Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Restructuring Flexibility: Case Studies of Part‐Time Female Workers in Six Workplaces

The article is based on six workplace case studies within a local economy and investigates the reasons behind the different utilization of part-time workers within these workplaces. The research examines the content and nature of part-time work in these organizations and the experiences of the part-time workforce. The findings suggest that we need to distinguish between three types of part-time workers; core, peak and ancillary. It is argued that such distinctions capture the variegated utilization of part-time workers and contribute to the debate concerning the integration or marginalization of part-time staff within workplaces. Furthermore, workplace cultures are an important arena for contextualizing these discussions. It is contended that the different uses of part-time workers can be explained by different sectoral and organizational contexts but that the nature of part-time work is also influenced by existing social relations within the workplace, notably with respect to gender, class and age.
The importance of historical Tang dynasty for place branding the contemporary city Xi'an

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to discuss the opportunity of utilizing Tang dynasty history, heritage, buildings and names in the effort to place brand the contemporary city Xi'an.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a conceptual framework for place branding cities consisting of two main dimensions. The first describes the continuum of functional versus emotional values within a city; the second measures the degree to which the image of a place is historical or contemporary. The paper then employs historical analysis to examine the meaning and construction of a Tang dynasty brand for place branding twenty‐first century Xi'an.Findings – While Xi'an may possess an illustrious historical identity, the contemporary city is still searching for an image. Xi'an's glorious heritage attracts considerable tourism, but has not yet drawn substantial business, foreign direct investment or talents to contribute to and support economic development of the metropolitan region.Research limitations/impli.
Population-Based Age Group Specific Annual Incidence Rates of Symptomatic Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Purpose To study the population-based annual incidence rates of exudative, dry and all cases of symptomatic age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in different age and sex groups. Methods. This is a one year, prospective, population-based study on all consecutive new patients with AMD in the hospital district of Central Finland. The diagnosis was confirmed in all patients with slit lamp biomicroscopy, optical coherence tomography (OCT) using a Spectralis HRA + OCT device, and the Heidelberg Eye Explorer 1.6. 2.0 program. Fluorescein angiograms were taken when needed. Results. The population-based annual incidence rates of all cases of symptomatic AMD increased from 0.03% (95% CI, 0.01-0.05%) in the age group 50-59 years to 0.82% (95% CI, 0.55-1.09%) in the age group 85-89 years and were 0.2% (95% CI, 0.17-0.24%) in exudative, 0.11% (95% CI, 0.09-0.14%) in dry, and 0.32% (95% CI, 0.28-0.36%) in all cases of AMD in the age group 60 years and older. During the next 20 years in Central Finland the population-based annual incidence rates can be estimated to increase to 0.27% (95% CI, 0.24-0.30%) in exudative, to 0.13% (95% CI, 0.11-0.15%) in dry, and to 0.41% (95% CI, 0.37-0.45%) in all cases of AMD in the age group 60 years and older. The population-based annual incidence of AMD did not show statistically significant differences between males and females (p>0.1). Conclusion: The population-based age-group specific annual incidence rates of symptomatic AMD of this study may help to plan health care provision for patients of AMD.
Modeling and prediction of competitive performance in swimming upon neural networks

The purpose of the paper is to demonstrate that the performance of an elite female swimmer in the finals of the 200-m backstroke at the Olympic Games 2000 in Sydney can be predicted by means of the nonlinear mathematical method of artificial neural networks (Multi-Layer Perceptrons). The data con-sisted of the performance output of 19 competitions (200-m backstroke) prior to the Olympics and the training input data of the last 4 weeks prior to each competition. Multi-Layer Perceptrons with 10 input neurons, 2 hidden neuron, and 1 output neuron were used. Since the data of 19 competitions are insuffi-cient to train such networks, the training input and competition data of another athlete were used in the training processes of the neural networks to pre-train the neural networks. The neural models were validated by the “leave-one-out”; method, then the neural models were used to predict the Olympic competitive performance. The results show that the modeling was very precise; the error of the prediction was only 0.05 s, with a total swim time of 2:12.64 min:s.
Genetics of inflammatory bowel disease: implications for disease pathogenesis and natural history

Epidemiological data, detailed molecular studies and recent genome-wide association studies strongly suggest that ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) are related polygenic diseases that share some susceptibility loci, but differ at others. To date, there are more than 50 confirmed inflammatory bowel disease genes/loci, a number that is widely anticipated to at least double in the next 2 years. Germline variation in IL23R, IL12B, JAK2 and STAT3 is associated with inflammatory bowel disease susceptibility, consistent with the newly described role for IL23 signaling and Th17 cells in disease pathogenesis. Several genes involved in different aspects of bacterial handling are defective only in CD, including NOD2 and the autophagy genes ATG16L1 and IRGM. IL10 and ECM1 are associated with UC, while inherited variation at the HLA region is related to an inflammatory colonic phenotype. The application of genome-wide association studies to inflammatory bowel disease has been successful in defining the genetic architecture of CD and UC and in delivering genuinely novel and important insights into disease pathogenesis. This has unearthed a plethora of attractive targets for the development of future therapeutics. Insights into the natural history of these complex diseases will follow and may enable appropriate patient selection for early aggressive therapy with the view to modifying the disease course.
Entity search on the web

More than the half of queries in the logs of a web search engine refer directly to a single named entity or a named set of entities [1]. To support entity search queries, search engines have begun developing targeted functionality, such as rich displays of factual information, question-answering and related entity recommendations. In this talk, we will provide an overview of recent work in the field of entity search, illustrated by the example of the Spark system, a large-scale system currently in use at Yahoo! for related entity recommendations in web search. Spark combines various knowledge bases and collects evidence from query logs and social media to provide the most relevant related entities for every web query with an entity intent. We discuss the methods used in Spark as well as how the system is evaluated in daily use.
LIN-41 and OMA Ribonucleoprotein Complexes Mediate a Translational Repression-to-Activation Switch Controlling Oocyte Meiotic Maturation and the Oocyte-to-Embryo Transition in Caenorhabditis elegans

An extended meiotic prophase is a hallmark of oogenesis. Hormonal signaling activates the CDK1/cyclin B kinase to promote oocyte meiotic maturation, which involves nuclear and cytoplasmic events. Nuclear maturation encompasses nuclear envelope breakdown, meiotic spindle assembly, and chromosome segregation. Cytoplasmic maturation involves major changes in oocyte protein translation and cytoplasmic organelles and is poorly understood. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, sperm release the major sperm protein (MSP) hormone to promote oocyte growth and meiotic maturation. Large translational regulatory ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes containing the RNA-binding proteins OMA-1, OMA-2, and LIN-41 regulate meiotic maturation downstream of MSP signaling. To understand the control of translation during meiotic maturation, we purified LIN-41-containing RNPs and characterized their protein and RNA components. Protein constituents of LIN-41 RNPs include essential RNA-binding proteins, the GLD-2 cytoplasmic poly(A) polymerase, the CCR4-NOT deadenylase complex, and translation initiation factors. RNA sequencing defined messenger RNAs (mRNAs) associated with both LIN-41 and OMA-1, as well as sets of mRNAs associated with either LIN-41 or OMA-1. Genetic and genomic evidence suggests that GLD-2, which is a component of LIN-41 RNPs, stimulates the efficient translation of many LIN-41-associated transcripts. We analyzed the translational regulation of two transcripts specifically associated with LIN-41 which encode the RNA regulators SPN-4 and MEG-1. We found that LIN-41 represses translation of spn-4 and meg-1, whereas OMA-1 and OMA-2 promote their expression. Upon their synthesis, SPN-4 and MEG-1 assemble into LIN-41 RNPs prior to their functions in the embryo. This study defines a translational repression-to-activation switch as a key element of cytoplasmic maturation.
Atlas-based 3D-Shape Reconstruction from X-Ray Images

In many cases X-ray images are the only basis for surgery planning. Nevertheless it is desirable to draw conclusions about the 3D-anatomy of the patient from such data. This work presents a method to reconstruct 3D shapes from few digital X-ray images on the basis of 3D-statistical shape models. At the core of this method lies an algorithm which optimizes a similarity measure assessing the difference between projections of the shape model and the X-ray images. Based on theoretical and experimental observations we propose to measure the distance between the silhouettes of the object in the projections. The method is tested on 23 synthetically generated X-rays from CT data sets of the geometrically as well as topologically complex shape of the pelvic bone
Determination of Carotenoids in Human Serum and Breast Milk Using High Performance Liquid Chromatography Coupled with a Diode Array Detector (HPLC-DAD)

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with a diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) for the identification and quantification of carotenoids, namely all-trans lutein, zeaxanthin, β-cryptoxanthin, α-carotene, and β-carotene, in biological samples such as human serum and breast milk, has been developed and validated. Good chromatography separation was achieved using a binary mobile phase system on a YMC C30 column (150 × 2.1 mm, 3 µm) at 30 °C. Owing to the smaller column particle size and diameter of the column, the separation was achieved in 18 min, which is significantly reduced from the typical 30–40 min of other methods. The diode array detector (DAD) acquisition was set at a wavelength of 445 nm; 3D spectra ranging from wavelengths of 240–600 nm were also recorded. Peaks were identified by matching their retention time and spectra with those of standards. Quantification was achieved by internal standard calibration using echinenone as the internal standard. Good linearity was obtained for each compound (R2 > 0.9999). The method quantification limits (MQLs) for serum and breast milk were 10 ng/mL and 5 ng/mL, in matrix, respectively. A spike recovery study and standard reference material (SRM) from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 968e analysis has proven that the method has a high degree of accuracy, precision, and robustness. The stability study showed that the carotenoid standard and sample extracts could be stored in a chilled autosampler at 8 °C up to 48 h without being comprised, which provides guidance on re-test time frames. The freeze/thaw process was found to be detrimental to carotenoids, and should always be avoided. Most importantly, UV standardization of the stock standard is to be performed prior to each assay, and simply taking the values on Certificate of Analysis (CoA) for calculation of the standard concentration is not recommended.
Rendering CSG scenes with general antialiasing

Ray-tracing is one of the most popular techniques for rendering 3D images. Effects such as shadows, reflection, refraction and so on can be produced with this technique. However, raytracing is a point-sampling technique with well-known aliasing problems. In particular, small objects and small shadows can be hidden between rays and not be detected. No ray-tracing method, even using oversampling, can solve this problem entirely. The solution is to use an extension of ray-tracing in which the concept of the infinitesimal ray is replaced by that of the beam, which has a volume of the scene. Beam-tracing is more complex than ray-tracing: in particular because of the beam-object intersection computations. So beam-tracers are usually limited to polygonal objects. The method presented here is a beam-tracer with no explicit beam-object intersection computations; so it can be used for rendering CSG scenes with antialiasing.
Assessment of psycho-social factors predicting recidivistic violent offenses within a sample of male prisoners

The aim of current research was to investigate the role of prisonization, personality traits, and criminal social identity in predicting violent offending within a sample of recidivistic inmates from high security prison. Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that a higher frequency of imprisonments, higher levels of extraversion, higher levels of cognitive centrality and lower levels of in-group affect all predict a greater probability of committing a violent criminal act. These results provide a substantial contribution to the criminal psychology literature by further elucidating the intricate role of extraversion in the understanding of criminal behaviour, empirically demonstrating the importance of criminal social identity in the prediction of violent criminal behaviour, and providing additional support for the possible role of prisonization effects in the emergence of violent criminal behaviour.
Are White Lies as Innocuous as We Think

This research examines the implications of telling an “innocent” white lie after a negative interpersonal encounter. We propose that if a white lie falls outside an acceptable range of dishonesty, cognitive dissonance will arise and produce negative affect. Deceivers will then be motivated to reduce the dissonance and will do so by engaging in behaviors that favor the wrongdoer with potentially negative consequences for the self. We test our conceptualization across three studies. In study 1, we explore the impact of one factor that determines whether a white lie falls outside the acceptable range of dishonesty—the salience of the norm of honesty. In studies 2 and 3, we examine the role of two factors, affect certainty and source certainty, that are predicted to moderate the impact of the negative affect on deceiver’s downstream judgments and behaviors toward the target of the white lie.
The Identity of the Cells that Positively Select Thymocytes

Thymocyte development moulds the T-cell repertoire in two ways. First, thymocytes are 'educated' to preferentially see antigen in the context of self MHC (positive selection), and second, autoreactive, potentially pathogenic, cells are eliminated (negative selection). It is generally believed tbat these effects are preferentially mediated by the epithelialand bone marrow (BM)-derived (dendritic cells/macrophages) cells of the thymus, respectively, though recent data shows that the distinction is not absolute (Bix & Raulet 1992). I would like to suggest that the view that thymic epithelium (TE)and BM-derived cells have even preferential roles in positive and negative selection is not supported by published data. Instead, I propose that thymic education reflects first deletion by TEand BM-derived cells and second the antagonism of deletion (positive selection) by antigens common to both. Neither tissue would therefore have a specialized role in MHC/peptide-specific selection. Such a hypothesis is in accordance with much previously published work demonstrating that the generation of an efficient T-cell repertoire requires that botb TE and BM share MHC molecules.
The association between six genetic variants and blood lipid levels of m in pregnant Chinese Han women Short title : SNPs and plasma lipid levels in Han pregnancy

Background: Hyperlipidemia has unique adverse effects on pregna nt women and their offspring. The underlying genetic factors related to lipid levels in pregnant populations needs more studies. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the relationship b etween six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and plasma lipid levels during pregnancy. Methods: A total of 2,060 pregnant women were recruited. Fas ting plasma lipids were measured in the third trimester of pregnancy. Six SNPs (rs12603 in GCKR, rs1800775 in CETP, rs515135 in APOB, rs1800588 in LIPC, rs964184 in ZNF259, and rs4420638 in APOE-C1-C4) of each participant were genotyped using TaqMan allelic discrimination assays. The relationships between the six loci and plasma lipids were analyzed using a multiple li n ar regression method. Results: Two variants, rs1260326 (ß=0.220, 95% confidence in terval [CI]=0.148, 0.291; p=2.048×10) and rs964184 (ß=0.172, 95% CI=0.085, 0.258; p=1.0 83×10) were significantly associated with triglyceride levels. Another two va riants, rs1800775 (ß=-0.033, 95% CI=-0.065, -0.002; p=0.040) and rs1800588 (ß=0.079, 95% CI=0.0 46, .112; p=3.137×10 ), were associated with high-density lipoprotein cholesterol. Additionally, rs1800775 (ß=-0.086, 95% CI=-0.156, -0.012; p=0.024) was associated with total cholesterol. No selected SNPs were assoc iated with plasma low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in this study. Conclusions: Loci found by genome-wide association studies (GWAS ) to be associated with plasma lipid levels in the general population were also re lated to lipid levels in the third trimester of pregnancy. This finding implies that changes to lip id rofiles during gestation may be associated with SNPs of lipid-related genes. Variants of lipid-rela t d genes are important predictors for estimating lipid concentrations during the pregnancy. M AN US CR IP T AC CE PT ED ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 3
Is There a Link between Engineering and Autism?

Autism is a severe childhood neuropsychiatric condition with a substantial genetic component. At the cognitive level children with autism are impaired in the development of their folk psychology, seict while they are normal or even superior in the development of their folk physics. We predicted that if their parent shared this cognitive phenotype, then they should be over-represented in engineering as an occupation. This prediction was confirmed. Both fathers and grand-fathers of children with autism were found more than twice as often in the field of engineering, compared with fathers and grandfathers of other children. This link between autism and engineering may throw light not only on autism itself, but ultimately on the genetic basis of two essential human abilities: folk psychology and folk physics.
Coupling an ensemble of electrons on superfluid helium to a superconducting circuit

The quantized lateral motional states and the spin states of electrons trapped on the surface of superfluid helium have been proposed as basic building blocks of a scalable quantum computer. Circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) allows strong dipole coupling between electrons and a high-Q superconducting microwave resonator, enabling such sensitive detection and manipulation of electron degrees of freedom. Here we present the first realization of a hybrid circuit in which a large number of electrons are trapped on the surface of superfluid helium inside a coplanar waveguide resonator. The high finesse of the resonator allows us to observe large dispersive shifts that are many times the linewidth and make fast and sensitive measurements on the collective vibrational modes of the electron ensemble, as well as the superfluid helium film underneath. Furthermore, a large ensemble coupling is observed in the dispersive regime during experiment, and it shows excellent agreement with our numeric model. The coupling strength of the ensemble to the cavity is found to be >1 MHz per electron, indicating the feasibility of achieving single electron strong coupling.
Special Topic: NF-κB, Immunity and Cancer Targeting NF-κB: A Promising Molecular Therapy in Inflammatory Arthritis

The nuclear factor-κB family of transcription factors is intimately involved in the regulation of the inflammatory responses that play a fundamental role in the damage of articular tissues. Thus, many studies have examined the important contributions of components of the NF-κB signaling pathways to the pathogenesis of various rheumatic diseases and their pharmacologic modulation. Currently available therapeutic agents including nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, corticosteroids, nutraceuticals, and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, as well as novel specific small-molecule inhibitors have been employed. In addition, promising nucleic acid–based strategies have shown encouraging results. However, further research will be needed before NF-κB–aimed strategies become an effective therapy for inflammatory arthritis.
(Dis)Counting on Democracy to Work: Perceptions of Electoral Fairness in the 2008 Presidential Election

Allegations of voting irregularities in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections seemingly compromised the integrity of the electoral outcomes. Because elections inform voters and provide them with information to be used in future elections, one can speculate that voters also can learn to fear electoral unfairness in future elections. This article examines how Blacks, Whites, and Latinos assessed prospects for voting irregularities in the 2008 presidential election. Using public opinion data from the National Politics and Socialization Survey, the analysis discerns whether there are racial differences in perceptions of voting irregularities. It tests the influence of trust in national government, ethics about the importance of the vote, and group consciousness (for Black respondents, specifically) in determining fear of voting irregularities. Results indicate generalized fear of voting irregularities, without racial differences. Political distrust enhances fear of voting irregularities. Blacks’ racial consciousness enhances fear of voting irregularities in the 2008 presidential election.
Musculoskeletal Pain in the Workforce: The Effects of Back, Arthritis, and Fibromyalgia Pain on Quality of Life and Work Productivity

Objective: To investigate the impact of musculoskeletal pain on health-related quality of life and work productivity losses among US workers. Methods: Data from the 2008 US National Health and Wellness Survey were used. Among those currently employed aged 20 to 64 years (N = 30,868), workers with arthritis (n = 2,670), back (n = 4,920), and fibromyalgia (n = 439) pain were compared with workers without those respective musculoskeletal pain conditions. Results: Arthritis, back, and fibromyalgia pain were all associated with significantly lower levels of health-related quality of life, often at clinically meaningful levels. All pain conditions were associated with higher levels of work productivity loss, even after adjusting for demographic and health characteristics. Conclusions: Musculoskeletal pain conditions were highly prevalent and associated with a significant burden. Improved management of these conditions may lead to improved productivity, benefiting both employers and workers alike.