Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Another consequence of culture - intra-cultural variation

This paper argues for the importance of intra-cultural variation (ICV) - the extent individuals of a culture vary on a particular feature. Methodologically, in making cultural comparisons, statistical significance is determined not only by cultural mean differences but also the ICVs of cultures. Ignoring ICV in making cross-cultural inference, researchers may interpret insignificant and inconsistent results as suggesting no cross-cultural difference, even though the difference may lie in the ICV. Theoretically, literature of cultural anthropology and organizational culture has documented the importance of variations and differences within cultures and their value for conceptual analysis. Reasons why ICV has been disregarded are also discussed.
Collectivism, relations, and Chinese communication

Hofstede (1980) did not claim to have based his conception of cultural dimensions on the features of any particular culture or ethnic groups. Yet since the publication of his cultural indicators in 1980, Chinese and East Asians have often been chosen to represent the typical collectivist cultural group to contrast with Americans as the typical individualist cultural group. Likewise, the communication style that has reportedly characterized collectivistic cultures is also found to represent the features of Chinese and East Asian people. There is little doubt that the paired concept of individualism and collectivism has been useful in distinguishing cultural differences in studies of communication, yet some issues and questions have begun to emerge about Chinese collectivism after decades of empirical research. First, there is the matter of scope; most of the studies on collectivism among Chinese have focused on interpersonal communication but not as extensively on media uses. A second, and perhaps more fundamental, issue is about depth; to what extent is collectivism a factor when Chinese communicate? In the face of frequently mixed findings, a question that is begging for answer is: can Chinese truly represent a concept that dates back to the premodern era of human civilization (Triandis, 1994), including Plato’s Republic and Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Du Contrat Social (cited in Brewer & Chen, 2007, p. 133)? Increasingly, relations has emerged as an important dimension in the study of Chinese communication. While Chinese relations (guanxi) has become a popular topic of research by itself, in individualism/collectivism (I/C) studies, it seems to be difficult not to include this dimension when Chinese or East Asian respondents are used in a study. What is the implication of this development? How much effort has been made to look into the issues from a Chinese perspective? In other words, while Chinese have been an “object” of individualism/collectivism research, how much has been done to gain ownership of the study? The papers in this special issue represent a collective effort in responding to some of the above critical questions. The purpose here is not to provide all the answers and draw conclusions, as neither is possible given the limitation of resources and labor. Yet it is hoped that by confronting the issues square in the face and putting important pieces together we will be able to have a more comprehensive view of the entire picture of Chinese communication.
The Effect of Relative Age on Self-Esteem, Role Strain, GPA, and Anxiety

Being older rather than younger than most of one's classmates is presumed to provide benefits to students at least throughout elementary school. The present study investigated this relative age hypothesis among students before and after the transition to middle school with respect to self-esteem, school strain, grade point average (GPA), and anxiety. Partial correlation analyses, with father's education controlled, showed that relative age was associated positively with self-esteem and negatively with strain during fifth and sixth grade. Separate analyses showed these relationships for females but not for males. The influence of father's education was particularly pronounced among the youngest subjects with respect to strain and GPA. Results suggest that the potentially detrimental effects of being relatively young carry on into middle school and that younger early adolescents whose parents have relatively little education are most at risk.
Elimination of platelet factor 4 (PF4) from platelets reduces atherosclerosis in C57Bl/6 and apoE-/- mice

Summary Activated platelets, which release platelet factor 4 (PF4) are present in patients with atherosclerosis. To date, no direct invivo evidence exists for the involvement of PF4 in atherogenesis. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that PF4 is atherogenic, and that genetic elimination of PF4 would protect mice from atherosclerosis. We have bred PF4-/- mice onto two athero-susceptible backgrounds, WT-C57Bl/6(WT) and apoE-/- to examine the importance of PF4 in atherogenesis. In order to induce atherosclerosis, WT and PF4-/- mice were fed an atherogenic diet for 30 weeks, while apoE-/- and apoE-/- PF4-/- mice were fed a high-fat Western-style diet for 10 weeks. Examination of lesions in the aortic roots of atherogenic diet fed mice demonstrated reduced atherosclerosis in PF4-/- (20% compared to WT). Examination of apoE-/- mice demonstrated similar changes, with apoE-/- PF4-/- mice demonstrating 37% of the aortic atherosclerotic burden compared to apoE-/- mice. Although we found similar levels of total and non-HDL cholesterol inWT and PF4-/- mice, HDL-cholesterol levels were increased in PF4-/- on both backgrounds. These data demonstrate, for the first time, that the platelet specific chemokine PF4 promotes atherosclerotic lesion development in vivo.
Theoretical Foundations for Family-Owned Business: A Conceptual and Research-Based Paradigm

As a field of study, family-owned business has lacked a coherent comprehensive framework. Currently the field is based largely on the succession literature, where the number of conceptual and empirical studies has doubled in the past five years. By using a conceptual and research-based typology for the field, the conceptual and empirical studies can be evaluated. Based upon the typology, potential studies and questions have been suggested for future research.
Long-term left ventricular remodelling after revascularisation for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction as assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging

Objective Left ventricular remodelling following a ST-segment elevated myocardial infarction (STEMI) is an adaptive response to maintain the cardiac output despite myocardial tissue loss. Limited studies have evaluated long term ventricular function using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) after STEMI. Methods Study population consisted of 155 primary percutaneous coronary intervention treated first STEMI patients. CMR was performed at 4±2 days, 4 months and 24 months follow-up. Patients were treated with beta-blockers, ACE-inhibitors or AT-II- inhibitors, statins and dual antiplatelet according to current international guidelines. Results Mean left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) at baseline was 44%±8%. Twenty-one per cent of the study population had an increase of more than 5.0% after 4 months of follow-up and 21% of the cohort had a decrease of more than 5.0%. Patients with long-term LVEF deterioration have significantly larger end-systolic volumes than patients with improvement of LVEF (61±23 mL/m2 compared with 52±21 mL/m2, p=0.02) and less wall thickening in the remote zone. Patients with LVEF improvement had significantly greater improvement in wall thickening in the infarct areas and in the non-infarct or remote zone. Conclusion Contrary to previous studies, we demonstrate that myocardial remodelling after STEMI is a long-term process. Long-term LVEF deterioration is characterised by an increase in end-systolic volume and less wall thickening in the remote zones. Patients with LVEF improvement exhibit an increase in left ventricular wall thickening both in the infarct as well as in the remote zones. Trial registration The HEBE study is registered in The Netherlands Trial Register #NTR166 (www.trialregister.nl) and the International Standard Randomised Controlled Trial, #ISRCTN95796863 (https://c-d-qn9pqajji.sec.amc.nl).
Non‐coding RNAs and their epigenetic regulatory mechanisms

It is widely accepted that ncRNAs (non‐coding RNAs), as opposed to protein‐coding RNAs, represent the majority of human transcripts; and the regulatory roles of many of these ncRNAs have been elucidated over the past decade. One important role so far recognized for ncRNAs is their participation in the epigenetic regulation of genes. Indeed, it is becoming increasingly apparent that most epigenetic mechanisms of gene expression are controlled by ncRNAs. In this review, the different types of ncRNA that are strongly linked to epigenetic regulation are characterized and their possible mechanisms discussed.
VHDL-AMS model of a dual gate graphene FET

We propose a VHDL-AMS model for a dual gate bilayer graphene field effect transistor (GFET). The GFET model in consideration is based on closed analytical derivations for a graphene device model. The analytical derivations describe the I-V characteristics of the transistor operating at the various regions. An up-kick in the drain current at high drain voltage which is pronounced during saturation is being modelled by a displacement and a saturation current. The model's drain current shows a good agreement with published experimental data.
Responding to sex-based discrimination: Gender differences in perceived discrimination and implications for legal decision making

The present studies examine responses to individual and institutional sex-based discrimination and how these responses vary as a function of the perceiver’s gender. In Study 1A, women perceived more sexism than men and the magnitude of the gender gap was significantly larger for institutional sexism as compared to individual sexism. Study 1B provided validation for the measures of perceptions of individual and institutional sexism. In Study 2, participants reached a verdict and determined remedies in a lawsuit where the plaintiff was a woman claiming to be a victim of individual or institutional sexism. Women were more likely than men to render a verdict in favor of the plaintiff. When the plaintiff was a victim of individual discrimination, men and women awarded comparable remedies but when the plaintiff was a victim of institutional sexism, women awarded significantly more remedies than men. Thus the present research suggests that gender moderates responses to institutional and individual forms of discrimination and these gender differences may have important implications for victims of discrimination.
Strategy maps in university management

In this study, the conceptual use of the strategy map approach and the strategy map which it produces have been adapted from the business sector and introduced as tools for achieving more effective strategic planning and management in higher education institutions (HEIs). This study discusses the development of strategy maps as transformational management tools in universities. It analyses 15 universities’ strategy maps to establish a comparative perspective in terms of content, expression and form. Based on this analysis, the study synthesises a model for the effective employment of the strategy map approach and strategy maps in universities. The study then uses Tsinghua University as the subject of a case study to illustrate how a university’s strategic plan could be converted into a strategy map. This study gives suggestions for implications of the strategy map approach in transforming the internal governance model in universities and achieving effective and responsive university strategic planning and management.
Dysplastic change rate in cases of oral lichen planus: A retrospective study of 112 cases in an Iranian population

Backgrounds: Lichen planus is a chronic systemic disease and oral mucosa is commonly involved. Oral lichen planus (OLP) most commonly affects middle-aged women. The prevalence of the disease ranges between 0.5% and 2.6% in the general population and the range of malignant transformation varies between 0% and 10%. Objectives: To assess the rate of malignant transformation of OLP samples. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was carried out on 112 medical records of patients with histological diagnosis of OLP who attended the Department of Pathology at the Educational Hospital from 2005 to 2012. H&E-stained slides were reviewed by two pathologists using strict clinical and histopathological diagnostic World Health Organization (WHO) criteria. Dysplastic changes were diagnosed and graded according to the latest WHO classification. Results: Of the 112 cases diagnosed as OLP, there were 39 males and 73 females and the patients’ ages ranged from 15 to 86 years (mean age 44.5 years). The erosive form with fifty cases was the most common clinical type and the papular type with one case was the least common clinical type. Regarding the site, the buccal mucosa was the most common site with 52 cases. Totally, dysplastic changes were found in 12 samples, among them five cases showed mild dysplasia and seven cases showed moderate dysplasia. One case developed oral squamous cell carcinoma after 3 years. Conclusion: OLP is considered as a premalignant condition by the WHO and several authors. Although the malignancy rate is not so high, to reduce morbidity and mortality from cancer arising on OLP lesions, a regular follow-up examination is recommended.
The utility of CA 19-9 in the diagnoses of cholangiocarcinoma in patients without primary sclerosing cholangitis

OBJECTIVES:The diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma is often difficult, making management approaches problematic. A reliable serum tumor marker for cholangiocarcinoma would be a useful additional diagnostic test. Previous studies have demonstrated that elevated serum concentrations of CA 19-9, a tumor-associated antigen, have good sensitivity and specificity for cholangiocarcinoma in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis. However, the value of this tumor marker for cholangiocarcinoma unassociated with primary sclerosing cholangitis is unclear. Thus, the aims of this study were to determine the usefulness of a serum CA 19-9 determination in the diagnosis of de novo cholangiocarcinoma.METHODS:We prospectively measured serum CA 19-9 concentrations in patients with cholangiocarcinoma (n = 36), nonmalignant liver disease (n = 41), and benign bile duct strictures (n = 26). Serum CA 19-9 concentrations were measured by an immunoradiometric assay (CIS Bio International) without knowledge of the clinical diagnosis.RESULTS:The sensitivity of a CA 19-9 value >100 U/ml in diagnosing cholangiocarcinoma was 53%. When compared with the nonmalignant liver disease and the benign bile duct stricture groups, the true negative rates were 76% and 92%, respectively. Patients with unresectable cholangiocarcinoma had significantly greater mean CA 19-9 concentrations compared to patients with resectable cholangiocarcinoma.CONCLUSIONS:These data suggest that the serum CA 19-9 determination is a useful addition to the available tests for the differential diagnosis of cholangiocarcinoma.
Modeling disease progression using dynamics of pathway connectivity

MOTIVATION Disease progression is driven by dynamic changes in both the activity and connectivity of molecular pathways. Understanding these dynamic events is critical for disease prognosis and effective treatment. Compared with activity dynamics, connectivity dynamics is poorly explored. RESULTS We describe the M-module algorithm to identify gene modules with common members but varied connectivity across multiple gene co-expression networks (aka M-modules). We introduce a novel metric to capture the connectivity dynamics of an entire M-module. We find that M-modules with dynamic connectivity have distinct topological and biochemical properties compared with static M-modules and hub genes. We demonstrate that incorporation of module connectivity dynamics significantly improves disease stage prediction. We identify different sets of M-modules that are important for specific disease stage transitions and offer new insights into the molecular events underlying disease progression. Besides modeling disease progression, the algorithm and metric introduced here are broadly applicable to modeling dynamics of molecular pathways. AVAILABILITY AND IMPLEMENTATION M-module is implemented in R. The source code is freely available at http://www.healthcare. uiowa.edu/labs/tan/M-module.zip.
Efficient and secure three-party authenticated key exchange protocol for mobile environments

Yang and Chang (2009) proposed a three-party authenticated key exchange protocol for securing communications in mobile-commerce environments. Their protocol reduces computation and communication costs by employing elliptic curve cryptosystems. However, Tan (2010) pointed out that Yang and Chang (2009)’s protocol cannot withstand impersonation and parallel attacks, and further proposed an enhanced protocol to resist these attacks. This paper demonstrates that Tan (2010)’s approach still suffers from impersonation attacks, and presents an efficient and secure three-party authenticated key exchange protocol to overcome shown weaknesses.
Greedy Column Subset Selection: New Bounds and Distributed Algorithms

The problem of column subset selection has recently attracted a large body of research, with feature selection serving as one obvious and important application. Among the techniques that have been applied to solve this problem, the greedy algorithm has been shown to be quite effective in practice. However, theoretical guarantees on its performance have not been explored thoroughly, especially in a distributed setting. In this paper, we study the greedy algorithm for the column subset selection problem from a theoretical and empirical perspective and show its effectiveness in a distributed setting. In particular, we provide an improved approximation guarantee for the greedy algorithm which we show is tight up to a constant factor, and present the first distributed implementation with provable approximation factors. We use the idea of randomized composable core-sets, developed recently in the context of submodular maximization. Finally, we validate the effectiveness of this distributed algorithm via an empirical study.
Schizotypy

Schizophrenia is the most devastating form of psychopathology known to humankind, and it has been slow to yield clues to its origins. Meehl's (1962, 1990) model detailed the nature of the latent liability for schizophrenia known as schizotypy and provided a major organizing function for research on schizophrenia. The schizotypy model integrates genetic and environmental contributions to liability as well as accounting for a range of clinical outcomes, all deriving from a genuine liability for the illness. Schizotypy, as a latent personality organization that harbors the liability for schizophrenia, provides a framework for detecting fundamental features of liability to schizophrenia prior to the onset of clinical illness. The schizotypy model is reviewed, the strategic benefits of it are discussed, and methods for detecting schizotypy are presented. A focus on perceptual aberrations—a schizotypic feature—in individuals unaffected by schizophrenia has yielded valuable clues to preclinical disturbances in neurocognitive processes, risk for schizophrenia among biological relatives, and genomic substrates, all of which are of interest to schizophrenia researchers.
Circuit techniques for a 1.8-V-only NAND flash memory

Focusing on internal high-voltage (V/sub pp/) switching and generation for low-voltage NAND flash memories, this paper describes a V/sub (pp)/ switch, row decoder, and charge-pump circuit. The proposed nMOS V/sub pp/ switch is composed of only intrinsic high-voltage transistors without channel implantation, which realizes both reduction of the minimum operating voltage and elimination of the V/sub pp/ leakage current. The proposed row decoder scheme is described in which all blocks are in selected state in standby so as to prevent standby current from flowing through the proposed V/sub pp/ switches in the row decoder. A merged charge-pump scheme generates a plurality of voltage levels with an individually optimized efficiency, which reduces circuit area in comparison with the conventional scheme that requires a separate charge-pump circuit for each voltage level. The proposed circuits were implemented on an experimental NAND flash memory. The charge pump and V/sub pp/ switch successfully operated at a supply voltage of 1.8 V with a standby current of 10 /spl mu/A. The proposed pump scheme reduced the area required for charge-pump circuits by 40%.
Beyond Sexual Mechanics and Hydraulics: Humanizing the Discourse Surrounding Erectile Dysfunction

The discourse in sex therapy is increasingly dominated by the language and imagery of machines in disrepair. Humanistic psychologyhas a role to play in challenging the pharmaceutical industry forownership of this discourse. From a humanistic standpoint, we arewell situated to question the assumptions underlying the biomedical model. Viagra™ may produce rigid erections while creating newdifficulties for the forgotten man, conveniently attached, for thepartner who wants to be desired, or for the couple. Newpharmacological interventions too often produce the same old effects and sideeffects (e.g., reductionism, desensitization, alienation, fragmentation,mechanization). The prevailing “Viagra™ mindset” is contested byreviewing the problems associated with this way of thinking aboutsexuality and sexual dysfunction. An alternate experiential approachto dealing with sexual issues and concerns in therapy is described.Three clinical illustrations of Experiential Psychotherapy as a wayof working with erectile dysfunction in therapy are presented.
Mark my words: the role of assessment criteria in UK higher education grading practices

This article seeks to illuminate the gap between UK policy and practice in relation to the use of criteria for allocating grades. It critiques criterion-referenced grading from three perspectives. Twelve lecturers from two universities were asked to ‘think aloud’ as they graded two written assignments. The study found that assessors made holistic rather than analytical judgements. A high proportion of the tutors did not make use of written criteria in their marking and, where they were used, it was largely a post hoc process in refining, checking or justifying a holistic decision. Norm referencing was also found to be an important part of the grading process despite published criteria. The authors develop the notion of tutors’ standards frameworks, influenced by students’ work, and providing the interpretive lens used to decide grades. The implications for standards, and for students, of presenting the grading process as analytical and objective are discussed.
An Affine Projection Algorithm with Variable Projection Order using the MSE Criterion

This paper proposes an affine projection algorithm (APA) with variable projection order using the mean-square error (MSE) criterion. The proposed algorithm determines the projection order at every iteration to use it in the update equation of the proposed APA. The MSE criterion is employed to decide the projection order reasonably. Moreover, this algorithm checks the steady-state condition to change the MSE criterion for improving the performance of APA. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm achieves faster convergence rate, smaller steady-state estimation error and lower computational complexity than the existing APAs.