Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Found my place: the importance of faculty relationships for seniors’ sense of belonging

ABSTRACT While previous literature documents the importance of sense of belonging for a positive educational experience, much of this research is focused on students early in their college careers and incorporates a single measure of sense of belonging. In contrast, the current study sought to explore whether senior students’ faculty-related engagement influences their sense of belonging, particularly their feelings of institutional acceptance as one aspect of sense of belonging. This study utilizes data from 8939 seniors in the 2014 administration of the National Survey of Student Engagement to explore these relationships. Results suggest that increased student–faculty interaction, use of effective teaching practices, and participation in research with faculty have a positive impact on feelings of institutional acceptance for seniors. Furthermore, certain student demographics (first-generation, age, gender, race/ethnicity), college experiences (enrollment type, online learning, STEM major, college grades, living situation, Greek affiliation), and institutional characteristics (control type, minority-serving institution, selectivity, Carnegie type) also play a role in this aspect of belongingness. Institutions can use this information to increase programming and resources for improving student engagement with faculty.
Heterogeneous neural coding of corrective movements in motor cortex

During a reach, neural activity recorded from motor cortex is typically thought to linearly encode the observed movement. However, it has also been reported that during a double-step reaching paradigm, neural coding of the original movement is replaced by that of the corrective movement. Here, we use neural data recorded from multi-electrode arrays implanted in the motor and premotor cortices of rhesus macaques to directly compare these two hypotheses. We show that while a majority of neurons display linear encoding of movement during a double-step, a minority display a dramatic drop in firing rate that is predicted by the replacement hypothesis. Neural activity in the subpopulation showing replacement is more likely to lag the observed movement, and may therefore be involved in the monitoring of the sensory consequences of a motor command.
Modeling and set point control of closed-chain mechanisms: theory and experiment

We derive a reduced model, that is, a model in terms of independent generalized coordinates, for the equations of motion of closed-chain mechanisms. We highlight the fact that the model has two special characteristics which make it different from models of open-chain mechanisms. First, it is defined locally in the generalized coordinates. We therefore characterize the domain of validity of the model in which the mechanism satisfies the constraints and is not in a singular configuration. Second, it is an implicit model, that is, parts of the equations of motion are not expressed explicitly. Despite the implicit nature of the equations of motion, we show that closed-chain mechanisms still satisfy a skew symmetry property, and that proportional derivative (PD)-based control with so-called simple gravity compensation guarantees (local) asymptotic stability. We discuss the computational issues involved in the implementation of the proposed controller. The proposed modeling and PD control approach is illustrated experimentally using the Rice planar delta robot which was built to experiment with closed-chain mechanisms.
Prehospital Identification of Stroke Subtypes in Chinese Rural Areas

Background:Differentiating intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) from cerebral infarction as early as possible is vital for the timely initiation of different treatments. This study developed an applicable model for the ambulance system to differentiate stroke subtypes. Methods:From 26,163 patients initially screened over 4 years, this study comprised 1989 consecutive patients with potential first-ever acute stroke with sudden onset of the focal neurological deficit, conscious or not, and given ambulance transport for admission to two county hospitals in Yutian County of Hebei Province. All the patients underwent cranial computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging to confirm the final diagnosis based on stroke criteria. Correlation with stroke subtype clinical features was calculated and Bayes’ discriminant model was applied to discriminate stroke subtypes. Results:Among the 1989 patients, 797, 689, 109, and 394 received diagnoses of cerebral infarction, ICH, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and other forms of nonstroke, respectively. A history of atrial fibrillation, vomiting, and diabetes mellitus were associated with cerebral infarction, while vomiting, systolic blood pressure ≥180 mmHg, and age <65 years were more typical of ICH. For noncomatose stroke patients, Bayes’ discriminant model for stroke subtype yielded a combination of multiple items that provided 72.3% agreement in the test model and 79.3% in the validation model; for comatose patients, corresponding agreement rates were 75.4% and 73.5%. Conclusions:The model herein presented, with multiple parameters, can predict stroke subtypes with acceptable sensitivity and specificity before CT scanning, either in alert or comatose patients. This may facilitate prehospital management for patients with stroke.
Support workers’ understanding of their role supporting the sexuality of people with learning disabilities

Background: Despite positive attitudes amongst support staff towards sexuality, adults with learning disabilities report being dissatisfied with the support they receive. This research aimed to explore support workers’ understanding of their role supporting the sexuality of adults with learning disabilities. Method: Six support workers from supported living services were interviewed about their role. Data were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Results: Three themes emerged which were understood as suggesting that support workers held conflicting beliefs and emotions about their role supporting sexuality. This was interpreted as creating an ambivalence that could result in support workers distancing themselves from an active role in supporting sexuality. Conclusion: This study concluded that support workers may inadvertently express an understanding of their role that may be consistent with negative and limiting discourses about the sexuality of adults with learning disabilities. The findings suggest a continuing need for sexuality training with a focus on reflective practice.
GQ-16, a TZD-Derived Partial PPARγ Agonist, Induces the Expression of Thermogenesis-Related Genes in Brown Fat and Visceral White Fat and Decreases Visceral Adiposity in Obese and Hyperglycemic Mice

Background Beige adipocytes comprise a unique thermogenic cell type in the white adipose tissue (WAT) of rodents and humans, and play a critical role in energy homeostasis. In this scenario, recruitment of beige cells has been an important focus of interest for the development of novel therapeutic strategies to treat obesity. PPARγ activation by full agonists (thiazolidinediones, TZDs) drives the appearance of beige cells, a process so-called browning of WAT. However, this does not translate into increased energy expenditure, and TZDs are associated with weight gain. Partial PPARγ agonists, on the other hand, do not induce weight gain, but have not been shown to drive WAT browning. The present study was designed to investigate the effects of GQ-16 on BAT and on browning of WAT in obese mice. Methods Male Swiss mice with obesity and hyperglycemia induced by high fat diet were treated with vehicle, rosiglitazone (4 mg/kg/d) or the TZD-derived partial PPARγ agonist GQ-16 (40 mg/kg/d) for 14 days. Fasting blood glucose, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase and lipid profile were measured. WAT and brown adipose tissue (BAT) depots were excised for determination of adiposity, relative expression of Ucp-1, Cidea, Prdm16, Cd40 and Tmem26 by RT-qPCR, histological analysis, and UCP-1 protein expression analysis by immunohistochemistry. Liver samples were also removed for histological analysis and determination of hepatic triglyceride content. Results GQ-16 treatment reduced high fat diet-induced weight gain in mice despite increasing energy intake. This was accompanied by reduced epididymal fat mass, reduced liver triglyceride content, morphological signs of increased BAT activity, increased expression of thermogenesis-related genes in interscapular BAT and epididymal WAT, and increased UCP-1 protein expression in interscapular BAT and in epididymal and inguinal WAT. Conclusion This study suggests for the first time that a partial PPARγ agonist may increase BAT activity and induce the expression of thermogenesis-related genes in visceral WAT. General Significance These findings suggest that PPARγ activity might be modulated by partial agonists to induce WAT browning and treat obesity.
The Precautionary Saving Effect of Government Consumption

Abstract We study a largely neglected channel through which government expenditures can boost private consumption. We set up a dynamic model in which households are subject to health shocks. We take the model to the data and estimate a negative impact of public health care on household consumption dispersion, wealth and saving. According to our model, this result is explained by a change in the level of precautionary saving, with public health care acting as a form of consumption insurance. We compute the implied consumption multipliers by simulating the typical government consumption shock within a calibrated general equilibrium version of our model, with flexible prices. The impact consumption multiplier generated by the decrease in the level of precautionary saving is positive and sizable. When we include the effect of taxation, the sign of the impact multiplier depends on a few features of the model, such as the persistence of the health shocks. The long-run cumulative multiplier is negative across all calibrations.
Intraorganizational Conditions Supporting Social Innovations by Human Service Nonprofits

Social innovation is a distinct type of innovation that refers to the efforts of individuals and organizations that help to create opportunities that have a broader impact on a social system and/or the experiences of a vulnerable social group as a whole. This research identifies the intraorganizational conditions that support or hinder efforts by human service nonprofits to undertake social innovations. Utilizing a cross-sectional research design with a random sample of human service nonprofits (N = 165) in Pennsylvania, the study identifies internal organizational conditions related to cohesion, procedures, and staff engagement that positively predict product, process, and socially transformative social innovations. This study provides empirical evidence of specific internal organizational characteristics that are supportive of social innovations in human service nonprofits. Furthermore, areas for organizational development related to leadership, staff and volunteer engagement, and procedures and processes are identified that support the development and undertaking of social innovations.
Principals’ preferences when hiring teachers: a conjoint experiment

Purpose What do principals look for when hiring teachers? The purpose of this paper is to extend the knowledge concerning what aspects of teacher quality are in demand among the individuals who administer schools and make hiring decisions. Design/methodology/approach Rather than employing interviews or surveys, the authors utilized a conjoint instrument that assembled teacher characteristics into fictitious applicant profiles. Participating North Carolina public school principals (n = 467) then chose among the computer-generated options and regression analysis allowed the authors to identify preferences in the aggregate. Findings Principals in this study preferred applicants with classroom experience, but those with 15 years were no more preferred than those with 5. They also preferred applicants with more education, but an advanced degree was no more preferred than a bachelor’s from a highly selective institution. Preference for teachers who are committed to state standards varied with schools’ performance on state tests. Originality/value Conjoint analysis is a useful tool for measuring preferences but is underutilized in research on education administration. This paper contributes not only to the body of knowledge about school principal behavior but also to the field’s familiarity of research techniques.
Effects of testosterone supplementation on whole body and regional fat mass and distribution in human immunodeficiency virus-infected men with abdominal obesity.

BACKGROUND Whole body and abdominal obesity are associated with increased risk of diabetes mellitus and heart disease. The effects of testosterone therapy on whole body and visceral fat mass in HIV-infected men with abdominal obesity are unknown. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to determine the effects of testosterone therapy on intraabdominal fat mass and whole body fat distribution in HIV-infected men with abdominal obesity. METHODS IN this multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial, 88 HIV-positive men with abdominal obesity (waist-to-hip ratio > 0.95 or mid-waist circumference > 100 cm) and total testosterone 125-400 ng/dl, or bioavailable testosterone less than 115 ng/dl, or free testosterone less than 50 pg/ml on stable antiretroviral regimen, and HIV RNA less than 10,000 copies per milliliter were randomized to receive 10 g testosterone gel or placebo daily for 24 wk. Fat mass and distribution were determined by abdominal computerized tomography and dual energy x-ray absorptiometry during wk 0, 12, and 24. We used an intention-to-treat approach and nonparametric statistical methods. RESULTS Baseline characteristics were balanced between groups. In 75 subjects evaluated, median percent change from baseline to wk 24 in visceral fat did not differ significantly between groups (testosterone 0.3%, placebo 3.1%, P = 0.75). Total (testosterone -1.5%, placebo 4.3%, P = 0.04) and sc (testosterone-7.2%, placebo 8.1%, P < 0.001) abdominal fat mass decreased in testosterone-treated men, but increased in placebo group. Testosterone therapy was associated with significant decrease in whole body, trunk, and appendicular fat mass by dual energy x-ray absorptiometry (all P < 0.001), whereas whole body and trunk fat increased significantly in the placebo group. The percent of individuals reporting a decrease in abdomen (P = 0.01), neck (P = 0.08), and breast size (P = 0.01) at wk 24 was significantly greater in testosterone-treated than placebo-treated men. Testosterone-treated men had greater increase in lean body mass than placebo (testosterone 1.3%, placebo -0.3, P = 0.02). Plasma insulin, fasting glucose, and total high-density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels did not change significantly. Testosterone therapy was well tolerated. CONCLUSIONS Testosterone therapy in HIV-positive men with abdominal obesity and low testosterone was associated with greater decrease in whole body, total, and sc abdominal fat mass and a greater increase in lean mass compared to placebo. However, changes in visceral fat mass were not significantly different between groups. Further studies are needed to determine testosterone effects on insulin sensitivity and cardiovascular risk.
Studying Trust in Virtual Teams

Virtual teams, or geographically distributed groups, are becoming more prevalent in organizations with the development of globalization, interorganizational alliances and ICT development. Virtual teams enable organizations to pool the talents of their own employees in the competitive global environment. As an important factor of virtual teams' success, trust has been a hot topic in the research field of virtual teams. This paper discusses the issue of trust in virtual teams. First we elaborate on the definition of trust, and then we discuss trust in virtual teams. Based on review of research findings concerning virtual team, we propose that trust affects short-term and long-term virtual team in different manners in which the influence of personal relationship grows with time. For short-term virtual team, swift trust or cognition-based trust is important which can be initiated by task-oriented communication or impersonal communications. In contrast, personal relationship established by face-to-face communication is the key for the success of long-term virtual team.
Recurrence of Preeclampsia in Northern Tanzania: A Registry-Based Cohort Study

Objective Preeclampsia occurs in about 4 per cent of pregnancies worldwide, and may have particularly serious consequences for women in Africa. Studies in western countries have shown that women with preeclampsia in one pregnancy have a substantially increased risk of preeclampsia in subsequent pregnancies. We estimate the recurrence risks of preeclampsia in data from Northern Tanzania. Methods A prospective cohort study was designed using 19,811 women who delivered singleton infants at a hospital in Northern Tanzania between 2000and2008. A total of 3,909 women were recorded with subsequent deliveries in the hospital with follow up through 2010. Adjusted recurrence risks of preeclampsia were computed using regression models. Results The absolute recurrence risk of preeclampsia was25%, which was 9.2-fold (95% CI: 6.4 - 13.2) compared with the risk for women without prior preeclampsia. When there were signs that the preeclampsia in a previous pregnancy had been serious either because the baby was delivered preterm or had died in the perinatal period, the recurrence risk of preeclampsia was even higher. Women who had preeclampsia had increased risk of a series of adverse pregnancy outcomes in future pregnancies. These include perinatal death (RR= 4.3), a baby with low birth weight (RR= 3.5), or a preterm birth (RR= 2.5). These risks were only partly explained by recurrence of preeclampsia. Conclusions Preeclampsia in one pregnancy is a strong predictor for preeclampsia and other adverse pregnancy outcomes in subsequent pregnancies in Tanzania. Women with previous preeclampsia may benefit from close follow-up during their pregnancies.
Exploring Portals to a Hidden Sector Through Fixed Targets

We discuss the sensitivity of neutrino experiments at the luminosity frontier to generic hidden sectors containing new (sub)-GeV neutral states. The weak interaction of these states with the standard model can be efficiently probed through all of the allowed renormalizable ``portals'' (in the Higgs, vector, and neutrino sectors) at fixed target proton beam facilities, with complementary sensitivity to colliders. We concentrate on the kinetic-mixing vector portal, and show that certain regions of the parameter space for a new $\mathrm{U}(1{)}_{S}$ gauge sector with long-lived sub-GeV mass states decaying to standard model leptons are already severely constrained by the data sets at LSND, MiniBooNE, and NuMI/MINOS. Furthermore, scenarios in which portals allow access to stable neutral particles, such as MeV-scale dark matter, generally predict that the neutrino beam is accompanied by a ``dark matter beam,'' observable through neutral-current-like interactions in the detector. As a consequence, we show that the LSND electron recoil event sample currently provides the most stringent direct constraint on MeV-scale dark matter models.
The Social Glue of Cumulative Culture and Ritual Behavior

Cumulative culture, where innovations are incorporated progressively into a population's stock of skills and knowledge, generating more sophisticated repertoires, is a core aspect of human cognition underpinning the technological advances that characterize our species. Cumulative culture relies on our proclivity for high-fidelity imitation, a characteristic that emerged phylogenetically early in our evolutionary history and emerges ontogenetically early in our development. Commensurate with this proclivity to copy others comes a tradeoff that behaviors that are functionally irrelevant will be easily maintained and transmitted. Rituals are an expression of this. In this article, I argue that the core cognitive architecture responsible for cumulative culture and technological progress also supports the propagation of rituals: our socially motivated propensity for engaging in high-fidelity imitation.
Information as a Barrier to Innovation Adoption

This paper is a preliminary exploration of the role of information as a barrier to innovation adoption. Earlier literature has suggested five barriers namely Usage, Value, Risk, Tradition and Image barriers to explain consumer resistance to innovations. We will seek to ascertain if the information constitutes the sixth barrier. The study was conducted in a mobile banking context representing an innovation with currently relatively low usage rates by consumers but with high future success expectations on the part of the service providers. An online questionnaire was developed and 1,540 responses among mobile banking non-users were collected. The results of the Principal Component Analysis suggest that information constitutes a distinct sixth factor explaining consumer resistance to innovations.
Clicking Toward Better Grades: The Use of Student Response Systems in Social Work Education

ABSTRACT Faculty members at universities are increasingly shifting their pedagogical focus from traditional lectures to active learning by integrating academic technology such as clickers (i.e., student response systems) into classrooms. However, few studies have examined the effect of clickers on learning outcomes such as test grades, and even fewer studies have evaluated this technology in social work education. This study examined the effect of clickers on learning outcomes in an undergraduate social work course. Findings indicated that frequency of clicker use significantly contributed to increased test scores after controlling for important covariates, suggesting that clickers may be an effective tool in actively engaging social work students and promoting learning. Instructors guidelines for integrating technology into future social work courses are discussed.
Generating a Generation of Proteasome Inhibitors: From Microbial Fermentation to Total Synthesis of Salinosporamide A (Marizomib) and Other Salinosporamides

The salinosporamides are potent proteasome inhibitors among which the parent marine-derived natural product salinosporamide A (marizomib; NPI-0052; 1) is currently in clinical trials for the treatment of various cancers. Methods to generate this class of compounds include fermentation and natural products chemistry, precursor-directed biosynthesis, mutasynthesis, semi-synthesis, and total synthesis. The end products range from biochemical tools for probing mechanism of action to clinical trials materials; in turn, the considerable efforts to produce the target molecules have expanded the technologies used to generate them. Here, the full complement of methods is reviewed, reflecting remarkable contributions from scientists of various disciplines over a period of 7 years since the first publication of the structure of 1.