Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
ECOLOGICAL FACTORS INFLUENCING TETRAPLOID SPECIATION IN SNOW BUTTERCUPS (RANUNCULUS ADONEUS): NICHE DIFFERENTIATION AND TETRAPLOID ESTABLISHMENT

Abstract Chromosome doubling plays an important role in generating new species of flowering plants. However, reproductive incompatibilities between newly formed tetraploid plants and their diploid progenitors are expected to create a significant barrier to the persistence and establishment of neopolyploid populations. Ecological differentiation can reduce this barrier via prezygotic isolation arising from spatial separation. Alternatively, superior viability or fecundity of neotetraploid plants might compensate for the reproductive cost of incompatible pollen from diploid neighbors. The performance of plants of both cytotypes can be assessed in their respective habitats through reciprocal transplants, although such experiments have not been used previously in the study of tetraploid speciation. We used a series of seed and seedling transplant experiments to assess ecological differentiation and competitive ability during early establishment phases for tetraploid and diploid forms of the snow buttercup (Ranunculus adoneus). At two sites, seeds from diploids and tetraploids had similar germination probabilities. Tetraploid snow buttercup seedlings had a significant growth advantage in a controlled environment chamber experiment. However, in the field diploid and tetraploid buttercup seedlings did not differ consistently in survival or growth, nor did the two cytotypes show reciprocal advantages in performance, as expected if ecological differentiation has occurred. At the seed and seedling stages, neither niche differentiation nor tetraploid competitive superiority appears sufficient to explain neotetraploid success in the presence of their diploid progenitors.
Understanding Urban Inequality: A model based on existing theories and an empirical illustration.

In the debate on urban inequality, Sassen's theory on social polarization and Wilson's theory on spatial mismatch have received much attention. Where Sassen highlights the decline of the middle classes, Wilson focuses on the upgrading of urban labour markets. In this article we argue that both theories may be valid, but that they have to be put in a more extended theoretical framework. Of central importance are national institutional arrangements, membership of different ethnic groups and networks, and place-specific characteristics rooted in local socio-economic histories. As a first empirical illustration of our model, we use data on the labour markets of Amsterdam and Rotterdam and show that different forms of inequality can be found both in economic sectors and within ethnic groups. The model we present could be used both to reinterebatpret existing data and as an analytical framework for the analysis of different forms of urban inequality. Copyright Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2002.
Opinions of dating agents about strabismic subjects’ ability to find a partner

Aims: To determine the influence of strabismus on the ability to find a partner. Methods: We interviewed Swiss dating agents retrieved from two Swiss online telephone directories using a validated questionnaire to determine whether strabismus has any impact on the ability to find a partner. During the interviews, subjects with internet access could view downloadable, digitally altered photographs of a strabismic man and women, as well as images of other computer-generated facial anomalies. Results: Of the 40 dating agents, 92.5% judged that strabismic subjects have more difficulty finding a partner (p<0.001). Such difficulty was not associated with either gender or age but was perceived as being greater in exotropic than in esotropic persons (p<0.001). Among the seven facial disfigurements, strabismus was believed to have the third largest negative impact on finding a partner, after strong acne and a visible missing tooth. Dating agents also believed that potential partners perceive persons with strabismus as significantly less attractive (p<0.001), erotic (p<0.001), likeable (p<0.001), interesting (p<0.001), successful (p<0.001), intelligent (p = 0.001) and sporty (p = 0.01). Conclusions: Visible strabismus negatively influences the ability to find a partner. Because strabismus surgery in adults restores a normal functioning condition and reduces not only physical but also psychosocial difficulties, it cannot be considered a cosmetic procedure.
Productive, Unproductive and Destructive Entrepreneurship: A Theoretical and Empirical Exploration

Drawing on Baumol's concepts of productive, unproductive and destructive entrepreneurship and relevant amendments, this thesis aims to contribute to the entrepreneurship literature by developing a conceptual framework which allows operationalising the concepts for empirical assessment. Furthermore, using data from longitudinal survey, author makes one of the first attempts to address the concepts empirically. The results provide with support for the conceptual framework highlighting the importance to shift the focus from firms' activities to output on both, venture and societal levels, short and long term, when concepts are addressed empirically. Overall findings suggest that productive entrepreneurs are those who are less involved in behaviour such as tax avoidance or illegal business and show a higher level of entrepreneurial orientation.
Counter-Regulation and Control-Dependency: Affective Processing Biases in the Service of Action Regulation

Two basic principles governing the motivational regulation of automatic affective processing are described and relevant evidence is reviewed. According to the counter-regulation principle, attention is automatically allocated to information that is opposite in valence to current motivational states: A positive outcome focus increases the salience of negative information whereas a negative outcome focus induces an attentional focus on positive information. Counter-regulation in automatic affective processing prevents motivational states from escalating or becoming chronic. According to the control-dependency principle, processing of information is characterized by a problem focus (negativity bias) if goal pursuit is experienced as controllable, whereas experiencing a lack of control over important outcomes is accompanied by an enhancement focus (positivity bias). Control-dependency of affective processing promotes persistent goal pursuit in the face of controllable challenges, and facilitates the acceptanc.
Efeitos do Estado de Humor sobre os Comportamentos Alimentares Inadequados de Atletas de Atletismo

The goal of the present study was to analyze the effects of mood state on inappropriate eating behavior (IEB) of athletes. The participants were 68 female track and field athletes, with ages between 12 and 17 years. The Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) and the Brunel Mood Scale (BRUMS) were used to evaluate the IEB and total mood disturbance (TMD), respectively. Two linear regression models indicated no statistically significant influence of BRUMS on Diet (p = 0,42) and on the Bulimia and Food Preoccupation (p = 0,81) subscales of the EAT-26. Rather, BRUMS (p = 0,04) showed a significant impact (7%) on Oral Selfconttrol subscale scores. It was concluded that athletes with high TMD might be more susceptible to environmental influence upon food intake.
Malignant smooth muscle tumors of the retroperitoneum and mesentery: A clinicopathologic analysis of 44 cases

Forty‐four cases of leiomyosarcoma arising in the retroperitoneum (33 cases) and mesentery (11 cases) were analyzed clinicopathologically, and four were examined ultrastructurally. These tumors were more common in women (61 %) than in men (39%), and the median age of the patients was 59 years. Except for three tumors, most were large and over 10 cm in the greatest diameter. Twenty‐seven tumors were classical leiomyosar‐comas, while seven were composed predominantly of epithelioid cells and classified as malignant leiomyoblastoma (epithelioid leiomyosarcoma). In addition to the classical microscopic features, dedifferentiated areas resembling malignant fibrous histiocytoma were noted in three cases. Ultrastructurally, the tumors were characterized by smooth muscle tumor cells showing a spectrum of differentiation of varying degrees. Of the 42 patients for whom follow‐up information could be obtained, 33 (79%) died within a period of five years after the initial treatment. Mitotic activity showed no significant correlation with biological behavior; ten of the 15 patients in whom the mitotic counts were less than five per 10 high‐power fields (HPF), expired of the tumor.
The Query-commit Problem

In the query-commit problem we are given a graph where edges have distinct probabilities of existing. It is possible to query the edges of the graph, and if the queried edge exists then its endpoints are irrevocably matched. The goal is to find a querying strategy which maximizes the expected size of the matching obtained. This stochastic matching setup is motivated by applications in kidney exchanges and online dating. In this paper we address the query-commit problem from both theoretical and experimental perspectives. First, we show that a simple class of edges can be queried without compromising the optimality of the strategy. This property is then used to obtain in polynomial time an optimal querying strategy when the input graph is sparse. Next we turn our attentions to the kidney exchange application, focusing on instances modeled over real data from existing exchange programs. We prove that, as the number of nodes grows, almost every instance admits a strategy which matches almost all nodes. This result supports the intuition that more exchanges are possible on a larger pool of patient/donors and gives theoretical justification for unifying the existing exchange programs. Finally, we evaluate experimentally different querying strategies over kidney exchange instances. We show that even very simple heuristics perform fairly well, being within 1.5% of an optimal clairvoyant strategy, that knows in advance the edges in the graph. In such a time-sensitive application, this result motivates the use of committing strategies.
Prevalence and impact of posttraumatic stress disorder-like symptoms on patients with fibromyalgia syndrome.

OBJECTIVE Traumatic events can result in a set of symptoms including nightmares, recurrent and intrusive recollections, avoidance of thoughts or activities associated with the traumatic event, and symptoms of increased arousal such as insomnia and hypervigilance. These posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-like symptoms are frequently observed in persons with chronic pain syndromes. Little is known about how these two phenomena interact with one another. The present study evaluated PTSD-like symptoms in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and examined the relation between PTSD-like symptoms and problems associated with FMS. DESIGN Ninety-three consecutive patients underwent a comprehensive FMS evaluation and completed self-report questionnaires measuring PTSD-like symptoms, disability, and psychosocial responses to their pain condition. Subjects were divided in two groups based on level of self-reported PTSD-like symptoms. RESULTS Approximately 56% of the sample reported clinically significant levels of PTSD-like symptoms (PTSD+). The PTSD+ patients reported significantly greater levels of pain (p < 0.01), emotional distress (p < 0.01), life interference (p < 0.01), and disability (p < 0.01) than did the patients without clinically significant levels of PTSD-like symptoms (PTSD-). Over 85% of the PTSD+ patients compared with 50% of the PTSD- patients demonstrated significant disability. Based on response to the Multidimensional Pain Inventory, a significantly smaller percentage of PTSD+ patients were classified as adaptive copers (15%) compared with the PTSD- group (48.2%). CONCLUSIONS Results suggest that PTSD-like symptoms are prevalent in FMS patients and may influence adaptation to this chronic illness. Clinicians should assess the presence of these symptoms, as the failure to attend to them in treatment may impede successful outcomes.
Does Game Playing Experience Have an Impact on the Player-PNPC Relationship?

There are several types of characters in video games: the main protagonist/hero, the countless non-player characters (NPCs), and persistent non-player characters (PNPCs). While there is a substantial body of research about PNPCs from a game design point of view, they have been largely ignored by the academic community from a narrative perspective. The current essay aims to evaluate whether video game playing experience has an impact on a player’s reliance on the guidance of PNPCs in game play and if a higher degree of experience enables a player to have a better appreciation for the narrative qualities of PNPCs as well as their complexity as characters.
Do Rural Residents Really Use the Internet to Build Social Capital? An Empirical Investigation

Recent research suggests that Internet usage can positively influence social capital in rural communities by fostering avenues for voluntary participation and creating social networks. Most of this research has examined whether Internet use is associated with participation in local organizations and social networks but not the means by which residents use the technology to learn about local activities. To address this gap in the literature, the authors use a mixed-methods approach in an isolated rural region of the western United States to evaluate how residents use their connections to maintain local social networks and learn about local community events and organizations. The authors show that Internet usage can play an important role in building social capital in rural communities, thus extending the systemic model of rural voluntary participation and community attachment. Implications for rural community development are addressed.
Personality, Organizational Climate and Job Involvement: An Empirical Study

Job involvement as an attitude is an important variable that helps in maximizing organizational effectiveness. The higher the degree of job involvement of the members of an organization, the greater its effectiveness. In order to improve the degree of job involvement, one must have a realistic view of what determines it. Among the various views on job involvement, the most realistic one would be that it is a function of personality and organizational climate. Therefore, an attempt is made to study on the relationship of personality, organizational climate and job involvement. To identify the personality types, an inventory is developed based on the Indian theory of psychological forces—the guna dynamics. Based on the analysis of the data collected, the concluding observation of the study is: ‘the less tamasic a person, the more will he be involved in his job’.
Detecting Involuntary Layoffs in Teacher Survival Data: The Year of Leaving Dangerously

In this paper, we present an exploratory methodology for detecting and documenting an influence on the duration of teacher employment which has heretofore eluded empirical quantification—the involuntary layoff. Using data on the lengths of employment of more than 14,000 teachers hired between 1969 and 1981 in the St. Louis metropolitan area, we show that over and above the effects that previous researchers have identified (such as high early dropout rates and gender differences), there were certain years in which many more recently hired teachers were likely to leave their districts than might have been expected. We then present documentary evidence indicating that these unusual years were ones in which several of the districts under study implemented sizable mandated staff reductions. We conclude by discussing how ignoring involuntary layoffs may lead researchers to erroneously attribute some inter-individual variation in employment duration to other influences such as entering cohort. Viewed in its entirety, our paper presents a methodology for the improved analysis of teacher survival data that allows researchers to uncover not only involuntary layoffs but other predictors of employment duration as well.
Job attribute preferences: who prefers what?

Purpose – The paper aims to examine worker job attribute preferences, by which is meant the extent to which individuals desire a variety of specific qualities and outcomes from their paid work. It seeks to examine how these preferences are ranked and to identify their principal correlates.Design/methodology/approach – The study makes use of a quantitative methodology, notably the application of an ordered probit model to analyse a data set which has its origins in the 2006 Skills Survey.Findings – “Work you like doing”; a “secure job”; “friendly people to work with”; and “opportunities to use your abilities” are the four highest ranked job attribute preferences. Worker job attribute preferences vary with the characteristics of the worker, including gender, domestic circumstances, highest qualification held and occupation.Research limitations/implications – The study reports “correlations” and does not imply “causation”. The findings are for the year 2006. On the assumption that job attribute preferences a.
Effect of Decannulation on Pharyngeal and Laryngeal Movement in Post-Stroke Tracheostomized Patients

Objective To investigate effects of tracheostomy tube on the movement of the hyoid bone and larynx during swallowing by quantitative analysis of videofluoroscopic swallowing study. Method 19 adult stroke patients with tracheostomies, who met the criteria of decannulation participated. Serial videofluroscopic swallowing studies were done over 14 days before decannulation, within 24 hours before decannulation, within 24 hours after decannulation, and over 14 days after decannulation. The kinematic parameter such as pharyngeal transition time, stage transition duration, maximal hyoid bone movement, and maximal laryngeal prominence movement were obtained by 2-D quantitative analysis of videofluoroscopic swallowing study. Results Pharyngeal transition time and stage transition duration were not significantly changed all the time. The maximal hyoid bone movement and maximal laryngeal prominence just after decannulation were improved significantly compared to just before decannulation (p<0.05), especially on vertical movement. Conclusion The hypothesis that a tracheostomy tube disturbs the hyoid bone and laryngeal movement during swallowing may be supported by this study.
displayHTS: a R package for displaying data and results from high-throughput screening experiments

The R package displayHTS implements recently developed methods and figures for displaying data and hit selection results in high-throughput screening (HTS) experiments. It generates not only certain useful distinctive graphics such as the plate-well series plot, plate image and dual-flashlight plot but also other commonly used figures such as volcano plot and plate correlation plot. These figures are critical for visualizing the data and displaying important features of HTS data and hit selection results.
Should We Do EUS/FNA on Patients With Pancreatic Cysts? The Incremental Diagnostic Yield of EUS Over CT/MRI for Prediction of Cystic Neoplasms

Objectives To evaluate the performance characteristics of endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) compared with computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and determine the incremental diagnostic yield and accuracy of EUS with or without fine needle aspiration (FNA) over CT and MRI for prediction of neoplastic pancreatic cysts. Methods The EUS database was queried for procedures performed for pancreatic cysts between March 2006 and January 2010. Cystic pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma, cystic pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, mucinous cystic neoplasm, intraductal papillary neoplasm, and solid pseudopapillary neoplasm were categorized as neoplastic; pseudocysts and serous cysts were designated as nonneoplastic/low risk. Results Final diagnoses were established by surgery in 154 patients (mucinous cystic neoplasm/intraductal papillary neoplasm [69.4%], pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor [10%], pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma [6.4%], solid pseudopapillary neoplasm [0.6%], nonneoplastic/low risk [13.6%]). Endoscopic ultrasonography with or without FNA was superior to CT and MRI in accurately classifying a cyst as neoplastic (P < 0.0001). After CT and MRI, EUS increased the rate of correctly predicting neoplastic cysts in 43 (36%) and 27 (54%) additional cases, respectively. Conclusions The incremental increase in diagnostic yield of EUS and fluid analysis over CT and MRI for prediction of a neoplastic cyst is 36% and 54%, respectively. The addition of EUS-FNA to abdominal imaging significantly increases overall accuracy for diagnosis of neoplastic pancreatic cysts.
Relationship of gender and academic achievement to Finnish students’ intercultural sensitivity

This study examined the intercultural sensitivity of Finnish 12–16‐year‐old secondary school students (N=549) with a 23‐item Intercultural Sensitivity Scale Questionnaire (ICSSQ). The ICSSQ is based on Bennett’s (1993) Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS), which is a conceptual tool to situate certain reactions towards cultural difference. The DMIS consists of six stages, of which three are ethnocentric and three ethnorelative. The ICSSQ is based on the operationalization of the first five stages: (1) Denial, (2) Defense, (3) Minimization, (4) Acceptance, and (5) Adaptation. Two research questions were examined: Are there any differences in the intercultural sensitivity between (1) girls and boys, and (2) students with academically average ability and students with above‐average ability? The results showed that the girls assessed their intercultural sensitivity higher than did the boys. Furthermore, the academically gifted students estimated their intercultural sensitivity higher than the students with average ability.
An arousal model of interpersonal intimacy.

A theoretical model designed to explain and predict reactive changes in the expression of interpersonal intimacy is presented. The model basically proposes that in an interaction, sufficient changes in one person's intimacy behaviors (e.g., interpersonal distance, eye contact, touch) precipitate arousal change in the other person. Depending upon the type of relationship, the setting, and other factors, this arousal change may be labeled either a positive or negative emotional state. The model predicts that positively labeled states facilitate reciprocal or enhancing reactions to the other person's intimacy changes, while negatively labeled states facilitate compensatory reactions. Applications and limitations of the model are discussed. Research into the role of nonverbal communication in social interaction has increased rapidly over the last several years. Although there is considerable disagreement regarding the use of the label communication to describe these behaviors (see Ekman & Friesen, 1969; Wiener, Devoe, Rubinow, & Geller, 1972), there is little doubt that a wide variety of nonverbal behaviors is important in the interaction process. Argyle and Dean (196S) have suggested that one set of these behaviors, primarily nonverbal and including interpersonal distance, eye contact, leaning, smiling, and intimacy of topic, is critical in indicating interpersonal intimacy. Mehrabian (1969) has discussed many of the same behaviors in a review and has used the label immediacy to refer to a limited number of dimensions including touch, distance, eye contact, body lean, and body orientation. Mehrabian cited considerable evidence indicating that increased immediacy in one or more of these dimensions is related to a more positive attitude toward another. Thus, both Argyle and Dean (1965) and Mehrabian (1969) seem to be describing a common process in postulating a direct relationship between in