Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
All beer and skittles? A qualitative pilot study of the role of alcohol in university college life

This paper reports the results of a small qualitative pilot study on the role of alcohol in college life, undertaken at three residential colleges at an Australian university. Focus groups (involving 43 students aged between 17 and 23 years) investigated participants' views of the social functions of alcohol in the residential college environment. Participants regarded drinking as an entrenched and highly valued aspect of college culture at all three colleges. They portrayed alcohol as contributing in positive ways to 'sociability and relaxation' as well as 'bonding and social inclusion' at college. Although drinking was acknowledged as disruptive of students' sleep, study, and daily routines, such impacts were often played down or normalised. The article concludes that normative studies, with a particular focus on first-year students, may be fruitful avenues for reducing alcohol-related harm among college-based university students. Qualitative studies like the one reported here can provide detailed, context-specific information about 'local drinking cultures', which are essential for informed decision-making about intervention approaches and policy change.
Beyond form-focused instruction: Reflections on past, present and future research

In 1997 I published a paper in Language Teaching entitled ‘Form-focused instruction and second language acquisition: A review of classroom and laboratory research’. The paper reviewed the results of studies investigating the effects of form-focused instruction (FFI) on second language (L2) learning. It was organized around seven questions, including: whether FFI is beneficial to L2 learning; whether particular types of FFI are more beneficial; whether there is an optimal time to provide FFI; and whether different language features benefit more from FFI. In this paper I revisit these questions and reflect on how research on FFI and L2 learning has evolved over the past twelve years.
Cost-Based Droop Schemes for Economic Dispatch in Islanded Microgrids

In this paper, cost-based droop schemes are proposed, to minimize the total active power generation cost in an islanded microgrid (MG), while the simplicity and decentralized nature of the droop control are retained. In cost-based droop schemes, the incremental costs of distributed generators (DGs) are embedded into the droop schemes, where the incremental cost is a derivative of the DG cost function with respect to output power. In the steady state, DGs share a single common frequency, and cost-based droop schemes equate incremental costs of DGs, thus minimizing the total active power generation cost, in terms of the equal incremental cost principle. Finally, simulation results in an islanded MG with high a penetration of intermittent renewable energy sources are presented, to demonstrate the effectiveness, as well as plug and play capability of the cost-based droop schemes.
Facebook Use as Access Facilitator for Consulting Psychology

Objectives The current study aimed to examine the reasons that lead individuals to seek online psychological consultations instead of in‐person assistance, and to explore the effect of a single 30‐min Facebook chat conversation in increasing willingness to ask for professional help. Methods A total of 284 participants attended a brief Facebook‐based psychological consultation. Of these patients, 259 individuals completed a baseline survey questionnaire. Second and third survey questionnaires were also administered at the end of the consultation and at 1‐month follow‐up, respectively. Results Primary reasons for joining the Facebook chat consultation were the need for immediate psychological support and service convenience. Almost half of the respondents had sought psychologist assistance at least once in the past. Depression was the most reported psychosocial impairment. The average initial level of motivation required to seek in‐person psychological support was high, while online consultation was preferred by a greater number of respondents. At 1‐month follow‐up, the majority of the respondents who had accessed the Facebook consultation stated that they had asked for psychological support, mostly preferring a private in‐person therapist. Conclusion Facebook represents an effective way to overcome barriers that hinder access to mental health care.
Automatic and strategic processing of threat cues in patients with chronic pain: a modified stroop evaluation.

OBJECTIVE The goal of this study was to clarify whether patients with chronic pain selectively attend to syndrome-specific (i.e., pain-related) information and, if so, to determine whether this occurs at the conscious (i.e., strategic) or unconscious (i.e., automatic) level. SETTING This study was conducted at a tertiary care rehabilitation center. PATIENTS Thirty-three patients with chronic back and/or neck pain and 33 healthy volunteers matched for age, sex, and education participated in this study. OUTCOME MEASURES A computerized version of a modified Stroop color-naming task, with unmasked and masked conditions, was used to assess strategic and automatic information processing of words related to sensory pain, affect pain, physical threat, social threat, and neutral themes. RESULTS A repeated-measures ANOVA indicated that patients with chronic pain but not healthy volunteers had delayed color-naming latencies to both sensory and affect pain words in the unmasked condition. Color-naming latency differences were not evident for other word types in the unmasked condition or for any word types in the masked condition. Correlational and regression analyses indicated that the delayed color-naming latencies to pain words in the unmasked condition observed for the chronic pain patients were, in part, associated with high pain-specific cognitive anxiety and interference and lower levels of anxiety sensitivity. CONCLUSIONS Individuals with chronic pain selectively process pain-related cues at the strategic level but not at the automatic level. Implications of the findings and future research directions are discussed.
Genetic and environmental influences on teacher ratings of the Child Behavior Checklist

The knowledge we have of childhood and adolescent behaviour is, to some extent, a function of the unique perspective of the rater. Although many behavioural genetics studies have used parent and child self-reports in their assessments of child and adolescent adjustment, few have included teacher ratings of behaviour. It is possible that genetic and environmental contributions to teacher reports are different from those using parent and self-reports. The present study examined genetic and environmental influences on six subscales of the Child Behavior Checklist Teacher Report Form (CBC-TRF) using a normative sample of adolescents. The sample consisted of 373 same-sex twin and sibling pairs of varying degrees of genetic relatedness participating in the Nonshared Environment in Adolescent project (NEAD). For all of the CBC subscales, except attention problems and social problems, nonshared environmental influence was the most important source of variance. Additive genetic factors were of moderate importance for externalising behaviours, whereas nonadditive genetic factors contributed to the anxious/depressed, attention problems, withdrawn, and social problems subscales. For none of the constructs was shared environment a significant influence. Three alternative models testing for contrast effects, differences in twin and nontwin siblings, and differences in nondivorced and stepfamilies were examined. In most cases, the best-fitting model was a model that did not include any of these effects, suggesting that these factors do not critically affect the basic model. However, some of the patterns of correlations and parameter estimates were unusual and may warrant future investigation.
Transformational leadership or the iron cage: which predicts trust, commitment and team efficacy?

This paper investigates the differential effects of transformational leadership and the “iron cage” on trust, commitment and team efficacy at the team level. Transformational leadership has been shown to have positive effects on trust, commitment and team efficacy. However, it could be argued that these results are not due to the leadership but to the idea that the team has developed strong norms that constrain their behavior and “force” them to perform. The rival hypothesis that the iron cage results in trust, commitment and team efficacy is tested using hierarchical regression analysis. We find that transformational leadership in teams predicts trust, commitment and team efficacy over and beyond the perceptions of the iron cage. The iron cage adds to the prediction of commitment only. Results suggest that while encouraging strong values and norms within a team will lead to increased commitment, focusing on transformational leadership in teams is a more effective way to encourage the development of trust, commitment and team efficacy.
IL-4 and IL-13 induce myofibroblastic phenotype of human lung fibroblasts through c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase-dependent pathway.

BACKGROUND Myofibroblasts play a role in the airway remodeling response of bronchial asthma. IL-4 and IL-13 are possibly involved in the airway remodeling response by inducing extracellular matrix production by fibroblasts. However, the roles of these cytokines in inducing the phenotypic modulation of human lung fibroblasts (HLFs) to myofibroblasts and the intracellular signal have not been determined. OBJECTIVE We examined the effect of IL-4 and IL-13 on inducing the phenotypic modulation of HLFs to myofibroblasts characterized by alpha-smooth muscle actin and examined the role of the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase superfamily in inducing the myofibroblastic phenotype of the HLF to clarify these issues. METHODS Phosphorylation and activities of c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinase (JNK), p38 MAP kinase, and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk) were examined by using Western blotting and in vitro kinase assay. Expression of alpha-smooth muscle actin in IL-4- and IL-13-stimulated HLFs was analyzed by means of Western blotting. RESULTS The results showed that (1) IL-4 and IL-13 increased alpha-smooth muscle actin expression in a dose- and time-dependent manner; (2) IL-4 and IL-13 induced increases in JNK and Erk phosphorylation and activity but not p38 MAP kinase activity; (3) CEP-1347 and PD 98059 attenuated IL-4- and IL13-induced JNK and Erk activity, respectively; and (4) CEP-1347, but not PD 98059, attenuated IL-4- and IL-13-induced alpha-smooth muscle actin expression. CONCLUSION These results indicate that IL-4 and IL-13 are capable of inducing the phenotypic modulation of HLFs to myofibroblasts, and JNK, but not p38 MAP kinase and Erk, regulates IL-4- and IL-13-induced phenotypic modulation of HLFs to myofibroblasts.
The Question of Preponderant Causation in Teacher Expectancy Research

In this paper we present the major elements or components of teacher expectancy research together with the hypotheses that support expectancy effects. We also propose a set of competing hypotheses. Research is reviewed that is pertinent to both expectancy hypotheses and our alternative hypotheses. For example, one major expectancy hypothesis is that teacher expectations influence student achievement. An alternative hypothesis is that student achievement influences teacher expectations. In this review, a logical model is proposed that enables one to compare the effects of expectancy on achievement, achievement on expectancy, and achievement on achievement as well as to make a number of other comparisons. The expectancy research is reviewed primarily in terms of this model. It should be noted that student self-expectancy research is ignored in this review. A Model of Causal Linkages in Explaining Effects of Teacher Expectancies
Towards a robust back-end for pose graph SLAM

Current state of the art solutions of the SLAM problem are based on efficient sparse optimization techniques and represent the problem as probabilistic constraint graphs. For example in pose graphs the nodes represent poses and the edges between them express spatial information (e.g. obtained from odometry) and information on loop closures. The task of constructing the graph is delegated to a front-end that has access to the available sensor information. The optimizer, the so called back-end of the system, relies heavily on the topological correctness of the graph structure and is not robust against misplaced constraint edges. Especially edges representing false positive loop closures will lead to the divergence of current solvers. We propose a novel formulation that allows the back-end to change parts of the topological structure of the graph during the optimization process. The back-end can thereby discard loop closures and converge towards correct solutions even in the presence of false positive loop closures. This largely increases the overall robustness of the SLAM system and closes a gap between the sensor-driven front-end and the back-end optimizers. We demonstrate the approach and present results both on large scale synthetic and real-world datasets.
When is an inconsistency not an inconsistency? Trait reconciliation in personality description and impression formation.

Descriptions of the self and others include inconsistent traits. Two accounts of the process by which coherence is maintained in the face of trait inconsistency were compared. The descriptive overlap account predicts that, regardless of evaluation, traits are more likely to be reconciled when they refer to overlapping content domains. The evaluative balance account predicts that, regardless of descriptive content, traits are more likely to be reconciled when they are evaluatively consistent. Support for evaluative balance was found in a personality description task, whereas support for descriptive overlap was found in an impression formation task. Participants explained their use of inconsistent traits in personality descriptions in terms of situational constraints on behavior. Trait reconciliation processes are flexible, depending on the nature of the task.
Cymbopogon citratus Protects against the Renal Injury Induced by Toxic Doses of Aminoglycosides in Rabbits

Renal injury is the most common side-effect of aminoglycosides. These antimicrobial drugs are particularly effective against Gram-negative microorganisms. The present study was conducted to investigate the renal protective activity of Cymbopogon citratus in gentamicin-induced nephrotoxicity. Male rabbits were divided into four groups (n=6) including group 1 (0.9% saline treated), group 2 (80 mg/kg/day gentamicin-treated), group 3 (200 mg/kg/day Cymbopogon citratus treated) and group 4 (80 mg/kg/day gentamicin and 200 mg/kg/day Cymbopogon citratus treated). Biochemical kidney functioning parameters, urinary enzymes and histopathological examination were performed. The results of the present study showed that simultaneous administration of Cymbopogon citrates and gentamicin significantly protected alteration in body weight, blood urea nitrogen, serum creatinine, creatinine clearance, serum uric acid, serum electrolytes, urinary volume, urinary protein, urinary lactate dehydrogenase and urinary alkaline phosphatase induced by gentamicin. Histological examination of the kidney also suggested the same. It is concluded from the current study that co-administration of Cymbopogon citratus with gentamicin for 3 weeks successfully prevented renal damage associated with aminoglycosides.
Lag Sequential Analysis as a Tool for Functional Analysis of Student Disruptive Behavior in Classrooms

Lag sequential analysis of individual interactions was explored as a tool to generate hypotheses regarding the social control of inappropriate classroom behavior of students with severe behavior disorders. Four single subject experiments with two students who displayed high rates of disruptive behavior in special education classrooms were completed using lag sequential analysis to identify antecedent and subsequent social events that were significantly related to their disruptive behavior. Three coded events (student handraise, teacher attention, and the “stop code”) were identified as highly related to the students' disruptive behavior. Three of the four experiments were successful in reducing the students' disruptive behavior by prescribing treatment based upon the lag sequential analysis. The results of these experiments indicated that the lag sequential analysis procedure is potentially a useful tool, but additional research is needed. The results are discussed in terms of the usefulness of the analysis procedures in contributing to the functional analysis of students' classroom behavior.
Walking together hand in hand: Design and evaluation of autonomous robot system that a robot recognizes moving direction with a child's assistance of pulling its hand

The ability of walking together with children is important for future autonomous robots in terms of affecting the children's mental development as walking with someone is considered as a social act. Many research studies have focused on robot' s walking together with people where participants are mainly adults. However, these research were not targeted for children, and therefore, children are ignored when considering a walking together system. In addition, some of these studies used robots that were operated by remote control as the first step. In this paper, we propose a walking together system that enables a child to assist a robot by teaching the robot the moving direction. We demonstrate the feasibility of our approach by implementing our system on the personal robot Pepper and by conducting an experiment with nine child participants. In the experiment, the robot is supposed to walk with a child by having its hand pulled for recognizing the moving direction. A child walks in two ways during the experiment: One is walking in front of it and the other is walking besides it. Three trials are used for setting the proper experimental course. Six out of the nine participants walking data, five walking video data and inquiry results from nine participants are evaluated. This study contributes to the design of an autonomous robot system for children in that we consider the design by focusing on the behaviors which have social importance for children and conduct an experiment targeted for children users.
Explicit memory among individuals with mild and moderate intellectual disability: educational implications

We previously reported a meta‐analysis of explicit memory studies in populations with intellectual disability (ID). The current study discusses the educational implications of this meta‐analysis. The main factors at the core of these implications can be divided into two categories: those related to task characteristics (e.g., depth of processing, task modality, test type), and those related to participant characteristics (e.g., chronological age, aetiology). Recommendations include: (1) exposing participants with ID to deep rather than shallow encoding, and using visual scaffolding when teaching verbal material; (2) designing memory tests based on recognition more than free recall, and using various types of questions; (3) teaching individuals with ID memory strategies even though they might only be used later because memory could improve with age; and (4) designing instruction based mainly on linguistics skills for individuals with Williams syndrome and instruction based mainly on visuo‐spatial and gesture skills for individuals with Down syndrome.
Doing indiscipline in narrative performances: How Greek students present themselves disobeying their teachers

The present paper concentrates on the narrative management of the teacher-student relationship. Focusing on students’ identities, the present study draws upon the social constructionism paradigm, thus considering identities as social constructs via discourse. The analysis of representative narrative extracts shows how students construct themselves as powerful enough to challenge teachers’ authority which is expressed in the Initiation–Response–Feedback structure. Their resistance is indicative of their will to free themselves from their teachers’ expectations, even if this can only take place during their conversations with their peers. In this context, narratives allow them to achieve interactional goals which may not always be fulfilled in class.
The impact of an extended stay outdoor education school program upon adolescent participants

Although recently outdoor education has become an important component of the school curricula in Australia, extended programs in residential settings are still comparatively rare. Where such programs have been in existence, their raison d'etre is underpinned by anecdotal evidence rather than systematic evaluation or empirically established statements of effectiveness (Gray, Patterson and Linke, 1993a). This research is a longitudinal study examining the impact of an Extended Stay Outdoor Education School Program (ESOESP) upon adolescent participants. Primarily the study analyses program impact, both immediate and residual, upon the perceived changes in identified variables of participants. Data was gathered and analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. Many researchers are of the belief that the two methodologies compliment one another and thereby strengthen the total evaluation model (for example Hanna, 1992a; Henderson, 1993; Klint and Priest, 1988). A unique Australian school (Timbertop) was used as the basis of a case study in the research. Timbertop is Geelong Grammar School's outdoor education campus where an ESOESP lasting for a full academic year is conducted. This residential program is co-educational catering for both females and males in Year 9. The subjects (n=409) came from two consecutive school populations, viz the 1993 cohort (n=201) and the 1994 cohort (n=208). Three quantitative instruments, the Real Me Questionnaire (RMQ), the School Life Questionnaire (SLQ) and the Parent Questionnaire (PQ) were designed specifically for this study to assess program effectiveness. Moreover, the instrumentation evaluated perceived changes in participants' attitudes, values and behaviours during and after exposure to an ESOESP along with differential gender outcomes. Using a quasi-experimental design, students were administered pre-tests and tracked at regular intervals for up to two academic
Coupling mRNA Synthesis and Decay

ABSTRACT What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. —Ecclesiastes 1:9 (New International Version) IMPORTANCE Posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression has an important role in defining the phenotypic characteristics of an organism. Well-defined steps in mRNA metabolism that occur in the nucleus—capping, splicing, and polyadenylation—are mechanistically linked to the process of transcription. Recent evidence suggests another link between RNA polymerase II (Pol II) and a posttranscriptional process that occurs in the cytoplasm—mRNA decay. This conclusion appears to represent a conundrum. How could mRNA synthesis in the nucleus and mRNA decay in the cytoplasm be mechanistically linked? After a brief overview of mRNA processing, we will review the recent evidence for transcription-coupled mRNA decay and the possible involvement of Snf1, the Saccharomyces cerevisiae ortholog of AMP-activated protein kinase, in this process.