Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Recommendation Agents for Electronic Commerce: Effects of Explanation Facilities on Trusting Beliefs

We empirically test the effects of explanation facilities on consumers' initial trusting beliefs concerning online recommendation agents (RAs). RAs provide online shopping advice based on user-specified needs and preferences. The characteristics of RAs that may hamper consumers' trust building in the RAs are identified, and the provision of explanation facilities is proposed as a knowledge-based approach to enhance consumers' trusting beliefs by dealing with these obstacles. This study examines the effects of three types of explanations about an RA and its use—how, why, and trade-off explanations—on consumers' trusting beliefs in an RA's competence, benevolence, and integrity. An RA was built as the experimental platform and a laboratory experiment was conducted. The results confirm the important role of explanation facilities in enhancing consumers' initial trusting beliefs and indicate that consumers' use of different types of explanations enhances different trusting beliefs: the use of how explanations increases their competence and benevolence beliefs, the use of why explanations increases their benevolence beliefs, and the use of trade-off explanations increases their integrity beliefs.
Understanding Counterproductive Work Behavior: Aggressive Employees' Responses to Leader-Member Exchange

This study provides further understanding of the integrative model of counterproductive work behavior (CWB). Specifically it examined the antecedents of counterproductive work behavior as a function of both traits (i.e. aggression) and situational factors (leader-member exchange). Utilizing the channeling model proposed by Frost and colleagues (2007) trait aggression was evaluated using both explicit (i.e. self-report) and implicit (i.e. conditional reasoning) measures. As with previous research there was a significant interaction between implicit and explicit aggression in relation to endorsements of CWB. Moreover although LMX out-group relationships were more strongly associated with perceptions of unfairness in-group LMX relationships were more strongly associated with endorsements of CWB. Furthermore this effect was enhanced when participants were implicitly aggressive. Implications for practice and research are discussed.
Racism, Discrimination and the Over-Representation of Indigenous People in the Criminal Justice System: Some Conceptual and Explanatory Issues

The paper presented by Weatherburn, Fitzgerald and Hua and the research commissioned by the Equal Opportunity Commissioner of Victoria mainly criticise scholarly explanations of the over-representation of Indigenous people in the criminal justice system. The study of racism in the criminal justice system is important for human rights irrespective of whether it has any connection to explaining the over-representation of Indigenous people.
Angiostrongylus cantonensis infection in molluscs in the municipality of São Gonçalo, a metropolitan area of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: role of the invasive species Achatina fulica in parasite transmission dynamics

The aim of this study was to analyse the infection dynamics ofAngiostrongylus cantonensis in its possible intermediate hosts over two years in an urban area in the state of Rio de Janeiro where the presence ofA. cantonensis had been previously recorded in molluscs. Four of the seven mollusc species found in the study were exotic.Bradybaena similaris was the most abundant, followed byAchatina fulica, Streptaxis sp. , Subulina octona, Bulimulus tenuissimus, Sarasinula linguaeformis and Leptinaria unilamellata. Only A. fulica and B. similaris were parasitised by A. cantonensis and both presented co-infection with other helminths. The prevalence of A. cantonensisin A. fulica was more than 50% throughout the study. There was an inverse correlation between the population size ofA. fulica and the prevalence of A. cantonensis and abundance of the latter was negatively related to rainfall. The overall prevalence of A. cantonensis in B. similariswas 24.6%. A. fulica was the most important intermediary host of A. cantonensis in the studied area andB. similaris was secondary in importance for A. cantonensis transmission dynamics.
On the diversity order of vector perturbation precoding with imperfect channel state information

We consider vector perturbation precoding over a quasi-static MIMO channel under the assumption of imperfect channel state information (CSI). This is accomplished via a high SNR analysis, specifically targeting the overall system diversity order and the identification of typical errors. The effects of long-term and short-term power constraints, or power allocation policies, are investigated. Our results indicate that under realistic assumptions regarding the channel estimation error the system is mainly interference limited and as such, the particular power constraint does not significantly affect the asymptotic behavior of the error probability. This is in sharp contrast to the case of perfect CSI.
Habitually Higher Dietary Glycemic Index During Puberty Is Prospectively Related to Increased Risk Markers of Type 2 Diabetes in Younger Adulthood

OBJECTIVE Carbohydrate nutrition during periods of physiological insulin resistance such as puberty may affect future risk of type 2 diabetes. This study examined whether the amount or the quality (dietary glycemic index [GI], glycemic load [GL], and added sugar, fiber, and whole-grain intake) of carbohydrates during puberty is associated with risk markers of type 2 diabetes in younger adulthood. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The analysis was based on 226 participants (121 girls and 105 boys) from the Dortmund Nutritional and Anthropometric Longitudinally Designed Study (DONALD) with an average of five 3-day weighed dietary records (range 2–6) during puberty (girls, age 9–14 years; boys, age 10–15 years) and fasting blood samples in younger adulthood (age 18–36 years) (average duration of follow-up 12.6 years). Multivariable linear regression was used to analyze the associations between carbohydrate nutrition and homeostasis model assessment–insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) as well as the liver enzymes alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and γ-glutamyltransferase (GGT) (n = 214). RESULTS A higher dietary GI was prospectively related to greater values of HOMA-IR (Ptrend = 0.03), ALT (Ptrend = 0.02), and GGT (Ptrend = 0.04). After adjustment for sex, adult age, baseline BMI, and early life and socioeconomic factors as well as protein and fiber intake, predicted mean HOMA-IR values in energy-adjusted tertiles of GI were 2.37 (95% CI 2.16–2.60), 2.47 (2.26–2.71), and 2.59 (2.35–2.85). The amount of carbohydrates, GL, and added sugar, fiber, and whole-grain intake were not related to the analyzed markers. CONCLUSIONS Our data indicate that a habitually higher dietary GI during puberty may adversely affect risk markers of type 2 diabetes in younger adulthood.
Inhibition of Bacterial Adherence by Nasopharyngeal Secretions

The role of secretory immunoglobulin (Ig) A in nasopharyngeal secretions in the adherence of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Hemophilus influenzae to nasopharyngeal epithelial cells was investigated in vitro. The adherence was remarkably reduced by treating bacteria with nasopharyngeal secretions, and the antiadhesive activity was significantly greater in nasopharyngeal secretions having secretory IgA antibody activity against bacteria than in those having no activity. Noticeable changes were not observed in the antiadhesive activity caused by absorption of IgG from nasopharyngeal secretions. Results suggest that secretory IgA in nasopharyngeal secretions is related to bacterial adherence and adds to the prevention of nasopharyngeal infections.
The Tripartite Model of Anxiety and Depression: A New Look at Theory and Measurement

The relationship between anxiety and depression remains unclear, despite ongoing revision of diagnostic concepts over the last sixty years. Various proposals have been suggested which attempt to explain this relationship. Some have suggested that anxiety and depression are distinct disorders, with different etiologies, symptoms, natural courses, and response to treatment (the pluralist position). Others have suggested that anxiety and depression are a single disorder, or at least different manifestations of the same underlying pathology (the unitary position). Clark & Watson (1991) proposed an alternative model in which anxiety and depression symptoms are divided into three clusters – a specific set of symptoms for each, as well as a shared set of non-specific symptoms seen in both disorders. They suggested that such a tripartite model of anxiety and depression symptoms provided the best description of the manifestation of anxiety and depression symptoms. Clark & Watson (1991) further suggested that by focusing on the specific symptoms of anxiety and depression, the discriminant validity of psychometric assessments of the two could be improved. The current research reviews the literature in support of unitary, pluralist and tripartite models of anxiety and depression symptoms, and concludes that a tripartite model is the most consistently supported by the literature, including studies of symptoms, course, treatment, etiology, family patterns and genetics in both. It examines in detail the research into the tripartite structure of anxiety and depression symptoms, and concludes that previous research also supports a three-factor structure of anxiety and depression symptoms in existing self-report measures. The Mood and Anxiety Symptom Questionnaire (MASQ) is reviewed as the only existing clinical symptom measure based on the tripartite model. Although previous authors have reported broad support for the MASQ, the present research uniquely used a sample of anxious and depressed patients and confirmatory factor analytic methods, and failed to support the MASQ as a valid tripartite measure. Specifically, there was no support at the item or subscale level for any of the two-factor or three-factor models tested. Furthermore, the MASQ subscales did not show the expected differences when compared between anxious and depression patients, and the instrument was found to be inadequate in discriminating between those diagnosed with anxiety versus those diagnosed with depression. In response to the psychometric inadequacy of the MASQ, the Tripartite Clinical Symptom Inventory (TCSI) was proposed as a measure based on the tripartite model which would be clinically useful, as well as showing strong reliability and validity. It was also proposed that the TCSI would further validate several aspects of the tripartite theory of anxiety and depression symptoms. The original 45-item set was reduced over a series of exploratory factor analyses, designed to yield a core subset of symptoms that were reliably and stably associated with
Direct simulations of transitional flow in a patient-specific carotid bifurcation with stenosis

Diseased vessels experience a significantly different biomechanical environment than healthy vessels due to the presence of transitional and turbulent flow, which may be responsible for cell damage or plaque disruption. With an objective of investigating turbulent characteristics in a diseased vessel, direct numerical simulations were conducted based on a patient-specific carotid bifurcation with a severe stenosis under pulsatile flow conditions. Computerized tomography images and color Doppler ultrasound measurements were acquired to obtain the anatomical geometry and in vivo flow waveform, respectively. The spectral element method, which is ideally suited for transitional and turbulent flow simulation, was employed in the numerical technique.Transition to turbulent flow with chaotic velocity fluctuations triggered by Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities in the internal carotid artery was observed in the systolic phase. Turbulence intensities were significantly enhanced downstream of the stenosis during the deceleration phase of systole. The interaction of two strong shear layers generated from the bifurcation apex and distal end of stenosis as well as flow separation due to complex irregular morphology, created large WSS spatial gradients in the stenosis and high WSS magnitudes (250-450 dyne/cm2). Turbulent pressure fluctuations downstream of the stenosis and a large transient pressure drop occurring over the stenosis region will likely produce significant dynamic stresses-cyclic loading on plaques. Turbulent velocity and pressure fluctuations in the post-stenotic region were observed in audible frequency range of 100-300 Hz. This study demonstrates the hemodynamic environment in a diseased carotid bifurcation to be extremely complex during systolic phase and significantly different than that of a healthy carotid bifurcation.
Constrained Best Euclidean Distance Embedding on a Sphere: A Matrix Optimization Approach

The problem of data representation on a sphere of unknown radius arises from various disciplines such as statistics (spatial data representation), psychology (constrained multidimensional scaling), and computer science (machine learning and pattern recognition). The best representation often needs to minimize a distance function of the data on a sphere as well as to satisfy some Euclidean distance constraints. It is those spherical and Euclidean distance constraints that present an enormous challenge to the existing algorithms. In this paper, we reformulate the problem as an Euclidean distance matrix optimization problem with a low rank constraint. We then propose an iterative algorithm that uses a quadratically convergent Newton-CG method at each step. We study fundamental issues including constraint nondegeneracy and the nonsingularity of generalized Jacobian that ensure the quadratic convergence of the Newton method. We use some classic examples from the spherical multidimensional scaling to demonstrat.
Dreams Worth Pursuing: How College Students Develop and Articulate Their Purpose in Life.

The purpose of this study was to describe the experiences undergraduate students cite as helping them develop and articulate their purpose in life. Purpose in life, as a construct, is associated with many positive attributes associated with life in general, and the college experience specifically; however, it is also closely related to other concepts such as meaning, spirituality, and vocation. For the purposes of this study, purpose in life was defined as a set of goals or actions, informed by a belief system or set of values, that provides a sense of direction to an individual’s life. This study sought to answer the question: What are the experiences of traditional-aged undergraduate students at a large, Midwestern, public university who have an articulated purpose in life? In this way, experiences were defined as a necessary, but not sufficient, building block in developing purpose in life. An orientational qualitative approach was used to answer the question. Participants were identified using maximum variance and theory-based purposeful sampling. Senior students close to graduation were recruited to participate using the Student Developmental Task & Lifestyle Assessment (SDTLA; Winston, Miller, & Cooper, 1999), an online assessment that operationalized Chickering and Reisser’s (1993) sixth developmental vector, developing purpose. Twelve students with high scores on that assessment were selected to continue in the study. Face-to-face interviews focused on the experiences and relationships that helped them develop and articulate their purpose in life. The results were organized into three major themes: 1) support systems upon which students relied in developing purpose in life; 2) exemplars who they sought to
Understanding Bullying Participant Roles: Stability across School Years and Personality and Behavioral Correlates

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An investigation of RPE-heart rate and the RPE-lactate relationships in elite athletes

This thesis investigated the relationship of ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) with heart rate (HR) and blood lactate (La) that involved four studies. The first study concerned comparing RPE relationships with elite swimmers during exercise tests performed during in-season (IS) and off-season (OS) periods of training. The second study examined the effect of high ambient temperatures on the HRRPE and La-RPE relationship in elite cyclists during self-paced cycle tests. The third study investigated the effect of acute simulated moderate altitude (1800m) exposure on the HR-RPE and La-RPE relationship in highly trained cross-country skiers during incremental ski-striding treadmill tests. The fourth, and final study, was concerned with RPE relationships during upper and lower body work with elite kayakers and elite cyclists.
The Potential Value of Comparative Genomic Hybridization Analysis in Effusion—and Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology

Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) is a molecular cytogenetic technique that provides an overview on chromosomal imbalances within the whole tumor cell genome. This method has yet not been applied in effusion cytology. We performed CGH analysis in malignant effusions, fine needle aspirates, and imprint smears from eight ovarian adenocarcinomas, three breast carcinomas, one colon adenocarcinoma, and three malignant mesotheliomas. In part, CGH analysis from fresh frozen tissue and classic karyotyping served as controls. In this series, 14/15 cytologic specimens were suitable for extraction of high molecular weight DNA sufficient for reliable CGH analysis. CGH profiles from cytologic material were equal or even more significant in comparison with corresponding fresh frozen tumor samples. We conclude that CGH analysis from cytologic specimens may support the primary cytologic diagnosis of malignancy, especially in the differential diagnosis of benign proliferating mesothelium, malignant mesothelioma, and metastatic adenocarcinoma. CGH analysis of metastatic lesions may provide information on the site of the primary tumors and detects cytogenetic imbalances affecting oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes involved in tumor progression and metastatic spread.
Neutrino-cooled Accretion Disk and Its Stability

We investigate the structure and stability of hypercritical accretion flows around stellar-mass black holes, taking into account neutrino cooling, lepton conservation, and using for the first time a realistic equation of state in order to properly treat the dissociation of nuclei. We obtain the radial distributions of physical properties, such as density, temperature, and electron fraction, for various mass accretion rates 0.1-10 M☉ s-1. We find that, depending on mass accretion rates, different physics considerably affect the structure of the disk; the most important physics are (1) the photodissociation of nuclei around r ~ 100rg for relatively low mass accretion rates (Ṁ ~ 0.01-0.1 M☉ s-1), (2) efficient neutrino cooling around r ~ 10rg-100rg for moderately high mass accretion rates (Ṁ ~ 0.2-1.0 M☉ s-1), and (3) neutrino trapping (r ~ 3rg-10rg) for very high mass accretion rates (Ṁ ≳ 2.0 M☉ s-1). We also investigate the stability of hypercritical accretion flows by drawing the thermal equilibrium curves and find that efficient neutrino cooling makes the accretion flows rather stable against both thermal and viscous modes.
Identification of the Polypyrimidine Tract Binding Protein-associated Splicing Factor·p54(nrb) Complex as a Candidate DNA Double-strand Break Rejoining Factor*

The biological effects of ionizing radiation are attributable, in large part, to induction of DNA double-strand breaks. We report here the identification of a new protein factor that reconstitutes efficient double-strand break rejoining when it is added to a reaction containing the five other polypeptides known to participate in the human nonhomologous end-joining pathway. The factor is a stable heteromeric complex of polypyrimidine tract-binding protein-associated splicing factor (PSF) and a 54-kDa nuclear RNA-binding protein (p54(nrb)). These polypeptides, to which a variety of functions have previously been attributed, share extensive homology, including tandem RNA recognition motif domains. The PSF·p54(nrb) complex cooperates with Ku protein to form a functional preligation complex with substrate DNA. Based on structural comparison with related proteins, we propose a model where the four RNA recognition motif domains in the heteromeric PSF·p54(nrb) complex cooperate to align separate DNA molecules.
Epidemiology of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases in a French nationwide HIV cohort

Background: HIV infection and inflammatory and autoimmune diseases (IADs) are both related to immune dysfunction. Epidemiological data on IAD in patients living with HIV (PLHIV) are scarce. The aim of this study was thus to estimate the prevalence of 26 IAD among PLHIV followed in a large French multicenter cohort in the combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) era (from January 2000 to July 2013), and to describe their occurrence according to cART onset, the immuno-virological status of patients and hepatitis C virus (HCV) and/or hepatitis B virus coinfection. Method and results: During the study period, 33 403 PLHIV were included in the Dat’AIDS cohort; 1381 patients with an IAD were identified. The most prevalent IADs were psoriasis, sarcoidosis, rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondyloarthritis, Grave's disease, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, immune thrombocytopenia and chronic inflammatory bowel disease. In contrast, the prevalence of systemic lupus erythematosus and multiple sclerosis were low. Most patients (59%) developed IAD after HIV infection with a mean delay of 10.6 ± 6.4 years. Compared with the entire cohort, HCV coinfection was significantly more frequent in patients with psoriasis, Grave's disease and immune thrombocytopenia, and chronic hepatitis B in patients was more frequent in those with immune thrombocytopenia and autoimmune hemolytic anemia. Among patients developing IAD after the diagnosis of HIV infection, 572 (70%) were on antiretroviral therapy and 419 of them (73%) had undetectable HIV viral load. Conclusion: Our study showed that some IAD are not rare among PLHIV and occur mostly in patients with immuno-virological control under cART. The higher frequency of HCV or hepatitis B virus coinfection for some IAD is also confirmed.