Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mechanical Performance of the New Posterior Spinal Implant: Effect of Materials, Connecting Plate, and Pedicle Screw Design

Study Design. A newly designed spinal implant was tested to evaluate multicycle stiffness and fatigue resistance. Objectives. To investigate the effect of different materials, connecting plate, and pedicle screw design on the mechanical performance of the spinal implant. Summary of the Background Data. The addition of cross-linkages did not significantly increase implant compression/flexion stiffness, but accelerated fatigue failure at the rod junctions. Both Ti-6Al-4V spinal implants and the 316L stainless-steel counterparts have been used extensively for clinical cases; however, design factors establishing the proposed superiority of the Ti-6Al-4V implant for fatigue resistance have not, as yet, been extensively studied. Methods. Twenty implants with connecting plates (two materials by two screw designs by five implants) and five implants without connecting plates were assembled to UHMWPE blocks and cyclically loaded from 60 N to 600 N at a frequency of 5 Hz. Results. Failure sites for the tested prototypes were at the cephalic screw hubs or rod–plate junctions. All Ti-6Al-4V implants demonstrated reduced stiffness compared to the structurally identical 316L analogs. The use of connecting plates raised the stiffness of the 316L prototypes without cross-links. However, elimination of the connecting plate avoided stress concentration at the rod/plate junctions and increased fatigue life. The Ti-6Al-4V new system with the minimal notch effect at the screw hubs achieved greater fatigue resistance than its 316L counterpart. By contrast, enlargement of the inner-hub diameter resulted in greater gains for fatigue resistance than for stiffness, especially for Ti-6Al-4V variants. Conclusions. Although Ti-6Al-4V was superior to 316L for endurance-limit properties, structural design of the Ti-6Al-4V implant dramatically affects fatigue resistance. This may explain the differences between existing studies and the current report, comparing fatigue life forimplantsmade from these two materials. Our results reveal that Ti-6Al-4V must be carefully treated because of sensitivity to notch, with special consideration given to screw-hub design.
Mixing times for random k-cycles and coalescence-fragmentation chains

Let $\mathcal{S}_n$ be the permutation group on $n$ elements, and consider a random walk on $\mathcal{S}_n$ whose step distribution is uniform on $k$-cycles. We prove a well-known conjecture that the mixing time of this process is $(1/k)n\log n$, with threshold of width linear in $n$. Our proofs are elementary and purely probabilistic, and do not appeal to the representation theory of $\mathcal{S}_n$.
Torre de Londres e Torre de Hanói: contribuições distintas para avaliação do funcionamento executivo

OBJECTIVE: To produce theoretical study about comparisons of cognitive and methodological aspects involved in the performance of Towers of Hanoi and London in normal individuals. METHOD: Narrative review of the literature. RESULTS: The performances in these instruments do not share the expected variance due to the apparent similarities in your structure and solution demand. Correlations significant, however moderate, among the two towers performance, were found reflecting the average of 75% of the nonshared variance. CONCLUSIONS: Both towers recruit different executive processes for task solution and cannot be used as exchangeable instruments.
Advanced LOS path-loss model in microcellular mobile communications

This paper proposes an advanced line-of-sight path-loss model incorporating characteristics of an actual urban environment. Accurate results are obtained by using a two-path model with shadowing caused by obstacles that would appear in an actual urban environment and rising reflection area caused by vehicular traffic. By applying the model in an urban environment, microcellular path loss can be predicted from ultra-high-frequency to microwave bands.
Violent incidents on a medium secure unit: the target of assault and the management of incidents

The aim of this article is to examine the factors associated with the target of assault and management of incidents on a medium secure unit. Analysis of 2,180 violent incident forms was carried out to investigate the relationship between legal section, diagnosis, age, gender and ethnic differences, and (1) characteristics of incidents (including severity and targets of assault), and (2) the management of incidents. The results show that nursing staff, followed by fellow patients, were the most likely victims of the assault. Gender, ethnic background, diagnosis and legal section were significantly related to the target of assault. When the management of patients after an incident was examined, significant ethnic differences were found. The findings show the importance of studying the interactions between different types of factors with regard to the characteristics and management of incidents.
A mathematical model of the mechanical link between shortening of the cardiomyocytes and systolic deformation of the left ventricular myocardium.

BACKGROUND Left ventricular myocytes are arranged in a complex three-dimensional mesh. Since all myocytes contract approximately to the same degree, mechanisms must exist to enable force transfer from each of these onto the framework as a whole, despite the transmural differences in deformation strain. This process has hitherto not been clarified in detail. OBJECTIVE To present a geometrical model that establishes a mechanical link between the three-dimensional architecture and the function of the left ventricular myocardium. METHODS The left ventricular equator was modeled as a cylindrical tube of deformable but incompressible material, composed of virtual cardiomyocytes with known diastolic helical and transmural angles. By imposing reference circumferential, longitudinal, and torsional strains onto the model, we created a three-dimensional deformation field to calculate passive shortening of the myocyte surrogates. We tested two diastolic architectures: 1) a simple model with longitudinal myocyte surrogates in the endo- and epicardium, and circular ones in the midwall, and 2) a more accurate architecture, with progressive helical angle distribution varying from -60° in the epicardium to 60° in the endocardium, with or without torsion and transmural cardiomyocyte angulation. RESULTS The simple model caused great transmural unevenness in cardiomyocyte shortening; longitudinal surrogates shortened by 15% at all depths equal to the imposed longitudinal strain, whereas circular surrogates exhibited a maximum shortening of 23.0%. The accurate model exhibited a smooth transmural distribution of cardiomyocyte shortening, with a mean (range) of 17.0 (13.2-20.8)%. Torsion caused a shortening of 17.0 (15.2-18.9)% and transmural angulation caused a shortening of 15.2 (12.4-18.2)%. Combining the effects of transmural angulation and torsion caused a change of 15.2 (13.2-16.5)%. CONCLUSION A continuous transmural distribution of the helical angle is obligatory for smooth shortening of the cardiomyocytes, but a combination of torsional and transmural angulation changes is necessary to execute systolic mural thickening whilst keeping shortening of the cardiomyocytes within its physiological range.
Psychopathy and verbal emotion processing in non-incarcerated males

Incarcerated males who score high on personality measures of psychopathy are reported to be less efficient than other incarcerated males in processing emotionally laden stimuli. In this study, we evaluated whether an emotion deficit is also present in non-incarcerated higher functioning males who score high on psychopathy personality measures. A sample of male university students was screened for psychopathic personality, and two subsamples, those who scored high or low on global psychopathy, participated in a series of language processing tasks designed to assess verbal emotion processing. Unlike previous studies of emotion processing in the verbal domain, stimuli also systematically varied in abstractness. The results showed that participants scoring high in psychopathy were less efficient than those scoring low in psychopathy in processing negatively valenced words, across all levels of word abstractness. The results extend previous accounts of emotional processing deficits in individuals with psychopathic personality to a relatively high-functioning non-incarcerated sample.
Cross Cultural Differences in Managers’ Support for Home-Based Telework

Home-based telework is one of the arrangements organizations can introduce to facilitate a better balance between employees’ professional and private lives. This article focuses on the question of under what conditions managers grant a subordinate’s request to telework and what role national cultures play herein. By looking into managers’ willingness to delegate power and to trust home-based teleworkers we try to explain the slow adoption of home-based telework and the reported differences across Northern and Southern European countries. In doing so we will make use of Hofstede’s writings on national cultures and of the propositions made by the telework literature on how to mitigate the potential trust problem associated with distance working. The purpose of the article is to develop new hypotheses regarding factors that influence managerial decision-making concerning telework and how these interact with national cultures. To test the hypotheses, a cross-national vignette study is proposed.
Housing Wealth and Inheritance

ABSTRACT Owner-occupation is now an important source of wealth for many people. Housing has experienced price appreciation much in excess of most other assets over the last 20 years and, at the same time, owner-occupation has expanded dramatically. This paper first discusses the impact that this growth in popular wealth holding has had on the overall distribution of income and points to its great importance for all groups except the very wealthy. The importance of housing wealth to the individual is also discussed. Despite the importance of housing wealth, both at an individual and at the broader level, there is virtually no evidence on the transmission of wealth between generations for the mass of people with moderate wealth. This paper rectifies this by analysing the patterns of inheritance of housing wealth for a sample of estates in Glasgow. The evidence shows that wealth left by owner-occupiers is typically passed to a very small group in the close family. The amount of money received can be quite substantial, but tends to go to those in the same or the following generation, that is, people already in middle or old age themselves. Thus, housing inheritance is not likely to be passed directly to young, first time buyers, but to people who already have an established housing career.
Modulation of neural activities by enhanced local selection in the processing of compound stimuli

The global precedence effect refers to the findings that responses are faster to a global structure than to its local parts and local responses are slowed by incongruent global information. We recorded high‐density event‐related potentials (ERPs) to study the role of enhanced local selection in the global precedence effect. Hierarchical stimuli were compound letters in which the local letters were either identical (homogeneous stimuli) or the central local letter was brighter than (bright stimuli) or different in color from the others (red stimuli). Subjects were asked to attend to the pop‐out local letter of the red and bright stimuli during the local task whereas there was no such instruction for the homogeneous stimuli. Top‐down attention to the pop‐out local item weakened the global reaction time advantage and the interference effect. The enhanced local selection decreased the amplitude of an occipito‐temporal negativity between 240–360 msec but increased the amplitude of a frontal‐central negativity between 260–320 msec related to local processing. The incongruency between global and local letters enlarged the posterior N2 in the local condition and this effect was eliminated by enhanced local selection. These effects were evident regardless of whether the pop‐out local letter was defined by color or luminance difference. The results support the proposal that distinct neural mechanisms over the posterior and anterior areas are engaged in the selection process that contributes to local processing of compound stimuli. Hum. Brain Mapping 19:273–281, 2003. © 2003 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Group Investigation Effects on Achievement, Motivation, and Perceptions of Students in Singapore

In an experiment conducted in 7 eighth-grade (Ages 13-14) classes in Singapore, the authors evaluated the effects of the group investigation method of cooperative learning versus the effects of the traditional whole-class method of instruction on students' academic achievement and on their motivation to learn. The authors also investigated students' perceptions of group investigation. Students in group investigation and in whole-class instruction advanced to the same extent over the course of the experiment. Neither method was more effective academically than the other method. As expected, the high-achieving students had significantly higher academic achievement than did the low-achieving students. The group investigation method did not have differential effects on the 2 groups of high and low achievers. Group investigation affected high achievers' motivation to learn on the Criteria subscale only.
Inhibition of nitric oxide, bradykinin, and prostaglandins in normal rats.

We assessed the vasodilator effect of endothelium-derived nitric oxide by inhibiting its formation with NG-monomethyl L-arginine (LNMMA) on systemic and regional hemodynamics in conscious, normotensive rats, using the radioactive microsphere technique. In rats injected with 10 mg/kg LNMMA (n = 8), mean blood pressure increased by 16.2 +/- 2.6 mm Hg, and heart rate decreased by 54.3 +/- 16.7 beats per minute. In comparison with rats injected with 5% dextrose (n = 14), cardiac index was lower by 35.6% (p less than 0.01), and total peripheral vascular resistance was higher by 51.6% (p less than 0.01); regional blood flows were lower and vascular resistance higher in most organs. Changes were significant in the heart, kidney, stomach, large intestine, skin, and adrenals (p less than 0.05). Preinjection of 100 mg/kg L-arginine prevented the pressor response but only partially attenuated the other hemodynamic effects of LNMMA. Combination of LNMMA with the bradykinin antagonist (D-Arg-Arg-Pro-Hyp-Gly-Thi-Ser-D-Phe-Thi-Arg)trifluoroacetic acid (50 micrograms/min for 5 minutes) did not produce systemic or regional effects different from those obtained with LNMMA alone. Combination of LNMMA with indomethacin (10 mg/kg) resulted in additional changes in the cerebral circulation, blood flow decreasing by an additional 44.2% (p less than 0.01) and vascular resistance increasing by 75.3% (p less than 0.01) compared with changes produced by LNMMA alone. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Improving Young Children's Writing: The Influence of Story Structure on Kindergartners' Writing Complexity

This study examined the change in complexity of kindergarteners' writing after implementing writing instruction based on story elements. Writing samples from six students of three ability levels were collected over a 6-week period. Writing samples included students' oral language, pictures, and written text and were analyzed using two rubrics specifically created for this study, one for writing development and the other for the inclusion of story elements. Findings from this study suggest that students from all ability levels understood the story elements, included them in varying degrees within their texts, and used them as cues to create more complex representations of their thinking. Additionally, acknowledging oral language and pictures provided a more accurate representation of the student author's thinking than the written text alone.
Short-term outcome of psychiatric inpatients with anorexia nervosa in the current care environment.

OBJECTIVE The current study describes the short-term outcome of 61 inpatients with anorexia nervosa (AN), utilizing a standardized protocol that could be completed by most patients within the typical length of stay (LOS) in an academic medical center in our geographic area. METHOD Patients were placed on disorder-specific and medication clinical pathways and completed questionnaires at admission and discharge. Diagnostic, historical, demographic, and treatment-related information was obtained. RESULTS Treatment was sufficient to resolve acute medical problems, initiate refeeding, and interrupt compensatory behaviors, but continued intensive treatment will be critical to full recovery. Patients were discharged at an average of 85% of ideal body weight (IBW). Twenty patients were discharged against medical advice (AMA). Clinical and demographic variables poorly predicted AMA status. DISCUSSION Attainable inpatient treatment goals in our care environment appear to be > or = 80% IBW at discharge, resolution of acute medical problems, and interruption of compensatory behaviors. Future research should examine whether shorter LOS increases readmission rates or long-term costs.
Developing competencies in the entrepreneurial small firm for use of the Internet in the management of customer relationships

This article explores the competencies needed by the entrepreneurial small firm (ESF) owner/manager for the effective use of the Internet in managing customer relationships. The research reviews a theoretical model of appropriate competencies and presents the findings of an empirical research programme designed to establish the value of this model. The article goes on to propose a strategy for developing competencies in the use of the Internet.
Culture, psychology, and religion: critically appraising Jacob Belzen's contributions

This article presents a critical consideration of Jacob Belzen's contributions to and advocacy of a cultural psychology of religion; contributions of longstanding place and influence in the psychology of religion, summarised in Belzen's recent book Towards cultural psychology of religion: principles, approaches, applications. Belzen's contributions are commended to readers, and his book is championed as a major work of importance to anyone interested in mental health, religion, and culture. A critical appraisal suggests areas for further consideration and inclusion in future efforts.
Category-specific Naming Impairment for Artefacts: A New Case

Abstract Most cases of category-specific naming and recognition disorders are characterized by poorer performance with living entities, usually animals. Patients with the less frequently observed opposite pattern of impairment, i.e. better performance with biological entities than with non-living things, provide evidence for a double dissociation, making a strong case for the categorical organization of the semantic system. We describe a patient with a category-specific naming Impairment for tools. GP is a 27-year-old student, evaluated after the evacuation of a haemorrhage in the left temporal lobe. Naming was severely impaired, without significant modality, frequency, word length or grammatical class effects. A significantly inferior performance was present for non-living items (furniture and tools). GP's performance on tests assessing comprehension of the same Items (word-picture matching, forced-choice sentence verification) suggested that semantic knowledge about artefacts he could not name was large.
Classroom Uses of a Demonstration of the Incidental-Learning Paradigm

An incidental-learning demonstration was used as a within-group demonstration for a course in Memory and Cognition and as a between-groups laboratory experiment in an Experimental Psychology course. In Memory and Cognition, the goals were to introduce the incidental-learning paradigm and use it as a basis for the discussion of levels of processing theory and elaboration. In the Experimental Psychology course, this paradigm was used to expose students to analysis of variance, deception, and individually computer-administered experiments. Both designs and procedures produced significant results consistent with previous research, met various course objectives, and generated discussion.
Visual-action code processing by deaf and hearing children

Abstract Groups of deaf and hearing children, matched on age and non-verbal reasoning ability, were tested on one of three versions of a short-term memory task involving the production of action responses to previously paired visual stimuli. One version of the task required free (i.e. unordered) recall of actions when visual stimuli were presented simultaneously (i.e. in a composite figure). In the other versions of the task, there was serial presentation of the same sets of stimuli followed either by free recall or serial recall of actions that had been paired with the stimuli. There was a significant interaction between hearing status and task version, with deaf children showing superior performance on the simultaneous presentation-free recall task and inferior performance on the serial presentation-serial recall task. The results were interpreted in terms of differences in coding orientation arising from different histories of communicative experience.
An End to Gender Display Through the Performance of Housework? A Review and Reassessment of the Quantitative Literature Using Insights From the Qualitative Literature

According to the gender-deviance neutralization hypothesis, men and women in household circumstances that contradict the normal expectations of gender display their gender accordingly, by either increasing or decreasing their contribution to household tasks. In this article, I review and reassess the large-scale quantitative evidence, concluding that considerable doubt has subsequently been cast on this hypothesis. For women, research shows that the original identification of gender-deviance neutralization behavior was questionable, as it failed to take into account women's absolute levels of income. For men, both more recent quantitative and indicative qualitative research suggests that such behavior was always limited to a very small group. Subsequent changes in the contributions to housework of men from lower socioeconomic groups suggest that such display may no longer be evident.