Search results for "SAMPLE"
showing 10 items of 2270 documents
Do Female Loan Officers Mitigate Social-Financial Trade-Offs in Microfinance?
2021
This paper revisits social-financial trade-offs in microfinance. We theorize that workforce diversity mitigates the divergence between social and financial performance levels. We test our prediction by performing fixed-effects generalised least squares regressions on a global sample of 1257 microfinance institutions (MFIs) in 107 countries over the period 2010–2018. Confirming our prediction, the empirical results show that the proportion of female loan officers attenuates the negative relationship between the social performance and the financial performance of MFIs. We attribute our findings to the personal characteristics of female loan officers and the high repayment rates of loans that …
Recent Advances in Digital Holographic Microscopy
2018
In digital holographic microscopy (DHM) a hologram is captured in the image space provided by a microscope. The transfer of the phase and amplitude structure in the original sample to the hologram is in fact strongly affected by the use of the imaging microscope. A big research effort has been devoted to correct these distortions both by numerical and optical compensation. In this contribution, we present several proposals to improve the performance of classical DHM architectures by an a priori approach to compensate physically these perturbations. Experimental results are also presented to validate the proposed techniques.
Compulsive Internet Use and Academic Procrastination: Significant Comparative, Correlative and Predicting Indicators in a Romanian Student Sample
2017
Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate significant measures between indicators / factors associated to compulsive Internet use and academic procrastination behaviors, for a sample of students, from Romanian education institutions. Previous transcultural findings indicate that compulsive Internet use and procrastination behaviours, but in most cases investigated separately, can interfere, distract, delay and / or have a negative impact on academic work / achievement (completing reading assignments, homework, studying for exams / academic failure), task performance and quality of life (personal and social obligations). Romanian participants were asked on a voluntary basis and w…
Determination of the mineral composition of foods by infrared spectroscopy: a review of a green alternative.
2014
The determination of mineral composition of foods involves, in most cases, the use of long and tedious sample preparation, which consumes acids and reagents and sometimes requires the use of expensive instrumentation. This is the main reason for the search for direct analytical procedures, based on the use of infrared sample spectra and chemometrics, to model the signals in order to determine the presence of essential and trace toxic elements in foods. The state-of-the-art of the research in this field has been established in the present review article from the critical evaluation of articles available in the literature. Chemometric methods employed and their validation, together with a dis…
To defy or not to defy: An experimental study of dynamics of disobedience and whistle-blowing
2012
This study introduces a new paradigm for investigating the dynamic processes of disobedience between individuals and unjust authority. Our experimental setting allowed participants (n = 149) to deal with an unethical request by the experimenter with options of (dis)obeying or “blowing the whistle”. Results revealed that the majority (77%) complied while the minority was split between those refusing (14%) and those reporting the misconduct to higher authorities (9%). No significant differences were found in personal characteristics and dispositional variables distinguishing between obedient, disobedient, and whistleblower participants. An independent sample (n = 138), when asked to predict t…
Changing commuters’ mobility behaviors of university campuses: environmental and energy comparisons
2021
Governments are required to take proper measures to promote the use of electric and hybrid vehicles and, more generally, to push people towards sweeter modalities including walking and biking. To reach such tight and challenging goals, local institutions should be deeply involved, and universities among them. The promotion of sustainable mobility practices among commuter students must be considered indeed an effective contribution to facilitating the transition towards greener cities. On purpose, students of the University of Palermo that daily commute from their residences to the campus are considered here. These commuters, in fact, mainly adopt traditional polluting transportation means. …
Characterization of isomeric 1,2,4-oxadiazolyl-N-methylpyridinium salts by electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry.
2007
The mass spectrometric behavior of 1,2,4-oxadiazolyl- N-methylpyridinium salts has been investigated. These substances are of current interest as perspective ionic liquids, compounds used as green solvents for synthesis, and for their catalytic properties. The studies have been developed through electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry (ESI-MS/MS) experiments. The obtained results demonstrate a ready distinction between the two isomeric classes, 3- N-methylpyridinium- and 5- N-methylpyridinium-1,2,4-oxadiazoles, is possible through ESI-MS/MS experiments. A deeper investigation on the principal fragmentation pathways of characteristic ions has been also developed.
Investigation of the phase transitions occurring during and after the dehydration of xylazine hydrochloride monohydrate.
2014
This paper reports an investigation of a complex solid state phase transition where two inter-converting polymorphs (X and A) of the pharmaceutical molecule xylazine hydrochloride formed and transformed during and after the dehydration of its monohydrate (H). The crystal structures of all three forms were compared. During the investigation of this solid state phase transition it was determined that the dehydration of H produced either a pure X form, or a mixture of the X and A forms. The phase composition depended on the sample preparation procedure and the experimental conditions. It was found that grinding of the hydrate enhanced the formation of polymorph X as a product of dehydration, w…
Enhancing dynamic graphical analysis with the Lisp-Stat language and the ViSta statistical program
2005
Presented is a sample of computerized methods aimed at multidimensional scaling and psychometric item analysis that offer a dynamic graphical interface to execute analyses and help visualize the results. These methods show how the Lisp-Stat programming language and the ViSta statistical program can be jointly applied to develop powerful computer applications that enhance dynamic graphical analysis methods. The feasibility of this combined strategy relies on two main features: (1) The programming architecture of ViSta enables users to add new statistical methods as plug-ins, which are integrated into the program environment and can make use of all the functions already available in ViSta (e.…
CBCT assessment of radicular volume loss after rapid maxillary expansion : a systematic review
2018
Background The present systematic review analyzed the current literature to investigate whether rapid maxillary expansion (RME) causes radicular resorption, assessed by cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT). Material and methods Eighteen electronic databases and reference lists of studies were searched up to November 2017. Grey literature was also screened. To be included, articles must be human studies on growing subjects with transversal maxillary deficiency treated with maxillary expansion protocol and with 3-D radiographic assessment of radicular volume by CBCT images. Two authors independently performed study selection, data extraction, and risk of bias assessment. Study characteristics…