Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A General Approach to Causal Mediation Analysis

Traditionally in the social sciences, causal mediation analysis has been formulated, understood, and implemented within the framework of linear structural equation models. We argue and demonstrate that this is problematic for 3 reasons: the lack of a general definition of causal mediation effects independent of a particular statistical model, the inability to specify the key identification assumption, and the difficulty of extending the framework to nonlinear models. In this article, we propose an alternative approach that overcomes these limitations. Our approach is general because it offers the definition, identification, estimation, and sensitivity analysis of causal mediation effects without reference to any specific statistical model. Further, our approach explicitly links these 4 elements closely together within a single framework. As a result, the proposed framework can accommodate linear and nonlinear relationships, parametric and nonparametric models, continuous and discrete mediators, and various types of outcome variables. The general definition and identification result also allow us to develop sensitivity analysis in the context of commonly used models, which enables applied researchers to formally assess the robustness of their empirical conclusions to violations of the key assumption. We illustrate our approach by applying it to the Job Search Intervention Study. We also offer easy-to-use software that implements all our proposed methods.
Aspiring to Careers in Male-and Female-Dominated Professions: A Study of Black and White College Women

In an examination of career aspirations, 101 black and 530 white college women were asked to indicate their occupational and educational plans, important considerations for career choices, and their attitudes toward combining the roles of career and family. Results indicated that women who planned careers in male-dominated occupations had higher career and educational aspirations than women who desired careers in female-dominated occupations. Black women who planned careers in male-dominated professions showed high levels of aspirations, planned more education than was necessary for the desired occupations, and perceived less conflict in combining the roles of career and family than their white counterparts. There were few differences between black and white women in their attitudes toward the traditional roles of men and women. Those choosing female-dominated careers, however, had more traditional attitudes regardless of race. Implications of these findings for the influence of occupational gender dominance on career aspirations are discussed.
MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF NEMATODES OF THE GLOBOCEPHALUS GENUS PREVALENT AMONG WILD BOARS FROM VARIOUS REGIONS OF BULGARIA

Summary Nanev, V. , T. Mutafova, I. Todev, D. Hrusanov & V. Radev, 2007. Morphological characteristics of nematodes of the Globocephalus genus prevalent among wild boars from various regions of Bulgaria. Bulg. J. Vet. Med. , 10 , No 2, 103 ￻111. Sexually mature parasites of the Globocephalus genus, collected from wild boars inhabiting Bulgarian State Game Breeding Stations with various ecogeographical characteristics were investigated A complete morphometric description of collected worms was performed and the presence of a single species ￻ G. urosubulatus , was observed The data were analyzed and compared to morphological descriptions reported in the literature. Conclusions about the consistency of morphometric criteria used in the recognition of Globocephalus species were made .
Reduction in Weight and Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in Individuals With Type 2 Diabetes

OBJECTIVE—The effectiveness of intentional weight loss in reducing cardiovascular disease (CVD) events in type 2 diabetes is unknown. This report describes 1-year changes in CVD risk factors in a trial designed to examine the long-term effects of an intensive lifestyle intervention on the incidence of major CVD events. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—This study consisted of a multicentered, randomized, controlled trial of 5,145 individuals with type 2 diabetes, aged 45–74 years, with BMI >25 kg/m2 (>27 kg/m2 if taking insulin). An intensive lifestyle intervention (ILI) involving group and individual meetings to achieve and maintain weight loss through decreased caloric intake and increased physical activity was compared with a diabetes support and education (DSE) condition. RESULTS—Participants assigned to ILI lost an average 8.6% of their initial weight vs. 0.7% in DSE group (P < 0.001). Mean fitness increased in ILI by 20.9 vs. 5.8% in DSE (P < 0.001). A greater proportion of ILI participants had reductions in diabetes, hypertension, and lipid-lowering medicines. Mean A1C dropped from 7.3 to 6.6% in ILI (P < 0.001) vs. from 7.3 to 7.2% in DSE. Systolic and diastolic pressure, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, and urine albumin-to-creatinine ratio improved significantly more in ILI than DSE participants (all P < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS—At 1 year, ILI resulted in clinically significant weight loss in people with type 2 diabetes. This was associated with improved diabetes control and CVD risk factors and reduced medicine use in ILI versus DSE. Continued intervention and follow-up will determine whether these changes are maintained and will reduce CVD risk.
Human and Non-Human Primate Preferences for Faces and Facial Attractiveness

For humans and non-human primates (NHPs) the face represents a particularly important source of social information providing a means of conspecific recognition and cues to personal details including sex, age, and emotional state. The human face may also be fundamental in the transmission to conspecifics of other forms of socially relevant information including the display of facial traits associated with sexual attraction and mate choice. A wealth of experimental literature indicates that humans display robust preferences for certain facial traits associated with facial attractiveness including preferences for bilateral facial symmetry, facial averageness and sexually dimorphic faces and facial features. It is thought that these preferences have evolved via sexual selection, and may be adaptive, due to the role that these specific facial features play in reliably signalling to others the possession of heritable genetic quality or ‘good genes’. Therefore, from an evolutionary perspective, it is possible that certain facial preferences may represent an evolutionary adaptation for the selection of potential mate quality. However, despite similarities between human and NHP face processing and recognition abilities, the shared evolutionary history and social importance of faces to primates in general, and the potential importance of these preferences in the mate choice decisions of NHPs, very little research has investigated the extent to which NHPs display comparable preferences to humans for these specific facial traits. Consequently, the aim of the following thesis was to comparatively assess the general and more specific preferences that humans and NHPs display for faces and for traits associated with facial attractiveness. Data was compiled from preference studies examining the visual preferences displayed by two species of NHP (brown capuchins (Cebus apella) and chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)) for conspecific faces manipulated for those facial traits associated with attractiveness, and from a single study of brown capuchins examining their general visual preferences for various types of facial information. Comparative preference studies were also conducted upon human adults and infants examining the visual and declared preferences that they display for manipulations of facial attractiveness. Data showed that despite possessing general preferences for certain faces and facial information, generally NHPs displayed no significant preferences for those facial traits thought to influences judgements of attractiveness in humans. Possible reasons for this absence of preference for these particular facial traits and the evolutionary implications of these findings are discussed.
[The correlation between the enlargement of root canal diameter and the fracture strength and the stress distribution of root].

OBJECTIVE To investigate the correlation between the extent of cutting of the root canal wall and the root fracture strength and the stress distribution. METHODS Fifteen pairs of root sections were into 3 groups with canal wall thickness of 1.00 mm, 0.75 mm and 0.50 mm respectively. The maximum load was tested required for fracture for each group through fracture test in a universal testing machine, and compared with that for the original canal. The stress and its distribution of the root with normal wall thickness (1.2 mm) and roots with 75%, 50% and 25% respectively of the normal wall thickness were examined by three-dimensional finite analysis. The maximum Von Mises stress of the root of each model was calculated. RESULTS The mean fracture strengths of the groups with canal wall thickness of 1.00 mm, 0.75 mm and 0.50 mm were (4 432.41 +/- 563.59) N, (4 137.43 +/- 680.29) N and (3 749.87 +/- 554.17) N respectively. The maximum load of fracture resistance is a linear function of the root canal wall thickness (r = 0.972, P < 0.001). The three-dimensional finite analysis revealed that the enlargement of root canal diameter brought on increase of stress of root canal wall, and the stress and its distribution altered with further decrease of the wall thickness. The stress of lateral loading was greater than that of vertical loading. CONCLUSIONS The results suggests that clinical root canal treatment should be designated to remove just the infected tissue and avoid over-cutting of the hard tissue.
A Typology of Educational Monitoring Systems

The study develops a typology of educational monitoring systems with a view toward its utility for educational policymakers. The three major types are compliance monitoring, diagnostic monitoring, and performance monitoring. Three case studies are presented from New Jersey, Minnesota, and California that typify each approach to monitoring. The concluding section discusses the policy trade-offs that accompany reliance by states on each approach to educational accountability.
Mineral Nutrition of the Cotton Plant.

The accumulations and partitions of mineral elements and dry matter in upland cotton plants were followed: A, at five-day intervals for thirty days starting with the seed with the plants growing in Hoagland's solution in a warm-to-hot summer greenhouse, and B, at 15-day intervals from thirty days after planting to maturity in field plantings. The latter data are not original but are recalculated from Olson and Bledsoe (16) who sampled cotton growing on Cecil sandy loam in Georgia; their results were the averages of two fertilizer treatments for the years 1939 and 1940 on a soil that had a pH 5.7, 2 % organic matter, and which produced 2,000 pounds per acre of seed cotton. The data were reported by them as pounds-per-acre increments of N, P205, K20, CaO MgO, and plant weight for 15-day periods, together with the end-of-season totals. The Olson-and-Bledsoe data long have been regarded by us as especially meritorious and deserving of the additional analyses and interpretations which we have undertaken in this paper. As an orienting foreword, some rather marked differences occurred in the mineral accumulations, and particularly in growth rates between the plants grown in the greenhouse in Hoagland's solution for thirty days and those first sampled in the field by Olson and Bledsoe at a like age after development during the typically cool conditions of the spring. The kernels of the Empire seed planted in the greenhouse had an average dry weight of 0.063 gm ; at 30 days the leaves and stems had dry weights of 2.93 gm. In the field at thirty days the plant tops weighed only 0.13 gm. The greenhouse-to-field ratios of mineral accumulations (percentages on dry weight of leaves and stems) at thirty days were N, 4.0 to 3.5; P, 0.8 to 0.3; K, 4.5 to 2.7; Ca, 3.3 to 3.1; and Mg, 0.7 to 1.4.
Exploring the Black Box: An Analysis of Work Group Diversity, Conflict and Performance

In this paper we present an integrative model of the relationships among diversity, conflict, and performance, and we test that model with a sample of 45 teams. Findings show that diversity shapes conflict and that conflict, in turn, shapes performance, but these linkages have subtleties. Functional background diversity drives task conflict, but multiple types of diversity drive emotional conflict. Race and tenure diversity are positively associated with emotional conflict, while age diversity is negatively associated with such conflict. Task routineness and group longevity moderate these relationships. Results further show that task conflict has more favorable effects on cognitive task performance than does emotional conflict. Overall, these patterns suggest a complex link between work group diversity and work group functioning.
A preference for progressivity in interaction

This article investigates two types of preference organization in interaction: in response to a question that selects a next speaker in multi-party interaction, the preference for answers over non-answer responses as a category of a response; and the preference for selected next speakers to respond. It is asserted that the turn allocation rule specified by Sacks, Schegloff & Jefferson (1974) which states that a response is relevant by the selected next speaker at the transition relevance place is affected by these two preferences once beyond a normal transition space. It is argued that a “second-order” organization is present such that interactants prioritize a preference for answers over a preference for a response by the selected next speaker. This analysis reveals an observable preference for progressivity in interaction.Thank you to Nick Enfield, Steve Levinson and Manny Schegloff for useful discussions about the phenomena discussed in this article, and to John Heritage for his careful reading and comments on earlier drafts. Portions of this article were presented at the 2002 Western States Communication Association convention, Long Beach, California, and at the Workshop on Feedback in Interaction at the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, in February 2004.
Fully-integrated polarization-diversity coherent receiver module for 100G DP-QPSK

A new compact coherent receiver module comprising a micro-optic polarization beam splitter and two InP-based 90° hybrids with integrated photodiodes is characterized at 112 Gbit/s DP-QPSK. A penalty of only 1.3 dB in OSNR sensitivity at a BER of 10−3 compared to theory was obtained at C-band wavelengths.
The Lobster Parasite Anophryoides haemophila (Scuticociliatida: Orchitophryidae): Nuclear 18S rDNA Sequence, Phylogeny and Detection Using Oligonucleotide Primers

ABSTRACT. We have determined the nucleotide sequence of the nuclear gene encoding small‐subunit ribosomal ribonucleic acid of the ciliate Anophryoides haemophila, a parasite of the American lobster Homarus americanus. The gene is 1763 bp in length, and has a guanosine‐plus‐cytosine content of 43.9%. Inferred phylogenetic frameworks strongly support the monophyly of the scuticociliates, and suggest that order Scuticociliatida should be elevated to at least subclass rank. Oligonucleotide probes based on A. haemophila ssu‐rDNA can discriminate between DNAs of A. haemophila and other investigated hymenostome ciliates, and effectively prime polymerase chain reaction‐based detection of A. haemophila deoxyribonucleic acid against at least a 1600‐fold excess of total deoxyribonucleic acid from H. americanus.
Exploring the Impact of Facebook and Myspace Use on First-Year Students' Sense of Belonging and Persistence Decisions

In recent years, scholars have focused on students' use of social networking sites (SNSs) such as Myspace and Facebook. Research about such technologies is largely descriptive or based on theoretical assumptions and anecdotal evidence, although some authors have studied frequency of use, adoption of technology, and computer usage among college students. Relatively few empirical studies exist that measure demographic differences in first-year college students' use of SNSs and even fewer that estimate the relationship between first-year students' use of SNSs and measures of student persistence. Based on survey data from 755 first-year students, multivariate analyses revealed significant demographic differences in first-year students' frequency of use of SNSs and mixed results about the influence of SNS use on sense of belonging and persistence decisions. Findings highlight an important gap in our current knowledge and praxis in student affairs.
Dropping out of child psychotherapy: distinguishing early and late dropouts over the course of treatment.

The present study examined child, parent, and family factors that predict dropping out from therapy among children (ages 4-13) referred for the treatment of oppositional, aggressive, and antisocial behavior. It was proposed that factors predicting attrition would vary as a function of whether families dropped out early or late in treatment. Several factors related to family (e.g., socioeconomic disadvantage, adverse child-rearing practices), parent (e.g., stress, life events, history of antisocial behavior), and child functioning (e.g., severity and chronicity of antisocial behavior, lower IQ, peer relations) predicted premature termination from treatment. A different pattern was evident in the factors predicting early and late termination from therapy. The findings have implications for conceptualizing the process of engaging and retaining families in treatment and for preventing premature termination.
The Importance of Friends

In a study of new friendships and adjustment among 1st-year university students, students at six Canadian universities completed questionnaires that assessed the quality of new friendships and adjustment during their first academic year. In-depth, face-to-face interviews about students' new friendships were conducted with a subsample of these students. Results indicated a significant positive relation between quality of new friendships and adjustment to university; this association was stronger for students living in residence than for those commuting to university. The interview data provided insight into the processes through which the relation between quality of new friendships and adjustment occurs. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of new friendships in helping individuals to adjust to a new social environment.
Enhanced visual processing contributes to matrix reasoning in autism

Recent behavioral investigations have revealed that autistics perform more proficiently on Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM) than would be predicted by their Wechsler intelligence scores. A widely‐used test of fluid reasoning and intelligence, the RSPM assays abilities to flexibly infer rules, manage goal hierarchies, and perform high‐level abstractions. The neural substrates for these abilities are known to encompass a large frontoparietal network, with different processing models placing variable emphasis on the specific roles of the prefrontal or posterior regions. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the neural bases of autistics' RSPM problem solving. Fifteen autistic and eighteen non‐autistic participants, matched on age, sex, manual preference and Wechsler IQ, completed 60 self‐paced randomly‐ordered RSPM items along with a visually similar 60‐item pattern matching comparison task. Accuracy and response times did not differ between groups in the pattern matching task. In the RSPM task, autistics performed with similar accuracy, but with shorter response times, compared to their non‐autistic controls. In both the entire sample and a subsample of participants additionally matched on RSPM performance to control for potential response time confounds, neural activity was similar in both groups for the pattern matching task. However, for the RSPM task, autistics displayed relatively increased task‐related activity in extrastriate areas (BA18), and decreased activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex (BA9) and the medial posterior parietal cortex (BA7). Visual processing mechanisms may therefore play a more prominent role in reasoning in autistics. Hum Brain Mapp, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
A Study of Superior-Subordinate Relationship and Employees’ Commitment to the Core Beliefs of Organisation in Public Universities of Southwest, Nigeria

This paper empirically analysed the concept of superior-subordinate relationship and employees’ commitment to the core beliefs of the organisation in the public universities of Southwestern, Nigeria by identifying various key issues in superior-subordinate relationship and employees’ commitment; determining the effect of the superior-subordinate relationship on employees’ commitment and also investigated the extent of the effect of superior-subordinate relationship on employees’ commitment as well as the role of leadership styles in subordinates’ commitment and those challenges encountered in the course of instituting acceptable superior-subordinate relationship and employees’ commitment. The population for the study has a total number of twelve public universities in the Southwestern, Nigeria (Federal and State) with 12,346 academic staff from which a total number of 1,440 respondents were chosen i.e 120 respondents from each of the universities representing 12% of the population through the purposive sampling technique with reference to the stratified sampling procedure which ensures proportional representation of the population sub-group and random sampling technique was used in the course of administering the questionnaire to 1440 respondents. The result of the findings showed that the correlation between superior-subordinate relationship and employees’ commitment was a positive but it was a weak relationship at 0.05 level of sig. thus, recommended that the culture of the organisation should be designed and tailored along the tradition, values, norms and beliefs of the people in that environment for acceptability of the ways things are being done in the organisation in order to sustain relationship and commitment. Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE AR-SA /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin-top:0in; mso-para-margin-right:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:8.0pt; mso-para-margin-left:0in; line-height:107%; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
An Exploration of the Construction of Commitment Leading to Marriage

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore how newly married couples construct and reconstruct commitment through events in courtship and early marriage. Fifteen newly married couples, 30 participants, were interviewed individually. Through the use of grounded theory six different themes (friendship, gradual process, positive examples, negative examples, planning for the future, and words of affirmation) emerged in the construction, origination, and communication of commitment. The results of this study have specific implications for theory, research, and practice with young adult couples. The concept of resilient commitment is introduced and briefly discussed.