Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
“There Goes that Relationship”: Journalistic Aggression and Political Equivocation in Joint Press Conferences

This study evaluates the relationship between the press and political leaders during joint press conferences. Aggressive journalistic questioning in press conferences has increased over time (Clayman & Heritage, 2002; Clayman, Elliott, Heritage, & McDonald, 2004; Clayman, Elliott, Heritage, & McDonald, 2007), but recent scholarships shows that journalists present less aggressive questions when a foreign head of state is present (Banning & Billingsley, 2007). Joint press conferences hosted in the United States by President Donald Trump between Prime Minister Theresa May of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, respectively, were analyzed via conversation analysis based on a question analysis framework by Clayman, Elliott, Heritage, and McDonald (2004) and equivocation typologies by Bull and Mayer (1993). First, journalists’ questions were evaluated on five different measures – initiative, directness, assertiveness, adversarialness, and accountability. Next, political leaders’ answers were assessed on three different categories – replies, intermediate replies, and non-replies. Results of the study showed foreign journalists in these joint press conferences aggressively pursued politicians more than their U.S. counterparts. Additionally, political leaders were less likely to respond to journalists’ questions with a reply than with intermediate or non-replies. This study provides perspective on the current state of press-state relations in democratic systems and the way journalists conduct themselves on the international stage with U.S. and foreign leaders.
How Intrinsic Motivation and Innovative Work Behavior Affect Job Performance

Job performance is one of the most important aspects in organizational goal achievement. Studies in this topic have been widely covered in the literature. However, few studies have seen the job performance of lecturers at public university, as well as involving motivation and innovative factors as the antecedents. This study aims to see to what extent intrinsic motivation and innovative work behavior could affect job performance. 230 questionnaires were examined using SEM analysis and the results indicate that job performance affected by intrinsic motivation and innovative work behavior significantly. Innovative work behavior mediates the effect of intrinsic motivation toward job performance partially. Keywords— Job Performance, Intrinsic Motivation, and Innovative Work Behavior
Poisson-distributed active fusion complexes underlie the control of the rate and extent of exocytosis by calcium

We have investigated the consequences of having multiple fusion complexes on exocytotic granules, and have identified a new principle for interpreting the calcium dependence of calcium-triggered exocytosis. Strikingly different physiological responses to calcium are expected when active fusion complexes are distributed between granules in a deterministic or probabilistic manner. We have modeled these differences, and compared them with the calcium dependence of sea urchin egg cortical granule exocytosis. From the calcium dependence of cortical granule exocytosis, and from the exposure time and concentration dependence of N-ethylmaleimide inhibition, we determined that cortical granules do have spare active fusion complexes that are randomly distributed as a Poisson process among the population of granules. At high calcium concentrations, docking sites have on average nine active fusion complexes.
Seamless evaluation integration into IDS educational games

Serious games have recently enjoyed unprecedented interest among researchers. Despite the fact that the main focus of this domain remains on player entertainment and engagement, serious games have established themselves as an alternative educational paradigm. However, little interest has been given to investigating methods for the assessment of their effectiveness. Game evaluation focus remains on investigating usability and technical aspects. Those attempting to evaluate the educational impact typically rely on traditional questionnaires that typically negatively affecting user immersion and the overall game enjoyment. Among game genres, Interactive Digital Storytelling (IDS) is a fast growing genre that merges computer games, multimedia and cinematic storytelling with entertaining education. Like any other teaching intervention, educational IDS’s have to be evaluated against a defined set of Learning Objectives (LOs). In this paper we present a User-Centred Seamless Evaluation Framework for IDS games and describe the algorithm for the integration of knowledge assessment to measure knowledge improvement against given LOs without affecting player enjoyment. We implement this algorithm in an educational game and show that the framework has been perceived by the majority of the players as a positive enhancement to the game, 94% of the participants reported preferring this form of assessment as opposed to the more “traditional” methods. Statistically significant knowledge improvements were obtained after the game play.
Skills for women tradies in regional Australia: a global future

ABSTRACT To date, there has been little examination of those who complete training in male-dominated sectors and continue to work in these sectors within regional Australia. Therefore, in this preliminary qualitative study, we examine the attraction and retention issues of women entering male-dominated trades within regional NSW. This paper reports on findings from our initial industry consultation sessions of 35 participants within regional areas of NSW. Findings highlight retention issues such as workplace cultures, spotlighting, expecting women to fit into dysfunctional cultures and lack of career pathways. While these are preliminary findings and generalizations cannot be made for all regional areas, implications for practice and future research are discussed.
More Money, More Problems? Can High Pay Be Coercive and Repugnant?

IRBs can disallow high incentives they deem coercive. A vignette study on MTurk concerning participation in medical trials shows that a substantial minority of subjects concurs. They think high incentives cause more regret, and that more people would be better off without the opportunity to participate. We model observers as judging the ethicality of incentives by partially using their own utility. The model predicts that payments are repugnant only to the extent that they affect the participation decision, and more so for larger transactions. Incentivizing poorer participants is more repugnant, and in-kind incentives are less repugnant than monetary incentives.
ANALOG JOINT SOURCE CHANNEL CODING FOR OPTICAL COMMUNICATIONS AND IMAGE TRANSMISSION by

An analog joint source channel coding (JSCC) system is developed for wireless optical communications. Source symbols are mapped directly onto channel symbols using space filling curves and then a non-linear stretching function is used to reduce distortion. Different from digital systems, the proposed scheme does not require long block lengths to achieve good performance reducing the complexity of the decoder significantly. This work focuses on intensity-modulated direct-detection (IM/DD) optical wireless systems. First, a theoretical analysis of the IM/DD wireless optical channel is presented and the prototype communication system designed to transmit data using analog JSCC is introduced. The nonlinearities of the real channel are studied and characterized. A novel technique to mitigate the channel nonlinearities is presented. The performance of the real system follows the simulations and closely approximates the theoretical limits. The proposed system is then used for image transmission by first taking samples of a set of images using compressive sensing and then encoding the measurements using analog JSCC. Both simulation and experimental results are shown.
Reproduction in females: the role of the early life environment.

BACKGROUND There is now compelling evidence that long-term health and physiological function are modified by events that occur early in life and involve interactions between the genome and the developmental environment. That reproductive function may similarly be influenced by early life events has been established in selected human populations, and investigations into underlying mechanisms are the subject of current animal studies. METHODS No systematic literature search was conducted. This review highlights early life influences on reproduction with a particular focus on nutritional impacts, and provides a brief overview with reference to some key studies in both the human and animal literature. We highlight the controversies, current unanswered questions and mechanisms underlying the association between the early life environment and long-term reproductive function. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Currently, the impact of early life events on reproductive health and disease risk is poorly understood. It is clear, however, that nutrition spanning the entire developmental lifespan plays an integral role. Improved insight into the underlying mechanisms is likely to have significant implications for our current understanding of reproductive disorders, and therefore for the health and reproductive potential of future generations.
Variable splitting techniques for discrete tomography

Discrete tomography problems require the generation of an underlying attenuation field over a combinatorial set that renders the direct application of conventional tomographic reconstruction techniques obsolete. In this work, we propose a solution approach based on a new variable splitting coupled with the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM). The new approach creates subproblems that can be solved using existing and fast techniques, such as graph-cut methods, and results in overall solutions of excellent quality. In particular, compared to state-of-the art techniques, we obtain reliable representations of the underlying fields with substantially lower angular coverage. We develop the method under both Gaussian and Poisson noise models and show results with both binary and multilabel phantoms.
On the spectra of scalar mesons from HQCD models

We determine the holographic spectra of scalar mesons from the fluctuations of the embedding of flavor D-brane probes in HQCD models. The models we consider include a generalization of the Sakai Sugimoto model at zero temperature and at the ``high-temperature intermediate phase", where the system is in a deconfining phase while admitting chiral symmetry breaking and a non-critical 6d model at zero temperature. All these models are based on backgrounds associated with near extremal Nc D4 branes and a set of Nf << Nc flavor probe branes that admit geometrical chiral symmetry breaking. We point out that the spectra of these models include a 0−− branch which does not show up in nature. At zero temperature we found that the masses of the mesons Mn depend on the ``constituent quark mass" parameter mcq and on the excitation number n as Mn2 ~ mcq and M2n ~ n1.7 for the ten dimensional case and as Mn ~ mcq and Mn ~ n0.75 in the non-critical case. At the high temperature intermediate phase we detect a decrease of the masses of low spin mesons as a function of the temperature similar to holographic vector mesons and to lattice calculations.
Hybrid Transformer-Based Tunable Differential Duplexer in a 90-nm CMOS Process

Practical implementation of monolithic hybrid transformer duplexers have been limited by the poor common-mode isolation. In this paper, a differential hybrid transformer duplexer that covers 3GPP bands I, II, III, and IX between 1.7 and 2.2 GHz is introduced. It achieves a differential to differential isolation of 60 dB in the transmit (TX) band and 40 dB in the receive (RX) band, and a differential to common-mode isolation of 60 dB in both bands. The duplexer with a cascaded low-noise amplifier (LNA) achieves a noise figure of 5.6 dB in the RX path and an insertion loss of 3.7 dB in the TX path. The duplexer and LNA are implemented in a 90-nm CMOS process, consume 20 mA, and occupy an active area of 0.6 mm2.
Outcomes of preimplantation genetic diagnosis using either zona drilling with acidified Tyrode's solution or partial zona dissection

Objective To review the outcomes of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) using zona drilling with acid Tyrode's solution (chemical zona pellucida drilling, chemical ZD) and those of partial zona dissection (PZD). Methods Clinical outcomes of seventy-one couples undergoing 85 PGD cycles from January 2005 to December 2010 were included. Blastocyst formation and the hatching rate, clinical pregnancy rate, ongoing pregnancy rate, implantation rate, and fetal gender ratio of the PZD and chemical ZD groups were compared. Results Application of PZD resulted in a significantly higher rate of clinical pregnancy (40.7% vs. 15.4%, p=0.022), ongoing pregnancy (35.6% vs. 11.5%, p=0.023), and implantation (18.1% vs. 5.7%, p=0.007) compared with chemical ZD. Among non-transferred embryos, the rate of blastocyst formation on day 5 (49.1% vs. 39.5%, p=0.016) and hatching on day 6 (47.2% vs. 26.5%, p<0.001) were also significantly higher in the PZD group. Conclusion The mechanical zona dissection method showed better outcomes than chemical ZD in terms of the blastocyst development and pregnancy rate. In this study, the fact that chemical ZD was conducted in different period from mechanical method should be considered in interpreting the result.
Low genetic diversity but strong population structure reflects multiple introductions of western flower thrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) into China followed by human‐mediated spread

Historical invasion scenarios based on observational records are usually incomplete and biased, but these can be supplemented by population genetic data. The western flower thrips (WFT), Frankliniella occidentalis, invaded China in the last 13 years and has rapidly become one of the most serious pests in the country. To assess whether this invasion involved a single event or multiple events, we examined patterns of genetic diversity and population structure of WFT across 12 Chinese populations and a native US population based on mitochondrial DNA and/or 18 microsatellite loci. The average allelic richness and haplotype diversity in Chinese populations were significantly lower than in a population from its native range. The distribution of mitochondrial haplotypes suggested multiple independent invasions of WFT into China, including two invasions into the Beijing region. Based on microsatellite data, two distinct clusters were identified, with both of them splitting further into two clusters; in the Beijing region, the microsatellite data also provided evidence for two introductions. Both the absence of isolation by distance and the fact that distant populations were similar genetically suggest patterns of WFT movement linked to human activities. Our study therefore suggests multiple introductions of WFT into China and human‐assisted spread.
Borderline personality traits and adult attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms: A genetic analysis of comorbidity

Previous research has established the comorbidity of adult Attention‐Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) with different personality disorders including Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). The association between adult ADHD and BPD has primarily been investigated at the phenotypic level and not yet at the genetic level. The present study investigates the genetic and environmental contributions to the association between borderline personality traits (BPT) and ADHD symptoms in a sample of 7,233 twins and siblings (aged 18–90 years) registered with the Netherlands Twin Register and the East Flanders Prospective Twin Survey (EFPTS) . Participants completed the Conners' Adult ADHD Rating Scales (CAARS‐S:SV) and the Personality Assessment Inventory‐Borderline Features Scale (PAI‐BOR). A bivariate genetic analysis was performed to determine the extent to which genetic and environmental factors influence variation in BPT and ADHD symptoms and the covariance between them. The heritability of BPT and ADHD symptoms was estimated at 45 and 36%, respectively. The remaining variance in BPT and ADHD symptoms was explained by unique environmental influences. The phenotypic correlation between BPT and ADHD symptoms was estimated at r = 0.59, and could be explained for 49% by genetic factors and 51% by environmental factors. The genetic and environmental correlations between BPT and ADHD symptoms were 0.72 and 0.51, respectively. The shared etiology between BPT and ADHD symptoms is thus a likely cause for the comorbidity of the two disorders. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Vitamin E Supplementation and Respiratory Infections in Older People

may involve greater baroreceptor sensitivity. Baroreceptors are sensory receptors sensitive to stretch from increased pressure that function as part of a central reflex to reduce that pressure. Baroreceptor reflex responses to carotid endarterectomy may involve removal of stiff atheromatous plaque, which improves arterial blood flow, allowing increased lateral pressure to be placed on the carotid artery lumen, which increases carotid sinus distension. The resultant stretching of the carotid sinus wall activates baroreceptors and a reflex response of heightened parasympathetic tone, thus inducing arterial vasodilatation, hypotension, and bradycardia. Several observational studies have noted hypotension after carotid endarterectomy in the immediate postoperative setting that persisted weeks after surgery. Baroreceptor sensitivity after carotid endarterectomy has been evaluated using frequency domain analysis. One study demonstrated that peak increase in transfer function magnitude in the midfrequency region representative of baroreceptor activity may be consistent with heightened baroreceptor sensitivity after carotid endarterectomy. Author study showed decreases in blood pressure readings up to 5 years after carotid endarterectomy that may be a consequence of sustained increase in baroreceptor sensitivity. Baroreceptor sensitivity was estimated as the change in pulse interval in ms/mmHg change in blood pressure taken as an average after three maneuvers: Valsalva, angiotensin-induced vasoconstriction, and nitroglycerin-induced vasodilatation. Significantly lower systolic blood pressures were observed in patients with increased baroreceptor sensitivity in the postoperative period and at 5-year follow-up. Significantly diminished systolic and diastolic blood pressure ranges were also observed in patients with increased baroreceptor sensitivity in the postoperative period and at 5-year follow-up. It is possible that our patient’s initial hypotension after carotid endarterectomy and the subsequent moderation of hypertension severity, as suggested by fewer antihypertensive medicines being required, may be the consequence of greater baroreceptor sensitivity. If the increase in baroreceptor sensitivity is sustained, carotid endarterectomy may offer a potential secondary benefit of long-term improvement in hypertension and blood pressure variability in addition to the primary goal of lowering stroke risk. Furthermore, in the acute period after carotid endarterectomy, geriatricians should be aware of the potential for baroreceptor-mediated hypotension as vigilant blood pressure monitoring and titration of antihypertensive medication may become essential.
Simultaneous Bilateral Carotid Stenting in High-Risk Patients

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The safety and efficacy of SBCAS have not been evaluated in detail. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the outcome after SBCAS in high-risk patients compared with unilateral stent placement. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between March 2002 and October 2008, a total of 205 consecutive high-risk patients underwent CAS at our institution. Of these patients, 30 (14.6%) underwent SBCAS (n = 24) and staged SBCAS (n = 6). Patients who underwent unilateral CAS (n = 175) during the same period served as controls. The stroke risk factors, procedural results, and outcome at 30 days and 6 months, as well as the restenosis rate at 6 months, were compared by using either the χ2 test or the Kruskal-Wallis equality-of-populations rank test. RESULTS: Our data revealed no significant differences in the stroke risk factors between the SBCAS and the control group. HPS occurred more commonly in SBCAS (ie, 16.7%, 4/24) compared with 2.9% (5/175) in the control group (P = .014). However, there was no statistical significance between 2 groups in the event rate of stroke (minor and/or major stroke), death, or restenosis at 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: There was no significant difference in outcome at 6 months following stent placement between SBCAS and unilateral CAS in the high-risk patient group, even though HPS occurred more commonly after SBCAS.
Updating Poverty Estimates at Frequent Intervals in the Absence of Consumption Data: Methods and Illustration with Reference to a Middle-Income Country

Obtaining consistent estimates on poverty over time as well as monitoring poverty trends on a timely basis is a priority concern for policy makers. However, these objectives are not readily achieved in practice when household consumption data are neither frequently collected, nor constructed using consistent and transparent criteria. This paper develops a formal framework for survey-to-survey poverty imputation in an attempt to overcome these obstacles, and to elevate the discussion of these methods beyond the largely ad-hoc efforts in the existing literature. The framework introduced here imposes few restrictive assumptions, works with simple variance formulas, provides guidance on the selection of control variables for model building, and can be generally applied to imputation either from one survey to another survey with the same design, or to another survey with a different design. Empirical results analyzing the Household Expenditure and Income Survey and the Unemployment and Employment Survey in Jordan are quite encouraging, with imputation-based poverty estimates closely tracking the direct estimates of poverty.
Spurious currents in finite element based level set methods for two‐phase flow

A study of spurious currents in continuous finite element based simulations of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations for two‐phase flows is presented on the basis of computations on a circular drop in equilibrium. The conservative and the standard level set methods are used. It is shown that a sharp surface tension force, expressed as a line integral along the interface, can give rise to large spurious currents and oscillations in the pressure that do not decrease with mesh refinement. If instead a regularized surface tension representation is used, exact force balance at the interface is possible, both for a fully coupled discretization approach and for a fractional step projection method. However, the numerical curvature calculation introduces errors that cause spurious currents. Different ways to extend the curvature from the interface to the whole domain are discussed and investigated. The impact of using different finite element spaces and stabilization methods is also considered. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.