Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Women’s Skills and Aptitudes as Drivers of Organizational Resilience: An Italian Case Study

The economic system has experienced heavy consequences caused by the recent pandemic. This paper investigates the interaction between the crisis and organization reaction, focusing on the female managerial role and contribution to overcoming the crisis in male-owned and managed companies. To achieve the research objectives, we used a qualitative research method based on an explorative case study. The results show that female managerial skills have fostered organizational resilience in terms of: (i) the attitude to change; (ii) the ability to promote new initiatives; and (iii) the ability to have initiated, consolidated, and managed solid formal relationships with institutional stakeholders. Our results also highlight the decisive contribution of corporate governance (even if male-oriented) in favoring the growth and autonomy of women in positions of responsibility. This contribution is evidenced by (iv) increasing delegation of roles and responsibilities in managing relationships with institutional stakeholders to women managers; and (v) recognizing women managers’ talents in terms of career progression. The originality of this work is represented by the survey that aims to determine how the female management of businesses managed and owned by men can foster the resilience of companies. On the other hand, this paper investigates how female leadership drives organizational resilience during unexpected shocks, opening an interdisciplinary viewpoint.
MMC Admittance Model Simplification Based on Signal-Flow Graph

Although the impedance/admittance model of modular multilevel converter (MMC) considering internal harmonic is discussed extensively in the literature, few attentions have been focused on how to determine the number of harmonics to be included in the model. This article fills this gap by developing the MMC signal-flow graph (SFG), providing the analytical transfer function to quantitatively estimate the attenuation degree of MMC harmonics, so as to guide the model truncation. Besides, SFG offers an intuitive understanding on the mathematical characteristic of MMC, including the conjugate symmetry and the effect of phase reference on admittance, which helps to reduce the modeling calculation. Moreover, conversion formula of MMC multiple input multiple output and single input single output admittance is derived based on the truncated model to further simplify the stability analysis. The correctness of this article has been verified by simulation and experiment.
Non-Contact Multiscale Analysis of a DPP 3D-Printed Injection Die for Investment Casting

The investment casting method supported with 3D-printing technology, allows the production of unit castings or prototypes with properties most similar to those of final products. Due to the complexity of the process, it is very important to control the dimensions in the initial stages of the process. This paper presents a comparison of non-contact measurement systems applied for testing of photopolymer 3D-printed injection die used in investment casting. Due to the required high quality of the surface parameters, the authors decided to use the DPP (Daylight Polymer Printing) 3D-printing technology to produce an analyzed injection die. The X-ray CT, Structured blue-light scanner and focus variation microscope measurement techniques were used to avoid any additional damages to the injection die that may arise during the measurement. The main objective of the research was to analyze the possibility of using non-contact measurement systems as a tool for analyzing the quality of the surface of a 3D-printed injection die. Dimensional accuracy analysis, form and position deviations, defect detection, and comparison with a CAD model were carried out.
Effective Transfection of Chicken Primordial Germ Cells (PGCs) using Transposon Vectors and Lipofection

This study had two aims. First, we optimized conditions for the lipofection of CHO-K1 cells with transposon vectors. We used flow cytometry to examine the effects of different cell densities, plasmid constructs and lipofection protocols on in vitro transgene expression. Second, we transfected purified chicken primordial germ cells (PGCs) with the most effective lipofection conditions identified in CHO-K1 cells. The use of the CHO-K1 cell model reduced the number of chicken embryos required as PGC donors. CHO-K1 cells (1 x 10 cells/ml or 5 x 10 cells/ml) were transfected with transposon vectors (pCMV-Tol2 with pL-miniTol2-OVA5IFN/pL-miniTol2-OVA5Egfp) via protocol A, B, C or D, the last of which is a control with the nontransposon vector pL-OG-OVAIFNEnh-Egfp. The highest transfection efficiency for transposon vectors was obtained after lipofection of cells with method A (60.0-62.0%), which suggested that this method would be appropriate for transfecting PGCs. Therefore, we performed lipofection of purified PGCs (1 x 10 cells/ml or 5 x 10 cells/ml) using transposon vectors via method A and nontransposon vectors via method D. The most appropriate conditions for introducing transposon vectors into PGCs was lipofection at a density of 5 x 10 cells/ml with method A (transfection efficiency of 67%). We developed an effective protocol for transfecting PGCs using transposon vectors combined with lipofection. The method elucidated in this work will facilitate the production of transgenic chickens in future projects.
‘Well, what was the message you got?’: the discursive power of Naomi Osaka and her peaceful protest at the 2020 U.S. Open

Abstract In September 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, professional tennis player Naomi Osaka wore a black face mask for each of her seven matches towards her U.S. Open victory in protest against systemic racism. While Osaka has lived much of her life in America, she does not compete as American; her father is Haitian and her mother is Japanese. Informed by Black feminist thought and intersectionality, this conceptual paper will reflect upon the importance of Osaka’s protest as a Black female athlete in the larger context of the reenergization of the Black Lives Matter movement. Given that tennis is a sport that historically and culturally values and represents whiteness, Osaka’s protest is emblematic of a new wave of Black athlete activism against systemic racism in the twenty-first century. This is especially critical in our colourblind society wherein Black women’s experiences and voices are often ignored and/or dismissed. Framing Osaka’s overt form of protest in the larger context of the (re)awakened anti-racist efforts, I conclude that in these unprecedented moments in an unprecedented time Osaka self-amplifies her voice through her peaceful protest emphasising the names of those who have been murdered at the hands of American law enforcement. In other words, in this particular social context this is how Osaka demonstrates resistance against discriminatory practices based on race. This, at the end of the day, matters. As a young professional Black tennis player with significant social capital and cultural influence, Osaka’s mask-wearing demonstrates her discursive power as a globally recognised athlete and as a woman of colour. Importantly, it also explicitly disrupts the notion that athletes should merely ‘shut up and play’ and take an apolitical stance in matters outside of sport.
A Different Kind of Job Search: Post-Graduate Student Affairs Geographically Focused Searches

A As student affairs graduate students finish their academic work and begin their job searches, they must navigate a number of competing priorities including position, title, work responsibilities, functional area, salary, benefits and other aspects of the position. For some graduates, the most important consideration is geographical location – they want to be close to family, partners, or lo-cated in specific communities. As a result, they often have to be very flexible on other work con-siderations. They also sometimes feel isolated in their searches and get messages from peers that they are not doing their searches in the “right” way. This study examined the experiences of these students as they engaged in their job searches. While there is a vast amount of anecdotal information on the role of location in the student affairs job search, there is limited scholarship on the topic until now. This study begins to fill the scholarly gap on the role of location in the student affairs job search process.
Paradigm Shifting—The Use of Mobile Communications at Work and the Subsequent Effects

The physical distancing measures generated by the COVID-19 pandemic have forced companies to rethink employment patterns and to pay much more attention to the possibility of carrying out work through telework. The expansion of telework, a phenomenon that manifested itself even before the pandemic’s health crisis, has gained a particular momentum, changing how work is carried out. The main purpose of this paper is to study the main macroeconomic effects of the accelerated expansion of telework on the economic performance and the employment structure by the economic sectors of the workforce. Using artificial neural network analysis and structured equation modeling, the study highlights the significant influences of telework on economic performance and speeding up the transition service-based economy. The share of teleworkers has a significantly positive influence on economic performance. Moreover, the employees’ use of computers, mobile devices, and the internet has a strong mediation effect on the relationship between telework and employment in services. Given these considerations, teleworking is a phenomenon that will become a permanent feature of the future.
Pain Neuroscience Education for Depression: A Pilot Study

Objective: To determine if a brief, one-on-one pain neuroscience education (PNE) session delivered by a physical therapist (PT) can influence depression. Methods: A convenience sample of patients with persistent low back pain (LBP) (n = 23) attending PT with moderate to severe depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9 [PHQ-9]) participated in the study. Patients received a standardized, one-on-one 30-minute PNE session by a PT with pre- and post-intervention measures of low back and leg pain (Numeric Pain Rating Scale [NPRS]), pain catastrophization (Pain Catastrophization Scale [PCS]), pain knowledge (Revised Neurophysiology of Pain Questionnaire [rNPQ] and depression (PHQ-9). Results: Immediately following PNE, all measures improved, with low back and leg pain not being significant (pback = 0.345 and pleg = 0.633), while pain catastrophization (p = 0.047), pain knowledge (p = 0.001) and depression (p = 0.004) reaching significant improvements. The PNE session shifted various patients to lower levels of depression, with 21.8% of the patients’ improvement in depression meeting or exceeding the minimal clinical important difference. Conclusion: PNE may be a safe, clinically effective way to help a subgroup of patients attending PT with depression. More studies are needed to further explore the results from this pilot study.
Cancer Detection and Classification by CpG Island Hypermethylation Signatures in Plasma Cell-Free DNA

Simple Summary The detection of DNA methylation changes in blood has emerged as a promising approach for cancer diagnosis and management. Our group has previously optimized a blood DNA methylation profiling technology that is based on affinity capture of methylated DNA, termed cfMBD-seq. The aim of this study was to assess the potential clinical feasibility of cfMBD-seq. We applied cfMBD-seq to the blood samples of cancer patients and identified methylation signatures that can not only discriminate cancer patients from cancer-free individuals but can also enable accurate multi-cancer classification. Our findings will help to expand on existing blood-based molecular diagnostic tests and identify novel methylation biomarkers for early cancer detection and classification. Abstract Cell-free DNA (cfDNA) methylation has emerged as a promising biomarker for early cancer detection, tumor type classification, and treatment response monitoring. Enrichment-based cfDNA methylation profiling methods such as cfMeDIP-seq have shown high accuracy in the classification of multiple cancer types. We have previously optimized another enrichment-based approach for ultra-low input cfDNA methylome profiling, termed cfMBD-seq. We reported that cfMBD-seq outperforms cfMeDIP-seq in the enrichment of high-CpG-density regions, such as CpG islands. However, the clinical feasibility of cfMBD-seq is unknown. In this study, we applied cfMBD-seq to profiling the cfDNA methylome using plasma samples from cancer patients and non-cancer controls. We identified 1759, 1783, and 1548 differentially hypermethylated CpG islands (DMCGIs) in lung, colorectal, and pancreatic cancer patients, respectively. Interestingly, the vast majority of DMCGIs were overlapped with aberrant methylation changes in corresponding tumor tissues, indicating that DMCGIs detected by cfMBD-seq were mainly driven by tumor-specific DNA methylation patterns. From the overlapping DMCGIs, we carried out machine learning analyses and identified a set of discriminating methylation signatures that had robust performance in cancer detection and classification. Overall, our study demonstrates that cfMBD-seq is a powerful tool for sensitive detection of tumor-derived epigenomic signals in cfDNA.
Aerodynamic Measurements at Low Raynolds Numbers for Fixed Wing Micro-Air Vehicles

Abstract : A description of the micro-air vehicle (MAV) concept and design requirements is presented. These vehicles are very small and therefore operate at chord Reynolds numbers below 200,000 where very little data is available on the performance of lifting surfaces, i.e., airfoils and low aspect-ratio wings. This paper presents the results of a continuing study of the methods that can be used to obtain reliable force and moment data on thin wings in wind and water tunnels. To this end, a new platform force and moment balance, similar to an already existing balance, was designed and built to perform lift, drag and moment measurements at low Reynolds numbers. Balance characteristics and validation data are presented. Results show a good agreement between published data and data obtained with the new balance. Results for lilt, drag and pitching moment about the quarter chord with the existing aerodynamic balance on a series of thin flat plates and cambered plates at low Reynolds numbers are presented. They show that the cambered plates offer better aerodynamic characteristics and performance. Moreover, it appears that the trailing-edge geometry of the wings and the turbulence intensity up to about 1% in the wind tunnel do not have a strong effect on the lilt and drag for thin wings at low Reynolds numbers. However, the presence of two endplates for two-dimensional tests and one endplate for the semi-infinite tests appears to have an undesirable influence on the lift characteristics at low Reynolds numbers.
The professionalisation of Islamic religious education teachers

ABSTRACT Although Islamic religious education (IRE) has been offered in Austrian public schools since 1982, public opinion and the general opinions of several stakeholders in the school system tend to be negative. One of the main reasons is the shortage of professionals, which led to recruiting personnel from different disciplines, who often lack the proper qualification for IRE. Public discourses do not consider the possibility of professionalisation after lateral entry into the career as an IRE teacher. Based on empirical research considering the biographical experiences and professional development of IRE teachers, the present paper examines how IRE teachers themselves perceive and asses their professionalisation and professionalism. The study’s findings show that professionalisation and recognition as a professional depend on many factors, such as the degree of teachers’ training and education at academic institutions, their work schedule, state accreditation, different types of employment contract, and more. The research results reveal, moreover, the different beliefs and views of IRE teachers regarding their profession and subject. This article focuses on the concept of performative competence staging as part of the professionalisation processes of IRE teachers in the Austrian context and beyond.
Selected area laser-crystallized polycrystalline silicon thin films by a pulsed Nd:YAG laser with 355 nm wavelength

Selected area laser-crystallized polycrystalline silicon (p-Si) thin films were prepared by the third har- monics (355 nm wavelength) generated by a solid-state pulsed Nd:YAG laser. Surface morphologies of 400 nm thick films after laser irradiation were analyzed. Raman spectra show that film crystallinity is improved with in- crease of laser energy. The optimum laser energy density is sensitive to the film thickness. The laser energy density for efficiently crystallizing amorphous silicon films is between 440-634 mJ/cm 2 for 300 nm thick films and be- tween 777-993 mJ/cm 2 for 400 nm thick films. The optimized laser energy density is 634, 975 and 1571 mJ/cm 2 for 300, 400 and 500 nm thick films, respectively.
Assessment of accelerometer-derived data in the context of seat height changes in cycling and the impact on running in triathlon

Triathlon has been an Olympic sport since the 2000 Sydney Olympics and has developed rapidly, leading to variations in race categories. Although running after cycling necessitates a postural change from a non-weight-bearing activity to a weight bearing one, no study has quantified the magnitude of trunk acceleration during cycling in different seat positions and the consequential effect on running. Therefore, this study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a triaxial accelerometer to determine acceleration magnitudes of the trunk in a 20 km outdoor cycling event in two seat positions that were immediately followed by a 5 km overground run. Interpretation of data was evaluated based on cadence changes while triathletes cycled in an aerodynamic position in two seat positions. Running data was evaluated based on sinusoidal curves and foot strike peaks. The evaluation of accelerometer derived data within a characteristic overground setting suggests that cycling in an adjusted seat position significantly reduced trunk acceleration in both longitudinal and mediolateral directions with large effects (p < 0.0001, d > 0.9). A significant and large effect was found in both longitudinal and anteroposterior trunk acceleration in post-cycle running between seat positions (d > 0.9, p < 0.0001). In the longitudinal direction, a significant reduction in trunk acceleration occurred when running after the seat was adjusted with participants completing the 5 km run faster (21:55 ± 3:17 min compared to 22:05 ± 2:53 min). The results suggest that when the seat position is adjusted based on individual anthropometrics, overall trunk acceleration magnitude is reduced in both cycling and running. Accessible and practical sensor technology could be beneficial for postural considerations in triathlons.
Stakeholder Analysis of Integrating Women Into Ground Combat Units

Abstract : Barriers to women's service in the U.S. military have been greatly reduced over the past two decades. Policies preventing women from serving on ships, submarines, and in attack aircraft were removed in 1994. More recently, in January 2013, the Department of Defense overturned the 1994 Exclusion Policy on women serving in direct ground combat units. Implementing this change presents a significant challenge. The decision to do so has reignited a longstanding debate over women's rights and equal opportunity within the military. The issue is now receiving an abundance of both negative and positive publicity, suggesting increased scrutiny over decisions made by civilian and military leaders. This thesis provides recommendations to support integrating women into ground combat arms positions. This is accomplished by identifying the impediments and drivers to gaining acceptance of the new policy and by distilling recommendations through a framing analysis of the debate in electronic media. The analysis identifies key stakeholder groups and issue frames, providing a lens through which to gain a better understanding of stakeholder perspectives and their arguments for and against further integration. Recommendations for future research are offered in the concluding sections of the thesis.
The flow past two cylinders having different diameters

Summary This paper describes the results of an investigation of the flow over two cylinders in which the diameter of the upstream cylinder is half that of the downstream cylinder. Measurements were made of the surface pressure distribution around the downstream cylinder, and of the base pressures and Strouhal numbers of the two cylinders for separations between 1·32 D and 3·88 D, where D is the diameter of the downstream cylinder, and for angles of stagger between 0° and 45°. With the cylinders in tandem two different flows were found, and it is suggested that there is a step change between the flows at a critical separation. The behaviour of the measured quantities with a change of the angle of stagger is found, in general, to depend on whether the separation is less or greater than the critical separation. For each separation an angle of stagger is found at which the pressure distribution has a strong asymmetry over the rear of die cylinder. These pressure distributions are similar to each other, and they indicate the presence of an enhanced flow over the upper half of the cylinder. Also the lift force, for a given separation, then has its maximum value. It is found that for separations greater than the critical separation the Strouhal numbers of the vortex shedding from the two cylinders are identical over a considerable range in the angle of stagger.
Poleward shift in large‐river fish communities detected with a novel meta‐analysis framework

Ongoing global changes are causing major ecological shifts worldwide. Biological trends need to be assessed over long periods of time to better understand past and current community responses. The present study developed a methodological framework for meta‐analyses to be conducted that account for the temporal and spatial autocorrelation of observational data. We provided the R code for processing this framework, which enables temporal trends to be tested through the analysis of long‐term, spatially structured datasets. Taking both types of autocorrelation into account resulted in more conservative but arguably more reliable statistical outcomes. This meta‐analysis framework was then applied to investigate long‐term trends in environmental and fish‐community time series in multiple stations in large French rivers over the past 4 decades. General significant upward and downward trends were highlighted in water temperature and flow discharge, respectively, over the study period. Concomitantly, the density of numerous species increased, resulting in large increases in both species richness (about + 50%) and total fish abundance (approximately four‐fold), but with no significant trend in species evenness. Strong changes in species composition were observed during the study period, with an overall upward trend in the relative abundance of newcomers (i.e. species not sampled during the first years of the survey), while the trend in relative abundance of non‐native species was non‐significant. Moreover, the strongest signal underlying community changes was replacement of northern by southern species. This study showed major changes in fish density and community structure in large rivers over the past 40 years and represents, to our knowledge, one of the first large‐scale actual demonstrations (i.e. based on observations rather than predictions) of an overall poleward shift of freshwater fish communities in response to ongoing global changes.