Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Improving Organizational Effectiveness through Transformational Leadership

Introduction - Bernard M Bass and Bruce J Avolio Transforming Leadership - Karl W Kuhnert Developing People Through Delegation Indirect Leadership - Francis J Yammarino Transformational Leadership at a Distance Transformational Leadership in Teams - David C Atwater and Bernard M Bass Transformational Leadership in Multifunctional Teams - David A Waldman Transformational Leadership and Team and Organizational Decision Making - Bernard M Bass The Alliance of Total Quality and the Full Range of Leadership - Bruce J Avolio Organizational Transformation - Leanne E Atwater and David C Atwater Strategies for Change and Improvement Corporate Reorganization and Transformations in Human Resource Management - K Galen Kroeck Conclusions and Implications - Bruce J Avolio and Bernard M Bass
Endurance training on low-carbohydrate and grain-based diets: a case study.

PURPOSE To illustrate the effects of low-carbohydrate (LC) and grain-based (GB) diets on body composition, biomarkers, athletic training, and performance in an elite triathlete. METHODS The athlete followed 2 dietary interventions for 14 d while maintaining a prescheduled training program. Pre- and postintervention measurements for each diet included plasma and serum samples, resting energy expenditure, body composition, and a performance bike ride. RESULTS Compared with the GB diet, the LC diet elicited more disruptions to training and unfavorable subjective experiences. Total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, ratings of perceived exertion, and heart rate were elevated on the LC diet. Blood insulin, resting lactate, postexercise lactate, and C-reactive protein were lowest on the LC diet. CONCLUSION The LC diet resulted in both favorable and unfavorable outcomes. The primary observation was a disruption to scheduled training on the LC diet. Researchers should consider how the potential mediating effect of disruptions to training could influence pretest-posttest designs.
Investigating the Role of Ensemble Learning in High-Value Wine Identification

We tackle the problem of authenticating high value Italian wines through machine learning classification. The problem is a seriuos one, since protection of high quality wines from forgeries is worth several million of Euros each year. In a previous work we have identified some base models (in particular classifiers based on Bayesian network (BNC), multi-layer perceptron (MLP) and sequential minimal optimization (SMO)) that well behave using unexpensive chemical analyses of the interested wines. In the present paper, we investigate the role of esemble learning in the construction of more robust classifiers; results suggest that, while bagging and boosting may significantly improve both BNC and MLP, the SMO model is already very robust and efficient as a base learner. We report on results concerning both cross validation on two different datasets, as well as experiments with models trained with the above datasets and tested with a dataset of potentially fake wines; this has been synthesized from a generative probabilistic model learned from real samples and expert knowledge.
A Robust Audio Similarity Estimation Method for Audio Alignment in Mobile Karaoke Apps

With smartphones further integrating into our lives, more people start to sing using mobile karaoke apps instead of going to a KTV club. However, the playback and record APIs of Android systems do not respond in real-time when called. Thus, an Android karaoke app will have to align the record music and the original accompaniment when super-posing those two audios. Dynamic time warping (DTW) based algorithms are usually used to find the optimal alignment between two audios and yield best result so far. In this paper, we propose a simple yet robust approach by considering waveform similarities to solve this problem. Experimental results show that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art method in both accuracy and robustness across different genres and devices.
Cultivating an Image of Justice: Looking Fair on the Job

C ertainly, it would appear that being fair is a central interest among today's managers, concerned as they must be about providing "equal employment opportunities," adhering to "fair labor practices," and offering "a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. " Just as judges promote fairness in the legal system, and referees and umpires ensure that sporting events are played fairly, managers are responsible for upholding both their company's and society's views of fairness by guaranteeing the fair treatment of employees.1 Despite this, however, it remains unclear what those responsible for the day-to-day management of organizations think constitutes fair behavior. Not surprisingly, just as legal scholars and philosophers cannot agree on what fairness really is in any absolute sense, social scientists have relied on studying justice as it is perceived to be that is, what is fair is in the eye of the beholder.2 In organizations, where the differing perspectives, interests, and goals of supervisors and subordinates might offer each access to different sources of information (as well as different biases on the same information), uncertainties about what is perceived to be fair are likely to arise.3 As a result, we may expect that seasoned managers trying to be fair may learn to focus on what others believe to be fair, thereby cultivating an impression of fairness rather than striving toward any abstract sense of morality. Indeed, when interviewing executives on the topic of organizational justice, I learned that in business organizations fairness was often a matter of impression-management. As one senior vice-president of a Fortune 500 firm confided in me, "What's fair is whatever the workers think is fair. My job is to convince them that what's good for the company is fair for them as individuals. " Hearing this sentiment echoed by others, I began to suspect that fairness as viewed by corporate management was perhaps as much a matter of image as it was a matter of morality; that is, "looking fair" may be at least as important as actually "being fair. " After all, even the best-intentioned, most "fair-minded" manager may fail to win the approval of subordinates who are not convinced of his or her fairness. Given this, we may ask the following two questions: (1) Are managers more concerned about looking fair or actually being fair? and (2) What do managers do to cultivate impressions of fairness? The Importance of Looking Fair: Survey Evidence
Wormhole attacks detection in MANETs using routes redundancy and time-based hop calculation

This paper proposes a method to detect and isolate wormhole attacks in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). The main idea of this paper is to create many possible routes when sending Route Request (RREQ) from source to destination and to use those routes as reference of each other, in order to find malicious nodes with suspicious behavior within the network. The proposed method works in three steps, which are using routes redundancy, routes aggregation and calculating round-trip time (RTT) of all listed routes. Routes redundancy is started where source sends RREQ using every possible way to destination. All routes that connect source and destination are listed together with the number of hops from every route. Some routes gathered in the same relay point before destination is aggregated, so all nodes that join the network can be listed and the behavior of malicious nodes in can be detected. The RTT and number of hops of all listed routes are compared in order to detect suspicious route. Nodes with suspicious behavior within network are isolated and will not be considered for transmission. Simulation results shows the ability to prevent the increasing of packets dropped, based on wormhole isolation in our proposed scheme compare to normal AODV protocol and approach of previous time-based calculation.
Multidimensional segmentation of gastronomic tourists based on motivation and satisfaction

This paper evaluates whether motivation and satisfaction can be used as segmentation variables in gastronomy tourism. Based on a stratified random sample, the respondents were asked to rank the attributes when selecting a restaurant offering Portuguese gastronomy (motivation), as well as, their evaluation of those attributes (satisfaction). Factor analysis, categorical principal component analysis and non-hierarchical cluster analysis are employed to identify distinct groups of tourists. The findings point out three market segments which suggest that motivation is a much more powerful variable for segmenting gastronomic tourists than satisfaction. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for tourism policy and management.
The Credit Rating Announcement Effect in Japan

This is the first study that compares the ratings change announcement effect between American ratings agencies (S&P and Moody's) and Japanese ratings agencies (R&I and JCR). Our study shows significant abnormal return responses following rating change announcements by S&P and JCR, but not from Moody's and R&I. Secondly, we provide a new multivariate regression model that quantifies the impact that key variables have on the strength of the ratings change announcement effect. Finally, we review and critique a variety of alternative explanatory variables that have been discussed in the financial literature.
In Vitro Drug Interaction Modeling of Combinations of Azoles with Terbinafine against Clinical Scedosporium prolificans Isolates

ABSTRACT The in vitro interaction between terbinafine and the azoles voriconazole, miconazole, and itraconazole against five clinical Scedosporium prolificans isolates after 48 and 72 h of incubation was tested by a microdilution checkerboard (eight-by-twelve) technique. The antifungal effects of the drugs alone and in combination on the fungal biomass as well as on the metabolic activity of fungi were measured using a spectrophotometric method and two colorimetric methods, based on the lowest drug concentrations showed 75 and 50% growth inhibition (MIC-1 and MIC-2, respectively). The nature and the intensity of the interactions were assessed using a nonparametric approach (fractional inhibitory concentration [FIC] index model) and a fully parametric response surface approach (Greco model) of the Loewe additivity (LA) no-interaction theory as well as a nonparametric (Prichard model) and a semiparametric response surface approaches of the Bliss independence (BI) no-interaction theory. Statistically significant synergy was found between each of the three azoles and terbinafine in all cases, although with different intensities. A 27- to 64-fold and 16- to 90-fold reduction of the geometric mean of the azole and terbinafine MICs, respectively, was observed when they were combined, resulting in FIC indices of <1 to 0.02. Using the MIC-1 higher levels of synergy were obtained, , which were more consistent between the two incubation periods than using the MIC-2. The strongest synergy among the azoles was found with miconazole using the BI-based models and with voriconazole using the LA-based models. The synergistic effects both on fungal growth and metabolic activity were more potent after 72 h of incubation. Fully parametric approaches in combination with the modified colorimetric method might prove useful for testing the in vitro interaction of antifungal drugs against filamentous fungi.
Human capital and wages: evidence for external effects from the UK regions

A large panel of regional UK data is used to provide detailed estimates of the direct and external effects of education and labour market experience on wages. The results offer strong evidence in support of the predictions of the endogenous growth theory (Lucas, 1988), where the - spatial or sectoral - concentration of human capital is expected to generate increasing returns in the production process. The findings are stronger for labour market experience, while no supportive evidence is found for the case of years of schooling. Possibly, better data on the quality of educational qualifications could offer a better measurement of the external education effects.
Management Buyouts and Earnings Management

This study examines earnings manipulation in 87 management buyout cases during 1980–1987. Using a different research design than DeAngelo (1986), this paper shows that earnings changes for the sample are significantly lower than the industry median change in the year before the MBO. An examination of pre-MBO stock prices indicates a downward movement. This downward movement is systematically associated with pre-MBO earnings changes. Moreover, preannouncement declines in earnings are specific to MBOs. In the case of third-party takeovers, income did not decline in the preannouncement period. When this research design is applied to DeAngelo's (1986) sample, results consistent with earnings management are obtained. Taken together, the overall evidence favors the hypothesis that managers manipulated earnings downward prior to the MBO proposal. The potential benefit from earnings manipulation is estimated to be almost $50 million on average for the sample firms.
Insider and Outsider Lobbying of the European Commission

We propose an informational model of lobbying to understand macro-characteristics of lobbying systems. We are particularly interested in the number of lobbyists in a system, and the distinction between insider and outsider lobbyists. Empirically, we seek to explain the post-Maastricht lobbying boom in the European Union and the concomitant establishment of European Commission forums for interest representation. Using a simple model of informational lobbying with many lobbyists, we show that there is a relationship between lobbying costs, the number of lobbyists, and the informational content of lobbying messages. In conclusion, we propose three different categories of lobbying systems.
The Quality Improvement of Emulsion-type Pork Sausages Formulated by Substituting Pork Back fat with Rice Bran Oil

The effects of pork back fat (PBF) substitution with various concentrations of rice bran oil (RBO) (50%, 45%, 40% and 35%) on the physicochemical characteristics and sensory attributes of emulsion-type pork sausages were studied. The modified pork sausages were compared with control sausages produced using PBF only. The sausages with RBO had significantly lower (p<0.05) moisture content than the control sausages. Sausages made from PBF substituted with 40% RBO showed the lowest cooking loss. Substitution of PBF with RBO had no significant effect on the emulsion stability of pork sausages. All sausages with RBO showed significantly lower (p<0.05) hardness values than control sausages. Sausages with RBO also had significantly higher values (p<0.05) of unsaturated fatty acid and polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acid contents than the controls. RBO substitution had no effect on the flavor intensity of sausages, but it improved the tenderness and produced a softer texture.
Shopping behaviour analysis using eyetracking and EEG

This article presents a study of customer behaviour during the selection of products from the store shelf. There are many factors that can determine whether a particular product attracts shoppers' attention, such as shape and colour of the packaging, location on the shelf, price and brand. During this study we have created a store shelf with groceries that resembled a real life shopping experience. Furthermore, we have used eyetracking glasses and Emotiv EEG to record participants gaze and emotions during the process of shopping. We have analysed the behaviour of 14 participants (both men and women), and recognised how valuable is the addition of EEG device to such eyetracking study. Moreover, the usage of EEG enabled us to analyse basic emotions, i.e. to find factors that were frustrating for participants and could be improved in real life shops.
Asymmetric Effect of Inflation on Dividend Policy of Iran's Stocks Market

This paper surveys the asymmetric effect of inflation on dividend policy of Iran's stock market since 2005. Reaction of dividend policy maker to hedge shares against double-digit inflation of Iran depends on the company status in making a profit or loss. We use panel data approach to test the non-symmetric effect of inflation on the companies' decision in decreasing, increasing and maintaining of dividends. The results show that inflation has the positive effect on increasing and maintained dividend decision of companies. But it has the inverse and negative effect on decreasing a dividend. Inflation has significant contribution to the dividend policy maker decision according to the status of companies as making profit or loss.
Enhancing Bandwidth of CP Microstrip Antenna by Using Parasitic Patches in Annular Sector Shapes to Control Electric Field Components

This letter finds that bandwidth of a circularly polarized (CP) microstrip antenna can be enhanced by using two annular-sector-shaped parasitic patches. This is because the induced current on the parasitic patches involves both x- and y-components, hence it can control the theta and phi components of the electric field. For the purpose of demonstration, a bandwidth-enhanced CP microstrip antenna is proposed and analyzed. Except from low profile and compact size, its impedance matching can be adjusted while keeping the CP feature unchanged, which simplifies the design process. The axial-ratio bandwidth of the proposed antenna can be effectively increased from 1.3% to 3.3%, while its impedance bandwidth is increased from 4.3% to 6.0%.
Four decades of Asian American women's earnings: Japanese, Chinese, and Filipino American women's earnings 1960–1990

This article examines the earnings progress of Asian American women from 1960 through 1990 by comparing their actual hourly wage and salary earnings to simulated earnings. The simulated earnings are obtained by using parameter estimates obtained from human capital models of white women corrected for sample selection bias. Data come from the decennial census Public Use Micro Samples data. American-born Asian American women appear to have made dramatic gains in the 1970s. The 1980s and 1990s show some fluctuations in actual earings relative to simulated earnings between Asian American and white women. These fluctuations may be due to problems measuring experience as opposed to differences in discrimination over time. Copyright 2000 Western Economic Association International.
Growth Implosions, Debt Explosions, and My Aunt Marilyn: Do Growth Slowdowns Cause Public Debt Crises?

The worldwide slowdown in growth after 1975 was a major negative fiscal shock. Slower growth lowers the present value of tax revenues and primary surpluses and thus makes a given level of debt more burdensome. Most countries failed to adjust to the negative fiscal consequences of the growth implosion, so public-debt-to-GDP ratios exploded. The growth slowdown therefore played an important role in the debt crisis of the middle-income countries in the 1980s, the crisis of the heavily indebted poor countries (HIPCs) in the 1980s and 1990s, and the increased public debt burden of the industrial countries in the 1980s and 1990s. Moreover, the HIPCs' debt problems were worse than elsewhere because, as a result of poor policies, these countries grew more slowly after 1975 than other low-income countries. Econometric tests and fiscal solvency accounting confirm the important role of growth in debt crises.
Test of Page-Hinckley, an approach for fault detection in an agro-alimentary production system

The increasingly important automation of the manufacturing processes has made into evidence the needs in dependability for the installations. To ensure the industrial process dependability, the establishment of a monitoring system is primordial whose role is to recognize and to indicate in real time the behavior anomalies starting from information available on the system. Indeed the function of monitoring of a system is to detect, locate and diagnose the faults, which can affect its performances and its dependability. The objective of these communication consists of the study and the conception of a detection module based on the techniques of static analysis and modelling, the matter is of establishing the operations which starting from the data coming from the industrial system make it possible to detect the abnormal situations in order to prevent or to reduce the dysfunction risks. Thus, the study consists in developing a detection module of the dysfunction for the diagnosis tool system. Our study is interested particularly at the stage of fault detection, which precedes any stage of diagnosis, based on the application of the test of Page-Hinckley for a system of pasteurization of agro-alimentary production system.
Does Strategic Training Policy Exist? Some Evidence from Ten European Countries

Organizations across Europe see training and development as a major personnel function objective. They use it as a recruitment mechanism. Employers are increasing their spending on training, although at present spending above 4 per cent of the wage bill on training is rare. Evaluation of training needs is widespread but the mechanisms for it are rather blunt. The compulsory requirement to spend proportions of the wage bill on training, which operates in France, seems to be successful.
Brain activity: Conditional dissimilarity and persistent homology

There is an urgent need for reliable methods to compare brain activity networks, to distinguish between normal and abnormal functioning. A new approach is emerging based on Persistent Homology, which requires measuring distance between network nodes. We develop a new distance measure for autocorrelated time series, allowing network architectural analysis via persistent homology. The method jointly accounts for spurious spatial correlations, temporal correlations, and dimensionality issues arising from short temporal sampling compared to a larger number of network interactions. We demonstrate the new method on real resting state fMRI data and show improved results over correlation-based distance measures.
Development and validation of a measurement instrument for assessing quality management practices in hospitals: an exploratory study

To face the profound changes from both inside and outside, health-care sectors have begun to implement effective quality management (QM) practices following manufacturing and other service industries. However, there is relatively little literature on the development of reliable and valid measurement instruments to assess the implementation of QM practices in hospitals. Based on the high-class QM practices of manufacturing and other service industries, the paper extends the previous empirical research to the health-care sectors and creates a nine-construct measurement instrument. For validation purposes, a cross-sectional survey involving 204 quality managers and directors of large public hospitals was carried out between April and October 2013 in China. We explore the reliability, detailed item analysis and validity of the instrument by applying psychometric methods. Empirical results support the claim that the instrument developed in this study is reliable and valid. It could be an aid for hospitals to assess their QM status and identify the most important areas for quality improvement.
Codes of Ethics and Ethical Conduct: A View From the Caring Professions

A growing number of occupational groups are creating codes of ethics, which prompts the question ‘What is the relationship between codes of ethics and ethical conduct? ’ This article examines some of the issues around this question, with reference to examples from nursing, social work, physiotherapy and occupational therapy. The variability of the form, content and functions of the different codes is examined in order to shed light on the extent to which codes of ethics enhance or inhibit ethical conduct. It is argued that codes can perform a useful function in encouraging ethical reflection and debate, provided they are not treated as ‘tablets of stone’ or rigid rulebooks prescribing the minutiae of professional practice.