Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Athlemaphilia: (n) meaningful affective connections with sport

This thesis amalgamates self-determination and attachment theories with the three-factor theory of anthropomorphism to propose athletes can form meaningful nonhuman attachments to sport, which are experienced similarly to interpersonal attachments, and can predict wellbeing and motivation to engage in sport. This mixed methods thesis employed three studies to develop our understanding of ‘athlemaphilic’ relationships. The first study explored whether athletes experience athlematic interactions like interpersonal relationships, as well as how interactions with sport are associated with wellbeing. The second study utilised interpretative phenomenological analysis to examine why individuals might turn to sport for support. The final study tested how individuals primed with interpersonal insecurity might recuperate a sense of belongingness by thinking about their athlemaphilic relationships. This thesis offers preliminary support for the notions that athlemaphilic relationships: (a) exist; (b) impact wellbeing and motivation; (c) satisfy the secure base and safe haven functions of attachment figures; (d) are anthropomorphised, and; (e) can compensate for thwarted interpersonal need satisfaction. Throughout this thesis athlemaphilic attachments are compared to attachments to interpersonal others, deities, and objects (i.e., mobile-phones), although it remains unclear which type of attachment they resemble most, or if such direct comparison is even possible. Each relationship may make a unique contribution to wellbeing, and a model which can detect such variation is needed. Overall, this thesis challenges the interpersonal requirement of relatedness according to self-determination theory, broadens the scope of attachment theory, supports context-specific attachment styles, and demonstrates attachment to sport as a concept. Continuing to explore these relationships is necessary to better understand what motivates us to engage, or disengage, in sport, as well as how we generate a sense of health and wellbeing.
Alternative Approaches to Development Policy

This chapter concludes the OECD Regional Outlook Policy Forum with an examination of the intersections and divergences between alternative approaches to regional development, paying particular attention to their underlying assumptions about markets and other institutions. The chapter then relates this analysis to the emergence of the OECD’s "New Regional Paradigm", as well as to recent developments in regional policy in the European Union, the United States and elsewhere.
Algèbres De Hecke Et Séries Principales Généralisées De Sp4(F)

The aim of this work is to expand Bushnell and Kutzko's theory of G‐covers [Proc. London Math. Soc. 77 (1998) 582–634] up to a full description of the generalized principal series of the p‐adic group Sp4(F), with p odd.
White Noise: The Unrealized Effects of Republican Party of Minnesota vs. White on Judicial Elections

Republican Party of Minnesota v. White (2002) has caused the nation's most powerful legal-advocacy organizations to question the wisdom of electing judges without regulations to help keep judicial candidates above the political fray. Conventional wisdom states that White has heightened the politicization of judicial elections by facilitating expensive, below-the-belt exchanges that sharply attenuate the incumbency advantage and threaten the legitimacy of state courts. Our primary assumption is that if White has had the presumed effects, we should see measurable changes in key judicial election characteristics: an increased willing-ness of challengers to enter the electoral arena, decreased electoral support for incumbents, elevated costs of campaigns, and declines in voter participation. Overall, we find no statistically discernable changes in state supreme court or state intermediate appellate court elections on these dimensions, which should help allay the fears of those concerned about judicial elections while encouraging additional empirical research on the judicial selection controversy.
Effects of Early Feed Restriction during Delayed Placement on the Performance and Gut Health of Broilers

An experiment was conducted to investigate the effect of early access to feed and water on the performance of broiler chicks during the first two weeks of life. A total of 64 Ross x Ross 708 broiler chicks were allotted to 3 treatment groups with 3 pens per group and 6 to 9 chicks per pen. Treatment group 1, 2, and, 3 were fasted for 36, 24, or 12 h post-hatch respectively, followed by ad libitum access to feed and water. Results of this study showed no differences between treatment groups in body weight, weight gain, or mortality. However, the 36 h group had reduced feed intake during 7-14 d compared to the 24 h group. The 12 h group was lower (p ≤ 0.05) in feed intake than the other treatment groups during 7-14 d and also during 0-14 d compared to the 24 h group only. The 12 h group was found to have lower (p ≤ 0.05) feed:gain ratio than the 24 h group during the second week as well as during the entire period of study. Early access to feed and water may improve the feed:gain ratio and affect feed intake of broilers during the first two weeks as it was shown in this study.
Targeting PPM1D by lentivirus-mediated RNA interference inhibits the tumorigenicity of bladder cancer cells

Protein phosphatase magnesium/manganese-dependent 1D (PPM1D) is a p53-induced phosphatase that functions as a negative regulator of stress response pathways and has oncogenic properties. However, the functional role of PPM1D in bladder cancer (BC) remains largely unknown. In the present study, lentivirus vectors carrying small hairpin RNA (shRNA) targeting PPM1D were used to explore the effects of PPM1D knockdown on BC cell proliferation and tumorigenesis. shRNA-mediated knockdown of PPM1D significantly inhibited cell growth and colony forming ability in the BC cell lines 5637 and T24. Flow cytometric analysis showed that PPM1D silencing increased the proportion of cells in the G0/G1 phase. Downregulation of PPM1D also inhibited 5637 cell tumorigenicity in nude mice. The results of the present study suggest that PPM1D plays a potentially important role in BC tumorigenicity, and lentivirus-mediated delivery of shRNA against PPM1D might be a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of BC.
Ordinary and Proper Location M-Estimates for ARMA Models

Proper location M-estimates for a model with non-Gaussian autoregressive-moving average type errors are genuine maximum likelihood type estimates. whereas ordinary location M-estimates are those introduced by P. Huber for independent and identically distributed errors. The relative behavior of ordinary location Mestimates and proper location M-estimates is studied for situations with dependent errors of purely autoregressive and purely moving average type. It is shown through asymptotic calculations and finite . sarnple size Monte Carlo studies that although ordinary Iocation M-estimates are adequate for weak dependency structure. they can be quite inefficient compared with proper M-estimates of location when the non-Gaussian errors have a moderate to strong dependency structure.
The human gut mycobiome: pitfalls and potentials—a mycologist’s perspective

We have entered the Age of the Microbiome, with new studies appearing constantly and whole journals devoted to the human microbiome. While bacteria outnumber other gut microbes by orders of magnitude, eukaryotes are consistently found in the human gut and are represented primarily by the fungi. Compiling 36 studies 1917–2015 we found at least 267 distinct fungal taxa have been reported from the human gut, and seemingly every new study includes one or more fungi not previously described from this niche. This diversity, while impressive, is illusory. If we examine gut fungi, we will quickly observe a division between a small number of commonly detected species (Candida yeasts, Saccharomyces and yeasts in the Dipodascaceae, and Malassezia species) and a long tail of taxa that have been reported only once. Furthermore, an investigation into the ecology of these rare species reveals that many of them are incapable of colonization or long-term persistence in the gut. This paper examines what we know and have yet to learn about the fungal component of the gut microbiome, or “mycobiome”, and an overview of methods. We address the potential of the field while introducing some caveats and argue for the necessity of including mycologists in mycobiome studies.
Acquiring intercultural communicative competence from coursebooks: An analysis of reading activities in the coursebook “Speakout”

Intercultural communicative competence is recently considered to be a significiant paradigm in language teaching area with the increasing role of English as a global lingua franca, therefore the integration of language and culture has become progressively more important. Since the textbooks are regarded as core teaching materials in foreign language teaching, it is essential for textbooks to contain various intercultural elements in order to construct the way for the development of intercultural communicative competence of learners. In this respect, intercultural content in English textbooks is a necessary issue to be investigated. This present study is an attempt to explore whether intercultural elements persist in language textbooks of Adana Science and Technology University School of Foreign Languages. As a result of the evaluation, it was found that textbook series of Speakout is not sufficient to enhance learners’ intercultural communicative competence through its content in terms of reading activities.
Big business in a small state: Rationales of higher education internationalisation in Latvia

There is growing international interest in how market imperatives interact with the socio-cultural and academic rationales of higher education internationalisation. This study provides new empirical material to examine the core rationales of international student recruitment in Latvia, where international students constitute 10% of the total tertiary enrolments. The nuanced analysis of narrative data from the interviews with university international officers is complemented by the analysis of policy documents and numeric data from the government and the UNESCO Institute of Statistics. By carefully interpreting the evidence, the study shows that international student recruitment has been stimulated by the demographic calculus and driven by the economic rationale. Universities have played an active role in increasing the numbers of mobile students and many institutions seem to benefit from working closely with student recruitment agencies. The scale of university–agency collaboration appears to vary by the type of institution; those with lower entry requirements have more extensive business relations with agencies than the relatively more reputable institutions. The study advances the understanding of internationalisation by arguing that a focus on market imperatives can undermine socio-cultural, academic and political benefits of inbound student mobility, which are viewed by universities as inferior to the immediate pecuniary interest.
PERIODIC FLOER PRO-SPECTRA FROM THE SEIBERG-WITTEN EQUATIONS

Given a three-manifold with b1 = 1 and a nontorsion spin c structure, we use finite dimensional approximation to construct from the Seiberg-Witten equations two invariants in the form of a periodic pro-spectra. Various functors applied to these invariants give different flavors of Seiberg-Witten Floer homology. We also construct stable homotopy versions of the relative Seiberg-Witten invariants for certain four-manifolds with boundary.
Gaze transitions when learning with multimedia

Eye tracking methodology is used to examine the influence of interactive multimedia on the allocation of visual attention and its dynamics during learning. We hypothesized that an interactive simulation promotes more organized switching of attention between different elements of multimedia learning material, e.g., textual description and pictorial visualization. Participants studied a description of an algorithm accompanied either by an interactive simulation, self-paced animation, or static illustration. Using a novel framework for entropy-based comparison of gaze transition matrices, results showed that the interactive simulation elicited more careful visual investigation of the learning material as well as reading of the problem description through to its completion.
Multi-path routing in emergency with health-aware classification

Evacuation routing algorithms commonly neglect the differences of evacuees in mobility, physical strength and resistance to hazard effects, and calculate routes using a single algorithm. Hence, congestion or block of paths may occur due to the diverse mobility, and unnecessary injuries or fatalities may be caused by the different resistance to hazard and fatigue. Owing to the fast-changing situation in the hazardous environment, in this paper, we present a distributed routing algorithm based on the Cognitive Packet Network (CPN) that performs parallel heuristic search to customise routes for evacuees with respect to their ongoing physical condition and the immediate environment. With the aid of portable devices, evacuees are divided into different groups in terms of a virtual “health value” and can switch groups during the evacuation process. Experimental results indicate that the presented routing algorithm and the dynamic grouping mechanism can reduce the mortality rate of evacuees.
Asymptotic Methods of Enumeration and Applications to Markov Chain Models

Abstract The purpose of this article is to present analytic methods for determining the asymptotic behaviour of the coefficents of power series that can be applied to homogeneous discrete quasi death and birth processes. It turns that there are in principle only three types for the asymptotic behaviour. The process either converges to the stationary distribution or it can be approximated in terms of a reflected Brownian motion or by a Brownian motion. In terms of Markov chains these cases correspond to positive recurrence, to null recurrence, and to non recurrence. The same results hold for the continuous case, too.
Who is an entrepreneur

It was the fall of 1998 and Bob Moog was eager to jump on the Inter-net bandwagon. As the founder and president of University Games, Moog had been in the game business for well over a decade, producing mystery, trivia, and educational games for adults and children. The St. Louis native fi rst gained media attention when he marketed a board game based on murder mystery parties, a social event conceived in Europe, replete with dramatized mysteries to intrigue guests. On April Fool's Day 1985, Moog founded University Games together with his close friend Cris Leh-man, a former accountant. From that point, they went on to sell popular titles such as " Blue's Clues, " " 20 Questions, " " Green Eggs and Ham, " and " Where in the World Is Carmen San Diego? " By the late 1990s, the business had established an international reputation in gaming. Spurred by predictions that cyber traffi c would balloon during the 1998 holiday season, Moog sought to join a surge of retailers— including Macy's, Sears, and Kmart—who were rushing to develop an online presence. But how to go about it? University Games (UG) could create an in-house unit devoted exclusively to e-commerce and UG products ; or Moog could spin off a new company, which would initially sell toys and games exclusively from the UG family, but would later provide specialty items from other manufacturers. Perhaps sensing that the Inter-net boom called for a shift in business models, Moog and his colleagues opted for the spin-off. The new venture, AreYouGame.Com, was headquartered in Burlingame, California, near the northern edge of Silicon Valley. In many respects, this entrepreneurial experience was fundamentally different than the founding of University Games years before. Whereas Moog's earlier startup effort had relied on a shoestring budget of $20,000 in seed funding and an offi ce sublet from the father of his former girlfriend, the new venture had the backing of a corporation with $50 million in annual revenues. Still, the social blueprint of the new business was similar to that of many dot-com startups. Jim Stern, the fi rm's new general manager, emphasized that " we eat together, play games together, and service our customers together. " Years later, the company would continue to tout the " cracker-jack team " that founded it and argue that this was the " secret formula " in the success of …
The Escape of Ionizing Photons from OB Associations in Disk Galaxies: Radiation Transfer through Superbubbles

By solving the time-dependent radiation transfer problem of stellar radiation through evolving superbubbles within a smoothly varying H I distribution, we estimate the fraction of ionizing photons emitted by OB associations that escapes the H I disk of our Galaxy into the halo and intergalactic medium (IGM). We consider both coeval star formation and a Gaussian star formation history with a time spread σt = 2 Myr. We consider both a uniform H I distribution and a two-phase (cloud/intercloud) model, with a negligible filling factor of hot gas. We find that the shells of the expanding superbubbles quickly trap or attenuate the ionizing flux, so that most of the escaping radiation escapes shortly after the formation of the superbubble. Superbubbles of large associations can blow out of the H I disk and form dynamic chimneys, which allow the ionizing radiation to escape the H I disk directly. However, blowout occurs when the ionizing photon luminosity has dropped well below the association's maximum luminosity. For the coeval star formation history, the total fraction of Lyman Continuum photons that escape both sides of the disk in the solar vicinity is ⟨fesc⟩ ≈ 0.15 ± 0.05. For the Gaussian star formation history, ⟨fesc⟩ ≈ 0.06 ± 0.03, a value roughly a factor of 2 lower than the results of Dove & Shull, where superbubbles were not considered. For a local production rate of ionizing photons ΨLyC = 4.95 × 107 cm-2 s-1, the flux escaping the disk is ΦLyC ≈ (1.5 - 3.0) × 106 cm-2 s-1 for coeval and Gaussian star formation, comparable to the flux required to sustain the Reynolds layer. Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities exist early in the OB association's evolutionary stages, possibly causing the shell to fragment and increasing ⟨fesc⟩. However, if a significant fraction of H I is distributed in cold clouds with nH ~ 30 cm-3, ⟨fesc⟩ can be reduced by a factor of ~2-5 if the cloud properties are similar to "standard clouds" with a disk geometry.
Hinokitiol Exerts Anticancer Activity through Downregulation of MMPs 9/2 and Enhancement of Catalase and SOD Enzymes: In Vivo Augmentation of Lung Histoarchitecture

Melanoma is extremely resistant to chemotherapy and the death rate is increasing hastily worldwide. Extracellular matrix promotes the migration and invasion of tumor cells through the production of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and -9. Evidence has shown that natural dietary antioxidants are capable of inhibiting cancer cell growth. Our recent studies showed that hinokitiol, a natural bioactive compound, inhibited vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation and platelets aggregation. The present study is to investigate the anticancer efficacy of hinokitiol against B16-F10 melanoma cells via modulating tumor invasion factors MMPs, antioxidant enzymes in vitro. An in vivo mice model of histological investigation was performed to study the patterns of elastic and collagen fibers. Hinokitiol inhibited the expression and activity of MMPs-2 and -9 in B16-F10 melanoma cells, as measured by western blotting and gelatin zymography, respectively. An observed increase in protein expression of MMPs 2/9 in melanoma cells was significantly inhibited by hinokitiol. Notably, hinokitiol (1–5 μM) increased the activities of antioxidant enzymes catalase (CAT) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) from the reduction in melanoma cells. Also, hinokitiol (2–10 µM) concentration dependently reduced in vitro Fenton reaction induced hydroxyl radical (OH·) formation. An in vivo study showed that hinokitiol treatment increased elastic fibers (EF), collagens dispersion, and improved alveolar alterations in the lungs of B16/F10 injected mice. Overall, our findings propose that hinokitiol may be a potent anticancer candidate through down regulation of MMPs 9/2, reduction of OH· production and enhancement of antioxidant enzymes SOD and CAT.
More Things That Do Make a Difference for Youth: A Compendium of Evaluations of Youth Programs and Practices. Volume II.

American Youth Policy Forum The idea of compendia of evaluations of youth programs and practices was first conceived in 1996 by Dr. Samuel Halperin, former director, now Senior Fellow, of the American Youth Policy Forum. He persuaded funders, initially The Commonwealth Fund of New York, of the importance of abstracting a mass of complex, sometimes arcane, and often verbose research and evaluation reports into a form that policymakers and practitioners alike could readily access. Throughout the process of preparing these volumes, he has been a source of referrals to additional evaluations and a diligent editor of the entire manuscript.
Is Our Universe Likely to Decay within 20 Billion Years

Observations that we are highly unlikely to be vacuum fluctuations suggest that our universe is decaying at a rate faster than the asymptotic volume growth rate, in order that there not be too many observers produced by vacuum fluctuations to make our observations highly atypical. An asymptotic linear e-folding time of roughly 16 Gyr (deduced from current measurements of cosmic acceleration) would then imply that our universe is more likely than not to decay within a time that is less than 19 Gyr in the future.
From Nonsense to Number Sense: Enumeration of Numbers in Math Classroom Learning

The overall goal of learning mathematics is to induce a lifelong understanding that allows students to adapt to contemporary changes and demands. Advances in our society cause an abundance of data bombarding us on a daily basis. As a result, mathematics skills must extend beyond the ability to enumerate or sense making. Thus, this study was conducted with the aim of assessing 215 randomly selected students aged 14 to 16 in their enumeration of numbers. The moderating variables for this study include grade level (Secondary 2 and Secondary 4) and gender. This study was based on a purely quantitative approach using a paper and pencil test to assess these students’ number sense. The findings show both Secondary 2 students and Secondary 4 students obtained a low-level mean score of 22.59 (SD=9.64) and 24.85 (SD=7.76) from a maximum score of 50. These findings show no statistical significant differences at the 0.05 level. The findings also depicted that male students obtained a higher mean score across secondary 2 and secondary 4, though the former were not statistically significant. The findings also showed that the influences between number sense and school mathematics results are correlative. Learners must be able to interpret, evaluate, recognize patterns, make comparisons, and understand relationships from data. This data in number forms must make sense to students before any meanings can be attached to it. Number sense, as it is known, is based on the fundamental of understanding what numbers mean, how the numbers are represented, how the numbers are correlated to one another and how the computations of those numbers take place. This supports the notion that when students are good in number sense, it will increase and enhance their usage of mathematics in everyday life. © 2019 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy. org.uk