Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Exploration of Potential Factors Affecting Student Withdrawal From an Undergraduate Music Education Program

The purpose of this study was to examine the degree withdrawal patterns of undergraduate music education majors, with a specific focus on the individual experiences of students withdrawing from the major. Data from recently withdrawn students (N = 14) were assembled using a qualitative methodology that included semistructured interviews, questionnaires, researcher journals, and meetings with experienced researchers. The data were analyzed and coded, generating a number of categories for discussion and analysis. Students’ experiences during college were diverse, with concerns focused on the applied music component of the degree surfacing as important to many students. The reasons given for withdrawal from the music education program also were diverse, including dismissal from the applied music studio, erosion of personal confidence as a musician, realizations about their feelings toward music versus their feelings about teaching in general as it related to their personal career goals, and personal life issues. Following withdrawal from the music education curriculum, all interviewed students reported that they remained actively involved in music in some way. Implications of these results are discussed in relation to individual experiences and the function of those experiences within the context of current models of student persistence.
Mrt, a Gene Unique to Fungi, Encodes an Oligosaccharide Transporter and Facilitates Rhizosphere Competency in Metarhizium robertsii1[C][W]

The symbiotic associations between rhizospheric fungi and plants have enormous environmental impact. Fungi are crucial to plant health as antagonists of pathogens and herbivores and facilitate the uptake of soil nutrients. However, little is known about the plant products obtained by fungi in exchange or how they are transported through the symbiotic interface. Here, we demonstrate that sucrose and raffinose family oligosaccharides in root exudates are important for rhizosphere competence in the insect pathogen Metarhizium robertsii (formerly known as Metarhizium anisopliae). We identified mutants in the Metarhizium raffinose transporter (Mrt) gene of M. robertsii that grew poorly in root exudate and were greatly reduced in rhizosphere competence on grass roots. Studies on sugar uptake, including competition assays, revealed that MRT was a sucrose and galactoside transporter. Disrupting MRT resulted in greatly reduced or no growth on sucrose and galactosides but did not affect growth on monosaccharides or oligosaccharides composed entirely of glucose subunits. Consistent with this, expression of Mrt is exclusively up-regulated by galactosides and sucrose. Expressing a green fluorescent protein gene under the control of the Mrt promoter confirmed that MRT was expressed by germlings in the vicinity of grass roots but not in surrounding bulk soil. Disrupting Mrt did not reduce virulence to insects, demonstrating that Mrt is exclusively involved in M. robertsii’s interactions with plants. To our knowledge, MRT is the first oligosaccharide transporter identified and characterized in a fungus and is unique to filamentous fungi, but homologous genes in Magnaporthe, Ustilago, Aspergillus, Fusarium, Epichloe, and Penicillium species indicate that oligosaccharide transport is of widespread significance.
Selective Sampling In Natural Language LearningIdo

Many corpus-based methods for natural language processing are based on supervised training, requiring expensive manual annotation of training corpora. This paper investigates reducing annotation cost by selective sampling. In this approach, the learner examines many unlabeled examples and selects for labeling only those that are most informative at each stage of training. In this way it is possible to avoid redundantly annotating examples that contribute little new information. The paper rst analyzes the issues that need to be addressed when constructing a selective sampling algorithm, arguing for the attractiveness of committee-based sampling methods. We then focus on selective sampling for training probabilistic classiiers, which are commonly applied to problems in statistical natural language processing. We report experimental results of applying a speciic type of committee-based sampling during training of a stochastic part-of-speech tagger, and demonstrate substantially improved learning rates over sequential training using all of the text. We are currently implementing and evaluating other variants of committee-based sampling, as discussed in the paper, in order to obtain further insight on optimal design of selective sampling methods.
Body Modification, Self-Mutilation and Agency in Media Accounts of a Subculture

In this article, I focus on the media's framing of non-mainstream body modification as a social problem. I demonstrate, through an analysis of a sample of 35 newspaper articles on body modification, that a mutilation discourse is one of the dominant frames of meaning used to make sense of body modifiers in the mainstream media. This framing, which effects the pathologization of body modifiers, utilizes the claims making of mental-health experts and relies on a gendered account of body modification as a social problem. While news accounts are a medium for presenting body modification to a large `community of speakers', I find that they have precluded the legitimacy of the claims of subcultural actors. I argue from a poststructuralist perspective that body modifiers' `claims from the underside' are subjugated by accounts that problematize body modification through the dominant discourse of the mental-health model. I suggest that this frame is problematic for its silencing of `underside' or marginal embodied knowledges, which include, for example, alternative accounts of female embodiment.
Disorganization as Related to Discoordination and Attention Deficit

Our objective was to examine the association of attention deficit and disorganization in boys with and without specific developmental disorder of motor function. Four groups of boys between the age of 7 and 12 years—(1) Disorganization + coordination disorder (n = 30); (2) Coordination disorder (n = 33); (3) Disorganization (n = 28); and (4) Control (n = 29)—were included. Teachers completed the Questionnaire for Assessing the Students’ Organizational Abilities for the Teacher and the Conners’ Teachers Rating Scale–Revised. The Movement Assessment Battery for Children and 2 subscales of an intelligence test (vocabulary and similarities) were administered. A significantly increased rate of attention deficit in children with organizational deficit was identified. Attention deficit in children with specific motor disorder was exclusively associated with an organizational deficit. Organizational deficit in childhood is highly associated with attention deficit, and this association is particularly relevant in children with specific coordination disorder.
Factors affecting intentions to purchase via the internet

Purpose – To investigate web‐shopping behaviour in Hong Kong: identification of the general attitude towards web‐shopping; relationships between past web‐shopping experience, attitude towards web‐shopping, adoption decisions, search behaviour and web‐shopping intentions; and influences of promotional offers and product categories on web‐shopping intentions.Design/methodology/approach – Relevant hypotheses were constructed and a web‐based questionnaire survey was than conducted using technically educated subjects. The proposed hypotheses were statistically tested and principal components analysis and structural equations were used to produce a structural model.Findings – Web‐shopping intentions are directly affected by web‐search behaviour and web‐shopping adoption decisions, and are indirectly affected by web‐shopping attitudes, past web‐shopping experiences and past experience with the web. Web‐search behaviour was a stronger factor than adoption decision in terms of influencing web‐shopping intentions.
The Influence of Travel Motives on Visitor Happiness Attending a Wedding Expo

ABSTRACT Events are an important motivator in travel and tourism, therefore contributing to related benefits at the tourism destination. This study presents the findings of a structural equation model used to investigate the factors that motivate visitors attending a Wedding Expo and how these travel motives influence their happiness. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to visitors attending the Wedding Expo in Johannesburg, South Africa. The data from 375 (N) eligible questionnaires was captured and analyzed using SPSS. From the study’s findings, managerial recommendations were made with the aim of maximising the happiness of visitors attending the Wedding Expo. The study found that satisfaction with life and happiness of visitors attending a Wedding Expo is enhanced more by the event’s attributes/attractiveness and enhancement of kinship/relationship than by the event’s novelty. The research contributes to the literature related to events management, happiness, and marketing management in tourism.
Conditional discrimination learning in patients with bilateral medial temporal lobe amnesia.

The ability of bilateral medial temporal lobe amnesic patients (MT; n=8) and normal participants (NC; n=8) to acquire a conditional discrimination in trace and delay eyeblink conditioning paradigms was investigated. Experiment 1 assessed trace conditional discrimination learning by using a light conditional stimulus (S+/S-) and tone conditioned stimulus (CS) separated by a 1-s trace. NCs responded differentially on S+ trials (mean percent conditioned responses=66) versus S- trials (30). Whereas MTs were impaired in their acquisition of the conditional discrimination (S+ =51, S- =43). In Experiment 2, the temporal separation was eliminated. NCs acquired the conditional discrimination (S+ =70, S- =29). MTs were unable to respond differentially (S+ =42, S- =37). The findings indicate that the hippocampal system is essential in acquiring a conditional discrimination, even in a delay paradigm.
Employee Propensity to Withhold Effort: A Conceptual Model to Intersect Three Avenues of Research

Shirking, social loafing, and free riding are concepts that have guided the recent study of how much effort employees provide on the job. Although researchers have generally treated these concepts as distinct, a common thread underlies them, that is, propensity to withhold effort (PWE). The main difference among the three concepts is the context in which or the reasons why withholding effort occurs. Building on these ideas, this article applies Knoke's (1990) synthesized motivation model to PWE and suggests that rational, normative, and affective bonding incentives may play a role in employee PWE. Using the model, this article reconceptualizes and attempts to clarify past theory and research, and it develops hypotheses to direct future research on PWE in work groups.
Noninvasive differentiation between mamillary eczema and Paget disease by in vivo reflectance confocal microscopy on the basis of two case reports

MADAM, Differential diagnosis of erosive lesions of the mamilla comprises eczema, allergic and irritant contact dermatitis, erosive adenomatosis and Paget disease, a malignant skin condition. Itching is the most common symptom of these entities, followed by tingling, pain and burning. Whereas eczema and contact dermatitis can be treated with topical corticosteroids, Paget disease requires immediate surgical intervention. Before surgery, punch biopsies of the mamillary centre need to be performed to confirm the diagnosis and to exclude clinically similar, benign skin conditions. In this sensitive skin area, punch biopsies are, however, often refused by the patients. In vivo reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM) has been shown to be a useful, noninvasive tool in the diagnosis of both benign and malignant skin conditions. This technology enables the evaluation of skin structures at a cellular level resolution in real time, creating horizontal grey-scale images of up to 8 · 8 mm at various levels of the epidermis and upper dermis. In the two cases presented, RCM helped in confirming the diagnosis of eczema and Paget disease. Patient 1 was an 81-year-old woman who was hospitalized with a contact dermatitis on the face after use of chamomile cream. Medical history revealed hypertension, osteoporosis, tuberculosis in 1938, and occasional eczema. Besides the facial eczema, total skin examination showed two reddish, erosive papules on the left mamilla and two red papules in the left areolar region that were occasionally pruritic (Fig. 1a). The right mamilla appeared normal; palpation of the breasts was normal. Dermoscopy of the left mamilla revealed a nonspecific picture with globular structures, dotted and comma-like vessels (Fig. 1b). The RCM mosaic (Vivascope 1500 plus; Lucid Inc., Henrietta, NY, U.S.A.) at the level of the upper epidermis showed a central dark skin depression with focal aggregates of structureless material and tubular structures. The honeycomb pattern was regular but focally blurred, and displayed multiple, sharply demarcated, dark areas filled with bright reflecting particles, correlating to microvesicles harbouring necrotic keratinocytes (Fig. 1c, d).
The Rise of Consumer–Oriented Politics in Japan? Exploring the Party–Citizen Relationship through Discourse Analysis

Abstract This article analyses the discourse of three prime ministers – Koizumi, Aso, and Hatoyama – to explore how each leader identified the political self and constructed and promoted a particular relationship with the voter before the general elections. The outcome indicates the emergence of a new political communication style based on a party–citizen relationship as business–consumer. Whereas Aso's patron–client discourse pinpoints the role of the responsible and bureaucratic state in protecting Japan, the business–consumer discourse of both Koizumi and Hatoyama demonstrates the entrepreneurial leaders’ willingness to listen to individuals in order to meet their needs and expectations. We speculate that the social norms and values of the business–consumer model might have played a role in attracting a large number of unorganized voters to Koizumi in 2005 and in turn to Hatoyama in 2009.
Mammogram Computer-Aided Diagnosis

Computer-aided diagnosis (CADx) is used to help radiologists in interpretation mammograms and is usually used as a second opinion by the radiologists. Improving CADx increases the treatment options and a cure is more likely. The main objective of this research is to enhance and introduce a new method for feature extraction and selection in order to build a CADx model to discriminate between cancers, benign, and healthy parenchyma. For feature extraction, we use both human features, which are obtained by Digital Database for Screening Mammography (DDSM), and computational features. For computational feature extraction, we enhance and use two pre-existed feature extraction methods, which are the Run Difference Method (RDM) and the Spatial Gray Level Dependence Method (SGLDM). Then, we evaluate and introduce a new method for feature selection by running both of forward sequential and genetic algorithm search methods individually. Later we evaluate the results. Experimental results are obtained from a data set of 410 images taken from DDSM for different types. Our method select 14 features from 65 extracted features. We used both Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) and confusing matrix to measure the performance. In training stage, our proposed method achieved an overall classiﬁcation accuracy of 94.6%, with 95.2% sensitivity and 84.8% speciﬁcity. In testing stage, our proposed method achieved an overall classiﬁcation accuracy of 87%, with 88.6% sensitivity and 78.6% speciﬁcity.
Ratings of Test Fairness by Human Resource Professionals

The authors provide a methodology for capturing policies for rating test fairness. Guided by the test fairness models that appeared in the psychological literature of the 1970s, test fairness evaluations are modeled as a function of a test's validity coefficient, the mean test score difference between the majority group and the minority group, and the test score adjustment for the minority group. Fifty-seven participants with graduate education in human resource management rated fairness for 20 stimuli. Preference modeling was used to estimate each participant's fairness policy. Results showed that the variation in fairness ratings attributable to differences in ratings policies among participants (40.4%) was almost equal to the variation explained by attribute main effects, demonstrating that test fairness is a controversial issue even among a homogeneous set of participants. The authors discuss the implications of this type of research may have for public policy and the use of group-based test score adjustments.
Structural failures of the blood–gas barrier and the epithelial–epithelial cell connections in the different vascular regions of the lung of the domestic fowl, Gallus gallus variant domesticus, at rest and during exercise

Summary Structural failure of blood–gas barrier (BGB) and epithelial–epithelial cell connections (EECCs) in different vascular regions of the exchange tissue of the lung was studied in rested and exercised chickens. The number of red blood cells (nRBCs) was counted and protein concentration (PC) measured after lavaging the respiratory system, and blood was sampled to determine the blood lactate levels (BLLs). The numbers of complete BGB breaks (nBGBBs) and those of the EECCs (nEECCBs) were counted in the different vascular territories of the lung. The nRBCs and the PCs increased with increasing exercise intensities but the rate of increase decreased at higher workloads. From rest to the fastest experimental treadmill speed of 2.95 m.sec−1, BLLs increased 4-fold. In all cases, the nEECCBs exceeded those of the BGB, showing that structurally the BGB is relatively weaker than the EECC. The increase in the number of breaks with increasing exercise can be attributed to increase in the pulmonary capillary blood pressure (PCBP) from faster heart rates and higher cardiac outputs, while the leveling out of the measurements made at higher workloads may have arisen from hemodynamic changes that initially ensued from exudation of blood plasma and then flow of blood into the air capillaries on failure of the BGB. The relative differences in the nBGBBs and the nEECCBs in the different vascular regions of the lung were ascribed to diameters of the branches and their points of origin and angles of bifurcation from the pulmonary artery. Presence of RBCs in the air capillaries of the lungs of rested chickens showed that failure of the BGB commonly occurs even in healthy and unstressed birds. Rapid repair and/or defense responses, which were observed, may explain how birds cope with mechanical injuries of the BGB.
The Nitric Oxide-cGMP Signaling Pathway Differentially Regulates Presynaptic Structural Plasticity in Cone and Rod Cells

Although abundant structural plasticity in the form of axonal retraction, neurite extension, and formation of presynaptic varicosities is displayed by photoreceptors after retinal detachment and during genetic and age-related retinal degeneration, the mechanisms involved are mostly unknown. We demonstrated recently that Ca2+ influx through cGMP-gated channels in cones and voltage-gated L-type channels in rods is required for neurite extension in vitro (Zhang and Townes-Anderson, 2002). Here, we report that the nitric oxide (NO)-cGMP signaling pathway is active in photoreceptors and that its manipulation differentially regulates the structural plasticity of cone and rod cells. The NO receptor soluble guanylyl cyclase (sGC) was detected immunocytochemically in both cone and rod cells. Stimulation of sGC increased cGMP production in retinal cultures. In cone cells, quantitative analysis showed that NO or cGMP stimulated neuritic sprouting; this stimulatory effect was dependent on both Ca2+ influx through cGMP-gated channels and phosphorylation by protein kinase G (PKG). At the highest levels of cGMP, however, cone outgrowth was no longer increased. In rod photoreceptors, NO or cGMP consistently inhibited neuritic growth in a dose-dependent manner; this inhibitory effect required PKG. When NO-cGMP signaling was inhibited, changes in the neuritic development of cone and rod cells were also observed but in the opposite direction. These results expand the role of cGMP in axonal activity to adult neuritogenesis and suggest an explanation for the neurite sprouting observed in an autosomal recessive form of retinitis pigmentosa that is characterized by high cGMP levels in photoreceptor layers.
Delusions in First-Admitted Patients: Gender, Themes and Diagnoses

Whether there is a specific link between certain delusional symptoms and particular etiologies has not yet been completely clarified. In this study, 639 first ever admitted deluded patients were investigated in order to find out whether age and gender are associated with certain delusional contents, whether age at first admission may be linked to certain etiologies and whether it is possible to detect indicators particularly related to basic dysfunctions. At first admission, delusional female patients were older than men with a significant predomination of delusions of persecution, while men presented significantly more frequently delusions of jealousy and grandiosity. Within delusions of persecution, of religious or metaphysical content and of grandiosity, women were even significantly older than men. Religious or metaphysical and grandiosity contents occurred significantly more frequently in ICD-8 schizophrenia, indicating that these themes seem to be particularly linked to ICD-8 schizophrenia. Additionally, some target symptoms not included in the delusional symptomatology were investigated to test the relationship between delusions and schizophrenia. Overall, the results of the present investigation indicate that delusions are not specific for schizophrenia, and therefore, other symptomatological criteria should be applied for the nosographic attribution.
Effects of Unilateral Eccentric‐Only Dynamic Constant External Resistance Training on Quadriceps Femoris Cross‐Sectional Area

The purposes of this investigation were to determine the effects of unilateral eccentric-only dynamic constant external resistance (DCER) training on the cross-sectional area (CSA) and strength of the trained and contralateral quadriceps femoris muscles. Sixteen young men (age 24.4 ± 3.7 yrs) volunteered to serve as subjects and were divided into a training (Tr) group and a control (Con) group. The Tr group trained the nondominant limb with eccentric-only leg extension DCER exercise 3 times a week for 8 weeks. Pretraining and posttraining CSA and strength measurements for both the trained and contralateral limbs were determined for all subjects using magnetic resonance imaging scans and eccentric DCER strength tests, respectively. The results indicated there was no significant change in CSA of any muscles of the quadriceps femoris of either the trained or contralateral limb. There was, however, a significant increase in the eccentric DCER strength of both the trained (29%) and contralateral (17%) limbs. The strength changes that were unaccompanied by hypertrophy suggest a neural adaptation.