Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The effects of risk‐taking tendency on risk choice and pre‐ and post‐decisional information selection

Ideally, people seek and select information about unfamiliar risks with which they are confronted, before they make a risk choice. This study investigated what happens when people do not have this opportunity. The main question was how risk‐taking tendency influences intuitive risk decisions and how this impacts subsequent information search and subsequent choices. In the present study, participants had to make a choice about an unfamiliar risk, either before or after they had had the opportunity to search for (risk‐promoting or risk‐averse) information. In the condition where they could only seek for information after they had made a choice, they had to reconsider their first choice and make a second risk choice. We expected that (1) risk‐taking tendency would impact people's risk choices, but only in the situation where they have little information. On the basis of cognitive dissonance theory, it was furthermore predicted that (2) risk‐taking tendency and (3) initial risk choice would affect risk information selection. Furthermore, we predicted that (4) the first risk choice and (5) the risk information selected would influence the subsequent risk choice. The results suggest that if people make a first, intuitive decision about an unknown risk, risk‐taking tendency has an effect on the choice, but that this does not happen when people can first select information. Risk‐taking tendency did not influence information selection, but initial choice did (although in another way than we expected). Furthermore, both the first risk choice and the risk information selected affected subsequent risk choices. These findings suggest that people often make initial intuitive decisions that are influenced by personality characteristics, and that are subsequently difficult to change.
Perceptions of gender in athletic administration: utilizing role congruity to examine (potential) prejudice against women.

Based on the tenets of role congruity theory, the current study examined the unequal representation of men and women in athletic administration positions. A total of 158 female and 118 male (n = 276) athletic administrators evaluated a male or female candidate for an athletic director, compliance director, or life skills director position within athletics. Participants indicated no significant differences in masculine ratings of male or female candidates and significant differences in feminine ratings for female candidates in the life skills position. Male and female candidates were perceived as similar in potential and likely success in all positions. Finally, the female candidate was evaluated as significantly less likely to be offered the athletic director position when compared with the male candidate.
Is celebrity news, news?

In asking if celebrity news really is news as we know it, this article turns to an examination of the modes of production characteristic of celebrity news. Celebrity news is highly dependent upon the services of the publicity and promotions industries, and upon the provision of visual material from an increasingly well-organized set of paparazzi agencies. With the importance of the visual in today’s competitive media market, and the fact that most news organizations are now choosing to compete on the basis of entertainment rather than information, celebrity news has developed new modes of production that differentiate its practices and assumptions from many of the practices and assumptions underlying traditional versions of news and of newsgathering. Among the results, the article argues, is the redefinition of gossip as news, as it moves out of the social pages and onto the front pages.
Perceptions of Relational and Physical Aggression among College Students: Effects of Gender of Perpetrator, Target, and Perceiver

This study examined gendered perceptions of relational and physical aggressive behaviors and personal experiences with both types of aggression. Prior research suggested that physical aggression by males and relational aggression by females would be perceived most negatively. College students (186 female, 128 male) rated the acceptability and harmfulness of aggression in scenarios in which type of aggression and perpetrator and target gender were varied. As predicted, relational aggression by female characters and physical aggression by male characters were rated as less acceptable and more aggressive/harmful than the same behavior by the other gender. Thus, expectations regarding the gender-appropriateness of aggression appear to affect perceptions of such acts. Despite popular conceptions that females use and are harmed by relational aggression more than males, there was no gender difference in experience with relational aggression, nor were female targets viewed as more harmed by such aggression than their male counterparts.
Bioremediation of solid TNT particles in a soil slurry reactor: Mass transfer considerations

The bioreduction of solid TNT by a Pseudomonas fluorescens strain was investigated in a stirred tank reactor. Experiments in which TNT beads were the only solids present indicated that the biodegradation mechanism is dissolution followed by degradation in bulk solution. Dissolution may limit the overall rate, in which case degradation can be enhanced through increased agitation. Since soil slurries may contain high concentrations of solids other than TNT, Teflon chips were added to investigate two separate effects on TNT dissolution in slurries. First, Teflon solids increase the viscosity of the slurry, resulting in lower solid-liquid mass transfer coefficients. Second, the agitated Teflon slurry can grind or comminute TNT particles, creating additional surface area for mass transfer. Enhanced dissolution rates were observed for TNT beads in a Teflon slurry at higher agitator speeds. This suggests that the biodegradation of solid TNT nuggets in a soil slurry bioreactor may be enhanced under conditions that promote particle attrition.
Prioritizing selection of new elements: On the time course of the preview effect

The preview effect demonstrates that if observers in a visual search task are allowed a preview of a subset of elements before another subset of new elements is added, the first subset of elements does no longer compete for attentional selection. The aim of the present study was to investigate how long after the presentation of the new elements the preview effect can be preserved. Observers were presented with displays containing one set of elements (old elements) followed after a certain time interval by a second set of elements (new elements). Observers searched for the presence of a target among the new elements. The target appeared through an equiluminant colour change at varying intervals after the presentation of the new elements. The results indicated that the preview effect disappears beyond 200 ms after the presentation of the new elements. The results are discussed in terms of visual marking, temporal segregation, and onset capture.
Homicide in Barbados: an 18-year review

Demographic, logistical, psychiatric and legal aspects of 313 homicides in Barbados between 1978 and 1995 inclusive were described. The overall annual homicide rate was moderately high on an international scale, but the 'abnormal' homicide rate was comparable with that of other countries. There was general concordance with several trends established in previous psychiatric studies of homicide in other cultures. However, several atypical features were also described, including higher rates of previous violent offending in the abnormal group than the 'normal' group, the absence of the typical finding that abnormal killers tend to be older than normal killers, and the presence of normal group-type temporal aspects of killing in the abnormal group including a Friday/Saturday peak. There was an unexpected finding concerning the method of killing by the abnormal group, in that beheading was surprisingly frequent. The criminal justice system in Barbados dealt with mentally disordered offenders in a conservative manner, with no difference in murder and manslaughter conviction rates between normal and abnormal groups, and the complete absence of 'not guilty' findings for the abnormal homicide group. These latter findings may be best understood within a cultural framework.
Enhancing Mathematical Reasoning in the Classroom: The Effects of Cooperative Learning and Metacognitive Training

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of four instructional methods on students’ mathematical reasoning and metacognitive knowledge. The participants were 384 eighth-grade students. The instructional methods were cooperative learning combined with metacognitive training (COOP+META), individualized learning combined with metacognitive training (IND+META), cooperative learning without metacognitive training (COOP), and individualized learning without metacognitive training (IND). Results showed that the COOP+META group significantly outperformed the IND +META group, which in turn significantly outperformed the COOP and IND groups on graph interpretation and various aspects of mathematical explanations. Furthermore, the metacognitive groups (COOP+META and IND +META) outperformed their counterparts (COOP and IND) on graph construction (transfer tasks) and metacognitive knowledge. This article presents theoretical and practical implications of the findings.
Effects of an observer on handwashing in a public restroom.

This experiment tests a prediction derived from social influence theories that increased awareness of self enhances normative behavior, specifically, that the frequency and duration of handwashing in a public restroom will be increased by the presence of an observer. When a second person was present, 24 of 31 female subjects washed their hands after using toilet facilities, while only 11 of 28 washed when they were alone. Among those who washed, no significant difference in duration of washing was observed. The results are consistent with Wicklund's theory of objective self-awareness and other theories of social influence.
Structure, Composition and Metagenomic Profile of Soil Microbiomes Associated to Agricultural Land Use and Tillage Systems in Argentine Pampas

Agriculture is facing a major challenge nowadays: to increase crop production for food and energy while preserving ecosystem functioning and soil quality. Argentine Pampas is one of the main world producers of crops and one of the main adopters of conservation agriculture. Changes in soil chemical and physical properties of Pampas soils due to different tillage systems have been deeply studied. Still, not much evidence has been reported on the effects of agricultural practices on Pampas soil microbiomes. The aim of our study was to investigate the effects of agricultural land use on community structure, composition and metabolic profiles on soil microbiomes of Argentine Pampas. We also compared the effects associated to conventional practices with the effects of no-tillage systems. Our results confirmed the impact on microbiome structure and composition due to agricultural practices. The phyla Verrucomicrobia, Plactomycetes, Actinobacteria, and Chloroflexi were more abundant in non cultivated soils while Gemmatimonadetes, Nitrospirae and WS3 were more abundant in cultivated soils. Effects on metabolic metagenomic profiles were also observed. The relative abundance of genes assigned to transcription, protein modification, nucleotide transport and metabolism, wall and membrane biogenesis and intracellular trafficking and secretion were higher in cultivated fertilized soils than in non cultivated soils. We also observed significant differences in microbiome structure and taxonomic composition between soils under conventional and no- tillage systems. Overall, our results suggest that agronomical land use and the type of tillage system have induced microbiomes to shift their life-history strategies. Microbiomes of cultivated fertilized soils (i.e. higher nutrient amendment) presented tendencies to copiotrophy while microbiomes of non cultivated homogenous soils appeared to have a more oligotrophic life-style. Additionally, we propose that conventional tillage systems may promote copiotrophy more than no-tillage systems by decreasing soil organic matter stability and therefore increasing nutrient availability.
Primary cardiac tumors: surgical experience and follow-up.

BACKGROUND Primary cardiac tumors are rare. There are only a few reports of such tumors from India. METHODS AND RESULTS We report our experience with 34 patients with primary cardiac tumors operated on at our institute between December 1989 and October 2001. The study group comprised 16 males and 18 females with a mean age of 40.05 +/- 13.06 years (range 7-65 years). The predominant symptoms were breathlessness and congestive heart failure. In addition, 1 patient presented with peripheral embolism with impending limb ischemia that necessitated emergency embolectomy. Echocardiography was confirmatory in the diagnosis of all the benign tumors, whereas the malignant tumors were incidentally found during surgery. All the patients survived the operation. Complete resection of the tumor was possible only in benign tumors; however, malignant tumors were partly removed to relieve obstruction. All the excised benign tumors showed no recurrence on a mean follow-up of 54.78 +/- 31.30 months (range 3-108 months). Myxoma was found in 31 patients, left ventricular fibroma in 1, and leiomyosarcoma in 2. Both the patients with malignant tumors developed recurrence postoperatively, and succumbed to extensive distant metastases. CONCLUSIONS The long-term outcome of surgery was excellent in patients with benign cardiac tumors. However, malignant tumors had an unchanged prognosis, although symptomatic relief was achieved.
Coexistence of Reward and Unsupervised Learning During the Operant Conditioning of Neural Firing Rates

A fundamental goal of neuroscience is to understand how cognitive processes, such as operant conditioning, are performed by the brain. Typical and well studied examples of operant conditioning, in which the firing rates of individual cortical neurons in monkeys are increased using rewards, provide an opportunity for insight into this. Studies of reward-modulated spike-timing-dependent plasticity (RSTDP), and of other models such as R-max, have reproduced this learning behavior, but they have assumed that no unsupervised learning is present (i.e., no learning occurs without, or independent of, rewards). We show that these models cannot elicit firing rate reinforcement while exhibiting both reward learning and ongoing, stable unsupervised learning. To fix this issue, we propose a new RSTDP model of synaptic plasticity based upon the observed effects that dopamine has on long-term potentiation and depression (LTP and LTD). We show, both analytically and through simulations, that our new model can exhibit unsupervised learning and lead to firing rate reinforcement. This requires that the strengthening of LTP by the reward signal is greater than the strengthening of LTD and that the reinforced neuron exhibits irregular firing. We show the robustness of our findings to spike-timing correlations, to the synaptic weight dependence that is assumed, and to changes in the mean reward. We also consider our model in the differential reinforcement of two nearby neurons. Our model aligns more strongly with experimental studies than previous models and makes testable predictions for future experiments.
Identification of Lrp-regulated genes by inverse PCR and sequencing: regulation of two mal operons of Escherichia coli by leucine-responsive regulatory protein

We have used the technique of inverse PCR to identify Escherichia coli chromosomal genes carrying Lrp-regulated inserts. This technique revealed that malT, malEFG, and malB-lamB-malK are all activated two- to fivefold by Lrp and confirmed that Lrp regulates expression of the leuDBCA and livHJKG operons. lacZ transcription is also increased in the presence of Lrp. However, the growth rate of the Lrp mutant on maltose and lactose is not decreased by Lrp deficiency.
Psychophysiological Correlates of Disgust and Disgust Sensitivity

Abstract. The main goal of this study was to estimate the correlation between various psychophysiological variables and self-reported disgust during a picture perception paradigm. We further studied disgust sensitivity (DS) as a possible moderator variable for this relationship. Forty-seven subjects (23 females) were presented with a total of 36 pictures with different disgust intensities. Each picture was shown for 8s during which different physiological parameters were registered: heart rate (HR), skin conductance response (SCR), and electromyographic activity (EMG) of the musculus levator labii. Affective ratings and viewing times were assessed after the physiological registrations. The data were analyzed using hierarchical linear models. The degree of the disgust experience reported by the subjects showed a significantly negative correlation with HR and a significantly positive correlation with SCR. Disgust-inducing pictures resulted in higher EMG responses in comparison to neutral pictures, but there.
Beyond Left-Right Ideology in the Study of Justice Perception

This article outlines an alternative to traditional left-right ideological spectrum approaches to studying political opinion formation and distributive justice perception within cultures, highlighting instead the tension that exists between an interdependence distributive worldview focused on intimacy and social connectedness, and an independence distributive worldview focused on personal control and mastery over one’s life space. Employing data from the Cross-Cultural Variations in Distributive Justice Perception project, (a) quantitative measures of individual differences in personality orientations and (b) qualitative-interpretive measures of word-use patterns (in discussing distributive fairness issues) are applied within two exemplary cultural contexts (Jamaica, New Zealand) to examine the potential utility of the interdependence-independence model as a viable explanatory alternative to left-right theories of justice orientation. Profiles are constructed of salient features differentiating the distributive worldviews of interdependents and independents in Jamaica and New Zealand, and implications of this model are drawn for the study of distributive justice perception processes across cultures
MicroLib: A Case for the Quantitative Comparison of Micro-Architecture Mechanisms

While most research papers on computer architectures include some performance measurements, these performance numbers tend to be distrusted. Up to the point that, after so many research articles on data cache architectures, for instance, few researchers have a clear view of what are the best data cache mechanisms. To illustrate the usefulness of a fair quantitative comparison, we have picked a target architecture component for which lots of optimizations have been proposed (data caches), and we have implemented most of the performance-oriented hardware data cache optimizations published in top conferences in the past 4 years. Beyond the comparison of data cache ideas, our goals are twofold: (1) to clearly and quantitatively evaluate the effect of methodology shortcomings, such as model precision, benchmark selection, trace selection. , on assessing and comparing research ideas, and to outline how strong is the methodology effect in many cases, (2) to outline that the lack of interoperable simulators and not disclosing simulators at publication time make it difficult if not impossible to fairly assess the benefit of research ideas. This study is part of a broader effort, called MicroLib, an open library of modular simulators aimed at promoting the disclosure and sharing of simulator models.
Perceived Fairness of Performance Appraisals in the Federal Government

Studies suggest that the success of the performance appraisal system may depend on how to manage employees’ perceptions of its fairness, not the system per se. Using the 2005 Merit Principles Survey, this study tests the efficacy of perceived fairness of performance appraisals as a key determinant of intrinsic motivation. The purpose of this article is twofold: (a) to identify factors of perceived fairness of performance appraisal and (b) to assess the differential impact of each factor of perceived fairness of performance appraisal on intrinsic motivation. An exploratory factor analysis generated three separate but interrelated notions of perceived fairness variables: distributive, procedural, and interactional fairness. Using these three perceived fairness variables, a hierarchical regression analysis was performed. The results showed that although all three perceived fairness variables positively associated with intrinsic motivation, they accounted for only 5% of variance in prediction. When control variables were added, only perceived procedural fairness appeared to positively affect intrinsic motivation. The results raise the question of the role of performance appraisals as a motivational tool for performance improvement. Nonetheless, managing perceived procedural fairness may still be a useful lever for enhancing intrinsic motivation.
Effect of Response Time on Perceptions of Bargaining Outcomes

This research reports three studies that examine how cues which emerge from the bargaining environment, such as the time taken by an opponent to respond to an offer, influence perceptions of bargaining outcomes. Study 1 finds that bargainers were more satisfied with outcomes when an offer was accepted after a delay than when accepted immediately. Study 2 shows that inferences of the level of conflict within the opponent underlie the effect of response time on perceptions of bargaining outcomes. Study 3 shows that the presence of an objective (or diagnostic) referent moderates the influence of response time.
Reintroduction of Antidepressant Therapy across Pregnancy in Women Who Previously Discontinued Treatment

Background: Pregnancy has frequently been described as a time of emotional well-being conferring ‘protection’ against psychiatric disorders. However, data to support this impression are sparse. Methods: A retrospective review was undertaken in order to examine rates of reintroduction of antidepressants across pregnancy among a cohort of 54 euthymic pregnant women who had discontinued these medications around the time of conception. Reintroduction of antidepressants was used as a marker suggesting relapse of depression. Results: Forty-two percent (n = 23) of these women reintroduced antidepressant therapy during pregnancy, with nearly half of these (n = 11) doing so in the first trimester. A greater time spent in episodes since depressive onset and a prior history of suicide attempts was associated with antidepressant reintroduction. Conclusions: Nearly half of the women who discontinued antidepressants during pregnancy to avoid fetal exposure appeared to experience symptoms severe enough to prompt reintroduction of treatment with these medications. The implications of these findings are discussed with respect to treatment planning for women who are maintained on antidepressants and who plan to conceive.
Screening women for cancer: a time for reappraisal?

By the time a woman reaches retirement age, she will have been subjected to a whole variety of screening procedures. These will almost certainly include breast cancer screening and cervical cancer screening. This article poses two questions. Firstly, does screening for cancer of the cervix and cancer of the breast benefit women (either in terms of reduced mortality or in terms of reduced morbidity)? And secondly, is the screening of women for cancer an issue which needs to be taken up by feminists?