Salient Objective Research Articles

The Impact of Virtual Computer Screen Backgrounds on Subjective Performance Evaluation in Online Videoconferences

We investigate the influence of real and virtual computer screen backgrounds in Zoom videoconferences on subjective performance evaluation. Using an incentivized online experiment (N = 210), we systematically vary workers’ computer screen backgrounds in a supervisor–worker bargaining situation carried out in a videoconference. We find a significant influence of workers’ applied computer screen backgrounds on supervisors’ subjective performance evaluations, with significantly more positive ratings when workers use a virtual white background than a real white background (d = 0.47). This finding is robust when we control for workers’ measurable and salient objective performance and gender and for supervisors’ gender and age. Regarding the underlying processes, we show that supervisors’ perceptions of the workers’ likability and trustworthiness enhance subjective performance evaluations when virtual white videoconference backgrounds are applied. Practical implications for the application of human resource practices in digitalized environments are discussed.

Taxonomy, distribution, epidemiology, disease cycle and management of brown rot disease of peach (Monilinia spp.)

Peach is a temperate fruit and is grown in various edaphoclimatic settings worldwide. Brown rot, caused primarily by Monilinia spp. is one of the most destructive peach diseases. The disease results in severe pre-harvest and post-harvest losses. More than half of the world’s post-harvest losses of peach can be attributed to brown rot disease. Despite the widespread adoption of management strategies such as pruning, removing fruit mummies, eliminating wild plums, chemical control remains an effective strategy for managing brown rot disease. However, environmental and human health impacts of chemical control and fungicides resistance consequences, these management tactics tend to be re-evaluated. The aim of this review is to comprehensively sum up the available information on the taxonomy, distribution, epidemiology, symptomology, molecular and morphological characterization of brown rot disease, and to date management approaches. However, fast paced current research on brown rot disease of peach management should be carefully updated for the full-proof control of the fungi. Nevertheless, more research and review of the information regarding various aspects of diseases management exclusively biocontrol agents are needed to exploit their actual potential, which is the salient objective of this review. This review will open new avenues giving future prospects and research agenda to the scientists working on this serious pathosystem of peach.

Categorization and Level of Appropriateness of Waray-waray Music as Mother Tongue-Based Teaching Materials for Grades One to Three Pupils in Tacloban City

The dearth of MTB-MLE materials for classroom use is widely felt by lower primary teachers. It is for this reason that this study produced teaching materials, by collecting and categorizing local printed songs in the vernacular to be included as MTB-MLE instructional materials for Grades 1, 2 and 3 Waray-waray speaking pupils in the DepEd, Division of Tacloban City, Philippines. The Grades One to Three teachers categorized the Winaray folk songs in terms of level of appropriateness, using a survey instrument designed for this particular study. Descriptive and correlation statistics were used to analyze and interpret the data. Based on the results of this study it is recommended that male teachers in the academe should be given equal chances to be assigned in the primary levels. Lack of gender diversity in elementary education has a negative impact on young children. Age should not be a prime criterion for assigning teachers to a particular grade level. For many adults, as they age, they accumulate life experiences which allow them to be confident in the teaching?learning situation. Attendance in music related-seminar trainings and workshops is recommended as well, to lift teacher?s morale and boost their confidence to teach music. Recruiting and assigning a music specialist in every district of the DepEd Tacloban City is highly recommended. This study echoes the suggestion that since Universities that offer a music degree are limited and the tuition fee is expensive, perhaps more scholarships should be provided to those individuals who cannot afford the cost but have the music talent and skills that are perfect for a music educator. One of the salient features and objective of the K to 12 program is to preserve and promote cultural identity and heritage. This is the best time for music educators to do more research on production of materials that fit the Philippine setting especially the ones which are culture-based, up-to-date and state-of-the-art educational instruction. Hence, it is highly recommended that further studies of this kind be conducted. For one, this study can be replicated by collecting other untapped songs that are pricedly kept by musicians found somewhere else in the region. The potential to collect mother tongue-based compositions from contemporary songwriters should also be considered in future research investigation along this line.

The prevalence of dyads in social life.

A salient objective feature of the social environment in which people find themselves is group size. Knowledge of group size is highly relevant to behavioural scientists given that humans spend considerable time in social settings and the number of others influences much of human behaviour. What size of group do people actually look for and encounter in everyday life? Here we report four survey studies and one experience-sampling study (total N = 4,398) which provide evidence for the predominance of the dyad in daily life. Relative to larger group sizes, dyads are most common across a wide range of activities (e.g., conversations, projects, holidays, movies, sports, bars) obtained from three time moments (past activities, present, and future activities), sampling both mixed-sex and same-sex groups, with three different methodological approaches (retrospective reports, real-time data capture, and preference measures) in the United States and the Netherlands. We offer four mechanisms that may help explain this finding: reciprocity, coordination, social exclusion, and reproduction. The present findings advance our understanding of how individuals organize themselves in everyday life.

Structural Characterization of Indian Vitrinite-Rich Bituminous Karharbari Coal.

The detailed investigation of the chemical structure of vitrinite-rich Karharbari coal was performed utilizing advanced analytical techniques. The salient objective of this work is the evaluation of various structural properties of coal, which is necessary for identifying the chemical and physical interactions between coal and various reactants during its utilization. Karharbari coal is a poorly organized coal with high aromatic content. The value of corrected aromaticity (fa’) was found to be 0.82 by 13C NMR spectroscopy and was also confirmed by XRD (aromaticity = 0.84) and FT-IR analysis (aromaticity = 0.82). The average molecular weight of the aromatic cluster was found to be 507 amu by the NMR result, which is closer to the result obtained by HRTEM (MW = 530 amu). The structural and lattice parameters of Karharbari coal were obtained by NMR spectroscopy and then compared with the similar rank Argonne Premium coal. The molecular weight distribution was obtained by LD-TOF-MS and compared with HRTEM fringe model analysis. The presence of different heteroatoms like carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur with their functionalities was determined by using the XPS technique. Different carbon/oxygen functionalities present in the Karharbari coal were found to be (C–C) and (C–H) 68.5%, (C–O) 23.4%, (COO–) 1.9%, and (C=O) 6.0%. Nitrogen functionalities such as pyridine, pyrrolic, quaternary, and oxidized nitrogen and their compositions (mol %) were 19.3, 45.6, 31.2, and 3.7%, respectively. Different forms of sulfur were also found to be present, namely, thiophenes, sulfones, sulfuric acid, and sulfates with the molar contents of 16.4, 41.6, 21.3, and 20.5%, respectively. This information will be useful in improvising coal utilization techniques.

Strategic Responsiveness and the Minority Public Manager

Representation of minority groups has become an increasingly vital feature of the public sector as a result of current population trends. The purpose of this article is to shed new light on the effect of public organizations on minority communities by addressing the following question: are minority public managers strategic in their responses to minority consumers of public services and the multiple dimensions of their organization's performance? Building upon current perspectives on representation and diversity, this article contributes to existing research by introducing a theory of strategic responsiveness. This theory addresses an important deficiency in existing studies by providing an account of how minority managers in local organizations respond to multiple performance disparities when they seek to maximize the performance of their organizations and the quality of service delivery to underrepresented communities. The findings suggest that when faced with multiple performance pressures, minority managers channel their representation through the area of performance that is linked to their organization's most salient performance objective. These findings have implications for our understanding of the relationship between diversity in public management and organizations' responsiveness to minority communities.

Human Trafficking: A Human Rights Oriented Approach

Men’s struggle for survival has never been so intense, and they have been able to save themselves from the physical pain inflicted by fatal war weapons. However, the invasion on men’s dignity in different forms including organ smuggling, experimental dummy, slavery, forced prostitution, etc. has followed an unprecedented rate in terms of inflicting misery and suffering millions of lives across the universe in the contemporary world. Most probably, “Right to Dignified Life” could be considered the most salient objective of Human Rights Principle. It is also a justified fact that the tragic misery of contemporary man has to do with obliteration of the same fundamental principle underpinning Human Rights. More importantly, it is not merely sufficient for a man to survive. Man requires self-dignity, voice and remedies for achieving happiness and welfare, otherwise he/she is nothing but a mere physical existence. The contemporary man that has undergone such huge amount of human tragedies and sufferings increasingly loses its control over its own body, work and movement, and many accede to the fact that the most obvious reason is human trafficking.

Strategic TM and Practice: Tensions and Challenges for Alignment in MNCs

The successful execution of a strategically aligned talent management (TM) framework is an increasingly salient leadership objective. The extension of the resource-based view has focused attention ...

Semiparametric Bayes conditional graphical models for imaging genetics applications.

Motivated by the need for understanding neurological disorders, large-scale imaging genetic studies are being increasingly conducted. A salient objective in such studies is to identify important neuroimaging biomarkers such as the brain functional connectivity, as well as genetic biomarkers, which are predictive of disorders. However, typical approaches for estimating the group level brain functional connectivity do not account for potential variation, resulting from demographic and genetic factors, while usual methods for discovering genetic biomarkers do not factor in the influence of the brain network on the imaging phenotype. We propose a novel semiparametric Bayesian conditional graphical model for joint variable selection and graph estimation, which simultaneously estimates the brain network after accounting for heterogeneity, and infers significant genetic biomarkers. The proposed approach specifies priors on the regression coefficients, which clusters brain regions having similar activation patterns depending on covariates, leading to dimension reduction. A novel graphical prior is proposed, which encourages modularity in brain organization by specifying denser and sparse connections within and across clusters, respectively. The posterior computation proceeds via a Markov chain Monte Carlo. We apply the approach to data obtained from the Alzheimer's disease neuroimaging initiative and demonstrate numerical advantages via simulation studies.

Pluralistic Efficiency-Equity Tradeoffs in Locating Public Services

AbstractAside from efficiency, equity is a particularly salient objective in siting public facilities. In this paper, we develop and test a bicriteria mixed integer program that trades off the efficiency and equity measures between an individual and the group. Individual efficiency is measured by data envelopment analysis (DEA) while individual equity is modeled by a center location model. On the other hand, group efficiency is measured by the median location model, while group equity is measured by the Gini coefficient. Available computational results suggest that the multicriteria model provides a promising approach to locate public services in a pluralistic society, when the individual rights are often weighed against common good.

THE DOG THAT DIDN'T BARK: HOW PUBLIC MANAGERS HANDLE ENVIRONMENTAL SHOCKS

Do negative budgetary shocks reduce performance in public organizations? If so, by how much and in terms of which criteria? Are public managers able to make internal management choices to limit or eliminate the effects of such shocks? These questions are investigated in a set of hundreds of organizations over an 8‐year period. For the most part, budgetary shocks of 10 per cent or more have only limited or no negative impacts on performance in the short term. The most salient policy objective and production for more disadvantaged clientele are especially insulated from shocks. Decisions about internal resource allocation and personnel management can be shown to protect core production while sacrificing more peripheral activities and capital investment. Questions that remain to be investigated include whether short‐term protection comes at the expense of some longer‐term losses, and—ironically—whether effective management under such circumstances weakens over time the political case for adequate budgets.

Can “Low-Fat” Nutrition Labels Lead to Obesity?

In this era of increasing obesity and increasing threats of legislation and regulation of food marketing practices, regulatory agencies have pointedly asked how “low-fat” nutrition claims may influence food consumption. The authors develop and test a framework that contends that low-fat nutrition labels increase food intake by (1) increasing perceptions of the appropriate serving size and (2) decreasing consumption guilt. Three studies show that low-fat labels lead all consumers—particularly those who are overweight—to overeat snack foods. Furthermore, salient objective serving-size information (e.g., “Contains 2 Servings”) reduces overeating among guilt-prone, normal-weight consumers but not among overweight consumers. With consumer welfare and corporate profitability in mind, the authors suggest win-win packaging and labeling insights for public policy officials and food marketers.

The geography of suicide terrorism in Israel

Palestinian suicide terrorism has been a key feature in the latest phase of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. During the past decade, and particularly since September 2000, there has been a substantial increase in the use of this type of warfare. Recent studies suggest that, contrary to common belief, suicide terrorism is highly rational and driven by strategic considerations. This article explores the rationality of Palestinian suicide terrorism from a geographical perspective. It is argued that suicide terrorism works along two parallel paths: rationality and randomness. It complies with geographical fundamentals, and target selection is highly rational, subject to spatial considerations such as distance, agglomeration, and accessibility. As the permeability to Israel became more difficult, suicide bombers and their organizers had to adopt more flexible practices which emphasized other spatial considerations. Timing is of importance both for strategic and tactical reasoning. Obstructing negotiations and peace talks has been a salient objective, but the exact timing of suicide bombings has been influenced by tactical considerations, which aim at maximizing casualties.

Nursing assessment of altered sexuality: a review of salient factors and objective measures.

Nursing assessment of altered sexuality. To review salient factors affecting assessment and objective measures available for use in assessment. Literature specific to nursing assessment of sexuality and to instruments measuring altered sexuality. Many standards of care include the assessment of sexuality, and nurses believe it to be an important aspect of care. However, the assessment of altered sexuality does not often occur in actual practice. The use of an objective measure of sexuality is recommended for both initial and on-going assessments in acute-care and community-based settings.

Analysis of local electrogram characteristics correlated with successful radiofrequency catheter ablation of accessory atrioventricular pathways.

Due to the limited myocardial lesions produced by radiofrequency current, the ablation of accessory pathways (AP) requires precise localization of such connections. The purpose of this study was to ascertain which characteristic(s) of the local bipolar electrogram, recorded from the ablation and adjacent electrode immediately prior to the application of radiofrequency current, correlated with precision in localization adequate to permit AP ablation. Signal analysis was performed for 326 sets of electrograms preceding the attempted ablation of 107 APs in 100 consecutive patients. For 80 antegrade APs, the following variables were evaluated: (1) the presence or absence of an AP potential; (2) the local atrial-AP interval; (3) the local atrioventricular (AV) interval; and (4) the relationship between the onset of local ventricular depolarization and onset of delta wave of the surface electrocardiogram. For the 27 concealed APs, the following characteristics were evaluated: (1) the presence or absence of an AP potential; and (2) the local VA interval during reciprocating tachycardia or ventricular pacing. Antegrade APs: By statistical analysis, the best correlate of successful ablation of an antegrade AP was a local AV interval less than or equal to 40 msec (positive predictive value = 94%; 95% confidence intervals [CI] = 81%-100%). Local AV intervals less than or equal to 50 msec preceded 88% of successful AP ablations, compared to only 8% of failed radiofrequency current applications. The positive predictive value of the other variables were: presence of an AP potential: 35% (95% CI = 27%-40%); local atrial-AP intervals less than or equal to 40 msec: 54% (95% CI = 43%-66%); and local ventricular depolarization preceding onset of the delta wave 43% (95% CI = 34%-52%). For concealed APs, the positive predictive value of a VA interval less than 60 msec was 71% (95% CI = 48%-88%); the positive predictive value for the presence of an AP potential was 58% (95% CI = 32%-81%). No single electrogram characteristic had a positive predictive value and a sensitivity greater than 90% for AP localization adequate for radiofrequency current ablation. For antegrade APs, the best correlate of adequate localization was a local AV interval less than or equal to 40 msec; as a corollary, radiofrequency current applications at sites where the local AV was greater than 60 msec, were unlikely to be effective. Objective criteria for the localization of concealed APs were less certain. Electrogram analysis, as a guide to AP localization and ablation, requires careful analysis of multiple variables, with analysis of the local AV interval a salient objective factor.

Modelling Effectiveness-Equity Trade-Offs in Public Service Delivery Systems

Distributional equity is a particularly salient objective in public sector decision making, in general, and decision making concerning the delivery of public services such as education, libraries, sanitation, and public safety, in particular. In this paper two related bicriteria mathematical programming models are developed for identifying the trade-offs between overall output (effectiveness) and equity that result from alternative allocations of service resources among different service delivery sites (branches). The models developed here incorporate equity in a more satisfactory manner than have previous efforts. An illustrative application of the models to the allocation of new books among the branches of a public library system is presented.