Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Are Kids Getting Smarter? Perceptions of Abilities in Lagos State

Individual abilities continue to be highly debated and researched issues in the fields of social and behavioral sciences. Findings from the Flynn Effect studies (Flynn, 1984, 1987) and Cocodia et al. (2003) suggest that average general intelligence is rising rapidly mainly due to environmental changes particularly in the Asian Tiger countries, while teachers in Australia reported that they did not believe intelligence had increased or decreased significantly in the last three decades. Thus the study theorized that rising intelligence is evident only where environmental changes have occurred more rapidly and recently. As such, Cocodia et al. proposed that rising intelligence may have finished in developed countries such as Australia. The present paper sought to explore further drawing from teacher responses in a developing country. Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria was selected as environmental changes have not occurred as rapidly as the Asian Tiger nations, nor is it a highly developed nation like Australia. Findings from the survey showed that more Nigerian teachers (58%) perceived that student abilities had increased in the last three decades. The perception that students are more knowledgeable due to more access to new technology was also reported. Thus rising intelligence may also be evident in developing countries where environmental changes have not occurred as rapidly as reported elsewhere.
Extending Students’ Practice of Metacognitive Regulation Skills with the Science Writing Heuristic

Metacognition can be described as an internal conversation that seeks to answer the questions, ‘how much do I really know about what I am learning’ and, ‘how am I monitoring what I am learning? ’ Metacognitive regulation skills are critical to meaningful learning because they facilitate the abilities to recognize the times when one's current level of understanding is insufficient and to identify the needs for closing the gap in understanding. This research explored how using the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) as an instructional approach in a laboratory classroom affected students’ practice of metacognitive skills while solving open-ended laboratory problems. Within our qualitative research design, results demonstrate that students in the SWH environment, compared to non-SWH students, used metacognitive strategies to a different degree and to a different depth when solving open-ended laboratory problems. As students engaged in higher levels of metacognitive regulation, peer collaboration became a prominent path for supporting the use of metacognitive strategies. Students claimed that the structure of the SWH weekly laboratory experiments improved their ability to solve open-ended lab problems. Results from this study suggest that using instruction that encourages practice of metacognitive strategies can improve students’ use of these strategies.
The effects of body weight on airway calibre

Increased wheeze and asthma diagnosis in obesity may be due to reduced lung volume with subsequent airway narrowing. Asthma (wheeze and airway hyperresponsiveness), functional residual capacity (FRC) and airway conductance (Gaw) were measured in 276 randomly selected subjects aged 28–30 yrs. Data were initially adjusted for smoking and asthma before examining relationships between weight and FRC (after adjustment for height), and between body mass index (BMI = weight·height−2) and Gaw (after adjustment for FRC) by multiple linear regression, separately for females and males. For males and females, BMI (±95% confidence interval) was 27.0±4.6 kg·m−2 and 25.6±6.0 kg·m−2 respectively, Gaw was 0.64±0.04 L·s−1·cmH2O−1 and 0.57±0.03 L·s−1·cmH2O−1, and FRC was 85.3±3.4 and 84.0±2.9% of predicted. Weight correlated independently with FRC in males and females. BMI correlated independently and inversely with Gaw in males, but only weakly in females. In conclusion, obesity is associated with reduced lung volume, which is linked with airway narrowing. However, in males, airway narrowing is greater than that due to reduced lung volume alone. The mechanisms causing airway narrowing and sex differences in obesity are unknown.
Towards Radicalized Communicative Rationality: Resident Involvement and Urban Democracy in Rotterdam and Antwerp

What are the theoretical tools at our disposal for helping explain local participatory processes in the context of the governance of social and ethnic diversity in cities? Conventional wisdom within urban scholarship often has it that new modes of governance are, by definition, more conducive to participatory practice in cities. In this article we take issue with this assumption with reference to political process derived from Habermas and Mouffe as well as detailed case material on participation in the Delfshaven district of Rotterdam (the Netherlands) and in the Antwerp-North district (Belgium). While we are sympathetic with the ideals of Habermas given the highly fragmented, individualized and conflictive politics observed in Antwerp, we equally do not see the alternative in the bureaucratic form of rationality we see in Rotterdam. We therefore argue for a radicalized communicative rationality, combining a Habermas-inspired ideal speech situation with more organic, grassroots and bottom-up processes in line with Mouffe. Our 'hybridized' conception of participation transcends the pervasive tendency to treat Habermas and Mouffe, among others, as epistemologically distinct and concerned with incommensurable conceptions of social power. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of our argument for theorizing governance and participation in cities. Copyright (c) 2008 The Authors.
Shoestring Budgets, Band-Aids, and Team Work: Challenges and Motivators in the Development of a Web-Based Resource for Undergraduate Clinical Skills Teaching

Background Learning how to conduct a medical interview and perform a physical examination is fundamental to the practice of medicine; however, when this project began, the methods used to teach these skills to medical students at the University of Toronto (U of T) had not changed significantly since the early 1990s despite increasing outpatient care, shorter hospital stays, and heavy preceptor workloads. In response, a Web-based clinical skills resource was developed for the first-year undergraduate medical course—The Art and Science of Clinical Medicine I (ASCM I). Objectives This paper examines our experiences with the development of the ASCM I website and details the challenges and motivators inherent in the production of a Web-based, multimedia medical education tool at a large Canadian medical school. Methods Interviews and a focus group were conducted with the development team to discover the factors that positively and negatively affected the development process. Results Motivating factors included team attributes such as strong leadership and judicious use of medical students and faculty volunteers as developers. Other motivators included a growing lack of instructional equivalency across diverse clinical teaching sites and financial and resource support by the Faculty of Medicine. Barriers to development included an administrative environment that did not yet fully incorporate information technology into its teaching vision and framework, a lack of academic incentive for faculty participation, and inadequate technical support, space, and equipment. Conclusions The success of electronic educational resources such as the ASCM I website has caused a significant cultural shift within the Faculty of Medicine, resulting in the provision of more space, resources, and support for IT endeavours in the undergraduate medical curriculum.
HLA‐DRB1*16‐restricted recognition of myeloid cells, including CD34+ CML progenitor cells

Summary. The therapeutic effect of a human leucocyte antigen (HLA)‐identical allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo‐SCT) for the treatment of haematological malignancies is mediated partly by the allogeneic T cells that are administered together with the stem cell graft. Chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) is particularly sensitive to this graft‐versus‐leukaemia (GVL) effect. Several studies have shown that in allogeneic responses both CD4 and CD8 cells are capable of strong antigen‐specific growth inhibition of leukaemic progenitor cells, but that CD4 cells mainly exert the GVL effect against CML. Efficient activation of allogeneic CD4 cells, as well as CD8 cells, may explain the sensitivity of CML cells to elimination by allogeneic T cells. Identification of the antigens recognized by CD4 cells is crucial in understanding the mechanism through which CML cells are so successful in activating allogeneic T cells. In the present report, we describe the characterization of an allogeneic CD4 T‐cell clone, DDII.4. 4. This clone was found to react against an antigen that is specifically expressed in myeloid cells, including CD34+ CML cells. The antigen recognition is restricted by HLA‐DRB1*16. To our knowledge, this is only the second report on an allogeneic CD4 T‐cell clone that reacts with early CD34+ myeloid progenitor cells.
Direct Determination of Local Lattice Polarity in Crystals

With current advances in sub-angstrom resolution scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), it is now possible to image directly local crystal structures of materials where dramatically different atoms are separated from each other at distances about or less than 1 angstrom. We achieved direct imaging of atomic columns of nitrogen in close proximity to columns of aluminum in wurtzite aluminum nitride by using annular dark field imaging in an aberration-corrected STEM. This ability allows direct determination of the local polarity in nanoscale crystals and crystal defects.
Why More 'Quality Time' Is Not on the Top of Children's Lists: The 'Qualities of Time' for Children.

For many years the everyday reality of working parents and their children has been captured in notions of ‘quality time’ versus ‘quantity time’. On the one hand it is suggested that what families need is ‘more time’ for parents to spend together with their children and less time working. On the other hand this has been countered with arguments saying that attention has to be paid to how parents spend their time together with their children. As a result quality time is often presented through idealised images of ‘happy families’. Quality time is seen as parents engaging with their children in particular activities or outdoor excursions that create and maintain family enjoyment, care and togetherness. However, such debates are based on assumptions of what would be ‘good’ for today’s children and neglect the perspective of children themselves. This paper draws on field research carried out with 10–11-year-old children on their understandings and use of time in an urban and a rural setting in the north of England. The paper points to five ‘qualities of time’ identified by children. These qualities suggest that children’s views of time spent with their families cannot be seen as separate from the time they spend with friends, at school and on their own. The paper argues that the quality/quantity time conundrum needs replacing by fuller and more representative accounts of the varied aspects of time that matter for children. These need to be situated in the processes through which family, school and work life take place on a daily basis and in relation to children’s life course. Copyright # 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Capital Requirements, Risk Choice, and Liquidity Provision in a Business Cycle Model

This paper develops a quantitative dynamic general equilibrium model in which households' preferences for safe and liquid assets constitute a violation of Modigliani and Miller. I show that the scarcity of these coveted assets created by increased bank capital requirements can reduce overall bank funding costs and increase bank lending. I quantify this mechanism in a two-sector business cycle model featuring a banking sector that provides liquidity and has excessive risk-taking incentives. Under reasonable parametrizations, the marginal benefit of higher capital requirements related to this channel significantly exceeds the marginal cost, indicating that US capital requirements have been sub-optimally low.
Result-Based Management in the Public Sector: A Decade of Experience for the Tanzanian Executive Agencies

One element of the NPM-inspired reforms is the adoption of result-based management in the Tanzanian public sector. This paper examines the implementation of this type of reform by focusing on executive agencies. Executive agencies were especially created to be result-oriented public organizations. Our empirical question is whether or not and to what extent the management of executive agencies has shifted to result-based approach as promised by NPM-reform doctrine. Our findings indicate that result-based approach has only been partially implemented in the Tanzanian public sector. There is less emphasis on managing for results and management processes have continued to be predominantly based on inputs and processes.
Internal Consistency of the Kuwait University Anxiety Scale in Ten Arab Countries

The Kuwait University Anxiety Scale (KUAS) was administered to a select sample of undergraduate students from ten Arab countries, namely, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Syria, UAE, Lebanon, Oman, Palestine, Jordan, and Iraq ( n = 296, 340, 300, 203, 280, 290, 303, 285, 253 and 254 respectively). The coefficient alpha was computed for male and female respondents from the participating countries, and the combined values for males and females determined. The study showed that the scale, by and large, was viable in the Arabic context, and its use in cross-cultural research, though feasible, merits further exploration.
Thyroid follicle development requires Smad1/5- and endothelial cell-dependent basement membrane assembly

Thyroid follicles, the functional units of the thyroid gland, are delineated by a monolayer of thyrocytes resting on a continuous basement membrane. The developmental mechanisms of folliculogenesis, whereby follicles are formed by the reorganization of a non-structured mass of non-polarized epithelial cells, are largely unknown. Here we show that assembly of the epithelial basement membrane is crucial for folliculogenesis and is controlled by endothelial cell invasion and by BMP-Smad signaling in thyrocytes. Thyroid-specific Smad1 and Smad5 double-knockout (Smad1/5dKO) mice displayed growth retardation, hypothyroidism and defective follicular architecture. In Smad1/5dKO embryonic thyroids, epithelial cells remained associated in large clusters and formed small follicles. Although similar follicular defects are found in Vegfa knockout (VegfaKO) thyroids, Smad1/5dKO thyroids had normal endothelial cell density yet impaired endothelial differentiation. Interestingly, both VegfaKO and Smad1/5dKO thyroids displayed impaired basement membrane assembly. Furthermore, conditioned medium (CM) from embryonic endothelial progenitor cells (eEPCs) rescued the folliculogenesis defects of both Smad1/5dKO and VegfaKO thyroids. Laminin α1, β1 and γ1, abundantly released by eEPCs into CM, were crucial for folliculogenesis. Thus, epithelial Smad signaling and endothelial cell invasion promote folliculogenesis via assembly of the basement membrane. Summary: Epithelial BMP-Smad1/5 signaling and associated endothelial cells are required for reorganization of the thyroid progenitor cell mass into mature follicles via the assembly of a basement membrane.
Performing Baadinyaa : Music, Emotion, and Health in The Gambia

この医療民族音楽学的研究は、ガンビアの、健康とウェルビーングを促す社会面・感情面への介入である音楽パフォーマンスについて検証する。 この研究は、17ヶ月に及ぶ民族学的研究で行われたインタビューと観察を基盤とし（2009; 2012-2013）、また、私自身のガンビアのHIV/AIDSサポートグループへの長期の参加(2006〜)からの情報が用いられている。 音楽パフォーマンス、感情、健康のつながりについて問うにあたり、ガンビアの演奏家や健康関連職が口にするこの地方の概念baadinyaa（マンディンカ語で「前向きな関係」）を用いる。 Baadinyaaの概念は、「基本となる柔軟性〔flexibility primer〕」（Hinton 2008）として音楽パフォーマンスへの直観をもたらすものであり、感情的変容と癒しを促す。 音楽への感情的反応は、社会的区分にかかわらず一様な形態ではなく、社会的アイデンティティや力関係、また個人的経験や嗜好によって形作られる。 この研究は、葛藤やスティグマに直面したとき、ガンビアの芸術家が音楽的パフォーマンスとbaadinyaaへの関連づけをリソースとして怒りや不安などの否定的感情に対処し、それによって健康と癒しを促進することを、見いだした。
Beliefs and knowledge about Parkinson’s Disease

A survey of public attitudes showed that there is significant stigma perceived to be associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD), as well as significant misconceptions about the course and outcomes of the disease. Negative attitudes to PD were associated with perceived stigma, (younger) age, knowledge of a sufferer and knowledge of the disease. Perceived stigma, negative attitudes and incorrect beliefs are likely to impinge on the psychosocial well-being of those living with the disease, particularly those with early onset. The data from this study was collected from 200 householders and suggest that more public information about positive lifestyle possibilities for those living with Parkinson’s would be of value to disease sufferers and their carers.
Physical, verbal, and relational forms of bullying among German students: Age trends, gender differences, and correlates

A revised version of the Bully/Victim Questionnaire [Olweus, 1991] was given to 2,086 fifth-tenth grader students from schools in two German federal states. The results were analysed in terms of frequencies of self-reports of different forms of bullying (physical, verbal, relational/indirect; for bullies and for victims), gender and grade differences. Overall, 12.1% of the students reported bullying others and 11.1% reported being bullied (victimisation). We classified 2.3% of the students as bully/victims due to their self-report. Significantly more boys reported bullying others, regardless of bullying form, and significantly more boys than girls were classified as bully/victims. Although there was no gender difference for victimisation at all, boys reported significantly more often than girls being bullied physically. Besides, self-reports of pure and overlapping forms of bullying behaviour (relational, verbal, physical) were analysed. With regard to age trends, students from middle grades reported the highest rates of bullying. Self-reported rates of victimisation were higher for younger students, regardless of form of victimisation. Furthermore, class size was not linked to reports of bullying and victimisation. Results from logistic regression analyses emphasised that the variables "gender" and "grade" add significantly to the prediction of self-reported bullying; "grade" and variables measuring impaired psychosocial "well-being" of students at school (e.g., feeling of not being popular, negative attitude towards breaks) add significantly to the prediction of self-reported victimisation. The results are discussed against the background of other study findings, accentuating the significance of gender- and age-specific forms of bullying/victimisation. Language: en
Dynamics of mitochondrial inheritance in the evolution of binary mating types and two sexes

The uniparental inheritance (UPI) of mitochondria is thought to explain the evolution of two mating types or even true sexes with anisogametes. However, the exact role of UPI is not clearly understood. Here, we develop a new model, which considers the spread of UPI mutants within a biparental inheritance (BPI) population. Our model explicitly considers mitochondrial mutation and selection in parallel with the spread of UPI mutants and self-incompatible mating types. In line with earlier work, we find that UPI improves fitness under mitochondrial mutation accumulation, selfish conflict and mitonuclear coadaptation. However, we find that as UPI increases in the population its relative fitness advantage diminishes in a frequency-dependent manner. The fitness benefits of UPI ‘leak’ into the biparentally reproducing part of the population through successive matings, limiting the spread of UPI. Critically, while this process favours some degree of UPI, it neither leads to the establishment of linked mating types nor the collapse of multiple mating types to two. Only when two mating types exist beforehand can associated UPI mutants spread to fixation under the pressure of high mitochondrial mutation rate, large mitochondrial population size and selfish mutants. Variation in these parameters could account for the range of UPI actually observed in nature, from strict UPI in some Chlamydomonas species to BPI in yeast. We conclude that UPI of mitochondria alone is unlikely to have driven the evolution of two mating types in unicellular eukaryotes.
With(out) pleasure: Desexualization, gender and sexuality at work

This article explores desexualization in massage therapy as a complex interaction between therapists and clients wherein sexual subjectivities are co-constructed, reified and in one case revised to highlight how workers can create a professional sexual identity in the spaces between desexualization and re-eroticization. Findings suggest that organizational mandates for desexualization as well as therapists’ own framing maintains gendered subjectivities that paint men as aggressors and women as victims. It also offers, through the philosophy of one female therapist, an alternative to desexualization that seeks to encourage sexuality based on professionalism, respect and choice. A key implication of this study is that a more holistic and context-dependent view of work and workers is necessary for scholars and practitioners to understand the promise and perils of organizational desexualization.
The transsituational influence of social norms.

Three studies examined the behavioral implications of a conceptual distinction between 2 types of social norms: descriptive norms, which specify what is typically done in a given setting, and injunctive norms, which specify what is typically approved in society. Using the social norm against littering, injunctive norm salience procedures were more robust in their behavioral impact across situations than were descriptive norm salience procedures. Focusing Ss on the injunctive norm suppressed littering regardless of whether the environment was clean or littered (Study 1) and regardless of whether the environment in which Ss could litter was the same as or different from that in which the norm was evoked (Studied 2 and 3)
Japanese Children's Understanding of the Distinction Between Real and Apparent Emotion

Japanese children's understanding of the difference between real and apparent emotion was investigated in a replication of Harris, Donnelly, Guz and Pitt-Watson (1986). Children aged 4 and 6 years listened to stories featuring a protagonist in a situation where it would be appropriate to really feel a positive or negative emotion and to mask that emotion. Subjects were then asked about the real emotion felt and the apparent emotion shown by the protagonist. The results demonstrated that 6-year-olds understand the distinction between real and apparent emotion more systematically than 4-year-olds. A comparison with the performance of English children supports the conclusion that insight into the distinction between real and apparent emotion is dependent upon an underlying cognitive competency and relatively unaffected by socialisation differences.