Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Self-Efficacy Scale: Construction and Validation

Self-efficacy theory asserts that personal mastery expectations are the primary determinants of behavioral change. Further, it is suggested that individual differences in past experiences and attribution of success to skill or chance result in different levels of generalized self-efficacy expectations. To measure these generalized expectancies, a Self-efficacy Scale was developed. A factor analysis yielded two subscales: a General Self-efficacy subscale (17 items) and a Social Self-efficacy subscale (6 items). Confirmation of several predicted conceptual relationships between the Self-efficacy subscales and other personality measures (i.e., Locus of Control, Personal Control, Social Desirability, Ego Strength, Interpersonal Competence, and Self-esteem) provided evidence of construct validity. Positive relationships between the Self-efficacy Scale and vocational, educational, and military success established criterion validity. Future research and clinical uses of the scale were discussed.
Evolutionary trajectories in school assessment systems: the case of Bhutan

The purpose of this paper is to trace the evolution of school assessment in Bhutan, briefly, as a background to considering the present and future school assessment issues especially as they relate to quality concerns and educational improvement in Bhutan. A benchmark for Bhutan, the National Educational Assessment (NEA) programme in Bhutan was inspired by a 2002 initiative in South Asia funded by the World Bank. In this paper, we address how the 2003 NEA was developed. Emerging issues are discussed including methods of reporting and the concept of “benchmarking” in three senses of that term. Technical issues are also addressed in the context of the desire to administer another comparative NEA in 2010. Out of these developments, the Bhutan Board of Examinations has developed ideas about expanding access to system-wide assessment data to different levels of stakeholders in order to achieve improvements. A 2x2 matrix is provided identifying four key questions around judgments of educational achievement at two key levels (system and school) within and between these levels. This matrix represents a model of the evolution of assessment in Bhutan. This paper should be of interest to education systems in developing countries that have undertaken or intend to undertake national educational assessment programmes.
Hepatitis B vaccination of haemodialysis patients: randomized controlled trial comparing plasma‐derived vaccine with and without pre‐S2 antigen

Abstract. The pre‐S2 protein of the hepatitis B virus envelope evokes anti‐pre‐S2 antibodies and enhances the anti‐HBs response after vaccination in mice. In order to evaluate the immunogenicity of the pre‐S2 Ag in man, 102 HBsAg, anti‐HBs, anti‐HBc‐negative haemodialysis patients were vaccinated at random according to one of four vaccination schedules: 5 μg plasma vaccine Pasteur (containing 1 % pre‐S2) or 20 μg plasma vaccine MSD (no pre‐S2) at 0, 1, 2, 4, 6 and 12 months; or 10 μg Pasteur or 40 μg MSD at 0, 1,2 and 6 months. Anti‐HBs levels were measured by RIA and expressed in IU 1‐1; anti‐pre‐S2 response was evaluated by both EIA and Western blot analysis.
Cross-linking of actin filaments by myosin II is a major contributor to cortical integrity and cell motility in restrictive environments

Cells are frequently required to move in a local environment that physically restricts locomotion, such as during extravasation or metastatic invasion. In order to model these events, we have developed an assay in which vegetative Dictyostelium amoebae undergo chemotaxis under a layer of agarose toward a source of folic acid [Laevsky, G. and Knecht, D. A. (2001). Biotechniques 31, 1140-1149]. As the concentration of agarose is increased from 0.5% to 3% the cells are increasingly inhibited in their ability to move under the agarose. The contribution of myosin II and actin cross-linking proteins to the movement of cells in this restrictive environment has now been examined. Cells lacking myosin II heavy chain (mhcA-) are unable to migrate under agarose overlays of greater than 0.5%, and even at this concentration they move only a short distance from the trough. While attempting to move, the cells become stretched and fragmented due to their inability to retract their uropods. At higher agarose concentrations, the mhcA- cells protrude pseudopods under the agarose, but are unable to pull the cell body underneath. Consistent with a role for myosin II in general cortical stability, GFP-myosin dynamically localizes to the lateral and posterior cortex of cells moving under agarose. Cells lacking the essential light chain of myosin II (mlcE-), have no measurable myosin II motor activity, yet were able to move normally under all agarose concentrations. Mutants lacking either ABP-120 or α-actinin were also able to move under agarose at rates similar to wild-type cells. We hypothesize that myosin stabilizes the actin cortex through its cross-linking activity rather than its motor function and this activity is necessary and sufficient for the maintenance of cortical integrity of cells undergoing movement in a restrictive environment. The actin cross-linkers α-actinin and ABP-120 do not appear to play as major a role as myosin II in providing this cortical integrity.
Relationship marketing as a paradigm shift: some conclusions from the 30R approach

Stresses issues brought up in the first World Wide Web conference on relationship marketing. Based on research on relationship marketing going back to the early 1970s which resulted in the definition of 30 relationships in marketing ‐ the 30R approach. Brings up inconsistencies in marketing, among them the mix‐up between relationship marketing as a phenomenon and a term; values and ethics; practice versus theory and education; differences between Europe and the USA; and the ghost‐hunt for an unambiguous definition. Concludes that relationship marketing requires a dramatic change in marketing thinking and behaviour; it is a paradigm shift, not an add‐on to traditional marketing management.
Modélisation POD-Galerkine réduite pour le contrôle des écoulements instationnaires. (Reduced-order POD-Galerkin modelling for the control of unsteady flows)

Ce memoire presente une etude de la modelisation POD-Galerkine reduite dans l'objectif du developpement d'algorithmes robustes et efficaces de controle actif d'ecoulements. Les deux premiers chapitres sont consacres a la definition et au calcul numerique d'une base de modes POD et a la construction formelle de modeles dynamiques reduits par la methode de Galerkine a partir des equations de Navier-Stokes. Le cas des ecoulements incompressibles est traite en detail. Une etude de la modelisation d'un ecoulement tridimensionnel turbulent, pour lequel le probleme de la modelisation des petites echelles se pose, est ensuite menee : les interactions entre modes POD et les effets de la reduction de la base modale sont analyses qualitativement et quantitativement, a l'aide notamment d'une parametrisation visqueuse. Dans le chapitre suivant, des methodes de calibration, qui reposent sur la resolution d'un probleme d'optimisation, sont developpees afin de pouvoir calculer automatiquement des modeles reduits fiables pour un cout informatique raisonnable. Enfin, le dernier chapitre est consacre au probleme du controle d'ecoulements par des actionneurs de soufflage ou d'aspiration : les strategies d'exploitation de la modelisation POD-Galerkine pour le controle sont abordees, puis des investigations numeriques sont presentees.
Role Stress, Attitudes, and Job Outcomes in Business-To-Business Selling: Does the Type of Selling Situation Matter?

Previous research examining the interrelationships among role stress, attitudes, and outcomes in business-to-business selling has not given much consideration to the possible moderating influence of the type of selling situation. Using the seminal model of business-to-business selling introduced by Brown and Peterson (1993), the authors reexamine these interrelationships by controlling for the type of selling situation. The results reveal an intricate pattern of relationships and complex trade-offs of positive and negative consequences across the various selling positions. Overall, the findings suggest that mixing heterogeneous sales populations into an aggregate sample may lead to erroneous conclusions.
Efficacy and Safety of a Novel Cholesteryl Ester Transfer Protein Inhibitor, JTT-705, in Humans: A Randomized Phase II Dose-Response Study

Background—Cholesteryl ester transfer protein (CETP) mediates the transfer of neutral lipids between lipoproteins. High plasma levels of CETP are correlated with low HDL cholesterol levels, a strong risk factor for coronary artery disease. In earlier studies, JTT-705, a novel CETP inhibitor, was shown to increase plasma HDL cholesterol and to inhibit the progression of atherosclerosis in cholesterol-fed rabbits. This study describes the first results using this CETP inhibitor in humans. Methods and Results—In a randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled trial, we evaluated the efficacy and safety of daily treatment with 300, 600, and 900 mg JTT-705 in 198 healthy subjects with mild hyperlipidemia. Treatment with 900 mg JTT-705 for 4 weeks led to a 37% decrease in CETP activity (P <0.0001), a 34% increase in HDL cholesterol (P <0.0001), and a 7% decrease in LDL cholesterol (P =0.017), whereas levels of triglycerides, phospholipid transfer protein, and lecithin-cholesterol acyltransferase were unaffected. In line with the increase of total HDL, a rise of HDL2, HDL3, and apolipoprotein A-I was also noted. JTT-705 showed no toxicity with regard to physical examination and routine laboratory tests. Conclusions—We show that the use of the CETP inhibitor JTT-705 in humans is an effective means to raise HDL cholesterol levels with minor gastrointestinal side effects (P =0.06). Although these results hold promise, further studies are needed to investigate whether the observed increase in HDL cholesterol translates into a concomitant reduction in coronary artery disease risk.
PERSON-SITUATION SELECTION: A REVIEW OF SOME ABILITY-SITUATION INTERACTION RESEARCH

A review of literatures thought to be relevant for understanding situational contributions to ability-performance relationships was conducted. The review suggested that only three sets of variables, incentive systems, job characteristics, and leadership style/management philosophy (“climates”) have recieved research attention from an ability/situation vantage point. It was also shown that in both experimental and survey research these three factors can moderate ability-performance relationships. Because these same three sets of variables are also known to have main effects on average performance levels, an hypothesis is presented that when organizations establish work conditions which facilitate the display of task-relevant individual ability, then validity for ability measures, average performance levels, and general levels of satisfaction will all be high.
Quantitative Diagnoses and Comprehensive Evaluations of the Rationality of Chinese Urban Development Patterns

China’s new urbanization development strategy needs to be supported by rational urban systems. Here, a comprehensive diagnostic index system that uses GIS technology and a Chinese urban scale structure rationality diagnostic model, functional structure rationality diagnostic model, spatial structure rationality diagnostic model and Chinese urban development rationality diagnostic model is used to comprehensively evaluate the rationality of Chinese urban development patterns. The results show that the structure of urban development in China is largely rational, with 70.78% of all cities rational in this respect and with rationality influenced by historical evolution, zoning adjustments and natural conditions; that overall, the scale structure of Chinese cities is rational, with 68.03% of all cities rational in this respect, conforming to Zipf’s law and exhibiting a relatively rational pyramidal pattern with “a slightly larger middle and small bottom end”; that overall, urban spatial structure is rational, with 69.41% of all cities rational in this respect, and irrational cities concentrated in areas with low carrying capacities and regions with few cities with high carrying capacities; and that urban functional structure is largely rational, with 69.11% of all cities rational in this respect, mainly concentrated in urban agglomerations. This study provides a scientific basis for further optimizing the structure of urban development in China and promoting a new type of urbanization.
On the Power of a Clear Definition of Rationality

Abstract: In this paper, we argue that the use of the term “rationality” in Judgment in Managerial Decision Making (JMDM) is extremely useful, and creates a useful dialogue between philosophical and psychological perspectives of ethics and morality. We conclude that while behavioral decision research can gain important insights by more fully including philosophical discussions of rationality, both intellectual communities should be clear in their definitions, provide falsifiable predictions, and offer insights that can be tested empirically. We believe that these are important contributions of behavioral decision research not currently incorporated in philosophical critiques.
Inequality and Equality under Chinese Socialism: The Hukou System and Intergenerational Occupational Mobility1

Data from a 1996 national probability sample of Chinese men is used to analyze the effect of family background on occupational mobility in contemporary China, with particular attention to the rural‐urban institutional divide. China has an unusually high degree of mobility into agriculture and also, apparently, unusual “openness” in the current urban population. Both patterns are explained by China’s distinctive population registration system, which simultaneously fails to protect rural‐origin men from downward mobility and permits only the best educated to attain urban registration status, resulting in severe sample selection bias in previous studies restricted to the urban population. New light is shed on the relationships between the socialist state and social fluidity and between inequality and mobility.
Natality Estimates for the Canadian Indians by Stable Population Models, 1900–1969

Apres avoir demontre que les donnees officielles sur les taux de naissance de la population indienne avant 1960 sont largement inadequates, les auteurs utilisent deux methodes indirectes pour obtenir des estimes fiables de ces taux. La premiere methode se sert des donnees disponibles sur la distribution de la population par classe d'âge depuis 1900 tandis que la seconde utilise les donnees du recensement de 1961 sur l'ensemble des naissances selon l'âge de la mere. On analyse dans les deux cas, les donnees sous-jacentes et on deduit les estimes, a partir de modeles qui postulent une population stable. Les meilleurs estimes obtenus permettent de croire que le taux de natalite des Indiens est demeure relativement stable dans le passe, au niveau de 50 naissances par 1,000 individus. On note cependant, un declin constant de la fecondite depuis 1960. Ainsi le taux de natalite est passe de 46.0 pour 1000 en 1961 a 36.8 en 1969. Cette tendance peut etre interpretee comme une evolution fondamentale dans la demographie de ce groupe ethnique. After having shown that official series of birth rates for the Indian population prior to 1960 suffer from considerable deficiencies, two indirect methods are applied to arrive at some trustworthy estimates of these rates. Use is made, in the one case, of the age distribution data available since 1900, and, in the other case, of 1961 census data on children ever-born to women by age. In both instances stable population models are used for analysing the underlying data and for deriving the estimates. According to the best obtained estimates, the birth-rate for the Indian population seems to have remained relatively stable in the past, at a level close to 50 per 1000 persons. A gradual decline in fertility has been taking place since about 1960. Thus the birth-rate has dropped from 46.0 in 1961 to 36.8 in 1969, the latest available figure. This trend may be regarded as a major development in the demography of this ethnic group which is, in many respects, unique in the Canadian context.
Laninamivir Prodrug CS-8958, a Long-Acting Neuraminidase Inhibitor, Shows Superior Anti-Influenza Virus Activity after a Single Administration

ABSTRACT Two neuraminidase (NA) inhibitors, zanamivir (Relenza) and oseltamivir phosphate (Tamiflu), have been licensed for use for the treatment and prophylaxis of influenza. We have reported on laninamivir (code name, R-125489), a novel neuraminidase inhibitor, and have discovered that the laninamivir prodrug CS-8958 worked as a long-acting neuraminidase inhibitor in a mouse influenza virus infection model when it is intranasally administered. In this study, CS-8958 was administered just once 7 days before infection and showed significant efficacy in vivo. The efficacy of a single administration of CS-8958 after viral infection was then compared with that of repeated administrations of oseltamivir phosphate or zanamivir in mice and ferrets. CS-8958 showed efficacy superior or similar to the efficacies of the two licensed NA inhibitors. CS-8958 also significantly reduced the titers of an oseltamivir-resistant H1N1 virus with a neuraminidase H274Y substitution in a mouse infection model. These results suggest that since CS-8958 is characteristically long lasting in the lungs, it may be ideal for the prophylaxis and treatment of influenza.
Gut reactions: immune pathways in the intestine in health and disease

During my biochemistry degree I became fascinated by the complexity and wonder of the immune system. How in the vast majority of us it steadfastly protects from pathogens but in others, it turns on our own tissues or innocuous environmental antigens leading to autoimmune and chronic inflammatory diseases. It is evident that on the one hand, the immune system is vital for human health but that when dysregulated also has the capacity to kill the host. It is evident that on the one hand, the immune system is vital for human health but that when dysregulated also has the capacity to kill the host. We now know that alongside other mechanisms of self‐tolerance functionally specialized regulatory T cells (Treg) play a non‐redundant role in controlling the immune response to both self‐ and environmental antigens. In this perspective, I describe my early work that contributed to the discovery of Treg and our more recent focus on elucidation of their function in intestinal homeostasis. After a brief spell in the City of London as an accountant, I was lucky enough to land a PhD position in Don Masons' Lab in the Cellular Immunology Unit, Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford. The CIU was headed by the dynamic and brilliant Alan Williams who, with Neil Barclay, discovered the Ig superfamily of leukocyte surface proteins. The Oxford group had produced a large series of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against cell surface proteins. These tools revolutionized the study of immune cells allowing the molecular characterization of cell surface proteins, as well as the description of markers that could distinguish functional immune subsets. With a mAb termed OX‐22 (which recognized an isoform of CD45) in hand, I was able to build on work ongoing in Don's Lab to show that this antibody subdivided rat …
Using Conversation Analysis to Track Gender Ideologies in Social Interaction: toward a Feminist Analysis of a Japanese Phone-in Consultation TV Program

In this article, we engage in the recent debate concerning the utility of conversation analysis (CA) for feminist purposes. Using analysis of a Japanese phone-in consultation TV program, we take the position that CA has much to contribute to the feminist critique of Japanese society. Combining two strands of CA research, Hutchby's reconsideration of power as an interactional achievement and membership category analysis (MCA), we show in the analysis that CA makes it possible not only to point out places in the interaction where participants orient to gender, but also to track how the sequential structure of the interaction is used to invoke and reinforce ideological beliefs about women. Following the analysis, we discuss four ways that our analysis may be used to further feminism in Japan.
Overview of the ImageCLEF 2013 Personal Photo Retrieval Subtask

The subtask assesses the retrieval eectiveness in dierent retrieval usage scenarios in a personal photo collection and with dier- ent user groups. That is, the subtask reveals whether a tested algorithm is stable in terms of eectiveness for 7 dierent user groups. This per- spective on retrieval performance evaluation separates the 2013 version of the subtask from its pilot phase although it relies on the same data set. The data set has been sampled from 19 layperson photographers and consists of 5,555 unprocessed digital photographs. To solve the subtask, the participants are asked to retrieve the 100 best matching documents for 74 sample information needs that consist of visual concepts and events. Each sample information need is modeled by at most one query-by-example document and up to three to browsed documents. The best performing groups, ISI and DBIS, used visual low-level features and metadata to solve the task. The current best-placed run achieves a nDCG at 20 of 0.7427 for the average user group using relevance feedback and all available modalities, i.e., visual data and metadata such as Exif or GPS information. Regarding the stability, roughly 50% of the submitted runs perform equally well over all user groups.
Psychological determinants of adolescent smoking behaviour: A prospective study

Abstract Both the prevalence of adolescent smoking and the future health consequences of the behaviour are well known. Studies bearing on the psychological reasons why adolescents smoke have, however, relied largely on cross-sectional collections of data, and knowledge in the area has accordingly been restricted, by and large, to reports of psychological correlates of the behaviour. This study investigated psychological reasons associated with the onset of adolescent smoking behaviour in a large cohort of initial nonsmokers (1,945 males and 1,716 females) aged 13 to 17 years, examined in detail at intake and then followed up over one year. Data were collected by self-completed questionnaire given under supervision in school time. Predictors of adolescent smoking onset were similar for boys and girls, and for all age groups, and centred on both expectations of future smoking and the social climate within which smoking onset takes place. Briefly, adolescents are more likely to smoke if they expect to do so,.