Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effects of low-fat diet on serum lipids in premenopausal and postmenopausal women: a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

ObjectiveThis study aims to conduct a meta-analysis to evaluate the effects of a low-fat diet, in comparison with participants’ usual diet, on serum lipids in premenopausal and postmenopausal women. MethodsTen electronic databases were searched for relevant articles reporting randomized controlled trials through August 31, 2012, including PubMed/Medline, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, CINAHL, Web of Science, SCOPUS, ProQuest Dissertations and Theses, SinoMed, CNKI (Chinese database), and WanFang (Chinese database). This systematic review and meta-analysis, which evaluated the effects of a low-fat diet, in comparison with the participants’ usual diet, was conducted according to the guidelines of the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. All analyses were performed using RevMan version 5 (Cochrane Collaboration). ResultsFrom 512 potentially relevant publication citations reviewed, 8 randomized clinical trials were included in the meta-analysis, representing 22 groups (11 intervention groups and 11 control groups). A total of 1,536 women (900 in the intervention group and 636 in the control group) met the inclusion criteria. Total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) values changed more favorably in participants randomized to low-fat diets than in participants randomized to their usual diets. Low-fat diet was found to induce significant reductions in TC (random-effects model: mean difference [MD], −0.49 mmol/L; 95% CI, −0.69 to −0.29; I2 = 42%; Peffect < 0.00001), HDL-C (MD, −0.12 mmol/L; 95% CI, −0.20 to −0.05; I2 = 49%; Peffect = 0.00006), and LDL-C (MD, −0.24 mmol/L; 95% CI, −0.38 to −0.09; I2 = 42%; Peffect = 0.001) for two groups. For subgroup analysis, low-fat diet was efficacious in reducing TC, HDL-C, and LDL-C in premenopausal women but did not significantly reduce the same outcomes in postmenopausal women. However, there were also no statistically significant differences in triglycerides (TG) and TC–to–HDL-C ratio between a low-fat diet and the participants’ usual diet (TG: MD, 0.04 mmol/L; 95% CI, −0.02 to 0.11; I2 = 0%; Peffect = 0.16; TC–to–HDL-C ratio: MD, 0.08 mmol/L; 95%, CI −0.21 to 0.36; I2 = 0%; Peffect = 0.59) in two groups. ConclusionsOverall results suggest that a low-fat diet is efficacious in reducing the concentrations of TC, HDL-C, and LDL-C but not in reducing TG and TC–to–HDL-C ratio in women. A low-fat diet is efficacious in reducing TC, HDL-C, and LDL-C in premenopausal women. Additional studies are needed to further address its effects on postmenopausal women.
Influences on the expression of health within physical education curricula in secondary schools in England and Wales

This paper presents selected findings from a wider study on the expression of health within physical education (PE) curricula in secondary schools in England and Wales. The study revealed that the expression of health in PE broadly reflected ideologies associated with promoting ‘fitness for life’ and ‘fitness for performance’ and that representations of both discourses were present, to a lesser or greater extent, in all schools in the study. Curiously, however, rhetorical ‘fitness for life’ discourses were commonly expressed through ‘fitness for performance’ practices in the form of testing and training activities. This paper attempts to explain this mismatch between health-related policy and practice by focusing on what was revealed about the influences on the expression of health in PE. A case study approach was adopted, involving five state secondary schools, three in England and two in Wales. Data sources included health-related school documentation, interviews with PE teachers and observation of a health-related unit of work in one of the schools. The reasons that testing and training activities were the most common contexts for the delivery of health-related learning included the following: conceptual confusion and limited understanding, leading to a belief that training and testing activities are unproblematic and result in increased health, activity and fitness levels; the resolution of pragmatic issues associated with large groups, limited space and minimal equipment as well as preparation for accredited courses in PE; tradition and a desire by teachers to remain with familiar content and teaching approaches, and limited awareness of alternative ‘fitness for life’ pedagogies. This study has served to increase awareness of the influences on and tensions between health-related discourses in secondary school PE curricula in England and Wales and has provided further demonstration of and insight into the complex relationship between health-related policy and practice.
PERSONALITY ASSESSMENT THROUGH INTERNET: FACTOR ANALYSES BY AGE GROUPS OF THE ZKA PERSONALITY QUESTIONNAIRE

This study evaluated the psychometric properties of an on-line version of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire (ZKA-PQ) by sex and age. The questionnaire was responded by 1598 people, 474 males and 1124 females, with a mean age of 32.57 (SD = 11.72). Males and females differed in their responses to all personality dimensions evaluated by this instrument, in a similar way as that reported in past research. In addition, younger people scored higher in the Aggressiveness factor, especially concerning the Physical Aggression facet, whereas older people scored higher in the Activity factor. Besides, younger people scored higher in the Neuroticism and the Sensation Seeking factors, even though there were no age differences in the Extraversion factor. The ZKA-PQ five-factor structure was clear and yielded high congruence coefficients with the original Spanish validation sample. Altogether, the findings support the validity of the online version of this instrument. The ZKAPQ online version is therefore helpful in both, basic and applied research settings about human personality and individual differences.
White Lines: The Intercultural Politics of Everyday Movement in Social Spaces

This article draws on research into racist vilification experienced by young Arab and Muslim Australians especially since 11 September 2001, to explore the links between public space, movement and national belonging, and the spatial regulation of cultural difference that functions in Australia. The authors analyse the way that the capacity to experience forms of national belonging and cultural citizenship is shaped by inclusion within or exclusion from local as well as nationally significant public spaces. While access to public space and freedom to move are conventionally seen as fundamental to a democratic state, these are often seen in abstract terms. This article emphasises how movement in public space is a very concrete dimension of our experience of freedom, in showing how incivilities directed against Arab and Muslim Australians have operated pedagogically as a spatialised regulation of national belonging. The article concludes by examining how processes associated with the Cronulla riots of December 2005 have retarded the capacities of Muslim and Arab Australians to negotiate within and across spaces, diminishing their opportunities to invest in local and national spaces, shrinking their resources and opportunities for place-making in public space.
Congestion control for CoAP cloud services

The Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP) is a new Web protocol for the Internet of Things that allows to connect IoT devices directly to services hosted in the cloud. CoAP is based on UDP to better fit the requirements of constrained environments with resource-constrained nodes and low-power communication links. Being an Internet protocol, CoAP must still adhere to congestion control, primarily to keep the backbone network stable. Thus, the base specification uses conservative parameter values for the number of open requests, the retransmission timers, and the overall message rate. More powerful CoAP nodes, however, can use metrics to optimize these parameters to achieve a better quality of service. For this, the IETF CoRE working group is designing an advanced congestion control mechanism for CoAP called CoCoA. This paper presents first evaluation results for a mechanism that improves the communication between cloud services and resource-constrained IoT devices. We implement CoCoA for the Californium (Cf) CoAP framework and evaluate its performance on a wireless sensor network testbed that runs IPv6. Our results show that CoCoA can better utilize the available network capacity and can increase throughput by 19-112%.
Learners in transition: the use of ePortfolios for women returners to science, engineering and technology

In 2002 the UK Government produced a report highlighting the problems faced by women returning to employment in science, engineering and technology (SET) after a career break. In response to this report, a national strategy was developed, with funding from the UK’s Department of Trade and Industry and the European Social Fund ‘Equal’ Programme, to address the issues highlighted by the report. One of the key parts of the strategy was the creation of a short (100 hours), online course by the Open University (UK) aimed at supporting and empowering women who were returning to employment in SET after a break. An ePortfolio forms an integral part of the course experience. This paper reports the experiences of the first group of 100 women who participated in this course. A range of data sources have been used to analyse the responses of participants to the course including questionnaires, emailed ‘critical incident’ narratives, discussion board postings and telephone interviews. This paper draws on that evaluation research to discuss the perceptions that women scientists, engineers and technologists had about the usefulness of personal/professional development planning (PDP) and an ePortfolio in helping them re‐enter employment, and their intentions to use it in future. Some of these findings can be generalised to other groups (either employed or not) who might benefit from a similar approach, i.e. developing an ePortfolio through a set of structured and guided e‐learning activities.
Gender diversity and the spillover effects of women on boards

This paper presents evidence that female directors can influence fellow male directors and that their influence can spillover to the male director's other directorships. When working on the same board as women, male directors who also work alongside women within their wider directorship networks are shown to have better attendance records, suggesting that they are more conscientious in their monitoring duty. Accordingly, the more male directors interact with women, the more we find higher CEO turnover sensitivity to poor performance and lower equity risk. Based on conversion theory from the psychology literature, our findings suggest that female directors can exert influence on firm-level decisions despite their minority status in the boardroom.
Gender as Work in the Tourism Industry

Recent theorizing on the changing patterns of gender and labour in contemporary capitalist production provides a fertile starting point for investigating tourism as work and labour — instead of the more common themes of leisure, management and social or environmental impact. Current working life in post-Fordist societies, for its part, is increasingly based on producing experiences, images and affects, all familiar aspects of tourist scenes. This article argues that when investigating tourism work as experienced and enunciated by workers themselves, we can not only gain a better grasp of the production process of the tourist experience but also of the constitution of contemporary subjectivity in late capitalist societies. Narrative analysis is performed on the autobiographical narratives of two tourism workers from Finnish Lapland to investigate and demonstrate the argument by focusing particularly on the interplay between skill and gender in the context of ‘new work’.
Barium Promotes Anchorage-Independent Growth and Invasion of Human HaCaT Keratinocytes via Activation of c-SRC Kinase

Explosive increases in skin cancers have been reported in more than 36 million patients with arsenicosis caused by drinking arsenic-polluted well water. This study and previous studies showed high levels of barium as well as arsenic in the well water. However, there have been no reports showing a correlation between barium and cancer. In this study, we examined whether barium (BaCl2) may independently have cancer-related effects on human precancerous keratinocytes (HaCaT). Barium (5–50 µM) biologically promoted anchorage-independent growth and invasion of HaCaT cells in vitro. Barium (5 µM) biochemically enhanced activities of c-SRC, FAK, ERK and MT1-MMP molecules, which regulate anchorage-independent growth and/or invasion. A SRC kinase specific inhibitor, protein phosphatase 2 (PP2), blocked barium-mediated promotion of anchorage-independent growth and invasion with decreased c-SRC kinase activity. Barium (2.5–5 µM) also promoted anchorage-independent growth and invasion of fibroblasts (NIH3T3) and immortalized nontumorigenic melanocytes (melan-a), but not transformed cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (HSC5 and A431) and malignant melanoma (Mel-ret) cells, with activation of c-SRC kinase. Taken together, our biological and biochemical findings newly suggest that the levels of barium shown in drinking well water independently has the cancer-promoting effects on precancerous keratinocytes, fibroblast and melanocytes in vitro.
Consonant cluster reduction in Tejano English

ABSTRACT This study examines the well-known process of consonant cluster reduction in the English of residents of a San Antonio, Texas, barrio. The study compares Tejano patterns of /-t, d/ deletion with the pan-English pattern summarized by Labov (1989). Results of VARBRUL analysis show that /-t, d/ deletion in Tejano English is constrained by many of the same factors as in other English dialects, including Los Angeles Chicano English. Results also suggest, however, a complex pattern of convergence and divergence. Younger Tejanos are converging toward other dialects of English with respect to the effect of the morphological class on cluster simplification. Yet there is some evidence that they are diverging from other dialects with respect to the effect of syllable stress. On this latter dimension, younger Tejanos replicate the pattern found by Santa Ana (1991) among Los Angeles Chicanos. Finally, the study compares /-t, d/ deletion in Tejano/Chicano English in San Antonio and Los Angeles and shows that, despite many similarities, Mexican American varieties exhibit regional as well as generational differences.
Flexibility-Oriented HRM Systems, Absorptive Capacity, and Market Responsiveness and Firm Innovativeness

Although market responsiveness and firm innovativeness are important aspects of firm performance, little is known about which human resource management (HRM) systems foster these performance aspects and how. Building on prior research, we delineate flexibility-oriented human resource management (FHRM) systems in terms of resource- and coordination-flexibility-oriented HRM subsystems. In addition, we draw on organizational learning theory and the concept of absorptive capacity (AC) to articulate the mechanisms through which these systems might influence market responsiveness and firm innovativeness. We develop and validate measures of FHRM systems using a series of four independent samples. Our findings based on a sample of high-technology firms indicate that FHRM systems are positively associated with firm-level potential and realized AC and that potential AC, in turn, is positively associated with market responsiveness and firm innovativeness.
Perspectives on implementing smoke-free prison policies in England and Wales

This paper explores prisoner and staff views of the current smoking policy in English and Welsh prisons (a partial ban permitting smoking in prison cells) and gauges perceptions of the implications of the forthcoming policy change which will see a total smoking ban within all parts of the institution. Five focus group discussions in one medium security male prison in England were undertaken. Three focus groups were undertaken with prisoners (both smokers and non-smokers) and two focus groups with staff. The findings suggest that smoking is embedded in the fabric of prison life and serves several functions, including alleviating anxiety in prisoners. The current smoking policy was perceived as being a fair policy that both supported smoking and non-smoking prisoners. There were concerns, however, that a total smoking ban would have adverse outcomes for prisoners and staff, including deleterious effects on mental health and the potential for violence. The paper concludes by suggesting that the incoming policy, which sees a total smoking ban in prisons, is laudable, but this research suggests that without careful implementation there may be adverse health and organisational outcomes.
Sedative and analgesic effects of romifidine in camels (Camelus dromedarius).

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the clinical effectiveness and the sedative and analgesic effects of intravenous (IV) romifidine in camels. STUDY DESIGN Randomized prospective study. ANIMALS Eighteen healthy adult Dromedary camels. METHODS Romifidine was administered IV to camels (n = 6) at three different doses (40, 80 or 120 microg kg(-1)). Time of onset, degree and duration of sedation and analgesia were recorded immediately after drug administration. Heart rate, respiratory rate, ruminal contractions, muscle relaxation, response to auditory and tactile stimulation, distance between ears, distance from lower lip to the ground, and degree of ataxia were also recorded pre-administration and at 5, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90, 120 and 180 minutes post-administration. Plasma glucose, blood urea nitrogen and creatinine were measured. RESULTS Romifidine produced dose dependent sedation and analgesia. Significant decreases in heart rate (p < 0.001), ruminal contractions (p < 0.05), distance from lower lip to the ground (p < 0.001), response to auditory and tactile stimuli (p < 0.01), and significant increases in the degree of ataxia (p < 0.01), distance between the ear tips (p < 0.001) and blood glucose (p < 0.01) concentration were recorded after administration of romifidine until recovery. However, no significant changes in rectal temperature and respiratory rate were recorded. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE Intravenous administration of romifidine at three different doses appeared to be an effective sedative and analgesic agent for camels. Bradycardia, ruminal atony, and hyperglycemia were the most important adverse effects after IV administration of romifidine. The IV administration of romifidine at a dose rate of 120 microg kg(-1) caused profound sedation and analgesia. Romifidine could be used for chemical restraint for a variety of diagnostic and minor surgical procedures in camels.
THE EXPERIENCE OF SPIRITUAL COPING AMONG ADULT WOMEN SURVIVORS OF CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iii DEDICATION v TABLE OF CONTENTS vi LIST OF TABLES x LIST OF FIGURES xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 Purpose of the Study 1 Researcher Interest 3 Note on Terminology 5 Defining Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) 5 Defining Victim versus Survivor 5 Defining Spirituality 5 Defining Spiritual Coping 6 Defining Feminist Perspective 6 Thesis Overview 6 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 7 Feminist Perspective 7 Childhood Sexual Abuse 8 Defining Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) 8 Prevalence of Child Sexual Abuse 9 Long-Term Effects (Sequelae) of Child Sexual Abuse 11 Interpersonal/Psychosocial Affects of Child Sexual Abuse 13 Gender Differences 13 Diverse Effects of Child Sexual Abuse 16 Coping and Resiliency 17 Current State of Research on Spirituality/Religion 20 Spirituality as a Resiliency Resource 21 Spiritual Coping 23 Patterns of Spiritual Coping (Positive and Negative) 24 Positive spiritual coping 24 Negative spiritual coping 25 Spiritual Outcomes 27 Positive spiritual outcomes 28 Negative spiritual outcomes 29
Stressful family environment, mortality, and child socialisation: Life-history strategies among adolescents and adults from unfavourable social circumstances

This study, based on questionnaires given to 732 subjects, uses an integrative approach with a focus on evolutionary (life-history) explanations. In accordance with Belsky, Steinberg, and Draper’s theoretical model of socialisation (1991), we claim that experiences during childhood trigger variations in the life cycle and shift developmental trajectories as adaptive answers to different environmental conditions. Unfavourable family conditions constitute an unpredictable and unstable environment that make children susceptible to adopting opportunistic mating strategies rather than parenting strategies. Based on Chisholm’s statement (1993) that high stress in the family provides cues for local death rates, we argue that mortality rates may have a significant effect on reproductive decisions, even in post-industrial societies. We report that length of schooling, date of the ” rst marriage, and fertility were associated with the subjects’ family conditions, such as parental affirmation, emotional atmosphere, parent-subject conflicts, and parental relations. Women growing up in unfavourable family circumstances ”nish schooling and marry earlier, and this shift in developmental trajectory is likely to lead to the higher number of children measured among these women. Men, on the other hand, do not show such a difference in reproductive output, which may be due to their increased involvement in sexual competition. Remarkably, significant correlation has been found between life-history strategy and mortality rates; those coming from unfavourable environments have more deceased sisters and brothers than others. It is possible that individual differences in mating and parenting behaviour are still contingent, among others, on local death rates.
Accretion by the Secondary in η Carinae During the Spectroscopic Event. I. Flow Parameters

We examine the influence of the gravity of the companion (the secondary) to the massive primary star η Carinae on the winds blown by the primary and the secondary. The two winds collide with each other after passing through two respective shock waves, and escape the system while strongly emitting in the X-ray band. While during most of the 5.5 yr orbital period the companion's gravity has a negligible effect on the winds, we find that near periastron the companion's gravity may significantly influence the flow, and the companion might accrete from the primary's wind under certain circumstances. Near periastron passage, the collision region of the two winds may collapse onto the secondary star, a process that could substantially reduce the X-ray luminosity. We suggest that such an accretion process produces the long, almost flat, X-ray minimum in η Car.