Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Democracy and the Violation of Human Rights: A Statistical Analysis from 1976 to 1996

Most studies posit and identify a linear and negative relationship between democracy and the violation of human rights. Some research challenges this finding, however, suggesting that nonlinear influences exist. Within this article, we examine the structure of the relationship between democracy and repression during the time period from 1976 to 1996. To conduct our analysis, we utilize diverse statistical approaches which are particularly flexible in identifying influences that take a variety of functional forms (specifically LOESS and binary decomposition). Across measures and methodological techniques, we found that below a certain level, democracy has no impact on human rights violations, but above this level democracy influences repression in a negative and roughly linear manner. The implications of this research are discussed within the conclusion.
Repetitive negative thinking as a transdiagnostic process

The current paper provides an updated review of repetitive negative thinking as a transdiagnostic process. It is shown that elevated levels of repetitive negative thinking are present across a large range of Axis I disorders and appear to be causally involved in the maintenance of emotional problems. As direct comparisons of repetitive negative thinking between different disorders (e.g., GAD–type worry and depressive rumination) have generally revealed more similarities than differences, it is argued that repetitive negative thinking is characterized by the same process across disorders, which is applied to a disorder–specific content. On the other hand, there is some evidence that—within given disorders—repetitive negative thinking can be reliably distinguished from other forms of recurrent cognitions, such as obsessions, intrusive memories or functional forms of repeated thinking. An agenda for future research on repetitive negative thinking from a transdiagnostic perspective is presented.
Insights into Chromatin Structure and Dynamics in Plants

The packaging of chromatin into the nucleus of a eukaryotic cell requires an extraordinary degree of compaction and physical organization. In recent years, it has been shown that this organization is dynamically orchestrated to regulate responses to exogenous stimuli as well as to guide complex cell-type-specific developmental programs. Gene expression is regulated by the compartmentalization of functional domains within the nucleus, by distinct nucleosome compositions accomplished via differential modifications on the histone tails and through the replacement of core histones by histone variants. In this review, we focus on these aspects of chromatin organization and discuss novel approaches such as live cell imaging and photobleaching as important tools likely to give significant insights into our understanding of the very dynamic nature of chromatin and chromatin regulatory processes. We highlight the contribution plant studies have made in this area showing the potential advantages of plants as models in understanding this fundamental aspect of biology.
Lymph node dissection and survival in patients with early stage nonsmall cell lung cancer

Abstract It is still debatable whether complete mediastinal lymph node dissection (MLND) is associated with better survival than mediastinal lymph node sampling (MLNS) in surgical treatment of nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We aimed to assess the impact of lymph node dissection on long-term survival among stage I NSCLC patients. In this cohort study, 317 stage I NSCLC Chinese patients in Shanghai Chest Hospital were followed up for at least 10 years to evaluate the impact of different lymph node dissection modes on their survival. Among them, 161 patients were in the MLND group and 156 in the MLNS group. Overall survival and median survival times were calculated for the 2 groups. The association between lymph node dissection and the survival of NSCLC patients was assessed using Cox proportional-hazard models. Patients in the MLND group presented better survival (median survival time = 154.67 months) than those in the MLNS group (median survival time = 124.67 months). The MLNS had higher mortality than the MLND group, with the crude hazard ratio of the MLNS group relative to the MLND group as 1.32 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.97, 1.78). After adjusting for age and sex, the association between lymph node dissection and mortality (hazard ratio 1.36, 95% CI 1.00, 1.84) was statistically significant (P = .047). Further adjusting for baseline clinical characteristics, the association (hazard ratio 1.40, 95% CI 1.02, 1.92) remained statistically significant (P = .036). The association between lymph node dissection mode and mortality was strong among patients with tumor size between 2.0 and 3.0 cm (hazard ratio 2.79, 95% CI 1.45, 5.37). We found that the MLND was associated with better survival for patients with early-stage NSCLC, compared with the MLNS. The effects of MLND on survival may depend on tumor size. Our findings have important implications in the treatment of early-stage NSCLC. Further prospective studies with a large sample size are needed to confirm our findings.
In What Sense are Human Rights Political? A Preliminary Exploration

Philosophical discussion of human rights has long been monopolised by what might be called the ‘natural-law view’. On this view, human rights are fundamental moral rights which people enjoy solely by virtue of their humanity. In recent years, a number of theorists have started to question the validity of this outlook, advocating instead what they call a ‘political’ view. My aim in this article is to explore the latter view in order to establish whether it constitutes a valuable alternative to the ‘natural-law view’. In particular, I distinguish between three ways in which human rights can be political: in relation to their (1) iudicandum, (2) justification and (3) feasibility constraints. I argue that it makes sense to think of human rights as political in relation to both their iudicandum and their justification but in a way that is not always adequately captured by proponents of the political view. Moreover, I also claim that, if we take the political view seriously, we still need to engage in the sort of abstract moral reasoning that characterises the natural-law approach and which proponents of the political view significantly downplay.
Linking organizational trust with employee engagement: the role of psychological empowerment

Purpose – This study aims to investigate the relationship between organizational trust, psychological empowerment, and employee engagement. In addition, the study seeks to test the moderating role of psychological empowerment on the relationship between trust and engagement. Design/methodology/approach – Hierarchical regression analyses were carried out on a sample of 715 employees from seven commercial banks and four pharmaceutical companies in south-eastern Nigeria who participated in the survey. Findings – The results showed that organizational trust and psychological empowerment were predictors of work engagement. There was a moderating effect of empowerment on the relationship between trust and engagement. Research limitations/implications – The findings show that organizational trust and psychological empowerment that predict positive job behaviour in Western cultures are also critical in understanding Nigerian workers ' positive organizational behaviour such as work engagement. Practical implicatio.
Immunoprophylactic Effects of Administering Honeybee (Apis melifera) Venom Spray against Salmonella Gallinarum in Broiler Chicks

ABSTRACT Antibiotics continue to be used as growth promoters in the poultry industry. Honeybee (Apis melifera) venom (HBV) possesses a number of beneficial biological activities, particularly for regulating the immune system. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the immunoprophylactic effects of HBV against Salmonella Gallinarum in broiler chicks as an initial step towards developing eco-friendly alternatives to reduce antibiotic use. HBV was administered using a spray technique. HBV improved body weight gain, particularly in the presence of infection. Moreover, HBV enhanced antibody production activity against formalin-killed S. Gallinarum. The CD4+:CD8+ T lymphocyte ratio, relative mRNA expression levels of interleukin-18 and interferon-γ, and serum lysozyme activity also increased following HBV administration before the infection period as well as during infection. HBV reinforced bacterial clearance and increased survivability against S. Gallinarum. Corresponding pathological analyses demonstrated that the HBV-sprayed group displayed mild and less severe abnormal changes compared with those in the control group. It was presumed that the prophylactic effects of HBV against S. Gallinarum were associated with its non-specific immune response stimulating activity. Thus, HBV may provide an alternative to reduce antibiotic use in the poultry industry.
Benefits of sodium hexametaphosphate-containing chewing gum for extrinsic stain inhibition.

PURPOSE This study was designed to examine the ability of sodium hexametaphosphate delivered from a chewing gum to prevent extrinsic tooth stain formation. METHODS This study was a negative-controlled, randomized, two-period crossover design, with a 10-day washout period between treatments. The two treatments were a chewing gum containing 5.6% sodium hexametaphosphate and a negative control chewing gum. Eleven subjects who met study criteria were enrolled, and 10 completed the study over a two-week period. Each treatment period lasted approximately 48 hours and was separated by a washout period. After a dental prophylaxis, a digital image of the anterior teeth was taken to assess baseline stain. The three-day stain induction phase consisted of the patient using a 10 ml 0.2% chlorhexidine rinse for 60 seconds, followed by chewing two pellets/sticks of their assigned gum for five minutes and rinsing with 10 ml of cold tea solution for 60 seconds. No oral hygiene was permitted other than use of the test products. During both treatment periods, each subject followed the same regimen eight times, once per hour, throughout the day. RESULTS On Days 2 and 3, the adjusted mean L* measurement was statistically significantly greater for the sodium hexametaphosphate gum than for the control gum. Moreover, nine of the 10 subjects had whiter teeth while on the experimental gum treatment at both Day 2 and Day 3. CONCLUSION The results of this study support that sodium hexametaphosphate delivered from a chewing gum prevents dental stain formation and leads to a patient-desired whitening benefit.
DIFFERENCES Universals and Cultural Differences in the Judgments of Facial Expressions of Emotion

We present here new evidence of cross-cultural agreement in the judgment of facial expression, Subjects in 10 cultures performed a more complex judgment task than has been used in previous cross-cultural studies. Instead of limiting the subjects to selecting only one emotion term for each expression, this task allowed them to indicate that multiple emotions were evident and the intensity of each emotion. Agreement was very high across cultures about which emotion was the most intense. The 10 cultures also agreed about the second most intense emotion signaled by an expression and about the relative intensity among expressions of the same emotion. However, cultural differences were found in judgments of the absolute level of emotional intensity.
The potential of CLIL for intercultural development: a case study of Andalusian bilingual schools

Abstract The most outstanding overhaul in educational policies in Spanish monolingual communities has been the widespread implementation of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) programmes. This article delves into the supposedly indissoluble relationship between CLIL and intercultural communicative competence. Using as a basis a case study on CLIL primary and secondary school teachers' and students' perceptions, this study questions whether bilingual programmes in Andalusia provide learners with the necessary competences to cope efficiently with otherness. Findings show that CLIL presents an apparent potential for the development of crucial intercultural attitudes, the vital development of critical cultural awareness, and, finally, action-taking as a sophisticated outcome of both assessments.
Psychoanalytic approaches and outcome research: Negative capability or irritable reaching after fact and reason?

Keats famously proposed ‘negative capability’ as a key attribute of those who are original in science and literature. Bion directed the attention of psychoanalysts to some of the implications of this stance for the psychoanalytic method. Although the methods of formal outcome study have very different antecedents they also aim at the ideal of ‘research equipoise’. In relation to experience with the Tavistock Depression Study3 this paper explores how these different approaches may be comparable, and how much in conflict, in an environment where there are many pressures operating, and where both types of research are conducted for economic, social and political motives as well as to sustain. It is suggested that the explicit recognition of these issues may help both researchers and clinicians to address the important practical matters concerning the design, planning and conduct of research into outcome in psychoanalytic psychotherapy.
A queuing model for distributed scheduling in IEEE 802.16 wireless mesh networks

The IEEE 802.16 standard for wireless broadband networks includes the mesh mode in its specifications, where network nodes interact to deliver packets from a client to a remote destination through intermediate nodes. This paper presents a study of the capacity of IEEE 802.16 wireless networks in mesh mode by using M/G/1/L queuing model that represents each network node by incorporating the features of the standard in order to calculate the average delay and throughput in the node. An iterative method integrates the calculation results at each node, obtaining the end‐to‐end delay from any node of the mesh to the Base Station. Because of multiple hops, a node far from the Base Station may have its flows damaged. To minimize this problem, we propose a criterion for a fair distribution of resources. We show the numerical results of the model which indicate a good fit when compared with simulation results. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
The Influence of Knowing Someone with AIDS on Youth HIV Sexual Risk Behaviors

ABSTRACT Research indicates that knowing someone with HIV/ AIDS is associated with greater perceived risk of contracting HIV and changes in sexual risk behaviors. The current study with a sample of 1,172 examined whether knowing someone with HIV/AIDS influenced sexual risk communication and youth engagement in sexual intercourse using the Philadelphia Educational Longitudinal Study (PELS). Adolescents who reported personally knowing someone with AIDS were more likely to be female (p < .001) and Black (p < .007) or Hispanic (p < .019). These adolescents were 1.5 times more likely to report ever having had sex and 1.3 times more likely to have ever talked to their parent about how to avoid STDs and AIDS compared to youth who did not know someone with AIDS. Understanding if and how knowing someone with HIV/AIDS influences sexual activity may be an important approach in reducing new HIV infections.
Prevalence of Significant Carotid Artery Stenosis in Patients withSignificant Atherosclerotic Peripheral Arterial Disease

Background: Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) and carotid occlusive disease (COD) are both known to be specific manifestations of atherosclerosis so can be correlated to each other. An important area of investigation is to identify those with significant carotid artery stenosis (CAS) to reduce the risk of cerebrovascular events. Duplex ultrasound scanning (DUS) is considered a valuable imaging modality to evaluate carotid arteries with high sensitivity and specificity and virtually non-existent hazards. Objectives: We investigated the prevalence of significant CAS among patients with severe peripheral vascular disease (PVD) using carotid duplex. Methods: A total of 50 patients with PVD diagnosed as having significant PAD by peripheral angiography (PA) underwent carotid duplex scanning. Data were collected concerning known risk factors. Significant CAS was defined as a stenosis of 70% or greater. Results: The mean age was 61.6 ± 8.5 years, male (88%). Out of the 50 patients with significant PAD, 7 patients (14%) had significant Carotid Stenosis of which 6 patients (12%) had severe stenosis and 1 patient (2%) had totally occluded carotid artery. CAS was correlated with diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, smoking, coronary artery disease and severity of symptoms. On multivariate analysis, Diabetes and Dyslipidemia seemed to have independent influence. Conclusion: Significant CAS is prevalent among patients having significant PVD. Patients with PAD may be a suitable subgroup for screening for CAS using Carotid duplex, especially those with diabetes, dyslipidemia and positive CRP. Keywords: Carotid artery stenosis; Carotid duplex peripheral
The body as a battlefield: approaching children's politics

Abstract This article discusses the active role of children in everyday politics. Distinct from empowerment, it is suggested that children can be political on their own terms. The article focuses on revealing the social production of childhood, which takes place in the confrontation between child policy and children's own politics. Children's bodies are found to be both the main focus of policy practices and a central avenue of children's own agency. Hence, children are understood to be not only objects of policy, but also embodied political subjects. Using the example of Finnish child evacuees’ experiences during the Second World War, it is shown that, despite their positions in policy fields, children do act as political selves. Using the ideas of Michel de Certeau and Carl Schmitt, it is argued that there is an autonomous politics to children which can be recognized as a significant means of coping in their everyday lives. On these grounds, the article sets out to use Pierre Bourdieu's concept of political struggle in considering childhood spatialities in more detail. Overall, children's politics are understood as a wider geographical concept which requires further examination.
The fate of nitrogen in the Orbulina universa foraminifera‐symbiont system determined by nitrogen isotope analyses of shell‐bound organic matter

To trace the flow of nitrogen through the foraminifera‐symbiont system, juvenile specimens of the symbiont‐bearing planktonic foraminifera, Orbulina universa were collected by SCUBA divers off the coast of Santa Catalina Island, California, and grown in filtered seawater solutions spiked with 15N‐labeled nitrate. Our work isolated each pathway of this symbiotic system to determine the amount of nitrogen translocated to the foraminifera from its endosymbionts and its captured diet. Our model results show that when the nitrate uptake by the symbionts is at a maximum, between 50 and 57% of the foraminiferal nitrogen was translocated from the symbionts and the remainder was derived from the captured diet. In nitrate‐deficient environments, when the symbiont nitrate uptake was at a minimum, ∼90–100% of the nitrogen was transferred to the foraminifer by the symbionts from the recycled nitrogen (NH4+) pool. In nitrate‐deficient conditions, the primary role of the captured diet may be to provide the system with phosphorous. Highly efficient nutrient use is particularly important to the foraminifera‐symbiont system, especially when nutrient concentrations are low. The results indicate a limited correlation between the isotopic composition of the NO3− in the culture solutions and the Δ15n values of the foraminifera. However, the δ15n values of the foraminifera much more strongly reflect the δ15n values of the NH4+ recycled through the system. It appears that recycled nitrogen (NH4+) is a more important source of nitrogen to the symbionts and the foraminifera than nitrate; therefore, the δ15n values of the foraminifera may not reflect the isotopic composition of the surface‐water nutrients. Understanding the nitrogen flow within modern foraminifera‐symbiont associations is also important to ancient marine systems, because symbiont‐bearing foraminifera are ubiquitous in the fossil record. This study shows that analysis of individual, symbiont‐bearing foraminifera species is a necessary first step toward the development of more reliable use of nitrogen isotopes for paleoceanographic reconstructions.
Modeling Monthly Variation of Culex tarsalis (Diptera: Culicidae) Abundance and West Nile Virus Infection Rate in the Canadian Prairies

The Canadian prairie provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba have generally reported the highest human incidence of West Nile virus (WNV) in Canada. In this study, environmental and biotic factors were used to predict numbers of Culex tarsalis Coquillett, which is the primary mosquito vector of WNV in this region, and prevalence of WNV infection in Cx. tarsalis in the Canadian prairies. The results showed that higher mean temperature and elevated time lagged mean temperature were associated with increased numbers of Cx. tarsalis and higher WNV infection rates. However, increasing precipitation was associated with higher abundance of Cx. tarsalis and lower WNV infection rate. In addition, this study found that increased temperature fluctuation and wetland land cover were associated with decreased infection rate in the Cx. tarsalis population. The resulting monthly models can be used to inform public health interventions by improving the predictions of population abundance of Cx. tarsalis and the transmission intensity of WNV in the Canadian prairies. Furthermore, these models can also be used to examine the potential effects of climate change on the vector population abundance and the distribution of WNV.
Essentialist Beliefs About Bodily Transplants in the United States and India

Psychological essentialism is the belief that some internal, unseen essence or force determines the common outward appearances and behaviors of category members. We investigated whether reasoning about transplants of bodily elements showed evidence of essentialist thinking. Both Americans and Indians endorsed the possibility of transplants conferring donors' personality, behavior, and luck on recipients, consistent with essentialism. Respondents also endorsed essentialist effects even when denying that transplants would change a recipient's category membership (e.g., predicting that a recipient of a pig's heart would act more pig-like but denying that the recipient would become a pig). This finding runs counter to predictions from the strongest version of the "minimalist" position (Strevens,2000), an alternative to essentialism. Finally, studies asking about a broader range of donor-to-recipient transfers indicated that Indians essentialized more types of transfers than Americans, but neither sample essentialized monetary transfer. This suggests that results from bodily transplant conditions reflect genuine essentialism rather than broader magical thinking.