Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Mood and the impact of category membership and individuating information

We investigated how individuals in different mood states are influenced by category membership information, by individuating information, and by the relation of the two in an impression formation task. Subjects in different mood states received positive or negative individuating information and positive or negative category information about a target person. Experiment 1 indicates that sad subjects were influenced by individuating but not by category membership information. In contrast, happy subjects' judgments reflected the implications of the category information as long as the individuating information was not inconsistent with the category, replicating previous research. This pattern was eliminated, however, when category-inconsistent information was provided, suggesting that happy subjects related the individuating information to the category membership information. Additional experiments show that instructing neutral mood subjects to relate category and individuating information or to focus on the individuating information result in patterns that parallel the judgments of happy and sad subjects, respectively, and that these effects are only obtained when the category information precedes (rather than follows) the individuating information. Extending previous theorizing, we conclude that being in a happy mood increases the likelihood that information is processed in the light of pre-existing general knowledge structures.
About Edible Restaurants: Conflicts between Syntax and Semantics as Revealed by ERPs

In order to investigate conflicts between semantics and syntax, we recorded ERPs, while participants read Dutch sentences. Sentences containing conflicts between syntax and semantics (Fred eats in a sandwich…/Fred eats a restaurant…) elicited an N400. These results show that conflicts between syntax and semantics not necessarily lead to P600 effects and are in line with the processing competition account. According to this parallel account the syntactic and semantic processing streams are fully interactive and information from one level can influence the processing at another level. The relative strength of the cues of the processing streams determines which level is affected most strongly by the conflict. The processing competition account maintains the distinction between the N400 as index for semantic processing and the P600 as index for structural processing.
Traumatic Brain Injury Research Since the 1998 NIH Consensus Conference: Accomplishments and Unmet Goals

In 1998, an NIH sponsored Consensus Conference on Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) Rehabilitation identified 30 different areas of needed research. A comprehensive review of recently generated research knowledge in the field of TBI has shown that a large number of Class III and IV evidence studies have been published, but relatively few of the more scientifically rigorous Class I or II studies. A rapid growth of publications on TBI rehabilitation has generated new knowledge in the epidemiology of TBI, the management of TBI and its secondary medical complications, rehabilitation of cognitive impairment, impact of TBI on community integration and quality of life, incidence of psychiatric dysfunction, and how caregivers and family members are affected. However, there is need to replicate many of these studies using more scientifically rigorous methodologies, while other areas of important TBI research remain largely unexplored.
The Timothy syndrome mutation of cardiac CaV1.2 (L‐type) channels: multiple altered gating mechanisms and pharmacological restoration of inactivation

Timothy syndrome (TS) is a multiorgan dysfunction caused by a Gly to Arg substitution at position 406 (G406R) of the human CaV1.2 (L‐type) channel. The TS phenotype includes severe arrhythmias that are thought to be triggered by impaired open‐state voltage‐dependent inactivation (OSvdI). The effect of the TS mutation on other L‐channel gating mechanisms has yet to be investigated. We compared kinetic properties of exogenously expressed (HEK293 cells) rabbit cardiac L‐channels with (G436R; corresponding to position 406 in human clone) and without (wild‐type) the TS mutation. Our results surprisingly show that the TS mutation did not affect close‐state voltage‐dependent inactivation, which suggests different gating mechanisms underlie these two types of voltage‐dependent inactivation. The TS mutation also significantly slowed activation at voltages less than 10 mV, and significantly slowed deactivation across all test voltages. Deactivation was slowed in the double mutant G436R/S439A, which suggests that phosphorylation of S439 was not involved. The L‐channel agonist Bay K8644 increased the magnitude of both step and tail currents, but surprisingly failed to slow deactivation of TS channels. Our mathematical model showed that slowed deactivation plus impaired OSvdI combine to synergistically increase cardiac action potential duration that is a likely cause of arrhythmias in TS patients. Roscovitine, a tri‐substituted purine that enhances L‐channel OSvdI, restored TS‐impaired OSvdI. Thus, inactivation‐enhancing drugs are likely to improve cardiac arrhythmias and other pathologies afflicting TS patients.
Oxidation of polychlorinated biphenyls by Pseudomonas sp. strain LB400 and Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes KF707

Biphenyl-grown cells and cell extracts prepared from biphenyl-grown cells of Pseudomonas sp. strain LB400 oxidize a much wider range of chlorinated biphenyls than do analogous preparations from Pseudomonas pseudoalcaligenes KF707. These results are attributed to differences in the substrate specificity of the biphenyl 2,3-dioxygenases from both organisms.
Predictive factors of unprotected sex for female sex workers: first study in French Guiana, the French territory with the highest HIV prevalence

French Guiana is the French territory that is most affected by HIV. AIDS incidence is much higher than in mainland France and sex work seems to be an important driver of the epidemic. The objective of this study was to describe consistent condom use among female sex workers with their clients and their intimate partners and to identify determinants of non-use of condoms. An HIV/AIDS Knowledge, Attitudes, Behaviours and Practices survey was conducted in 2009–2010 among sex workers in French Guiana. A total of 477 sex workers were interviewed. Female sex workers were more likely to use condoms with their clients (97%) than with their intimate partners (45%). The factors associated with non-consistent condom use with the intimate partner were having had an abortion, feeling at risk for HIV, not evaluating one’s own risk for HIV, living as a couple, being Dominican, and not feeling comfortable asking intimate partners to use condoms. Although a high proportion of female sex workers declared using condoms with commercial partners, there is still room for improvement in the prevention of transmission with both commercial and intimate partners.
Some notes on divorce in Iran.

Recent trends in divorce and the divorce rate in Iran from 1966 to 1983 are examined. The data are interpreted in terms of the legal and social changes that have occurred during the period. Using cross-sectional comparisons the author examines the effects of various sociodemographic variables on divorce and discusses consequences of divorce in the Iranian sociocultural system. (EXCERPT)
What are the Relations between Identity Styles and Adolescence's Academic Achievement? A Study of College Students at a Private University in China

ABSTRACT Identity formation is a dynamic and life long process, which is related with academic success or failure in university (Berzonsky and Kuk 2000). The present study investigated the relations between identity styles and academic achievement among high achievers, low achievers and underachieves in a Chinese setting. Measures of the Identity Style Inventory and the Advanced Progressive Matrices were administrated to a population of 552 Chinese university students, aged between 18 and 24. Their academic records of thirteen courses in at least two semesters were collected. MANOVA and one-way ANOVA tests indicated that low achievers utilized more informational style in learning than underachievers. However, high achievers, low achievers and underachievers could use informational, normative and diffuse styles in their learning. The findings in the study seemed to conclude that differences in identity styles are independent from students' academic performance and intelligence.
In Praise of Convergent Thinking

ABSTRACT: Free production of variability through unfettered divergent thinking holds out the seductive promise of effortless creativity but runs the risk of generating only quasicreativity or pseudocreativity if it is not adapted to reality. Therefore, creative thinking seems to involve 2 components: generation of novelty (via divergent thinking) and evaluation of the novelty (via convergent thinking). In the area of convergent thinking, knowledge is of particular importance: It is a source of ideas, suggests pathways to solutions, and provides criteria of effectiveness and novelty. The way in which the 2 kinds of thinking work together can be understood in terms of thinking styles or of phases in the generation of creative products. In practical situations, divergent thinking without convergent thinking can cause a variety of problems including reckless change. Nonetheless, care must be exercised by those who sing the praises of convergent thinking: Both too little and too much is bad for creativity.
Understanding the memory advantage of counterintuitive concepts

Abstract Previous work suggests that concepts that are only slightly counterintuitive are more memorable than concepts that are intuitive or overly counterintuitive (Boyer, 1994; Boyer & Ramble, 2001), although causes for this memory advantage have been debated (Barrett, 2008; Upal, 2009). We conducted four experiments to better understand the cognitive processes that underlie memory for counterintuitive concepts by recording both reading time and recall of intuitive and counterintuitive statements. Experiments 1 and 2 suggested that additional time spent processing material facilitates memory performance, even if that material is intuitive. However, the results from Experiments 3 and 4 indicate that time alone does not account for the memory advantage previously observed. The implications of the results are discussed.
Profiles of Public Service-Motivated Civil Servants: Evidence from a Multicultural Country

This study analyses if and to what extent culture, associational membership, social trust, civic participation, and political ideology explain the PSM level of civil servants. On the basis of a representative sample of 3,754 municipal employees from the German- (79 percent) and the French-speaking (21 percent) parts of Switzerland, this study offers three striking pieces of empirical evidence. First, the social profile of the respondents is different for each PSM dimension: “Attraction to politics and policymaking” is mostly influenced by political participation and sympathy for political parties; “Commitment to the public interest ” by culture and social trust; “Compassion” by clear-cut political positioning; and “Self-Sacrifice ” by volunteering and religiosity. Second, socio-political variables add an important contribution to the explanation of the first three dimensions. And third, cultural belonging has an important effect on the level of PSM.
Realtime Video Classification using Dense HOF/HOG

The current state-of-the-art in Video Classification is based on Bag-of-Words using local visual descriptors. Most commonly these are Histogram of Oriented Gradient (HOG) and Histogram of Optical Flow (HOF) descriptors. While such system is very powerful for classification, it is also computationally expensive. This paper addresses the problem of computational efficiency. Specifically: (1) We propose several speed-ups for densely sampled HOG and HOF descriptors and release Matlab code. (2) We investigate the trade-off between accuracy and computational efficiency of descriptors in terms of frame sampling rate and type of Optical Flow method. (3) We investigate the trade-off between accuracy and computational efficiency for the video representation, using either a k-means or hierarchical k-means based visual vocabulary, a Random Forest based vocabulary or the Fisher kernel.
Protein kinase C is an important signaling mediator associated with motility of intact sea urchin spermatozoa

SUMMARY Numerous kinases and phosphatases are most likely implicated in sperm motility initiation and maintenance. Data on these signaling molecules were mostly obtained from studies conducted on in vitro demembranated–reactivated sperm models but are not necessarily representative of the in vivo situation. We therefore investigated the effect of a variety of cell-permeable chemicals, mostly kinase inhibitors, on the motility initiation and maintenance of intact sea urchin spermatozoa. Among the 20 substances tested, the protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor chelerythrine was the most potent, arresting motility at concentrations starting from 1.5–2 μmol l–1. Motility was also inhibited by two other PKC inhibitors as well as staurosporine. Furthermore, these inhibitors prevented the motility-associated increase in phosphorylation of at least four PKC substrates. These phospho-PKC target proteins, as assessed with an antibody specific to phosphorylated motifs of PKC substrates, were found to be associated with the flagellum, either in the Triton X-100 soluble portion or the axoneme (Triton X-100 insoluble). A phosphorylated PKC-like enzyme was also detected by immunoblotting in the flagellum, as well as a significant 50 kDa PKC cleavage product. Taken together, the data strongly indicate for the first time that, in vivo, which means on intact spermatozoa, PKC is a key signaling mediator associated with the maintenance of sea urchin sperm motility.
Guilt and penance: Prospective and retrospective voting in 2002

The 2002 Dutch election campaign - that at first glance seemed to be an extraordinary campaign due to the rise and assassination of Pim Fortuyn - provides an interesting case to answer the questions to what extent and in which way issues play a role in the considerations of voters to choose for a particular party. A representative panel survey study was used to tap prospective issue considerations and retrospective issue considerations of voters. In this study the dynamics of issue considerations will be assessed using a comparison of the impact of prospective and retrospective considerations on the vote intention early on in the campaign and their impact on the actual voting behavior on Election Day. Although a possible shift from prospective to retrospective issue considerations lies in the mind of voters, the basis of such a shift may be a change in media content during a campaign. A content analysis of the news provides the background for the interpretations of the results. Logistic regression analysis was used to assess the dependence of the party preference on prospective and retrospective issue considerations for each of the major parties in the Netherlands. Our findings suggest that issues, even in this campaign, played an important role in the decision-making process of voters. Furthermore, we find that a news wave on societal and economic conditions may cause a shift from prospective to retrospective considerations
Intention to Migrate: A Psychological Analysis1

A sample of 102 male East Indians intending to immigrate to Canada was compared on several personality and nonpersonality variables with a matched sample of 114 Indians who planned to remain in India. A mail questionnaire procedure was used. Discriminant analyses indicated that personality factors alone accounted for 27% of the variance and that inclusion of nonpersonality factors raised this to 38%. The most important variables separating the groups are occupational satisfaction, sensation seeking, interest in world news, and a locus-of-control component. The findings indicate the sizeable role of personality factors in the decision to migrate and illustrate the utility of a multifaceted approach in understanding complex phenomena such as migration.
Distributed massive MIMO in cellular networks: Impact of imperfect hardware and number of oscillators

Distributed massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) combines the array gain of coherent MIMO processing with the proximity gains of distributed antenna setups. In this paper, we analyze how transceiver hardware impairments affect the downlink with maximum ratio transmission. We derive closed-form spectral efficiencies expressions and study their asymptotic behavior as the number of the antennas increases. We prove a scaling law on the hardware quality, which reveals that massive MIMO is resilient to additive distortions, while multiplicative phase noise is a limiting factor. It is also better to have separate oscillators at each antenna than one per BS.
Children of Mexican Immigrants’ Aspiration-Attainment Gap and Educational Resilience

This article examines the aspiration-attainment gap and educational resilience among children of Mexican immigrants in the midst of the post-1965 U.S. demographic transformation. Two widespread theoretical explanations are used to understand the educational disparities faced by this subpopulation: the cultural argument, which emphasizes their family process and value orientation, and the structural model, which stresses the roles of the family’s socioeconomic status and structural assimilation in mainstream society. Overall, both theoretical orientations were partially supported. Protective determinants and risk factors that foster or impede educational attainment are enumerated. Relevant practice implications are also discussed.
Student Engagement at Two-Year Institutions: Age and Generational Status Differences

For students to be successful in either two-year or four-year colleges, they need to be engaged in their college experiences. In this investigation, we analyzed data, over 40,000 cases obtained from the Community College Survey of Student Engagement, concerning student engagement as it was related with student age and with student generational status. Statistically significant differences were found in the self-reported student engagement of these first-year community college students among different age categories and between first-generation and nonfirst-generation college students. Demographic characteristics play a factor in engagement, both in educationally purposeful activities and in quality of relationships, for first-year students at community colleges in Texas. Recommendations include the need for educational leaders and policymakers to consider that engagement efforts should not follow a one-size-fits-all model.
Giving Teachers a Voice: Teachers' Perspectives Regarding Elementary Inclusive School Programs (ISP)

Research addressing the attitudes, beliefs, and understandings regarding inclusion of teachers who currently teach in inclusive settings is notably lacking in the professional literature. This investigation addressed this topic, as 46 teacbers who were teaching in inclusive settings were interviewed regarding the academic achievement, social relationships, and classroom behavior of students with mild disabilities (learning disabilities, mild mental retardation, and emotional/behavior disorders) who were being educated in these settings. Results indicated that these teachers perceived that students were benefiting from placement in inclusive programs both academically and socially, especially when compared to former separate class placements. In addition, teachers stated that fewer students with disabilities manifested classroom behavior problems than they initially anticipated. The implications of these results for future research and practice are discussed.
Towards a moderated mediation model of innovative work behaviour enhancement

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate a moderated mediation model of innovative work behaviour enhancement. Perceived firm (organizational and market) performance was assumed to moderate the relationships between leader-member exchange (LMX) and organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB), on the one hand, and employability, on the other hand. In a preciously validated human resources management (HRM) model, employability appeared to be a full mediator in the relationship between LMX and OCB, and innovative work behaviour, being the outcome measure. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from a sample of 487 pairs of employees and their immediate supervisors working in 151 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to confirm the factor structure of the baseline model variables, including LMX, OCB, employability, and innovative work behaviour. The moderating effect of firm performance was tested using multi-group SEM. Findings – Results indicated that firm performance had a substantial influence on the baseline model's relationships. More specifically, firm performance appeared to moderate partially a mediation model wherein LMX was assumed to be associated with innovative work behaviour, through employability, being the mediator. Moreover, firm performance also appeared to moderate conclusively a model with employability as a mediator in the relationship between OCB and innovative work behaviour. Originality/value – To the best of our knowledge, this is the very first study that investigates a mediation model of innovative work behaviour enhancement moderated by firm performance. It appears that high- vs low-performance firms present very different organizational environments for an employee to work in. Obviously, these situational factors affect workers’ employability. This study adds particular knowledge to the scholarly literature in this field since not much is known about the science and practice of HRM within SMEs.
Antibacterial Activities of Crude Leaf and Bark Extracts of “ Icheku ” Dialium guineense on Bacterial Isolates from Bronchitis Patients

The antibacterial activities of aqueous and ethanolic leaf and bark extracts of Dialium guineense were evaluated against clinical isolates of Klebsiella pneumoniae and Staphylococcus aureus using agar well diffusion technique. The photochemical analysis of Dialium guineense extracts were also carried out. The results showed that the extracts at varying concentrations, exerted antibacterial activities on the test organisms. The highest inhibition diameter (18 mm) at 0.8g/ml was recorded for cold water leaf extracts against Staphylococcus aureus and ethanol extracts inhibited the growth of the bacterial isolates in concentration dependent manner with minimum inhibitory concentration dependent manner with minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) at 0.2 g/ml. The result of the physicochemical analysis showed the presence of flavonoids, alkaloids, tannin and saponin. These results suggest further exploitation of this material to possibly unveil its potential use for the treatment of diseases caused by the test organisms.
Counting the onion

Iteratively computing and discarding a set of convex hulls creates a structure known as an “onion. ” In this paper, we show that the expected number of layers of a convex hull onion for n uniformly and independently distributed points in a disk is Θ(n2/3). Additionally, we show that in general the bound is Θ(n2/(d+1)) for points distributed in a d‐dimensional ball. Further, we show that this bound holds more generally for any fixed, bounded, full‐dimensional shape with a nonempty interior. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg. , 2004