Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Comprehensive Research on Empowerment and Service Recovery Performance at Five-Star Hotels in Jordan

The aim of this research is to provide a comprehensive picture on the relationships between empowerment and service recovery performance. A 51-item questionnaire, measuring empowerment and service recovery performance, was distributed to 425 employees working in five-star hotels in Jordan with a 70.1% of response rate. Principle component analysis was utilized to determine the construct structure for empowerment and service recovery performance as well as multiple regression analyses to determine the relationships between empowerment and service recovery performance. The results show that two perspectives of empowerment have a magnificent impact on service recovery performance. However, psychological empowerment has a stronger influence on psychological service recovery than tangible service recovery. The results also reveal that the two perspectives of empowerment together have clearly a higher level of impact on service recovery performance than both forms of empowerment does separately. Finally, this research shows that psychological empowerment partially mediates the relationship between structural empowerment and service recovery performance. In this research, new insights into the existing literature, implications and directions for future research are presented.
Local structure of Fe impurity atoms in ZnO: bulk versus surface

By studying Fe-doped ZnO pellets and thin films with various x-ray spectroscopic techniques, and complementing this with density functional theory calculations, we find that Fe-doping in bulk ZnO induces isovalent (and isostructural) cation substitution (Fe2+ -> Zn2+). In contrast to this, Fe-doping near the surface produces both isovalent and heterovalent substitution (Fe3+ -> Zn2+). The calculations performed herein suggest that the most likely defect structure is the single or double substitution of Zn with Fe, although, if additional oxygen is available, then Fe substitution with interstitial oxygen is even more energetically favourable. Furthermore, it is found that ferromagnetic states are energetically unfavourable, and ferromagnetic ordering is likely to be realized only through the formation of a secondary phase (i.e. ZnFe2O4), or codoping with Cu.
A Facile Sol–Gel Strategy for the Synthesis of Rod‐Shaped Nanocrystalline High‐Surface‐Area Lanthanum Phosphate Powders and Nanocoatings

Synthesis of rod‐shaped nanocrystalline lanthanum phosphate with an average length of 40 nm even after calcination at 400 °C has been realized through a room‐temperature aqueous sol–gel process. The sol is characterized by particle‐size, zeta‐potential, and viscosity measurements. Gelation of the sol is induced by ammonia. The lanthanum phosphate phase‐formation process is followed by thermal, Fourier‐transform IR, and X‐ray diffraction analysis. Transmission electron microscopy shows that the sol and gel particles have a rod‐shaped morphology and comparable particle sizes. Using the Scherrer equation a crystallite size of 11 nm is obtained for the gel powder calcined at 400 °C and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) nitrogen‐adsorption analysis showed a high specific surface area of 100 m2 g–1. Ammonia temperature‐programmed desorption measurements show that the density of Lewis acid sites is four times higher than ever reported in the case of lanthanum phosphates. The catalytic activity of the above sample is demonstrated by using it as a Lewis‐acid catalyst in an acetal‐formation reaction with a very good yield of 85 %. The sol is used to develop nanocoatings on a glass surface and the morphology of the coatings is investigated using atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The microstructure of the coating confirmed the rod‐shaped nature of the sol particles. The coating was uniform with a thickness of about 55 nm.
Secure Communication Through a Chaotic System and a Sliding-Mode Observer

This article presents a secure communication scheme based on chaotic systems using a sliding-mode observer (SMO) that is robust against disturbances affecting the transmitter and transmission process. The original message is first encrypted using a $N$ -cipher with a key signal and then fed into the state equation, whereas the key signal is fed into the output equation. The chaotic system in the transmitter is re-expressed to decouple the disturbances from the signals of interest. An SMO is then designed based on this form and implemented in the receiver to perform synchronization, and recover the broadcast messages to perform secure communication. The conditions required for the SMO to be feasible are investigated in terms of the transmitter system matrices. A set of design procedures for the chaotic secure communication scheme is outlined. Finally, a simulated example is shown to exhibit the efficacy of the proposed scheme.
Locking down the Impact of New Zealand’s COVID-19 Alert Level Changes on Pets

Simple Summary This investigation explored the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and following alert levels on pets in New Zealand. Pet owners were surveyed during the last week of the first Alert Level 4 lockdown (highest level of restrictions) and then three months later during Alert Level 1 (lowest level of restrictions). During lockdown, just over half of those surveyed thought that their pet’s wellbeing was better than usual, and most owners could list at least one benefit of lockdown for their pets. These included more company, play and exercise. Owners expressed that they were concerned about their pet’s wellbeing after lockdown, with pets missing company/attention and separation anxiety being major themes. The Alert Level 1 survey indicated that owners continued to play with their pets more but that higher levels of exercise were not maintained. Just over one-third of owners took steps to prepare their pets to transition out of lockdown. The results indicate that pets may have enjoyed improved welfare during lockdown due to the possibility of increased human-pet interaction. The steps taken by owners to prepare animals for a return to normal life may enhance pet wellbeing long-term if maintained. Abstract The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on human-pet interactions within New Zealand, particularly during lockdown, was investigated via two national surveys. In Survey 1, pet owners (n = 686) responded during the final week of the five-week Alert Level 4 lockdown (highest level of restrictions—April 2020), and survey 2 involved 498 respondents during July 2020 whilst at Alert Level 1 (lowest level of restrictions). During the lockdown, 54.7% of owners felt that their pets’ wellbeing was better than usual, while only 7.4% felt that it was worse. Most respondents (84.0%) could list at least one benefit of lockdown for their pets, and they noted pets were engaged with more play (61.7%) and exercise (49.7%) than pre-lockdown. Many respondents (40.3%) expressed that they were concerned about their pet’s wellbeing after lockdown, with pets missing company/attention and separation anxiety being major themes. In Survey 2, 27.9% of respondents reported that they continued to engage in increased rates of play with their pets after lockdown, however, the higher levels of pet exercise were not maintained. Just over one-third (35.9%) of owners took steps to prepare their pets to transition out of lockdown. The results indicate that pets may have enjoyed improved welfare during lockdown due to the possibility of increased human-pet interaction. The steps taken by owners to prepare animals for a return to normal life may enhance pet wellbeing long-term if maintained.
Hispanic Adults in Families with Noncitizens Disproportionately Feel the Economic Fallout from COVID-19

From the Document: The COVID-19 [coronavirus disease 2019] pandemic threatens to upend the well-being of many Hispanic adults and their families Already, the pandemic is affecting Hispanic adults' family financial security to a greater extent than other racial/ethnic groups As of late March/early April 2020, nearly 6 in 10 nonelderly Hispanic adults were in families where someone lost a job, work hours, or work-related income because of the coronavirus outbreak, and close to 5 in 10 experienced some material hardship in the past 30 days (Karpman et al 2020) Underlying these disparities for Hispanic adults is their disproportionate representation in industries most likely affected by the pandemic and their lower likelihood of having jobs that can be performed from home (Berube and Bateman 2020) COVID-19 (Disease);Epidemics;Financial security
Chemical Composition and In Vitro Antiprotozoal Properties of Cephaelis ipepacuanha / Composição Química e Propriedades Antiprotozoárias In Vitro da Cephaelis ipepacuanha

Background: Cephaelis ipecacuanha is a medicinal plant used in folk medicine for the treatment of amebiasis. However, the pharmacological properties of this species remain poorly understood. Objective: Characterize chemical composition and in vitro antiprotozoal activity of Cephaelis ipecacuanha. Method: The aqueous extract was lyophilized using the Chisrt Alpha apparatus and transferred to 96-well plates at concentrations ranging from 62.5 to 1000 μg / mL. The antiprotozoal activities against Trypanosoma cruzi, Leishmania brasiliensis, and L. infantum were evaluated after 72h incubation. Fibroblasts incubated at the same conditions for 24h were used as a cytotoxicity control. The readings were performed by spectrophotometry after staining with resazurin. The chemical composition of the extract was analyzed by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC-DAD). Results: The results demonstrated that C. ipecacuanha had moderate antiprotozoal activity against T. cruzi. However, its cytotoxicity against the fibroblasts was significantly higher. Conclusion: This finding suggests that the use of this plant by the population, besides not having significant benefits, can cause associated health risks.
Verification and comparison of three high-resolution surface evapotranspiration products in North China

: The North China Plain is a critical agricultural region in China and one of the most severe water deficient areas in the world. Surface evapotranspiration (ET) is the largest component of water resource consumption, therefore obtaining accurate ET data is an important basis for water resource management on the North China Plain. In this study, accuracy verification and spatiotemporal comparison of three global high- resolution ET products were conducted in North China in order to provide a reference for the selection of a high-resolution ET data product that is more suitable for the North China Plain and can better serve the purpose of water resource research and management. Through the comparison with the eddy correlation measurement, the research showed that the PML_V2 product had the highest accuracy in North China, followed by SSEBop_V4 and MOD16A2, with correlation coefficients of 0.81, 0.74, and 0.52, respectively. The root mean square errors were 0.87, 1.52, and 1.44 (mm/d), respectively. PML_V2 showed the highest consistency with the fluctuation trend observed at the site. The correlation between the estimated and observed ET of the three products in the growing season of wheat was higher than that of maize. SSEBop_V4 ET and PML_V2 ET estimates had the highest correlation with the observed ET in wheat season and maize season, respectively. Comparatively, PML_V2 and SSEBop_V4 are more similar in spatial distribution, with the highest correlation coefficient of 0.76. The spatial distribution of MOD16A2 is very different from that of the other two products. The biggest difference of the three products appears in the cultivated land area. In 2003- 2018, MOD16A2 showed a clear trend of increase for three land use types, while SSEBop_V4 and PML_V2 showed no obvious change.
Influence of food consumption in the glycemic profile of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes Mellitus

Objective To review the dietary intake of children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes Mellitus and its association with the glycemic profile. Methods Longitudinal observational study. Dietary intake was measured using a three-day dietary record and the glycemic profile with a continuous glucose monitoring (range between 70 and 180mg/dL) and serum glycated hemoglobin levels (ideal <7.5%). Anthropometric data, insulin therapy, and carbohydrate counting were collected.
The Positive Impact of Vitamin D on Glucocorticoid-Dependent Skeletal Muscle Atrophy

(1) The study aimed to investigate whether vitamin D3 supplementation would positively affect rats with glucocorticoids-induced muscle atrophy as measured by skeletal muscle mass in two experimental conditions: chronic dexamethasone (DEX) administration and a model of the chronic stress response. (2) The study lasted 28 consecutive days and was performed on 45 male Wistar rats randomly divided into six groups. These included two groups treated by abdominal injection of DEX at a dose of 2 mg/kg/day supplemented with vegetable oil (DEX PL; n = 7) or with vitamin D3 600 IU/kg/day (DEX SUP; n = 8), respectively, and a control group treated with an abdominal injection of saline (CON; n = 6). In addition, there were two groups of rats chronically stressed by cold water immersion (1 hour/day in a glass box with 1-cm-deep ice/water mixture; temperature ~4 °C), which were supplemented with vegetable oil as a placebo (STR PL; n = 9) or vitamin D3 at 600 IU/kg/day (STR SUP; n = 9). The last group was of sham-stressed rats (SHM; n = 6). Blood, soleus, extensor digitorum longus, gastrocnemius, tibialis anterior, and quadriceps femoris muscles were collected and weighed. The heart, liver, spleen, and thymus were removed and weighed immediately after sacrifice. The plasma corticosterone (CORT) and vitamin D3 metabolites were measured. (3) We found elevated CORT levels in both cold water-immersed groups; however, they did not alter body and muscle weight. Body weight and muscle loss occurred in groups with exogenously administered DEX, with the exception of the soleus muscle in rats supplemented with vitamin D3. Decreased serum 25(OH)D3 concentrations in DEX-treated rats were observed, and the cold water immersion did not affect vitamin D3 levels. (4) Our results indicate that DEX-induced muscle loss was abolished in rats supplemented with vitamin D3, especially in the soleus muscle.
Exploring Role and Characteristics of Clients in Promoting (or Hindering) Advertising Agencies’ Multidimensional Innovation

Service literature has recognized the important role of customers’ characteristics for successful innovation and is increasingly emphasizing the contribution of lead users. However, few studies have analyzed this issue with reference to advertising and other creative services, especially because of the difficulties in defining innovation in these industries, by capturing its complex nature. Through a large-scale survey on European advertising agencies, we provide empirical evidence of a multidimensional nature of innovation in these services, which can be better promoted by clients embodying some attributes rather than others. Indeed, our results identify three clusters, which differ for the clients’ innovation enabling characteristics and their potential roles in promoting agency’s innovation: the Dominant lead users; the Expert lead users; the Ordinary clients. We acknowledge the role of lead users in advertising and contribute to literature highlighting when they can be conducive to agency’s innovation or be detrimental to it.
The 2-D Cluster Variation Method: Topography Illustrations and Their Enthalpy Parameter Correlations

One of the biggest challenges in characterizing 2-D image topographies is finding a low-dimensional parameter set that can succinctly describe, not so much image patterns themselves, but the nature of these patterns. The 2-D cluster variation method (CVM), introduced by Kikuchi in 1951, can characterize very local image pattern distributions using configuration variables, identifying nearest-neighbor, next-nearest-neighbor, and triplet configurations. Using the 2-D CVM, we can characterize 2-D topographies using just two parameters; the activation enthalpy (ε0) and the interaction enthalpy (ε1). Two different initial topographies (“scale-free-like” and “extreme rich club-like”) were each computationally brought to a CVM free energy minimum, for the case where the activation enthalpy was zero and different values were used for the interaction enthalpy. The results are: (1) the computational configuration variable results differ significantly from the analytically-predicted values well before ε1 approaches the known divergence as ε1→0.881, (2) the range of potentially useful parameter values, favoring clustering of like-with-like units, is limited to the region where ε0<3 and ε1<0.25, and (3) the topographies in the systems that are brought to a free energy minimum show interesting visual features, such as extended “spider legs” connecting previously unconnected “islands,” and as well as evolution of “peninsulas” in what were previously solid masses.
Response Criteria in Advanced Systemic Mastocytosis: Evolution in the Era of KIT Inhibitors

Systemic mastocytosis (SM) is a rare clonal hematologic neoplasm, driven, in almost all cases, by the activating KIT D816V mutation that leads to the growth and accumulation of neoplastic mast cells. While patients with advanced forms of SM have a poor prognosis, the introduction of KIT inhibitors (e.g., midostaurin, and avapritinib) has changed their outlook. Because of the heterogenous nature of advanced SM (advSM), successive iterations of response criteria have tried to capture different dimensions of the disease, including measures of mast cell burden (percentage of bone marrow mast cells and serum tryptase level), and mast cell-related organ damage (referred to as C findings). Historically, response criteria have been anchored to reversion of one or more organ damage finding(s) as a minimal criterion for response. This is a central principle of the Valent criteria, Mayo criteria, and International Working Group-Myeloproliferative Neoplasms Research and Treatment and European Competence Network on Mastocytosis (IWG-MRT-ECNM) consensus criteria. Irrespective of the response criteria, an ever-present challenge is how to apply response criteria in patients with SM and an associated hematologic neoplasm, where the presence of both diseases complicates assignment of organ damage and adjudication of response. In the context of trials with the selective KIT D816V inhibitor avapritinib, pure pathologic response (PPR) criteria, which rely solely on measures of mast cell burden and exclude consideration of organ damage findings, are being explored as more robust surrogate of overall survival. In addition, the finding that avapritinib can elicit complete molecular responses of KIT D816V allele burden, establishes a new benchmark for advSM and motivates the inclusion of definitions for molecular response in future criteria. Herein, we also outline how the concept of PPR can inform a proposal for new response criteria which use a tiered evaluation of pathologic, molecular, and clinical responses.
μ-Coriolis Mass Flow Sensor With Differential Capacitive Readout

In this paper we present a $\mu $ -Coriolis mass flow sensor with differential capacitive readout, which can reduce the effect of common mode vibrations caused by external disturbances. The device consists of two silicon nitride micro-channel loops mechanically connected through two membranes. The sensor is actuated using Lorentz forces, inducing rotation of the sensor’s micro-channels. Coriolis forces of opposite sign are subsequently generated in the two channel loops. Thus, any common mode vibration can be distinguished from vibration induced by mass flow through the channels. Capacitive readout structures surround the sensor to detect these vibrations. A piezo-electric resonator is placed in close proximity to the sensor to generate artificial external disturbance. Flow measurements are executed to compare the differential readout method to a single ended readout with and without external disturbances. The flow sensitivity is unaffected. However, the mean deviation of the output signal is 60-70% lower when using the differential readout compared to single ended readout when external disturbances are induced. The effect of external disturbances on the zero flow stability is reduced by approximately 64% by using the differential readout. Full elimination of the effect is not possible due to non-linearity of the readout capacitors. Reducing non-linearity of the readout could further improve performance, e.g. by implementing (piezo-resistive) strain gauges on top of the micro-channel.
Late nitrogen topdressing increases nutritional and industrial quality of white oat (Avena sativa) grain

Nitrogen is a nutrient that most limits the development, biomass yield and protein composition of Poaceae. The N losses can be reduced by synchronizing fertilizer additions with plant uptake requirements. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of N topdressing at different rates and times on grain yield and industrial quality of two white oat cultivars. The experiment was carried out under field conditions, from July to November of 2014, in a factorial design 2 x 3 x 4, with four replications. Two oat cultivars (URS Guria and URS Brava) combined with nitrogen topdressing were applied under three management systems: (i) semilate, (ii) late and (iii) semi-late plus late, described as a growth stages (GS) GS31 (first node visible) and GS45 (booting) or split N on GS31 plus GS45 and N rates (0, 30, 60 and 90 kg ha -1 ) with urea as a source. White oat cultivars responded differently to nitrogen fertilization. The URS Brava cultivar showed higher hectoliter weight (HW) and crude protein in the grains (CP) and URS Guria higher number of spikelets per panicle (NSP) and plant lodging (LOD). Application of at least part of the N at the first detectable node played important role on grain yield and yield components. Splitting N fertilization in two applications, 50% at the beginning of stem elongation and 50% at booting, favored higher yield and protein content of the grains. The increase in N rates up to 90 kg ha -1 did not promote grain yield, but it provided increases in grain thickness and protein content in white oats cultivars, increasing the nutritional (more protein), industrial quality (more flakes per ton of the grains) and grain yield leading to more profit to farmer.