Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Influence of Brand Image, Service Quality and Guest Satisfaction on Guest Loyalty

Studies have shown that a great pressure is placed on professionals in the hospitality industry, where managers strive to strengthen service quality through managerial strategies to retain loyal guests. However, the studies were limited and there has been a lack of research on how to enhance performance through service quality and brand image which influence guest satisfaction and loyalty. This study evaluates these perspectives from international and local guests of 5-Star hotels located in Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The primary study purpose is to fill this gap by investigating empirically the impact of service quality and brand image on guest satisfaction and loyalty in 5-Star hotels. The research used the quantitative method to test the hypotheses proposed which were derived from literature review. Using a self-administered questionnaire, data were collected in person from guests who stayed in 5-Star hotels at shopping malls, in the Bukit Bintang area and from tourism agencies via social media. Raw data obtained were analysed using the Statistical Package for Social Science [SPSS] version 24. Results showed significant relationships in all hypotheses proposed. Customer satisfaction showed a full mediating role in the effect of service quality on guest loyalty and a partial mediating role in the effect of brand image on guest loyalty. Also, brand image and service quality impacts guest satisfaction and guest loyalty directly. Based on the results we discuss the study’s implications.
EVALUATION OF ANTI-OBESITY EFFECT OF AQUEOUS EXTRACT OF SOLANUM INDICUM L. FRUITS ON HIGH FAT DIET-INDUCED OBESE RAT

INTRODUCTION Obesity is defined as an abnormal or excessive accumulation of fat in adipose tissue that can lead to health problems [1] Once considered as a specific problem in high-income countries, obesity is now increasing in lowand middle-income countries, where it coexists with malnutrition. [1] Its prevalence in the world always increases. The number of obese people in the world rose from 3.2% in 1975 to 10.8% in 2014 among men, and 6.4% to 14.9% among women. [2] In 2016, more than 1.9 billion adults, 18 years and older, were overweight. Of these over 650 million were obese. 39% of adults aged 18 and over were overweight in 2016 and 13% were obese [1] Overweight and obesity are responsible for many deaths around the world. Worldwide, there are more obese people than those who are underweight. Observation made in all regions except sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. [1] In Cameroon, obesity is observed in both rural and urban areas. [3] More than 25% of people living in urban areas are obese, and if overweight is taken into account, more than 55% of this population is either threatened or obese. [4] This prevalence was estimated at 11.1% in 2008 and 16.4% in 2013 in the Cameroonian population in general. [5] The Cameroon Heart Foundation's report confirms in 2015 that more than 35% of the population is obese.
The Benchmark Lottery

The world of empirical machine learning (ML) strongly relies on benchmarks in order to determine the relative effectiveness of different algorithms and methods. This paper proposes the notion of"a benchmark lottery"that describes the overall fragility of the ML benchmarking process. The benchmark lottery postulates that many factors, other than fundamental algorithmic superiority, may lead to a method being perceived as superior. On multiple benchmark setups that are prevalent in the ML community, we show that the relative performance of algorithms may be altered significantly simply by choosing different benchmark tasks, highlighting the fragility of the current paradigms and potential fallacious interpretation derived from benchmarking ML methods. Given that every benchmark makes a statement about what it perceives to be important, we argue that this might lead to biased progress in the community. We discuss the implications of the observed phenomena and provide recommendations on mitigating them using multiple machine learning domains and communities as use cases, including natural language processing, computer vision, information retrieval, recommender systems, and reinforcement learning.
Dimensions of individual well-being in post-crisis Russia : income and labour market status vs . happiness

Financial crisis of 1998 could be considered as a starting point of the new stage of the transformation of both, Russian economy and individual perception of well-being. Rather successful macroeconomic performance of the country in the beginning of the 2000s and recognition of the market economy status by the end of 2002 coincided with the growth of average satisfaction level of population. At the same time, satisfaction of the employed subgroup of the population was growing not faster, and sometimes even slower, than for all the other labour market categories. In the paper, it is made an attempt to figure out whether this phenomenon could be explained by the particular importance of inter-personal/family/time period comparisons of her relative position performed for the subjective well-being evaluation, especially if employed and non-employed sub-samples of population are considered. Updated: 12 June 2007
Title : The Exponential-Weight Mean-Variance Model : A novel computational model for the Balloon 1 Analogue Risk Task

1 The Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) is a popular task used to measure risk-taking behavior. To 2 identify cognitive processes associated with choice behavior on the BART, a few computational models 3 have been proposed. However, the extant models are either too simplistic or fail to show good 4 parameter recovery performance. Here, we propose a novel computational model, the exponential5 weight mean-variance (EWMV) model, which addresses the limitations of existing models. By using 6 multiple model comparison methods, including post hoc model fits criterion and parameter recovery, we 7 showed that the EWMV model outperforms the existing models. In addition, we applied the EWMV 8 model to BART data from healthy controls and substance-using populations (patients with past opiate 9 and stimulant dependence). The results suggest that (1) the EWMV model addresses the limitations of 10 existing models and (2) heroin-dependent individuals show reduced risk preference than other groups 11 in the BART. 12
Indications that Stockholm has reached herd immunity, given limited restrictions, against several variants of SARS-CoV-2

"When COVID-19 cases go up, public compliance with restrictions is poor, when cases go down, public compliance is good. " In this article, we question this explanation and show that relatively low levels of sero-prevalence helps to keep cases down. In other words, the herd-immunity threshold appears to be much lower than previously thought. We construct a mathematical model taking pre-immunity, antibody waning and more infectious variants of concern into consideration, thereby providing a theoretical framework in which the cases in Stockholm county can be fully predicted without relying on neither oscillations in restrictions (and public compliance thereof) nor vaccination roll-out. We also show that it is very difficult to match the data from Stockholm without including pre-immunity, or, which turns out to be equivalent, great variations in susceptibility.
Mode of Presentation and Outcomes of COVID-19 Cases in a Tertiary Hospital in Nigeria

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread across the globe with its consequent human and economic challenges. To achieve effective control of the pandemic, efforts need to be holistic and global. Understanding patients demographics and clinical characteristics will assist in the control of the infection. However, there is a paucity of studies on the clinical presentation of COVID-19 patients from Nigeria and indeed Africa. Thus, this retrospective case series evaluated the medical records of COVID-19 patients admitted in a tertiary hospital in Nigeria. Patients demographics, and other clinical variables were assessed and presented. Data of 14 patients with complete records were included in the study. Most of the patients (78.6%) were males and the mean age of the study participants is 63.5 years (SD; 11.5). The commonest presenting symptoms were fever (93%), cough (71.4%), and dyspnoea (57.1%). At presentation, 13 patients had coexisting diseases while 8 (57.0%) patients had moderate disease and the remaining 6 (43.0%) had severe cases. After management, 1 patient died, two were referred and 11 recovered and were discharged alive. Thus, this study has identified advanced age, male gender, and comorbidity as increased risk factors for hospitalisation. The patient survival outcome in this study was also good.
Determinants of Store Patronage: The Roles of Political Ideology, Consumer and Market Characteristics

Abstract In this study, we investigate the roles of political ideology, demographic characteristics and market environment in determining households' store patronage behavior. We measure two key dimensions of store patronage—store format preference and store loyalty trait—of 23,092 U.S. households using purchase data from Nielsen Homescan panel. We use county-level vote share of the Republican and Democratic parties across three U.S. Presidential elections to measure political ideology. We obtain measures of demographic characteristics and market environment from the Nielsen panel and the U.S. Census Bureau. Using fixed-effect regression models, we find systematic association between political ideology and households’ store patronage. Our findings contribute to the growing literature in marketing on the effects of political ideology on consumer behavior and have important implications for store loyalty programs, cross-selling strategies and store location decisions.
Firm-Specific Determinants and Outcomes of Initial Public Offerings in Thailand, 2001-2007

This paper examines the firm-specific determinants and outcomes of initial public offerings (IPOs) in Thailand using data on 5,228 private and newly publicly listed firms between 2001 and 2007. We use the listing requirements of the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) to identify all private firms compulsorily registered with the Department of Business Development, Thai Ministry of Commerce that are potential IPOs. Analysis of the determinants of IPOs reveals that firms that are younger, larger, more leveraged and with lower interest rates from borrowing are more likely to list. Analysis of post-IPO performance suggests that Thai firms going public succeed in lowering their borrowing rates, and that unlike comparable findings elsewhere, profitability does not decline after listing. However, despite these findings, the rate of listing in Thailand remains relatively low, and the paper hypothesis that relatively high listing costs and the availability of alternative cheaper debt financing sources, the large shares of foreign subsidiary and small and medium-sized business operating in Thailand, along with market and political instability and cultural factors act against Thai IPOs.
When Do Firms Acquire External Patents in the Market for Technology? From a Perspective on Performance Feedback

Previous research on the market for technology has focused mostly on the supply side rather than the demand side of the market. Drawing on the behavioral theory of the firm, this study suggests search derived from performance below aspiration level as one of the determinants of the demand side motivation to join the technology transaction market. Although most existing performance feedback literature only focuses on financial performance, multiple aspirations and feedback exist simultaneously, and interact when firms conduct decision-making. Considering a comprehensive decision-making process, the results of this study provide a better understanding of how technology is acquired. Furthermore, we suggest that inconsistent feedback and the R&amp;D structure of a firm as moderating factors that can influence the acquiring of technology in response to poor performance.
Natural resources and wealth inequality: a cross-country analysis

PurposeThis study investigates the impact of natural resources on wealth inequality as a first attempt on a panel of 45 developed and developing countries.Design/methodology/approachUsing the generalized method of moments (GMM), the results provide strong evidence that natural resources increase wealth inequality within a linear empirical framework.FindingsThese results are robust to the use of alternative natural resources and wealth inequality measures. Additionally, a nonlinear analysis provides evidence of an inverted U shaped relationship between natural resources and wealth inequality. The net effect of enhancing natural resources on wealth inequality is positive and building on the corresponding conditional negative effect, the attendant natural resource thresholds for inclusive development are provided. It follows that while natural resources increase wealth inequality, some critical levels of natural resources are needed for natural resources to reduce wealth inequality.Originality/valueTo the best of knowledge, this is the first study to assess how enhancing natural resources affect wealth inequality.
The Impact of Minority Shareholder Protection and Atomization of Shareholder Base on the Nonoperating Activities of Firms

In the presence of strong minority shareholder protection mechanisms, shareholders may become placid and even inattentive with regards to their firms’ nonoperating activities in the hope that those mechanisms serve to assure agents’ incentive compatibility. Relying on a cross-country panel database, the paper evidences that a stronger minority shareholder protection at the country level is associated with larger firm-level long-term nonoperating investments, higher share of nonoperating investment incomes in the firms’ bottom line, and relatively larger acquisitions. At the company level, the implementation of stronger minority shareholder protection mechanisms, like internal policies favoring shareholder engagement and equality of voting rights, is documented to result in higher reliance on nonoperating incomes, larger acquisitions, higher cash reserves and lower dividend payouts. At the same time, the atomization of shareholder base appears to reduce the effectiveness of nonoperating activities as the firms with a larger shareholder base tend to hold more long-term investments while concomitantly recording lower investment incomes. In contrast, higher shareholder diversification is shown to be associated with lower cash holdings and higher dividend payouts. Overall, while being attentive to cash management and dividend policies, minority shareholders seem to be excessively forbearing with regards to the use of the bulk of nonoperating assets.
Political Connections, Competition, and Innovation: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Chinese Firms

This paper studies the causal impact of political connections on innovation. Using a unique hand-collected data set of sudden deaths of politically connected independent directors (i.e., retired government officials) in Chinese firms, we find that an unexpected loss of political connections increases a firm’s patent applications by 34% (14 patents). The innovation response is more pronounced in firms with stronger connections: when the connected directors held higher-level bureaucratic positions or when firms operate within their geographical jurisdictions. Upon losing political connections, firms face higher competitive pressure and divert resources from rent seeking into innovation investment. Our findings highlight the role of competition in the substitution between political connections and innovation, particularly in settings where formal institutions are weak.
Anfal AlKhamees Synthesis , surface modi fi cation , and characterization of Fe 3 O 4

In recent times, nanoparticles have been the focal point of research in nanoscience due to their wide scope of potential applications in all fields of science. Iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticles (NPs) show incredible magnetic saturation, stability, biocompatibility, and intuitive properties on the surface, which makes them ideal for being utilized in several ways. In the present study, Fe3O4 NPs were synthesized by co-precipitation and further coated with silica (SiO2) to avoid aggregation. Synthesized nanoparticles (Fe3O4@SiO2) were individually functionalized using glycine andmalonic acid and characterized by various spectroscopies and microscopies techniques. XRD diffraction analysis showed that the presence of SiO2 did not alter the diffraction pattern peaks, which represented the existence of Fe3O4. The presence of Fe3O4 and SiO2 nanoparticles were further confirmed using EDS. Transmission electron microscope micrographs of the synthesized nanoparticles exhibited spherical shape and confirmed the increase in particle size after coating with SiO2. Also, the analysis of dynamic light scattering showed that the particle size of Fe3O4@SiO2 functionalizedwithmalonic acid (229.433nm)was greater than those functionalized with glycine (57.2496nm). However, the surface area was greater in Fe3O4@SiO2-glycine (104.8m/g) than Fe3O4@SiO2-malonic acid (26.15m/g). The key findings suggest that the synthesized core-shell Fe3O4@SiO2 nanoparticles are a promising candidate for a wide array of applications in the field of medicine and environmental science.
Collusion in supply functions under technology licensing

We consider an infinitely-lived duopoly with asymmetric costs and study the incentives of the firms to collude or compete in supply functions under the possibility of technology licensing. Simulating the subgame-perfect Nash equilibria of alternative industry organizations, we show that licensing makes collusion harder; but it always has a positive effect on the welfares of consumers and the less efficient firm in the duopoly.
Seasonal dynamics of mesozooplankton biomass over a sub‐Arctic continental shelf

Abstract Mesozooplankton research in high latitude ecosystems tends to focus on different life stages of Calanus spp. due to its biomass dominance and trophic roles. However, a complex seasonal succession of abundant smaller mesozooplankton taxa suggests that the ecological functioning of the mesozooplankton communities is more complicated. We studied the year‐round taxon‐specific biomass measurements and size distributions of mesozooplankton on a sub‐Arctic continental shelf based on formalin preserved samples. Our results confirm that Calanus spp. dominate the mesozooplankton biomass (81%). We show that commonly used length–weight relationships underestimate Calanus biomass in autumn and winter, and accordingly, a strong seasonal bias was introduced in our understanding of sub‐Arctic plankton communities. We observed two periods with considerable contribution of meroplankton, the planktonic larvae of benthic invertebrates, to the mesozooplankton biomass: (a) Cirripedia nauplii accounted for 17% of total biomass close to the coast in early April and (b) meroplankton comprised up to 12.7% of total biomass in late July. Based on these results, we suggest that meroplankton may play an ecologically important role in addition to their role in dispersal of benthic species. We conclude that the seasonal succession of the biomass of small‐sized holoplankton and meroplankton, often obscured by patterns in the Calanus biomass, should receive more attention as these smaller individuals are likely an important functional component of the pelagic food web.
The Relationship between Body Appreciation and Self-Esteem and Associated Factors among Omani University Students: An Online Cross-Sectional Survey

Background Given the rapid pace of globalization and the fact that the Sultanate of Oman is experiencing a significant impact of social media on specifying appearance norms among youth in the country, research into positive body images and self-esteem among young individuals has become a national priority. Whilst body image has been well studied across cultures, both positive body image and the relationship between positive body image and self-esteem among Omani youth have been neglected. The aim of the study was to investigate the relationship between positive body image and self-esteem and associated sociodemographic factors among Omani university students based on gender. Methods This cross-sectional study used an online survey consisting of the two questionnaires that are Body Appreciation Scale-2 and Rosenberg's Self-Esteem Scale. A total of 237 students were recruited from Sultan Qaboos University's different colleges. Results The results indicated that positive body image has a significant relationship with an individual's self-esteem (β = 0.122, t = 2.197, p=0.038), Cumulative Grade Point Average (cGPA) (β = 0.140, t = 2.306, p=0.022), body mass index (BMI) (β = −0.414, t = −6.930, p < 0.001), monthly household income (β = −0.129, t = 2.467, p=0.029), and the number of social media accounts (≥2, β = −0.132, t = −2.232, p=0.027). In addition, an individual's self-esteem was significantly associated with an individual's cGPA (β = 0.231, t = 3.592, p < 0.001) and mothers' educational level (β = −0.130, t = −2.065, p=0.040) besides body appreciation (β = 0.160, t = 2.491, p=0.013). Conclusions The findings of this study shed light on the current status of positive body image among university students of Oman. In light of the new knowledge, we propose health interventions that include strategies such as involvement of family, to maintain and/or promote positive body image perceptions among young individuals and subsequently promote healthy appreciation of the physical appearance and self-esteem.
Antimalarial, Antioxidant, and Toxicological Evaluation of Extracts of Celtis africana, Grosseria vignei, Physalis micrantha, and Stachytarpheta angustifolia

In many parts of the world, malaria undoubtedly poses a serious threat to health care systems. Malaria treatment has increasingly become complicated, primarily due to the emergence of widespread resistance of the malaria parasites to cheap and affordable malaria therapeutics. The use of herbal remedies to treat various ailments, including malaria and malaria-like ailments in Ghana is common. We herein report on the antiplasmodial and antioxidant activities as well as toxicological evaluation of four medicinal plants (Celtis africana, Grosseria vignei, Physalis micrantha, and Stachytarpheta angustifolia) commonly used to treat malaria in Ghana. Following Soxhlet extraction of plant samples in ethanol, extracts were screened against Plasmodium falciparum (3D7 strain) in an in vitro antiplasmodial assay. The phosphomolybdenum and DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2 picrylhydrazyl) assays were used to evaluate antioxidant activities while toxicity assessment was carried out in mice using the acute toxicity test and kidney and liver function tests. Extracts from Celtis africana and Physalis micrantha were very active towards the parasites with half-maximal inhibitory concentrations (IC50's) of 29.1 and 3.5 µg/mL, respectively. Extracts of Grosseria vignei and Stachytarpheta angustifolia were inactive, having IC50 values greater than 50 µg/mL. All extracts exhibited excellent total antioxidant capacities (>800 mg/g AAE) and good DPPH radical scavenging potential (IC50 range of 300–900 µg/mL). The median lethal dose (LD50) of all extracts in the toxicological evaluation was greater than 2000 mg/kg and there was no effect of extracts on the levels and activities of key biomarkers of liver and kidney function. The activities of these plants obtained in this study partly give credence to their folkloric use in herbal medicines and suggest that they could provide promising lead compounds for malaria drug discovery programs.