Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Examining the Effectiveness of a Pilot Physical Literacy–Based Intervention Targeting First-Year University Students: The PLUS Program

The transition into university is often considered the first major life transition and is associated with significant declines in physical activity (PA). It remains, however, unclear how to best prevent or attenuate these declines. The concept of physical literacy (PL) and the enhancement of PL may hold some promise, as it is considered foundational for lifelong PA engagement. Specifically, it targets the motivation, confidence, physical competence, knowledge, and understanding to maintain PA. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a pilot PL-based intervention. First-year university students (N = 65, Mage = 17.85 ± 0.51; n = 46 females) were enrolled in a quasi-experimental study. Participants in the intervention condition (n = 26) entered a 12-week program intentionally designed to facilitate novel movement skills through aerial, water, and land-based activities, within a fun and engaging group-based environment. Participants in the control condition completed baseline and follow-up assessments only. All participants completed baseline and follow-up assessments of movement competence, motivation, knowledge, and confidence. Results found a significant time by condition interaction, F(1, 58) 4.92, p = . 03, η p 2 = 0.08 in PL, suggesting the intervention was effective in enhancing overall PL. There were also significant time by condition interactions for motivation, F(1, 59) 5.19, p = . 03, η p 2 = 0.08, and knowledge and understanding, F(1, 59) 6.90, p = . 01, η p 2 = 0.11 when examining PL subdomains. Overall, results from our pilot PL-based intervention show promise as a modality to help first-year university students maintain active lifestyles, but future trials with larger samples are required.
Organizational Justice, Job Stress, and Work-family Conflict: Their Interrelationships in Universities' Personnel

Presence of justice in an organization plays a crucial role on employees' well-being and remarkable success of the organization itself. This fair environment may be an important factor in lower levels of stress, which is associated with balancing demands between work and family domains among employees at university. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between distributive, procedural, and interactional dimensions of organizational justice and job stress, between work-family conflict and job stress, and whether the perception of organizational justice elements do influence work-family conflict. In sum, drawing upon 146 non-academic employees at 5 state universities in Iran, our result indicated that interactional justice had the strongest negative relationship with stress at work and work-family conflict. Moreover, the reciprocal correlation was found between job stress and work-family conflict. Hence, in order to decrease level of stress and to better manage the work and family lives, organizations need to promote justice in workplace.
PARTS: Probabilistic Alignment for RNA joinT Secondary structure prediction

A novel method is presented for joint prediction of alignment and common secondary structures of two RNA sequences. The joint consideration of common secondary structures and alignment is accomplished by structural alignment over a search space defined by the newly introduced motif called matched helical regions. The matched helical region formulation generalizes previously employed constraints for structural alignment and thereby better accommodates the structural variability within RNA families. A probabilistic model based on pseudo free energies obtained from precomputed base pairing and alignment probabilities is utilized for scoring structural alignments. Maximum a posteriori (MAP) common secondary structures, sequence alignment and joint posterior probabilities of base pairing are obtained from the model via a dynamic programming algorithm called PARTS. The advantage of the more general structural alignment of PARTS is seen in secondary structure predictions for the RNase P family. For this family, the PARTS MAP predictions of secondary structures and alignment perform significantly better than prior methods that utilize a more restrictive structural alignment model. For the tRNA and 5S rRNA families, the richer structural alignment model of PARTS does not offer a benefit and the method therefore performs comparably with existing alternatives. For all RNA families studied, the posterior probability estimates obtained from PARTS offer an improvement over posterior probability estimates from a single sequence prediction. When considering the base pairings predicted over a threshold value of confidence, the combination of sensitivity and positive predictive value is superior for PARTS than for the single sequence prediction. PARTS source code is available for download under the GNU public license at http://rna.urmc. rochester.edu.
Later, smaller, better? Water infrastructure and infant mortality in Finnish cities and towns, 1870–1938

ABSTRACT We analyse the role of modern water infrastructure in reducing infant mortality in Finnish cities and towns in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Estimates from US data suggest that urban water infrastructures greatly affected the health transition in Western countries, implying policy lessons for developing countries. Finland is a relevant case due to the early onset of mortality decline in a predominantly agrarian context in a country with a low GDP. Our sources enable analysis across population centres of varying size as well as over different phases of development. We construct panel data on infant mortality and the initiation of three major water interventions – piped water, sewers and chlorination – in 37 Finnish cities and towns from approximately 1870 to 1938. We show that in line with previous literature, the interventions had a significant effect on infant mortality, jointly accounting for roughly 40% of the average decrease in different cities. However, most of the measurable effect was driven by small- and medium-sized cities adopting more advanced technology in the twentieth century rather than by pioneering larger cities in the nineteenth century. Weighting by population size rather than using average effects reduces the estimate to about 32%. Due to low levels of urbanisation, the measurable impact on national mortality decline was only about 4–5 % over the entire period, but roughly twice as high in the twentieth century, when both urbanisation and a decline in urban infant mortality rates gathered pace. Following development economics, our findings emphasise the importance of distinguishing the effects of sanitation by period and developmental context rather than compressing them into a single estimate.
The 1980 s Dive rgence in State per Capita Incomes : What Does It Tell Us ?

During most of this century, state per capita incomes have converged. Researchers generally agree that incomes diverged between 1979 and 1988, but there is no consensus about what caused the divergence. This paper makes two significant contributions to the literature on the 1980s divergence and on the longer-term converging trend within the United States. First, it shows that the 1980s divergence was not primarily due to plunging oil prices, as is commonly argued. Instead, the most important reason for the divergence was a positive shock to some Northeast states, which had an unusually large effect on income. Second, this paper addresses the question of whether the 1980s divergence reflects a fundamental change in the long-term downward trend in income dispersion. The analysis suggests that state per capita incomes may be so close to their steady-state levels that they have stopped converging. During most of the 20th century, state per capita incomes have converged. Many researchers, using a variety of techniques , have verified this empirical fact. (See, for example, Barro and Sala-i-Martin (19 91), Br owne (1989), and Cough-l i n and Mandelbaum (1988). ) Researchers generally agree that incomes diverged between 1979 and 1988, but there is no consensus about what caused the dive rgence. Sp e c u l a t i o n about the reason for increased dispersion during the 1980s focuses on the role of falling oil prices. Most of the analysis views the increased income dispersion during the 1980s as a temporary departure from the long-run down ward trend evident for most of this century. This paper makes two significant contributions to the literature on the 1980s divergence and on the longer-term converging trend within the United States. First, it shows that the common interpretation of the 1980s divergence as the result of plunging oil prices is not consistent with the evidence. Instead, a po s i t ive shock to some Northeast states had an unusually large effect on income and was the most important reason that incomes diverged during the 1980s. The second contribution of this paper is to address the question of whether the 1980s divergence represents a fundamental change in the long-term downward trend in income dispersion. This analysis suggests the possibility that incomes have stopped converging, which represents a significant departure from previous work on income dispersion within the Un i t e d States. The paper is organized as …
Mobile Money and Payment: A Literature Review Based on Academic and Practitioner - Oriented Publications (2001 - 2011)

The use of mobile technology has become widespread with astonishing speed all over the world, particularly among the poor. The more mobile phones go to the hands of people who formerly lacked access to financial services, the more the notions of mobile money, mobile payment and mobile banking become pervasive as a means of financial inclusion. Although there are more than 120 mobile money projects deployed in about 70 emerging markets (Beshouri et al. 2010), mobile payment has only taken off in a limited number of countries. This failure to disseminate a service with such a huge potential worldwide, shows that the reasons for the successful cases are not clearly understood, and as a result, are not being easily replicated. This paper seeks to fill this knowledge gap by providing a comprehensive literature review, which attempts to analyse significant experiences in this field, especially in developing countries. An investigation has been carried out of both academic, peer-reviewed articles and the available non-peer-reviewed practitioner-oriented publications, (a total of 196 papers – 94 peer-reviewed and 92 non-peer-reviewed – published in the period 2001-2011) to obtain information related to the actors and institutions involved in mobile money initiatives. In other words, the study addresses the following questions: what is the driving-force behind these initiatives, what are the obstacles and the social and economic implications of their implementation. Thus, the aim of this review is to map out the existing knowledge on mobile money by pointing out the main sources of information on the subject, and defining the topics that are most frequently researched. In addition, it examines which locations most studies focus on, and which methodologies are being applied to these studies, as well as the determining factors and contexts of the published studies.
A cultural kaleidoscope: managing the European company

This thesis provides a comparative study of managerial practices in Europe. Patterns of behaviour and preferred modes of organisation are identified in four countries, based on an in-depth case study of a chosen/specific European company. While the corporate culture and industry remain constant, national context manifests itself as the essential variable between the different operations. The thesis proposes/argues that this factor — national context — is a powerful variable which frames the activity of management. Europe is a continent of diversity; each nation has unique traditions, particular historical and cultural roots as well as its own institutional framework. This diversity means that managers learn to operate in a manner that suits their particular context. The thesis documents such national divergence in terms of managerial practices and behaviour. The processes of integration of European Union member States and of globalisation also contribute towards the shaping of management. The case study company, as a leading provider of Information Technology services, is among the avant-garde pioneers of a technological, borderless world. Common pressures affecting managers across the board — and thus regardless of national context — are also identified: these include the pressure to achieve profit and efficiency. In addition, a degree of convergence between human resource management policies and practices also makes itself visible. The thesis demonstrates, above all, the influence of national culture and national environment vis-a-vis management; an argument which may be reaffirmed given the context of globalisation. In brief, a European company is a cultural kaleidoscope
Luteolin Isolated from the Medicinal Plant Elsholtzia rugulosa (Labiatae) Prevents Copper-Mediated Toxicity in β-Amyloid Precursor Protein Swedish Mutation Overexpressing SH-SY5Y Cells

Luteolin, a 3’,4’,5,7-tetrahydroxyflavone, is a plant flavonoid and pharmacologically active agent that has been isolated from several plant species. In the present study, the effects of luteolin obtained from the medicinal plant Elsholtzia rugulosa and the related mechanisms were examined in an Alzheimer's disease (AD) cell model. In this model, copper was used to exacerbate the neurotoxicity in β-amyloid precursor protein Swedish mutation stably overexpressed SH-SY5Y cells (named “APPsw cells” for short). Based on this model, we demonstrated that luteolin increased cell viability, reduced intracellular ROS generation, enhanced the activity of SOD and reversed mitochondrial membrane potential dissipation. Inhibition of caspase-related apoptosis was consistently involved in the neuroprotection afforded by luteolin. Furthermore, it down-regulated the expression of AβPP and lowered the secretion of Aβ1-42. These results indicated that luteolin from the Elsholtzia rugulosa exerted neroprotective effects through mechanisms that decrease AβPP expression, lower Aβ secretion, regulate the redox imbalance, preserve mitochondrial function, and depress the caspase family-related apoptosis.
Identifying Equilibrium Models of Labor Market Sorting

Does the market allocate the right workers to the right jobs? Since observable (to economists) variables account for only a small fraction of the wage variance in the data, to answer this question it is essential to study assortative matching between employers and employees based on their unobserved characteristics. This paper enables this line of research. We show theoretically that all parameters of the classic model of sorting based on absolute advantage in Becker (1973) with search frictions can be identified using only matched employer-employee data on wages and labor market transitions. In particular, these data are sufficient to assess whether matching between workers and firms is assortative, whether sorting is positive or negative, and to measure the potential effect on output from moving any given worker to any given employer in the economy. We provide computational algorithms that implement our identification strategy given the limitations of the available data sets. Finally, we extend our identification and implementation strategies to the commonly used class of models of sorting based on comparative advantage and provide a test that discriminates between these models.
American Exceptionalism in a New Light: A Comparison of Intergenerational Earnings Mobility in the Nordic Countries, the United Kingdom and the United States

We develop methods and employ similar sample restrictions to analyse differences in intergenerational earnings mobility across the United States, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden. We examine earnings mobility among pairs of fathers and sons as well as fathers and daughters using both mobility matrices and regression and correlation coefficients. Our results suggest that all countries exhibit substantial earnings persistence across generations, but with statistically significant differences across countries. Mobility is lower in the U.S. than in the U.K., where it is lower again compared to the Nordic countries. Persistence is greatest in the tails of the distributions and tends to be particularly high in the upper tails: though in the U.S. this is reversed with a particularly high likelihood that sons of the poorest fathers will remain in the lowest earnings quintile. This is a challenge to the popular notion of â€™American exceptionalismâ€™. The U.S. also differs from the Nordic countries in its very low likelihood that sons of the highest earners will show downward â€™long-distanceâ€™ mobility into the lowest earnings quintile. In this, the U.K. is more similar to the U.S.
Increased Levels of Circulating and Tumor-Infiltrating Granulocytic Myeloid Cells in Colorectal Cancer Patients

Increased levels of myeloid cells, especially myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), have been reported to correlate with bad prognosis and reduced survival in cancer patients. However, limited data are available on their conclusive phenotypes and their correlation with clinical settings. The aim of this study was to investigate levels and phenotype of myeloid cells in peripheral blood and tumor microenvironment (TME) of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients, compared to blood from healthy donors (HDs) and paired, adjacent non-tumor colon tissue. Flow cytometric analysis was performed to examine the expression of different myeloid markers in fresh peripheral blood samples from CRC patients and HDs, and tissue-infiltrating immune cells from CRC patients. We found significantly higher levels of cells expressing myeloid markers and lacking the expression of major histocompatibility complex class II molecule HLA-DR in blood and tumor of CRC patients. Further analysis revealed that these cells were granulocytic and expressed Arginase 1 indicative of their suppressive phenotype. These expanded cells could be neutrophils or granulocytic MDSCs, and we refer to them as granulocytic myeloid cells (GMCs) due to the phenotypical and functional overlap between these cell subsets. Interestingly, the expansion of peripheral GMCs correlated with higher stage and histological grade of cancer, thereby suggesting their role in cancer progression. Furthermore, an increase in CD33+CD11b+HLA-DR−CD14−CD15− immature myeloid cells was also observed in CRC tumor tissue. Our work shows that GMCs are expanded in circulation and TME of CRC patients, which provides further insights for developing immunotherapeutic approaches targeting these cell subsets to enhance antitumor immune and clinical responses.
Foreign Direct Investment and Technology Spillovers in the Turkish Manufacturing Industry

Technology spillovers from foreign to domestic firms in emerging economies are considered to be the most important channel through which Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) influence the host economy. Empirical evidence about the existence, magnitude and direction of FDI-related spillovers in these countries is contradictory pointing to the necessity of conducting more econometric studies using firm-level data. We conduct an econometric analysis to assess the impact of FDI-related horizontal technology spillovers on output growth of domestic firms in the Turkish manufacturing industry over 2003-2006. When a broad definition of foreign ownership is adopted, our findings suggest that horizontal spillovers occur from foreign to local firms in the sector of activity. Export-oriented firms do not benefit from these spillovers in contrast to firms producing mainly for the domestic market. However, when foreign ownership is defined according to whether the minority or majority of capital is detained by the foreign partner, horizontal spillovers seem to originate from foreign firms with majority or full foreign ownership while no such effect is associated with minority-owned foreign firms.
Retinoic Acid Signaling in B Cells Is Required for the Generation of an Effective T-Independent Immune Response

Retinoic acid (RA) plays an important role in the balance of inflammation and tolerance in T cells. Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that RA facilitates IgA isotype switching in B cells in vivo. However, it is unclear whether RA has a direct effect on T-independent B cell responses in vivo. To address this question, we generated a mouse model where RA signaling is specifically silenced in the B cell lineage. This was achieved through the overexpression of a dominant negative receptor α for RA (dnRARα) in the B cell lineage. In this model, we found a dramatic reduction in marginal zone (MZ) B cells and accumulation of transitional 2 B cells in the spleen. We also observed a reduction in B1 B cells in the peritoneum with a defect in the T-independent B cell response against 2,4,6-trinitrophenyl. This was not a result of inhibited development of B cells in the bone marrow, but likely the result of both defective expression of S1P1 in MZ B cells and a defect in the development of MZ and B1 B cells. This suggests that RARα expression in B cells is important for B cell frequency in the MZ and peritoneum, which is crucial for the generation of T-independent humoral responses.
APE - a Large Scale Ad Hoc Network Testbed for Reproducible Performance Tests

Wireless networks with autonomous mobile nodes, called ad hoc networks, have become increasingly interesting with the growth of wireless communication technologies. Several proposals for protocols to handle routing in such environments are under consideration by the Mobile Ad Hoc Networks (MANET) Working Group of the IETF. Simulations have been the driving force in development and evaluation of ad hoc routing protocols, but real world testing is currently lacking. The goal of this master’s thesis has been to develop a testbed such that large scale, real world tests of 50 or more nodes can be conducted. The testbed makes use of choreographed node movements through instructions to the user in order to reproduce testruns as accurately as possible. A new mobility metric called virtual mobility based on signal strength is introduced and enables post testrun analysis and characterization of network mobility. Initial results based among others on testruns with 40 nodes and analysis of this metric show that it has “fingerprint” like properties that makes it useful when verifying similarities between repeated testruns. The APE software has been put in the public domain and can be downloaded at http://apetestbed.sourceforge. net.
Emergence of Topography and Complex Cell Properties from Natural Images using Extensions of ICA

Independent component analysis of natural images leads to emergence of simple cell properties, i.e. linear filters that resemble wavelets or Gabor functions. In this paper, we extend ICA to explain further properties of V1 cells. First, we decompose natural images into independent subspaces instead of scalar components. This model leads to emergence of phase and shift invariant features, similar to those in V1 complex cells. Second, we define a topography between the linear components obtained by ICA. The topographic distance between two components is defined by their higher-order correlations, so that two components are close to each other in the topography if they are strongly dependent on each other. This leads to simultaneous emergence of both topography and invariances similar to complex cell properties.