Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Decision-making and ‘gut feeling’ in males with anorexia nervosa

Objective: To examine decision-making in males with anorexia nervosa (AN) and establish if performance is associated with skin conductance responses (SCRs). Method: Decision-making was assessed in 39 participants [11 males with AN and 28 healthy males] using the Iowa gambling task (IGT). SCRs were recorded during the performance of the IGT. Results: The male AN group performed significantly worse than healthy controls (HCs) in the IGT. However, their SCRs were similar to the HC group's SCRs, and IGT performance was not correlated with an established somatic measure (SCR). Discussion: Impaired performance in the IGT in male patients with AN is not associated with diminished somatic responses and clinical severity. Taken with other data, this shows that impaired decision-making is present in both male and female patients with AN. As impaired decision-making is also present in other psychiatric groups, it could be either a non-specific predisposing factor or a consequence of psychiatric morbidity. Nonetheless, this understanding may help to facilitate the development of improved interventions, for example, cognitive rehabilitation programmes, and may also be of benefit for predicting treatment outcome.
Childhood Risk Factors for Adolescent Gang Membership: Results from the Seattle Social Development Project

Adolescents who join gangs are more frequently involved in serious delinquency compared with those who do not, yet few studies have conducted a prospective examination of risk factors for gang membership. The present study uses longitudinal data to predict gang membership in adolescence from factors measured in childhood. Data were from the Seattle Social Development Project, an ethnically diverse, gender-balanced sample (n = 808) followed prospectively from age 10 to 18. Logistic regression was used to identify risk factors at ages 10 through 12 predictive of joining a gang between the ages of 13 and 18. Neighborhood, family, school, peer, and individual factors significantly predicted joining a gang in adolescence. Youth exposed to multiple factors were much more likely to join a gang. Implications for the development of gang prevention interventions are discussed.
Once‐daily glatiramer acetate decreases magnetic resonance imaging disease activity in Japanese patients with relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) prevalence, clinical patterns, and treatment responses vary between races and geographical latitudes. Glatiramer acetate (GA; Copaxone) has provided a safe, effective treatment option for relapsing–remitting MS patients in the USA, European nations, and other countries for decades. The objective of the present study was to assess the safety and efficacy of GA in reducing magnetic resonance imaging disease activity in Japanese patients with active relapsing–remitting MS.
Locally semicomplete digraphs: A generalization of tournaments

In this paper we introduce a new class of directed graphs called locally semicomplete digraphs. These are defined to be those digraphs for which the following holds: for every vertex x the vertices dominated by x induce a semicomplete digraph and the vertices that dominate x induce a semicomplete digraph. (A digraph is semicomplete if for any two distinct vertices u and ν, there is at least one arc between them.) This class contains the class of semicomplete digraphs, but is much more general. In fact, the class of underlying graphs of the locally semi-complete digraphs is precisely the class of proper circular-arc graphs (see [13], Theorem 3). We show that many of the classic theorems for tournaments have natural analogues for locally semicomplete digraphs. For example, every locally semicomplete digraph has a directed Hamiltonian path and every strong locally semicomplete digraph has a Hamiltonian cycle. We also consider connectivity properties, domination orientability, and algorithmic aspects of locally semicomplete digraphs. Some of the results on connectivity are new, even when restricted to semicomplete digraphs.
War, Casualties, and Public Opinion

The authors begin the construction of a generalizable theory of casualties and opinion, reexamining the logic employed by Mueller and showing that although human costs are an important predictor of wartime opinion, Mueller's operationalization of those costs solely as the log of cumulative national casualties is problematic and incomplete. The authors argue that temporally proximate costs, captured as marginal casualty figures, are an important additional aspect of human costs and a critical factor in determining wartime opinion. Using Mueller's data on opinion in the Vietnam and Korean wars, the authors find that marginal casualties are important in explaining opinion when casualty accumulation is accelerating, and earlier findings about the importance and generalizability of the log of cumulative casualties as the sole casualty-based predictor of opinion are overstated. Finally, the authors offer some thoughts about other factors that should be considered when building a model of war deaths and domestic opinion.
Lexical-semantic processing and reading: relations between semantic priming, visual word recognition and reading comprehension

The aim of this study was to investigate relations between lexical-semantic processing and two components of reading: visual word recognition and reading comprehension. Sixty-eight children from private schools in Porto Alegre, Brazil, from 7 to 12 years, were evaluated. Reading was assessed with a word/nonword reading task and a reading comprehension task. Lexical-semantic processing was evaluated with a semantic priming experiment. Correlations were conducted in order to examine the relations between semantic priming effects (SPEs) and performance in reading tasks. Regression analyses were performed to test the hypothesis that word reading mediates the relation between semantic priming and reading comprehension. The results showed that SPEs correlated with both word reading and reading comprehension measures. Additionally, partial mediation by word reading was found for the prediction of reading comprehension by SPEs. The results are discussed in the context of reading models and other studies relating semantic priming and reading measures.
Organizational Obstacles: Links with Financial Performance, Customer Satisfaction, and Job Satisfaction in a Service Environment

A model was developed to describe the roles of organizational obstacles (social and technical) in relation to three types of performance outcomes (customer satisfaction, financial performance, and employee job satisfaction), as well as to various moderators associated with different job types (e.g., customer contact, organizational commitment). In a test of this model, employee perceptions of organizational obstacles were measured in a retail banking environment. For employees in highest contact with customers (i.e., tellers), reports of co-worker obstacles, work environment obstacles, and workbreak scheduling obstacles were associated with lower levels of customer satisfaction. However, there was very little relationship between tellers' perceptions of obstacles and tellers' job satisfaction. For employees in positions associated with more experience and commitment (i.e., account representatives), information timeliness obstacles were linked with higher customer satisfaction, while materials, workspace sharing, and work environment obstacles were linked with lower customer satisfaction. Also for account representatives, the majority of obstacle types negatively affected their job satisfaction. These results are interpreted and discussed and managerial implications are examined.
Academic Achievement and Locus of Control in Father-Absent Elementary School Children

Standardized achievement scores and academic locus of control were investigated in 28 father-absent (FA) and 28 father-present (FP) third-grade children of similar IQ characteristics. Father-absent children performed significantly worse than FP children in reading achievement. There were no differences between the two groups for spelling and arithmetic, but FA males performed significantly worse than FA females, whose achievement level was closer to that of the FP males and females. For academic locus of control, FA children, compared with FP children, tended to perceive successful achievement outcomes as being related to external sources of control such as task ease or teacher assistance. On the other hand, the two groups took similar responsibility for their failures. Together, the results of this study suggest that for FA and FP groups of similar IQ characteristics, there is already some evidence of the detrimental effects of father absence on cognitive development by the third grade. Further, the academic locus of control characteristics of the one-parent children suggest that their achievement deficits may become more marked in later grades.
When Will They Blow My Cover?: The Impostor Phenomenon Among Austrian Doctoral Students

This study contributes to explaining psychological barriers in female university careers by examining the relation between the impostor phenomenon and research self-efficacy in the university context. The impostor phenomenon refers to people who are objectively competent but feel the opposite and therefore fear being unmasked. So far, there have been no data from German-speaking countries concerning the impostor phenomenon at universities; thus, the impostor phenomenon was examined in a sample of 631 (389 female) Austrian doctoral students. One-third of the sample reported moderate to strong impostor feelings. Female doctoral students both suffer more from impostor feelings and show lower research self-efficacy than male doctoral students do. Furthermore, the impostor phenomenon and research self-efficacy are associated with faculty membership. The most important finding is that the impostor phenomenon is negatively related to research self-efficacy. Research self-efficacy is an important indicator for su.
An Analysis of Self: The Development and Assessment of a Measure of Selfobject Needs

ABSTRACT Based on the psychoanalysis of adults with borderline and narcissistic personality disorder symptoms, Kohut (1971, 1977, 1980, 1984) formulated a theory of self psychology that emphasized the importance of early developmental experiences; most centrally, the empathic attunement of caregivers as key ingredients for fostering the capacity for healthy self-regulation and interpersonal relations. Kohut elaborated 3 critical selfobject needs (i.e., idealizing, mirroring, and twinship) that were ideally satiated by these early experiences, deeming the fulfillment of these needs as essential for developing a healthy sense of self. The research presented here sought to develop a self-report measure, titled the Arble Estimate of Selfobject Pursuits (AESOP), capable of assessing the selfobject needs identified by Kohut. Across 2 studies involving 686 and 672 respondents, participants completed the AESOP. In the first study, an exploratory factor analysis supported the theorized 3-factor structure. In the second study, a confirmatory factor analysis indicated adequate-to-strong model fit and cluster analysis with theoretically related measures supported the AESOP's discriminant and convergent validity. Further research is encouraged to elaborate the implications of these preliminary findings.
Improving Exam Performance by Metacognitive Strategies

When individuals make self-assessment errors, they are generally in the direction of overconfidence. Why do students overestimate their multiple-choice exam scores? Is there a way to boost students' exam performance to match their exam expectations? This study addresses these questions by a manipulation introduced at the end of multiple-choice exams. Students were given an opportunity to improve their score by answering an additional set of upgrade multiple-choice questions. Then the students could swap a subset of the questions with questions from the formal exam. Substitution credit was only given when a correctly answered upgrade question was swapped for an incorrectly answered exam question. The results reveal that the bonus opportunity significantly improves exam performance, and the adjusted scores are close enough to the estimated score that there is no statistically significant difference between the two. The authors believe that the substitution process activates critical thinking and metacognitive processes. It closes the gap between the students' estimated scores and the final exam scores. Finally, this activity gives students credit for knowing what they know and knowing what they do not know.
Maximizing Rendezvous Diversity in Rendezvous Protocols for Decentralized Cognitive Radio Networks

In decentralized cognitive radio (CR) networks, establishing a link between a pair of communicating nodes requires that the radios "rendezvous” in a common channel-such a channel is called a rendezvous channel-to exchange control information. When unlicensed (secondary) users opportunistically share spectrum with licensed (primary or incumbent) users, a given rendezvous channel may become unavailable due to the appearance of licensed user signals. Ideally, every node pair should be able to rendezvous in every available channel (i.e., maximize the rendezvous diversity) so that the possibility of rendezvous failures is minimized. Channel hopping (CH) protocols have been proposed previously for establishing pairwise rendezvous. Some of them enable pairwise rendezvous over all channels but require global clock synchronization, which may be very difficult to achieve in decentralized networks. Maximizing the pairwise rendezvous diversity in decentralized CR networks is a very challenging problem. In this paper, we present a systematic approach for designing CH protocols that maximize the rendezvous diversity of any node pair in decentralized CR networks. The resulting protocols are resistant to rendezvous failures caused by the appearance of primary user (PU) signals and do not require clock synchronization. The proposed approach, called asynchronous channel hopping (ACH), has two noteworthy features: 1) any pair of CH nodes are able to rendezvous on every channel so that the rendezvous process is robust to disruptions caused by the appearance of PU signals; and 2) an upper bounded time-to-rendezvous (TTR) is guaranteed between the two nodes even if their clocks are asynchronous. We propose two optimal ACH designs that maximize the rendezvous diversity between any pair of nodes and show their rendezvous performance via analytical and simulation results.
Adopting Goldin et al.'s student 'engagement structures' for investigating teacher 'engagement structures': Some preliminary analyses.

As part of PhD research into mathematics teachers’ emotional engagement, I am exploring means of addressing the complexity of classroom interactions, whilst incorporating teacher beliefs. Goldin, Epstein, Schorr, and Warner (2011) propose ‘engagement structures’ which are suggested as a theoretical model for framing analysis of the complex nature of affect for students of mathematics. In this paper, I examine whether this ‘engagement structures’ construct can be appropriately and usefully adapted for secondary mathematics teachers. I then discuss the fit of emerging affective characteristics to each of the strands outlined by Goldin et al. (2011). The teacher data includes a pre-observation career story; videoed observations of lessons; and post-observation discussion of video extracts where the teacher recalls emotions. If transference proves useful, then linking teacher and student ‘engagement structures’ could support detailed examination of classroom interactions.
Pathophysiologic importance of E‐ and L‐selectin for neutrophil‐induced liver injury during endotoxemia in mice

Neutrophils can cause parenchymal cell injury in the liver during ischemia‐reperfusion and endotoxemia. Neutrophils relevant for the injury accumulate in sinusoids, transmigrate, and adhere to hepatocytes. To investigate the role of E‐ and L‐selectin in this process, C3Heb/FeJ mice were treated with 700 mg/kg galactosamine and 100 μg/kg endotoxin (Gal/ET). Immunogold labeling verified the expression of E‐selectin on sinusoidal endothelial cells 4 hours after Gal/ET injection. In addition, Gal/ET caused up‐regulation of Mac‐1 (CD11b/CD18) and shedding of L‐selectin from circulating neutrophils. Gal/ET induced hepatic neutrophil accumulation (422 ± 32 polymorphonuclear leukocytes [PMN]/50 high power fields [HPF]) and severe liver injury (plasma alanine transaminase [ALT] activities: 4,120 ± 960 U/L; necrosis: 44 ± 3%) at 7 hours. Treatment with an anti–E‐selectin antibody (3 mg/kg, intravenously) at the time of Gal/ET administration did not significantly affect hepatic neutrophil accumulation and localization. However, the anti–E‐selectin antibody significantly attenuated liver injury as indicated by reduced ALT levels (−84%) and 43% less necrotic hepatocytes. In contrast, animals treated with an anti–L‐selectin antibody or L‐selectin gene knock out mice were not protected against Gal/ET‐induced liver injury. However, E‐, L‐, and P‐selectin triple knock out mice showed significantly reduced liver injury after Gal/ET treatment as indicated by lower ALT levels (−65%) and reduced necrosis (−68%). Previous studies showed that circulating neutrophils of E‐selectin–overexpressing mice are primed and activated similar to neutrophils adhering to E‐selectin in vitro. Therefore, we conclude that blocking E‐selectin or eliminating this gene may have protected against Gal/ET‐induced liver injury in vivoby inhibiting the full activation of neutrophils during the transmigration process.
The relationship between aggressive behaviour in prison and violent offending following release

Aggression during incarceration impacts on parole release decisions. However, research examining the link between aggressive behaviour in custody and violence post-release is limited, particularly in relation to adult violent offenders. Several factors complicate the use of institutional aggression as a marker of risk for future violence, including environmental causes of aggressive behaviour and adaptation to prison. This study explored the association between aggressive behaviour in prison and violent recidivism post-release in a sample of 148 adult male violent offenders. Prisoners with three or more aggressive incidents recorded in prison incurred a violent charge more often and sooner after release than those with no aggressive incidents, when controlling for age, ethnicity, length of incarceration and risk for future violence. Subjects with one or two aggressive incidents were not at increased risk of violent recidivism. These findings suggest that institutional aggression can be used to identify individuals at risk of violence following release but only when repeated aggressive behaviour is evident. Importantly, some prisoners who were not aggressive in prison were charged with violent offences post-release and some prisoners with three or more aggressive incidents were not violent following release, highlighting the complexity of using in-prison aggression as a marker for violent recidivism.
Expansive and restrictive approaches to professionalism in FE colleges: the observation of teaching and learning as a case in point

What it means to be a ‘professional’ in further education (FE) in England has been the subject of ongoing debate over the last two decades. In an attempt to codify professionalism, New Labour developed a package of reforms, crystallised by the introduction of professional standards and qualifications and a new inspection framework under Ofsted. These reforms reflected a political desire to improve FE teachers’ professional skills and knowledge and prioritised teaching and learning as the main driver for ‘continuous improvement’. The observation of teaching and learning (OTL) subsequently emerged as a pivotal tool with which to evaluate and measure improvement, whilst also promoting teacher learning and development. Drawing on recent research into the use of OTL, this paper focuses on two case-study colleges in the West Midlands, whose contrasting OTL practices serve to exemplify expansive and restrictive approaches to professionalism in FE.
Molecular dynamics studies of the P pilus rod subunit PapA

Adhesion of uropathogenic Escherichia coli to host tissues is mediated by pili, which extend from the outer cell membrane of the bacterium. Here we report molecular dynamics (MD) characterizations of the major constituent of P pili from the uropathogenic E. coli, PapA, in unliganded state and in complex with the G1 strand of the chaperone PapD. To mimic the PapA response to the gradual dissociation of the PapD G1 strand and to evaluate the role of PapA chaperone recognition sites, we also carried out MD simulations of complexes of PapA with fragments of PapD G1 strand, that leave either the P4 or both P3 and P4 sites unoccupied. Data on the unbound form of PapA indicate that, upon release of the chaperone, PapA evolves toward compact states that are likely not prone to subunit–subunit association. In line with recent experimental reports, this finding implies that chaperone release and subunit–subunit association must be concerted. Our data also indicated that the gradual unbinding of the chaperone from the PapA groove has increasingly strong structural consequences. Indeed, the release of the chaperone from the site P4, which is closest to the initiation site (P5), does not have dramatic effects on the domain structure, whereas its release from both the P4 and the adjacent P3 sites induces a quick structural transition toward a collapsed state, where the subunit groove is obstructed. Copyright © 2008 European Peptide Society and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Hopelessness and Interpersonal Conflict: Antecedents and Consequences of Losing Hope

Research on intractable conflict indicates that difficult conflicts often are associated with a sense of hopelessness about the potential for resolution. We argue that hopelessness arises from individuals who want another to change and whose arguments evidence self demand/other withdraw and mutual hostility. The sense of hopelessness arising from these patterns is related to avoidance after an argument and withdrawing support and affection. We conducted a survey of undergraduates about their arguments with parents and romantic partners. As predicted, the correlations between desire for change and withdrawal of support/affection and desire for change and avoidance were positive and statistically significant. A mediation analysis confirmed our hypotheses. The relationships between desire for change and withdrawal of support/affection and avoidance were mediated by self demand/other withdraw and hopelessness. Similarly, the relationships between desire for change and withdrawal of support/affection and avoidance were mediated by mutual hostility and hopelessness. We discuss implications for research on serial arguing, intractable conflict, and destructive communication behaviors.