Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Demographic and clinical predictors of spirituality in advanced cancer patients: a randomized control study.

AIM To study the influence of cancer patients' sociodemographic and clinical characteristics in their spiritual beliefs and attitudes. BACKGROUND Patients' sociodemographic and clinical characteristics may have an important role in their spirituality. Failure to control these factors can lead to a false estimation on patients' spiritual beliefs. Previous studies have found that age, gender and health status associate with spiritual attitudes and beliefs.Design. Survey. METHODS The Spiritual Involvement and Beliefs Scale was administered to 82 cancer patients. Demographic characteristics, disease status and treatment regimen were recorded. RESULTS Among the most significant correlations were those between gender and all the subscales, cancer diagnosis, existential/meditative subscale, radiotherapy treatment and external/ritual, internal/fluid and existential meditative. In the prediction of spirituality, the contribution of gender, age, years of education, performance status and radiotherapy is high. CONCLUSION Acknowledging the specific patients' demographic and medical characteristics, such as female gender, old age, years of education, performance status and radiotherapy treatment, contributes to the prediction of patients' spiritual beliefs and attitudes. RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE Addressing spiritual needs in palliative care among the dying needs to be a priority and could be a crucial aspect of psychological functioning, especially when considering certain demographic and clinical characteristics.
Immunopathology of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is characterised by several unique clinical features that differentiate it from rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Attempts to identify immunopathological mechanisms, some shared with psoriasis, that underlie these differences from RA have been most challenging. Recent research studies, however, highlight novel findings in PsA at the molecular, cellular, and tissue levels that form the basis for a new understanding of this relatively common form of inflammatory arthritis. In particular, the availability of new, biological antitumour necrosis factor α therapies have allowed further insight into the immunopathology of psoriasis and PsA. This brief review focuses on immunohistological studies in psoriatic skin, PsA synovium, and bone to demonstrate how these data advance our knowledge of disease pathogenesis.
Effet de la structure des droits de vote sur la qualité des mécanismes internes de gouvernance: cas des entreprises canadiennes

Resume Le conseil d'administration est considere comme une des composantes importantes des mecanismes internes de gouvernance d'entreprise. Les recherches dans ce domaine ont porte, entre autres, sur la structure du conseil, sa composition ainsi que sur lesfacteurs qui determinent celles-ci et plusieurs auteurs font reference a la structure de l'actionnariat. Menee sur un echantillon de 214 entreprises canadiennes cotees en bourse, cette etude explore l'effet de la structure du controle des droits de vote sur la qualite des mecanismes internes de gouvernance. Les resultats obtenus indiquent que la concentration du controle, l'actionnariat interne et celui des detenteurs de blocs sont relies negativement a la qualite de ces mecanismes, alors que l'actionnariat des investisseurs institutionnels a un effet positif. Abstract The board of directors is among the most important internal mechanisms of corporate governance. Most studies on board of directors have focused mainly on its structure, composition and factors influencing its composition as well as on the shareholding structure. This paper attempts to supplement past studies on board of directors by reviewing 214 publicly traded Canadian companies and exploring the impact of the structure of voting rights on the quality of internal control mechanisms of governance. Our findings indicate that the concentration of control, the internal and blockholder ownership are negatively related to the quality of those mechanisms, while institutional investors have a positive impact.
Discourses of Leadership: Gender, Identity and Contradiction in a UK Public Sector Organization

This article explores leadership as a discursive phenomenon. It examines contemporary discourses of leadership and their complex inter-relations with gender and identity in the UK public sector. In particular, it focuses on various ways in which managers’ identities are constructed within discourse, produced in specific historical and institutional sites within specific discursive formations and practices, by specific enunciative strategies (Hall, 1996). Drawing from interviews with senior managers employed in a large UK local authority, this article researches the dominant discourses of modernization and the primacy afforded to discourses of leadership in the council. It explores first how these discourses become part of managerial workplace identities, and second, what other discourses help to shape managers’ identities. Contradiction, discursive production, plurality and ambiguity feature heavily in the analysis of these managers. Accordingly, the article questions dominant hegemonic and stereotypical notions of subjectivity that assume a simple, unitary identity and perpetuate androcentric depictions of organizational life.
Effects of Finger Markers and Harmonic Context on Performance of Beginning String Students

This study is an investigation of the effects of finger placement markers (FPMs) and I harmonic context on the left-hand technique, intonation performance skills, and overall musical performance skills of sixth-grade beginning string students. Central to this study was the question of how a tactile/visual reference and an aural reference influence the development of string intonation performance skills. Subjects were assigned to research conditions in a 2 ? 2 factorial design (FPMs by harmonic context). Students received 90 minutes of weekly, heterogeneous-group instruction from the same teacher and used researcher-prepared audio home practice tapes to accentuate their class experience. Subjects with FPMs played significantly more in tune than those who did not have FPMs. Students whose instruction and practice were accompanied by harmonic background demonstrated a higher degree of overall musical performance ability. Differences were significant even after adjusting for musical aptitude. There were no differences in left-hand technique. Results of this study endorse the theoretical and practical support for the use of these teaching techniques in beginning string instruction.
Potential Benefits of Combining Anomaly Detection with View Planning for UAV Infrastructure Modeling

This paper presents a novel method for UAV-based 3D modeling of large infrastructure objects, such as pipelines, canals and levees, that combines anomaly detection with automatic on-board 3D view planning. The study begins by assuming that anomaly detections are possible and focuses on quantifying the potential benefits of the combined method and the view planning algorithm. A simulated canal environment is constructed, and several simulated anomalies are created and marked. The algorithm is used to plan inspection flights for the anomaly locations, and simulated images from the flights are rendered and processed to construct 3D models of the locations of interest. The new flights are compared to traditional flights in terms of flight time, data collected and 3D model accuracy. When compared to a low speed, low elevation traditional flight, the proposed method is shown in simulation to decrease total flight time by up to 55%, while reducing the amount of image data to be processed by 89% and maintaining 3D model accuracy at areas of interest.
Occupational goals of mothers of children with disabilities: influence of temporal, social, and emotional contexts.

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to describe the occupational concerns and goals of mothers who care for children with disabilities. METHOD Retrospective data collected from 38 mothers of children with disabilities using the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM) were analyzed qualitatively. RESULTS Six themes emerged: (I) doing and being alone: taking care of my own health and well-being; (II) doing and being with others: expanding my social life; (III) improving my child's quality of life; (IV) household management: organizing time and resources; (V) balancing work, home, and community responsibilities; and (VI) sharing the workload. CONCLUSION Overarching patterns in the data suggested that the occupational performance of mothers of children with disabilities is constrained by time, overlaid by difficult emotions, and involves a desire for increased social contact. Qualitative analysis of data from the COPM may provide insight into contextual factors that affect occupational performance as well as signaling point of entry for therapists to facilitate client-centered occupational goals.
Phosphorylation of a ribosomal protein and of virus-specific proteins in cells infected with herpes simplex virus.

In cells infected with herpes simplex virus a protein associated with the small subunit of ribosomes became phosphorylated. It was not detectably labelled with 14C-amino acids added after infection and is therefore probably a cellular protein. The phosphorylated ribosomal proteins from HSV-1- and HSV-2-infected cells were indistinguishable electrophoretically and had an apparent mol. wt. of about 48 000. Phosphorylation of the 48K protein was detected 2 to 3 h after infection and reached a maximum rate at 4 to 5 h. It was prevented by adding cycloheximide at 2 h, or actinomycin at 1.5 h p.i. , or azetidine at the beginning of infection. The phosphorylation did not occur on reversal of a cycloheximide block in the presence of actinomycin, confirming that it is not caused by a virus alpha-polypeptide. Virus that had been irradiated with u.v. light, although still able to suppress synthesis of cellular protein and DNA, did not induce phosphorylation of the 48K ribosomal protein. Therefore the phosphorylation is not responsible for the suppression of host synthesis. The alpha polypeptides ICP 4, 0, 22 and 27 are also phosphorylated but, in contrast to that of the ribosomal protein, their phosphorylation does not depend on the synthesis of beta and gamma polypeptides. It is probably mediated by a host enzyme.
Teacher Change in an Era of Neo-Liberal Policies: A Neo-Institutional Analysis of Teachers' Perceptions of Their Professional Change

The aim of this article is to explore how neo-institutional theory may be applied as an analytical framework to investigate the relationships between teachers' perceptions on their professional change on the one hand, and the numerous change efforts embedded in recent neo-liberal educational policies in Norway on the other. Based on biographical interviews with Norwegian teachers, it is argued that the dynamics of change can be investigated in light of teachers' institutionalised practices within a certain set of governing mechanisms including regulative rules, norms and cultural-cognitive beliefs. The findings suggest that vital, regulative elements in recent neoliberal policies have managed to penetrate the teachers' perceptions of their classroom practices, in a process that is framed by teachers' pre-existing normative values and the cultural scripts guiding their practices. This article concludes that the neo-institutional analytical framework may serve as a sound approach to investigate and compare how issues of teacher change are unfolding across European education systems and policies.
Self-efficacy is associated with less burden and more gains from behavioral problems of Alzheimer's disease in Hong Kong Chinese caregivers.

PURPOSE To test the effects of different self-efficacy beliefs on caregiver appraisals and depressive symptoms. We hypothesized that self-efficacy has a direct effect on depression while moderating the effects of behavioral problems on both negative (i.e., burden) and positive (i.e., uplifting) appraisals. DESIGN AND METHODS Ninety-nine Chinese caregivers of relatives with Alzheimer's disease responded to measures of self-efficacy, positive gains, burden, depression, and care recipient behavioral problems. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression. RESULTS Confirmatory factor analysis supported a 3-factor structure for the Revised Scale for Caregiving Self-Efficacy (obtaining respite, responding to disruptive behaviors, and controlling upsetting thoughts). Interaction effects in regression showed that caregivers with higher self-efficacy in controlling upsetting thoughts had more positive gains and less burden when confronted with more behavioral problems. Self-efficacy in obtaining respite had direct effects on burden and depression, and self-efficacy in responding to disruptive behaviors had a direct effect on positive gains, but not moderating effects. IMPLICATIONS The results supported the multidimensional structure of caregiver self-efficacy and showed that efficacy in controlling upsetting thoughts was most important in buffering the effects of behavioral problems on burden and positive gains among Chinese caregivers. Interventions for dementia caregivers may be more effective if more emphasis is given on changing negative thoughts.
Contested norms in new-adopter states: International determinants of LGBT rights legislation

This article is concerned with the question of why lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) rights legislation is introduced at higher levels in some cases and less so in others. To address this puzzle, the article analyzes changes in LGBT rights legislation across European Union (EU) member states between 1970 and 2009. It focuses on the diffusion of five different categories of such legislation (anti-discrimination, criminal law, partnership, parenting rights, and equal sexual offenses provisions) to new EU member states in Central and Eastern Europe, compared with diffusion patterns in older EU member states. I argue that new-adopter states are more dependent on international resources for making new issues visible and are more inclined to see policy adoption as a means to gain external legitimacy and improve reputation. The analysis reveals that the transnational embeddedness of a state’s LGBT advocacy organizations is a powerful statistical explanation for successful policy diffusion to new EU member states, alongside international channels that lead to LGBT visibility among society and state authorities. In addition to lending cross-national, empirical reinforcement to some of the theoretical expectations regarding the international sources of diffusion, the results suggest variability in the determinants of LGBT policy adoption between the 15 old and 12 new EU states. Domestic factors, particularly economic modernization, are more relevant for policy adoption in the older member states, whereas the newer member states display greater dependence on transnational actors and are more influenced by international channels.
Noise Figure Reduction in Externally Modulated Analog Fiber-Optic Links

An octave-bandwidth microwave photonic link with a third-order limited spurious-free dynamic range of 121 dB in a 1-Hz bandwidth has been demonstrated. The link noise figure of 9 dB at a modulation frequency of 2 GHz was achieved by using a bias-shifted Mach-Zehnder modulator with an optical input power of 500 mW. This level of performance was realized without electronic or optical linearization
Genome-Wide Survey of Large Rare Copy Number Variants in Alzheimer’s Disease Among Caribbean Hispanics

Recently genome-wide association studies have identified significant association between Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and variations in CLU, PICALM, BIN1, CR1, MS4A4/MS4A6E, CD2AP, CD33, EPHA1, and ABCA7. However, the pathogenic variants in these loci have not yet been found. We conducted a genome-wide scan for large copy number variation (CNV) in a dataset of Caribbean Hispanic origin (554 controls and 559 AD cases that were previously investigated in a SNP-based genome-wide association study using Illumina HumanHap 650Y platform). We ran four CNV calling algorithms to obtain high-confidence calls for large CNVs (>100 kb) that were detected by at least two algorithms. Global burden analyses did not reveal significant differences between cases and controls in CNV rate, distribution of deletions or duplications, total or average CNV size; or number of genes affected by CNVs. However, we observed a nominal association between AD and a ∼470 kb duplication on chromosome 15q11.2 (P = 0.037). This duplication, encompassing up to five genes (TUBGCP5, CYFIP1, NIPA2, NIPA1, and WHAMML1) was present in 10 cases (2.6%) and 3 controls (0.8%). The dosage increase of CYFIP1 and NIPA1 genes was further confirmed by quantitative PCR. The current study did not detect CNVs that affect novel AD loci identified by recent genome-wide association studies. However, because the array technology used in our study has limitations in detecting small CNVs, future studies must carefully assess novel AD genes for the presence of disease-related CNVs.
A study on the relationships among emotional labor, job satisfaction and turnover intention of beauty industry professionals

The purpose of this study is to define the relationships among the emotional labor, job satisfaction, and turnover intention of beauty industry workers. The data for this study were collected through a survey, and a total of 197 questionnaires were used in the statistical analysis. The survey items were classified into 4 domains: demographic characteristics, emotional labor, job satisfaction, and turnover intention. This study extracted factors that compose each measurement domain to define the impact of emotional labor on job satisfaction or turnover intention. According to the research results, 3 factors - positive norm, sincere behavior, and emotional incongruity - were extracted for emotional labor. Individual aptitude satisfaction and work environment satisfaction were extracted as the factors for job satisfaction, whereas a single factor was extracted for turnover intention. By analyzing the effect of factors related to the emotional labor of beauty in dustry workers on factors related to job satisfaction, results showed that positive norm positively influenced individual aptitude satisfaction, sincere behavior positively influenced individual aptitude satisfaction and work environment satisfaction, and emotional incongruity negatively influenced individual aptitude satisfaction. Among factors related to emotional labor, positive norm and sincere behavior negatively affected turnover intention, whereas emotional incongruity positively influenced turnover intention. With regard to the effect of job satisfaction on the turnover intention of beauty industry workers, results showed that individual aptitude satisfaction and job environment satisfaction negatively (-) affected turnover intention. The results of this study show that people presenting a high level of individual aptitude satisfaction displayed positive job satisfaction, whereas people showing serious emotional incongruity for work presented high turnover intention. This implies that in order to increase the work efficiency of beauty businesses, it is essential to examine and manage the emotional labor of workers as a measure for increasing job satisfaction and lowering turnover.
The relationship between inferential confusion, obsessive compulsiveness, schizotypy and dissociation in a non-clinical sample

Objective: Inferential confusion is a reasoning process that has been theoretically and empirically linked to obsessive-compulsiveness in the literature. Little is known about the mechanisms by which some people become more or less inferentially confused and in what contexts. Dissociation has been postulated as a process related to inferential confusion, yet findings to date are limited and have been inconclusive. There is preliminary evidence to support the notion that inferential confusion may also be relevant in other belief disorders such as delusional disorder but this has not received much empirical attention. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between inferential confusion, obsessive-compulsiveness, dissociation and schizotypy in a non-clinical sample. Design: Participants (n=107) from the general population took part in a within-participants experimental study, designed to assess the propensity to experience inferential confusion in obsessive-compulsive and delusion-relevant situations and in a threat-neutral situation. Participants also completed self-report measures of inferential confusion, obsessive-compulsiveness, dissociation and schizotypy. Results: As expected, inferential confusion, obsessive-compulsiveness, dissociation and schizotypy were all significantly positively correlated with each other. Propensity to experience inferential confusion was only related to measures of inferential confusion, obsessive-compulsiveness, schizotypy, and dissociation in the context of the delusion-relevant scenario. Conclusions: There is little evidence linking measures of obsessive-compulsiveness, dissociation and schizotypy with experimental measures of inferential confusion. However, there is evidence that these measures relate to self-report measures of inferential confusion. The implications of this are discussed in terms of understanding inferential confusion as a process. However, an alternative explanation for the findings lies in the critique of the methodology of the experimental task. Inferential confusion still requires experimental investigation that can be replicated.
Combined transdermal testosterone gel and the progestin nestorone suppresses serum gonadotropins in men.

CONTEXT Testosterone (T) plus progestin combinations are the most promising hormonal male contraceptives. Nestorone (NES), a progestin without estrogenic or androgenic activity, when combined with T may be an excellent candidate for male contraception. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to determine the effect of transdermal NES gel alone or with T gel on gonadotropin suppression. DESIGN AND SETTING The randomized, unblinded clinical trial was conducted at two academic medical centers. PARTICIPANTS A total of 140 healthy male volunteers participated. INTERVENTIONS One hundred subjects were randomized initially (20 per group) to apply NES gel 2 or 4 mg, T gel 10 g, or T gel 10 g plus NES gel 2 or 4 mg daily for 20 d. Because only about half of the subjects in T plus NES 4 mg group suppressed serum gonadotropins to 0.5 IU/liter or less (suboptimal suppression), two additional groups of 20 men were randomized to apply daily T gel 10 g plus NES gel 6 or 8 mg. MAIN OUTCOME VARIABLE Suppression of serum LH and FSH concentrations to 0.5 IU/liter or less after treatment was the main outcome variable. RESULTS A total of 119 subjects were compliant with gel applications with few study-related adverse events. NES alone reduced gonadotropins significantly but less than T gel alone. Combined T gel 10g plus NES gel 6 or 8 mg suppressed both serum gonadotropins to 0.5 IU/liter or less in significantly more men than either gel alone. CONCLUSION Transdermal NES gel alone had gonadotropin suppression activity. Combined transdermal NES (6 or 8 mg) plus T gel demonstrated safe and effective suppression of gonadotropins, justifying a longer-term study of this combination for suppression of spermatogenesis.