Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Exploratory Study of the Role of Emotional Intelligence and Self-Efficacy on Service Quality and Adherence in a Weight Loss Setting

By invoking social cognition theory, this study examines customer competencies that influence service quality perceptions and adherence. Specifically, the study investigates the role of self-efficacy (SE) and emotional intelligence (EI) on perceived quality and adherence. SE and EI are proposed to moderate the relative strength of the relationship between perceived technical and functional quality and adherence. These variables are also proposed to directly influence adherence behavior. Qualitative data were obtained from in-depth interviews with 20 customers on a pharmacy meal replacement program (the “Tony Ferguson Weightloss Program”). Participants were purposely recruited from different urban and regional areas in Australia. The findings suggest that SE and EI moderate the relative strength of quality perceptions. The results also support a direct link between these sociocognitive variables and adherence. By tailoring service delivery interventions to customers displaying different sociocognitive profiles, health organizations could benefit from increased perceptions of quality that could positively influence adherence behavior.
Study of Teacher Practices in Health Sciences in Brazil

Abstract This study involved fourteen semistructured interviews with teaching staff at a Brazilian university. These interviews were aimed at unveiling possible transformations caused by distance education in classroom teaching and in medical assistance practices. The discourses collected were analyzed using qualitative methods and divided into groups with convergent meanings, resulting in the following units: Infrastructure, Personal Use of Information Technology Resources, Impressions of Distance Education, Intensity of Dedication, Interactivity, Benefits of Distance Education, Teaching Practices, and Changes in Assistance. Results suggest that virtual teaching has resulted in positive changes in the professor–student relationship that allow improvements in interactivity and the creation of different expectations from those observed in classroom practice. There was a significant appropriation of the technological resources and pedagogical activities used in online courses for classroom teaching practice. Also observed was the transfer of knowledge to the personal and medical assistance spheres.
Push-Pull Modulation of a Composite-Resonator Vertical-Cavity Laser

The two coupled optical cavities within a vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser have the unique ability to modulate the spatial distribution of the longitudinal optical mode, without changing the total photon density in the laser cavities, by simultaneously directly modulating the two optical cavities exactly out-of-phase. A rate-equation analysis predicts that this condition, which we term push-pull modulation, exhibits a superior modulation response than that of conventional direct modulation. The push-pull modulation can enable high-speed operation with low power consumption, as a large modulation bandwidth can be achieved independent of the total photon density and/or the injection dc current. Experimental evidence of spatially changing the longitudinal mode is presented, and push-pull modulation at 2.5 Gb/s is demonstrated for the first time.
Pet Ownership, Other Domestic Relationships, and Satisfaction with Life among Seniors: Results from a Canadian National Survey

ABSTRACT Given unprecedented aging in the global population along with the physical and psychological challenges associated with aging, it is important to identify ways to protect and promote quality of life for seniors. Previous research has suggested that pet ownership may confer a variety of health and social benefits among seniors. The purpose of this analysis was to determine whether pet ownership was associated with satisfaction with life among Canadian seniors. Quantitative data were obtained from the Canadian Community Health Survey—Healthy Aging, a nationally representative survey of Canadians ≥ 45 years of age conducted between December 2008 and November 2009. Analyses were restricted to a subsample of 11,973 individuals ≥ 65 years of age, and multiple logistic regression was used to model the relationship between pet ownership and satisfaction with life while controlling for sociodemographic factors. The final model was stratified to detect interaction. Pet ownership was negatively correlated with satisfaction with life in the sample as a whole (AOR = 0.79, 95% CI = 0.72–0.87) and among those who were married, in common-law relationships, and/or lived with others, while no association was found among those who were widowed, single, or living alone. Among those who were both divorced and living alone, pet ownership demonstrated the potential for being associated with greater satisfaction with life (AOR = 1.24, 95% CI = 0.89–1.73). Overall, this analysis showed that the relationship between seniors and their pets is complex. Whether pet ownership correlates with satisfaction with life appears to depend on the presence and nature of other domestic relationships.
Teaching the Class: the practical management of a cohort

There are times and occasions in social life when one member of society controls, organises, manages a group or collection of others with regard to some specific business or project. The particular example which provides the focus for our analysis in this paper is that of a school teacher dealing with a class of pupils. The school teacher is one member of society who routinely deals with a large number of others as a group or collectivity most days. The business of Secondary schools especially is generally organised around transactions between a single teacher and 25-30 or so pupils in a class. In a Secondary school a teacher's typical day can consist of repeatedly handling a variety of collections of pupils as different classes come to him for lessons. Even when he has the 'same class' again, there is no guarantee that it will consist of exactly those pupils it did 'last time'. From one occasion to another it is likely that any number of different individual pupils may not be present. Despite this possible variable constitution of their classes, teachers routinely cope wth their collections of pupils, managing them with not too much difficulty. At least it is our impression that this is the case from mixing with, talking to and observing teachers, although it is not an impression we gain from many sociological studies, where teachers appear constantly to find the classroom situation threatening. We venture to suggest that experienced teachers may well manage their classes in such taken for granted ways that they are not consciously aware of the nature of their accomplishment. Clearly they are aware of it when 'trouble brews' or when the pupils are 'difficult', but for much of the time they are doing their teaching their awareness of the achieved nature of keeping order may fall away from their more immediate consciousness. The order is accomplished in unnoticed ways. Those unnoticed ways of maintaining order constitute part of a teacher's professional expertise; they are part of this repertoire of methodic skills for doing his job properly. They are professional resources he is required to call upon every time he takes a class. For although most teachers may routinely handle their classes in an orderly manner, that outcome does not deny the essentially achieved nature of social
Effects of reducing agents on glutathione metabolism and the function of carotid body chemoreceptor cells

Abstract Two current hypotheses of O2 sensing in the carotid body (CB) chemoreceptors suggest participation of oxygen reactive (ROS) species, but they are mechanistically opposed. One postulates that hypoxia decreases ROS levels; the other that hypoxia increases them. Yet, both propose that the ensuing alteration in the cellular redox environment is the key signal triggering hypoxic chemoreception. Since the glutathione redox pair is the main cellular buffer for ROS and the main determinant of the general redox environment of the cells, a way to test whether ROS participate in chemoreception is to determine glutathione levels and to correlate them with the activity of CB chemoreceptor cells. We found that hypoxia does not alter the glutathione reduction potential but that it activates chemoreceptor cell neurosecretion. Incubation of tissues with reduced glutathione increases the glutathione-reducing potential but does not activate chemoreceptor cells in normoxia nor does it modify hypoxic activation. Like reduced glutathione, N-acetylcysteine promoted a general reducing environment in the cells without alteration of chemoreceptor cell activity. N-(mercaptopropionyl)-glycine, like the two previous agents, increases the reduction potential of glutathione. In contrast, the compound activated chemoreceptor cells in normoxia, promoting a dose- and Ca2+-dependent neurosecretion and a potentiation of the hypoxic responses. The existence of multiple relationships between glutathione reduction potential in the cells and their activity indicates that the general cellular redox environment is not a factor determining chemoreceptor cell activation. It cannot be excluded that the local redox environments of restricted microdomain(s) in the cells with specific regulating mechanisms are important signals for chemoreceptor cell activity.
An Enhanced Cross-Layer Two-Stage Scheduler for Wireless LANs

In this paper, a QoS-aware cross-layer scheduler for wireless LANs is introduced which allows the control of a number of data flows according to QoS requirements of the respective applications. It is based on a two-stage concept: The MAC layer scheduler uses an importance function to calculate the priority of a particular flow, whereas the PHY layer scheduler considers the channel conditions of a MIMO-TDMA transmission. It is shown that with the concept presented here, throughput and delay requirements of time-critical applications can be met.
Leakage Current Attenuation of a Three-Phase Cascaded Inverter for Transformerless Grid-Connected PV Systems

Three-phase cascaded inverter with leakage current reduction for the transformerless PV system is investigated in this paper. The common-mode loop model of the conventional three-phase cascaded H4 grid-connected inverter is established. The relationship among the leakage current, common-mode voltage, and differential mode voltage is analyzed. The inherent reason that the conventional cascaded H4 grid-connected inverter fails to reduce the leakage current is clarified. In order to solve the problem, a novel three-phase cascaded H5 grid-connected inverter and its modulation strategy are proposed. It can significantly reduce the leakage current. Finally, the performance tests of the cascaded H4 and H5 grid-connected inverters are carried out. The results verify the effectiveness of the proposed solution.
Endoplasmic Reticulum Resident Protein 44 (ERp44) Deficiency in Mice and Zebrafish Leads to Cardiac Developmental and Functional Defects

Background Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) resident protein 44 (ERp44) is a member of the protein disulfide isomerase family, is induced during ER stress, and may be involved in regulating Ca2+ homeostasis. However, the role of ERp44 in cardiac development and function is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of ERp44 in cardiac development and function in mice, zebrafish, and embryonic stem cell (ESC)‐derived cardiomyocytes to determine the underlying role of ERp44. Methods and Results We generated and characterized ERp44−/− mice, ERp44 morphant zebrafish embryos, and ERp44−/− ESC‐derived cardiomyocytes. Deletion of ERp44 in mouse and zebrafish caused significant embryonic lethality, abnormal heart development, altered Ca2+ dynamics, reactive oxygen species generation, activated ER stress gene profiles, and apoptotic cell death. We also determined the cardiac phenotype in pressure overloaded, aortic‐banded ERp44+/− mice: enhanced ER stress activation and increased mortality, as well as diastolic cardiac dysfunction with a significantly lower fractional shortening. Confocal and LacZ histochemical staining showed a significant transmural gradient for ERp44 in the adult heart, in which high expression of ERp44 was observed in the outer subepicardial region of the myocardium. Conclusions ERp44 plays a critical role in embryonic heart development and is crucial in regulating cardiac cell Ca2+ signaling, ER stress, ROS‐induced oxidative stress, and activation of the intrinsic mitochondrial apoptosis pathway.
The Gaussian Mixture Probability Hypothesis Density Filter

A new recursive algorithm is proposed for jointly estimating the time-varying number of targets and their states from a sequence of observation sets in the presence of data association uncertainty, detection uncertainty, noise, and false alarms. The approach involves modelling the respective collections of targets and measurements as random finite sets and applying the probability hypothesis density (PHD) recursion to propagate the posterior intensity, which is a first-order statistic of the random finite set of targets, in time. At present, there is no closed-form solution to the PHD recursion. This paper shows that under linear, Gaussian assumptions on the target dynamics and birth process, the posterior intensity at any time step is a Gaussian mixture. More importantly, closed-form recursions for propagating the means, covariances, and weights of the constituent Gaussian components of the posterior intensity are derived. The proposed algorithm combines these recursions with a strategy for managing the number of Gaussian components to increase efficiency. This algorithm is extended to accommodate mildly nonlinear target dynamics using approximation strategies from the extended and unscented Kalman filters
An error free compression algorithm using morphological decomposition

The morphological shape decomposition algorithms allows a shape to be represented as a collection of modestly overlapping disk components. This study introduces a lossless data compression techniques based on shape decomposition algorithms. The method consists of identification of skeleton points and the disk size for representation of shape element for any given shape. In this paper, the compression ratio (CR) is calculated for the evaluation of a new data compression technique. Two new algorithms CMD for compression and RMD for reconstruction are presented for the improvement of morphologically based coding scheme.
Professional Role Identity and Variations in the Descriptive Profile and Organizational Attitudes of National Council on Family Relations Members.

In Spring 1991, the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) conducted a membership survey. Based on these data and framed through a symbolic interaction perspective, this article explores variations in the demographic profile and organizational attitudes of three professional role identity groups that are specified in the NCFR mission statement: educators, researchers, and practitioners. The results demonstrate wide variation in the profile and attitudes of these three groups. In the context of an increasingly competitive marketplace of professional associations and high tumover rates among members in NCFR, it is concluded that professional role diversity involves both opportunities and challenges for NCFR, and represents a possible integrative and unifying theme for the organization. Professional associations, like the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR), are formed by individuals to accomplish certain educational, training, and professional objectives best met by collective action. The ultimate success of any voluntary group or organization depends upon achieving several interrelated tasks (Schein, 1985). First, it must develop a sense of mission that is shared by its members. Second, it must derive a set of objectives that are logically derived from this mission, and develop a working consensus among members about these objectives and their importance. Third, it must develop agreement among its members about the mechanisms and strategies for achieving its objectives, and devise procedures for monitoring and evaluating the success of the organization in achieving them. Fourth, it must maintain a high level of system integration and member morale to fulfill its mission, to achieve its objectives, and to sustain itself over time.
A Meta-Analysis of Apolipoprotein E Gene ε2/ε3/ε4 Polymorphism for Gallbladder Stone Disease

Background Numerous studies have investigated the relationship between apolipoprotein (Apo) E gene polymorphisms and gallbladder stone disease (GSD) across ethnic populations; however, the results are often inconsistent. This meta-analysis aims to comprehensively evaluate the influence of a common ε2/ε3/ε4 polymorphism in Apo E gene on the risk of gallbladder stone disease. Method Data were analyzed using the RevMan software (V5.1) and a random-effects model was applied irrespective of between-study heterogeneity. Publication bias was weighed using the fail-safe number. Results There were 17 study populations totaling 1773 cases and 2751 controls for ε2/ε3/ε4 polymorphism of Apo E gene. Overall comparison of alleles ε2 with ε3 in all study populations yielded a 16% decreased risk for GSD (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.68–1.05; P = 0.31; I2 = 13%), and comparison of alleles ε4 with ε3 yielded a 25% increased risk (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.97–1.61; P = 0.0003; I2 = 63%). Subgroup analysis by study design indicated that the magnitude of association in hospital-based studies was largely significantly strengthened for ε4 allelic model (odds ratio [OR] = 1.46; 95% CI: 1.05–2.02; p = 0.0007; I2 = 65%). Subgroup analysis by age of controls indicated a remarkably significant elevation in the magnitude of association in age >50 subgroups in ε4 allelic model (OR = 1.50; 95% CI: 1.03–2.19; p = 0.0009; I2 = 72%). Moreover, subgroup analysis by cases gender indicated a reduction in the magnitude of association in male<30% studies for E2/2 genotypic model (OR = 0.32; 95% CI: 0.07–1.49; p = 0.16; I2 = 45%). Conclusions Our results reveal that Apo E gene ε4 allele is a risk factor of gallbladder stone disease, especially in elder people and Chinese population.
Parsimonious relevance models

We describe a method for applying parsimonious language models to re-estimate the term probabilities assigned by relevance models. We apply our method to six topic sets from test collections in five different genres. Our parsimonious relevance models (i) improve retrieval effectiveness in terms of MAP on all collections, (ii) significantly outperform their non-parsimonious counterparts on most measures, and (iii) have a precision enhancing effect, unlike other blind relevance feedback methods.
Reliability of measures of quadriceps muscle function using magnetic stimulation

Introduction: Magnetic stimulation can be used to assess muscle function by calculating voluntary activation using an interpolated twitch during maximal voluntary contractions (MVCs) and control twitches to potentiated muscle. In this study we assessed the reliability of torque, electromyography (EMG), and voluntary activation variables. Methods: Fifteen men completed 5 testing sessions (2 familiarization and 3 reliability trials) to assess quadriceps femoris muscle function. Intra‐ and interday reliability levels of torque and EMG variables were estimated using typical error ± 90% confidence limits, expressed as percentage [coefficient of variation (CV)] and intraclass correlation coefficient. The smallest worthwhile change was calculated as 0.2 × between‐participant standard deviation. Results: Intra‐ and interday torque variables for MVC were reliable (CV < 4%, ICC 0.98, and CV < 5%, ICC 0.99, respectively). EMG variables were less reliable than torque variables, with CVs ranging from 7% to 18%. Conclusion: Magnetic stimulation of the femoral nerve is a reliable method for assessing muscle function. Muscle Nerve 53: 770–778, 2016
Emancipatory Sexuality Education and Sexual Assault Resistance

The current study examined whether adding emancipatory sexuality education, which encourages the exploration of women’s own sexual values and desires, to a sexual assault resistance program would improve women’s resistance to sexual assault by known men. The participants were 214 first-year university students. A randomized experimental design evaluated the effectiveness of a basic and sexuality enhanced version of a sexual assault resistance program against a no-program control. Both programs, compared to the control group, increased women’s perception of their own risk, their confidence that they could defend themselves if attacked, and their use of more effective methods of self-defense in hypothetical situations of acquaintance sexual assault. Effects were maintained from 3 to 6 months after program completion. No significant reductions in completed sexual assault were found. The sexuality enhanced program was superior in several areas, particularly risk detection and initiation of sexual activity, which may be important to women’s integration of the program’s content to their lives. Future research will need to strengthen and continue to evaluate the promising programs for women which now exist. Until effective programming for men on campus is developed and implemented widely, our best hope to improve the health and safety of female students lays in comprehensive women-only multi-unit sexual assault resistance education.
Can the professionalisation of the UK public relations industry make it more trustworthy

The UK’s Institute for Public Relations (IPR) is applying for Royal Chartered status, giving legitimacy to the professional standing and practice of public relations. One of the key motivators in seeking registration was to demonstrate that its members are “not just working for (our) own interests, but the interests of the public good”. Improving professional education in PR and the image of public relations practice were also two recommendations made in a joint UK IPR/Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) report in 2003. Given the cynicism of the public, however, the overall objective of achieving trust may be more challenging, as UK practitioners wonder if professional guidelines on ethics and trust are a step too far in their field: indeed, comparable professional institutes do not have this focus in their terms of reference. This paper makes a series of practical recommendations in support of trust and transparency in the UK and examines the wider issues affecting the PR practitioner’s operating environment. For instance, the role of business regulation, CEO education, industry models and the perception of PR as publicity.
Secure Digital Camera

In this paper, we propose a new concept for digital cameras to solve some of the significant problems associated with the use of digital images as evidence in a court of law. The integrity of digital images as evidence rests on the accurate answering of a simple question: Who did what when? We show how to use lossless data embedding to combine biometric data with cryptographic hashes and other forensic data to identify from the digital image the photographer, the camera, the time when the image was taken, and verify the image integrity. We call a camera with this capability “Secure Digital Camera”. The proposed concept will provide forensic investigators with a tool that will help them establish the integrity of a digital camera image presented to the court and prove that it is a true and accurate representation of reality