Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
“Network Intervention:.”: Assessing the Effects of Formal Mentoring on Workplace Networks

This article assesses the effects of formal mentoring on workplace networks. It also provides conceptual clarity and empirical evidence on expected gender differences in the effects of such programs. Qualitative interviews with 40 past participants in a formal mentoring program at a software laboratory in Beijing, China, provide insight into the core mechanisms by which such programs produce network change: access to organizational elites, participation in semiformal foci, enhanced social skills, and legitimacy-enhancing signals. These mechanisms are theorized to lead to an expansion in proteges' networks, relative to those of non-participants in formal mentoring. Legitimacy-enhancing signals are theorized to enable female proteges to derive greater network benefit from formal mentoring than their male counterparts. Empirical support for these propositions comes from a longitudinal quasi-experiment involving 75 employees who experienced the treatment of formal mentoring and 64 employees in a matched control group. A second empirical strategy, which exploits exogenous variation in the timing of treatment and enables a comparison of the post-program networks of one treated group to the pre-program networks of another treated group, provides corroborating support. These findings contribute to research on the efficacy of formal mentoring, gender and workplace networks, and the cumulative advantage or disadvantage that can arise from network change.
Using agglomerative hierarchical clustering to model learner participation profiles in online discussion forums

Online discussion forums are a key element in virtual learning environments. The way learners participate in discussion boards can be a very useful source of indicators for teachers to facilitate their tasks. The use of a two-stage analysis strategy based on an agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm is proposed in this paper to identify different participation profiles adopted by learners in online discussion forums. Different parameters are used to characterize learners' activity (amount of posts, rhythm, depth of threads, crossed replies, etc). Participation profiles are identified and analyzed in terms of behavior and performance.
Cultural Differences and Perceived Belonging During Korean Adoptees' Reunions With Birth Families

ABSTRACT The majority of past research on adoptees' reunions with birth families has focused on domestic adoptees, with little scholarly attention given to the reunions of transnational adoptees despite their large presence in western countries. To address this shortcoming in existing research, the current study explored adult Korean adoptees' reunions with their birth families, focusing on experiences of cultural differences and their perceived impact on relationships with birth family members. Nineteen adult Korean adoptees were interviewed about their reunions and relationships with their Korean birth (a.k.a., first) families. Participants reported cultural differences in family roles and expectations, standards for beauty and femininity, expectations for interactions, and past and present circumstances. These differences were reported to have a range of impacts on participants' subjective sense of belonging with birth families. Whereas some participants experienced estrangement resulting from these differences, others expressed a deep sense of belonging with their birth families. Scholarly and practical implications are discussed.
On fast exploration in 2D and 3D terrains with multiple robots

We present a fast multi-robotic exploration methodology for 2D and 3D terrains. An asynchronous exploration strategy is introduced which shows significant improvements over the existing synchronous ones. A per-time visibility metric is being utilized by the algorithm. The metric allots the same weight for points for next view whose visibility over time ratios are equal. The outcome of this is that while the number of points visited to explore a terrain is nearly the same as other popular metrics found in literature, the time length of the paths are smaller in this case resulting in reduced time exploration. The results have been verified through extensive simulations in 2D and 3D. In 2D multiple robots explore unknown terrains that are office like, cluttered, corridor like and various combinations of these. In 3D we consider the case of multiple UAVs exploring a terrain represented as height fields. We introduce a way for calculating expected visibilities and a way of incorporating explored features in the per-time metric. The maximum height of the UAV at each location is governed by the so called exposure surface, beneath which the UAVs are constrained to fly. We also show performance gain of the present metric over others in experiments on a Pioneer 3DX robot.
Machine Learning in Value-Based Software Test Data Generation

Software engineering research and practice thus far are primarily conducted in a value-neutral setting where each artifact in software development such as requirement, use case, test case, and defect, is treated as equally important during a software system development process. There are a number of shortcomings of such value-neutral software engineering. Value-based software engineering is to integrate value considerations into the full range of existing and emerging software engineering principles and practices. Machine learning has been playing an increasingly important role in helping develop and maintain large and complex software systems. However, machine learning applications to software engineering have been largely confined to the value-neutral software engineering setting. In this paper, we advocate a shift to applying machine learning methods to value-based software engineering. We propose a framework for value-based software test data generation. The proposed framework incorporates some general principles in value-based software testing and can help improve return on investment
Leadership and communication: discursive evidence of a workplace culture change

Communication is an important component in the construction of workplace identities, including leader and group identities. Micro-level analysis of everyday workplace discourse provides valuable insights into the way leadership is constructed and how workplace culture is created, maintained, and changed. In this context, leaders and managers are inevitably significant and influential participants, with a crucial impact on workplace culture. Drawing on audio and video data collected in 12 meetings of an IT department, the analysis demonstrates ways in which two leaders, who succeed each other in the role of Director, reinforce and shape the culture of the workplace in which they operate. While both leaders claim teamwork as an important cultural value for their teams, their respective instantiations of teamwork are rather different. To explore the leaders' effect on the culture of their department, this investigation of leadership change examines ways in which the leaders manage regular workplace meetings (communication with a predominantly transactional orientation) and how they contribute to workplace humour (more relationally oriented behaviour). The analysis provides detailed evidence of the ways in which a change in leadership style can create the conditions for a change in the culture of a community of practice.
Sex, Age, and Cultural Differences in Self-Reported Assertiveness

Differences in self-reported assertiveness associated with sex, age, cultural or ethnic group, and ordinal position (birth order) were examined. 782 undergraduate students completed the Rathus Assertiveness Schedule and provided the demographic information mentioned above. Men reported being more assertive than women. Older students indicated they were more assertive than younger students. Mexican-American women reported acting less assertively than Mexican-American men and Anglo-American women and men. This assessment of trait assertiveness was positively correlated with ratings of behavioral dominance in discussion groups.
Improving Equity and Access for Low-Income and Minority Youth Into Institutions of Higher Education

This article discusses the educational achievement status of racial and ethnic minorities, specifically African Americans and Latinos as compared to their Caucasian peers. In addition, this article describes several long-standing federal educational initiatives designed to improve educational equity and access on the part of low-income and underrepresented minorities into institutions of higher learning. Finally, the promise of a relatively new educational initiative called GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs) is illustrated with a detailed description of Connecticut's successful implementation of this approach. Underscored are implications this article has for research, policy, and practice in the educational arena.
Does training strengthen capacity?: Lessons from capacity development in Ghana, Ministry of Food and Agriculture

Developing countries, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, continue to face insurmountable challenges in building and sustaining capacity for development. This paper reports on a preliminary exercise to examine training and its contribution to developing capacity in the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, as an input to developing a larger research and development agenda to strengthen the capacity of the ministry to effectively implement its strategies. The paper is structured as follows. A brief review of relevant issues is presented first. Then section, the authors describe how the study was done and offer the findings, followed by some implications for developing a strategic framework for capacity development in the last section.
New Voices, New Visions: Toward A Lesbian/Gay Paradigm for Psychology

This article proposes an alternative model for psychological inquiry based in the experiences of lesbians and gay men. I propose that there are three elements that cross-situationally define a lesbian and gay reality: biculturalism, marginality, and normative creativity. Each of these elements is explored with examples of how these perspectives might alter the way that certain dominant notions about human relationships are understood. The article closes with questions regarding the application of this lesbian and gay paradigm to methodologies for inquiry. The relationship between a lesbian/gay paradigm for psychology and feminist questions regarding epistemology is also explored.
Combined hormonal contraception and its effects on mood: a critical review

Abstract Objectives: Adverse mood changes are sometimes cited as a reason for discontinuing combined hormonal contraception (CHC). A systematic review of recent literature was undertaken to characterise the nature of these side effects and identify characteristics that might predispose women to such effects. Methods: A MEDLINE review of studies from the past 30 years that focused on CHC and mood was performed. Database search was supplemented with studies found through citations and references. Results: The research literature on this topic is limited by a lack of prospective studies, a variety of measurements of mood, and a consolidation of many disparate types of contraceptives studied together in a single cohort. Common themes that emerge from review of these papers include (1) most women using CHC demonstrate no effect or a beneficial effect on mood, with a low incidence of adverse effects; (2) contraceptives containing less androgenic progestins may have fewer adverse effects on mood; (3) continuous and perhaps non-oral dosing of CHC has the fewest mood effects; (4) women with underlying mood disorders may be predisposed to mood effects, but this may reflect factors related to choice of contraception rather than the mood disorder itself. Conclusion: Inconsistent research methods and lack of uniform assessments make it difficult to make strong conclusions about which CHC users are at risk for adverse mood effects. Until more prospective data is available, clinicians should recognise that such effects are infrequent and CHC may be prescribed with confidence.
Social Relations as Contexts for Learning in School

Questions concerning what works in classrooms have been asked many times. The answers so far have not resulted in any substantial educational changes, and our school systems continue to be in considerable disarray. In this article, R. P. Mc- Dermott emphasizes the importance of understanding the way relations between teachers and children affect the development of learning environments and examines how classroom interaction may promote or retard learning. He describes how teaching styles depend on cultural contexts and examines successful and unsuccessful classrooms with examples from a variety of school systems, including Amish and inner-city American. McDermott suggests that the ethnographic study of classrooms will allow us to look carefully at learning in terms of how teachers and students "make sense" of each other and hold each other accountable, given the resources and limits of their community.
Decreased hyaluronan in airway smooth muscle cells from patients with asthma and COPD

Glycosaminoglycans (GAG) are essential extracellular matrix molecules which regulate tissue flexibility, a parameter that is reduced in airways of patients with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). We investigated the expression of GAG and their metabolising enzymes in primary human airway smooth muscle cells (ASMC) obtained from healthy donors (controls) and patients with asthma or COPD. Total GAG synthesis was assessed by [3H]-glucosamine incorporation. GAG were isolated, purified, fractionated by electrophoresis and characterised using specific GAG-degrading enzymes. Secretion of hyaluronic acid (HA) by ASMC from patients with asthma or COPD was significantly decreased compared with controls. RT-PCR analysis and western blotting revealed that this decrease was associated with a significant reduction in the expression of HA synthase-1 and -2 and a significant increase of hyaluronidase-1. Furthermore, the expression of the HA receptor CD44 was significantly decreased, whereas the receptor for HA-mediated motility was not expressed in asthma or COPD. Our results indicate that there is a decreased expression of HA in asthma and COPD associated with a synergistic regulation of HA metabolising enzymes that may regulate the pathological airway remodelling in these lung diseases.
Estimation of expectedness: Predictive accuracy of standard therapy outcomes in randomized phase 3 studies in epithelial ovarian cancer

The anticipated clinical outcome of the standard/control arm is an important parameter in the design of randomized phase 3 (RP3) trials to properly calculate sample size, power, and study duration. Changing patterns of care or variation in the study population enrolled may lead to a deviation from the initially anticipated outcome. The authors hypothesized that recent changes in patterns of care in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) have led to challenges in correctly estimating the outcome of control groups.
High-density surface EMG decomposition allows for recording of motor unit discharge from proximal and distal flexion synergy muscles simultaneously in individuals with stroke

Analysis of motor unit discharge can provide insight into the neural control of movement in healthy and pathological states, but it is typically completed in one muscle at a time. For some research investigations, it would be advantageous to study motor unit discharge from multiple muscles simultaneously. One such example is investigation of the flexion synergy, an abnormal muscle co-activation pattern in post-stroke individuals in which activation of shoulder abductors is involuntarily coupled with that of elbow and finger flexors. However, limitations in available technology have hindered the ability to efficiently extract motor unit discharge from multiple muscles simultaneously. In this study, we propose the use of high-density surface EMG decomposition from proximal and distal flexion synergy muscles (deltoid, biceps, wrist/finger flexors) in combination with an isometric joint torque recording device in individuals with chronic stroke. This innovative approach provides the ability to efficiently analyze both motor units and joint torques that have been simultaneously recorded from the shoulder, elbow, and fingers. In preliminary experiments, 3 stroke and 5 control participants generated shoulder abduction, elbow flexion, and finger flexion torques at 10, 20, 30 and 40% of maximum torque. Motor unit spike trains could be extracted from all muscles at each torque level. Mean motor unit firing rates were significantly lower in the stroke group than in the control group for all three muscles. Within the stroke group, wrist/finger flexor motor units had the lowest coefficient of variation. Additionally, modulation of mean firing rates across torque levels was significantly impaired in all three paretic muscles. The implications of these findings and overall impact of this approach are discussed.
Dosimetric impact of image-guided 3D conformal radiation therapy of prostate cancer

The goal of this work is to quantify the impact of image-guided conformal radiation therapy (CRT) on the dose distribution by correcting patient setup uncertainty and inter-fraction tumour motion. This was a retrospective analysis that used five randomly selected prostate cancer patients that underwent approximately 15 computed tomography (CT) scans during their radiation treatment course. The beam arrangement from the treatment plan was imported into each repeat CT study and the dose distribution was recalculated for the new beam setups. Various setup scenarios were then compared to assess the impact of image guidance on radiation treatment precision. These included (1) daily alignment to skin markers, thus representing a conventional beam setup without image guidance, (2) alignment to bony anatomy for correction of daily patient setup error, thus representing on-line portal image guidance, and (3) alignment to the ‘CTV of the day’ for correction of inter-fraction tumour motion, thus representing on-line CT or ultrasound image guidance. Treatment scenarios (1) and (3) were repeated with a reduced CTV to PTV margin, where the former represents a treatment using small margins without daily image guidance. Daily realignment of the treatment beams to the prostate showed an average increase in minimum tumour dose of 1.5 Gy, in all cases where tumour ‘geographic miss’ without image guidance was apparent. However, normal tissue sparing did not improve unless the PTV margin was reduced. Daily realignment to the tumour combined with reducing the margin size by a factor of 2 resulted in an average escalation in tumour dose of 9.0 Gy for all five static plans. However, the prescription dose could be escalated by 13.8 Gy when accounting for changes in anatomy by accumulating daily doses using nonlinear image registration techniques. These results provide quantitative information on the effectiveness of image-guided radiation treatment of prostate cancer and demonstrate that the dosimetric impact is patient dependent.
Measured Gene-Environment Interactions in Psychopathology

There is much curiosity about interactions between genes and environmental risk factors for psychopathology, but this interest is accompanied by uncertainty. This article aims to address this uncertainty. First, we explain what is and is not meant by gene-environment interaction. Second, we discuss reasons why such interactions were thought to be rare in psychopathology, and argue instead that they ought to be common. Third, we summarize emerging evidence about gene-environment interactions in mental disorders. Fourth, we argue that research on gene-environment interactions should be hypothesis driven, and we put forward strategies to guide future studies. Fifth, we describe potential benefits of studying measured gene-environment interactions for basic neuroscience, gene hunting, intervention, and public understanding of genetics. We suggest that information about nurture might be harnessed to make new discoveries about the nature of psychopathology.
Gearbox Fault Diagnostics using AE Sensors with Low Sampling Rate

Acoustic Emission (AE) sensors have been investigated as a potential tool for machinery health monitoring and fault diagnostics. While AE sensors could possibly provide higher fault detection sensitivity compared with vibration sensors, they also have some drawbacks. AE sensors generally output signals in the range of several hundred kHz up to several MHz, making the AE data sampling and processing costly. In this paper, a method on gearbox fault diagnosis using AE sensors with a low sampling rate is presented. In the presented method, a heterodynebased frequency reduction technique is employed to demodulate the AE signals and shift signal frequencies to a low range. The AE signals are sampled at a rate as low as 20 kHz, which is typically used for vibration signals sampling in industrial applications. Time synchronous average signals are computed from AE signals sampled at the low rate and used to compute condition indicators for gear fault diagnosis. The diagnostic performance of the condition indictors computed using both AE and vibration data sampled at the same rate of 20 kHz is compared. Both AE and vibration data is collected on a notational split torque gearbox with different levels of seeded tooth faults. The results have shown that AE signals sampled at a low rate suffice for fault detection purpose and are promising for damage level diagnosis. Compared with vibration analysis results, AE provides better fault diagnosis sensitivity to tooth damage level. Since AE is normally unaffected by the machine resonance, it can potentially offer more stable and reliable performance under the same sampling condition as vibration.
Antimicrobial effect of chlorhexidine on Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans biofilms associated with peri-implantitis

Background. This study aimed to assessthe antimicrobial effect of chlorhexidine (CHX) on Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans biofilms isolated from subgingival plaque of peri-implantitis lesions. Methods. Thirteen patients requiring peri-implantitis treatment were consecutively selected and their subgingival biofilm was collected by inserting fine sterile paper points into peri-implant pockets for 15 seconds. A. actinomycetemcomitans was isolated from the subgingival biofilm and cultured. In this study, the standard strain of A. actinomycetemcomitans served as the positive control group and a blank disc impregnated with water served as the negative control; 0.1 mL of the bacterial suspension was cultured on specific culture medium and blank discs (6 mm in diameter) impregnated with 0.2%CHX mouthrinse (Behsa Pharmaceutical Co.) and negative control discs were placed on two sides of the bacterial culture plate. The size of growth inhibition zone was measured by a blinded independent observer in millimetres. Results. According to the results of disc diffusion test, the mean diameter of growth inhibition zone of A. actinomycetemcomitans around discs impregnated with CHX was larger in both standard (positive control) and biofilm samples of A. actinomycetemcomitans compared to the negative control group (blank disc) (P<0.001). Conclusion. Use of0.2% CHX mouthwash had antibacterial effects on A. actinomycetemcomitans species isolated from peri-implantitis sites.