Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
THE STRATEGIC IMPACT OF HIGH PERFORMANCE WORK SYSTEMS

The purpose of this paper is to extend the emerging empirical literature on the firm-level impact of organizational High Performance Work Systems. We refer to this relationship as the strategic impact of human resources (HR) and our results suggest that the impact of such systems on firm performance is both economically and statistically significant. The analyses validate earlier work by Huselid (1995) and extends this work with a broader measure of the HR system in a new sample of 740 publicly-held firms. Our estimates suggest that a one-standard deviation change in a firm’s High Performance Work System has a per employee impact on firm market value of $38,000 $73,000. Moreover, changes in the HR system yield substantially greater benefits when the improvements occur at either the low or the high end of the distribution.
Cache, cache everywhere, flushing all hits down the sink: On exclusivity in multilevel, hybrid caches

Several multilevel storage systems have been designed over the past few years that utilize RAM and flash-based SSDs in concert to cache data resident in HDD-based primary storage. The low cost/GB and non-volatility of SSDs relative to RAM have encouraged storage system designers to adopt inclusivity (between RAM and SSD) in the caching hierarchy. However, in light of recent changes in hardware landscape, we believe that in the future, multilevel caches are invariably going to be hybrid caches where 1) all/most levels are physically collocated 2) the levels differ substantially only with respect to performance and not storage density, and 3) all levels are persistent. In this paper, we will investigate the design tradeoffs involved in building exclusive, persistent, direct-attached, multilevel storage caches. In doing so, we will first present a comparative evaluation of various techniques that have been proposed to achieve exclusivity in distributed storage caches in the context of a direct-attached, hybrid cache, and show the potential performance benefits of maintaining exclusivity. We will then investigate extensions to these demand-based, read-only data caching algorithms in order to address two issues specific to direct-attached hybrid caches, namely, handling writes and managing SSD lifetime.
Musical anhedonia: Selective loss of emotional experience in listening to music

Recent case studies have suggested that emotion perception and emotional experience of music have independent cognitive processing. We report a patient who showed selective impairment of emotional experience only in listening to music, that is musical anhednia. A 71-year-old right-handed man developed an infarction in the right parietal lobe. He found himself unable to experience emotion in listening to music, even to which he had listened pleasantly before the illness. In neuropsychological assessments, his intellectual, memory, and constructional abilities were normal. Speech audiometry and recognition of environmental sounds were within normal limits. Neuromusicological assessments revealed no abnormality in the perception of elementary components of music, expression and emotion perception of music. Brain MRI identified the infarct lesion in the right inferior parietal lobule. These findings suggest that emotional experience of music could be selectively impaired without any disturbance of other musical, neuropsychological abilities. The right parietal lobe might participate in emotional experience in listening to music.
Dynamical Friction on Star Clusters near the Galactic Center

Numerical simulations of the dynamical friction suffered by a star cluster near the Galactic center have been performed with a parallelized tree code. Gerhard has suggested that dynamical friction, which causes a cluster to lose orbital energy and spiral in toward the Galactic center, may explain the presence of a cluster of very young stars in the central parsec, where star formation might be prohibitively difficult because of strong tidal forces. The clusters modeled in our simulations have an initial total mass of 105-106 M☉ and initial Galactocentric radii of 2.5-30 pc. We have identified a few simulations in which dynamical friction indeed brings a cluster to the central parsec, although this is only possible if the cluster either is very massive (~106 M☉) or is formed near the central parsec (≲5 pc). In both cases, the cluster should have an initially very dense core (>106 M☉ pc-3). The initial core collapse and segregation of massive stars into the cluster core, which typically happens on a much shorter timescale than that characterizing the dynamical inspiral of the cluster toward the Galactic center, can provide the requisite high density. Furthermore, because it is the cluster core that is most likely to survive the cluster disintegration during its journey inward, this can help account for the observed distribution of presumably massive He I stars in the central parsec.
General Evaluability Theory

A central question in psychology and economics is the determination of whether individuals react differently to different values of a cared-about attribute (e.g., different income levels, different gas prices, and different ambient temperatures). Building on and significantly extending our earlier work on preference reversals between joint and separate evaluations, we propose a general evaluability theory (GET) that specifies when people are value sensitive and when people mispredict their own or others' value sensitivity. The GET can explain and unify many seemingly unrelated findings, ranging from duration neglect to affective forecasting errors and can generate many new research directions on topics ranging from temporal discounting to subjective well-being.
Too Cool for School: The Role of Academic Beliefs in STEM Persistence

Innovation in scientific and technological fields has played a crucial role in the United States’ global economic competitiveness throughout history. The shortage of students pursuing and persisting in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) majors and occupations has garnered much attention in recent years from academia, businesses, and governmental agencies. Given that job growth in STEM fields is projected to outpace that of non-STEM fields in the upcoming years, it is important to identify and effectively patch leaks in the STEM pipeline, from primary education through employment in STEM fields. Our study investigates students’ retention in their undergraduate majors in light of an adapted planned behavior model. We then examine potential differences in five academic beliefs, with an emphasis on academic entitlement, between students who persist in STEM fields and students who intend to graduate with non-STEM majors. Our findings indicate: (1) no difference in academic entitlement between STEM and non-STEM majors; (2) lower levels of academic self-efficacy among STEM majors; and (3) greater levels of STEM self-efficacy, math orientation, and science orientation in STEM students. These results and relevant implications, limitations of this study, and suggestions for future research are discussed.
CHARACTERIZATION, RECONSTRUCTION AND TRANSPORT PROPERTIES OF VOSGES SANDSTONES

A thorough study of Vosges sandstone samples is presented in this work. First, the geometry of these porous media is analyzed using serial thin sections. Then, random numerical samples are reconstructed according to the measured statistical geometrical parameters. Finally, the macroscopic transport properties are determined from the numerical solutions in the reconstructed samples of the local equations governing the corresponding transport phenomena and compared to available experimental data. Mercury intrusion in the simulated media is modelled and pore size distribution results are compared with those obtained from serial tomography.
A Comparison of Johansen'S, Bierens' and the Subspace Algorithm Method for Cointegration Analysis

The methods listed in the title are compared by means of a simulation study and a real world application. The aspects compared in the simulations are: The performance of the tests of the different methods for the dimension of the cointegrating space and the quality of the estimated cointegrating space. It turns out that the subspace algorithm method, formulated in the state space framework and thus applicable for ARMA processes, performs at least comparable to the Johansen procedure and both perform significantly better than Bierens' method. The real world application is an investigation of the long-run properties of the neoclassical growth model for Austria. It turns out that the results do not fully support the theoretical predictions and that they are very versatile across the employed methods. The degree of versatility depends strongly upon the number of variables. For the case of 6 variables and about 100 observations huge differences occur, which lead us to conclude that the results of this typical situation in the applied literature should be interpreted with more caution than is commonly done.
Sequestered glacial ice contribution to the global Martian water budget: Geometric constraints on the volume of remnant, midlatitude debris‐covered glaciers

Glacial landforms on Mars, including concentric crater fill (CCF), lineated valley fill (LVF), and lobate debris aprons (LDA), were mapped between ~ ±30 and 50° latitude, and geometric constraints were placed on the volume of these deposits based on their topography and relationship with host topography (e.g., massifs, valleys, and craters). LDA deposits were found to have the largest volume (2.63 × 105 km3), followed by CCF deposits (8.75 × 104 km3) and LVF deposits (6.51 × 104 km3), for a total volume of 4.16 × 105 km3. The actual ice sequestered in these deposits is calculated depending on the estimated fraction of ice currently remaining in the deposits. We adopt end‐member values of 30% (pore ice only) and 90% (relatively pure, debris‐covered glacial ice). These volumes, 1.25 × 105 km3 and 3.74 × 105 km3 respectively, represent an equivalent global ice layer 0.9–2.6 m thick. On the basis of extensive recent local and regional analysis of these deposits indicating a debris‐covered glacial origin, we favor the larger estimate. Taken together, these glacial landforms have an average thickness of ~450 m. The glacial deposition responsible for these features occurred or recurred during an extended period of the middle to late Amazonian, which implies that long‐term climate conditions were sufficient to produce and preserve debris‐covered glacial landforms on Mars.
Efficiency of Vanilla, Patchouli and Ylang Ylang Essential Oils Stabilized by Iron Oxide@C14 Nanostructures against Bacterial Adherence and Biofilms Formed by Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae Clinical Strains

Biofilms formed by bacterial cells are associated with drastically enhanced resistance against most antimicrobial agents, contributing to the persistence and chronicization of the microbial infections and to therapy failure. The purpose of this study was to combine the unique properties of magnetic nanoparticles with the antimicrobial activity of three essential oils to obtain novel nanobiosystems that could be used as coatings for catheter pieces with an improved resistance to Staphylococcus aureus and Klebsiella pneumoniae clinical strains adherence and biofilm development. The essential oils of ylang ylang, patchouli and vanilla were stabilized by the interaction with iron oxide@C14 nanoparticles to be further used as coating agents for medical surfaces. Iron oxide@C14 was prepared by co-precipitation of Fe+2 and Fe+3 and myristic acid (C14) in basic medium. Vanilla essential oil loaded nanoparticles pelliculised on the catheter samples surface strongly inhibited both the initial adherence of S. aureus cells (quantified at 24 h) and the development of the mature biofilm quantified at 48 h. Patchouli and ylang-ylang essential oils inhibited mostly the initial adherence phase of S. aureus biofilm development. In the case of K. pneumoniae, all tested nanosystems exhibited similar efficiency, being active mostly against the adherence K. pneumoniae cells to the tested catheter specimens. The new nanobiosystems based on vanilla, patchouli and ylang-ylang essential oils could be of a great interest for the biomedical field, opening new directions for the design of film-coated surfaces with anti-adherence and anti-biofilm properties.
Regulation by Phloroglucinol of Nrf2/Maf-Mediated Expression of Antioxidant Enzymes and Inhibition of Osteoclastogenesis via the RANKL/RANK Signaling Pathway: In Silico study

Introduction: Phloroglucinol is an antioxidant compound with many positive effects on health. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of phloroglucinol in osteoclastogenesis via the RANKL/RANK signaling pathway and the activity of the transcription factor Nrf2. Material and methods: Analysis was performed in silico using the primary method of docking by the use of Hex 8.0 software and Haddock web server. Analysis of interactions was then performed to determine interactions between the ligand and its receptors by using the software LigPlus and LigandScout 3.1. Results: Results indicated that phloroglucinol compound was thought to inhibit osteoclastogenesis via three mechanisms: inhibiting RANKL−RANK interaction, sustaining the RANKL−OPG bond, and increasing the activity of the transcription factor Nrf2.
Replication of British Rheumatoid Arthritis Susceptibility Loci in Two Unrelated Chinese Population Groups

Previous genome-wide association study by WTCCC identified many susceptibility loci of common autoimmune diseases in British, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Because of the genetic heterogeneity of RA, it is necessary to replicate these susceptibility loci in other populations. Here, three SNPs with strong RA association signal in the British were analyzed in Han Chinese, and two SNPs (rs6457617 and rs11761231) were genotyped in the test cohort firstly. The rs6457617 was significantly associated with RA in the test cohort. The individuals bearing the homozygous genotype CC had 0.39-fold risk than these bearing the wild-type genotype TT (P = 0.004, OR 0.39, [95% CI 0.21–0.74]). And the protective effect of allele C was confirmed in another validation cohort with 1514 samples (P genotye CC/TT = 5.9 × 10−10, OR 0.34, [95% CI 0.24–0.48]). The rs6457617 can be used as a tagSNP of HLA-DQA1∗03 which encoded MHC-II α chain. Since MHC restriction is important for primary T-cells in positive selection and negative selection stages, MHC protein polymorphisms may be implicated in shaping the T-cell repertoire, including the emergence of a T-cell clone involved in the inflammatory arthritis.
A heuristic for distance fusion in cover song identification

In this paper, we propose a method to integrate the results of different cover song identification algorithms into one single measure which, on the average, gives better results than initial algorithms. The fusion of the different distance measures is made by projecting all the measures in a multi-dimensional space, where the dimensionality of this space is the number of the considered distances. In our experiments, we test two distance measures, namely the Dynamic Time Warping and the Qmax measure when applied in different combinations to two features, namely a Salience feature and a Harmonic Pitch Class Profile (HPCP). While the HPCP is meant to extract purely harmonic descriptions, in fact, the Salience allows to better discern melodic differences. It is shown that the combination of two or more distance measure improves the overall performance.
Chemokine CXCL16 Expression Suppresses Migration and Invasiveness and Induces Apoptosis in Breast Cancer Cells

Background. Increasing evidence argues that soluble CXCL16 promotes proliferation, migration, and invasion of cancer cells in vitro. However, the role of transmembrane or cellular CXCL16 in cancer remains relatively unknown. In this study, we determine the function of cellular CXCL16 as tumor suppressor in breast cancer cells. Methods. Expression of cellular CXCL16 in breast cancer cell lines was determined at both RNA and protein levels. In vitro and in vivo studies that overexpressed or downregulated CXCL16 were conducted in breast cancer cells. Results. We report differential expression of cellular CXCL16 in breast cancer cell lines that was negatively correlated with cell invasiveness and migration. Overexpression of CXCL16 in MDA-MB-231 cells led to a decrease in cell invasion and migration and induced apoptosis of the cells; downregulation of CXCL16 in MCF-7 cells increased cell migration and invasiveness. Consistent with the in vitro data, CXCL16 overexpression inhibited tumorigenesis in vivo. Conclusions. Cellular CXCL16 suppresses invasion and metastasis of breast cancer cells in vitro and inhibits tumorigenesis in vivo. Targeting of cellular CXCL16 expression is a potential therapeutic strategy for breast cancer.
A survey of visual, mixed, and augmented reality gaming

Visual mixed and augmented realities have historically been applied to the gaming application domain. This article provides a survey of visual mixed and augmented reality gaming in both the academic and commercial contexts. There is an exploration of both indoor and outdoor mixed and augmented reality gaming. The different games are presented via the three major display technologies: head-mounted display, handheld display, and spatial immersive display. A number of academic mixed and augmented reality research projects are described that provide an overview of the current state of the art. A set of example commercial games are also examined to provide the context for the state of the games on the market.
Garlic Attenuates Cardiac Oxidative Stress via Activation of PI3K/AKT/Nrf2-Keap1 Pathway in Fructose-Fed Diabetic Rat

Background Cardiovascular complication due to diabetes has remained a major cause of death. There is an urgent need to intervene the cardiac complications in diabetes by nutritional or pharmacological agents. Thus the present study was designed to find out the effectiveness of garlic on cardiac complications in insulin-resistant diabetic rats. Methods and Results SD rats were fed high fructose (65%) diet alone or along with raw garlic homogenate (250 mg/kg/day) or nutrient-matched (65% corn starch) control diet for 8 weeks. Fructose-fed diabetic rats showed cardiac hypertrophy, increased NFkB activity and increased oxidative stress. Administration of garlic significantly decreased (p<0.05) cardiac hypertrophy, NFkB activity and oxidative stress. Although we did not observe any changes in myocardial catalase, GSH and GPx in diabetic heart, garlic administration showed significant (p<0.05) increase in all three antioxidant/enzymes levels. Increased endogenous antioxidant enzymes and gene expression in garlic treated diabetic heart are associated with higher protein expression of Nrf2. Increased myocardial H2S levels, activation of PI3K/Akt pathway and decreased Keap levels in fructose-fed heart after garlic administration might be responsible for higher Nrf2 levels. Conclusion Our study demonstrates that raw garlic homogenate is effective in reducing cardiac hypertrophy and fructose-induced myocardial oxidative stress through PI3K/AKT/Nrf2-Keap1 dependent pathway.
Competition and Corporate Tax Avoidance: Evidence from Chinese Industrial Firms

This article investigates whether market competition enhances the incentives of Chinese industrial firms to avoid corporate income tax. We estimate the effects of competition on the relationship between firms' reported accounting profits and their imputed profits based on the national income account. To cope with measurement errors and potential endogeneity, we use instrumental variables, exogenous policy shocks and other robustness analysis. We find robust and consistent evidence that firms in more competitive environments engage in more tax avoidance activities. Moreover, all else equal, firms in relatively disadvantageous positions demonstrate stronger incentives to avoid corporate income tax. Copyright © The Author(s). Journal compilation © Royal Economic Society 2009.
Quantitative long-term measurements of VOC concentrations by PTR-MS: annual cycle at a boreal forest site

Abstract. Atmospheric concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) vary diurnally, seasonally and annually. Therefore continuous long-term measurements are needed to properly describe the atmospheric levels of these chemically reactive compounds. We conducted on-line measurements of atmospheric volume mixing ratios of several VOCs in the European boreal region with a proton transfer reaction – mass spectrometer (PTR-MS) over a 15 month period. The measurements lasted from spring 2006 to fall 2007 and were conducted at SMEAR II station in south-western Finland. The measured compounds included for example methanol, acetone, sum of isoprene and 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol (MBO), monoterpenes and benzene. The VOC mixing ratios were measured inside and above canopy, during every second or third hour. The PTR-MS was calibrated regularly and background signals of VOCs were measured every second or third hour from the zero air and subtracted from the measured volume mixing ratio. In the continuous measurements at moderate VOC mixing ratios we observed that the PTR-MS has to be calibrated and SEM operation voltage checked regularly, at least twice a month to ensure reliable measurements. Of the measured VOCs, methanol and acetone were the most abundant ones, their volume mixing ratio medians were in the order of 1 ppbv. Volume mixing ratios of methanol, acetone, isoprene-MBO and monoterpenes were high during summer and low in winter indicating mostly biogenic or photochemical local or regional origin. Benzene behaved in the opposite way, while seasonal variation of acetaldehyde and methacrolein-methylvinylketone (MACR-MVK) was less profound. Methanol, acetone, isoprene and monoterpene volume mixing ratios had clear diurnal patterns during summers, while the mixing ratios of other VOCs did not exhibit this behavior. During winter we did not observe systematic diurnal cycles in the VOC volume mixing ratios.
Epac and the high affinity rolipram binding conformer of PDE 4 modulate neurite outgrowth and myelination using an in vitro spinal cord injury model

C (2014) Epac and the high affinity rolipram binding conformer of PDE4 modulate neurite outgrowth and myelination using an in vitro spinal cord injury model. (2014) Dynamics of bovine intramammary infections due to coagulase-negative staphylococci on four farms. A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge Content must not be changed in any way or reproduced in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holder(s)
A Role for the Vacuolating Cytotoxin, VacA, in Colonization and Helicobacter pylori–Induced Metaplasia in the Stomach

Carriage of Helicobacter pylori strains producing more active (s1/i1) forms of VacA is strongly associated with gastric adenocarcinoma. To our knowledge, we are the first to determine effects of different polymorphic forms of VacA on inflammation and metaplasia in the mouse stomach. Bacteria producing the less active s2/i2 form of VacA colonized mice more efficiently than mutants null for VacA or producing more active forms of it, providing the first evidence of a positive role for the minimally active s2/i2 toxin. Strains producing more active toxin forms induced more severe and extensive metaplasia and inflammation in the mouse stomach than strains producing weakly active (s2/i2) toxin. We also examined the association in humans, controlling for cagPAI status. In human gastric biopsy specimens, the vacA i1 allele was strongly associated with precancerous intestinal metaplasia, with almost complete absence of intestinal metaplasia in subjects infected with i2-type strains, even in a vacA s1, cagA+ background.