Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Role of Students' Cognitive Engagement in Online Learning

This study investigated the degree to which students cognitively engage with their online courses. Cognitive engagement was defined as the integration and utilization of students' motivations and strategies in the course of their learning. Given this, the study utilized J. B. Biggs's (1987a) Study Process Questionnaire to measure motivations and strategies in general, rather than for a specific task. Statistically significant findings were observed for program focus, gender, age, and prior online experience in accordance with students' learning strategies and motivations. Specifically, the findings indicate that as students gain experience with online learning, they come to take more responsibility for their own learning. The findings have implications for how instructors facilitate online courses as well as how designers organize online courses.
Severity of periodontal disease in adult patients with diabetes mellitus in relation to the type of diabetes.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to evaluate associations between diabetes mellitus - related factors and periodontal parameters among adult patients with diabetes mellitus, with respect to type of diabetes. METHODS Study participants were 179 randomly selected 18-62-year-aged patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus and 87 randomly selected 32-70-year-aged patients with type 2 diabetes. Metabolic control of diabetes was determined by the values of glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c). The periodontal status of all patients was evaluated by simplifying oral debris index (DI-S), probing pocket depth (PPD), gingival recession (GR), clinical attachment level (CAL), and bleeding on probing (BOP). Data analysis was performed with respect to patients' age, diabetes duration, metabolic control level, and diabetes type. Binary regression was used to test relationship of various parameters with CAL. RESULTS All periodontal estimates were significantly higher among patients with type 2 diabetes. The periodontal disease was more severe in >45-year-aged participants and with DI-S>1. In patients with type 1 diabetes, the disease duration >12 years was negatively related to most periodontal parameters. No significant correlation between the periodontal estimates and HbA1c was observed in either group. The significant predictors of severe periodontal disease were type 2 diabetes mellitus (OR = 2.356), duration of disease (OR = 1.827), high BOP (OR = 3.343) and DI-S (OR = 2.958). CONCLUSIONS Severity of periodontal disease is related to diabetes type, being more pronounced in patients with type 2 diabetes patients than in patients with type 1 diabetes. Dental plaque seems to be the major contributing factor for all patients with progressive periodontitis.
World city formation: an agenda for research and action

The development of a global system of major cities is examined and the implications of this trend for the world economic system are considered particularly in terms of the effect on international movements of capital. An attempt is made to review the relevant literature and present a bibliography on this topic. (summary in FRE GER SPA) (ANNOTATION)
Mind-reading and manipulation — Is Machiavellianism related to theory of mind?

Theory of Mind (ToM), the capacity to read mental states of other people, is a tool that allows individuals to function efficiently during social interactions. Although ToM has been stud- ied extensively in clinical populations, few studies have focused on ToM capacity in the general population. In this study, the relationship between ToM and the personality construct Machiavel- lianism are investigated. In evolutionary terms, a link between exploitative strategy and ToM would be expected - in order to be a successful manipulator, an individual should have a good understanding of the emotions and intentions of others. We found that Machiavellianism was, in fact, negatively correlated with both hot and cold measures of Theory of Mind. We suggest that high-Machs have deficits in empathizing ability, which allows them to exploit others. The find- ings also question the idea of Machiavellian Intelligence as a driving force behind evolution of social intelligence in humans.
Health provider perspectives on mental health service provision for Chinese people living in Christchurch, New Zealand

Background Migration imposes stress and may contribute to the incidence of mental illness among natives of mainland China living overseas. Both cultural norms and service inadequacies may act as barriers to accessing needed mental health services. Objective Assess New Zealand health providers' perspectives on the utilization of mental health services by immigrants from mainland China. Methods A qualitative study in Christchurch, New Zealand involved in-depth interviews with nine mental health professionals with experience in providing services to Chinese clients. The interviews were transcribed and thematically analysed. Results Four main themes emerged from the interviews: (1) specific mental health concerns of Chinese migrants; (2) subgroups of migrants most likely to manifest mental health problems; (3) barriers to accessing services; and (4) the centrality of social support networks to the mental health of Chinese migrants. Conclusions Qualitative research with health providers in high-income countries who provide mental health services to the growing numbers of migrants from mainland China can identify areas where improved cultural sensitivity could increase both the utilization of mental health services by Chinese immigrants and the effectiveness of these services.
Distinct pathways of B cell differentiation. I. Residual T cells in athymic mice support the development of splenic germinal centers and B cell memory without an induction of antibody.

B cell memory to T cell-dependent Ags develops in the germinal centers (GC). Here we report that thymus-deficient, nu/nu mice immunized with phosphorylcholine coupled to keyhole limpet hemocyanin (EPC-KLH) develop GC in the spleen in the absence of Ab-forming cell (AFC) response. However, the formation of GC on EPC-KLH immunization requires T cells, because 1) CB.1. 7-scid mice reconstituted with B lymphocytes failed to develop GC without a supplement of CD4+ cells and 2) in vivo administration of an anti-CD4 mAb abolished the GC response in euthymic mice. Thus, it appears that the formation of GC in nu/nu mice was due to a low number of T cells that were detectable in situ within the splenic lymphoid follicles. The numbers of GC in individual Ag-stimulated nu/nu mice appeared to correlate with the density of T cells in the splenic sections. The B cells in these GC expressed T15, the dominant Id of anti-PC Ab, and became primed for an anamnestic response. Secondary challenge with EPC-KLH resulted in an increased number of GC without detectable AFC. However, when the Ag-primed nu/nu mice received CD4+ lymphocytes 1 day before the challenge, they demonstrated a vigorous AFC response that was predominantly IgM and significantly higher than the secondary response of nu/nu mice that had been reconstituted with CD4+ cells during both primary and secondary immunizations. Therefore, it appears that immunization of nu/nu mice may lead to an early step of B cell activation and memory development even though the T lymphocytes in these mice are incompetent to provide help for Ab formation. The memory and Ab pathways of B cell differentiation may involve different mechanisms of T cell help.
Critical success factors for integration of CAD/CAM systems with ERP systems

Current advances in information technology and, in particular, computer‐aided design/computer‐aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) and enterprise resources planning (ERP) systems, have led organisations to undertake significant investments in these systems. Next generation manufacturers require both systems to maintain or gain a competitive advantage, reduce risks and improve productivity and viability. In addition, recent attention to the implementation of CAD/CAM systems highlights their important role in automating complex design and next generation manufacturing processes. In the next millennium more manufacturers are likely to implement CAD/CAM and ERP systems and hence issues in the integration of CAD/CAM with ERP systems must become a major concern. Accordingly, this paper will: explore the problems of integration of CAD/CAM systems with ERP systems; study how the severity of these problems relates to CAD/CAM integration success; propose a set of critical success factors (CSF) for the integration of CAD/CAM with ERP systems; suggest hypotheses to study the relevance of these CSF for successful integration of CAD/CAM with ERP systems. In addition, the paper also demonstrates the importance of successful integration of CAD/CAM systems with other applications for next generation manufacturers. These findings suggest that integration of CAD/CAM systems with ERP systems is complex, involving many factors.
Genome Diversity of Epstein-Barr Virus from Multiple Tumor Types and Normal Infection

ABSTRACT Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infects most of the world's population and is causally associated with several human cancers, but little is known about how EBV genetic variation might influence infection or EBV-associated disease. There are currently no published wild-type EBV genome sequences from a healthy individual and very few genomes from EBV-associated diseases. We have sequenced 71 geographically distinct EBV strains from cell lines, multiple types of primary tumor, and blood samples and the first EBV genome from the saliva of a healthy carrier. We show that the established genome map of EBV accurately represents all strains sequenced, but novel deletions are present in a few isolates. We have increased the number of type 2 EBV genomes sequenced from one to 12 and establish that the type 1/type 2 classification is a major feature of EBV genome variation, defined almost exclusively by variation of EBNA2 and EBNA3 genes, but geographic variation is also present. Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) density varies substantially across all known open reading frames and is highest in latency-associated genes. Some T-cell epitope sequences in EBNA3 genes show extensive variation across strains, and we identify codons under positive selection, both important considerations for the development of vaccines and T-cell therapy. We also provide new evidence for recombination between strains, which provides a further mechanism for the generation of diversity. Our results provide the first global view of EBV sequence variation and demonstrate an effective method for sequencing large numbers of genomes to further understand the genetics of EBV infection. IMPORTANCE Most people in the world are infected by Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), and it causes several human diseases, which occur at very different rates in different parts of the world and are linked to host immune system variation. Natural variation in EBV DNA sequence may be important for normal infection and for causing disease. Here we used rapid, cost-effective sequencing to determine 71 new EBV sequences from different sample types and locations worldwide. We showed geographic variation in EBV genomes and identified the most variable parts of the genome. We identified protein sequences that seem to have been selected by the host immune system and detected variability in known immune epitopes. This gives the first overview of EBV genome variation, important for designing vaccines and immune therapy for EBV, and provides techniques to investigate relationships between viral sequence variation and EBV-associated diseases.
Comparative analysis of evolving software systems using the Gini coefficient

Software metrics offer us the promise of distilling useful information from vast amounts of software in order to track development progress, to gain insights into the nature of the software, and to identify potential problems. Unfortunately, however, many software metrics exhibit highly skewed, non-Gaussian distributions. As a consequence, usual ways of interpreting these metrics — for example, in terms of “average” values — can be highly misleading. Many metrics, it turns out, are distributed like wealth — with high concentrations of values in selected locations. We propose to analyze software metrics using the Gini coefficient, a higherorder statistic widely used in economics to study the distribution of wealth. Our approach allows us not only to observe changes in software systems efficiently, but also to assess project risks and monitor the development process itself. We apply the Gini coefficient to numerous metrics over a range of software projects, and we show that many metrics not only display remarkably high Gini values, but that these values are remarkably consistent as a project evolves over time.
Managerial Applications of Judgmental Biases and Heuristics

In recent years, there has been an increased emphasis upon developing managerial decision-making skills among organizational behavior students. To accomplish this objective, it is necessary to sensitize students to the cognitive heuristics and biases typically employed in inferential judgments. Unfortunately, there is little class material available upon which to center discussions. While researchers have investigated the decision making of such diverse groups as clinical psychologists (Dawes, 1976), negotiators (Bazerman, Magliozzi, & Neale, 1985), physicians (Christensen-Szalanski, Beck, Christensen-Szalanski, & Koepsell, 1983), the judgmental tasks employed in these studies often are not representative of the decisions faced by today’s managers . ’ Thus, while appropriate for research purposes, they are less useful for instructional purposes. Lacking face validity, the problems typically employed in decision studies do little to convince doubting students that such biases do exist and may plague their own decision making. For example, Kahenman and Tversky (1972) use the following problem to illustrate the base rate fallacy, the tendency of individuals to utilize situation-specific information while ignoring prior probabilities: Two cab companies, the Blue and Green, operate in a given city. Eighty-five percent of the cabs in the city are Blue, and the remaining 15 percent are Green. A cab was involved in a hit and
Cause and Effect Explanations of Job Satisfaction and Commitment: The Case of Exchange Commitment

ABSTRACT Although industrial psychology literature is replete with studies on job satisfaction and commitment, only Bateman and Strasser (1984) and Curry, Wakefield, Price, and Mueller (1986) have used longitudinal analysis to examine the relationship between the two variables. In an attempt to resolve some of the previous conflicting results, the present study analyzed the relationship between job satisfaction and an exchange theory of commitment. As part of a longitudinal study on attitudes and behavior, 63 Israeli police officers responded twice over a 5-month period to job satisfaction and commitment questionnaires derived from the Rusbult and Farrell (1983) model. A cross-lagged regression design showed that each variable was reliable and relatively stable, and that no causal relationship existed between commitment and job satisfaction.
Investigating the Relationship between OfSTED Inspections and School Development Planning

This research investigated compatibility between existing School Development Plans (SDPs) and Key Issues (KIs) in OfSTED inspection reports and factors influencing the implementation of post-OfSTED action plans in primary schools. The research used a questionnaire survey of 124 schools recently inspected, interviews with 47 headteachers and examination of supporting documentation (SDPs, copies of KIs and action plans based on the KIs). Headteachers generally found their KIs appropriate and considered them compatible with their SDPs; they were optimistic about implementing action plans despite considerable complexities evident in some KIs and despite apparent difficulties in choosing appropriate success criteria. These aspects are discussed.
Graphical passwords: a survey

The most common computer authentication method is to use alphanumerical usernames and passwords. This method has been shown to have significant drawbacks. For example, users tend to pick passwords that can be easily guessed. On the other hand, if a password is hard to guess, then it is often hard to remember. To address this problem, some researchers have developed authentication methods that use pictures as passwords. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive survey of the existing graphical password techniques. We classify these techniques into two categories: recognition-based and recall-based approaches. We discuss the strengths and limitations of each method and point out the future research directions in this area. We also try to answer two important questions: "Are graphical passwords as secure as text-based passwords? "; "What are the major design and implementation issues for graphical passwords? " This survey will be useful for information security researchers and practitioners who are interested in finding an alternative to text-based authentication methods
Comparison of Paclitaxel-, 5-Fluoro-2′-deoxyuridine-, and Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF)-induced Apoptosis

Epidermal growth factor (EGF), a hormone that stimulates proliferation of many cell types, induces apoptosis in some cell lines that overexpress the EGF receptor. To evaluate the mechanism of EGF-induced apoptosis, MDA-MB-468 breast cancer cells were examined by microscopy, flow cytometry, immunoblotting, enzyme assays, and affinity labeling after treatment with EGF, paclitaxel, or 5-fluoro-2′-deoxyuridine (5FUdR). Apoptosis induced by all three agents was accompanied by activation of caspases-3, -6, and -7, as indicated by disappearance of the corresponding zymogens from immunoblots, cleavage of substrate polypeptides in situ, and detection of active forms of these caspases in cytosol and nuclei using fluorogenic assays and affinity labeling. Further analysis indicated involvement of the cytochrome c/Apaf-1/caspase-9 pathway of caspase activation, but not the Fas/Fas ligand pathway. Interestingly, caspase activation was consistently lower after EGF treatment than after paclitaxel or 5FUdR treatment. Additional experiments revealed that the majority of cells detaching from the substratum after EGF (but not paclitaxel or 5FUdR) were morphologically normal and retained the capacity to readhere, suggesting that EGF-induced apoptosis involves cell detachment followed by anoikis. These observations not only indicate that EGF- and chemotherapy-induced apoptosis in this cell line involve the same downstream pathways but also suggest that detachment-induced apoptosis is responsible for the paradoxical antiproliferative effects of EGF.
Seeking richer descriptions of learners' sustainability attributes and learning needs

– The aim of this paper is to respond to calls for higher education institutions to address sustainability within the curriculum. Institutions that aim to graduate citizens with prescribed attributes relevant to sustainability may need to develop teaching and learning support‐programmes appropriate to the varied nature of students' worldviews. , – The research described here used the NEP (Revised New Ecological Paradigm) and statistical cluster‐analysis to explore if individuals within cohorts of students could reasonably be clustered into subgroups with identified sustainability attributes relevant to the design of learner‐support programmes. , – All seven programme cohorts in one institution's annual intake clustered into three subgroups with identifiable attributes. , – The results are discussed in relation to how post‐compulsory education institutions can define the sustainability characteristics of their students and to the pedagogic literature that addresses diversity in student groups. , – The approach may help higher education institutions better understand the needs of individual students within large groups and to develop appropriate support programmes for students with similar attributes and needs.
Special Invited Paper-Additive logistic regression: A statistical view of boosting

Boosting is one of the most important recent developments in classification methodology. Boosting works by sequentially applying a classification algorithm to reweighted versions of the training data and then taking a weighted majority vote of the sequence of classifiers thus produced. For many classification algorithms, this simple strategy results in dramatic improvements in performance. We show that this seemingly mysterious phenomenon can be understood in terms of well-known statistical principles, namely additive modeling and maximum likelihood. For the two-class problem, boosting can be viewed as an approximation to additive modeling on the logistic scale using maximum Bernoulli likelihood as a criterion. We develop more direct approximations and show that they exhibit nearly identical results to boosting. Direct multiclass generalizations based on multinomial likelihood are derived that exhibit performance comparable to other recently proposed multiclass generalizations of boosting in most situations, and far superior in some. We suggest a minor modification to boosting that can reduce computation, often by factors of 10 to 50. Finally, we apply these insights to produce an alternative formulation of boosting decision trees. This approach, based on best-first truncated tree induction, often leads to better performance, and can provide interpretable descriptions of the aggregate decision rule. It is also much faster computationally, making it more suitable to large-scale data mining applications.
Return to Empire: The New U.S. Imperialism in Comparative Historical Perspective*

The widespread embrace of imperial terminology across the political spectrum during the past three years has not led to an increased level of conceptual or theoretical clarity around the word “empire. ” There is also disagreement about whether the United States is itself an empire, and if so, what sort of empire it is; the determinants of its geopolitical stance; and the effects of “empire as a way of life” on the “metropole. ” Using the United States and Germany in the past 200 years as empirical cases, this article proposes a set of historically embedded categories for distinguishing among different types of imperial practice. The central distinction contrasts territorial and nonterritorial types of modern empire, that is, colonialism versus imperialism. Against world-system theory, territorial and nonterritorial approaches have not typi-cally appeared in pure form but have been mixed together both in time and in the repertoire of individual metropolitan states. After developing these categories the second part of the article explores empire's determinants and its effects, again focusing on the German and U.S. cases but with forays into Portuguese and British imperialism. Supporters of overseas empire often couch their arguments in economic or strategic terms, and social theorists have followed suit in accepting these expressed motives as the “taproot of imperialism” (J. A. Hobson). But other factors have played an equally important role in shaping imperial practices, even pushing in directions that are economically and geopolitically counterproductive for the imperial power. Postcolonial theorists have rightly empha-sized the cultural and psychic processes at work in empire but have tended to ignore empire's effects on practices of economy and its regulation. Current U.S. imperialism abroad may not be a danger to capitalism per se or to America's overall political power, but it is threatening and remaking the domestic post-Fordist mode of social regulation.