Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Benefit of the doubt: the buffering influence of normative contracts on the breach–workplace performance relationship

Abstract This study investigates the influence of employees' perception of managerial breach of the normative relational contract (i.e. the psychological relational contract at the group level) on workplace performance. Many employees in Australia are employed on a permanent or continuing basis and have normative relational contracts whose terms are embedded in human resource practices. We use normative relational contract theory to hypothesise that where there is a mutually recognised high-quality normative relational contract – a strong contract – the emotional bonds of loyalty that are developed by collective sense-making constrained negative reactions to breach. We also hypothesise that, where managers offer high-quality contract terms that are not recognised by employees, the failure to elicit loyalty means that breach has negative performance consequences. Panel data are obtained from a two-stage national, multi-source study of employees (n = 1,733) and senior human resource managers (n = 57). Results from hierarchical moderator regression analyses support the hypotheses. They demonstrate that a strong normative relational contract ‘buffers’ employees’ negative responses to breach.
A comparative transcriptional landscape of maize and sorghum obtained by single-molecule sequencing

Maize and sorghum are both important crops with similar overall plant architectures, but they have key differences, especially in regard to their inflorescences. To better understand these two organisms at the molecular level, we compared expression profiles of both protein-coding and noncoding transcripts in 11 matched tissues using single-molecule, long-read, deep RNA sequencing. This comparative analysis revealed large numbers of novel isoforms in both species. Evolutionarily young genes were likely to be generated in reproductive tissues and usually had fewer isoforms than old genes. We also observed similarities and differences in alternative splicing patterns and activities, both among tissues and between species. The maize subgenomes exhibited no bias in isoform generation; however, genes in the B genome were more highly expressed in pollen tissue, whereas genes in the A genome were more highly expressed in endosperm. We also identified a number of splicing events conserved between maize and sorghum. In addition, we generated comprehensive and high-resolution maps of poly(A) sites, revealing similarities and differences in mRNA cleavage between the two species. Overall, our results reveal considerable splicing and expression diversity between sorghum and maize, well beyond what was reported in previous studies, likely reflecting the differences in architecture between these two species.
Kinematics of the toe touching test: An investigation using motion analysis

We describe a technique for measuring dynamic motion at the low back along with the major lower limb joints during the toe touching maneuver. This type of motion analysis was carried out on eight normal volunteers. Flexion during the toe touching maneuver involves not only low back and hip movement but also ankle plantar flexion and a varying degree of knee movement. The low back and ankle movements were highly correlated within each subject to an extent that suggests a functional connection between the lower limb and low back movements. The significance of our work is two‐fold. First, we emphasize that the toe touching test represents a combined movement of the low back, the hips, the knees, and the ankles and it is reasonable to suggest that abnormalities of these joints may affect the clinical relevance of the test as an indicator of back movement. Second, we point out that the guidelines of the American Medical Association in using the test to determine hip movement are incorrect as they do not take into account the effect of knee and ankle movements on the estimation of hip movement. Clin. Anat. 17:130–138, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Numerical Procedures for Implementing Term Structure Models I

This article presents a new approach for constructing no-arbitrage models ofthe term structure in terms ofthe process followed by the short rate, r. The approach, which makes use oftrinomial trees, is relatively simple and computationally much more ejkient than previously proposed procedures. The advantages ofthe new approach are particularly noticeable when hedge statistics such as delta, gamma, and Vega are computed. The procedure is appropriate for models where there is some function x of the short rate r that follows a meanreverting arithmetic process. I t can be used for the Ho-Lee model, the HullWhite model, and the Black-Karasinski model. Also, it is a tool that can be usedfor developing a wide range ofnew models. The key element of the procedure is that it produces a tree that is symmetrical about the expected value ofx. A forward induction procedure is used to find the positions of the central nodes at the end ofeach time step. In the w e of the Ho-Lee and Hull-White models, this forward induction procedure is entirely analytic. In the w e of other models, it is necessary to use the Newton-Raphson or other iterative search procedure at each time step, but only a small number of iterations are required. We illustrate the procedure using numerical examples and explain how the models can be calibrated to market data on interest rate option prices.
Couples’ psychological adjustment to twin parenthood: mode of conception (spontaneous versus assisted reproduction) and gender differences

Abstract Aim To examine whether mode of conception and gender are associated with parents’ psychological adjustment across the transition to twin parenthood. Background There is limited knowledge on the psychological adjustment of couples to twin parenthood during pregnancy and early postpartum, especially for fathers. The available research suggests that first-time mothers of twins conceived by assisted reproduction techniques (ART) may experience lower psychosocial well-being than mothers of spontaneously conceived (SC) twins. Methods A total of 41 couples expecting twins, 25 of whom conceived spontaneously and 16 conceived by assisted reproduction techniques, completed measures of depressive and anxiety symptoms, marital relationship, attitudes to sex, and attitudes to pregnancy and the baby. Findings ART parents showed a decline in marital relationship quality, no changes in attitudes to pregnancy and the baby and no changes in attitudes to sex over the postpartum. In contrast, SC parents did not change their perception of the marital relationship, reported more positive attitudes to pregnancy and the baby, and more positive attitudes to sex over the postpartum. Compared with the other groups (SC mothers and fathers, ART fathers), ART mothers exhibited a higher increase in depressive and anxiety symptoms from pregnancy to postpartum and only anxiety symptoms exhibited a decline trend over the postpartum. These findings suggest that ART parents may experience more psychological difficulties during the transition to twin parenthood than SC parents. ART mothers, in particular, appear to be more at risk of high levels of postpartum depressive symptoms.
Overexpression of sphingosine-1-phosphate lyase protects insulin-secreting cells against cytokine toxicity

Increasing evidence suggests a crucial role of inflammation in cytokine-mediated β-cell dysfunction and death in type 1 diabetes mellitus, although the mechanisms are incompletely understood. Sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) is a multifunctional bioactive sphingolipid involved in the development of many autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Here, we investigated the role of intracellular S1P in insulin-secreting INS1E cells by genetically manipulating the S1P-metabolizing enzyme S1P lyase (SPL). The expression of spl was down-regulated by cytokines in INS1E cells and rat islets. Overexpression of SPL protected against cytokine toxicity. Interestingly, the SPL overexpression did not suppress the cytokine-induced NFκB-iNOS-NO pathway but attenuated calcium leakage from endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stores as manifested by lower cytosolic calcium levels, higher expression of the ER protein Sec61a, decreased dephosphorylation of Bcl-2–associated death promoter (Bad) protein, and weaker caspase-3 activation in cytokine-treated (IL-1β, TNFα, and IFNγ) cells. This coincided with reduced cytokine-mediated ER stress, indicated by measurements of CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein homologous protein (chop) and immunoglobulin heavy chain binding protein (bip) levels. Moreover, cytokine-treated SPL-overexpressing cells exhibited increased expression of prohibitin 2 (Phb2), involved in the regulation of mitochondrial assembly and respiration. SPL-overexpressing cells were partially protected against cytokine-mediated ATP reduction and inhibition of glucose-induced insulin secretion. siRNA-mediated spl suppression resulted in effects opposite to those observed for SPL overexpression. Knockdown of phb2 partially reversed beneficial effects of SPL overexpression. In conclusion, the relatively low endogenous Spl expression level in insulin-secreting cells contributes to their extraordinary vulnerability to proinflammatory cytokine toxicity and may therefore represent a promising target for β-cell protection in type 1 diabetes mellitus.
Evaluation of Die Strength by Using Finite Element Method With Experiment Validation

3-D chip stacking packaging is becoming increasingly popular in the electronics packaging industry because the demand of current market has focused on cheaper products with higher performance characteristics and smaller form factors. Silicon wafers must be ground using wafer-thinning processes to achieve smaller packaging sizes. However, cracks may form in the silicon chips during stacking or while the device is in use. In this paper, the ball-breaker test is used to determine the maximum allowable force on a (1 0 0) silicon die. Finite element (FE) analysis using the commercial software ANSYS/LS-DYNA3-D is introduced to calculate the strength of the silicon die and compared with the experimental findings shows that the results are consistent with Hertzian contact theory. The effects of silicon die thickness and foundation material on the silicon die strength are also discussed in this paper. As the applied force increases, a crack appears on the edge of the contact area and propagates within the die. A decrease in die thickness results in the formation of radial cracks on the bottom surface as well as significant bending effects on the test die. The initial failure may originate from the radial crack and propagate toward the top surface of the die leading to die breakage. The strengths determined in this experiment decrease as the test die becomes thinner. Furthermore, if the insignificant bending behavior is observed, simulation results show that the maximum allowable force on a silicon die increases when a softer foundation material is used. However, a thin test die placed on a soft material is considerably easy to break because the tensile stress on the bottom surface of the die caused by the rapid increase in bending behavior significantly affects die breakage.
Oblique effect in visual mismatch negativity

We investigated whether visual orientation anisotropies (known as oblique effect) exist in non-attended visual changes using event-related potentials (ERP). We recorded visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) which signals violation of sequential regularities. In the visual periphery unattended, task-irrelevant Gábor patches were displayed in an oddball sequence while subjects performed a tracking task in the central field. A moderate change (50°) in the orientation of stimuli revealed no consistent change-related components. However, we found orientation-related differences around 170 ms in occipito-temporal areas in the amplitude of the ERPs evoked by standard stimuli. In a supplementary experiment we determined the amount of orientation difference that is needed for change detection in an active, attended paradigm. Results exhibited the classical oblique effect; subjects detected 10° deviations from cardinal directions, while threshold from oblique directions was 17°. These results provide evidence that perception of change could be accomplished at significantly smaller thresholds, than what elicits vMMN. In Experiment 2 we increased the orientation change to 90°. Deviant-minus-standard difference was negative in occipito-parietal areas, between 120 and 200 ms after stimulus onset. VMMNs to changes from cardinal angles were larger and more sustained than vMMNs evoked by changes from oblique angles. Changes from cardinal orientations represent a more detectable signal for the automatic change detection system than changes from oblique angles, thus increased vMMN to these “larger” deviances might be considered a variant of the magnitude of deviance effect rarely observed in vMMN studies.
Survival trends among 1,325 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia seen over the past 40 years in Israel

In the light of recent data showing survival improvement of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), we investigated clinical characteristics and survival patterns of patients with CLL over the last 40 years in Israel. Demographic and clinical data collected in the database of the Israeli CLL Study Group were analyzed. Of the 1,325 patients, 221 were diagnosed during the time period 1968–1989, 456 during 1990–1999, and 639 during 2000–2010. There was shift toward older age (median, 71 vs. 68 vs. 66 years) and a higher proportion of patients at Binet stage A at diagnosis (77.6% vs. 66.7% vs. 60.3%) in the more recent time periods. Median survival for the entire cohort was 10.9 years; 12.2 years for patients diagnosed at Binet stage A, 8.5 years for stage B, and 6.4 years for stage C patients. Older age, high‐beta 2‐microglobulin level, and expression of ZAP‐70 predicted shorter survival. There were no apparent changes over time regarding gender, age or different clinical stages. Young patients with Binet stage A had lower life expectancy than the general population; but, in older ages, the survival rates were comparable. There were increased proportions of CLL patients diagnosed in early stages, and, at older age, during the last decades, however, survival rates according to sex, age, or stage remained stable. CLL continues to be an incurable disease affecting survival even in patients diagnosed at early stages. Survival benefit shown in recent trials using chemoimmunotherapy has still to be proven in wider general practice. Am. J. Hematol. 86:985–992, 2011. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Values-led participatory design: mediating the emergence of values

There is a growing interest in values-led inquiries within participatory design (PD). One approach argues that working with values is a recursive 3-phase process that supports the emergence, development and grounding of values. This paper focuses solely upon this emergence phase, illustrating how we can support the emergence of values during the initial phase of a values-led inquiry. We do this by drawing upon a PD case where digital technology was designed to support the experiences of young adults with severe intellectual disabilities, in an art museum. This case allows us to describe how we establish, negotiate and the debrief values during this initial phase of a values-led inquiry (not to explicate how we can work with such young adults in PD). By foregrounding both explicit and implicit mediation in the PD process, we show how a theoretical understanding of mediation can potentially enrich and further the values-led PD tradition.
Protein growth factor requirements of rat neural crest cells

Nascent neural crest cells derived from explanted E12 embryonic rat caudal neural tubes were used as an assay system to investigate the effects of fibroblast growth factors on neural crest cell (NCC) survival, proliferation, migration, and differentiation. In vitro and in vivo all NCC express low affinity nerve growth factor receptors (p75‐LNGFR), whereas a subpopulation of NCC expresses the carbohydrate epitope recognized by the monoclonal antibody HNK‐1 (Bannerman and Pleasure, manuscript in preparation). Both acidic and basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF) promoted the survival of proportionally greater numbers of p75‐LNGF+/HNK‐1− than P75‐LNGFR+/HNK‐1+ NCC. An as yet uncharacterized factor present in neural tube‐conditioned medium was also required for NCC survival. Mitosis was frequent in those NCC closest to the neural tube, less so as the cells migrated away. Neither basic nor acidic fibroblast growth factor (FGF) influenced rates of NCC mitosis in either of these locations, nor did these FGFs alter the rate at which nascent NCC migrated away from the neural tube. However, acidic and basic FGFs did delay the differentiation of neural crest derived neurons in the cultures. FGF is abundant in the embryonic rat neural crest outgrowth zone, and the present study strongley supports an essential role for fgf in early development of the mammalian neural crest. © 1993 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Protection against hepatitis A by an inactivated vaccine.

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the safety and efficacy of a new inactivated hepatitis A vaccine. DESIGN Double-blind randomized controlled trial stratified by community. SETTING Community-based in Thailand. STUDY PARTICIPANTS A total of 40,119 children, aged 1 to 16 years, attending 148 primary schools: 38,157 (95%) entered surveillance a mean of 138 days after receiving vaccine dose 1; 33,586 (84%) completed the controlled trial of 532 days; and 31,075 (81%) received crossover vaccine and remained under surveillance until day 844. INTERVENTION Participants received hepatitis A vaccine or control hepatitis B vaccine starting January 7, 1991 (doses in months 0, 1, and 12), and crossed over to the alternate vaccine 18 months later. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Cases of hepatitis A (symptoms, alanine aminotransferase levels of 45 U/L or higher, and IgM to hepatitis A virus) were identified by evaluating school absences of 2 or more days. RESULTS There were no serious adverse reactions despite administration of more than 109,000 doses of hepatitis A vaccine. Among initially seronegative recipients of two doses of hepatitis A vaccine, the proportion with 20 mIU/mL or more of antibody to hepatitis A virus before and 5 months after a 1-year booster was 94% and 99%, respectively. Of 6976 episodes of illness during the controlled trial, there were 40 cases of hepatitis A; 38 were in the control group. Of the 40 cases, six, all in controls, occurred after the 1-year booster dose. Following two doses of hepatitis A vaccine (days 138 through 386), protective efficacy was 94% (95% confidence interval, 79% to 99%); cumulative efficacy including the postbooster period (days 138 to 532) was 95% (95% confidence interval, 82% to 99%). The two hepatitis A vaccine recipients who had symptomatic infections (257 and 267 days after dose 1) appeared to have been partially protected since their illnesses were brief and associated with only slight increases in alanine aminotransferase. CONCLUSIONS Inactivated hepatitis A vaccine is safe; when administered in two doses, it protects against hepatitis A for at least 1 year.
Recessions Are Bad for Workplace Safety

Workplace accidents are an important economic phenomenon. Yet, the pro-cyclical fluctuations in workplace accidents are not well understood. They could be related to fluctuations in effort and working hours, but workplace accidents may also be affected by reporting behavior. Our paper uses unique data on workplace accidents from an Austrian matched worker-firm dataset to study in detail how economic incentives affect workplace accidents. We find that workers who reported an accident in a particular period of time are more likely to be fired later on. And, we find support for the idea that recessions influence the reporting of moderate workplace accidents: if workers think the probability of dismissals at the firm level is high, they are less likely to report a moderate workplace accident.
Internationalization of Chinese Higher Education: Is It Westernization?

Internationalization has become a strategic policy priority for many Chinese higher education in the process of becoming world-class universities. However, there is little research focusing on students’ experiences of internationalization at home. This research investigates how Chinese undergraduates interpreted and experienced internationalization at a prestigious university in China. Data for the study were collected through policy document analysis, semi-structured interviews with students, and site visits. The results of the study reveal that students perceive internationalization as Westernization, question the prominence of English in the university’s internationalization in both formal and informal curricula, and raise concerns about unequal access to internationalization. The study interrogates the unidirectional orientation of internationalization between China and the developed Western world. It calls for an approach to the de-Westernization of internationalization, reclaiming indigenous Chinese epistemology, language, and culture. The findings have important implications for an alternative social imaginary of internationalization for researchers and policymakers.
How Does Sustainability-Oriented Human Resource Management Work?: Examining Mediators on Organizational Performance

ABSTRACT This study proposes a path model with a set of intermediary outcomes, namely, teamwork, employee satisfaction, and work motivation, to explain how the practices of sustainability-oriented HRM affect organizational performance. The analysis of 2015 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey reveals that the three practices of sustainable management identified from the literature had indirect effects on organizational performance through a complex interaction among the three intermediate outcomes. In addition, it is found that diversity program has a negative total effect on performance. These findings imply that organizational justice and work/life balance program will lead to an increase in performance by strengthening the backbone of organization. Additionally, conducting the diversity programs for achieving democratic values may entail the cost of diminishing organizational performance probably in the short run.
Recognition and support for today's preceptor.

This article describes the development of a program to support and recognize staff nurses as they embrace the role of preceptor. A nursing educator from a Midwestern tertiary children's hospital, housed within an adult tertiary care facility, was challenged to develop a recognition program for both hospitals that would adequately support the preceptor role while being economically feasible for the organization. A recognition program known as "Preceptor Pride" was developed to focus on the priorities of "professional recognition and individual dedication to education. "