Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE SEARCH FOR WORTHY LEADERSHIP

This paper presents a model of leadership called "worthy leadership," defined as "the ability to guide, direct, or influence people in a way that has great merit, character, and value. " The model, which derived from the authors' experiences consulting with and assessing senior leaders combined with existing research findings, encompasses three major constructs. These are labeled: The Capacity to Lead, The Commitment to Lead, and The Character to Lead. The factors that make up each major construct are described along with implications of the model for research and practice. In the practice of consulting, psychologists are often called upon to help organizations identify, develop, and ultimately select top executive leaders. There is an implicit hope, if not a presumption, that recommended leaders by virtue of their skills, what is important to them, and their personal behavior, will practice leadership that is worth following. In examining the impact of leadership failures, we were struck by both the number of such failures and the carnage left in the wake of obviously "unworthy" leadership. These leaders have ultimately cost many thousands of employees their jobs and pensions, shareholders billions in value, and even left communities without anchor entities that funded roads, schools, hospitals, and other essential community services. As the senior author considered the leaders he had known best, and also followed Congressional hearings and seemingly countless legal proceedings involving others, he was struck by the superb skills of many of the leaders who subsequently failed. When he looked even more deeply into who these individuals were as people, the knowledge they possessed as leaders, their expertise in their chosen fields, and their personal drive and work habits, he was surprised at the contrast between how well they would have
Combined chelation therapy in reducing tissue lead concentrations in suckling rats

The very young are more prone to lead poisoning than adults, and the treatment with chelating agents, either as monotherapy or combined treatment, is still a matter of dispute. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of three chelating agents administered either as monotherapies or as combined treatments in sucklings. Lead acetate (5 mg Pb kg−1 i.p.) was administered to the 7‐day‐old rat pups in eight litters on experimental day 1 and chelating agents on experimental days 2 and 3. Pups were divided into six groups: (1) untreated control; (2) EDTA (calcium disodium ethylendiaminetetraacetate, 0.3 mmol kg−1 i.p. at 4 p.m.); (3) meso‐DMSA (meso‐2,3‐dimeracaptosuccinic acid, 0.5 mmol kg−1 p.o. at 10 a.m.); (4) rac‐DMSA (racemic‐2,3‐dimeracaptosuccinic acid, 0.5 mmol kg−1 p.o. at 10 a.m.); (5) EDTA+meso‐DMSA; and (6) EDTA+rac‐DMSA. Rats were killed on experimental day 5. Tissue element concentrations were analyzed by atomic absorption spectrometry. Treatment with EDTA did not affect tissue Pb, but it reduced Zn in the carcass and liver. Meso‐DMSA reduced Pb in the kidneys and brain, and it did not affect organ essential elements. Rac‐DMSA most efficiently reduced Pb concentrations in the carcass, kidneys and brain, but it also reduced Zn and Cu in the liver and Zn in the kidneys. Combined treatments with EDTA never improved the efficiency of either DMSA isoform in decreasing tissue Pb but they did reduce tissue Zn concentrations. All treatments caused the same decrease in the carcass Ca concentrations. The results do not support combined treatment in this age group, which is especially sensitive to trace element deficiencies, and suggest that meso‐DMSA might be the treatment of choice in acute lead poisoning in infants. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Cross-Cultural Translation

Translating questionnaires for cross-cultural research is fraught with methodological pitfalls that threaten research validity. Some flaws are difficult to detect, leading to the erroneous conclusion that cultural differences are substantive when, in fact, they stem from semantic inconsistencies. We describe the process of translation and validation of the Hebrew version of an American questionnaire for cross-cultural comparisons of medical students' attitudes toward preventive medical services. The results provide evidence to support the validity of the Hebrew instrument for cross-cultural comparisons. Although it is always possible to contend that differences in cross-cultural comparisons result from metiodological flaws rather than actual differences, we believe that the arduous step-by-step process of validation described here reduces that possibility to an acceptable minimum.
A Convexity-based Generalization of Viterbi for Non-Deterministic Weighted Automata

We propose a novel approach for the maxstring problem in acyclic nondeterministic weighted FSA’s, which is based on a convexity-related notion of domination among intermediary results, and which can be seen as a generalization of the usual dynamic programming technique for finding the max-path (a.k.a. Viterbi approximation) in such automata.
Can Self-Help Groups Really Be 'Self-Help'?

We provide an experimental and theoretical evaluation of a cost-reducing innovation in the delivery of "self-help group" microfinance services, in which privatized agents earn payments through membership fees for providing services. Under the status quo, agents are paid by an outside donor and offer members free services. In our multi-country randomized control trial we evaluate the change in this incentive scheme on agent behavior and performance, and on overall village-level outcomes. We find that privatized agents start groups, attract members, mobilize savings, and intermediate loans at similar levels after a year but at much lower costs to the NGO. At the village level, we find higher levels of borrowing, business-related savings, and investment in business. Examining mechanisms, we find that self-help groups serve more business-oriented clientele when facilitated by agents who face strong financial incentives.
a Cultural model assessment of Oyster restoration alternatives for the Chesapeake Bay

In this article, we argue for integrating a formal, well-specified cultural assessment into social or environmental impact assessments. We present the findings of a cultural model assessment of oyster restoration strategies for the Chesapeake Bay. This cultural model research formed part of a multi-year, multi-disciplinary Environmental Impact Assessment (EIS), undertaken by federal- and state-level agencies. Our results suggest that Chesapeake Bay oyster stakeholders share a cultural model of oyster restoration that integrates ecological, economic, and cultural benefits. Restoration efforts that prioritize one of these benefits to a degree that threatens this holistic integration is inconsistent with the oyster restoration that stakeholders valued. These cultural model findings provide a reminder to policymakers and program implementers that future Chesapeake Bay restoration efforts to expand oyster sanctuaries and reserves, increase oyster aquaculture, and restrain wild oyster harvest need to be evaluated for how they support the integrated ecological, economic, and cultural benefits of oyster restoration.
Signal Shaping for BICM at Low SNR

The generalized mutual information (GMI) of bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) systems, sometimes called the BICM capacity, is investigated at low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The combinations of input alphabet, input distribution, and binary labeling that achieve the Shannon limit - 1.59 dB are completely characterized. The main conclusion is that a BICM system with probabilistic shaping achieves the Shannon limit at low SNR if and only if it can be represented as a zero-mean linear projection of a hypercube. Hence, probabilistic shaping offers no extra degrees of freedom to optimize the low-SNR BICM-GMI, in addition to what is provided by geometrical shaping. The analytical conclusions are confirmed by numerical results, which also show that for a fixed input alphabet, probabilistic shaping can improve the BICM-GMI in the low and medium SNR range.
Automatic affiliation extraction from calls-for-papers

In this paper, we describe a system to collect information about academic affiliation (organisations where researchers work) from Calls-for-Papers for academic conferences. The system uses a range of heuristic approaches and open-source tools in order to extract and identify entities, and to incorporate the information into a pre-defined database schema. This forms part of a larger project to automatically populate and maintain a range of data related to academic research. The proposed system is currently being tested and some promising preliminary results are available.
Data Synchronization of Portable Mobile Devices in a Distributed Database System

In recent years, small electronic devices with reasonable amounts of memory, faster processing power, and extendible operating systems have become extremely popular as well as affordable. Such success has generated an increasing demand for access to corporate information from these devices, which then become small portable caches of data that mobile workers can manipulate from anywhere. One popular model for data access, used by the 3COM PalmPilot (aka IBM Workpad), Microsoft’s Windows CE based devices, and others, consists of a two-way batch transfer of data between the device and a desktop data store. While this model works well for single user, single desktop systems, it breaks down in various key areas when applied to a multi-user distributed system like Lotus Notes with multiple replicas of databases. This report describes a general algorithm for implementing robust data synchronization between a distributed database system and small devices like the PalmPilot. In particular, this framework takes into account the interactions and possible conflicts in a multi-user environment while allowing synchronization against multiple replicas of the same database.
Adiponectin: An Indispensable Molecule in Rosiglitazone Cardioprotection Following Myocardial Infarction

Rationale: Patients treated with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-&ggr; agonist manifest favorable metabolic profiles associated with increased plasma adiponectin (APN). However, whether increased APN production as a result of PPAR-&ggr; agonist treatment is an epiphenomenon or is causatively related to the cardioprotective actions of PPAR-&ggr; remains unknown. Objective: To determine the role of APN in rosiglitazone (RSG) cardioprotection against ischemic heart injury. Methods and Results: Adult male wild-type (WT) and APN knockdown/knockout (APN+/− and APN−/−) mice were treated with vehicle or RSG (20 mg/kg per day), and subjected to coronary artery ligation 3 days after beginning treatment. In WT mice, RSG (7 days) significantly increased adipocyte APN expression, elevated plasma APN levels (2.6-fold), reduced infarct size (17% reduction), decreased apoptosis (0.23±0.02% versus 0.47±0.04% TUNEL-positive in remote nonischemic area), attenuated oxidative stress (48.5% reduction), and improved cardiac function (P<0.01). RSG-induced APN production and cardioprotection were significantly blunted (P<0.05 versus WT) in APN+/−, and completely lost in APN−/− (P>0.05 versus vehicle-treated APN−/− mice). Moreover, treatment with RSG for up to 14 days significantly improved the postischemic survival rate of WT mice (P<0.05 versus vehicle group) but not APN knockdown/knockout mice. Conclusions: The cardioprotective effects of PPAR-&ggr; agonists are critically dependent on its APN stimulatory action, suggesting that under pathological conditions where APN expression is impaired (such as advanced type 2 diabetes), the harmful cardiovascular effects of PPAR-&ggr; agonists may outweigh its cardioprotective benefits.
The ascent of women to senior leadership positions in the financial services industry: A phenomenological study

The number of men and women in the financial services industry is relatively equal (Catalyst, 2003); however, fewer women than men hold senior leadership positions in the industry (Ogden, McTavish, & McKean, 2006). Few studies exist that focus on executive women (Lyness & Thompson, 2000) or that have allowed women to share their own experiences (Josselson, 1987). This study explored the lived experiences of female senior leaders in financial services to understand the societal and organizational culture and climate factors that affected their rise. Capitalizing on every competitive advantage will be critical as the financial services industry faces one of the most tumultuous crises in modern times (Ritholtz, 2008). Comparing organizational return on equity (ROE), companies that employed more women in senior management roles had a 35% higher ROE than companies with the smallest percentage of women in top leadership roles (Catalyst, 2000; Giscombe, 2007). Using a qualitative phenomenological method, the essence of the experience of becoming a senior leader in financial services was captured through face-to-face semistructured interviews of 19 women at the managing director level. Fourteen distinct themes emerged including: influence of up-brining on their careers, lack of career planning, coincidences that occurred during their careers, networking, strong work ethics, the need for self-promotion, the role managers played in their careers, the importance of mentoring, the need for sponsors, work-life balance struggles, the influence of personal values on career decisions, the need to take risks, the presence of a “boys club”, and the importance of leaving a positive legacy. Further analysis identified four organizational and three societal culture and climate factors, as well as specific positive and negative implications from each factor on the ascent of women to senior leadership positions in
A multi-matching technique for combining similarity measures in ontology integration

Ontology matching is a challenging problem in many applications, and is a major issue for interoperability in information systems. It aims to find semantic correspondences between a pair of input ontologies, which remains a labor intensive and expensive task. This thesis investigates the problem of ontology matching in both theoretical and practical aspects and proposes a solution methodology, called multi-matching. The methodology is validated using standard benchmark data and its performance is compared with available matching tools. The proposed methodology provides a framework for users to apply different individual matching techniques. It then proceeds with searching and combining the match results to provide a desired match result in reasonable time. In addition to existing applications for ontology matching such as ontology engineering, ontology integration, and exploiting the semantic web, the thesis proposes a new approach for ontology integration as a backbone application for the proposed matching techniques. In terms of theoretical contributions, we introduce new search strategies and propose a structure similarity measure to match structures of ontologies. In terms of practical contribution, we developed a research prototype, called MLMAR - Multi-Level Matching Algorithm with Recommendation analysis technique, which implements the proposed multi-level matching technique, and applies heuristics as optimization techniques. Experimental results show practical merits and usefulness of MLMAR.
Grief, commiseration, and consumption following the death of a celebrity

Celebrated individuals often take on a sacred status, producing intense feelings among their fans. Because celebrities are usually protected and distant, their fans turn to celebrity-related products, which themselves may become cherished and sacred. After a celebrity dies, relevant products become even more significant as remedies for feelings of loss. This research examined expressions of grief and consumption-related emotions posted on internet message boards in response to the death of race car driver Dale Earnhardt, Sr. The research finds that fans use two processes: introjection and incorporation to deal with the loss of the celebrity. These processes help fans cope with grief and serve as narratives in their post-death self-identity creation, and also contribute to the mythology of the celebrity after death.
Zero Shot Learning for Semantic Boundary Detection - How Far Can We Get?

Semantic boundary and edge detection aims at simultaneously detecting object edge pixels in images and assigning class labels to them. Systematic training of predictors for this task requires the labeling of edges in images which is a particularly tedious task. We propose a novel strategy for solving this task in an almost zero-shot manner by relying on conventional whole image neural net classifiers that were trained using large bounding boxes. Our method performs the following two steps at test time. First it predicts the class labels by applying the trained whole image network to the test images. Second it computes pixel-wise scores from the obtained predictions by applying backprop gradients as well as recent visualization algorithms such as deconvolution and layer-wise relevance propagation. We show that high pixel-wise scores are indicative for the location of semantic boundaries, which suggests that the semantic boundary problem can be approached without using edge labels during the training phase.
Overcoming cop culture? Organizational justice and police officers’ attitudes toward the public

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test theories of organizational justice in the context of a police agency.Design/methodology/approach – Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to analyze data from a survey of officers in a police force in England.Findings – The SEM showed that organizational justice was associated with positive attitudes towards serving members of the public. This relationship was mediated by commitment to elements of community policing and, for community police officers, by general satisfaction with the organization.Practical implications – The findings suggest that police managers committed to implementing process‐based policing policies may need to ensure their organizations also implement internal policies and practices that are procedurally fair.Originality/value – This study is one of the first to apply the well established literature on organizational justice to the context of policing, and the first to examine the impact of organizational justice on alignment with c.
Effect of cholecystokinin on human cholangiocarcinoma xenografted into nude mice.

Gastrointestinal polypeptide hormones regulate growth of various normal gastrointestinal tissues as well as certain visceral cancers. Since cholecystokinin (CCK) promotes growth of normal biliary tract, we sought to determine whether CCK affects the growth and metabolism of human cholangiocarcinoma line SLU 132. Twenty-six nude mice with s.c. xenografts of this cancer received either CCK octapeptide (50 micrograms/kg/dose) or 0.9% NaCl solution (saline) twice a day i.p. for 14 days. Tumor volume was calculated from Vernier caliper measurements. At sacrifice on Day 15, tumors were excised, weighed, and examined histologically. DNA, RNA, and protein were measured in the xenografted carcinomas. Because this cholangiocarcinoma produces carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), we obtained serum at sacrifice for CEA radioimmunoassay and also tumor tissue for CEA immunolabeling with murine anti-CEA monoclonal antibody. Serum CEA levels were 90% higher in the CCK-treated group. Tumor tissue in the CCK-treated group also contained more CEA than did the controls. Mean tumor volume increased significantly in the saline group during the 14-day treatment period, whereas mean tumor volume did not increase significantly in the CCK group. Exogenous high-dose CCK thus appears to increase production and release of CEA from SLU-132; it also appears to retard growth of this tumor line in the nude mouse.
Iterative Diffusion-Based Distributed Cubature Gaussian Mixture Filter for Multisensor Estimation

In this paper, a distributed cubature Gaussian mixture filter (DCGMF) based on an iterative diffusion strategy (DCGMF-ID) is proposed for multisensor estimation and information fusion. The uncertainties are represented as Gaussian mixtures at each sensor node. A high-degree cubature Kalman filter provides accurate estimation of each Gaussian mixture component. An iterative diffusion scheme is utilized to fuse the mean and covariance of each Gaussian component obtained from each sensor node. The DCGMF-ID extends the conventional diffusion-based fusion strategy by using multiple iterative information exchanges among neighboring sensor nodes. The convergence property of the iterative diffusion is analyzed. In addition, it is shown that the convergence of the iterative diffusion can be interpreted from the information-theoretic perspective as minimization of the Kullback–Leibler divergence. The performance of the DCGMF-ID is compared with the DCGMF based on the average consensus (DCGMF-AC) and the DCGMF based on the iterative covariance intersection (DCGMF-ICI) via a maneuvering target-tracking problem using multiple sensors. The simulation results show that the DCGMF-ID has better performance than the DCGMF based on noniterative diffusion, which validates the benefit of iterative information exchanges. In addition, the DCGMF-ID outperforms the DCGMF-ICI and DCGMF-AC when the number of iterations is limited.
Examining the effects of internal and external team learning on team performance

The effectiveness of using team learning to improve team performance has been well documented in the literature, and this notion makes intuitive sense. However, little empirical research has been dedicated to the relationship between team learning and team performance, probably owing to the lack of a widely acceptable instrument for assessing team learning. In this study, a psychometric (validity and reliability) examination of Edmondson’s Team Learning Survey (TLS) is undertaken. This instrument was then used to examine the effects of internal and external team learning on team performance. Implications and limitations of the study findings are discussed.
Detecting noise in recommender system databases

In this paper, we propose a framework that enables the detection of noise in recommender system databases. We consider two classes of noise: natural and malicious noise. The issue of natural noise arises from imperfect user behaviour (e.g. erroneous/careless preference selection) and the various rating collection processes that are employed. Malicious noise concerns the deliberate attempt to bias system output in some particular manner. We argue that both classes of noise are important and can adversely effect recommendation performance. Our objective is to devise techniques that enable system administrators to identify and remove from the recommendation process any such noise that is present in the data. We provide an empirical evaluation of our approach and demonstrate that it is successful with respect to key performance indicators.