Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
HOW HRM AFFECTS CORPORATE FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE : EVIDENCE FROM BELGIAN SMEs

2 ABSTRACT In this paper we aim at furthering research on the link between human resource management and firm performance. The contribution of this study about the influence of HRM on operational and financial performance is threefold. (1) By studying small and medium sized companies (defined as organizations with at most 100 employees), we focus on the importance of HRM for small business management. (2) Relying on bankruptcy prediction models, we optimize the conceptualization of financial performance. These models assume that the progress of the following four parameters, at least, must be monitored in order to obtain a sufficiently sound state of financial health: value added, profitability, liquidity and solvency. (3) Using structural equation modeling, we are able to study the mediating effect of operational performance (productivity, employee turnover and absenteeism) on the relationship between HRM intensity and financial performance. The results show a strong effect of intensive HRM on the profitability of small and medium sized companies. 3 Interest in the link between HRM and organizational performance has risen sharply over the past decade. The status quaestionis formulated in various critical overviews shows that, despite a rich research tradition, many conceptual flaws, black boxes and empirical gaps remain. We quote some of these points. In most research on the link between HRM and organizational performance, virtually no thought is given to the limits of the empirical field of validity. Very often research is limited to larger and older organizations while small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) receive little attention (Welbourne and Cyr, 1999). Given their statistical predominance-firms with less than 50 employees count for 98.9% of all firms in the European Union (ENSR, 1997)-the exclusion of SMEs poses a serious threat on the generalizability of research findings. Moreover, SMEs represent an ideal field for studying the relationship between the implementation of specific management practices and organizational performance, precisely because of their more transparent nature and more personalized HR and other management practices (Aldrich and Auster, 1986). A second remark concerns the measurement of organizational performance. The selection of performance measures is rarely adequately substantiated in HRM-performance studies. Considered seperately, the selected measures mostly do not sufficiently reflect performance measures will vary with the level of analysis, but in each case the focus should be on measures that have inherent meaning for a particular research setting (Becker and Gerhart, 1996). Shareholder value for instance may very well be an appropriate …
Human-Centred Intelligent Human-Computer Interaction (HCI2): how far are we from attaining it?

A widely accepted prediction is that computing will move to the background, weaving itself into the fabric of our everyday living spaces and projecting the human user into the foreground. To realise this prediction, next-generation computing should develop anticipatory user interfaces that are human-centred, built for humans and based on naturally occurring multimodal human communication. These interfaces should transcend the traditional keyboard and mouse and have the capacity to understand and emulate human communicative intentions as expressed through behavioural cues, such as affective and social signals. This article discusses how far we are to the goal of human-centred computing and Human-Centred Intelligent Human-Computer Interaction (HCI2) that can understand and respond to multimodal human communication.
Imperfect shadow maps for efficient computation of indirect illumination

We present a method for interactive computation of indirect illumination in large and fully dynamic scenes based on approximate visibility queries. While the high-frequency nature of direct lighting requires accurate visibility, indirect illumination mostly consists of smooth gradations, which tend to mask errors due to incorrect visibility. We exploit this by approximating visibility for indirect illumination with imperfect shadow maps---low-resolution shadow maps rendered from a crude point-based representation of the scene. These are used in conjunction with a global illumination algorithm based on virtual point lights enabling indirect illumination of dynamic scenes at real-time frame rates. We demonstrate that imperfect shadow maps are a valid approximation to visibility, which makes the simulation of global illumination an order of magnitude faster than using accurate visibility.
Climate models as a test bed for climate reconstruction methods: pseudoproxy experiments

Millennium‐length, forced transient simulations with fully coupled general circulation models have become important new tools for addressing uncertainties in global and hemispheric temperature reconstructions targeting the Common Era (the last two millennia). These model simulations are used as test beds on which to evaluate the performance of paleoclimate reconstruction methods using controlled and systematic investigations known as pseudoproxy experiments (PPEs). Such experiments are motivated by the fact that any given real‐world reconstruction is the product of multiple uncontrolled factors, making it difficult to isolate the impact of one factor in reconstruction assessments and comparisons. PPEs have established a common experimental framework that can be systematically altered and evaluated, and thus test reconstruction methods and their dependencies. Although the translation of PPE results into real‐world implications must be done cautiously, their experimental design attributes allow researchers to test reconstruction techniques beyond what was previously possible with real‐world data alone. This review summarizes the development of PPEs and their findings over the last decade. The state of the science and its implications for global and hemispheric temperature reconstructions is also reviewed, as well as near‐term design improvements that will expand the utility of PPEs. WIREs Clim Change 2012, 3:63–77. doi: 10.1002/wcc.149
Sphingosine kinase‐mediated Ca2+ signalling by G‐protein‐coupled receptors

Formation of inositol 1,4,5‐trisphosphate (IP3) by phospholipase C (PLC) with subsequent release of Ca2+ from intracellular stores, is one of the major Ca2+ signalling pathways triggered by G‐protein‐coupled receptors (GPCRs). However, in a large number of cellular systems, Ca2+ mobilization by GPCRs apparently occurs independently of the PLC–IP3 pathway, mediated by an as yet unknown mechanism. The present study investigated whether sphingosine kinase activation, leading to production of sphingosine‐1‐phosphate (SPP), is involved in GPCR‐mediated Ca2+ signalling as proposed for platelet‐derived growth factor and FcϵRI antigen receptors. Inhibition of sphingosine kinase by DL‐threo‐dihydrosphingosine and N,N‐dimethylsphingosine markedly inhibited [Ca2+]i increases elicited by m2 and m3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs) expressed in HEK‐293 cells without affecting mAChR‐induced PLC stimulation. Activation of mAChRs rapidly and transiently stimulated production of SPP in HEK‐293 cells. Finally, intracellular injection of SPP induced a rapid and transient Ca2+ mobilization in HEK‐293 cells which was not antagonized by heparin. We conclude that mAChRs utilize the sphingosine kinase–SPP pathway in addition to PLC–IP3 to mediate Ca2+ mobilization. As Ca2+ signalling by various, but not all, GPCRs in different cell types was likewise attenuated by the sphingosine kinase inhibitors, we suggest a general role for sphingosine kinase, besides PLC, in mediation of GPCR‐induced Ca2+ signalling.
Hematoma and distraction arthroplasty for thumb basal joint osteoarthritis: a prospective, single-surgeon study including outcomes measures.

PURPOSE Many surgeons have abandoned the simple trapeziectomy as a surgical treatment option for thumb basal joint arthritis secondary to reports of postoperative weakness. The thumb metacarpal subsiding into the trapezial void has been proposed as the causative factor. The goal of the present study was to evaluate the results of trapeziectomy and postoperative K-wire immobilization of the thumb metacarpal in a distracted position without the use of ligament reconstruction or tendon interposition. METHODS Twenty-six thumbs in 26 patients from a single surgeon's practice were entered into a prospective single-arm study for surgical treatment of peritrapezial arthritis. Treatment consisted of piecemeal excision of the entire trapezium and 5 weeks of K-wire immobilization of the first metacarpal in slight distraction and opposition. No ligament reconstruction or tendon interposition was used. Motion, strength, stress radiographs, standardized dexterity tests, and outcomes questionnaires including the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales 2 (AIMS2) were evaluated before surgery and 6 and 24 months after surgery. RESULTS At 6 months 19 of 26 patients (73%) reported complete relief of pain and at 24 months 92% were entirely pain free. Range of motion evaluation showed 24 of 26 thumbs adducted fully into the plane of the palm and 25 of 26 opposed to the fifth metacarpal head. Comparisons between preoperative and 24-month postoperative strength measurements showed an average 47% increase in grip strength, 33% increase in key pinch strength, and a 23% increase in tip pinch strength over preoperative values. AIMS2 data showed postoperative improvement in "hand and finger function" and "arthritis pain" scales. CONCLUSIONS After trapezial excision K-wire immobilization in a slightly overcorrected position without tissue interposition or ligament reconstruction restores a stable, pain-free thumb that has superior strength and motion compared with published reports of the more complicated interventions.
BASIC RESEARCH: Quality Assessment of Matching Single-Cone Obturation in Canals Shaped with Different NiTi Systems: A Micro-CT Study

: This study is aimed to evaluate the compatibility of single-cone filling technique in reciprocal and rotationally formed canals in using Micro-CT (Micro-computed tomography). The samples were split into two groups according to the kinematics system used. In both groups, one canal of the shaped roots was filled with the lateral compaction and the other one with a matched single-cone technique with a bioceramic root canal sealer, BioRoot RCS. The percentage of voids in the canal were evaluated by micro-CT radiograph before and after obturation. Regardless of the kinematics used, the single-cone technique left significantly fewer voids than the lateral compaction. In the kinematics comparison, the group shaped with the reciprocal system and filled with the single-cone system had the best results. The reciprocal nickel-titanium (NiTi) system with a matching single-cone gutta percha filling technique was found to be more effective in terms of reducing voids in root canal filling.
Factors Affecting

This study explores the relationship between customer brand loyalty, brand experience, and image. The proposed model is formulated within the framework of Pakistan's aviation industry. Customers and brands are said to have a stronger bond when there is brand loyalty. Here, an effort is made to investigate clients' preferences for purchasing services regularly. This study's examination reveals the elements that drive brand loyalty among consumers. The problem of brand loyalty in Pakistan's aviation industry has been noted, and insightful solutions are being offered to address this issue. Future researchers will benefit from the theoretical framework's improved understanding of concepts and foundation for use in many service situations .
Age and inhibition.

Two experiments assess adult age differences in the extent of inhibition or negative priming generated in a selective-attention task. Younger adults consistently demonstrated negative priming effects; they were slower to name a letter on a current trial that had served as a distractor on the previous trial relative to one that had not occurred on the previous trial. Whether or not inhibition dissipated when the response to stimulus interval was lengthened from 500 ms in Experiment 1 to 1,200 ms in Experiment 2 depended upon whether young subjects were aware of the patterns across trial types. Older adults did not show inhibition at either interval. The age effects are interpreted within the Hasher-Zacks (1988) framework, which proposes inhibition as a central mechanism determining the contents of working memory and consequently influencing a wide array of cognitive functions.
Out-of-Device Privacy Unveiled: Designing and Validating the Out-of-Device Privacy Scale (ODPS)

This paper proposes an Out-of-Device Privacy Scale (ODPS) - a reliable, validated psychometric privacy scale that measures users’ importance of out-of-device privacy. In contrast to existing scales, ODPS is designed to capture the importance individuals attribute to protecting personal information from out-of-device threats in the physical world, which is essential when designing privacy protection mechanisms. We iteratively developed and refined ODPS in three high-level steps: item development, scale development, and scale validation, with a total of N=1378 participants. Our methodology included ensuring content validity by following various approaches to generate items. We collected insights from experts and target audiences to understand response variability. Next, we explored the underlying factor structure using multiple methods and performed dimensionality, reliability, and validity tests to finalise the scale. We discuss how ODPS can support future work predicting user behaviours and designing protection methods to mitigate privacy risks.
Missing Mr. Brown and Buying an Abraham Lincoln - Dark Entities and DBpedia

We argue for the need for the community to address the issue of “dark entities”, those domain entities for which a knowledge base has no information in the context of the entity linking task for building Event-Centric Knowledge Graphs. Through an analysis of a large (1,2 million article) automotive newswire corpus against DBpedia, we identify six classes of errors that lead to dark entities. Finally, we outline further steps that can be taken for tackling this issue.
Well-posed ﬁxed point results and data dependence problems in controlled metric spaces

The present research is aimed to analyze the existence of strict ﬁxed points (SFPs) and ﬁxed points of multivalued generalized contractions on the platform of controlled metric spaces (CMSs). Wardowski-type multivalued nonlinear operators have been introduced employing auxiliary functions, modifying a new contractive requirement form. Well-posedness of obtained ﬁxed point results is also established. Moreover, data dependence result for ﬁxed points is provided. Some supporting examples are also available for better perception. Many existing results in the literature are particular cases of the results established.
Becker Digital

Myeloid cells comprise the majority of immune cells in tumors, contributing to tumor growth and therapeutic resistance. Incomplete understanding of myeloid cells response to tumor driver mutation and therapeutic intervention impedes effective therapeutic design. Here, by leveraging CRISPR/Cas9-based genome editing, we generate a mouse model that is de ﬁ cient of all monocyte chemoattractant proteins. Using this strain, we effectively abolish monocyte in ﬁ ltration in genetically engineered murine models of de novo glioblastoma (GBM) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), which show differential enrichment patterns for monocytes and neutrophils. Eliminating monocyte che-moattraction in monocyte enriched PDGFB -driven GBM invokes a compensatory neutrophil in ﬂ ux, while having no effect on Nf1 -silenced GBM model. Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals that intratumoral neutrophils promote proneural-to-mesenchymal transition and increase hypoxia in PDGFB - driven GBM. We further demonstrate neutrophil-derived TNF-a directly drives mesenchymal transition in PDGFB -driven primary GBM cells. Genetic or pharmacological inhibiting neutrophils in HCC or monocyte-de ﬁ cient PDGFB - driven and Nf1 -silenced GBM models extend the survival of tumor-bearing mice. Our ﬁ ndings demonstrate tumor-type and genotype dependent in ﬁ l-tration and function of monocytes and neutrophils and highlight the importance of targeting them simultaneously for cancer treatments.
Learning Achievement and Student Satisfaction in the STEM Education through Professional Learning Community in the Chemistry Class of Secondary School Students in the Southern Region of Thailand during Pandemic

The STEM education has not yet been implemented in schools, particularly those in the three southern border provinces. Consequently, the purpose of this research is to study the science learning achievement and satisfaction of students who learned with integrated learning activities based on STEM education designed by using the Professional Learning Community (PLC) method as a professional development tool. Secondary school students from four southern Thai schools who participated in the Science Mathematic Program (SMP) Special Classroom Project from a total of 120 students in those schools, 9 were chosen using a deliberative sampling method. The overall assessment results revealed that STEM activities used in the teaching and learning of chemistry subjects on the Solution concentration can increase students' interest in studying chemistry and their understanding of the learning content by displaying the mean scores and standard deviation of the scores from the STEM Learning Plan post-tests at the highest level. The E1/E2 efficiency of the STEM Education Program in Chemistry was 90.46/82.50, which was higher than the specified standard. We also discovered that the overall average was very high when we used the learning management plan to open a class to create the PLC process learning community. Furthermore, the effectiveness of establishing a professional learning community was rated favorably. However, factors other than academic achievement should also be investigated before applying to other subjects.
America's “Undiscovered” Laboratory for Health Services Research

Debate over reforming the nation's healthcare system has stimulated a need for health services research (HSR) models that are nationally applicable. Toward this end, the authors identify the Military Health System (MHS) as America's “undiscovered” laboratory for HSR. Although many may confuse the MHS with the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the 2 systems vary dramatically with respect to their beneficiary populations, access to care, and other important attributes.In this article, the authors describe key characteristics of the MHS including its large beneficiary base, its direct care operating environment, its dedicated medical school and graduate education programs, and its fully operational integrated health information system. Although a few health systems (eg, Kaiser Permanente®, Partners™ Healthcare, and Department of Veterans Affairs) possess some characteristics, no other has all of these components in place.This article sets the stage for contemporary HSR studies with broad applicability to current issues in American healthcare that could be performed within the MHS. Inclusion of the MHS environment in HSR studies of health services delivery modalities, adoption of health information technology, access to care, relationship of medical education to effective safe care delivery, health disparities, child health, and behavioral health would provide strong underpinnings for proposed changes in American healthcare delivery.Finally, the article highlights current regulatory barriers to research within the MHS whereas suggesting steps to minimize their impact in conducting HSR.
Antibiotic Sensitivity Pattern of MRSA Isolated from Blood Cultures from Children

Present study was undertaken to determine antibiotic sensitivity pattern of MRSA isolated from blood cultures from paediatric patients. A total number of 900 blood culture samples collected over a period of four years were taken into account. Out of 370 Staphylococcal isolates 125 isolates were found to be MRSA[33.7%]. The sensitivities of MRSA to various antibiotics were determined by disc diffusion method which showed the sensitivity pattern as to Vancomycin (100%), Linezolid (96%), Amikacin (67.2%), ciprofloxacin (16%), Cefuroxime (08%) and amoxicillin (7.2%). Findings presented in this study indicated hundred percent sensitivity to Vancomycin and a high level of resistance to widely used therapeutic agents.
A practical technique for gait recognition on curved and straight trajectories

Many studies show the effectiveness of gait in surveillance and access control scenarios. However, appearance changes due to walking direction changes impose a challenge for gait recognition techniques that assume people only walk in a straight line. In this paper, the effect of walking along straight and curved path is studied by proposing a practical technique which is based on the three key frames in the start, middle and end of the gait cycle. The position of these frames is estimated in 3D space which is then used to estimate the local walking direction in the first and second part of the cycle. The technique used 3D volume sequences of the people to adapt to changes in the walking direction. The performance is evaluated using a newly collected dataset and the Kyushu University 4D Gait Dataset, containing people walking in straight lines and curves. With the proposed technique, we obtain a correct classification rate of 98% for matching straight with straight walking and 81% for matching straight with curved walking averaged over both datasets. The variation in walking patterns when a person walks along a straight or curved path is most likely to be responsible for the difference. In support of this, the recognition rate when matching curved with curved walking is 99% on our dataset.
Emotions affect the recognition of hand gestures

The body is closely tied to the processing of social and emotional information. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship between emotions and social attitudes conveyed through gestures exists. Thus, we tested the effect of pro-social (i.e., happy face) and anti-social (i.e., angry face) emotional primes on the ability to detect socially relevant hand postures (i.e., pictures depicting an open/closed hand). In particular, participants were required to establish, as quickly as possible, if the test stimulus (i.e., a hand posture) was the same or different, compared to the reference stimulus (i.e., a hand posture) previously displayed in the computer screen. Results show that facial primes, displayed between the reference and the test stimuli, influence the recognition of hand postures, according to the social attitude implicitly related to the stimulus. We found that perception of pro-social (i.e., happy face) primes resulted in slower RTs in detecting the open hand posture as compared to the closed hand posture. Vice-versa, perception of the anti-social (i.e., angry face) prime resulted in slower RTs in detecting the closed hand posture compared to the open hand posture. These results suggest that the social attitude implicitly conveyed by the displayed stimuli might represent the conceptual link between emotions and gestures.