Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Diversity Management in Public Organizations and Its Effect on Employees’ Affective Commitment

The purpose of this article is to explore the link between diversity management in public organizations and employees’ affective commitment by testing hypotheses on the mediating roles of transformational leadership and inclusive organizational culture. By combining theories on human resource management and performance with theories on diversity and inclusiveness, a theoretical model is built explaining when and why diversity management should positively affect employees’ affective commitment. Survey data from a representative sample of 10,976 Dutch public sector employees were used in testing our hypotheses using structural equation modeling techniques. Results show that the effect of diversity management on employees’ affective commitment can partially be explained by its impact on the inclusiveness of the organizational culture. In addition, the impact is influenced through the transformational leadership shown by supervisors who can be considered as the implementers of diversity management and as agents in creating inclusiveness. The implications for future research and management practice are further discussed.
Does Credit Crunch Investment Down? New Evidence on the Real Effects of the Bank-Lending Channel

This paper shows evidence on the real effects of the bank lending channel exploiting the dramatic 2007 liquidity drought in interbank markets as a source of variation in banks' credit supply. For a large sample of Italian firms we combine information on firm-bank credit relationships, firms and banks balance sheet data, and estimate both the direct effect of the liquidity drought on the investment rate and the sensitivity to bank credit of investment (as well as of other firms outcomes) in 2007-10. We find that: (i) pre-crisis exposure to the interbank markets does predict banks subsequent credit supply (ii) banks exposure also has a significant direct impact on firms investment rate, accounting for more than 40% of the negative trend in investment observed in the sample; (iii) firms' investments are highly sensitive to bank credit: a 10 percentage point fall in credit growth reduces the investment rate by 8-14 points over four years, depending on the definition of the credit variable; (iv) credit shocks have a significant impact on broader economic activity, lowering firms' value added, employment and intermediate inputs purchases; we also find evidence of its propagation through a contraction in the supply of trade credit by firms.
Overlapping community detection and temporal analysis on Q&A sites

In many social networks, people interact based on their relationship network. Community detection algorithms are then useful to reveal the sub-structures of a network. Identifying these users' communities can help us assist their life-cycle. However, in certain kinds of online communities such as question-and-answer (Q&A) sites or forums, people interact based on common topics of interest, rather than an explicit relationship network. Therefore, many traditional community detection techniques do not apply directly. Discovering those topics of interest is critical to identify users' communities. Besides, users' activities on certain topics of interest are evolving with time and it is therefore very important to extract their temporal dynamics. In this paper, we first propose Topic Trees Distributions (TTD), an efficient approach for extracting topics from Q&A sites in order to detect overlapping communities. We then extend TTD to propose Temporal Topic Expertise Activity (TTEA), a graphical probabilistic model to extract both topics-based expertise and temporal information. We evaluated and compared our models with state-of-the-art approaches on a dataset extracted from the popular Q&A site StackOverflow.
Handwashing with soap and national handwashing projects in Korea: focus on the National Handwashing Survey, 2006-2014

OBJECTIVES: Handwashing is the most fundamental way to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Correct handwashing can prevent 50 to 70% of water-infections and foodborne-infections. We report the results of a fact-finding study on general handwashing attitude and practice in the Republic of Korea by analyzing habits and awareness among adults and students (grades 4 to 12) based on the 2006 to 2014 National Handwashing Surveys and observational surveys. METHODS: The awareness survey was performed by telephone interviews with adults and students in 16 municipalities and provinces sampled by quota for region, sex and age. The observational survey was performed in subway, railway, and other public restrooms in seven municipalities selected through systematic sampling. RESULTS: Adults and students washed their hands with soap/sanitizer an average of 6.6 and 5.2 times daily, respectively, in 2014, an increase and decrease compared to 2006 (4.8) and 2013 (6.8). Their average daily handwashing frequency in 2014, 9.8 and 8.3, was higher than in 2006 (7.6), but lower than in 2013 (10.3). The percentage of participants handwashing with soap after using the restroom (29.5%) has been increasing since 2009, but remain slower than in other countries (42% to 49%). The percentages of participants handwashing with water in 2014, 2013, and 2011 were 57.5%, 72.6%, and 71.4%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Handwashing with soap is an important national public health issue, and national projects promoting it should be given high priority. Research support is necessary to provide scientific evidence of the importance of handwashing with soap and to develop and implement evidence-based policies.
Enhancing protection performance by effectively using spectral slots of impairment-aware elastic optical networks [invited]

The challenge of using spectral bandwidth effectively considering optical impairments in elastic optical networks is studied. The protection performance is enhanced by improving the spectral efficiencies of the networks. Novel optical filter configuration, signal equalization, and spectral bandwidth assignment technologies are proposed to minimize the use of the guardband while taking the passband narrowing effect into consideration. It is verified that spectral slots are effectively used with actual network topology models.
Effect of Oseltamivir Carboxylate Consumption on Emergence of Drug-Resistant H5N2 Avian Influenza Virus in Mallard Ducks

ABSTRACT Oseltamivir carboxylate (OC) has been detected in environmental waters at various levels during recent influenza seasons in humans, reflecting levels of usage and stability of this drug. In consideration of the role of waterfowl as hosts for influenza viruses that may contribute to human infections, we evaluated the effect of consumption of low doses of OC on development of oseltamivir-resistant influenza virus mutants in mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos) infected with two different low-pathogenic (LP) H5N2 avian influenza viruses (AIV). We detected development of virus variants carrying a known molecular marker of oseltamivir resistance (neuraminidase E119V) in 4 out of 6 mallards infected with A/Mallard/Minnesota/182742/1998 (H5N2) and exposed to 1,000 ng/liter OC. The mutation first appeared as a minor population on days 5 to 6 and was the dominant genotype on days 6 to 8. Oseltamivir-resistant mutations were not detected in virus from ducks not exposed to the drug or in ducks infected with a second strain of virus and similarly exposed to OC. Virus isolates carrying the E119V mutation displayed in vitro replication kinetics similar to those of the wild-type virus, but in vivo, the E119V virus rapidly reverted back to wild type in the absence of OC, and only the wild-type parental strain was transmitted to contact ducks. These results indicate that consumption by wild waterfowl of OC in drinking water may promote selection of the E119V resistance mutation in some strains of H5N2 AIV that could contribute to viruses infecting human populations.
Evolutionary diversity and taxon-specific modifications of the RNA polymerase II C-terminal domain

Significance The C-terminal domain (CTD) of the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II is responsible for coordinating a wide range of cotranscriptional functions. Although tandem repeats of a 7-aa motif comprise the CTD in model organisms, the domain is highly unordered in many other species. To our knowledge, this study represents the most comprehensive investigation of CTD diversity and evolution to date, and finds that the CTD’s tandem structure likely existed in the last eukaryotic common ancestor; that unordered CTDs have resulted from extensive, lineage-specific sequence modifications; and that tandem heptads have been lost and reinvented many times. We also highlight interesting parallels in CTD evolution that appear to be associated with the requirements of developmental complexity and adaptations to parasitism. In model eukaryotes, the C-terminal domain (CTD) of the largest subunit of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase II (RNAP II) is composed of tandemly repeated heptads with the consensus sequence YSPTSPS. The core motif and tandem structure generally are conserved across model taxa, including animals, yeasts and higher plants. Broader investigations revealed that CTDs of many organisms deviate substantially from this canonical structure; however, limited sampling made it difficult to determine whether disordered sequences reflect the CTD’s ancestral state or degeneration from ancestral repetitive structures. Therefore, we undertook, to our knowledge, the broadest investigation to date of the evolution of the RNAP II CTD across eukaryotic diversity. Our results indicate that a tandemly repeated CTD existed in the ancestors of each major taxon, and that degeneration and reinvention of this ordered structure are common features of CTD evolution. Lineage-specific CTD modifications appear to be associated with greater developmental complexity in multicellular organisms, a pattern taken to an extreme in fungi and red algae, in which the CTD has undergone dramatic to complete alteration during the transition from unicellular to developmentally complex forms. Overall, loss and reinvention of repeats have punctuated CTD evolution, occurring independently and sometimes repeatedly in various groups.
Correlation between motor impairment and infarct volume after permanent and transient middle cerebral artery occlusion in the rat.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE There have been a number of recent reports describing the relationship between ischemic damage and various behavioral and functional measures, although there have been few studies that have demonstrated a direct correlation between functional impairment and lesion volume. The purpose of the present study was to assess functional outcome by measurement of motor impairment and to determine whether this correlated to a range of infarct volumes induced by varying the duration of focal ischemic insult in the rat. METHODS Male Sprague Dawley rats were subjected to 0, 30, 60, of 120 minutes or permanent middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion by the intraluminal filament technique. Motor impairment was assessed by the accelerating rota-rod and grid-walking tests, and the brains were perfusion-fixed for histological determination of infarct volume and brain swelling 24 hours after MCA occlusion. RESULTS Marked impairment in performance of both motor tests was recorded in the 60-minute, 120-minute, and the permanent MCA occlusion groups when compared with sham-operated rats. There were significant correlations between regional infarct volume, brain swelling, and all behavioral measurements (all r2 > .5, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS The rota-rod and grid-walking tests of motor performance provide quantitative, objective, and reproducible measures of functional impairment of rats following an ischemic insult. These impairments correlate directly with infarct volume and provide information integral to future studies evaluating the effects of potential neuroprotective agents.
Incidence and lifetime costs of injuries in the United States

Background: Standardized methodologies for assessing economic burden of injury at the national or international level do not exist. Objective: To measure national incidence, medical costs, and productivity losses of medically treated injuries using the most recent data available in the United States, as a case study for similarly developed countries undertaking economic burden analyses. Method: The authors combined several data sets to estimate the incidence of fatal and non-fatal injuries in 2000. They computed unit medical and productivity costs and multiplied these costs by corresponding incidence estimates to yield total lifetime costs of injuries occurring in 2000. Main outcome measures: Incidence, medical costs, productivity losses, and total costs for injuries stratified by age group, sex, and mechanism. Results: More than 50 million Americans experienced a medically treated injury in 2000, resulting in lifetime costs of $406 billion; $80 billion for medical treatment and $326 billion for lost productivity. Males had a 20% higher rate of injury than females. Injuries resulting from falls or being struck by/against an object accounted for more than 44% of injuries. The rate of medically treated injuries declined by 15% from 1985 to 2000 in the US. For those aged 0–44, the incidence rate of injuries declined by more than 20%; while persons aged 75 and older experienced a 20% increase. Conclusions: These national burden estimates provide unequivocal evidence of the large health and financial burden of injuries. This study can serve as a template for other countries or be used in intercountry comparisons.
The Tea Party in the Age of Obama: Mainstream Conservatism or Out-Group Anxiety?

With its preference for small government and fiscal responsibility, the Tea Party movement claims to be conservative. Yet, their tactics and rhetoric belie this claim. The shrill attacks against Blacks, illegal immigrants, and gay rights are all consistent with conservatism, but suggesting that the president is a socialist bent on ruining the country, is beyond politics. This chapter shows that Richard Hofstadter's thesis about the “paranoid style” of American politics helps characterize the Tea Party's pseudo-conservatism. Through a comprehensive analysis of qualitative interviews, content analysis and public opinion data, we find that Tea Party sympathizers are not mainstream conservatives, but rather, they hold a strong sense of out-group anxiety and a concern over the social and demographic changes in America.
Molecular Cytogenetics and Gene Mapping in Sheep (Ovis aries, 2n = 54)

The development of a completely annotated sheep genome sequence is a key need for understanding the phylogenetic relationships and genetic diversity among the many different sheep breeds worldwide and for identifying genes controlling economically and physiologically important traits. The ovine genome sequence assembly will be crucial for developing optimized breeding programs based on highly productive, healthy sheep phenotypes that are adapted to modern breeding and production conditions. Scientists and breeders around the globe have been contributing to this goal by generating genomic and cDNA libraries, performing genome-wide and trait-associated analyses of polymorphism, expression analysis, genome sequencing, and by developing virtual and physical comparative maps. The International Sheep Genomics Consortium (ISGC), an informal network of sheep genomics researchers, is playing a major role in coordinating many of these activities. In addition to serving as an essential tool for monitoring chromosome abnormalities in specific sheep populations, ovine molecular cytogenetics provides physical anchors which link and order genome regions, such as sequence contigs, genes and polymorphic DNA markers to ovine chromosomes. Likewise, molecular cytogenetics can contribute to the process of defining evolutionary breakpoints between related species. The selective expansion of the sheep cytogenetic map, using loci to connect maps and identify chromosome bands, can substantially contribute to improving the quality of the annotated sheep genome sequence and will also accelerate its assembly. Furthermore, identifying major morphological chromosome anomalies and micro-rearrangements, such as gene duplications or deletions, that might occur between different sheep breeds and other Ovis species will also be important to understand the diversity of sheep chromosome structure and its implications for cross-breeding. To date, 566 loci have been assigned to specific chromosome regions in sheep and the new cytogenetic map is presented as part of this review. This review will also summarize the current cytogenomic status of the sheep genome, describe current activities in the sheep cytogenomics research sector, and will discuss the cytogenomics data in context with other major sheep genomics projects.
Trans-sulfuration Pathway Seleno-amino Acids Are Mediators of Selenomethionine Toxicity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae*

Background: The mechanisms underlying selenomethionine toxicity are poorly understood. Results: Saccharomyces cerevisiae mutations affecting sulfur metabolism or superoxide degradation impact selenomethionine toxicity. Conclusion: Selenomethionine primarily exerts its toxicity via the seleno-amino acids selenohomocysteine and selenocysteine. Significance: This study highlights the as yet underestimated importance of the trans-sulfuration pathway in selenomethionine toxicity. Toxicity of selenomethionine, an organic derivative of selenium widely used as supplement in human diets, was studied in the model organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Several DNA repair-deficient strains hypersensitive to selenide displayed wild-type growth rate properties in the presence of selenomethionine indicating that selenide and selenomethionine exert their toxicity via distinct mechanisms. Cytotoxicity of selenomethionine decreased when the extracellular concentration of methionine or S-adenosylmethionine was increased. This protection resulted from competition between the S- and Se-compounds along the downstream metabolic pathways inside the cell. By comparing the sensitivity to selenomethionine of mutants impaired in the sulfur amino acid pathway, we excluded a toxic effect of Se-adenosylmethionine, Se-adenosylhomocysteine, or of any compound in the methionine salvage pathway. Instead, we found that selenomethionine toxicity is mediated by the trans-sulfuration pathway amino acids selenohomocysteine and/or selenocysteine. Involvement of superoxide radicals in selenomethionine toxicity in vivo is suggested by the hypersensitivity of a Δsod1 mutant strain, increased resistance afforded by the superoxide scavenger manganese, and inactivation of aconitase. In parallel, we showed that, in vitro, the complete oxidation of the selenol function of selenocysteine or selenohomocysteine by dioxygen is achieved within a few minutes at neutral pH and produces superoxide radicals. These results establish a link between superoxide production and trans-sulfuration pathway seleno-amino acids and emphasize the importance of the selenol function in the mechanism of organic selenium toxicity.
Influence of dietary vitamin E supplementation on meat quality traits and gene expression related to lipid metabolism in the Beijing-you chicken

1. The effects of dietary vitamin E (DL-α-tocopheryl acetate) on carcase and meat quality, oxidative stability, fatty acid composition of muscle lipids, and gene expression related to lipid metabolism were studied in Beijing-you chickens. 2. A total of 360 female birds were distributed among 6 treatments, containing 6 replicates, each of 10 birds. The feed for each treatment was supplemented with vitamin E (0, 10, 50, 100, 150, or 200 mg/kg feed). At 120 d, 30 birds from each treatment were slaughtered to examine the effect of dietary vitamin E supplementation on evaluated traits. 3. The results showed that supplemental vitamin E in diet significantly increased α-tocopherol contents of breast and thigh muscles, reduced the drip loss and improved tenderness but did not influence carcase yield, meat colour or pH value 24 h after slaughter. 4. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) values decreased with increase in dietary vitamin E, and the addition of 100 mg/kg or more vitamin E had a beneficial effect on oxidative stability as indicated by TBARS values during storage up to 7 d. 5. Dietary vitamin E supplementation significantly altered fatty acid composition of breast muscle. Supplementing with 200 mg/kg vitamin E led to lower saturated fatty acids and greater polyunsaturated fatty acids proportions in breast muscle than control and 10 mg/kg vitamin E treatments. 6. Vitamin E supplementation significantly inhibited expression of the cytosolic phospholipase A2 gene (cPLA 2) in breast muscle, while enhancing that of the peroxisome proliterator-activated receptor beta (PPAP-β) and heart fatty acid binding protein genes (H-FABP). The results indicate that dietary supplementation with vitamin E increased lipid stability in muscle and improved meat quality and fatty acid composition, probably by its influence on the expression of genes related to lipid metabolism.
State Modulated Traffic Models for Machine Type Communications

Machine-to-machine (M2M) traffic is variegate and finding a traffic model which can cover a wide range of M2M sources is challenging. In this paper we address this challenge by proposing an extension of legacy renewal processes for modeling of M2M traffic sources. To this end, we first describe the model and derive some performance parameters, as the overall packet arrival distribution and its moments. We then discuss the packetgeneration process and consider the counting variable in atime interval, and give the mean and the Laplace transformof the z-transform for this variable. Successively, we present the asymptotic expansion for the variance and the Index of Dispersion of Counts (IDC). We derive the expression of the two first coefficients of this expansion in the general case, while more explicit expressions are provided for some special cases. More specifically, for the special case of a source model with two states, geometric distribution of the numbers of arrivals in each state, and exponential inter-arrival times, we solve for the modelparameters in terms of mean, variance and two IDCs. The model is then applied to real M2M traces obtained from an operational network. Albeit the match is not perfect, yet the proposed model captures the main features of the traces, in particular the large burstiness in the packet arrival process.
Planar Helical Antenna of Circular Polarization

A planar helical antenna is presented for achieving wideband end-fire radiation of circular polarization while maintaining a very low profile. The helix is formed using printed strips with straight-edge connections implemented by plated viaholes. The currents flowing on the strips and along via-holes of the helix contribute to the horizontal and vertical polarizations, respectively. Besides, the current on the ground plane is utilized to weaken the strong amplitude of the horizontal electric field generated by the one on the strips. Thus, a good circular polarization can be achieved. Furthermore, a tapered helix and conducting side-walls are employed to broaden the axial ratio (AR) bandwidth as well as to improve the end-fire radiation pattern. The designed antenna operates at the center frequency of 10 GHz. Simulated results show that the planar helical antenna achieves wide-impedance bandwidth (|S11| <; -10 dB) from 7.4 to 12.8 GHz (54%) and 3-dB AR bandwidth from 8.2 to 11.6 GHz (34%), while retaining a thickness of only 0. 11λ0 at the center frequency. A prototype of the proposed antenna is fabricated and tested. Measured results are in good agreement with simulated ones.