Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effects of mood and personality type on service quality perception and customer satisfaction

Purpose The influences of personality type and mood on customer evaluations such as service quality and satisfaction are not yet explored in the tourism and travel literature. Hence, this study aims to: (1) identify the role of personality and mood in customer service quality perceptions and overall satisfaction; and (2) assess these variables’ impact on service quality perception–overall satisfaction relationship. Design/methodology/approach To achieve the study’s objectives, firstly, 383 data were collected from German tourists staying in a five-star hotel in Antalya, Turkey. Then, the survey participants were clustered into four groups according to their personality types (A vs B) and mood (bad vs good). Findings Service quality perceptions and overall satisfaction of the participants were shown to vary according to their personality types and moods. In addition, the results indicated that personality type and mood might change the effect of perceived service quality on overall satisfaction. Research limitations/implications As the survey sample is limited to German tourists staying in a five-star hotel in Antalya, Turkey, the study findings should be carefully generalised to other nationalities and service settings. Originality/value For service enterprises, it is important to understand how the psychological characteristics of the customers affect the perception of the services they offer. Therefore, the customer mood and personality traits, as well as their impacts on perceived service quality, have received wide coverage in the literature. However, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first attempt to investigate the interrelationships of mood, personality, service quality perception and overall satisfaction in the hospitality context.
A rapid and simple method for estimating sulfate reduction activity and quantifying inorganic sulfides

A simplified passive extraction procedure for quantifying reduced inorganic sulfur compounds from sediments and water is presented. This method may also be used for the estimation of sulfate reduction rates. Efficient extraction of FeS, FeS(inf2), and S(sup2-) was obtained with this procedure; however, the efficiency for S(sup0) depended on the form that was tested. Passive extraction can be used with samples containing up to 20 mg of reduced sulfur. We demonstrated the utility of this technique in a determination of both sulfate reduction rates and reduced inorganic sulfur pools in marine and freshwater sediments. A side-by-side comparison of the passive extraction method with the established single-step distillation technique yielded comparable results with a fraction of the effort.
Assessing environmental management of tomato production under protected agriculture.

This study examines the impact of environmental strategies on profitability of protected agriculture production systems in the state of Zacatecas, Mexico using the approach of Total Quality Environmental Management (TQEM) and Total Cost Assessment (TCA). We identified environmental management practices currently used by production units and analyzed the existing situation, plus two hypothetical scenarios. Profitability indicators show that adopting conservation production practices will not only improve the image of the organization but permit better access to markets, maintain positive profitability and contribute to the conservation of natural resources.
Smoking Concordance in Lung and Colorectal Cancer Patient-Caregiver Dyads and Quality of Life

Background: Distress may be heightened among members of cancer patient-caregiver dyads that are mismatched on smoking status (either the patient or caregiver smokes, but the other does not), negatively affecting quality of life (QoL). The purpose of this study was to examine associations between patient-caregiver smoking concordance, caregiver psychological adjustment, and caregiver and patient mental and physical QoL. Methods: Lung and colorectal patient-caregiver dyads (N = 742) were identified from the Cancer Care Outcomes Research and Surveillance (CanCORS) and CanCORS Caregiver studies. The majority of the cancer patients were male (67.0%) with local (45.6%) or regional (12.9%) disease. The majority of the informal caregivers were females (78.6%), under 65 years of age (69.6%), and often spouses (57.8%) of the patients. Results: Lung and colorectal cancer caregivers, who were members of dyads where one or both members continued to smoke, reported worse mental health QoL than nonsmoking dyads. For colorectal cancer patients, continuing to smoke when the caregiver did not was associated with worse mental health QoL compared with nonsmoking dyads. Dyad smoking was less strongly associated with physical QoL for both caregivers and patients. Conclusion: Results highlight the importance of assessing smoking in both cancer patients and their caregivers and referring families to appropriate psychosocial and smoking cessation services. Impact: This is the first study to show associations between cancer patient-caregiver smoking status and QoL for both dyad members. Future studies will need to confirm these associations longitudinally and investigate potential mechanisms linking dyad smoking and QoL. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev; 20(2); 239–48. ©2010 AACR.
Microgaps and Demineralization Progress around Composite Restorations

This study investigated the influence of adhesives and marginal sealing on demineralization progress using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Cavities (4 × 2 mm) were prepared in bovine incisors and restored using Clearfil SE Protect (SP), Bond Force (BF), Scotchbond Universal (SB), or G-Bond Plus (GB), followed by Estelite Flow Quick flowable composite. The control group received no adhesive (n = 10). After 3-d incubation in artificial saliva and 10,000 thermal cycles, gaps at enamel and dentin margins were measured at 8 locations on cross-sectional images obtained from each restoration using swept-source OCT at 1310-nm wavelength. Specimens were demineralized using acidified gel (pH = 4.5) for 5 wk and scanned every week to monitor the lesion progress at the same marginal locations. Repeated-measures analysis of variance showed that demineralization period and adhesive type and their interaction had a significant effect on the lesion size in both substrates (P < 0.001). SP, BF, and SB had significantly lower enamel and dentin initial gaps than the control and GB (P < 0.05). Enamel lesion progress was slower in the fluoride-releasing adhesives SP and BF and significantly different from SB, GB, and the control (P < 0.001). SP and BF dentin lesions were significantly different from GB and the control (P < 0.001), but not from SB (P > 0.05). A significant positive correlation (P < 0.05) was found between initial gap length and formed lesion size in both substrates, which was stronger in enamel (r = 0.63) than dentin (r = 0.35). Microgaps forming at the margins of restorations depend on adhesives and significantly contribute to the progress of demineralization around the margins, while fluoride release may decrease the rate of progression.
Distribution of Salmonella Serovars and Antimicrobial Susceptibility from Poultry and Swine Farms in Central Vietnam

This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of Salmonella spp. and their antimicrobial susceptibilities on poultry and swine farms, sampled in 2 regions in Central Vietnam. A total of 67 poultry farms and 46 swine farms were sampled in a period of 5 months (from September 2012 to January 2013). Salmonella spp. was prevalent in 46.3% and 71.7% of poultry and swine farms, respectively. Altogether, 99 non‐typhoidal Salmonella were isolated and the most common serovars were Salmonella Weltevreden (19%), followed by Salmonella Typhimurium (12%) and Salmonella 4,[5],12:i:‐ (11%). Overall, 71 of 99 (72%) Salmonella isolates were resistant to at least one of the 14 antimicrobial agents tested. Both in poultry and swine farms, high levels of resistance were observed for ampicillin, chloramphenicol, ciprofloxacin, sulphamethoxazole and tetracycline. The presence of Salmonella isolates from poultry and swine farms which were resistant to different classes of antimicrobials suggests that alternative control measures to antimicrobials should be implemented. Moreover, an effective policy should be promoted to encourage a prudent use of these agents in animal farming in Vietnam.
Optimization of nutraceutical coenzyme Q10 nanoemulsion with improved skin permeability and anti-wrinkle efficiency

Abstract Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is an insoluble, poorly permeable antioxidant with great biological value which acts as anti-aging and anti-wrinkle agent. To improve its permeability through topical application, the current study aimed at formulating oil/water (o/w) nanoemulsion (NE) as an efficient vehicle for delivering (CoQ10) through the skin barriers. The solubility of (CoQ10) was tested for various oils, surfactants (S), and co-surfactants (CoS). The NE region was determined by constructing pseudoternary phase diagrams. NE formulae containing 1, 2, and 3% w/w drug have been subjected to thermodynamic stability test. The formulae that passed thermodynamic stability tests were characterized by physical properties as pH, viscosity, refractive index, droplet size, zeta-potential, TEM, electroconductivity, in vitro release, and ex vivo permeation. The formula ‘F2’ containing 10% w/w isopropyl myristate (oil phase), 60% w/w of Tween 80: Transcutol HP mixture (S/CoSmix) at ratio 2:1, 30% w/w water and 2% w/w drug was evaluated for its anti-wrinkle efficiency using an animal model. The ‘F2’ formula showed 11.76 ± 1.1 nm droplet size, 1.4260 ± 0.0016 refractive index, 0.228 PDI, −14.7 ± 1.23 mv zeta potential, 7.06 ± 0.051 pH, 199.05 ± 0.35 cp viscosity, and the highest percentage of drug release in the selected dissolution media. About 47.21% of the drug was released in phosphate buffer 7.4 containing 5% w/v Labrasol and 5% w/v isopropyl alcohol through 24 h. It also showed the highest drug flux (Jss = 3.164 µg/cm2/h), enhancement ratio (Er = 8.32), and permeability coefficient (Kp = 22.14 × 10−4 cm2/h). CoQ10 NE reduced the skin wrinkles and gave the skin smooth appearance. Our investigation suggests the potential use of NE as a vehicle for enhancing solubility and permeability of CoQ10 and thus improving its anti-wrinkle efficiency.
RhoA inactivation inhibits cell migration but does not mediate the effects of polyamine depletion.

BACKGROUND & AIMS Inhibition of RhoA activity and depletion of polyamines inhibits cell migration and causes changes in the actin cytoskeleton. In this article we have examined the effect of polyamine depletion on RhoA and evaluated these effects on cell migration. METHODS Polyamines were depleted in intestinal epithelial cell (IEC)-6 cells by incubating them for 4 days with 5 mmol/L alpha-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), which inhibits ornithine decarboxylase, the first rate-limiting enzyme in the synthesis of polyamines. IEC-6 cells were then transfected with vectors containing HA tags and constitutively active (HA-V14) or dominant-negative (HA-N19) RhoA with pcDNA3 (vector). RESULTS DFMO caused a significant decrease in Rho levels in the cytoplasm and membranes of IEC-6 cells. This decrease was caused by an approximate 50% inhibition of RhoA protein synthesis. Neither the half-life of RhoA nor the level of RhoA messenger RNA (mRNA) was affected. HA-V14-RhoA cells migrated much more rapidly than vector-transfected cells, and HA-N19-RhoA cells exhibited almost no motility. The migration of HA-V14-RhoA cells, however, was inhibited markedly by polyamine depletion. Polyamine depletion did not affect the activity of RhoA in HA-V14-RhoA cells, but inhibited it dramatically in the vector-transfected cells. In the presence of DFMO, the HA-V14-RhoA cells lost stress fibers and gained the appearance of HA-N19-RhoA cells or wild-type cells treated with DFMO. CONCLUSIONS First, polyamines are essential for the activity and synthesis and, therefore, normal levels of RhoA protein. Second, RhoA does not mediate the inhibitory effects of polyamine depletion on cell migration.
Relation between cognition and neural connection from injured cingulum to brainstem cholinergic nuclei in chronic patients with traumatic brain injury

Abstract Background: This study investigated the relation between cognition and the neural connection from injured cingulum to brainstem cholinergic nuclei in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI), using diffusion tensor tractography (DTT). Methods: Among 353 patients with TBI, 20 chronic patients who showed discontinuation of both anterior cingulums from the basal forebrain on DTT were recruited for this study. The Wechsler Intelligence Scale and the Memory Assessment Scale (MAS; short-term, verbal, visual and total memory) were used for assessment of cognition. Patients were divided into two groups according to the presence of a neural connection between injured cingulum and brainstem cholinergic nuclei. Results: Eight patients who had a neural connection between injured cingulum and brainstem cholinergic nuclei showed better short-term memory on MAS than 12 patients who did not (p < 0.05). However, other results of neuropsychological testing showed no significant difference (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Better short-term memory in patients who had the neural connection between injured cingulum and brainstem cholinergic nuclei appears to have been attributed to the presence of cholinergic innervation to the cerebral cortex through the neural connection instead of the injured anterior cingulum. The neural connection appears to compensate for the injured anterior cingulum in obtaining cholinergic innervation.
Performance of adaptive beamforming arrays for spatial interference rejection

This paper analyzes the performance of LMS and RLS adaptive beamforming algorithms used in smart antenna systems for spatial interference rejection. Multiple criteria are used to evaluate these beamforing algorithms including number of incident signals and their angular separation, number of array sensors and their spacing. Results of numerical simulations are useful for the design smart antenna systems with optimal performance.
Essays on institutional quality, macroeconomic stabilization, and economic growth in International Monetary Fund member countries

This study is motivated by the overall poor performance of International Monetary Fund (IMF) programs in recipient countries in terms of economic growth consequences, and tries to explore the relevance of institutional determinants for economic growth in these program countries. The analysis, at the same time, also takes into consideration the claim by New Institutional Economics (NIE) literature, which points out an overall positive consequence of institutional quality determinants on economic growth for countries in general. Taking a panel data of IMF member countries, the thesis primarily focuses on the IMF program countries, during 1980-2009; a time period during which the number of IMF programs witnessed an increasing trend. Firstly, important determinants of economic- and political institutional quality in IMF program countries are estimated by applying the System- GMM approach, so as to find significant determinants among them. Here, a parliamentary form of government, aggregate governance level, civil liberties, openness, and property rights all enhance overall institutional quality. Specifically, greater monetary- and investment freedom are conducive for political institutional quality, while military in power impacts negatively. Moreover, economic growth is conducive for enhancing economic institutional quality. Thereafter, the impact of the significant institutional determinants is then estimated on real economic growth, both directly, and also indirectly, through the channel of macroeconomic stability. Results mainly validate that institutional determinants overall play a positive role in reducing macroeconomic instability, and through it, and also independently, enhance real economic growth. In the last part of the thesis, Pakistan is selected as a representative example of a frequent user of IMF resources. Here, by applying the Vector Autoregression (VAR) model techniques, various counterfactual scenarios are estimated for a period of 1980-2014, to see impact of an institutional determinant, KOF index of globalization on macroeconomic instability and real economic growth. Results highlight that through enhanced focus on institutional reduced, and hence higher growth rate of GDP can be achieved.
Rigorist cosmopolitanism

What counts as global ‘harm’? This article explores this question through critical engagement with Thomas Pogge’s conception of negative duties not to harm. My purpose here is to show that while Pogge is right to orient global moral claims around negative duties not to harm, he is mistaken in departing from the standard understanding of these duties. Pogge ties negative duties to global institutions, but I argue that truly negative duties cannot apply to such institutions. In order to retain the global force of negative duties, we need to dissociate these duties from global institutions: each society’s negative duty to stop harming specific other societies ought to be seen as independent of global institutional change. In order to establish this thesis, I criticize both the features and the derivation of Pogge’s variant of negative duties. I conclude that one must see global negative duties as applying to the relations between specific sovereign societies as unitary agents rather than to global institutions. I then show how this view of negative duties can yield significant global reform, based on Pogge’s own accusations concerning democracies’ conferral of trading privileges upon dictators who embezzle state resources. After presenting the normative, empirical, and strategic advantages of such reform, I anticipate Poggean objections.
Blockage of Brassinosteroid Biosynthesis and Sensitivity Causes Dwarfism in Garden Pea

Endogenous brassinosteroids (BRs) in the dwarf mutants lka and lkb of garden pea (Pisum sativum L.) and comparable wild-type plants were quantified by gas chromatography-selected ion monitoring using deuterated internal standards. In young shoots of the lkb mutant, the levels of brassinolide, castasterone, and 6-deoxocastasterone were 23-, 22-, and 9-fold lower, respectively, than those of wild-type plants. Applications of brassinolide, castasterone, typhasterol, 3-dehydroteasterone, and teasterone normalized internode growth of lkb seedlings. These findings indicate that the lkb plants are BR-deficient mutants, probably as a consequence of a block in the BR biosynthetic pathway prior to the production of teasterone. Young shoots of lka plants contained only 50% less brassinolide and 5 times more castasterone than the equivalent wild-type tissues. The lka seedlings were approximately 100 times less responsive to brassinolide than the lkb mutant, and application of castasterone had only a marginal effect on lka internode growth, suggesting that the lka lesion results in impaired sensitivity to BR.
Good governance strategies for sustainable ecotourism in Tanzania

Abstract This article assesses the role of good governance strategies in sustaining ecotourism. Using a qualitative method through exploratory research design, 18 good governance strategies that promote sustainable ecotourism were identified. Thereafter, a specific stakeholder survey (n = 250) was conducted in the eastern and northern tourist circuits in Tanzania. Through the discrete choice binary logit model, relationships between the identified strategies and specified ecotourism sustainability indicators were analysed by looking for the strategies that are more associated with each indicator. The findings show that sustainability of ecotourism in the country is mainly jeopardised by inadequate transparency, poor accountability practices and weak integration mechanisms between ecotourism operations and the country's development plans. As a result, poor governance has led to unproductive planning, inefficiencies and mismanagement of ecotourism resources. The study concluded by recommending accountability, transparency and integration between economic activities in order to ensure that ecotourism meets the needs of both current and future generations.
Determinants of user satisfaction in internet use among socio-economically advantaged and disadvantaged groups: The role of digital access and government policy

Digital divide is one of the most concerning issues today. It positions those who 'have-no' access to technology at disadvantage socially and economically. The key to reduce digital divide is to provide access to basic technology and information content. This study explored the role of government policy support in affecting digital access which in turns determining user satisfaction toward Internet use. A large data set that was provided by the Korea Information Society Development Institute confirmed the existence of digital divide in South Korea along the line of education and income. The proposed research model was tested using survey data of 233 socio-economically advantaged (SEA) individuals and 319 socioeconomically disadvantaged (SED) individuals. All hypotheses were supported with the exception of the relationship between policy support and social access for the SEA group. The study has implications on how governments should devise policies to facilitate technology and social access for different socio-economic groups within the country.
Comparing Advanced Placement Physics Teachers Experiencing Physics-Focused Professional Development

ABSTRACT Many high school classrooms in the United States have physics teachers who are teaching the subject outside their certified content areas because of a severe shortage of physics teachers. There is a critical need to improve the knowledge base of these out-of-field teachers. This comparative case study examined the instructional practice of Advanced Placement (AP) physics teachers who participated in a 3-year physics focused professional development and compared them with other AP physics teachers who did not participate in the training. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from classroom observations, surveys, teacher interviews, and observer’s field notes. Results indicate that the teachers who experienced the training had (a) large treatment effect size difference in their instructional practice, (b) changes in their self-efficacy, and (c) observable improvement in their pedagogical content knowledge. The result represents initial empirical findings of the impact of the targeted training on the knowledge base and instructional practice of the AP physics teachers.