Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Academic Crossover and Functional Differentiation of Universities

This study is motivated by a theoretical deficiency in the research on internal resource allocation and functional differentiation of higher education institutions in relation with their prestige maximizing behaviors. Our finding, despite its purely theoretical nature, suggests that a prestige-maximizing college or university achieves the highest potential prestige by optimally allocating its limited resources and equalizing the prestige of the closely associated academic departments or disciplines. The result certainly indicates that the interdisciplinary activities and functional differentiation, which represent two major efforts found in the recent higher education community, have indeed counteractive effects on their separate objectives.
Productive and Economic Performance of Broiler Chickens Subjected to Different Nutritional Plans

The objective of the study was to evaluate the effect of nutritional plans on the productive and economic performance of Hubbard Flex broiler chickens. A completely randomized experimental design was applied, consisting of five treatments. Treatments consisted of five different nutritional plans: a basal diet containing the nutrient and energy levels recommended by literature and designated reference diet; two diets containing 1.5% and 3% lower levels than the reference diet; and two diets containing 1.5% and 3% higher levels than the reference diet (-3%, -1.5%, reference plan, +1.5% and +3%). Feed intake (FI), body weight (BW), feed conversion rate (FCR), livability (L) and productive efficient index (PEI) were determined when broilers were 42 days old. Broilers were processed, and carcass and parts (breast fillet, leg, and wings) yields were determined. The economic viablility of the nutitional plans was evaluated as a function of feed cost/kg live and carcass weights, economic efficiency index (EEI), and cost index (CI). Feed intake and the feed conversion rate decreased as dietary nutrient and energy levels increased. Feed cost/kg live weight, economic efficiency index, and cost index cost increased as dietary nutrient and energy levels increased. Feed intake, feed conversion ratio, production efficiency index, and breast yield improved with increasing nutritional and energy levels. However, worse economic results were obtained with higher nutritional and energy levels.
Attitudes related to aggression in violent and nonviolent offenders

The purpose of this study was to investigate attitude differences between violent and nonviolent offenders. A random sample of 136 male prisoners in Oregon completed the Right-Wing Authoritarianism scale, the 16-item Social Dominance Orientation scale, and the Multiple Stimulus Tolerance for Ambiguity scale to assess authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and tolerance for ambiguity, respectively. The MarloweCrowne Social Desirability Scale, Form C, was also included as a validity measure. Results indicated no significant differences between violent and nonviolent offenders on the three attitude measures. However, violent offenders scored significantly higher than nonviolent offenders on the social-desirability measure, suggesting that the lack of significant findings may reflect a desire to respond in a socially desirable way.
β-hexachlorocyclohexane as a Risk for Alzheimer’s Disease: A Pilot Study in North Indian Population

The notion of potential existence of gene environment interaction (GxE) in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has substantial impact on understanding the role of genetic and non-genetic contribution to this disorder. Keeping in mind this background we examined the genetic and environmental factors which may determine their relative contribution to AD. Based on well defined inclusion and exclusion criteria this study includes 70 AD patients and 75 age-matched controls. Organochlorine Pesticides (OCPs) were analyzed in blood by using gas chromatography and serum metals were analyzed by using an autoanalyser. The LRPAP1 and APOE gene polymorphism were determined by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism respectively. The frequency of APOE e4 allele and LRPAP1 I allele were significantly high (p=0.000 for both allele) in AD patients as compared to controls. The significantly high levels of β-hexachlorocyclohexane (βHCH) and dieldrin are risk factors for AD independent of the genetic risk factor, recording an odds ratio of 2.777 and 2.344 respectively. This study suggests that out of the environmental factors, high β-HCH levels were the best predictor of presence of AD independent of the genetic component and low levels of serum iron play a protective role against AD.
Attachment Theory as a Framework for Understanding Responses to Social Exclusion

We argue that attachment theory may provide a useful framework for understanding individuals’ reactions to social exclusion. Attachment theory suggests that social exclusion should prompt an individual to seek comfort from an accepting attachment figure. However, most experimental studies constrain individuals from seeking out an attachment figure to quell their distress, and may interfere with the process of recruiting internalized attachment figures. When the goal of recruiting attachment figure support is blocked, individuals may adopt deactivating strategies, such as emotional numbing, to reduce their distress. Alternatively, individuals may adopt hyperactivating strategies, such as ingratiating behaviors, to seek proximity to attachment figure substitutes. We conclude with recommendations for future avenues of exclusion research stemming from attachment theory.
Application of Graph Theory to Assess Static and Dynamic Brain Connectivity: Approaches for Building Brain Graphs

Human brain connectivity is complex. Graph-theorybased analysis has become a powerful and popular approach for analyzing brain imaging data, largely because of its potential to quantitatively illuminate the networks, the static architecture in structure and function, the organization of dynamic behavior over time, and disease related brain changes. The first step in creating brain graphs is to define the nodes and edges connecting them. We review a number of approaches for defining brain nodes including fixed versus data-driven nodes. Expanding the narrow view of most studies which focus on static and/or single modality brain connectivity, we also survey advanced approaches and their performances in building dynamic and multimodal brain graphs. We show results from both simulated and real data from healthy controls and patients with mental illnesses. We outline the advantages and challenges of these various techniques. By summarizing and inspecting recent studies which analyzed brain imaging data based on graph theory, this paper provides a guide for developing new powerful tools to explore complex brain networks.
Acceptance of Mobile Learning at SMEs of the Service Sector

Mobile Learning (mLearning) is becoming popular in several parts of education. The increasing availability of mobile technology and devices is an important fact, which fosters this trend. However, even if it attracts more and more attention at huge enterprises it is not clear what small and medium enterprises (SMEs) think about Mobile Learning. Moreover, in a modern society, the Service Sector increases as well and here Mobile Learning could be a helpful concept to cope with rapid change and innovation on information. The texts provides results of an acceptance study with regard to Mobile Learning at SMEs in the Service Sector. This is related to advantages and disadvantages which companies expect. This qualitative interview study gathered information form 14 SMEs in Germany. As a basis for a successful implementation of mLearning in companies of the Service Sector the acceptance by decision makers and users is crucial. The results show that acceptance already exists but that there are a lot of challenges and requirements as well.
Integrative and instrumental reminiscence therapies for depression in older adults: Intervention strategies and treatment effectiveness

Reminiscence has been identified as an important contributor to adaptation in later life by gerontologists, developmental theorists and clinical practitioners. Despite its wide acceptance as an intervention, there remains some doubt about its therapeutic efficiency. In order to assess the value of reminiscence for the treatment of depression in older adults, cognitive theories of depression were integrated with reminiscence theory to develop two standardized integrative and instrumental reminiscence interventions. Integrative reminiscence therapy aims at a constructive re-appraisal of interpretations and emotions to past self-defining events, whereas instrumental reminiscence uses memories for providing evidence of past successful coping and for identifying appropriate coping strategies. These interventions were implemented in a short-term group format and compared to an active socialization group as the control condition. Twenty-six older adults with moderate to severe depression constituted the sample. Evaluation of the clinical significance of the results showed that both reminiscence therapies led to significant improvements in the symptoms of depression at the end of the intervention. In the integrative group, 58% of clients demonstrated clinically significant improvement at post-test, yielding an effect size (ES) of 0.86. At follow-up three months later, 100% of integrative clients had improved clinically (ES=0.96). In the instrumental group, 56% of clients demonstrated clinically significant improvement at post-test (ES=0.81) and 88% improved at the follow-up (ES=0.89).
On the universal outcome of star formation: is there a link between stars and brown dwarfs?

Given the current consensus that stars form from pre-stellar cloud cores that fragment into small N groups which decay within a few 10 4 yr, and taking the observed properties of about 1 Myr old stars in the Taurus-Auriga (TA) star-forming region as empirical constraints, we suggest a model that describes the multiplicity properties of the disintegrated groups. This model concisely describes the outcome of star formation in terms of dynamically unevolved binary properties. Two variants of the model are tested against data on very young stars in Taurus-Auriga (TA) and the Orion Nebula cluster (ONC) as well as the older Pleiades and the Galactic-field populations. The standard model (SM) assumes that cloud-core fragmentation only produces stellar systems, while the standard model with brown dwarfs (SMwBDs) assumes that cloud-core fragmentation proceeds down to sub-stellar mass cores. Brown dwarfs (BDs) enter the SM by being a separate, dynamically unimportant population. The models produce a very high initial binary proportion among stars (SM), and stars and BDs (SMwBDs), and both reproduce the measured initial mass function (IMF) in TA, the ONC and the Pleiades as well as the Galactic field. Concentrating on the SMwBDs, it is shown that the Briceno et al. result that TA appears to have produced significantly fewer BDs per star than the ONC is reproduced almost exactly without calling for a different IMF. The reason is that star–BD and BD–BD binaries are disrupted in the dense ONC. The model, however, fails to reproduce the observed star–star binary period distribution in TA, because it contains too many star–BD pairs. Also, the SMwBDs leads to too many wide star–BD and BD–BD systems. This is a problem if most stars form in clusters because Galactic-field very-low-mass-star and BD binaries have a low binary fraction and do not contain wide systems. The SM, on the other hand, finds excellent agreement with the observed mass-ratio and period distribution among TA and Galactic-field stellar binaries, as well as the observed stellar period distribution in the ONC and the Pleiades. The conclusion of this work is therefore that the SM describes the initial, dynamically unevolved stellar population very well indeed for a large range of star-forming conditions, suggesting (1) a remarkable invariance of the star-formation products, and (2) that BDs (and some very-low-mass stars) need to be added as a separate population with its own kinematical and binary properties. This separate population may vary with star-forming conditions.
Counteracting Implicit Conflicts by Electrical Inhibition of the Prefrontal Cortex

Cognitive conflicts and distractions by task-irrelevant information often counteract effective and goal-directed behaviors. In some cases, conflicting information can even emerge implicitly, without an overt distractor, by the automatic activation of mental representations. For instance, during number processing, magnitude information automatically elicits spatial associations resembling a mental number line. This spatial–numerical association of response codes (SNARC) effect can modulate cognitive-behavioral performance but is also highly flexible and context-dependent, which points toward a critical involvement of working memory functions. Transcranial direct current stimulation to the PFC, in turn, has been effective in modulating working memory-related cognitive performance. In a series of experiments, we here demonstrate that decreasing activity of the left PFC by cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation consistently and specifically eliminates implicit cognitive conflicts based on the SNARC effect, but explicit conflicts based on visuospatial distraction remain unaffected. This dissociation is polarity-specific and appears unrelated to functional magnitude processing as classified by regular numerical distance effects. These data demonstrate a causal involvement of the left PFC in implicit cognitive conflicts based on the automatic activation of spatial–numerical processing. Corroborating the critical interaction of brain stimulation and neurocognitive functions, our findings suggest that distraction from goal-directed behavior by automatic activation of implicit, task-irrelevant information can be blocked by the inhibition of prefrontal activity.
Characterization and Analysis of Tetranitrate Esters

Thermal behaviors, vapor pressures, densities, and drop weight impact results, as well as analytical protocols, are reported for three tetranitrate esters: erythritol tetranitrate (ETN), 1,4-dinitrato-2,3-dinitro-2,3bis(nitratomethylene) butane (DNTN), and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN). ETN and DNTN both melt below 100 °C and have ambient vapor pressures comparable to TNT. While LC/MS was shown to be a viable technique for analysis of all three tetranitrate esters, only ETN was successfully analyzed by GC/MS. Performance of these nitrate esters as evaluated in lab using the small-scale explosivity device (SSED) suggested RDX≫DNTN>PETN>ETN. Detonation velocities were calculated using Cheetah 6.0. Since the starting material is now widely available, it is likely that law enforcement will find ETN in future improvised explosive devices. This paper with its analytical schemes should prove useful in identification of this homemade explosive.
Measuring vertebrate telomeres: applications and limitations

Telomeres are short tandem repeated sequences of DNA found at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes that function in stabilizing chromosomal end integrity. In vivo studies of somatic tissue of mammals and birds have shown a correlation between telomere length and organismal age within species, and correlations between telomere shortening rate and lifespan among species. This result presents the tantalizing possibility that telomere length could be used to provide much needed information on age, ageing and survival in natural populations where longitudinal studies are lacking. Here we review methods available for measuring telomere length and discuss the potential uses and limitations of telomeres as age and ageing estimators in the fields of vertebrate ecology, evolution and conservation.
Can SPDY really make the web faster?

HTTP is a successful Internet technology on top of which a lot of the web resides. However, limitations with its current specification have encouraged some to look for the next generation of HTTP. In SPDY, Google has come up with such a proposal that has growing community acceptance, especially after being adopted by the IETF HTTPbis-WG as the basis for HTTP/2.0. SPDY has the potential to greatly improve web experience with little deployment overhead, but we still lack an understanding of its true potential in different environments. This paper offers a comprehensive evaluation of SPDY's performance using extensive experiments. We identify the impact of network characteristics and website infrastructure on SPDY's potential page loading benefits, finding that these factors are decisive for an optimal SPDY deployment strategy. Through exploring such key aspects that affect SPDY, and accordingly HTTP/2.0, we feed into the wider debate regarding the impact of future protocols.
Guns, germs, and trees determine density and distribution of gorillas and chimpanzees in Western Equatorial Africa

We quantify the impacts of poaching, Ebola, and habitat degradation on western lowland gorillas and central chimpanzees. We present a range-wide assessment of sympatric western lowland gorillas Gorilla gorilla gorilla and central chimpanzees Pan troglodytes troglodytes using the largest survey data set ever assembled for these taxa: 59 sites in five countries surveyed between 2003 and 2013, totaling 61,000 person-days of fieldwork. We used spatial modeling to investigate major drivers of great ape distribution and population trends. We predicted density across each taxon’s geographic range, allowing us to estimate overall abundance: 361,900 gorillas and 128,700 chimpanzees in Western Equatorial Africa—substantially higher than previous estimates. These two subspecies represent close to 99% of all gorillas and one-third of all chimpanzees. Annual population decline of gorillas was estimated at 2.7%, maintaining them as Critically Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Red List. We quantified the threats to each taxon, of which the three greatest were poaching, disease, and habitat degradation. Gorillas and chimpanzees are found at higher densities where forest is intact, wildlife laws are enforced, human influence is low, and disease impacts have been low. Strategic use of the results of these analyses could conserve the majority of gorillas and chimpanzees. With around 80% of both subspecies occurring outside protected areas, their conservation requires reinforcement of anti-poaching efforts both inside and outside protected areas (particularly where habitat quality is high and human impact is low), diligent disease control measures (including training, advocacy, and research into Ebola virus disease), and the preservation of high-quality habitat through integrated land-use planning and implementation of best practices by the extractive and agricultural industries.
Survey of Corylus Resistance to Anisogramma anomala from Different Geographic Locations

Anisogramma anomala (Peck) E. Muller is the causal agent of the disease eastern filbert blight (EFB) of hazelnuts (Corylus spp.). Little is known of its genetic diversity and pathogenic variation. Most sources of host resistance have been identified in the Pacific Northwest, a region outside the native range of A. anomala believed to have limited diversity of the fungus due to a long history of quarantine and its relatively recent inadvertent introduction. In an attempt to investigate the pathogenic variation of A. anomala, 12 hazelnut genotypes that showed complete resistance in Oregon were inoculated with 12 isolates collected from across its native range. At the conclusion of the study, 'Grand Traverse,' 'Ratoli', OSU 541.147, OSU 495.072, and OSU 526.041 remained free of disease. 'Closca Molla', OSU 759.007, and OSU 587.044 were infected by most isolates. 'Gasaway' was infected by the Michigan isolate, which was also the only one to infect its offspring 'Zimmerman', although the lesion lacked sporulating stromata. Interestingly, 'VR20-11', another offspring of 'Gasaway', was infected by isolates from New Jersey, Minnesota, and Michigan. The Michigan isolate also caused the only signs of infection on OSU 408.040.
Two-year follow-up of closed reduction and external fixation treatment of unstable fractures at the base of the first metacarpal

This retrospective analysis investigated the clinical effect of closed reduction and external fixation on unstable fractures at the base of the first metacarpal. A total of 23 patients with unstable fractures at the base of the first metacarpal were treated, including six with Bennett fractures, three with Rolando fractures, six with extra-articular transverse fractures, and eight with extra-articular oblique fractures. If closed reduction by all fracture manual reset techniques was satisfactory, external fixation was used. Postoperative fracture healing was assessed by X-ray imaging. In the 24-month follow-up period, functional recovery was assessed by, Disability of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand (DASH), total active motion test of the thumb, Jamar dynamometer thumb muscle testing. The fracture healing time was 8-12 weeks. Nineteen cases were followed up for up to 24 months (82.6%). The average DASH score was 3.4 ± 0.8. The total active motion loss of the thumb was 7.5 ± 1.3°. The thumb grip strength of the affected side on Jamar dynamometer testing was 65.5-113% of the uninjured side, while the pinch strength of the affected side was 66.6-104.5% of the uninjured side. Patients with unstable fractures at the base of the first metacarpal treated with closed reduction and external fixation underwent 2 years of follow-up, which revealed good functional thumb recovery.
Association of Three Polymorphisms rs11614913, rs2910146, and rs3746444 in miRNA-196a2, miRNA-146a, and miRNA-499 with Inflammatory Bowel Disease: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background It has been found that single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of microRNA might be involved in the development of inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). However, the related retrospective research has not been reported. In this work, we performed a meta-analysis to derive a more precise estimation of the associated relationship. Methods We searched the studies on the association of SNPs of microRNA with the hereditary susceptibility of IBD in PubMed and Embase; eligible research was selected by screening the abstract and full text. The meta-analysis was performed based on the statistical software Stata 14.0, and besides, the odds ratio and 95% confidence interval were calculated to evaluate the strength of the association. Results 159 papers were acquired from the PubMed and Embase databases, and five eligible articles containing nine case-control studies were selected. In the study, we first found that the association between miRNA-196a2 rs11614913 and IBD was insignificant. Then, the susceptibility of miRNA-146a rs2910146 to IBD increased significantly in allelic comparison, homozygote model, heterozygote model, and dominant model. Moreover, a positive relationship between miRNA-499 rs3746444 and IBD was identified in the homozygote model. Conclusion Our findings demonstrated that miRNA-146a rs2910146 (G>C) polymorphism was associated with the susceptibility to IBD and miRNA-196a2 rs11614913 (T>C) and miRNA-499 rs3746444 (A>G) did not reveal an obvious relationship with the IBD susceptibility.