Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Digital skills and social media use: how Internet skills are related to different types of Facebook use among ‘digital natives’

ABSTRACT Based on the idea that Internet use can be conceptualized in terms of depth (frequency) and width (differentiated) uses of the Web, this study explored how socio-demographic factors and digital skills are related to frequency and types of Facebook use among young adults. It used a face-to-face representative survey conducted in the three main urban areas of Chile among a sample of 18-to 29-year olds. The results found that men and more educated young people had higher levels of skills, confirming that the so-called ‘digital natives’ are not a monolithic group. They also revealed that digital skills did not predict frequency of Facebook use. Furthermore, lower educated young people tended to use Facebook more frequently. Although these results go against the long-established digital divide research, traditional digital gaps emerged when types of use were analyzed. While more educated and skillful individuals tended to use Facebook for informational and mobilizing purposes, socio-demographic factors and skills did not make a difference in Facebook use for social purposes.
Honor Killings in the Middle East and North Africa

A systematic review of the research literature on honor killings in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) indicates a paucity of studies relative to the presumed magnitude of the problem. Forty articles were reviewed and critically appraised, of which only 9 contained primary data and 11 presented original secondary analyses. Despite a recent increase in published studies, persistent methodological limitations restrict the generalizability of findings. Most studies focus on legal aspects, determinants, and characteristics of victims and perpetrators. Victims are mostly young females murdered by their male kin. Unambiguous evidence of a decline in tolerance of honor killings remains elusive.
Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Deficiency Enhances Insulin Sensitivity and Reduces PPAR-α Pathway Activity in Mice

Background: Numerous man-made pollutants activate the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and are risk factors for type 2 diabetes. AhR signaling also affects molecular clock genes to influence glucose metabolism. Objective: We investigated mechanisms by which AhR activation affects glucose metabolism. Methods: Glucose tolerance, insulin resistance, and expression of peroxisome proliferator–activated receptor-α (PPAR-α) and genes affecting glucose metabolism or fatty acid oxidation and clock gene rhythms were investigated in wild-type (WT) and AhR-deficient [knockout (KO)] mice. AhR agonists and small interfering RNA (siRNA) were used to examine the effect of AhR on PPAR-α expression and glycolysis in the liver cell line Hepa-1c1c7 (c7) and its c12 and c4 derivatives. Brain, muscle ARNT-like protein 1 (Bmal1) siRNA and Ahr or Bmal1 expression plasmids were used to analyze the effect of BMAL1 on PPAR-α expression in c7 cells. Results: KO mice displayed enhanced insulin sensitivity and improved glucose tolerance, accompanied by decreased PPAR-α and key gluconeogenic and fatty acid oxidation enzymes. AhR agonists increased PPAR-α expression in c7 cells. Both Ahr and Bmal1 siRNA reduced PPAR-α and metabolism genes. Moreover, rhythms of BMAL1 and blood glucose were altered in KO mice. Conclusions: These results indicate a link between AhR signaling, circadian rhythms, and glucose metabolism. Furthermore, hepatic activation of the PPAR-α pathway provides a mechanism underlying AhR-mediated insulin resistance.
Targeted drug delivery to enhance efficacy and shorten treatment duration in disseminated Mycobacterium avium infection in mice.

OBJECTIVES Improvement of the efficacy of drug treatment in mycobacterial infection by the development and application of targeted drug delivery. METHODS In disseminated Mycobacterium avium infection in mice, the relative efficacy of the antimycobacterial agents that are currently used in combination therapy was investigated. Next, the effect of the addition of targeted delivery of amikacin to the infected tissues in the initial phase of treatment was studied. Amikacin was chosen because of its unique rapid and high mycobacterial killing capacity. As drug delivery tool, long-circulating sterically stabilized liposomes were used. RESULTS Treatment with clarithromycin alone daily (6 days a week) slowly killed most of the mycobacteria in the lung, liver, spleen, inguinal and mesenterial lymph nodes. However, after 24 weeks of treatment, persistence of substantial numbers of mycobacteria in the infected organs was observed. The addition of ethambutol to the clarithromycin regimen did not significantly enhance the efficacy of treatment, neither did rifampicin as a third agent. In contrast, the addition of liposomal amikacin in the initial phase of therapy resulted in rapid and complete elimination of the mycobacteria in all infected organs within 12 weeks of treatment without relapse of infection. As a result, total treatment duration could be significantly reduced to 12 weeks. CONCLUSIONS In M. avium infection in mice, the approach of targeted drug delivery was successful. The rapid decrease in the mycobacterial load followed by complete killing, including the persistent mycobacteria considered responsible for relapse of infection, allows a significant reduction of the total treatment duration.
HEAVY TAILS, IMPORTANCE SAMPLING AND CROSS–ENTROPY

ABSTRACT We consider the problem of estimating ℙ(Y 1 + … + Y n > x) by importance sampling when the Y i are i.i. d. and heavy-tailed. The idea is to exploit the cross-entropy method as a tool for choosing good parameters in the importance sampling distribution; in doing sso, we use the asymptotic description that given ℙ(Y 1 + … + Y n > x), n − 1 of the Y i have distribution F and one the conditional distribution of Y given Y > x. We show in some specific parametric examples (Pareto and Weibull) how this leads to precise answers which, as demonstrated numerically, are close to being variance minimal within the parametric class under consideration. Related problems for M/G/1 and GI/G/1 queues are also discussed.
End-bridging is required for pol μ to efficiently promote repair of noncomplementary ends by nonhomologous end joining

DNA polymerase μ is a member of the mammalian pol X family and reduces deletion during chromosome break repair by nonhomologous end joining (NHEJ). This biological role is linked to pol μ's ability to promote NHEJ of ends with noncomplementary 3′ overhangs, but questions remain regarding how it performs this role. We show here that synthesis by pol μ in this context is often rapid and, despite the absence of primer/template base-pairing, instructed by template. However, pol μ is both much less active and more prone to possible template independence in some contexts, including ends with overhangs longer than two nucleotides. Reduced activity on longer overhangs implies pol μ is less able to synthesize across longer gaps, arguing pol μ must bridge both sides of gaps between noncomplementary ends to be effective in NHEJ. Consistent with this argument, a pol μ mutant defective specifically on gapped substrates is also less active during NHEJ of noncomplementary ends both in vitro and in cells. Taken together, pol μ activity during NHEJ of noncomplementary ends can thus be primarily linked to pol μ's ability to work together with core NHEJ factors to bridge DNA ends and perform a template-dependent gap fill-in reaction.
Sociological Study of the African Diaspora

There is an abundant amount of contemporary literature that discusses the idea of «diaspora» but such discussions usually are lodged within political and economic realities confronted by any migrating national and/or ethnic groupings. There also is literature that uses the language of diaspora and explores particular populations as examples of the phenomenon. However, there is much less literature that rigorously explores the definition of diaspora and how it does or does not differ from the idea of migration. Similarly, little if any literature examines theoretical propositions concerning the African Diaspora as put forth by sociologist Ruth Simms Hamilton. This paper engages Hamilton’s four theoretical propositions, emphasing characteristics of the African Diaspora as a distinct global phenomenon and putting forth a useful typology. The hope is that such a systematic discussion can benefit the discipline of sociology given that the plethora of usages of diaspora language has almost rendered it ineffective as a concept for thorough academic explorations.
A Hidden Threat: Work Stress among Business Managers in Pakistan

This paper aimed to identify the significant sources and level of work stress experienced by the frontline, middle, and senior level business managers in Pakistan. Six factors namely role ambiguity, role conflict, quantitative role overload, qualitative role overload, career development, and responsibility for others were used as major antecedents of work stress in this study. Study used quantitative strategy and cross-sectional survey method for data collection from 456 respondents belonging to front line, middle, and senior managerial positions from 30 randomly selected organizations operating in private sector of Pakistan. Results revealed that 81% of the respondents have been exposed to moderate level of work stress. Responsibility for others and concern for career development were viewed as factors causing relatively greater amount of stress at workplace. Role ambiguity and role conflict were viewed as factor causing relatively least amount of work stress among respondents. Significant differences between different demographic groups for most of the stressors were also found. Since no study identifying sources and level of work stress in Pakistan has been conducted so far, importance of this study lies in highlighting the exact antecedents of work stress and amount of stress caused by them in Pakistan.
Bucket-handle tear of the medial plica.

PURPOSE The etiology of pathological media plica of the knee is unknown. We describe two cases of large, torn medial plicae. The cases help understand the etiology and avoid diagnostic pitfalls. CASE SUMMARY Two patients with medial knee pain and pseudolocking were found to have "bucket-handle" tears of the large medial plicae. The pseudolocking phenomenon was observed arthroscopically in an effort to understand causation. DISCUSSION Direct trauma and lateral traction are hypothesized to lead to thickened, pathologic medial plicae. A history of locking usually leads the examiner to look for torn menisci or loose bodies. These cases show that a medial plica with a longitudinal split can behave in a manner that can be mistaken for locking. The mechanism by which this occurs gives insight about the condition's etiology. RELEVANCE Present treatment for painful medial plica is physical therapy, occasional corticosteroid injection, and arthroscopic excision when these efforts fail. Based on the evidence from these cases, a reasonable first step after diagnosing a traumatic, painful medial plica might be to selectively strengthen the vastus medialis obliquus.
Assessment of the behaviour and welfare of laying hens on free-range units

The aims of this study were twofold: to develop and test an animal-based protocol for the assessment of the physical and emotional elements of the welfare of laying hens on free-range units and to investigate the effects of different approaches to housing and management on the welfare of the birds. The protocol was tested on 25 free-range units for laying hens, each of which was visited on four occasions by one of five trained observers; further information about husbandry, health and productivity was gathered from interviews with the farmers. Measures of the birds' attitude included arousal, noise, flight distance and response to a novel object, measures of their activity included feather pecking, aggression and use of range, and measures of their physical welfare included mortality, body condition and egg quality. Increased arousal was associated with increased flight distance, greater reluctance to approach a novel object and higher levels of feather pecking and feather loss, but the correlation between pecking and feather loss was low. The birds maintained body condition throughout the period of lay. Neither body condition, feather pecking nor feather loss was affected by the extent of beak trimming. Estimated losses (deaths and culls) ranged from 1·8 to 21·4 per cent (median 6·95 per cent). Few birds showed signs of ill health, limb lesions or red mite infestation. No feature of building design had a significant effect on mortality, but there were consistent differences in the birds' attitude, behaviour and performance attributable to the type of floor and the presence or absence of perches, which suggested that the welfare of the hens was inferior when they were housed on plastic floors with no perches.
FBM: A Flexible Random Walk Based Generative Model for SocialNetwork

This paper studies the static and dynamic characteristics of the real social networks as well as their proposed generative models, among which the Butterfly Model (1) is useful while not flexible enough to generate the social networks with the expected power-law exponent. And a novel Flexible Butterfly Model (FBM) is proposed based on the Butterfly Model and combined with the Monte Carlo method, and a Bayesian Graph Model for the training of the FBM Model is built in order to learn parameters from real social networks. Experiments have shown that the FBM model can adjust the law power exponent of the generated social network effectively by the introduced parameters. Meanwhile, the FBM model also maintains the vast majority of important characteristics that the Butterfly model has.
NFC based service innovation in retail: An explorative study

This paper presents the results of a questionnaire based survey conducted amongst European retailers on their plans and perceptions with regard to novel applications based on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. Whilst the survey showed that retailers did evaluate the possible applications differently, none of them clearly stood out as the most beneficial one. NFC based services were on average conceded to be able to accelerate the checkout process at the point-of-sale. This is an important acknowledgment, as 65% of the respondents consider waiting lines which can occur at the checkout to hold the largest potential for an improvement of their customers' shopping experience. While the rate of agreement is somewhat smaller than in the case of process acceleration, retailers also concede that NFC applications could make shopping more convenient for their customers. On the other hand, none of the NFC-based applications seemed to yield cost saving potentials to the responding retailers. The most surprising result of the survey was the respondents' low expectations in regards to customer acceptance. This is in clear contrast to the reports on NFC trials which generally describe participants as enthusiastic about the technology.
A Quantum-feedforward and classical-feedback separating structure adapted with monodirectional measurements; Blind qubit uncoupling capability and links with ICA

This paper deals with Blind Quantum Source Separation (BQSS). The proposed separating system only receives observed quantum states, each obtained after two quantum bits (qubits) were first independently initialized with values that this system does not know and then coupled according to a quantum operator involving parameter values that the separating system does not know a priori. This system aims at restoring the information contained in the initial qubit states. We previously tackled this problem by first converting the observed quantum state into data which have a classical (i.e. non-quantum) form and then only processing the latter data with classical means. We here propose a new approach, based on a separating system which uses quantum processing means (consisting of a specific unitary operator) in its feedforward path. Classical processing is only used in the feedback path of this system, to adapt its transfer function. The proposed adaptation method is based on binary-valued monodirectional output measurements and related to quantum disentanglement. We also analyze its relationships with classical Independent Component Analysis. We prove that this BQSS method partly restores the initial two-qubit states: it determines their components up to some phase and permutation indeterminacies.
Incremental Grassmannian Feedback Schemes for Multi-User MIMO Systems

The communication of side information forms a key component of several effective strategies for transmitter adaptation to slowly fading channels. When the relevant side information is a subspace, the feedback scheme can be viewed as a lossy source compression scheme on the Grassmannian manifold. Memoryless vector quantization on each fading block is a viable compression scheme, but it neglects any temporal correlation between the blocks. In this paper, we propose an incremental approach to Grassmannian quantization that takes advantage of temporal correlation. The approach leverages existing codebooks for memoryless quantization schemes and employs a quantized form of geodesic interpolation. Two schemes that implement the principles of the proposed approach are presented. In the first scheme, the choice of the step size in the incremental update is adapted to a first-order GaussMarkov model for the channel, which enables the use of higher resolution codebooks. In the second scheme, a single bit is allocated to the step size, which enables adaptation of the step size to the channel realization rather than the channel statistics. This provides substantial robustness against mismatches in the model for the temporal correlation. A distinguishing feature of the proposed approach is that the direction of the geodesic interpolation is specified implicitly using a point in a conventional codebook. As a result, the approach has an inherent ability to recover autonomously from errors in the feedback path. Simulation results demonstrate that these features result in improved performance over some existing schemes in a variety of channel environments.
Gifted Students' Perceptions of Learning English as a Foreign Language.

The concept of “giftedness” and “what makes giftedness” have been debated by scholars for decades. Students who are defined as gifted or talented may demonstrate outstanding attributes in different areas. While some have superior intellectual, academic and creative abilities, others show an assortment of traits besides intelligence such as remarkable talents in visual and performing arts. This study is mainly concerned with how to cater for the needs of gifted and talented students learning English as a foreign language. It reports on a study carried out to create an effective learning environment for these children who are enrolled in a center for gifted children (BILSEM) in Adana, Turkey. The programme in the center makes special provision for academically gifted children with a differentiated curriculum. 105 students, already identified as gifted or talented, have been asked about their learning experience in the Centre, learning English in particular, and what types of activities are meaningful to them. They have completed a general attitude to learning English questionnaire and then taken part in a process of critical incident analysis. It is hoped that the findings of the research would lend support to identification and programming practices for gifted children.
Subcutaneous Heparin Versus Low-Molecular-Weight Heparin as Thromboprophylaxis in Patients Undergoing Colorectal Surgery: Results of the Canadian Colorectal DVT Prophylaxis Trial: A Randomized, Double-Blind Trial

ObjectiveTo compare the effectiveness and safety of low-dose unfractionated heparin and a low-molecular-weight heparin as prophylaxis against venous thromboembolism after colorectal surgery. MethodsIn a multicenter, double-blind trial, patients undergoing resection of part or all of the colon or rectum were randomized to receive, by subcutaneous injection, either calcium heparin 5,000 units every 8 hours or enoxaparin 40 mg once daily (plus two additional saline injections). Deep vein thrombosis was assessed by routine bilateral contrast venography performed between postoperative day 5 and 9, or earlier if clinically suspected. ResultsNine hundred thirty-six randomized patients completed the protocol and had an adequate outcome assessment. The venous thromboembolism rates were the same in both groups. There were no deaths from pulmonary embolism or bleeding complications. Although the proportion of all bleeding events in the enoxaparin group was significantly greater than in the low-dose heparin group, the rates of major bleeding and reoperation for bleeding were not significantly different. ConclusionsBoth heparin 5,000 units subcutaneously every 8 hours and enoxaparin 40 mg subcutaneously once daily provide highly effective and safe prophylaxis for patients undergoing colorectal surgery. However, given the current differences in cost, prophylaxis with low-dose heparin remains the preferred method at present.
Linking Racial-Ethnic Socialization to Culture and Race-Specific Coping Among African American College Students

In addition to the use of coping strategies generally shared by all Americans, research has shown that African Americans tend to make use of culture and race-specific coping styles that distinguish them from other racial/ethnic group populations. These coping styles are important for the negotiation of multiple types of stressors. Little has been written on the antecedents of culture and race-specific coping (i.e., Africultural coping and John Henryism). This exploratory online investigation sought to determine if childhood racial-ethnic socialization (i.e., a cultural practice and protective factor) experiences predicted present self-reported culture and race-specific coping among a group of African American college students (N = 191). Results indicated that past racial socialization messages encouraging participants to engage in positive cross-racial interactions (i.e., cross-racial relationship messages) were positively predictive of spiritual-centered and collective coping. Racial socialization messages that prescribed how participants should cope with racism were negatively associated with prolonged, active high-effort coping (i.e., John Henryism). Ethnic socialization messages emphasizing participation in African American cultural activities (i.e., African American heritage messages) positively predicted spiritual-centered, collective, and ritual-centered coping. Finally, ethnic socialization messages encouraging participants to have respect for authority figures, retain close relationships with family members, and maintain a collectivistic orientation (i.e., African American cultural values messages) were negatively predictive of John Henryism. Taken together, childhood racial-ethnic socialization experiences are an important resource for coping during college.