Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
CREATIVITY IN TRANSACTIONAL DESIGN PROBLEMS: NON-INTUITIVE FINDINGS OF AN EXPERT STUDY USING SCAMPER

Designers are currently facing design problems that are not uniquely related to physical systems but transactional as well. Transactional processes (services) have had a steady growth during the last three decades and currently add more than 65% of global economic value. This study expands our understanding of designers’ interaction with ideation methods. We investigate a heuristic method known as SCAMPER, focusing on a transactional design problem with a relatively large transactional domain expert sample size (n=60). The study shows, unexpectedly, that the SCAMPER method appears to be both a fixating and de-fixating method (at least for the type of problem explored), where design fixation is not shown to be effectively mitigated by the method; yet, despite this finding, a significantly higher novelty production is achieved when compared to a non-assisted scenario.
Leveraging Social Media to Promote Public Health Knowledge: Example of Cancer Awareness via Twitter

Background As social media becomes increasingly popular online venues for engaging in communication about public health issues, it is important to understand how users promote knowledge and awareness about specific topics. Objective The aim of this study is to examine the frequency of discussion and differences by race and ethnicity of cancer-related topics among unique users via Twitter. Methods Tweets were collected from April 1, 2014 through January 21, 2015 using the Twitter public streaming Application Programming Interface (API) to collect 1% of public tweets. Twitter users were classified into racial and ethnic groups using a new text mining approach applied to English-only tweets. Each ethnic group was then analyzed for frequency in cancer-related terms within user timelines, investigated for changes over time and across groups, and measured for statistical significance. Results Observable usage patterns of the terms "cancer", "breast cancer", "prostate cancer", and "lung cancer" between Caucasian and African American groups were evident across the study period. We observed some variation in the frequency of term usage during months known to be labeled as cancer awareness months, particularly September, October, and November. Interestingly, we found that of the terms studied, "colorectal cancer" received the least Twitter attention. Conclusions The findings of the study provide evidence that social media can serve as a very powerful and important tool in implementing and disseminating critical prevention, screening, and treatment messages to the community in real-time. The study also introduced and tested a new methodology of identifying race and ethnicity among users of the social media. Study findings highlight the potential benefits of social media as a tool in reducing racial and ethnic disparities.
Psychological Correlates of Perceived Ethnic Discrimination in Europe: A Meta-Analysis

Objective: Many studies point to the negative impact of discrimination on the psychological and social functioning of ethnic minority persons. The realization of these studies across multiple European countries enables a systematization of this knowledge, which is our goal in the present work. Method: This study presents a systematic review and a meta-analysis of the correlates of perceived ethnic discrimination among ethnic minority persons living in European countries. Results: The analyses of 121 effect sizes reveal that discrimination is positively associated with symptoms of psychiatric disturbances, depression, psychosis, perceived stress, and externalizing behavior. Discrimination is also negatively associated with the self-esteem, positive evaluation of life, self-efficacy/mastery, well-being, and psychological adaptation of migrants. The results show that the strength of these relationships is, in some cases, moderated by persons’ gender, age, and ethnicity and countries’ multicultural preference and countries’ rating in the Migrant Integration Policies Index (MIPEX), namely, in regard to labor market mobility, permanent residence, and antidiscrimination policies. Conclusions: The detrimental effect of discrimination on many psychosocial dimensions emphasizes the need for governmental agencies to develop systemic and concrete interventions to decrease ethnic prejudice in Europe. Moreover, the results show that fostering multiculturalism, and implementing broad antidiscrimination policies has a protective function in the face of discrimination. Enforcing the implementation of these policies can be a fundamental way to promote the psychological adjustment of ethnic minority persons.
Chemical Composition, In Vitro Antimicrobial, Free-Radical-Scavenging and Antioxidant Activities of the Essential Oil of Leucas inflata Benth

The essential oil of Leucas inflata Balf.f. (Lamiaceae), collected in Yemen, was analyzed using gas chromatography (GC) and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) techniques. Forty-three components were recognized, representing 89.2% of the total oil. The L. inflata volatile oil was found to contain a high percentage of aliphatic acids (51.1%). Hexadecanoic acid (32.8%) and n-dodecanoic acid (7.8%) were identified as the major compounds. Oxygenated monoterpenes were distinguished as the second significant group of constituents (16.0%). Camphor (6.1%) and linalool (3.2%) were found to be the main components among the oxygenated monoterpenes. In addition, the volatile oil was assessed for its antimicrobial activity against four bacterial strains and one yeast species using broth micro-dilution assay for minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC). In addition, antioxidant activity was measured utilizing the anti-radical activity of the sable free radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and β-Carotene-linoleic acid assays. The oil of L. inflata showed an excellent antibacterial activity against only the tested Gram-positive bacteria with a MIC-value of 0.81 mg/mL. Furthermore, the oil demonstrated, at a concentration of 1 mg/mL, a weak to moderate antiradical and antioxidant activity of 38% and 32%, respectively.
Protein profiles in Tc1 mice implicate novel pathway perturbations in the Down syndrome brain

Tc1 mouse model of Down syndrome (DS) is functionally trisomic for ∼120 human chromosome 21 (HSA21) classical protein-coding genes. Tc1 mice display features relevant to the DS phenotype, including abnormalities in learning and memory and synaptic plasticity. To determine the molecular basis for the phenotypic features, the levels of 90 phosphorylation-specific and phosphorylation-independent proteins were measured by Reverse Phase Protein Arrays in hippocampus and cortex, and 64 in cerebellum, of Tc1 mice and littermate controls. Abnormal levels of proteins involved in MAP kinase, mTOR, GSK3B and neuregulin signaling were identified in trisomic mice. In addition, altered correlations among the levels of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor subunits and the HSA21 proteins amyloid beta (A4) precursor protein (APP) and TIAM1, and between immediate early gene (IEG) proteins and the HSA21 protein superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD1) were found in the hippocampus of Tc1 mice, suggesting altered stoichiometry among these sets of functionally interacting proteins. Protein abnormalities in Tc1 mice were compared with the results of a similar analysis of Ts65Dn mice, a DS mouse model that is trisomic for orthologs of 50 genes trisomic in the Tc1 plus an additional 38 HSA21 orthologs. While there are similarities, abnormalities unique to the Tc1 include increased levels of the S100B calcium-binding protein, mTOR proteins RAPTOR and P70S6, the AMP-kinase catalytic subunit AMPKA, the IEG proteins FBJ murine osteosarcoma viral oncogene homolog (CFOS) and activity-regulated cytoskeleton-associated protein (ARC), and the neuregulin 1 receptor ERBB4. These data identify novel perturbations, relevant to neurological function and to some seen in Alzheimer's disease, that may occur in the DS brain, potentially contributing to phenotypic features and influencing drug responses.
Affordance Perception by Users of Assistive Walking Devices

Many older adults utilize assistive walking devices for independent locomotion. However, walking devices put new constraints on one’s movement and navigation, and it is crucial that the user correctly perceive their new action capabilities. The present study investigated the effects of assistive walking devices on novice users’ perceptions of their ability to pass through a doorway. Participants used either a standard walker, a wheeled walker, a cane, or no device (control) while performing static and dynamic aperture passability judgments. Results showed that judgments of aperture passability were tailored to the participants’ widest frontal dimension, with walker users relying on the width of the walker and non-users relying on their shoulder width. While there was no difference in accuracy across walking devices, participants made more conservative judgments while in the dynamic phase, and this effect was more pronounced for the walker groups than the control group. Results of this study suggest that experience using the walking device is an important factor in ensuring new users understand their action capabilities and avoid injurious collisions and falls.
Misspellings in Responses to Listening Comprehension Questions: Prospects for Scoring based on Phonetic Normalization

Automated scoring systems which evaluate content require robust ways of dealing with form errors. The work presented in this paper is set in the context of scoring learners’ responses to listening comprehension items included in a placement test of German as a foreign language. Based on a corpus of over 3000 responses to 17 questions, by test takers of different language proficiencies, we perform a quantitative analysis of the diversity in misspellings. We evaluate the performance of an off-the-shelf open source spell-checker on our data showing that around 45% of the reported non-word errors are not correctly accounted for, that is, they are either falsely identified as misspelt or the spellchecker is unable to identify the intended word. We propose to address misspellings in computer-based scoring of constructed response items by means of phonetic normalization. Learner responses transcribed into Soundex codes and into two encodings borrowed from historical linguistics (ASJP and Dolgopolsky’s sound classes) are compared to transcribed reference answers using string distance measures. We show that reliable correlation with teachers’ scores can be obtained, however, similarity thresholds are item-specific.
Linear Recurrence Sequences With Indices in Arithmetic Progression and Their Sums

For an arbitrary homogeneous linear recurrence sequence of order d with constant coefficients, we derive recurrence relations for all subsequences with indices in arithmetic progression. The coefficients of these recurrences are given explicitly in terms of partial Bell polynomials that depend on at most d-1 terms of the generalized Lucas sequence associated with the given recurrence. We also provide an elegant formula for the partial sums of such sequences and illustrate all of our results with examples of various orders, including common generalizations of the Fibonacci numbers.
Onward Precarity, Mobility, and Migration among Latin Americans in London

Contributing to debates around the relationships between precarity, mobilities and migration, this paper examines the nature of precarity among onward Latin American (OLAs) migrants as they have moved transnationally to multiple destinations from their homelands to southern Europe and onwards to London across different time periods. Drawing on primary research with over 400 OLAs, the discussion highlights how precarity maps onto onward migration trajectories in fractal rather than linear ways. In moving beyond a continuum approach to labour exploitation, the paper develops the concept of “onward precarity” to capture how migrants negotiate intersecting vulnerabilities in holistic spatio-temporal ways as they move through different structural contexts across the world from origin, through transition to their final destination country over time. These negotiations are underpinned by multiple agentic tactics that revolve around resilience and reworking strategies as onward migrants traverse wider structures of disadvantage in situ and through mobility in different places.
A nearest neighbor based approach for classifying epileptiform EEG using nonlinear DWT features

Epilepsy is a pathological condition characterized by spontaneous, unforeseeable occurrence of seizures, during which the perception or behaviour of a person is altered, if not disturbed. In prediction of occurance of seizures, better classification accuracies have been reported with the use of non linear features and hence they have been estimated from wavelet transformed Electro Encephalo Graph (EEG) data and used to train k Nearest Neighbour (kNN) classifier to classify the EEG into normal, background and epileptic classes. Very good accuracy performance of nearly 100% has been reported from the current work.
Nutritional knowledge in European adolescents: results from the HELENA (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) study

Abstract Objective To build up sufficient knowledge of a ‘healthy diet’. Here, we report on the assessment of nutritional knowledge using a uniform method in a large sample of adolescents across Europe. Design A cross-sectional study. Setting The European multicentre HELENA (Healthy Lifestyle in Europe by Nutrition in Adolescence) study conducted in 2006–2007 in ten cities in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Greece (one inland and one island city), Hungary, Italy, Spain and Sweden. Subjects A total of 3546 adolescents (aged 12·5–17·5 years) completed a validated nutritional knowledge test (NKT). Socio-economic variables and anthropometric data were considered as potential confounders. Results NKT scores increased with age and girls had higher scores compared with boys (62 % v. 59 %; P < 0·0001). Scores were approximately 10 % lower in ‘immigrant’ adolescents or in adolescents with ‘immigrant’ mothers. Misconceptions with respect to the sugar content in food or in beverages were found. Overall, there was no correlation between BMI values and NKT scores. After categorization according to BMI, scores increased significantly with BMI group only in boys. These differences disappeared after controlling for socio-economic status (SES). Smoking status and educational level of the mother influenced the NKT scores significantly in boys, as well as the educational levels of both parents in girls. Conclusions Nutritional knowledge was modest in our sample. Interventions should be focused on the lower SES segments of the population. They should be initiated at a younger age and should be combined with environmental prevention (e.g. healthy meals in school canteens).
Periodic mechanical stress induces the extracellular matrix expression and migration of rat nucleus pulposus cells by upregulating the expression of intergrin α1 and phosphorylation of downstream phospholipase Cγ1

Intervertebral disk degeneration (IDD) is a major cause of low back pain and an important socioeconomic burden. Degradation of the extracellular matrix (ECM) of nucleus pulposus (NP) cells in the interverterbal disk is important for IDD. Stress of a suitable frequency and amplitude promotes the synthesis of the ECM of NP cells, however, the associated mechanisms remain to be fully elucidated The present study aimed to investigate the effect of integrin α1 on the migration and ECM synthesis of NP cells under soft periodic mechanical stress. Rat NP cells were isolated and plated onto slides, and were then treated with or without the use of a periodic mechanical stress system. The expression levels of integrin α1, α5 and αv, ECM collagen 2A1 (Col2A1) and aggrecan, and the phosphorylation of phospholipase C-γ1 (PLCγ1) were measured using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analyses. Cell migration was assayed using a scratch experiment. The results showed that exposure to periodic mechanical stress significantly induced the mRNA expression levels of Col2A1 and aggrecan, cell migration, mRNA expression of integrin α1 and phosphorylation of PLC-γ1 of the NP, compared with the control (P<0.05). Inhibition of the PLCγ1 protein by U73122 significantly decreased the ECM expression under periodic mechanical stress (P<0.05). Small interfering RNA-mediated integrin α1 gene knockdown suppressed the mRNA expression levels of Col2A1 and aggrecan, and suppressed the migration and phosphorylation of PLCγ1 of the NP cells under periodic mechanical stress, compared with the control (P<0.05). In conclusion, periodic mechanical stress induced ECM expression and the migration of NP cells via upregulating the expression of integrin α1 and the phosphorylation of downstream PLCγ1. These findings provide novel information to aid the understanding of the pathogenesis and development of IDD.
Declining Labor Turnover and Turbulence

Superseded by Working Paper 15-29 The purpose of this paper is to identify possible sources of the secular decline in the aggregate job separation rate over the last three decades. The author first shows that aging of the labor force alone cannot account for the entire decline. To explore other sources, he uses a simple labor matching model with two types of workers, experienced and inexperienced, where the former type faces a risk of skill obsolescence during unemployment. When the skill depreciation occurs, the worker is required to restart his career and thus suffers a drop in earnings. The author shows that a higher skill depreciation risk results in a lower aggregate separation rate and a smaller earnings loss. The key mechanisms are that the experienced workers accept lower wages in exchange for keeping the job and that the reluctance to separate from the job produces a larger mass of low-quality matches. He also presents empirical evidence consistent with these predictions.
The Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Alkaline Nuclease and Single-Stranded DNA Binding Protein Mediate Strand Exchange In Vitro

ABSTRACT The replication of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) DNA is associated with a high degree of homologous recombination. While cellular enzymes may take part in mediating this recombination, we present evidence for an HSV-1-encoded recombinase activity. HSV-1 alkaline nuclease, encoded by the UL12 gene, is a 5′→3′ exonuclease that shares homology with Redα, commonly known as λ exonuclease, an exonuclease required for homologous recombination by bacteriophage lambda. The HSV-1 single-stranded DNA binding protein ICP8 is an essential protein for HSV DNA replication and possesses single-stranded DNA annealing activities like the Redβ synaptase component of the phage lambda recombinase. Here we show that UL12 and ICP8 work together to effect strand exchange much like the Red system of lambda. Purified UL12 protein and ICP8 mediated the complete exchange between a 7.25-kb M13mp18 linear double-stranded DNA molecule and circular single-stranded M13 DNA, forming a gapped circle and a displaced strand as final products. The optimal conditions for strand exchange were 1 mM MgCl2, 40 mM NaCl, and pH 7.5. Stoichiometric amounts of ICP8 were required, and strand exchange did not depend on the nature of the double-stranded end. Nuclease-defective UL12 could not support this reaction. These data suggest that diverse DNA viruses appear to utilize an evolutionarily conserved recombination mechanism.
Acute exercise increases adipose tissue interstitial adiponectin concentration in healthy overweight and lean subjects.

OBJECTIVE We studied how an acute bout of exercise influences expression and concentration of adiponectin and regulators of adiponectin in adipose tissue and plasma. DESIGN AND METHODS Eight overweight and eight lean males were examined by large-pore microdialysis in s.c. abdominal adipose tissue (SCAAT) and had arterialized blood sampled. On one day subjects rested for 3 h, exercised for 1 h at 55% of maximal oxygen uptake and rested again for 2.5 h, and on another day subjects rested for 6.5 h. On the day including exercise SCAAT was biopsied before and after exercise. RESULTS Exercise increased the SCAAT interstitial adiponectin concentration in both overweight and lean subjects and concentrations did not differ between groups. Plasma adiponectin did not increase during exercise and was similar in overweight and lean subjects. Adiponectin mRNA in SCAAT decreased during exercise and was similar in overweight and lean subjects. Surprisingly, the interstitial adiponectin concentration in SCAAT was only 20% of the plasma concentration. SCAAT interleukin-6 (IL-6) microdialyzate and plasma concentrations and SCAAT IL-6 mRNA increased during exercise in both groups. Tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-) plasma concentration did not change during exercise in any of the groups, but SCAAT TNF- mRNA increased after exercise in both groups. Furthermore, exercise decreased SCAAT leptin mRNA with no change in resistin mRNA. CONCLUSIONS Acute exercise increases adipose tissue interstitial adiponectin concentration in both overweight and lean subjects with no major changes in plasma adiponectin concentration. The interstitial concentration of adiponectin in SCAAT is only 20% of that in plasma.
User Friendly Recommender Systems

Recommender systems are a recent but increasingly widely used resource. Yet most, if not all of them suffer from serious deficiencies. Recommender systems often require first time users to enter ratings for a large number of items — a tedious process that often deters users. Thus, this thesis investigated whether useful recommendations could be made without requiring users to explicitly rate items. It was shown that ratings automatically generated from implicit information about a user can be used to make useful recommendations. Most recommender systems also provide no explanations for the recommendations that they make, and give users little control over the recommendation process. Thus, when these systems make a poor recommendation, users can not understand why it was made, and are not able to easily improve their recommendations. Hence, this thesis investigated ways in which scrutability and control could be implemented in such systems. A comprehensive questionnaire was completed by 18 participants as a basis for a broader understanding of the issues mentioned above and to inform the design of a prototype; a prototype was then created and two separate evaluations performed, each with at least 9 participants. This investigation highlighted a number of key scrutability and control features that could be useful additions to existing recommender systems. The findings of this thesis can be used to improve the effectiveness, usefulness and user friendliness of existing recommender systems. These findings include: • Explanations, controls and a map based presentation are all useful additions to a recommender system. • Specific explanation types can be more useful than others for explaining particular recommendation techniques. • Specific recommendation techniques can be useful even when a user has not entered many ratings. • Ratings generated from purely implicit information about a user can be used to made useful recommendations.