Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Fairness Reactions to Personnel Selection Methods: An International Comparison between the Netherlands, the United States, France, Spain, Portugal, and Singapore

This paper reports reactions to employee selection methods in the Netherlands and compares these findings internationally against six other previously published samples covering the United States, France, Spain, Portugal, and Singapore. A sample of 167 participants rated 10 popular assessment techniques using a translated version of Steiner and Gilliland's measure. In common with other country samples, we found that the most popular methods among applicants were interviews, work sample tests, and resumes. Least popular methods were graphology, personal contacts, and honesty and integrity tests. Generally, method favorability was found to be highly similar to the US and other published studies internationally. Across the six countries mean process favorability correlated at . 87 and mean cross-national procedural justice correlated . 68. Process dimension ratings correlated at between . 79 and . 97 between the United States and the Netherlands. Only medium effect size differences (Cohen's d) were found between Dutch and US reactions to resumes and personality tests, the former being more favorably rated in the United States (d=.62) and the latter being more positively rated in the Netherlands (d=−.76). Implications for the design of selection procedures are discussed, especially implications for likely similarities and differences in applicant reactions internationally.
Reflections on a Discipline-wide Project: Developing active learning modules on the human dimensions of global change

Developing Active Learning Modules on the Human Dimensions of Global Change was a four-year discipline-wide project that aimed to infuse current scholarship on global change into introductory and intermediate university courses, develop active learning materials on the human dimensions of global change for use in introductory and intermediate college courses, motivate faculty to think critically about their approaches to teaching and learning, and, finally, establish a process within the Association of American Geographers to develop and disseminate active learning materials. The authors describe the project and reflect on lessons learned.
Imagery and the Recall of Movement Patterns

Whether instructions to image improves the recall of simple movement patterns was investigated. A second purpose was to determine if recall of such patterns is related to their imagery-arousing value. Participants were presented a list of movement patterns varying in imagery values. Half of the participants were instructed to mentally image each pattern while the remaining participants were given no mnemonic strategy. Free recall was no better for those participants instructed to image than for those who were not. The majority of participants reported both imaging and verbally labelling the movement patterns, regardless of the mnemonic strategy they were requested to use. Recall performance was, however, a direct function of the imagery-arousing value of a pattern. The higher the imagery value, the better the recall.
Skill, content and generative strategies in autistic children's drawings

The drawing skill, picture content and strategies for generating ideas for drawings were compared in 20 drawings collected over the course of one year from 12 relatively able autistic children, not selected for drawing ability, and 12 learning-impaired children. The drawing skills of the two groups and the content of their pictures were very similar. However, the autistic children generated ideas which were more closely related than those of the controls. The implications of the findings for our understanding of autism are discussed.
Rethinking Implementation of the Least Restrictive Environment Policy of the IDEA

In a qualitative study of the implementation of the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE) policy of the Individuals With Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), one singular finding stood out: Where significant change was taking place, it was educational leaders who were making it happen. Through a clear focus on values, a thorough knowledge of the system, and having the conceptual, theoretical, and practical skills involved in sophisticated organizational change, these administrators spoke enthusiastically and confidently of their efforts. Individuals and associations outside this administration-dominated group played relatively nominal roles in effecting change.
Heterogeneous Hadean Hafnium: Evidence of Continental Crust at 4.4 to 4.5 Ga

The long-favored paradigm for the development of continental crust is one of progressive growth beginning at ∼4 billion years ago (Ga). To test this hypothesis, we measured initial 176Hf/177Hf values of 4.01- to 4.37-Ga detrital zircons from Jack Hills, Western Australia. ϵHf (deviations of 176Hf/177Hf from bulk Earth in parts per 104) values show large positive and negative deviations from those of the bulk Earth. Negative values indicate the development of a Lu/Hf reservoir that is consistent with the formation of continental crust (Lu/Hf ≈ 0.01), perhaps as early as 4.5 Ga. Positive ϵHf deviations require early and likely widespread depletion of the upper mantle. These results support the view that continental crust had formed by 4.4 to 4.5 Ga and was rapidly recycled into the mantle.
Clinical Judgment of Rigidity by Mental Health Professionals

20 volunteers from each of the 3 major mental health professions made clinical judgments of the presence or absence of “rigidity” in 16 case histories. The histories contained all possible combinations of 4 literature-identified aspects of rigidity. The results indicate that rigidity is considered present when an individual shows 2 or more of the following: failure to adapt to changing situations, involuntary repetition of responses, emotional-intellectual suppression. If he experiences stress, anxiety, or insecurity, rigidity is contra-indicated. Considering the differences between such clinical views of rigidity and those incorporated in most laboratory research, it is suggested that attempts be made to demonstrate predictive validity of the clinical concept.
EXPLORING VARIABILITY IN JUDGING WRITING ABILITY IN A SECOND LANGUAGE: A STUDY OF FOUR EXPERIENCED RATERS OF ESL COMPOSITIONS

Variability in judgments of ESL compositions is inherent in the view that raters are “readers” with prior experiences. Such a view, however, obliges researchers to understand how personal background and professional experience influence both scoring procedures and scoring criteria. These issues were explored by asking four raters to construct scoring criteria while assessing corpora of 60 TOEFL essays without the aid of a scoring rubric, and to discuss their procedures and criteria in follow-up interviews. The study revealed key points in the decision-making process, where raters' behavior diverged, and examined the impact of prior experience on these. The identification of such divergences, and potential explanations for them, were undertaken to lay the foundations for a principled explanation of rater variability.
Improving Semantic Interoperability with Ontology Alignment Negotiation and Reutilization

Following the results achieved during our previous research, which demonstrated the importance of using adequate ontology alignments during agents' communications, we have proposed a new approach for ontology alignment negotiation where, rather than selecting (and negotiating) the ontology alignment to be used, business agents will also be allowed to negotiate the alignment composition itself. With this approach, we aim to promote not only the reutilization of existent ontology alignments, but also their combination, allowing achieving more adequate or complete alignments. On the other hand, the involvement of the business agents in the ontology alignment composition process allows excluding irrelevant correspondences, leading to more adequate alignments as well as a more accurate and trustful evaluation of their performance. In this paper we present the implementation of such approach as well as some preliminary results.
Employee Involvement Management Practices, Work Stress, and Depression in Employees of a Human Services Residential Care Facility

This article tests a theoretically driven model of the relationship between work environment, specifically, management practices, and employee mental health, specifically depression. It draws on theoretical perspectives connecting work environment and stress, and on others linking stress and depression. It also examines sense of coherence as a possible mediator of the relationships among work environment, work stress, and depression. Results showed that perceived exposure to employee involvement management practices was related to perceived work stress, sense of coherence, and depression. A model was specified to assess potential causal relationships using LISREL. Results suggested that increased exposure to employee involvement practices was indirectly associated with lower levels of depression through both perceived work stress and sense of coherence. The implications of these findings for management practice are discussed.
Recombinant adeno‐associated virus (AAV) drives constitutive production of glutamate decarboxylase in neural cell lines

Many neurological disorders result directly or indirectly from the loss of inhibitory function. Engineering the production of GABA, an inhibitory neurotransmitter, may therefore be able at least partly to restore the lost inhibition seen in epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, or Huntington's disease. In this article, we describe a set of recombinant adeno‐associated viruses (AAVs) that can deliver cDNAs encoding the GABA‐producing enzyme, glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), directly into neural cells. We have characterized these recombinant AAVs in several cell lines derived from the CNS. These recombinant AAVs effectively transduced all neural cell lines, although with different efficiencies. Transduction occurred in both proliferating and nonproliferating cells, but actively proliferating cell lines had approximately six times greater transduction efficiency than nonproliferating cells. Furthermore, these AAVs maintained long‐term expression of GAD in an astrocytic cell line for at least seven passages. These recombinant AAVs are promising vehicles for investigating the potential therapeutic effects of GABA in animal models of epilepsy and neurodegenerative diseases. J. Neurosci. Res. 57:137–148, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Evolving Scalable Soft Robots : Senior Thesis

Designing soft robots is difficult, time-consuming, and non-intuitive. Instead of requiring humans to engineer robots, this research uses genetic algorithms to evolve designs for robots that move when vibrated. Generative encodings are used to represent designs and are modified during the evolutionary process. A generative encoding is a set of rules that describe how to construct a 3D object. If the rules are applied over and over, it will create a larger and more complex robot. Current methods of evolving generative encodings fix a number of times to apply the rules a priori. This restricts the usefulness of the resulting encoding to one size. Instead, this research aims to create scalable solutions, with generative encodings capable of producing fit robots of various sizes. This is done by implementing the notion of a pareto frontier into the genetic algorithm. Each design produced is assigned to a category (small, medium, large, etc) and is judged on how well it can create robots that move when vibrated in each category. One design is deemed better than another if it can dominate across all categories. The resulting generative encodings should be able to produce soft robots of various sizes that can move when vibrated.
The Effect of Megestrol Acetate on Growth of HepG2 Cells In vitro and In vivo

Purpose: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is generally considered as a sex hormone-dependent tumor, and hormonal therapy has been proposed as a strategy for the treatment of HCC. The aim of the study is to investigate the effect of megestrol acetate, a synthetic progesteronal agent, on growth of HepG2 cells in vitro and in vivo. Experimental Design: Cell growth in vitro was assessed by a colormetric method, and cell growth in vivo was assessed by tumor volumetrics. Results: Megestrol acetate was shown to inhibit the growth of HepG2 cells in vitro in dose- and time-dependent manners with an IC 50 of 260 μm (24-h incubation). The growth of HepG2 cell-transplanted tumors in nude mice was also inhibited by i.p. injection of megestrol acetate (10 mg/kg/day). The tumor volumes of the megestrol acetate-treated group regressed to 59% of controls by week 6 and to 41% of controls by week 13. Apoptosis following G1 arrest was observed in megestrol acetate-treated cells and may be a mechanism through which megestrol acetate inhibits HepG2 cells. Megestrol acetate was also demonstrated to have a beneficial effect on the weight gain of tumor-bearing nude mice, and the mean weight of the megestrol acetate-treated animals was higher than that of controls from week 4 of the treatment period, and the differences were statistically significant in week 5 and 6 (P < 0.05, compared with controls). No significant survival advantage was, however, demonstrated in the treatment group. Conclusions: This study showed that megestrol acetate inhibited the growth of HepG2 cells grown in vitro and in vivo. These data provide useful information for clinical study of megestrol acetate for the treatment of HCC.
Soft Systems Methodology: A Thirty Year Retrospective a

Although the history of thought reveals a number of holistic thinkers — Aristotle, Marx, Husserl among them— it was only in the 1950s that any version of holistic thinking became institutionalized. The kind of holistic thinking which then came to the fore, and was the concern of a newly created organization, was that which makes explicit use of the concept of ‘system’, and today it is ‘systems thinking’ in its various forms which would be taken to be the very paradigm of thinking holistically. In 1954, as recounted in Chapter 3 of Systems Thinking, Systems Practice, only one kind of systems thinking was on the table: the development of a mathematically expressed general theory of systems. It was supposed that this would provide a meta-level language and theory in which the problems of many different disciplines could be expressed and solved; and it was hoped that doing this would help to promote the unity of science. These were the aspirations of the pioneers, but looking back from 1999we can see that the project has not succeeded. The literature contains very little of the kind of outcomes anticipated by the founders of the Society for General Systems Research; and scholars in the many subject areas towhich a holistic approach is relevant have been understandably reluctant to see their pet subject as simply one more example of some broader ‘general system’!
Is Corporate Advertising Effective in a Crisis? The Effects of Crisis Type and Evaluative Tone of News Coverage

The present study examines how consumers respond to corporate advertising during a corporate crisis. In particular, it examines what impact two factors—crisis type and the evaluative tone of a news story—have on consumer responses to corporate advertising. Results of the experimental study suggest that the crisis type—an accident or a transgression crisis—is a critical factor affecting ad credibility and changes, between pre- and post-tests, in perceptions of and attitudes toward the corporation. In addition, the results reveal that while the effect of the evaluative tone of the news story is not statistically significant for each of the dependent variables, the marginally significant effect on the set of dependent variables calls for more careful attention to this issue in future research.
Harsh, Firm, and Permissive Parenting in Low-Income Families

Parents' (primarily mothers) reports of their child-rearing expectations and intentions were measured for 184 low-income urban families when children were in the third and fifth grades. Reports of harsh, firm, and permissive parenting strategies were stable over time. Associations between concurrent parenting strategies and children's adjustment also were evident. Endorsements of harsh parenting strategies were associated with teachers reporting poorer child adjustment at school; firm-responsive parenting strategies were related to lower parent-reported behavior problems in the home. Harsh parenting was negatively associated with children's academic achievement as measured by the Iowa Test of Basic Skills during fifth grade. Reports of parental permissiveness were not associated with measures of child adjustment. Reported parenting in third grade was associated with greater child responsibility during fifth grade. There was little evidence that children's prior adjustment was related to parenting reports obtained later.
[Cluster analysis on the blood pressure control rate and related factors of hypertensive outpatients in China].

OBJECTIVE To explore the blood pressure (BP) control rate and related factors in different parts of China. METHODS This cross-sectional survey was performed between March and May 2011 in 132 tertiary or secondary hospitals from 31 cities across China. Five consecutive hypertensive patients consulted to individual physician in these hospitals were included and a total of 4 110 patients aged ≥ 18 years were included, and 3 682 patients finished the follow-up protocol. All objects underwent questionnaire survey and physical examination. Cities were divided into 3 categories. RESULTS Among included hypertensive outpatients, the prevalence of coronary heart disease was the highest (37.4%, 1 368/3 662) comorbidity. The most commonly used antihypertensive medication was calcium channel blocker (51.3%, 1 861/3 628). Blood control rate was the highest in city category II(37.0%) and the lowest in city category I (9.1%). Accordingly, body mass index (BMI, (25.7 ± 0.6) kg/m(2)) and waist circumference ( (90.6 ± 3.1 ) cm) were the largest and the prevalence of coronary heart disease (60.8%) and stroke (19.0%) were the highest in hypertensive outpatients from city categoryI. CONCLUSION Blood pressure control rate varies among various cities in China. High BMI and co-morbidities of coronary heart disease and stroke are related to poor blood pressure control rate.
Roads that Separate: Sino-Mongolian Relations in the Inner Asian Desert

Abstract We usually think of roads as tools of social and material connection which serve to enchain places, things and people that have not before been as directly, or intensely, linked up. Yet, in the sparsely populated grasslands and deserts of the Sino-Mongolian border zone, it is equally much the other way around. Rather than facilitating more interaction between local Mongolians and the growing number of Chinese employed in mining and oil companies, the many roads that are now being built or upgraded to transport natural resources, commodities and labour power between Mongolia and China serve to curb both the quantity and the quality of interactions taking place between Mongolians and Chinese. Thus, roads here act as technologies of distantiation, which ensure that the two sides become less connected as time passes.
Independence of Episodic and Semantic Self-Knowledge: The Case from Autism

Knowledge of one's traits and personal recollections of specific events involving those traits are assumed to reflect the operations of two distinct, neurally dissociable types of memory: Semantic personal memory and episodic personal memory (e.g., Conway, 1992; Klein, Loftus, & Kihlstrom, 1996; Tulving, 1993b). The present study offers support for this conclusion by examining the semantic and episodic self-knowledge of R.J., a high-functioning autistic individual. R.J. was found to have accurate knowledge of his traits, despite severely limited access to the personal experiences on which that knowledge was based. We discuss the implications of this finding for theories of both normal and autistic memory, and we speculate about the ability of persons with autism to reflect on aspects of the self.
Group Norms and the Attitude-Behavior Relationship: A Role for Group Identification

Two studies provided support for the proposal that the role of norms in attitude-behavior relations can be usefully reconceptualized from the perspective of social identity/self-categorization theory. The first study revealed that the perceived norms of a behaviorally relevant reference group influenced intentions to engage in regular exercise, but only for subjects who identified strongly with the group, whereas the effect of perceived behavioral control (a personal factor) was strongest for low identifiers. Similarly, Study 2 revealed that the effect of group norms on females' intentions to engage in sun-protective behavior was evident only for high identifiers and that the effects of one of the personal variables (attitude) was stronger for low than for high identifiers. Additional results revealed that the perceived group norm predicted subjects' attitude, as did the perceived consequences of performing the behavior. The latter result was evident only for low identifiers.
Neuroprotective Effect of Darbepoetin Alfa, a Novel Recombinant Erythropoietic Protein, in Focal Cerebral Ischemia in Rats

Background and Purpose— Darbepoetin alfa is a novel erythropoiesis-stimulating protein developed for treating anemia. In animal models, exogenous recombinant human erythropoietin has been reported to be beneficial in treating experimental cerebral ischemia. In this study, we determined whether darbepoetin alfa would protect in a rat model of transient focal cerebral ischemia. Methods— Rats received 2-hour middle cerebral artery suture-occlusion. The drug (darbepoetin alfa, 10 &mgr;g/kg) or vehicle was administered intraperitoneally 2 hours after onset of middle cerebral artery occlusion. Animals were allowed to survive for 3 or 14 days. Behavioral tests were performed sequentially. Infarct volumes and brain swelling were determined. Results— Darbepoetin alfa-treated rats showed improved neuroscores relative to vehicle-treated animals beginning within 1 hour of treatment and persisting throughout the 14-day survival period. Darbepoetin alfa significantly reduced corrected total (cortical + subcortical) infarct volume (56.3±20.6 and 110.8±6.8 mm3, respectively) and total infarct areas at multiple levels compared with vehicle in the 14-day survival group. Brain swelling was not affected by treatment. Conclusion— Darbepoetin alfa confers behavioral and histological neuroprotection after focal ischemia in rats.
RELACIONES ENTRE LA PRÁCTICA DE ACTIVIDAD FÍSICA Y EL AUTOCONCEPTO, LA ANSIEDAD Y LA DEPRESIÓN EN CHICAS ADOLESCENTES

Estudios realizados indican que la practica de ejercicio fisico se relacionan con algunas variables psicologicas en mujeres. El proposito del presente trabajo es estudiar las relaciones que se establecen entre la practica de ejercicio fisico con algunas de estas variables (ansiedad, depresion y autoconcepto) en chicas adolescentes de Murcia, y observar como influye el tipo de actividad fisica que realizan, la intensidad, la frecuencia y la satisfaccion en dichas variables. La muestra esta compuesta por 226 chicas estudiantes de bachiller de los institutos de Murcia, con edades comprendidas entre 16 y 19 anos. Los resultados indican que el grupo de chicas que practican algun tipo de actividad fisica tiene puntuaciones superiores en todos los factores de autoconcepto, excepto en el emocional; ademas aquellas que practican actividad fisica con mayor frecuencia tienen unos niveles inferiores en ansiedad y depresion. Por otro lado, las chicas que practican actividad con una intensidad baja mantienen niveles mas altos de ansiedad. Y, finalmente, el grupo de chicas que le resulta agradable la practica de ejercicio fisico, manifiesta niveles menores de ansiedad, que las chicas del grupo que no le resulta especialmente agradable. Se discuten estos resultados y se proponen algunas pautas de investigacion futura.