Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Changes in leadership style

Between the wars leadership style was mainly autocratic and was well suited to the demands of stable structured work patterns. The leader was seen as the expert who was capable of making effective decisions on most work matters since he dealt with a pattern of recurring work problems. At the same time, the educational level of most workers was low and their social values, shaped by the British class system with its emphasis on levels of authority, status and influence, were such that autocratic decisions were accepted without question, indeed expected. During the period 1945 to 1970, the growth of union power was the main force which caused leaders to adopt what could be called the consultative/negotiative style. The aim of consultation was to gain commitment to decisions made by management and resulted in the creation of the so‐called works councils. The aim of negotiation, on the other hand, was to reach compromise decisions and resulted in the employment of an army of industrial relations experts, and an explosion in industrial relations procedures and government legislation. Now, as we are moving towards tomorrow's world, we are entering a new phase.
Machine Learning in Wireless Sensor Networks: Algorithms, Strategies, and Applications

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) monitor dynamic environments that change rapidly over time. This dynamic behavior is either caused by external factors or initiated by the system designers themselves. To adapt to such conditions, sensor networks often adopt machine learning techniques to eliminate the need for unnecessary redesign. Machine learning also inspires many practical solutions that maximize resource utilization and prolong the lifespan of the network. In this paper, we present an extensive literature review over the period 2002-2013 of machine learning methods that were used to address common issues in WSNs. The advantages and disadvantages of each proposed algorithm are evaluated against the corresponding problem. We also provide a comparative guide to aid WSN designers in developing suitable machine learning solutions for their specific application challenges.
Exploring the Important Role of Organizational Factors in it Business Value: Taking a Contingency Perspective on the Resource‐Based View

Despite the importance to researchers and practitioners of how information technology (IT) contributes to organizational performance, there is an ongoing debate about the extent of IT business value (ITBV) and how to measure ITBV. Recently, a number of researchers have applied resource-based view (RBV) and contingency theory to investigating ITBV, with mixed results. Researchers have started to recognize that ITBV is closely associated with the synergies created from IT and a variety of complementary organizational factors, which might be an alternative way to explain these mixed results. Through a review of the literature, this paper assesses the current level of knowledge in ITBV research. It identifies that significant progress has been made in the research domain, but that in-depth inquiry into ITBV is still needed. Based on RBV and contingency theory, a research framework has been developed. The framework suggests that firms might be able to gain significant performance improvements if IT resources are in alignment with additional organizational factors (i.e. organizational strategy, organizational process, organizational culture, organizational structure). The authors believe that this framework will be valuable in assisting researchers and practitioners in understanding the complex ITBV process.
Hepatitis C Virus Driven AXL Expression Suppresses the Hepatic Type I Interferon Response

Treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is evolving rapidly with the development of novel direct acting antivirals (DAAs), however viral clearance remains intimately linked to the hepatic innate immune system. Patients demonstrating a high baseline activation of interferon stimulated genes (ISGs), termed interferon refractoriness, are less likely to mount a strong antiviral response and achieve viral clearance when placed on treatment. As a result, suppressor of cytokine signalling (SOCS) 3 and other regulators of the IFN response have been identified as key candidates for the IFN refractory phenotype due to their regulatory role on the IFN response. AXL is a receptor tyrosine kinase that has been identified as a key regulator of interferon (IFN) signalling in myeloid cells of the immune system, but has not been examined in the context of chronic HCV infection. Here, we show that AXL is up-regulated following HCV infection, both in vitro and in vivo and is likely induced by type I/III IFNs and inflammatory signalling pathways. AXL inhibited type IFNα mediated ISG expression resulting in a decrease in its antiviral efficacy against HCV in vitro. Furthermore, patients possessing the favourable IFNL3 rs12979860 genotype associated with treatment response, showed lower AXL expression in the liver and a stronger induction of AXL in the blood, following their first dose of IFN. Together, these data suggest that elevated AXL expression in the liver may mediate an IFN-refractory phenotype characteristic of patients possessing the unfavourable rs12979860 genotype, which is associated with lower rates of viral clearance.
Imitation and the Active Child

The central topic of this thesis is the role of individual differences in the development of imitation. The main claim of the thesis is that individual differences reflect infants’ active involvement in their own developmental process. The thesis utilizes a combination of experimental and parent report data to demonstrate the manifold nature of the origins of imitation. Chapter one introduces the topic of individual differences in imitation by reviewing, in the first part of the chapter, the literature on imitation during the first 18 months of life, and the literature on the role of temperament in social-cognitive development, in the second part of the chapter. Furthermore, the open questions concerning the role of individual differences and the infants’ active involvement in the development of imitation are discussed. Chapter two studies the relation between attentional preferences and individual differences in imitation of facial and vocal models in the first few months of life. Thus far studies of early imitation have dismissed individual differences as noise, therefore not much is known about the role of individual differences in imitation. The findings demonstrate that attentional preferences as measured with the Infant Behaviour Questionnaire-Revised (Gartstein & Rothbart, 2003) are related to specific differences in imitation. Furthermore the findings demonstrate that the major theoretical accounts of imitation are not sufficient to explain these results and a new theoretical model is proposed. In chapter three the infant’s active involvement in its own developmental process is studied by assessing the role of spontaneous imitation in the development of imitation of actions on objects during the first year of life. I demonstrate that infants’ own initiative to imitate actions on objects is the most important predictor of the observed increase in imitation of actions on objects around 10- to12- months of age. V Chapter four assesses the role of infant sociability in imitation. In particular, it examines the hypothesis that sociability is related to faithful, but not selective, imitation. The findings demonstrate a positive link between sociability, as measured by the surgency scale of the Early Childhood Behaviour Questionnaire (Putnam, Gartstein & Rothbart, 2006), and faithful imitation. Finally, in the general conclusion I will argue that the two current dominant accounts of imitation, i.e. an innate account and a learning account, do not account for these results, and I will propose an alternative theoretical model that does account for these findings.
High level of persistent liver injury is one of clinical characteristics in treatment‐naïve acute onset autoimmune hepatitis: experience in a community hospital

There is, as yet, no gold standard for making the diagnosis of acute onset autoimmune hepatitis (A‐AIH). Novel histological characteristics have been reported, but etiologies other than AIH could show similar histological pattern. We attempted to determine what clinical characteristics we should consider as A‐AIH different from other etiologies, and to whom histological characteristics should be applied for the diagnosis.
Prognostic Value of the Cu-Transporting ATPase in Ovarian Carcinoma Patients Receiving Cisplatin-Based Chemotherapy

Purpose: A major obstacle in the treatment of ovarian carcinoma is the intrinsic/acquired resistance to cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Cu-transporting ATPase (ATP7B) has been reported to be associated with cisplatin resistance in vitro. However, the clinical significance of this transporter has not previously been addressed. Our goal was to investigate ATP7B expression in ovarian carcinoma and whether its expression correlates with prognosis and reduced responsiveness to cisplatin treatment. Experimental Design: We retrospectively examined the expression of ATP7B and p53 in primary ovarian carcinoma and its association with chemotherapeutic effect. Tissues were surgically removed from 104 ovarian carcinomas patients who received cisplatin-based chemotherapy. We performed immunohistochemical analysis of ATP7B and p53 using a monoclonal antibody against ATP7B and DO7 antibody against p53 protein in 104 ovarian carcinomas and adjacent nonneoplastic tissues. The significance of ATP7B and p53 in the prognosis of patients with ovarian carcinomas was also examined in the survival analysis of mortality follow-up data covering the period between 1988 and 2001. Furthermore, mutation analysis at the six Cu-binding domain and ATP-binding domain, which may be important for cisplatin transport, were performed using single-strand conformational polymorphism after reverse transcriptase-PCR. Results: A variable degree of cytoplasmic staining of ATP7B in tumor cells was observed in 34.6% (36 of 104 cases) of the analyzed carcinomas. ATP7B expression was not observed in adjacent nonneoplastic tissues. ATP7B positivity in poorly/moderately differentiated carcinoma was significantly higher than that in low malignant potential tumor/well-differentiated carcinoma (P = 0.0276). Patients with ATP7B-positive tumors had a significantly inferior response to chemotherapy compared with the patients with ATP7B-negative tumors (P = 0.025). The multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that ATP7B expression (hazard ratio, 1.8; 95% confidence interval, 1.0–3.2, P = 0.048), as well as International Federation of Gynecologists and Obstetricians stage (hazard ratio, 2.0; 95% confidence interval, 1.1–3.6, P = 0.018), was prognostic for poor disease outcome after adjustment for p53 expression, grade, and residual tumor. p53 expression was detected in 31.5% (26/104 cases). No mutation was observed on the six Cu-binding domain or ATP-binding domain in human ovarian carcinomas expressing ATP7B gene. Conclusions: This study demonstrates that overexpression of ATP7B in ovarian carcinoma is correlated with unfavorable clinical outcome in patients treated with cisplatin-based chemotherapy. Therefore, ATP7B expression may be considered as a predictive marker of chemoresistance for cisplatin-based chemotherapy in patients with ovarian carcinoma. We further predict that drugs targeting ATP7B might be useful in combination with cisplatin-based regimen for the improvement of patients with ovarian carcinoma.
Study on QoS Support in 802.11e-based Multi-hop Vehicular Wireless Ad Hoc Networks

Multimedia communications over vehicular ad hoc networks (VANET) will play an important role in the future intelligent transport system (ITS). QoS support for VANET therefore becomes an essential problem. In this paper, we first study the QoS performance in multi-hop VANET by using the standard IEEE 802.11e EDCA MAC and our proposed triple-constraint QoS routing protocol, Delay-Reliability-Hop (DeReHQ). In particular, we evaluate the DeReHQ protocol together with EDCA in highway and urban areas. Simulation results show that end-to-end delay performance can sometimes be achieved when both 802.11e EDCA and DeReHQ extended AODV are used. However, further studies on cross-layer optimization for QoS support in multi-hop environment are required.
Auditory sensitivity in children using the auditory steady-state response.

OBJECTIVE To determine the effectiveness of auditory steady-state response (ASSR) as a measure of hearing sensitivity in young children suspect for significant hearing loss. DESIGN Within-subject comparisons of click auditory brainstem response (ABR) thresholds and ASSR thresholds. SUBJECTS The study population comprised 42 children suspect for hearing loss and subsequently referred for hearing assessment using electrophysiologic techniques. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Electrophysiologic threshold responses for click ABR and ASSR stimuli (0.5, 1, 2, and 4 kHz) for right and left ears. RESULTS Based on ABR and ASSR thresholds, 50% of the subjects demonstrated significant hearing loss in the severe to profound range. In some subjects, ASSRs were present at higher stimulus levels when click ABRs were absent. Significant correlations (P<.05) were found between high-frequency ASSR and click ABR thresholds for this study sample. For some subjects, ASSR findings suggested differences between ears that were not observable from the no-response click ABR results. CONCLUSIONS Auditory steady-state response testing may provide additional information for children who demonstrate hearing levels in the severe to profound range. This information may be helpful when selecting the ear for cochlear implantation for a young hearing-impaired child. Multiple objective methods, such as ABR and ASSR testing, may be needed to determine accurate hearing sensitivity for young children being considered for sensory devices, and in particular, cochlear implants.
Evaluating the efficiency of physical visualizations

Data sculptures are an increasingly popular form of physical visualization whose purposes are essentially artistic, communicative or educational. But can physical visualizations help carry out actual information visualization tasks? We present the first infovis study comparing physical to on-screen visualizations. We focus on 3D visualizations, as these are common among physical visualizations but known to be problematic on computers. Taking 3D bar charts as an example, we show that moving visualizations to the physical world can improve users' efficiency at information retrieval tasks. In contrast, augmenting on-screen visualizations with stereoscopic rendering alone or with prop-based manipulation was of limited help. The efficiency of physical visualizations seems to stem from features that are unique to physical objects, such as their ability to be touched and their perfect visual realism. These findings provide empirical motivation for current research on fast digital fabrication and self-reconfiguring interfaces.
Combination of P300 and CSF β-amyloid(1-42) assays may provide a potential tool in the early diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

BACKGROUND/AIMS The aim of this study was to investigate the diagnostic role of CSF beta amyloid(1-42) levels and auditory event-related potentials (AERPs) in the progression of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer's disease (AD). METHODS In fifty three MCI patients a lumbar puncture was performed and beta amyloid(1-42) levels were determined. Twenty patients were re-examined after 11 months. During this period five of them progressed to AD. Neuropsychological and ERP examinations were performed in all patients at both exams. RESULTS Compared to MCI stable patients, AD-converters showed significantly lower beta-amyloid(1-42) values both for group 1 (Mann Whitney test, Z=-2.952, p=0.003, effect size r=-0.41) and group 2 (Z=-2.458, p=0.011; effect size r=-0.55). On the other hand, the patients of group 1 who converted to AD had prolonged latencies and lower amplitudes of the P300 wave compared to those of the MCI-stable patients, although the differences were not significant. CONCLUSIONS Compared to the separate use of CSF beta-amyloid(1-42) and AERPs, higher values of sensitivity and specificity were achieved by the combined use of beta-amyloid(1-42) levels and P300 latencies (80% and 98%) or amplitudes (100% and 89%) in the discrimination between AD converters and MCI stable patients. Therefore the combination of an electrophysiological and a biological marker is potentially of high diagnostic value for the early diagnosis of AD converters.
Lead toxicity in alfalfa plants exposed to phytohormones and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid monitored by peroxidase, catalase, and amylase activities

This manuscript describes the toxicity of lead in alfalfa plants treated with ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and the phytohormones indole‐3‐acetic‐acid (IAA), gibberellic acid (GA), and kinetin (KN), on catalase (CAT), ascorbate peroxidase (APOX), and total amylase activity (TAA). In all cases Pb was used at 40 mg/L; EDTA at 0.2 mM (equimolar to Pb); and IAA, GA, and KN at 1, 10, and 100 μM, respectively. An experiment containing Pb at 40 mg/L, 0.2 mM EDTA, and IAA and KN at 100 μM each was performed to determine changes in TAA. A control (plain nutrient solution) also was used for comparison. In all cases the treatments were performed in triplicate. Standard procedures were followed to determine the activity of the respective enzymes. After 10 d of exposure to the treatments, the leaves were harvested, homogenized, and centrifuged, and the supernatants were analyzed for CAT, APOX, and TAA. All determinations were performed in triplicate. The results demonstrated that CAT was reduced significantly (p < 0.05) by all treatments containing Pb, IAA, and GA at 10 and 100 μM. However, only the treatments Pb/EDTA/KN at 1, 10, and 100 μM reduced the APOX. The TAA in leaves of alfalfa plants was increased significantly (p < 0.05) by all treatments. Overall, the results suggest that the CAT tests showed no lead toxicity to the alfalfa seedlings. However IAA at 10 and 100 μM revealed toxicity to the CAT enzyme. In addition, the APOX tests exhibited no toxicity to the peroxidase enzyme with the exception of Pb/EDTA/KN treatments. Finally, the TAA tests showed high Pb/EDTA/phytohormone toxicity to the amylase enzyme in alfalfa seedlings.
Organizational anomie as moderator of the relationship between an unfavorable attitudinal environment and citizenship behavior (OCB): An empirical study among university administration and services personnel

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between an unfavorable attitudinal environment and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The proposed model suggests that organizational anomie (OA) acts as a moderator of that link, and thus OA interacts with unfavorable attitudes and OCB by tightening their theoretical negative association.Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from 154 of the 758 non‐teaching staff at a Spanish public university. Accessibility of individual e‐mail accounts was similar for all employees. E‐mails asking for collaboration were sent in two phases. A questionnaire was posted on the university intranet and could be accessed by clicking on a link in the e‐mails.Findings – Multiple hierarchical regression results support the moderating role of OA of the unfavorable attitude‐OCB link because the unfavorable attitudes toward co‐workers and toward the boss as‐a‐person among employees with low, compared with high OA, have a stronger negative relatio.
Calibrated fibrations on noncompact manifolds via group actions

In this paper we use Lie group actions on noncompact Riemannian manifolds with calibrations to construct calibrated submanifolds. In particular, if we have an(n 1)torus acting on a noncompact Calabi-Yau n-fold with a trivial first cohomology, then we have a special Lagrangian fibration on that n-fold. We produce several families of examples for this construction and give some applications to special Lagrangian geometry on compact almost Calabi-Yau manifolds. We also use group actions on noncompact G2-manifolds to construct coassociative submanifolds, and we exhibit some new examples of coassociative submanifolds via this setup.
The Alpino Dependency Treebank

In this paper we present the Alpino Dependency Treebank and the tools that we have developed to facilitate the annotation process. Annotation typically starts with parsing a sentence with the Alpino parser, a wide coverage parser of Dutch text, The number of parses that is generated is reduced through interactive lexical analysis and constituent marking. A tool for on line addition of lexical information facilitates the parsing of sentences with unknown words. The selection of the best parse is done efficiently with the parse selection tool. At this moment, the Alpino Dependency Treebank consists of about 6,000 sentences of newspaper text that are annotated with dependency trees. The corpus can be used for linguistic exploration as well as for training and evaluation purposes.
Offending behaviour in antisocial youths: psychological causes and practical implications

The aim of this thesis was to examine the role of biobehavioural and social variables in explaining adolescent antisocial behaviour. One study examined neuropsychological functioning in 115 young offenders. A more extensive second study was carried out on a sub-sample of the original young offender group, consisting of 48 participants. This second study used more detailed neuropsychological assessments and assessed participants' responses to emotional stimuli. Emotional functioning was assessed in 3 ways: by recording electrodermal responses during a fear conditioning task, by recording the eye-blink startle reflex while participants passively viewed different types of affective pictures, and by examining facial affect recognition. It was expected, first, that antisocial teenagers would be characterised by a sensation-seeking personality, neuropsychological impairments as evidenced by executive functioning tasks, low IQ, poor electrodermal fear conditioning, and reduced startle amplitudes, compared to age and sex matched controls. Second, it was expected that biobehavioural risk factors would interact with social risk factors in explaining ASB, and that social factors would moderate the biobehavioural - ASB relationship. We found that young offenders differed from matched controls in terms of personality traits, and neuropsychological and emotional functioning. With respect to the second hypothesis, it was found that biobehavioural risk factors did not interact with social variables in explaining different types of offending behaviour, contrary to previous studies. Specifically, the research findings indicated that young offenders were characterised by lower IQ and specific neuropsychological deficits in terms of working memory, planning and decision-making. Additionally, they had problems with the learning, processing, and recognition of emotions. Finally, we showed that different risk factors were associated with different types of offending, with both social and biobehavioural variables predicting prolific and persistent offending, and only biobehavioural factors predicting severe offending. The implications of these findings for policy and practitioners working with young offenders were discussed.