Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Gender and Organizational Citizenship Behavior of Information Technology Users in Poland and Germany

We examine the effect of gender and country (cultural and organizational differences) on the organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) of information technology (IT) users in Poland (transition economy) and Germany (developed economy). We investigate two dimensions of human capital: the OCB individually oriented (OCBI) and organizationally oriented (OCBO). The online random survey comprised 280 Polish respondents and 72 German respondents, in different regions of the two countries. Our findings show that effects of gender and country between Poland and Germany exist. In Germany employees more appreciate OCB than in Poland. However in both countries women – subordinates better evaluate supervisors OCB in comparison to men - subordinates. Women – supervisors evaluate worse subordinates OCB in comparison to men - supervisors. Our findings complement the gap in the stream of scientific knowledge on the relationship between gender, country and OCB in the group of IT users, in relation to Polish and German economies.
Parenting Styles and Mental Health of Palestinian–Arab Adolescents in Israel

The relationship between three parenting styles (authoritarian, permissive, and authoritative) and the mental health of Arab adolescents was tested. It was hypothesized that parenting style toward boys would differ from that towards girls, psychological adjustment of girls would differ from that of boys, and that the authoritarian style applied within the authoritarian Arab society is not associated with poor psychological adjustment. The Parental Authority Questionnaire, Child Attitude Toward Parents, Lipsitt’s Self-Concept Scale for Children, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Psychological State Scale were administered to 431 Arab adolescents. Sex comparison revealed that the parenting style with regard to girls tends to be more authoritative and less authoritarian than with regard to boys. Girls scored higher than boys on identity disorder, anxiety disorder, and depression scales, whereas boys scored higher than girls on the behavior disorder scale. There was no significant relationship between the authoritarian parenting style and the mental health measures. A significant positive relationship exists between the authoritative parenting style and the mental health of children. Among boys, the permissive parenting style was associated with negative attitudes towards parents, lower self-esteem and increased identity, anxiety, phobia, depressive, and conduct disorders. It seems, therefore, that the effect of parenting style is culturally and gender dependent rather than universal.
Bullying Phenomenon: Perceptions of Elementary School Students

This study is quantitative by his nature and aims to deep knowledge about the phenomenon in the context of Albania's bullying, based on the reports of 230 students from low cycle of 9-year school of Durres District. The purpose of this study is to explore students' perceptions of themselves in some aspects as: a) why some students fall victim's bullying; b) in which the school environment with many behaviors occur bullying; c) what are the attitudes of the spectators of this phenomenon and d) whether there is a gender difference for victims’ bullying. To achieve these goals the study were randomly selected 6 schools in the Durres District, and in them are randomly selected but were stratified 121 girls and 109 boys of grades 5-6, who reported via an adjusted instrument from their literature perceptions. The collected data were processed with SPSS, which were carried out mainly descriptive analysis, and coretional analysis. The study revealed that there are many reasons why students fall victim of bullying behavior, but are foremost due to the origin of the families, the ways in which students dress, lack of athletic skills, and being overweight. Bullying acts occur more often when there are not teachers in the classroom, in school hallways and during entrances - exits in school. Nearly 1 in 3 students tend to report to adults that if they are present when these behavior occur, whether 1 in 4 students results that see, what happen without becoming part with bully, and 1 in 5 students try to stop's bullying. In addition, it was found that there are not gender differences in terms of victimization and aggression. The authors also discussed several ways in accordance with Albanian contexts ban is bullying in schools. DOI: 10.5901/jesr.2014. v4n4p0480
Effects of fully and partial substitution of NaCl by KCl on physico-chemical and sensory properties of white pickled cheese

White pickled cheeses were produced with different salting treatments, vacuum-packed in polyethylene containers, and stored at 4±1°C for 90 days. Five different concentrations of NaCl, KCl or NaCl/KCl mixtures (sample A, 100% NaCl; sample B, 100% KCl; sample C, 75% NaCl+25% KCl; sample D, 50% NaCl+50% KCl; sample E, 25% NaCl+75% KCl) were applied in the production of cheeses. Some physical, chemical and sensory properties of the samples were monitored at 0, 15, 30, 60 and 90 days of ripening. The results obtained indicated that the cheese could be produced with the mixture of 75% NaCl+25% KCl without negative effects on cheese quality.
On the singular values of random matrices

We present an approach that allows one to bound the largest and smallest singular values of an N × n random matrix with iid rows, distributed according to a measure on Rn that is supported in a relatively small ball and linear functionals are uniformly bounded in Lp for some p > 8, in a quantitative (non-asymptotic) fashion. Among the outcomes of this approach are optimal estimates of 1 ± c √ n/N not only in the case of the above mentioned measure, but also when the measure is log-concave or when it a product measure of iid random variables with “heavy tails”.
Lyapunov's direct method for stabilization of the Furuta pendulum

This paper presents a novel stabilization result for the Furuta pendulum for a large region of attraction including almost all of the upper half plane. The solution is obtained via constructing a Lyapunov function after set of coordinate changes. Then, a set of differential equations are solved to achieve asymptotic stability which is proved in accordance with La Salle's invariance principle. The effectiveness of the proposed stabilization method is illustrated with simulation studies.
Statistical analysis of large scale wind power generation using Monte Carlo Simulations

As more wind power generation is installed, the effect of wind power on the electric power system is becoming increasingly important. This paper presents two time series models that can be used in Monte Carlo simulations to assess the risk of very high or low wind speeds occurring contemporaneously in multiple locations. The suitability of the models is assessed for existing measured locations and new non-measured locations. The simulation results are verified against measurements from 19 locations from Finland. Also, an example scenario is given to show the effect of geographical spread on the aggregate power generation of multiple wind power generation units.
The use of angiogenic and antiangiogenic factors in the differential diagnosis of pre-eclampsia, antiphospholipid syndrome nephropathy and lupus nephritis

Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a major cause of maternal mortality and morbidity, perinatal deaths, preterm birth and intrauterine growth restriction. Differential diagnosis with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) nephropathy and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) nephritis during pregnancy is difficult, if not sometimes impossible, as all three diseases may present hypertension and proteinuria. Improvement in diagnosis of PE has also offered new paths for differential diagnosis with other conditions and the analysis of angiogenic (vascular endothelial growth factor, placental growth factor) and antiangiogenic factors (serum soluble fms-like tyrosine kinase 1, soluble endoglin) is promising for differentiation between PE, APS nephropathy and SLE nephritis. This article reviews published studies about those factors in non-pregnant and pregnant patients with APS and SLE, comparing with patterns described in PE.
Analysis of Boron Distribution In Vivo for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy using Two Different Boron Compounds by Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry

Abstract Yokoyama, K. , Miyatake, S-I. , Kajimoto, Y. , Kawabata, S. , Doi, A. , Yoshida, T. , Okabe, M. , Kirihata, M. , Ono, K. and Kuroiwa, T. Analysis of Boron Distribution In Vivo for Boron Neutron Capture Therapy using Two Different Boron Compounds by Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry. Radiat. Res. 167, 102–109 (2007). The efficiency of boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) for malignant gliomas depends on the selective and absolute accumulation of 10B atoms in tumor tissues. Only two boron compounds, BPA and BSH, currently can be used clinically. However, the detailed distributions of these compounds have not been determined. Here we used secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) to determine the histological distribution of 10B atoms derived from the boron compounds BSH and BPA. C6 tumor-bearing rats were given 500 mg/kg of BPA or 100 mg/kg of BSH intraperitoneally; 2.5 h later, their brains were sectioned and subjected to SIMS. In the main tumor mass, BPA accumulated heterogeneously, while BSH accumulated homogeneously. In the peritumoral area, both BPA and BSH accumulated measurably. Interestingly, in this area, BSH accumulated distinctively in a diffuse manner even 800 μm distant from the interface between the main tumor and normal brain. In the contralateral brain, BPA accumulated measurably, while BSH did not. In conclusion, both BPA and BSH each have advantages and disadvantages. These compounds are considered to be essential as boron delivery agents independently for clinical BNCT. There is some rationale for the simultaneous use of both compounds in clinical BNCT for malignant gliomas.
Myeloma cells contain high levels of inorganic polyphosphate which is associated with nucleolar transcription

Background In hematology there has recently been increasing interest in inorganic polyphosphate. This polymer accumulates in platelet granules and its functions include modulating various stages of blood coagulation, inducing angiogenesis, and provoking apoptosis of plasma cells. In this study we evaluated the characteristics of intracellular polyphosphate in myeloma cell lines, in primary myeloma cells from patients, and in other human B-cell populations from healthy donors. Design and Methods We have developed a novel flow cytometric method for detecting levels of polyphosphate in cell populations. We also used confocal microscopy and enzymatic analysis to study polyphosphate localization and characteristics. Results We found that myeloma plasma cells contain higher levels of intracellular polyphosphate than normal plasma cells and other B-cell populations. Localization experiments indicated that high levels of polyphosphate accumulate in the nucleolus of myeloma cells. As the principal function of the nucleolus involves transcription of ribosomal DNA genes, we found changes in the cellular distribution of polyphosphate after the inhibition of nucleolar transcription. In addition, we found that RNA polymerase I activity, responsible for transcription in the nucleolus, is also modulated by polyphosphate, in a dose-dependent manner. Conclusions Our results show an unusually high accumulation of polyphosphate in the nucleoli of myeloma cells and a functional relationship of this polymer with nucleolar transcription.
Is the Critical Point for Aperture Crossing Adapted to the Person-Plus-Object System?

ABSTRACT When passing through apertures, individuals scale their actions to their shoulder width and rotate their shoulders or avoid apertures that are deemed too small for straight passage. Carrying objects wider than the body produces a person-plus-object system that individuals must account for in order to pass through apertures safely. The present study aimed to determine whether individuals scale their critical point to the widest horizontal dimension (shoulder or object width). Two responses emerged: Fast adapters adapted to the person-plus-object system by maintaining a consistent critical point regardless of whether the object was carried while slow adapters initially increased their critical point (overestimated) before adapting back to their original critical point. The results suggest that individuals can account for increases in body width by scaling actions to the size of the object width but people adapt at different rates.
The adeno-associated virus rep gene suppresses herpes simplex virus-induced DNA amplification

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) induces within the host cell genome DNA amplification which can be suppressed by coinfection with adeno-associated virus (AAV). To characterize the AAV functions mediating this effect, cloned AAV type 2 wild-type or mutant genomes were transfected into simian virus 40 (SV40)-transformed hamster cells together with the six HSV replication genes (encoding UL5, UL8, major DNA-binding protein, DNA polymerase, UL42, and UL52) which together are necessary and sufficient for the induction of SV40 DNA amplification (R. Heilbronn and H. zur Hausen, J. Virol. 63:3683-3692, 1989). The AAV rep gene was identified as being responsible for the complete inhibition of HSV-induced SV40 DNA amplification. Likewise, rep inhibited origin-dependent HSV replication. rep neither killed the transfected host cells nor interfered with gene expression from the cotransfected amplification genes. This points to a specific interference with HSV-induced DNA amplification.
Functional dissociation between serotonergic pathways in dorsal and ventral hippocampus in psychotomimetic drug‐induced locomotor hyperactivity and prepulse inhibition in rats

Altered hippocampal function and brain serotonin activity are implicated in the development and symptoms of schizophrenia. We have previously shown that lesions of the median raphe nucleus, but not the dorsal raphe nucleus, produced a marked enhancement of locomotor hyperactivity induced by phencyclidine and disruption of prepulse inhibition. The dorsal and ventral hippocampus receive serotonin projections predominantly from the median raphe nucleus and dorsal raphe nucleus, respectively. Therefore, we investigated the effect of local lesions of serotonin projections into the dorsal and ventral hippocampus on psychotomimetic drug‐induced locomotor hyperactivity and prepulse inhibition. Male Sprague–Dawley rats were anaesthetized with pentobarbitone and stereotaxically microinjected with 5 µg of the serotonergic neurotoxin 5,7‐dihydroxytryptamine into either the dorsal or the ventral hippocampus. Two weeks after surgery, dorsal hippocampus‐lesioned rats showed a 100% enhancement of the locomotor hyperactivity caused by phencyclidine treatment and a slight but significant reduction of the effect of amphetamine. Prepulse inhibition was significantly disrupted in lesioned rats and serotonin levels in the dorsal hippocampus were reduced by 80%. Rats with lesions of the ventral hippocampus showed 85% depletion of serotonin and partial disruption of prepulse inhibition, but no significant changes in the effect of phencyclidine or amphetamine. These results suggest that serotonin projections from the median raphe nucleus to the dorsal hippocampus play an important role in locomotor hyperactivity and prepulse inhibition in rats, animal models of aspects of schizophrenia. This suggests that these serotonin projections may be involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia symptomology.
Effects of Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation (SBAR) Usage on Communication Skills among Nurses in a Private Hospital in Kuala Lumpur

Background: Situation, Background, Assessment and Recommendation (SBAR) is a standardized communication tool used to enhance patients' safety and quality of care in the hospital. Aim and Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the effects of Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation (SBAR) usage on the communication skills among nurses in a private hospital in Kuala Lumpur. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted with 189 respondents who fulfilled the inclusion criteria. A set of questionnaires related to communication using SBAR was adapted and scored using a 5-point Likert scale. Results: The mean total score of communication was (M = 25.63, SD = 6.74) which indicated moderate level. There were significant differences between marital status of respondents with communication level of married (M=30.26, SD=7.29) and unmarried (M = 22.04, SD = 7.85) with (t=-7.95, p<0.01). There was likewise, significant difference found between higher diploma respondents (M = 30.26, SD = 5.19) (M = 24.76, SD = 7.99) and diploma with (t=-4.82, p<0.01). In terms of designation, communication level was higher among charge nurses (M = 29.50, SD = 5.73) than registered nurses (M = 24.12, SD = 7.98) with (t=-3.19, p<0.01). Conclusion: Effective communication through the use of SBAR is associated with the marital status, education level, and designation of nurses in the private hospital.
Gene expression variance based on random sequencing in rat remnant kidney.

BACKGROUND Several examinations have been performed to identify the genes involved in chronic renal failure using 5/6 nephrectomized rats. Recently, many systematic techniques for examining molecular expression have been developed. They might also be effective in elucidating the molecular mechanism of progressive renal failure. In this study, digital expression profiling was carried out to construct a subtractive mRNA expression database for the 5/6 nephrectomized kidney. METHODS One thousand clones were randomly sequenced from 5/6 nephrectomized and sham-operated rat kidney cDNA libraries, respectively, and defined by BLAST search. In silico subtractive analysis was performed to search for genes up- or down-regulated in the 5/6 nephrectomized kidney. RESULTS The growth factor-related mRNAs and the mRNAs encoding cytoskeletal or membrane proteins were up-regulated, but the transporter-related mRNAs were down-regulated in the 5/6 nephrectomized kidney database. In silico subtraction revealed that 63 mRNAs were increased and 59 were decreased in the 5/6 nephrectomized kidney. To confirm whether the in silico subtractive database reflected the actual expression of mRNA or protein, 12 known genes were examined by Northern blotting or immunoblotting, respectively. The actual expression of the 12 genes was comparable with the results of in silico subtraction. In addition, we successfully isolated five unknown genes, two up-regulated and three down-regulated in the 5/6 nephrectomized kidney. CONCLUSION We constructed a subtractive mRNA expression database for 5/6 nephrectomized kidney, which reflects the actual alterations in mRNA expression after subtotal nephrectomy. This database may be useful for elucidation of the molecular mechanism of progressive renal failure.
Reliability of Lead-Free LGAs and BGAs : Effects of Solder Joint Size , Cyclic Strain and Microstructure

An accelerated thermal cycle experiment comparing similarly constructed area array devices representing Land Grid Array (LGA) and Ball Grid Array (BGA) technology with 0.254, 0.30, and 0.40mm diameter SAC305 solder balls was performed. The devices were subjected to three thermal cycle conditions in order to promote 2nd level solder fatigue. Failure data was compared using Weibull analyses. The results show that time to failure is highly influenced by the package pitch and thermal cycle temperatures in a manner predicted by simple mechanics. However, there were instances in which the effect of solder ball size did not fit the traditional solder joint reliability model in which increasing solder joint standoff height improves reliability (i.e. more cycles to failure). A theory is proposed that substantial differences in SAC305 solder joint Sn grain morphology may explain, at least partially, the discrepancies and evidence to support this theory is presented.
Drainage after Modified Radical Mastectomy – A Methodological Mini-Review

Breast cancer is a socially relevant group of malignant conditions of the mammary gland, affecting both males and females. Most commonly the surgical approach of choice is a modified radical mastectomy (MRM), due to it allowing for both the removal of the main tumor mass and adjacent glandular tissue, which are suspected of infiltration and multifocality of the process, and a sentinel axillary lymph node removal. Most common post-surgical complications following MRM are the formation of a hematoma, the infection of the surgical wound and the formation of a seroma. These post-surgical complications can, at least in part, be attributed to the drainage of the surgical wound. However, the lack of modern and official guidelines provides an ample scope for innovation, but also leads to a need for a randomized comparison of the results. We compared different approaches to wound drainage after MRM, reviewed based on the armamentarium, number of drains, location, type of drainage system, timing of drain removal and no drainage alternatives. Currently, based on the general results, scientific and comparative discussions, seemingly the most affordable methodology with the best patient outcome, with regards to hospital stay and post-operative complications, is the placement of one medial to lateral (pectoro-axillary) drain with low negative pressure. Ideally, the drain should be removed on the second or third postoperative day or when the amount of drained fluid in the last 24 hours reaches below 50 milliliters.
Effect of increasing dietary metabolizable protein on nitrogen efficiency in Holstein dairy cows

Objective The objective of the study was to determine the effects of increasing levels of metabolizable protein (MP) on lactation performance and nitrogen (N) efficiencies in lactating dairy cows. Methods Nine multiparous cows in mid lactation [113±25 days in milk] received three treatments in a 3×3 Latin square design with a period length of 21 days. The treatments were three diets, designed to provide similar energy and increasing supply of MP (g/d) (2,371 [low], 2,561 [medium], and 2,711 [high] with corresponding crude protein levels [%]) 15.2, 18.4, and 20.9, respectively. Results Increasing MP supplies did not modify dry matter intake, however, it increased milk protein, fat, and lactose yield linearly. Similarly, fat corrected milk increased linearly (9.3%) due to an increase in both milk yield (5.2%) and milk fat content (7.8%). No effects were observed on milk protein and lactose contents across the treatments. Milk nitrogen efficiency (MNE) decreased from 0.26 to 0.20; whereas, the metabolic efficiency of MP decreased from 0.70 to 0.60 in low to high MP supplies, respectively. The concentration of blood urea nitrogen (BUN) increased linearly in response to increasing MP supplies. Conclusion Increasing MP supplies resulted in increased milk protein yield; however, a higher BUN and low MNE indicated an efficient utilization of dietary protein at low MP supplies.