Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Random polycrystals of grains containing cracks: Model of quasistatic elastic behavior for fractured systems

A model study on fractured systems was performed using aconcept that treats isotropic cracked systems as ensembles of crackedgrains by analogy to isotropic polycrystalline elastic media. Theapproach has two advantages: (a) Averaging performed is ensembleaveraging, thus avoiding the criticism legitimately leveled at mosteffective medium theories of quasistatic elastic behavior for crackedmedia based on volume concentrations of inclusions. Since crack effectsare largely independent of the volume they occupy in the composite, sucha non-volume-based method offers an appealingly simple modelingalternative. (b) The second advantage is that both polycrystals andfractured media are stiffer than might otherwise be expected, due tonatural bridging effects of the strong components. These same effectshave also often been interpreted as crack-crack screening inhigh-crack-density fractured media, but there is no inherent conflictbetween these two interpretations of this phenomenon. Results of thestudy are somewhat mixed. The spread in elastic constants observed in aset of numerical experiments is found to be very comparable to the spreadin values contained between the Reuss and Voigt bounds for thepolycrystal model. However, computed Hashin-Shtrikman bounds are much tootight to be in agreement with the numerical data, showing thatpolycrystals of cracked grains tend to violate some implicit assumptionsof the Hashin-Shtrikman bounding approach. However, the self-consistentestimates obtained for the random polycrystal model are nevertheless verygood estimators of the observed average behavior.
Hypervolemia and blood alkalinity: effect on physiological strain in a warm environment.

PURPOSE To evaluate the influence of acute hypervolemia, achieved through the ingestion of a sodium citrate-rich beverage, on cardiovascular strain and thermoregulatory function, during moderate-intensity aerobic exercise in a warm environment. Sodium citrate's ability to increase buffering capacity was also assessed. METHODS Twelve endurance-trained athletes completed two blind randomized treatment trials, separated by a minimum of seven days, on a cycle ergometer under heat stress (30.9 degrees C, 64% RH). The subjects ingested 12 mL.kg(-1) of (1) Gatorade, the control (CNT), or (2) sodium-citrate plus Gatorade (NaCIT: 170 mmol Na+L(-1)) before cycling at 15% below ventilatory threshold (VT) for 62 minutes. Core and skin temperature, expired gas samples, heart rate, and perceived exertion were measured throughout exercise. Blood samples were taken before drinking each beverage, before commencing exercise, and throughout the exercise bout. RESULTS Plasma volume (PV) was significantly expanded in the NaCIT trial (3.6+/-5.5%) and remained significantly higher throughout exercise in the NaCIT trial compared with the CNT trial (P<or=.05). No significant differences were found in heart rate, in core and skin temperature, or in the metabolic data between the treatment groups. NaCIT significantly increased [HCO3-], base excess, and pH throughout the trial. CONCLUSION Acute oral ingestion of high-sodium citrate beverages before moderate exercise induces mild levels of hypervolemia and improves blood-buffering capacity in humans; however, mild hypervolemia during 62 minutes of moderate exercise does not reduce physiological strain or improve thermoregulation.
A Systematic Replication Comparing Interteaching and Lecture in the Community College Classroom

ABSTRACT Researchers demonstrated the effectiveness of interteaching relative to lecture in 4-year university classrooms, but exploration in other settings is deficient. This systematic replication examines the extent to which interteaching leads to increased exam scores compared to traditional lecture in the community college classroom. Participants in two introductory psychology sections took identical exams following counterbalanced alternating lecture and interteaching conditions. Most student exam scores following interteaching were slightly higher than exams following the lecture condition, with statistically significant differences in two of the six exams. Students in both sections correctly answered more interteaching-based than lecture-based questions on the cumulative final exam, although these differences were not significant. During interteaching, students earned significantly more points throughout the semester compared to the lecture condition. Also, more students reportedly preferred interteaching relative to lecture. The results of this study comparing interteaching to lecture in a community college setting are consistent with the results in the original study within a 4-year university classroom. Students’ exam score gains and significant cumulative point differences suggest interteaching may be an effective alternative to traditional lecture, potentially producing meaningful differences in student performance within the community college setting.
Microsecond Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Lipid Mixing

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of membranes are often hindered by the slow lateral diffusion of lipids and the limited time scale of MD. In order to study the dynamics of mixing and characterize the lateral distribution of lipids in converged mixtures, we report microsecond-long all-atom MD simulations performed on the special-purpose machine Anton. Two types of mixed bilayers, POPE:POPG (3:1) and POPC:cholesterol (2:1), as well as a pure POPC bilayer, were each simulated for up to 2 μs. These simulations show that POPE:POPG and POPC:cholesterol are each fully miscible at the simulated conditions, with the final states of the mixed bilayers similar to a random mixture. By simulating three POPE:POPG bilayers at different NaCl concentrations (0, 0.15, and 1 M), we also examined the effect of salt concentration on lipid mixing. While an increase in NaCl concentration is shown to affect the area per lipid, tail order, and lipid lateral diffusion, the final states of mixing remain unaltered, which is explained by the largely uniform increase in Na+ ions around POPE and POPG. Direct measurement of water permeation reveals that the POPE:POPG bilayer with 1 M NaCl has reduced water permeability compared with those at zero or low salt concentration. Our calculations provide a benchmark to estimate the convergence time scale of all-atom MD simulations of lipid mixing. Additionally, equilibrated structures of POPE:POPG and POPC:cholesterol, which are frequently used to mimic bacterial and mammalian membranes, respectively, can be used as starting points of simulations involving these membranes.
Application of moment invariants to visual servoing

In this paper, we present how moment invariants can be used to design a decoupled 2D visual servoing scheme and to minimise the nonlinearity of the interaction matrix related to the selected visual features. Experimental results using a 6 DOF eye-in-hand system to position a camera parallel to planar objects of complex shape are presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method.
Developmental aspects of handwriting acquisition

This research set out to examine the changes in handwriting in children from the earliest learning experiences at about five years old through to the time that they leave education in late adolescence. The aims were to explore the changes that occur in handwriting, both of features used and their variability, to establish when they occur and to determine what the consequences are for the process of individualisation. A coding scheme was devised that was used to establish detailed changes in feature use of particular letters in the handwriting of children. The scheme was tested and then revised to give a practical tool to use in the examination of large numbers of handwriting samples in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies that followed. In the cross-sectional study three handwriting tasks (normal composition, neat copying and fast copying) were completed by 144 participants from six different age groups. Firstly, the results showed that, there are underlying higher order dimensions of handwriting that emerge from some of the individual features. Secondly, across all tasks, the variability of handwriting increased from the younger children and peaked at about 10-11 years old and then decreased. Within this general trend, there was also evidence that writing faster than normal led to increased variability in letter formation for younger children, but reduced variability for older children. Thirdly, some individualisation was present even in the youngest children, but the extent of this increased such that by late adolescence it was nearly almost complete. In the longitudinal study handwriting samples from a smaller number of children were obtained over three years. The findings were similar to those obtained in the cross-sectional study. The implications of this for handwriting acquisition in particular and skill acquisition in general are considered. The research concludes that there is potential to extend the approach used in this research to clarify higher order dimensions of handwriting production, that the variability of handwriting is a good measure for determining handwriting development in children, that this variability increases up to the age of 10-11, and then declines, and that the handwriting of each child progressively develops its own style away from that of his or her peers.
THE ROLE OF CLINICALLY APPLICABLE TEMPORAL RESOLUTION AND WORKING MEMORY TESTS IN PREDICTION OF SPEECH PERCEPTION AND HEARING HANDICAP

Clinical audiometric measures can only partially account for older adults? speech perception performance in difficult listening situations, such as in noise. Speech perception in noisy situations is the primary complaint of most individuals seeking hearing health care. It is not surprising, therefore, that clinical methods perform poorly in predicting self-reported hearing handicap. Two factors that have been proposed to account for this disconnect between audiometric hearing loss and speech perception difficulty are auditory temporal resolution and working memory. The role of these factors in speech perception performance in noise and in self-report of hearing handicap were examined for a group of middle-aged and older adults reporting a hearing loss. Experimental measures were chosen for their potential ease of implementation into a clinical setting. Declines in hearing sensitivity, temporal resolution, and working memory were found to be significantly correlated with decreased speech perception ability and increased hearing handicap. Loss of hearing sensitivity was the strongest predictor of speech perception difficulty. When hearing sensitivity was controlled, temporal resolution threshold was only significantly related to speech perception for the oldest participants. Self-reported hearing handicap was weakly associated with declines in hearing sensitivity, temporal resolution, and speech perception ability. The strongest predictor of hearing handicap was speech perception ability in noise. Previously unreported increases were seen in right-ear / left-ear asymmetry of temporal resolution threshold independent of decline in hearing sensitivity. In addition, more than two-thirds of participants were classified as having abnormal temporal processing according to published normative data. These findings suggest a need for re-evaluation of the temporal resolution task and establishment of age- and hearing-loss-appropriate normative values. ( en )
The Association between Personality and Individual Differences and Stigma toward People with Mental Disorders

Although research examining the stigma of mental disorders is burgeoning, there has been little research exploring the personality and individual differences that may be associated with mental disorders stigma. The current study examined the relation between stigma toward mental disorders and social-psychological individual difference variables (intergroup anxiety, empathic concern, perspective taking, and modern prejudice toward people with mental disorders). As well, the Big Five and Honesty-Humility personality traits were examined at factor- and facet-levels to replicate and extend previous research that has examined their relations with stigma. The social-psychological individual difference variables were significantly correlated with mental disorders stigma. More interestingly, regression models indicated that intergroup anxiety, empathic concern, and modern prejudice accounted for more variance in the prediction of stigma than Big Five factors and facets. Additionally, results indicate the utility of examining factor- and facet levels, rather than only the factor level. These results highlight the need to further examine individual characteristics and personality in stigma research. To conclude, the current findings are discussed in the context of interventions aimed at reducing the stigma of mental disorders.
Pengaruh komunikasi interpersonal, dan motivasi berprestasi terhadap kepuasan kerja guru SMA Parulian 2 Medan

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh komunikasi interpersonal terhadap motivasi berprestasi dan kepuasan kerja, dan pengaruh motivasi berprestasi terhadap kepuasan kerja Guru SMA Parulian 2 Medan. Hasil analisis jalur menemukan (1) koefisien jalur antara komunikasi interpersonal (X1) dengan motivasi berprestasi (X2), yaitu ρ21 = 0,726; (2) koefisien jalur antara komunikasi interpersonal (X1) dengan kepuasan kerja (X3), yaitu ρ31 = 0,343;dan (3 koefisien jalur antara motivasi berprestasi (X2) dengan kepuasan kerja (X3), yaitu ρ32 = 0,511 adalah signifikan pada α sebesar 0,05.
A preliminary investigation of diversity, abundance, and distributional patterns of chitons in intertidal boulder fields of differing rock type in South Australia

The rock type of hard substrata marine habitats can affect numerous benthic invertebrates, but little is known of the effects on molluscan assemblages, for example, the chitons often found under intertidal boulders. We compared chiton assemblage composition, abundance, species richness, and patterns of frequency distribution in 10 boulder fields containing either hard metamorphic/igneous boulders or soft limestone boulders in two geographical areas in South Australia. Similar species richness occurred in both types of boulder fields, but hard rock boulder fields had greater overall abundances, because of particularly large abundances of some common species. Differences in abundances of common species also resulted in significantly different assemblages occurring between the boulder field types. Some species appeared aggregated among boulders, but this pattern was variable between boulders in differing areas and of differing rock type. In one area, a common species had variable aggregation that caused frequency distributions to differ significantly between boulders of different rock types. These results indicate that rock type needs to be considered when investigating ecological patterns and processes involving specialist molluscs such as under-boulder chitons and to ensure comprehensive marine reserve planning for protecting rare invertebrates in rocky intertidal reefs.
The sufficiency and necessity of appraisals for negative emotions

Past appraisal studies have shown that single appraisals are neither sufficient nor necessary for emotions but no study has examined the same issue with appraisal configurations (combinations of different single appraisals). Undergraduate participants repeatedly indicated their negative emotions (anger, sadness, fear, and guilt) and relevant appraisals as they occurred, or immediately after, in their everyday environments. The results not only replicated past findings on single appraisals but also suggested that appraisal configurations are neither sufficient nor necessary for these negative emotions.
Nothing But Net? Corporate Image and Web-Based Testing

The dramatic surge in the use of the Internet for administering employee selection procedures has generated substantial interest in how candidate reactions to these tools influence perceptions of a potential employer. However, it is unlikely that all candidates attend to the same characteristics of Internet-based systems, or that these characteristics influence all candidates in similar ways. In this study involving a cross-organizational applicant sample, we observed strong links between system speed and user-friendliness perceptions, and company image. In addition, our results indicated that these characteristics are more impactful for candidates with less prior Internet experience and potentially, for older candidates as well. We review implications of our findings for organizations pursuing the Internet as an exclusive or primary medium for administering selection tools.
Phase‐retrieved pupil function and coherent transfer function in confocal microscopy

This work reports on the retrieval of the pupil function and coherent transfer function of a coherent reflection type confocal microscope from simulated measurements of the intensity point spread function. Two phase retrieval algorithms are presented in this vein, which incorporate the multiple pupil dependence of image formation in confocal microscopy. Verification of the algorithms follows by numerical simulations.
Evaluation of Students' Mathematical Problem Solving Skills in Relation to Their Reading Levels.

The purpose of the current study is to investigate the correlation between students’ reading levels and mathematical problem solving skills. The present study was conducted in line with a qualitative research method, i.e., the phenomenological method. The study group of the current research is composed of six third grade students with different reading levels. The data of the study were collected through the reading of texts, the Ekwall/Shanker reading inventory and the problem solving think-aloud protocol. The collected data were evaluated using a descriptive analysis method. Once the study had been completed, it was concluded that problem solving skills varied according to reading level.
Cajal‐type cells from human mammary gland stroma: phenotype characteristics in cell culture

We report here the in vitro isolation of Cajal‐like interstitial cells from human inactive mammary‐gland Stroma. Primary cell cultures examined in phase‐contrast microscopy or after vital methylene‐blue staining revealed a cell population with characteristic morphological phenotype: fusiforms, triangular or polygonal cell body and the corresponding (very) long, slender, moniliform cytoplasmic processes. Giremsa staining pointed out the typical knobbed aspect of cell prolongations. Immunofluorescence (IF) showed, like in situ immunohistochemistry, that Cajal‐type cells in vitro (primary culltures), expressed c‐kit/CD117 and vimentin. In conclusion, the images presented here reinforce our previous hypothesis that human mammary glands have a distinct population of Cajal‐like cells in non‐epithelial tissue compartments.
Transplantation of wild-type mouse hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells ameliorates deficits in a mouse model of Friedreich’s ataxia

YG8R mice, a model of Friedreich’s ataxia, show amelioration of the disease phenotype when transplanted with wild-type mouse hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells. Cell therapy for Friedreich’s ataxia Friedreich’s ataxia (FRDA) is a lethal hereditary disease characterized by ataxia, neurodegeneration, muscle weakness, and cardiomyopathy and for which there is no treatment. Using a mouse model of FRDA, Rocca et al. show that wild-type hematopoietic stem and progenitor cell (HSPC) transplantation could lead to the rescue of the disease phenotype, including locomotor defects and muscle weakness. In addition, mitochondrial protein dysfunction was restored in the brain, skeletal muscle, and heart of the FRDA mice, potentially through transfer of mitochondrial proteins from HSPC-derived phagocytic cells to FRDA neurons and muscle myocytes. Friedreich’s ataxia (FRDA) is an incurable autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disease caused by reduced expression of the mitochondrial protein frataxin due to an intronic GAA-repeat expansion in the FXN gene. We report the therapeutic efficacy of transplanting wild-type mouse hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) into the YG8R mouse model of FRDA. In the HSPC-transplanted YG8R mice, development of muscle weakness and locomotor deficits was abrogated as was degeneration of large sensory neurons in the dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) and mitochondrial capacity was improved in brain, skeletal muscle, and heart. Transplanted HSPCs engrafted and then differentiated into microglia in the brain and spinal cord and into macrophages in the DRGs, heart, and muscle of YG8R FRDA mice. We observed the transfer of wild-type frataxin and Cox8 mitochondrial proteins from HSPC-derived microglia/macrophages to FRDA mouse neurons and muscle myocytes in vivo. Our results show the HSPC-mediated phenotypic rescue of FRDA in YG8R mice and suggest that this approach should be investigated further as a strategy for treating FRDA.
Maternal Folate-Related Gene Environment Interactions and Congenital Heart Defects

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether women with congenital heart defect (CHD)–affected pregnancies were more likely to have functional single-nucleotide polymorphisms in genes encoding enzymes in folate-dependent pathways. METHODS: A population-based case–control study of 572 women with CHD-affected pregnancies and 363 women in the control group was conducted. DNA samples were genotyped for single-nucleotide polymorphisms in three genes encoding for folate pathway enzymes. Maternal lifestyle factor information was obtained using standardized interviews. RESULTS: Women in the case group were 1.5 times more likely to be obese (body mass index of 30 or higher) compared with those in the control group. Obese women carrying the MTHFR TT genotype were 4.6 times more likely to have an affected pregnancy compared with normal-weight women carrying a CC genotype. Obese women carrying one or two copies of the A allele in the BHMT polymorphism were 1.8 times more likely to have a CHD-affected pregnancy than were normal-weight women carrying a BHMT GG genotype. Among women who smoked, those carrying a TCII CG or GG genotype were 1.8 times more likely to have an affected fetus than were women who smoked and carried a CC genotype. Among women who drank alcohol, those carrying a TCII CG or GG genotype were 1.7 times more likely to have an affected fetus than were women who drank and carried a CC genotype. CONCLUSION: Results indicate that functional polymorphisms in folate-related genes increase the risk of having a fetus with CHD when maternal lifestyle factors that alter folate metabolism are present. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II
An Ecological Approach to Bullying in Korean Adolescents

Bullying has become an increasingly grave social problem in Korea and, as such, researchers have attempted to identify the various factors involved in bullying, along with victimisation experiences, in adolescents. However, previous research has often been fragmentary, examining only the individual, family or school factors, thereby failing to take an ecological perspective that can provide a more in-depth understanding of the behaviour involved in bullying. Moreover, such studies often view bullying as a single type of behaviour rather than one composed of different subtypes that may have different causes. Therefore, this study examined the long-term effects of individual, family and school factors on bullying and victimisation experiences from a sample of 3,449 middle school students. Logistic regression analyses were employed in order to understand how various ecological factors influence youth bullying and victimisation experiences. The findings supported the hypothesis, which noted that the key factors varied with regard to the bullying and victimisation subtypes. Lastly, implications and future directions are discussed.