes, and optimized acoustic directivity patterns. Transducer topologies with various shapes, cross sections, and symmetries can be fabricated through high-volume, low-cost ceramic and metal extrusion processes. Miniaturized transducers posses resonance frequencies in the range of above 1 MHz to below 10 kHz. Symmetry and design of the transducer, polling patterns, driving and receiving electrode geometries, and driving conditions have a strong effect on the vibration modes, resonance frequencies, and radiation patterns. This paper is devoted to small, multimode flextensional transducers with active shells, which combine the advantages of small size and low-cost manufacturing with control of the shape of the acoustic radiation/receive pattern. The performance of the transducers is emphasized.
The IDL of E. coli SSB links ssDNA and protein binding by mediating protein–protein interactions

The E. coli single strand DNA binding protein (SSB) is essential to viability where it functions in two seemingly disparate roles: it binds to single stranded DNA (ssDNA) and to target proteins that comprise the SSB interactome. The link between these roles resides in a previously under‐appreciated region of the protein known as the intrinsically disordered linker (IDL). We present a model wherein the IDL is responsible for mediating protein–protein interactions critical to each role. When interactions occur between SSB tetramers, cooperative binding to ssDNA results. When binding occurs between SSB and an interactome partner, storage or loading of that protein onto the DNA takes place. The properties of the IDL that facilitate these interactions include the presence of repeats, a putative polyproline type II helix and, PXXP motifs that may facilitate direct binding to the OB‐fold in a manner similar to that observed for SH3 domain binding of PXXP ligands in eukaryotic systems.
The impact of outside control in microfinance

Purpose - Microfinance practitioners have emphasized that appropriate control mechanisms are critical for the success of a microfinance institution (MFI). The purpose of this paper is to study the effects of external governance mechanisms on MFIs' performance, whereby external governance is defined as the control exercised by stakeholders and markets, and accountability mechanisms that operate to enforce internal governance. Design/methodology/approach - This paper uses a database of 108 MFIs operating in over 30 countries and analyzes their performance by adopting an empirical approach usually employed in cross-country banking research on the impact of market forces and regulation on performance. MFI performance is measured by sustainability and outreach indicators and is modeled as a function of external audit, microfinance rating, and regulatory status and controls for MFI and country-specific characteristics. Findings - Results indicate that regulatory involvement and financial statement transparency do not impact performance, while some but not all rating agencies may play a disciplining role. Research limitations/implications - At the time of the study, available data are limited to 108 organizations and since then more MFIs have made their financial statements available, therefore, the hypotheses of this paper can be retested. Practical implications - Stakeholders should be aware that external control mechanisms in microfinance are weak, thus adequate internal governance mechanisms are important. Originality/value - This paper offers empirical evidence that external governance mechanisms have limited impact on MFI performance.
Development and Validation of the Rappel Indicé-24

The primary goals of the present study were to develop and validate the Rappel Indicé 24 (RI-24), a shorter version of the original Rappel Indicé, which includes 48 items (RI-48), and to identify the specific brain regions that were correlated with scores on the RI-24. Using these clinical scales, the present study evaluated 91 elderly Korean participants who were classified into 3 groups: normal control (NC; n = 34), patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI; n = 29), and patients with Alzheimer disease (AD; n = 28). Of the 91 participants, 77 also underwent magnetic resonance imaging scans. The RI-24 delayed cued recall (DCR) scores significantly differed among the NC, MCI, and AD groups. A receiver–operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that the RI-24 was very sensitive (89%) and specific (91%) for the detection of AD. Furthermore, although the time needed to administer the RI-24 was half that needed for the RI-48, the 24-item version showed a high correlation (r = .85 for the DCR score) with the 48-item version. In terms of brain morphological characteristics, voxel-based morphometry analyses revealed a significant positive correlation between DCR score and gray matter volume in the parahippocampal gyrus (r = .468), which plays a role in cued recall. Taken together, the present findings indicate that the RI-24 is a sensitive and reliable test for the detection of memory impairments in patients with MCI and AD despite its brief administration time.
Bacterial defense against aging: role of the Escherichia coli ArcA regulator in gene expression, readjusted energy flux and survival during stasis.

Using two‐dimensional gel electrophoresis and N‐terminal amino acid sequencing analysis, we demonstrate that a mutant of the global regulatory protein ArcA fails to decrease the synthesis of the TCA cycle enzymes malate dehydrogenase, isocitrate dehydrogenase, lipoamide dehydrogenase E3 and succinate dehydrogenase in response to stasis, while the increased production of the glycolysis enzymes phosphoglycerate mutase and pyruvate kinase is unaffected. Microcalorimetric and respiratory measurements show that the continued production of TCA cycle enzymes in the (delta)arcA mutant is manifested as an elevated rate of respiration and total metabolic activity during starvation. The (delta)arcA mutant is severely impaired in surviving prolonged periods of exogenous carbon starvation, a phenotype that can be alleviated by overproducing the superoxide dismutase SodA. In addition, flow cytometry demonstrates that starving (delta)arcA mutant cells, in contrast to wild‐type cells, fail to perform reductive division, remain large and contain multiple chromosomal copies. We suggest that the ArcA‐dependent reduced production of electron donors and the decreased level and activity of the aerobic respiratory apparatus during growth arrest is an integral part of a defense system aimed at avoiding the damaging effects of oxygen radicals and controlling the rate of utilization of endogenous reserves.
Measuring Tail Thickness to Estimate the Stable Index α: A Critique

A generalized Pareto or simple Pareto tail-index estimate above 2 has frequently been cited as evidence against infinite-variance stable distributions. It is demonstrated that this inference is invalid; tail index estimates greater than 2 are to be expected for stable distributions with α as low as 1.65. The nonregular distribution of the likelihood ratio statistic for a null of normality and an alternative of symmetric stability is tabulated by Monte Carlo methods and appropriately adjusted for sampling error in repeated tests. Real stock returns yield a stable α of 1.845 and reject iid normality at the . 996 level.
Vulnerability of Social Institutions

Social institutions face many challenges. The recent economic crisis has provided a stress test as it has left a legacy of high unemployment and high government debt in many countries. It also lowered potential output and thus the revenue base for social protection schemes. At the same time, ageing and other secular trends raise long-term sustainability issues. The design of social institutions determines their capacity to deal with shocks and trend changes and the way risks are shared between the institutions and their stakeholders. They also circumscribe the scope for automatic or discretionary adjustments, when trade-offs between sustainability, adequacy and efficiency arise. This report examines the sustainability of social institutions and their ability to absorb and cope with short-term shocks and longer-term trends by providing risk sharing and expenditure smoothing, focusing on pension, health care and unemployment insurance schemes.
Total quality management and human resources selection: A case study of the national teacher selection in Taiwan

Few studies consider the total quality management (TQM) perspective as part of the selection process in order to enhance the service quality of both the process and the selection of competent teachers. The main purpose of this study was to use a case study to identify the critical success factors that enhance service quality in the national teacher selection process in Taiwan. Data were collected from multiple sources including 7 years of archival materials, annual reports and official websites. We also conducted in-depth interviews with successful and unsuccessful job candidates, as well as staff who had hosted the selection within the past 7 years. Our findings reveal seven critical success factors that enhance the service quality of the selection process (SQSP): top management support for the selection process; focus on customer orientation in the selection process; expand the scope of cooperation and participation; provide TQM-oriented training to selectors; make continuous improvements in the process; focus on problem prevention rather than correction; and apply appropriate selection tools as well as quality management tools during the process. Theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.
False Memory in Adults With ADHD: A Comparison Between Subtypes and Normal Controls

Objectives: To examine the performance on the Deese-Roediger-McDermott task of adults divided into ADHD subtypes and compares their performance to that of healthy controls to examine whether adults with ADHD are more susceptible to the production of false memories under experimental conditions. Method: A total of 128 adults with ADHD (50% females), classified into three Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th ed.; DSM-IV-TR) subtypes, were compared with 48 controls. Results: The results indicated that the ADHD participants recalled and recognized fewer studied words than the controls, the ADHD groups produced more false memories than the control group, no differences in either the false positives or the false negatives. The ADHD–combined (ADHD-CT) group recognized significantly more critical words than the control, ADHD–predominantly inattentive (ADHD-IA), and ADHD–predominantly hyperactive-impulsive (ADHD-HI) groups. The ADHD groups recalled and recognized more false positives, were more confident in their false responses, and displayed more knowledge corruption than the controls. The ADHD-CT group recalled and recognized more false positives than the other ADHD groups. Conclusion: The adults with ADHD have more false memories than the controls and that false memory formation varied with the ADHD subtypes.
Finance, growth and social fairness: Evidence for Latin America and Bolivia

This PhD thesis explores the role of finance in promoting economic growth and social fairness. Our case studies concentrate on Latin America and the Caribbean, and on Bolivia, a developing region and a country for which the relationship between finance, growth, and social fairness turns out to be particularly important. Bolivia is considered as one of the poorest and most unequal countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Poverty and inequality are not only deeply rooted in the country, but they are also among the most distinctive features of the region. In general, economic growth in Latin American countries has not met expectations, regardless of significant institutional reforms and an inherent potential to fare better. Consequently, the identification of factors that would promote economic growth and social fairness in Bolivia and the region becomes transcendental and necessary. At the same time, the study seeks to contribute to the scarce regional and single country-level research in this field. To pursue this goal, theoretical and empirical literature has been reviewed and original empirical evidence prepared. Moreover, the goal of this research is to conduct an integral investigation that does not rely only on macroeconomic evidence (at the regional and single country level) but also uses microeconomic evidence regarding the role of value chain financial mechanisms in a value chain case study. Throughout the thesis, different dimensions of finance such as financial depth, access to finance, and institutional diversification have been taken into account. Several of these aspects of finance have recently been studied in the empirical literature. Additionally, regarding the limited access to finance for certain agents in Bolivia – in particular, small-sized firms and rural and poor households – value chain finance has been considered as an important alternative for making financial services accessible. The results of this dissertation have implications for the design of financial and social policies for the Latin American and Caribbean region and for Bolivia.
Beliefs and Perceptions of Childbearing Women Choosing Different Primary Health Care Providers

The beliefs and perceptions of 60 low-risk childbearing women (n = 60) who had either nurse midwives or obstetricians as health care providers are identified in this descriptive phenomenological study. Interviews were conducted following childbirth, and participants completed the Utah Test for the Childbearing Year, which measures beliefs and perceptions about childbearing. There were no significant demographic differences, or significant differences in fear of childbirth, between groups of women having different providers. Mothers with physician caregivers had significantly higher rates of epidural anesthesia for pain management higher levels of reliance on others, and less active participation in childbirth care decisions. Mothers with certified nurse midwives as caregivers participated more actively in childbirth care decisions and emphasized the quality of the birth experience. In this sample, differences in the beliefs and perceptions of women choosing different health care providers are identified. The importance of a philosophical fit with care providers and availability of options that are congruent with the individualized needs of childbearing women is evident from the study findings.
Banks, Stock Markets and Economic Growth: Evidence from Selected Developing Countries

This paper attempts to investigate the impact of the development of banks and stock markets on economic growth in a sample of 80 developing countries spanning from the period of 1973 to 2002. Using Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) - dynamic panel analysis the empirical results demonstrate that banks and stock markets have separate as well as aggregate positive and significant impacts on economic growth and thus both of them are important to accelerate long-run growth in developing countries. Also, it is found that the relationship between finance and growth is non-linear. This implies that financial development becomes more beneficial for countries that develop from a very poor state; however the marginal benefit to developed economies is less than for poor countries due to diminishing marginal returns. The results are robust while using alternative measures for banks and stock markets. Therefore, developing countries should undertake proper policy measures to develop both banking and stock markets in order to achieve higher long run economic growth through better financial arrangement.