Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The spectrum of DNA damage in human sperm assessed by single cell gel electrophoresis (Comet assay) and its relationship to fertilization and embryo development.

BACKGROUND The integrity of sperm DNA is important for the success of natural or assisted fertilization, as well as normal development of the embryo, fetus and child. ICSI, by bypassing sperm selection mechanisms, increases the risk of transmitting damaged DNA and the significance of this requires investigation. METHODS DNA damage in sperm from an unselected group of 60 men undergoing IVF treatment was measured by single cell gel electrophoresis (Comet assay) and correlated with semen and treatment cycle parameters. RESULTS Wide spectra of sperm DNA damage were found both within and between men but no specific subgroups were identified. Semen and treatment cycle parameters were not different in men grouped according to high or low sperm DNA damage. However, regression analysis showed that DNA damage was positively associated with age (29-44 years), abnormal sperm and motility and negatively associated with sperm concentration. In ICSI cycles DNA damage was positively associated with impairment of post-fertilization embryo cleavage. CONCLUSIONS This study contributes to the evidence of DNA damage within sperm. High loads of DNA damage measured by the Comet assay were predictive of failure of embryo development after ICSI. As it is likely that sperm with DNA damage contributed to successful fertilization and in-vitro development, potential adverse effects remain to be clarified.
Effect of Chronic Heat Stress on Broiler Performance in Jordan

2 Abstract: An experiment was conducted in the poultry farm of the faculty of agriculture in the campus of Jordan University to evaluate the effect of heat stress on the performance and some physiological parameters of 4-8 week old Isa Vedette broilers. Environmental temperatures in controlled environmental rooms were constant 25 (control), 30 and 35±2 C, in addition to a variable-natural temperature, 24 - 28 ± 2 C o o in the open-sided poultry house. At the end of the experiment, a representative sample was randomly selected from each treatment and exposed to heat tolerance test at 40±2 C in the environmental physiology o lab. The results showed that, growth rate, body gain, feed consumption and feed efficiency were significantly (p<0.05) reduced of 4-8 week old broilers reared in hot-closed environment (30 and 35±2 C) and variable- o natural temperature in open-sided environment. The heat tolerance test showed that, broilers reared at high environmental temperatures of 30 and 35±2 C had lower mortality rate and RITr than those reared at o
Elementary Organizational Structures and Young Adolescents' Self-Concept and Classroom Environment Perceptions Across the Transition to Middle School

Abstract Transitions can be difficult at any age; however, the move from elementary school to middle school, coupled with the onset of adolescence, is often associated with a myriad of psychological and academic declines. One strategy currently used to “ready” elementary students for middle school is a departmentalized organizational structure. The purpose of this study was to investigate young adolescents' self-concept and classroom environment perceptions as they transitioned from two different elementary organizational structures into one middle school. Data were collected from 125 fifth-grade students who participated in a middle school transition program. Findings suggest that participants' perceptions of self-concept and classroom climate did not differ prior to or after the transition to middle school, based on the elementary organizational structure they experienced. However, time effects suggest that students' self-concept did significantly increase across the transition to middle school, while their perceptions of classroom climate were mixed.
Personality Judgment and the Utility of the Unstructured Employment Interview

This study examined 2 different personnel selection interview techniques-the structured and the unstructured employment interview-to determine which method would lead to the most accurate assessment of the applicant's job-related personality traits. It was hypothesized that the unstructured method would allow for the applicant's personality characteristics to more readily manifest themselves as the applicant's behavior would be less scripted, thus leading to a more accurate personality assessment. Participants in this study conducted mock job interviews using either the structured or the unstructured method, while their behavior was coded by an independent rater. Self-ratings of job-related personality traits from the California Q-set (Bem & Funder, 1978; Block, 1978) were obtained from the applicant, and ratings of the applicant's personality were obtained from the interviewer and a peer of the applicant. Self-interviewer and peer-interviewer agreement correlations were then used as the criteria for accuracy. It was found that the average self-interviewer and peer-interviewer agreement correlation were significantly greater when the interviewer implemented the unstructured interview method, thus supporting the hypothesis. A prominent behavioral difference between the 2 interview formats was found and is discussed as a variable that mediates the effect of interview structure on personality judgment.
Summary Street: Interactive Computer Support for Writing

Summary Street is educational software based on latent semantic analysis (LSA), a computer method for representing the content of texts. The classroom trial described here demonstrates the power of LSA to support an educational goal by providing automatic feedback on the content of students' summaries. Summary Street provides this feedback in an easy-to-grasp, graphic display that helps students to improve their writing across multiple cycles of writing and revision on their own before receiving a teacher's final evaluation. The software thus has the potential to provide students with extensive writing practice without increasing the teacher's workload. In classroom trials 6th-grade students not only wrote better summaries when receiving content-based feedback from Summary Street, but also spent more than twice as long engaged in the writing task. Specifically, their summaries were characterized by a more balanced coverage of the content than summaries composed without this feedback. Greater improvement in content scores was observed with texts that were difficult to summarize. Classroom implementation of Summary Street is discussed, including suggestions for instructional activities beyond summary writing.
Challenges of Using High-Dose Fractionation Radiotherapy in Combination Therapy

Radiotherapy is crucial and substantially contributes to multimodal cancer treatment. The combination of conventional fractionation radiotherapy (CFRT) and systemic therapy has been established as the standard treatment for many cancer types. With advances in linear accelerators and image-guided techniques, high-dose fractionation radiotherapy (HFRT) is increasingly introduced in cancer centers. Clinicians are currently integrating HFRT into multimodality treatment. The shift from CFRT to HFRT reveals different effects on the tumor microenvironment and responses, particularly the immune response. Furthermore, the combination of HFRT and drugs yields different results in different types of tumors or using different treatment schemes. We have reviewed clinical trials and preclinical evidence on the combination of HFRT with drugs, such as chemotherapy, targeted therapy, and immune therapy. Notably, HFRT apparently enhances tumor cell killing and antigen presentation, thus providing opportunities and challenges in treating cancer.
The Effect of Task-Related Emotional and Cognitive Involvement on Incidental Acquisition of Second Language Vocabulary

Both cognition and affect have been proven to have a significant role in instructed second language acquisition. Unlike cognitive processes, the affective processes in language learning have not received due attention in the research on taskbased language teaching. The effect of task-related emotional state on learning achievements resulting from task engagement is an almost unexplored area. The study reported here investigated the effect of emotional involvement as compared to cognitive involvement both applied to the pre-task phase of a reading-while-listening focused task on lexical acquisition as a result of engagement with the task. Emotional involvement was operationalized as a video clip shown before the main task which elicited positive affect. MANCOVA statistics indicated that both emotional and cognitive involvements had an enhancing effect on short-term retention and ease of activation of vocabulary. However, the enhancing effect was not observed for long-term acquisition. The findings imply pedagogical suggestions for taskbased vocabulary teaching.
Generalized microscopic theory of ion selectivity in voltage-gated ion channels

Ion channels are specific proteins present in the membranes of living cells. They control the flow of specific ions through a cell, initiated by an ion channel's electrochemical gradient. In doing so, they control important physiological processes such as muscle contraction and neuronal connectivity, which cannot be properly activated if these channels go haywire, leading to life-threatening diseases and psychological disorders. Here, we will develop a generalized microscopic theory of ion selectivity applicable to KcsA, Na$_{\rm v}$Rh and Ca$_{\rm v}$ (L-type) ion channels. We unambiguously expose why and how a given ion-channel can be highly selective, and yet has a conductance of the order of one million ions per second, or higher. We will identify and prove the correct physico-biochemical mechanisms that are responsible for the high selectivity of a particular ion in a given ion channel. The above mechanisms consist of five conditions, which can be directly associated to these parameters - (i) dehydration energy, (ii) concentration of the "correct" ions (iii) Coulomb-van-der-Waals attraction, (iv) pore and ionic sizes, and indirectly to (v) the thermodynamic stability and (vi) the "knock-on" assisted permeation.
Funding, reputation and targets: the discursive logics of high-stakes testing

This paper provides insights into teacher and school-based administrators’ responses to policy demands for improved outcomes on high-stakes, standardised literacy and numeracy tests in Australia. Specifically, the research reveals the effects of the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN), and associated policies, in the state of Queensland. Drawing suggestively across Michel Foucault’s notions of disciplinary power and subjectivity, and Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of social fields, the research utilises interviews with teachers and school-based administrators to reveal how high-stakes, standardised testing practices served to discursively constitute performative teacher subjectivities around issues of funding, teacher and school reputation and target-setting within what is described as the ‘field of schooling practices’. The paper argues that the contestation evident within this field is also reflective and constitutive of more educative schooling discourses and practices, even as performative logics dominate.
Shifting Standards and Contextual Variation in Stereotyping

This chapter provides an overview of some 10 years of research on the “Shifting Standards Model” (Biernat, Manis, & Nelson, 1991). This model suggests that stereotypes lead perceivers to evaluate individual group members relative to within-category standards. One result of this process is that subjective evaluations (e.g., judgments on semantic-differential scales) may “mask” the operation of stereotypes. For example, a man and a woman may both be described as equally “competent”, even when more “objective” evaluations reveal substantial stereotyping effects (e.g., the man is assumed to score higher on standardized tests of competency). This review focuses on the role of context in moderating the tendency to shift judgment standards, and provides a critical comparison of the shifting standards model with two other theories emphasizing contextual variation in stereotyping, Social Identity/Self-Categorization Theory (Tajfel, 1972; Turner, 1982; Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987), and the Parallel Constraint Satisfaction Model of impression formation (Kunda & Thagard, 1996).
Self‐Favoring Biases, Self‐Presentation, and the Self‐Other Asymmetry in Social Comparison

ABSTRACT The relationship between self-favoring biases in social comparison, favorable self-presentation, and well-being and the self-other asymmetry effect was examined. Participants gave comparative chance estimations and trait ratings for positive and negative future events and traits. One-half of the participants compared themselves to the average other, while the remainder compared the average other to themselves. All participants completed measurements of two types of desirable responding (self-deception and impression management) and of subjective well-being. Participants who compared themselves to another showed stronger unrealistic optimism and illusory superiority effects for positive (but not for negative) future events und traits than participants comparing another to themselves, demonstrating a self-other asymmetry effect. Unrealistic optimism and illusory superiority concerning positive attributes were related to self-deception, while unrealistic optimism and illusory superiority concerning negative attributes were related to impression management. The relative independence of “positive” and “negative” self-favoring biases was further demonstrated by their differential relationship with self-esteem and subjective well-being.
Internalization and Src Activity Regulate the Time Course of ERK Activation by Delta Opioid Receptor Ligands*

The present study showed that delta opioid receptor (δOR) ligands Tyr-Ticpsi [CH2-NH]Cha-Phe-OH (TICP) and ICI174864 behaved as inverse agonists in the cyclase pathway but induced agonist responses in the ERK cascade. Unlike ligands that behaved as agonists in both pathways, and whose stimulation of ERK was marked but transient (10 min), ERK activation by ICI174864 and TICP was moderate and sustained, lasting for more than 1 h in the case of TICP. Biochemical experiments showed that duration of ERK activation by agonists and “dual efficacy ligands” was inversely correlated with their ability to trigger receptor phosphorylation and degradation. Thus, although TICP stabilized δORs in a conformation that did not incorporate 32P, was not a substrate for tyrosine kinase Src, and was not down-regulated following prolonged exposure to the drug, the conformation stabilized by d-Pen-2,5-enkephalin (DPDPE) incorporated 32P, was phosphorylated by Src, and suffered degradation within the first 2 h of treatment. Inhibition of endocytosis by sucrose prolonged ERK activation by DPDPE increasing the decay half-life of the response to values that resembled those of dual efficacy ligands (from a 2-min decay t½ increased to 12 min). Src inhibitor PP2 also prolonged ERK stimulation by DPDPE. It did so by maintaining a sustained activation of the kinase at ∼20% of maximum following an initial rapid reduction in the response. These results show that specific kinetics of ERK activation by agonists and dual efficacy ligands are determined, at least in part, by the differential ability of the two types of drugs to trigger mechanisms regulating δOR responsiveness.
Evaluation of Process Fractures of the Talus Using Computed Tomography

Summary: Coronal computed tomography (CT) scan was used in the evaluation of a fractured process of the talus in 10 patients. Because routine radiographs failed to determine either the size or comminution of the fractured process, CT imaging was used to accurately assess the size, displacement, and comminution of the fractured process. CT scans also showed the extent of subtalar joint involvement, any associated tendon pathology, or additional fractures. In two patients the nature of the injury was initially missed, and CT scan diagnosed a nonunion of the lateral process. In all patients, CT scan altered the management of the fracture or helped in selecting the surgical approach. The authors recommend that coronal CT scans be used in the evaluation of a fractured process of the talus
C 3 . 3 : Direct Numerical Simulation of the Taylor-Green Vortex at Re = 1600

SPARK-LES is a Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) code currently under development at CIRA in the framework of the HYPROB Program, funded by the Italian Ministry of Research [1]. In a timeframe of four years, the code shall be able to 1) provide an advanced analysis tool for design purposes, and 2) reproduce the main physical phenomena occurring within a liquid-rocket thrust chamber (e.g., turbulent mixing, high-pressure combustion, acoustic instabilities) with high-fidelity numerical methods and state-of-the-art modelling. An overview of the current status is reported in [2]. SPARK-LES solves the fully compressible Navier-Stokes equations discretized on multi-block, structured grids according to the Finite-Volume (FV) method. Explicit secondand fourth-order as well as compact fourthand sixth-order cartesian-like operators are available for reconstruction of convective and diffusive fluxes [3]. The general interpolation operator can be expressed, for a generic variable φ, as
Coping, depression, and adolescent suicide attempts

Compared adolescent suicide attempters, suicide ideators, nonsuicidal psychiatric inpatients, and nonsuicidal high school students on how often they would use different cognitive and behavioral coping strategies if confronted with a problem with their parents. Psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents, whether suicide attempters, ideators, or nonsuicidal, were more likely than high school students to rely on social withdrawal. Psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents with clinically elevated scores on the Beck Depression Inventory were more likely to use social withdrawal and blaming others if confronted with the problem and less likely to use social support and cognitive restructuring than nondepressed inpatients. Clinical implications are discussed for enhancing coping strategies used by depressed and psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents.
Japanese children's family drawings and their link to attachment

This study explored the applicability of family drawings as a tool to estimate attachment security in a sample of Japanese six-year-olds (N = 47), applying Kaplan and Main's (1986) Family Drawing system. Maternal secure/insecure attachment status judged by the Adult Attachment Interview predicted family drawings' secure/insecure distinction produced by Japanese six-year-olds. However, insecure Japanese drawings took forms not seen in the original Berkeley drawings, such as a lineup of faces alone. Further examination of the Japanese children's drawings using global rating scales (Fury, Carlson, & Sroufe, 1997) yielded significant gender differences, rarely reported in the attachment literature, with girls scoring higher in scales that predict attachment security and boys scoring higher in scales that predict attachment insecurity. However, attachment security, as captured in the drawings, was not related to attachment security, observed behaviorally using Main and Cassidy's (1988) sixth-year reunion system. Implications of the findings are discussed in light of measurements, gender, and culture.
Identification of target tones and speech sounds studied with event-related potentials: Language-related changes in aphasia

Background: Although frequently observed in aphasia, the contribution of speech sound processing impairments to auditory comprehension deficits has not been clarified. Event-related brain potentials can be used to investigate the neural processes underlying speech sound processing in aphasia, thereby adding information to investigations exclusively based on behavioural assessments. Aims: Against the background of previous findings of reduced amplitudes in an aphasic group during a syllable identification task, three main research questions are pursued in this study: whether possible ERP alterations in the aphasia group (1) are specific for language processing or can also be observed in non-language processing, (2) are also found in brain-injured persons without aphasia, and (3) correlate with auditory comprehension deficits. Methods & Procedures: Here 10 aphasic participants were compared with 10 non-aphasic participants who had right hemisphere lesions and with 18 healthy controls. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were obtained during two oddball paradigms in which the participants had to identify: (i) target tones differing in pitch and (ii) target syllables differing in the initial consonant. Outcomes & Results: Overall the aphasic participants performed the task successfully, but responded correctly to fewer targets and had prolonged response times. When compared to healthy controls, N1 amplitude was reduced in both brain-damaged groups; in response to syllables, this attenuation was more pronounced in the aphasic participants. The aphasia group demonstrated significantly reduced N1 amplitude in response to standard and target tones and target syllables, while the right hemisphere group had significantly reduced N1 amplitudes in response to tones only (both standard and target). In both brain-injured groups, N1 amplitudes were larger over the contralesional hemisphere. This hemisphere difference was significantly larger for syllables than tones in the aphasic participants. Furthermore this group had delayed N2 and P3 latencies, whereas N2 amplitude reduction was found in the right hemisphere group. Conclusions: The present results indicate reduced early attentional processing and delayed subsequent processing in aphasia. In addition to disturbed non-linguistic auditory processing, the present results suggest impairments in speech sound related processing in aphasia occurring as early as at 100 ms post-stimulus. Topographical distribution patterns in the aphasia group suggest a larger right hemisphere involvement in the processing of syllables than for tones.
Effects of disposition on hospitality employee job satisfaction and commitment.

Purpose – The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship of job attitudes to personality traits in a hospitality setting.Design/methodology/approach – The author uses a questionnaire at two hotel chains in the western US to ascertain the variables. Employees that are surveyed are all non‐management personnel.Findings – The author finds that job attitudes, specifically, organizational commitment and job satisfaction are significantly related to the personality traits, the big five and locus of control.Research limitations/implications – The number of hotel employees studied is 159. A larger sample size could increase the validity of the findings.Practical implications – This paper encourages hotel management to consider the use of personality tests in the selection of hotel employees as the results suggest that certain traits are related to an employee's job satisfaction and organizational commitment.Originality/value – The paper is original in the sense that prior work has mainly focuse.