Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling to Study Social Contexts: The Case of School Effects

This article focuses on a particular educational context, the school, and how characteristics of the structure and organization of high schools influence students' academic development. The emphasis is on a type of quantitative inquiry called school effects research. It describes a methodology that is most appropriate for conducting studies of school effects in particular and educational contexts in general: hierarchical linear modeling (HLM). Two previously published studies are used as heuristic examples of school effects studies conducted with HLM methods. Both studies use large and nationally representative longitudinal data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 to explore school effects on learning and its social distribution by student socioeconomic status. Study 1 focuses on the effects of high school size on learning. Study 2 focuses on how teachers' attitudes, taken as a collective property of the social organization of schools, influence both learning and its social distribution. Implications for both policy and research are discussed.
Strategic Approaches to Tackling School Absenteeism and Truancy: The traffic lights (TL) scheme

Some secondary schools have experienced significant problems related to pupils' attendance over a considerable period of time. Therefore, it has proved necessary to start to develop and implement innovative long-term strategic approaches to tackling truancy and other forms of non-attendance from school. This article focuses upon the traffic lights (TL) scheme which has been formulated to monitor and manage pupils' attendance within schools in a more controlled manner. The conventional approach to introducing the TL scheme is described. This is followed by two variations of the scheme adapted by schools for their own purposes. Evidence from each of the three utilisations of the TL scheme has suggested that overall attendance within the schools has been significantly improved with gains of around 8% reported. Finally, the article illustrates how the TL scheme can be adapted to help reduce potential cases of exclusion.
Talking about alcohol consumption: health campaigns, conversational valence, and binge drinking intentions.

OBJECTIVES Although research has shown that whether people talk about health issues influences health campaign effects, no evidence exists on whether conversational valence fulfils a mediating role within health campaign effects. In the context of alcohol consumption, this two-wave experimental research studies the effects of exposure to an anti-alcohol message on conversational valence about alcohol. Further, it investigates whether valence subsequently affects alcohol consumption intentions. DESIGN Eighty-four undergraduate students, in dyads, were randomly assigned to one of two conditions (anti-alcohol message vs. no alcohol message exposure). METHODS A baseline measure of the intention to refrain from binge drinking was assessed in advance. Two weeks later, half of the participants were exposed to an anti-alcohol message, after which all pairs engaged in a conversation about alcohol and binge drinking followed by an assessment of conversational valence and again the intention to refrain from binge drinking. RESULTS An indirect effect of health message exposure on the intention to refrain from binge drinking through conversational valence was revealed. When participants viewed an anti-alcohol message, they reported significantly more negative conversations about alcohol. Subsequently, a more negative conversational valence about alcohol increased the intention to refrain from binge drinking. CONCLUSIONS These findings suggest that conversational valence is relevant for health campaign effects. By demonstrating that health messages can influence this valence, important implications arise in terms of health promotion. Future research should focus on how to design effective health campaigns that are able to guide conversational valence in the desired direction.
Direct Evidence of Catalytic Heterogeneity in Lactate Dehydrogenase by Temperature Jump Infrared Spectroscopy

Protein conformational heterogeneity and dynamics are known to play an important role in enzyme catalysis, but their influence has been difficult to observe directly. We have studied the effects of heterogeneity in the catalytic reaction of pig heart lactate dehydrogenase using isotope edited infrared spectroscopy, laser-induced temperature jump relaxation, and kinetic modeling. The isotope edited infrared spectrum reveals the presence of multiple reactive conformations of pyruvate bound to the enzyme, with three major reactive populations having substrate C2 carbonyl stretches at 1686, 1679, and 1674 cm–1, respectively. The temperature jump relaxation measurements and kinetic modeling indicate that these substates form a heterogeneous branched reaction pathway, and each substate catalyzes the conversion of pyruvate to lactate with a different rate. Furthermore, the rate of hydride transfer is inversely correlated with the frequency of the C2 carbonyl stretch (the rate increases as the frequency decreases), consistent with the relationship between the frequency of this mode and the polarization of the bond, which determines its reactivity toward hydride transfer. The enzyme does not appear to be optimized to use the fastest pathway preferentially but rather accesses multiple pathways in a search process that often selects slower ones. These results provide further support for a dynamic view of enzyme catalysis where the role of the enzyme is not just to bring reactants together but also to guide the conformational search for chemically competent interactions.
An improved perfusion fixation method for the testis

A reliable and uniform vascular perfusion fixation method for the testis has been developed by using an initial washout solution containing a vasodilator and an anticoagulant. This is followed by a brief fixation with a sodium phosphate buffered formaldehyde‐glutaraldehyde solution of conventional strength, and then a second more concentrated aldehyde fixative solution containing picric acid. The method takes into account some of the unique features of the vascular supply of the male genital tract for its favorable perfusion and fixation. The advantages of this method are: (1) consistently favorable preservation of the testis; (2) simple and inexpensive apparatus; and (3) stable and relatively innocuous stock solutions.
Modeling of spin-based silicon technology

Electron spin attracts much attention as an alternative degree of freedom for low-power reprogrammable logic and non-volatile memory applications. Silicon appears to be the perfect material for spin-driven applications. Recent progress and challenges in simulating spin-based devices are briefly reviewed. Strain-induced enhancement of the electron spin lifetime in silicon thin films is predicted and its impact on spin transport in SpinFETs is discussed. A new design of the spin-based nonvolatile memory cell, MRAM, is presented. By means of micromagnetic simulations it is demonstrated that the new design leads to a reduction of the switching time of the cell. Any two memory cells from a MRAM array can form an implication logic gate. It is shown how by using these gates an intrinsic non-volatile logic-in-memory architecture is realized.
“Boys Will Be Boys” or Budding Criminal: Differentiating Youthful Offenders

The issue of serious juvenile crime often challenges Western society's ideas about both the nature of human development and the nature of justice. This article examines the criteria legal decision-makers use to differentiate youthful offenders for the purpose of placement in rehabilitative or crime-control-focussed systems, in particular highlighting Victoria's unique dual-track system in Australia. The underlying factors considered to be relevant in these cases are identified as the age of the offender and subsequent maturity/impressionability, treatability of the offender, character, and characteristics of the offence that elevates its perceived seriousness – particularly vicious or uncommon features. The Risk-Sophistication-Treatment-Inventory (RST-I), an instrument designed in the United States, is identified as a potential tool for meeting the specific needs of mental health professionals who provide advice to courts on matters of youthful offender placements. However, cross-cultural limitations of the RST-I are highlighted.
MAP kinase‐ and Rho‐dependent signals interact to regulate gene expression but not actin morphology in cardiac muscle cells

Post‐natal growth of cardiac muscle cells occurs by hypertrophy rather than division and is associated with changes in gene expression and muscle fiber morphology. We show here that the protein kinase MEKK1 can induce reporter gene expression from the atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) promoter, a genetic marker that is activated during in vivo hypertrophy. MEKK1 induced both stress‐activated protein kinase (SAPK) and extracellular signal‐regulated protein kinase (ERK) activity; however, while the SAPK cascade stimulated ANF expression, activation of the ERK cascade inhibited expression. C3 transferase, a specific inhibitor of the small GTPase Rho, also inhibited both MEKK‐ and phenylephrine‐induced ANF expression, indicating an additional requirement for Rho‐dependent signals. Microinjection or transfection of C3 transferase into the same cells did not disrupt actin muscle fiber morphology, indicating that Rho‐dependent pathways do not regulate actin morphology in cardiac muscle cells. While active MEKK1 was a potent activator of hypertrophic gene expression, this kinase did not induce actin organization and prevented phenylephrine‐induced organization. These data suggest that multiple signals control hypertrophic phenotypes. Positive and negative signals mediated by parallel MAP kinase cascades interact with Rho‐dependent pathways to regulate hypertrophic gene expression while other signals induce muscle fiber morphology in cardiac muscle cells.
Using degree grades as indicator of performance in a Greek university of social studies

Abstract In this study we are using degree grades to assess academic performance in a Greek university focusing on social studies. Apart from the usual covariates of achievement encountered in the international literature, our estimation model is adjusted to take into account the institutional framework governing university studies in Greece. In this context, the duration of studies, measured in additional years over the normal duration of the programme explains the variability of degree results; the revealed association is negative. This finding raises more questions than it answers for we have no clues about the reasons that drive students to prolong the period of their studies. The existing evidence suggests that the prolongation of studies might be the effect of some underlying factor associated with the educational system.
Ingroup ambivalence and experienced affect: the moderating role of social identification

No previous work in the field of group-related attitudes and emotions has investigated the possible affective consequences of ingroup ambivalence—that is, the consequences of having attitudes towards an ingroup that are simultaneously both positive and negative. The current study was designed to explore this issue. Ambivalent attitudes have been argued to be more psychologically salient to the individual than univalent ones. A linear increase in participants’ experienced affect was therefore predicted as a function of their ambivalence toward the ingroup. However, consistent with the predictions of social identity theory, previous findings have shown that higher ingroup identifiers are more likely to be involved with the ingroup than lower identifiers. Accordingly, we predicted and found effects of ingroup ambivalence on affect for high but not low ingroup identifiers. Combining the findings of two distinct literatures, the initial evidence provided by this study exploratively traces the sources of the affective processes that are set in motion by the evaluation of one’s own group in an intergroup context. Copyright # 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Correlated Fluctuations and Intraband Dynamics of J-Aggregates Revealed by Combination of 2DES Schemes

The intraband exciton dynamics of molecular aggregates is a crucial initial step to determine the possibly coherent nature of energy transfer and its implications for the ensuing interband relaxation pathways in strongly coupled excitonic systems. In this work, we fully characterize the intraband dynamics in linear J-aggregates of porphyrins, good model systems for multichromophoric assemblies in biological antenna complexes. Using different 2D electronic spectroscopy schemes together with Raman spectroscopy and theoretical modeling, we provide a full characterization of the inner structure of the main one-exciton band of the porphyrin aggregates. We find that the redistribution of population within the band occurs with a characteristic time of 280 fs and dominates the modulation of an electronic coherence. While we do not find that the coupling to vibrations significantly affects the dynamics of excitonic coherence, our results suggest that exciton fluctuations are nevertheless highly correlated.
Reliability and Validity of a New Measure of Severity of Delirium

The objective of this study was to assess the psychometric properties of a new instrument, the Delirium Index (DI), to measure changes in the severity of the symptoms of delirium among patients previously diagnosed with delirium. Subjects were medical inpatients aged 65 and over diagnosed with delirium by the Confusion Assessment Method. Interrater reliability of the DI was . 78 between research assistants (concordence coefficient) and was . 88 between research assistants and geriatric psychiatrists. Criterion validity, assessed by the correlation between DI and Delirium Rating Scale scores (Spearman's correlation coefficient, r), was . 84. Construct validity was assessed using correlations of the DI with two measures of current function for convergent validity (r = −.60, −.70) and two measures of function before admission for discriminant validity (r = .26, −.42). We conclude that the DI has acceptable levels of interrater reliability, criterion validity, and construct validity.
High CpG island methylator phenotype is associated with lymph node metastasis and prognosis in gastric cancer

Several studies have found that the promoter CpG island is frequently methylated in gastric cancer. The CpG island methylator phenotype (CIMP) defines concordant methylation of multiple promoter CpG island loci in a subset of gastric cancer. However, the relationship between CIMP and lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer is unknown. Our study aimed to characterize the role of CIMP in lymph node metastasis. Clinical specimens from 120 patients were analyzed and PCR was used to detect the methylation status of five genes (ALX4, TMEFF2, CHCHD10, IGFBP3, and NPR1). We measured the level of mRNA for the five genes by real‐time RT‐PCR. Microsatellite instability and Helicobacter pylori infection status were assayed by capillary electrophoresis and real‐time PCR, respectively. DNA methylation in the five genes was correlated with low expression of the respective mRNA. With CIMP as the dependent variable, CIMP‐high gastric cancer tended to show more distant lymph node metastasis, higher pathologic tumor classification, more pathologic metastasis, and higher pathologic TNM status. Microsatellite instability and H. pylori status were not significant predictors of prognosis. CIMP‐high gastric cancer showed significantly worse survival compared with that of CIMP‐low/CIMP‐negative gastric cancer (P < 0.001). Our results show that there is an association between CIMP status and lymph node metastasis in gastric cancer and CIMP‐high was an independent prognostic factor. (Cancer Sci 2012; 103: 73–79)
Polling-based Medium Access Control Scheme for Wireless Body Sensor Network

* This work was partially supported by FAPESP under grant No 2011/12463-0 Abstract The performance of polling-based MAC scheme for Wireless Body Sensor Networks (WBSN) is investigated in this paper. The objective is to study the suitability of the polling mechanism to gather the quasi real-time data from sensors placed in a human body. The main parameters used for study are packet loss, packet waiting time and buffer size at sensor nodes. To accomplish the objectives, a simulation platform is developed in C++ where the polling mechanism, the buffers and the sensor sources are all implemented. Due to the lack of sensor node models for WBSN applications, five sensor sources are developed based on the On/Off source model. The simulation results showed that the polling method is a very promising access scheme for the scenarios examined. The results also showed that source configurations can greatly affect the network performance.
Does ambiguity aversion reinforce risk aversion? Applications to portfolio choices and asset prices

It is often suggested that ambiguity aversion makes individuals more precautionary, thereby offering a potential explanation for the equity premium puzzle. We show that this is not true in general. We consider a model in which risk-and-ambiguity-averse agents can invest in an unambiguously safe asset and in an ambiguous risky asset. We exhibit some sufficient conditions to guarantee that, ceteris paribus, an increase in ambiguity aversion reduces the demand for the ambiguous risky asset, and raises the equity premium. For example, this is the case when the set of plausible distributions of returns can be ranked according to the monotone likelihood ratio order. We also show how ambiguity aversion distorts the price kernel.
Motivational Strategies and Possible Influence on Secondary School Teachers’ Teaching Performance

This study investigated the influence of motivational strategies on teachers’ teaching performance in public secondary schools in Uyo – Urban, Akwa Ibom State. One hypothesis was formed to guide the study and Expo Facto design was adopted for the study. A sample of three hundred and sixty (360) teachers were randomly selected from the population of all the secondary school teachers in the 18 public schools in the Area. A questionnaire based on four point likert-type scale was developed and administered to the 360 teachers. The data collected were subjected to statistical analyses using ANOVA. The test yielded significant influence of motivational strategies on teachers’ work performance. Based on the findings, recommendations were made. KEY WORDS: Motivational Strategies, Teaching Performance.
The CEACAM 1 N-terminal Ig domain mediates cis-and trans-binding and is essential for allosteric rearrangements of CEACAM 1 microclusters

The Rockefeller University Press $30.00 J. Cell Biol. Vol. 187 No. 4 553–567 www.jcb. org/cgi/doi/10.1083/jcb.200904149 JCB 553 Correspondence to Björn Öbrink: bjorn.obrink@ki.se Abbreviations used in this paper: CAM, cell adhesion molecule; CEA, carcinoembryonic antigen; CEACAM, CEA-related CAM; COMET, constrained maximum entropy tomography; HBS, Hepes-buffered saline; Ig, immunoglobulin like; Ni-NTA, nickel–nitrilotriacetic acid; SPR, surface plasmon resonance; SWS, seeded watershed segmentation. Introduction
Choices, Values, and Frames

We discuss the cognitive and the psy- chophysical determinants of choice in risky and risk- less contexts. The psychophysics of value induce risk aversion in the domain of gains and risk seeking in the domain of losses. The psychophysics of chance induce overweighting of sure things and of improbable events, relative to events of moderate probability. De- cision problems can be described or framed in multiple ways that give rise to different preferences, contrary to the invariance criterion of rational choice. The pro- cess of mental accounting, in which people organize the outcomes of transactions, explains some anomalies of consumer behavior. In particular, the acceptability of an option can depend on whether a negative outcome is evaluated as a cost or as an uncompensated loss. The relation between decision values and experience values is discussed. Making decisions is like speaking prose—people do it all the time, knowingly or unknowingly. It is hardly surprising, then, that the topic of decision making is shared by many disciplines, from mathematics and statistics, through economics and political science, to sociology and psychology. The study of decisions ad- dresses both normative and descriptive questions. The normative analysis is concerned with the nature of rationality and the logic of decision making. The de- scriptive analysis, in contrast, is concerned with peo- ple's beliefs and preferences as they are, not as they should be. The tension between normative and de- scriptive considerations characterizes much of the study of judgment and choice. Analyses of decision making commonly distin- guish risky and riskless choices. The paradigmatic example of decision under risk is the acceptability of a gamble that yields monetary outcomes with specified probabilities. A typical riskless decision concerns the acceptability of a transaction in which a good or a service is exchanged for money or labor. In the first part of this article we present an analysis of the cog- nitive and psychophysical factors that determine the value of risky prospects. In the second part we extend this analysis to transactions and trades. Risky Choice Risky choices, such as whether or not to take an umbrella and whether or not to go to war, are made without advance knowledge of their consequences. Because the consequences of such actions depend on uncertain events such as the weather or the opponent's resolve, the choice of an act may be construed as the acceptance of a gamble that can yield various out- comes with different probabilities. It is therefore nat- ural that the study of decision making under risk has focused on choices between simple gambles with monetary outcomes and specified probabilities, in the hope that these simple problems will reveal basic at- titudes toward risk and value. We shall sketch an approach to risky choice that
Ego-threat interpretive bias in test anxiety: on-line inferences

Abstract The hypothesis that test anxiety is associated with an on-line bias towards threatening interpretations of ambiguous information was explored by means of a lexical decision task. Ambiguous sentences (concerned with ego-threat, physical-threat, or non-threat events) were presented to high- and low- test-anxiety subjects. Sentences were followed by a disambiguating word or a very wordlike corresponding nonword, which either confirmed or disconfirmed the threat implied by the sentence. A control condition involved the presentation of words and nonwords alone, without being primed by the sentences. Results indicated that there were no differences in lexical decision times as a function of test anxiety when words and nonwords were presented alone. In contrast, when they were primed, high-anxiety subjects took longer to respond correctly to the ego-threat confirming nonword, and to the ego-threat disconfirming word, compared with low-anxiety subjects; likewise, high-anxiety subjects responded faster to.