Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The potential of educational comics as a health information medium

Abstract Objectives To investigate ways in which educational comics might provide support in dealing with feelings and attitudes towards health conditions, as well as improving understanding of factual information and to identify potential weakness of comics as a medium for health information. Methods Semi‐structured interviewees with eleven university students who either had a mental or physical health condition themselves or had a family member with a health condition. Results The result highlighted the potential value of comics as a format for health information. In addition to conveying factual information, comics offer opportunities for self‐awareness, reassurance, empathy, companionship and a means to explore the impact of illness on family relationships. However, there are notable barriers to the greater use of comics to provide health information, namely, a lack of awareness of, and easy access to, educational comics, along with the perception that comics are exclusively light‐hearted and for children. Conclusions Currently, the full potential of comics in health settings is not being realised. Health information professionals may be in a position to address this issue through identifying, cataloguing, indexing and promoting comics as a legitimate format for health information.
Dogmas in the assessment of usability evaluation methods

Usability evaluation methods (UEMs) are widely recognised as an essential part of systems development. Assessments of the performance of UEMs, however, have been criticised for low validity and limited reliability. The present study extends this critique by describing seven dogmas in recent work on UEMs. The dogmas include using inadequate procedures and measures for assessment, focusing on win–lose outcomes, holding simplistic models of how usability evaluators work, concentrating on evaluation rather than on design and working from the assumption that usability problems are real. We discuss research approaches that may help move beyond the dogmas. In particular, we emphasise detailed studies of evaluation processes, assessments of the impact of UEMs on design carried out in real-world systems development and analyses of how UEMs may be combined.
The Glutamate Transporter GLT1a Is Expressed in Excitatory Axon Terminals of Mature Hippocampal Neurons

GLT1 is the major glutamate transporter of the brain and has been thought to be expressed exclusively in astrocytes. Although excitatory axon terminals take up glutamate, the transporter responsible has not been identified. GLT1 is expressed in at least two forms varying in the C termini, GLT1a and GLT1b. GLT1 mRNA has been demonstrated in neurons, without associated protein. Recently, evidence has been presented, using specific C terminus-directed antibodies, that GLT1b protein is expressed in neurons in vivo. These data suggested that the GLT1 mRNA detected in neurons encodes GLT1b and also that GLT1b might be the elusive presynaptic transporter. To test these hypotheses, we used variant-specific probes directed to the 3′-untranslated regions for GLT1a and GLT1b to perform in situ hybridization in the hippocampus. Contrary to expectation, GLT1a mRNA was the more abundant form. To investigate further the expression of GLT1 in neurons in the hippocampus, antibodies raised against the C terminus of GLT1a and against the N terminus of GLT1, found to be specific by testing in GLT1 knock-out mice, were used for light microscopic and EM-ICC. GLT1a protein was detected in neurons, in 14–29% of axons in the hippocampus, depending on the region. Many of the labeled axons formed axo-spinous, asymmetric, and, thus, excitatory synapses. Labeling also occurred in some spines and dendrites. The antibody against the N terminus of GLT1 also produced labeling of neuronal processes. Thus, the originally cloned form of GLT1, GLT1a, is expressed as protein in neurons in the mature hippocampus and may contribute significantly to glutamate uptake into excitatory terminals.
m-Reading: Fiction reading from mobile phones

Mobile phones are reportedly the most rapidly expanding e-reading device worldwide. However, the embodied, cognitive and affective implications of smartphone-supported fiction reading for leisure (m-reading) have yet to be investigated empirically. Revisiting the theoretical work of digitization scholar Anne Mangen, we argue that the digital reading experience is not only contingent on patterns of embodied reader–device interaction (Mangen, 2008 and later) but also embedded in the immediate environment and broader situational context. We call this the situation constraint. Its application to Mangen’s general framework enables us to identify four novel research areas, wherein m-reading should be investigated with regard to its unique affordances. The areas are reader–device affectivity, situated embodiment, attention training and long-term immersion.
World Trade Organization Economic Research and Statistics Division WTO Decision-Making for the Future

Decision making in the WTO has become ever more difficult as the number of members increases and the range of issues tackled broadens. This paper looks at reasons why aspects of decision-making might be changed and discusses a number of potential pitfalls that change would have to avoid, such as a dilution of commitments and fragmentation of the multilateral trading system. It then takes a detailed look at the notion of ‘critical mass’ decision-making. It argues for this approach under certain conditions, as it would: i) allow for the emergence of a more progressive and responsive WTO agenda; ii) blunt the diversion of trade cooperation initiatives to RTAs; iii) allow more efficient differentiation in the levels of rights and obligations among a community of highly diverse economies; and iv) promote greater efficiency in multilaterallybased negotiations on trade rules, and perhaps, sectoral market access agreements.
Systemic and Local Administration of Antimicrobial and Cell Therapies to Prevent Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis-Induced Femoral Nonunions in a Rat Model

S. epidermidis is responsible for biofilm-related nonunions. This study compares the response to S. epidermidis-infected fractures in rats systemically or locally injected with vancomycin or bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) in preventing the nonunion establishment. The 50% of rats receiving BMSCs intravenously (s-rBMSCs) died after treatment. A higher cytokine trend was measured in BMSCs locally injected rats (l-rBMSCs) at day 3 and in vancomycin systemically injected rats (l-VANC) at day 7 compared to the other groups. At day 14, the highest cytokine values were measured in l-VANC and in l-rBMSCs for IL-10. µCT showed a good bony bridging in s-VANC and excellent both in l-VANC and in l-rBMSCs. The bacterial growth was lower in s-VANC and l-VANC than in l-rBMSCs. Histology demonstrated the presence of new woven bone in s-VANC and a more mature bony bridging was found in l-VANC. The l-rBMSCs showed a poor bony bridging of fibrovascular tissue. Our results could suggest the synergic use of systemic and local injection of vancomycin as an effective treatment to prevent septic nonunions. This study cannot sustain the systemic injection of BMSCs due to high risks, while a deeper insight into local BMSCs immunomodulatory effects is mandatory before developing cell therapies in clinics.
Human resources management policies and practices scale (HRMPPS): exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis

Given the strategic relevance of Human Resources Management (HRM) in organizations and the lack of scientific instruments to measure employees' perceptions about policies and practices of HRM, this study aimed to validate the Human Resources Management Policies and Practices Scale (HRMPPS) through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis using the maximum likelihood method. The study has a quantitative design, but also included qualitative analysis required for the development of a scale. Employees from various organizations composed a sample of 632 people. Scale reliability was assessed by Cronbach's alpha and JA¶reskog's rho. A six-factor model was generated showing high-reliability and good fit. Construct validity was provided through convergent and discriminant analyses. The factors were consistent with the literature review and explained about 58% of the construct's total variance. This study contributes to the scientific production in the area of Human Resources Management since HRMPPS can be used not only in relational studies but also as an evaluation instrument by managers who wish to improve their employees' well-being as well as organizational outcomes.
Identification of great apes using gabor features and locality preserving projections

In the ongoing biodiversity crisis many species, particularly primates like chimpanzees for instance are threatened and need to be protected. Often, autonomous monitoring techniques using remote camera devices are used to estimate the remaining population sizes. Unfortunately, the manual analysis of the resulting video material is very tedious and time consuming. To reduce the burden of time consuming routine work, researches have recently started to use computer vision algorithms to identify individuals. In this paper we present an approach for automatic face identification for primates, especially chimpanzees. We successfully combine Gabor features with Locality Preserving Projections (LPP). As classifier we use a new method called Sparse Representation Classification (SRC). In two experiments we show that our approach outperforms a recently published algorithm for face recognition of Great Apes. We also compare our algorithm to other state-of-the-art face recognition algorithms using three methods for feature-space transformation and two different classification approaches, namely SRC and an enhanced version called Robust Sparse Coding (RSC). Our approach not only outperforms the other algorithms for full-frontal faces but is also more invariant to pose changes. For our experiments we use two publicly available, real-world databases of captive and free-living chimpanzees from the zoo of Leipzig, Germany and the Tai National Park, Africa, respectively. Even though both datasets are very challenging due to difficult lighting conditions, non-cooperative subjects, various pose changes and even partial occlusion, the achieved recognition rates are very promising and therefore our approach has the potential to open up new ways in effective biodiversity conservation management.
Wilful Managerial Ignorance, Symbolic Work and Decoupling: A Socio-Phenomenological Study of ‘Managing Creativity’

Ignorance has only received scant attention in organization and management studies. This paper focuses on ignorance in an organizational context by presenting and analysing the lived experience of three managers who attempted to manage creativity. The analysis of the empirical material with the help of a detailed agency framework illustrates how the managers’ clearly articulated visions contradicted their practices and how they also stuck to their visions even when they were confronted with or had the possibility to collect information that would challenge those visions. I suggest, based on these observations, that the managers deliberately and actively avoided using or collecting relevant information that could potentially lead to transformative practices, which engendered what I call ‘wilful managerial ignorance’. I further suggest that ‘symbolic work’, which refers to the active and continuous separation of verbal activity (symbol) and concrete practices (objective referent), is a determining factor in wilful managerial ignorance. Since wilful managerial ignorance and symbolic work prevent the productive and transformative integration of different institutional contexts it is possible to link it to the concept of ‘decoupling’. As a result, I propose that wilful managerial ignorance and symbolic work are micro-determinants which facilitate the decoupling of organizationally relevant institutional contexts.
CORRIM: Life-Cycle Environmental Performance of Renewable Building Materials

JUNE 2004 Assessments of material flows and their environmental consequences are increasingly needed to address an expanding list of environmental performance issues. An analysis of the flow of mass, energy, and carbon from resources (such as a forest or mine pit) to products, and ultimately to disposal in a landfill or by recycling, is a complex undertaking. Any attempt to identify the environmental consequences of the life-cycle of houses constructed from alternative materials is burdened by enormous data requirements in order to characterize each stage of a product’s life-cycle. The complexity of modern house construction exacerbates the analysis, because many products made from different materials are used. In addition, the time element associated with the growth of forests, the manufacturing of the wood products, and the duration of the useful life of a house and its many components adds another layer of complexity. In 1996, the Consortium for Research on Renewable Industrial Materials (CORRIM) was formed by 15 research institutions as a nonprofit entity that would undertake research on the use of wood as a renewable material. In 1998, CORRIM published a 22-module research plan and protocol (CORRIM 1998) to develop a life-cycle assessment (LCA) for residential structures and other wood uses. The research plan required development of a complete life-cycle inventory (LCI) of all environmental inputs and outputs from forest regeneration through product manufacturing, building construction, use, maintenance, and disposal. Later, CORRIM published a summary and a Phase I Interim Report on the progress with a provisional LCI dataCORRIM: Life-Cycle Environmental Performance of Renewable Building Materials
Orthostatic Tremor Responds to Bilateral Thalamic Deep Brain Stimulation

Background Orthostatic tremor (OT) is a disabling movement disorder manifested by postural and gait disturbance. Primarily a condition of elderly people, it can be progressive in up to 15% of patients. The primary treatments are medications that are often ineffective. Case Report A 75-year-old male presented with a 10-year history of progressive and disabling OT. He had tried various medications without significant benefits. He underwent bilateral thalamic Vim deep brain stimulation (DBS). At 30-month follow-up, he has had continued significant improvement of his OT. Discussion Bilateral thalamic DBS may be a viable option for medically refractory OT.
Thermally oxidised sunflower-seed oil increases liver and serum peroxidation and modifies lipoprotein composition in rats

Peroxidation of LDL and other lipoproteins is thought to play a central role in atherogenesis. Dietary thermally oxidised oils may increase atherogenic risk in consumers by increasing their oxidative status. The present paper compares the effects of two diets containing unused sunflower-seed oil (US) or sunflower-seed oil repeatedly used in frying (FS) (both 15 g/100 g diet) on weight gain, food efficiency ratio, serum lipid levels and lipoprotein composition, and the content of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) in the liver, serum, and lipoproteins in growing Wistar rats. After sixty potato fryings the FS contained 27·7 g polar material/100 g oil and 16·6 g oligomers/100 g oil. The FS-fed rats had a significantly lower weight gain and food efficiency ratio. Liver-TBARS increased due to the consumption of the highly altered oil and showed a significant linear relationship (all r<0·68; P>0·002) with the ingestion of thermally oxidised compounds. Serum-, VLDL-, LDL- and HDL-TBARS were significantly higher in the FS-fed rats (all P>0·001). Concentrations of serum total and non-esterified cholesterol and phospholipids were significantly higher in the FS-fed rats (P>0·05, P>0·05, and P>0·001, respectively). Serum triacylglycerol concentrations did not vary between the two dietary groups. Total and esterified cholesterol and phospholipid levels increased significantly in the HDL fraction (P>0·05, P>0·05, and P>0·001, respectively) of the FS-fed rats. HDL-cholesterol and HDL-phospholipids were significantly correlated with liver-TBARS (r<0·747; P>0·0001), VLDL-TBARS (r<0·642; P>0·003), LDL-TBARS (r<0·475; P>0·04), and HDL-TBARS (r<0·787; P>0·0001). The data suggest that the rat increases HDL as a protecting mechanism against the peroxidative stress induced by the consumption of a diet containing the thermally oxidised oil.
Chinese strategic thinking on competitive conflict: insights from Yin-Yang harmony cognition

Purpose Grounded in Yijing, the wellspring of Chinese philosophies, this research aims to propose a novel interpretation of the indigenous Yin-Yang harmony cognitive framework, and to elaborate on how to use it as a meta-theorising tool to characterise the conflicting yet complementary dynamics of strategy, commonly seen as the prominent feature of Chinese strategic thinking. Design/methodology/approach Using the Yin-Yang harmony approach (i.e. Yin as the endogenous factors and Yang the exogenous factors), the authors first put forward eight paradoxical situations facing Chinese organisations as per the changing paradigm of Yijing. Then the authors use the thick description model as a roadmap to identify three evolving trajectories in Chinese higher education (HE) system. Finally, they raise four strategic propositions regarding how competing HE institutes handle the conflicting yet complementary dynamics in China. Findings Results show that the main strategic choices used by two different types of higher education institutes to cope with the current high-level uncertainty and competition could be described in terms of the two “Qian” and “Li” strategic situations, respectively. More details are discussed in the four propositions. Research limitations/implications This research brings potentially valuable implications for global regulators, policymakers, providers and other stakeholders through better understanding of HE-related issues, as well as certain distinct conceptual complexities in terms of developing strategies in China. It implies potentially significant differences in cognition between East and West, and illustrates what may be their workings. Originality/value This indigenous eight-dimensional paradigm demonstrates the conflicting yet complementary dynamic gestalt of organisational strategic choices that may only be realised in Chinese terms, and that cannot be elucidated by theories purely derived from Western experience. It thus can foster the transfer of understanding between the East and West and open a new chapter for future research.
Language comprehension profiles of young adolescents with fragile X syndrome.

PURPOSE In this study, the authors sought to characterize the language phenotype of fragile X syndrome (FXS), focusing on the extent of impairment in receptive syntax, within-syndrome variability in those impairments in relation to gender, and the syndrome specificity of those impairments. METHOD The Test for Reception of Grammar, Version 2 ( Bishop, 2003), was used to examine the overall receptive syntactic skills of adolescents with FXS ( n = 35; 30 males, 5 females), adolescents with Down syndrome (DS; n = 28; 18 males, 10 females), and younger typically developing (TD) children ( n = 23; 14 males, 9 females) matched on nonverbal cognition. Performance on specific grammatical constructions and error types was examined for a subset of matched participants. RESULTS Participants with FXS had overall receptive syntax scores that were lower than those of the TD participants but higher than those of the participants with DS; however, there was no difference in performance between the FXS and DS groups when females were excluded. Grammatical constructions that were especially difficult for participants with FXS and those with DS were identified, especially relative clause constructions and reversible constructions requiring attention to word order encoded by syntactic features. CONCLUSION The current findings have implications for understanding the nature of the language learning difficulties of individuals with FXS and for language interventions.
Dendritic Cell Autophagy Contributes to Herpes Simplex Virus-Driven Stromal Keratitis and Immunopathology

ABSTRACT Herpetic stromal keratitis (HSK) is a blinding ocular disease that is initiated by HSV-1 and characterized by chronic inflammation in the cornea. Although HSK immunopathology of the cornea is well documented in animal models, events preceding this abnormal inflammatory cascade are poorly understood. In this study, we have examined the activation of pathological CD4+ T cells in the development of HSK. Dendritic cell autophagy (DC-autophagy) is an important pathway regulating major histocompatibility complex class II (MHCII)-dependent antigen presentation and proper CD4+ T cell activation during infectious diseases. Using DC-autophagy-deficient mice, we found that DC-autophagy significantly and specifically contributes to HSK disease without impacting early innate immune infiltration, viral clearance, or host survival. Instead, the observed phenotype was attributable to the abrogated activation of CD4+ T cells and reduced inflammation in HSK lesions. We conclude that DC-autophagy is an important contributor to primary HSK immunopathology upstream of CD4+ T cell activation. IMPORTANCE Herpetic stromal keratitis (HSK) is the leading cause of infectious blindness in the United States and a rising cause worldwide. HSK is induced by herpes simplex virus 1 but is considered a disease of inappropriately sustained inflammation driven by CD4+ T cells. In this study, we investigated whether pathways preceding CD4+ T cell activation affect disease outcome. We found that autophagy in dendritic cells significantly contributed to the incidence of HSK. Dendritic cell autophagy did not alter immune control of the virus or neurological disease but specifically augmented CD4+ T cell activation and pathological corneal inflammation. This study broadens our understanding of the immunopathology that drives HSK and implicates the autophagy pathway as a new target for therapeutic intervention against this incurable form of infectious blindness. Herpetic stromal keratitis (HSK) is the leading cause of infectious blindness in the United States and a rising cause worldwide. HSK is induced by herpes simplex virus 1 but is considered a disease of inappropriately sustained inflammation driven by CD4+ T cells. In this study, we investigated whether pathways preceding CD4+ T cell activation affect disease outcome. We found that autophagy in dendritic cells significantly contributed to the incidence of HSK. Dendritic cell autophagy did not alter immune control of the virus or neurological disease but specifically augmented CD4+ T cell activation and pathological corneal inflammation. This study broadens our understanding of the immunopathology that drives HSK and implicates the autophagy pathway as a new target for therapeutic intervention against this incurable form of infectious blindness.