Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Business Social Responsibility: Perspectives of Businesses and Social Workers

ABSTRACT This article compares the attitudes of social workers and business employees regarding the community involvement of businesses and the role of social workers in this involvement. The study, based on a structured questionnaire, was conducted in Israel and consisted of 316 participants from two cohorts: social workers and business employees. The principal findings show that social workers are more inclined than business employees to recommend that social workers increase their involvement in business social responsibility (BSR); business employees are more likely than social workers to advocate that the latter assume managerial functions; both groups support a low level of influence for social workers on decision-making processes and a role of exchange of knowledge rather than full partnership. The discussion addresses the implications of the findings for increasing social workers' involvement in BSR and cooperation with the business sector.
Transfer of Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria between Intermingled Ecological Niches: The Interface between Humans, Animals and the Environment

The use of antimicrobial agents has been claimed to be the driving force for the emergence and spread of microbial resistance. However, several studies have reported the presence of multidrug-resistant bacteria in populations exposed to low levels of antimicrobial drugs or even never exposed. For many pathogens, especially those organisms for which asymptomatic colonization typically precedes infection (e.g., Enterococcus spp. and Escherichia coli), the selective effects of antimicrobial use can only be understood if we considerer all biological and environmental pathways which enable these bacteria, and the genes they carry, to spread between different biomes. This ecological framework provides an essential perspective for formulating antimicrobial use policies, precisely because it encompasses the root causes of these problems rather than merely their consequences.
Aphasia blog talk: How does stroke and aphasia affect a person’s social relationships?

Background: Stroke and aphasia can negatively affect a person’s ability to maintain healthy social relationships, both within the family and also with friends and the wider network. To date, this has been explored predominantly through qualitative interviews and questionnaires. Blogs written by people with aphasia constitute a novel source of data, comprised of people’s own voices on issues that are of concern to them. Aims: To explore the impact of stroke and aphasia on a person’s relationships with family, friends and the wider network through analysing blogs written by people with aphasia. Methods & Procedures: Blog search engines were used to identify blogs sustained by a sole author who had aphasia following a stroke, and which reflected on their social network. The data were analysed qualitatively using framework analysis. Outcomes & Results: The systematic search resulted in 10 relevant blogs. Participants were aged between 26 and 69 years old, lived in the community, were at least 1 year post stroke and included six women and four men. Aphasia was a consistent thread running through the blogs affecting conversations with all parts of a person’s network and impacting on participants’ sense of self. They found it more difficult to take part in family activities and described higher degrees of dependence and changed family dynamics. Contact with friends was reduced, partly due to communication and physical difficulties. While some participants became motivated to become members of groups post stroke, contact with the wider network sometimes diminished, in part because of loss of work and community activities. An additional factor impacting on social relationships was other people’s positive or negative reaction towards the person with aphasia. Finally, the blogs reflected on the importance of support they had received, both from close family and also from the wider community. Conclusions: This study found that social relationships played a crucial role in people’s lives following a stroke and aphasia. Nonetheless, family relationships, friendships and social exchanges within the wider social network were all substantially affected. Exploring this area through online narratives offered a rich and highly authentic source of data. The findings suggest that clinicians should incorporate social approaches in rehabilitation and consider ways to foster the maintenance of social networks. The use of social media by people with aphasia should be further explored, both as a therapeutic outlet and also as a way for people with aphasia to feel connected to a wider community.
Experimental investigation of breakdown strength of mineral oil-based nanofluids

Nanofluids were fabricated by employing nanoparticles with different dielectric properties as modifiers to improve the dielectric performance of the mineral oil. Breakdown voltages under AC and lighting impulse stresses were measured to evaluate breakdown strength of these nanofluids. The results indicated that the addition of semiconductive nanoparticles to the base oil can improve the breakdown strength at the optimum concentration of nanoparticle. However, the insulating nanoparticles were unfavorable for the overall dielectric strength of the nanofluids. A possible mechanism was discussed based on the physical properties of the suspended nanoparticles.
Explaining lower‐order traits through higher‐order factors: the case of trait procrastination, conscientiousness, and the specificity dilemma

In proposing that the higher‐order factor (lack of) Conscientiousness is the major proximal source of the lower‐order trait procrastination, this study set up three approaches to examine this question: the degree to which a measure of the factor would parallel a measure of the trait in predicting dilatory behaviour and negative affect, the degree to which the factor would replace the trait in these predictions, and the extent to which the relations of the trait and the factor to negative affect would be mediated by Neuroticism. University students, 232 females and 48 males, completed a trait procrastination scale and the Conscientiousness and Neuroticism factor scales of the NEO‐PI‐R. They also responded to a measure of dilatory behaviour concerning their academic work, and to a measure of negative affect involving dejection and agitation. Trait procrastination was negatively related to the Conscientiousness factor and to each of its facets. Relations of trait procrastination and of Conscientiousness tended to parallel one another. Indicative of the specificity dilemma, trait procrastination outperformed Conscientiousness in predicting trait‐specific dilatory behaviour. On the other hand, Conscientiousness was the better predictor of dejection. The mediating role of Neuroticism tended to be comparable in linking both the trait and the factor to negative affect. Discussion centres on additional ways to overcome the specificity dilemma when attempting to locate the proximal source of a lower‐order trait within a higher‐order factor. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Dual-Process Model in Semantic Priming: A Functional Imaging Perspective

In this positron emission tomography study, we investigated the neural correlates of semantic priming, where response to a word is facilitated when preceded by a semantically related word. Nine normal subjects were scanned while performing a lexical decision task. Within this condition, the proportion of related prime-target word pairs was varied across scans from 0 to 100%. The control task involved letter decision on consonant letter strings, controlling orthographic processing and response selection. First, lexical decision (relative to letter decision) activated regions previously observed in lexicosemantic tasks, i.e., the left anterior and inferior temporal lobe and left inferior frontal gyrus. Behavioral analysis confirmed significant facilitation of lexical decision to related targets (mean priming effect 68 ms). It also suggested the contribution of both automatic and strategic processes, consistent with theoretical accounts of priming. Automatic priming was indicated by consistent RTs to related targets irrespective of the proportion of related word pairs per scan. Strategic processing was indicated by decreases in RTs to nonwords as the proportion of related targets increased. Nonlinear correlational analysis of cerebral activity during lexical decision revealed a neurophysiological correlate of these behavioral effects in (i) the left anterior temporal lobe (BA 38), a region involved in lexicosemantic processing; (ii) the anterior cingulate cortex, right premotor region (BA 6), and right superior parietal lobe (BA 7), regions associated with attentional processes. We conclude that in this experimental context, semantic priming involves both automatic and strategic processing.
Automatic Affective Appraisal of Words

Slower colour-naming reaction times (RTs) for negatively valenced Stroop words (e.g. SELFISH printed in green ink) than for positively valenced words (e.g. TOLERANT printed in blue ink) have been taken as evidence of an automatic vigilance mechanism that directs attention towards undesirable events and objects. These findings were replicated when words were shown at fixation but not when they were shown away from the locus of fixation. The failure of negative word valence to capture spatial attention is compared with the capture that has been found with angry and threatening facial expressions. From an ecological view of social perception both findings are unsurprising. Unlike words, facial expressions have evolved to provide the species with adaptively important information.
Long-Term Effects of Child Corporal Punishment on Depressive Symptoms in Young Adults

Based on a sample of 649 students from 3 New England colleges, this study examined the long-term effects of childhood corporal punishment on symptoms of depression and considered factors that may moderate or mediate the association. Similar to national studies, approximately 40% of the sample reported experiencing some level of corporal punishment when they were 13 years old. Findings indicated that level of corporal punishment is positively related to depressive symptoms, independent of any history of abuse and the frequency of other forms of punishment. Although parental monitoring and perceived norms regarding corporal punishment had no direct or moderating effects, level of parental anger during corporal punishment was the strongest predictor of depression. The association between “angry corporal punishment” and symptoms of depression in young adulthood is partially mediated by mastery and self-esteem. Implications of these finding are discussed.
Everyday resilience: Narratives of single refugee women with children

This article offers a critical exploration of the concept of resilience, which is largely conceptualized in the literature as an extraordinary atypical personal ability to revert or ‘bounce back’ to a point of equilibrium despite significant adversity. While resilience has been explored in a range of contexts, there is little recognition of resilience as a social process arising from mundane practices of everyday life and situated in person-environment interactions. Based on an ethnographic study among single refugee women with children in Brisbane, Australia, the women’s stories on navigating everyday tensions and opportunities revealed how resilience was a process operating inter-subjectively in the social spaces connecting them to their environment. Far beyond the simplistic binaries of resilience versus non-resilient, we concern ourselves here with the everyday processual, person-environment nature of the concept. We argue that more attention should be paid to day-to-day pathways through which resilience outcomes are achieved, and that this has important implications for refugee mental health practice frameworks.
Aging Men’s Health-Related Behaviors

This conceptual review summarizes the current research on older men and their health-related behaviors with special attention given to the influence of the hegemonic masculinity framework over the life span. The authors consider whether masculinity precepts can be modified to enable men to alter their gendered morbidity/mortality factors and achieve healthier and longer lives. Also included is an overview of the gender-based research and health education efforts to persuade men to adopt more effective health-related behaviors or health practices earlier in the life span. Given the current attention being paid to men’s health, for example, their higher risk of morbidity and mortality both generally and at younger ages, and the associated health care costs tied to those risks, the ethical and economic implications of this review may prove useful.
The importance of radiological methods in the diagnosis of pancreatic carcinoma , experience at University Clinical Centre of Kosova ( 2011-2014 )

The aim of this paper is to evaluate and to analyze the importance of their imaging methods in diagnosis and stage of pancreatic carcinoma, our experience of imaging characteristics of recently diagnosed pancreatic cancers at University Clinical Center of Kosovo. This is a retrospective research study done during the period of 2011-2015. This retrospective research study includes 97 patients recently diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, examined in the period of 2011-2015 at the University Clinical Center of Kosovo. The imaging diagnostics are performed with EchoPhilips, MSCT Sensation 64 Siemens, MSCT Emotion 6 Siemens, and 1.5T MRI Symphony Siemens, in the Radiologic Clinic of UCCK; while the histopathology diagnostics has been performed in Clinic of Pathology at UCCK. Out of a total of the 97 patients diagnosed with pancreas cancer, 76 cases resulted in head and neck 79.4 % (n=76), 20 cases resulted in body and tail cancers (21%), 1 cases resulted metastasis in pancreas by carcinoma in colon, distant metastases in first imaging modality were found in(n=42) patients 43.3 %, local infiltration was found in patients: gastric infiltration (n=15), duodenal and papilla infiltration (n=26), local infiltration spleen (n=2), local infiltration mesentery ( n= 43), dilated biliary tree (n=34), regional lymph node infiltration (n=83). Out of a total of the 97 patients diagnosed with pancreas cancer ,85 cases resulted > 2 cm and 11 cases resulted < 2 cm and with component cystic was 41.2 %( n = 40), solid with component cystic – necrotic 33% (n=32), solid 25.8% (n=25). Seventy-four percent (74%, n=72) of all cancers are found in Stage III and IV. From an imaging point of view, these cancers were presented in an advanced stage, mainly due to their late clinical symptoms and limited access to imaging methods in our country.
Literature Review on Induction and Mentoring Related to Early Career Teacher Attrition and Retention

Early career teacher attrition is a matter of economic, social, and educational concern in many countries. Usually induction programs, including mentoring, are seen to alleviate the problem of early career teacher attrition. Mentoring/induction programs as a solution to what is defined as the problem of early career teacher attrition and retention is the focus for this literature review to determine the current research base that supports such programs and initiatives. Concerns were raised that perhaps induction and mentoring had become the acceptable or taken-for-granted solution to the problem of early career teacher attrition and retention without sufficient attention to the research base. In this article, the literature is summarized, concerns are raised, and new research directions are highlighted.
Novel Small Molecule Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonist Stimulates Insulin Secretion in Rodents and From Human Islets

OBJECTIVE The clinical effectiveness of parenterally-administered glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) mimetics to improve glucose control in patients suffering from type 2 diabetes strongly supports discovery pursuits aimed at identifying and developing orally active, small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonists. The purpose of these studies was to identify and characterize novel nonpeptide agonists of the GLP-1 receptor. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS Screening using cells expressing the GLP-1 receptor and insulin secretion assays with rodent and human islets were used to identify novel molecules. The intravenous glucose tolerance test (IVGTT) and hyperglycemic clamp characterized the insulinotropic effects of compounds in vivo. RESULTS Novel low molecular weight pyrimidine-based compounds that activate the GLP-1 receptor and stimulate glucose-dependent insulin secretion are described. These molecules induce GLP-1 receptor-mediated cAMP signaling in HEK293 cells expressing the GLP-1 receptor and increase insulin secretion from rodent islets in a dose-dependent manner. The compounds activate GLP-1 receptor signaling, both alone or in an additive fashion when combined with the endogenous GLP-1 peptide; however, these agonists do not compete with radiolabeled GLP-1 in receptor-binding assays. In vivo studies using the IVGTT and the hyperglycemic clamp in Sprague Dawley rats demonstrate increased insulin secretion in compound-treated animals. Further, perifusion assays with human islets isolated from a donor with type 2 diabetes show near-normalization of insulin secretion upon compound treatment. CONCLUSIONS These studies characterize the insulinotropic effects of an early-stage, small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist and provide compelling evidence to support pharmaceutical optimization.
Africans in the diaspora: black-white earnings differences among America's Africans

The condition of Africans in the diaspora proffers insight into not just their adaptation to their new countries, but also the nature of racial stratification at their destinations. We examine race differences in earnings between black and white Africans in America and find sizeable differences among immigrants who have relatively similar human capital profiles. Whites have annual earnings 80 per cent higher than their black counterparts, and the gap in hourly wage is almost 48 per cent. More significantly, more than half (53 per cent) of the race difference in wages remains unexplained by earnings-related attributes such as education, occupation, and hours worked. We discuss these results against the backdrop of the ongoing debate on discrimination and the significance of race for socio-economic attainment in America.
Oral administration of a nitric oxide synthase inhibitor enhances de novo mammalian angiogenesis mediated by TNF‐alpha, saline and mast‐cell secretion

In healthy adult rats, the test tissue that is used in the mesenteric‐window angiogenesis assay is natively vascularized, lacks physiological angiogenesis, and is unperturbed by surgical intervention. Using the rat MWAA oral treatment with the nitric oxide (NO) synthase inhibitor Nw‐nitro‐L‐arginine methyl ester (L‐NAME) enhanced the angiogenic response (compared with controls receiving the inactive enantiomer D‐NAME) following i.p. injections of (i) TNF‐alpha at an approximate physiological dose, (ii) Compound 48/80, which is a highly selective secretagogue causing mast‐cell secretion in situ and a very strong angiogenic response, and (iii) saline of a grade not made for infusion, causing a weak angiogenic response. Angiogenesis was assessed quantitatively using microscopic morphometry and image analysis in terms of objective variables recording the microvascular spatial extension, microvascular density, number and length of microvessel segments (extending between two successive branching points) and the degree of microvessel tortuosity. The data strongly suggest that endogenous NO inhibits all three mammalian angiogenesis reactions, although to a markedly different extent. Notably, the present data are virtually the opposite of those that have been reported from other mammalian angiogenesis models, the test tissues of which display deranged homeostasis, such as surgical intervention and/or ischemia.
Separation of Arabidopsis Pollen Tetrads Is Regulated by QUARTET1, a Pectin Methylesterase Gene1[W]

Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) QUARTET (QRT) genes are required for pollen separation during normal floral development. In qrt mutants, the four products of microsporogenesis remain fused and pollen grains are released as tetrads. In Arabidopsis, tetrad analysis in qrt mutants has been used to map all five centromeres, easily distinguish sporophytic from gametophytic mutations, and accurately assess crossover interference. Using a combination of forward and reverse genetics, we have identified the gene responsible for the qrt1 phenotype. Annotation predicts that QRT1 encodes a pectin methylesterase (PME), and enzymatic assays of QRT1 expressed in Escherichia coli indicate that QRT1 has PME activity. Promoter and transcription analysis demonstrate QRT1 is expressed in anther tissues shortly after meiosis is complete. Unexpectedly, the QRT1 promoter is also active in a variety of developmentally unrelated tissues, including developing guard cells, the hypocotyl-root transition zone, areas of lateral root emergence, and floral nectaries. PMEs constitute a large gene family in Arabidopsis, are involved in cell wall loosening, and have been implicated in various aspects of floral development and pollen tube elongation. The identification of QRT1 as a PME contributes to our understanding of pollen development and may help to provide valuable genetic tools in other plant species.
PTEN Loss Does Not Predict for Response to RAD001 (Everolimus) in a Glioblastoma Orthotopic Xenograft Test Panel

Purpose: Hyperactivation of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt signaling through disruption of PTEN function is common in glioblastoma multiforme, and these genetic changes are predicted to enhance sensitivity to mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors such as RAD001 (everolimus). Experimental Design: To test whether PTEN loss could be used as a predictive marker for mTOR inhibitor sensitivity, the response of 17 serially transplantable glioblastoma multiforme xenografts was evaluated in an orthotopic therapy evaluation model. Of these 17 xenograft lines, 7 have either genomic deletion or mutation of PTEN. Results: Consistent with activation of Akt signaling, there was a good correlation between loss of PTEN function and elevated levels of Akt phosphorylation. However, of the 7 lines with disrupted PTEN function, only 1 tumor line (GBM10) was significantly sensitive to RAD001 therapy (25% prolongation in median survival), whereas 1 of 10 xenograft lines with wild-type PTEN was significantly sensitive to RAD001 (GS22; 34% prolongation in survival). Relative to placebo, 5 days of RAD001 treatment was associated with a marked 66% reduction in the MIB1 proliferation index in the sensitive GBM10 line (deleted PTEN) compared with a 25% and 7% reduction in MIB1 labeling index in the insensitive GBM14 (mutant PTEN) and GBM15 (wild-type PTEN) lines, respectively. Consistent with a cytostatic antitumor effect, bioluminescent imaging of luciferase-transduced intracranial GBM10 xenografts showed slowed tumor growth without significant tumor regression during RAD001 therapy. Conclusion: These data suggest that loss of PTEN function is insufficient to adequately predict responsiveness to mTOR inhibitors in glioblastoma multiforme.