Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Facebook Friends as Social Capital - How Will They Respond to the Normative Request?

An experiment was conducted to test how social norms function online. In this experiment, the value of Facebook friends as social capital was measured by an actual amount of support received from them, and this evaluation is based on Bourdieu’s (1986) theory on social capital, which insists that the social capital needs to be helpful in promoting one’s intentional or purposeful action. Results suggest that people asked with strong provincial norms spend more time and energy fulfilling online requests than those asked without norms. The degree to which people are fulfilling online requests was also affected by tie strength, perceived level of reciprocity between sender and receiver, and receiver’s level of altruism. However, online helping behavior was not associated with support type the provision of either pro-social or instrumental support.
Exploring human mental models of robots through explicitation interviews

This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study exploring how mental models of a mechanoid robot using dog-inspired affective cues behaviour emerges and impacts the evaluation of the robot after the viewing of a video of an assistive robotics scenario interaction with the robot. It discusses this using contrasting case studies based on the analysis of explicitation interviews with three participants. The analysis suggests that while for some users zoomorphic cues may aid in initial interactions, they need to be framed in an authentic interaction, highlighting the actual capabilities of the robot as a technological artifact, and how these impact the everyday life and interests of the potential user.
Relationships between regulatory T cells and CD8+ effector populations in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck

Homeostasis of circulating T cells is regulated in complex ways that have not yet been well defined. The balance between type 1 and type 2 T‐cell subsets in cancer patients is thought to modulate antitumor immunity. Meanwhile, CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Treg), which are potent inhibitors of antitumor immune responses, also play an invaluable role in maintaining immune homeostasis.
Constitutive Phosphorylation of Interferon Receptor A-Associated Signaling Proteins in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Background Overexpression of type I interferon (IFN-I)-induced genes is a common feature of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and its experimental models, but the participation of endogenous overproduction of IFN-I on it is not clear. To explore the possibility that abnormally increased IFN-I receptor (IFNAR) signaling could participate in IFN-I-induced gene overexpression of SLE, we examined the phosphorylation status of the IFNAR-associated signaling partners Jak1 and STAT2, and its relation with expression of its physiologic inhibitor SOCS1 and with plasma levels of IFNα and IFN-like activity. Methodology/Principal Findings Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from SLE patients with or without disease activity and healthy controls cultured in the presence or in the absence of IFNβ were examined by immunoprecipitation and/or western blotting for expression of the two IFNAR chains, Jak1, Tyk2, and STAT2 and their phosphorylated forms. In SLE but not in healthy control PBMC, Jak1 and STAT2 were constitutively phosphorylated, even in the absence of disease activity (basal pJak1: controls vs. active SLE p<0.0001 and controls vs. inactive SLE p = 0.0006; basal pSTAT2: controls vs. active and inactive SLE p<0.0001). Although SOCS1 protein was slightly but significantly decreased in SLE in the absence or in the presence of IFNβ (p = 0.0096 to p<0.0001), in SOCS1 mRNA levels were markedly decreased (p = 0.036 to p<0.0001). IFNβ induced higher levels of the IFN-I-dependent MxA protein mRNA in SLE than in healthy controls, whereas the opposite was observed for SOCS1. Although there was no relation to increased serum IFNα, active SLE plasma could induce expression of IFN-dependent genes by normal PBMC. Conclusions/Significance These findings suggest that in some SLE patients IFN-I dependent gene expression could be the result of a low IFNAR signaling threshold.
Exploring willingness to communicate (WTC) in English in Chinese EFL university classrooms : a mixed method approach

This research explored willingness to communicate (WTC) in English among Chinese university students in the English as a foreign language (EFL) classroom context, using a mixed methods approach. WTC in a second language (L2) is an individual difference variable proposed to mediate L2 learning and L2 communication. To fit in the specific context, this research drew on hybrid theoretical perspectives from second language acquisition (SLA), Chinese indigenous culture, and an ecological paradigm which underscores the relatedness of human behaviour with their environment. Bronfenbrenner’s (1979, 1993) nested ecosystems model was applied as an overarching framework for interpreting the individual and contextual factors explored in this research. This research was conducted in two phases. The first phase involved a pilot study (N = 330) and a main study (N = 579) using a quantitative questionnaire survey. The survey examined the interrelationships among WTC in English and four other individual and contextual variables: communication confidence in English, motivation to learn English, learner beliefs, and classroom environment. The factor structure of each scale of these variables was preliminarily identified from the pilot study data using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and validated with the main study data using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The interrelationships of these variables were tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). In the second phase of the research, a multiple-case study was conducted with four student cases to investigate possible fluctuations of WTC over time and across classroom situations, as well as the factors underlying the fluctuations. Multiple sources of data were collected through classroom observations, semi-structured interviews and learning journals. Qualitative content analysis was mainly used for data analysis. The quantitative results showed that generally the participants in the survey were moderately willing to communicate using English in class. Communication confidence was the strongest predictor of WTC. Motivation exerted a direct effect on confidence and an indirect effect on WTC. Learner beliefs directly influenced
It's Not What You Say, It's How You Say It: The Role of Evidence Type in Changing Violent Media Consumption

It’s Not What You Say, It’s How You Say It: The Role of Evidence Type in Changing Violent Media Consumption Felicia Lené Farley Department of Psychology, BYU Doctor of Philosophy The amount of violent media that is consumed on a daily basis by the average American and the empirically proven effects associated with such regular consumption have led scholars to consider violent media a public health threat, the risks of which, the public may not even fully appreciate (Huesmann, Dubow, & Yang, 2013). Previous research in the field of public health communication has found that different forms of evidence in public health risk messages are more or less effective in changing behavior depending on individual recipient characteristics (de Wit, Das & Vet, 2008; Reinard, 1988; Slater & Rouner, 1996). The present research investigated the effectiveness of different forms of evidence (narrative or statistical) in decreasing violent media consumption by increasing an individual’s risk perceptions and negative attitude associated with violent media. In accordance with the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991), it was hypothesized that these risk perceptions and attitudes would predict intentions toward violent media consumption, as well as subsequent consumption. The study was conducted via MTurk with a sample of one hundred and fifty participants (53% Male). Results showed that an individuals’ violent media consumption predicted their attitude toward violent media (p = .035), and that their risk perception and attitude toward violent media significantly predicted their intentions to decrease violent media consumption (ps < .05). Though no significant difference was found between the effect of narrative and statistical evidence on general violent media consumption, exploratory analyses of effects on specific forms of media showed that narrative evidence resulted in a significant decrease in violent video game consumption (p = .042). Additionally, age predicted risk perception, the older the participant the less risk they perceived in violent media consumption (p = .010). Future research should investigate the effect of including all elements of the Theory of Planned Behavior on the ability of different evidence types to change behavior, and perhaps extend the time frame within which change is measured in order to maximize the ability to observe any true change in behavior.
Evaluating the consequences of salmon nutrients for riparian organisms: Linking condition metrics to stable isotopes

Abstract Stable isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N) have been used extensively to trace nutrients from Pacific salmon, but salmon transfer more than carbon and nitrogen to stream ecosystems, such as phosphorus, minerals, proteins, and lipids. To examine the importance of these nutrients, metrics other than isotopes need to be considered, particularly when so few studies have made direct links between these nutrients and how they affect riparian organisms. Our study specifically examined δ13C and δ15N of riparian organisms from salmon and non‐salmon streams in Idaho, USA, at different distances from the streams, and examined whether the quality of riparian plants and the body condition of invertebrates varied with access to these nutrients. Overall, quality and condition metrics did not mirror stable isotope patterns. Most notably, all riparian organisms exhibited elevated δ15N in salmon streams, but also with proximity to both stream types suggesting that both salmon and landscape factors may affect δ15N. The amount of nitrogen incorporated from Pacific salmon was low for all organisms (<20%) and did not correlate with measures of quality or condition, probably due to elevated δ15N at salmon streams reflecting historical salmon runs instead of current contributions. Salmon runs in these Idaho streams have been declining, and associated riparian ecosystems have probably seen about a 90% reduction in salmon‐derived nitrogen since the 1950s. In addition, our results support those of other studies that have cautioned that inferences from natural abundance isotope data, particularly in conjunction with mixing models for salmon‐derived nutrient percentage estimates, may be confounded by biogeochemical transformations of nitrogen, physiological processes, and even historical legacies of nitrogen sources. Critically, studies should move beyond simply describing isotopic patterns to focusing on the consequences of salmon‐derived nutrients by quantifying the condition and fitness of organisms putatively using those resources.
Ethanolamine oleate versus botulinum toxin in the treatment of idiopathic achalasia

Background Botulinum toxin (BT) injection reduces lower esophageal sphincter pressure and alleviates symptoms in idiopathic achalasia (IA). Ethanolamine oleate (EO) has also been introduced for the treatment of IA. We compared the long-term efficacy of BT and EO injections in the treatment of IA. Methods A total of 189 IA patients were evaluated prospectively, of whom 21 were unwilling to undergo or were poor candidates for pneumatic balloon dilation and Heller myotomy and were enrolled in the study. Eleven patients were treated by BT, and 10 by EO injections. Patients were followed up by achalasia symptom score (ASS), timed barium esophagogram (TBE), and high-resolution manometry at baseline and post-treatment. A good initial response was defined as a decrease in ASS to 4 or less, and a reduction in barium column height and volume in TBE by >50%. Results All 10 EO group patients and 10 of 11 BT group patients showed a good initial response. Four EO group relapsers and 6 BT group relapsers were managed effectively by re-injections. Mean duration of follow up was 27.38 months. On completion of the study, a sustained good response was seen in 9 and 6 patients in EO and BT groups, respectively (P=0.149). Conclusion This study revealed that BT and EO have comparable efficacy in the treatment of IA. However, the cost of EO is about 2 times lower than BT.
Wealth Accumulation and the Importance of Precautionary Savings 1

In this paper, we rely on a direct question about precautionary wealth from the 1995 and 1998 Survey of Consumer Finances to assess the importance of the precautionary saving motive. In this survey, a new question has been designed to elicit the amount of desired precautionary savings. This allows us to bound the amount of precautionary accumulation and to overcome many of the problems of previous works on this topic. We find that a precautionary saving motive exists and affects almost every type of household. This motive is particularly important for two groups: older households and business owners, but it also affects young and middle-age households who do not have businesses. Overall, we provide strong evidence that we need to take the precautionary saving motive into account when modeling saving behavior.
Declarative Synchronization

Synchronization is one of the hardest tasks in parallel prog ramming. Traditional lock mechanisms are hard to use and error prone. Software Transac tional Memory(STM) provides an easy–to–use and scalable solution to this probl em. However, STM does not work well in the case that there are large shared data acce ss in the critical section. This project introduces the design and implementation of a n ew synchronization tool called Declarative Synchronization. It provides an easy–t o–use, composable, deadlock free but also high performance solution to the case that prog rammers need to access large chunk of shared data in the critical section. Declarat ive Synchronization shows better performance than STM, and competitive performance a s hand made fine-grained locks through the experiments. The technique would be a usef ul tool for synchronization in the scenario that programmers need to access large sh ar d data in the critical section.
Unleashing Use-Before-Initialization Vulnerabilities in the Linux Kernel Using Targeted Stack Spraying

A common type of memory error in the Linux kernel is using uninitialized variables (uninitialized use). Uninitialized uses not only cause undefined behaviors but also impose a severe security risk if an attacker takes control of the uninitialized variables. However, reliably exploiting uninitialized uses on the kernel stack has been considered infeasible until now since the code executed prior to triggering the vulnerability must leave an attacker-controlled pattern on the stack. Therefore, uninitialized uses are largely overlooked and regarded as undefined behaviors, rather than security vulnerabilities. In particular, full memorysafety techniques (e.g., SoftBound+CETS) exclude uninitialized use as a prevention target, and widely used systems such as OpenSSL even use uninitialized memory as a randomness source. In this paper, we propose a fully automated targeted stackspraying approach for the Linux kernel that reliably facilitates the exploitation of uninitialized uses. Our targeted stack-spraying includes two techniques: (1) a deterministic stack spraying technique that suitably combines tailored symbolic execution and guided fuzzing to identify kernel inputs that user-mode programs can use to deterministically guide kernel code paths and thereby leave attacker-controlled data on the kernel stack, and (2) an exhaustive memory spraying technique that uses memory occupation and pollution to reliably control a large region of the kernel stack. We show that our targeted stack-spraying approach allows attackers to reliably control more than 91% of the Linux kernel stack, which, in combination with uninitialized-use vulnerabilities, suffices for a privilege escalation attack. As a countermeasure, we propose a compiler-based mechanism that initializes potentially unsafe pointer-type fields with almost no performance overhead. Our results show that uninitialized use is a severe attack vector that can be readily exploited with targeted stack-spraying, so future memory-safety techniques should consider it a prevention target, and systems should not use uninitialized memory as a randomness source.
African Nutmeg (Monodora Myristica) Lowers Cholesterol and Modulates Lipid Peroxidation in Experimentally Induced Hypercholesterolemic Male Wistar Rats

To evaluate the cholesterol lowering potential and protective ability of aqueous extract of Monodora myristica experimental hypercholesterolemic rats, a short-term study was conducted. Hypercholesterolemia was induced by administering cholesterol orally at a dose of 40 mg/kg/0.3 ml. Plant extracts 100 or 200 mg/kg body weight and Questran 0.26 g/kg were administered five times a week for eight weeks for amelioration. Hypolipidemic effects were evaluated by measuring total cholesterol (TC), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) and triglycerides (TG) in the serum, while the protective ability was measured by the extent of lipid peroxidation (LPO) as well as enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants levels in post mitochondrial fractions (PMF) of the hepatic and cardiac homogenates. Serum aminotransferases activities were also monitored. Results obtained shows that treatment with M. myristica elicited a significant reduction in serum TC, TG and LDL-C levels while there was concomitant increase in HDL-C of hypercholesterolemic rats. Elevations in serum aminotransferases activities and LPO level were reversed and a significant amelioration was noticed in enzymatic and non-enzymatic antioxidants status in the liver and heart of hypercholesterolemic rats. This study suggests that M. myristica possess cholesterol lowering potentials and protective ability in experimental hypercholesterolemia rat model.
Chatty Tenants and the Cloud Network Sharing Problem

The emerging ecosystem of cloud applications leads to significant inter-tenant communication across a datacenter's internal network. This poses new challenges for cloud network sharing. Richer inter-tenant traffic patterns make it hard to offer minimum bandwidth guarantees to tenants. Further, for communication between economically distinct entities, it is not clear whose payment should dictate the network allocation. Motivated by this, we study how a cloud network that carries both intra-and inter-tenant traffic should be shared. We argue for network allocations to be dictated by the least-paying of communication partners. This, when combined with careful VM placement, achieves the complementary goals of providing tenants with minimum bandwidth guarantees while bounding their maximum network impact. Through a prototype deployment and large-scale simulations, we show that minimum bandwidth guarantees, apart from helping tenants achieve predictable performance, also improve overall datacenter throughput. Further, bounding a tenant's maximum impact mitigates malicious behavior.
Boo-boos as the building blocks of pain expression: An observational examination of parental responses to everyday pain in toddlers

ABSTRACT Background Everyday pain experiences (minor bumps/scrapes) are common in early childhood and create frequent opportunities for socialization of pain behaviors. Nevertheless, everyday pain during the formative toddler period has been largely overlooked. Aims The aim of the current study was to describe the frequency and nature of toddlers’ everyday pain experiences, child and parent responses, and the relationship between child characteristics (age, sex, temperament) and responses. Methods Fifty-two children aged 12–32 months and their parents were observed at an indoor play facility. Using an observational checklist, trained observers recorded children’s everyday pain incidents and associated child and parent responses. Results Overall, 101 pain incidents were observed, the majority of which evoked low levels of pain and distress, which resolved after 1 min. Pain incidents occurred at a rate of 1.02 incidents/child/hour, with 81% of children experiencing at least one incident, which is higher than previous research with preschoolers and daycare staff. Common parent responses included a range of verbal (reassurance) and nonverbal (staying closer, hugging/kissing child) behaviors. Boys were more likely to not exhibit any protective behaviors. Parents were more likely to pick up older toddlers. Conclusions Future research should examine the link between self-reported and observed parent responses to child pain in everyday and clinical contexts.
Bicultural Stress and Disordered Eating in Arab-Canadian Women: Clarifying the Roles of Acculturation, Ethnic Identity, Acculturative Distress and Cultural Value Conflicts

In this study, relationships between disordered eating and body shape challenges in relation to three culturally related variables of acculturation, ethnic identity, and bicultural stress and conflict were examined in a sample of 196 Arab-Canadian women. A series of correlational analyses and hierarchical regressions were performed. Results showed that bicultural stress and conflict predicted a significant amount of variability in disordered eating and body shape concerns, including internalization of the thinness ideal, over and above both ethnic identity and acculturation. Furthermore, significant three way-interactions revealed that bicultural stress and conflict moderated the relationships among Arab-Orientation and Anglo-Orientation as predictors of disordered eating symptoms. Bicultural stress and conflict also moderated the relationships among ethnic identity and acculturation as predictors of eating disorder symptoms. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.
First isolation and nucleotide comparison of the gag gene of the caprine arthritis encephalitis virus circulating in naturally infected goats from Argentina

Caprine arthritis encephalitis virus (CAEV) has been reported in different countries worldwide, based on serological and molecular detection. In Argentina, the prevalence of CAEV infections is increasing, with goats showing symptoms associated mostly with cachexia and arthritis. Although in Argentina the virus has been detected by serology, it has never been isolated or characterized. Thus, the objectives of this work were to isolate and analyze the nucleotide sequences of the gag gene of Argentine CAEV strains and compare them with those of other SRLVs previously reported. Nucleotide sequence comparison showed homology with CAEV-Co, the CAEV prototype. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the Argentine strains clustered with genotype B, subtype B1. Because the molecular characterization of the gag region is suitable for phylogenetic studies and may be applied to monitor the control of SRLV, molecularly characterizing the Argentine CAEV strains may help develop a proper plan of eradication of CAEV infections.