Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Motivation, Learning Strategies, and Performance in Physical Education at Secondary School

Field studies investigating self-determined motivation in relation to learning strategy use and its educational outcomes in physical education are lacking. The purpose of the present study was therefore to test a Self-Determination Theory (SDT; Deci & Ryan, 2000) process model of learning strategy use as it related to participation and performance in physical education courses in eighth through tenth grades. In this model, autonomy support from teachers was hypothesized to be positively related to basic psychological need satisfaction. In turn, need satisfaction was expected to be positively related to autonomous motivation and perceived competence, both of which should be positively related to learning strategy use. Finally, learning strategy use was hypothesized to be positively related to the level of participation and the performance (i.e., grades) in physical education courses. Structural equation modeling supported the SDT process model. All indirect links in the structural model were also significant.
Scratch‐chamber tests in food handler dermatitis

Foods were tested by the scratch‐chamber and open application techniques in 80 hand dermatitis patients. 55 of whom were food handlers. Both immediate and delayed reactions were seen. Most immediate scratch‐chamber test reactions were provoked by vegetables and spices in patients with birch pollen allergy, and most delayed reactions from spices in patients with allergy to balsam of Peru, and from onion and leek. The evaluation of allergic and irritant reactions was difficult. Positive open application tests were seen in about 75% of patients with immediate or delayed scratch‐chamber reactions. Immediate reactions from vegetables, fish and meat, and delayed reactions from orange and lemon peel and onion showed the best clinical relevance. Wet work, surface active agents and other irritant factors were considered the main causes, and food allergies as contributory factors only in food handler hand dermatitis.
Hybrid High Power Amplifiers for L-Band Space Application

This paper describes the design and implementation of 2 hybrid high power amplifiers at L band for a space application. Indeed, the amplifiers represent prototype test vehicles for a larger hybrid amplifier to be used as the final power stage in the transmitting chain of a T/R module of an L-band SAR antenna for earth observation. The amplifiers described in this paper exploit a discrete bar of a commercial 0.35 mum pHEMT process as active device. The first amplifier, featuring a single discrete device, delivers 12 Watts with 56.5% PAE and 12.3 dB gain at 2 dB compression. The second amplifier exploits 4 discrete pHEMT bars using input/output microstrip splitter/combiner and lumped wire bonding/ceramic MIM capacitor output matching networks. It delivers 42 watts with 50% PAE and 13 dB gain at 2.5 dB compression. Since it is a space application, these performances have been achieved with the required de-rating on break-down voltages, current densities and operating channel temperature. The latter has been evaluated by means of a 3-D device model implemented in the framework of a finite differences numerical thermal simulator. In spite of the constraints due to space de-rating rules, the obtained output power densities are 1 W/mm and 0.875 W/mm for the single-discrete and the 4-discrete amplifiers, respectively, which represent a value very close to the state of the art for pHEMT processes.
Degree of handedness and cerebral dominance

Objective: To examine the relationship between the degree of handedness and hemispheric language dominance in patients with epilepsy. Methods: The authors examined the relationship between degree of handedness and hemispheric language dominance in 174 epilepsy surgery candidates using the intracarotid amobarbital procedure and results from a modified version of the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory. Results: The incidence of atypical language dominance increased linearly with the degree of left-handedness, from 9% in strong right-handers (laterality quotient [LQ] = +100) to 46% in ambidextrous individuals and 69% in strong left-handers (LQ = −100). Conclusions: The incidence of atypical language dominance depends not only on the direction but also on the degree of handedness. In addition, direction of language dominance varies with hemisphere of seizure focus and degree of handedness. A familial history of sinistrality may have an additional effect on the likelihood of atypical dominance.
Exploring the Relationship between Involvement, Fan Attraction, Psychological Commitment and Behavioural Loyalty in a Sports Spectator Context

Consumer loyalty has long been recognised as a key consideration of marketing strategies focused on customer retention. While the importance of the loyalty construct is widely recognised, the conditions and variables that foster consumer loyalty for a specific service may vary. This paper explores the variables that influence fan attendance at a professional sporting event. It extends prior research by conceptualising both a behavioural and an attitudinal component of loyalty, as well as considering fan involvement with the sport and attraction to the sport. The findings suggest that psychological commitment and resistance to change mediate the effect of fan attraction and involvement on behavioural loyalty in a professional sports context.
The usefulness of monitoring sleep talking for the diagnosis of dementia with Lewy bodies

ABSTRACT Background: Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the second most common type of neurodegenerative dementia. It is frequently difficult to differentiate DLB from Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other types of dementia. This study examined the usefulness of monitoring sleep talking for the diagnosis of DLB. Methods: A total of 317 patients with dementia were selected from a consecutive series at the Dementia Clinic of Kumamoto University Hospital. Diagnostic categories consisted of probable DLB (n = 55), probable AD (n = 191), frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) (n = 16), vascular dementia (VaD) (n = 18), and other/unspecified dementia (n = 37). We evaluated sleep talking in all dementia patients and normal elderly subjects (n = 32) using an originally designed sleep talking questionnaire. Results: Sleep talking occurred most frequently in the DLB group (61.8%), followed by the VaD group (33.3%), other/unspecified dementia group (27.0%), AD group (18.8%), FTLD group (12.5%), and normal elderly subjects group (6.3%). The prevalence of sleep talking in the DLB group was significantly higher than in other groups, except in the VaD group. The sleep talking yielded high specificity (81.2%) and some sensitivity (61.8%) for the differential diagnosis of DLB from AD. Furthermore, loud sleep talking may improve the specificity (96.9%). For the differentiation of DLB from all other dementia types, the specificity of sleep talking and loud sleep talking was also high (79.4% and 95.8% respectively). Conclusions: Assessing sleep talking, especially the volume of sleep talking, may be useful in the clinical discrimination of DLB from not only AD but also from all other types of dementia.
On the Road to Anglo-Saxon Capitalism? German Corporate Governance Regulation between Market and Multilevel Governance

Financial internationalization and European regulatory harmonization put the German corporate governance regime under pressure to move towards a market-oriented, Anglo-Saxon model. While International Political Economy approaches expect Anglo-Saxon standards to spread across national borders, Comparative Political Economy predicts persistent diversity. In our paper, we trace the patterns and driving forces of change in two areas of corporate governance regulation, namely internal governance and accounting. In accounting, processes of multilevel coordination entailed a high degree of convergence towards Anglo-Saxon standards and institutions. A much greater stability of the domestic institutional framework can be seen in the case of internal governance. While political economy approaches offer important insights for analyzing these changes, both fail to account for the different patterns of convergence and divergence in the two cases. Therefore, we argue in favor of a policy analysis perspective to capture the sectorally distinct interplay of forces that shape the processes of regulatory change.
Adrenal Phenylethanolamine N‐Methyltransferase Induction in Relation to Glucocorticoid Receptor Dynamics: Evidence that Acute Exposure to High Cortisol Levels Is Sufficient to Induce the Enzyme

Abstract: Glucocorticoids (GCs) are thought to regulate, in a permissive fashion, the basal activity of adrenal medullary phenylethanolamine N‐methyltransferase (PNMT). However, it is unclear whether a large short‐term increase in GC release, such as occurs during an acute stress response, may also play a role in PNMT regulation. The present study investigated how the GC influence over PNMT activity varies in relation to dynamic changes in the hormone‐receptor signal. Using [3H]dexamethasone (DEX) and [3H]RU 28362 as radioligands, we have confirmed the presence of GC receptors in bovine adrenal medullary cells. A concentration‐dependent decline in soluble GC receptor sites and an increase in nuclear uptake of [3H]DEX were found in response to GC levels as low as 5 × 10−8M. The loss of soluble sites plateaued between 5 × 10−8 and 10−6M cortisol, with further losses occurring at 10−5 and at 10−4M. The functional consequence of GC receptor binding was confirmed by measuring PNMT activity following 3‐day exposure to cortisol. The pattern of PNMT induction was similar to that seen with GC receptor occupancy; at cortisol concentrations between 10−8 and 10−5M, PNMT induction was at a plateau, with a further increase in activity at 10−4M. The increase in PNMT activity following 3‐day exposure to low (10−7M) and high (5 × 10−5, 10−5M) cortisol was blocked by the GC receptor antagonist RU 38486, suggesting a GC receptor‐mediated event. Finally, a short (2 h) pulse of GC, which mimics the time course of physiological elevation of GC following acute stress, elevated adrenal medullary PNMT activity measured 3 days later. Therefore, our results provide novel evidence that short‐term exposure of adrenal medullary cells to high cortisol levels can elevate PNMT activity.
Impact of SG damper windings on small-signal stability of a distorted SMIB including time and space harmonics

This paper investigates the impact of synchronous generator's damper windings on small-signal stability and dynamic behavior of power systems in the presence of time and space harmonics. A Distorted Single Machine Infinite Bus (DSMIB) system is used for the analysis. A nonlinear model of the synchronous generator (SG) in the Harmonic Domain (HD) is used to include space harmonics. The nonlinear effects of power system components and loads are included as voltage time harmonics at the terminals of the infinite bus. The state space, HD and eigenvalue analysis are used to model the dynamic behavior of the distorted power system and examine its stability. Simulations are used to highlight the impact of damper windings and harmonics on the stability and power oscillations of the system. It is shown that for some harmonic spectra, power system experiences instability problems.
Group Affiliation and Firm Risk: Evidence from Stock Returns on Indian Companies

This paper analyzes the effect of group affiliation on the riskiness of Indian companies. We show that the large difference in stock returns on group affiliates and on stand-alone companies cannot be explained by a standard multifactor model. However, the common variation in the returns on group company stocks suggests that there is a group affiliation factor in Indian stock returns. When we control for this additional factor, we find that about fifty percent of the underperformance of group companies can be explained by their lower risk. We also find evidence suggesting that the group affiliation factor is related to financial distress.
Bayesian methods for the design and analysis of noninferiority trials

ABSTRACT The gold standard for evaluating treatment efficacy of a medical product is a placebo-controlled trial. However, when the use of placebo is considered to be unethical or impractical, a viable alternative for evaluating treatment efficacy is through a noninferiority (NI) study where a test treatment is compared to an active control treatment. The minimal objective of such a study is to determine whether the test treatment is superior to placebo. An assumption is made that if the active control treatment remains efficacious, as was observed when it was compared against placebo, then a test treatment that has comparable efficacy with the active control, within a certain range, must also be superior to placebo. Because of this assumption, the design, implementation, and analysis of NI trials present challenges for sponsors and regulators. In designing and analyzing NI trials, substantial historical data are often required on the active control treatment and placebo. Bayesian approaches provide a natural framework for synthesizing the historical data in the form of prior distributions that can effectively be used in design and analysis of a NI clinical trial. Despite a flurry of recent research activities in the area of Bayesian approaches in medical product development, there are still substantial gaps in recognition and acceptance of Bayesian approaches in NI trial design and analysis. The Bayesian Scientific Working Group of the Drug Information Association provides a coordinated effort to target the education and implementation issues on Bayesian approaches for NI trials. In this article, we provide a review of both frequentist and Bayesian approaches in NI trials, and elaborate on the implementation for two common Bayesian methods including hierarchical prior method and meta-analytic-predictive approach. Simulations are conducted to investigate the properties of the Bayesian methods, and some real clinical trial examples are presented for illustration.
Pengalaman Konsumen Membangun Kepuasan dan Loyalitas Konsumen (Studi Empiris Pada Konsumen Paragon Mall Semarang

This paper determine the effect of customer experience on customer satisfaction and loyalty. Population of this research arecustomer of Paragon Mall Semarang. The Number of Sample about 188 respondents. This research use Structural Equation model as its analysis. The result of this research are customer experience have positif and significants on customer satisfaction, customer satisfaction have positif and significant on customer loyalty, and customer experience have positif and significant on customer loyalty. Keyword: customer experience, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty
N-acetylcysteine for the prevention of contrast-induced nephropathy in patients with pre-existing renal insufficiency or diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Purpose: To identify benefit of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) on patients with pre-existing renal insufficiency or diabetes. Background: NAC administration is a common method for prevention of contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN). Nevertheless, its benefit on patients with pre-existing renal insufficiency or diabetes remains uncertain and controversial. Methods: Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to evaluate the efficacy of NAC for the prevention of CIN in patients with pre-existing renal insufficiency or diabetes were searched from the databases of MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Cochrane library. Pooled odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated using fixed-effects model by the Mantel–Haenszel test. Results: Twenty RCTs involving 3466 subjects (1756 assigned to NAC and 1710 assigned to the control) were included in the pre-existing renal dysfunction group. Pooled analysis suggested a significant reduction in CIN among this group (OR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.61–0.93; p = 0.008). However, the nine trials comparing NAC versus control among patients with diabetes (NAC, 367 subjects; control, 358 subjects) showed no benefit of NAC for prevention of CIN (OR = 0.87; 95% CI, 0.58–1.30; p = 0.50). No significant heterogeneity was detected (p = 0.07; I2 = 34% for the group of pre-existing renal dysfunction; p = 0.40; I2 = 5% for the group of diabetes). Conclusion: Our results suggest that NAC decreases the incidence of contrast-induced nephropathy among patients with pre-existing renal insufficiency. The benefit was not existed in patients with diabetes.
Twin Peaks: What the Knowledge-based Approach Can Say about the Dynamics of the World Income Distribution

One of the most recently observed stylised facts in the field of economic growth is the persistent bimodal shape of the world income distribution. Of course, some theoretical explanations for this new stylised fact already have been provided by neoclassical growth theory within a maximising framework. Although innovation and technology are recognised as being the driving forces behind growth processes, these models maintain the restrictive assumption of a rational acting representative agent. In this paper we draw on a synergetic approach of evolutionary economics. In the model, the countries' productivity development is depicted as a sequence of relative technological levels and the movement from one level to the next higher one is governed by stochastic transition rates. The motivation for these transition rates is based on the knowledge-based approach of evolutionary economics, thereby taking into account depleting technological opportunities, the effects of technological infrastructure and permanent technological obsolescence due to an ubiquitous scientific progress. With this model we are able to show how a persistent bimodal distribution - the twin peaks - endogenously emerges via self-organisation. This simulated distribution matches well with the kernel density plot, calculated for GDP per worker data relative to the GDP per worker in the USA over the period 1960-90 for a sample of 104 countries. Both the empirical and theoretical results show an evolution of the density function toward bimodality with a decreasing number of countries with low relative productivity levels and an increasing number of countries with high relative productivity levels, indicating a prevalent catching-up during the period of investigation. However, the separation of both groups of countries is getting more significant over time and therefore further catching-up is expected to become increasingly difficult in the future.
Invariant property of spatio-temporal feature maps using gated neuronal architecture

In this paper it is shown that the spatio-temporal signature generated for any input pattern on a topologically ordered feature map using a gated neuronal architecture is invariant over a neighbourhood of the input pattern provided the input patterns lie in the interior of the decision space and the regions of competition created by n-dimensional spatial grating function at any given spatial frequency are open. The spatio-temporal signature in a Gated Neuronal Architecture uniquely represents a collection of disjoint regions in the feature space. For pattern classification the labeling of the set of disjoint regions represented by the spatio-temporal signature is obtained by using Bayes conditional probabilities. Simulation results indicate improved performance. <<ETX>>
Effects of elevated serum prolactin on bone mineral density and bone metabolism in female patients with schizophrenia: a prospective study.

OBJECTIVE This study was designed to prospectively examine differential effects of sustained "high" and "low" serum prolactin levels on bone mineral density and peripheral markers of bone metabolism. METHOD A dual-energy X-ray absorptiometer was used to measure bone mineral density. Peripheral markers of bone formation and resorption were used to measure bone metabolism in 14 Caucasian female patients with schizophrenia treated with risperidone or olanzapine monotherapy over 12 months. RESULTS Analyses of variance failed to show an association between elevated prolactin and bone mineral loss over time. However, higher rates of bone formation and resorption were seen in those with high prolactin levels. CONCLUSIONS The results failed to show that elevated prolactin accelerates bone mineral density loss. However, sustained hyperprolactinemia did have an impact on the rate of bone metabolism. Perhaps higher prolactin levels over longer time periods are necessary before the metabolic processes become uncoupled, leading to bone mineral density loss.
Acid sphingomyelinase and inhibition by phosphate ion: role of inhibition by phosphatidyl‐myo‐inositol 3,4,5‐triphosphate in oligodendrocyte cell signaling

There is ample evidence that both acid (ASMase) and neutral (NSMase) sphingomyelinases play a role in cell death so inhibitors of either enzyme could have significant value as protectors against neurodegeneration. We used a fluorogenic sphingomyelinase substrate, 6‐hexadecanoylamino‐4‐methylumbelliferyl‐phosphorylcholine, and a [14C]choline‐labeled sphingomyelin substrate to screen large numbers of phosphocompounds for inhibition of ASMase in extracts of human oligodendroglioma cells (HOG) and neonatal rat oligodendrocytes. Non‐competitive inhibition was observed with inorganic phosphate and AMP, which was a more potent inhibitor of ASMase than cyclic AMP, ADP or ATP. However, other nucleotide phosphates, sugar phosphates, nucleotide sugars and glycerol phosphate did not inhibit ASMase. Our key finding was that phosphatidyl‐myo‐inositol 3,4,5‐triphosphate [PtdIns (3,4,5)P3] was a much more potent inhibitor of ASMase than lysophosphatidic acid or phosphatidyl‐myo‐inositol 4,5‐diphosphate [PtdIns(4,5)P2]. When PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 was added to cultured cells we observed 50% inhibition of ASMase but no inhibition of other lysosomal hydrolases. After transfection of HOG cells with the tumor supressor phosphatase and tensin homolog protein (PTEN), which hydrolyses PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 to PtdIns(4,5)P2, we observed a two‐fold increase in ASMase activity. Furthermore, the phosphatidylinositol‐3‐kinase inhibitor wortmannin (which reduces PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 levels) also resulted in activation of ASMase. We propose that the small amount of ASMase activity associated with detergent‐resistant cell membranes (Rafts) is regulated by PtdIns(3,4,5)P3 and is most likely involved in receptor clustering and capping.
Two-dimensional mapping of impedance magnetocardiograms

A new method for measuring two-dimensional (2-D) impedance magnetocardiograms (I-MCGs) and magnetocardiograms (MCGs) above the heart simultaneously, has been developed. The I-MCG's and MCG's signals are recorded by using a superconducting interference device (SQUID) system. To measure the I-MCG and MCG signals, four first-order gradiometers with an 18-mm diameter and a 50-mm baseline were used. The SQUIDS are driven by a flux-locked-loop circuit with a frequency range higher than that of an ac-current (40 kHz) with constant amplitude passed through a subject. The output of the circuit is filtered through two circuits: one for measuring the I-MCG signals and one for measuring the MCG signals. The I-MCG signals are obtained by demodulating the magnetic field, which is detected by the gradiometers, at the frequency of the ac current. As a result, the I-MCG signal reflects the change in spatial distribution of conductivity caused by the movement of the heart muscle and blood volume. A contour map of the 2-D I-MCG signals showed the largest signals occur above the right ventricle and right atrium. In a corresponding current-arrow map, it was found that the large current arrows occurred above the right side of the right ventricle. Furthermore, it was found that the systole and diastole timings obtained from the first-derivative I-MCG signal and the phonocardiogram were different. These results show that primitive 2-D I-MCG signals can provide much physiological information on the circulatory movement of the heart.