Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Beyond personality: the impact of GMA on performance for entry‐level service employees

Purpose – While personality is often deemed important, few studies have examined the relationship between general mental ability (GMA) and job performance for entry‐level service employees. As such, the present study aims to examine the impact of GMA, along with the Big Five personality dimensions, on performance in this context.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected on servers from multiple units of two large restaurant chains. The employees completed GMA and personality assessments. Managers in Sample 1 provided ratings of service performance and two dimensions of contextual performance – interpersonal facilitation and job dedication. In Sample 2, sales performance data were obtained from company records.Findings – Unlike the Big Five taxonomy, GMA was the only variable to significantly predict all performance criteria.Research limitations/implications – Successful job performance requires more than habits and motivation rooted in personality; it also requires knowledge acquisition and ongoin.
Hearing loss in perforations of the tympanic membrane

Abstract 70 Patients with dry central perforations have been studied to assess the hearing loss. The hearing loss is greater at the lower frequencies and increases with the size of the perforation. Malleolar perforations cause more hearing loss than the non-malleolar unless the perforation involves less than 10 per cent of the tympanic membrance surface area. Perforations of the postero-inferior quadrant cause more hearing loss than those in the antero-inferior quadrant. The large effective surgace area of an intact and normally vibrating tympanic membrane plays a major role in the middle ear transformer mechanism. The loss of this surface area by perforation is bound to cause deafness (Mawson, 1962). The degree of hearing loss has been extensively studied in human cadavers (Békésy, 1939) and in cats (Bordley and Hardy, 1937; Payne and Githler, 1951) but not much published work is available on any detailed clinical study in human beings. Most authors have generally stated that ‘small perforations’ have little effect on hearing, and only low tones are affected (Wever and Lawrence, 1954). In two individuals, Bordley and Hardy (1937) found average losses of 12 dB over frequencies ranging from 256 to 4,096 Hz. 10–30 dB loss is quoted by Simpson et al. (1967), and 20–45 dB loss in the speech frequencies by Thorburn (1971). It has been a general view that the hearing loss increases with the size of the perforation, more so it if is located in the postero-inferior quadrant (Mawson, 1962; Simpson et al., 1967; Thorburn, 1971). In a retrospective study of audiograms in 103 cases, Anthony and Harrison (1972) found that the maximum average loss occurred at 250 Hz. , the loss being less in ‘small’ perforations (less than 2 mm. diameter) than in large ones, less in perforations touching the manubrium than in those away from it, and also less in perforations of the antero-inferior quadrant than in those in the postero-inferior quadrant.
Does every emergency department patient need a blood lactate?

It has been a quiet week in Lakeside Emergency Department. On Monday one of the patient helpers had a fit at the hydrotherapy pool. Luckily she was not in the water. Her lactate was 13 when she was brought to us. She went home later. On Tuesday we admitted a young woman with a reduced level of consciousness, a metabolic acidosis and a raised lactate. A brain scan was unremarkable, and she got better with intravenous fluid. She was diabetic, on metformin, and had had too much to drink the night before. On Wednesday the Medical Reg asked me to see a lady with an infective exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). He was going to send her home but she had a lactate of 8 mmol/L, so he wanted to admit her. The Acute Medical Unit staff wouldn’t accept her because of the high lactate. She was sitting on the edge of the trolley chatting to her daughter and eating a pear. She went to the ward. On Thursday a man presented with diarrhoea, vomiting and abdominal pain. His early warning score was not elevated, and he felt much better after analgesia and some intravenous fluid. He was referred for admission because his C reactive protein and lactate were high. In the morning he had a cardiac arrest. Postmortem blood cultures grew Neisseria meningitidis . On Saturday a lady in her sixties was brought in vomiting and feeling unwell after going out for dinner. Her initial lactate was 4 mmol/L, and she didn’t look well. After some fluid she felt better but her lactate had increased to 7 mmol/L and she had a coagulopathy. By the time she reached the intensive care unit (ICU), she had painful fingers and toes and widespread purpura. She deteriorated rapidly and died of multiorgan failure. …
Genetic polymorphisms in the three malaysian races effect granisetron clinical antiemetic actions in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.

INTRODUCTION Nausea and vomiting are recognized as two separate and distinct conditions with a wide spectrum of etiologies either directly associated with cancer itself or its treatment. According to the new ranking of chemotherapy side effects, nausea is the number one or the most disturbing side effects while vomiting is the third and sometimes the fifth. The introduction of 5-HT3-recptor antagonists in the early of 1990s has revolutionized the treatment of nausea and vomiting, these agents remaining the mainstay of antiemetic therapy today. Ethnic variation (due to genetic polymorphisms) may lead to diversity in antiemetic treatment pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties, in terms of distribution, elimination, disposition and clinical effects. The aim of the present study was to clarify genetic polymorphism effects in the three main races in Malaysia i.e., Malay, Chinese and Indian, on the clinical antiemetic effects of granisetron. METHODS In this longitudinal prospective observational study, 158 breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy were monitored for nausea and vomiting in the first 24 hours after chemotherapy administration. The patients were then followed up again after 3 to 5 days of chemotherapy. RESULTS Genetic polymorphisms in the three races in Malaysia have significant effect on granisetron clinical antiemetic action because each is characterized by variant CYP3A4 enzymatic action. CONCLUSION According to the result, different type of 5-HT3 receptor antagonists, such as tropisetron and dolasetron which are predominantly metabolized by CYP2D6, should be used especially for Chinese breast cancer patients.
Perceptions of Tourism and Hotel Management Students on Ethics in the Workplace

Ethics in the workplace has become an increasing concern with the fast development and increasing complexity of the hospitality and tourism industry. However, limited academic credence has been given to the perceptions and reactions of hospitality and tourism students on ethics in relation to their respective workplaces. The current study aims to investigate the perceptions of tourism and hotel management students on ethics. A comparison was conducted among three groups of students, including subdegree, bachelor's degree, and master's degree students. The findings of this study show that the students generally possess a high level of ethical standard and acknowledge the importance of ethics in the workplace. The perceptions and reactions of the students toward unethical behavior in the workplace consistently showed their adherence to ethics. Bachelor's degree students posited a higher acceptance level on unethical behavior compared with subdegree and master's degree students. Recommendations for improving the ethics course for tourism and hotel management programs and for future research are discussed.
The Socialization of Emotion: Reply to Commentaries

The numerous commentaries on our article were stimulating, constructive, and useful to us in refining our own thinking about the socialization of emotion. We thank our colleagues for their thoughtful comments. We also were struck by the degree to which the themes in the commentaries were extensions of features of our heuristic model or of ideas presented in the text; in only a few cases (e.g., Wenzlaff & Eisenberg) did the themes of the commentaries relate to ideas that were not at least mentioned in our target article. This fact was gratifying because it indicated that our model included many of the strands of research and theory on the socialization of emotion, even if we did not discuss some ideas or research findings in detail. In our reply to the commentaries, we discuss some of the major themes and issues raised by our colleagues. In addition, we have modified our heuristic model to take into account some important issues that were raised.
Lipid profile in non-diabetic stroke--a study of 100 cases.

OBJECTIVE To study serum lipid profile in patients with cerebrovascular disease and to determine significant correlation between them. To ascertain the effect of age and sex on serum lipid profile. DESIGN Case Control study. SETTING Single Tertiary care centre in Southern India. PARTICIPANTS Total of 100 patients of which 80 were cases of completed stroke (ischaemic--50 and haemorrhagic --30) and the remaining 20 were controls. Males accounted for 71 cases. All subjects were adult patients. Patients with suspected emboli of cardiac origin and diabetics (Type 1 and 2) were excluded from the study. None of the patients were on diet or other modification that would lower plasma lipid levels. RESULTS 32 patients had elevated serum total cholesterol levels, of which 81.3% had ischaemic stroke and the rest haemorrhagic stroke. 10 patients had elevated serum triglyceride levels, of which 80% had ischaemic stroke and the rest haemorrhagic stroke. 33 patients had elevated serum low density lipoprotein levels of which 75.8% had ischaemic stroke whereas the remaining had haemorrhagic stroke. CONCLUSION A statistically positive correlation was found between serum Total cholesterol, Triglycerides, LDL levels and the risk of stroke.
Comparison of pain intensity, emotional status and disability level in patients with chronic neck and low back pain.

OBJECTIVE This study was planned to compare of pain, emotional status and disability level in patients with chronic neck pain and low back pain. METHODS In this study, fifty patients with chronic low back pain (Group I) and fifty patients with chronic neck pain (Group II) at least 6 months were evaluated. A Visual Analog Scale was used to describe pain intensity. To determine emotional status of the subjects, the Beck Depression Scale was used The Oswestry Disability Index and the Neck Disability Index were used to evaluate disability level. RESULTS The mean age of the patients with low back pain and neck pain were 39.70 ± 9.71 years, 45.44 ± 10.39 years, respectively. It was not found a significant difference between in low back pain (Group I) and neck pain (Group II) in results of pain intensity (p= 0.286) and pain duration (p= 0.382). It was found a significant difference between group I and group II in results of emotional status (p= 0.000) and disability level (p= 0.000). The emotional status and disability level scores were found highest in patient's with low back pain. CONCLUSION Chronic low back pain is affect in patients than chronic neck pain as a emotional status and disability level.
Attribution of social dominance and maleness to schematic faces

We report findings which suggest perception of 'higher order' attributes such as gender and social dominance are perceived from a schematic face. To investigate a large population, the first two experiments were carried out in both the traditional manner and on the Internet. Results obtained from both were not significantly different so the data sets were combined. Lowered eyebrow position was a strong indicator of both social dominance and the male gender. A schematic face with a sad mouth resulted in the face's being viewed as less dominant and less male. Eyegaze direction also was investigated and discussed in terms of dyadic influence. Evidence supported the assumption that both social dominance and the male gender are perceived through similar facial configurations on a schematic face. Limitations include the use of schematic face pairs, and the presentation of single faces in research is discussed.
Making a difference—the impact of inspections

In this methodology paper we define a metric we call impact ratio. We use this ratio to measure the effectiveness of inspections and other evaluative techniques in getting usability improvements into products. We inspected ten commercial software products and achieved an average impact ratio of 78%. We discuss factors affecting this ratio and its value in helping us to appraise usability engineering's impact on products.
Measuring the tendency of CNNs to Learn Surface Statistical Regularities

Deep CNNs are known to exhibit the following peculiarity: on the one hand they generalize extremely well to a test set, while on the other hand they are extremely sensitive to so-called adversarial perturbations. The extreme sensitivity of high performance CNNs to adversarial examples casts serious doubt that these networks are learning high level abstractions in the dataset. We are concerned with the following question: How can a deep CNN that does not learn any high level semantics of the dataset manage to generalize so well? The goal of this article is to measure the tendency of CNNs to learn surface statistical regularities of the dataset. To this end, we use Fourier filtering to construct datasets which share the exact same high level abstractions but exhibit qualitatively different surface statistical regularities. For the SVHN and CIFAR-10 datasets, we present two Fourier filtered variants: a low frequency variant and a randomly filtered variant. Each of the Fourier filtering schemes is tuned to preserve the recognizability of the objects. Our main finding is that CNNs exhibit a tendency to latch onto the Fourier image statistics of the training dataset, sometimes exhibiting up to a 28% generalization gap across the various test sets. Moreover, we observe that significantly increasing the depth of a network has a very marginal impact on closing the aforementioned generalization gap. Thus we provide quantitative evidence supporting the hypothesis that deep CNNs tend to learn surface statistical regularities in the dataset rather than higher-level abstract concepts.
Effects of corticotropin-releasing hormone on locus coeruleus neurons in vivo: a microdialysis study using a novel bilateral approach.

OBJECTIVE Stress-induced release of noradrenaline (NA) from locus coeruleus (LC) neurons is mainly regulated by corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). Tyrosine is a precursor of NA and plays an intriguing role in the regulation of NA release. DESIGN We studied the effects of injecting CRH into the LC using a novel bilateral approach which relies on the mainly ipsilateral projections of LC neurons allowing stimulation of one hemisphere while using the other as control. To analyze the modification of the CRH effect, tyrosine was given intraperitoneally. A combination of CRH and its antagonist d-Phe was administered for validation of the specificity of CRH effects. METHODS Wistar rats were used in all experiments. Injections were made through fused silica capillaries implanted into both LCs and microdialysis samples were collected bilaterally from the prefrontal cortex (PFM) every 20 min for 1 h before and 3 h after injections. The effects of LC stimulation were investigated by determining 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol (MHPG) in the dialysates. RESULTS Following CRH injection into one LC and contralateral infusion of artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF), MHPG levels, which are indicative of NA release, increased only in the ipsilateral PFM. These effects were blocked by d-Phe. Simultaneous administration of tyrosine i.p. led to a significant prolongation of MHPG release. CONCLUSIONS These data provide the first physiological evidence of unilateral LC projections with the bilateral stimulation design proving to be a very valuable tool for the study of LC firing rate, to decrease number of animals and time expenditure. Prolongation of MHPG release after tyrosine supplementation is most likely due to increased NA synthesis.
Dynamic Modeling and Identification of an Axial Flow Ventricular Assist Device

An accurate characterization of the hemodynamic behavior of ventricular assist devices (VADs) is of paramount importance for proper modeling of the heart-pump interaction and the validation of control strategies. This paper describes an advanced test bench, which is able to generate complex hydraulic loads, and a procedure to characterize rotary blood pump performance in a pulsatile environment. Special focus was laid on model parameter identifiability in the frequency domain and the correlation between dynamic and steady-state models. Twelve combinations of different flow/head/speed signals, which covered the clinical VAD working conditions, were generated for the pump characterization. Root mean square error (RMSE) between predicted and measured flow was used to evaluate the VAD model. The found parameters were then validated with broadband random signals. In the experiments the optimization process always successfully converged. Even in the most demanding dynamic conditions the RMSE was 7.4 ml/sec and the absolute error never exceeded 24.9 ml/sec. Validity ranges for the identified VAD model were: flow 0–180 ml/sec; head 0–120 mmHg; speed 7.5–12.5 krpm. In conclusion, a universal test bench and a characterization procedure to describe the hydrodynamic properties of rotary blood pumps were established. For a particular pump, a reliable mathematical model was identified that correctly reproduced the relationship between instantaneous VAD flow, head and impeller speed.
Reflection on the benefits and limitations of participant-generated photography as an adjunct to qualitative interviews with participants with aphasia

Background: Visual methods, including participant-generated photography as a stimulus to qualitative interviews, have a long history in the social science research as a means of enriching qualitative research data. However, little is known about their use with people with a communication disability such as aphasia. In this article, we provide a commentary on the benefits and limitations of participant-generated photography as an adjunct to qualitative interviews for individuals with aphasia. We base our reflections on experiences using this method in a study exploring the meaning of living successfully with aphasia from the perspectives of 25 participants with chronic aphasia. Reflections: Benefits of the method include facilitation of rapport and animated discussion that provided a greater voice of authority and a sense of research ownership for participants. An additional benefit we identify is the use of photographs as communication aids during interviews. Limitations we discuss are: participants’ spouses taking photographs for them, participants’ physical difficulties using cameras, and ethical issues of photograph use in research. Conclusions: Based on our findings, we support the use of the participant-generated photography and advocate for researchers to consider diverse methods to capture the voices of individuals with communication disabilities.
Effect of carrier blend proportion and flavor load on physical characteristics of nutmeg (Myristica frangrans Houtt.) oleoresin microencapsulated by spray drying.

The effect of proportion of maltodextrin and gum arabic as carrier material and the percentage of nutmeg oleoresin as flavor load on microencapsulation by spray drying was studied. The proportions of 0, 20, 40 and 60 percent gum arabic (w/w) in the carrier blend and 10, 20 and 30 percent nutmeg oleoresin (w/w) as flavor load were studied. Emulsions were microencapsulated in a vertical co-current spray drier equipped with a rotary wheel atomizer operated at 18000 rpm. The inlet air temperature was set at 190 ± 2oC. The microcapsules formed were then analyzed for their physical characteristics. Flavor load was found to have no influence whereas blend proportion was found to influence the moisture content. True density increased until 40% gum arabic and decreased thereafter. Solubility increased with increase in flavor load and blend ratio. Though the highest encapsulation efficiency of 74.8% was obtained at a flavor loading of 10% at a carrier proportion of 40% gum arabic, further decrease was marginal with increase in flavor load up to 20%. Considering the product characteristics, a 40% gum arabic in the carrier blend and a flavor loading of 20% nutmeg oleoresin were found to be optimum. The micrographs of optimum combination showed uniform spherical powder without surface dents and a central void with microdrops distributed in the solid matrix.
A meta-analysis of neonatal health outcomes from oocyte donation

Donated oocytes are a treatment modality for female infertility which is also associated with increased risks of preeclampsia. Subsequently it is important to evaluate if there is concomitant increased risks for adverse neonatal events in donated oocyte neonates. A structured search of the literature using PubMed, EMBASE and Cochrane Reviews was performed to investigate the perinatal health outcomes of offspring conceived from donor oocytes compared with autologous oocytes. Meta-analysis was performed on comparable outcomes data. Twenty-eight studies were eligible and included in the review, and of these, 23 were included in a meta-analysis. Donor oocyte neonates are at increased risk of being born with low birth weight (<2500 g) [risk ratio (RR): 1.18, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.14–1.22, P-value (P)<0.00001], very low birth weight (<1500 g) (RR: 1.24, CI: 1.15–1.35, P<0.00001), preterm (<37 weeks) (RR: 1.26, CI: 1.23–1.30, P<0.00001), of lower gestational age (mean difference −0.3 weeks, CI: −0.35 weeks to −0.25 weeks, P<0.00001), and preterm with low birth weight (RR: 1.24, CI: 1.19–1.29, P<0.00001), when compared with autologous oocyte neonates. Conversely, low birth weight outcomes were improved in term donor oocyte neonates (RR: 0.86, CI: 0.8–0.93, P=0.0003). These negative outcomes remained significant when controlling for multiple deliveries. The donor oocyte risk rates are higher than those found in general ART outcomes, are important considerations for the counselling of infertile patients and may also influence the long term health of the offspring.
Measuring Quality in Kindergarten Classrooms: Structural Analysis of the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS K–3)

Research Findings: The purpose of the current study was to evaluate the structural validity of scores on a measure of global classroom quality, the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS K–3; Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2008). Using observational data from a sample of 417 kindergarten classrooms from the southern and mid-Atlantic regions of the United States, we used confirmatory factor analysis to examine the structural validity of the CLASS K–3. Factor analytic findings supported a 3-factor and 10-dimension structure for the CLASS K–3; however, some modifications were made to the original CLASS model. Practice or Policy: Although the overall structure of the CLASS has been generally consistent across validation studies, some facets of the model may be less stable than others. Additional examination of alternative factor structures is needed to further clarify the relationships among the CLASS dimensions and domains. Current psychometric evidence provides support for continued use of the CLASS to guide intervention, instruction, and professional development.