Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Procrastination's Impact in the Workplace and the Workplace's Impact on Procrastination

Procrastination is a self‐regulatory failure, whose costs are debated. Here, we establish its impact in the workplace. Using an Internet sample, we assessed 22,053 individuals in terms of their sex, employment status, employment duration, income, occupational attainment and level of procrastination. High levels of procrastination is associated with lower salaries, shorter durations of employment, and a greater likelihood of being unemployed or under employed rather than working full‐time. Also, procrastination partially mediates sex's relationship with these work variables. Women tend to procrastinate less than men, evidently giving women an employment advantage. If women procrastinated the same as men, there should be 1.5 million fewer women in full‐time employment in the US. alone. Determining the causes of procrastination in the workplace, we also examined it at an occupational level. The results strongly support the gravitational hypothesis: jobs that require higher levels of motivational skills are less likely to retain procrastinators. However, there was some support that jobs can foster procrastination. Procrastinators tend to have jobs that are lower in intrinsically rewarding qualities.
The Influence of Confucian Ideology on Conflict in Chinese Family Business

The dual-concern conflict model argues that choice of conflict strategies are based on two concerns: concern for interests or goals of self and other. This article argues that the dual-concern model may only partially account for choice of conflict management strategies in Chinese family businesses, particularly in families that are strongly influenced by Confucianism. The article uses Confucian values and norms, which are an ancient set of guidelines for social interaction, as the basis for introducing additional concerns to explain choice of conflict strategies in Chinese family businesses: concern for relationships, interpersonal norms, and collective interests. Two sets of moderating variables are introduced based on the unique features of Confucian ideology. They include differences in age, status, and gender between conflicting parties, and types of conflict – normative or personal goal related, and task or relationship. Propositions summarize the major arguments.
Middle East meets West: Comparing children's attitudes to school science

This study compares the attitudes of primary children to school science between children from the Northern Ireland (UK) and Oman. Previous research has indicated that pupils in the more senior primary classes showed a marked decline in their enjoyment of school science, although most of this research was carried out in Europe, North America, and Australia. In this study, an instrument that had been used to measure attitudes of pupils in UK schools was adapted for use in Oman. Results reveal some striking similarities and interesting differences between attitudes of children towards school science. These findings are discussed in relation to the respective challenges facing primary teachers in regard to teaching science in the two regions.
Amniotic membrane transplantation for the treatment of feline corneal sequestrum: pilot study.

OBJECTIVES To describe and evaluate the use of equine amniotic membrane trans-plantation after lamellar keratectomy for the treatment of corneal sequestrum in cats. METHODS Six cats (seven eyes) of various breed and ages with corneal sequestra were treated surgically with lamellar keratectomy and amniotic membrane transplantation. All the sequestra and a small piece of the amniotic membranes used for each surgery were submitted for histopathologic examination. RESULTS Five of the seven eyes showed minimal level of scarring in the cornea and good transparency. No recurrences of the sequestra have been noted during the follow-up period (3-9 months). One eye had necrosis of the amniotic membrane 2 weeks after the surgery. The sequestrum of this eye showed a high level of bacterial contamination on histopathology. Three months later the same cat developed a descemetocele in the area where the necrotic amniotic membrane was rejected. A second eye developed a perforation under the amniotic membrane two weeks after the surgery. The sequestrum of this eye was deep and without vascularization. CONCLUSION Amniotic membrane transplantation after lamellar keratectomy was a valid procedure for surgical treatment of corneal sequestrum in cats. The procedure resulted in excellent cosmesis and functional vision in five of seven eyes; although case selection is important, particularly to exclude the very deep and non-vascularized sequestra.
Differential Activation in Somatosensory Cortex for Different Discrimination Tasks

Maps of the body surface in somatosensory cortex have been shown to be highly plastic, altering their configuration in response to changes in use of body parts. The current study investigated alterations in the functional organization of the human somatosensory cortex resulting from massed practice. Over a period of 4 weeks, subjects were given synchronous tactile stimulation of thumb (D1) and little finger (D5) for 1 hr/d. They had to identify the orientation of the stimuli. Neuroelectric source localization based on high-resolution EEG revealed that, when subjects received passive tactile stimulation of D1 or D5, the representations of the fingers in primary somatosensory cortex were closer together after training than before. There was also an apparently correlative tendency to anomalously mislocalize near-threshold tactile stimuli equally to the distant finger costimulated during training rather than preferentially to the finger nearest to the finger stimulated in a post-training test. However, when the stimulus discrimination had to be made, neuroelectric source imaging revealed that the digital representations of D1 and D5 were further apart after training than before. Thus, the same series of prolonged repetitive stimulations produced two different opposite effects on the spatial relationship of the cortical representations of the digits, suggesting that differential activation in the same region of somatosensory cortex is specific to different tasks.
Urinary Cystatin C and Tubular Proteinuria Predict Progression of Diabetic Nephropathy

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of urinary cystatin C, a tubular damage marker, with the progression of type 2 diabetic nephropathy. RESERCH DESIGN AND METHODS The baseline values of serum and urinary cystatin C were measured as primary parameters and those of urinary nonalbumin protein (NAP) were measured as secondary parameters. In this prospective observational study, a total of 237 type 2 diabetic patients were followed up for 29 months (13–44 months). RESULTS Both the urinary cystatin C-to-creatinine ratio (CCR) and NAP-to-creatinine ratio (NAPCR) were significantly different according to the degree of albuminuria. Both markers had strongly positive correlations at baseline. After adjusting for several clinical factors, both urinary CCR and NAPCR had significant associations with the decline of the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) (r = 0.160, P = 0.021; r = 0.412, P < 0.001, respectively). Urinary CCR had positive correlations with the decline of eGFR in the subpopulation of patients with eGFR ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m2. In patients with eGFR ≥60 mL/min/1.73 m2 and normoalbuminuria, only urinary NAPCR showed a significant association with the decline of eGFR; urinary CCR did not. In multivariate regression analysis, the number of patients who progressed to chronic kidney disease stage 3 or greater was higher in those in the upper tertiles of both the urinary levels of cystatin C and NAP than in those in the lower tertiles. CONCLUSIONS The results of this study suggest that urinary cystatin C and NAP may be predictors of the progression of type 2 diabetic nephropathy.
On the capacity of the binary‐symmetric parallel‐relay network

We investigate the binary‐symmetric parallel‐relay network where there is one source, one destination, and multiple relays in parallel. We show that forwarding relays, where the relays merely transmit their received signals, achieve the capacity in two ways: with coded transmission at the source and a finite number of relays, or uncoded transmission at the source and a sufficiently large number of relays. On the other hand, decoding relays, where the relays decode the source message, re‐encode, and forward it to the destination, achieve the capacity when the number of relays is small. In addition, we show that any coding scheme that requires decoding at any relay is suboptimal in large parallel‐relay networks, where forwarding relays achieve strictly higher rates. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
A Comparative Study of Perceived Job Stressor Sources and Job Strain in American and Iranian Managers

Des echantillons de chefs d’entreprise aux USA et en Iran ont ete compares quant aux pressions au travail (contrainte, orientation du role du responsable/tâche, travail/maison et le support a ne pas travailler), cinq agents tenseurs (la dissatisfaction au travail, la tension mentale, la tension physique, l’intention de quitter le travail et l’absenteisme) et le sentiment de controle (LOC) au travail. Comme attendu, les chefs d’entreprise iraniens etaient davantage externes et davantage sous pression sur les cinq types d’agents stressants. Les americains ont montre de plus fortes correlations entre les agents stressants. Les relations entre pression et tension au travail etaient similaires dans chacun des echantillons et dans les deux echantillons le LOC interne etait associea un niveau de stress plus bas. Bien que la statut marital n’ait pas ete associe au stress au travail et aux agents stressant chez les americains, de fortes relations existent chez les iraniens. Samples of Iranian and US managers were compared on four sources of job pressure (constraints, managerial role/tasks, home/work, and nonwork support), five strains (job dissatisfaction, mental strain, physical strain, intention of quitting the job, and absence), and work locus of control. As expected Iranian managers were more external and were higher on pressure and on all five job strains. Americans showed higher intercorrelations among strains except for absence, whereas Iranians had higher correlations among sources of pressure. Relations between pressure and job strains were similar across both samples, and in both samples internal locus of control was associated with lower strain. Although marital status was not associated with job stressors and strains among Americans, it showed strong relations among Iranians.
Prediction of Proteins Putatively Involved in the Thiol: Disulfide Redox Metabolism of a Bacterium (Listeria): The CXXC Motif as Query Sequence

Thiol:disulfide redox metabolism (TDRM) is a central metabolic network in all living cells. However, numerous proteins with different biochemical functions and several structural domains are involved, making it not trivial to identify and annotate its constituents in sequenced genomes. We developed an uncomplicated approach to solve the problem using existing web-based tools and public databases with the gram-positive bacterium Listeria monocytogenes EGD-e as a model organism. A pattern search for the Cys-Xaa-Xaa-Cys (CXXC) motif--a hallmark of TDRM proteins--in the genome sequence of the bacterium yielded 156 proteins. After initial refinement by protein and domain analysis, 14 candidate proteins remained. Subsequent detailed analyses, supported by modeling of 3D structures and data integration yielded 6 thioredoxin-like proteins plus thioredoxin reductase, glutaredoxin, one redox-sensitive regulator, one peptide methionine reductase - all typical TDRM constituents - and three putative novel components of the TDRM. For all 14 proteins orthologues were found in other Listeria species. Homology searches and phylogenetic analyses showed that related proteins are present mainly in other Firmicutes. This fast approach required minimal resources. It is immediately applicable to any genome with appropriate modifications and should be practicable also for other conserved, functionally important amino acid motifs.
Does overlapping membership on audit and compensation committees improve a firm's financial reporting quality?

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine whether audit committee members of the board prove to be better monitors if they are also on the compensation committee, as they would be more attuned to compensation related earnings management incentives. Design/methodology/approach - The paper uses archival data on a sample of nonfinancial S&P 500 firms representing 1,032 firm years over the period 2003-2005, and discretionary accruals as a proxy for financial reporting quality. Findings - Firms with overlapping audit and compensation committees have higher financial reporting quality than those without such overlap. In addition, there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between overlapping magnitude and financial reporting quality, suggesting that there are costs as well as benefits to overlapping committees. Practical implications - The findings on this paper have implications for recent policy deliberations on the composition of board committees in general and audit committees in particular, as they clarify the benefits of overlapping committee members. Originality/value - Understanding the costs and benefits of the board committee structure is particularly important as boards typically operate through the use of committees. This paper contributes to this area by considering the effect of overlapping memberships on two of the most active and important board committees – the compensation and audit committees – on the monitoring effectiveness of the audit committee.
The Psychology of Ownership and Worker-Owner Productivity

The theoretical and empirical linkages between employee ownership and performance are reviewed. In response to the inconsistent and inconclusive findings of a simple ownership-performance relationship, the authors revisit the conceptualization of ownership and ask how does ownership produce its performance effects. The study offers a “psychology of ownership” perspective on employee ownership, suggesting that ownership be thought of as a dual creation—part an objective and part a psychological state. In response to the question “how” does ownership produce its performance effects, a detailed model is presented that depicts a within-individual, self-esteem-based motivational effect explanation for the ownership-performance relationship.
The Spectrum of TMR-1C Is Consistent with a Background Star

In a previous paper we proposed that there may be a population of runaway planets and brown dwarfs that formed via ejection from multiple-star systems. We further suggested TMR-1C as a candidate runaway protoplanet. Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS images of the Class I protostar TMR-1 (IRAS 04361+2547) reveal TMR-1C as a faint near-infrared companion with 10. ″0 = 1400 AU projected separation. The central protostar is itself resolved as a close binary with 0. ″31 = 42 AU separation, surrounded by circumstellar reflection nebulosity. A long, narrow filament seems to connect the protobinary to the faint companion TMR-1C, suggesting a physical association, which can plausibly be explained if TMR-1C was ejected by the protobinary. This paper presents near-infrared grism spectroscopy to constrain the effective temperature of TMR-1C, obtained with the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRC) at Keck Observatory. To interpret the data, we construct a grid of extincted M dwarf spectra to compare with the low-resolution (R ∼ 120) NIRC spectrum. The assumed extinction corresponds to standard interstellar dust. With the additional assumption that no near-infrared dust excess contributes to the spectrum, then M4.5 is the latest spectral type TMR-1C can have within the uncertainties. Adopting 2 σ error bars, this translates to Teff > 2700 K effective temperature and AK = 2.5 ± 0.75 extinction at K band (AV = 22 ± 6.6 for standard dust). We compare the luminosity and effective temperature of TMR-1C with evolutionary tracks of young giant planets and brown dwarfs in a theoretical H-R diagram. Given a relatively low inferred luminosity of ∼10-3 L⊙, then TMR-1C is hotter than predicted by available theoretical models. However, the models are very uncertain at such young ages, less than 300,000 yr, so that it is unclear whether the theoretical tracks by themselves provide a suitably strong test. Given the quality of the observed spectrum, only a partial answer is possible. The new data do not lend weight to the protoplanet interpretation, and the results remain consistent with the explanation that TMR-1C may be a background star. We discuss additional observational tests that may be useful.
Finger Length Ratio (2d:4d) and Sex Differences in Aggression during a Simulated War Game

We tested the association between a biomarker of early sex differentiation, the second-to-fourth finger length ratio (2D:4D), and unprovoked attack during a simulated war game (n = 176). We also investigated whether 2D:4D mediated the tendency for men to attack more than women and whether personality dimensions previously associated with sex differences in aggression or hostility (social dominance orientation, nar-cissism, perceived stress, and self-esteem) mediated either relationship. We found that sex and lower, more male-typical, 2D:4D predicted unprovoked attack independently. In men, high levels of narcissism predicted greater than 10 times greater odds of attacking. We also found non-monotonic effects of social dominance orientation and of perceived stress on unprovoked attack, which were not as predicted. However, we saw no evidence that effects of sex or 2D:4D were mediated by the personality dimensions we measured.
How dangerous are rapists to children

Abstract This paper assesses some of the self-report and empirical evidence regarding the risk that rapists of adults present to children. Etiological theory is reviewed. An empirically-derived classificatory scheme is presented to show the relative risk presented by various rapist types. Self-report andphallometric data from both rapists and normals are presented to show that there is strong evidence of multiple paraphilic interest in both populations. Reports from four treatment centres support these data. Several methods of assessing risk to adults and children are presented. It is concluded that a significant, and probably underestimated proportion of rapists (and possibly some normals), present a risk of sexual violence toward children.
Who Influences Whom? The Agenda-Building Relationship Between Political Candidates and the Media in the 2002 Michigan Governor's Race

Building on previous research in the field of agenda-building by examining the relationships between candidates and the media, this study used content analysis to examine how the 2002 Michigan candidates for governor presented election issues in press releases, and the subsequent media coverage of the issues in Michigan newspapers. The analysis revealed positive cross-lagged correlations between candidate and media issue agendas at certain times of the campaign. While the current study suggests that certain news sources can have an influence on the subsequent media agenda, results indicated a reciprocal effect, indicating that candidates also run the risk of being influenced by the same media they are attempting to influence.
Vectorizing Database Column Scans with Complex Predicates

The performance of the full table scan is critical for the overall performance of column-store database systems such as the SAP HANA database. Compressing the underlying column data format is both an advantage and a challenge, because it reduces the data volume involved in a scan on one hand and introduces the need for decompression during the scan on the other hand. In previous work [26] we have shown how to accelerate the column-scan with range predicates using SIMD instructions. In this paper, we present a framework for vectorized scans with more complex predicates. One important building block is the In-List predicate, where all rows whose values are contained in a given list of values are selected. While this seems to exhibit only little data parallelism on first sight, we show that a performant vectorized implementation is possible using the new Intel AVX2 instruction set. We also improve our previous algorithms by leveraging the increased vector-width. Finally in a detailed performance evaluation, we show the benefit of these optimizations and of the new instruction set: in almost all cases our scans needs less than one CPU cycle per row including scans with In-List predicate, leading to an overall throughput of 8 billion rows per second and more on a single core.
Relevance Subject Machine: A Novel Person Re-identification Framework

We propose a novel method called the Relevance Subject Machine (RSM) to solve the person re-identification (re-id) problem. RSM falls under the category of Bayesian sparse recovery algorithms and uses the sparse representation of the input video under a pre-defined dictionary to identify the subject in the video. Our approach focuses on the multi-shot re-id problem, which is the prevalent problem in many video analytics applications. RSM captures the essence of the multi-shot re-id problem by constraining the support of the sparse codes for each input video frame to be the same. Our proposed approach is also robust enough to deal with time varying outliers and occlusions by introducing a sparse, non-stationary noise term in the model error. We provide a novel Variational Bayesian based inference procedure along with an intuitive interpretation of the proposed update rules. We evaluate our approach over several commonly used re-id datasets and show superior performance over current state-of-the-art algorithms. Specifically, for ILIDS-VID, a recent large scale re-id dataset, RSM shows significant improvement over all published approaches, achieving an 11.5% (absolute) improvement in rank 1 accuracy over the closest competing algorithm considered.
Value Orientations and Environmental Beliefs in Five Countries

Various scholars argue that egoistic, altruistic, and biospheric value orientations are important for understanding environmental beliefs and behavior. However, little empirical evidence has been provided for the distinction between altruistic and biospheric values. This study examines whether this distinction is valid across different countries (i.e., Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden) by using a new value instrument. Relationships between these value orientations and behavior-specific beliefs (i.e., awareness of environmental consequences and personal norms) are investigated to further examine the validity of the value instrument. Results provide support for the generalization of the three-way distinction. Furthermore, value orientations were related to behavior-specific beliefs in all countries. The authors conclude that the distinction between the three value orientations is valid and useful for examining environmentally relevant behavior.