Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Relative Effects of Different Frequencies of Feedback on Work Performance

Abstract This laboratory simulation examined the relative effects of two frequencies of feedback on work performance under hourly pay and incentive pay. The study had four experimental conditions: feedback delivered after every session under hourly pay and under incentive pay, and feedback delivered after every fourth session under hourly pay and under incentive pay. Thirty-five college students were randomly assigned to one of the four conditions. Each participant attended 24 thirty-minute sessions. Participants performed a simulated work task on the computer that consisted of computer-related activities such as dragging, clicking, and typing. The dependent variable was the number of correctly completed units of work. An analysis of covariance was conducted to analyze the data using pretest scores as a covariate. Participants who received feedback every session completed significantly more work units than participants who received feedback every fourth session. In addition, an interaction between feedback frequency and pay systems was found: Feedback delivered every session was more effective than feedback delivered every fourth session under the incentive pay system, but not under the hourly pay system. The results suggest that the relative effects of feedback frequency may depend upon the extent to which feedback is correlated with differential consequences for performance.
A visual odometry framework robust to motion blur

Motion blur is a severe problem in images grabbed by legged robots and, in particular, by small humanoid robots. Standard feature extraction and tracking approaches typically fail when applied to sequences of images strongly affected by motion blur. In this paper, we propose a new feature detection and tracking scheme that is robust even to non-uniform motion blur. Furthermore, we developed a framework for visual odometry based on features extracted out of and matched in monocular image sequences. To reliably extract and track the features, we estimate the point spread function (PSF) of the motion blur individually for image patches obtained via a clustering technique and only consider highly distinctive features during matching. We present experiments performed on standard datasets corrupted with motion blur and on images taken by a camera mounted on walking small humanoid robots to show the effectiveness of our approach. The experiments demonstrate that our technique is able to reliably extract and match features and that it is furthermore able to generate a correct visual odometry, even in presence of strong motion blur effects and without the aid of any inertial measurement sensor.
NEWS FRAMING OF THE 2003 IRAQ WAR: A STUDY OF THE SUB-SAHARAN AFRICAN PRESS

After a two-day ultimatum demanding that Saddam Hussein step down, the United States attacked Iraq on March 19, 2003. The Iraq War generated a variety of emotions around the globe, particularly in the developing world. The sub-Saharan African press viewed it as a war without convincing legal or moral justification, perceiving it to be a tool used by the US to gain global economic, military, and strategic influence. Employing framing analysis, this study investigates how the sub-Saharan African press constructed a number of different social realities of the same war.
Protective effect of the APOE-e3 allele in Alzheimer's disease

Although several alleles of susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease (AD) have been studied in the last decades, few polymorphisms have been considered as risk factors for the disease. Among them, the APOE-e4 allele appears to be the major genetic risk factor for the onset of the disease. However, it is important to confirm the potential susceptibility of these genetic variants in different populations in order to establish a genetic profile for the disease in specific communities. This study analyzed the APOE polymorphisms regarding susceptibility to AD in a sample of 264 individuals (primarily Caucasians; 82 cases and 182 controls) in the population from Vitória, ES, Brazil, by PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) methods. The patients were selected according to clinical criteria for probable AD. Whereas the e4 allele showed statistically significant positive association with susceptibility to AD (OR = 3.01, 95%CI = 1.96-4.61; P < 0.0001), the e2 allele did not. The results of the e4 allele confirm the role of this polymorphism as a risk factor for AD in the sample studied as observed in other populations. Although the e3 allele has been considered neutral in several studies, our results suggest that it acts as a protective factor against AD in the population studied (OR = 0.46, 95%CI = 0.30-0.67; P < 0.0001). This study may provide a new insight into the role of the APOE-e3 allele in the etiology of AD and might help to estabilish a profile of risk for AD in the population from Vitória, ES.
Hybrid vision-force robot control for tasks on unknown smooth surfaces

This work considers a hybrid force and vision control system for robotic manipulators using a force sensor and a fixed uncalibrated camera. A method is proposed to combine direct force control and adaptive visual servoing to perform tasks on unknown smooth surfaces, in the presence of uncertainties in the camera-robot system parameters. The considered task involves the visual tracking of a moving target, while the end-effector tip exerts a controlled contact force on the surface. Simulation results are presented to illustrate the performance of the proposed scheme
International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity Family Circumstance, Sedentary Behaviour and Physical Activity in Adolescents Living in England: Project Stil

Background: Identification of non-modifiable correlates of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in youth contributes to the development of effective targeted intervention strategies. The purpose of this research was to examine the relationships between family circumstances (e.g. socioeconomic status, single vs. dual parent household, presence/absence of siblings) and leisure-time physical activity and sedentary behaviours in adolescents.
Production of thermostable extracellular α-amylase by a moderate thermophilic Bacillus licheniformis isolated from Qinarje Hot Spring (Ardebil prov. of Iran)

Background and Purpose: Amylases are most important industrial enzymes that account for about 30% of the world’s food, feed, fermentation, textile, detergent and cellulosic industries. This study aimed at optimum production of thermostable α-amylase via moderate thermophilic bacterium ( Bacillus licheniformis ) which was recently isolated from Qinarje Hot spring. Material and Methods: Initially, ability of bacterium for amylase activity was determined by starch hydrolysis test using Gram’s iodine staining. Then bacterial growth pattern and amylase production curves in basal production medium were graphically determined at different time intervals. Finally, effect of different temperature, pH, carbon source, nitrogen source, minerals and inoculum size were studied on bacterial growth and amylase production using turbidimetric and DNS method, respectively. Results: Optimum enzyme production achieved after 84 hours of inoculation from cultures growing at 40 ˚C and pH 9.0 in a medium containing 0.03% (w/v) of CaCl 2, compared to the basal medium, results showed that the best enzyme production happened with inoculum size of 4% (v/v). The addition of 1% (w/v) rice husk (as a Carbon source) enhanced enzyme productivity up to 160% and substitution of the peptone and yeast extract with 1% (w/v) of tryptone (as a Nitrogen source) increased the α-amylase production up to 160%. Conclusion: Our findings show that B. licheniformis -AZ2 strain has an ability to produce the thermostable α-amylase which is suitable in starch processing and food industries. To be commercialized, further investigation is required for enhancement of the enzyme production. Keywords: Bacillus licheniformis ; Optimization; Basal medium; Agricultural by-products.
Emotions and Culpability: How the Law Is at Odds with Psychology, Jurors, and Itself

This book investigates why, when, and how ordinary human beings hold some individuals guilty of crimes, but others less so or not at all. Why, for example, do the emotions of the accused sometimes aggravate a murder, making it a heinous crime, whereas other emotions might mitigate that murder to manslaughter, excuse a killing ("by reason of insanity"), or even justify it ("by reason of self-defense")? And what emotions on the part of jurors come into play as they arrive at their decisions? The authors argue persuasively that U.S. law is out of touch with the way that jurors' "commonsense justice" works and the way they judge culpability. This disconnect has resulted in some inconsistent verdicts across different types of cases and thus has serious implications for whether the law will be respected and obeyed. Problems arise because criminal law has no unified theory of emotion and culpability, and legal scholars often seem to misunderstand or ignore what psychologists know about emotion. The authors skillfully show that the law's culpability theories are (and must be) psychological at heart, and they propose ways in which psychology can help inform and support the law.
A personal touch: recognizing users based on touch screen behavior

The spread of touch screen based smart phones has been constantly increasing over the last few years. However, there are still many open research questions concerning the basic input properties of these devices. We performed a large scale study to research the users' touch screen behavior on standard UI elements. To do so we programmed and published a quiz game that logs touch data and sends it back for evaluation purposes. Over 14,000 persons have played this game so far and sent back statistical data. We use the collected data to present basic touch properties, such as mean hold time and pressure dynamics, and to show that touch screen based input is individual for each person and that one can identify a specific user in a set of 5 users with a precision of about 80%, based on just a few touch events.
Family members’ experiences of the use of interpreters in healthcare

Aim The aim was to explore adults’ experiences of their family members’ use of interpreters in health-care encounters. Background Language barriers are a major hindrance for migrants to receive appropriate healthcare. In a foreign country, family members often need support in care of migrant patients. No previous studies focusing on adult family members’ experiences of the use of interpreters in healthcare have been found. Method A purposive sample of 10 adult family members with experiences of the use of interpreters in health-care encounters. Data were collected between May and September 2009 by focus-group interviews and analysed with qualitative analysis according to a method described for focus groups. Findings Three categories emerged from the analysis: (1) Experiences of the use of professional interpreters, (2) Experiences of being used as an interpreter and (3) Experiences of what needs to be improved when using interpreters. The main findings showed no agreement in family members’ experiences; interpretation should be individually and situationally adapted. However, when family members acted as interpreters, their role was to give both practical and emotional support, and this led to both positive and negative emotions. Use of simple language, better collaboration in the health-care organization and developing the interpreters’ professional attitude could improve the use of professional interpreters. The type of interpreter, mode of interpretation and patient's preferences should be considered in the interpretation situation. In order to achieve high-quality healthcare, health-care professionals need to organize a good interpretation situation case-by-case, choose the appropriate interpreters with the patient in focus and cooperate with members of the patient's social network.
Teacher interaction in psychosocial learning environments: cultural differences and their implications in science instruction

The purpose of this study was to examine interpersonal behaviour in psychosocial learning environments and to determine the associations between science students’ perceptions of their interactions with their teachers, the cultural background of teachers and their attitudinal outcomes. A sample of 1188 students completed the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction instrument. The responses to two subscales of Test of Science‐related Attitudes were used as attitudinal measures. Significant associations between students’ perceptions of teacher interpersonal behaviour and the cultural background of teachers were detected. The results showed that students perceived a more favourable interpersonal relationship with Western teachers in the secondary science classrooms. The students in the classes of Western teachers indicated that they enjoyed science lessons more than those in the classes of Asian teachers. Some implications for science instruction in this context are discussed.
Coping and positive affect predict longitudinal change in glycosylated hemoglobin.

OBJECTIVE This study investigated whether different psychosocial factors predicted levels of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) over time, after adjusting for covariates and baseline level of HbA1c. DESIGN These questions were investigated with a longitudinal sample (N = 97, age = 61-91) of older women without diabetes. HbA1c levels and psychosocial measures were obtained at baseline and 2-year follow-up. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Coping strategies, positive affect, medical history, and health behaviors were assessed using self-administered questionnaires. HbA1c were obtained during the respondents' overnight stay at the General Clinical Research Center (GCRC) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION Regression analyses showed that higher levels of problem-focused coping, venting, and positive affect predicted lower levels of HbA1c, after controlling for baseline HbA1c and sociodemographic and health factors. Furthermore, positive affect was found to moderate the effects of problemfocused coping (active, instrumental social support, suppressing competing activities). The pattern of interaction showed that the adverse effects of low problem-focused coping on cross-time changes in HbA1c were amplified among those who also had low levels of positive affect.
Genetic divergence and stability analysis in Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan L.)

Thirty Pigeonpea genotypes studied for genetic divergence using Mahalanobis D2 statistic indicated wider genetic diversity. Considerable variability was observed for days to 50% flowering, days to maturity, plant height, number of pods per plant and seed yield due to non-linear pooled deviation. The variability was low for number of primary branches per plant and test weight. Among the 7 characters studied, seed yield contributed the most (89.49%) towards the divergence of genotypes followed by number of pods per plant, days to 50% flowering and plant height. The genotypes were grouped into 8 clusters, maximum inter cluster distance being observed between the clusters III and VII (725.69). Hence, crossing of parents from these clusters would be desirable for combining earliness, short plant height, more primary branches per plant with more pod number coupled with high seed yield. The genotypes ICPL 98008, ICPHAL 4979-2 and ICP 77303 were identified as desirable and stable for days to maturity. Stability parameters along with per se performance across three kharif seasons revealed that ICPL 20036 and ICPL 20058 were stable genotypes for seed yield and were found to be suitable for low input cultivation while, ICPL 13198 was found suitable for input rich cultivation.
Vitamins in Aging, Health, and Longevity

Evidence of epidemiological associations of vitamins and disease states have been found for nine vitamins. In observational studies, people with a high intake of antioxidant vitamins by regular diet or as food supplements generally have a lower risk of major chronic disease, such as myocardial infarction or stroke, than people who are low consumers of antioxidant vitamins. Prospectively, folate appears to reduce the incidence of neural tube defects. Vitamin D is associated with a decreased occurrence of fractures when taken with calcium. Zinc, betacarotene, and vitamin E appear to slow the progression of macular degeneration, but do not reduce the incidence. Vitamin E and lycopene may decrease the risk of prostate cancer. In other randomized controlled trials, the apparent beneficial results of a high intake of antioxidant vitamins seen in observational studies have not been confirmed. There is increasing concern from these trials that pharmacological supplementation of vitamins may be associated with a higher mortality risk.
Hypertension After Renal Transplantation

Cardiovascular disease is the most frequent cause of morbidity and mortality after renal transplantation and remains a significant barrier to improve long-term outcomes.Although transplantation improves life expectancy compared with dialysis, survival remains well below general population estimates. Approximately 50% of patients die with a functioning transplant, with approximately 50% of these deaths from cardiovascular disease or stroke. [3] Cardiovascular death rates underestimate the full impact of this disease process given the large number of nonfatal events, including acute myocardial infarction, cardiac arrhythmias, heart failure, and stroke, that affect quality of life.
Immunohistochemical Localization of Interferons in Human Placental Tissues in Normal, Ectopic, and Molar Pregnancy

ABSTRACT: Interferon (IFN)α, β, and γ have been localized in normal and pathological human pregnancy using both polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies in immunohistochemical techniques. IFNα was localized to fetal chorionic villous syncytiotrophoblast throughout normal pregnancy, as well as to extravillous trophoblast in the placental bed and chorion lave. Maternal decidual leukocytes, as well as fetal Hofbauer cells in the villous mesenchyme, also contained IFNα. IFNγ was detected in villous syncytiotrophoblast, while anti‐IFNβ showed only patchy weak reactivity with syncytiotrophoblast. Reaction patterns on ectopic pregnancy tissues were similar to those in early intrauterine pregnancy. In molar pregnancy, reactivity for IFNα, β, and γ was observed in syncytiotrophoblast. Along with their potential anti‐viral effects, placental interferons could play a role in local immunomodulation or in regulation of embryonic cell proliferation and differentiation.
PIP2-Binding Site in Kir Channels: Definition by Multiscale Biomolecular Simulations†

Phosphatidylinositol bisphosphate (PIP2) is an activator of mammalian inwardly rectifying potassium (Kir) channels. Multiscale simulations, via a sequential combination of coarse-grained and atomistic molecular dynamics, enabled exploration of the interactions of PIP2 molecules within the inner leaflet of a lipid bilayer membrane with possible binding sites on Kir channels. Three Kir channel structures were investigated: X-ray structures of KirBac1.1 and of a Kir3.1−KirBac1.3 chimera and a homology model of Kir6.2. Coarse-grained simulations of the Kir channels in PIP2-containing lipid bilayers identified the PIP2-binding site on each channel. These models of the PIP2−channel complexes were refined by conversion to an atomistic representation followed by molecular dynamics simulation in a lipid bilayer. All three channels were revealed to contain a conserved binding site at the N-terminal end of the slide (M0) helix, at the interface between adjacent subunits of the channel. This binding site agrees with mutagenesis data and is in the proximity of the site occupied by a detergent molecule in the Kir chimera channel crystal. Polar contacts in the coarse-grained simulations corresponded to long-lived electrostatic and H-bonding interactions between the channel and PIP2 in the atomistic simulations, enabling identification of key side chains.
The Diet of Diabetic Patients in Spain in 2008–2010: Accordance with the Main Dietary Recommendations—A Cross-Sectional Study

Background No previous study has assessed the diet of the diabetic patients in the general population of an entire country in Europe. This study evaluates accordance of the diet of diabetic adults in Spain with nutritional recommendations of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD), American Diabetes Association (ADA), and the Mediterranean diet (MD). Methods and Findings Cross-sectional study conducted in 2008–2010 among 12,948 persons representative of the population aged ≥18 years in Spain. Usual food consumption was assessed with a dietary history. EASD accordance was defined as ≥6 points on a score of 12 nutritional goals, ADA accordance as ≥3 points on a score of 6 goals, and MD accordance as ≥7 points on the Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener. In the 609 diagnosed diabetic individuals, the diet was rich in saturated fat (11.2% of total energy), but trans fat intake was relatively low (1.1% energy) and monounsaturated fat intake was high (16.1% energy). Carbohydrate intake was relatively low (41.1% energy), but sugar intake was high (16.9% energy). Intake of cholesterol (322 mg/day) and sodium (3.1 g/day) was also high, while fiber intake was insufficient (23.8 g/day). EASD accordance was observed in 48.7% diabetic patients, ADA accordance in 46.3%, and MD accordance in 57.4%. The frequency of EASD, ADA and MD accordance was not statistically different between diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetic individuals. Conclusions Only about half of diabetic patients in Spain have a diet that is consistent with the major dietary recommendations. The lack of dietary differences between diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetic individuals reflects deficiencies in diabetes management.
Defective recognition of one's own actions in patients with schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE The possibility that delusions of influence could be related to abnormal recognition of one's own actions was investigated in persons with schizophrenia. METHOD Schizophrenic patients with (N=6) and without (N=18) delusions of influence were compared with normal subjects (N=29) on an action recognition task. The image of a virtual right hand holding a joystick was presented to the subjects through a mirror so that the image was superimposed on their real hand holding a real joystick. Subjects executed discrete movements in different directions. Angular biases and temporal delays were randomly introduced in some trials, such that the movement of the virtual hand departed from the movement executed by the subjects. After each trial, subjects were asked whether the movement they saw was their own. RESULTS Compared with normal subjects, both patient groups made significantly more recognition errors in trials with temporal delays. In trials with angular biases, the error rate of patients with delusions of influence significantly differed from that of comparison subjects and from that of patients without delusions of influence. CONCLUSIONS The findings support the hypothesis that delusions of influence are associated with a quantifiable difficulty in correct self-attribution of actions. This difficulty may be related to a specific impairment of a neural action attribution system.