Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
When slower is faster

The slower is faster (SIF) effect occurs when a system performs worse as its components try to do better. Thus, a moderate individual efficiency actually leads to a better systemic performance. The SIF effect takes place in a variety of phenomena. We review studies and examples of the SIF effect in pedestrian dynamics, vehicle traffic, traffic light control, logistics, public transport, social dynamics, ecological systems, and adaptation. Drawing on these examples, we generalize common features of the SIF effect and suggest possible future lines of research.
Characteristics of Monoclonal Immunoglobulins That Interfere with Serum Inorganic Phosphate Measurement

The measurement of inorganic phosphate using an unmodified acid/molybdate assay is known to be subject to interference when paraproteinaemia exists. This phenomenon, due to precipitation in the reaction mixture, is not common to all paraproteins. We studied sera from 35 patients to determine whether interference in the assay was related to particular electrophysical characteristics of the paraproteins. There were spuriously elevated phosphate concentrations in 48·6% of the sera assayed. This could not be related to a direct effect of light chain type, electrical charge or IgG subclass. No IgA paraproteins were found to cause interference but there were immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin M (IgM) paraproteins in both the ‘interfering’ and ‘non-interfering’ groups. The median paraprotein concentration was similar in both groups but, where interference occurred, the degree increased in line with the paraprotein concentration. Although it does not seem possible to predict which samples will cause interference, it is important that the clinical implications of this problem are appreciated.
Glycogen Synthase Kinase-3β Is a Negative Regulator of Cardiomyocyte Hypertrophy

Hypertrophy is a basic cellular response to a variety of stressors and growth factors, and has been best characterized in myocytes. Pathologic hypertrophy of cardiac myocytes leads to heart failure, a major cause of death and disability in the developed world. Several cytosolic signaling pathways have been identified that transduce prohypertrophic signals, but to date, little work has focused on signaling pathways that might negatively regulate hypertrophy. Herein, we report that glycogen synthase kinase-3β (GSK-3β), a protein kinase previously implicated in processes as diverse as development and tumorigenesis, is inactivated by hypertrophic stimuli via a phosphoinositide 3-kinase–dependent protein kinase that phosphorylates GSK-3β on ser 9. Using adenovirus-mediated gene transfer of GSK-3β containing a ser 9 to alanine mutation, which prevents inactivation by hypertrophic stimuli, we demonstrate that inactivation of GSK-3β is required for cardiomyocytes to undergo hypertrophy. Furthermore, our data suggest that GSK-3β regulates the hypertrophic response, at least in part, by modulating the nuclear/cytoplasmic partitioning of a member of the nuclear factor of activated T cells family of transcription factors. The identification of GSK-3β as a transducer of antihypertrophic signals suggests that novel therapeutic strategies to treat hypertrophic diseases of the heart could be designed that target components of the GSK-3 pathway.
The perceived effects of cocaine on the driving performance of long-term users

While there is a relatively large body of research on the effects of alcohol and cannabis on driving, the impact of cocaine on driving performance and behaviour has been neglected. This exploratory empirical study addresses this shortcoming by examining middle-aged, socially established long-term cocaine users who habitually drive or used to drive under the influence of this drug. Thirty interviews were conducted with cocaine users from six German cities of different sizes. One common theme to emerge from the interviews was that cocaine is perceived a performance enhancement for driving, although a negative impact on concentration was also noted. Interviewees ignored and rejected the real dangers to self and others, and were instead afraid of losing their driver's licence. Moreover, driving immediately after consumption or drug use while driving were perceived as unproblematic unless police controls were expected. Finally, expanded driving under the influence of drugs controls over the past decade have motivated changes in drug driving behaviour, although not leading to complete cessation of either drug use or drug driving. The immense concern about loss of driver's licence among socially established long-term users suggests that it might be worthwhile continuing current law enforcement efforts.
The Socioemotional Experiences of Student Teachers During Practicum: A Case of Reality Shock?

ABSTRACT The authors focused on the teaching practice experiences of 224 student teachers. Participants’ viewpoint was assessed using the Inventory of Experiences and Perceptions of the Teaching Practice (Caires & Almeida, 2001) at the beginning and the end of the practice year. The authors examined changes in their perceptions and the effect of personal and contextual variables on the students’ experiences. Special attention was given to students’ socioemotional adjustment and its predictors. Results show growing levels of adaptation and satisfaction, and the influence of gender, graduate course background, 4th-year grade, and school setting on their experiences. School resources and acceptance, supervisor's guidance and support, and the feeling of vocational fulfillment were identified as determinant factors of students’ socioemotional adjustment. Based on some of the most significant findings of the present study, the authors reflect on some implications for future intervention and research.
An Approach to Assess Generalizability in Comparative Effectiveness Research

Background. Policy makers require estimates of comparative effectiveness that apply to the population of interest, but there has been little research on quantitative approaches to assess and extend the generalizability of randomized controlled trial (RCT)–based evaluations. We illustrate an approach using observational data. Methods. Our example is the Whole Systems Demonstrator (WSD) trial, in which 3230 adults with chronic conditions were assigned to receive telehealth or usual care. First, we used novel placebo tests to assess whether outcomes were similar between the RCT control group and a matched subset of nonparticipants who received usual care. We matched on 65 baseline variables obtained from the electronic medical record. Second, we conducted sensitivity analysis to consider whether the estimates of treatment effectiveness were robust to alternative assumptions about whether “usual care” is defined by the RCT control group or nonparticipants. Thus, we provided alternative estimates of comparative effectiveness by contrasting the outcomes of the RCT telehealth group and matched nonparticipants. Results. For some endpoints, such as the number of outpatient attendances, the placebo tests passed, and the effectiveness estimates were robust to the choice of comparison group. However, for other endpoints, such as emergency admissions, the placebo tests failed and the estimates of treatment effect differed markedly according to whether telehealth patients were compared with RCT controls or matched nonparticipants. Conclusions. The proposed placebo tests indicate those cases when estimates from RCTs do not generalize to routine clinical practice and motivate complementary estimates of comparative effectiveness that use observational data. Future RCTs are recommended to incorporate these placebo tests and the accompanying sensitivity analyses to enhance their relevance to policy making.
Is it time for HDL to change its tune?

Over the course of the past century, increasing evidence has accumulated to implicate a central role for atherogenic lipoproteins in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. This is supported by the importance of cholesterol measurement for risk prediction and the use of lipid-modifying therapies in primary and secondary prevention. Recent reports have suggested that particle-based measurements of atherogenic lipoproteins may provide additional information in risk stratification.1 In particular, persistently elevated measures of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particles in patients whose LDL cholesterol appears optimally controlled may identify individuals more likely to benefit from more intensive lipid lowering. Article see p 1189 In parallel, there has been considerable interest in the potential protective properties of high-density lipoproteins (HDL) for the development of new risk-prediction markers and cardiovascular therapeutics. This is based on observations from large population cohorts of an inverse relationship between HDL cholesterol (HDL-C) levels and prospective risk of cardiovascular events2 and of favorable effects with HDL-targeted interventions in animal models of atherosclerosis.3 Although HDL-C is used in traditional risk stratification, and raising HDL-C levels may contribute to the clinical …
narrative as a window to the inner mental world of young children: attachment representations, affect and memory

This article describes a procedure which has proven useful in facilitating narratives about experience of everyday family situations in order to provide insights into the inner world of children around five—seven years. The Windows to Attachment in Young Children (WAYC) consists of the procedure itself and scoring frameworks through which the narrative is analysed. Reports from three studies demonstrate its success in generating rich narrative accounts from Australian children. A system for coding attachment representations shows promise. A system for coding quality of recall of episodic experience has enabled research into the relationship between children’s memory and parent—child communication.
The Representation Revolution

Over the past decade, a "representation revolution " has transformed the politics of state regulation. Public hearings, the creation of ombudsman and proxy advocacy offices, and the appointment of laypersons to expert boards have provided platforms for representatives of broad, diffuse interests. For the most part, these forms of public representation have been effective, though they have involved different resources, strategies, and goals. The principal exception to this pattern is public membership on occupational licensing boards, which has not succeeded. However, utility regulation, environmental regulation, and nursing home regulation have all been improved by new forms of public representation.
Toll-Like Receptor-4 Modulation for Cancer Immunotherapy

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are evolutionarily conserved pattern recognition molecules. Since the discovery of the Toll pathway cascade (1, 2), our knowledge about the structure, function, and mechanics of TLRs in infectious and inflammatory conditions has increased remarkably. The role of TLR4 as a pathogen-pattern recognition receptor has been studied extensively. We now know that TLR4 recognizes pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), such as Gram-negative bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and endogenous damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) like fibronectin and hyaluronan, which are released during infectious and non-infectious inflammatory conditions. Some chronic infections and inflammatory conditions are known to promote carcinogenesis. For example, Helicobacter pylori (3) and viral hepatitis (4) infections lead to gastric and liver cancers, respectively. Also, in inflammatory bowel disease, non-infectious inflammation promotes the development of colorectal cancer (5). Evidence from recent reports suggests that increased expression and activity of TLR4 in chronic infectious and inflammatory conditions is associated with cancer progression (6–8). At the same time, additional studies suggest the protective role of TLR4 in cancer (9–14). The role of TLR4 in cancer has only recently been studied. This review article provides a brief summary of the current understanding of TLR4-signaling, its pro- and anti-cancer effects, and the therapeutic potential of TLR4 immunomodulation in the prevention and treatment of cancer.
SCANRAW: A Database Meta-Operator for Parallel In-Situ Processing and Loading

Traditional databases incur a significant data-to-query delay due to the requirement to load data inside the system before querying. Since this is not acceptable in many domains generating massive amounts of raw data (e.g., genomics), databases are entirely discarded. External tables, on the other hand, provide instant SQL querying over raw files. Their performance across a query workload is limited though by the speed of repeated full scans, tokenizing, and parsing of the entire file. In this article, we propose SCANRAW, a novel database meta-operator for in-situ processing over raw files that integrates data loading and external tables seamlessly, while preserving their advantages: optimal performance across a query workload and zero time-to-query. We decompose loading and external table processing into atomic stages in order to identify common functionality. We analyze alternative implementations and discuss possible optimizations for each stage. Our major contribution is a parallel superscalar pipeline implementation that allows SCANRAW to take advantage of the current many- and multicore processors by overlapping the execution of independent stages. Moreover, SCANRAW overlaps query processing with loading by speculatively using the additional I/O bandwidth arising during the conversion process for storing data into the database, such that subsequent queries execute faster. As a result, SCANRAW makes intelligent use of the available system resources—CPU cycles and I/O bandwidth—by switching dynamically between tasks to ensure that optimal performance is achieved. We implement SCANRAW in a state-of-the-art database system and evaluate its performance across a variety of synthetic and real-world datasets. Our results show that SCANRAW with speculative loading achieves the best-possible performance for a query sequence at any point in the processing. Moreover, SCANRAW maximizes resource utilization for the entire workload execution while speculatively loading data and without interfering with normal query processing.
A SociAl-cognitive AnAlySiS of SyStem JuStificAtion goAl Striving

This research investigated the motivational underpinnings of system justification tendencies. Drawing on social-cognitive approaches to motivation, four experiments tested whether information processing instigated by exposure to system criticism exhibits properties consistent with goal-directed mechanisms. Experiments 1a and 1b demonstrated heightened accessibility of legitimacy-related concepts following exposure to system criticism (vs. control conditions). Experiment 2 revealed that the heightened accessibility of legitimacy-related concepts persisted only insofar as the strength of system justification motivation was high; once system justification motivation was fulfilled through an act of system affirmation, the accessibility of legitimacy-related concepts decreased. In Experiment 3, symbols of the system's legitimacy were automatically evaluated more favorably following system criticism (vs. control). Taken together, these studies reveal that system justification operates as a goal-directed mechani.
The impact of Social Networking 2.0 on organisations

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding of what electronic social networking encompasses. It also aims to educate IT, business decision makers, knowledge workers and librarians about the various applications, benefits and risks associated with social networking.Design/methodology/approach – After a literature review of the available resources (academic literature, journal articles, white papers, popular media and books) the benefits and perceived risks associated with electronic social networking on organisations are investigated.Findings – An individual's success in society depends on the shape and size of his/her social network and ability to network and form connections with other social groups. Organisations which can harness this innate human ability to manage knowledge will be able to lower transactions costs and become more profitable.Originality/value – The paper increases the understanding of what electronic social networking encompasses and how it can be utilised for.
Early Parenting Moderates the Association Between Parental Depression and Neural Reactivity to Rewards and Losses in Offspring

Children of parents with depression exhibit neural abnormalities in reward processing. Examining contributions of parenting could provide insight into the development of these abnormalities and the etiology of depression. We evaluated whether early parenting moderates the effects of parental depression on a neural measure of reward and loss processing in mid- to late childhood. Parenting was assessed when children were preschoolers. At age 9, children completed an event-related potential assessment, and the feedback negativity (FN) was measured following rewards and losses (N = 344). Maternal authoritative parenting moderated the effect of maternal depression; among offspring of mothers with histories of depression, low authoritative parenting predicted a blunted FN. Observed maternal positive parenting interacted with paternal depression in a comparable manner, indicating that maternal parenting may buffer the effects of paternal depression. Early parenting may be important in shaping the neural systems involved in reward processing among children at high risk for depression.
The Oppositional Imagination: Feminism, Critique, and Political Theory

Acknowledgments. Introduction: Things in Twos are Sometimes, but not Always, Dichotomies. Part 1: On Theory 1. Consciousness and Culture 2. Dominative Power 3. Criticism and Resistance 4. Theory's Practical Relation to the World 5. Theory's Contemplative Relation to the World Part 2: On Masculine/Feminine 6. Point and Counterpoint 7. Impositions and Evasions 8. Power, desire and the Meaning of the Body 9. A Regime Without a Master 10. Loyalists, Eccentrics, Critics, Traitors and Rebels. Conclusion: On Practice. Notes. Index.
Trellis-Coded Quantization Based on Maximum-Hamming-Distance Binary Codes

Most design approaches for trellis-coded quantization take advantage of the duality of trellis-coded quantization with trellis-coded modulation, and use the same empirically-found convolutional codes to label the trellis branches. This letter presents an alternative approach that instead takes advantage of maximum-Hamming-distance convolutional codes. The proposed source codes are shown to be competitive with the best in the literature for the same computational complexity.
Fetal Exposure to Low Levels of the Plasticizer DEHP Predisposes the Adult Male Adrenal Gland to Endocrine Disruption

In utero exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) may affect adult health. Di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) is an EDC widely used in the production of polyvinyl chloride products and an ubiquitous environmental contaminant. We used a rat model system to show that fetal exposure to DEHP decreased levels of major steroid hormones in adulthood and that environmentally-relevant levels of DEHP affected both gene expression and epigenomic loci that were affected by exposure to high levels. In the adrenal gland, we reported that the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) and cholesterol biosynthesis pathways were sensitive targets of DEHP. We hypothesized that low levels of DEHP exposure insult the endocrine system (a "first hit") and increase its susceptibility to later exposure ("second hit") and subsequent disease. Here, we demonstrate that a second hit in the adult offspring exposed in utero to low levels of DEHP affected serum aldosterone levels. To unveil the first hit influence of early DEHP exposure, we treated in utero DEHP-exposed adult offspring with stressors that targeted the PPAR or cholesterol biosynthesis pathways. Treatment with the PPAR-gamma antagonist T0070907 reduced serum aldosterone compared to animals not exposed to DEHP in utero. Analysis of gene expression in animals that were subjected to both early and late exposure revealed deregulation of genes for the potassium channel Kcnk5 and the retinoid-X receptors (RXR) Rxra and Rxrb, indicating that these entities are linked to endocrine disruption. We propose that early exposure to environmental doses of DEHP predisposes the animal for disease later in life.
Creativity in Adulthood and Old Age: Relations to Intelligence, Sex and Mode of Testing

A total of 150 well-educated subjects 46 young persons (25-35 yrs.), 54 middle-aged persons (45-55 yrs.) and 50 old persons (65-75 yrs.) participated in a study of creativity and age. Of these, 86 were men and 64 women. The results showed that there were age differences in creativity to the disadvantage of the old. A model based on the variables, reduced speed of information processing, a lower level of complexity and a decreased willingness to risk original solutions by age, are offered as explanations. Social factors such as educational goals and methods, as well as occupational and social roles, are further considered as modifiers of creative ability throughout life. The results further indicate that an informal way of testing was beneficial for all age groups. The men performed better than the women on the two creativity tests in which answers pertaining to technical creativity were generated. Age differences were also found in intelligence connected with logical reasoning, but not connected with verbal ability.
Inclusive Education Reform in Bangladesh: Pre-Service Teachers' Responses to Include Students with Special Educational Needs in Regular Classrooms.

Inclusive education (IE) has been recognized as a key strategy to ensure education for all in the developing world for the last two decades. As a developing country, Bangladesh is striving to address IE by undergoing various initiatives such as policy reform, awareness creation and teacher development. This paper based on a qualitative approach attempts to explore pre-service teachers’ responses to include students with special educational needs (SEN) in regular classrooms in primary schools. A one-on-one interview was conducted with 20 pre-service teachers who were enrolled in a teacher education program of one public university in Bangladesh. The findings revealed from the study indicate that majority of the preservice teachers have unfavourable attitudes to include students with SEN in regular classrooms. Misconception and lack of knowledge about disabilities are revealed from most of the pre-service teachers’ responses. Further large class size, high workloads, inflexible curriculum policy of primary education and inadequate experiential learning facilities of teacher education program are identified as barriers to IE reform. Several issues are discussed as implications in order to promote better inclusive practices in regular primary education.