Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The instructive animation: helping students build connections between words and pictures in multimedia learning

In 2 experiments, students studied an animation depicting the operation of a bicycle tire pump or an automobile braking system, along with concurrent oral narration of the steps in the process (concurrent group), successive presentation of animation and narration (by 4 different methods), animation alone, narration alone, or no instruction (control group). On retention tests, the control group performed more poorly than each of the other groups, which did not differ from one another. On problem-solving tests, the concurrent group performed better than each of the other groups, which did not differ from one another. These results are consistent with a dual-coding model in which retention requires the construction of representational and referential connections
Market Reactions to European Merger Regulation: A Reexamination of the Protectionism Hypothesis

In the 1990s, European merger regulation (EMR) was biased against foreign acquirers, especially if the deal harmed domestic rivals (i.e., protectionism). In 2002, the Court of First Instance overturned three prohibitions by the European Commission (EC) and criticized its economic analysis. These events hastened EMR reform, including amendments introduced in May 2004. With a sample of 474 merger proposals submitted to the EC during 1990–2007, we show that the EC’s protectionism from the 1990s did not extend into more recent periods. The change of policy toward foreign acquirers seems rooted in Court judgments of 2002 and subsequent regulatory reforms.
Iron availability regulates DNA recombination in Neisseria gonorrhoeae

The pilus of Neisseria gonorrhoeae (the gonococcus Gc), the causative agent of gonorrhoea, promotes attachment of the gonococcus to the host epithelium and is essential for the establishment of disease. The ability of N. gonorrhoeae to infect previously exposed individuals is partially due to pilus antigenic variation. In addition, variation of the pilus has been proposed to function in the adaptation of the gonococcus to host environments. Previously, we described the development of a competitive reverse transcriptase (RT)‐PCR assay that quantifies the frequency of pilin antigenic variation within a gonococcal population. Using this assay, the effect of different biologically relevant environmental conditions on the frequency of pilin antigenic variation was tested. Of the environmental conditions examined in vitro, only limited iron affected a significant change in the frequency of antigenic variation. Further investigation revealed that an observed increase in pilin antigenic variation reflected an increase in other DNA recombination and DNA repair processes within iron‐starved cultures. In addition, this low iron‐induced increase was determined to be independent of changes in RecA expression and was observed in a Fur mutant strain. As gonococci encounter conditions of low iron during infection, these data suggest that iron‐limitation signals for increased recombinational events that are important for gonococcal pathogenesis.
Strategic Practices: An Activity Theory Perspective on Continuity and Change

This paper draws upon activity theory- to analyse an empirical investigation of the micro practices of strategy in three UK universities. Activity theory provides a framework of four interactive components from which strategy emerges; the collective structures of the organization, the primary actors, in this research conceptualized as the top management team (TMT), the practical activities in which they interact and the strategic practices through which interaction is conducted. Using this framework, the paper focuses specifically on the formal strategic practices involved in direction setting, resource allocation, and monitoring and control. These strategic practices arc associated with continuity of strategic activity in one case study but are involved in the reinterpretation and change of strategic activity in the other two cases. We model this finding into activity theory-based typologies of the cases that illustrate the way that practices either distribute shared interpretations or mediate between contested interpretations of strategic activity. The typologies explain the relationships between strategic practices and continuity and change of strategy as practice. The paper concludes by linking activity theory to wider change literatures to illustrate its potential as an integrative methodological framework for examining the subjective and emergent processes through which strategic activity is constructed. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2003.
- 1-Educational Games and Mixed Realities : what I learned from Chinese Online Game Players

Introduction Many recent approaches have explored the usage of games for educational purposes. The games for health initiative, for example, encourages projects that apply games to teach children about diseases or encourage healthier behavior. Brenda Laurel’s “purple games” approach is motivated by the goal to teach girls self-confidence and reflect on their self-identity. Within HCI and Ubicomp, games and playful interactive technologies have been used to stimulate increase in physical activity [8], to explore social dynamics around new technologies [4], and to evaluate new theories in a lightweight and playful context [3].
Sex Differences and Similarities in the Communication of Social Support

A popular view holds that men and women differ in the types of social support they provide to distressed others: women provide emotional support and empathy while men offer instrumental support or try to minimize the importance of problems. Despite the prevalence of this view, there is limited evidence to support it. The present study sought to empirically assess the merit of this view. A total of 119 college students responded to seven situations involving a distressed other. Although women's responses were longer and contained more talk about emotions, women also talked more about instrumental actions than did men. Men devoted a greater proportion of their responses to talk about the problem and a larger proportion of their problem talk involved denying the problem. However, there were substantial similarities between men and women in the relative frequencies of different types of supportive responses used, and sex differences accounted for small percentages of variance. In contrast, situation exerted a strong, consistent influence on the responses of men and women alike.
Silencing of protein kinase D2 induces glioma cell senescence via p53-dependent and -independent pathways

Background Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is a highly aggressive tumor of the central nervous system with a dismal prognosis for affected patients. Aberrant protein kinase C (PKC) signaling has been implicated in gliomagenesis, and a member of the PKC-activated protein kinase D (PRKD) family, PRKD2, was identified as mediator of GBM growth in vitro and in vivo. Methods The outcome of PRKD2 silencing and pharmacological inhibition on glioma cell proliferation was established with different glioma cell lines. Western blotting, senescence assays, co-immunoprecipitation, fluorescence activated cell sorting, quantitative PCR, and immunofluorescence microscopy were utilized to analyze downstream signaling. Results RNA-interference (21-mer siRNA) and pharmacological inhibition (CRT0066101) of PRKD2 profoundly inhibited proliferation of p53wt (U87MG, A172, and primary GBM2), and p53mut (GM133, T98G, U251, and primary Gli25) glioma cells. In a xenograft experiment, PRKD2 silencing significantly delayed tumor growth of U87MG cells. PRKD2 silencing in p53wt and p53mut cells was associated with typical hallmarks of senescence and cell cycle arrest in G1. Attenuated AKT/PKB phosphorylation in response to PRKD2 silencing was a common observation made in p53wt and p53mut GBM cells. PRKD2 knockdown in p53wt cells induced upregulation of p53, p21, and p27 expression, decreased phosphorylation of CDK2 and/or CDK4, hypophosphorylation of retinoblastoma protein (pRb), and reduced transcription of E2F1. In p53mut GM133 and primary Gli25 cells, PRKD2 silencing increased p27 and p15 and reduced E2F1 transcription but did not affect pRb phosphorylation. Conclusions PRKD2 silencing induces glioma cell senescence via p53-dependent and -independent pathways.
Dovepress Open Access to Scientific and Medical Research Open Access Full Text Article Cleft Deformities in Adults and Children Aged over Six Years in Nigeria: Reasons for Late Presentation and Management Challenges

In developing countries, untreated cleft lips and palates are found with increasing frequency and patients often present to the surgeon far past the optimal time for closure of the cleft deformities. A prospective study was conducted between March 2007 and September 2009, to identify the reasons and treatment challenges of delayed presentation of cleft lip and palate deformities at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. Out of a total of 150 patients with cleft defects during the period, 43 (28.7%) were adults and children aged over six years. The mean age of these patients at the time of presentation was 17.3 years. The most common reasons for late presentation were lack of money (56.7%), lack of health care services nearby (18.4%), and lack of awareness of treatment availability (13.3%). Common challenges in these patients included surgical, orthodontic, speech, anesthetic, and psychological. Although adult clefts were significantly enlarged in three dimensions the anatomic landmarks were easier to discern than in an infant. However, extensive soft tissue dissection in adult cleft lip repair resulted in significant postoperative edema. Closure of wide palatal cleft often required the use of adjunct intraoral flaps. Despite late presentation, surgical outcome of these patients was satisfactory and comparable to cleft repair in infants.
Separating the Components of Default Risk:A Derivative-Based Approach

In this paper, I propose a general pricing framework that allows the risk neutral dynamics of loss given default (Lℚ) and default probabilities (λℚ) to be separately and sequentially discovered. The key is to exploit the differentials in Lℚ exhibited by different securities on the same underlying firm. By using equity and option data, I show that one can efficiently extract pure measures of λℚ that are not contaminated by recovery information. Equipped with this knowledge of pure default dynamics, prices of any defaultable security on the same firm with non-zero recovery can be inverted to compute the associated Lℚ corresponding to that particular security. Using data on credit default swap premiums, I show that, cross-sectionally, λℚ and Lℚ are positively correlated. In particular, this positive correlation is strongly driven by firms' characteristics, including leverage, volatility, profitability and q-ratio. For example, 1% increase in leverage leads to 0.14% increase in λℚ and 0.60% increase in Lℚ.
A monograph of the genera Crinipellis and Moniliophthora from Southeast Asia including a molecular phylogeny of the nrITS

Nineteen species of Crinipellis (Basidiomycota, Agaricales) and three species of Moniliophthora (Basidiomycota, Agaricales) are described from Southeast Asia. Thirteen relevant type studies along with excluded and insufficiently known taxa are also included. Five new species and one new form of Crinipellis (C. brunnescens, C. cupreostipes, C. dipterocarpi f. cinnamomea, C. furcata, C. malesiana and C. tabtim), one new species of Moniliophthora (M. marginata) and three formal transfers of species described originally as Crinipellis (Moniliophthora canescens, Moniliophthora nigrilineata and Marasmiellus subochraceus) are proposed here. These are the first distribution reports of Crinipellis and Moniliophthora for Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia and the geographic distributions were expanded for C. actinophora, C. brunneipurpurea, C. dipterocarpi, C. aff. iopus, C. aff. mirabilis, C. setipes and C. trichialis. Phylogenetic analyses of 12 Southeast Asian Crinipellis, three Moniliophthora and six Chaetocalathus species are included using sequence data from the nrDNA ITS region. Comprehensive descriptions for all 36 taxa along with illustrations when available are included in this study.
Using Web Surveys in Summative Evaluations: A Case Study at the Monterey Bay Aquarium

ABSTRACT This article reports on the use of a post-visit web survey to assess how visitor reactions to the exhibition Sharks: Myth and Mystery at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The web survey was used to supplement on-site observations and interview data. A total of 598 visitors shared their e-mail addresses with the aquarium so they could participate in the survey, and 61% of successfully delivered e-mails elicited responses yielding 314 completed surveys. Results from the web survey showed that visitors could recall specific aspects of the exhibition four months after their visit, with more than one-third (37%) of visitors able to cite an occurrence in their day-to-day lives that had reminded them of the exhibition. In addition, the majority of visitors (59%) recalled speaking to someone else about the exhibition since their visit. When prompted, many visitors (44%) were also able to recall specific conservation content presented in the exhibition. This case study demonstrates that web surveys can provide the field of visitor studies with a viable method for gathering post-visit data and highlights additional design tips for evaluators.
Work-Related Communication Technology Use Outside of Regular Work Hours and Work Life Conflict

The purpose of this study was to investigate employee perceptions of the influence of communication technology use outside of regular work hours on perceptions of work life conflict, burnout, turnover intentions, and job satisfaction. An online survey of 168 employees from more than 30 companies in a Midwestern city was conducted to assess relationships among these variables. The results indicated that hours of work-related communication technology use outside of regular work hours contributed to perceptions of work life conflict. However, positive attitudes toward communication technologies predicted decreased work life conflict. Controlling for worker age, perceived life stress, and attitudes toward communication technologies, work life conflict was found to predict job burnout and job satisfaction, but not turnover intentions. The authors discuss implications of the study findings for management practices, limitations of the study, and directions for future research.
Double Disadvantage or Blessing in Disguise? Understanding the Relationship Between College Major and Employment Sector

Although college graduates earn substantial labor market rewards, not all college degrees are rewarded equally. Graduates who majored in female-dominated fields earn substantially lower incomes than do graduates who majored in male-dominated fields. Income differentials that are associated with different types of college majors are extensively noted but poorly understood. This article advances the previous literature by examining how college major affects the labor market outcomes of college graduates through its relationship with employment sector. The results show that graduates of female-dominated fields are disproportionately employed in public and nonprofit organizations, which offer lower monetary rewards but facilitate access to professional and managerial positions. Notably, college major and employment sector interact in ways that reduce income penalties and enhance the occupational location of graduates of female-dominated fields who work in public and nonprofit settings. These findings highlight the importance of considering organizational context in the study of labor market outcomes, particularly when examining the gendered character of educational credentials and occupations.
Cognitive and Emotional Modulation of Brain Default Operation

Goal-directed behavior lowers activity in brain areas that include the medial frontal cortex, the medial and lateral parietal cortex, and limbic and paralimbic brain regions, commonly referred to as the “default network. ” These activity decreases are believed to reflect the interruption of processes that are ongoing when the mind is in a restful state. Previously, the nature of these processes was probed by varying cognitive task parameters, but the presence of emotional processes, while often assumed, was little investigated. With fMRI, we studied the effect of systematic variations of both cognitive load and emotional stimulus connotation on task-related decreases in the default network by employing an auditory working memory (WM) task with musical sounds. The performance of the WM task, compared to passive listening, lowered the activity in medial and lateral, prefrontal, parietal, temporal, and limbic regions. In a subset of these regions, the magnitude of decrease depended on the memory load; the greater the cognitive load, the larger the magnitude of the observed decrease. Furthermore, in the right amygdala and the left precuneus, areas previously associated with processing of unpleasant dissonant musical sounds, there was an interaction between the experimental condition and the stimulus type. The current results are consistent with the previously reported effect of task difficulty on task-related brain activation decreases. The results also indicate that task-related decreases may be further modulated by the emotional stimulus connotation.
Association study of apolipoprotein L-I Lys166Glu and Ile244Met gene variants with obesity in Chinese subjects.

AIMS ApoL-I is a newly found component of high-density lipoprotein, and has a potential role in lipid metabolism. This study was mainly to examine the possible association of the ApoL-I gene polymorphism with obesity and plasma lipid levels in the Chinese population. METHODS Three hundred nineteen Han Chinese (109 obese and 210 nonobese control subjects) in Chengdu area were studied using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. RESULTS The Lys and Glu allele frequencies of the apoL-I gene at the Lys166Glu site in obese and nonobese control groups were 0.830, 0.170 and 0.814, 0.186, respectively. The Ile and Met allele frequencies of the gene at Ile244Met site in the obese and the control groups were 0.844, 0.156 and 0.831, 0.169, respectively. The 166Glu and 244Met allele frequencies of the two polymorphisms in obese subjects were not different from those in the controls, respectively (p>0.05). In the nonobese group, subjects with genotype Lys/Lys at the Lys166Glu site or Ile/Ile at the Ile244Met site had a higher serum mean concentration of triglyceride (TG) as compared with those of corresponding Glu or Met allele carriers (p<0.05). In addition, serum apoC-III and apoE levels were affected by genotypes of Lys166Glu and Ile224Met polymorphisms, respectively, in the control group (all p<0.05). CONCLUSION The current study, for the first time, provides evidence that Lys166Glu and Ile244Met polymorphisms in apoL-I gene are associated with TG, apoC-III, and apoE levels in nonobese Chinese. However, these polymorphisms are not associated with obesity in the population.
Capital Culture Revisited: Sex, Testosterone and the City

In this essay I want to revisit and add to the arguments in my book "Capital Culture: Gender at Work in the City", published a decade before the first signs of the current financial crisis. There I suggested that the City of London, the financial heart of the UK, is an arena riven by sexualized and gendered scripts: in other words capitalism is gendered. A decade or so later, these arguments seem just as relevant as the financial 'masters of the universe' are brought low, in part by their own behaviour. Here, I explore more explicitly the implications of testosterone-fuelled risk taking by both the traders and the chief executive officers of investment banks in the current world of casino capitalism. Copyright (c) 2010 The Author. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research(c) 2010 Joint Editors and Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Research on Face Recognition Based on Wavelet Transform and PCA-ANN

This paper mainly studies the basic theory and technology on the identification of people’s faces. The better methods are chosen and a new method is proposed. It integrates three elements (Wavelet Transform, Principal Component Analysis, Artificial Neural Networks), and the method can recognize faces more effectively. Meanwhile, this method lessens the effect of light on face appearance. Experimental result indicates that our new face recognition system is effective in the aspects of both correct ratio and speed of distinguishing.
An application of Cognitive Emotional Agent Architecture to model Emotional Intelligence

This paper investigates the potential of applying Cognitive Emotional Agent Architecture (CEAA) as a computational cognitive science study for modelling Emotional Intelligence (EI) in corporate Human Resource Appraisal (HRA) systems. We also hypothesise that the IT techniques developed in cognitive science can provide practical solutions to knowledge sharing and knowledge visualisation problems in Human Resource Management (HRM) systems in Japan. To solve these problems we introduce HRA framework as an analysis framework with a Business Process Agent (BPA) simulator and HRA ontology as solutions for the problems. Applying these solutions and CEAA to simple recruitment interview cases, we analyse the applicability of the proposed solutions.
A Novel Binary Variable Representation for Genetic and Evolutionary Algorithms

Based on the theoretical guidance and existing recommendations for designing efficient genetic representations, we investigate a novel genetic representation - a splicing/decomposable (S/D) binary encoding in this paper. The S/D binary representation can be spliced and decomposed to describe potential solutions of the problem with different precisions by different number of uniform-salient building blocks (BBs). According to the characteristics of the S/D binary representation, genetic and evolutionary algorithms (GEAs) can be applied from the high scaled to the low scaled BBs sequentially to avoid genetic drift and improve GEAs' performance. Our theoretical and empirical investigations reveal that the S/D binary representation is more proper than other existing binary encodings for GEAs searching.
Analysis and Design of Universal Compact Flexible UHF RFID Tag Antenna

The main goal of this paper is to present a design procedure for a ∞exible compact universal UHF RFID tag antenna suitable for worldwide UHF RFID applications. Systematic design procedure is introduced through the derivation of dipole input impedance general relation using induced EMF method considering wire radius efiect. T-matched chart is used to match the tag input impedance with the chip input impedance and flnally develop a ∞ow chart to summarize the design procedure. The proposed antenna compactness trend is achieved through applying meandering and Franklin shape to conventional printed dipole antenna. Flexibility trend is achieved through using liquid crystal polymer LCP material as antenna substrate. The proposed antenna covers the frequency band 865MHz to 1078MHz and occupies an area of 1306.6mm 2 . The computed radar cross section RCS and conjugate match factor CMF insure that the proposed antenna structure is easily detectable and achieves acceptable matching level. Power re∞ection coe-cient PRC is computed, measured and good agreement is obtained. Other antenna parameters such as radiation e-ciency, gain and radiation pattern are also calculated. The proposed antenna is cheap, ∞exible and suitable for UHF RFID universal application.