Thai conceptualizations of forgiveness within a work context : comparison with Western models

Forgiveness research has focused almost exclusively on individualistic Western culture despite acknowledgement of the importance of cultural factors. Conflict at work is common yet studies of forgiveness in work contexts are rare, as are qualitative studies. Addressing these short-comings, this study examines the forgiveness process as experienced by Thai nurses in a hospital within a collectivist culture heavily influenced by Buddhism. Thirty nurses were interviewed about a situation at work where the need for forgiveness arose. Qualitative methods were used to identify participants' cognitions, emotions, and behaviors in relation to the offensive event. Definitions of forgiveness were also elicited. Four continuous stages of the forgiveness process emerged: an experiencing stage, re-attribution stage, forgiveness stage, and behavioral stage. There were similarities with Western individualistic models but also some important differences related to Buddhism and Thai culture. Five dimensions of forgiveness emerged from the Thai definitions: overcoming negative approaches towards the offender, abandonment of negative judgment, fostering of positive approaches and loving-kindness towards the offender, awareness of the benefits of forgiveness, and forgiveness as incorporated within Buddhist beliefs. The results highlight the need to consider cultural influences when examining concepts like forgiveness

Hall of Mirrors Scattering from an Impurity in a Quantum Wire

This paper develops a scattering theory to examine how point impurities affect transport through quantum wires. While some of our new results apply specifically to hard-walled wires, others--for example, an effective optical theorem for two-dimensional waveguides--are more general. We apply the method of images to the hard-walled guide, explicitly showing how scattering from an impurity affects the wire's conductance. We express the effective cross section of a confined scatterer entirely in terms of the empty waveguide's Green's function, suggesting a way in which to use semiclassical methods to understand transport properties of smooth wires. In addition to predicting some new phenomena, our approach provides a simple physical picture for previously observed effects such as conductance dips and confinement-induced resonances.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review B. Minor additions to text, added reference

Evaluating the consistency of automated CEFR analyzers: a study of English language text classification

With the increasing use of web-based tools for text analysis, there is a growing reliance on automated systems to assess text difficulty and classify texts to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). However, inconsistencies in these tools’ outputs could undermine their effectiveness for language learners and researchers. This study investigates the consistency of five widely used automated CEFR analyzer tools, including ChatGPT, by analyzing 20 English descriptive texts at CEFR levels B1 and B2. A quantitative approach was employed to compare the CEFR classifications generated by these tools. The results reveal significant inconsistencies across the tools, raising concerns about the reliability of automated CEFR alignment. Additionally, the content and genre of texts appeared to influence the CEFR classification, suggesting that certain factors beyond the tools’ algorithms may affect their accuracy. These findings have important implications for language educators, curriculum designers, and researchers who rely on automated CEFR tools for text selection, grading, and analysis. The study highlights the limitations of automated CEFR classification systems and calls for a more qualitative approach to text difficulty alignment analysis. Future research recommendation is discussed and call for more focus on refining these tools and exploring additional factors that may impact their effectiveness in text difficulty measurement and CEFR alignment

The effect of prolonged starvation on blood chemistry of horseshoe crab, Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda (Chelicerata: Xiphosura)

This study investigated the effects of prolonged starvation on oxygen consumption, ammonia-N excretion, and blood chemistry of the horseshoe crab, Carcinoscorpius rotundicauda. Starvation over a period of 7 weeks showed no significant difference of body weight between the starved and fed groups. The oxygen consumption rate decreased during weeks 1-4 and then significantly increased after week 6 of starvation. Starvation also resulted in a significant increase in ammonia-N rate from week 3 to 7. The O:N ratios were significantly reduced in the starved group from week 3 to 7. Starving induced the reduction of hemolymph osmolality from week 5. Hemolymph Na+ and Cl‾ of the starved group decreased from week 4 for Na+ and from week 3 to 7 for Cl‾, while hemolymph K+ increased from week 4 to 7. Hemolymph K+ of both groups was hyperionic during the experiment. Thus, horseshoe crab can survive starvation for more than 7 weeks

Fitness Consequences of Advanced Ancestral Age over Three Generations in Humans

A rapid rise in age at parenthood in contemporary societies has increased interest in reports of higher prevalence of de novo mutations and health problems in individuals with older fathers, but the fitness consequences of such age effects over several generations remain untested. Here, we use extensive pedigree data on seven pre-industrial Finnish populations to show how the ages of ancestors for up to three generations are associated with fitness traits. Individuals whose fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers fathered their lineage on average under age 30 were ~13% more likely to survive to adulthood than those whose ancestors fathered their lineage at over 40 years. In addition, females had a lower probability of marriage if their male ancestors were older. These findings are consistent with an increase of the number of accumulated de novo mutations with male age, suggesting that deleterious mutations acquired from recent ancestors may be a substantial burden to fitness in humans. However, possible non-mutational explanations for the observed associations are also discussed

Recurrent deletions and duplications of chromosome 2q11.2 and 2q13 are associated with variable outcomes

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/115980/1/ajmga37269_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/115980/2/ajmga37269.pd

The Development of Whole Sporozoite Vaccines for Plasmodium falciparum Malaria

Each year malaria kills hundreds of thousands of people and infects hundreds of millions of people despite current control measures. An effective malaria vaccine will likely be necessary to aid in malaria eradication. Vaccination using whole sporozoites provides an increased repertoire of immunogens compared to subunit vaccines across at least two life cycle stages of the parasite, the extracellular sporozoite, and intracellular liver stage. Three potential whole sporozoite vaccine approaches are under development and include genetically attenuated parasites, radiation attenuated sporozoites, and wild-type sporozoites administered in combination with chemoprophylaxis. Pre-clinical and clinical studies have demonstrated whole sporozoite vaccine immunogenicity, including humoral and cellular immunity and a range of vaccine efficacy that depends on the pre-exposure of vaccinated individuals. While whole sporozoite vaccines can provide protection against malaria in some cases, more recent studies in malaria-endemic regions demonstrate the need for improvements. Moreover, challenges remain in manufacturing large quantities of sporozoites for vaccine commercialization. A promising solution to the whole sporozoite manufacturing challenge is in vitro culturing methodology, which has been described for several Plasmodium species, including the major disease-causing human malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. Here, we review whole sporozoite vaccine immunogenicity and in vitro culturing platforms for sporozoite production

Optimizing copy number variation analysis using genome-wide short sequence oligonucleotide arrays

The detection of copy number variants (CNV) by array-based platforms provides valuable insight into understanding human diversity. However, suboptimal study design and data processing negatively affect CNV assessment. We quantitatively evaluate their impact when short-sequence oligonucleotide arrays are applied (Affymetrix Genome-Wide Human SNP Array 6.0) by evaluating 42 HapMap samples for CNV detection. Several processing and segmentation strategies are implemented, and results are compared to CNV assessment obtained using an oligonucleotide array CGH platform designed to query CNVs at high resolution (Agilent). We quantitatively demonstrate that different reference models (e.g. single versus pooled sample reference) used to detect CNVs are a major source of inter-platform discrepancy (up to 30%) and that CNVs residing within segmental duplication regions (higher reference copy number) are significantly harder to detect (P < 0.0001). After adjusting Affymetrix data to mimic the Agilent experimental design (reference sample effect), we applied several common segmentation approaches and evaluated differential sensitivity and specificity for CNV detection, ranging 39–77% and 86–100% for non-segmental duplication regions, respectively, and 18–55% and 39–77% for segmental duplications. Our results are relevant to any array-based CNV study and provide guidelines to optimize performance based on study-specific objectives