Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Psychological contract breach in a Chinese context: An integrative approach

This study examined the antecedents and outcomes of psychological contract breach as well as why and how psychological contract breach is related to these outcomes. Respondents were Hong Kong Chinese employees (N=152). Results showed organizational change and history of contract breach to be related to psychological contract breach which, in turn, was related to turnover intentions, psychological withdrawal behaviour, and civic virtue. Further, trust in employer fully mediated the relationship between psychological contract breach and the work outcomes of psychological withdrawal behaviour and civic virtue but partially mediated the psychological contract breach–turnover intentions relationship. Lastly, interactional justice failed to moderate the relationship between psychological contract breach and the work outcomes.
Advanced Technology Meets Mental Health: How smartphones, textile electronics, and signal processing can serve mental health monitoring, diagnosis, and treatment.

Mental disorders, characterized by impaired emotional and mood balance, are common in the West. Recent surveys have found that millions of people (age 18-65) have experienced some kind of mental disorder, such as psychotic disorder, major depression, bipolar disorder, panic disorder, social phobia, and somatoform disorder [1]. Specifically, in 2010, 164.8 million people in Europe were affected by such illnesses [1].
Future challenges for artificial neural network modelling in geotechnical engineering

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) are a form of artificial intelligence and, since the mid-1990s, ANNbased models have been successfully applied to virtually every problem in geotechnical engineering. This paper briefly examines the areas of geotechnical engineering to which ANNs have been applied, provides a brief overview of the operation of ANN models, and highlights and discusses four important issues which require further attention in the future. These are model robustness, transparency and knowledge extraction, extrapolation, and uncertainty. For ANN models to be more effective and useful in the future, it is essential that further work be undertaken in these four areas, particularly in the context of geotechnical engineering.
Clinical and neurocognitive aspects of source monitoring errors in schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE Source monitoring, an aspect of memory that involves judgments about the origin of information, has been found to be more prone to errors in schizophrenic subjects than in normal persons. To examine the precise nature of such errors and their relationship to clinical and neurocognitive variables, the authors compared schizophrenic and normal subjects. METHOD Schizophrenic subjects who had been medication free for 1 week (N = 26) and demographically matched normal subjects (N = 21) performed a source monitoring task and were assessed on current psychiatric symptoms, IQ, and frontal lobe functioning. RESULTS The schizophrenic subjects had normal recognition memory of target words (recognition hits) and a normal generation effect but made more errors than the comparison subjects in identifying the source of target words. Specifically, the schizophrenic subjects made more errors in remembering the source of new and self-generated items, and they tended to attribute items to an external source. In 11 retested subjects, these errors were stable and independent from medication status after a 2-year interval. Secondary analyses suggested that certain source monitoring errors may be associated with hostility and lower IQ. When the effect of IQ was controlled, correlations with frontal dysfunction were not significant. CONCLUSIONS Schizophrenic subjects make significantly more source monitoring errors than normal subjects, but not because of problems with recognition memory hits or with the generation effect. This tendency may be trait like and may be related to hostility. Lower IQ in schizophrenia plays a partial role in these errors, but frontal dysfunction does not.
Management accounting and organisational change: an institutional perspective

Purpose – The paper aims at understanding the potential role of management accounting during a public hospital organisational change within a developing country in transition, Egypt. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on in‐depth interviews, an analysis of documents, and direct observations. It uses a framework informed by institutional theory together with Giddens' (1990) notion of ‘elements of system contradiction’ to analyse the empirical findings. The paper draws on both DiMaggio and Powell's (1983) notion of coercive, mimic and normative isomorphic mechanisms to link a changing hospital to the changes in the wider social and institutional context wherein public hospitals operate, while exploring the interlinkages between these changes and the hospital's processes of accounting change and institutionalisation (Burns and Scapens, 2000); and Giddens' (1990) notion of ‘elements of system contradiction’ in order to evaluate the role of management accounting. Findings – The paper concludes that both the institutional change and reform around management accounting together with the changes in accounting systems are entrepreneurial processes in order to trigger a public hospital to change. Research limitations/implications – Although the empirical findings suggest resistance to management accounting change within the case study, a full investigation and explanation of such a resistance is an area of future research. Originality/value – In contrast to the technical role of accounting, the paper shows how management accounting is acted upon to disrupt the hospital's micro institutions and routines, challenge physicians' professional and bureaucratic power and therefore engendering the public hospital to change.
Ultra-short coupler utilizing surface plasmon-polaritons at optical frequencies

A nano-scaled coupled-line coupler based on the guidance of surface plasmon-polaritons (SPPs) is designed and simulated at optical frequencies. The coupler comprises layered dielectric materials and silver. Comparing to conventional optical couplers, the guided modes are surface waves that can overcome the diffraction limit in the transverse direction of the guided-wave structures, therefore it has the potential to be used in nano-circuits. In addition, it operates based on the principle of contra-directional coupling between a forward and a backward wave giving rise to supermodes that are characterized by complex-conjugate eigenvalues. The resulting exponential attenuation along the coupler leads to dramatically reduced coupling lengths compared to previously reported co-directional SPP couplers (e.g. from millimeters to microns)
Proactive Intrusion Detection

Machine learning systems are deployed in many adversarial conditions like intrusion detection, where a classifier has to decide whether a sequence of actions come from a legitimate user or not. However, the attacker, being an adversarial agent, could reverse engineer the classifier and successfully masquerade as a legitimate user. In this paper, we propose the notion of a Proactive Intrusion Detection System (IDS) that can counter such attacks by incorporating feedback into the process. A proactive IDS influences the user's actions and observes them in different situations to decide whether the user is an intruder. We present a formal analysis of proactive intrusion detection and extend the adversarial relationship between the IDS and the attacker to present a game theoretic analysis. Finally, we present experimental results on real and synthetic data that confirm the predictions of the analysis.
We are all equal : student culture and identity at a Mexican secondary school 1988-1998

Introduction - questions and methods for a study of student culture a short introduction to the methods and fieldsite historical contexts - the adolescent, the Nation, and the secundaria, 1923-1993 educating adolescence - the Mexican secundaria politics, ideology, curriculum - a brief history of the Mexican secundaria escuela secundaria federal in regional and local context beginnings - an anthropologist, a city, a school San Pablo - class, culture, and economy in regional and historical perspective social class and secondary schooling setting the ethnographic stage - the summer of 1990 and the new school year institutional contexts - the school students encountered entered ESF - the students' view the grupo escolar - competition, solidarity, equality by day, week, and year - school spaces, rituals, and routines curriculum, pedagogy, and teachers' practice gender regimes "Somos Muy Unidos" - the production of student culture in the grupo escolar my way into the grupos histories and cycles of the grupo escolar grupos and focal students the play of culture - student appropriations of equality and solidarity sites of social difference and the production of schooled identity sites of difference and subjectivity - San Pablo and environs school identification and schooled identity friendship groups, youth culture, and the limits of solidarity music, media, and the "cultural centre" at ESF friendship groups and social distinctions within and across the grupo escolar the play of gender in the configuration of difference political economic change, life trajectories, and identity formation - 1988-1998 Mexico, San Pablo, and ESF - the intervening years how focal students fared what young lives can tell games are serious - final reflections on Mexican secondary student culture the institution and the playful practice of student culture the fields beyond school - identity and aspiration unfolding. Appendices: structure, culture, and subjectivity - a way of feeling and thinking theoretical and ethnographic precursors concepts for a critical analysis of student culture focal student profiles.
Effect of MMP-2 Deficiency on Atherosclerotic Lesion Formation in ApoE-Deficient Mice

Objective—Although it has been reported that matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 is a major proteinase in atherosclerotic plaque lesions, there is no direct evidence of the role of MMP-2 in atherosclerotic lesion formation. In the present study we determined the role of MMP-2 in atherosclerosis plaque development using apolipoprotein E-deficient (apoE−/−) mice. Methods and Results—To generate MMP-2–deficient, apoE-deficient mice (MMP-2−/−:apoE−/−), MMP-2−/− mice were crossed with apoE−/− mice. After 8 weeks of feeding with a lipid-rich diet, morphological and biochemical studies of the aortic sinus and arch were conducted. A significant reduction of the atherosclerotic plaque in the aortic sinus and arch with the decrease in smooth muscle cell-positive area was observed in MMP-2−/−:apoE−/− mice compared with that of MMP-2+/+:apoE−/− mice. Macrophage- and collagen-positive areas were less in aortic sinus but not in aortic arch in MMP-2−/−:apoE−/− mice. There was no difference of MMP-9 mRNA expression in the plaque lesion between the 2 genotypes. A much lower level of mRNA expression of TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 was detected in the atherosclerotic plaque lesions of MMP-2−/−:apoE−/− mice than in those of MMP-2+/+:apoE−/− mice. Conclusions—MMP-2 contributes to the development of atherosclerosis in apoE−/− mice.
Intra-Arterial Thrombolysis of Occluded Middle Cerebral Artery by Use of Collateral Pathways in Patients with Tandem Cervical Carotid Artery/Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Cervical internal carotid artery (ICA) occlusion with middle cerebral artery (MCA) embolic occlusion is associated with a low rate of recanalization and poor outcome after intravenous thrombolysis. Prompt revascularization is required to prevent disabling stroke. We report our experience on acute ischemic stroke patients with tandem ICA or MCA occlusions treated with microcathether navigation and intra-arterial thrombolysis by use of collateral pathways including the posterior or anterior communicating arteries, or both pathways. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively identified 8 patients with proximal ICA occlusion associated with MCA embolic occlusions treated with intra-arterial thrombolysis (IA rtPA). Access to the occluded MCA was obtained via catheter navigation through intact collateral pathways, including posterior communicating (PcomA) or anterior communicating (AcomA) arteries, without passing a microcathether through the acutely occluded ICA. We assessed clinical outcomes using modified Rankin scale (mRS) and National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). RESULTS: Eight patients with a mean age of 57 ± 4 years and median NIHSS of 14 were identified. Mean time from stroke onset to intra-arterial thrombolysis was 292 ± 44 minutes. The MCA was revascularized completely in 5 of the 8 patients via collateral intra-arterial rtPA administration. All of the patients had a favorable outcome defined as a mRS of ≤2 or more at 1 and 3 months' follow-up after thrombolytic therapy. One patient had an asymptomatic petechial hemorrhage. CONCLUSION: In this small number of patients with tandem occlusions of the ICA and MCA, intra-arterial thrombolysis and recanalization of the MCA by use of collateral pathways to bypass the occluded ICA is a safe and efficacious therapeutic option.
Predicting unpredictable: Building models handling non-IID data, a Hearthstone case study

The following article is created as a result of the AAIA'17 Data Mining Challenge: Helping AI to Play Hearthstone. The Challenge goal was to correctly predict which bot would win a bot-vs-bot Hearthstone match based on what was known at the given time. Hearthstone is an online two-players card game with imperfect information (unlike chess and go, and like poker), where the goal of one player is to defeat their opponent by decreasing their “life points” to zero (while not allowing the opponent to do the same to oneself). Two main challenges were present: the transformation of hierarchically structured data into a two-dimensional matrix, and dealing with Non-IID data (certain cards were present only in test data). A way of how to successfully cope with those complications while using state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms (e.g. Microsoft's LightGBM) is presented.
A design-flow for high-level synthesis and resource estimation of reconfigurable architectures

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), due to their programmability, have become a popular design choice for control and processing blocks of an embedded system. However, this flexibility makes them larger, slower and less power-efficient than Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) and hinders their use in low-area and low-power applications. On the other hand, ASICs have their inherent drawbacks like lack of programmability and inflexibility. The solution is reconfigurable architectures that have improved flexibility over ASICs and better resource utilization than FPGAs. However, designing a reconfigurable architecture is a daunting task in itself due to lack of high-level design-flow support. This paper proposes an automated design-flow for system-level synthesis and resource estimation for generic as well as custom reconfigurable architectures. The experimental results show that the generated reconfigurable architectures are 79% more area and 76% more power efficient than generic academic FPGA-based implementations.
Endogenous subclinical thyroid disorders, physical and cognitive function, depression, and mortality in older individuals.

OBJECTIVE To what extent endogenous subclinical thyroid disorders contribute to impaired physical and cognitive function, depression, and mortality in older individuals remains a matter of debate. DESIGN A population-based, prospective cohort of the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam. METHODS TSH and, if necessary, thyroxine and triiodothyronine levels were measured in individuals aged 65 years or older. Participants were classified according to clinical categories of thyroid function. Participants with overt thyroid disease or use of thyroid medication were excluded, leaving 1219 participants for analyses. Outcome measures were physical and cognitive function, depressive symptoms (cross-sectional), and mortality (longitudinal) RESULTS Sixty-four (5.3%) individuals had subclinical hypothyroidism and 34 (2.8%) individuals had subclinical hyperthyroidism. Compared with euthyroidism (n=1121), subclinical hypo-, and hyper-thyroidism were not significantly associated with impairment of physical or cognitive function, or depression. On the contrary, participants with subclinical hypothyroidism did less often report more than one activity limitation (odds ratio 0.44, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.22-0.86). After a median follow-up of 10.7 years, 601 participants were deceased. Subclinical hypo- and hyper-thyroidism were not associated with increased overall mortality risk (hazard ratio 0.89, 95% CI 0.59-1.35 and 0.69, 95% CI 0.40-1.20 respectively). CONCLUSIONS This study does not support disadvantageous effects of subclinical thyroid disorders on physical or cognitive function, depression, or mortality in an older population.
Genetic and morphological characterization of a coral Species of Concern , Montipora dilatata , in Kaneohe Bay , Oahu , Hawaii

Executive Summary Montipora dilatata (a stony coral endemic to Hawaii) is one of the rarest corals known; only a few colonies have ever been found despite extensive surveys. The taxonomic status of M. dilatata is unclear, in part because coral species boundaries in general are poorly understood. In order to examine evolutionary relationships in Montipora, a suite of molecular markers (mitochondrial: COI, CR, Cyt-B,16S, ATP6; nuclear: ATPsβ, ITS-2) were tested for polymorphism on samples collected from Hawaii and the Phoenix Islands. ATPsβ and the putative mitochondrial Control Region (CR) were selected for a broad survey of 13 morphospecies, followed by a more focused analysis of 6 representative Hawaiian taxa with all markers. The mitochondrial markers consistently showed clear and statistically supported divisions that are likely to be ancient given the slow rate of evolution of Anthozoan mitochondrial DNA. Hawaiian samples generally sorted into three distinct clades: I) M. patula/M. verrilli; II) M. dilatata/M. turgescens/M. flabellata; and III) M. capitata. ATPsβ trees of all sequences resolved no groups, but when heterozygous and non-Hawaiian taxa were excluded from the analysis, four strongly supported groups emerged. Unexpectedly, all markers indicated that M. dilatata, M. turgescens, and M. flabellata share identical or very similar sequences, indicating that they are either close relatives, morphological variants of the same species, or members of the same " hybrid species complex ". In order to distinguish among these competing hypotheses, it is necessary to focus on morphological variation and/or reproductive relationships. This preliminary study echoes findings of other molecular studies on reef building coral, indicating that morphology obscures genetic relationships and limits our understanding of coral evolution and biodiversity. Now that the closest relatives of M. dilatata have been identified, gene flow, morphological, and reproductive characteristics can be more closely examined to further elucidate the nature of coral species so they can be better understood and more effectively managed. Introduction Montipora dilatata is thought to be one of the rarest corals known. It has only been found in two locations: Kaneohe Bay, Oahu, and Maro reef (M. c.f.dilatata) in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (Fenner 2005; NOAA 2007). In 2000, extensive surveys identified only three colonies of M. dilatata in Kaneohe Bay, where previously it was thought to be more abundant (NOAA 2007). The apparent decline of this species in Kaneohe Bay may be attributed to coral bleaching, freshwater kills, sedimentation/habitat degradation, overgrowth by alien algae (e.g., Figure 1), …
Toxoplasma gondii Sporozoites Invade Host Cells Using Two Novel Paralogues of RON2 and AMA1

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite of the phylum Apicomplexa. The interaction of two well-studied proteins, Apical Membrane Antigen 1 (AMA1) and Rhoptry Neck protein 2 (RON2), has been shown to be critical for invasion by the asexual tachyzoite stage. Recently, two paralogues of these proteins, dubbed sporoAMA1 and sporoRON2 (or RON2L2), respectively, have been identified but not further characterized in proteomic and transcriptomic analyses of Toxoplasma sporozoites. Here, we show that sporoAMA1 and sporoRON2 localize to the apical region of sporozoites and that, in vitro, they interact specifically and exclusively, with no detectable interaction of sporoAMA1 with generic RON2 or sporoRON2 with generic AMA1. Structural studies of the interacting domains of sporoRON2 and sporoAMA1 indicate a novel pairing that is similar in overall form but distinct in detail from the previously described interaction of the generic pairing. Most notably, binding of sporoRON2 domain 3 to domains I/II of sporoAMA1 results in major alterations in the latter protein at the site of binding and allosterically in the membrane-proximal domain III of sporoAMA1 suggesting a possible role in signaling. Lastly, pretreatment of sporozoites with domain 3 of sporoRON2 substantially impedes their invasion into host cells while having no effect on tachyzoites, and vice versa for domain 3 of generic RON2 (which inhibits tachyzoite but not sporozoite invasion). These data indicate that sporozoites and tachyzoites each use a distinct pair of paralogous AMA1 and RON2 proteins for invasion into host cells, possibly due to the very different environment in which they each must function.
Sources of Stress Among Adult Siblings of Irish people with Intellectual Disability

Siblings play an important role in the lives of their brothers and sisters with intellectual disability when they reside in the parental home. Many assume a primary caregiving role following the death of their parents or when parents are no longer able to give care. Sources of stress reported by 39 adult siblings of Irish men and women with intellectual disability were explored. Siblings who were primary caregivers were older and earned less income than their counterparts in a second group who lived in the parental home and who had an especially close bond with their brother or sister with intellectual disability. Perceived social support as well as their brother or sister’s independence were significantly related to the stress reported by siblings on the short form of the QRS-F. Neither levels of reported stress nor the presence of a plan for their relative’s future distinguished the two groups of siblings.
Signal propagation, with application to a lower bound on the depth of noisy formulas

We study the decay of an information signal propagating through a series of noisy channels. We obtain exact bounds on such decay, and as a result provide a new lower bound on the depth of formulas with noisy components. This improves upon previous work of N. Pippenger (1988) and significantly decreases the gap between his lower bound and the classical upper bound of von Neumann. We also discuss connections between our work and the study of mixing rates of Markov chains. <<ETX>>