Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Corporate social responsibility and customer loyalty: exploring the role of identification, satisfaction and type of company

– The aim of the authors of this paper is to propose a cognitive – affective – conative sequential model to study how three dimensions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) image (society, customers and employees) impact customer affective (identification and satisfaction) and behavioural (recommendation and repurchase) responses in the banking industry. The authors also test how the type of company (savings banks vs commercial banks) moderates customer responses to these three dimensions of CSR image. , – A multi-group structural equation model is tested using information collected from 648 savings banks’ customers and 476 commercial banks’ customers in Spain. , – The findings demonstrate that the perceptions of customer-centric CSR initiatives positively and consistently impact customer identification with the banking institution, satisfaction, recommendation and repurchase behaviours in the savings and commercial banks’ samples. The dimensions of CSR image that concern the activities oriented to society and employees only positively impact customer responses in the savings banks’ sample. , – The findings of this study can assist scholars in creating more informative CSR-based loyalty models that take into consideration new variables (satisfaction and type of company) and better approaches to the conceptualization of CSR image (e.g. the formative approach). The findings can also assist savings and commercial banks in better designing their CSR and communication initiatives to benefit from customer affective and conative responses. , – The contributions of the paper are threefold: the authors include satisfaction as a new variable in the study of the CSR-based loyalty model; the CSR image is conceptualized as a formative construct, and this provides new justifications for the mixed results reported by previous scholars who have analysed the effects of CSR image on customer loyalty; and the authors explore the moderating role of the type of company on the CSR-based loyalty model proposed in the paper.
Cloud Assimilation: An Organizational Learning Approach Research-in-Progress

Cloud computing is a popular term for hosted services delivered over the Internet. The term cloud services refers to software, platforms, and infrastructure that are sold "as a service," i.e., remotely through the Internet. The cloud service seller has actual energy-consuming servers that host products and services from a remote location, and end users just log into the system. A cloud service has some distinct characteristics that differentiate it from traditional hosting. It is sold on demand, typically by the minute or the hour; it is elastic—a user can have as much or as little of a service as they want at any given time; and the service is fully managed by the provider (the consumer needs nothing but a personal computer and Internet access)1.
Associations between Plasma Biomarkers and Cognition in Patients with Alzheimer’s Disease and Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Study

Brain degeneration in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) results from the accumulation of pathological amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques and tau protein tangles, leading to altered plasma levels of biomarkers. However, few studies have investigated the association between plasma biomarkers and cognitive impairment in patients with AD. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated correlations between mini-mental state examination (MMSE) scores and levels of plasma biomarkers in patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and AD. Thirteen individuals with normal cognition, 40 patients with aMCI, and 37 patients with AD were enrolled. Immunomagnetic reduction was used to assess the levels of plasma biomarkers, including amyloid Aβ1-40, Aβ1-42, total tau protein (t-Tau), and phosphorylated tau protein (threonine 181, p-Tau181). Our analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between MMSE and both measures of tau, and a trend toward negative correlation between MMSE and Aβ1-42. In a longitudinal study involving three patients with aMCI and two patients with AD, we observed strong negative correlations (r < −0.8) between changes in MMSE scores and plasma levels of t-Tau. Our results suggest that plasma levels of t-Tau and p-Tau181 can be used to assess the severity of cognitive impairment in patients with AD. Furthermore, the results of our preliminary longitudinal study suggest that levels of t-Tau can be used to monitor the progression of cognitive decline in patients with aMCI/AD.
Climate Change Impacts on Atmospheric Circulation and Daily Precipitation in the Argentine Pampas Region

The relevant findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007) highlight the increment of the global mean temperature and the need to understand how this increment will affect the climate variability and change of the regional environment. The changes in the climate are a consequence of both internal variability of the climate system and external factors, the latter being both natural and anthropogenic. The Fourth Assessment Report of IPCC describes the scientific progresses that have been achieved by researchers in the understanding the observed changes of the climatic system, the processes involved, and the establishment of future climate change projections (IPCC, 2007). The number of studies that discuss this problematic have increased considerable during the last years. However, there are many issues that need further investigation, in particular for developing countries. Extreme climate anomalies have a negative impact on the population and economy of the affected regions. The climate has a fundamental role for regions where the economy is based on agriculture. The process of growing crops can be seriously affected by extreme temperatures, and the precipitation can be a limiting factor which conditions the success or failure of the production. The region of interest in this study is the Pampas region, which comprises the most productive agricultural lands of Argentina. The most important grains of the country, like soybean, corn, wheat and sunflower are grown in this region. Together with their byproducts, these crops promote the social and productive system of the region, and are one of the principal sources of fiscal incomes. In the campaign of 2008/09, more than 24 million hectares, compared to of the country’s total of 28 million cultivated hectares of these grains, corresponded to the Pampas region (http://www.sagpya.mecon.gov.ar/). This region, located in the center east of Argentina, southeastern South America, have an extension of more than 600.000 km2. Since the grains are cultivated extensively without artificial irrigation, the precipitation is one of the climatic variables of main influence for the production, and is also a condition for the management of the crops. Therefore, the spatial and temporal distributions of the precipitation in the region, and its surplus or deficit, are of extreme importance for the successful harvests.
ACTIVE TWIST OF MODEL ROTOR BLADES WITH D-SPAR DESIGN

Abstract The design methodology based on the planning of experiments and response surface technique has been developed for an optimum placement of Macro Fiber Composite (MFC) actuators in the helicopter rotor blades. The baseline helicopter rotor blade consists of D‐spar made of UD GFRP, skin made of +450/‐450 GFRP, foam core, MFC actuators placement on the skin and balance weight. 3D finite element model of the rotor blade has been built by ANSYS, where the rotor blade skin and spar “moustaches” are modeled by the linear layered structural shell elements SHELL99, and the spar and foam ‐ by 3D 20‐node structural solid elements SOLID 186. The thermal analyses of 3D finite element model have been developed to investigate an active twist of the helicopter rotor blade. Strain analogy between piezoelectric strains and thermally induced strains is used to model piezoelectric effects. The optimisation results have been obtained for design solutions, connected with the application of active materials, and checked.
6-11-2011 CORPORATE ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND VALUE CREATION FOR STOCKHOLDERS

This study examines the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and returns to stockholders by investigating whether abnormal stock returns occur for firms who are recognized in the financial press for being innovative. We apply event study methodology to the stock prices of firms identified as the “World’s Most Innovative Companies” on lists published annually by Business Week. We find no evidence of abnormal returns for firms identified in the lists. We also find no difference in returns between those firms listed for product and service innovations and those firms listed for process and business model innovations.
Cross-Domain Failures of Fake News Detection

Fake news recognition has become aprominent research topic in natural language processing. Researchers reported significant successes when applying methods based on various stylometric and lexical features and machine learning, with accuracy reaching 90%. This article is focused on answering the question: are the fake news detection models universally applicable or limited to the domain they have been trained on? We used four different, freely available English language Fake News corpora and trained models in both in-domain and cross-domain setting. We also explored and compared features important in eachdomain. We found that the performance in cross-domain setting degrades by 20% and sets of features importantto detect fake texts differ between domains. Our conclusions support the hypothesis that high accuracy of machine learning models applied to fake news detectionmay be related to over-fitting, and models need to betrained and evaluated on mixed types of texts.
Regenerative block bootstrap for Markov chains

This paper introduces a specific Bootstrap method for positiverecurrent Markov chains, based on the regenerative method and the Nummelinsplitting technique. The main idea underlying this construction consists in generatinga sequence of approximate pseudo-renewal times for a Harris chain X fromdata X1; :::; Xn and the parameters of a minorization condition satisfied by itstransition probability kernel and then applying a variant of the methodology proposedby Datta &McCormick (1993) for bootstrapping additive functionals of typeni1Pni=1 f(Xi)when the chain possesses an atom. We prove that, in the atomiccase, our method inherits the accuracy of the Bootstrap in the i.i. d. case up toOP(ni1) under weak conditions. In the general (non necessarily) stationary case,asymptotic validity for this resampling procedure is established, provided that aconsistent estimator of the transition kernel may be computed. The second ordervalidity (up to a rate close to OP (ni1)for regular stationary Markov Chains) isobtained in the stationary case. Applications to specific Markovian models arediscussed, together with some simulation results.
Psychological wellbeing, burnout and substance use amongst medical students in New Zealand

Abstract Medical students are thought to have increased pressures in study life beyond that of their peers. This could impact their psychological wellbeing, burnout and substance use, impeding a smooth transition into the health workforce. A cross-sectional electronic survey of one of New Zealand’s two medical schools was undertaken, and students in all years were invited to participate through email. Two hundred and twenty students completed the survey. Forty-six students (21%) reported that they were currently seeing a GP or Allied Healthcare Professional (AHP) for their mental ill-health. Seventy-seven students (35%) reported having taken cannabis during medical school. The number of respondents reaching the threshold for CAGE, and thus demonstrating problem drinking, was 40 (18%). Additionally, burnout levels were scored, with 150 students (68%) classifying as disengaged and 169 (77%) as suffering from exhaustion on the Oldenburg burnout measure. Going forwards, organizational bodies including governments and medical schools should place emphasis on the importance of optimizing medical student wellbeing, including resilience training and improved workforce wellbeing planning, to positively impact not just medical students as they progress to doctors, but for patients, and the healthcare system as a whole.
The unstable fate of the planet orbiting the A-star in the HD 131399 triple stellar system

Validated planet candidates need not lie on long-term stable orbits, and instability triggered by post-main-sequence stellar evolution can generate architectures which transport rocky material to white dwarfs, polluting them. The giant planet HD 131399Ab orbits its parent A star at a projected separation of about 50-100 au. The host star, HD131399A, is part of a hierarchical triple with HD131399BC being a close binary separated by a few hundred au from the A star. Here, we determine the fate of this system, and find that (i) stability along the main sequence is achieved only for a favourable choice of parameters within the errors, and (ii) even for this choice, in almost every instance the planet is ejected during the transition between the giant branch and white dwarf phases of HD 131399A. This result provides an example of both how the free-floating planet population may be enhanced by similar systems, and how instability can manifest in the polluted white dwarf progenitor population.
A review on semen extenders and additives used in cattle and buffalo bull semen preservation

In the scenario of artificial breeding in cattle and buffalo, the superior quality male germplasm from elite bulls is exploited to maximum possible extent by artificially inseminating large number of cows and buffaloes merely from a single ejaculate. For this purpose, a good quality semen extender is required which plays an indispensable role in improving the post thaw semen quality in terms of sperm viability, motility, plasma membrane and acrosomal integrity (PMAI), mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), sperm kinematics etc. Various semen additives are incorporated during extension of semen before preservation which imparts anti-oxidant and sperm membrane stabilization properties to improve postthaw semen quality. The objective of this review is to disseminate the knowledge about the use of various types of semen extenders and additives in bull semen preservation to improve the extent of consuming superior male germplasm.
Morphology and phylogeny of three planktonic Radiococcaceae sensu lato species (Sphaeropleales, Chlorophyceae) from China, including the description of a new species Planktosphaeria hubeiensis sp. nov.

The family Radiococcaceae sensu lato, defined as colonial autospore-producing mucilaginous coccoid green algae, is widespread in terrestrial and freshwater habitats. Three species of Radiococcaceae sensu lato, including two Radiococcus species and one Planktosphaeria species, were described from China by light and electron microscopy. A new species of Planktosphaeria, Planktosphaeria hubeiensis sp. nov. was erected based on morphological comparisons and genetic analyses. Our phylogenetic analyses indicated that Radiococcaceae sensu lato is polyphyletic, and separated into three lineages. The Radiococcus species did not cluster into a monophyletic group in phylogenetic analyses; therefore the taxonomy of the genus Radiococcus should be revised in the future.
Phylogenetic and structural diversity of aromatically dense pili from environmental metagenomes

Electroactive type IV pili, or e-pili, are used by some microbial species for extracellular electron transfer. Recent studies suggest that e-pili may be more phylogenetically and structurally diverse than previously assumed. Here, we used updated aromatic density thresholds (≥9.8% aromatic amino acids, ≤22-aa aromatic gaps, and aromatic amino acids at residues 1, 24, 27, 50 and/or 51, and 32 and/or 57) to search for putative e-pilin genes in metagenomes from diverse ecosystems with active microbial metal cycling. Environmental putative e-pilins were diverse in length and phylogeny, and included truncated e-pilins in Geobacter spp. , as well as longer putative e-pilins in Fe(II)-oxidizing Betaproteobacteria and Zetaproteobacteria. Originality and Significance Electroactive pili (e-pili) are used by microorganisms to respire solid metals in their environment through extracellular electron transfer. Thus, e-pili enable microbes to occupy specific environmental niches. Additionally, e-pili have important potential for biotechnological applications. Currently the repertoire of known e-pili is small, and their environmental distribution is largely unknown. Using sequence analysis, we identified numerous genes encoding putative e-pili from diverse anoxic, metal-rich ecosystems. Our results expand the diversity of putative e-pili in environments where metal oxides may be important electron acceptors for microbial respiration.
CsPbBr3 quantum dots assisted crystallization of solution-processed perovskite films with preferential orientation for high performance perovskite solar cells

The performance of hybrid perovskite solar cells (PSCs) is significantly influenced by the crystallization and morphology of perovskite films. Herein, a novel method of CsPbBr3 quantum dots (QDs) assisted nucleation is applied to prepare high quality solution-processed methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) films by employing CsPbBr3 QDs as an additive into diethyl ether anti-solvent. The appropriate amount of CsPbBr3 QDs can act as effective heterogeneous nucleation centers, leading to the formation of smooth and pinhole-free perovskite films with increased grain size. Furthermore, the growth direction of MAPbI3 grains is regulated by CsPbBr3 QDs, exhibiting preferential orientation of (110) plane. Therefore, the MAPbI3 films with CsPbBr3 QDs modification show reduced defects and increased carrier lifetime. As a result, the champion PSC with a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) up to 20.17% is achieved and 85% of its initial PCE is maintained after aging 1000 h at room temperature under a relative humidity of 50%. This work demonstrates a feasible way to prepare high quality perovskite films for optoelectronic applications.
POSTER: Memory Hotspot Optimization for Data-Intensive Applications

Emerging High-Performance Computing (HPC) workloads, such as graph analytics, machine learning, big data science, are data-intensive. The data-intensive workloads usually present irregular memory footprints with limited data locality, and thus incur frequent cache misses and a growing desire for memory bandwidth. Driven by this need, 3D-stacked memory devices such as Hybrid Memory Cube (HMC) and High Bandwidth Memory (HBM) are introduced to yield significantly higher throughput. However, the traditional interfaces and optimization methods for JEDEC DDR devices cannot fully exploit the potential performance of 3D-stacked memory to handle massive irregular memory accesses accompanied with data-intensive applications. In this paper, we propose a novel Hotspot-Aware Manager (HAM) infrastructure for 3D-stacked memory devices that is capable of optimizing memory access streams via request aggregation, hotspot detection, prefetching, and an associated hotspot-aware page policy. We present the HAM design and simulation implementation on RISC-V embedded cores with attached HMC devices. We have conducted extensive evaluations with over 12 benchmarks and applications representing diverse irregular memory access patterns. The results reveal that HAM reduces redundant memory accesses by 37.51% and achieves a 4.19X enhancement on the prefetch buffer hit rate on average. Overall, HAM exhibits an average of 21.81% performance gain (up to 34.28%) and 35.07% power saving over the standard 3D-stacked memory.
Need for Closure and the Social Response to Terrorism

It has been long contended that terrorism is a form of psychological warfare with the aim of advancing political objectives through the spreading of fear. The present set of five studies explored the relation between need for closure and the social response to terrorism. We found support for the notion that reminders of terrorist attacks elevate the need for closure and that the need for closure may enhance ingroup identification; interdependence with others; outgroup derogation; and support for tough and decisive counterterrorism policies and for leaders likely to carry out such policies. The implications of this research for the claims of terrorist ideologues regarding the efficacy of terrorism are discussed.
Social Constructivism: Botanical Classification Schemes of Elementary School Children.

The assertion that there is a social component to children's construction of knowledge about natural phenomena is supported by evidence from an examination of children's classification schemes for plants. An ethnographic study was conducted with nine sixth grade children in central Texas. The children classified plants in the outdoors, in a sorting task, in a slide identification task, and in a free listing task. Of the nine major plant categories used by the children, the labels for eight would be recognized by adults: plants, tree, bush, flowers, cactus, weeds, grass, vines. The children's classification scheme differed from that of botanists but strongly resembled that of adult laymen, demonstrating a socially constructed system of classification. Kempton (1981) calls this a folk classification scheme. Reliance on a prototype allows communication to occur between individuals despite idiosyncratic differences in meaning. Contains 16 references. (Author) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** * ******s' *** *** *** ** *********** *4:*** ****** Social Constructivism: Botanical Classification Schemes of Elementary School Children by Delena Tull Biology Dept, University of Central Arkansas Conway, Arkansas 72035 (501) 450-5930 Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (AERA), San Francisco, April 20-24, 1992 "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS BY MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED
Mediterranean precipitation and its relationship with sea level pressure patterns

The relationship between Mediterranean precipitation and North Atlantic and European sea level pressure fields has been studied using statistical techniques to investigate the variability within the data. A principal component analysis shows the major winter precipitation variability is described by a see-saw fluctuation between the Western and Eastern Mediterranean. The pressure-precipitation relationships indicate that a highly variable, pressure region situated to the south of Britain dominates this major precipitation pattern. The large-scale pressure fields which facilitate the precipitation patterns have been isolated using a canonical correlation analysis. Although the well-known major pressure centres of action in the North Atlantic are important, pressure changes in the east are found to also control the transport of moisture across the Mediterranean to a large degree, as the presence of a large high over Kazakhstan causes meridonial flow and impedes the passage of moisture across the Mediterranean. The pressure-precipitation relationships are found to be very consistent over multi-decadal,seasonal, monthly and daily time-scales with trajectory analysis confirming many of the features of the average seasonal pressure charts. This steadiness and regularity indicates that the Mediterranean precipitation teleconnection is a robust phenomenon that is affected by large-scale pressure changes to both the east and west.