Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Job characteristics, work–home interference and burnout: testing a structural model in the South African context

The aim of this study was to test a structural model that included job demands and job resources, negative work–home interference (WHI) and burnout (exhaustion, cognitive weariness and cynicism). A cross-sectional survey design was used. Random samples (n = 330) were taken of workers employed in the earthmoving industry in eight provinces of South Africa. Job characteristics (including job pressure, job control and job support) were measured by items that were adapted from the Job Content Questionnaire and a validated questionnaire on experience and evaluation of work. The Survey Work–Home Interaction – Nijmegen was used to measure negative WHI, while the Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey and cognitive weariness scale were administered to measure exhaustion, cognitive weariness and cynicism. Structural equation modelling with Amos showed that job demands (e.g. job pressure) and job resources (job control, supervisor support and colleague support) contributed to negative WHI. Negative WHI mediated the relationship between job demands and burnout and partially mediated between job resources and burnout.
Twitter in Politics: A Comprehensive Literature Review

This literature review covers some 115 studies on the use of Twitter in politics. For this discussion, studies are grouped in three topical categories: studies addressing the use of Twitter by politicians and campaigns; studies addressing the use of Twitter by various publics during election and issue campaigns; and comments on Twitter during campaign events -- such as televised debates, party conventions, and election day coverage. I will start the review with a discussion of the theories, research designs, methods of data collection and data selection that were most common in the literature included in this review. Following this, I will provide short synopses of the included studies. I will close this working paper with a discussion of perspectives on further research.
On Skewed Risks in Economic Models and Experiments

Many of the most significant risks that people face in their lives are left-skewed, i.e., imply large losses with only small probability. I characterize skewness in binary risks, which are widely applied in both economic models and experiments. Moreover, I provide an explicit re-parametrization of binary risks in terms of their first three moments. These results allow for the conducting of comparative statics analysis with regard to skewness, and provide a useful tool for the calibration of lotteries in experiments. I apply them to show that left-skewed background risks give rise to a very strong precautionary saving motive, and to collect additional laboratory evidence on skewness preference and risk-seeking behavior.
Sparse, Hierarchical and Semi-Supervised Base Learning for Monaural Enhancement of Conversational Speech

We address the learning of noise bases in a monaural speaker-independent speech enhancement framework based on non-negative matrix factorization. Bases are estimated from training data in batch processing by means of hierarchical and non-hierarchical sparse coding, or determined during the speech enhancement process based on the divergence of the observed noisy speech signal and the speech base. In extensive test runs on the Buckeye corpus of highly spontaneous speech and the CHiME corpus of nonstationary real-life noise, we observe that semi-supervised learning of noise bases leads to overall best results while a-priori learning of noise bases is useful to speed up computation.
Important roles of brain-specific carnitine palmitoyltransferase and ceramide metabolism in leptin hypothalamic control of feeding

Brain-specific carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1 (CPT-1c) is implicated in CNS control of food intake. In this article, we explore the role of hypothalamic CPT-1c in leptin's anorexigenic actions. We first show that adenoviral overexpression of CPT-1c in hypothalamic arcuate nucleus of rats increases food intake and concomitantly up-regulates orexigenic neuropeptide Y (NPY) and Bsx (a transcription factor of NPY). Then, we demonstrate that this overexpression antagonizes the anorectic actions induced by central leptin or compound cerulenin (an inhibitor of fatty acid synthase). The overexpression of CPT-1c also blocks leptin-induced down-regulations of NPY and Bsx. Furthermore, the anorectic actions of central leptin or cerulenin are impaired in mice with brain CPT-1c deleted. Both anorectic effects require elevated levels of hypothalamic arcuate nucleus (Arc) malonyl-CoA, a fatty acid-metabolism intermediate that has emerged as a mediator in hypothalamic control of food intake. Thus, these data suggest that CPT-1c is implicated in malonyl-CoA action in leptin's hypothalamic anorectic signaling pathways. Moreover, ceramide metabolism appears to play a role in leptin's central control of feeding. Leptin treatment decreases Arc ceramide levels, with the decrease being important in leptin-induced anorectic actions and down-regulations of NPY and Bsx. Of interest, our data indicate that leptin impacts ceramide metabolism through malonyl-CoA and CPT-1c, and ceramide de novo biosynthesis acts downstream of both malonyl-CoA and CPT-1c in mediating their effects on feeding and expressions of NPY and Bsx. In summary, we provide insights into the important roles of malonyl-CoA, CPT-1c, and ceramide metabolism in leptin's hypothalamic signaling pathways.
Managerial Promotion: The Effects of Socialization, Specialization, and Gender

Analyzing responses to a questionnaire sent in 1983 to managers in a large Canadian corporation, the author finds that women, who comprised 256 of the 692 managers in the sample and whose average earnings were 87 percent of the men's, were only 80 percent as likely as their male colleagues to be promoted in any given year of their careers with the firm. Although career-relevant factors such as childhood socialization, formal education, and firm-specific productivity had a significant impact on the probability of promotion, the influence of gender on a manager's chances of promotion is found to be sizeable even when those variables are held constant.
Organisational Learning, Transformational Leadership and Implementation of Continuous Quality Improvement in Canadian Hospitals

Implementing continuous quality improvement (CQI) in acute care general hospitals was investigated as an occurrence of a paradigm shift and organisational learning. Presented within a contextual framework, two case studies are reported, and are complemented by a survey of hospitals operating in Ontario, Canada. The findings support a top-down approach where the CEO exhibits transformational leadership and aligns the organisation's strategy, structure, and culture to CQI. The conflicting stakeholder goals of quality of care and cost savings are harmonized. Organisational members undergo both a cognitive and behavioural adjustment centred on teamwork, facilitated by training and education. Teamwork and involvement of physicians remain long-term challenges.
Does civil war hamper financial development?

We examine how armed conflict effects financial development in a cross-country setting using dynamic panel data analysis in a panel of 66 developing countries for the period 1985–2010. Financial development is measured by M2 as a share of GDP, and credit allocated to private sector by banks as a share of GDP. Our findings suggest that armed conflict has a significant adverse effect on financial development. Simultaneously, the quality of governance is always highly significant and conducive to the financial development. The quality of governance is more salient in determining financial development compared to low- and medium-intensity armed conflict; however, the quality of governance cannot entirely offset the adverse impact of high-intensity armed conflict on financial development.
The effect of hemoglobin on renal function in the human.

It has long been noted that the occurrence of hemoglobinuria is frequently associated with oliguria, anuria, and renal failure. The cause of this impairment of renal function which accompanies the excretion of hemoglobin has been variously ascribed to obstruction of tubular lumina by precipitated hemoglobin or hemoglobin derivatives (1, 2), to renal ischemia associated with hemoglobinemia (3), or to a toxic action of hemoglobin on the kidney (4). More recently it has been postulated that the renal damage associated with the excretion of hemoglobin or heme containing substances is not due primarily to hemoglobin, but is caused by renal ischemia on the basis of shock (5, 6), which is frequently present in conditions under which hemoglobinuria occurs, e.g., intravascular hemolysis following mismatched transfusion, the crush syndrome, and blackwater fever. This latter viewpoint holds that the presence of heme pigments in the plasma and urine is merely an incidental finding (6). It has been supported by a number of reports on the intravenous administration of hemoglobin solutions to the human (7-12) which generally agree that hemoglobin can be administered without untoward reaction, although no data on acute renal functional studies have been reported. Recently, however, Amberson and associates (13) have reported late and persistent decreases in renal clearances in a single hypertensive subject following the injection of hemoglobin. Thus, not only has the mechanism of renal failure which frequently accompanies hemoglobinuria not been conclusively demonstrated, but the presence or absence of a deleterious effect of hemoglobin on the human kidney has not been clearly established. During the course of a study of the glomerular permeability to hemoglobin, it soon became apparent that the administration of hemoglobin solu-
Electroconvulsive Therapy for Catatonia: Treatment Characteristics and Outcomes in 27 Patients

Objectives: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been described as an effective treatment option for catatonia in retrospective case series. We aimed to investigate treatment characteristics and outcomes of patients with catatonia who were treated with ECT. Methods: The medical records of 27 patients with catatonia treated with ECT (between 1991 and 2009) were scrutinized for clinical and treatment characteristics. Outcomes were measured using the Clinical Global Impression-Improvement (CGI-I) scale. Patients who improved (defined as CGI-I score "very much" or "much improved") were compared with those who did not improve (defined as a CGI-I score "no change" or "very much worse"). Results: Mean age of all patients was 49 ± 19 years, of whom 15 (56%) were women. Of all patients, 13 (48%) had a diagnosis of a mood disorder and 12 (44%) of a psychotic disorder. Electroconvulsive therapy was mostly started after ineffective pharmacotherapy (n = 23; 85%) within 2 to 3 months after catatonia had been diagnosed. In total, 16 (59%) patients improved. Improvement was significantly associated with younger age (P = 0.05), presence of autonomic dysregulation at baseline (P = 0.02), especially higher body temperature (P = 0.02), daily ECT during the first treatment week (n = 15 [56%]; P = 0.03), longer duration of electroencephalogram seizure activity at last ECT session (P = 0.04), and less morbidity in the year after ECT (P = 0.03). Three of 11 nonimproved patients died in the year after ECT compared with none of the improved patients. Conclusions: Most of our patients with catatonia benefited from ECT, especially younger patients with autonomic dysregulation. Daily administration of ECT may be more effective, whereas longer duration of seizure activity at the final ECT session was related to better response to ECT.
hat we Know Now that we Didn ’ t Know Then about the Criminal Justice ystem ’ s Involvement in Families with whom Child Welfare Agencies have ontact indings from a Landmark National Study

s the criminal justice system grew, attention began to focus on the fact that many of the people being placed nder criminal justice supervision were parents. Throughout the 1990s, researchers, child and prisoner dvocates, practitioners, and policy makers scrambled to learn what happens to children when their parents are rrested and incarcerated. It was during this period that the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) held the ational Institute on Children of Incarcerated Parents. One outcome of the Institute was a special issue of Child elfare dedicated to the topic of children with parents in prison. The introduction to the issue describes a umber of gaps in the knowledge that existed at that time about these children. Among the questions that could ot be fully answered were:
Customer input management in service processes: needs and tools

With the increasing interest on customer inputs and their meaning in services, it is necessary to explore customer input management in service processes. This research focuses on the needs and tools of customer input management in service processes through a case study conducted in a healthcare service organisation. The findings emphasise the fact that there are multiple situations in services where customer input management is justified, but the use and selection of management tools does not always meet the requirements of the service process and management needs. The results of this study provide a rich contribution towards the customer input features that need management in service processes, and presents management tools for different management situations. Practical suggestions are offered to service managers to make their service processes more effective with customer input management.
An Exploratory Study on the Balanced Scorecard Model of Social Enterprise

The purpose of this study is to develop BSC model of social enterprise. Performance analysis tool of BSC have been brought over from the business world, designed and created from the perspectives of profit‐based businesses. The BSC is a strategic performance measurement and management tool designed for the private sector acting as a communication/information and learning system, to measure “where we are now” and “where to aim for next”. It prescribes a plan for translating “vision” and “strategy” into concrete action across four perspectives at different stages, depending on the business. These perspectives are “financial”, “customer”, “internal processes” and “learning and growth”, each of which is connected by cause‐and‐effect relationships that reflect the firm’s strategy. Social aims of social enterprise are to accomplish desired outcomes which are to employ vulnerable people and to provide social services. The measurement factors of financial perspective are stable funding, efficiency of budgeting, stakeholders’ financial supports, and trade profit. The measurement factors of customer perspective are government, social service users, employees, local communities, supplier, social activity company, and partnership with external organizations. The measurement factors of internal process perspective are organizational culture, organizational structure/management, internal/external communication, quality of products and services, information sharing. The measurement factors of learning and growth perspective are training and development, management participation, knowledge sharing, leadership of CEO and manager, and learning culture.
Management of Physical Education and Sport

Part 1 The Management Process 1 The Management Process 2 Management Organization to Achieve Objectives of Physical Education and Sport Part 2 Management of Physical Education and Sport Programs 3 Physical Education Instructional Programs 4 Recreational Sports: Intramural, Fitness, Open, and Sport Club Programs 5 Interscholastic, Intercollegiate, and Other Competitive Sport Programs Part 3 Management of Physical Education and Sport Programs in the Public and Private Sector 6 Physical Education and Sport Programs in the Public and Private Sector Part 4 Management Functions 7 Human Resource Management and Supervision 8 Program Development 9 Facility Management 10 Fiscal Management 11 Purchase and Care of Supplies and Equipment 12 Management and the Athletic Training Program 13 Legal Liability, Risk, and Insurance Management 14 Public Relations and Marketing 15 Office Management Appendix A Physical Education and Sport With a Purpose Appendix B The Role of the Parent Appendix C Approaches to Crowd Control Appendix D Drugs and Alcohol Appendix E Selected Associations for Athletes with Disabilities Appendix F Checklist for Facility Planners Appendix G Sample Budgets
Market Risks in Spot Markets of Crude Oil and Products: A Long Memory Value- At-Risk Approach

Abstract This study evaluates the market risks for three spot markets for crude oil and products. The market risk analysis considers both the bull and bear markets with long and short financial trading positions. For more reliable value-at-risk evaluations, a heavy-tailed long memory time varying volatility model is used under the robust quasi maximum likelihood estimation approach. It is found that only at a very low confidence level (≤ 99,75%), the heavy-tailed value-at-risk model provides an advantage in overcoming the risk of underestimating under the normality assumption.
Growth, shoot phenology and physiology of diverse seed sources of black spruce: II. 23-year-old field trees.

Four sources of 23-year-old black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.) from a provenance test at the Petawawa National Forestry Institute (46 degrees N, 77 degrees 30' W) were assessed for height growth, shoot phenology and seasonal gas exchange. The provenances were designated 7000 (Yukon, 63 degrees 34' N, 135 degrees 55' W), 6979 (Alberta 52 degrees 22' N, 115 degrees 15' W), 6908 (Ontario, 48 degrees 59' N, 80 degrees 38' W) and 6901 (Ontario, 45 degrees 10' N, 77 degrees 10' W). Trees of southern provenances (6901 and 6908) were considerably taller, and broke bud and ceased growth later than trees of northern provenances (6979 and 7000). In early spring, trees of northern provenances had higher net photosynthetic rates (P(n)) than trees of southern provenances (6908 and 6901). During midsummer, trees of Provenance 7000 generally had the highest P(n) as a result of low rates of shoot dark respiration (R(d)). Trees of northern provenances displayed an earlier autumn decline in P(n) than trees of southern provenances. Provenance differences in growth, shoot phenology and physiology agreed well with results from a greenhouse study of seedlings from the same provenances. We conclude that the poor growth performance of trees of northern provenances in Ontario was associated with: (1) a short period of shoot growth, (2) a high rate of dry matter partitioning to roots, (3) low rates of late-season P(n) in response to decreasing photoperiod, and possibly, (4) a high rate of root R(d).
Factors Influencing Organizations to Improve Data Quality in their Information Systems

Although managers consider accurate, timely and relevant information as critical to the quality of their decisions, evidence of large variations in data quality abounds. This research examines factors influencing the level of data quality within a target organization. The results indicate that management's commitment to data quality and the presence of data quality champions strongly influence data quality in the target organization. The results also show that the managers of the participating organization are committed to achieving and maintaining high data quality. However, changing work processes and establishing a data quality awareness culture are required to motivate further improvements to data quality.
Teacher Education Policy Research in China: A Decade Review and Reflection

Nowadays, teacher education in China is at the key period of transition, and has stepped into a process of deepening reform. Thus, teacher education policy has also become a hot topic in education research. Faced with multiple difficulties and dilemmas in the process of teacher education reform, seeking the solution path and guarantee mechanism from the perspective of policy has been the important and difficult topic. Through combing relevant research achievements in teacher education policies, the focus is put on the interest groups and value pursuit of policies for free normal students, teacher qualification certificate, teachers training and teacher mobility. This article aims to grasp the research skeleton and current trends in the field of teacher education policy research, reflect on the problems appeared, and raise more researchers’ attentions and reflections on teacher education policy.
Intravenous glutamine supplementation enhances renal de novo arginine synthesis in humans: a stable isotope study.

BACKGROUND Arginine plays a role in many different pathways in multiple cell types. Consequently, a shortage of arginine, caused by pathologic conditions such as cancer or injury, has the potential to disturb many cellular and organ functions. Glutamine is the ultimate source for de novo synthesis of arginine in humans via the intestinal-renal axis. Therefore, we hypothesized that parenteral glutamine supplementation may stimulate the interorgan pathway of arginine production. OBJECTIVES The objectives were to quantify arginine production from its precursor glutamine and to establish the contribution of the kidneys to de novo synthesis of arginine in patients receiving intravenous supplementation of glutamine dipeptide during major abdominal surgery. DESIGN Whole-body and renal metabolism of glutamine, citrulline, and arginine was assessed by stable isotope techniques in 7 patients receiving a perioperative supplement of intravenous alanyl-glutamine (0.5 g · kg(-1) · d(-1)). RESULTS Plasma glutamine, citrulline, and arginine concentrations increased significantly in patients receiving intravenous glutamine dipeptide. At whole-body level, 91% of total citrulline turnover was derived from glutamine, whereas 49% of whole-body citrulline turnover was used for de novo synthesis of arginine. The kidneys were responsible for 75% of whole-body arginine production from citrulline. CONCLUSIONS Glutamine and citrulline are important sources for de novo arginine synthesis. The kidneys are the main production site for endogenous arginine. After comparison of these results with previous similar studies, our data suggest that an intravenous glutamine supplement doubles renal arginine production from citrulline. This trial was registered at www.trialregister. nl as NTR2914.
How epithelial cells detect danger: aiding the immune response

The epithelial layer occupies a strategic important location between an organisms’ interior and exterior environment. Although as such it forms a physical barrier between both environments, it became clear that the role of the epithelium extends far beyond this rather passive role. Through specialized receptors and other more general mechanisms, the epithelial layer is not only able to sense changes in its environment but also to actively respond to these changes. These responses allow the epithelium to contribute to wound and tissue repair, to the defense against micro‐organisms, and to the control and regulation of the locale immune response. In this review, we focus on signals acting on epithelium from the exterior environment, how these signals are processed and identify research challenges.