Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of Difficult Coworkers on Employees’ Responses in Macao’s Public Organizations—The Mediating Role of Perceived Stress

Difficult coworkers can be found in almost every workplace, including public and private organizations. This paper investigates the effects of difficult coworkers on employees’ responses including intention to leave and mental health through attitude towards difficult coworkers and perceived stress in public organizations. Data were collected from 307 public sector employees in Macao SAR, China. Results of partial least squares–structural equation modeling indicated that difficult coworkers significantly influenced their coworkers’ attitude towards them. Additionally, perceived stress partially mediated the relationship between employees’ attitudes towards difficult coworkers and intention to leave, while employees’ attitudes towards difficult coworkers did not have a significant effect on mental health. The study’s findings shed light on how difficult coworkers impacted employees’ attitudes, perceptions, and responses in Chinese public organizations.
Best Among the Worst or Worst Among the Best? Socioemotional Wealth and Risk-Performance Returns for Family and Non-family Firms Under Financial Distress

A firm’s proactive engagement in risk, which has been deeply intertwined with the entrepreneurship literature, is essential to sustaining a firm’s long-term competitive advantage. Drawing on BAM’s mixed gamble logic in a family firm context, the present study offers a theoretical framework examining how firm risk returns differ in the contexts of distressed (the worst) and nondistressed (the best) family and nonfamily firms. We predict that family control moderates the risk taking-performance relationship. That is, compared with nonfamily firms, a mixed gamble featuring the prospect of socioemotional and financial losses leads family firms to extract higher financial returns from risk taking when in financial distress, but lower financial returns when they are not in financial distress. Our theoretical expectations are supported using a matched sample of Swedish firms.
Identifying the prospects of decent job creation along the value chain of plastic recycling

ABSTRACT This study examined the barriers and challenges for decent job creation along the value chain of plastic recycling that street waste pickers (SWPs) face in the urban regions of Cape Town with a mixed method research design. The findings from the descriptive case study’s primary survey data indicated that the informal recycling economy in these regions has little to no barriers of entry. Initiatives to absorb individuals into this economy could potentially help decrease the unemployment level of unskilled and lowly educated people. On average, SWPs earn about R155 for a day’s waste and R632 for a week’s waste. The econometric results revealed that SWPs from the coloured population group who do not have access to trolleys yield statistically significantly lower earnings. Assisting SWPs through the provision of trolleys and protective gear could potentially be an advantage to sustain their income and create decent employment opportunities for SWPs.
Assessment of the measurement of canine and feline serum fibroblast growth factor-23 concentrations by automated chemiluminescence immunoassay

This study compared canine and feline fibroblast growth factor (FGF)-23 concentration measurements between automated chemiluminescence assay (CLEIA) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Seventy serum samples each from dogs and cats were evaluated. FGF-23 measurements by CLEIA significantly correlated with those of ELISA in both dogs and cats. The Bland–Altman test showed that FGF-23 between CLEIA and ELISA had fixed and proportional biases, respectively, in both dogs and cats. Measurements by CLEIA were lower than those of ELISA, especially in higher serum FGF-23 concentrations. This study showed that FGF-23 concentrations in dogs and cats can be evaluated by automated CLEIA. However, FGF-23 cannot be directly compared between CLEIA and ELISA.
Poorer Attainment of Hemoglobin A1C, Blood Pressure and LDL-Cholesterol Goals among Younger Adults with Type 2 Diabetes

Concurrent attainment of glycated haemoglobin A1C, blood pressure, and LDL-cholesterol goals, or collectively known as the ‘ABC’ goals, help prevent cardiovascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). We aimed to determine the proportion of T2D patients who achieved all three ABC goals in Malaysia’s public health clinics. We also determined the association between age groups with the attainment of all the ABC goals. A cross-sectional analysis of the baseline findings from a retrospective open cohort study between 2013 and 2017 in Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia was conducted. The data was extracted from the National Diabetes Registry. The primary outcome was the proportion of patients who attained all three ABC goals. The exposure of interest was patients’ age groups, namely 18-44, 45-59 and ≥ 60 years. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to adjust demographics factors, comorbidities, complications and treatment profiles. Among 17,592 patients, the mean age was 59.1 years, with 56.3% females and 64.9% Malays. Overall, 4.5% (95% CI: 4.2-4.8) of the patients attained all the ABC goals. Compared to older adults aged ≥ 60 years, patients aged 18-44 and 45-59 years had adjusted odds ratios of 0.50 and 0.72, respectively, to achieve all the ABC goals. Ethnicity, body mass index, diabetes treatment modality, lipid-lowering agent and polypharmacy were independent factors associated with the outcome. In summary, achieving all the ABC goals in T2D patients is challenging, especially among younger adults. Our findings suggest that more targeted interventions should be directed towards this high-risk subpopulation.
Superstar Returns

We study long-term returns on residential real estate in 27 “superstar” cities in 15 countries over 150 years. We find that total returns in superstar cities are close to 100 basis points lower per year than in the rest of the country. House prices tend to grow faster in the superstars, but rent returns are substantially greater outside the big agglomerations, resulting in higher long-run total returns. The excess returns outside the superstars can be rationalized as a compensation for risk, especially for higher co-variance with income growth and lower liquidity. Superstar real estate is
TI 14-138 / IV / DSF 82 The Determinants of CDS Bid-ask Spreads

We investigate the determinants of bid-ask spreads on corporate credit default swaps (CDSs). We find that proxies for dealer inventory costs such as variability of CDS premia and CDS trading volume explain as much as 80% of variation in CDS bid-ask spreads. We also analyze the influence of variables capturing systematic risk of reference entities, market-implied volatility, dealer funding costs and competition between dealers. Several of these variables are significant, but their explanatory power is moderate. Finally, we demonstrate that CDS bid-ask spreads do not widen preceding earnings announcement surprises, which suggests that private information does not hinder CDS liquidity.
The impact of maternal child- and self-oriented pain-related injustice appraisals upon maternal attention to child pain, attention to anger, and pain-attending behavior

Objectives The current study investigated the role of maternal child- and self-oriented injustice appraisals about child pain in understanding maternal attention for child pain and adult anger cues and pain-attending behavior. Methods Forty-four children underwent a painful cold pressor task (CPT) while their mother observed. Eye tracking was used to measure maternal attention to child pain and adult anger cues. Initial attention allocation and attentional maintenance were indexed by probability of first fixation and gaze duration, respectively. Maternal pain-attending behaviors toward the child were videotaped and coded after CPT completion. Mothers also rated the intensity of pain and anger cues used in the free-viewing tasks. All analyses controlled for maternal catastrophizing about child pain. Results Neither child-oriented nor self-oriented injustice was associated with maternal attentional bias toward child pain. Regarding attention toward self-relevant anger cues, differential associations were observed for self- and child-oriented injustice appraisals, with maternal self-oriented injustice being associated with a greater probability of first fixating on anger and with higher anger ratings, whereas maternal child-oriented injustice was associated with enhanced attentional maintenance toward anger. Neither type of maternal injustice appraisals was associated with maternal pain-attending behavior, which was only associated with maternal catastrophizing. Conclusions The current study sheds light on potential differential mechanisms through which maternal self- vs. child-oriented injustice appraisals may exert their impact on parent and child pain-related outcomes. Theoretical implications and future directions are discussed.
A Design Tool for Clothing Applications: Wind Resistant Fabric Layers and Permeable Vents

A computational clothing design tool is used to examine the effects of different clothing design features upon performance. Computational predictions of total heat and mass transfer coefficients of the clothing design tool showed good agreement with experimental measurements obtained using a sweating thermal manikin for four different clothing systems, as well as for the unclothed bare manikin. The specific clothing design features examined in this work are the size and placement of air-permeable fabric vents in a protective suit composed primarily of a fabric-laminated polymer film layer. The air-permeable vents were shown to provide additional ventilation and to significantly decrease both the total thermal insulation and the water vapor resistance of the protective suit.
The Relationship between Social Support, Self-Efficacy and Characteristics of Women with Diabetes during Pregnancy

Background: One of the most common metabolic complications of pregnancy are carbohydrate metabolism disorders resulting in hyperglycemia. The aim of the study was the assessment of impact of socio-demographic variables on the levels of social support and self-efficacy and an investigation of whether there is and how the relationship between social support and self-efficacy is shaped in pregnant women with gestational diabetes. In this study 339 pregnant women with diabetes during pregnancy and 337 healthy pregnant women took part. Methods: The Berlin Social Support Scales (BSSS), the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale (GSES) and a standardized interview questionnaire were used. Results: The respondents rated Perceived Instrumental Support higher (M = 3.52) than Perceived Emotional Support (M = 3.39). In contrast, Actually Received Support (M = 3.53) was rated higher compared to Support Seeking (M = 2.99) and Need for Support (M = 2.95). The mean generalized self-efficacy score was M = 31.58 in women with diabetes during pregnancy and M = 31.85 in healthy pregnant women. Conclusions: The research results obtained prove the existence of a relationship between GSES and BSSS scores. In pregnant women with diabetes and healthy pregnant women, GSES increases with an increase in perceived support. Additionally, among pregnant women with diabetes, the level of GSES increases with an increase in actually received support. However, in the case of healthy pregnant women, a lower level of need for support is associated with higher level of generalized self-efficacy.
Workplace Assertiveness of Filipino Hospital Staff Nurses: A Cross-sectional Study

Background: Several studies have demonstrated the significance of assertiveness in the nursing profession. However, there is a lacuna in the literature regarding the level of workplace assertiveness of Filipino nurses.Purpose: This study determined the workplace assertiveness towards nursing colleagues, nursing management personnel, medical doctors, and other members of the health team among hospital staff nurses.Methods: The data in this cross-sectional study were collected from randomly selected staff nurses (n=223) involving two tertiary hospitals in the Philippines using the Workplace Assertive Behavior Questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and tests for differences were used to analyze the data.Results: Results showed that staff nurses had moderate workplace assertiveness. They were less assertive towards the nursing management personnel, and were less likely to provide constructive criticisms and say no to requests. Assertiveness significantly varied based on employment status (p=.001), age (p=.046), years of nursing work experience (p=.037), and years in the present organization (p=.022). A sense of responsibility to patients was the main facilitator while reprimand and fear of repercussions from the nursing management personnel were the major barriers to assertive behaviors.Conclusion: Personal and work environmental factors can inhibit or support assertiveness. This study highlighted some gaps in Filipino staff nurses’ assertiveness at work. Nursing management plays a pivotal role in nurses’ assertiveness. Efforts should be made to address the barriers and improve the assertiveness of staff nurses.
Evaluation of the bioaccessibility of peanut skin polyphenols and their potential use for food enrichment

: Polyphenols obtained from agricultural and industrial residues are also considered as remarkable sources of natural antioxidants to replace synthetic ingredients. In this study, the contents of total polyphenols (TP) and total flavonoids (TF), antioxidant capacity (AC) and in-vitro bioaccessibility of polyphenols (as gastric and intestinal stages) of the extract from peanut skin using water were investigated. Additionally, the potential use of peanut skin extract in noodle production was researched in order to add functionality to noodle, which is a widely consumed product. The results showed that 71.67 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g dry matter (DM) of TP, 123.11 mg rutin equivalent (RE)/g DM of TF and 66267.46 mmol ascorbic acid equivalent (AAE)/100g DM of AC were found in peanut skin. After the gastric and intestinal stages, the TP content and AC of the skin extract were found to be lower than the initial (before digestion) value. It was determined that polyphenols were more stable in gastric conditions than in the small intestine. The addition of the skin extract (0.4%) to the noodle dough increased the TP and AC of the final product compared to the noodle without the skin extract (control). It was observed that the stability of the polyphenols from the noodle sample was higher in gastric stage than intestinal one. The addition of peanut skin extract to the noodle dough increased the bioaccessibility of the polyphenols. Therefore, this study showed that peanut skin, as an important source of polyphenols, may be useful for food enrichment.
Investigating the Transferability of Calibrated Microsimulation Parameters for Operational Performance Analysis in Roundabouts

Microsimulation models are widespread for the analysis of roundabouts operational performance providing realistic modelling of vehicle movements. These models are based on many independent parameters to describe traffic and driver behaviour, which need to be calibrated in order to better match field data. In practice, despite the well-recognized importance of calibration and validation processes, simulation is conducted under default values because of difficulties in field data collection and deficiency in available guidelines. These issues can be faced by using transferability methodologies that allow applying the parameters calibrated for a case study to other similar locations. Therefore, this paper investigates the suitability of the transferability procedure adopting both the application-based and estimation-based approaches, by considering two roundabouts and a microsimulation tool. A Genetic Algorithm technique was used to determine the best estimates of these model parameters. After that, the authors compared field-measured with simulated queue lengths, considering four different scenarios. The results show that the application of Wiedemann 99 parameters calibrated for the first case study to the second one allows reducing the RMSNE more than 50%, thus confirming an acceptable level of transferability of these parameters between the two case studies.
The efficacy of probiotics in patients with severe COVID-19.

BACKGROUND To examine the incidence of diarrhea in severe and critical coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, and to observe the efficacy and prognosis of probiotic use in such patients. METHODS A retrospective study was conducted to investigate the symptoms and incidence of diarrhea in 156 cases of COVID-19 confirmed by the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University and the Xinyang Fifth People's Hospital, China. A total of 58 cases of severe and critical COVID-19 were identified and divided into the treatment group or the control group. The control group was given standard treatment according to the Protocols for Diagnosis and Treatment of COVID-19: Prevention, Control, Diagnosis and Management. Patients in the treatment group were administered oral probiotics as well as the standard treatment. The 2 groups were compared in terms of nutritional status (serum albumin), improvement of diarrhea symptoms, changes in inflammatory condition [procalcitonin (PCT) and C-reactive protein (CRP)], the time taken to register a negative result for respiratory tract pathogens on the nucleic acid test, and changes to white blood cell and lymphocyte cell counts. RESULTS In this study cohort, diarrhea was detected in 15.38% (24/156) of COVID-19 patients. The incidence of diarrhea in patients with mild and moderate COVID-19 was approximately 8.16% (8/98), and the incidence of diarrhea in severe and critically ill patients was approximately 27.59% (16/58). In patients with severe and critical COVID-19, probiotic treatment obviously shortened the duration of diarrhea. Furthermore, compared with the control group, patients treated with probiotics showed a significantly reduced time to achieving a negative nucleic acid test and the inflammation indexes including PCT and CRP were significantly reduced (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS The incidence of diarrhea in severe and critically ill COVID-19 patients was significantly higher than that in patients with mild and moderate COVID-19. Probiotics may have a good supporting role in the treatment of patients with COVID-19 and its early application is recommended.
The Association of Perioperative Glycemic control with Post-operative wound Infection after Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting in Veterans with Diabetes Mellitus

Introduction: After coronary artery bypass (CABG), diabetes mellitus is associated with increased risk of infection. We model the inter-relationship of pre- and post-operative glycemic control and their composite influence on post-operative wound infection. Methods: 2,899 Veterans that underwent isolated CABG were stratified (Group I: < 8%, Group II: 8 - 10%, Group III: > 10%) according to preoperative HbA1c levels. We obtained the median blood sugar level (BSL) on post-operative days 0 - 4 (POD) and compared trends in BSL readings according to HbA1c groups. We fit a multi-variable random effects mixed model to understand the odds (OR) of developing postoperative mediastinitis. A two-stage joint model was fit to evaluate the adjusted hazard (HR) of pre-operative HbA1c, post-operative BSL and clinical factors on 90-day readmission for infection. Results: In groups I, II, and III had 66%, 25% and 9% patients respectively. In 148,810 post-operative BSL readings, median BSL values peaked at POD 2 (145 mg/dl). In group III, 29% BSL reading was above the recommended limit (< 180 mg/dl). Group III (OR 3.5; p < 0.01) and COPD (OR 2.51; p < 0.01) were associated with higher rates of mediastinitis. Groups II (HR 1.4; p = 0.01) and III (HR 1.5; p = 0.04) were associated with increased risk for 90-day readmission for infection. Post-operative blood sugar levels (p = 0.5) were not associated with increased risk for wound infection at 90 days. Conclusion: Among Veterans undergoing coronary artery bypass, a large proportion had HbA1c levels > 8%. In the post-operative period, 22% of the blood sugar readings are higher than 180 mg/dl. Preoperative HbA1c (rather than postoperative glycemic control) is associated with higher rates of deep sternal wound infection.
Generation of a Synthetic Dataset for the Study of Fraud through Deep Learning Techniques

— Fraud is defined as any purposeful or deliberate act including cunning, deception, or other unfair means to deprive someone of property or money. Nowadays, fraud-related activities are growing at a dizzying rate, causing substantial economic losses every year. For an adequate analysis of this phenomenon, it is necessary to have data that evidences this behavior. Even so, given that these data are scarce and difficult to find, generating synthetic data for their study is a viable option. We designed two algorithms to generate text to create a synthetic data set that allows fraud analysis. These algorithms rely on the Fraud Triangle Theory proposed by Donald R. Cressey and use Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) and Long Short-Term Memory Networks (LSTM), respectively. The datasets generated were analyzed from the semantic point of view, giving a score about their readability and grammar consistency. The results obtained from this evaluation indicate that the data generation architecture proposed using the LSTM algorithm provides better performance in sentence readability (efficiency greater than 70%) than RNN (less than 40%). With LSTM, it was possible to synthesize a comprehensive data set related to the fraud triangle's vertices. This will make it easier to investigate fraudulent actions that are linked to human behavior. We will present a fraud predictor system based on machine learning techniques in the future.
Infection Probability Index: Implementation of an Automated Chronic Wound Infection Marker

The number of people suffering from chronic wounds is increasing due to demographic changes and the global epidemics of obesity and diabetes. Innovative imaging techniques within the field of chronic wound diagnostics are required to improve wound care by predicting and detecting wound infections to accelerate the application of treatments. For this reason, the infection probability index (IPI) is introduced as a novel infection marker based on thermal wound imaging. To improve usability, the IPI was implemented to automate scoring. Visual and thermal image pairs of 60 wounds were acquired to test the implemented algorithms on clinical data. The proposed process consists of (1) determining various parameters of the IPI based on medical hypotheses, (2) acquiring data, (3) extracting camera distortions using camera calibration, and (4) preprocessing and (5) automating segmentation of the wound to calculate (6) the IPI. Wound segmentation is reviewed by user input, whereas the segmented area can be refined manually. Furthermore, in addition to proof of concept, IPIs’ correlation with C-reactive protein (CRP) levels as a clinical infection marker was evaluated. Based on average CRP levels, the patients were clustered into two groups, on the basis of the separation value of an averaged CRP level of 100. We calculated the IPIs of the 60 wound images based on automated wound segmentation. Average runtime was less than a minute. In the group with lower average CRP, a correlation between IPI and CRP was evident.