Internal Consistency of the Self-Perception Profile for Children: Using Covariance Structure Modeling to Overcome the Limitations of Cronbach\u27s α

Self-perception is linked to a variety of psychosocial outcomes and its measurement has become a priority across a several disciplines. The Self-Perception Profile for Children (SPP-C) is commonly utilized to measure both global self worth and several important sub-domains of self-perception. Although much research has suggested this instrument possesses good internal consistency, previous investigations have primarily employed Cronbach\u27s α; to estimate the stability of responding across items. This represents an important limitation, as α; is vulnerable to mis-estimation in the presence of correlated errors and non-τ-equivalent indicators, neither of which have been ruled out for the SPP-C. The present investigation initially examined the SPP-C responses from 106 girls, aged 8-12 to assess whether the assumptions underlying Cronbach\u27s α; could be justified for this instrument. The investigation then re-estimated the internal consistency of the SPP-C using a covariance structure modeling approach. Results show that not a single scale of the SPP-C met all of the requirements for accurate estimation with α;. In two cases, α; was found to be meaningfully different from the reliability estimated with more durable methods. Lastly, the reliability of the Physical Appearance (PA) sub-scale was not significantly greater than the .70 cutoff for use as a research instrument. Discussion is centered on the appropriateness of Cronbach\u27s α; for estimating the reliability of the SPP-C and recommends revision of the PA sub-scale

IMPACT OF FLEXIBLE WORKING ARRANGEMENTS ON EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION WITHIN THE IT SECTOR IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

In response to the dynamic shifts in the contemporary work landscape, organizations are strategically leveraging Flexible Working Arrangements (FWAs) to optimize employee satisfaction and retain top-tier talent. This study delves into the impact of FWAs, including remote work, hybrid models, and flexible working hours, on employee satisfaction within Bosnia and Herzegovina's Information Technology (IT) sector. Employing a quantitative approach, the survey of 122 IT professionals reveals a substantial positive correlation between FWAs and employee satisfaction. Respondents highlight enhancements in work-life balance, heightened productivity, and increased job satisfaction as key outcomes. The study contributes theoretically by advancing the understanding of FWAs in the dynamic IT sector and offers practical insights for IT companies in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Emphasizing the strategic importance of judicious FWA implementation aligned with organizational goals, the study advocates continuous adaptation based on feedback and best practices. The findings of this study extend beyond the IT sector, providing valuable insights for academia and industry, enriching the discourse on contemporary work arrangements, and guiding organizations toward fostering conducive work environments

Dogs Have Masters

The vignette "Dogs Have Masters" deals with the role of transition and the power of transformation as it applies to the roles of loss, offering, sacrifice and protection. Ceramic traditions of containment, corporeal metaphor and the allegorical reference of earth are examined through an awakening of subconscious and conscious meaning and associations. Commercial porcelains and unfired terra cotta become engaged in a visual dialogue based upon the idiom of binary opposites that create universal balances. Ceramics is shown here as opposition ends of the spectrum leading to the same sobering and perhaps unexpected conclusion: even in death, clay is man's best friend. The imagery was chosen from a wide range of influences: Japanese gardens of old Kyoto; Egyptian mythology with its systematic blueprints for an eternal afterlife; the phrasing of the Spanish poet Juan Ramon Jimenez; the gay nightclubs of my youth and the coded messages of American jazz music

House in Somosaguas II

The exterior walls are made of travertine Roman marble. In most of the interior spaces the floors are finished in black granite, while in some points in the first floor the travertine marble is used too in order to give unit to the housing set.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/bcs/1245/thumbnail.jp

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE EMPLOYEE PERFORMANCE IN OFFSHORING OFFICE: CASE OF JITASA LLC

Since most of the companies are becoming aware of the fact how important employee performance is, finding out ways to achieve higher levels of employee performance is becoming one of the crucial factors for any companies’ success. To help employees achieve better performance, company management needs to know which factors influence employees to perform better. So, few of these factors are tested throughout this study and provide answers that might be helpful to companies that are struggling to motivate employees. The aim of this study is to research into factors that influence the performance of employees on offshoring location in Sarajevo and these factors are Training, Motivation, and Organizational culture. The results that are presented and discussed throughout the study showed that all three hypotheses are accepted, which tells us that there is a positive relationship between Training, Motivation, Organizational culture and Employee Performance in Jitasa LLC. As currently there is no study of this kind conducted in organization that employs offshoring concept, theoretical and empirical contribution is granted. The limitation of the study is relatively small sample and the fact that we could not address all the factors that might influence employee performance

REGIONAL DETERMINANTS OF EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS IN MANUFACTURING INDUSTRY IN CANTON SARAJEVO, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Located in Southeast Europe, Bosnia and Herzegovina suffered from the negative trade balance. There is an increase of export performance; however, the import value is much higher exceeding the export value. To solve that issue, this research aims to investigate regional determinants and its impact on export competitiveness of manufacturing industry in Canton Sarajevo, the center of economy of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Regional determinants assessed are foreign ownership, urbanization, and localization. Regression analysis using SPSS software was conducted. Type of manufacturing industry, urbanization, and localization were the independent variables, meanwhile export competitiveness was the dependent variable. Type of manufacturing industry shows positive impact on export competitiveness. There are 94 out of 490 exporting companies in Canton Sarajevo that belong to manufacturing industry. Out of 94 companies, the most represented companies are fabricated metal products. The manufacturing industry plays a significant role to the export competitiveness in Canton Sarajevo. The biggest urbanization ratio percentage was 23.08% in 2018. The biggest localization ratio percentage was 9.33% in 2016, meaning that localization dropped in years. According to the export incomes data, results show that a small municipality, such as Ilijaš, gains the biggest export incomes. The regression analysis shows positive linear correlation between variables.

Molecular mechanisms and individual vulnerability in an animal model (Mus musculus) of obesity induced by chronic social stress

Vulnerability to stress is given by our genetic make-up and our experiences, therefore it differs between individuals since we are not genetically identical and do not experience the same life events. Moreover, even though stress has been associated obesity, some subjects lose weight instead under stressful conditions. The goal of this thesis is to undercover some of the molecular mechanisms underlying the individual susceptibility to stress which will allow us to better understand how individuals cope better than others. To answer our question we investigated key molecular player involved in adipogenesis, lipolysis, diabetogenesis, sympathetic and insulin signaling markers in metabolically active tissue coming from different strains of mice following exposure to chronic psychosocial stress. Our results showed that a stress induced a complex profile of pro-adipogenic and lipolytic-markers’ expression with a fat depot-specificity as well as strain specificity allowing the contemporary activation of catabolic and anabolic pathways to cope better with stress

Advanced Modulation/Demodulation Schemes For Wireless Communications

Le modulazioni a fase continua CPM ("Continuous phase modulations") e le modulazioni multiportante, sono due schemi di modulazione che sembrano essere molto adatti a trasmissioni wireless. In particolare, le CPM formano un'ampia classe di modulazioni caratterizzata da fase continua ed inviluppo costante e quindi particolarmente efficienti sia energeticamente che spettralmente. Inoltre, la natura ricorsiva del modulatore le rende particolarmente adatte in schemi di concatenazione seriale, decodificati iterativamente. I due problemi maggiori nel progetto di sistemi pratici che impieghino segnale CPM sono l'elevata complessità nel ricevitore (in termini di filtri di "front end" e di numero di stati nel trellis) e l'elevata sensibilità alla non perfetta sincronizzazione di fase. Nella seguente tesi, si analizzano i segnali CPM prima di tutto dal punto di vista capacitivo. Applicando il metodo di Arnold e Loeliger, si valuta l'informazione media mutua delle CPM su canale additivo gaussiano bianco (AWGN) e su canali affetti da rumore di fase. In particolare, si considera un processo di rumore di fase di Wiener ed anche un processo di rumore di fase di maggior interesse pratico, ovvero il SATMODE, tipico di canali satellitari. Inoltre, siccome nonostante le buone proprietà spettrali delle CPM, le modulazioni lineari spesso offrono una maggiore efficienza spettrale (specialmente per valori di efficienza spettrale medio-alti), si propone un metodo di massimizzazione dell'efficienza spettrale, ottenuto ottimizzando le probabilità di ingresso degli ingressi. Si restringe la ricerca ad ingressi di Markov di un certo ordine e si ottiene di conseguenza la capacità di Markov. Secondariamente, allo scopo di superare uno dei principali svantaggi delle CPM, si affronta il problema della derivazione di algoritmi a complessità ridotta per segnali CPM. In particolare, si considerano CPM concatenate serialmente con un codice a correzione di errori (schemi SCCPM). Questi ricevitori sono particolarmente interessanti poiché possono assumere praticamente le stesse prestazioni del ricevitore ottimo ma con una complessità nettamente ridotta. La complessità del ricevitore complessivo dipende principalmente dal rivelatore CPM, e quindi ci si concentra sulla derivazione di schemi di rivelazione a bassa complessità a partire da una strategia di rivelazione a massima probabilità a posteriori (MAP) sui simboli, dato che tale tecnica permette di avere stime di affidabilità sulle decisioni del rivelatore, necessarie per schemi SCCPM. Si prendono in considerazione due approcci per la derivazione di algoritmi: il primo basato su rappresentazioni alternative del segnale CPM, e l'altro basato su tecniche di riduzione di complessità del trellis. Si considera anche combinazioni dei due approcci. In particolare, per ogni formato CPM considerato si riesce sempre a trovare almeno un rivelatore a complessità ridotta, con praticamente le stesse prestazioni di quello ottimo. Si affronta quindi l'altro grande limite delle CPM (ovvero la sensibilità al rumore di fase) considerando algoritmi di rivelazione ad ingressi ed uscite "soft" (ovvero con stime di affidabilità sulle decisioni) per segnali CPM, in presenza di rumore di fase: la stima di fase è implementata congiuntamente alla rivelazione. Anche in questo caso si seguono due approcci: uno non-bayesiano, per il quale il rumore di fase è assunto come una quantità deterministica non nota al ricevitore, e l'altro bayesiano, che consiste nell'assumere un modello stocastico con cui modellizzare il rumore di fase nella derivazione dell'algoritmo di rivelazione. In particolare vengono proposti due modelli di rumore di fase, quello di Wiener e un altro modello statistico, qui derivato per descrivere il rumore di fase SATMODE. Si confrontano tutti gli algoritmi così ottenuti in termini di bit error rate (BER) e si confrontano questi risultati con quelli di informazione mutua precedentemente ottenuti. L'altro scenario considerato è rappresentato da schemi multiportante, utilizzati per trasmissioni digitali su canali doppiamente selettivi. Si comincia considerando la tecnica "orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing" (OFDM), che è un efficiente schema modulativo che fa parte della più ampia classe di modulazioni multiportante. OFDM è molto efficiente su canali selettivi in frequenza, siccome riesce a decomporli in un set di sottocanali, ortogonali e quindi privi di interferenza. Tuttavia il principale svantaggio dell'OFDM è l'elevata sensibilità alle variazioni temporali della risposta all'impulso del canale: in presenza di canali tempo-varianti si perde infatti l'ortogonalità fra le sottoportanti e si verifica interferenza. Ci sono quindi due possibili soluzioni: la prima prevede il progetto di ricevitori complessi con memoria o di complesse tecniche di equalizzazione. L'altra prevede il tentativo di prevenire il più possibile l'insorgere di interferenza, piuttosto che cercare di affrontarla al rivelatore. Nel presente lavoro di tesi, ci si rivolge al secondo approccio, derivando algoritmi di modulazione multiportante alternativi all'OFDM, allo scopo di ridurre la sensibilità alla tempo varianza del canale quando si considerano canali doppiamente selettivi. In dettaglio, si è dimostrato come, partendo da un generale sistema basato su banchi di filtri di trasmissione, si possa derivare un modello di sistema a tempo discreto sovracampionato, con lo scopo di fornire una via di implementazione pratica a diversi schemi di modulazione multiportante. Si è dimostrato come vari formati di modulazione multiportante già presenti in letteratura siano ricavabili come casi particolari di questo modello generale e come essi possano essere implementati in una modalità a complessità ridotta, ricorrendo ad opportune trasformate come la DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform), la DCT (Discrete Cosine Transform) e la DST (Discrete Sine Transform). Si sono quindi generalizzati questi schemi al caso di impulso prototipo non rettangolare, ma opportunamente progettato per ottenere la maggior compattezza possibile nel piano tempo-frequenza. Infine, ispirati dalla base di Wilson, che risulta essere un modo ingegnoso per progettare un set di segnali ortogonali e ben localizzati, si è derivato un nuovo sistema multiportante che sembra essere molto promettente per trasmissioni su canali doppiamente selettivi.Continuous phase modulations (CPMs) and multicarrier schemes, are two modulation schemes which seem to be very suitable for wireless communications. In particular, CPM is a wide class of modulations characterized by continuous phase and constant envelope, and hence, particularly efficient in power and bandwidth. Moreover, the recursive nature of the modulator, makes the CPM signaling formats attractive in serially concatenated schemes to be iteratively decoded. Two major problems in the design of practical systems employing CPM signals are the large complexity in the receiver (in terms of front end filters and number of states in the trellis) and the sensitiveness to inaccurate carrier synchronization. In the following thesis, first of all we analyze the CPM signal from an information theoretic point of view. We employ the method proposed by Arnold and Loeliger to compute the information rate of CPMs over Additive White Gaussian Noise (AWGN) channel and over channels affected by phase noise (PN). In particular, we consider a Wiener PN process and also a more practical phase noise process, typical of some satellite real channels (SATMODE PN). Moreover, since despite the good spectral properties of CPMs, linear modulation offer a much better efficiency, especially at medium and high spectral efficiencies, we propose a spectral efficiency maximization method, where we modify the input probability distribution. We restrict our search to Markov inputs of a given order and we denote the maximum found spectral efficiency, as Markov capacity. Secondly, in order to overcome one of the main CPM disadvantages, we face the problem of the design of reduced-complexity schemes for CPM signals. In particular, we consider serially-concatenated CPM (SCCPM) schemes, which admit a low-complexity receiver based on the serial concatenation of a CPM modulator with an outer error correcting code. These receivers are particularly interesting since they can achieve practically the same performance of an optimal receiver, in a low complexity way. The overall receiver complexity mainly depends on that of the CPM detector and hence, we focus on the derivation of reduced-complexity CPM detectors. In particular, we resort to detection algorithms derived from the maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) symbol detection strategy, since it allows us to obtain soft-decision algorithms, necessary in a SCCPM scheme. We consider two alternative approaches for algorithm derivation: one based on some alternative representations of the CPM signal, and the other based on techniques for trellis complexity reduction. The combination of the two approaches is also investigated. We will show that, for all the considered CPM formats, at least one low-complexity receiver with optimal performance, exists. Then, we address the other CPM main drawback (i.e., the sensitiveness to inaccurate carrier synchronization) by deriving reduced-complexity soft-input soft-output (SISO) detection algorithms suitable for iterative detection/decoding in the presence of PN. In particular, PN estimation is carried out jointly to the detection stage. In this case, we consider two approaches while deriving the algorithms: a non-Bayesian approach, which does not require any assumption on the statistical properties of the phase noise, since the PN is simply considered as a sequence of unknown parameters to be properly estimated, and the Bayesian approach, which consists of assuming a proper probabilistic model for the PN, and to exploit it for detection algorithm derivation. In particular, we propose Bayesian algorithms assuming both a Wiener PN model and a statistical model we have derived to describe SATMODE PN. We compare all the derived algorithms on channels affected by the two PN and we relate bit error rate (BER) results with information rate results previously obtained. The other considered scenario is represented by multicarrier schemes, employed in digital transmissions over doubly-selective channels. We start by considering orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), which is an efficient modulation scheme belonging to the wide class of multicarrier modulations, largely implemented in terrestrial networks. OFDM is particularly suitable for frequency selective, since OFDM decomposes linear time-invariant channels into a set of orthogonal, interference-free sub-channels. However, the main OFDM disadvantage is the strong sensitivity to the channel impulse response (CIR) time-variations: in the presence of a rapidly time-varying CIR, the orthogonality between the sub-carriers is destroyed and inter-carrier interference (ICI) appears. In such a case, we have two viable solutions; the first one is to derive receivers with memory, able to cope with the interference or complex equalization techniques. The second one is the design of modulation formats such as to reduce the interference (rather than to cope with it). We resort to the second approach, by deriving multicarrier modulation schemes alternative to the OFDM, to reduce the sensitivity to time-variations, in order to employ these modulations on doubly-selective channels In particular, starting from a general filter-bank system, we propose an oversampled discrete-time system model in order to get a practical implementation of various multicarrier modulation formats in realistic communication systems. We show that all multicarrier modulation formats can be derived from such a discrete-time model, with a general prototype filter (rather than with the classical rectangular filter) and a general time and frequency spacing between the coded symbols. In other words, we apply pulseshape techniques to all schemes, extending the techniques already proposed in the literature. Finally, inspired by the tight connection between multicarrier modulations and the Gabor communication theory, we consider the Wilson base, which is a clever way to design well-localized and orthogonal frames in the windowed Fourier framework, and we derive a novel practical multicarrier modulation scheme, very promising on doubly selective channels. It is important to remark that for all modulation schemes we will derive, a fast implementation exists

Understanding the Mechanism of Influence of TQM Practices on Financial Performance: the Mediating Effect of Innovation Performance

This study explores the mechanism of influence of total quality management (TQM) practices on a company’s financial performance (FP), considering innovation performance (IP) as a mediator variable. In addition, the proposed model seeks to determine whether the competition intensity (CI) moderates the relationship between TQM practices and FP. Based on the sample of 593 companies from various sectors in Bosnia and Herzegovina, structural equation modeling is used to analyze the relationships between the variables in the model. The results of this paper reveal the implicit and often omitted impact of IP on FP taking into account TQM practices, suggesting that the impact of TQM practices is manifested through full mediation of IP. The moderating effect of CI in the relationship between TQM practices and FP was not supported. The results indicate the role and the importance of IP in the mechanism of influence of TQM practices