Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Activating and Suppressing Hostile and Benevolent Racism: Evidence for Comparative Media Stereotyping

This research examines the role of media literacy training and counter-stereotypical news stories in prejudice reduction. Research participants read either stereotypical or counter-stereotypical news stories after exposure to a media literacy video or a control video. After this, they completed a paper-and-pencil questionnaire that included Likert-type scales and feeling-thermometer ratings about their feelings toward African Americans, Asian-Indians, and Caucasian-Americans. The findings reveal that hostile prejudice is more likely to be expressed toward African-Americans and benevolent prejudice is more likely to be expressed toward Asian-Indians. As predicted, counter-stereotypical news stories as compared to stereotypical news stories decrease prejudice toward Asian-Indians. Contrary to expectations, the media literacy video seems to prime prejudices rather than suppress them. Interestingly, news stories about Asian-Indians increase hostility toward African-Americans. These comparative stereotyping are explained using modern racist beliefs and model minority stereotypes.
Separation in flowering time contributes to the maintenance of sympatric cryptic plant lineages

Sympatric cryptic lineages are a challenge for the understanding of species coexistence and lineage diversification as well as for management, conservation, and utilization of plant genetic resources. In higher plants studies providing insights into the mechanisms creating and maintaining sympatric cryptic lineages are rare. Here, using microsatellites and chloroplast sequence data, morphometric analyses, and phenological observations, we ask whether sympatrically coexisting lineages in the common wetland plant Juncus effusus are ecologically differentiated and reproductively isolated. Our results show two genetically highly differentiated, homoploid lineages within J. effusus that are morphologically cryptic and have similar preference for soil moisture content. However, flowering time differed significantly between the lineages contributing to reproductive isolation and the maintenance of these lineages. Furthermore, the later flowering lineage suffered less from predispersal seed predation by a Coleophora moth species. Still, we detected viable and reproducing hybrids between both lineages and the earlier flowering lineage and J. conglomeratus, a coexisting close relative. Flowering time differentiation between the lineages can be explained by neutral divergence alone and together with a lack of postzygotic isolation mechanisms; the sympatric coexistence of these lineages is most likely the result of an allopatric origin with secondary contact.
A latent state-trait anxiety model and its application to determine consistency and specificity coefficients

Abstract In the present study the consistency model (Steyer, 1987) was applied to data gathered with the German version of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (Laux, Glanzmann, Schaffner, and Spielberger, 1981). The questionnaire was presented twice to 64 university students with an interval of two months between first and second testing. The consistency and specificity coefficients, estimated by LISREL (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1984), support the state-trait distinction. The state variables have high specificity and consistency coefficients; the trait variables, in contrast, have high consistency coefficients but low or even negligible specificity coefficients. The discussion points out the advantages of the consistency model over the stability model; the most important advantage is that the theoretical structure of the consistency model is more appropriate for the type of application considered. It contains a state factor for each occasion of measurement and a trait factor common to all occasions of measureme.
Rating well-being and distress

There is insufficient research on rating psychological well-being and distress in clinical populations. The aim of this study was to evaluate the differential characteristics of instruments assessing well-being and distress in 20 remitted patients with affective (mood and anxiety) disorders and 20 healthy control subjects matched for sociodemographic variables. Remitted patients displayed significantly higher levels of psychological distress—as measured by Paykel's Clinical Interview for Depression (CID), Van Praag's Scale for Personality Disturbances and Kellner's Symptom Questionnaire (SQ)—and significantly less well-being—as measured by Ryff's Scales of Psychological Well-Being (PWB) and the SQ—than control subjects. The correlations between scales of psychological distress and well-being were found to be complex in both patients and controls. Psychotherapeutic treatment of residual symptomatology in patients disclosed a differential sensitivity of the scales to changes. The results thus suggest that well-being cannot be equated to lack of distress (as implicitly endorsed by current psychiatric paradigms), and the need for a multidimensional assessment in stress medicine. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Decoding the genetic and functional diversity of the DSF quorum-sensing system in Stenotrophomonas maltophilia

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia uses the Diffusible Signal Factor (DSF) quorum sensing (QS) system to mediate intra- and inter-specific signaling and regulate virulence-related processes. The components of this system are encoded by the rpf cluster, with genes rpfF and rpfC encoding for the DSF synthase RpfF and sensor RpfC, respectively. Recently, we have shown that there exist two variants of the rpf cluster (rpf-1 and rpf-2), distinguishing two groups of S. maltophilia strains. Surprisingly, only rpf-1 strains produce detectable DSF, correlating with their ability to control biofilm formation, swarming motility and virulence. The evolutive advantage of acquiring two different rpf clusters, the phylogenetic time point and mechanism of this acquisition and the conditions that activate DSF production in rpf-2 strains, are however not known. Examination of this cluster in various species suggests that its variability originated most probably by genetic exchange between rhizosphere bacteria. We propose that rpf-2 variant strains make use of a strategy recently termed as “social cheating. ” Analysis of cellular and extracellular fatty acids (FAs) of strains E77 (rpf-1) and M30 (rpf-2) suggests that their RpfFs have also a thioesterase activity that facilitates the release of unspecific FAs to the medium in addition to DSF. Production of DSF in rpf-1 strains appears in fact to be modulated by some of these extracellular FAs in addition to other factors such as temperature and nutrients, while in rpf-2 strains DSF biosynthesis is derepressed only upon detection of DSF itself, suggesting that they require cohabitation with DSF-producer bacteria to activate their DSF regulatory machinery. Finally, we show that the mixed rpf-1/rpf-2 population presents synergism in DSF production and virulence capacity in an in vivo infection model. Recovery and quantification of DSF from co-infected animals correlates with the observed mortality rate.
Ant antennae: are they sites for magnetoreception?

Migration of the Pachycondyla marginata ant is significantly oriented at 13° with respect to the geomagnetic north–south axis. On the basis of previous magnetic measurements of individual parts of the body (antennae, head, thorax and abdomen), the antennae were suggested to host a magnetoreceptor. In order to identify Fe3+/Fe2+ sites in antennae tissue, we used light microscopy on Prussian/Turnbull's blue-stained tissue. Further analysis using transmission electron microscopy imaging and diffraction, combined with elemental analysis, revealed the presence of ultra-fine-grained crystals (20–100 nm) of magnetite/maghaemite (Fe3O4/γ-Fe2O3), haematite (α-Fe2O3), goethite (α-FeOOH) besides (alumo)silicates and Fe/Ti/O compounds in different parts of the antennae, that is, in the joints between the third segment/pedicel, pedicel/scape and scape/head, respectively. The presence of (alumo)silicates and Fe/Ti/O compounds suggests that most, if not all, of the minerals in the tissue are incorporated soil particles rather than biomineralized by the ants. However, as the particles were observed within the tissue, they do not represent contamination. The amount of magnetic material associated with Johnston's organ and other joints appears to be sufficient to produce a magnetic-field-modulated mechanosensory output, which may therefore underlie the magnetic sense of the migratory ant.
Developmental Trajectories of Achievement Goal Orientations During the Middle School Transition

This longitudinal study builds on research addressing changes in achievement goal orientations (AG) across the transition to middle school. We had two objectives. The first was to identify and describe different development trajectories of AG (mastery, performance-approach, and performance-avoidance) from the last year of elementary school (Grade 6) to the third year of middle school (Grade 9, or Secondary 3). The second was to determine whether these trajectories depend on individual dispositions such as anxiety, depression, aggressiveness, and inattention. A sample of 378 French-speaking students from the province of Quebec and their mothers participated in a 4-year longitudinal study. Results showed three trajectories for mastery goals (High, Moderate, and Moderate-declining) and four trajectories for performance-approach (High, Moderate-declining, Low-increasing, and Low) and performance-avoidance goals (High, High-declining, Moderate, and Low-declining). Individual dispositions in the sixth grade predicted trajectory group membership. Results are discussed in light of their implications for the literature on AG and education.
Self‐selection of Simple Computer Activities by Infant School Pupils

Abstract Many activities from the infant class curriculum may be enhanced by realising them in the interactive context of a computer environment. This raises the question of whether young children can make choices among such activities that would reflect an awareness of their difficulty and a motivation to master them. In this research, infant class pupils were provided with software that offered unconstrained opportunities to select a range of related activities and the level of difficulty at which they would be tackled. Choices and response times were automatically recorded over a period of three weeks. These choices remained stable throughout that time and were biased towards the easiest options. There was some improvement in performance although little evidence of choice strategies that could be effective in driving such improvement. There was no evidence of sex differences in frequency of using the computer.
Frequency and predictors of nonconvulsive seizures during continuous electroencephalographic monitoring in critically ill children.

OBJECTIVE To determine the incidence, predictors, and timing of nonconvulsive seizures (NCSz) during continuous electroencephalographic monitoring (cEEG) in critically ill children. METHODS We identified critically ill children who underwent cEEG during a 4-year period. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to determine variables associated with NCSz. RESULTS Among 117 monitored children, 44% had seizures on cEEG and 39% had NCSz. The majority of patients with seizures (75%) had purely NCSz, and 23% of patients had status epilepticus, which was purely nonconvulsive in 89% of cases. Seizures occurred immediately on cEEG initiation in 15%, within 1 hour in 50%, and within 24 hours in 80%. Those with clinical seizures prior to cEEG were more likely to have NCSz on cEEG (83%) than those without prior seizures (17%). On multivariate analysis, NCSz were associated with periodic lateralized epileptiform discharges and absence of background reactivity. CONCLUSIONS Seizures, the majority being NCSz, are common during cEEG in critically ill children (seen in 44% of patients). Half are detected in the first hour of recording, whereas 20% are not detected until after more than 24 hours of recording. Nonconvulsive seizures are associated with periodic lateralized epileptiform discharges and absence of reactivity on cEEG. This study confirms the importance of prolonged cEEG for critically ill children as a means to detect NCSz.
Mobile Phone Use, Blood Lead Levels, and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Symptoms in Children: A Longitudinal Study

Background Concerns have developed for the possible negative health effects of radiofrequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) exposure to children’s brains. The purpose of this longitudinal study was to investigate the association between mobile phone use and symptoms of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) considering the modifying effect of lead exposure. Methods A total of 2,422 children at 27 elementary schools in 10 Korean cities were examined and followed up 2 years later. Parents or guardians were administered a questionnaire including the Korean version of the ADHD rating scale and questions about mobile phone use, as well as socio-demographic factors. The ADHD symptom risk for mobile phone use was estimated at two time points using logistic regression and combined over 2 years using the generalized estimating equation model with repeatedly measured variables of mobile phone use, blood lead, and ADHD symptoms, adjusted for covariates. Results The ADHD symptom risk associated with mobile phone use for voice calls but the association was limited to children exposed to relatively high lead. Conclusions The results suggest that simultaneous exposure to lead and RF from mobile phone use was associated with increased ADHD symptom risk, although possible reverse causality could not be ruled out.
QoS Guarantee in Self-Backhauled LTE Mesh Networks

LTE is deployed in most countries and continuously evolving to match new use cases as well as requirements. While it is expected to evolve toward 5G deployments for outdoor and long range communications, it will also be used for Public Safety services in major countries. Among that, new scenarios call for wider networks relying on dynamic meshing of base stations. Leveraging the LTE air interface for base station meshing is an appealing idea but is not straightforward to guarantee quality of service (QoS). In this article, we study and evaluate scheduling strategies for multi-hop LTE mesh networks relying on the LTE relay channel. We firstly present the LTE relay channel and the scheduling problem for in-band LTE self-backhauling. We then propose a practical cross-layer method in order to fulfill the QoS requirements of real-time flows in such network. We finally evaluate the proposed method through extensive simulations. We show the effectiveness of the proposed approach compared to aegacy method in terms of both QoS requirement satisfaction of real-time flows and throughput enhancement of elastic flows.
Early social communicative behaviours of preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder during interaction with their mothers

The present study examined spontaneous symbolic play, declarative joint attention, social referencing and imitation of symbolic play in 3- to 6-year-old children with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD; n= 20) during interaction with their mothers. Compared to a control group (n= 20) matched on age and IQ, the children with ASD initiated less joint attention with their mothers when confronted with a pleasant event and they showed a tendency to play less symbolically and more non-functionally. Contrary to expectations, children with ASD showed no social referencing or imitation deficits. Interestingly, two clusters of intercorrelating behaviours were found in the ASD group: one suggesting symbolic or metarepresentational abilities, the other comprising interpersonal behaviours. The findings support the hypothesis that early social communicative abilities may follow a different developmental pathway in ASD, and stress the importance of a contextual factor, namely the presence of the mother.
Complexation of Two Proteic Insect Inhibitors to the Active Site of Chymotrypsin Suggests Decoupled Roles for Binding and Selectivity*

The crystal structures of two homologous inhibitors (PMP-C and PMP-D2v) from the insect Locusta migratoria have been determined in complex with bovine α-chymotrypsin at 2.1- and 3.0-Å resolution, respectively. PMP-C is a potent bovine α-chymotrypsin inhibitor whereas native PMP-D2 is a weak inhibitor of bovine trypsin. One unique mutation at the P1 position converts PMP-D2 into a potent bovine α-chymotrypsin inhibitor. The two peptides have a similar overall conformation, which consists of a triple-stranded antiparallel β-sheet connected by three disulfide bridges, thus defining a novel family of serine protease inhibitors. They have in common the protease interaction site, which is composed of the classical protease binding loop (position P5 to P′4, corresponding to residues 26–34) and of an internal segment (residues 15–18), held together by two disulfide bridges. Structural divergences between the two inhibitors result in an additional interaction site between PMP-D2v (position P10 to P6, residues 21–25) and the residues 172–175 of α-chymotrypsin. This unusual interaction may be responsible for species selectivity. A careful comparison of data on bound and free inhibitors (from this study and previous NMR studies, respectively) suggests that complexation to the protease stabilizes the flexible binding loop (from P5 to P′4).
The Impact of Acquisitions on Firm Performance: A Review of the Evidence

This paper presents a review of empirical research on the impact of acquisitions on firm performance. The evidence suggests that, in the short run, acquisitions have at best an insignificant impact on shareholder wealth. Long-run performance analysis reveals overwhelmingly negative returns, while the evidence using accounting performance measures is mixed. The review also examines the impact of bid characteristics on performance. The acquisition of hostile targets, transactions that are paid for with cash and acquisitions of larger targets are associated with superior (or at least less negative) performance, while there is mixed evidence on the benefits of related acquisitions. A number of recent studies find that acquirers with superior pre-bid performance tend to experience significant under performance in the post-bid period.
Mechanisms of Vascular Smooth Muscle Contraction and the Basis for Pharmacologic Treatment of Smooth Muscle Disorders

The smooth muscle cell directly drives the contraction of the vascular wall and hence regulates the size of the blood vessel lumen. We review here the current understanding of the molecular mechanisms by which agonists, therapeutics, and diseases regulate contractility of the vascular smooth muscle cell and we place this within the context of whole body function. We also discuss the implications for personalized medicine and highlight specific potential target molecules that may provide opportunities for the future development of new therapeutics to regulate vascular function.
Job Stress among Primary and Secondary Schoolteachers

The relationship between job-related stress and individual ill-being was explored in a random probability sample of 200 public schoolteachers. The responses of these teachers were used to (1) test the hypothesis that stress is positively related to personal strain; (2) explore the theoretically derived stress categories of role demands, instructional problems, and interpersonal relations as predictors of individual strain; and (3) identify individual stressors within these categories that are predictors of strain. The results indicate that teacher stress is related to strain and that role demands are the most important predictor of strain, followed by instructional problems and then by interpersonal relations. In addition, structural role conflict, interrole conflict, role overload, student discipline, and interpersonal conflict were identified as individual predictors of strain.
Teacher Interpretation of Student Behavior: Cognitive and Social Processes

The Elementary School Journal Volume 84, Number 3 ? 1984 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. 001 3-5984/84/8403-0004$O 1.00 Recently, Shavelson and Stern (1981) summarized the expanding literature on teachers' thinking. Some of the studies they reviewed investigate pedagogical decisions made either before or during class time; others examine general judgments of students' abilities made outside class. However, with the exception of Joyce's (1978-79) programmatic description, none of the literature concerns judgments teachers make about students during class. The present article extends the study of teachers' thinking to the process of teacher interpretation of students' ongoing behaviors. It is based on a case study of comments one teacher made during class and as she watched videotapes of classroom interaction.
Management and Unions, The Theory and Reform of Industrial Relations

forming arts is presented, and specific areas for further study are discussed. Moskow is keenly aware of the fact that the labor relations of a particular industry or company are to some extent unique. In the case of the performing arts, there are two aspects of collective bargaining which do not appear in other industries. First, the unions have apparently been able to accommodate to the phenomenon of individual bargaining. Outstanding performers and soloists have long been able to negotiate individual economic benefits with management. In many instances this is accomplished by either the performer himself or the performer's agent in direct contact with management, thereby bypassing the union entirely. Another facet. of the agreements between labor and management in this field is the concern with "reproduction-right clauses. " Also of significance when considering labor relations in the performing arts is the fragmentation of unions arising from the wide variety of tasks performed by each of the many categories of employees. Also, there is the transitory nature of management, particularly in the theater where an organization is created by a producer for the purpose of producing a single play, then disbanded after its run is completed. If there is one outstanding characteristic of the live performing arts, with the exception of major symphonies and a few well-established opera companies, it is the highly mobile state of both performers and management. Given this high degree of change in respect to both management and employees it is not surprising that the stabilizing force which has emerged is the union itself. Since the union is the stable organization, many times it makes the initial interpretation of the agreement, and management is placed in the position of challenging that interpretation. Another aspect of labor relations in this area which distinguishes it from other industries is the question of the arbitration of grievances arising from discharge when the discharge is based on the artistic capabilities of the performer. Moskow's discussion of this aspect of collective bargaining is extremely well-documented and clearly presented. This well-written study describes the present state of labor relations in the performing arts and at the same time points out changes which are imminent in the field as the result of possible outside financial support from government sources and the current trend to extend the employment period to a full year rather than the seasonal basis which has existed in the past. Henry L. Sisk Professor Department of Business Administration North Texas State University