Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Customer Care in a Consumer Society: Smiling and Sometimes Meaning it?

This article proposes a focus for research by drawing on two emerging and largely distinct streams of literature-on service/emotion work and organizations in consumer society. In particular, experiences of `customer care' and related `corporate culture' initiatives are examined. Here, employee ambivalence is highlighted and is typically portrayed in terms of: protecting a privileged or `real' sense of self; (re-)asserting control; and/or as being constituted through gender, class and other cultural relations and interactions with customers. Little attention has been given to parallel postmodern literatures documenting both the pervasiveness of a constituting discourse of the sovereign consumer and the emergence of multiple selves in a `de-traditionalized' consumer society. Here, the theoretical primacy given to discourse typically precludes an empirical consideration of subjectivity which is viewed as ephemeral. It is argued that such an epistemology has given rise to an exaggeration of the dominance and coherence of discourse, neglecting internal contradictions, alternative representations and associated practices of resistance.
Effects of Teachers Level of Education and Experience on Teacher-Child Interactions in Early Childhood Institutions

Early childhood care and development (ECCD) in Ghana have received attention in the lat decade. To ensure quality of instruction and build capacity of early childhood teachers and caregivers, the National Nursery Teachers’ Training Centre was set up by the government to offer specialized training in nursery education for teachers and nursery attendants. Universities and the Colleges of Education have been mandated to train teachers for early childhood education. This study therefore sought to find out the effects of level of education and years of experience of teachers on their interactions with children (3 - 5) in early-childhood institutions in Ghana using the Caregiver Child Interaction Scale (r = 0.77). The sample (N = 103; Female 99%): made up of teachers from thirty-one preschools in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana were observed during their normal classroom routine. There appeared not to be any statistically significant difference between the teachers’ level of education and years of experience on the interaction scores.
trans Regulation of Cap-Independent Translation by a Viral Subgenomic RNA

ABSTRACT Many positive-strand RNA viruses generate 3′-coterminal subgenomic mRNAs to allow translation of 5′-distal open reading frames. It is unclear how viral genomic and subgenomic mRNAs compete with each other for the cellular translation machinery. Translation of the uncapped Barley yellow dwarf virus genomic RNA (gRNA) and subgenomic RNA1 (sgRNA1) is driven by the powerful cap-independent translation element (BTE) in their 3′ untranslated regions (UTRs). The BTE forms a kissing stem-loop interaction with the 5′ UTR to mediate translation initiation at the 5′ end. Here, using reporter mRNAs that mimic gRNA and sgRNA1, we show that the abundant sgRNA2 inhibits translation of gRNA, but not sgRNA1, in vitro and in vivo. This trans inhibition requires the functional BTE in the 5′ UTR of sgRNA2, but no translation of sgRNA2 itself is detectable. The efficiency of translation of the viral mRNAs in the presence of sgRNA2 is determined by proximity to the mRNA 5′ end of the stem-loop that kisses the 3′ BTE. Thus, the gRNA and sgRNA1 have “tuned” their expression efficiencies via the site in the 5′ UTR to which the 3′ BTE base pairs. We conclude that sgRNA2 is a riboregulator that switches off translation of replication genes from gRNA while permitting translation of structural genes from sgRNA1. These results reveal (i) a new level of control of subgenomic-RNA gene expression, (ii) a new role for a viral subgenomic RNA, and (iii) a new mechanism for RNA-mediated regulation of translation.
Pre-Adolescent and Adolescent Girls: Media and Sociocultural Influences on Body Image and Attitudes Toward Sexuality

The life of a teenager has changed dramatically in the past decade. Young people are constantly bombarded with messages and images from mass media and sociocultural factors which may influence the way they feel about their bodies and sexuality. Adolescent girls in particular are subjected to unrealistic ideas of how they should look, behave, and feel. With so much focus on a sexual body image, the media teaches girls how to dress and gain the ideal, thin body. & Tiggemann, 2006) have identified the age young girls start to evaluate their body silhouette and begin to yearn for the media's idealized figure. The authors reported that this initial evaluation and body dissatisfaction starts as early as the ages of five and six years old. Dittmar, Halliwell, and Ive (2006) explained that media images with figures such as the Barbie doll are some of the first images that young girls are subjected to viewing at a young age. "These ultrathin images not only lowered young girls' body esteem but also decreased their satisfaction with their actual body size, making them desire a thinner body. This detrimental effect was evident already for girls from age 5 Y2 to age 6 Y2 . " (p. 290). While sociocultural influences will be discussed, the focus of this literature review was on the role that media play in Western cultures' ideals and messages to young girls. Of course the power of the media's messages depend on the girls' parents, community, school, peers, and many other factors. However, it is important to realize how widespread the influence of the media reach, especially in the lives of pre-adolescents and adolescents, considering" . during a single year [children] on average spend more time watching television than in any other activity besides sleeping" (Levine & Smolak, cited in Clark & Tiggemann, 2006, p. 629). Children and teenagers have movies, television, magazines, internet, video games, and many other forms of 7 media available to them at all times. As stated Mika (2006), "The media act as a contextual influence. Media do not act in a vacuum; they are a pali of an interconnected system that includes neighborhood, school, peers, and family but play major roles in creating social norms and modeling attitudes and behaviors" (p. 53). While there are countless other factors which affect children and adolescents, the media are often tlu'eaded into each of those environmental aspects, especially those …
Compositional static instruction cache simulation

Scheduling in hard real-time systems requires a priori knowledge of worst-case execution times (WCET). Obtaining the WCET of a task is a difficult problem. Static timing analysis techniques approach this problem via path analysis, pipeline simulation and cache simulation to derive safe WCET bounds. But such analysis has traditionally been constrained to only small programs due to the complexity of simulation, most notably the complexity of static cache simulation, which requires inter-procedural analysis.This paper describes a novel approach of compositional static cache simulation that alleviates the complexity problem, thereby making static timing analysis feasible for much larger programs than in the past. Specifically, a framework is contributed that facilitates static cache analysis by splitting it into two steps, a module-level analysis and a compositional phase, thus addressing the issue of complexity of inter-procedural analysis for an entire program. The module-level analysis parameterizes the data-flow information in terms of potential evictions from cache due to calls containing conflicting references. The compositional analysis stage uses the result of the parameterized data-flow for each module. Thus, the emphasis here is on handling most of the complexity in the module-level analysis and performing as little analysis as possible at the compositional level. The experimental results for direct-mapped instruction caches show that the compositional analysis framework outperforms prior analysis methods for larger programs by one to two orders of magnitude, depending on the reference for comparison, while providing equally accurate predictions. This novel approach to static cache analysis provides a promising solution to the complexity problem in timing analysis, which, for the first time, makes the analysis of larger programs feasible.
Lixisenatide: evidence for its potential use in the treatment of type 2 diabetes

Lixisenatide is a once-daily glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist mimicking several favorable actions of endogenous GLP-1 that result in improved glycemic control with little or no hypoglycemia and weight loss. Phase II trials have shown that lixisenatide 20 μg once daily restores first-phase insulin release in patients with type 2 diabetes and improves the second-phase insulin response. Administered once or twice daily for 4 weeks, it significantly reduced postprandial and fasting blood glucose levels, and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c). The efficacy and safety of lixisenatide once daily is being assessed in the GETGOAL Phase III clinical trial program. Results have shown beneficial effects on HbA1c compared with placebo in combination with commonly used antidiabetes agents, with no increased risk of hypoglycemia and with beneficial weight reduction. Adverse effects were similar to those observed for available GLP-1 receptor agonists, the most frequent being gastrointestinal. Both GLP-1 receptor agonists and long-acting insulin analogs have demonstrated protective effects on beta cells in preclinical studies. This, along with the pronounced effect of lixisenatide on postprandial plasma glucose, provides a rationale for combining it with long-acting basal insulin analogs, in the hope that the additive effects on glycemic control combined with a potential benefit on islet cells may lead to a new treatment approach to control blood glucose better and prevent long-term complications in patients with type 2 diabetes.
Culturally sensitive assessment and treatment of eating disorders

The treatment of eating disorders is challenging. Complicating treatment is the belief that eating disorders exist primarily in young, White, American women. This article discusses the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of eating disorders in culturally diverse clients. Incolporated within is the relationships of acculturation, immigration, and ethnic identity to eating disorders. In addition, culturally specajk symptoms, worldviews, and values of Caucasians, African Americans, Native Americans, Asian Americans, and Hispanic Americans are discussed. Identifying risk factors and understanding the influence of culture on presenting symptoms assists in culturally sensitive treatment.
Stepwise increase of angiopoietin-2 serum levels is related to haemodynamic and functional impairment in stable chronic heart failure

Background: A reciprocal link between inflammation, oxidative/nitrosative stress, and endothelial dysfunction has been postulated in chronic heart failure (CHF). The endothelial repair mechanisms involved remain to be determined. Our aim was to investigate whether there are detectable signs of ongoing angiogenesis in serum of CHF patients and to evaluate the correlation with indexes of haemodynamic and functional impairment. Methods and results: Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay tests were used to quantify angiogenin, angiopoietin-1, angiopoietin-2, vascular endothelial growth factor, Tie-2, and brain natriuretic peptide in serum of 87 patients with CHF of increasing severity according to New York Heart Association (NYHA; class I, n = 8; II, n = 45; and III, n = 34) and in 14 healthy subjects matched for age and sex. Angiogenin, angiopoietin-2, and Tie-2 were significantly increased in CHF of increasing severity (Kruskal–Wallis: p = 0.0004, p < 0.0001, and p = 0.017, respectively). Angiopoietin-2 was inversely correlated with the 6-min walking test (r = −0.65, p < 0.0001), peak oxygen consumption (VO2max; r = −0.57, p = 0.0002), and deceleration time (r = −0.61, p < 0.0001). Multiple regression analysis showed that angiopoietin-2 was mainly associated with VO2max (p = 0.018). The angiopoietin-2 area under the receiver operating characteristic curve for CHF diagnosis was 0.94 (95% CI 0.88–0.99; p < 0.001). Conclusions: These data demonstrate that angiopoietin-2 and selected serum markers of angiogenesis progressively increase with haemodynamic and functional decline in CHF.
Association between major patterns of dietary intake and weight status in adolescents

The relationship between dietary intake and obesity is complex, and dietary pattern analysis may offer new insight. We examined associations between dietary patterns identified in a diverse cohort of adolescents and weight status cross-sectionally and over a 5-year period. Project EAT (Eating Among Teens) (Time 1) collected data on 4746 middle (younger cohort) and high school (older cohort) students in 1998–9. EAT-II (Time 2) resurveyed 2516 of the original cohort in 2003–4. All analyses were run separately by age cohort and sex. The relationship between dietary patterns identified previously (vegetable, fruit, vegetable & fruit, starchy food, sweet & salty snack food, and fast food) and weight status was examined using logistic regression. All analyses were adjusted for socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity and activity level (longitudinal analyses were also adjusted for baseline weight status). In cross-sectional analyses, higher adherence to dietary patterns loading heavily on vegetables was associated with lower risk of overweight/obese weight status in older and younger girls, whereas higher adherence to a ‘sweet & salty snack food’ pattern was associated with lower risk in older and younger boys. These associations were found prospectively in older boys and girls, but were no longer significant in analyses adjusting for baseline weight status. We did not find consistent or intuitive associations between dietary patterns and weight status. Identified patterns may not capture the elements of diet that are truly important in determining adolescent weight, or diet may not be the primary driver in determining weight status at this age. Methodological difficulties in assessing diet must also be taken into consideration.
The Associative Dimension of Issue Ownership

Issue ownership is commonly conceptualized as multidimensional, consisting of a “competence” dimension and an “associative” dimension. Because existing operationalizations of issue ownership tap only the former dimension, we focus on associative issue ownership: the spontaneous identification between specific issues and specific parties in the minds of voters. Survey evidence from Belgium shows that the associative dimension of issue ownership can be measured, that it differs from competence issue ownership, and that it is an independent determinant of voting behavior.
Performance Enhancement for Secure Vehicular Communications

In this paper, we propose a new TESLA (timed efficient stream loss-tolerant authentication) based secure vehicular communication (TSVC) protocol with privacy preserving, aiming to achieve less communication overhead without compromising the security and privacy requirements. With TSVC, the communication overhead can be significantly reduced due to the message authentication code (MAC) tag attached in each packet and only a fast hash operation is required to verify each packet. Simulation results show that TSVC maintains acceptable message latency with much smaller packet size while significantly reducing the message loss ratio compared with that by the existing PKI-based protocols especially when the traffic is denser.
Transitional Justice and Peacebuilding after Mass Violence

Since the end of the Cold War, the international community has become increasingly involved in peacebuilding and transitional justice after mass violence. This article uses lessons from practical experience and theories of peacebuilding and transitional justice to develop a model of transformative justice that supports sustainable peacebuilding. This model is holistic and transdisciplinary and proposes a focus on civil society participation in the design and implementation of transitional justice mechanisms. It requires us to rethink our focus on ‘transition’ as an interim process that links the past and the future, and to shift it to ‘transformation,’ which implies long-term, sustainable processes embedded in society and adoption of psychosocial, political and economic, as well as legal, perspectives on justice. It also involves identifying, understanding and including, where appropriate, the various cultural approaches to justice that coexist with the dominant western worldview and practice. A syncretic approach to reconciling restorative and retributive justice is proposed as a contribution to developing transformative justice and sustainable peacebuilding. The development of this transformative justice model is informed by field research conducted in Cambodia, Rwanda, East Timor and Sierra Leone on the views and experiences of conflict participants in relation to transitional justice and peacebuilding.
The Mountain Man Myth: A Contemporary Consuming Fantasy

Modern mountain men form temporary consumption enclaves focused on reenacting the 1825-40 fur-trade rendezvous held in the Rocky Mountain American West. In the process, they become part of a transient consumption community predicated on invented traditions and the invocation of a mythic past to create and consume fantastic time and space. Based on ethnographic methods employed over a five-year period, we develop a historically contextualized understanding of this consumption fantasy. We analyze how modern mountain men enact fantasy experiences of a primitive alternative reality within the bounded ritual space of the modern rendezvous. We conclude that participation in this fantasy world offers a special opportunity for transformative play, while reinforcing a romanticized set of beliefs.
An AHP-based Model for Selecting Complementary Products

The main purpose of recommender systems is to assist consumers find products and services they are interested in. When having already purchased one product, it is likely that the consumer may look for complementary products to the bought one. This paper proposes an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) based model to help customers find the best complementary products. The selection of the best products is done according to certain criteria, which are evaluated and ranked in order to determine the criteria that drives one customer to cross sell.
Future Internet and Living Lab Research Domain Landscapes : Filling the Gap between Technology Push and Application Pull in the Context of Smart Cities

While new paradigms such as Open Innovation [1] and Web 2.0 [2] as well as Living Labs operating as a User Centred Open Innovation Ecosystem [3] promote a more proactive role of users in the R&D process, a number of existing methods for involving users are described in the literature, such as Lead User [4], User Driven Innovation [4], User Centred Design [5] and User Created Content [1] as well as User Co-Creation [6]. Interestingly, the Internet evolves concurrently with research streams such as peer-to-peer, autonomous, content-centric and ad-hoc networking that have already demonstrated improvements on network performance and user experience. Peer-to-peer networking has demonstrated both the feasibility and economic potential for delivering services to millions of users. Cloud Computing is a more recent paradigm for transparently sharing among users scalable elastic resources over a limitless network. This paper explores the domain landscape of Living Lab and Future Internet research areas as well as the emerging Smart City landscape. It is believed that these landscapes provide valuable insights for articulating Living Labs between the technology push of Future Internet testbeds and the application pull of smart cities.
The Positive Regulator, TraJ, of the Escherichia coli F Plasmid Is Unstable in a cpxA* Background

ABSTRACT The Cpx (conjugative plasmid expression) stress response of Escherichia coli is induced in response to extracytoplasmic signals generated in the cell envelope, such as misfolded proteins in the periplasm. Detection of stress is mediated by the membrane-bound histidine kinase, CpxA. Signaling of the response regulator CpxR by activated CpxA results in the expression of several factors required for responding to cell envelope stress. CpxA was originally thought to be required for the expression of the positive regulator of the F plasmid transfer (tra) operon, TraJ. It was later determined that constitutive gain-of-function mutations in cpxA led to activation of the Cpx envelope stress response and decreased TraJ expression. In order to determine the nature of the downregulation of TraJ, the level of expression of TraJ, TraM, and TraY, the F-encoded regulatory proteins of the F tra region, was determined both in a cpxA* background and in a wild-type background in which the Cpx stress response was induced by overexpression of the outer membrane lipoprotein, NlpE. Our results suggest that TraJ downregulation is controlled by a posttranscriptional mechanism that operates in the cytoplasm in response to upregulation of the Cpx stress response by both the cpxA* gain-of-function mutation and the overexpression of NlpE.
Valoración de algunos aspectos relacionados con la sexualidad de parejas insatisfechas Assessment of dimensions related to sexuality of unsatisfied couples

Summary Aims: To study different aspects (e.g. satisfaction, self-acceptance, mate acceptance, perceptual accuracy…) of couples attending a Mental Health Clinic, seeking counselling for relational and sexual problems. Design: Exploratory, transversal descriptive Study. Site: Community Mental Health Center, Servicio Navarro de Salud. Navarra, Spain. Subjects: 87 persons, 44 males and 43 females, living in partnership. They all completed questionnaires, as part of diagnostic/treatment procedures followed in the Clinic. Assessment instruments: Sexual Interaction Inventory. Results: Mean scores obtained by males in scales measured, reach statistical difference when compared with those of females. Self acceptance, 7 versus 14 (p<.000); Mate acceptance, 21 versus 11 (p<.000); Sexual Pleasure, 5,1 versus 4,6 (p<.000); Perceptual accuracy, 17 versus 12 (p<.000). Conclusions: Males obtain sexual pleasure from their relationship, their self acceptance is high, but complaint about low sexual frequency, and low sexual reactivity from women, who, on the contrary, obtain low sexual pleasure, show poor self acceptance, and reveal themselves with much better perceptual accuracy than males. In Spain, as in China, it is still important to promote sexual communication to enhance sexual satisfaction and self and mate acceptance.