Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dysfunctional Behavior among Sales Representatives: The Effect of Supervisory Trust, Participation, and Information Controls

This study investigates the efficacy of supervisory trust, participation, and information controls in curbing dysfunctional salesperson behavior so that salesperson actions are in line with organizational goals. Using a sample of 210 salespeople, we develop and test a model incorporating supervisory trust, participation, information controls (output information, activity information, and capability information), and dysfunctional behavior. Output and activity information controls directly affect dysfunctional behavior, whereas capability information controls work positively through trust in the supervisor to reduce dysfunctional behavior. Providing sales representatives with information about their capabilities appears to enhance the supervisor–salesperson trust relationship. Results also indicate that salespeople’s supervisory participation is an effective lever for reducing dysfunctional salesperson behavior through the intervening role of trust in the supervisor.
Muscle activation pattern of the lower limbs in afemale race walker - case study

Study aim: During race walking, the athlete executes specific patterns of movement to meet the judge’s requirements. Thus, maintaining continuous foot contact with the ground and keeping the supporting leg straight may put specific demands on muscle activation patterns. The objective of this research was to identify the changes in the lower limb muscle activity when the walker increased the speed of walking. Basic procedures: The study was carried out at the indoor running track of the University of Physical Education in Krakow in 2015. The task of the subject was to walk a 60 m distance at different speeds. The subject walked with wearing shoes. The electromyographic (EMG) activity of the muscles was recorded using the telemetric EMG system. Raw signals of all the muscles were recorded simultaneously with foot-floor contact signals from foot switches fixed to the plantar surface of the foot. Main findings: The study revealed that muscle leg activity had similar patterns at all speeds, however, a higher speed of walking put higher demands on the muscles. Due to that, we observed increased activity of the muscles when the subject walked faster. In general, the muscles were more active at the time of foot contact. In terms of kinematic data, we found that the number of steps for the chosen unit of time (10 s) increased from 13 strides at 9 km/h to 16 strides at 15.5 km/h. At the same time, the stride was lenghtened from 1.9 to 2.7 m. Conclusions: The presence of an ‚atypical’ burst of activity in the proximal muscles in late stance during racewalking requires special attention from the coaches during the training process of athletes.
Overview of maximum power point tracking control methods for PV systems

Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) controllers play an important role in photovoltaic systems. They maximize the output power of a PV array for a given set of conditions. This paper presents an overview of the different MPPT techniques. Each technique is evaluated on its ability to detect multiple maxima, convergence speed, ease of implementation, efficiency over a wide output power range, and cost of implementation. The perturbation and observation (P & O), and incremental conductance (IC) algorithms are widely used techniques, with many variants and optimization techniques reported. For this reason, this paper evaluates the performance of these two common approaches from a dynamic and steady state perspective.
Information maintenance in working memory: an integrated presentation of cognitive and neural concepts

Working memory (WM) maintains information in a state that it is available for processing. A host of various concepts exist which define this core function at different levels of abstraction. The present article intended to bring together existing cognitive and neural explanatory approaches about the architecture and neural mechanisms of information maintenance in WM. For this, we highlight how existing WM concepts define information retention and present different methodological approaches which led to the assumption that information can exist in various components and states. This view is broadened by neural concepts focussing on various forms of phase synchronization and molecular biological mechanisms relevant for retaining information in an active state. An integrated presentation of different concepts and methodological approaches can deepen our understanding of this central WM function.
Prognostic value of serial tissue prostate-specific antigen measurements during different hormonal treatments in prostate cancer patients.

To reveal the effects of different hormonal treatments directly on the prostate during treatment, the concentration of prostate-specific antigen in the tissue (T-PSA) was studied in 63 patients with untreated newly diagnosed carcinoma of the prostate (CaP). T-PSA measurements were performed in fine-needle aspiration biopsies at the time of diagnosis and 6, 12, and 24 months after initiation of treatment. Treatments modalities were bilateral orchidectomy, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) agonists, or parenteral estrogens. Thirty-one (49%) of the patients died of CaP and 18 (29%) of other diseases. Fourteen of the patients (22%) were still alive at the end of the observation period (median follow-up time, 111.5 months; range, 98-128 months). In all of the 31 patients who died of CaP, T-PSA values increased during treatment. This increase was observed long before clinical signs of progression appeared (median of interval, 14 months). Twenty of these 31 patients showed an increase in T-PSA from pretreatment values at 6 months. At 12 months this increase was observed in 30 of 31 patients. In contrast, in all of the patients who responded to the hormonal regimen, T-PSA values decreased and remained low during treatment. Furthermore, the patients who did not die of CaP and received estrogen treatment had significantly higher T-PSA values compared with those who were treated with bilateral orchidectomy or GnRH agonists. This indicates that estrogens may stimulate PSA synthesis in tumor tissue in vivo in the presence of castration levels of testosterone. Statistical evaluation showed that the T-PSA ratio between month 12 and month 0 had the most significant prognostic value for predicting the clinical outcome. This ratio was superior to clinical classifications, e.g., tumor stage and cytological grade, and also was higher than T-PSA at the time of diagnosis. This study has shown that aspiration biopsy material can be used to reveal biochemical changes in the tissue during treatment and that one specific marker (T-PSA) can predict the clinical outcome of endocrine treatment of CaP patients better than previously used methods. We believe that selected tissue markers or the protein pattern can help us to characterize the tumors and predict the clinical outcome so an optimal treatment can be chosen for every patient.
Bell-inequality violations with single photons entangled in momentum and polarization

We present a violation of the Clauser–Horne–Shimony–Holt and the Clauser–Horne inequalities using heralded single photons entangled in momentum and polarization modes. A Mach–Zehnder interferometer and polarization optics are used to rotate the spatial and polarization bases, respectively. With this setup we were able to test quantum mechanics with the original formulation of the Clauser–Horne inequality. The results rule out a wide class of realistic non-contextual hidden-variable theories.
Oxygen debt in critically ill patients : monitoring and additionals

Nieuwe inzichten in meting zuurstofgehalte in bloed Optimaliseren van de hemodynamiek is een belangrijk onderdeel van de behandeling van ernstige sepsis (bloedvergiftiging). Het onderzoek van Paul van Beest laat zien dat ‘Early Goal-Directed Therapy’, EGDT, onder andere gericht op het normaliseren van de centraal veneuze saturatie (ScvO2, als waarde voor de zuurstofbalans) waardevol kan zijn. Bij acute opnames op Nederlandse intensive care afdelingen (IC’s) komen lage ScvO2-waarden weinig voor. Niettemin is vroege herkenning van groot belang. Indien de ScvO2 tijdens de behandeling van kritisch zieke patienten gebruikt wordt, moet men zich ervan bewust zijn dat ScvO2 niet de numerieke gelijke is van de gemengd veneuze saturatie (SvO2), zo stelt van Beest. De femoraal veneuze saturatie (verkregen via dijbeenader) voorspelt in zowel de poliklinische, operatieve en IC setting de ScvO2 niet goed en is dus geen goed alternatief voor ScvO2. Een andere parameter die informatie zou kunnen geven over het tekort aan zuurstof in de weefsels is lactaat. Wanneer lactaat reeds door ambulancepersoneel wordt afgenomen dan is dat een voorspellende waarde voor de overleving van de patient. Zo wordt lactaat ook gebruikt op IC’s: het blijft waardevol na de eerste uren behandeling als indicator voor mogelijk orgaanfalen en sterfte. Tenslotte zou het arterioveneuze pCO2 verschil (pCO2 gap) als maat voor circulatie nog van toegevoegde waarde kunnen zijn. Hoewel na 24 uur de voorspellende waarde voor slechtere overleving lijkt toe te nemen, is de additionele waarde van de pCO2 gap beperkt binnen de context.
Why are there so many independent origins of artemisinin resistance in malaria parasites?

Summary Multiple alleles at the kelch13 locus conferring artemisinin resistance (ART-R) are currently spreading through malaria parasite populations in Southeast Asia, providing a unique opportunity to directly observe an ongoing soft selective sweep, to investigate why resistance alleles have evolved multiple times and to determine fundamental population genetic parameters for Plasmodium. We sequenced the kelch13 gene (n=1,876), genotyped 75 flanking SNPs, and measured clearance rate (n=3,552) in parasite infections from Western Thailand (2001-2014). We describe 32 independent coding mutations: these included common mutations outside the kelch13 propeller region associated with significant reductions in clearance rate. Mutations were first observed in 2003 and rose to 90% by 2014, consistent with a selection coefficient of ~0.079. There was no change in diversity in flanking markers, but resistance allele diversity rose until 2012 and then dropped as one allele (C580Y) spread to high frequency. The rapid spread of C580Y suggests that the genomic signature may be considerably harder in the near future, and that retrospective studies may underestimate the complexity of selective sweeps. The frequency with which adaptive alleles arise is determined by the rate of mutation to generate beneficial alleles and the population size. Two factors drive this soft sweep: (1) multiple amino-acid mutations in kelch13 can confer resistance providing a large mutational target – we estimate the target size is between 87 and 163bp. (2) The population mutation parameter (Θ=2Neμ) can be estimated from the frequency distribution of resistant alleles and is ~ 5.69, suggesting that short term effective population size is between 88 thousand and 1.2 million. This is 52 to 705-fold greater than Ne estimates based on fluctuation in allele frequencies, suggesting that we have previously underestimated the capacity for adaptive evolution in Plasmodium. Our central conclusions are that retrospective studies may underestimate the complexity of selective events, ART-R evolution is not limited by availability of mutations, and the Ne relevant for adaptation for malaria is considerably higher than previously estimated. Significance Statement Previous work has identified surprisingly few origins of resistance to antimalarial drugs such as chloroquine and pyrimethamine. This has lead to optimism about prospects for minimizing resistance evolution through combination therapy. We studied a longitudinal collection of malaria parasites from the Thai-Myanmar border (2001–14) to examine an ongoing selective event in which ≥32 independent alleles associated with ART-R evolved. Three factors appear to explain the large number of origins observed: the large number of amino acid changes that result in resistance (i.e. large mutational “target size”), the large estimated effective population size (Ne), and the fact that we were able to document this selective event in real time, rather than retrospectively.
Vitamin D in Relation to Myocardial Structure and Function after Eight Years of Follow-Up: The Hoorn Study

Background and Aims: To investigate associations between baseline serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels and myocardial structure and function after 8 years of follow-up in older Dutch subjects. Methods: We included 256 subjects of the Hoorn Study, a population-based cohort. They underwent a standardized 2-dimensional echocardiogram at baseline between 2000 and 2001, and again between 2007 and 2009. We studied the association of 25(OH)D quartiles with echocardiographic measures of the left ventricular mass index (LVMI), left ventricular systolic function and markers of diastolic function using linear regression analyses. Results: At baseline, subjects had a mean age of 67.4 ± 5.2 years and 41.4% had prior cardiovascular disease (CVD). Low serum 25(OH)D levels were only associated with higher LVMI at 8-year follow-up in subjects without prior CVD and in subjects with low kidney function (median estimated glomerular filtration rate ≤77.5 ml/min/1.73m2). The associations attenuated after adjustments for parathyroid hormone (PTH), which was associated with higher LVMI (g/m2.7) in subjects with low kidney function (regression coefficient highest quartile 6.3, 95% CI: 0.2, 12.5). Conclusion: This study showed no strong associations of 25(OH)D with myocardial structure and function. However, PTH - a possible modifiable mediator in the relation between 25(OH)D and myocardial structure - was positively associated with LVMI in subjects with low kidney function.
Endogenous Interferon γ Directly Regulates Neural Precursors in the Non-Inflammatory Brain

Although a number of growth factors have been shown to be involved in neurogenesis, the role of inflammatory cytokines remains relatively unexplored in the normal brain. Here we investigated the effect of interferon gamma (IFNγ) in the regulation of neural precursor (NP) activity in both the developing and the adult mouse brain. Exogenous IFNγ inhibited neurosphere formation from the wild-type neonatal and adult subventricular zone (SVZ). More importantly, however, these effects were mirrored in vivo, with mutant mice lacking endogenous IFNγ displaying enhanced neurogenesis, as demonstrated by an increase in proliferative bromodeoxyuridine-labeled cells in the SVZ and an increased percentage of newborn neurons in the olfactory bulb. Furthermore, NPs isolated from IFNγ null mice exhibited an increase in self-renewal ability and in the capacity to produce differentiated neurons and oligodendrocytes. These effects resulted from the direct action of IFNγ on the NPs, as determined by single-cell assays and the fact that nearly all the neurospheres were derived from cells positive for major histocompatibility complex class I antigen, a downstream marker of IFNγ-mediated activation. Moreover, the inhibitory effect was ameliorated in the presence of SVZ-derived microglia, with their removal resulting in almost complete inhibition of NP proliferation. Interestingly, in contrast to the results obtained in the adult, exogenous IFNγ treatment stimulated neurosphere formation from the embryonic brain, an effect that was mediated by sonic hedgehog. Together these findings provide the first direct evidence that IFNγ acts as a regulator of the active NP pool in the non-inflammatory brain.
Effects of Diet Composition on Postprandial Energy Availability during Weight Loss Maintenance

Background The major circulating metabolic fuels regulate hunger, and each is affected by dietary composition. An integrated measure of postprandial energy availability from circulating metabolic fuels may help inform dietary recommendations for weight maintenance after weight loss. Aim We examined the effect of low-fat (LF, 60% of energy from carbohydrate, 20% fat, 20% protein), low-glycemic index (LGI, 40%–40%-20%), and very low-carbohydrate (VLC, 10%–60%-30%) diets on total postprandial metabolic fuel energy availability (EA) during weight loss maintenance. Methods Eight obese young adults were fed a standard hypocaloric diet to produce 10–15% weight loss. They were then provided isocaloric LF, LGI, and VLC diets in a randomized crossover design, each for a 4-week period of weight loss maintenance. At the end of each dietary period, a test meal representing the respective diet was provided, and blood samples were obtained every 30 minutes for 5 hours. The primary outcome was EA, defined as the combined energy density (circulating level×relative energy content) of glucose, free fatty acids, and β-hydroxybutyrate. Secondary outcomes were individual metabolic fuels, metabolic rate, insulin, glucagon, cortisol, epinephrine, and hunger ratings. Respiratory quotient was a process measure. Data were analyzed by repeated-measures analysis of variance, with outcomes compared in the early (30 to 150 min) and late (180 to 300 min) postprandial periods. Results EA did not differ between the test meals during the early postprandial period (p = 0.99). However, EA in the late postprandial period was significantly lower after the LF test meal than the LGI (p<0.0001) and VLC (p<0.0001) test meals. Metabolic rate also differed in the late postprandial period (p = 0.0074), with higher values on the VLC than LF (p = 0.0064) and LGI (p = 0.0066) diets. Conclusion These findings suggest that an LF diet may adversely affect postprandial EA and risk for weight regain during weight loss maintenance. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00315354
Education systems, school segregation, and second-generation immigrants’ educational success: Evidence from a country-fixed effects approach using three waves of PISA

Many countries are increasingly being challenged to integrate their growing immigrant populations. A major key to successful integration is the educational attainment of immigrant offspring. According to the results of comparative studies, second-generation immigrant students often lag behind their non-immigrant counterparts even though the host countries perform very differently with respect to the education of immigrant offspring. This study investigates how the interplay between the degrees of stratification and standardization in education systems and the degree of ethnic school segregation affects the performance gap between non-immigrant and second-generation immigrant students in member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Based on data from three waves of the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) study (2003, 2006, and 2009), this article presents a country fixed effects approach to analyzing repeated cross-sectional data by investigating how changes in education policies and institutional contexts are associated with non-immigrant–immigrant reading performance gap. Between-school stratification was associated with lower performance of second-generation immigrants relative to native students, particularly when paired with ethnic school segregation, whereas within-school stratification (ability grouping) was associated with higher relative performance of the immigrant students. In addition, the non-native students benefited from less standardization of educational input, because performance gaps were smaller when a country’s educational resources were distributed unequally.
New mechanistic insights of integrin β1 in breast cancer bone colonization

Bone metastasis is a frequent and life-threatening complication of breast cancer. The molecular mechanisms supporting the establishment of breast cancer cells in the skeleton are still not fully understood, which may be attributed to the lack of suitable models that interrogate interactions between human breast cancer cells and the bone microenvironment. Although it is well-known that integrins mediate adhesion of malignant cells to bone extracellular matrix, their role during bone colonization remains unclear. Here, the role of β1 integrins in bone colonization was investigated using tissue-engineered humanized in vitro and in vivo bone models. In vitro, bone-metastatic breast cancer cells with suppressed integrin β1 expression showed reduced attachment, spreading, and migration within human bone matrix compared to control cells. Cell proliferation in vitro was not affected by β1 integrin knockdown, yet tumor growth in vivo within humanized bone microenvironments was significantly inhibited upon β1 integrin suppression, as revealed by quantitative in/ex vivo fluorescence imaging and histological analysis. Tumor cells invaded bone marrow spaces in the humanized bone and formed osteolytic lesions; osteoclastic bone resorption was, however, not reduced by β1 integrin knockdown. Taken together, we demonstrate that β1 integrins have a pivotal role in bone colonization using unique tissue-engineered humanized bone models.
Sort Attack: Visualization and Gamification of Sorting Algorithm Learning

Algorithms are commonly perceived as a difficult subject, which is quite an irony as they have a fundamental role in computer science. Failure to master this subject will inhibit students'' capabilities as they advance to higher levels. Algorithm visualization, as an effort to overcome the problem, has been growing towards gameful visualization recently that is presumed to be able to engage learners longer and more intensely. However, integrating algorithm visualization, game elements, and instructional design is not a trivial task as it requires a careful design. Hence, a conceptual model of how algorithm learning instructions, algorithm visualization, and gamification improve learning outcomes was developed. While instructional design concerns with developing the best strategy for learning, algorithm visualization functions as a cognitive support provider and gamification works by delivering engagement. Both cognitive support and engagement moderate the learning instructions that concern with enhancing learning outcomes. Principles and elements originating from the three domains have to be taken into consideration during the designing process to produce an artifact that can deliver the essential functions of each domain. A working artifact was then constructed, as the instantiation of the model, to validate whether the idea of integrating algorithm visualization and gamification into algorithm learning instructions is capable enough to improve learning outcomes. Based on our respondents'' learning outcomes, it was found the artifact can significantly improve the procedural knowledge of learners that are indicated by their increased capability in solving sorting algorithm problems.