Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Positive Emotional Language in the Final Words Spoken Directly Before Execution

How do individuals emotionally cope with the imminent real-world salience of mortality? DeWall and Baumeister as well as Kashdan and colleagues previously provided support that an increased use of positive emotion words serves as a way to protect and defend against mortality salience of one’s own contemplated death. Although these studies provide important insights into the psychological dynamics of mortality salience, it remains an open question how individuals cope with the immense threat of mortality prior to their imminent actual death. In the present research, we therefore analyzed positivity in the final words spoken immediately before execution by 407 death row inmates in Texas. By using computerized quantitative text analysis as an objective measure of emotional language use, our results showed that the final words contained a significantly higher proportion of positive than negative emotion words. This emotional positivity was significantly higher than (a) positive emotion word usage base rates in spoken and written materials and (b) positive emotional language use with regard to contemplated death and attempted or actual suicide. Additional analyses showed that emotional positivity in final statements was associated with a greater frequency of language use that was indicative of self-references, social orientation, and present-oriented time focus as well as with fewer instances of cognitive-processing, past-oriented, and death-related word use. Taken together, our findings offer new insights into how individuals cope with the imminent real-world salience of mortality.
Workplace spirituality in indian organisations: construction of reliable and valid measurement scale

The purpose of the paper was to develop and validate a comprehensive tool for measuring workplace spirituality. On the basis of literature, feedback from academic and industry professionals, a heuristic framework along with a scale on work­ place spirituality was proposed and a questionnaire was developed. The instrument obtained empirical views from experts on its dimensions and statements. Content validity ratio (CVR) of the instrument was carried out and the retained items were taken for field survey. Three hundred and sixty one executive respondents employed in manufacturing and service organisations in Indian subcontinent responded to the 44 items scale assessing different facets of spirituality at workplace. This helped to validate the factors of workplace spirituality and optimize the contents of the proposed instrument with the help of structural equation modelling. Exploratory factor analysis revealed four distinct factors that constitute the new instrument of workplace spirituality: spiritual orientation, compassion, meaningful work, and alignment of values. Reliability analysis reported high level of internal consistency of the total scale ( α = .78) and the five subscales ( α ’s ranging from .75 to .87). Finally, 30 items were retained with four important factors of Workplace Spirituality Scale.
Brain Structural Integrity and Intrinsic Functional Connectivity Forecast 6 Year Longitudinal Growth in Children's Numerical Abilities

Early numerical proficiency lays the foundation for acquiring quantitative skills essential in today's technological society. Identification of cognitive and brain markers associated with long-term growth of children's basic numerical computation abilities is therefore of utmost importance. Previous attempts to relate brain structure and function to numerical competency have focused on behavioral measures from a single time point. Thus, little is known about the brain predictors of individual differences in growth trajectories of numerical abilities. Using a longitudinal design, with multimodal imaging and machine-learning algorithms, we investigated whether brain structure and intrinsic connectivity in early childhood are predictive of 6 year outcomes in numerical abilities spanning childhood and adolescence. Gray matter volume at age 8 in distributed brain regions, including the ventrotemporal occipital cortex (VTOC), the posterior parietal cortex, and the prefrontal cortex, predicted longitudinal gains in numerical, but not reading, abilities. Remarkably, intrinsic connectivity analysis revealed that the strength of functional coupling among these regions also predicted gains in numerical abilities, providing novel evidence for a network of brain regions that works in concert to promote numerical skill acquisition. VTOC connectivity with posterior parietal, anterior temporal, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices emerged as the most extensive network predicting individual gains in numerical abilities. Crucially, behavioral measures of mathematics, IQ, working memory, and reading did not predict children's gains in numerical abilities. Our study identifies, for the first time, functional circuits in the human brain that scaffold the development of numerical skills, and highlights potential biomarkers for identifying children at risk for learning difficulties. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Children show substantial individual differences in math abilities and ease of math learning. Early numerical abilities provide the foundation for future academic and professional success in an increasingly technological society. Understanding the early identification of poor math skills has therefore taken on great significance. This work provides important new insights into brain structure and connectivity measures that can predict longitudinal growth of children's math skills over a 6 year period, and may eventually aid in the early identification of children who might benefit from targeted interventions.
Variability of Coastal and Ocean Water Temperature in the Upper 700 m along the Western Iberian Peninsula from 1975 to 2006

Temperature is observed to have different trends at coastal and ocean locations along the western Iberian Peninsula from 1975 to 2006, which corresponds to the last warming period in the area under study. The analysis was carried out by means of the Simple Ocean Data Assimilation (SODA). Reanalysis data are available at monthly scale with a horizontal resolution of 0.5°×0.5° and a vertical resolution of 40 levels, which allows obtaining information beneath the sea surface. Only the first 21 vertical levels (from 5.0 m to 729.35 m) were considered here, since the most important changes in heat content observed for the world ocean during the last decades, correspond to the upper 700 m. Warming was observed to be considerably higher at ocean locations than at coastal ones. Ocean warming ranged from values on the order of 0.3°C dec−1 near surface to less than 0.1°C dec−1 at 500 m, while coastal warming showed values close to 0.2°C dec−1 near surface, decreasing rapidly below 0.1°C dec−1 for depths on the order of 50 m. The heat content anomaly for the upper 700 m, showed a sharp increase from coast (0.46 Wm−2) to ocean (1.59 Wm−2). The difference between coastal and ocean values was related to the presence of coastal upwelling, which partially inhibits the warming from surface of near shore water.
It's the State, Stupid: 21st Gentrification and State-Led Evictions

In this paper we show how the form and effects of gentrification have advanced in the post crash, recessionary context. As such, we argue that state-led gentrification contributes to state-led evictions. The cumulative impacts of government cuts and the paradigmatic shift of housing from a social to financialised entity not only increases eviction risk amongst low income households but, through various legal repossession frameworks that prioritise ownership, the state actively endorses it. Given the nature and extent of these changes in housing, we argue that the state-led gentrification has advanced further. Evictions, we argue, are the new urban frontier and this is orchestrated by the state in fundamental ways.
The Effects of an Oil and Wheat Flour Fortification Program on Pre-School Children and Women of Reproductive Age Living in Côte d’Ivoire, a Malaria-Endemic Area

Anemia and micronutrient deficiencies are widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, but the impact of food fortification is still debated. The objective of this study was to estimate the iron and vitamin A status of preschool children (PSC) and women of reproductive age (WRA) in households consuming fortified oil and wheat flour. The survey was cross-sectional in a rural and an urban area. Data on demographics, socioeconomic status, and fortified foods were collected at households. Hemoglobin (Hb), retinol binding protein (RBP), ferritin, soluble transferrin receptors (sTfR), subclinical inflammation, and Plasmodium spp. infection data were collected. In PSC, vitamin A deficiency (VAD) was prevalent, but for each 1 mg retinol equivalents (RE)/kg of oil consumed, RBP increased by 0.37 μmol/L (p = 0.03). In WRA, there was no significant VAD in the population (0.7%). Anemia was found in 92.2% of rural and 56.3% of urban PSC (p < 0.001). PSC with access to adequately fortified flour had Hb concentrations 15.7 g/L higher than those who did not (p < 0.001). Hb levels increased by +0.238 g/L per mg/kg increase in iron fortification levels (p < 0.001). The national program fortifying vegetable oil with vitamin A and wheat flour with iron and folic acid may have contributed to improved micronutrient status of PSC from two areas in Côte d’Ivoire.
Putting political spectacle to work: Understanding local resistance to the Common Core

In the fall of 2013, a parents’ group formed to protest the new Common Core based mathematics textbook recently adopted by their school district. Quickly allying with teachers, the new coalition began to, “hammer,” the district to drop the Common Core and return to more traditional texts and pedagogies. They did so by speaking at Governing Board meetings, participating in interviews with local newspapers, appearing on a local radio talk show, and forming social media accounts. This intrinsically motivated case study uses qualitative media analysis to examine the texts produced from these and other public declarations to better understand local policy formation through the mechanics of “political spectacle. ” Political spectacle theory suggests that policy may be formed through dramatic public displays and that policy formed from such spectacles often undemocratically reinforces existing inequalities. The study analyzes the parent, teacher and administration policy actors’ use of political spectacle elements such as symbolic language, construction of problems, casting of enemies and allies and distinctions between onstage and backstage drama to understand the adoption, challenge and ultimate rejection of a Common Core based mathematics text in a mid-sized southwestern United States School district.
Antioxidant and Hepatoprotective Effect of Penthorum chinense Pursh Extract against t-BHP-Induced Liver Damage in L02 Cells

Penthorum chinense Pursh (P. chinense), a traditional Chinese medicine used by the Chinese Miao minority, has been used to treat liver diseases for a long time. However, the mechanism behind the liver protective effects of P. chinense remains unclear so far. The aim of the present study was to investigate the hepatoprotective effect of P. chinense and its possible mechanism(s). Immortalized normal human normal liver L02 cells were used to evaluate the protective effect of P. chinense aqueous extract against tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BHP)-induced liver cell damage. Treatment with P. chinense aqueous extract significantly protected L02 cells from t-BHP-induced cytotoxicity, prevented t-BHP-induced reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and decreased the percentage of apoptosis by inhibiting the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. This study demonstrates that P. chinense is a potential hepatoprotective agent in t-BHP-induced liver cell damage, which may benefit the further application of P. chinense in the clinic.
A Prospective, Randomized Comparison between Ultrasound and Nerve Stimulation Guidance for Multiple Injection Axillary Brachial Plexus Block

Background:This prospective, randomized, blinded study tested the hypothesis that ultrasound guidance can shorten the onset time of axillary brachial plexus block as compared with nerve stimulation guidance when using a multiple injection technique. Methods:Sixty American Society of Anesthesiology physical status I–III patients receiving axillary brachial plexus block with 20 ml ropivacaine, 0.75%, using a multiple injection technique, were randomly allocated to receive either nerve stimulation (group NS, n = 30), or ultrasound guidance (group US, n = 30) for nerve location. A blinded observer recorded the onset of sensory and motor blocks, the need for general anesthesia (failed block) or greater than 100 &mgr;g fentanyl (insufficient block) to complete surgery, procedure-related pain, success rate, and patient satisfaction. Results:The median (range) number of needle passes was 4 (3–8) in group US and 8 (5–13) in group NS (P = 0.002). The onset of sensory block was shorter in group US (14 ± 6 min) than in group NS (18 ± 6 min) (P = 0.01), whereas no differences were observed in onset of motor block (24 ± 8 min in group US and 25 ± 8 min in group NS; P = 0.33) and readiness to surgery (26 ± 8 min in group US and 28 ± 9 min in group NS; P = 0.48). No failed block was reported in either group. Insufficient block was observed in 1 patient (3%) of group US and 2 patients (6%) of group NS (P = 0.61). Procedure-related pain was reported in 6 patients (20%) of group US and 14 patients (48%) of group NS (P = 0.028); patient acceptance was similarly good in the two groups. Conclusion:Multiple injection axillary block with ultrasound guidance provided similar success rates and comparable incidence of complication as compared with nerve stimulation guidance.
A new form of SU(2) coherent state path integrals based on arbitrary starting vectors

We develop the formulation of the spin(SU(2)) coherent state path integrals based on arbitrary starting vectors. The resultant action in the path integral expression extensively depends on the vector; it differs from the conventional one in that it has a generalized form having some additional terms. We also study, as physical applications, the geometric phases associated with the CS path integrals to find that new effects of the terms may appear in experiments.
Associated with Total Hip or Knee Arthroplasty Antibiotic-Impregnated Cement Spacers for the Treatment of Infection

This information is current as of March 13, 2010 Supplementary Material http://www.ejbjs.org/cgi/content/full/89/4/871/DC1 Supplementary Material http://www.ejbjs.org/cgi/content/full/89/4/871/DC2 Reprints and Permissions Permissions] link. article, or locate the article citation on jbjs.org and click on the [Reprints andClick here to order reprints or request permission to use material from thisPublisher Information www.jbjs.org 20 Pickering Street, Needham, MA 02492-3157The Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery
Temporal Dynamics of Emotions Within a Workday: The Moderating Effect of Neuroticism

The purpose of this study was to examine how positive and negative emotions fluctuate over time within one workday and to investigate the moderating effects of neuroticism and job satisfaction. Data were obtained from 201 Seoul citizens in Korea using the Day Reconstruction Method (Kahneman, Krueger, Schkade, Schwarz, & Stone, 2004). Data revealed that negative emotions increased over time; positive emotions did not show such a pattern. Job satisfaction correlated positively with average positive emotions and negatively with average negative emotions. Neuroticism correlated significantly and in opposite directions with average positive and negative emotions, but did not correlate significantly with the variability of emotions within a work day. Additionally, neuroticism had a significant moderating effect on the changing pattern of negative (but not positive) emotions over time, such that the negative emotions of workers with high levels of neuroticism increased more sharply than the negative emotions of workers with low levels of neuroticism. Contrary to expectation, job satisfaction did not moderate the pattern of positive or negative emotions at work. Changing patterns of negative emotions may be predictive of occupational accidents and diurnal patterns of positive emotions may be predictive of optimal concentration and efficiency at work. These patterns may also have implications for when we administer surveys in the workplace, when a boss should share bad news with his/her employees.
Machine Learning for Visual Navigation of Unmanned Ground Vehicles

The use of visual information for the navigation of unmanned ground vehicles in a cross-country environment recently received great attention. However, until now, the use of textural information has been somewhat less effective than color or laser range information. This manuscript reviews the recent achievements in cross-country scene segmentation and addresses their shortcomings. It then describes a problem related to classification of high dimensional texture features. Finally, it compares three machine learning algorithms aimed at resolving this problem. The experimental results for each machine learning algorithm with the discussion of comparisons are given at the end of the manuscript.
Automatic Mashup Creation by Considering both Vertical and Horizontal Mashabilities

In this paper, we proposed a system to effectively create music mashups – a kind of re-created music that is made by mixing parts of multiple existing music pieces. Unlike previous studies which merely generate mashups by over-laying music segments on one single base track, the proposed system creates mashups with multiple background (e.g. instrumental) and lead (e.g. vocal) track segments. So, besides the suitability between the vertically overlaid tracks (i.e. vertical mashability) used in previous studies, we proposed to further consider the suitability between the horizontally connected consecutive music segments (i.e. horizontal mashability) when searching for proper music segments to be combined. On the vertical side, two new factors: “harmonic change balance” and “volume weight” have been considered. On the horizontal side, the meth-ods used in the studies of medley creation are incorporated. Combining vertical and horizontal mashabilities together, we deﬁned four levels of mashability that may be encountered and found the proper solution to each of them. Sub-jective evaluations showed that the proposed four levels of mashability can appropriately reﬂect the degrees of listening enjoyment. Besides, by taking the newly proposed vertical mashability measurement into account, the improvement in user satisfaction is statistically signiﬁcant.
Discovery of a Bright Transient Ultraluminous X-Ray Source, Suzaku J1305-4931 in NGC4945

This paper reports the discovery of a bright X-ray transient source, Suzaku J1305-4913, in the south-west arm of the nearby Seyfert II galaxy NGC 4945. It was detected at a 0.5 -- 10 keV flux of $2.2 \times 10^{-12}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ during the Suzaku observation conducted on 2006 January 15 -- 17, but was undetectable in a shorter observation on 2005 August 22 --23, with an upper limit of $1.7 \times 10^{-14}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$ (90% confidence level). At a distance of 3.7 Mpc, the bolometric luminosity of the source becomes $L_{\rm bol} = 4.4 \times 10^{39} \alpha$ erg s$^{-1}$, where $\alpha = (\cos 60^\circ / \cos i)$ and $i$ is the disk inclination. Therefore, the source is classified into so-called ultraluminous X-ray sources (ULXs). The time-averaged X-ray spectrum of the source is described by a multi-color disk model, with the innermost accretion disk temperature of $T_{\rm in} = 1. 69_{-0.05}^{+0.06}$ keV. During the 2006 January observation, it varied by a factor of 2 in intensity, following a clear correlation of $L_{\rm bol} \propto T_{\rm in}^4$. It is inferred that the innermost disk radius $R_{\rm in}$ stayed constant at $R_{\rm in} = 79_{-3.9}^{+4.0} \alpha^{1/2}$ km, suggesting the presence of a standard accretion disk. Relating $R_{\rm in}$ with the last stable orbit around a non-rotating black hole yields a rather low black hole mass, $\sim 9 \alpha^{1/2}$ solar masses, which would imply that the source is shining at a luminosity of $\sim3 \alpha^{1/2} $ times the Eddington limit. These results can be better interpreted by invoking sub-Eddington emission from a rapidly spinning black hole with a mass of 20 -- 130 solar masses.
Design and development of systems for image segmentation and content based image retrieval

Color, texture and shape information have been the primitive image descriptors in content based image retrieval systems. Here novel framework for combining all the three i.e. color, texture and shape information, to achieve higher retrieval efficiency is presented. The image is partitioned into non overlapping tiles of equal size. The color moments and geometric moments serve as local descriptors of color and texture respectively. This local information is captured for two resolutions and two grid layouts that provide different details of the same image. Shape information is captured in terms of edge images computed using Image Segmentation for shape matching. The combination of the color, texture and shape features provide a robust feature set for image retrieval. The results are compared with standard methods, like histogram based and SIMPLICITY, on the basis of precision and time required for retrieval.
Player identification in online games: validation of a scale for measuring identification in MMORPGs

In this paper, we present a Player Identification (PI) scale for measuring identification in MMORPGs. Three main dimensions were derived from the literature (1) Avatar (character) Identification, (2) Group (guild) Identification and (3) Game (community) Identification whereby Avatar Identification is a second-order factor consisting of (1a) Perceived Similarity, (1b) Wishful Identification and (1c) Embodied Presence. Based on the results of a cross-sectional survey of 544 World of Warcraft players the measurement instrument's proposed factorial structure was confirmed. Subsequently, the constructs were successfully tested both for convergent and discriminant validity. Finally, evidence for nomological validity was gathered by testing ten theoretically rooted hypotheses regarding the effects of Player Identification. The results showed that Avatar Identification positively predicts Empathy, Proteus effect and the motivations role-play, customization and escapism. Group Identification predicts socializing and relationship, and Game Identification predicts advancement, mechanics and escapism.