Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Governance and Cultural Authority

This paper is a discussion of the political agency of Cultural Studies within the contemporary conjuncture. It begins by examining critical polemics around culture and postmodernity and moves on to consider Bennett's Foucauldian approach to cultural criticism. Although critical of Bennett's approach, the paper retains the Foucauldian notion of governmentality as the explanation of governance as a form of rule. The relevance of governance to cultural studies is shown through the argument that the political agency of cultural studies rests on an administrative structure that can no longer be verified empirically or conceptually. The argument proceeds by proposing that the liquidation of this political agency has been caused by the cultural agency of postmodernity, to which administrative and political authority is subordinate. Governance is the political expression of this state of affairs. After outlining the general features of governance the paper concludes with a discussion of how the political agency of culture is expressed through governance.
Building visual representations: The binding of relative spatial relations across time

In this study, the construction of, and subsequent access to, representations regarding the relative spatial and temporal relations among sequentially presented objects was examined using eye movement monitoring. Participants were presented with a series of single objects. Subsequently, a test display revealed all three objects simultaneously and participants judged whether the relative relations were maintained. Eye movements revealed the binding of relations across study images; eye movements transitioned between the location of the presented object and the locations that were previously occupied by objects in prior study images. For the test displays, changes in the relative relations were accurately detected. Eye movements distinguished intact displays from those in which the relations had been altered. Order of fixations to objects in test images mimicked the temporal order in which objects had been studied, but disruption of temporal order was observed for manipulated images. The present findings suggest that memory representations regarding the visual world include information about the relative spatial and temporal relations among objects. Eye movements may be the conduit by which information is integrated into a lasting representation, and by which current information is compared to stored representations.
Quantitative Fluorescence Determination of Long-Fragment DNA in Stool as a Marker for the Early Detection of Colorectal Cancer

Background: A variety of molecular markers have been evaluated for the development of a non-invasive approach to the diagnosis of colorectal cancer. We aimed to validate the diagnostic accuracy, using the same threshold as in the previous pilot study, of fluorescent long DNA test as a relatively simple and inexpensive tool for colorectal cancer detection. Methods: A case-control study was conducted on 100 healthy subjects and 100 patients at first diagnosis of colorectal cancer. Human long-fragment DNA in stool was quantified by fluorescence primers and a standard curve and expressed in DNA nanograms. Results: We validated the 25-ng value, which emerged as the most accurate cut-off in the pilot study, obtaining 79% (95% CI, 71–87%) sensitivity and 89% (95% CI, 83–95%) specificity. Specificity was very high for all cut-off values (15–40 ng) analyzed, ranging from 78 to 96%. Sensitivity was only slightly lower, reaching 84% at the lowest cut-off and maintaining a good level at the higher values. Diagnostic potential was independent of gender, age and tumor site. Conclusion: Fecal DNA analysis is a non-invasive and fairly simple test showing high diagnostic potential. These characteristics, together with the small amount of stool required, make it potentially suitable to be used alongside or as an alternative to current non-invasive screening approaches. Our next step will be to validate these results in a large-scale cohort study of a screening population, which is needed prior to implementation into clinical practice.
Unemployment Risks and Optimal Retirement in an Incomplete Market

We develop a new approach for solving the optimal retirement problem for an individual with an unhedgeable income risk. The income risk stems from a forced unemployment event, which occurs as an exponentially distributed random shock. The optimal retirement problem is to determine an individual’s optimal consumption and investment behaviors and optimal retirement time simultaneously. We introduce a new convex-duality approach for reformulating the original retirement problem and provide an iterative numerical method to solve it. Reasonably calibrated parameters say that our model can give an explanation for lower consumption and risky investment behaviors of individuals, and for relatively higher stock holdings of the poor. We also analyze the sensitivity of an individual’s optimal behavior in changing her wealth level, investment opportunity, and the magnitude of preference for postretirement leisure. Finally, we find that our model explains a countercyclical pattern of the number of unemployed job leavers.
Deep Circumflex Iliac Artery Perforator Flap without Iliac Crest

Taylor et al. 1,2 demonstrated the deep circumflex iliac artery (DCIA) as a reliable and consistent pedicle for carrying the groin skin and iliac bone as an osteomyocutaneous flap. Safak et al.3 were able to design the flap with a perforator-based skin paddle. Further work published on the vascularity of the groin skin based on the DCIA system have viewed this perforator-based skin flap component as part of the iliac crest osteocutaneous flap and not as a perforator skin flap per se to be used for reconstruction of cutaneous defects.4–6 This report describes the perforator variant of the DCIA flap without iliac crest bone, named the deep circumflex iliac artery perforator flap.
Systematic Analysis of Sequences and Expression Patterns of Drought-Responsive Members of the HD-Zip Gene Family in Maize

Background Members of the homeodomain-leucine zipper (HD-Zip) gene family encode transcription factors that are unique to plants and have diverse functions in plant growth and development such as various stress responses, organ formation and vascular development. Although systematic characterization of this family has been carried out in Arabidopsis and rice, little is known about HD-Zip genes in maize (Zea mays L.). Methods and Findings In this study, we described the identification and structural characterization of HD-Zip genes in the maize genome. A complete set of 55 HD-Zip genes (Zmhdz1-55) were identified in the maize genome using Blast search tools and categorized into four classes (HD-Zip I-IV) based on phylogeny. Chromosomal location of these genes revealed that they are distributed unevenly across all 10 chromosomes. Segmental duplication contributed largely to the expansion of the maize HD-ZIP gene family, while tandem duplication was only responsible for the amplification of the HD-Zip II genes. Furthermore, most of the maize HD-Zip I genes were found to contain an overabundance of stress-related cis-elements in their promoter sequences. The expression levels of the 17 HD-Zip I genes under drought stress were also investigated by quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). All of the 17 maize HD-ZIP I genes were found to be regulated by drought stress, and the duplicated genes within a sister pair exhibited the similar expression patterns, suggesting their conserved functions during the process of evolution. Conclusions Our results reveal a comprehensive overview of the maize HD-Zip gene family and provide the first step towards the selection of Zmhdz genes for cloning and functional research to uncover their roles in maize growth and development.
Faking of the Implicit Association Test Is Statistically Detectable and Partly Correctable

Male and female participants were instructed to produce an altered response pattern on an Implicit Association Test measure of gender identity by slowing performance in trials requiring the same response to stimuli designating own gender and self. Participants' faking success was found to be predictable by a measure of slowing relative to unfaked performances. This combined task slowing (CTS) indicator was then applied in reanalyses of three experiments from other laboratories, two involving instructed faking and one involving possibly motivated faking. Across all studies involving instructed faking, CTS correctly classified 75% of intentionally faking participants. Using the CTS index to adjust faked Implicit Association Test scores increased the correlation of CTS-adjusted measures with known group membership, relative to unadjusted (i.e., faked) measures.
Intergenerational Transmission of Trauma: The Mediating Role of Parenting Styles on Toddlers' DSM-Related Symptoms

Although the intergenerational transmission of trauma has been well documented, the pathways by which trauma symptoms are passed between parents and children remain unclear. This study examined the mediating role of parenting styles in the transmission of maternal trauma to children. Participants were a sample of 105 mothers of toddlers (18–30 months old). Mothers who had experienced interpersonal trauma were more likely to have an authoritarian parenting style, including verbal hostility, physical coercion, and low nurturance. Verbal hostility especially predicted more prevalent and increasing toddler symptoms associated with affective, hyperactive, and oppositional defiant disorders. Thus, the verbal hostility component of authoritarian parenting could serve as a major intergenerational pathway between maternal trauma and early child symptoms.
Influence of the power-spectrum of the pre-stimulus EEG on the consecutive Auditory Evoked Potential in rats.

Evoked Potentials (EPs) are responses that appear in the EEG due to external stimulation. Findings indicate that changes in EPs can be related to changes in frequencies of the pre-stimulus EEG. Auditory EPs of rats (n=8) were measured in reaction to tone-pip stimuli (90 dB, 10.2 kHz, ISI 2s, n=1500). Trials were ranked according to the percentage of delta (1-4 Hz), theta (5-8), alpha (9-12) or beta power (13-30 Hz) in the pre-stimulus EEG. Consecutive AEPs were computed. An increase in beta and a decrease in delta resulted both in an increase in the N60 and P70 component and a decrease in the P150-200 component. These beta and delta changes have been associated with changes in arousal. The increased N60 and P70 components with increases in beta might reflect increased attention due to an increase in arousal. We found that an increase in delta activity, leads to an increase of the late-latency P150-200 component, possibly due to an increased synchronization in the EEG.
Enthusiasts, Delayers, and the Ambiguous Middle

Utilizing a sample of 571 college students, we examined the varying marital paradigms held by emerging adults. Drawing on Marital Paradigm Theory, we explored how beliefs about Marital Salience, timing, process, context, permanence, and centrality created unique paradigms about marriage. We found evidence that emerging adults can be separated into at least three marital paradigms, labeled Enthusiast, Delayer, and Hesitant. We found that most emerging adults hold a Hesitant marital paradigm highlighted by a strong belief in the importance of marriage and a desire to marry but a general belief in the lack of Marital Permanence and a hesitation to marry quickly. Other results suggested that marital paradigms are linked to demographic characteristics such as age and religiosity and also linked to risk-taking behaviors, particularly alcohol use and binge drinking rates. Specifically, those emerging adults who held an Enthusiast paradigm reported less alcohol or binge drinking compared to those in the Hesitant class.
What It Takes to Do Well in School and Whether I've Got It: A Process Model of Perceived Control and Children's Engagement and Achievement in School

A new conceptualization of perceived control was used to test a process model describing the contribution of these perceptions to school achievement for students in elementary school (N = 220). Three sets of beliefs were distinguished: (a) expectations about whether one can influence success and failure in school (control beliefs); (b) expectations about the strategies that are effective in producing academic outcomes; and (c) expectations about one's own capacities to execute these strategies. Correlational and path analyses were consistent with a process model which predicted that children's perceived control (self-report) influences academic performance (grades and achievement test scores) by promoting or undermining active engagement in learning activities (as reported by teachers) and that teachers positively influence children's perceived control by provision of contingency and involvement (as reported by students). These results have implications for theories of perceived control and also suggest one pathway by which teachers can enhance children's motivation in school. Several decades of research have demonstrated that an important contributor to school performance is an individual's expectations about whether he or she has any control over academic successes and failures. A robust body of empirical findings has been produced using a variety of constructs, such as locus of control, causal attributions, learned helplessness, and self-efficacy. Beginning with the examination of beliefs about whether reinforcements are under internal or external control (Rotter, 1966), empirical evidence has accumulated indicating that children who believe that doing well in school is contingent on their own actions perform better than those who do not (Seligman, 1975). Similarly, children who believe that good grades are caused by internal and controllable causes (like effort; Weiner, 1979), who believe that they can produce the responses that lead to desired outcomes (Bandura, 1977), or who believe that they possess high ability (Harter, 1981; Stipek, 1980) perform better academically. These children score higher on tests of intelligence
A Longitudinal Study of the Relationship between Family Functioning and Adolescent Psychological Well-Being

ABSTRACT Using children's and parents' reports of family functioning, this longitudinal study examines the relationships between family functioning and adolescent psychological well-being in a sample of Chinese adolescents (N = 378). Results show that family functioning based on ratings obtained from different sources was concurrently related to hopelessness, life satisfaction, self-esteem, purpose in life and general psychiatric morbidity at Time 1 and Time 2. Longitudinal and prospective analyses (Time 1 predictors predicting Time 2 criterion variables) suggest that the relations between family functioning and adolescent psychological well-being were bidirectional in nature. There was some evidence for gender differences in the strengths of association between family functioning and adolescent psychological well-being. Family functioning perceived by the adolescent, relative to family functioning perceived by the parents, was consistently found to have a stronger association with measures of adolescent .
Renoprotective effect of the angiotensin-receptor antagonist irbesartan in patients with nephropathy due to type 2 diabetes.

BACKGROUND It is unknown whether either the angiotensin-II-receptor blocker irbesartan or the calcium-channel blocker amlodipine slows the progression of nephropathy in patients with type 2 diabetes independently of its capacity to lower the systemic blood pressure. METHODS We randomly assigned 1715 hypertensive patients with nephropathy due to type 2 diabetes to treatment with irbesartan (300 mg daily), amlodipine (10 mg daily), or placebo. The target blood pressure was 135/85 mm Hg or less in all groups. We compared the groups with regard to the time to the primary composite end point of a doubling of the base-line serum creatinine concentration, the development of end-stage renal disease, or death from any cause. We also compared them with regard to the time to a secondary, cardiovascular composite end point. RESULTS The mean duration of follow-up was 2.6 years. Treatment with irbesartan was associated with a risk of the primary composite end point that was 20 percent lower than that in the placebo group (P=0.02) and 23 percent lower than that in the amlodipine group (P=0.006). The risk of a doubling of the serum creatinine concentration was 33 percent lower in the irbesartan group than in the placebo group (P=0.003) and 37 percent lower in the irbesartan group than in the amlodipine group (P<0.001). Treatment with irbesartan was associated with a relative risk of end-stage renal disease that was 23 percent lower than that in both other groups (P=0.07 for both comparisons). These differences were not explained by differences in the blood pressures that were achieved. The serum creatinine concentration increased 24 percent more slowly in the irbesartan group than in the placebo group (P=0.008) and 21 percent more slowly than in the amlodipine group (P=0.02). There were no significant differences in the rates of death from any cause or in the cardiovascular composite end point. CONCLUSIONS The angiotensin-II-receptor blocker irbesartan is effective in protecting against the progression of nephropathy due to type 2 diabetes. This protection is independent of the reduction in blood pressure it causes.
Playing with Language in E-Japan: Old Wine in New Bottles

Taking as its premise the conceptualisation of the Internet as a virtual public space, this article focuses on the manner in which language play is manifested through the manipulation of linguistic (and particularly orthographic) conventions in informal Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) and in cell phone emails in Japan. The flexibility of the Japanese writing system, with its three official scripts often also combined with Arabic numerals and the Roman alphabet, lends itself very well to ludic use of orthography to create a desired effect. Users therefore play with standard orthographic conventions in cyberspace to an extent not possible for single alphabet users, subverting norms in order to create eye-catching effects which strengthen in-group solidarity through play and in some cases act as markers of subcultural identities. From time to time it is suggested that innovative use of orthography in cyberspace is a product of new electronic technologies. I argue, however, that language play of this kind, far from being new to Japan, builds on an already existing tradition of orthographic creativity facilitated by the nature of the writing system, the only real difference being that the practice has now moved into the much wider public arena of cyberspace.
Neuromuscular Fatigue Induced by a 90-Minute Soccer Game Modeling

Robineau, J, Jouaux, T, Lacroix, M, and Babault, N. Neuromuscular fatigue induced by a 90-minute soccer game modeling. J Strength Cond Res 26(2): 555–562, 2012—This study aimed to quantify neuromuscular fatigue induced by a soccer game. Eight amateur soccer players (age 20.4 ± 1.3 years, mass 70.4 ± 6.9 kg, and height 174.9 ± 5.2 cm) reproduced a 90-minute soccer game modeling composed of two 45-minute periods separated by a 15-minute rest. Torque of quadriceps and hamstring muscle groups associated with electromyography, sprint speed, and vertical jump height was assessed before, at halftime, and immediately after the modeling. Most physical qualities decreased throughout the game with greater decays at match end than at halftime. Contrarily to quadriceps muscles, hamstring torque impairments were not accompanied by electromyographic activity reductions. Squat jump height was reduced at halftime and game end without any change for countermovement jumps. The sprint speed decrease was associated with stride frequency impairments without any change in amplitude and contact time. We concluded on torque production capacity and specific performance impairments during and after soccer games. Neuromuscular fatigue appeared primarily centrally mediated as attested by the reduced quadriceps muscle activity.
Oxygen Sensitivity of Placental Trophoblast Connexins 43 and 46: A Role in Preeclampsia?

Several gap junction connexins have been shown to be essential for appropriate placental development and function. It is known that the expression and distribution of connexins change in response to environmental oxygen levels. The placenta develops under various oxygen levels, beginning at a low oxygen tension of approximately 2% and increasing to a tension of 8% after the onset of the uteroplacental circulation. Moreover, it has been shown that during preeclampsia (PE) placentas are subjected to chronic hypoxia. Therefore, we investigated oxygen sensitivity of placental connexins 43 and 46. Using the trophoblast cell line Jar, we demonstrated that the expression of connexin43 increased during acute hypoxia but decreased during chronic hypoxia. Chronic hypoxia resulted in the translocation of connexin43 from the membrane to the cytoplasm and in a reduction in its communication properties. In contrast, the expression of connexin46 was down‐regulated during chronic hypoxia and was translocated from perinuclear areas to the cell membrane. Hypoxia‐inducible factor (HIF) knockdown showed that the translocation of connexin43 but not that of connexin46 was HIF‐2α dependent and was mediated by phosphoinositide 3‐kinase. The up‐regulation of connexin43 in combination with the down‐regulation of connexin46 was confirmed in placental explants cultivated under low oxygen and in placentas with early‐onset PE. Taken together, in Jar cells, placental connexins 43 and 46 are regulated during periods of low oxygen in opposite manners. The oxygen sensing of connexins in the trophoblast may play a role in physiological and pathophysiological oxygen conditions and thus may contribute to PE. J. Cell. Biochem. 116: 2924–2937, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Education and modernization

A review of the articles on modernization in Australia, England, New Zealand, Scotland and the USA demonstrates and discusses the complexity attached to the concept. This also enables a better understanding of the contention and controversy that surrounds the concept and its application to educational policy and practice. Modernization policies in these five countries are then analysed and interpreted within a conceptual framework that explores the locations of decisions and the motivational principles underlying decisions. The analysis proposes four ‘ideal’ type mechanisms for allocating resources in society. Arguing that a ‘mixed economy’ model is both necessary and right, the discussion concludes by examining the appropriate balance within that ‘mixed economy’ if education is to yield both economic growth and social cohesion.
Development and Testing of a Measure of Caregiver Confidence in Medical Sign/Symptom Management

Evaluation of efforts to support family caregivers of people with dementia in their daily medical management responsibilities requires a measure of caregiver self-efficacy (confidence). This article describes the development and psychometric properties of the Caregiver Confidence in Sign/Symptom Management (CCSM) scale, the only available instrument in this area. Measurement development included literature and expert panel review, cognitive testing, and field testing. The CCSM is a 25-item measure (α = .92) composed of confidence in relation to 4 subscales: knowledge of signs/symptoms (α = .83), management of cognitive signs/symptoms (α = .85), management of medical signs/symptoms (α = .87), and general medication management/responsiveness (α = .85), all of which relate to caregiver role strain. The CCSM is a reliable and valid instrument to assess caregiver confidence in sign/symptom management and is useful to determine caregiver needs and outcomes of related interventions. Additionally, it furthers understanding of the role of self-efficacy in caregiver quality of life.