Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strength Use and Work Engagement: The Importance of Self-Efficacy and Organisational Support

The last two decades, research and organizations have been paying attention to the use of strengths at work. Multiple studies show that using strengths leads to higher levels of energy and motivation (i.e., engagement). However, it is unclear which underlying mechanisms stimulate this positive relationship. To take a first step in identifying these influential mechanisms, this research investigates the effect of both personal factors and organization support on the positive strength use – work engagement relationship. In particular, this research looks at the effect of self-efficacy (i.e., feeling of competence to deal with prospective situations and to reach goals) and perceived organisational support for strength use. Results show that using strengths at work fosters a feeling of competence to deal with prospective situations and to reach goals. This feeling of competence in turn leads to a higher feeling of engagement at work. Organisational support for strength use seems to facilitate strength use and thereby amplifies the feeling of self-efficacy. The higher the feeling of self-efficacy the higher the feeling of engagement. This study asserts that organisations can help employers foster more efficacious and engaged employees by giving them the opportunity to use their strengths. Therefore, strength interventions become more valuable when focused on both the individual and the organisation providing support.
Influence of trait empathy on the emotion evoked by sad music and on the preference for it

Some people experience pleasant emotion when listening to sad music. Therefore, they can enjoy listening to it. In the current study, we aimed to investigate such apparently paradoxical emotional mechanisms and focused on the influence of individuals’ trait empathy, which has been reported to associate with emotional responses to sad music and a preference for it. Eighty-four elementary school children (42 males and 42 females, mean age 11.9 years) listened to two kinds of sad music and rated their emotional state and liking toward them. In addition, trait empathy was assessed using the Interpersonal Reactivity Index scale, which comprises four sub-components: Empathic Concern, Personal Distress, Perspective Taking, and Fantasy (FS). We conducted a path analysis and tested our proposed model that hypothesized that trait empathy and its sub-components would affect the preference for sad music directly or indirectly, mediated by the emotional response to the sad music. Our findings indicated that FS, a sub-component of trait empathy, was directly associated with liking sad music. Additionally, perspective taking ability, another sub-component of trait empathy, was correlated with the emotional response to sad music. Furthermore, the experience of pleasant emotions contributed to liking sad music.
Identification and Expression Analysis of Cytokinin Metabolic Genes in Soybean under Normal and Drought Conditions in Relation to Cytokinin Levels

Cytokinins (CKs) mediate cellular responses to drought stress and targeted control of CK metabolism can be used to develop drought-tolerant plants. Aiming to manipulate CK levels to improve drought tolerance of soybean cultivars through genetic engineering of CK metabolic genes, we surveyed the soybean genome and identified 14 CK biosynthetic (isopentenyltransferase, GmIPT) and 17 CK degradative (CK dehydrogenase, GmCKX) genes. Comparative analyses of GmIPTs and GmCKXs with Arabidopsis counterparts revealed their similar architecture. The average numbers of abiotic stress-inducible cis-elements per promoter were 0.4 and 1.2 for GmIPT and GmCKX genes, respectively, suggesting that upregulation of GmCKXs, thereby reduction of CK levels, maybe the major events under abiotic stresses. Indeed, the expression of 12 GmCKX genes was upregulated by dehydration in R2 roots. Overall, the expressions of soybean CK metabolic genes in various tissues at various stages were highly responsive to drought. CK contents in various organs at the reproductive (R2) stage were also determined under well-watered and drought stress conditions. Although tRNA-type GmIPT genes were highly expressed in soybean, cis-zeatin and its derivatives were found at low concentrations. Moreover, reduction of total CK content in R2 leaves under drought was attributable to the decrease in dihydrozeatin levels, suggesting a role of this molecule in regulating soybean's responses to drought stress. Our systematic analysis of the GmIPT and GmCKX families has provided an insight into CK metabolism in soybean under drought stress and a solid foundation for in-depth characterization and future development of improved drought-tolerant soybean cultivars by manipulation of CK levels via biotechnological approach.
Differently anchored influenza hemagglutinin mutants display distinct interaction dynamics with mutual rafts

Lipid rafts play important roles in cellular functions through concentrating or sequestering membrane proteins. This requires proteins to differ in the stability of their interactions with lipid rafts. However, knowledge of the dynamics of membrane protein–raft interactions is lacking. We employed FRAP to measure in live cells the lateral diffusion of influenza hemagglutinin (HA) proteins that differ in raft association. This approach can detect weak interactions with rafts not detectable by biochemical methods. Wild-type (wt) HA and glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored HA (BHA-PI) diffused slower than a nonraft HA mutant, but became equal to the latter after cholesterol depletion. When antigenically distinct BHA-PI and wt HA were coexpressed, aggregation of BHA-PI into immobile patches reduced wt HA diffusion rate, suggesting transient interactions with BHA-PI raft patches. Conversely, patching wt HA reduced the mobile fraction of BHA-PI, indicating stable interactions with wt HA patches. Thus, the anchoring mode determines protein–raft interaction dynamics. GPI-anchored and transmembrane proteins can share the same rafts, and different proteins can interact stably or transiently with the same raft domains.
Learning software engineering processes through playing games

Software Processes belong to those knowledge areas of software engineering that are less suitable to be taught classically in lectures. Class projects which frequently complement lectures are limited by academic settings in various ways too. Simulation and digital game-based learning are considered to have great potential to extend the learning experiences beyond lectures and class projects, help to develop insight into the necessity of software processes and to widen the perspective of software engineering students in a virtual and efficient way. Several efforts made by different research groups show encouraging results. This research gathers preliminary findings, develops new ideas and gives suggestions to exhaust the potential further and to encourage the wider application of digital game-based learning in software engineering education. These suggestions are the foundation for building blocks of a new framework for simulation based digital learning games aiming to teach software engineering processes more effectively and efficiently.
Comprehensively evaluating conformance error rates of applying aspect state machines

Aspect Oriented Modeling (AOM) aims to provide enhanced separation of concerns during the design phase and proclaims many benefits (e.g., easier model evolution, reduced modeling effort, and reduced modeling errors) over traditional modeling paradigms such as object-oriented modeling. However, empirical evaluations of these benefits is severely lacking in the AOM community. In this paper, we empirically evaluate one of the AOM profiles: AspectSM, via a controlled experiment to assess if it can help in reducing modeling errors (referred as conformance errors in this paper), which is one of the benefits offered by AOM. AspectSM is a UML profile, which is developed to support automated state-based robustness testing. With AspectSM, crosscutting behaviors are modeled as aspect state machines using the stereotypes defined in AspectSM. We evaluate the conformance error rates of applying AspectSM from various perspectives by conducting four activities: 1) identifying modeling defects, 2) comprehending state machines, 3) modeling state machines, and 4) weaving aspect state machines into base state machines. For most of these activities, experimental results show that the error rates while performing these four activities using AspectSM are significantly lower than standard UML state machine modeling approaches.
Monitoring Human Neutrophil Granule Secretion by Flow Cytometry: Secretion and Membrane Potential Changes Assessed by Light Scatter and a Fluorescent Probe of Membrane Potential

Purified human peripheral blood polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) were incubated at 37°C with the fluorescent membrane potential sensitive cyanine dye di‐O‐C(5)(3) and exposed to a number of stimulatory agents (N‐ formylmethionylleucylphenylalanine (FMLP), cytochalasin B (cyto B) + FMLP, phorbol myristate acetate (PMA). Flow cytometry was utilized to measure changes in forward light scatter (FS), orthogonal light scatter (90°‐SC), and fluorescence intensity of individual cells over time. A saturating (10 − 6 M) dose of FMLP lead to a significant increase in the cells' FS without a change in 90°‐ SC as well as a heterogeneous loss of di‐O‐C(5)(3) fluorescence. PMA (100 ng/ ml) also caused an increase in FS but a uniform loss of dye fluorescence by all cells (apparent depolarization). Cyto B + FMLP produced an increase in FS, a marked loss of 90°‐SC, and a uniform loss of fluorescence. Secretion experiments under identical incubation conditions indicated a significantly positive relationship between loss of enzyme markers or cell granularity and orthogonal light scatter (r = 0.959, 0.998f and 0.989 for loss of 90°‐SC vs lysozyme, 0‐ glucuronidase, and granularity index, respectively). Sequential exposure of PMN to PMA and then cyto B + FMLP produced a stepwise shift in scatter parameters (increased FS then loss of 90°‐SC). Normalization of membrane potential dye fluorescence changes for the changes in light scatter did not abrogate the heterogeneous fluorescence response of cells to stimulus, indicating that stimulus‐induced scatter changes were not responsible for such fluorescence shifts. The data demonstrate that loss of 90°‐SC relates closely to secretion of primary granules while changes in FS reflect alterations in cell shape and/or surface/volume ratios that accompany cell activation. Flow cytometric light scatter measurements may yield important information on the extent of prior cell degranulation or activation.
Changes in Educational Inequality

This paper looks at changes over time in the extent of educational inequality - defined as educational attainment by people from higher relative to lower income backgrounds. It draws upon household and longitudinal data sources in both the UK and US to look at this highly policy relevant question. The data shows a sharp rise in educational inequality over time in the UK, but with the stage of the education sequence mattering. In particular the rapid expansion of higher education seen in the recent past in the UK disproportionately benefited children from relatively affluent backgrounds. The international comparisons show different patterns of change in the association between education and family income over time in the UK relative to the US. We link these findings on changes in educational inequality to the literature on intergenerational mobility, arguing that international differences in educational systems matter for the extent of economic and social mobility across generations.
Efﬁcient Exploration for Dialogue Policy Learning with BBQ Networks & Replay Buffer Spiking

When rewards are sparse and action spaces large, Q-learning with (cid:15) -greedy exploration can be inefﬁcient. This poses problems for otherwise promising applications such as task-oriented dialogue systems, where the primary reward signal, indicating successful completion of a task, requires a complex sequence of appropriate actions. Under these circumstances, a randomly exploring agent might never stumble upon a successful outcome in reasonable time. We present two techniques that signiﬁcantly improve the efﬁciency of exploration for deep Q-learning agents in dialogue systems. First, we introduce an exploration technique based on Thompson sampling, drawing Monte Carlo samples from a Bayes-by-backprop neural network, demonstrating marked improvement over common approaches such as (cid:15) -greedy and Boltzmann exploration. Second, we show that spiking the replay buffer with experiences from a small number of successful episodes, as are easy to harvest for dialogue tasks, can make Q-learning feasible when it might otherwise fail.
Secondary Structure of Corona Proteins Determines the Cell Surface Receptors Used by Nanoparticles

Nanoparticles used for biological and biomedical applications encounter a host of extracellular proteins. These proteins rapidly adsorb onto the nanoparticle surface, creating a protein corona. Poly(ethylene glycol) can reduce, but not eliminate, the nonspecific adsorption of proteins. As a result, the adsorbed proteins, rather than the nanoparticle itself, determine the cellular receptors used for binding, the internalization mechanism, the intracellular transport pathway, and the subsequent immune response. Using fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry, we first characterize a set of polystyrene nanoparticles in which the same adsorbed protein, bovine serum albumin, leads to binding to two different cell surface receptors: native albumin receptors and scavenger receptors. Using a combination of circular dichroism spectroscopy, isothermal titration calorimetry, and fluorescence spectroscopy, we demonstrate that the secondary structure of the adsorbed bovine serum albumin protein controls the cellular receptors used by the protein–nanoparticle complexes. These results show that protein secondary structure is a key parameter in determining the cell surface receptor used by a protein–nanoparticle complex. We expect this link between protein structure and cellular outcomes will provide a molecular basis for the design of nanoparticles for use in biological and biomedical applications.
Front-line workers as intermediaries : the changing landscape of disability and employment services in Australia

Recent welfare reform in Australia has been constructed around the now-familiar principle of paid work and willingness to work as the fundamental marker of social citizenship. Beginning with the long-term unemployed in Australia in the mid 1990s, the scope of welfare reform has now extended to include people with a disability – which is a category of income support that has been growing in Australia. From the national government’s point of view this growth is a financial concern as it seeks to move as many people as possible into paid work to support the costs of an ageing population (DEWR, 2005). In doing so, the government has changed the meaning of disability in terms of eligibility for financial support from the state, and at the same time redefined the role of people with a disability with regard to work, and the role of the state with regard to the disabled. This has been a matter of some political contention in Australia.
Immediate allergic reactions to cephalosporins and penicillins and their cross‐reactivity in children

Penicillins and cephalosporins are the most important betalactams inducing IgE‐mediated reactions. The safety of administering cephalosporins to penicillin‐allergic children is a particular problem, because cephalosporin allergenic determinants have not been properly identified. A study was undertaken to evaluate the frequency of anaphylactic reactions to cephalosporins and penicillins and their cross‐reactivity in a pediatric population. A prospective survey was conducted in a group of 1170 children with suspected immediate allergic reactions to cephalosporins and/or penicillins, which were examined during a period of 8 yr. In vivo (skin tests and challenges) and in vitro tests (for specific IgE) were performed with standard concentration of penicillins and cephalosporins. When 1170 children with a clinical history of allergy to penicillins and/or cephalosporins were tested in vivo for immediate hypersensitivity to betalactams, 58.3% cases overall were found to be skin or challenge test positive. Among them, 94.4% patients were positive to penicillins and 35.3% to cephalosporins. The frequency of positive reactions in the in vivo testing was in the range from 36.4% to 88.1% for penicillins and from 0.3% to 29.2% for cephalosporins. However, 31.5% of the penicillin allergic children cross‐reacted to some cephalosporin. If a child was allergic to a cephalosporin, the frequency of positive reactions to penicillin was 84.2%. The cross‐reactivity between cephalosporins and penicillins varied between 0.3% and 23.9%. The cross‐reactivity among different generations of cephalosporins varied between 0% and 68.8%, being the highest for first and second‐generation cephalosporins and 0% for third generation cephalosporins. The frequency of immediate allergic reactions to cephalosporins is considerably lower compared to penicillins, and the degree of cross‐reactivity between cephalosporins and penicillins depends on the generation of cephalosporins, being higher with earlier generation cephalosporins. The cross‐reactivity among cephalosporins is lower compared to cross‐reactivity between penicillins and cephalosporins.
The role of the dorsoanterior striatum in implicit motivation: the case of the need for power

Implicit motives like the need for power (nPower) scale affective responses to need-specific rewards or punishments and thereby influence activity in motivational-brain structures. In this paper, we review evidence specifically supporting a role of the striatum in nPower. Individual differences in nPower predict (1) enhanced implicit learning accuracy, but not speed, on serial-response tasks that are reinforced by power-related incentives (e.g., winning or losing a contest; dominant or submissive emotional expressions) in behavioral studies and (2) activation of the anterior caudate in response to dominant emotional expressions in brain imaging research. We interpret these findings on the basis of Hikosaka et al.'s (2002a) model of central mechanisms of motor skill learning. The model assigns a critical role to the dorsoanterior striatum in dopamine-driven learning of spatial stimulus sequences. Based on this model, we suggest that the dorsoanterior striatum is the locus of nPower-dependent reinforcement. However, given the centrality of this structure in a wide range of motivational pursuits, we also propose that activity in the dorsoanterior striatum may not only reflect individual differences in nPower, but also in other implicit motives, like the need for achievement or the need for affiliation, provided that the proper incentives for these motives are present during reinforcement learning. We discuss evidence in support of such a general role of the dorsoanterior striatum in implicit motivation.
Detrimental influences of intraluminally-administered sclerotic agents on surrounding tissues and peripheral nerves: An experimental study

Abstract The minimally-invasive nature of sclerotherapy makes it one of the first treatment options for venous malformations, although treatment-related complications, such as peripheral nerve paralysis, have been reported in some clinical cases. However, no studies of the aetiology of the detrimental effects of intraluminally-administered sclerotic agents on the surrounding tissues, including the peripheral nerves, have yet been published. This study therefore investigated the influences of intraluminally-administered sclerotic agents on the tissues surrounding the injection site using a newly-developed rat femoral vein model. Using this model, the effects of absolute ethanol, 5% ethanolamine oleate, and 1% polidocanol were compared histologically with those of normal saline controls. Fluorescein isothiocyanate-conjugated agents were administered and the leakage of sclerotic agents through the venous wall was evaluated by fluorescence microscopy. Damage to the adjacent femoral nerve was quantitatively evaluated by counting the numbers of axons in cross-sections. All the sclerotic agents caused vascular wall injuries and leakage into the surrounding tissues. The number of axons in the femoral nerve was significantly reduced following administration of absolute ethanol or 5% ethanolamine oleate, compared with normal saline. The results of this study suggest that sclerotic agents commonly leak out the vascular lumen, and some agents can cause adjacent nerve injury. It is important to be aware of this type of complication of sclerotherapy for venous malformations when selecting appropriate therapeutic interventions.
On triangulation algorithms in large scale camera network systems

Geometric triangulation is at the basis of the estimation of the 3D position of a target from a set of camera measurements. The problem of optimal estimation (minimizing the L2 norm) of the target position from multi-view perspective projective measurements is typically a hard problem to solve. In literature there are different types of algorithms for this purpose, based for example on the exhaustive check of all the local minima of a proper eigenvalue problem [2], or branch-and-bound techniques [3]. However, such methods typically become unfeasible for real time applications when the number of cameras and targets become large, calling for the definition of approximate procedures to solve the reconstruction problem. In the first part of this paper, linear (fast) algorithms, computing an approximate solution to such problems, are described and compared in simulation. Then, in the second part, a Gaussian approximation to the measurement error is used to express the reconstruction error's standard deviation as a function of the position of the reconstructed point. An upper bound, valid over all the target domain, to this expression is obtained for a case of interest. Such upper bound allows to compute a number of cameras sufficient to obtain a user defined level of position estimation accuracy.
Asymptotic Analysis on Throughput and Delay in Cognitive Social Networks

In this paper, we study the throughput and delay in wireless cognitive social networks. Specifically, we consider a common scenario for cognitive radio networks (CRNs) where the primary and secondary networks operate at the same time and space and share the spectrum. On this basis, we integrate a social relationship into the CRN where each source node selects its destination upon a rank-based model, which captures the social characteristic well. By applying a cellular time-division multiple-access scheduling scheme, we first characterize the distinct traffic pattern caused by the social relationships between nodes. Then, we derive the achievable throughput and delay for both primary and secondary networks under the new network setting. In addition, we also study the cognitive social networks with infrastructure where I = o1(n) base stations are regularly deployed within the primary network. Given a probabilistic routing strategy, throughput of the proposed network is recalculated. Particularly, due to the social relationships between nodes, we reveal that a larger I is required if we expect a significant capacity gain within the primary network compared with previous works.