Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Do Anxious Swimmers Swim Slower? Reexamining the Elusive Anxiety-Performance Relationship

The purpose of this investigation was to utilize a multidimensional measure of anxiety and a more sensitive intraindividual performance measure to evaluate the relationship between anxiety and performance. Three hypotheses were tested. First, cognitive anxiety is more consistently and strongly related to performance than is somatic anxiety. Second, somatic anxiety demonstrates an inverted-U relationship with performance, whereas self-confidence and performance exhibit a positive linear relationship and cognitive anxiety and performance exhibit a negative one. Finally, short duration and high and low complexity events demonstrate stronger relationships between somatic anxiety and performance than do long duration or moderate complexity events. Two samples of swimmers completed the CSAI-2 prior to competition, and performance data were obtained from meet results. Correlational and multiple regression analyses generally supported Hypotheses 1 and 3, while polynomial trend analyses on standardized CSAI-2 scor.
Early-Life Stress Paradigm Transiently Alters Maternal Behavior, Dam-Pup Interactions, and Offspring Vocalizations in Mice

Animal models can help elucidate the mechanisms through which early-life stress (ELS) has pathophysiological effects on the developing brain. One model that has been developed for rodents consists of limiting the amount of bedding and nesting material during the first postnatal weeks of pup life. This ELS environment has been shown to induce “abusive” behaviors by rat dams towards pups, while mouse dams have been hypothesized to display “fragmented care”. Here, as part of an ongoing study of gene-environment interactions that impact brain development, we analyzed long observation periods of wild-type C57Bl/6J dams caring for wild-type and Met heterozygous pups. Met encodes for the MET receptor tyrosine kinase, which is involved in cortical and hippocampal synaptogenesis. Dams with limited resources from postnatal day (P)2 to P9 preserved regular long on-nest periods, and instead increased the number of discrete dam-pup interactions during regular off-nest periods. Immediately after dams entered the nest during off-nest periods in this ELS environment, pups responded to these qualitatively different interactions with an increased number of ultrasonic vocalizations (USV) and audible vocalizations (AV), communication signals that have been associated with aversive and painful stimuli. After returning to control conditions, nest entry behaviors normalized, and dams did not show altered anxiety-like or contextual fear learning behaviors after pup weaning. Furthermore, female mice that had undergone ELS as pups did not show atypical nest entry behaviors in control conditions in adulthood, suggesting that these specific maternal behaviors are not learned during the ELS period. The results suggest that atypical responses of both mother and pups during exposure to this ELS environment likely contribute to long-term negative outcomes in mice, and that these responses more closely resemble the effects of limited bedding on rat dams and pups than was previously suggested. Discerning how different early-life stressors mediate changes in maternal-pup interactions can help elucidate the mechanisms of ELS on brain development and behavior.
Dosimetry and toxicity outcomes in postoperative high-dose-rate intracavitary brachytherapy for endometrial carcinoma

Purpose The optimal dosimetric parameters and planning techniques for high-dose-rate vaginal brachytherapy (HDR-VB) are unclear. Our aim was to evaluate the utility of bladder and rectal dosimetry for patients receiving HDR-VB for postoperative treatment of endometrial carcinoma. Material and methods Patients with endometrial cancer who underwent postoperative HDR-VB from January 1, 2004 through December 31, 2010 were included. All patients underwent primary surgery consisting of total hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophrectomy (TH-BSO) with or without lymph node dissection and were treated with HDR-VB without pelvic external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) or chemotherapy. Demographic, pathologic, dosimetric and clinical data were collected. Results One hundred patients were identified with the majority of patients receiving HDR-VB in 700 cGy × 3 fractions (45%) or 550 cGy x 4 fractions (53%). No plan was altered based on bladder dosimetry at the time of planning. The rate of acute urinary reactions (< 90 days from beginning of RT) grades 1 and 2 were 14% and 2%, respectively. The rate of late urinary reactions (> 90 days after RT) grades 1 and 2 were 7% and 3%, respectively. Dose to the bladder point did not correlate with urinary toxicity. No rectal toxicity was reported by patients receiving HDR-VB. Conclusions In the setting of HDR-VB without EBRT, the measured dose to the bladder point does not predict urinary toxicity and is very unlikely to indicate the need to change the treatment plan. The treatment of endometrial carcinoma utilizing HDR-VB alone is associated with very low rates of high-grade acute or late bladder toxicity.
Boosting Minimum Bayes Risk Discriminative Training

A new variant of AdaBoost is applied to a Minimum Bayes Risk discriminative training procedure that directly aims at reducing Word Error Rate for Automatic Speech Recognition. Both techniques try to improve the discriminative power of a classifier and we show that can be combined together to yield even better performance on a small vocabulary continuous speech recognition task. Our results also demonstrate an interesting learning behavior that has never been studied previously in speech recognition.
Gromov-Witten invariants for abelian and nonabelian quotients

Let X be a smooth projective variety over C with the (linearized) action of a complex reductive group G, and let T ⊂ G be a maximal torus. In this setting, there are two geometric invariant theory (GIT) quotients, X//T and X//G, with a rational map Φ : X//T − −> X//G between them. We will further assume that “stable = semistable” in the GIT and that all isotropy of stable points is trivial, so X//T and X//G are smooth projective varieties, and Φ is a G/T fibration.
Mitochondrial Topoisomerase I is Critical for Mitochondrial Integrity and Cellular Energy Metabolism

Background Mitochondria contain their own DNA genome (mtDNA), as well as specific DNA replication and protein synthesis machineries. Relaxation of the circular, double-stranded mtDNA relies on the presence of topoisomerase activity. Three different topoisomerases have been identified in mitochondria: Top1mt, Top3α and a truncated form of Top2β. Methodology/Principal Findings The present study shows the importance of Top1mt in mitochondrial homeostasis. Here we show that Top1mt−/− murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEF) exhibit dysfunctional mitochondrial respiration, which leads decreased ATP production and compensation by increased glycolysis and fatty acid oxidation. ROS production in Top1mt−/− MEF cells is involved in nuclear DNA damage and induction of autophagy. Lack of Top1mt also triggers oxidative stress and DNA damage associated with lipid peroxidation and mitophagy in Top1mt−/− mice. Conclusion/Significance Together, our data implicate Top1mt for mitochondrial integrity and energy metabolism. The compensation mechanism described here contributes to the survival of Top1mt−/− cells and mice despite alterations of mitochondrial functions and metabolism. Therefore, this study supports a novel model for cellular adaptation to mitochondrial damage.
Orthographic Neighbours are not all Equal: Evidence using an Identification Technique

The definition of orthographic neighbour (Coltheart et al., 1977) was analysed in two experiments using a variety of the three-field technique (Humphreys et al., 1988). With this technique, a clearly visible prime (in lower-case letters) is followed by a briefly presented upper-case word which is immediately masked. Pairs of five-letter neighbouring words were selected. Only orthographically related pairs that differed from the prime by the third letter (womenWOVEN) or the fourth letter (frost-FRONT) showed (inhibitory) relatedness effects compared with an unrelated word condition. The results suggest that models of visual word recognition should be modified to address the fact that some letter positions are more important than others.
High-Energy Spectral Complexity from Thermal Gradients in Black Hole Atmospheres

We show that Compton scattering of soft photons with energies ~100 eV in thermally stratified black hole accretion plasmas with temperatures in the range ~100 keV-1 MeV can give rise to an X-ray spectral hardening above ~10 keV. This could produce the hardening observed in the X-ray spectra of black holes, which is generally attributed to reflection or partial covering of the incident continuum source by cold optically thick matter. In addition, we show that the presence of very hot (kT ≃ 1 MeV) cores in plasmas leads to spectra exhibiting high-energy tails similar to those observed from Galactic black hole candidates.
Effect of Organic Acids on Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Staphylococcus aureus Contaminated Meat

Appropriate and safe antibacterial agents able to decontaminate meat surfaces have long been big concern of meat industry. In an attempt to manage beef carcass contamination, spray wash treatments utilizing three concentrations (1, 1.5 and 2%) of acetic, lactic, propionic and formic acids were performed to evaluate their efficacy in reducing numbers of Escherichia coli O157:H7 and Staphylococcus aureus on meat tissues. The procured beef pieces of freshly slaughtered animals were decontaminated with hot water and then inoculated with E. coli O157:H7 and S. aureus individually which then were spray washed with organic acids separately. The total plate count of the treated samples showed that the populations of bacteria decreased after being exposed to organic acids. Spray wash of formic acid resulted in the highest reduction of both bacterial species on meat surface. Significantly, higher log reductions were obtained for S. aureus than E. coli O157:H7. It was concluded that organic acids are highly effective in decontaminating meat surfaces and organic acids are shown to be safe, simple, efficient, and cheap modality of meat decontamination which can be highly recommended for industrial scales.
Bug propagation and debugging in asymmetric software structures

We address the issue of how software components are affected by the failure of one of them, and the inverse problem of locating the faulty component. Because of the functional form of the incoming link distribution of software dependence network, software is fragile with respect to the failure of a random single component. Locating a faulty component is easy if the failure only affects its nearest neighbors, while it is hard if it propagates further.
Truncated unscented particle filter for dealing with non-linear inequality constraints

This paper addresses state estimation where domain knowledge is represented by non-linear inequality constraints. To cope with non-Gaussian state distribution caused by the utilisation of domain knowledge, a truncated unscented particle filter method is proposed in this paper. Different from other particle filtering schemes, a truncated unscented Kalman filter is adopted as the importance function for sampling new particles in the proposed truncated unscented particle scheme. Consequently more effective particles are generated and a better state estimation result is then obtained. The advantages of the proposed truncated unscented particle filter algorithm over the state-of-the-art particle filters are demonstrated through Monte-Carlo simulations.
Erfassung von sozialer Partizipation – Übereinstimmung zwischen Selbst- und Fremdsicht von Schülern mitundohne sonderpädagogischen Förderbedarf

Zusammenfassung. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Studie wurde untersucht, ob Schuler mit sonderpadagogischem Forderbedarf (SPF) im Vergleich zu Schulern ohne SPF weniger Interaktionen und Freundschaften mit ihren Peers haben. Zudem stand die Ubereinstimmung zwischen der Selbst- und Fremdeinschatzung der sozialen Partizipation im Fokus. Als Untersuchungsgrundlage wurden die Daten von 616 Schulern der 4. und 7. Schulstufe analysiert, darunter auch jene von 129 Schulern mit SPF. Die Interaktionen wurden, im Hinblick auf die Haufigkeit von Pausenkontakten mit allen Peers, anhand eines soziometrischen Ratings operationalisiert. Fur die Operationalisierung der Freundschaft wurden soziometrische Nennungen ausgewertet. Die Ergebnisse zeigten erwartungsgemas, dass Schuler mit SPF in beiden Bereichen der sozialen Partizipation geringere Werte erzielten. Dies gilt sowohl fur die Selbst- als auch fur die Peerratings der Interaktionen und die Anzahl der Freundschaften. Daruber hinaus war die Ubereinstimmung zwischen Selbst.
P-Selectin Targeted Dexamethasone-Loaded Lipid Nanoemulsions: A Novel Therapy to Reduce Vascular Inflammation

Inflammation is a common process associated with numerous vascular pathologies. We hypothesized that targeting the inflamed endothelium by coupling a peptide with high affinity for P-selectin to the surface of dexamethasone-loaded lipid nanoemulsions will highly increase their specific binding to activated endothelial cells (EC) and reduce the cell activation. We developed and characterized dexamethasone-loaded lipid nanoemulsions directed towards P-selectin (PLN-Dex) and monitored their anti-inflammatory effects in vitro using cultured EC (EA.hy926 cells) and in vivo using a mouse model of acute inflammation [lipopolysaccharides (LPS) intravenously administered in C57BL/6 mice]. We found that PLN-Dex bound specifically to the surface of activated EC are efficiently internalized by EC and reduced the expression of proinflammatory genes, thus preventing the monocyte adhesion and transmigration to/through activated EC. Given intravenously in mice with acute inflammation, PLN-Dex accumulated at a significant high level in the lungs (compared to nontargeted nanoemulsions) and significantly reduced mRNA expression level of key proinflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β, IL-6, and MCP-1. In conclusion, the newly developed nanoformulation, PLN-Dex, is functional in vitro and in vivo, reducing selectively the endothelium activation and the consequent monocyte infiltration and diminishing significantly the lungs' inflammation, in a mouse model of acute inflammation.
Soil seed bank composition over desert microhabitats: patterns and plausible mechanisms

We assessed soil seed bank composition and size over several microhabitats of two habitats of the central Monte Desert of Argentina (open Prosopis woodland and Larrea shrubland) to analyse differences among them. Seed densities were similar to those already reported for other deserts, but we found consistent differences in seed composi- tion among microhabitats. Whereas grass seeds (e.g., Aristida, Pappophorum, Neobouteloua, Trichloris, Digitaria) pre- vailed in natural depressions of open areas, forb seeds (e.g., Phacelia, Lappula, Descurainia, Plantago, Chenopodium) were more abundant under trees. The comparison of seed production during primary dispersal (i.e., seed rain) with seed density on the ground at the end of dispersal indicated that most forb seeds entered the habitat through the micro- habitats located beneath the canopy of trees and tall shrubs, and remained there after redistribution. Most grass seeds, by contrast, entered it through bare-soil and under-grass microhabitats, and reached more even distributions after sec- ondary dispersal, especially because of dramatic losses in bare soil. Patterns of plant recruitment and seed dynamics in specific microhabitats were better understood when differences of soil seed bank composition, but not of total seed density, were taken into account. Resume : Les auteurs ont etudie la composition et l'importance quantitative des banques de semences du sol, dans plu- sieurs microhabitats de deux habitats au centre du Monte Desert en Argentine (foret ouverte a Prosopis et arbustaie a Larrea), afin d'en analyser les differences. La densite des graines semble comparable a celles qui ont deja ete obser- vees dans d'autres deserts, mais on observe des differences congrues dans la composition en graines, entre les microha- bitats. Alors que les graines de graminees (p. ex., Aristida, Pappophorum, Neobouteloua, Trichlori, Digitaria) prevalent dans les depressions naturelles des aires ouvertes, les graines non-graminoides (p. ex., Phacelia, Lappula, Descurainia, Plantago, Chenopodium) sont plus abondantes sous les arbres. Lorsqu'on compare la presence de graines au cours de la dispersion primaire (c.-a.-d. pluie de graine) avec la densite des graines au sol apres la fin de la dispersion, on cons- tate que la plupart des graines non-graminoides arrivent a l'habitat via les microhabitats localises sous la canopee des arbres et des grands arbustes, et y demeurent apres la redistribution. Au contraire, la plupart des graines graminoides y parviennent via des microhabitats de sols denudes ou sous des herbacees, et y connaissent une dispersion plus uniforme apres la dispersion secondaire, surtout a cause de grandes pertes sur les sols denudes. On comprend mieux les patrons de recrutement des plantules et la dynamique des graines dans des microhabitats specifiques, lorsqu'on prend en compte les differences dans la composition des banques de graines du sol, plutot que la densite totale des graines.
Proposal and Evaluation of Serendipitous Recommendation Method Using General Unexpectedness

systems support users in selecting items and services in an information-rich environment. Although recommender systems have been improved in terms of accuracy, such systems are still insufficient in terms of novelty and serendipity, giving unsatisfactory results to users. Two methods of "serendipitous recommendation" are therefore proposed. However, a method for recommending serendipitous items accurately to users does not yet exist, because what kinds of items are serendipitous is not clearly defined. Accordingly, a human preference model of serendipitous items based on actual data concerning a user's impression collected by questionnaires was devised. Two serendipitous recommendation methods based on the model were devised and evaluated according to a user's actual impression. The evaluation results show that one of these recommendation methods, the one using general unexpectedness independent of user profiles, can recommend the serendipitous items accurately.
Communicating Leader-Member Relationship Quality

A half century of leader-member exchange research suggests that leaders share high- or low-quality relationships with members. However, these binary shortcuts dissolve the complexity of what is actually exchanged between leader and member. Therefore, a communicative view of these special dyadic relationships is forwarded, suggesting that leader-member relationships are a byproduct of, and produced through, concrete and continuous communicative exchanges. This scholarship answers long-standing calls for enhanced theoretical precision in parceling out the literal exchanges that take place between leader and member. Based on the results of focus groups and two self-report surveys, scales are developed to measure various dimensions of leader communicative behavior that may facilitate or hinder relationship development and maintenance. Group-level implications are discussed.
Postural and Perceptual Measurements during Performance of Static Standing Balance Exercises

Purpose: Balance training has shown benefits in improving balance in older adults and people with vestibular disorders. However, the evidence for determining the appropriate intensity and progression of balance exercises is very limited. The purpose of this study was to develop a method for quantifying intensity of balance exercises, and to determine guidelines for progressing exercises. Participants: Sixty-two healthy subjects who were between the ages of 18 and 85 years old (50% female, mean age 55 ± 20 years), and eight participants with vestibular disorders (50% female. mean age 56 ± 16 years) enrolled in the study. Methods: Healthy subjects were tested during two visits and performed two sets of 24 randomized static standing exercises in each visit. Participants with vestibular disorders were tested in one visit and performed two sets of 16 randomized static standing exercises. The exercises consisted of combinations of the following factors: surface (firm and foam), vision (eyes open and eyes closed), stance (feet apart and semi-tandem), and head movement (still, yaw, and pitch). Postural sway and ratings of perceived difficulty were measured for each exercise. The test-retest reliability of subjects’ performance and their rating of perceived difficulty of different standing balance exercises was examined. Two scales of rating of perceived difficulty of balance exercises were validated by comparing them with quantitative sway measures. The effect of age and vestibular disorders on postural and perceptual measures were tested using linear mixed models. Results: Position and acceleration sway measures demonstrated acceptable test-retest reliability, while sway velocity measures were the most reliable. The rating of perceived difficulty scales demonstrated fair to substantial agreement with few exceptions. Moderate to strong, positive correlations were observed between the rating of perceived difficulty scales and all sway measures establishing their validity. Sway and ratings of perceived difficulty increased in the older subject groups. Individuals with vestibular disorders did not produce more sway compared with controls, but they did have higher ratings of perceived difficulty. Conclusion: Quantitative sway measures and ratings of perceived difficulty can be used to prescribe intensity of balance exercises and guide progression during rehabilitation.
PERFORMANCE BASED PAY MANAGEMENT AS A DETERMINANT OF EXTRINSIC AND INTRINSIC JOB SATISFACTION

Recent studies about workplace compensation reveal that the ability of management to appropriately implement performance based pay may have a significant impact on job satisfaction. Although this correlation is significant, the role of performance based pay management as an important determinant has been given less attention in workplace compensation research literature. Therefore, this study was undertaken to investigate the correlation between performance based pay management and job satisfaction. Survey questionnaires were employed to collect data from employees at fire and rescue organizations in Malaysia. The outcomes of SmartPLS path model analysis showed two important findings: first, performance based pay management was an important determinant of job satisfaction. Second, specific components of performance based pay management: (1) communication, participation and performance appraisal were important determinants of extrinsic job satisfaction, (2) communication, and performance appraisal were important determinants of intrinsic job satisfaction, and (3) participation was not important determinant of intrinsic job satisfaction in the studied organization. Further, this study provides discussion, implications and conclusion. Keywords: Performance based pay, management, job satisfaction, SmartPLS