Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Experimental research on race and sex discrimination: The record and the prospects

Research in industry regarding race and sex access discrimination is reviewed. Review of sex discrimination research suggests that negative access discrimination exists for female applicants when the position is male-stereotyped and positive access discrimination exists when it is female-stereotyped. Results on race discrimination are few in number with mixed results, some showing reverse discrimination and others showing discrimination against blacks. More complex studies examining interactions between race and sex also provide mixed results. Recent evidence, which suggests that selection decisions are much more complex than have been studied, may account for the conflicting findings. Future research with more imaginative and complex designs and larger sample sizes is needed. Research designs should be selected to facilitate better measurement of the effects of civil rights law enforcement.
Religious Exploration Among Highly Religious American Adolescents

A qualitative investigation of adolescent religious exploration was conducted with 78 religious adolescents. Interviews were analyzed using a grounded theory approach to identify common themes underlying their experiences of religious exploration. Three key themes emerged. First, various circumstances, contexts, and relationships in adolescents’ lives serve as catalysts for initiating religious exploration. Second, adolescents used many different strategies of exploration. Often exploration is fostered or hindered by social relationships. At other times it is fostered or hindered by salient life experiences, or through other learning processes. Third, in terms of patterns of exploration, adolescents tended to use present identity commitments as a secure base from which to explore other areas of their identity or other aspects of their religiosity. These findings challenge overly simplistic notions of religious exploration as simply doubt, highlight the importance of relational contexts, and point to a more sophisticated understanding of the dynamics of commitment and exploration.
The Politics of Belonging

This article explores how interest groups decide policy positions through case studies of three organizations’ shifting stances on the issue of immigration. In all three cases, the AFL-CIO, the Sierra Club, and the Christian Coalition, issue positions are signaling mechanisms central to the construction of an organizational identity. Leadership considers the message the stance on a policy issue sends to potential constituents and allies. Organizational agendas are one tool used by leaders to craft new narratives about what the group stands for, who the group represents, and who belongs. Key determinants of leaderships’ calculation over redrawing the boundaries of inclusion and representation and what signal an issue stance will convey includes organizational strength and a reading of a shifting political terrain. An evolutionary metaphor, instead of a rational actor model, is better suited to understand this critical component of interest group behavior, agenda setting.
The relationship between stressful life events, the serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) genotype and major depression

Background. Serotonin is a good candidate for major depression. We attempted to replicate the study by Caspi and colleagues [Science (2003) 301, 386–389] which reported a significant interaction between serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) genotype and stressful life events when predicting major depression. Method. We typed the serotonin promoter 5-HTTLPR gene in 1206 male and female twins aged 19–78 years (mean=39, S.D.=11). A DSM-IV diagnosis of major depression was available for 1199 twins. Most of these twins had participated in a 1988–1990 study which included a stressful life events inventory and self-report measure of depression based on the SCL-90 and DSSI/sAD. Complete 5-HTT genotype and life events data, self-report symptoms and major depression diagnoses were available for 1091 subjects. We regressed categorical and ordinal measures of depression onto stressful life events and genotype. Results. There were significant main effects for stressful life events but there was no evidence for any effect of 5-HTT genotype, nor a genotype×stressful life event interaction. Conclusions. Regardless of whether our results were based on binary logistic or ordinal regression analyses we found no evidence to support a main effect of 5-HTTLPR, or an interaction between the 5-HTTLPR genotype and stressful life events on major depression. Only 20% of our subjects were aged below 30 years. It is possible that the effect reported by Caspi and colleagues is specific to young people, in which case our study has much less power in this age group.
Immortalized human bladder cell line exhibits amiloride-sensitive sodium absorption.

We have produced a continuous cell line using retroviral transduction of simian virus 40 (SV40) large T antigen into epithelial cells grown from a cystoscopic bladder biopsy from a female patient with interstitial cystitis. Immortalized urothelial cells are grown in a hormonally supplemented medium in the presence of lethally irradiated NIH-3T3 fibroblast coculture. They maintain their epithelial appearance and are positive for cytokeratins. SV40 large T antigen is localized to the cell nucleus. When grown on Anocell permeable supports, the cells form a complex epithelium with scalloped luminal membranes, apical junctional complexes containing tight junctions, stratification, transepithelial resistance of 500-1,000 omega.cm2, amiloride-sensitive short-circuit current indicative of active transepithelial Na+ absorption, and functional evidence for basolateral Na-K-adenosinetriphosphatase. This immortalized bladder cell line will facilitate the study of human bladder epithelial function and the response to diverse physiological and pathophysiological stimuli.
Comparison of Nasal Potential Difference and Intestinal Current Measurements as Surrogate Markers for CFTR Function

Objectives: Nasal potential difference (NPD) measurement is part of the diagnostic criteria for cystic fibrosis (CF) and now used routinely as an endpoint in clinical trials of correcting the basic defect in CF. Intestinal current measurement (ICM), measured ex vivo on a rectal biopsy, has been used to study cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) function but has not been compared to NPD in the same subject in adults and children. The aim of the study is to evaluate the potential usefulness of ICM as a marker of CFTR function for treatment studies compared NPD in patients with CF and in healthy control subjects. Methods: ICM and NPD were performed on healthy controls and patients with CF. The healthy adults were individuals undergoing routine screening colonoscopy at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. The healthy children were undergoing colonoscopy for suspicion of inflammation in Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center. The CF adults were recruited from Boston Children's Hospital CF Center and CF Center Worcester Mass, the children with CF from Hadassah CF Center. Results: ICM measurements in healthy control subjects (n = 16) demonstrated a mean (±SE) carbachol response of 16.0 (2.2) &mgr;A/cm2, histamine response of 13.2 (2.1) &mgr;A/cm2 and a forskolin response of 6.3 (2.0) &mgr;A/cm2. Basal NPD of −15.9 (1.9) and response to Cl− free + isoproterenol of −13.8 (2.0). These responses were inverted in CF subjects (n = 12) for ICM parameters with carbachol response of −3.0 (0.5) &mgr;A/cm2, histamine −1.0 (0.8) &mgr;A/cm2 and a forskolin response of 0.5 (0.3) and also for NPD parameters; basal NPD of −42.2 (4.3) and response to Cl− free + isoproterenol of 4.3 (0.7). Pearson correlation test showed the comparability of ICM and NPD in assessing CFTR function. Conclusions: ICM is equivalent to NPD in the ability to distinguish patients with CF from controls and could be used as surrogate markers of CFTR activity in treatment protocols.
The influence of technology acceptance model (TAM) factors on students' e‐satisfaction and e‐retention within the context of UAE e‐learning

Purpose – The main purpose of this paper is to highlight the significance of TAM factors in the light of some external factors on students' e‐retention and the mediating role of e‐satisfaction within United Arab Emirates (UAE) e‐learning context.Design/methodology/approach – The relative importance of TAM factors was examined, as well as enjoyment and blackboard design on students' e‐satisfaction and e‐retention. The survey was designed and administrated using face‐to‐face method. Data were collected from a convenient sample of students who use blackboard system. AMOS 6 was used to test for the hypothesized relationships.Findings – Perceived usefulness has a direct and positive relationship with students' e‐satisfaction and e‐retention while perceived ease of use has only a direct relationship with students' e‐retention. Design features and enjoyment have only a significant relationship with students' e‐satisfaction without any direct relationship with students' e‐retention. Finally, students' e‐satisfact.
Human immunodeficiency virus‐1 and hepatitis C virus RNA among South African blood donors: estimation of residual transfusion risk and yield of nucleic acid testing

Background and Objectives South Africa is an endemic area for human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV‐1) infection, which has an impact on the safety of the blood supply. We studied the presence of HIV‐1 and hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA, and recent HIV seroconversion, in blood donors in order to estimate transfusion risk and to determine whether nucleic acid testing (NAT) could effectively improve blood safety.
Physical mapping of an origin of bidirectional replication at the centre of the Borrelia burgdorferi linear chromosome

The Borrelia burgdorferi chromosome is linear, with telomeres characterized by terminal inverted repeats and covalently closed single‐stranded hairpin loops. The replication mechanism of these unusual molecules is unknown. Previous analyses of bacterial chromosomes for which the complete sequence has been determined, including that of B. burgdorferi, revealed an abrupt switch in polarity of CG skew at known or putative origins of replication. We used nascent DNA strand analysis to physically map the B. burgdorferi origin to within a 2 kb region at the centre of the linear chromosome, and to show that replication proceeds bidirectionally from this origin. The results are consistent with replication models in which termination occurs at the telomeres after bidirectional, symmetrical elongation from the central origin. Sequences typical of origins of other bacterial chromosomes were not found at the origin of this spirochete. The most likely location of the replication origin of the linear chromosome is the 240 bp sequence between dnaA and dnaN where the switch in CG skew occurs.
Poincaré surface profile. Novel non-invasive method to detect preferential ventricular response during atrial fibrillation

The strategy of rate control during atrial fibrillation (AF) essentially deals with efforts to utilize and adjust the filtering properties of the atrioventricular (AV) node, allowing AF to continue and ensure that ventricular rate is controlled. In this work, a new tool based on the 3D Poincare plots is developed for the characterization of the ventricular response (VR) and the clinical evaluation of rate control therapies. Mechanisms underlying atrioventricular conduction during AF remain unclear. The role of the dual pathway AV nodal electrophysiology and the effects of the AV node modifications are still being an incognita. RR interval clusters exhibiting harmonic behaviour have been quantified suggestive of an underlying AV conduction ratio.
Serotonergic modulation of the balance system in panic disorder: An open study

Experimental evidence suggests that panic disorder is characterized by abnormalities in the balance system function and that these abnormalities might be related to the severity of agoraphobic avoidance. Since the balance system can be modulated by the serotonergic system, we investigated the effect of a 6‐week treatment with citalopram on the balance system function in patients with panic disorder. Fifteen patients with panic disorder with/without agoraphobia underwent static posturography on days 0 and 42. Static posturography and clinical assessments were carried out by different investigators who were blind to each other. Static posturography showed high percentages of abnormal scores. Patients with no or low agoraphobic avoidance showed less abnormal posturographic measures than those with moderate to severe agoraphobia. After 6 weeks of treatment with citalopram there was a significant decrease of four out of six posturography measures in eyes‐closed and neck extension conditions, whereas no significant effect was found in the eyes‐open condition. This is the first report that suggests that the modulation of the serotonergic system can improve the balance system function in patients with panic disorder, particularly when visual information is lacking. In addition, our findings confirm the observation that many patients with panic disorder have abnormalities in their balance system function, supporting the idea that these abnormalities are mainly related to agoraphobic avoidance. Depression and Anxiety 17:101–106, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Unsupervised model selection for recognition of regional accented speech

This paper is concerned with automatic speech recognition (ASR) for accented speech. Given a small amount of speech from a new speaker, is it better to apply speaker adaptation to the baseline, or to use accent identification (AID) to identify the speaker’s accent and select an accent-dependent acoustic model? Three accent-based model selection methods are investigated: using the ‘true’ accent model, and unsupervised model selection using i-Vector and phonotactic-based AID. All three methods outperform the unadapted baseline. Most significantly, AID-based model selection using 43s of speech performs better than unsupervised speaker adaptation, even if the latter uses five times more adaptation data. Combining unsupervised AIDbased model selection and speaker adaptation gives an average relative reduction in ASR error rate of up to 47%. Index Terms: speech recognition, acoustic model selection, accent identification, i-Vector, phonotactics
How Consumers Value Fuel Economy: A Literature Review

The extent to which consumers value the expected future fuel savings from fuel economy improvements to new passenger cars and light trucks is a key determinant of the levels of fuel economy achieved in unregulated markets and the effects of regulatory standards on consumers’ surplus. This paper reviews 28 recent quantitative analyses of consumers’ willingness to pay for automotive fuel economy. Some of the studies estimate discrete choice models with random or fixed coefficients, some are based on aggregate market data while others use disaggregate survey data. Other studies make use of hedonic price analysis or other methods. Their inferences about willingness to pay span a very broad range with roughly equal numbers finding significant under-valuing, significant over-valuing or approximately valuing the full present value of expected fuel savings over the lifetime of a typical vehicle. Although the methodologies or model formulations of a few of the studies are questionable, there do not appear to be clear associations among methods or data sources and the resulting inferences. It is suggested that such conflicting results may be attributable to the statistical problems caused by omitted variables, errors in variables and correlated variables, the complexity of consumers’ vehicle choice decisions, and the likelihood that the rational economic consumer model does not adequately describe the decision-making of consumers in the real world. Additional, empirical behavioral research appears to be needed to resolve the issue.
An improved square-root algorithm for BLAST

In this letter, an improved square-root algorithm for Bell Labs Layered Space-Time (BLAST) system is proposed. It speeds up the original square-root algorithm by 36% in terms of the number of multiplications and additions. Compared with the recursive algorithm, it requires only a 13.6% higher number of multiplications and a 38.9% higher number of additions. Since it uses unitary transformations to avoid the computation of any matrix inversion or "squaring" operation, it maintains the advantages of the square-root based algorithms that are numerically stable, robust, and hardware friendly.
Amygdala damage affects event‐related potentials for fearful faces at specific time windows

The amygdala is known to influence processing of threat‐related stimuli in distant brain regions, including visual cortex. The time‐course of these distant influences is unknown, although this information is important for resolving debates over likely pathways mediating an apparent rapidity in emotional processing. To address this, we recorded event‐related potentials (ERPs) to seen fearful face expressions, in preoperative patients with medial temporal lobe epilepsy who had varying degrees of amygdala pathology, plus healthy volunteers. We found that amygdala damage diminished ERPs for fearful versus neutral faces within the P1 time‐range, ∼100–150 ms, and for a later component at ∼500–600 ms. Individual severity of amygdala damage determined the magnitude of both these effects, consistent with a causal amygdala role. By contrast, amygdala damage did not affect explicit perception of fearful expressions nor a distinct emotional ERP effect at 150–250 ms. These results demonstrate two distinct time‐points at which the amygdala influences fear processing. The data also demonstrate that while not all aspects of expression processing are disrupted by amygdala damage, there is a crucial impact on an early P1 component. These findings are consistent with the existence of multiple processing stages or routes for fearful faces that vary in their dependence on amygdala function. Hum Brain Mapp, 2010. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
An Investigation of Self-Rated Cues Believed to Influence the Judgment of Intelligence in a Zero-Acquaintance Context

This study examined participants' perceptions of the cues they believed to be important when making intelligence judgments in zero-acquaintance contexts. In total, 467 British participants rated 29 items for how important they were when making judgments of intelligence and completed scales measuring their personality, self-assessed intelligence, and demographics. A factor analysis showed that the 29 intelligence cues could be reduced to 4 factors: Physical Cues, Nonphysical Cues, Adornments, and Knowledge. There were no gender differences in ratings of these factors, and Knowledge was rated as the most important factor, followed by Nonphysical Cues, Adornments, and Physical Cues. These factors were weakly associated with participants' personality scores and self-assessed intelligence. Results are discussed in relation to the literature on intelligence judgments.
INSTABILITY-DRIVEN DYNAMICAL EVOLUTION MODEL OF A PRIMORDIALLY FIVE-PLANET OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM

Over the last decade, evidence has mounted that the solar system's observed state can be favorably reproduced in the context of an instability-driven dynamical evolution model, such as the “Nice” model. To date, all successful realizations of instability models have concentrated on evolving the four giant planets onto their current orbits from a more compact configuration. Simultaneously, the possibility of forming and ejecting additional planets has been discussed, but never successfully implemented. Here we show that a large array of five-planet (two gas giants + three ice giants) multi-resonant initial states can lead to an adequate formation of the outer solar system, featuring an ejection of an ice giant during a phase of instability. Particularly, our simulations demonstrate that the eigenmodes that characterize the outer solar system's secular dynamics can be closely matched with a five-planet model. Furthermore, provided that the ejection timescale of the extra planet is short, orbital excitation of a primordial cold classical Kuiper Belt can also be avoided in this scenario. Thus, the solar system is one of many possible outcomes of dynamical relaxation and can originate from a wide variety of initial states. This deems the construction of a unique model of solar system's early dynamical evolution impossible.
Judeo-Christian Attitudes Toward Employed Women

The relationship between Judeo-Christian beliefs and attitudes toward employed women was examined. Participants (N = 9,742) responded to the National Opinion Research Center's General Social Survey (Davis & Smith, 1996a). Attitudes toward employed women varied by strength of religiosity, gender, religious affiliation, and year; as strength of religiosity increased, attitudes became more traditional. Men had more traditional attitudes than women. The women who are more religious had attitudes that were more conservative than less religious women. Christians had more traditional attitudes than Jews and the nonreligious. Between 1985 and 1996, attitudes became less traditional. These findings suggest that attitudes toward working women are changing in a gradual manner, but that men and women hold very different attitudes about working women, even within the same religious affiliation.
Social Integration, Heterogeneity, and Divorce: The Case of the Swedish-speaking Population in Finland

The study compared marital stability in Finland with focus on the two language groups. The divorce rate was remarkably lower among the Swedish-speaking minority than among the Finnish-speaking majority. An explanation for this may be differences in social integration. The assumption about the effect of social integration was also supported by covariates measuring urbanization and individual migration. A hypothesis that marital homogamy reduces the divorce rate found support only with respect to the language of the spouses but not with respect to level of education or age.
Molecular characterization of circumventricular organs and third ventricle ependyma in the rat: potential markers for periventricular tumors

Circumventricular organs (CVOs) are specialized ventricular structures around the third and fourth ventricles of the brain. In humans, these structures are present during the fetal period and some become vestigial after birth. Some of these organs, such as the pineal gland (PG), subcommissural organ (SCO), and organum vasculosum of the lamina terminalis, might be the sites of origin of periventricular tumors, notably pineal parenchymal tumors, papillary tumor of the pineal region and chordoid glioma. In contrast to the situation in humans, CVOs are present in the adult rat and can be dissected by laser capture microdissection (LCM). In this study, we used LCM and microarrays to analyze the transcriptomes of three CVOs, the SCO, the subfornical organ (SFO), and the PG and the third ventricle ependyma in the adult rat, in order to better characterize these organs at the molecular level. Several genes were expressed only, or mainly, in one of these structures, for example, Erbb2 and Col11a1 in the ependyma, Epcam and Claudin‐3 (CLDN3) in the SCO, Ren1 and Slc22a3 in the SFO and Tph, Aanat and Asmt in the PG. The expression of these genes in periventricular tumors should be examined as evidence for a possible origin from the CVOs. Furthermore, we performed an immunohistochemical study of CLDN3, a membrane protein involved in forming cellular tight junctions and found that CLDN3 expression was restricted to the apical pole of ependymocytes in the SCO. This microarray study provides new evidence regarding the possible origin of some rare periventricular tumors.