Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The art and science behind piano touch: A review connecting multi-disciplinary literature

The touch used to play the piano, representing aspects of body posture, hand posture, movement, speed, force and pressure on the key, has been addressed over the centuries by pedagogues, famous pianists and composers. Piano touch not only underpins basic technique in piano playing, but is also the route through which pianists can communicate their expressive intentions. This review pulls together literature concerning touch from piano pedagogy, engineering, performance analysis and biomechanics. Studies have advanced understanding in the actions behind a typical keypress motion, the influence of training by examining differences between novice and expert pianists, and the various joint contributions that discern a struck versus a pressed touch. Although individual differences are widely identified, the influence of hand anthropometry, choice of technique and difference in training between experts remains understudied. A trade-off between accuracy and ecological validity is also identified in the use of current measurement systems: to encourage wider participation and incorporation into instrumental lessons, there is a need for the development of un-intrusive measurement systems that can be used outside the laboratory environment without restrictions concerning the instrument. Implications include furthering understanding across the arts and sciences and aiding teachers and students looking to minimise the risk of injury.
Ultraviolet B Radiation-Induced Cell Death: Critical Role of Ultraviolet Dose in Inflammation and Lupus Autoantigen Redistribution 1

The nuclear self-Ags targeted in systemic lupus erythematosus translocate to the cell membrane of UV-irradiated apoptotic keratinocytes and may represent an important source of self-immunization. It is hard to understand how the noninflammatory milieu accompanying most apoptosis might provoke an immunogenic response leading to autoantibodies. We have found that the precise amount of keratinocyte UV exposure is crucial in determining the rate of apoptosis, the amount of inflammatory cytokine production, and the degree of autoantigen translocation. Low doses of UVB (≤15 mJ/cm2) promptly induced a normal, caspase-dependent apoptosis, while intermediate doses of UV-B (35 mJ/cm2) caused apoptosis with altered morphology, slower DNA fragmentation, and poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase degradation accompanied by increased Bcl-2. High doses of UVB (80 mJ/cm2) induced instead necrosis. We observed IL-1 production upon intermediate and high UVB doses. Nuclear Ag redistribution was also markedly UV dose dependent: at low doses, Sm, Ku, and DNA translocated to the surfaces of early apoptotic cells. At intermediate doses, these Ags concentrated on the cell membrane when the nucleus was still visible. At high doses, these autoantigens diffused into the cytoplasm and were released into the supernatant. Taken together, the results show that low-dose UVB induces prompt noninflammatory apoptosis. In contrast, intermediate and high doses of UVB induce proinflammatory apoptosis and necrosis, where the production of inflammatory cytokines is accompanied by exposure and release of autoantigens. The key importance of the UV dose on the fate of apoptotic keratinocytes and on their potential immunogenicity should help clarify the role of UVB in inducing systemic lupus erythematosus autoimmunity.
Contesting Politics as Usual: Black Social Movements, Globalization, and Race Policy in Latin America

The intensification of ethno-racial protest in Latin America has led to the adoption of targeted legislation for Black and indigenous populations, signaling a new moment in race politics in this region. Existing literature has failed to account for this shift either because it held that race was not salient in Latin America, or it presumed that racial hierarchy existed, but that the obstacles to Black mobilization were insurmountable. We argue the literature must contend with this new reality of what we call “Black politics” in Latin America. While impediments to race-based mobilization, which are rooted in color-blind nationalism, the fluidity of identity, and poverty, do in fact exist, we argue that Black social movement organizations have overcome some of these obstacles. We examine the development of Black social movements in a number of Latin American countries, focusing specifically on the political contexts in which they emerge, their articulation, the nature of their claims, and measures of their effectiveness. We argue that despite many obstacles to Black mobilization in Latin America, Black organizations are beginning to constitute viable political interest groups. In all of the cases that we analyze, we find that Black social movement organizations have been effective not only in bringing about symbolic and material policy changes, but have also shaken national ideologies of mestizaje and racial democracy. We also contend that while Black social movements in Latin America are very much rooted in domestic politics, transnational networks and international institutions are central to the articulation and effectiveness of these movements.
Could stereotype rebound affect aid advertising campaigns

The possibility that stereotype rebound may occur for viewers of aid agency appeals was investigated. Stereotype rebound refers to the ironic finding that active efforts to avoid thinking about people in a stereotypical manner can backfire and subsequently lead to increased stereotypical thinking and prejudiced behaviour. In two experiments, participants were instructed to avoid stereotyped thinking about developing world poor and were later asked to respond to a situation involving the same group—in Experiment 1, participants wrote a ‘day in the life’ story about the target group; in Experiment 2, participants seated themselves in preparation for meeting a member of the outgroup. In neither experiment was the typical stereotype rebound effect observed. In Experiment 1, suppressors' stories were found to be no more stereotypical in content than controls. In Experiment 2, suppressors sat closer to the target than controls. The differences between these results and those of experiments utilizing other stereotyped groups are discussed in terms of differences in stereotype content and attitudes to socially sensitive outgroups. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Gendered Teacher–Student Interactions in English Language Classrooms

Being and becoming is the ultimate objective of any educational enterprise, including language teaching. However, research results indicate seemingly unjustified differences between how females and males are treated by EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers. The overall aim of this study is to illustrate, analyze, and discuss aspects of gender bias and gender awareness in teacher–student interaction in the Iranian college context. To this end, teacher–student interactions of 20 English teachers and 500 students were investigated from the perspective of gender theory. The data were obtained via classroom observations, a seating chart and the audio-recording of all classroom interactions during the study. The findings, obtained from the quantitative descriptive statistics and chi-square methods, as well as the qualitative analysis by way of open and selective coding, uncovered that there were significant differences in the quantity and quality of the interaction for females and males in almost all categories of interaction. The study also revealed teachers’ perception of “gender,” the problems they associate with gender, and the attitudes they have to gender issues. Apparently, while positive incentives are able to facilitate learner growth, the presence of any negative barrier such as gender bias is likely to hinder development. This has implications for teachers, and faculty members who favor healthy and gender-neutral educational climate.
The Grit in the Oyster: Professionalism, Managerialism and Leaderism as Discourses of UK Public Services Modernization

The representation of organizational agency in UK policy discourse on public service modernization is analysed in order to disclose the legitimation of elite organizational centres and the structuring of organizational peripheries and their potential for resistance. Three discourses are identified and explored: the residual, but still potent, discourse of professionalism; the dominant discourse of managerialism; and the emergent discourse of leaderism. The emergent discourse of leaderism is shown to be linked to an imaginary of neo-bureaucratic organizing, which represents an evolution of New Public Management. As such, the analysis of leaderism, a new form of privileged agency, contributes an insight into the dynamics of public service modernization. This is developed through exploring leaderism’s tension between its strong affinity with unitarist managerialism and its weaker linkages to quasi-pluralist stakeholder networks which create potentialities for new forms of active resistance.
Effects of Chronic Electroacupuncture on Depression- and Anxiety-Like Behaviors in Rats with Chronic Neuropathic Pain

Growing evidence indicates that chronic neuropathic pain is frequently accompanied by an array of psychiatric diseases, such as depression and anxiety. Electroacupuncture (EA), as one therapy of traditional Chinese medicine, has displayed potent antidepressant-like effects in numerous clinical studies. The present study was designed to examine the possible effects of EA on the depressive and anxiety disorders induced by neuropathic pain. A classic rat model of neuropathic pain was produced by chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve. EA was performed on acupoints “Bai-Hui” (GV20) and unilateral “Yang-Ling-Quan” (GB34). The antidepressive and anxiolytic effects of EA treatment were analyzed using the forced swimming test (FST) and the elevated plus maze (EPM) test, respectively. CCI resulted in remarkable depression- and anxiety-like behaviors, whereas the chronic EA treatment significantly improved the behavioral deficits of CCI rats. Moreover, the phosphorylation level of the NMDA receptor type 1 (NR1) subunit was decreased in the hippocampus of CCI rats. Intriguingly, continuous EA treatment effectively blocked this decrease in the levels of pNR1. These results suggested that EA has antidepressive and anxiolytic effects on rats with neuropathic pain and that this might be associated with restoring the phosphorylation of NR1 in the hippocampus.
INFLUENCE OF CRITERION-CHANGE ON SUPERVISORY RATING CONCERNING THE FIVE FACTOR MODEL

This study was carried out in a Hungarian Telecommunication Inquiry Service, where a new software was introduced in 1996. The objective of my work was to investigate the criterion-changes of the operator job in a six-year period and their reflections in the supervisory ratings of performance. The differences in the supervisory preferences were shown through the operators´ personality profiles. To describe the operators´ personality the Five Factor Model (NEO-PI-R by \sc Costa-McCrae, [2]) was used in this special context. I was interested in the changes of the predictive validity of the personality factors depending on the modifications of the criteria of successful person-job fit. Relations were studied, on the one hand, between the criterion change and the supervisory ratings about the operators´ achievements, on the other hand between the operators´ personality profiles and their supervisory judgements.
The effects of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation on postural control in patients with chronic low back pain

Objective: The effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) on postural control in patients with low back pain which is not well known. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of TENS on postural control in chronic low back pain. Methods: This study was an experimental research design. Twenty-eight patients with chronic LBP (25-45 Y/ O) participated and by using a random allocation, were divided to samples who participated in this study. The mean center of pressure (COP) velocity and displacement were measured before, immediately and 30 min after the intervention. The tests were done with eyes open and closed on a force platform. Sensory electrical stimulation was applied through the TENS device. The descriptive statistics, independent sample T-test and ANOVA with repeated measurement on time were used for data analysis. Results: The results of the present study demonstrated that the application of the sensory electrical stimulation in chronic LBP patients showed a statistically significant improvement in postural control in Medio-lateral direction with no corresponding effect on the anterior-posterior direction immediately following the TENS application and 30 minutes after it in closed eyes conditions as compared to baseline. The application of TENS decreased the displacement and velocity of COP (p≤0.05), 30 minutes after the application of sensory electrical stimulation. The results showed that the mean displacement and velocity of COP decreased in eyes open position (p≤0.05). Also, immediately and 30 minutes after the application of sensory electrical stimulation, COP displacement and velocity in ML direction with eyes closed significantly decreased in the intervention group in comparison with control group (p≤0.05). Conclusion: The application of TENS in patients with chronic low back pain could improve postural control in these patients.
C3 dysregulation due to factor H deficiency is mannan-binding lectin-associated serine proteases (MASP)-1 and MASP-3 independent in vivo

Uncontrolled activation of the complement alternative pathway is associated with complement‐mediated renal disease. Factor B and factor D are essential components of this pathway, while factor H (FH) is its major regulator. In complete FH deficiency, uncontrolled C3 activation through the alternative pathway results in plasma C3 depletion and complement‐mediated renal disease. These are dependent on factor B. Mannan‐binding lectin‐associated serine proteases 1 and 3 (MASP‐1, MASP‐3) have been shown recently to contribute to alternative pathway activation by cleaving pro‐factor D to its active form, factor D. We studied the contribution of MASP‐1 and MASP‐3 to uncontrolled alternative pathway activation in experimental complete FH deficiency. Co‐deficiency of FH and MASP‐1/MASP‐3 did not ameliorate either the plasma C3 activation or glomerular C3 accumulation in FH‐deficient mice. Our data indicate that MASP‐1 and MASP‐3 are not essential for alternative pathway activation in complete FH deficiency.
A Comparison of Two Versions of the Cognitive Therapy Scale

The Cognitive Therapy Scale is a well-established tool for assessing skills in delivering cognitive therapy, but has been subject to criticism. It has recently been updated by two groups, producing the Revised version or CTS-R (Blackburn, James, Milne and Reichelt, 2000) and a version designed for therapy of psychosis, the CTS-Psy (Haddock et al., 2001). The present study made a direct comparison of these scales to evaluate their inter-rater reliability, the extent to which they measure the same therapist qualities, and their utility for assessment of skills in trainee therapists working with different client-types. Twenty-six trainees submitted tapes of therapy with clients suffering either personality disorder or psychosis. Each tape was rated by two independent assessors on each of the two scales. Results suggest the scales are both fairly easy to use and produce highly similar estimates of student competence. Client diagnosis has no significant influence on the scores obtained by the therapist. However, inter-rater reliability is relatively low. It is concluded that safeguards are needed where these scales are used as a training outcome measure.
Power, Patterns, and Process in European Union History

Sebastian Rosato's admirably provocative Europe United retells the origins of the European Union (EU) as a realist story of the balance of power. While he deserves praise for a bold attempt to extend offensive realism into history's greatest instance of international cooperation, the book ultimately reads as a cautionary methodological tale about how not to support a realist argument. Realist theory has been influential mainly because it offers strong expectations about major patterns in the world—relatively unitary decision-making within states and specific kinds of foreign policies between them—but Rosato's evidence focuses on a thin version of process. He selectively cites leaders' statements about their policy choices across the story, providing no leverage on how these statements related to patterned interests within or across countries. Interestingly, a similar error weakens work by the most salient IR scholar writing on EU history, Andrew Moravcsik. Their shared problems hint at a pattern of IR scholars overlooking patterns in historical evidence.
The End of the Dream: The Political Struggle of America’s Public Housers

Public housing in the United States bears little resemblance to the program reformers envisioned in the 1930s. Inspired by European experiments, proponents of public housing dreamed of a decentralized housing program carried out by many entities and aimed at a majority of the population, not the very poor. Before their movement could take root locally, however, the Great Depression created political opportunities for a federal program. Lacking a grassroots constituency, public housers waged a masterful smoke-and-mirrors strategy to stir up support for public housing among nonhousing organizations and, in 1937, won a permanent program. Yet lawmakers used the housers’ antislum arguments to justify including provisions to clear slums and to house the poor and then excluded funds for nongovernmental housing entities such as limited-dividend corporations and cooperatives. The public housing projects themselves would never inspire much political enthusiasm. Thus, the public housers built enough political support to create a public housing program but not to realize their dream.
Differential properties of GABAergic synaptic connections in rat hippocampal cell cultures

Based on the effect of prolonged tetanic stimulation (30 Hz, 4 sec), we divided GABAergic synaptic connections in hippocampal cell cultures into two groups: connections facilitated (∼45%) and connections depressed (∼55%) by the tetanic stimulation. In order to reveal possible reasons for the differential effect of the tetanization, we compared several properties of the connections belonging to both groups. We found that, on average, evoked IPSCs in the connections facilitated by the tetanization have a smaller amplitude and larger coefficient of variation (CV) of IPSC amplitude compared to connections depressed by the tetanization. We also estimated quantal parameters for both groups of connections assuming that transmitter release is reasonably described by a binomial distribution. We found that a background release probability (P) is substantially lower in the connections facilitated by the tetanization (P ∼0.5) than in the connections depressed by the tetanization (P ∼0.9) and suggest that this difference may underlie the differential effect of the tetanization. We also found that the tetanization induces the opposite effect on connections made by distinct presynaptic neurons with the same postsynaptic cell (convergent connections) in a fraction of postsynaptic neurons studied (3 out of 9). These results support the idea that properties of the presynaptic neuron are of primary importance for the observed differential effect of the tetanization, but they do not exclude a role of the postsynaptic neuron in this effect. Synapse 53:122–130, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
The Medium Makes a Difference

This study examines gender differences in instant messaging (IM). Participants recorded their IM conversations for 3 weeks and then submitted a sample of six conversations, three with male and three with female partners. The conversations were analyzed for a number of variables often found to show gender differences. In many ways, messages were similar regardless of the gender of the sender or the recipient. However, women sent messages that were more expressive than those sent by men.
Providing Haptics to Walls & Heavy Objects in Virtual Reality by Means of Electrical Muscle Stimulation

We explore how to add haptics to walls and other heavy objects in virtual reality. When a user tries to push such an object, our system actuates the user's shoulder, arm, and wrist muscles by means of electrical muscle stimulation, creating a counter force that pulls the user's arm backwards. Our device accomplishes this in a wearable form factor. In our first user study, participants wearing a head-mounted display interacted with objects provided with different types of EMS effects. The repulsion design (visualized as an electrical field) and the soft design (visualized as a magnetic field) received high scores on "prevented me from passing through" as well as "realistic". In a second study, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by letting participants explore a virtual world in which all objects provide haptic EMS effects, including walls, gates, sliders, boxes, and projectiles.
Guidance psychopédagogique des parents d'enfants atteints d'autisme

Les auteurs s’interrogent sur la place du travail avec les parents dans la prise en charge d’enfants presentant un trouble envahissant du developpement de type autistique et proposent la notion de guidance psychopedagogique. Cette denomination inclut dans le travail avec les parents une dimension introspective, ou l’ecoute a toute sa place, ainsi qu’une reflexion a partir de methodes plus comportementales. Les auteurs decrivent le contenu de ces rencontres selon quatre axes : la contenance, le vecu psychique, le vecu quotidien et les attitudes pedagogiques, ainsi que le fait de continuer a vivre l’enfant comme “ sujet ”. Ils detaillent ces quatre aspects de leur travail et les illustrent a l’aide d’exemples cliniques.
Boredom as an Important Area of Inquiry for Occupational Therapists

This opinion piece argues that boredom should be considered as an important area of research by occupational therapists, although it has been somewhat neglected in the past. Literature on the subject identifies diverse causes of boredom, including occupational deprivation; however, it is not clear why the experience should be so prevalent in a culture where opportunities for engagement in activity are unprecedented. Boredom appears to be a subject of concern for people using mental health services as well as for the general population, but there is virtually no evidence of an effective way of overcoming the experience. Some areas for investigation are suggested.
The Impact of Subjective and Expressed Anger on the Functioning of Psychiatric Outpatients With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Research has shown that anger may be related to the development and maintenance of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This study investigates the impact of anger on patients with PTSD in a general psychiatric population. Participants diagnosed with PTSD were grouped according to current levels of subjective and inappropriately expressed anger: (a) low subjective and expressed anger; (b) elevated subjective anger and low expressed anger; (c) low subjective anger and elevated expressed anger; and (d) elevated subjective and expressed anger. It was hypothesized that participants reporting elevated levels of subjective anger coupled with recent overt expression would be more impaired and distressed than individuals with PTSD in the other anger groups, after comorbid diagnoses were controlled. The elevated subjective and expressed anger group was more impaired/distressed on global measures and their elevated anger affected some measures of behavioral functioning. Findings are discussed in light of the literature on anger and PTSD.