Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Weigh the pros and cons to ovarian reserve before stripping ovarian endometriomas prior to IVF/ICSI: A meta-analysis

PURPOSE To explore the effects of conservative surgery for endometriomas on ovarian responsiveness during assisted reproductive technology (ART) and provide reproductive and gynecological doctors with a more reliable reference program for the treatment of endometriomas. METHODS A literature search was performed by searching the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and Science Direct databases. Studies with inter- and intra-patient comparisons of ovarian responses and oocyte quality between operated and unoperated ovaries and that met the inclusion criteria were retrieved, and the data from the outcome measures were extracted and pooled for this meta-analysis. RESULTS Twenty-one published studies (2649 ART cycles) were included. The total amount of gonadotropin (Gn) used (inverse variance (IV):0.48; 95% confidence interval (CI): [0.13, 1.82], P = 0.0007) was significantly increased in the women with endometriomas who had a history of cystectomy. The estrogen (E) level on the day of hCG administration (IV: -0.29; 95% CI: [-0.41, -0.17], P<0.00001), the number of mature or dominant follicles (IV: -1.17; 95% CI: [-1.51, -0.82], P<0.00001) and the total number of oocytes retrieved (IV: -1.78; 95% CI: [-2.38, -1.17], P<0.00001) were significantly decreased in the women with endometriomas who had a history of cystectomy. The duration of stimulation (IV: 0.02; 95% CI: [-0.09, 0.13], P = 0.77), the total number of formed embryos (IV: -0.06; 95% CI: [-0.17, 0.04], P = 0.25), the pregnancy rate(IV:0.98;95%CI[0.82,1.18], P = 0.83) and the live birth rate(IV:0.93;95%CI[0.70,1.23], P = 0.61)were not statistically different between the two groups. Similar intra-patient results were found in the number of mature or dominant follicles (IV: -0.88; 95% CI: [-1.25, -0.52], P<0.00001) and the total number of oocytes retrieved (IV: -3.48; 95% CI: [-4.77, -2.19], P<0.00001). CONCLUSION ART might be a better therapeutic method for ovarian endometrioma-related infertility than cystectomy.
All Aboard: ERP Implementation as Participatory Design

Following a previous description of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementations as participatory design (Pries-Heje & Dittrich, 2009), this paper explores the case of a medium-sized, family-owned manufacturing company and their endeavors with changing their current ERP system. The case was selected on the premise of it being perceived a success by the involved stakeholders. Through a series of interviews and analysis of secondary material, the case covers the period between 1995 and 2010. As the results show, several instances of user involvement and participation can be found throughout the case. According to the respondents, this is seen as one of the central elements of the success. This is discussed in relation to previous findings and a call for future research into ERP implementation is presented.
Impact of an educational development programme on teaching practice of academics at a research‐intensive university

Evidence of the impact of educational development (ED) programmes on faculty is often not gathered beyond ascertaining the immediate reactions of participants. This paper reports the results of a study to determine what level of impact an ED programme at a university has had on academics' teaching practice over time. Kirkpatrick's framework provided a useful approach to conceptualise how to examine critically the impact of ED efforts. A series of semi‐structured interviews with 14 programme participants and a subsequent questionnaire survey of 248 participants were undertaken. The programme resulted in high‐level impact when rated according to Kirkpatrick's framework, including changes to individual behaviour and organisational practice, benefits to academics and perceived benefits to their students. Change was reported up to seven years after participation. These results emphasise the role that a well‐designed ED programme can play in enhancing the quality of teaching and assessment practice at a research‐intensive university. Bepaling van die impak van onderrigontwikkelingsprogramme op dosente word dikwels beperk tot die verkryging van die onmiddellike reaksies van deelnemers eerder as meer omvangryke bewyse. Hierdie artikel rapporteer die resultate van 'n studie wat dit ten doel gehad het om die vlak van impak van 'n onderrigontwikkelingsprogram by 'n universiteit op die onderrigpraktyke van akademici, oor 'n tyd heen, vas te stel. Kirkpatrick se raamwerk het 'n nuttige benadering verskaf vir die konseptualisering van 'n kritiese ondersoek na die impak van onderrigontwikkelingsaksies. 'n Reeks semi‐gestruktureerde onderhoude met 14 programdeelnemers en 'n daaropvolgende vraelysopname van 248 deelnemers is onderneem. Gemeet teen Kirkpatrick se raamwerk, het die program tot hoëvlak impak aanleiding gegee, insluitend veranderinge in individuele optrede, organisatoriese praktyk, voordele vir akademici en oënskynlike voordele vir hulle studente. Veranderinge is tot sewe jaar na deelname gerapporteer. Hierdie resultate beklemtoon die rol wat 'n weldeurdagte onderrigontwikkelingsprogram in die bevordering van onderrig‐ en assesseringspraktyk by 'n navorsingsintensiewe universiteit, kan speel.
FIRE FIGHTERS' COGNITIVE APPRAISALS OF JOB CONCERNS, THREATS TO WELL-BEING, AND SOCIAL SUPPORT BEFORE AND AFTER THE TERRORIST ATTACKS ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

This investigation analyzed fire fighters' cognitive appraisals of job concerns, threats to personal well-being, and social support in two different temporal and trauma exposure contexts: day-to-day exposures to emergency calls 6 months prior to September 11, 2001, and vicarious exposure to the terrorist attacks 1 week following 9/11. The 73 participants provided data as part of an ongoing longitudinal, prospective study. The results showed significant differences between the two time periods on 6 of 10 variables examined (all p values < .05). That is, vicarious exposure to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 resulted in increased job concerns and personal threats to well-being when compared with direct exposure to day-to-day responses to emergency trauma. The most significant differences were on measures of personal competence and personal concerns about duty-related injury, disability, or death. Similarly, 5 of the 10 study variables were significantly correlated with trauma symptoms prior to the terrorist attacks, and 6 of the 10 variables were significantly correlated with trauma symptoms 1 week after the attacks. Implications of these findings are discussed.
To go or not to go: inhibitory control in ‘hard to manage’ children

This study is an age-7 follow-up of 40 children who at age 4 were identified as ‘hard to manage’ and were compared to 40 age and sex matched typically developing peers on a set of simple, manually administered executive function tasks. At age 4, the ‘hard to manage’ group showed marked deficits in inhibitory control and planning, but showed intact set-shifting and working memory (Hughes et al., 1998). The present study assessed the continuity of executive function deficits among these ‘hard to manage’ children, using computerized tests of planning, working memory and set-shifting (from the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB)) and a computerized Go-No-Go test of inhibitory control (from the Maudsley Attention and Response Suppression task battery (MARS)). In addition, real-time observational ratings were made via a questionnaire checklist. Compared with controls, children in the ‘hard to manage’ group showed impaired inhibitory control but intact planning, working memory and set-shifting. Observational ratings confirmed the group difference in inhibitory control, as the ‘hard to manage’ group showed significantly more perseverative errors and rule violations. These findings raise important methodological issues concerning effects of task format and highlight the importance of combining experimental and observational approaches to assessing problems in executive control. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Case study research and network theory: birds of a feather

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to advocate that case study research needs to renew itself and employ its full potential as an innovative theory‐generating methodology in management disciplines; and to propose that a viable strategy for such renewal is to exploit the power of case study research and network theory as supplementary methodologies.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a reflective and synthesising comparative study.Findings – If one steps down from the tip of the iceberg and inspects the underwater properties of case study research and network theory a common core is found: the recognition of complexity. The methodologies supplement each other, case study research primarily using verbal language and qualitative data, while network theory uses a nodes‐and‐links language that opens up for verbal, graphic and mathematical treatment. Case study research is primarily associated with qualitative research in social sciences and network theory with quantitative research in both social an.
The Attractiveness of Average Faces is not a Generalized Mere Exposure Effect

Abstract Averaged composite faces, created by blending sets of faces, are surprisingly attractive. Here we consider whether a generalized mere exposure effect contributes to their appeal. Specifically, we tested whether positive affect associated with previously seen faces (the mere exposure effect) generalizes to the averaged composite of those faces. To maximize the likelihood of generalization, two six–face sets were created for each of four distinct facial types (male and female, Japanese and Caucasian), each with high within–set similarity and low between–set similarity. Caucasian adults viewed one set of each face type and then rated the attractiveness of individual faces, two–face composites, and six–face composites. Seen faces were rated as significantly more attractive than unseen faces, but this exposure effect did not generalize to averaged composites of the seen faces. We conclude that the appeal of average faces is not a generalized mere exposure effect. We also discuss “liking” versus “attra.
TITAC: design of a quasi-delay-insensitive microprocessor

TITAC is an asynchronous version of an 8-bit von Neumann microprocessor based on the delay-insensitive model incorporating the isochronic-forks assumption. In its two-phase, event-driven design scheme, a working phase and an idle phase alternate to execute control and data transfer. The data path design uses a two-rail, multilevel AND-OR scheme with a binary decision diagram structure for efficient signal generation. <<ETX>>
Stereotypes and Steroids: Using a Psychobiosocial Model to Understand Cognitive Sex Differences

To further our understanding of cognitive sex differences, we studied the relationship between menstrual phase (via serum estradiol and progesterone levels) and cognitive abilities and cognitive performance in a sample of medical students in eastern Turkey. As expected, we found no sex differences on the Cattell "Culture Fair Intelligence Test" (a figural reasoning test), with females scoring significantly higher on a Turkish version of the Finding A's Test (rapid word knowledge) and males scoring significantly higher on a paper-and-pencil mental rotation test. The women showed a slight enhancement on the Finding A's Test and a slight decrement in Cattell scores during the preovulatory phase of their cycle that (probably) coincided with a rise in estrogen. There were also small cycle-related enhancements in performance for these women on the mental rotation test that may reflect cyclical increases in estrogen and progesterone. Additional analyses showed an inverted U-shaped function in level of estradiol and the Cattell Test. Finally, for women who were tested on Day 10 of their menstrual cycle, there was a negative linear relationship between their Cattell scores and level of progesterone. Stereotypes about the cognitive abilities of males and females did not correspond to performance on the mental rotation or Finding A's Test, so the sex-typical results could not be attributed to either stereotype threat or stereotype activation. For practical purposes, hormone-related effects were generally small. Variations over the menstrual cycle do not provide evidence for a "smarter" sex, but they do further our understanding of steroidal action on human cognitive performance.
Standing in the Foyer: Work Experiences of Indian Women Migrants in New Zealand

International population mobility has increased dramatically in the last ten years due to immigration policies, globalisation and skilled individual’s quest for better prospects. New Zealand has consciously invited migrants onto its shores and it is now a land of tremendous diversity. The basis for this paper is a qualitative study on first generation Indian immigrant women seeking employment in the host country New Zealand. The research examines in‐depth what it means to seek entry into the world of work as a migrant, from the perspective of legitimate peripheral participation in learning to function in the host country. The results suggest a many layered experience, and a complex terrain, with a landscape of initial hope, followed by feelings of being devalued, a downward spiral of weeping, regret letters and lowered self esteem. The paper sketches emergent cameos of these women and draws out some of the significant variables in their learning trajectories. In sights for creating conditions for legitimate peripheral participation are offered emphasising a worldview that embraces both the internal and external realities as stepping stones in the topography of work experiences for migrants in New Zealand.
Évaluer les stratégies de développement durable des entreprises : l'utopie mobilisatrice de la performance globale

Le concept de performance globale est mobilise dans la litterature manageriale pour evaluer la mise en œuvre par l’entreprise des strategies annoncees de developpement durable, renvoyant ainsi a une conception holistique de la performance. L’objectif de cet article est de confronter la representation theorique d’une integration equilibree des dimensions economiques, sociales et environnementales aux instruments existants, aux visions strategiques et aux pratiques des entreprises pro-actives. L’analyse est placee d’une part sur le plan fonctionnel et instrumental et d’autre part sur le plan social et organisationnel. L’hypothese d’une relation entre une dissociation pro-active des domaines de la mesure de performance et une strategie forte en matiere de developpement durable est validee d’une part en raison de l’inexistence d’outils synthetiques ou integres et d’autre part en raison du comportement des acteurs. Il apparait donc que le concept de performance globale fonctionne surtout comme une utopie mobilisatrice, susceptible de sensibiliser les differents acteurs de l’entreprise aux preoccupations du developpement durable et que la dissociation des domaines de performances est la meilleure garantie du maintien d’objectifs multidimensionnels.
Clustering in the field of social sciences: that is your choice

Clustering seeks to identify a finite set of clusters to describe data. Cluster analysis is partitioning similar objects into meaningful classes, when both the number of classes and their composition are to be determined. Nowadays, we often see illustrations concerning the use of latent class models (LCM) in the field of cluster analysis. They provide a useful probabilistic/statistical method for grouping observations into clusters. In this approach to clustering, each different cluster in the population is assumed to be described by a different probability distribution, which may belong to the same family but differ in the values they take for the parameters of the distribution. The goal of this research is cluster analysis and LCM comparison, and methodologically we considered three data-sets: one with solely continuous variables, one with only binary variables and one with mixed variables. In all situations, LCM performed reasonably well; in contrast, cluster analysis achieved both the best (90.7%, only continuous variables) and the worst performance (40%, mixed variables).
Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases (Erk1,2) Phosphorylate Lys-Ser-Pro (KSP) Repeats in Neurofilament Proteins NF-H and NF-M

Mammalian neurofilament proteins, particularly midsized (NF-M) and heavy (NF-H) molecular weight neurofilament proteins, are highly phosphorylated in axons. Neurofilament function depends on the state of phosphorylation of the numerous serine/threonine residues in these proteins. Most phosphorylation occurs in the lys-ser-pro (KSP) repeats in the C-terminal tail domains of NF-H and NF-M. In our previous study, cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (cdk5) was shown to phosphorylate specifically the KSPXK repeats in rat NF-H. Because 80% of the repeats are of the KSPXXXK type, it was of interest to determine which kinase phosphorylates these motifs. Using a synthetic KSPXXXK peptide to screen for a specific kinase, we fractionated rat brain extracts by column chromatography and identified extracellular signal-regulated kinase (Erk2) activated by an upstream activator, the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase MAPKK (MEK), by Western blot analysis, sequence identification, and inhibition by a specific MEK inhibitor (PD 98059). The fraction containing Erk2, as well as bacterially expressed Erk1 and Erk2, phosphorylated all types of KSP motifs in peptides (KSPXK, KSPXXK, KSPXXXK, and KSPXXXXK) derived from NF-M and NF-H. They also phosphorylated an expressed 24 KSPXXXK repeat NF-H polypeptide, an expressed NF-H as well as dephosphorylated native rat NF-H, and NF-M proteins with accompanying decreases in their respective electrophoretic mobilities. A comparative kinetic study of Erk2 and cdk5 phosphorylation of KSPXK and KSPXXXK peptides revealed that, in contrast to cdk5, which phosphorylated only the KSPXK peptide, Erk2 could phosphorylate both. The preferred substrate for Erk2 was KSPXXXK peptide. The MEK inhibitor PD 98059 also inhibited phosphorylation of NF-H, NF-M, and microtubule-associated protein (MAP) in primary rat hippocampal cells and caused a decrease in neurite outgrowth, suggesting that Erk1,2 may play an important role in neurite growth and branching. These data suggest that neuronal Erk1 and Erk2 are capable of phosphorylating serine residues in diverse KSP repeat motifs in NF-M and NF-H.
Bridging the Cultural Gap: A Study of Chinese Students' Learning Style Preferences

Following a literature review of some recent research on learning styles and EFL-related research in the People's Republic of China, this article describes a replication of a study done by Reid in 1987 of learning style preferences of ESL students in the U.S. With minor modifications, the same questionnaire asking students to identify their learning style preferences was administered in either Chinese or English to 331 students at five universities in the PRC. Statistical analyses indicated that language of the questionnaire did not in fluence the outcome; that sex of the respondent, level in college, years of English study, and number of semesters with a foreign teacher are all related to learning style differences; and that PRC students appear to have multiple major learning styles. The study concludes with suggested activities for the ESL classroom which are appropriate to each of the four basic perceptual learning styles.
The Effect of Combined Steroid and Calcium Channel Blocker Injection on Human Hypertrophic Scars in Animal Model: A New Strategy for the Treatment of Hypertrophic Scars

BACKGROUND Hypertrophic scars (HScs) are inelastic scars that can cause functional loss and disfigurement. Decorin regulates collagen fibrillogenesis, and its expression is lower in HScs than in normal skin and during wound healing. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy of combined verapamil and triamcinolone in treating HScs. METHODS Excised human HSc fragments from surgically treated burned patients were divided into three groups: A (normal saline), B (verapamil), and C (verapamil and triamcinolone). The specimens were bilaterally implanted in the back of nude mice, treated using intralesional injections, and observed for 4 weeks. We compared the fibroblast viability and proliferation, decorin staining, and scar weights to evaluate treatment efficacy. RESULTS Viability and proliferation of HSc fibroblasts from groups B and C were significantly lower at all time intervals after transplantation (p<.001). Treatment (Groups B and C) stimulated strong decorin staining by 4 weeks. Nonsignificant differences in changes in scar weight were observed between groups. CONCLUSIONS We present the first evidence of verapamil‐augmented decorin expression spatially correlated with collagen bundles in HScs. Combination therapy can reduce the dosage of each drug but achieve equal or better efficacy than monotherapy, reducing the side effects of a single drug. &NA; The authors have indicated no significant interest with commercial supporters.
Representações sociais da AIDS e alteridade

O presente estudo investigou as representacoes sociais da AIDS de adolescentes assim como suas estimacoes sobre as representacoes dos outros adolescentes. Os dados foram coletados a partir de duas questoes abertas: 1) “O que voce pensa sobre a AIDS? ” e 2) “O que voce acha que os jovens da sua idade pensam sobre a AIDS? ”, analisadas pelo programa ALCESTE. Participaram do estudo 261 estudantes do ensino medio, sendo 50,6% do sexo feminino. Os resultados indicam uma representacao da AIDS como um problema social, biomedico e relacionado a intimidade. A representacao do que os outros jovens pensam sobre a AIDS tambem enfoca o aspecto biomedico, mas se diferencia ao relacionar a contaminacao pelo HIV a falta de preocupacao com a prevencao e a irresponsabilidade. Conclui-se que os adolescentes projetam nos outros de seu grupo elementos negativos que envolvem questoes ligadas a proprias emocoes e percepcao de risco frente a doenca.
Improving tracking accuracy of a MIMO state feedback controller for elastic joint robots

In this paper a control scheme is addressed to improve the tracking accuracy of flexible joint robots without replacing the structure of a MIMO state feedback controller which is used effectually with the DLR medical robots. By using the desired position, the new desired link torque, as well as their derivatives the effects of nonlinear dynamics are compensated and the tracking accuracy is thereby increased. Hereby, the new desired link torque takes the whole rigid body dynamics into account, not only the friction and gravitation compensation terms. A stability analysis based on the Lyapunov theory and Barbalat’s lemma is given for this new MIMO state feedback control scheme. Experimental results validate the practical efficiency of the approach.