Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The impact of LH-containing gonadotropins on diploidy rates in preimplantation embryos: long protocol stimulation.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of ovarian stimulation with LH-containing gonadotropins (human menopausal gonadotropin, hMG), on ploidy of human cleavage-stage-embryos. METHODS A total of 104 women, at ages 27-43 years, undergoing one cycle of controlled ovarian hyperstimulation for IVF in combination with preimplantation genetic diagnosis, were eligible for enrollment in this retrospective, controlled cohort study. Ovarian stimulation included down-regulation with long agonist and stimulation with either recombinant FSH or hMG. Since the ploidy of embryos changes with female age, patients were matched for age and dosage of the respective gonadotropin. RESULTS Despite similar numbers of chromosomally normal embryos in both groups, women undergoing hMG stimulation demonstrated significantly higher percentages of diploid embryos than did the FSH-stimulated patients (69.8 versus 45.3%; P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS Long protocol LH-containing ovarian stimulation improves embryonic ploidy in comparison to pure FSH stimulation. This observation may explain higher IVF pregnancy rates, reported for hMG stimulation in some studies.
Parental and Peer Support as Predictors of Depression and Self-Esteem Among College Students

We investigated the relationship between parent support and peer support as predictors of depression and self-esteem in college students. Several competing models of parental and peer influence were compared including a mediational model in which peer support was hypothesized to mediate the effects of parental support on adjustment. The results supported a model of mutual influence in which both parental support and peer support contributed equally to adjustment, and a mediational model in which peer support mediated the effect of parental support. Both of these models were tested using student self-reports of the measured constructs. To further validate the mediational model, mother-reported parental support was used in place of student-reported parental support; this mixed-reporter mediational model was not supported. Further investigation reaffirmed the existence of complexities in evaluating internal working models from an outsider’s perspective. Gender effects were modest and indicated differences in symptomatology, but not in supportive relationships. Multiple factors affect attachment in college students, including contact and residential status. Campus policies and services that promote support from parents may improve the transition to college and student adjustment.
Do Mothers’ and Fathers’ Authoritative and Authoritarian Parenting Interact? An Exploration on Schooling Aspects With a Singapore Adolescent Sample

Our study sought mainly to examine interactions between mothers’ and fathers’ authoritative and authoritarian parenting. A total of 284 adolescents (mean age 13.5) from 2 Singapore schools contributed self-report data on their parents’ parenting and various schooling aspects. Prior to testing for interactions, adolescents with two authoritative parents were found to have greater interest in schooling and mastery goals than those with two authoritarian parents. In addition, fathers’ parenting style contributed unique variance beyond mothers’ for three aspects. Regarding interactions, five emerged, three involving mothers’ and fathers’ authoritative parenting and suggesting that authoritative parenting is particularly amenable to moderation. Overall, the five interactions point to the possibility that fathers’ contributions are obscured if mothers are excluded and that authoritarian parenting can have positive effects in specific instances, although gender also needs to be considered. These results elucidate erstwhile obscured processes when interactions are not taken into account.
EEG and Autonomic Responses During Performance of Matching and Non-Matching to Sample Working Memory Tasks with Emotional Content

Working memory (WM) is a memory system responsible for the temporary storage of information and its utilization in problem solving. The central executive is theorized as the controller of storage functions that support WM. Neurophysiological data suggest that electroencephalographic (EEG) theta and alpha oscillations in frontal and midline regions are involved in neural communication between the central executive and storage functions during WM performance. Emotion is known to modulate several memory systems, including WM, through central and peripheral pathways. However, the physiological effect (EEG; autonomic nervous activity) of emotion over WM are not well described. In this study we aimed to identify physiological responses related to emotional WM performance. EEG (21 channels), heart rate (HR), and galvanic skin response (GSR) recordings were obtained from 54 volunteers while performing delayed matching and non-matching to sample tasks (DMTS/DNMTS). Emotional and neutral pictures from the International Affective Picture System and geometric figures were used as stimuli. As expected, WM performance was accompanied by presence of theta (frontal and midline electrodes) and alpha power (parietal electrodes). Beta and gamma oscillations were concentrated in frontopolar and left temporal regions. The DNMTS task was accompanied by higher increases in beta power, HR, and GSR compared to the DMTS task. Correlation analyses showed a positive tendency for gamma in the Fp2 site, ratio of LF/HF and skin conductance in both tasks. The HR results indicate an inverse reaction related to parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous system during the performance of the tasks. Taken together, our results contribute to elucidate the complex interactions between central and autonomic nervous systems in the modulation of emotional WM tasks.
The inion response revisited: evidence for a possible cerebellar contribution to vestibular-evoked potentials produced by air-conducted sound stimulation

Loud sounds were used to activate vestibular receptors in human volunteers and the effects of head and eye position studied for short-latency responses. A potential (p10/n17) recorded in the parieto-occipital leads showed behavior not expected for a response with a myogenic origin. Source modeling suggested a possible origin from the cerebellum. It may represent a new indicator of human vestibulocerebellar function.
Insights into students, practice and self through engaging as learners in our own classrooms

We conducted this collaborative self-study to explore the consequences of completing course assignments which were required of our respective students. Students had communicated that these particular assignments were daunting or anxiety-inducing. We placed ourselves in the position of learners with the intended purpose of coming to more fully appreciate and understand our students’ experiences. Data sources included our shared researcher journals and correspondence as well as student responses collected through discussion and anonymous written reflections. By using ourselves as primary examples, we endeavored to demonstrate the process of critical reflection, lessen student anxiety about experiences they view as uncomfortable, promote the co-construction of knowledge, model the teacher-researcher perspective, and improve our collective professional practice. This study has significance for other teacher educators, many of whom might require students to engage in tasks they have not done themselves or which they have not done in some time. Engaging in those tasks transparently and modeling critical reflection with students were beneficial to students’ professional development and transformed the way we approach our roles as teacher educators.
Frequency shifting in free-electron lasers

Frequency shifting in free‐electron laser (FEL) oscillators and amplifiers is investigated theoretically and numerically. The analysis includes frequency shifts from the resonant FEL interaction and the nonresonant beam dielectric. Expressions for the frequency shift in a microwave amplifier with time‐dependent beam energy and current are derived and found to be in good agreement with experiments. The theory shows that temporal changes in the detuning are the dominant factor in determining the frequency shift. Electron energy fluctuations produce frequency shifts in the Compton regime, while both current and energy variations are significant in the Raman regime. The effect is particularly important for high‐power microwave drivers proposed for high gradient accelerators, where the phase of the radio‐frequency radiation is subject to significant constraints. FEL oscillator response to variations in beam energy is examined. It is shown that in a low‐gain oscillator which experiences a sudden jump in beam en.
Tolerance and Understanding? Students and Teachers Reflect on Differences at School

Starting from educational aims that emphasise tolerance and understanding, the focus of this article is to analyse how difference is constructed in students’ informal relations, by enactments of bullying and sex-based and racist harassment. The article also discusses how young people themselves and teachers reflect on these kinds of processes. These questions are explored using data obtained from different perspectives: 1) ethnographic observations in secondary school classes of 7th graders; 2) interviews of the students in these classes (about 13 years of age); 3) interviews of the teachers that taught these classes; and 4) follow-up interviews of the same young people at the age around 18. The findings suggest that students’ individual diversities are sometimes constructed to “different-ness” in everyday life at school. “Different-ness” might be used as a reason for bullying, racism, or sex-based harassment. In schools this is not effectively addressed by teachers.
Fast and Cost-Effective Genetic Mapping in Apple Using Next-Generation Sequencing

Next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS) produces vast amounts of DNA sequence data, but it is not specifically designed to generate data suitable for genetic mapping. Recently developed DNA library preparation methods for NGS have helped solve this problem, however, by combining the use of reduced representation libraries with DNA sample barcoding to generate genome-wide genotype data from a common set of genetic markers across a large number of samples. Here we use such a method, called genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS), to produce a data set for genetic mapping in an F1 population of apples (Malus × domestica) segregating for skin color. We show that GBS produces a relatively large, but extremely sparse, genotype matrix: over 270,000 SNPs were discovered but most SNPs have too much missing data across samples to be useful for genetic mapping. After filtering for genotype quality and missing data, only 6% of the 85 million DNA sequence reads contributed to useful genotype calls. Despite this limitation, using existing software and a set of simple heuristics, we generated a final genotype matrix containing 3967 SNPs from 89 DNA samples from a single lane of Illumina HiSeq and used it to create a saturated genetic linkage map and to identify a known QTL underlying apple skin color. We therefore demonstrate that GBS is a cost-effective method for generating genome-wide SNP data suitable for genetic mapping in a highly diverse and heterozygous agricultural species. We anticipate future improvements to the GBS analysis pipeline presented here that will enhance the utility of next-generation DNA sequence data for the purposes of genetic mapping across diverse species.
Job design, opportunities for skill utilization, and intrinsic job satisfaction

Arguably, job designs that provide for high levels of employee control also provide increased opportunities for the development and exercise of skill. Perceived skill utilization has consistently been found to be amongst the strongest predictors of job-related affective well-being, yet is frequently neglected in studies of work redesign. In this article, a theoretical framework linking the key job characteristics of perceived control and perceived cognitive demand to perceived skill utilization and intrinsic job satisfaction is presented. Results from one cross-sectional study and one longitudinal study are reported that support the mediational influence of perceived skill utilization on the perceived job control – job satisfaction relationship only. The relationship between perceived job demand and perceived skill utilization was mixed but no mediating effect was evident. It is argued that the level of both perceived demand and perceived control dictates the nature of the joint influence of both job characteristics on perceived skill utilization and work attitudes such as job satisfaction.
Assessment of the Medial Longitudinal Arch in children with Flexible Pes Planus by Plantar Pressure Mapping.

INTRODUCTION Plantar Pressure mapping was introduced as a new modality for assessment of the height of the medial longitudinal arch of the foot. Therefore, the aim of this study is to correlate the plantar pressure mapping readings of arch index contact force ratio (AICFR) in children with flexible pes planus with radiographic measurements and static plantar footprints in order to determine the reliability of pressure mapping as a modality for the assessment and follow up of the flat foot deformity. PATIENTS AND METHODS Radiographic measurements, foot prints, and pressure mapping scans were recorded for each foot at initial presentation and at latest follow up in 28 children (56 feet) with flexible pes planus. RESULTS A positive correlation of pressure mapping results was found with the talo-first metatarsal angle, the calcaneal pitch angle, as well as the footprint scans (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION This study demonstrated that plantar pressure mapping is a reliable and effective tool in screening, diagnosis, and follow up of children with flexible pes planus.
The Role and Implications of Bassanite as a Stable Precursor Phase to Gypsum Precipitation

Roundabout Gypsum Calcium sulfates are a common but perhaps underappreciated group of minerals used in a number of natural and industrial processes. In many ways, these crystals precipitate from solution in the same way that most other aqueous minerals form; however, mounting evidence suggests that different, unexplored mechanisms may be at work. Van Driessche et al. (p. 69; see the cover) performed high-resolution microscopy of the most common calcium sulfate mineral, gypsum, at various points along time-resolved, fast-quenching growth experiments. The images reveal that gypsum particles actually start out as crystalline nanoparticles of another mineral, bassanite, which then self-assemble into well-ordered nanorods. Finally, the nanorods transform into gypsum following a hydration reaction. The observation that the reaction pathway occurs below the solubility limit of the intermediate phase has wide-ranging implications for biomineralization processes and may provide ways to prevent fouling on the surfaces of desalination membranes. The common mineral gypsum forms when nanoparticles of an undersaturated precursor phase, bassanite, self-assemble into nanorods, followed by ripening. Calcium sulfate minerals such as gypsum play important roles in natural and industrial processes, but their precipitation mechanisms remain largely unexplored. We used time-resolved sample quenching and high-resolution microscopy to demonstrate that gypsum forms via a three-stage process: (i) homogeneous precipitation of nanocrystalline hemihydrate bassanite below its predicted solubility, (ii) self-assembly of bassanite into elongated aggregates co-oriented along their c axis, and (iii) transformation into dihydrate gypsum. These findings indicate that a stable nanocrystalline precursor phase can form below its bulk solubility and that in the CaSO4 system, the self-assembly of nanoparticles plays a crucial role. Understanding why bassanite forms prior to gypsum can lead to more efficient anti-scaling strategies for water desalination and may help to explain the persistence of CaSO4 phases in regions of low water activity on Mars.
The Hubble sequence: just a vestige of merger events?

We investigate whether the Hubble sequence can be reproduced by the relics of merger events. We verify that, at zmedian = 0.65, the abundant population of anomalous starbursts – i.e. with peculiar morphologies and abnormal kinematics – is mainly linked to the local spirals. Their morphologies are dominated by young stars and are intimately related to their ionised-gas kinematics. We show that both morphologies and kinematics can be reproduced by using gas modelling from Barnes’ (2002, MNRAS, 333, 481) study of major mergers. Their gas content may be indirectly evaluated by assuming that distant starbursts follow the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation: the median gas fraction is found to be 31%. Using our modelling to estimate the gas-to-star transformation during a merger, we identify the gas fraction in the progenitors to be generally above 50%. All distant and massive starbursts can be distributed along a temporal sequence from the first passage to the nuclei fusion and then to the disk rebuilding phase. This later phase has been recently illustrated for J033245.11-274724.0, a distant compact galaxy dominated by a red, dust-enshrouded disk. This active production of rebuilt disks is in excellent agreement with model predictions for gaseous rich encounters. It confirms that the rebuilding spiral disk scenario – a strong and recent reprocessing of most disks by major mergers – is possibly an important channel for the formation of presentday disks in grand-design spirals. Because half of the present-day spirals had peculiar morphologies and anomalous kinematics at zmedian = 0.65, they could indeed have been in major merger phases 6 Gyr ago, and almost all at z ∼ 1. It is time now to study in detail the formation of spiral disks and of their substructures, including bulge, disks, arms, bars and rings that may mainly originate from instabilities created during the last major merger. Many galaxies also show a helicoidal structure, which is probably due to a central torque, and seems to play an important role in regulating the angular momentum of the newly-formed disks.
Regional Variation in Human Supraspinatus Tendon Proteoglycans: Decorin, Biglycan, and Aggrecan

While tendons typically undergo primary tensile loading, the human supraspinatus tendon (SST) experiences substantial amounts of tension, compression, and shear in vivo. As a result, the functional roles of the extracellular matrix components, in particular the proteoglycans (PGs), are likely complex and important. The goal of this study was to determine the PG content in specific regions of the SST that exhibit differing mechanical function. The concentration of aggrecan, biglycan, and decorin was determined in six regions of the human SST using immunochemical techniques. We hypothesized that aggrecan concentrations would be highest in areas where the tendon likely experiences compression; biglycan levels would be highest in regions likely subjected to injury and/or active remodeling such as the anterior regions; decorin concentrations would be highest in regions of greatest tensile stiffness. Our results generally supported these hypotheses and demonstrated that aggrecan and biglycan share regional variability, with increased concentration in the anterior and posterior regions and smaller concentration in the medial regions. Decorin, however, was in high concentration throughout all regions. The data presented in this study represent the first regional measurements of PG in the SST. Together with our previous regional measurements of mechanical properties, these data can be used to evaluate SST structure–function relationships. With knowledge of the differences in specific PG content, their spatial variations in the SST, and their relationships to tendon mechanics, we can begin to associate defects in PG content with specific pathology, which may provide guidance for new therapeutic interventions.
Recognition of multiple drivers’ emotional state

The paper attempted the recognition of multiple driverspsila emotional state from physiological signals. The major challenge of the research is due to the severe inter-driver variation such that the features of different emotional state are high correlated, and it is found that simple decorrelation method cannot normalize the features well to achieve acceptable classification accuracy. Hence, in this paper, we propose to apply a latent variable to represent the hidden attribute of individual driver and use statistical training. In addition, we applied temporal constraints for the inference process to improve the recognition accuracy. Experimental results show that the proposed method outperform existing algorithms used for emotional state recognition.
An Adaptive Strategy to Adjust the Components of Memetic Algorithms

Memetic algorithms (MAs) represent one of the promising areas of evolutionary algorithms. However, there are many issues to be solved to design a robust MA. In this paper, we introduce an adaptive memetic algorithm, named GADE-DHC, which combines a genetic algorithm and a differential evolution algorithm as global search methods with a directional hill climbing (DHC) algorithm as local search method. In addition, a novel strategy is proposed to balance the intensity of global search methods and local search method, as well as the ratio between genetic algorithm and differential evolution algorithm. Experiments on several benchmark problems of diverse complexities have shown that the new approach is able to provide highly competitive results compared with other algorithms.
National Qualification Frameworks: Developing Research Perspectives

Abstract Arguments for National Qualification Frameworks (NQF) are compelling. Indeed, such frameworks are now an international phenomenon. Yet, few studies take a critical perspective and challenge the broad assumptions underpinning NQF. Arguments presented in this paper attempt to open a debate within the higher education community that draws attention to conflicts and tensions regarding the diffusion and use of NQF. The emphasis of the debate is on the use of the Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework (SCQF) within higher education. The SCQF is used in this paper as an exemplar to explore and highlight these conflicts and tensions. The critique is based on a historical and managerialist view that forms the basis of a number of research propositions regarding the future of NQF. Specifically, four distinct yet interrelated research perspectives requiring future attention are proposed: political; innovation–diffusion; normative; and consistency. Such perspectives are argued to provide a more robust and reliable basis for developing NQF. The paper thus contextualises the SCQF within the recent ‘global tsunami’ of NQF and uses the SCQF as an exemplar to open up a wider debate about NQF.
Tone Sandhi and Tonal Coarticulation in Tianjin Chinese

Abstract We present in this article an acoustic study on tone sandhi and tonal coarticulation in Tianjin Chinese. Our results indicate that Tianjin tone sandhi is likely influenced by Standard Chinese and is undergoing a number of changes, causing variations and exceptions to the sandhi patterns, and the majority of the sandhis are non-neutralizing, contra traditional descriptions. Tonal coarticulation in Tianjin exhibits a number of well-known cross-linguistic properties: progressive assimilation, regressive dissimilation, a greater progressive effect, and a number of High/ Low asymmetries. Despite the dissimilatory properties observable from both tone sandhi and tonal coarticulation, they seem to have different characteristics, indicating different sources for the two processes.