Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Pro-Environmental Change and Short- to Mid-Term Economic Performance

The aim of this study is to contribute empirically to the understanding of the economic effects of pro-environmental change in firms. First, we analyse whether pro-environmental changes performed in different sections of firms’ value chain (products, processes and supply and distribution channels) generate positive economic returns in the short- to mid-term. Second, we analyse whether measures implemented by firms to improve environmental performance (pro-environmental change) have been complemented with changes in organisational design, and whether these changes help increase short- to mid-term economic performance. Through an analysis of a sample of 303 firms, we have collected empirical evidence that confirms that pro-environmental change improves short- to mid-term business performance both directly and indirectly, through the mediating effect of improvements in organisational design that often go hand in hand with these processes.
Characterization of a not so new potexvirus from babaco (Vasconcellea x heilbornii)

A new member of the genus Potexvirus was fully sequenced and characterized. The virus was isolated from babaco (Vasconcellea x heilbornii), a natural hybrid native to Ecuador. The virus contains a 6,692 nt long genome organized in five open reading frames in an arrangement typical of other potexviruses. Sequence comparisons revealed close relatedness with Papaya mosaic virus (PapMV), Alternathera mosaic virus (AltMV) and Senna mosaic virus (SenMV), exhibiting nucleotide identities up to 67% for the polymerase (Pol) and 68% for the coat protein (CP), with deduced amino acid identities of 70% and 72% for the Pol and CP, respectively. The presence of an AlkB domain, in the polymerase region, was observed. Terminal nucleotide sequences were conserved across potexviruses with characteristic motifs and predicted secondary structures at the 3’ UTR. Although serologically undistinguishable from PapMV and AltMV, the new virus showed differences in host range and symptom induction. The name babaco mosaic virus is proposed for this newly characterized Potexvirus. The complete genome sequence of the new virus has been deposited in NCBI GenBank under accession number MF978248.
The Relationship between Meaning in Life and Mental Well-Being

A number of recent studies reported in the literature lent impetus to the research conducted for the current study. The hypothesis addressed is that meaning in life is positively associated with mental well-being irrespective of the nature or topos of the psychopathology. This hypothesis stems from an existential perspective on psychopathology (and consequently psychotherapy) which holds that a sense of meaning in life is a vital element in providing coherence to an individual's worldview and hence to his/her mental well-being. Interestingly, such an hypothesis also serves to challenge, within the existential approach, the view of one of the earliest existential psychologists, namely Victor Frankl that absence of meaning in life is associated only with a specific form of psychopathology which he termed noogenic neurosis. Correlational analyses on data, yielded from a random sample (N = 92) of South African university students at one campus, corroborated that meaning in life is associated with a wide spectrum of conventional categories of psychopathology as measured by the MMPI as well as with general neurosis measured by the revised Eysenck Personality Questionnaire - statistically significant correlations were established.
Future directions of sickle cell disease research: The NIH perspective

Efforts to enhance therapy for children and adults with sickle cell disease (SCD) have proven more challenging than might have been predicted from the fact that an understanding of the underlying pathogenesis antedated that of many other diseases for which good treatments presently exist. The multi‐organ injury that occurs with SCD certainly contributes to this clinical reality. Research over decades indicates that the primary defect in hemoglobin that results in polymerization of the protein under low oxygen conditions and resultant cellular deformity of the red blood cell initiates a complex downstream pathogenesis associated with vascular injury and organ ischemia. Deciphering this in a manner that informs successful therapies that improve all target organs continues to challenge hematologists. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) is dedicated to support research across the basic science, translational and clinical spectrum to achieve these clinical outcomes. The following provides a brief summary of the research strategies which NHLBI is presently supporting and will support in the future to enhance care and ultimately, to effect cure of this hemoglobin disease that causes such suffering to those who inherit this monogenic disease. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2012;59:353–357. Published 2012. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
Visiting the cinema, concerts, museums or art exhibitions as determinant of survival: a Swedish fourteen-year cohort follow-up

The aim of this study was to ascertain the possible influence of attending various kinds of cultural events or visiting cultural institutions as a determinant of survival. A cohort of individuals aged 25-74 years from a random sample were interviewed by trained non-medical interviewers in 1982 and 1983. The interviews covered standard-of-living variables. Our independent variables covered visiting cultural institutions and attendance at cultural events, reading books or periodicals, and music making. The non-response rate was about 25%. The cohort was followed with respect to survival for 14 years up to 31st December 1996. The background covariates that were used for control purposes were age, sex, cash buffer, educational standard, long-term disease, smoking, and physical exercise. Our setting was the Swedish survey of living conditions among the adult Swedish population aged 25-74 years. About 10,609 individuals were interviewed in 1982 and 1983. The outcome measure was survival until 31st December 1996. In all, 916 men and 600 women died during this period. We found a higher mortality risk for those people who rarely visited the cinema, concerts, museums, or art exhibitions compared with those visiting them most often. The significant relative risks ranging between RR 1.14 (95% CI. 1.01-1.31) of attending art exhibitions, and RR 1.42 (CI. 1.25-1.60) of attending museums, when adjusting for the nine other variables. Visits to the cinema and concerts gave significant RR in between. We could not discern any beneficial effect of attending the theatre, church service or sports event as a spectator or any effect of reading or music making. Our conclusion is that attendance at certain kinds of cultural events may have a beneficial effect on longevity
Electrical impedance tomography: Amplitudes of cardiac related impedance changes in the lung are highly position dependent

Background Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is used on the thorax to measure impedance changes due to the presence of air and blood in the lung. This experimental study was performed to investigate the effect of posture on cardiac and respiratory related impedance changes. Methods EIT measurements were performed on 14 healthy subjects in left-, right lateral, prone, supine and upright positions. Simultaneously, tidal volume was recorded with an ultrasonic flowmeter. For image reconstruction, the classic Sheffield back-projection and three variants of the modern GREIT algorithm were applied with two different reference frames. Amplitudes of cardiac- and respiratory impedance changes were extracted and compared between the positions. Results We found significant differences in both cardiac and respiratory amplitudes between postures. Especially, supine and upright positions showed dramatic changes in amplitude. These differences between postures were unaffected by the change of reference frames in all reconstruction methods except of the classic Sheffield back projection. Possible sources that explain the observed posture dependency are discussed. Conclusion Researchers and clinicians need to be aware of this phenomenon when comparing EIT amplitudes in different body positions.
Design and Fabrication of Nano-Structure for Three-Dimensional Display Application

A three-dimensional display system based on metal nano-grating structure is modeled. The aluminum based nano-grating structures are designed and fabricated by nano-imprint as a linear polarizer to select the transverse magnetic wave in the wavelength range of 400-700 nm. The average transmission of the nano-grating for the transverse magnetic wave is around 80% and the polarization ratio of the emission light can reach as high as 97.1%. The polarization characteristics are studied theoretically, simulated by rigorous coupled wave analysis, and verified experimentally in detail.
Reproducibility of a semiquantitative method to assess cutaneous cytology.

BACKGROUND Cutaneous cytology is used in veterinary dermatology to assess bacteria and yeast on the skin surface and in the ears for diagnostic purposes and to monitor treatment success. A number of methods were used in reported studies to quantify micro-organisms on cytology, but evaluation of the intra- and interobserver reliability of the methods is rare. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to evaluate the intra- and interobserver reliability of a semiquantitative cytology assessment method frequently used in practice. METHODS A total of 60 experienced and inexperienced veterinarians and veterinary students were asked to evaluate 10 glass slides and 18 photographs of cutaneous cytology twice. Cocci, rods, yeast, neutrophilic and eosinophilic granulocytes and macrophages were graded from 0 to 4+. RESULTS The intra-observer reproducibility for evaluating the slides in the experienced group was 84.3%; in the inexperienced group it was 82.6%. For the photographs, the intra-observer reproducibility was 92.1% in both groups. The interobserver reproducibility for evaluating the slides was 81.6 and 81.0% in the experienced and inexperienced group, respectively; corresponding values for the photographs were 91.0 and 90.0%. There was no significant difference between different participants or between the first and second evaluation by each participant for any of the parameters graded. CONCLUSION AND CLINICAL IMPORTANCE Based on these results, this semiquantitative method of grading can be recommended for evaluating and monitoring of antimicrobial therapy in daily practice.
Comparison of Two Measures of Burnout

The purposes of the study were to determine the correlations between scores on the Maslach Burnout Inventory and the Tedium Measure and to correlate these measures with job satisfaction and health problems. These relationships might suggest which one of these two leading measures of burnout has the greatest utility in future research. 78 direct service workers in mental health and mental retardation settings participated. Tedium correlated significantly with the six burnout subscales. It also correlated significantly with job satisfaction and health problems. Only the emotional exhaustion intensity sub-scale of the Maslach inventory correlated significantly with job satisfaction and health problems. The Tedium Measure is an economical instrument for measuring burnout and has significant correlations with criterion variables. The Maslach scales may be more useful in investigating patterns as well as stages of burnout and in situations involving interactions with moderator variables.
Sequential Diagnostic Reasoning with Verbal Information

In sequential diagnostic reasoning, the goal is to infer the probability of a cause event from sequentially observed effects. Typically, studies investigating such tasks provide subjects with precise quantitative information regarding the strength of the relations between causes and effects. By contrast, we examined people’s performance when this information is communicated through qualitative, rather vague verbal terms (e.g., “X occasionally causes symptom A”). We conducted an experiment in which we compared subjects’ judgments with a Bayesian model whose predictions were derived using numeric equivalents of various verbal terms from an unrelated study with different subjects. We found a remarkably close correspondence between subjects’ diagnostic judgments based on verbal information and the model’s predictions, as well as compared to a matched control condition in which information was presented numerically. Additionally, we observed interindividual differences regarding the temporal weighting of evidence.
Informal, moralistic health education in Kenyan teacher education and how it influences the professional identity of student-teachers

This study explores informal health education with a moralistic content in three Kenyan teacher training colleges and what it means for the development of a professional identity in health education student-teachers on a continent affected by far the largest number of health problems. Informal health education with a moralistic content is a kind of non-curricular health education which exists parallel to formal health education lessons, but which influences student-teachers’ professional identity formation in complex ways by provoking resistance but also strengthening the community of student-teachers. The study used ethnographic methods and drew on a body of interrelated works in the field of sociocultural and critical educational theory and theory about professionalism to understand informal health education learning and processes of acquisition of professional identity. The findings document that in spite of institutional discipline and student-teachers’ resistance to informal moralistic health education, informal health education also initiates peer learning and identity work as student-teachers negotiate what they consider an appropriate teacher identity in the complex structures of teacher training colleges. The study concludes that these processes strengthen student-teachers’ sense of belonging to the teaching profession and thereby positively influence their professional identity.
Software-Effort Estimation: An Exploratory Study of Expert Performance

An exploratory study was conducted a to examine whether experienced software managers could generate accurate estimates of effort required for proposed software projects and b to document the strategies they bring to bear in their estimations. Five experienced software project managers served as expert subjects for the study. Each manager was first asked to sort a set of 37 commonly-used estimation parameters according to the importance of their effect on effort estimation. Once this task was completed, the manager was then presented with data from ten actual software projects, one at a time, and asked to estimate the effort in worker-months required to complete the projects. The project sizes ranged from 39,000 to 450,000 lines of code and varied from 23 to 1,107 worker-months to complete. All managers were tested individually. The results were compared to those of two popular analytical models-Function Points and COCOMO. Results show that the managers made more accurate estimates than the uncalibrated analytical models. Additionally, a process-tracing analysis revealed that the managers used two dissimilar types of strategies to solve the estimation problems-algorithmic and analogical. Four managers invoked algorithmic strategies, which relied on the selection of a base productivity rate as an anchor that was further adjusted to compensate for productivity factors impacting the project. The fifth manager invoked analogical strategies, which did not rely on a base productivity rate as an anchor, but centered around the analysis of the Function Point data to assist in retrieving information regarding a similar, previously-managed project. The manager using the latter, analogical reasoning approach produced the most accurate estimates.
Historical harvests reduce neighboring old-growth basal area across a forest landscape.

While advances in remote sensing have made stand, landscape, and regional assessments of the direct impacts of disturbance on forests quite common, the edge influence of timber harvesting on the structure of neighboring unharvested forests has not been examined extensively. In this study, we examine the impact of historical timber harvests on basal area patterns of neighboring old-growth forests to assess the magnitude and scale of harvest edge influence in a forest landscape of western Oregon, USA. We used lidar data and forest plot measurements to construct 30-m resolution live tree basal area maps in lower and middle elevation mature and old-growth forests. We assessed how edge influence on total, upper canopy, and lower canopy basal area varied across this forest landscape as a function of harvest characteristics (i.e., harvest size and age) and topographic conditions in the unharvested area. Upper canopy, lower canopy, and total basal area increased with distance from harvest edge and elevation. Forests within 75 m of harvest edges (20% of unharvested forests) had 4% to 6% less live tree basal area compared with forest interiors. An interaction between distance from harvest edge and elevation indicated that elevation altered edge influence in this landscape. We observed a positive edge influence at low elevations (<800 m) and a negative edge influence at moderate to high elevations (>800 m). Surprisingly, we found no or weak effects of harvest age (13-60 yr) and harvest area (0.2-110 ha) on surrounding unharvested forest basal area, implying that edge influence was relatively insensitive to the scale of disturbance and multi-decadal recovery processes. Our study indicates that the edge influence of past clearcutting on the structure of neighboring uncut old-growth forests is widespread and persistent. These indirect and diffuse legacies of historical timber harvests complicate forest management decision-making in old-growth forest landscapes by broadening the traditional view of stand boundaries. Furthermore, the consequences of forest harvesting may reach across ownership boundaries, highlighting complex governance issues surrounding landscape management of old-growth forests.
Expression of cell adhesion molecules in primary renal disease and renal allograft rejection.

BACKGROUND In vitro studies have demonstrated that inflammatory mediators such as the cytokines TNF alpha and IL-1 upregulate or induce de novo expression of cell adhesion molecules on endothelial and epithelial cells. In the present study the expression of the cell adhesion molecules ICAM-1, VCAM-1, E-selectin and PECAM-1 was investigated in renal biopsies from patients with primary renal diseases (n = 66) and from renal allograft recipients (n = 42). METHODS Expression of the cell adhesion molecules was determined by immunohistochemistry of frozen sections using monoclonal antibodies directed against PECAM-1, ICAM-1, VCAM-1, E-selectin and MHC class II molecules (APAAP method). RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS PECAM-1 and ICAM-1 were expressed in the renal vasculature and disappeared in obliterated glomeruli with endothelial cell destruction. ICAM-1 but not PECAM-1 was upregulated in renal endothelia in acute allograft rejection and inflammatory primary renal diseases. Tubular de novo expression of ICAM-1 and VCAM-1 correlated with severe structural damage of the renal parenchyma including interstitial fibrosis. Vascular and/or glomerular VCAM-1 and E-selectin expression was pronounced in severe acute allograft rejection and also reflected the intensity of inflammatory reactions in primary renal diseases with or without autoimmune disorders. De novo expression of VCAM-1 and E-selectin in renal vessels and/or glomeruli and overexpression of ICAM-1 are markers of acute and severe inflammatory processes in biopsies from allograft recipients and patients with primary renal diseases.
Effect of doping on the intersubband absorption in Si- and Ge-doped GaN/AlN heterostructures

In this paper, we study band-to-band and intersubband (ISB) characteristics of Si- and Ge-doped GaN/AlN heterostructures (planar and nanowires) structurally designed to absorb in the short-wavelength infrared region, particularly at 1.55 μm. Regarding the band-to-band properties, we discuss the variation of the screening of the internal electric field by free carriers, as a function of the doping density and well/nanodisk size. We observe that nanowire heterostructures consistently present longer photoluminescence decay times than their planar counterparts, which supports the existence of an in-plane piezoelectric field associated to the shear component of the strain tensor in the nanowire geometry. Regarding the ISB characteristics, we report absorption covering 1.45–1.75 μm using Ge-doped quantum wells, with comparable performance to Si-doped planar heterostructures. We also report similar ISB absorption in Si- and Ge-doped nanowire heterostructures indicating that the choice of dopant is not an intrinsic barrier for observing ISB phenomena. The spectral shift of the ISB absorption as a function of the doping concentration due to many body effects confirms that Si and Ge efficiently dope GaN/AlN nanowire heterostructures.
Linear Diophantine Equations, Group CSPs, and Graph Isomorphism

In recent years, we have seen several approaches to the graph isomorphism problem based on "generic" mathematical programming or algebraic (Gr\"obner basis) techniques. For most of these, lower bounds have been established. In fact, it has been shown that the pairs of nonisomorphic CFI-graphs (introduced by Cai, F\"urer, and Immerman in 1992 as hard examples for the combinatorial Weisfeiler-Leman algorithm) cannot be distinguished by these mathematical algorithms. A notable exception were the algebraic algorithms over the field GF(2), for which no lower bound was known. Another, in some way even stronger, approach to graph isomorphism testing is based on solving systems of linear Diophantine equations (that is, linear equations over the integers), which is known to be possible in polynomial time. So far, no lower bounds for this approach were known. Lower bounds for the algebraic algorithms can best be proved in the framework of proof complexity, where they can be phrased as lower bounds for algebraic proof systems such as Nullstellensatz or the (more powerful) polynomial calculus. We give new hard examples for these systems: families of pairs of non-isomorphic graphs that are hard to distinguish by polynomial calculus proofs simultaneously over all prime fields, including GF(2), as well as examples that are hard to distinguish by the systems-of-linear-Diophantine-equations approach. In a previous paper, we observed that the CFI-graphs are closely related to what we call "group CSPs": constraint satisfaction problems where the constraints are membership tests in some coset of a subgroup of a cartesian power of a base group (Z_2 in the case of the classical CFI-graphs). Our new examples are also based on group CSPs (for Abelian groups), but here we extend the CSPs by a few non-group constraints to obtain even harder instances for graph isomorphism.