Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
You Said You Would! The Predictability of Other’s Behavior From Their Intentions Determines Predictive Biases in Action Perception

The perception of an action is shifted farther along the observed trajectory if the observer has prior knowledge of the actor’s intention. This intention-action prediction effect is explained by predictive perception models, wherein sensory input is interpreted in light of expectancies. This study altered the precision of the prediction by varying the predictability of the action from the intention, to increase/decrease the predictive perceptual bias. Participants heard an actor state an intention (“I’ll take it”/“I’ll leave it”) before the actor reached or withdrew from an object, thus confirming or contradicting the intention. The intention was predictive of the action (75% congruency) for one group and counterpredictive (25%) for another. The action disappeared midmovement and participants estimated the disappearance position. The intention-action prediction effect was greater if the intention was predictive than if counterpredictive. However, participants needed to explicitly know the predictability rates (Experiments 1 and 3). No group differences emerged when both groups believed the intention was nonpredictive (Experiment 2a), nor when a nonpredictive intention was believed to be (counter)predictive (Experiment 2b). The perception of others behavior is determined by its predictability from their intentions, and the precision of our social predictions is adapted to individual differences in behavior.
The educational and cultural impact of the medium of instruction policy on secondary education in Hong Kong

The chief aim of the research is to look into the perceptions on the impact of the 1998 medium of instruction policy on the educational and cultural dimensions of the secondary education sector in Hong Kong. The core of the whole study is divided into two parts with issues related to the educational and cultural dimensions. This study investigates people's views on the linguistic interdependence hypothesis and the threshold hypothesis, which form the bases of the 1998 medium of instruction policy. The majority of teachers raised doubts about the linguistic interdependence hypothesis as many have pointed out the issue of language-relatedness and contextual variants that affect positive transfer between languages. The threshold hypothesis was also questioned with regard to the Medium of Instruction Grouping Assessment criteria and also the age of assessment. The necessity of readjustments of western educational or linguistic theories before adapting them to the local context has been established from the data. As for second language learning, the concept of quality of exposure marks an interesting point that we should be aware of. Apart from this, the discussion of mixed code as an alternative form of bilingual education also opens up possible directions for future research because of its general popularity among
Restaurant food cooling practices.

Improper food cooling practices are a significant cause of foodborne illness, yet little is known about restaurant food cooling practices. This study was conducted to examine food cooling practices in restaurants. Specifically, the study assesses the frequency with which restaurants meet U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommendations aimed at reducing pathogen proliferation during food cooling. Members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Environmental Health Specialists Network collected data on food cooling practices in 420 restaurants. The data collected indicate that many restaurants are not meeting FDA recommendations concerning cooling. Although most restaurant kitchen managers report that they have formal cooling processes (86%) and provide training to food workers on proper cooling (91%), many managers said that they do not have tested and verified cooling processes (39%), do not monitor time or temperature during cooling processes (41%), or do not calibrate thermometers used for monitoring temperatures (15%). Indeed, 86% of managers reported cooling processes that did not incorporate all FDA-recommended components. Additionally, restaurants do not always follow recommendations concerning specific cooling methods, such as refrigerating cooling food at shallow depths, ventilating cooling food, providing open-air space around the tops and sides of cooling food containers, and refraining from stacking cooling food containers on top of each other. Data from this study could be used by food safety programs and the restaurant industry to target training and intervention efforts concerning cooling practices. These efforts should focus on the most frequent poor cooling practices, as identified by this study.
A pollinators' eye view of a shelter mimicry system.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS 'Human-red' flowers are traditionally considered to be rather unpopular with bees, yet some allogamous species in the section Oncocyclus (genus Iris, Iridaceae) have evolved specialized interactions with their pollinators, a narrow taxonomic range of male solitary bees. The dark-red, tubular flowers of these irises are nectarless but provide protective shelters (i.e. a non-nutritive form of reward) primarily to male solitary bees (Apidae, Eucerini) that pollinate the flowers while looking for a shelter. An earlier study on orchids suggested that species pollinated predominantly by male solitary bees produce significantly larger amounts and larger numbers of different n-alkenes (unsaturated cuticular hydrocarbons). Whether or not this also applies to the Oncocyclus irises and whether pollinators are attracted by specific colours or scents of these flowers is unknown. METHODS Using Iris atropurpurea, recording of pollinator preferences for shelters with different spatial parameters was combined with analyses of floral colours (by spectrophotometry) and scents (by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) to test the hypotheses that (a) pollinators significantly prefer floral tunnels facing the rising sun (floral heat-reward hypothesis), and that (b) flowers pollinated predominantly by male solitary bees produce significantly larger amounts and larger numbers of unsaturated cuticular hydrocarbons (n-alkenes) in their floral scent (preadaptation to sexual-deception hypothesis). KEY RESULTS Male bees do not significantly prefer shelters facing the rising sun or with the presence of high absolute/relative amounts and numbers of n-alkenes in the floral scent. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that the flowers of I. atropurpurea probably evolved by pollinator-mediated selection acting primarily on floral colours to mimic large achromatic ('bee-black') protective shelters used preferentially by male solitary bees, and that pollinator visits are presumably not the result of an odour-based sexual stimulation or motivated by an increased morning floral heat reward in tunnels facing the rising sun.
Strategic management of R&D and marketing integration for multi-dimensional success of new product developments: an empirical investigation in the Korean ICT industry

The purpose of this study is to show the impact of the R&D and marketing integration on new product development (NPD) success without any parametric assumptions on model specification. In the high-tech innovation management context, it has generally been accepted that tight integration between R&D and marketing successfully influences the development of an innovative product by stimulating a mutual understanding between people from different departments. However, a few researchers also pointed out that a too close relationship between R&D personnel and marketing personnel can cause important information to be overlooked, thus reducing NPD success. Our research results, which are based on empirical data and the application of the nonparametric regression method Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines, show an even more diverse effect of integrating R&D and marketing if different performance criteria are considered. Results demonstrate that the effect of integration between R&D and marketing is nonconstant and nonlinear, a finding that could not be captured with parametric assumptions. Therefore, our research provides an explanation for the opposing observations reported in earlier work.
Occupational Injuries in a Poor Inner‐City Population

This study aims to characterize occupational injuries in a defined poor inner-city population in terms of demographic features, types, and circumstances of injuries, and medical and financial consequences. It is a case series drawn from a larger population-based injury registry in emergency departments that serve 17 poor census tracts in Philadelphia. Of 335 patients from the study area who had been treated at the emergency departments under study for occupational injuries, 107 could be contacted by telephone 2 to 3 years after their injuries. Interviews sought information on the patients, their employment, their injuries, and the consequences. Respondents were almost all African-American, approximately 50% male, and had a median age of 32. Approximately one third were employed in the health care industry, one fourth in the service sector (including conventional service firms, restaurants, and hotels), and the remainder in construction, retail and wholesale trade, education, transportation, and manufacturing. Major causes of injuries included over-exertion, contact with sharp objects, and falls. Major types on injuries included sprain/strains and lacerations. Approximately half the respondents had missed more than 3 days of work, with 15% missing more than 1 month. Almost 40% of respondents reported persistent health problems after their injuries. Only about one quarter had received workers' compensation. We conclude that poor and minority workers are at risk of a wide range of occupational injuries, which may result in considerable lost work time and have serious medical and economic consequences. More attention to the workplace risks of these relatively marginalized workers and more vigorous preventive interventions are needed.
The Relevance of Western Corporate Governance in Mitigating Management Misconduct in Thailand

ABSTRACT This article provides empirical evidence on the relevance of structures central to Western models of corporate governance in mitigating management misconduct in Thailand. We find no evidence supporting the effectiveness of Western-based corporate governance structures such as board independence, audit committee effectiveness, and separating the roles of CEO and Board Chair in limiting management misconduct. However, we do find evidence supportive of independent directors with more experience and longer tenure, the presence of institutional ownership, and concentrated controlling ownership in limiting management misconduct. This provides some support for the validity of resource dependency theory in an emerging economy setting.
The mdoA locus of Escherichia coli consists of an operon under osmotic control

In Escherichia coli, the 5 kb mdoA locus is involved in the osmotically controlled biosynthesis of periplasmic membrane‐derived oligosaccharides (MDOs). The structure of this locus was analysed by in vitro cassette insertion, transposon mutagenesis, and gene‐fusion analysis.
Inhibition of Notch signaling prevents experimental fibrosis and induces regression of established fibrosis.

OBJECTIVE Tissue fibrosis caused by pathologic activation of fibroblasts with increased synthesis of extracellular matrix components is a major hallmark of systemic sclerosis (SSc). Notch signaling regulates tissue differentiation, and abnormal activation of Notch signaling has been implicated in the pathogenesis of various malignancies. The present study was undertaken to investigate the role of Notch signaling in SSc and to evaluate the therapeutic potential of Notch inhibition for the treatment of fibrosis. METHODS Activation of the Notch pathways was analyzed by staining for the Notch intracellular domain (NICD) and quantification of levels of HES-1 messenger RNA. In the mouse model of bleomycin-induced dermal fibrosis and in tight skin 1 mice, Notch signaling was inhibited by the γ-secretase inhibitor DAPT and by overexpression of a Notch-1 antisense construct. RESULTS Notch signaling was activated in SSc in vivo, with accumulation of the NICD and increased transcription of the target gene HES-1. Overexpression of a Notch antisense construct prevented bleomycin-induced fibrosis and hypodermal thickening in tight skin 1 mice. Potent antifibrotic effects were also obtained with DAPT treatment. In addition to prevention of fibrosis, targeting of Notch signaling resulted in almost complete regression of established experimental fibrosis. CONCLUSION The present results demonstrate that pharmacologic as well as genetic inhibition of Notch signaling exerts potent antifibrotic effects in different murine models of SSc. These findings might have direct translational implications because different inhibitors of the γ-secretase complex are available and have yielded promising results in cancer trials.
Localization of phosphatidylinositol 3‐phosphate in yeast and mammalian cells

Phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (PI3K) regulates several vital cellular processes, including signal transduction and membrane trafficking. In order to study the intracellular localization of the PI3K product, phosphatidylinositol 3‐phosphate [PI(3)P], we constructed a probe consisting of two PI(3)P‐binding FYVE domains. The probe was found to bind specifically, and with high affinity, to PI(3)P both in vitro and in vivo. When expressed in fibroblasts, a tagged probe localized to endosomes, as detected by fluorescence microscopy. Electron microscopy of untransfected fibroblasts showed that PI(3)P is highly enriched on early endosomes and in the internal vesicles of multivesicular endosomes. While yeast cells deficient in PI3K activity (vps15 and vps34 mutants) were not labelled, PI(3)P was found on intralumenal vesicles of endosomes and vacuoles of wild‐type yeast. vps27Δ yeast cells, which have impaired endosome to vacuole trafficking, showed a decreased vacuolar labelling and increased endosome labelling. Thus PI(3)P follows a conserved intralumenal degradation pathway, and its generation, accessibility and turnover are likely to play a crucial role in defining the early endosome and the subsequent steps leading to multivesicular endosome formation.
THETA‐BURST STIMULATION: A NEW FORM OF TMS TREATMENT FOR DEPRESSION?

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common debilitating condition where only one third of patients achieve remission after the first antidepressant treatment. Inadequate efficacy and adverse effects of current treatment strategies call for more effective and tolerable treatment options. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive approach to manipulate brain activity and alter cortical excitability. There has been more than 15 years of research on the use of repetitive form of TMS (rTMS) for the treatment of patients with depression, which has shown it to be an effective antidepressant treatment. Even though rTMS treatment has shown efficacy in treating depression, there is a high degree of interindividual variability in response. A newer form of rTMS protocol, known as theta‐burst stimulation (TBS), has been shown to produce similar if not greater effects on brain activity than standard rTMS. TBS protocols have a major advantage over standard rTMS approaches in their reduced administration duration. Conventional rTMS procedures last between 20 and 45 min, as compared to TBS paradigms that require 1 to 3 min of stimulation. Recently, a small number of studies have suggested that TBS has similar or better efficacy in treating depression compared to rTMS. Optimization, identification of response predictors, and clarification of neurobiological mechanisms of TBS is required if it is to be further developed as a less time intensive, safe, and effective treatment for MDD.
Let's Agree to Disagree: Measuring Agreement between Annotators for Opinion Mining Task

There is a need to know up to what degree humans can agree when classifying a sentence as carrying some sentiment orientation. However, a little research has been done on assessing the agreement between annotators for the diﬀerent opinion mining tasks. In this work we present an assessment of agreement between two human annotators. The task was to manually classify newspaper sentences into one of three classes. For assessing the level of agreement, Cohen’s kappa coeﬃcient was computed. Results show that annotators agree more for negative classes than for positive or neutral. We observed that annotators might agree up to a level of substantial agreement of 0.65 for the best case or 0.30 for the worst.
Caspase-1 Protein Induces Apoptosis-associated Speck-like Protein Containing a Caspase Recruitment Domain (ASC)-mediated Necrosis Independently of Its Catalytic Activity*

Background: ASC mediates apoptosis and necrosis of tumor cells and necrosis of microbe-infected macrophages. Results: ASC mediates necrosis only when cells express caspase-1; however, inhibition of caspase-1 proteolytic activity did not suppress the necrosis. Conclusion: Caspase-1 but not its proteolytic activity is essential for ASC-mediated necrosis. Significance: This study explains why ASC induces apoptosis or necrosis depending on the cell type. The adaptor protein, apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing a caspase recruitment domain (ASC), connects pathogen/danger sensors such as NLRP3 and NLRC4 with caspases and is involved in inflammation and cell death. We have found that ASC activation induced caspase-8-dependent apoptosis or CA-074Me (cathepsin B inhibitor)-inhibitable necrosis depending on the cell type. Unlike necroptosis, another necrotic cell death, ASC-mediated necrosis, was neither RIP3-dependent nor necrostatin-1-inhibitable. Although acetyl–YVAD–chloromethylketone (Ac-YVAD-CMK) (caspase-1 inhibitor) did not inhibit ASC-mediated necrosis, comprehensive gene expression analyses indicated that caspase-1 expression coincided with the necrosis type. Furthermore, caspase-1 knockdown converted necrosis-type cells to apoptosis-type cells, whereas exogenous expression of either wild-type or catalytically inactive caspase-1 did the opposite. Knockdown of caspase-1, but not Ac-YVAD-CMK, suppressed the monocyte necrosis induced by Staphylococcus and Pseudomonas infection. Thus, the catalytic activity of caspase-1 is dispensable for necrosis induction. Intriguingly, a short period of caspase-1 knockdown inhibited IL-1β production but not necrosis, although longer knockdown suppressed both responses. Possible explanations of this phenomenon are discussed.
Exploring the Complexity of Early Dropout Causal Structures.

This study analyzes NELS:88 data from a dropout sample of students who were enrolled in the eighth grade in 1988 but who were not enrolled in school in 1990. The data for this analysis were collected in Spring 1990 to examine reasons for dropping out and ? lams for dropouts to resume their education. In both areas, differences were found on race-ethnicity and gender. Concerning reasons for dropping out, a larger percentage of white and Hispanic dropouts cited school-related factors as a cause than did African Americans; African American dropouts cited suspension and expulsion more often than any other group. A significantly larger percentage of male than female dropouts cited job-related factors; females cited family-related reasons more often than did white females. The overwhelming majority of dropouts did have plans for resuming their education, but these plans differed by race-ethnicity and gender. Both male and female white dropouts more frequently planned to take equivalency tests; Hispanic adolescents favored attending alternative high schools, and African American adolescents more often planned to return to a regular high school to earn their diplomas. Six tables. (Contains 18 references.) (Author/BJ) *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ***********************************************************************
Matrix GLA Protein Stimulates VEGF Expression through Increased Transforming Growth Factor-β1 Activity in Endothelial Cells*

Matrix GLA protein (MGP) is expressed in endothelial cells (EC), and MGP deficiency results in developmental defects suggesting involvement in EC function. To determine the role of MGP in EC, we cultured bovine aortic EC with increasing concentrations of human MGP (hMGP) for 24 h. The results showed increased proliferation, migration, tube formation, and increased release of vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). HMGP, added endogenously or transiently expressed, increased VEGF gene expression dose-dependently as determined by real-time PCR. To determine the mechanism by which hMGP increased VEGF expression, we studied the effect of MGP on the activity of transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 compared with that of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2 using transfection assays with TGF-β- and BMP-response element reporter genes. Our results showed a strong enhancement of TGF-β1 activity by hMGP, which was paralleled by increased VEGF expression. BMP-2 activity, on the other hand, was inhibited by hMGP. Neutralizing antibodies to TGF-β blocked the effect of MGP on VEGF expression. The enhanced TGF-β1 activity specifically activated the Smad1/5 pathway indicating that the TGF-β receptor activin-like kinase 1 (ALK1) had been stimulated. It occurred without changes in expression of TGF-β1 or ALK1 and was mimicked by transfection of constitutively active ALK1, which increased VEGF expression. Expression of VEGF and MGP was induced by TGF-β1, but the induction of MGP preceded that of VEGF, consistent with a promoting effect on VEGF expression. Together, the results suggest that MGP plays a role in EC function, altering the response to TGF-β superfamily growth factors.