Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Social commerce in Saudi Arabia: An investigation of the impact of government involvement and social and individual factors on consumers' behaviour

Through innovations in technologies, electronic commerce (EC) has evolved into a new stream of commerce called social commerce (SC). This paper defines SC as a combination of performing EC activities and socializing on online communities via facilitating technologies to make purchase decisions. SC adoption has recently gained attention among interested scholars; yet, since SC is a new technology, studies are limited. The current research gap is twofold: First, no studies have yet examined the impact of government involvement on SC adoption. Second, the impact of social factors (e.g. social support and electronic word of mouth) on SC adoption in the Saudi Arabian context has not yet been investigated. This in-progress research aims to provide guidance to interested stakeholders on how to encourage consumers to adopt SC in Saudi Arabia. The study uses the theory of planned behaviour, along with other external factors, as a theoretical model.
OTT_A_226465 10275..10285

Wei Jiang* Tao Li* Jingjing Wang 1,2 Ruonan Jiao 1,2 Xiao Shi Xiaodan Huang Guozhong Ji 1Department of Gastroenterology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 210011, People’s Republic of China; 2Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Cancer Biomarkers, Prevention And Treatment, Collaborative Innovation Center For Cancer Personalized Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing 211166, People’s Republic of China
Genetic Markers in Endometriosis

Aim: In this study it was aimed to determine whether plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 gene 4G/5G and p53 codon 72 polymorphisms are genetic markers of endometriosis development in Turkish endometriosis patients. Method: Genomic DNA was extracted from 60 women (30 with endometriosis and 30 controls) in the study. DNA was amplified with 4G and 5G specific primers for detection of plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 gene 4G/5G polymorphism and PCR-RFLP technique was used to analyze p53 codon 72 polymorphism. Products were assessed with ultraviolet transilluminator by being exposed to agarose gel electrophoresis. Results: According to the plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 gene 4G/5G polymorphism the 4G allele frequency was indicated as 37% and 5G allele was as 63% in patients, whereas this was 53-47% in the control group. According to p53 codon 72 polymorphism the proline allele frequency was indicated as 43.3% and arginine allele was as 56.7% in patients, whereas this was 40-60% in the control group. Conclusion: As a result of our study we may assert that plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 gene 4G/5G and p53 codon polymorphisms cannot be considered as genetic markers to develop endometriosis in Turkish population. However the significance of our result remains to be further investigated in different and even larger groups being combined with other genetic polymorphisms considered as risk factors for endometriosis.
Krull–Schmidt reduction of principal bundles in arbitrary characteristic

Let M be an irreducible projective variety defined over an algebraically closed field k, and let EG be a principal G-bundle over M, where G is a connected reductive linear algebraic group defined over k. We show that for EG there is a naturally associated conjugacy class of Levi subgroups of G. Given a Levi subgroup H in this conjugacy class, the principal G-bundle EG admits a reduction of structure group to H. Furthermore, this reduction is unique up to an automorphism of EG. 2005 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. MSC 2000: 14L10; 14L30
EFFECT OF DIVIDEND CHANGE ON STOCK PERFORMANCE: A CASE OF LISTED COMMERCIAL BANKS IN KENYA

Dividend decision has been a puzzle to many managers as to whether they should pay dividends or not. It is the dream of every manager of each listed company that its shares gain value and remain attractive to investors. The current study examined the effect of dividend change on stock performance. The study was carried out at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, Kenya and covered the years 2010 to 2015. It consisted of all the 11 listed commercial banks in Kenya. The study used a correlational research design and data was analyzed using GLM regression. The conclusion was that dividend change has significant effect on the stock performance. Increase in share prices was observed for the firms which increased their dividend in the current year as compared to the previous year. On the other hand, firms which lowered their dividend faced reduction in their shares prices. The study further concluded that firm size as a moderating factor has significant effect on the dividend change – stock performance relationship. The study recommends that firms should increase their dividend payout so as to increase the price of their stocks. This is because firms which declare increased dividends face an increase in their share prices.
EFFECT OF MARKET FUNDAMENTAL VARIABLES ON RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY PRICES IN KENYA

The Kenyan real estate market has been experiencing a boom in the past ten years and the latest findings have shown that the trend will continue into the foreseeable future. This study sought to determine the effects of fundamental market variables on residential property prices in Kenya. The residential property price is the dependant variable while inflation, interest rate, money supply, diaspora remittances and exchange rate are the independent variables. Thus, this paper tries to determine whether the above variables do affect residential property prices in Kenya. The study used secondary data for a period of ten years (2006 quarter one to 2015 quarter four). A panel data regression model was used for analysis. The study conclude that there are a strong positive correlation between the market fundamental variables and residential property prices as shown by positive R, and R-Square of 0.986 and 0.972 respectively. Also the study conclude that four out of the five market fundamental variables are statistically significant individually as shown by their corresponding pvalues which is less than 0.05 and only foreign exchange rate had a pvalue of 0.789 implying it was not significant individually. The study, therefore, recommends that the CBK and other agencies charged with the responsibility of regulation should plan in advance and influence the market fundamental variables in the right direction. The study had some limitations: contextual, methodological and human. These limitations have formed part of the basis for suggestions for further study. Among the suggestions is that further study should be triangulated in terms of data sources to mitigate the weaknesses of secondary data that was used exclusively in this study.
Impact Of Transformational Leadership On Motivating Faculty Members

This empirical study show that the impact of all styles was well moderate. The means of effect of all styles were less than 3 out of 5. It means the expected impact of transformational affect upon the all dimensions of the activities, are not expected due to the traditional styles of leadership and the lack of information about the transformational leadership styles which can guide leaders to use such styles in the organization which may be this results due to lack of trained leaders and necessary knowledge with the leaders in all universities about transformational styles the traditional form of the leadership styles which used by the university leaders affect the communication between all levels of the administration and the faculty members which has consequence because decrease in motivation and a self-consideration from the administration.
NDT_A_216401 2695..2704

*These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Sub-threshold depression (SD) has been associated with impairments in adolescent health which increase the rate of major depression. Researchers have shown the effectiveness of mindfulness on mental health, however whether the traditional mindful skills were suitable for youngsters, it was not clear. This study investigated the effects of a tailed Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on their psychological state. Methods: A double-blind, randomized controlled trial was carried out. 56 participants who met the inclusion criteria agreed to be arranged randomly to either the MBSR group (n=28) or the control group (n=28). Participants in MBSR group received a tailored 8-week, one time per week, one hour each time group intervention. The effectiveness of intervention was measured using validated scales, which including BDI-II, MAAS, RRS at three times (T1before intervention; T2-after intervention; T3-three months after intervention). A repeatedmeasures analysis of variance model was used to analyze the data. Results: The results showed significant improvements in MBSR group comparing with control group that depression level decreased after the 8-week intervention and the follow up (F =17.721, p < 0.00). At the same time, RRS score was significantly decreased at T2 and T3 (F= 28.277, p < 0.00). The results also showed that MBSR promoted the level of mindfulness and the effect persisted for three months after intervention (F=13.489, p < 0.00). Conclusion: A tailored MBSR intervention has positive effects on psychology health among SD youngsters, including decrease depression and rumination level, cultivate mindfulness.
Firm Heterogeneity and Country Size Dependent Market Entry Cost

This paper introduces a market size dependent rm entry cost into the Helpman, Melitz and Yeaple (2004) (HMY) version of the Melitz (2003) model. This is a relatively small generalisation, which preserves the analytical solvability of the model. Nevertheless, our model yields several new results that are in line with data. First, the average productivity of rms located in a market increases in the size of the market. Second, the productivity of exporters is U-shaped with reference to export market size. Third, the productivity premium (the di¤erence in average productivity) between exporters and non-exporters decreases in the home country size. Fourth, we derive a set of new results related to trade volume. It is shown that when the xed entry cost of exporting declines, for instance as the result of economic integration, export shares converge. This prognosis is supported by the empirical section of the paper. Fifth, we use a multicountry version of our model to derive a gravity equation. Our speci cation yields a gravity equation à la Anderson and van Wincoop (2003), but where GDP per capita enters as an additional explanatory variable. JEL Classi cation: D21, F12, F15 Keywords: heterogenous rms, market size, beachhead costs
Effect of Alanyl-glutamine on the Clinical Outcome of Patients after Total Gastrectomy

Objective To investigate the effect of alanyl-glutamine(Ala-Gln)on clinical outcome of patients after total gastrectomy.Methods Totally 40 patients undergoing selective operation,eligible for the requirement of protocol,and needing 6 days total parenteral nutrition(TPN)support were randomly divided into the study group(n=20)and control group(n=20). All the patients undergone total gastrectomy and their gastrointestinal tracts were rebuilt.The parenteral alimentation was fulfilled by peripherally inserted central catheter(PICC). All patients were given equal calorie and equal nitrogen except that patients in the study group were added with Ala-Gln(Ala-Gln,0.5 g·kg-1·d-1). Pleamin-P was the only element in the parenteral nutrition for the control group.For each patient,2.5ml blood samples were taken at 5 time points:1 day before operation and 3 hours,1 day,4 days,and 7 days after operation.The end-points and surrogate end-points were measured.Results Compared with the control group,the infectious complications and hospitalization duration of the study group significantly decreased,the levels of CD4 and CD4/CD8 signifcantly increased(P0.01),while the levels of tumor necrosis factor α,soluble interleukin-2 receptor,C-reactive protein significantly decreased(P0.01). Conclusion Parenteral Ala-Gln nutrition can enhance the immunity of patients after total gastrectomy,and improve their early clinical outcomes.
Objective Mismatch in Model-based Reinforcement Learning

Model-based reinforcement learning (MBRL) has been shown to be a powerful framework for data-efficiently learning control of continuous tasks. Recent work in MBRL has mostly focused on using more advanced function approximators and planning schemes, with little development of the general framework. In this paper, we identify a fundamental issue of the standard MBRL framework -- what we call the objective mismatch issue. Objective mismatch arises when one objective is optimized in the hope that a second, often uncorrelated, metric will also be optimized. In the context of MBRL, we characterize the objective mismatch between training the forward dynamics model w.r. t. ~the likelihood of the one-step ahead prediction, and the overall goal of improving performance on a downstream control task. For example, this issue can emerge with the realization that dynamics models effective for a specific task do not necessarily need to be globally accurate, and vice versa globally accurate models might not be sufficiently accurate locally to obtain good control performance on a specific task. In our experiments, we study this objective mismatch issue and demonstrate that the likelihood of one-step ahead predictions is not always correlated with control performance. This observation highlights a critical limitation in the MBRL framework which will require further research to be fully understood and addressed. We propose an initial method to mitigate the mismatch issue by re-weighting dynamics model training. Building on it, we conclude with a discussion about other potential directions of research for addressing this issue.
Comparative study of RANS and LES in simulating cavitating flows

Cavitation refers to formation of vapor when pressure in a liquid drops below vapor pressure of the liquid. This phenomenon is often detrimental and causes noise, vibration and surface erosion. Cavitation is highly unsteady in that the vapor cavities of different sizes form and collapse at different rates, and accurate prediction of this phenomenon is hence imperative. RANS has been the commonly adopted approach to simulate cavitating flows; however LES does a better job in capturing the unsteady dynamics of a cavitating flow. The aim of this paper is to perform a comparative study of RANS and LES in simulating cavitating flows using the same physical model and numerical method. Two different flow configurations are considered each presenting a different challenge and the performance of both RANS and LES is assessed. We consider two-dimensional quasi-steady partial cavitation over a hydrofoil and unsteady sheet to cloud cavitation over a wedge. Numerical results obtained from RANS and LES are compared to each other and with available experimental results.
An investigation of pitch detection mechanisms: an auditory fMRI study

In the current study a sparse temporal sampling method (TR = 20s) was used to measure brain activity related to complex tone perception. The main interest of the study was whether different pitch detection mechanisms are involved in the processing of complex tones consisting of resolved and unresolved harmonics. By varying the resolvability of harmonics in a 2AFC experiment we investigated the existence of two mechanisms residing at different locations in the human brain. Direct comparison of complex tones consisting of resolved harmonics with complex tones consisting of unresolved harmonics did not reveal significant differences. Therefore, an unambiguous proof of the existence of two separately localized mechanisms, could not be supported.
Assessment of Contractors’ Claims on Construction Projects in Vietnam

In the complex, risky, multiparty-involved, and dynamic nature of the construction business, completing a project successfully without any deviation from the primary contract is almost impossible. Changes and claims are, therefore, inevitable, especially in major projects. Construction claims are discerned as a time-consuming and expensive process, requiring great human endeavor and know-how to process them successfully [1]. It is determined as an assertion to the right to additional money and extended performance time [2]. As a consequence, poorly managed practices significantly lead to the occurrence of many blatant problems.
Running-head: Language dominance switch in Galician bilinguals Title: The effects of language dominance switch in bilinguals: Galician new speakers' speech production and perception

It has long been debated whether speech production and perception remain flexible in adulthood. The current study investigates the effects of language dominance switch in Galician new speakers (neofalantes) who are raised with Spanish as a primary language and learn Galician at an early age in a bilingual environment, but in adolescence, decide to switch to using Galician almost exclusively, for ideological reasons. Results showed that neofalantes pattern with Spanish-dominants in their perception and production of mid-vowel and fricative contrasts, but with Galician-dominants in their realisation of unstressed word-final vowels, a highly salient feature of Galician. These results are taken to suggest that despite early exposure to Galician, high motivation and almost exclusive Galician language use post-switch, there are limitations to what neofalantes can learn in both production and perception, but that the hybrid categories they appear to develop may function as opportunities to mark identity within a particular community.
Targeting Practices and Biases in Social Cash Transfers: Experiences in Rural Malawi 1

Social cash transfer (SCT) programmes involve direct financial support to vulnerable households. Vulnerability, as a social condition, is often correlated with low income and food insecurity. Cash transfers augur well with neoliberal welfarism in contrast to the traditional relief approach associated with foodbased safety nets. The aim of this article is to examine targeting processes and its challenges in Malawi. Proxy indices of ultra-poverty used in the design of SCT programmes are correlated in some way to parameters such as gender, education, structure of livelihoods and type of durable assets owned by beneficiaries. The data demonstrates that beneficiaries tend to be women and persons with very little or no formal education. The authors argue that gender and education are critical parameters that are easier to determine and apply with reduced scope for bias for identifying vulnerable groups and with valuable lessons for replication of success nationwide. Les programmes de transferts monetaires sociaux (SCT) impliquent un soutien financier direct aux menages vulnerables. La vulnerabilite, en tant que condition sociale, est souvent liee au faible revenu et a l’insecurite alimentaire. Les transferts monetaires vont bien avec le «welfarism » neoliberal, contrairement a l’approche traditionnelle d’assistance associee a l’assistance alimentaire. L’objectif de cet article est d’examiner les processus de ciblage et leurs enjeux au Malawi. Les indices de substitution d’extreme pauvrete utilises dans la conception des programmes SCT sont correles d’une maniere ou d’une autre a des parametres tels que le sexe, l’education, la structure des moyens de subsistance et le type de biens durables detenus par les beneficiaires. Les donnees demontrent que les beneficiaires sont generalement des femmes et des personnes ayant tres peu ou pas d’education formelle. Les auteurs soutiennent que le genre et l’education sont des parametres importants, plus faciles a determiner et a appliquer, avec une possibilite reduite de biais pour identifier les groupes vulnerables et avec des enseignements precieux en cas de reproduction a l’echelle nationale.
The Osborne Bull vs. The Catalan Donkey

Building on the Accommodation Theory, the effect of minority language use in advertising on the bilingual consumer market in Catalonia was explored. It was hypothesized that a positive language effect would occur in a way that advertisements which are partially or fully in Catalan language would generate more positive attitudes towards the advertisement, product and the advertising company, and would result a higher intention to buy the product than advertisements which are completely in Castilian language. An experiment was conducted in which young bilingual Catalans evaluated three different language versions of advertisements from fictitious MNCs: Catalan only, Castilian only and a mixture of both languages. This was done for three product categories: a low, medium and a high luxury product. Contrary to what was hypothesized, the results indicated that advertisements with a mixture of both Catalan and Castilian language generated more negative attitudes toward the advertisement than when the ad was completely in Catalan or Castilian language. This study attributes to the discussion about minority language use in advertising with special attention to the socio-economic and cultural status of both the minority and the majority language in a bilingual region. Although both languages are associated with different feelings, this did not lead to more positive attitudes toward advertising for one language over the other.