Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of dietary fats and vitamin E on the fatty acid composition of egg yolk of fresh and refrigerated table eggs.

The aim of the present experiment was to investigate how different types of dietary fats and levels of vitamin E affect the fatty acid profile of egg yolk during refrigerated storage of table eggs. ISA Brown hens (n=90; 28 weeks old) were randomly assigned to five experimental diets. The dietary treatments included: (1) control diet without fat supplementation and added vitamin E (2) 5% Alifet supplement (rich in saturated fatty acids) and 20 IU/kg vitamin E (3) 5% Alifet and 40 IU/kg vitamin E (4) 5% pumpkin seed oil (rich in n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids) and 20 IU/kg vitamin E (5) 5% pumpkin seed oil and 40 IU/kg vitamin E. The diets were fed for two weeks. After two weeks, 20 eggs per dietary group were collected Fatty acid composition of egg yolk was analyzed by means of gas chromatography from fresh samples (n=10 per treatment) and eggs stored for 4 weeks at 5 °C (n=10 per treatment). Feeding of diets supplemented with Alifet increased the proportion of total monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), whereas decreased the content of n-6 and total polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in the fresh egg yolk in comparison to the other groups (P 0.05). In comparison to fresh samples, refrigerated storage of eggs for 4 weeks decreased the the proportion of n-3, n-6 and total PUFA and increased the ratio of n-6 to n-3 PUFA in the egg yolk regardless of dietary fat type when 20 IU/kg vitamin E was fed. Although vitamin E at the level of 40 IU/kg was able to prevent the significant changes of these parameters in the pumpkin seed oil group, the proportion of n-3 PUFA decreased, whereas the ratio of n-6 to n-3 increased during storage in the egg yolk of hens fed 5% Alifet and 40 IU/kg vitamin E (P<0.05).
Does a clinical psychology education moderate relationships between personality or emotional adjustment and performance as a clinical psychologist

Does an education in clinical psychology affect relationships between personality or emotional adjustment and clinical knowledge or clinical practice ability? Two groups were assessed at the beginning of their professional development and 1 year later. The 1st group was studying clinical psychology, and the 2nd group was obtaining training under a workplace supervision model. At pretest, measures of defensiveness were correlated with practice ability, and participants who had emotional adjustment problems obtained lower practice ability scores. At posttest, neither pretest personality nor emotional adjustment was correlated with clinical performance. An interaction between education group and problem group suggests that a clinical education enhances the performance of students with emotional problems at the onset of their education
Was Parsons right? An experiment in usability of music representations for melody-based music retrieval

In 1975 Parsons developed his dictionary of musical themes based on a simple contour representation. The motivation was that people with little training in music would be able to identify pieces of music. We decided to test whether people of various levels of musical skill could indeed make use of a text representation to describe a simple melody query. The results indicate that the task is beyond those who are unmusical, and that a scale numeric representation is easier than a contour one for those of moderate musical skill. Further, a common error when using the scale representation still yields a more accurate contour representation than if a user is asked to enter a contour query. We observed an average query length of about seven symbols for the retrieval task.
The Value of GRE, ADC and Routine MRI in Distinguishing Parkinsonian Disorders

Objectives: To study different radiological signs and sequences including apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and gradient echo (GRE) to differentiate degenerative parkinsonian syndromes. Background: Multiple system atrophy (MSA), Parkinson's disease (PD), progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) and corticobasal degeneration (CbD) differ in the pattern of neurodegeneration and cellular damage. Measuring the ADC, GRE sequences for paramagnetic substances and simple anatomical assessments have been reported individually to assist in separating some of these disorders, but have not been compared. Methods: brain MRIs from May 2002 to February 2008 were retrospectively evaluated by raters blinded to the clinical diagnosis for predefined MRI signs on T1, T2 and GRE sequences. ADC values were quantitatively measured. Medical records were objectively analyzed using standard clinical criteria for different parkinsonian syndromes. Results: 195 cases comprising of 61 PD, 15 MSA-P, 7 MSA-C, 21 PSP, 6 Corticobasal syndrome, 21 not fitting criteria and 64 controls were evaluated. 73% of patients with MSA-P had hypointensity of the putamen (compared to the pallidum) on GRE. The specificity of this sign to diagnose MSA-P was 90% versus PD and 76% versus PSP. When GRE hypointensity was combined with atrophy of the putamen the specificity improved to 98% (versus PD) and 95% (versus PSP) without altering the sensitivity. The ADC values were significantly higher in the middle cerebellar peduncle in cases with MSA-C versus controls, PD and PSP (p<0.001). Conclusions: The combination of hypointensity and atrophy of the putamen on GRE is useful in differentiating MSA-P from other parkinsonian syndromes.
Processor Hardware Counter Statistics as a First-Class System Resource

Today's processors provide a rich source of statistical information on program execution characteristics through hardware counters. However, traditionally, operating system (OS) support for and utilization of the hardware counter statistics has been limited and ad hoc. In this paper, we make the case for direct OS management of hardware counter statistics. First, we show the utility of processor counter statistics in CPU scheduling (for improved performance and fairness) and in online workload modeling, both of which require online continuous statistics (as opposed to ad hoc infrequent uses). Second, we show that simultaneous system and user use of hardware counters is possible via time-division multiplexing. Finally, we highlight potential counter misuses to indicate that the OS should address potential security issues in utilizing processor counter statistics.
Multiclass Total Variation Clustering

Ideas from the image processing literature have recently motivated a new set of clustering algorithms that rely on the concept of total variation. While these algorithms perform well for bi-partitioning tasks, their recursive extensions yield unimpressive results for multiclass clustering tasks. This paper presents a general framework for multiclass total variation clustering that does not rely on recursion. The results greatly outperform previous total variation algorithms and compare well with state-of-the-art NMF approaches.
MicroRNA-125a contributes to elevated inflammatory chemokine RANTES levels via targeting KLF13 in systemic lupus erythematosus.

OBJECTIVE MicroRNA (miRNA) have received increasing attention as posttranscriptional regulators that fine-tune the homeostasis of the inflammatory response. This study aimed to clarify whether miR-125a, which was identified in a pilot expression profiling step, is involved in the inflammatory chemokine pathway in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). METHODS Independent verification of miR-125a expression in amplified samples from SLE patients and normal controls was performed by TaqMan quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. A combination of 3 bioinformatic prediction techniques and reporter gene assays was used to identify miR-125a targets. In vitro systems of overexpression by transfection and inducible expression by stimulation were performed to investigate the function of miR-125a, which was followed by real-time quantitative PCR and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS In SLE patients, the expression of miR-125a was reduced and the expression of its predicted target gene, KLF13, was increased. Bioinformatics predicted that miR-125a base-paired with sequences in the 3'-untranslated region of KLF13. Overexpression of miR-125a led to a significant reduction in the expression of RANTES and KLF13. MicroRNA-125a inhibited endogenous KLF13 expression in a dose-dependent manner, as determined using gain- and loss-of-function methods. A luciferase reporter system confirmed the miR-125a binding sites. Notably, miR-125a expression was induced in T cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Finally, the introduction of miR-125a into T cells from SLE patients alleviated the elevated RANTES expression. CONCLUSION MicroRNA-125a negatively regulates RANTES expression by targeting KLF13 in activated T cells. The underexpression of miR-125a contributes to the elevated expression of RANTES in SLE. Our findings extend the role of miRNA in the pathogenesis of lupus and provide potential strategies for therapeutic intervention.
Music Training and Nonmusical Abilities: Introduction

the objective of this special issue of Music Perception , which includes contributions from researchers based in Canada, Germany, New Zealand, and the US, is to present the best new research on associations between music training and nonmusical abilities. Scholarly interest in associations between music training and nonmusical cognitive functioning has sparked much research over the past 15–20 years. The study of how far associations between music training and cognitive abilities extend, and whether such associations are more likely for some domains of cognition than for others, has theoretical relevance for issues of transfer, modularity, and plasticity. Unlike most other areas of scientific inquiry, there is parallel interest on the part of the public, the media, and educators who want to know if nonmusical intellectual and academic benefits are a welcome by-product of sending children to music lessons. Indeed, some educators and arts advocates justify music training in schools precisely because of these presumed and desired nonmusical associations.
Moderators of Family Conflict and Children's Adjustment and Health

SUMMARY Emotion regulation and emotionality were examined as moderators in the associations between exposure to marital and parent-child conflict and children's adjustment and physical health. Children (6 to 11 years) and their mothers participated, and data were gathered on children's adjustment, health, emotionality, and emotion regulation. Physiological regulation measures were obtained during baseline and simulated argument conditions as components of emotion regulation. Emotion regulation variables buffered children against some of the negative health, externalizing, and internalizing outcomes associated with exposure to both marital conflict and parent-child conflict. On the other hand, higher levels of emotionality were vulnerability factors in the associations between family conflict and children's internalizing and externalizing behaviors, with more support for the latter.
Depression and Late Mortality After Myocardial Infarction in the Enhancing Recovery in Coronary Heart Disease (ENRICHD) Study

Objective: The Enhancing Recovery in Coronary Heart Disease study was a multicenter clinical trial in which patients with depression and/or low perceived social support after an acute myocardial infarction were randomly assigned to an intervention consisting of cognitive behavior therapy and, in some cases, sertraline, or to usual care. There was no difference in survival between the groups. A possible reason why the intervention failed to affect survival is that too many patients with mild, transient depression were enrolled. Another is that some patients died too soon to complete the intervention. This analysis evaluates whether there was a difference in late (ie, ≥6 months after the myocardial infarction) mortality among initially depressed patients who had a Beck Depression Inventory score ≥10 and a past history of major depression, and who completed the 6-month post-treatment assessment. It also examines the relationship between change in depression and late mortality. Methods: Out of the 1,165 (47%) of the Enhancing Recovery in Coronary Heart Disease study participants who met our criteria, 57 died in the first 6 months, and 858 (409 usual care, 449 intervention) completed the 6-month assessment. Cox regression was used to analyze survival. Results: The intervention did not affect late mortality. However, intervention patients whose depression did not improve were at higher risk for late mortality than were patients who responded to treatment. Conclusions: Patients whose depression is refractory to cognitive behavior therapy and sertraline, two standard treatments for depression, are at high risk for late mortality after myocardial infarction.
Productivity, Wages, and Marriage: The Case of Major League Baseball

Using a sample of professional baseball players from 1871–2007, this paper aims at analyzing a longstanding empirical observation that married men earn significantly more than their single counterparts holding all else equal (the "marriage premium"). Baseball is a unique case study because it has a long history of statistics collection and numerous direct measurements of productivity. Our results show that the marriage premium also holds for baseball players, where married players earn up to 16 percent more than those who are not married, even after controlling for selection. The results hold only for players in the top third of the ability distribution and post 1975 when changes in the rules that govern wage contracts allowed for players to be valued closer to their true market price. Nonetheless, there do not appear to be clear differences in productivity between married and nonmarried players. We discuss possible reasons why employers may discriminate in favor of married men.
‘Making Things Happen’: Literacy and Agency in Housing Struggles in South Africa

Abstract While ethnographies of literacy have played an important role in the shift towards understandings of literacy as situated social practice, these understandings have not necessarily impacted on day-to-day development work. This article draws on data collected during two periods of ethnographic work on the literacy practices of participants in grassroots social movements engaging in struggles around housing in South Africa. In this focus on the quotidian tactics of the participants in such projects, mundane everyday texts (like hand-written lists, memos, bank cheques, plans, invoices and so on) were central to the carrying across and projecting of meanings into new contexts and important in the construction of agency for individuals (in the cases reported here, for three individual women). Through the use of multi-site, micro-ethnographic methods, a language of description was developed for identifying, reconstructing and analysing the sequences of events through which people acted to change their living conditions and make things happen. However, recontextualisation and projection of meanings did not require literate individuals, nor did it always require alphabetical texts; it could be accomplished by groups in which literacy was viewed as a distributed capacity or it could be carefully mediated by development workers with a focus on capacities rather than deficits, it could draw on a wider range of mediational means like physical occupations of sites, or building extensions. The research showed that a lack of attention in organisational procedures to the detailed politics of recontextualisation and projection of meanings in such trajectories indicated the reification of literacy and its use as a marker of status and stratification. On the other hand, when careful attention was paid to this detail, literacy became naturalised, as a pragmatics of engagement in textually-mediated practices, less implicated in gate-keeping and conflict. Some studies in the critical discourse tradition in a range of fields have explored ‘chains of discourse’ and make claims that discourse is recontextualised and resemiotised as it travels through contexts, tending towards legitimacy and authority, and this in turn leads to permanence and stability in infrastructures and environments. The article argues that in contexts of extreme poverty, conflict and lack of resources, such uni-directionality cannot be assumed.
Television viewing and mean world value in Hong Kong's adolescents

Past theory and research have held television responsible for cultivating the viewer's materialism and trivialization of crime, that is, mean world value. The cultivation effect occurs when the viewer watches television intensely and trustfully. It leads to hypotheses that one who watches television longer on a day and watches television serials repeatedly, and/or believes in the reality of television portrayals endorses mean world value to a greater extent. These effects reflect mechanisms of heuristic and peripheral processing. With data collected from 402 high school students in Hong Kong, this study supports the mediating hypotheses concerning perceived reality and its interaction with repeated exposure. These variables and the amount of television viewing on a weekday, exerted relatively strong cultivation effects on the adolescent viewer's mean world value, in terms of materialism and trivialization of moral value. The cultivation effect is attributable to the profusion of violence and consumerism on commercial television in Hong Kong.
Functional and oncologic results of extended supracricoid partial laryngectomy.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate functional and oncologic results in patients who underwent unilateral arytenoidectomy during supracricoid partial laryngectomy. DESIGN Retrospective analysis of medical records. SETTING Tertiary care referral center. PATIENTS One hundred sixteen patients who had received supracricoid partial laryngectomy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Functional and oncologic results in patients who received supracricoid partial laryngectomy with the extended procedure of unilateral arytenoidectomy. RESULTS There was a significantly higher rate of aspiration pneumonia (P = .002) and a longer delay of decannulation (P = .03) in the extended group. No significant differences were noted between the 2 groups in the scores for "normalcy of diet" (P = .68), "eating in public" (P = .65), or "understandability of speech" (P > .99) on the Performance Status Scale for Head and Neck Cancer Patients at the last follow-up visit. Five-year overall recurrence was 24.5% in the extended group. Five-year overall survival was 66.6%, and 5-year disease-specific survival was 72.1% in the extended group. CONCLUSIONS Resection of the arytenoids may interrupt physiologic airway protection in the early postoperative period, necessitating special caution to prevent aspiration pneumonia. However, extended supracricoid partial laryngectomy including arytenoidectomy allows for reasonable oncologic safety and avoidance of functional handicaps and social maladjustment.
Die Messung von Werten mit dem "Portraits Value Questionnaire"

Zusammenfassung: In zwei Stichproben wird eine deutschsprachige 40-Item Version des “Portraits Value Questionnaire” (PVQ) validiert; in einer dritten Stichprobe (European Social Survey) wird eine verkurzte Version mit 21 Items dieses Werteinventars validiert. Bei dem PVQ handelt es sich um ein von Shalom Schwartz neu entwickeltes Instrument zur Uberprufung seiner Theorie grundlegender menschlicher Werte. Die Aufgabenstellung des PVQ unterscheidet sich konzeptionell deutlich von der des bisher verwendeten Standardinstrumentes “Schwartz Value Survey” (SVS). Das neue Instrument ist besonders fur Probanden mit mittlerer und niedriger Schulbildung geeignet. Unsere Ergebnisse belegen die instrumentenunabhangige Validitat der von Schwartz postulierten Wertetheorie. Der Vergleich mit dem SVS belegt die konvergente und diskriminante Validitat der mit dem PVQ gemessenen zehn Wertetypen. Auch die vorhergesagten Beziehungen der Wertetypen mit zwei externen Konstrukten belegen die Konstruktvaliditat des PVQ. In einer .
Piezoelectric polymer transducer arrays for flexible tactile sensors

The paper focuses on the manufacturing technology of modular components for large-area tactile sensors, which are made of arrays of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) piezoelectric polymer taxels integrated on flexible PCBs. PVDF transducers were chosen for the high electromechanical transduction frequency bandwidth (up to 1 kHz for the given application). Patterned electrodes were inkjet printed on the PVDF film. Experimental tests on skin module prototypes demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach and reveal the potentiality to build large area flexible and conformable robotic skin.
The Structure of Social Attitudes

A factor-analytic study is described of the relationships of 88 social attitude questions-social class, sex and age, for a random sample of the population (n = 368). Ten meaningful correlated factors were extracted from the matrix of intercorrelations. The intercorrelations between these ten factors were in turn factor-analysed, and three second-order factors extracted. These were interpreted to represent (1) general conservative-radical ideology; (2) socio-economic conservatism v. socialism; (3) tough-mindedness v. tender-mindedness. These factors were almost completely orthogonal and independent of each other; thus there are clearly two kinds of ‘conservatism’, independent of each other, and related in different ways to social class. Middle-class people tend to be more radical with respect to general attitudes, but more conservative with respect to economic attitudes, than working-class people.
A feedback loop regulates the switch from one sigma factor to the next in the cascade controlling Bacillus subtilis mother cell gene expression

Regulation of gene expression in the mother cell compartment of sporulating Bacillus subtilis involves sequential activation and inactivation of several transcription factors. Among them are two sigma factors, sigmaE and sigmaK, and a DNA-binding protein, SpoIIID. A decrease in the level of SpoIIID is thought to relieve its repressive effect on transcription by sigmaK RNA polymerase of certain spore coat genes. Previous studies showed that sigmaK negatively regulates the level of spoIIID mRNA. Here, it is shown that sigmaK does not affect the stability of spoIIID mRNA. Rather, sigmaK appears to negatively regulate the synthesis of spoIIID mRNA by accelerating the disappearance of sigmaE RNA polymerase, which transcribes spoIIID. As sigmaK begins to accumulate by 4 h into sporulation, the sigmaE level drops rapidly in wild-type cells but remains twofold to fivefold higher in sigK mutant cells during the subsequent 4 h. In a strain engineered to produce sigmaK 1 h earlier than normal, twofold less sigmaE than that in wild-type cells accumulates. SigmaK did not detectably alter the stability of sigmaE in pulse-chase experiments. However, beta-galactosidase expression from a sigE-lacZ transcriptional fusion showed a pattern similar to the level of sigmaE protein in sigK mutant cells and cells prematurely expressing sigmaK. These results suggest that the appearance of sigmaK initiates a negative feedback loop controlling not only transcription of spoIIID, but the entire sigmaE regulon, by directly or indirectly inhibiting the transcription of sigE.