Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Vignette Study of Middle Managers’ Responses to Continuous Improvement Initiatives by Top Management

To better understand why continuous improvement (CI) initiatives often fail and do not result in sustained changes, this paper investigates how management’s conceptualization of a continuous improvement program affects its implementation via middle managers. The study serves to identify the differences in outcomes of CI initiatives arising from implementing CI as an integral management versus an efficiency-improvement approach. This research draws on a vignette study (i.e. scenario experiment) with 107 middle managers working at one of the largest financial institutions in the Netherlands. The findings arising from this study suggest that CI is more likely to be adopted into the organizational culture, enhance the customer orientation among employees and improve the work atmosphere, when it is implemented as an integral management approach rather than as an efficiency-oriented program.
The Role of Periodic Conventions in Generating and Undermining Constitutional Loyalty

In the U.S., popular support is widespread for both the federal and state constitutional charters, although the former enjoys greater support than the latter. Such support is necessary for maintaining a constitution’s legitimacy; popular support for the laws ensures continued obedience to them. However, critics note that blind support, or excessive veneration, may have negative consequences, including saddling a political community with suboptimal institutions. Support must be balanced with the necessity of “periodic repairs,” allowing each generation to review the prior’s work. In modern parlance, critics advocate for periodic constitutional conventions, permitting constitutional revisions irrespective of tradition or presumed legal permanence. This dissertation explores the relationship between constitutional loyalty and periodic conventions. Existing scholarship has focused heavily on a constitution’s specific support, or an individual’s current satisfaction (approval) with the charter’s outputs, provisions, and/or performance. Little research has explored the more fundamental feelings of constitutional loyalty, or diffuse support, that forms the bedrock of a charter’s institutional legitimacy. Individuals who are willing to countenance revisions and/or replace a constitution are expressing little loyalty towards it, permitting fundamental changes to the underlying constitutional and political system. Since periodic conventions represent an existential threat to constitutions, do primes about them influence an individual’s constitutional loyalty? To test this question, I deploy a survey experiment that explores how a person’s underlying constitutional loyalty is influenced by knowledge about periodic conventions. Using Michigan’s 2010 periodic convention referendum, I expose subjects to various vignettes on the convention using different primes. I also control for various confounders that generate constitutional support, including demographic attributes, sociopolitical characteristics, institutional attitudes, and constitutional knowledge. I find that while a subject’s constitutional loyalty appears immune to the experimental treatment, her approval of the charter can be altered depending on how she is primed to think about periodic conventions (e.g. whether prior periodic conventions had been approved or not). My results also indicate that persons less familiar with their constitutional charters are more receptive to the primes than persons more knowledgeable, raising serious concerns about the effects of constitutional ignorance and our political system’s legitimacy.
Short versus Long Course at Patrouille Des Glaciers (Pdg)–Who Participates At the Original Course from Zermatt to Arolla and Verbier

Background: The biggest ski mountaineering race of the West Alps Patrouille des Glaciers (PdG) is characterized by a short course from Arolla-Verbier and a classic distance from Zermatt-Arolla-Verbier. In accordance with general findings from endurance sports e.g., running where the average speed in half marathon is lower compared to marathon these findings should also be valid for PdG. This yields to the aim of the study to analyze potential differences between the short versus the long course at PdG. Materials and methods: All participants of PdG 2018 were analyzed yielding to a total of 207 Patrols (principally three alpinists) from race one from Zermatt-Arolla- Verbier, 344 patrols from race two Zermatt-Arolla-Verbier as well as 374 patrols from race one of the short distance Arolla-Verbier and 375 of race two Arolla-Verbier with an average age in female of 39.1 ± 10.2 years and male 41.4 ± 10.9. Average speed was calculated with the concept of performance km for the different parts of the short and the long race. Furthermore, significance of differences between average speed of the short and the long race was analyzed with two-sided t-tests. Results: In total, average speed was significantly higher in the original race compared to the short course. Only the first part just after the start was faster in the short race Arolla-Verbier compared to the original race Zermatt- Arolla-Verbier. Discussion: These findings are somehow contra intuitive but might be explained by the different samples of participants at the short versus the long race. At the long race mainly highly trained alpinists take part whereas the short races more often attract recreational alpinists. Beside that gender differences are to mention: Only thirteen female participants absolved the original course (less than 0.01 percent) whereas in the Arolla-Verbier nearly one fourth were female (0.24 percent) implying the large physical challenge in the original course mainly absolved by men.
PROBING AN ATYPICAL SHURAM EXCURSION BY SIMS

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Exploring the Fluid Boundary between ‘Legitimate Performance Management’ and ‘Downward Bullying’: An Experimental Approach

Using an experimental design, this research examines the extent to which managers and employees perceive management behaviours differently. Eight simulated employment scenarios were presented to an aggregated sample of managers and non&#8208;managerial employees (n = 435), and the respondents were asked to evaluate the extent to which the behaviours depicted are seen as bullying. It was found that employees are more likely than managers to perceive &#8216;legitimate performance management&#8217; as bullying but also that managers are more likely than employees to perceive more overt bullying as bullying per se. This divergence in perceptions suggests that what constitutes bullying, ontologically speaking, depends on one's point of view and implies that reality is socially constructed. The research has important implications for organisations and trade unions in the development of bullying policies and procedures.
From “being tethered” to “going unplugged”: media addiction and the role of unplugging as a transformative tool of digital literacy

Concerns about the effects of media on consumers have been around for as long as media themselves. The recent emphasis on the impact of new media brings to mind earlier fears about the effects of television on children. However, the extent to which many people today appear constantly ‘tethered’, or even addicted, to their digital and mobile devices has renewed our interest in the physiological, psychological and sociological side-effects of media dependence. This chapter reviews the literature and evidence on digital media uses and habits so as to map potential effects and patterns of problematic use. Furthermore, it presents evidence suggesting that practical media literacy interventions – such as participating in a 24 hour ‘unplugging’ exercise – can be very potent in facilitating reflexivity of one’s media uses, creating awareness of the benefits and risks of media use, and ultimately enabling a more balanced lifestyle.
Challenges in the Conservation of an Over-Harvested Plant Species with High Socioeconomic Values

Overexploitation to meet commercial demands has threatened the existence of many species. In theory, one can adopt a portfolio of policies and measures from both the supply (i.e., encourage cultivation while punishing poaching) and demand (i.e., education of consumers) sides to achieve sustainable use. Here we examine the effects of governmental policies and measures towards the utilization of Aquilaria sinensis, a threatened species with high cultural and economic values. We found that, despite national protected status and a suite of government initiatives and granted projects to implement cultivation of the species, poaching persisted and even intensified. From the consumer side, current cultural education related to the species was not coupled with equally strong conservation education, which might have inadvertently reinforced the notion that wild-sourced materials are better, and facilitated a luxury goods-like market for wild products. It appeared that the current government portfolio of initiatives was highly skewed towards utilization, and therefore not effective for promoting the long term ecological persistence of the species. This finding is likely not unique to A. sinensis, nor limited to China. A more balanced portfolio of government initiatives to include stronger and more direct conservation measures towards highly exploited species is needed to achieve sustainable use of this species and related species.
Influence of Temperature‐Dependent Substrate Decomposition on Graphene for Separable GaN Growth

Graphene has been adopted in III−V material growth since it can reduce the threading dislocations and the III−V epilayer can easily be separated from the substrate due to the weak chemical bond. However, depending on the substrate supporting the graphene, some substrates decompose in the III−V material growth environment, which results in the problem that no graphene remains. In this study, the influence of temperature‐dependent substrate decomposition on graphene through an annealing process that resembles conventional growth conditions in metal–organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) is investigated. It is also confirmed that trimethylgallium, hydrogen, and ammonia gases do not directly affect the graphene loss through gallium nitride (GaN) growth on a graphene/sapphire. In addition, GaN grown on graphene/sapphire could separate, but GaN grown on a graphene/GaN template could not be separated due to GaN template decomposition and related graphene damage. Through further investigation for graphene/gallium arsenide, it is deduced that the gallium generated by substrate decomposition does not play a major role in damage to the graphene but instead the nitrogen generated by substrate decomposition is closely related to it. These results suggest that it is very important to adopt a decomposition‐free substrate that do not damage graphene during GaN growth in MOCVD.
Trajectory Optimization of a Small Airship

Pseudo-spectral optimal solvers are used to optimize numerically a performance index of a dynamical system with differential constraints. Although these solvers are commonly used for space vehicles and space launchers for trajectory optimization, few experimental papers exist on optimal control of small airships. The objective of this thesis is to evaluate the use of a pseudo-spectral optimal control solver for generating dynamically constrained, minimal time trajectories. A dynamical model of a small airship is presented, with its experimental virtual mass, drag and motor experimentally modeled. The problems are solved in PSOPT, a pseudo-spectral optimal control code. Experimental tests with a small scale model are performed to evaluate the generated paths. Although drift occurs, as a consequence of an open loop control, the vehicle is capable of following the path. This results of this thesis may find uses in verifying how close to optimal discreet path planners are, to plan complex trajectories on short distances, or to generate dynamic maneuverer such as take-off or landing. Ultimately, improving path planning of small airships will improve their safety, maneuverability and flight-time, which makes them fit for scientific monitoring, for search and rescue, or as mobile telecommunications platforms.
Novelty-seeking traits and applied research activities

ABSTRACT We examine the country-level relationship between novelty-seeking traits and applied research activities. Using DRD4 exon III allele frequencies (DRD4) to proxy for the former and per capita patent applications and grants to proxy for the latter, we find a negative relationship between the two. Our results complement the findings of recent studies about the relationship between novelty-seeking traits, innovation and comparative economic development.
Uncovering the Relationships among Classes and Packages in Software Evolution

This paper proposes the uncovering and representation of the hierarchy and implementation relationships among software items using data stored in online software repositories. Software Configuration Management (SCM) tools and software repositories provide information about software item revisions and support evolution data extraction as well as the automatic retrieval of source code. Hence, the proposal presented here performs static analysis on the source code of software item revisions for collecting relevant data about relationships and dependencies among items. The visualization contributes to the comparison between revisions in order to provide a better understanding of structure changes on software projects.
Incumbent Responses to a Low-Cost Entry: Empirical Evidence from the German Airline Industry

In the context of a consolidation trend and route density problems on the European aviation market, access to congested airports and the market entry through slot allocation is important for effective competition. This paper uses a novel data set with all German domestic flights before and after a low-cost carrier (LCC) market entry (N=37,622) to identify the price reaction on direct competitive routes. Our differencein-differences regression analysis shows that the full service network carrier reacts with significant decreasing fares and increasing frequencies. The results suggest that potential barriers due to the slot allocation for market entries should remain low. ∗Paderborn University, marieke.funck@upb.de
The Effectiveness of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy on Social Adjustment and Depression among Female High School Students with Specific Learning Disorder in Sari in Northern in Iran

Background and Objective: Acceptance and commitment therapy is one of the methods for increasing social adjustment and improving depression among students with learning disabilities. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of admission and commitment therapy on social adjustment and depression among junior high school female students with learning disorder in Sari in northern Iran. Materials and Methods: The present study was semi-experimental with pretest-posttest design with control group. The statistical population consisted of all junior high school female students in Sari. A sample of 30 people was selected through convenience sampling and randomly assigned to two groups of experimental and control and intervention was performed for the experimental group. Data were gathered using Social Adjustment Questionnaire and Beck Depression Inventory and analyzed by Covariance and SPSS software version 21. Results: The mean (SD) age was 16.5 (0.4) years among the experimental group and 16.1 (0.7) the control group. The study showed that the mean (SD) score of depression in the experimental group was 20.4 (3.2) which decreased in post-test and follow up to 12.2 (3.1) and 12.1 (2.7) (P<0.001), but the mean (SD) score of depression in the pre-test and post-test of the control group did not show a significant difference. The mean (SD) of social adjustment in the experimental group from 12.1 (3.4) in post-test and follow up increased to 19.4 (3.2) and 19.6 (3.7) respectively (P<0.001). However, the mean (SD) score of social adjustment in the pre-test and post-test of the control group did not show a significant difference. Conclusion: The study showed that acceptance and commitment-based treatment increased social adjustment and depression among junior high school female students with learning disorder. DOI: http://doi.org/10.22037/ch.v6i3.24905.
CALL DETAIL RECORD BASED TRAFFIC DENSITY ANALYSIS USING GLOBAL k-MEANS CLUSTERING

With the expanding number of vehicles on the road is creating substantial traffic that is hard to control and maintain safety, particularly in extensive urban areas. To estimate the traffic density several works were carried out in the past. However, they are inappropriate and expensive due to the dynamics of traffic flow. Here we intend to use CDR to distinguish the traffic density location and to track the location of the mobile user. In our proposed method to discover the density scope of the traffic, we are using two algorithms called k-means clustering and the k nearest neighbour classification algorithms. The proposed technique will be tested among five different locations during the weekdays and the weekends, which show the noteworthiness of the proposed algorithm and show that our technique has high accuracy.
ISU GENDER DALAM PROFESI PUBLIC RELATIONS DI INDONESIA

Public relations in Indonesia still often perceived as female profession and suited for women so then this profession is slow down and degradation. Gender is became a host issues in this problem. The study of gendered issues in public relations have concducted by reseacher from the part of the world have already showed inequality gender phenomenon. This research tries to disscuss gender study in the domain of public relations in Indonesia with literarure review data collecting. The Results show that gender issues in public relations profession have to keep monitored because it has already demonstrated discrmination gender and degrated to the public relations profession.Many parties that responded to the gender problems because of just the different perception but the development of public relations profession also is influenced by the structure national culture, type and field of industry and bussiness needs. Keywords: Gender, Profession, Public Relations, Jakarta, Issues
Teaching Social Justice in Nonprofit Management Education: A Critical Pedagogy and Practical Strategies

Within higher education, there is mounting pressure for increased discussions of diversity, inclusion, and social justice. Although these topics are particularly relevant to nonprofit management education (NME), instructors have expressed uncertainty about how they should proceed in incorporating these topics into their courses. Here, we argue a critical pedagogy framework can support instructors to address effectively topics of diversity, inclusion, and social justice within their classes. We identify three different but complementary critical pedagogical strategies that NME instructors can adopt in order to do so. We also provide resources for instructors and conclude with suggestions for future research.
Cross-cultural communication in the digital age

This study explores the impact of digitalization on cross-cultural communication processes. A sample consists of 393 young adults (aged under 30 years) from seven countries (Bulgaria, Egypt, Germany, Morocco, Portugal, Romania, Ukraine) representing different regions in Europe and Africa. The results indicate that new generations (Millennials and Generation “Z”) are highly interested in cross-cultural communication; they believe that digitalization significantly simplifies cross-cultural communication processes including facilitating language barriers problems. The discussion of the findings includes the analyses of opportunities provided by new technologies in the era of digital globalization.
Study of some electrical properties for polymer SMR20

In this study, some electrical properties (electrical conductivity, specific resistance, molar conductivity and degree of dissociation) were measured for natural polymer SMR20 with (molecular weight 350168 gm/mol) and impurities 5% ZnO nanoparticle, the polymer that have been used in Babylon tyres Factory. The aim of this study was to test the efficiency of the polymer in electrical industry under Iraqi environment conditions specially under the high temperature degrees so that the measures were under different temperature degrees (25, 35, 45, and 55) πc. Results revealed that most electrical properties increased with increasing of concentrations of polymer solved in toluene and temperature degrees except the specific resistance property which declined under high concentrations and temperature. The nanoparticle which was used in this study significantly enhanced the electrical properties. These results could be attributed to the binding between polymer molecules itself from one side and also the binding between polymers and solvent and with nanoparticle molecules from the other sides. Because of these limited changes, the polymer would be suitable and safe to be used in the electrical industry, while the remarkable enhancement of electrical properties enable the polymer for using in super generations industry.
Shared Short-Term Rentals for Sustainable Tourism in the Social-Network Age: The Impact of Online Reviews on Users’ Purchase Decisions

With the development of social networks and the Internet-based sharing economy, shared short-term rentals are emerging as a new kind of service that provides a convenient way for people to buy short-term rental services in cities through social-network-enabled platforms. However, like other social-network-based services, shared short-term rental is also likely to be impacted by online reviews. This paper aims to investigate the impact of online reviews on users’ purchase decisions toward shared short-term rentals, and further to provide optimization suggestions for the future advance of shared short-term rentals. The contributions of this paper are many-fold. First, we introduce the Stimuli-Organism-Response (SOR) model into the study and propose new variables for the model, including stimulus variables, organism variables, response variable, and moderating variables. Second, we propose eight hypotheses to evaluate the impact of online reviews on users’ purchase decisions toward shared short-term rentals. Finally, we collect data through a questionnaire survey and present comprehensive results on many aspects. Based on the data analysis, we find out that the quality of online reviews impacts users’ perceived value and perceived risk, which in turn impacts users’ purchase decisions toward shared short-term rentals. In addition, the cognitive needs of users can adjust the impact of online reviews on the perceived risk of users but have no explicit adjusting effect for users’ perceived value. Further, we present some research implications as well as suggestions for rental platforms to advance shared short-term rentals in the Internet age.