Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Microbial Diversity Indexes Can Explain Soil Carbon Dynamics as a Function of Carbon Source

Mathematical models do not explicitly represent the influence of soil microbial diversity on soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics despite recent evidence of relationships between them. The objective of the present study was to statistically investigate relationships between bacterial and fungal diversity indexes (richness, evenness, Shannon index, inverse Simpson index) and decomposition of different pools of soil organic carbon by measuring dynamics of CO2 emissions under controlled conditions. To this end, 20 soils from two different land uses (cropland and grassland) were incubated with or without incorporation of 13C-labelled wheat-straw residue. 13C-labelling allowed us to study residue mineralisation, basal respiration and the priming effect independently. An innovative data-mining approach was applied, based on generalized additive models and a predictive criterion. Results showed that microbial diversity indexes can be good covariates to integrate in SOC dynamics models, depending on the C source and the processes considered (native soil organic carbon vs. fresh wheat residue). Specifically, microbial diversity indexes were good candidates to help explain mineralisation of native soil organic carbon, while priming effect processes seemed to be explained much more by microbial composition, and no microbial diversity indexes were found associated with residue mineralisation. Investigation of relationships between diversity and mineralisation showed that higher diversity, as measured by the microbial diversity indexes, seemed to be related to decreased CO2 emissions in the control soil. We suggest that this relationship can be explained by an increase in carbon yield assimilation as microbial diversity increases. Thus, the parameter for carbon yield assimilation in mathematical models could be calculated as a function of microbial diversity indexes. Nonetheless, given limitations of the methods used, these observations should be considered with caution and confirmed with more experimental studies. Overall, along with other studies on relationships between microbial community composition and SOM dynamics, this study suggests that overall measures of microbial diversity may constitute relevant ways to include microbial diversity in models of SOM dynamics.
Does Interdisciplinarity Promote Learning? Theoretical Support and Researchable Questions

Despite widespread support for interdisciplinary curricula, there is little evidence that such courses are particularly efficacious or that they are superior to disciplinary courses in promoting student learning. To understand how and why interdisciplinary courses might promote specific learning outcomes, the authors apply cognitive and learning theories in an analysis of two undergraduate interdisciplinary courses. This exploration of theoretical warrants for interdisciplinarity leads to a proposed research agenda on interdisciplinary curricula, teaching, and learning.
Strategic E-Tourism Alternatives for Destinations Marı́a

Destinations face the already well known problem of a proper positioning in the electronic market place. This includes, besides other issues, mainly the problem of a sustainable business model and booking support. In this paper the Austrian case is described, which is somehow special since Austria was once a leader in e-tourism, both w.r. t. to academic as well to industrial achievements. However, this has changed over the last years. This change was also recognized by major stakeholders, leading to a study to (a) analyse the current situation, and (b) to identify strategic alternatives as future options. These strategic alternatives were based on the results of a status quo analysis of the national and international e-tourism situation, including a website analysis of national and international tourism organisations, interviews with representatives of Austrian organisations and an analysis of IT trends relevant to the tourism industry. The paper describes the results of these analyses, specifies the problem and, finally, presents the identified alternatives. Regarding the latter, the focus is on the description of a so-called “open service platform”, which contains means to support cooperation, online distribution, innovation as well as research.
Evaluation of Mediterranean Agricultural Residues as a Potential Feedstock for the Production of Biogas via Anaerobic Fermentation

Hydrothermal, dilute acid, and steam explosion pretreatment methods, were evaluated for their efficiency to improve the methane production yield of three Mediterranean agricultural lignocellulosic residues such as olive tree pruning, grapevine pruning, and almond shells. Hydrothermal and dilute acid pretreatments provided low to moderate increase in the digestibility of the biomass samples, whereas steam explosion enabled the highest methane yields to be achieved for almond shells at 232.2 ± 13.0 mL CH4/gVS and olive pruning at 315.4 ± 0.0 mL CH4/gVS. Introduction of an enzymatic prehydrolysis step moderately improved methane yields for hydrothermal and dilute acid pretreated samples but not for the steam exploded ones.
Ethnic Diversity and Family Stories

Family stories have received increased attention in multiple disciplines during the last 2 decades. However, research examining family story differences among ethnically diverse families has been limited. Using a case study method, this study investigated the differences in family stories among three families of different ethnicities: European American, Mexican American, and African American. The research focused on the functions of family stories. Further, the article analyzes the differences among these families that may affect the functions of their stories. Several functions of family stories were evident in all families, including entertaining, inspiring, reminiscing, and teaching. Some differences in functions were found among families of different ethnicities. The findings are discussed and examined in terms of ethnicity.
The Oppositional Nature of Civil Rights Discourse: Co-Cultural Communicative Practices That Speak Truth to Power

This study explores the civil rights discourse of over 375 research participants who engaged in public dialogues concerning a variety of civil rights issues (employment, education, transportation, fair-housing practices, etc.). Specifically, co-cultural communication theory (Orbe, 1998a) is used to analyze civil rights discourse collected across four different Michigan communities. Our analysis finds that participants primarily utilize the co-cultural practices associated with assertive assimilation, assertive accommodation, and aggressive accommodation communication orientations. Given this analysis, we argue that co-cultural theory provides a useful framework for understanding (oppositional) discourse pertaining to civil rights issues in theory as well as in practice.
Conceptualizing personality disorders from a general model of personality functioning: antisocial personality disorder and the five‐factor model

Research suggests that personality disorders (PDs) can be conceptualized as constellations of traits from a general model of personality functioning. This research examined the ability of the five-factor model (FFM) to conceptualize antisocial PD (APD). Participants consisted of 481 21 to 22-year-old men and women who were part of the Lexington Longitudinal Study. APD was assessed by the degree of resemblance to an expert-generated APD FFM prototype, using the FFM count approach, and through the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS). FFM APD was related to childhood delinquency, substance use, aggression, risky sexual behaviour, externalizing disorder symptoms, psychopathy, education and employment. The profile of these relations was very similar in shape and magnitude to results obtained using the DIS. There was also a high degree of predictive overlap between the assessments. Results were not due to personality pathology generally. These results offer support for the FFM understanding of the PDs more generally, and APD specifically. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Uncertainty and Decision Making for Residents with Dementia

Uncertainty is a significant barrier confronting surrogate decision makers (SDMs) who make treatment decisions for nursing home (NH) residents with dementia. The study purpose is to describe uncertainty among SDMs of NH residents with dementia and to identify factors associated with greater Uncertainty. We employed a nonexperimental, cross-sectional design using mailed survey and recruited 155 SDM participants from eight NHs in New England. The survey contained the Mishel Uncertainty in Illness Scale For Family Members. Independent variables included resident and SDM sociodemographic characteristics, Advance Directives, Credible Authority, Social Support, and Perceived Self-Efficacy for Surrogate Decision Making. Results of a simultaneous multiple regression analysis identified Perceived Self-Efficacy, Social Support, and Close Relative explained 22% of the Uncertainty variance. These findings suggest that close family relatives who serve as SDMs for NH residents with dementia may benefit from increasing social support and enhancing SDMs’ self-efficacy for decision making.
A Sense of 'Unrealness' about the Death of a Loved-One: An Exploratory Study of its Role in Emotional Complications among Bereaved Individuals

After a loss, some people develop complicated grief (CG) and depression. A recent cognitive-behavioural model postulates that three processes account for such problems: (a) lack of integration of the loss with implicit autobiographical knowledge about the relationship with the lost person, (b) negative cognitions and (c) avoidance behaviours. In the current study, it was proposed that the 'lack of integration of the loss' is mainly an implicit process, but has an explicit, introspectively accessible counterpart in the form of 'a sense of unrealness' that can be defined as a subjective sense of uncertainty or ambivalence about the irreversibility of the separation. The role of this 'sense of unrealness' was studied using self-reported data from 397 mourners. Among other things, findings showed that items constituting unrealness were distinct from those of CG and depression. In addition, unrealness was significantly associated with CG, when controlling for negative cognitions, avoidance and concomitant depression. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Language: en
Friends of an enemy: identifying local members of peer-to-peer botnets using mutual contacts

In this work we show that once a single peer-to-peer (P2P) bot is detected in a network, it may be possible to efficiently identify other members of the same botnet in the same network even before they exhibit any overtly malicious behavior. Detection is based on an analysis of connections made by the hosts in the network. It turns out that if bots select their peers randomly and independently (i.e. unstructured topology), any given pair of P2P bots in a network communicate with at least one mutual peer outside the network with a surprisingly high probability. This, along with the low probability of any other host communicating with this mutual peer, allows us to link local nodes within a P2P botnet together. We propose a simple method to identify potential members of an unstructured P2P botnet in a network starting from a known peer. We formulate the problem as a graph problem and mathematically analyze a solution using an iterative algorithm. The proposed scheme is simple and requires only flow records captured at network borders. We analyze the efficacy of the proposed scheme using real botnet data, including data obtained from both observing and crawling the Nugache botnet.
Identification of three immunodominant motifs with atypical isotype profile scattered over the Onchocerca volvulus proteome

Understanding the immune response upon infection with the filarial nematode Onchocerca volvulus and the mechanisms that evolved in this parasite to evade immune mediated elimination is essential to expand the toolbox available for diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines development. Using high-density peptide microarrays we scanned the proteome-wide linear epitope repertoire in Cameroonian onchocerciasis patients and healthy controls from Southern Africa which led to the identification of 249 immunodominant antigenic peptides. Motif analysis learned that 3 immunodominant motifs, encompassing 3 linear epitopes, are present in 70, 43, and 31 of these peptides, respectively and appear to be scattered over the entire proteome in seemingly non-related proteins. These linear epitopes are shown to have an atypical isotype profile dominated by IgG1, IgG3, IgE and IgM, in contrast to the commonly observed IgG4 response in chronic active helminth infections. The identification of these linear epitope motifs may lead to novel diagnostic development but further evaluation of cross-reactivity against common co-infecting human nematode infections will be needed.
Child Maltreatment and Adjustment to Juvenile Correctional Institutions

A longitudinal sample of 509 juveniles confined to 48 correctional facilities in 20 states was assessed to examine the relationship between experiencing child maltreatment and anxiety and depression. Child maltreatment was operationalized to include exposure and frequency of physical and sexual abuse, witnessing family violence, and neglect by primary caregivers. The analysis indicated that incarcerated youth who experienced greater levels of child maltreatment had higher levels of both anxiety and depression, holding other individual- and institutional-related factors constant. In addition, greater levels of maltreatment were associated with increased depression over time. The results provide empirical evidence that child maltreatment should be assessed when treating issues related to psychological adjustment within juvenile correctional environments.
Strengthening Methods for Assessing Students’ Metahistorical Conceptions: Initial Development of the Historical Account Differences Survey

To prepare students for participation in a pluralistic, democratic society, history curriculum should help them develop mature ideas about why multiple accounts of the same events exist. But how can we know if we are successful? In this article, we describe work on the design, validation, and piloting of a paper-and-pencil instrument called the Historical Account Differences (HAD) survey. It is intended to add to the tool set that researchers and practitioners can use to evaluate students’ developing metahistorical conceptions. Data are presented from a pilot involving sixty-five eleventh-grade students. One group completed the survey once, whereas the other completed it prior to and after a curriculum unit designed to enhance their conceptions about multiple accounts of past events. Initially, the two groups’ responses were not detectably different. However, students completing the two-week curriculum unit showed an increase in mature conceptions. The limitations of this work and plans for future research are discussed.
Political participation and parliamentary careers: Women's quotas in West Germany

Drawing on a survey of women candidates and parliamentary handbooks, this article examines the effects of women's quotas in West German political parties. Since the mid‐1980s, the number of women members in Land parliaments and in the Bundestag increased sharply, in particular for the SPD and Greens. In the CDU and SPD, women require a track‐record of office‐holding before their nomination, while the party organisation carries little weight in FDP and Greens. CDU and FDP women tend to link political success to personality while women in the SPD and Greens look for an end to a male‐dominated party culture. The focus on women appears to favour the academically qualified, especially in the Greens and in the SPD.
A Comparison of Empathy for Humans and Empathy for Animals

ABSTRACT Although there is a substantial body of research on inter-human empathy and inter-animal empathy, there is a dearth of research comparing humans' empathic reactions to humans and animals. To address this issue, three experiments were conducted in which participants read a scenario about a human or animal abuse victim in need of medical attention, and indicated the degree of empathy they had on an emotional response scale. In Experiment 1, women had significantly more empathy for animals than for humans, whereas men tended to express more empathy for humans than for animals. In Experiment 2, adult women expressed the same degree of empathy for a child as for a puppy. Similarly, in Experiment 3, adult men and women expressed the same degree of empathy for a baby as for a puppy. Overall, results indicated that people feel at least as much empathy for animals as for humans. We suggest that an animal target elicits a great deal of empathy partly because it is perceived as not being responsible for having caused the need situation. Future research will show whether empathy for animals translates to prosocial behavior toward them as well.
Comparison of Offenders with Early- and Late-Starting Antisocial Behavior in Colombia

A sample of 223 detained offenders in five cities in Colombia, South America, were divided according to childhood or adolescent onset of antisocial behavior and compared on type of offense, characteristics of family of origin, and personal history. No significant differences were found as to type of offense committed between these two groups, but individuals with childhood onset of antisocial behavior were more likely to report multiple problem behavior at all ages, family antecedents of delinquency and alcohol abuse, greater exposure to family life changes, psychological abuse, severe childhood punishments, and lower self-esteem and sense of coherence as compared to individuals first manifesting antisocial behavior after adolescence. These differences were independent of mother’s level of education, head of the household’s occupational level, and family size. The results add evidence from a different social and cultural context as to the heterogeneity among offenders related to the age of onset of antisocial behavior.
Less Aggressive Surgical Procedure for Treatment of Solid Pseudopapillary Tumor: Limited Experience from a Single Institute

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the clinical characteristics and radiological features of solid pseudopapillary tumor (SPT) and assess surgical therapy strategy. METHODS A retrospective review was performed in 62 patients pathologically confirmed of SPT treated between 2003 and 2014. The clinical features, radiological examinations and surgical strategies were analyzed. RESULTS 56 females and 6 males were included in this study, mean age was 26 years old (range: 8-66 years old) with mean size of the tumor was 7.2 cm (range: 3-15 cm), and most tumor were commonly located in the head of pancreas (n = 29). Among all the cases, 3 patients had liver metastasis and underwent resection of SPT and liver metastasis. Furthermore, we performed 29 cases of local tumor excision; other patients underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy, middle pancreatectomy, middle pancreatectomy with splenectomy, distal pancreatectomy with spleen preservation, distal pancreatectomy with splenectomy and duodenum-preserving pancreatic head resection. No patient suffered from lymph node metastases. After median follow-up of 46 months (range: 2-135 months), no mortality or local recurrence or distant metastasis was found. CONCLUSIONS Solid pseudopapillary tumor is a latent malignant tumor with excellent prognosis. If feasible, less aggressive resection without regular lymphadenectomy is recommended for treatment of patients with SPT.
A Flexible and Robust Large Scale Capacitive Tactile System for Robots

Capacitive technology allows building sensors that are small, compact and have high sensitivity. For this reason it has been widely adopted in robotics. In a previous work we presented a compliant skin system based on capacitive technology consisting of triangular modules interconnected to form a system of sensors that can be deployed on non-flat surfaces. This solution has been successfully adopted to cover various humanoid robots. The main limitation of this and all the approaches based on capacitive technology is that they require to embed a deformable dielectric layer (usually made using an elastomer) covered by a conductive layer. This complicates the production process considerably, introduces hysteresis and limits the durability of the sensors due to ageing and mechanical stress. In this paper we describe a novel solution in which the dielectric is made using a thin layer of 3D fabric which is glued to conductive and protective layers using techniques adopted in the clothing industry. As such, the sensor is easier to produce and has better mechanical properties. Furthermore, the sensor proposed in this paper embeds transducers for thermal compensation of the pressure measurements. We report experimental analysis that demonstrates that the sensor has good properties in terms of sensitivity and resolution. Remarkably we show that the sensor has very low hysteresis and effectively allows compensating drifts due to temperature variations.
Language non-selective syntactic activation in early bilinguals: the role of verbal fluency

Numerous studies have shown that bilinguals presented with words in one of their languages spontaneously and automatically activate lexical representations from their other language. However, such effects, found in varied experimental contexts, both in behavioural and psychophysiological investigations, have been essentially limited to the lexical-semantic domain. Using brain potentials in a mental decision task in early highly proficient Welsh–English bilinguals and English monolingual controls, a recent study suggests that language non-selective effects exist in the domain of syntax. In this paper, we test whether syntactic access in bilinguals is affected by relative language abilities, as indexed by verbal fluency measures in the bilingual's two languages. Results reveal that non-selective syntax in English sentence comprehension is limited to bilinguals with higher Welsh verbal fluency. This result suggests for the first time directionality in cross-language syntactic activation in early bilinguals.
High-level simulation of substrate noise generation including power supply noise coupling

Substrate noise caused by large digital circuits will degrade the performance of analog circuits located on the same substrate. To simulate this performance degradation, the total amount of generated substrate noise must be known. Simulating substrate noise generated by large digital circuits is however not feasible with existing circuit simulators and detailed substrate models due to the long simulation times and high memory requirements. We have developed a methodology to simulate this substrate noise generation at a higher level. Not only does this methodology take noise coupling from switching gates into account, but also noise coupling from the power supply is included. This paper describes this simulation methodology. In the paper it is shown that the high-level simulations correspond very well with SPICE simulations and that a large gain in simulation speed is obtained. This high-level simulation methodology makes it possible to predict substrate noise generation of large digital circuits in a very efficient way, early in the design flow of mixed-signal ASICs.