Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
JORDANIAN COUNSELOR TRAINEE'S SELF-EFFICACY AND PERFORMANCE: THE IMPACTS OF SUPERVISION

his study aims to investigate both counselor self-efficacy (CSE), and how it impacts counselor's ability to perform effectively counseling tasks among a sample of Jordanian counseling students in training. It also aims to examine conditions in supervision that best lead to having more of this counselor characteristic. In addition, as the world grows smaller and cultures begin to merge, it is imperative to validate the usefulness of Western counseling theories and approaches to cultures that are very different from the West. Ninety-seven supervisor-supervisee dyads participated in this study. Supervisees completed the following measures of supervision's elements and CSE: the Supervisory Working Alliance-Trainee Inventory (SWAI-T; Efstation, Patton, & Kardash, 1990); The Evaluation Process within Supervision Inventory (EPSI; Lehrman-Waterman & Ladany, 2001); The Supervision Satisfaction Questionnaire (SSQ; Ladany, Hill, Corbett, & Nutt, 1996); and The Counseling Self-Estimate Inventory (COSE) (Larson et al., 1992). Counselor performance was measured by supervisors' ratings their supervisees on the Counselor Evaluation Rating Scales (CERS; Myrick & Kelly, 1971). Scales were translated to Arabic, validity and reliability studies were conducted. Results showed that supervision components were predictive of CSE, with evaluation process within supervision proved to be the most important predictor and explained a unique (32%) of the variance in the CSE, followed by supervision satisfaction (8%). In contrast to the hypothesized strong relationship between supervisory working alliance and counselor selfefficacy, SWAI-T did not predict COSE above and beyond the effects of other supervision elements. CSE was positively related to counselor performance (CERS) from the supervisor’s perspective, and there was partial support for the hypothesized mediation by CSE of the relationships between components of supervision (except the supervisory working alliance) and counselor performance, specifically, COSE mediated the significant relationship between EPSI, SSQ and counselor performance. Also, study identified trainees' characteristics as significant predictors of counseling self-efficacy. The results suggest that counseling self-efficacy may be an important variable in the development of key counselor training outcomes. The results have implications for counselor education, and supervision practice. Further research using different research methodology is needed to provide more empirical support for these findings.
MARVELD2 (DFNB49) Mutations in the Hearing Impaired Central European Roma Population - Prevalence, Clinical Impact and the Common Origin

Background In the present study we aimed: 1) To establish the prevalence and clinical impact of DFNB49 mutations in deaf Roma from 2 Central European countries (Slovakia and Hungary), and 2) to analyze a possible common origin of the c.1331+2T>C mutation among Roma and Pakistani mutation carriers identified in the present and previous studies. Methods We sequenced 6 exons of the MARVELD2 gene in a group of 143 unrelated hearing impaired Slovak Roma patients. Simultaneously, we used RFLP to detect the c.1331+2T>C mutation in 85 Hungarian deaf Roma patients, control groups of 702 normal hearing Romanies from both countries and 375 hearing impaired Slovak Caucasians. We analyzed the haplotype using 21 SNPs spanning a 5.34Mb around the mutation c.1331+2T>C. Results One pathogenic mutation (c.1331+2T>C) was identified in 12 homozygous hearing impaired Roma patients. Allele frequency of this mutation was higher in Hungarian (10%) than in Slovak (3.85%) Roma patients. The identified common haplotype in Roma patients was defined by 18 SNP markers (3.89 Mb). Fourteen common SNPs were also shared among Pakistani and Roma homozygotes. Biallelic mutation carriers suffered from prelingual bilateral moderate to profound sensorineural hearing loss. Conclusions We demonstrate different frequencies of the c.1331+2T>C mutation in hearing impaired Romanies from 3 Central European countries. In addition, our results provide support for the hypothesis of a possible common ancestor of the Slovak, Hungarian and Czech Roma as well as Pakistani deaf patients. Testing for the c.1331+2T>C mutation may be recommended in GJB2 negative Roma cases with early-onset sensorineural hearing loss.
Energy-efficient design for non-regenerative MIMO relay networks

We consider the global energy efficiency (GEE) maximization problem for the general non-regenerative MIMO relay network, under the maximum power constraints for each user and each relay. The problem is reformulated through the fractional optimization technique, and the mean square error receiver filter is considered. By applying the alternating minimization method, we simplify the problem into several convex quadratic constrained quadratic programming subproblems, and solve the subproblems by the feasible shrinkage method combined with the sequential quadratic programming method. Because the result highly depends on the initialization, we design a deterministic initialization by introducing an auxiliary power minimization problem. Simulation results show that our proposed algorithm can achieve more than 10 times higher GEE than the previous works which are not tailored for GEE maximization.
Medical students of today, practitionars of tomorro w; are they listening?

Aims: To know listening style of under graduate medical students. Settings and Design: questionnaire based cross sectional study. Methods and Material: A printed listening style inventory consisting ten questions was distributed in second mbbs students of our institute. They were asked to answer each question in a five point like rt scale (never to almost always). Completely answered questionnaires were collected and analysed. Statistical analysis used: Mann-Whitney U test and unpaired t test using SPSS version 16. Results: Out of 150 questionnaires were distributed, 121 students returned the completed qu estionnaire. 62% students of our study were passive listeners and only 3% were active listeners. There was no signifi cant difference in the listening style of males and females of our study. ( p- value 0.693). Conclusion: majority of the future practitioners are passive l isteners. There is an acute need to evaluate and improve listening of medical studen ts by significant changes in teaching-learning envi ronment.
Evaluation of waste aluminum filing in removal of fluoride from aqueous solution

In the present study, the use of waste aluminum filing as an adsorbent for removal of fluoride (F) from aqueous solutions has been studied. Series of batch experiments were carried out to assess parameters that influence the F adsorption process. The parameters investigated include adsorbent dose, pH, contact time, interfering anions, adsorbent activation temperature and initial F concentration. The removal percentage increased with increase in contact time, adsorbent dose, adsorbent activation temperature, pH, adsorption temperature and decreasing initial F concentration. The removal of F with interfering anions was reduced in the following order PO4 > HCO3 > CO3 but Cl, SO4 and NO3 had no significant effect on F adsorption by adsorbent. The adsorption was found to be endothermic and better fitted to the Freundlich model which was indicative of multilayer adsorption.
Asian Americans: Factors influencing the decision to study abroad

As our global society becomes increasingly interconnected, people from all cultures, races and ethnicities have more contact with other parts of the world. To be an informed citizen in this society requires an understanding of other cultures and societies. International educational exchange is one avenue that allows students from all over the world to develop an international understanding by experiencing life in a new culture or country. Participants in study abroad programs, however, do not come from all spheres of U.S. society. To increase the number of students who opt to study abroad as part of their higher education career, academic institutions must begin to identify ways to increase the participation of under-represented and minority groups in international education exchange. Once thought of as a privilege for only the predominately white upper class, students of all ethnic backgrounds and socio-economic classes are increasingly choosing to study abroad. However, research into the study abroad options for these new groups of students has not kept pace with the emphasis on multiculturalism and diversity in higher education institutions today. In the past 15 years, what little scholarly research we have has focused attention on the topic of under-representation in study abroad. This interest evolved on the heels of discussions of diversity and multiculturalism in the late 1980s. In most cases the term “under-represented,” instead of the word “minority,” is used to describe groups of students who have lower levels of participation (for the purposes of this study, in study abroad) than their levels of enrollment in higher education.
The Ant System Applied to the Quadratic Assignment Problem

In recent years, there has been growing interest in algorithms inspired by the observation of natural phenomena to define computational procedures that can solve complex problems. We describe a distributed heuristic algorithm that was inspired by the observation of the behavior of ant colonies, and we propose its use for the quadratic assignment problem. The results obtained in solving several classical instances of the problem are compared with those obtained from other evolutionary heuristics to evaluate the quality of the proposed system.
Opinions about Teaching Modalities: A Comparison between Faculty and Students

Little is known about the acceptance of different teaching/learning modalities by students and faculty in the preclinical semesters of medical school. We report the results of an anonymous survey at Ross University School of Medicine, where most of the currently popular instructional methods are used. Study subjects included 327 students and 30 faculty members. 5 questions each were asked about lectures, handouts, textbooks, mediasite (video-recorded lectures), simulation, PBL (problem based learning), TBL (team-based learning), and ICM (introduction to clinical medicine, physical examination) practicals, scored on a 5-step Likert scale. Response rates were approximately 80% for students and more than 50% for faculty. Students gave the highest scores to mediasite followed by simulation, handouts, and ICM practicals. Lowest student scores were for PBL followed by TBL and textbooks. Faculty gave highest scores for lectures, followed by ICM practicals and textbooks. They gave the lowest scores for TBL followed by mediasite and PBL. Differences between students and faculty were statistically significant for lectures (), mediasite (), textbooks (), and PBL ().
Measuring and predicting mental health literacy for depression

This study investigated if mental health literacy for depression is a multidimensional construct, and sought to identify its components and to construct empirically derived questionnaire subscales. Following a literature review, items were generated to produce five conceptual subscales. These were administered to 228 respondents (136 females, 92 males), along with others measuring psychological constructs of theoretical relevance, specifically assessing: emotional intelligence, mindfulness, interdependence and independence, rebelliousness, and depressive symptomatology. Principal components analysis of the 38-item pool confirmed a 3-factor solution: (1) Knowledge and belief in psychological strategies for reducing depression, (2) Ability to recognise depression, and (3) Knowledge and beliefs in positive self-care habits for reducing depression. These components comprise the Public Understanding of Depression Questionnaire (PUDQ). Interdependence, emotional intelligence, sex of respondent and previous history of medication for mental health difficulties were found to be independently predictive of scores on the PUDQ subscales, supporting their construct validity, with Cronbach’s Alpha coefficients indicating their internal reliability. The PUDQ is a novel multidimensional tool which can be used in the delivery and assessment of strategies for promoting the understanding of depression amongst at-risk groups.
Myosin regulatory light chain E22K mutation results in decreased cardiac intracellular calcium and force transients

The glutamic acid to lysine mutation at the 22nd amino acid residue (E22K) in the human cardiac myosin regulatory light chain (RLC) gene causes familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (FHC) with a phenotype of midventricular obstruction and septal hypertrophy. Our recent histopathology results have shown that the hearts of transgenic E22K mice (Tg‐E22K) resemble those of human patients, demonstrating enlarged interventricular septa and papillary muscles. In this study, we show no effect of the E22K mutation on the kinetics of mutated myosin in its ATP‐powered interaction with fluorescently labeled single actin filaments compared to nontransgenic or trans‐genic wild‐type (Tg‐WT) control mice. Likewise, no change in cross‐bridge dissociation rates (gapp) was observed in freshly skinned papillary muscle fibers. In contrast, maximal force and ATPase were decreased ~20% in Tg‐E22K skinned papillary muscle fibers and intracellular [Ca2+] and force transients were significantly decreased in intact papillary muscle fibers from Tg‐E22K compared to Tg‐WT mice. Moreover, energy metabolism measured in isolated working Tg‐E22K mouse hearts perfused under conditions of physiologically relevant levels of metabolic demand was similar in Tg‐E22K and control hearts before and after 20 min of no‐flow ischemia. Our results suggest that the patho‐logical response observed in the E22K myocardium might be triggered by mutation induced changes in the properties of the RLC Ca2+‐Mg2+ site, the state of the Ca2+/Mg2+ occupancy and consequently the Ca2+ buffering ability of the RLC. By decreasing the affinity of the RLC for Ca2+, the E22K mutation most likely promotes a Mg2+‐saturated RLC producing less force and ATPase than the Ca2+‐saturated RLC of WT fibers. Decreased Ca2+ binding may also lead to faster Ca2+ dissociation kinetics in Tg‐E22K intact fibers resulting in decreased duration and amplitude of [Ca2+] and force transients. These changes when placed in vivo would result in higher workloads and consequently cardiac hypertrophy. — Szczesna‐Cordary, D. , Jones, M. , Moore, J. R. , Watt, J., Kerrick, W. G. L. , Xu, Y. , Wang, Y. , Wagg, C. , Lopaschuk, G. D. Myosin regulatory light chain E22K mutation results in decreased cardiac intra‐cellular calcium and force transients. FASEB J. 21, 3974–3985 (2007)
Hierarchical association and fusion for multi-target tracking with biased sensors

A two tier track association and fusion system is considered for the case of multiple sensors with unknown biases. In the first tier, tracks from a subset of the sensors are correlated and fused with joint bias estimation. In the second tier, fused tracks from the first tier are correlated and fused with the tracks from an additional sensor. Due to the joint fusion and bias estimation in the first tier, the multi-sensor tracks will be cross-correlated and this cross-correlation may hinder their association with the tracks held by the sensor at the second tier. The track association and fusion at the second tier will be studied and characterized for the case of unknown sensor biases at both tiers. A new definition of track density, a quantity that characterizes the difficulty of an association scene, is introduced. Since probability of detection is modeled in this analysis, each sensor may see a subset of the total number of objects in the scene. The algorithms used for track association and fusion are presented. Probability of correct association, mean squared error, and covariance consistency of the resulting tracks at the second tier are used as performance metrics.
CAN THE MEDIA BE SO LIBERAL ?T HE ECONOMICS OF MEDIA BIAS

The Challenge to the Presumption of Bias Many conservatives charge that the national news media exhibit a liberal bias, despite surface appearances of impartiality. Charges of a liberal bias essentially require the existence of a news cartel. Is the structure of the news industry capable of sustaining a cartel? A liberal news cartel requires collusion among news organizations and constraint of maverick outlets. Cartels are always vulnerable to defection. Indeed, many critics who accuse the media of a liberal bias are likely skeptical of the ability of businesses to maintain stable cartels without government assistance. Competition usually forces firms to cater to their customer’s preferences. Yet critics allege that all major national news organizations present the same biased coverage, which is more liberal than the median voter. A liberal media represents a failure in the news market. The documentation of media bias has become something of a cottage industry since Edith Efron’s (1971) pioneering study. Critics accusing the media of either a liberal or conservative bias make use of surveys of working journalists, content analysis of stories covered, and anecdotes about stories killed or not pursued to make their case. But a conclusive measure of political bias in the news has been elusive. That the Media Research Center and Fairness and Accuracy in Re-
The albedo of Earth

The fraction of the incoming solar energy scattered by Earth back to space is referred to as the planetary albedo. This reflected energy is a fundamental component of the Earth's energy balance, and the processes that govern its magnitude, distribution, and variability shape Earth's climate and climate change. We review our understanding of Earth's albedo as it has progressed to the current time and provide a global perspective of our understanding of the processes that define it. Joint analyses of surface solar flux data that are a complicated mix of measurements and model calculations with top‐of‐atmosphere (TOA) flux measurements from current orbiting satellites yield a number of surprising results including (i) the Northern and Southern Hemispheres (NH, SH) reflect the same amount of sunlight within ~ 0.2 W m−2. This symmetry is achieved by increased reflection from SH clouds offsetting precisely the greater reflection from the NH land masses. (ii) The albedo of Earth appears to be highly buffered on hemispheric and global scales as highlighted by both the hemispheric symmetry and a remarkably small interannual variability of reflected solar flux (~0.2% of the annual mean flux). We show how clouds provide the necessary degrees of freedom to modulate the Earth's albedo setting the hemispheric symmetry. We also show that current climate models lack this same degree of hemispheric symmetry and regulation by clouds. The relevance of this hemispheric symmetry to the heat transport across the equator is discussed.
Transmission capacity scaling of SDMA in wireless ad hoc networks

We consider an uncoordinated ad hoc network in which each multi-antenna transmitter sends multiple independent streams to different receivers in a Poisson field of interferers. We provide exact and approximate outage probability expressions and transmission capacity scaling laws, aiming at investigating the fundamental limits of Space Division Multiple Access (SDMA). We first show that superlinear capacity scaling with the number of receive/transmit antennas can be achieved using dirty paper precoding. Nevertheless, the potential benefits of multi-stream and multi-antenna communications fall off quickly if linear precoding is employed, leading even to sublinear capacity growth for single-antenna receivers. Our results indicate that receive antenna array processing is of prime importance in SDMA ad hoc networks, as a means to cancel the increased residual interference and boost the signal power through diversity.
Model Selection for the Competing-Risks Model With and Without Masking

The competing-risks model is useful in settings in which individuals (or units) may die (or fail) because of various causes. It can also be the case that for some of the items, the cause of failure is known only up to a subgroup of all causes, in which case we say that the failure is group-masked. A widely used approach for competing-risks data with and without masking involves the specification of cause-specific hazard rates. Often, because of the availability of likelihood methods for estimation and testing, piecewise constant hazards are used. The piecewise constant rates also offer model flexibility and computational convenience. However, for such piecewise constant hazard models, the choice of the endpoints for each interval on which the hazards are constant is usually a subjective one. In this article we discuss and propose the use of model selection methods that are data-driven and automatic. We compare three model selection procedures based on the minimum description length principle, the Bayes information criterion, and the Akaike information criterion. A fast-splitting algorithm is the computational tool used to select among an enormous number of possible models. We test the effectiveness of the methods through numerical studies, including a real dataset with masked failure causes.
Cutting Edge: The Aging Immune System Reveals the Biological Impact of Direct Antigen Presentation on CD8 T Cell Responses

The vertebrate immune system uses multiple, sometimes redundant, mechanisms to contain pathogenic microorganisms that are always evolving to evade host defenses. Thus, the cowpox virus (CPXV) uses genes encoding CPXV12 and CPXV203 to prevent direct MHC class I presentation of viral peptides by infected cells. However, CD8 T cells are effectively primed against CPXV by cross-presentation of viral Ags in young mice. Old mice accumulate defects in both CD8 T cell activation and cross-presentation. Using a double-deletion mutant (∆12∆203) of CPXV, we show that direct priming of CD8 T cells in old mice yields superior recall responses, establishing a key contribution of this mechanism to host antipoxvirus responses and enhancing our fundamental understanding of how viral manipulation of direct presentation impacts pathogenesis. This also provides a proof of principle that suboptimal CD8 T cell in old organisms can be optimized by manipulating Ag presentation, with implications for vaccine design.