Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Retention in an Urban Extended Day Program: A Process-Based Assessment

Evaluations of extended day programs in underserved communities have shown that participants usually drop out by the time they are 11–12 years old. Most of these programs, especially those that focus on physical activity, do not promote broadly developmental and empowerment-based processes and outcomes advocated by the emerging field of youth development. This article investigates both the retention issue and youth development processes and outcomes for two sequential physical activity extended day programs in an underserved community. Retention data and participant program evaluations were collected over a nine-year period, and these data together with a selective review of related studies are analyzed to determine the extent of linkage between the promotion of positive youth development and retention beyond 11–12 years old.
Which English? Whose English? An investigation of ‘non-native’ teachers' beliefs about target varieties

This study explored the beliefs of ‘non-native English speaking’ teachers about the usefulness and appropriacy of varieties such as English as an International Language (EIL) and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), compared with native speaker varieties. The study therefore addresses the current theoretical debate concerning ‘appropriate’ target models of English in different contexts worldwide. Participants were asked to reflect on their experiences both as learners and as teachers of English and to consider which variety or varieties of English they had learned, and which variety, if any, they chose or were ‘told’ (by education authorities or curricula) to teach. In addition, participants were asked for their views on the attractiveness and usefulness of the different varieties, as well as their views on the nature of EIL/ELF. Finally, we asked teachers to consider which model(s) were likely to predominate in their teaching contexts in the future. Results indicated that teachers may work without any clear idea of ‘which English’ was the target. Teachers also reported a pragmatic perspective on varieties of English, with a need to believe in a ‘standard’ form of the language, even though this does not correspond to the reality of Englishes which are in use worldwide.
Performance Appraisal Interviews

Performance appraisal interviews play a crucial role in internal communication. Most of the research on performance appraisal interviews has focused on strategic aims and interview design, but less attention has been given to the way in which performance appraisal interviews actually take place. In this study, the focus will, therefore, be to investigate how one of the crucial and most delicate activities in performance appraisal interviews, namely, giving critical feedback, is conducted. The way critical feedback is given is predominantly through negative assessments. The results indicate that there is an orientation to critical feedback as a socially problematic action despite the institutional character of the talk. Moreover, it can be seen that the more the supervisor shows an orientation to negative assessments as being socially problematic, the more difficult it becomes for the employee to deal with negative assessments. The study ends by outlining various implications for the workplace.
Jaunimo kultūrų įvairovė: gatvės meno projektai kaip nusikalstamo elgesio prevencija

The aim of the study is to reveal the street art projects as youth crime prevention measures options. Tasks: 1) to review the evolution of street art in social terms; 2) to analyze street art project expert experience in organizing and conducting social arts projects with disadvantaged youth in Lithuania. Qualitative study conducted in 2014 using a semi-structured interview method. Conclusions: In the twenty-fist century we are witnessing an evolving street art and it’s dynamic conquest of cities in the world. Hip-hop style and fashion is a massively popular among young people, so it is important to use street art activities in social work with young people and to help young people understand the difference between the aesthetic forms of street art, professional graffiti and vandalism, criminal activity, and how these different choices lead to different outcomes. Street art projects as a social art practice and prevention of delinquent behavior practice helps young people to distract from unacceptable behavior and to positive socialization. Lack of social workers professional approach to street art culture, lack of managerial skills of the street art advocates and lack of dissemination interfere with projects’ optimal development and continuity. Study results imply an insight about the emerging need to train professional social art specialists. Keywords: youth, diversity, street art, art and social projects, prevention of criminality. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.15823/su.2014. 06
Critical Skills for Kindergarten

The purpose of this study was to examine the views of kindergarten teachers regarding those skills children need to be successful in their classes. One-hundred seventy-six kindergarten teachers ranked 149 skills within 5 domains: gross motor, fine motor, general knowledge and school readiness, language, and social. A factor analysis was employed on these ratings revealing the following 5 factors: Academic Readiness, Language Competence, Social Competence, Motor Competence, and Self-Help Skills. These data suggest that items related to academic readiness were not seen as critical as skills related to independence.
The East End, the West End, and King's Cross: On Clustering in the Four-Player Hotelling Game

We study experimentally a standard four-player Hotelling game, with a uniform density of consumers and inelastic demand. The pure strategy Nash equilibrium configuration consists of two firms located at one quarter of the ``linear city'', and the other two at three quarters. We do not observe convergence to such an equilibrium. In our experimental data we find three clusters. Besides the direct proximity of the two equilibrium locations this concerns the focal mid-point. Moreover, we observe that whereas this mid-point appears to become more notable over time, other focal points fade away. We explain how these observations are related to best-response dynamics, and to the fact that the players rely on best-responses in particular when they are close to the equilibrium configuration.
Narcissism and immature love as mediators of vertical individualism and ludic love style

The present study examined how vertical individualism and self-construal relate to ludus. Vertical individualism has been found to be positively related to ludus, or a game-playing love style. In addition, given its positive association with both individualism and ludus, narcissism was explored as a potential mediator of the vertical individualism-ludus link. Immature love, i.e., seeing others as means to an end, was also hypothesized to be positively correlated with, and mediate the relationship between vertical individualism and ludus. Results illustrated that narcissism and immature love effectively mediated the vertical individualism-ludus relationship, suggesting that vertical individualist endorsement of ludic love style occurred through excessive self-focus and seeing others as fulfillment of needs and wishes. Independent self-construal, by contrast, was negatively correlated with ludus and immature love. This study provided further evidence and support for the examination of the ludic love style within a cultural perspective at the individual level.
Measuring Agreement between Egos and Alters

In personal network studies, respondents (egos) are asked to report information about members of their personal network (alters); egos respond based on their perceptions. Previous studies of informant accuracy present a varied picture: Some find egos’ reporting on their relationships with alters to be accurate; others do not. In our study of people living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda, egos were asked to invite up to four alters named during their interview to answer questions about their relationship with ego. Using Gower’s general coefficient of similarity, we calculated a measure of accuracy both by variable and by alter. Our analysis by variable tends to confirm informant accuracy research, while our analysis by alter adds to the literature by identifying how accurate a particular ego is when discussing an alter and what characteristics might be associated with accuracy or inaccuracy.
Auditory Contrast versus Compensation for Coarticulation: Data from Japanese and English Listeners

English listeners categorize more of a [k-t] continuum as “t” after [ʃ] than [s] (Mann & Repp, 1981). This bias could be due to compensation for coarticulation (Mann & Repp, 1981) or auditory contrast between the fricatives and the stops (Lotto & Kluender, 1998). In Japanese, surface [ʃk, ʃt, sk, st] clusters arise via palatalization and vowel devoicing from /sik, sit, suk, sut/, and acoustic vestiges of the devoiced vowels remain in the fricative. On the one hand, compensation for coarticulation with the devoiced vowel would cancel out compensation for coarticulation with the fricative, and listeners would not show any response bias. On the other hand, if the stop contrasts spectrally with the fricative, listeners should respond “t” more often after [ʃi̥] than [su̥]. Experiment 1 establishes that [k] and [t] coarticulate with preceding voiced [i, u], voiceless [i̥, u̥], and [ʃ, s]. Experiment 2 shows that both Japanese and English listeners respond “t” more often after [ʃi̥] than [su̥], as predicted by auditory contrast. English listeners’ “t” responses also varied after voiced vowels, but those of Japanese listeners did not. Experiment 3 shows that this difference reflects differences in their phonetic experience.
Tetrahydrodipicolinate N-Succinyltransferase and Dihydrodipicolinate Synthase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa: Structure Analysis and Gene Deletion

The diaminopimelic acid pathway of lysine biosynthesis has been suggested to provide attractive targets for the development of novel antibacterial drugs. Here we report the characterization of two enzymes from this pathway in the human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa, utilizing structural biology, biochemistry and genetics. We show that tetrahydrodipicolinate N-succinyltransferase (DapD) from P. aeruginosa is specific for the L-stereoisomer of the amino substrate L-2-aminopimelate, and its D-enantiomer acts as a weak inhibitor. The crystal structures of this enzyme with L-2-aminopimelate and D-2-aminopimelate, respectively, reveal that both compounds bind at the same site of the enzyme. Comparison of the binding interactions of these ligands in the enzyme active site suggests misalignment of the amino group of D-2-aminopimelate for nucleophilic attack on the succinate moiety of the co-substrate succinyl-CoA as the structural basis of specificity and inhibition. P. aeruginosa mutants where the dapA gene had been deleted were viable and able to grow in a mouse lung infection model, suggesting that DapA is not an optimal target for drug development against this organism. Structure-based sequence alignments, based on the DapA crystal structure determined to 1.6 Å resolution revealed the presence of two homologues, PA0223 and PA4188, in P. aeruginosa that could substitute for DapA in the P. aeruginosa PAO1ΔdapA mutant. In vitro experiments using recombinant PA0223 protein could however not detect any DapA activity.
Longitudinal study of development of the body concept.

Development of differentiati on, as reflected in articulation of body concept, was studied longitudinally by means of human figure drawings in two groups of males and females, at ages 8 and 13 in one group, 10, 14, 17, and 24 in another. Articulation-of-body-concept (ABC) scores increased between ages 8 and 14, with little change thereafter. At the same time, subjects showed marked individual stability in ABC scores, even over a 14-year span. These results parallel the findings on development of differentiati on in the areas of perception and defenses. This is one of a series of reports on a longitudinal study of the course of development of differentiation and of relative stability in extent of differentiati on during the period from childhood to young adulthood. It had been established earlier that a tendency to function at a more differentiated or less differentiated level characterizes many areas of a child's psychological activity, resulting in self-consiste ncy in behavior (Witkin, Dyk, Faterson, Goodenough, & Karp, 1962). Thus the following characteristics of a high level of differentiation had been found to cluster together: an articulated way of experiencing the world (including field-independent perception), a differentiated self, reflected in an articulated concept of the body and a developed sense of separate identity; and the use of structured, specialized defenses, such as intellectualization and isolation.
Cholinesterase Inhibitor Donepezil Dilates Cerebral Parenchymal Arterioles via the Activation of Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase

Background:An acetylcholinesterase inhibitor donepezil currently is used to treat patients with Alzheimer disease. However, its direct effect on cerebral blood vessels has not been evaluated. The present study was designed to examine whether donepezil induces acute cerebral arteriolar dilation and whether neuronal nitric oxide synthase contributes to this vasodilator response. Methods:Brain slices were obtained from neuronal nitric oxide synthase knock-out or C57BL/6J strain (control) mice as well as Wistar rats. Parenchymal arterioles were monitored using videomicroscopy. During constriction to prostaglandin F2&agr; (5 × 10−7 m), donepezil (10−9–10−8 m) or acetylcholine (10−6–10−4 m) was added. In some experiments, brain slices were treated with a nonselective or a selective nitric oxide synthase inhibitor (NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester [10−4 m] and S-methyl-L-thiocitrulline [10−5 m], respectively). An immunohistochemical analysis was performed using antibodies for neuronal nitric oxide synthase and acetylcholinesterase. Results:Acetylcholine concentration-dependently dilated rat parenchymal arterioles, while S-methyl-L-thiocitrulline as well as NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester completely abolished this response. Donepezil produced arteriolar dilation, which was inhibited by S-methyl-L-thiocitrulline or NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester. Donepezil failed to induce arteriolar dilation in the brain slice from the neuronal nitric oxide synthase knock-out mice. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed spatial relationship between neuronal nitric oxide synthase and acetylcholinesterase in the arteriolar wall. Conclusions:Donepezil produces acute vasodilation induced by a selective activation of neuronal nitric oxide synthase in the cerebral parenchymal arterioles. This agent may be capable of enhancing this enzymatic activity directly or via acetylcholinesterase existing on the arteriolar wall.
Full-Length Enrich c-DNA Libraries-Clear Cell-Renal Cell Carcinoma

Clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), the most common subtype of RCC, is characterized by high metastasis potential and strong resistance to traditional therapies, resulting in a poor five-year survival rate of patients. Several therapies targeted to VEGF pathway for advanced RCC have been developed, however, it still needs to discover new therapeutic targets for treating RCC. Genome-wide gene expression analyses have been broadly used to identify unknown molecular mechanisms of cancer progression. Recently, we applied the oligo-capping method to construct the full-length cDNA libraries of ccRCC and adjacent normal kidney, and analyzed the gene expression profiles by high-throughput sequencing. This paper presents a review for recent findings on therapeutic potential of MYC pathway and nicotinamide N-methyltransferase for the treatment of RCC.
Automated Detection of Driver Fatigue Based on AdaBoost Classifier with EEG Signals

Purpose: Driving fatigue has become one of the important causes of road accidents, there are many researches to analyze driver fatigue. EEG is becoming increasingly useful in the measuring fatigue state. Manual interpretation of EEG signals is impossible, so an effective method for automatic detection of EEG signals is crucial needed. Method: In order to evaluate the complex, unstable, and non-linear characteristics of EEG signals, four feature sets were computed from EEG signals, in which fuzzy entropy (FE), sample entropy (SE), approximate Entropy (AE), spectral entropy (PE), and combined entropies (FE + SE + AE + PE) were included. All these feature sets were used as the input vectors of AdaBoost classifier, a boosting method which is fast and highly accurate. To assess our method, several experiments including parameter setting and classifier comparison were conducted on 28 subjects. For comparison, Decision Trees (DT), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Naive Bayes (NB) classifiers are used. Results: The proposed method (combination of FE and AdaBoost) yields superior performance than other schemes. Using FE feature extractor, AdaBoost achieves improved area (AUC) under the receiver operating curve of 0.994, error rate (ERR) of 0.024, Precision of 0.969, Recall of 0.984, F1 score of 0.976, and Matthews correlation coefficient (MCC) of 0.952, compared to SVM (ERR at 0.035, Precision of 0.957, Recall of 0.974, F1 score of 0.966, and MCC of 0.930 with AUC of 0.990), DT (ERR at 0.142, Precision of 0.857, Recall of 0.859, F1 score of 0.966, and MCC of 0.716 with AUC of 0.916) and NB (ERR at 0.405, Precision of 0.646, Recall of 0.434, F1 score of 0.519, and MCC of 0.203 with AUC of 0.606). It shows that the FE feature set and combined feature set outperform other feature sets. AdaBoost seems to have better robustness against changes of ratio of test samples for all samples and number of subjects, which might therefore aid in the real-time detection of driver fatigue through the classification of EEG signals. Conclusion: By using combination of FE features and AdaBoost classifier to detect EEG-based driver fatigue, this paper ensured confidence in exploring the inherent physiological mechanisms and wearable application.
A Phase II Trial of Paclitaxel and Carboplatin in Women With Advanced or Recurrent Uterine Carcinosarcoma

Background Systemic therapy for advanced uterine carcinosarcoma (CS) has been disappointing. The most widely studied regimen is ifosfamide and cisplatinum. Moderate success has been documented using paclitaxel in ovarian CS. The purpose of this study was to evaluate carboplatin/paclitaxel in advanced and recurrent uterine CS. Methods A single-arm, prospective, phase II trial opened in October 2001. Primary end points were time to progression (TTP) and response rate (RR). Quality-of-life data were obtained. Patients treated adjuvantly received 6 cycles of carboplatin/paclitaxel every 21 days. Patients with disease at study entry were treated until response, progression, or toxicity. Results Of 23 patients enrolled, 9 received adjuvant treatment, 13 had documented disease, 1 was inevaluable. Eight of 13 patients with measurable disease had a complete or partial response (62% RR). Overall, median TTP was 9.5 months. In the adjuvant group, median TTP was 15 months. With measurable disease, median TTP was 7.9 months. Median overall survival was 21.1 months. There was no difference in survival between patients with or without measurable disease. For patients having prior radiation, median TTP with recurrence in the radiated field was 13.3 months, and 14.5 months if outside the field (P = 0.71). Two patients (9%) had treatment-limiting toxicity. Quality-of-life scores improved from baseline over time. Conclusions Carboplatin and paclitaxel have improved tolerability and RR (62%) compared with previous reports of ifosfamide/cisplatin or ifosfamide/paclitaxel in treating uterine CS. This regimen seems promising and should be considered in combined therapies with targeted agents.
Developing international organizational change theory using cases from China

This article contributes to international theory development by examining organizational change (OC) in mainland China. Eight case studies of a single type of OC, business process re-engineering (BPR), reveal that Chinese organizations diverged consistently from initially planned changes. Change context is found to influence not only the process of change, but also the content and even the objectives of change. Since specific practices carry implicit values, the congruence with existing values influences OC implementation significantly. Multinational organizations must recognize that a specific practice or policy can represent very different changes in different contexts.
The Continuum Slopes of Optically Selected QSOs

Quasi-simultaneous optical/near-IR photometry is presented for a sample of 37 luminous optically selected QSOs drawn from the Large Bright QSO Survey. Most of the QSOs have decreased in brightness since discovery; this is expected in flux-limited samples. The continuum shape of most of the QSOs can be represented by a power law of the form F(v) ∝ v −0·3, but a few have softer (redder) continuum slopes.
Making Sense of Society Through Social Media

All media are social—they are after all media, in between, intermediating between producers and consumers of content, information, conversation, between the actors in the media and the audiences who read, listen, and watch. And the sociality of the media does not stop there: the processes of media production are social processes just as much as the activities of media audiencing. So strictly speaking, all media are social media. But only a particular subset of all media are fundamentally defined by their sociality, and thus distinguished from the mainstream media of print, radio, and television. It is the actual uses which are made of any medium which determine whether it is indeed a social medium—so let us investigate their roles in and interplay with the societies in which they operate.
Genome Sequencing of West Nile Virus from Human Cases in Greece, 2012

A West Nile Virus (WNV) lineage 2 strain, named Nea Santa-Greece-2010, has been demonstrated to be responsible for the large outbreaks of neuroinvasive disease (WNND) that have been occurring in Greece since 2010, based on sequence similarities of viral isolates identified between 2010–2012. However, knowledge on the evolution of this strain is scarce because only partial WNV genome sequences are available from Greece. The aim of this study was to get the complete genome sequence of WNV from patients with infection. To this aim, plasma and urine samples collected during the 2012 Greek outbreak were retrospectively investigated. Full WNV genome sequence was obtained from a patient with WNND. The genome had 99.7% sequence identity to Nea Santa, higher than to other related WNV lineage 2 strains, and five amino acid changes apparently not relevant for viral pathogenicity or fitness. In addition, infection by WNV lineage 2 was confirmed in additional nine patients with WNND; in three of them the infection with WNV Nea Santa was demonstrated by sequencing. In conclusion, this study characterized for the first time a WNV full genome from a patient with WNND from Greece, demonstrated the persistence of the Nea Santa strain, and suggested that the virus might have locally evolved.