Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The View from the Top - How Senior Executives Exercise control over Information Systems Projects to Enhance Performance

Exercising control over information systems (IS) projects is a challenging task. This seems to be particularly true for senior executives who commonly represent key project owners and who are ultimately held accountable for project performance despite their scarce time and often limited project-related knowledge. While prior studies have almost exclusively focused on the role of line and project managers in controlling IS projects, this study aims to contribute new theoretical insights by focusing on the role of senior executives. Specifically, our study explores how different control styles and modes used by senior IT executives relate to the performance of IS projects. Based on a survey with 92 participants, we find that executives’ use of an enabling control style is positively related to IS project performance. In contrast, the use of an authoritative control style is found to be negatively related to performance, but still seems to play a critical role in successfully enacting formal controls. Moreover, the study results show that only senior IT executives’ use of input control significantly and positively affects IS project performance, indicating that prior results on the effectiveness of different control modes do not easily translate to the specific context of our study.
From Intentions to Actions: A Model and Experimental Evidence of Inattentive Choice

A growing body of evidence suggests that people’s inattention may be a signicant friction in domains of behavior ranging from medical compliance, to nancial decisions, to residential energy use. In this paper, I present a psychologically grounded model of inattentive choice and investigate its implications for dynamic decisions. The model explains seemingly puzzling patterns of consumer behavior, makes novel predictions that I conrm in two experiments, and generates a rich set of market implications. Applied to repeated actions, the model provides an attention-based foundation for the formation of \good" habits in domains such as exercise or energy use. The model explains the recent evidence on the intertemporal spillover eects of temporary incentives, and makes testable predictions about when attention-focusing cues, such as reminders, will dampen or amplify the eects of incentives. Consistent with these predictions, the rst experiment reported in this paper shows that while temporary interruptions to daily routines decrease subsequent performance of the behavior, reminders have the largest impact after an interruption. Applied to tasks that must be completed by a deadline, the model identies when longer deadlines will make people less likely to complete a task. But additionally, the model leads to new comparative statics, tested in the second experiment reported in this paper, about how reminders can eliminate the potentially perverse eect of longer deadlines. Finally, I apply the model to study market interactions between sophisticated rms and inattentive consumers: the model predicts how rms will take
Title: FUZZY GENERALISATIONS AND BEST ESTIMATES OF TRUSTWORTHINESS: a step towards transforming research knowledge about learning into effective teaching practice

The problem of generalisation has long been a stumbling block for researchers in the social sciences. In terms of research into learning strategies, for example, teachers and policy-makers have wanted clear statements like, ‘do x in y circumstances and z will be the result’. But researchers have been unable to make such predictions because of the complexity of the notion of ‘y circumstances’. Putting it another way, there are too many uncontrolled variables in most social settings for straightforward statements like this to be made. Recently, and drawing on ideas from the field of fuzzy logic, I have recognised that it is possible to make predictive statements like, ‘do x in y circumstances and z may be the result’. I have called such statements ‘fuzzy generalisations’. The problem, of course, is that such statements embrace the idea that it will also be true that ‘do x in y circumstances and z may not be the result’. I believe this can be overcome by making a best estimate of trustworthiness (BET). This is a professional judgement (based on the experience and reading of the researcher), expressed in a fuzzy form like this: do x in y circumstances and z may be the case: the best estimate of trustworthiness is that this will be true in between p-q% of instances. Making such a BET takes the researcher beyond the empirical evidence arising in a research project and into the realm of professional tacit and explicit knowledge. Making a best estimate of trustworthiness demands that the researcher thinks about the empirical findings of a research project in terms of who may use it - and how useful it may be to them. It puts a particular focus onto the concept of ‘y circumstances’ and requires that this be the determinant of the population to whom the research applies. Thus a statement like ‘do x in primary school classes and z may be the result’ is likely to have a low BET (eg 10-20% of the children). But if the age and educational history of a class of primary children is included in the statement it may be possible to give a much higher BET. My claim is that this is an approach to transforming research knowledge into a form which can readily enter the professional discourse through which teachers enhance their craft knowledge of teaching and so improve the learning of their students.
Volatility Forecast Comparison Using Imperfect Volatility Proxies

The use of a conditionally unbiased, but imperfect, volatility proxy can lead to undesirable outcomes in standard methods for comparing conditional variance forecasts. We derive necessary and sufficient conditions on functional form of the loss function for the ranking of competing volatility forecasts to be robust to the presence of noise in the volatility proxy, and derive some interesting special cases of this class of "robust" loss functions. We motivate the theory with analytical results on the distortions caused by some widely-used loss functions, when used with standard volatility proxies such as squared returns, the intra-daily range or realised volatility. The methods are illustrated with an application to the volatility of returns on IBM over the period 1993 to 2003.
Use of 3‐acetoxymethoxycarbonyl‐2,2,5,5‐tetramethyl‐1‐pyrrolidinyloxyl as an EPR oximetry probe: Potential for in vivo measurement of tissue oxygenation in mouse brain

Measurement of oxygen concentration and distribution in the brain is essential for understanding the pathophysiology of stroke. Low‐frequency electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy with a paramagnetic probe is an attractive imaging modality that potentially can be used to map O2 concentration in the brain. We examined two nitroxides, 3‐methoxycarbonyl‐2,2,5,5‐tetramethyl‐1‐pyrrolidinyloxyl [2] and 3‐acetoxymethoxycarbonyl‐2,2,5,5‐tetramethyl‐1‐pyrrolidinyloxyl [3], as pro‐imaging agents to deliver 3‐carboxy‐2,2,5,5‐tetramethyl‐1‐pyrrolidinyloxyl [1] across the blood–brain barrier (BBB). In primary cultured neurons, nitroxide [3] but not [2] was hydrolyzed by intracellular esterases to [1], which, being anionic at physiologic pH, was well retained intracellularly. In contrast, [2] was not well retained by neurons. In vivo pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic studies in mice suggested that esterase‐labile nitroxide [3] crossed the BBB, and was converted to [1] and retained. Retention occurred in brain tissue and not in the extensive vasculature, as evidenced by the fact that removal of blood by whole‐body saline perfusion did not eliminate the nitroxide EPR signal from the brain. The EPR linewidths of [1] and [3] were more O2‐sensitive than that of the commonly‐used oximetry probe 4‐oxo‐2,2,6,6‐tetramethylpiperidine‐d16‐1‐15N‐oxyl [4]. Moreover, we used [3] in vivo to estimate O2 concentration in mouse brains. These results indicate that nitroxide [3] could be useful for mapping O2 distribution in the brain following stroke. Magn Reson Med, 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Speciation through the lens of biomechanics: locomotion, prey capture and reproductive isolation

Speciation is a multifaceted process that involves numerous aspects of the biological sciences and occurs for multiple reasons. Ecology plays a major role, including both abiotic and biotic factors. Whether populations experience similar or divergent ecological environments, they often adapt to local conditions through divergence in biomechanical traits. We investigate the role of biomechanics in speciation using fish predator–prey interactions, a primary driver of fitness for both predators and prey. We highlight specific groups of fishes, or specific species, that have been particularly valuable for understanding these dynamic interactions and offer the best opportunities for future studies that link genetic architecture to biomechanics and reproductive isolation (RI). In addition to emphasizing the key biomechanical techniques that will be instrumental, we also propose that the movement towards linking biomechanics and speciation will include (i) establishing the genetic basis of biomechanical traits, (ii) testing whether similar and divergent selection lead to biomechanical divergence, and (iii) testing whether/how biomechanical traits affect RI. Future investigations that examine speciation through the lens of biomechanics will propel our understanding of this key process.
Measuring Students' Attitudes toward Educational Use of the Internet

The purposes of this study were to develop an instrument that would provide a quantitative measure of the attitudes of undergraduate college students toward educational use of the Internet and to study selected behavioral correlates of those attitudes. The development of pilot scales along with a social desirability response scale and the resulting 18-item Likert format “Attitude Toward Educational Use of the Internet” (ATEUI) scale are described. Several behavioral correlates were found to provide evidence for the scale's construct validity. For instance, favorable attitudes were associated with: (1) keeping track of valuable educational Internet sites; (2) sharing educational information found on the Internet with friends; (3) choosing classes that require Internet use; (4) greater frequency of Internet use, both in general and for educational purposes; (5) greater number of reasons for using the Internet for education; and (6) greater number of Internet features used. Some implications for future research are provided.
A Review of: Perloff, R. M. (2003). “The Dynamics of Persuasion: Communication and Attitudes in the 21st Century (2nd ed.)”

One might initially wonder, as I did, why review a book primarily devoted to the study and practice of persuasion for a journal devoted to the scholarship and current issues of health communication? After agreeing to undertake the challenge and delving into Michael Perloff ’s The Dynamics of Persuasion: Communication and Attitudes in the 21st Century, however, I was constantly reminded that communicating about health can be an exercise in persuasion. Whether policy debates about citizens’ health insurance preferences (Koch, 1998) or an HIV test counselor suggesting a deceptive message to encourage his or her client to practice safer sex (see Mattson & Roberts, 2001), health communication often involves persuasion. Perloff seems to be keenly aware of health care as a pervasive persuasion context as he provides current examples that are relevant to students, teachers, and scholars of health consistently throughout his book. Further, Perloff makes good on his introductory promise to consider ‘‘applications of persuasion theories to a host of contexts, ranging from advertising to politics to physical health’’ (p. 4). Actually, his treatment of health contexts seems to overshadow the other two contexts, politics and advertising, which certainly could and do become somewhat subsumed into the health context. Thus, overall, this survey of persuasion theories, research, issues, and contexts offers a useful supplementary resource for students, researchers, or practitioners of health. Perloff presents a very mainstream, traditional treatment of persuasion, however, that obscures alternative, more contemporary approaches offered by rhetoric, critical theory, and feminism.
Graphical Illustration and Functional Neuroimaging of Visual Hallucinations during Prolonged Blindfolding: A Comparison to Visual Imagery

Visual hallucinations can occur in healthy subjects during prolonged visual deprivation. We investigated the visual percepts and the associated brain activity in a 37-year-old healthy female subject who developed visual hallucinations during three weeks of blindfolding, and then compared this activity with the cortical activity associated with mental imagery of the same patterns. We acquired fMRI data with a Siemens 3T Magnetom Allegra towards the end of the deprivation period to assess hallucination-related activity, and again after recovery from blindfolding to measure imagery-related activity. Detailed subjective descriptions and graphical illustrations were provided by the subject after blindfolding was completed. The subject reported the occurrence of simple and elementary hallucinations, consisting of flashes and coloured and moving patterns during the period of blindfolding. Neural activity related to hallucinations was found in extrastriate occipital, posterior parietal, and several prefrontal regions. In contrast, mental imagery of the same percepts led to activation in prefrontal, but not in posterior, parietal, and occipital regions. These results suggest that deprivation-induced hallucinations result from increased excitability of extrastriate visual areas, while mentally induced imagery involves active read-out under the volitional control of prefrontal structures. This agrees with the subject's report that visual hallucinations were more vivid than mental imagery.
The mechanical anisotropy in a tissue promotes ordering in hexagonal cell packing

Many epithelial tissues pack cells into a honeycomb pattern to support their structural and functional integrity. Developmental changes in cell packing geometry have been shown to be regulated by both mechanical and biochemical interactions between cells; however, it is largely unknown how molecular and cellular dynamics and tissue mechanics are orchestrated to realize the correct and robust development of hexagonal cell packing. Here, by combining mechanical and genetic perturbations along with live imaging and Bayesian force inference, we investigate how mechanical forces regulate cellular dynamics to attain a hexagonal cell configuration in the Drosophila pupal wing. We show that tissue stress is oriented towards the proximal-distal axis by extrinsic forces acting on the wing. Cells respond to tissue stretching and orient cell contact surfaces with the stretching direction of the tissue, thereby stabilizing the balance between the intrinsic cell junction tension and the extrinsic force at the cell-population level. Consequently, under topological constraints of the two-dimensional epithelial sheet, mismatches in the orientation of hexagonal arrays are suppressed, allowing more rapid relaxation to the hexagonal cell pattern. Thus, our results identify the mechanism through which the mechanical anisotropy in a tissue promotes ordering in cell packing geometry.
Mathematical Models of Cognitive Control: Design, Comparison, and Optimization

In this thesis, we investigate human decision making dynamics in a series of simple perceptual decision making tasks. The level of caution with which a human subject responds to stimuli is of central interest, since it influences the speed and accuracy of responses. We study the role of caution parameters in models of cognitive control processes. We first investigate the influence of stimulus likelihood on human error dynamics in sequential two-alternative choice tasks. Errors are understood to increase in frequency when caution is low. When subjects repeatedly discriminate between two stimuli, their error rates and mean reaction times (RTs) systematically depend on prior sequences of stimuli. We analyze sequential effects on RTs, showing that relationships among prior stimulus sequences and the corresponding RTs for correct trials, error trials, and averaged over all trials are significantly influenced by the probability of alternations. Finally, we show that simple, sequential updates to the initial condition and thresholds of a pure drift diffusion model (DDM) can account for the trends in RT for correct and error trials. Our results suggest that error-based parameter adjustments are critical to modeling sequential effects. These relationships have not been captured by previous models. In the remainder of the thesis, we compare models of human choice dynamics in tasks in which subjects must trade off between speed and accuracy in order to maximize reward rates. Caution is of critical importance: while errors decrease in frequency as caution increases, decision time increases. Direct manipulation of caution provides a framework with which to compare models. Recent work has compared the predictions of the Linear Ballistic Accumulator (LBA) and the
Closing the sea level budget at the Last Glacial Maximum

Establishing the volume of excess ice contained in the global ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM; ∼26,000–19,000 y ago) remains a longstanding problem in Ice Age climate dynamics. Expressed as the equivalent lowering of global mean sea level (GMSL), estimates of this value have varied from 105 (1) to 163 m (2), with many estimates suggesting ∼120 m (3). This wide range introduces substantial uncertainties in LGM global boundary conditions (ice sheet height and extent and continental shelf exposure) that strongly influence climate through their impacts on atmospheric and ocean circulation and global temperature. More recently, this uncertainty has influenced our understanding of present sea level change, whereby the ongoing glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) of the solid Earth to the redistribution of mass since the LGM must be accounted for in satellite measurements of sea level and of current mass changes from shrinkage of glaciers and ice sheets. In PNAS, Lambeck et al. (4) present a comprehensive analysis of nearly 1,000 paleo-sea level markers to reconstruct GMSL change over the last 35,000 y, with their estimate for the LGM GMSL of 134–140 m being significantly larger than most published estimates but similar to a recent reassessment of the Barbados sea level record (130 m) that had been the basis for many estimates of ∼120 m (5). If it stands, this reconstruction will reduce uncertainties in our understanding of Ice Age climate and modern sea level change. At the same time, however, it raises a significant challenge: is it possible to explain this total sea level change from our best estimates of the contributions from individual LGM glaciers and ice sheets?
Investigation of Turkish Nonword Repetition List for 3-9 Years Children

The purpose of this study was to develop the Turkish Nonword Repetition (NWR) List and to assess the verbal working memory performances of typically developing children between 3-9 years. Study group consists of 84 girls and 108 boys with a total of 192 children who are attended to private and state preschool institutions as well as state primary schools in Ankara. NWR List consists of 36 words with a total of 210 phonemes. The results showed that the number of correct phonemes increase with age. Besides, age and the number of one to four syllables and consonant cluster nonwords had averagely positive significant relationship. This research adds to our knowledge of language development as it highlights that NWR processes can be applied at an early age of 3.
Molecular Basis of Resistance to Macrolides and Other Antibiotics in Commensal Viridans Group Streptococci and Gemella spp. and Transfer of Resistance Genes to Streptococcus pneumoniae

ABSTRACT We assessed the mechanisms of resistance to macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin B (MLSB) antibiotics and related antibiotics in erythromycin-resistant viridans group streptococci (n = 164) and Gemella spp. (n = 28). The macrolide resistance phenotype was predominant (59.38%); all isolates with this phenotype carried the mef(A) or mef(E) gene, with mef(E) being predominant (95.36%). The erm(B) gene was always detected in strains with constitutive and inducible MLSB resistance and was combined with the mef(A/E) gene in 47.44% of isolates. None of the isolates carried the erm(A) subclass erm(TR), erm(A), or erm(C) genes. The mel gene was detected in all but four strains carrying the mef(A/E) gene. The tet(M) gene was found in 86.90% of tetracycline-resistant isolates and was strongly associated with the presence of the erm(B) gene. The catpC194 gene was detected in seven chloramphenicol-resistant Streptococcus mitis isolates, and the aph(3′)-III gene was detected in four viridans group streptococcal isolates with high-level kanamycin resistance. The intTn gene was found in all isolates with the erm(B), tet(M), aph(3′)-III, and catpC194 gene. The mef(E) and mel genes were successfully transferred from both groups of bacteria to Streptococcus pneumoniae R6 by transformation. Viridans group streptococci and Gemella spp. seem to be important reservoirs of resistance genes.
PatchLift: Fast and Exact Computation of Patch Distances using Lifting, with Applications to Non-Local Means

In this paper, we propose a fast algorithm called PatchLift for computing distances between patches extracted from a one-dimensional signal. PatchLift is based on the observation that the patch distances can be expressed in terms of simple moving sums of an image, which is derived from the one-dimensional signal via lifting. We apply PatchLift to develop a separable extension of the classical Non-Local Means (NLM) algorithm which is at least 100 times faster than NLM for standard parameter settings. The PSNR obtained using the proposed extension is typically close to (and often larger than) the PSNRs obtained using the original NLM. We provide some simulations results to demonstrate the acceleration achieved using separability and PatchLift.
Dark Personality Features and Emotion Dysregulation

Previous reports have painted a complex picture of the associations between dark personality features and emotion dysregulation. To provide a more comprehensive picture, 532 college students completed measures of dark personality features—the Dark Triad (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism), sadism, and spitefulness—and emotion dysregulation. We found that the grandiose and leadership facets of narcissism were negatively associated with various aspects of emotion dysregulation. In contrast, spitefulness, the callous aspect of psychopathy, and Machiavellianism were positively associated with some aspects of emotion dysregulation. Sadism was not associated with emotion dysregulation. The implications of these results for the understanding of dark personality features are discussed.