Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Engaging diversity at an Australian university: Chinese international students' perceptions of their social experience while studying in Australia

Increasing diversity of student populations at Australian universities has raised research attention on how international students are coping with their academic and social life. A research project conducted with Chinese students studying at Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Western Australia in 2005 revealed various cultural and equity issues which impact on the Chinese international students' academic and social experiences in Australia. This paper focuses on the social aspects of the findings from this study. It was found that most Chinese students reported poor social life and interaction with local and other international students on and off campus. Developing friendship with local students seems difficult. Home-stay experience has also been found problematic. The study shows that language and cultural differences are major barriers which impact on their social experience in Australia. The role of universities and local communities to develop strategies to improve Chinese international students' social outcomes while studying in Australia is addressed. This research paper identifies and discusses issues related to Chinese students‘ perceptions of their social experiences while studying in Perth, Western Australia. The paper reports on a research project undertaken in 2005 by Cross & Wang which analyses quantitative and qualitative questionnaire data obtained from 50 Chinese students currently studying at Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Western Australia. An overview of this study, which focuses on cultural and equity issues, is outlined by Wang & Cross (2006). This paper focuses specifically on the social experiences of these students and their ability to adapt to a new culture and integrate within the local community. Additional findings and insights not provided within the previous publication are provided. Of course the students‘ social experiences and ability to adapt to their new culture will also have an impact on their satisfaction and academic performance within the classroom (Thompson & Thompson, 1996). Conclusions are drawn and recommendations made to assist Australian universities and the local community to develop strategies to better facilitate Chinese students‘ participation and integration in Australia in order to improve their educational and social outcomes as well as to provide internationalisation benefits to non Chinese students and the local community.
SPHERES Development and Demonstrations of Close Proximity Formation Flight Maneuvers

The Synchronized Position Hold Engage Reorient Experimental Satellites (SPHERES) program, developed by the MIT Space Systems Laboratory, began operations aboard the International Space Station (ISS) in May 2006. SPHERES was designed as a research facility to demonstrate metrology, control, and autonomy algorithms for distributed satellite systems. By operating in the risktolerant environment of the ISS, SPHERES allows researchers to push the limits of their algorithms. The motivation for SPHERES formation flight tests arises from the desire to develop fractionated spacecraft, which use loosely coupled formation flight to maintain multiple satellites in close proximity to achieve a common goal. Fractionated spacecraft allow better adaptability, survivability and payload isolation than a large single-unit spacecraft. The system may consist of heterogeneous spacecraft (e.g., only one high-power communications satellite for ground telemetry, while all other use lowpower inter-satellite communications) or homogenous spacecraft (e.g., all identical satellites are part of a sparse aperture, reconfigurable space based radar). The nature of these designs does not require precision formation flight, but rather requires coarse control to maintain a loose formation where the critical elements are to stay within range of each other and maintain a safe enough distance to prevent collisions and obstructions. This paper presents a method to remove the global navigation sensors for all but one satellite in the fractionated spacecraft system in order to reduce system cost and complexity. In this problem, all satellites must follow a globally defined trajectory in order to avoid collision with another object. Several tradeoffs and limitations associated with this approach and are discussed in this paper.
Modelling of a charge control method for capacitive MEMS

Charging of dielectric materials in microelectrome-chanical systems (MEMS) actuated electrostatically is a major reliability issue. In our previous work we proposed a feedback loop control method that is implemented as a circuit and that allows smart actuation for switches and varactors. In this paper we discuss system-level modeling of MEMS devices including all aspects of the system: proposed control method, charging dynamics and realistic models of the mechanical components of MEMS.
Do Responsible Investment Indices Improve Corporate Social Responsibility? FTSE4GOOD's Impact on Environmental Management

Manuscript Type. Empirical. Research Question/Issue. This study investigates the impact of a responsible investment index on environmental management practices. Firms that were included in the FTSE4Good index but failed to meet enhanced requirements were subject to both engagement by FTSE and the threat of expulsion from the index. We examine the combined effect of these actions, estimate the contribution of both elements separately, and the influence of concentrated equity ownership, corporate governance, and the institutional environment. We also evaluate whether the effect is persistent or transitory. Research Findings/Insights. For a sample of 1,029 firms from 21 countries, our findings demonstrate that engagement combined with the threat of expulsion from the FTSE4Good index doubles the probability that a firm failing to meet the environmental management criteria in 2002 would comply by 2005. The higher compliance rate for the firms receiving engagement persists until the end of our study in 2010. We also find that compliance is positively associated with low levels of concentrated ownership and with firms based in coordinated rather than liberal market economies. Theoretical/Academic Implications. Our results contribute to the understanding of the complexities of governance, where decision makers are constrained or influenced by equity holders, the firm's governance system, institutional arrangements, and collective engagement by institutional equity holders. Our findings are consistent with both institutional and agency issues impacting on decision making. Practitioner/Policy Implications. Our study suggests that engagement via a responsible investment index reinforced by the threat of public expulsion from the index provides an effective route for large‐scale collaborative investor engagement on corporate social responsibility issues targeting large and internationally diverse firms. It also demonstrates why regulators may wish to encourage engagement of this type to achieve social benefits.
Meanings and attitudes attached to cohabitation in Poland: Qualitative analyses of the slow diffusion of cohabitation among the young generation

This study contributes to the understanding of the low level of non-marital cohabitation in Poland at the beginning of the XXI century. We employ an interpretative analysis of semi-structured interviews in order to capture the meanings and attitudes associated to non-marital cohabitation by a selected sample of young Poles. The results indicate that although cohabitation has begun to be interpreted as a testing period leading to marriage, attitudes towards it are still very ambiguous. The idealization of marital commitment hinders the spread of informal unions. Understanding the determinants of low cohabitation in Poland enables us to advance grounded hypotheses on its evolution in the near future and, more generally, to illustrate the ways in which local cultures influence the diffusion of behaviors.
The silence of the library: environment, situational norm, and social behavior.

On the basis of the idea that situational norms are mentally represented as associations between environments and normative behavior, it was proposed that an environment can automatically direct normative behavior. More specifically, when situational norms are well-established (e.g., when entering the library, one should be silent), an environment is capable of automatically activating mental representations of normative behavior and the behavior itself. In these experiments, participants were exposed to pictures of environments, and effects on accessibility of representations of normative behavior and on actual behavior were assessed. Results indicated that representations of behavior and actual behavior itself are activated automatically when (a) goals to visit the environment are active and (b) strong associations between environment and normative behavior are established.
Patterns of Neurogenesis and Amplitude of Reelin Expression Are Essential for Making a Mammalian-Type Cortex

The mammalian neocortex is characterized as a six-layered laminar structure, in which distinct types of pyramidal neurons are distributed coordinately during embryogenesis. In contrast, no other vertebrate class possesses a brain region that is strictly analogous to the neocortical structure. Although it is widely accepted that the pallium, a dorsal forebrain region, is specified in all vertebrate species, little is known of the differential mechanisms underlying laminated or non-laminated structures in the pallium. Here we show that differences in patterns of neuronal specification and migration provide the pallial architectonic diversity. We compared the neurogenesis in mammalian and avian pallium, focusing on subtype-specific gene expression, and found that the avian pallium generates distinct types of neurons in a spatially restricted manner. Furthermore, expression of Reelin gene is hardly detected in the developing avian pallium, and an experimental increase in Reelin-positive cells in the avian pallium modified radial fiber organization, which resulted in dramatic changes in the morphology of migrating neurons. Our results demonstrate that distinct mechanisms govern the patterns of neuronal specification in mammalian and avian pallial development, and that Reelin-dependent neuronal migration plays a critical role in mammalian type corticogenesis. These lines of evidence shed light on the developmental programs underlying the evolution of the mammalian specific laminated cortex.
Determination of Airborne Nanoparticles from Welding Operations

The aim of this study is to assess the levels of airborne ultrafine particles emitted in welding processes (tungsten inert gas [TIG], metal active gas [MAG] of carbon steel, and friction stir welding [FSW] of aluminum) in terms of deposited area in pulmonary alveolar tract using a nanoparticle surface area monitor (NSAM) analyzer. The obtained results showed the dependence of process parameters on emitted ultrafine particles and demonstrated the presence of ultrafine particles compared to background levels. Data indicated that the process that resulted in the lowest levels of alveolar deposited surface area (ADSA) was FSW, followed by TIG and MAG. However, all tested processes resulted in significant concentrations of ultrafine particles being deposited in humans lungs of exposed workers.
Hedging in affine stochastic volatility models

Typically an investor incurs risk by issuing a contingent claim. She can try to reduce this risk by trading in the underlying asset according to a strategy which is in some sense appropriate. In an incomplete financial market there usually are several meaningful choices for the determination of such a hedging strategy. We discuss two of them based on optimization criteria: asymptotic exponential utility-based hedging and variance-optimal hedging. We investigate these approaches under the assumption that the underlying can be described by subclasses of affine processes in each case. These classes contain some popular affine stochastic volatility models, e.g. the Barndorff-Nielsen & Shephard model and the Heston model. Furthermore they allow for models which exhibit jumps in the return process as well as in the volatility component. For both hedging approaches we obtain semi-explicit expressions for the objects of interest (i.e. first order approximations of the optimal hedging strategy and the associated utility indifference price for asymptotic utility-based hedging as well as the optimal hedging strategy, optimal initial endowment and the corresponding variance of the hedging error for quadratic hedging). We mainly use general structural results, a Laplace transform technique and semimartingale calculus in order to derive these findings. For the exponential utility-based hedging approach we additionally require a characterization of the the density process of the minimal entropy martingale measure and the associated solution to the exponential utility maximization problem without additional claims. We provide these in the more general framework of multivariate affine processes. Finally, some numerical examples illustrate the results of the two hedging approaches by computing the relevant quantities in concrete stochastic volatility models.
Crystal structure of human nucleosome core particle containing enzymatically introduced CpG methylation

Cytosine methylation, predominantly of the CpG sequence in vertebrates, is one of the major epigenetic modifications crucially involved in the control of gene expression. Due to the difficulty of reconstituting site‐specifically methylated nucleosomal DNA at crystallization quality, most structural analyses of CpG methylation have been performed using chemically synthesized oligonucleotides, There has been just one recent study of nucleosome core particles (NCPs) reconstituted with nonpalindromic human satellite 2‐derived DNAs. Through the preparation of a 146‐bp palindromic α‐satellite‐based nucleosomal DNA containing four CpG dinucleotide sequences and its enzymatic methylation and restriction, we reconstituted a ‘symmetric’ human CpG‐methylated nucleosome core particle (NCP). We solved the crystal structures of the CpG‐methylated and unmodified NCPs at 2.6 and 3.0 Å resolution, respectively. We observed the electron densities of two methyl groups, among the eight 5‐methylcytosines introduced in the CpG‐fully methylated NCP. There were no obvious structural differences between the CpG‐methylated ‘symmetric NCP’ and the unmodified NCP. The preparation of a crystallization‐grade CpG‐methylated NCP provides a platform for the analysis of CpG‐methyl reader and eraser proteins.
Generation of Covalently Closed Circular DNA of Hepatitis B Viruses via Intracellular Recycling Is Regulated in a Virus Specific Manner

Persistence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection requires covalently closed circular (ccc)DNA formation and amplification, which can occur via intracellular recycling of the viral polymerase-linked relaxed circular (rc) DNA genomes present in virions. Here we reveal a fundamental difference between HBV and the related duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) in the recycling mechanism. Direct comparison of HBV and DHBV cccDNA amplification in cross-species transfection experiments showed that, in the same human cell background, DHBV but not HBV rcDNA converts efficiently into cccDNA. By characterizing the distinct forms of HBV and DHBV rcDNA accumulating in the cells we find that nuclear import, complete versus partial release from the capsid and complete versus partial removal of the covalently bound polymerase contribute to limiting HBV cccDNA formation; particularly, we identify genome region-selectively opened nuclear capsids as a putative novel HBV uncoating intermediate. However, the presence in the nucleus of around 40% of completely uncoated rcDNA that lacks most if not all of the covalently bound protein strongly suggests a major block further downstream that operates in the HBV but not DHBV recycling pathway. In summary, our results uncover an unexpected contribution of the virus to cccDNA formation that might help to better understand the persistence of HBV infection. Moreover, efficient DHBV cccDNA formation in human hepatoma cells should greatly facilitate experimental identification, and possibly inhibition, of the human cell factors involved in the process.
A Cryptographic Approach to Securely Share and Query Genomic Sequences

To support large-scale biomedical research projects, organizations need to share person-specific genomic sequences without violating the privacy of their data subjects. In the past, organizations protected subjects' identities by removing identifiers, such as name and social security number; however, recent investigations illustrate that deidentified genomic data can be ldquoreidentifiedrdquo to named individuals using simple automated methods. In this paper, we present a novel cryptographic framework that enables organizations to support genomic data mining without disclosing the raw genomic sequences. Organizations contribute encrypted genomic sequence records into a centralized repository, where the administrator can perform queries, such as frequency counts, without decrypting the data. We evaluate the efficiency of our framework with existing databases of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) sequences and demonstrate that the time needed to complete count queries is feasible for real world applications. For example, our experiments indicate that a count query over 40 SNPs in a database of 5000 records can be completed in approximately 30 min with off-the-shelf technology. We further show that approximation strategies can be applied to significantly speed up query execution times with minimal loss in accuracy. The framework can be implemented on top of existing information and network technologies in biomedical environments.
Time-Shifted Rationality and the Law of Law's Leverage: Behavioral Economics Meets Behavioral Biology

A flood of recent scholarship explores legal implications of seemingly irrational behaviors by invoking cognitive psychology and notions of bounded rationality. In this article, I argue that advances in behavioral biology have largely overtaken existing notions of bounded rationality, revealing them to be misleadingly imprecise - and rooted in outdated assumptions that are not only demonstrably wrong, but also wrong in ways that have material implications for subsequent legal conclusions. This can be remedied. Specifically, I argue that behavioral biology offers three things of immediate use. First, behavioral biology can lay a foundation for both revising bounded rationality and fashioning a solid theoretical basis for understanding and predicting many human irrationalities. Second, a principle we may derive from the fundamentals of behavioral biology, which I term "time-shifted rationality," can help us to usefully disentangle things currently lumped together under the label of bounded rationality. Doing so suggests that some seeming irrationalities are not, in fact, the product of conventional bounded rationality but are instead the product of a very different phenomenon. As a consequence and by-product of this analysis, it is possible to reconcile some of the supposed irrationalities with an existing rationality framework in a new, more satisfying, and more useful way. Third, behavioral biology affords the raw material for deriving a new principle, which I term "the law of law's leverage," that can help us to better understand and predict the effects of law on human behavior. Specifically, it can help us to anticipate the comparative sensitivities of various human behaviors to legal changes in incentives. That is, it enables us to anticipate differences in the slopes of demand curves for various law-relevant behaviors. This law of law's leverage therefore can afford us new, coherent, and systematic power in predicting the comparative costs, to society, of attempting to change behaviors through legal means. And the principle also provides a new and powerful tool for explaining and predicting many of the existing and future architectures of legal systems.
AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT PRACTICES IN JAPANESE MANUFACTURING COMPANIES

Quality management represents company-wide activities to improve the quality level of products and works through customer orientation, continuous quality improvement, employees’ involvement, etc. to establish and sustain a competitive advantage. This paper presents result of an empirical analysis on quality management practices and its impact on competitive performance in Japanese manufacturing companies. This result has been derived from the third round survey conducting in Japan industry in 2003 under the framework of High Performance Manufacturing Project. The data were gathered from thirty-five plants in Japan. The questionnaire’s responders were general manager, production manager, quality manager, and supervisors. Ten measurement scales were constructed to describe quality management practices in production as follows: Cleanliness and organization, Feedback, Process control, Equipment and maintenance, Product design, Customer orientation, Supplier relationship, and Top management leadership for quality. Regression models between quality management practices and dimension of quality, competitive indexes were developed. The results show significant contribution of quality activities to quality performance and competitive performance. Among ten examined quality practices, Work attitude, Product design process, Equipment and maintenance were identified as important determinants for improving quality performance and competitiveness.
Femoral lengthening with a motorized intramedullary nail

Purpose — We assessed whether an intramedullary lengthening device would reduce the problems normally associated with the external fixation technique. We also wanted to determine whether it is a reliable construct for limb lengthening and deformity correction in the femur. Patients and methods — We conducted a matched-pair comparison of 30 femoral lengthenings, 15 with a motorized intramedullary nail (the nail group) and 15 lengthenings with an external ring fixator (the fixator group). The patients were matched based on age, sex, amount of lengthening, and the etiology of leg length discrepancy. Mean lengthening was 35 (25–55) mm in the nail group and 38 (15–75) mm in the fixator group. Outcome measures were: lengthening and alignment achieved, consolidation index, knee range of motion (ROM), and complications. Results — The pairs in this matched-pair study were similar in terms of age, sex, diagnosis, and amount of lengthening. The planned amount of lengthening was achieved in all patients in both groups and axis correction was considered sufficient. The mean radiographic consolidation index in the nail group, at 1.5 (0.9–3.0) months/cm, was better than the mean value for the fixator group (1.9 (0.9–3.4) months/cm) (p = 0.01). Knee ROM was better in the nail group during the lengthening, 6 weeks after lengthening was completed, and 6 months after lengthening was completed (p < 0.001). A larger number of complications were observed in the fixator group than in the nail group. Interpretation — A lengthening nail may be superior to external fixation in femoral lengthening, when the anatomical conditions and the complexity of the deformity allow the use of an intramedullary nail.