Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Konstruktion und Validierung eines multimethodalen berufsbezogenen Tests zur Messung interkultureller Kompetenz

Interkulturelle Kompetenz wird als globale Verhaltensorientierung mit mehrdimensionaler Struktur verstanden. Auf dieser Basis wurde der Test zur Messung Interkultureller Kompetenz (TMIK) entwickelt, der anhand von Selbsteinschatzungs- und Situationsbeurteilungsitems die differenzierte Messung interkultureller Kompetenz ermoglicht. An n1 = 641 Studierenden wurden die Messeigenschaften der Skala sowie die Auspragung interkultureller Kompetenz in Abhangigkeit von vier Ausenkriterien uberpruft. Eine Stichprobe von n2 = 313 Berufstatigen diente der Konstruktvalidierung und Generalisierbarkeit des Instruments. Mithilfe des ESEM-Verfahrens (Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling; Asparouhov & Muthen, 2009) konnte eine 17-faktorielle Struktur bestatigt und repliziert werden. Das Instrument besitzt gute psychometrische Eigenschaften. Der TMIK wies hypothesenkonforme Beziehungen mit den Ausenkriterien sowie mit drei vergleichbaren Konstrukten auf, was die Kriteriums- und Konstruktvaliditat zeigt. Fur 16 Faktoren .
Egocentrism as a Source of Unrealistic Optimism

People tend to expect misfortunes to happen to others, not to themselves. College students (n = 76) who compared their own chances of experiencing 6 negative events with the chances of their classmates were optimistically biased (p < .001). Treatments were designed to manipulate 2 cognitive. factors-lack of information about others' risk-reducing factors and failure to think carefully about others-that might cause these biases. The Information treatment. forced subjects to think about others by providing detailed information about 5 other students. The Perspective treatment used a role-playing procedure to, force subjects to think about another student, but did not provide actual information. When repeating their comparative risk judgments for the same events, both Information and Perspective groups were significantly less optimistic than a control condition, but they did not differ from one another. The results support the hypothesis that egocentrism contributes to unrealistic optimism. They, suggest that optimistic biases do not result so much from a lack of information about other people as from a failure to think carefully about others' circumstances.
Book Review: Policing Sexual Assault

The authors shy away from drawing any conclusions about whether one model is preferable to another and given the relatively small sample of cases studied and indeed the 'newness' of this work this is understandable. Responses from victims interviewed during the research reflected a considerable degree of consistency. It is worth noting that the clearest statement given to probation services within the Probation Circular initiating victim contact work (PC61/95) was in relation to purpose. Essentially this was defined in terms of information giving and receiving and did not embrace support or consultation. Experience has shown the task to be far more complex than this and the Northumbria model specifically addresses this in its design, providing a clarity of purpose and role demarcation which appears missing in West Yorkshire. Both Services, however, are acknowledged as having pioneered work with victims of crime and have provided a coherent and impressive service at a time when resources for this work had to be carved out of shrinking budgets. The research makes clear that there remains a considerable agenda that must be grasped by both the Home Office and service managers. The Victim's Charter has raised expectations of victims but these are not being fully realised and victims of crime remain relatively marginalised within the criminal justice system. Probation Services need to be properly resourced to undertake this work and the researchers provide a set of clear challenges for both service managers and the Home Office. It is to be hoped that the incoming Director of Probation will feel able to give this important work as much attention as undoubtedly will be devoted to issues of law enforcement. Roger Ford Chief Probation Officer, Shropshire Lead Officer: Work with Victims of Crime, Association of Chief Officers of Probation UK
On the contributions of different empirical data in usability testing

Many sources of empirical data can be used to evaluate an interface (e.g., time to learn, time to perform benchmark tasks, number of errors on benchmark tasks, answers on questionnaires, comments made in verbal protocols). This paper examines the relative contributions of both quantiðtaðtive and qualitative data gathered during a usability study. For each usability problem uncovered by this study, we trace each contributing piece of evidence back to its empirical source. For this usability study, the verbal protocol provided the sole source of evidence for more than one third of the most severe problems and more than two thirds of the less severe problems. Thus, although the verbal protocol provided the bulk of the evidence, other sources of data contributed disproportionately to the more critical problems. This work suggests that further research is required to determine the relative value of different forms of empirical evidence.
Improving Fluency in At-Risk Readers and Students with Learning Disabilities

This study investigated attempts to improve the performance and progress of students with learning disabilities and reading difficulties. It focused on oral reading instruction and contrasted the effects of specific reading strategies with generic encouragement to do well. Results indicated that all students improved on a standardized norm-referenced test of comprehension, but students who used a specific oral reading strategy made significantly greater progress in reading, as measured by curriculum-based measurement maze procedures.
Factors Affecting the Continuing Education of Hospital CEOs and Their Senior Managers

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This article examines the influences on executives' continuing education in hospitals. It uses data from a national survey on professional development conducted in 2009 by the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) to explore how organizational and individual characteristics are related to the amount of continuing education (CE) taken by chief executive officers (CEOs) and the commitment to CE by their senior managers. Our findings suggest that the organizational characteristics of ownership, size, and region and the individual characteristics of gender, professional affiliation, and the focus of CE may influence how much CE CEOs take. CEOs from for‐profit, larger hospitals and ACHE members tend to take less CE. Likewise, senior managers' commitment to CE is influenced by region, gender, the CEO's personal CE hours, and the focus of the CE. Surprisingly, ACHE membership is associated with lower amounts of personal CEO CE. Also, female CEOs appear to engender greater commitment to CE in their senior managers. Finally, CE focused on change increases the senior managers' commitment, while a focus on new technology lessens it. For those organizations seeking to meet current and future challenges by creating a learning organization, CE is essential. Understanding factors that influence the amount of and commitment to CE is important. We hope our research adds to this understanding and that leaders will seek to improve the dedication and value of CE in their organizations.
Rethinking the Role of Corrective Feedback in Communicative Language Teaching

The history of second language teaching has witnessed changing perceptions of corrective feedback. Under the extreme view of communicative language teaching, which appears to be prevailing in some communicatively-oriented classrooms, learning can only come about through learner-learner interactive output practice. Form- focused instruction is deemed detrimental. Corrective feedback is consequently accorded low status in classroom processes. In this paper, I examine the 'equation' drawn between communicative language teaching and the exclusion of form-focused instruction and error correction. By bringing in a cognitive-skill-acquisition perspective to bear on the role of corrective feedback in second language acquisition, I argue that in communicative language teaching, corrective feedback remains an important vehicle for facilitating L2 knowledge construction and enhancing knowledge use. Issues related to the actual provision of corrective feedback in the classroom are considered, which include matching teaching and learning, teacher adaptation, and output enhancement. Pedagogical insights are provided into two questions that are of major practical concern to L2 teachers: namely, how to increase the effectiveness of corrective feedback in the classroom and how to integrate corrective feedback into communicative language teaching to enhance learning.
Chronometric Evidence for two Types of Attention

Parallel processing in the human brain is subject to severe attentional limits, but it is unclear whether such limits arise from a single attentional process or multiple distinct attentional processes We provide new evidence that two candidates, input attention and central attention, operate at different temporal stages of processing This conclusion is supported by chronometric analyses showing that the same reference stage (letter identification) operates after the stage at which input attention operates, but prior to the stage at which central attention operates The finding that attention operates at different temporal loci provides new support for the existence of distinct attentional processes
Identification of a urate transporter, ABCG2, with a common functional polymorphism causing gout

Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have successfully identified common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with a wide variety of complex diseases, but do not address gene function or establish causality of disease-associated SNPs. We recently used GWAS to identify SNPs in a genomic region on chromosome 4 that associate with serum urate levels and gout, a consequence of elevated urate levels. Here we show using functional assays that human ATP-binding cassette, subfamily G, 2 (ABCG2), encoded by the ABCG2 gene contained in this region, is a hitherto unknown urate efflux transporter. We further show that native ABCG2 is located in the brush border membrane of kidney proximal tubule cells, where it mediates renal urate secretion. Introduction of the mutation Q141K encoded by the common SNP rs2231142 by site-directed mutagenesis resulted in 53% reduced urate transport rates compared to wild-type ABCG2 (P < 0.001). Data from a population-based study of 14,783 individuals support rs2231142 as the causal variant in the region and show highly significant associations with urate levels [whites: P = 10−30, minor allele frequency (MAF) 0.11; blacks P = 10−4, MAF 0.03] and gout (adjusted odds ratio 1.68 per risk allele, both races). Our data indicate that at least 10% of all gout cases in whites are attributable to this causal variant. With approximately 3 million US individuals suffering from often insufficiently treated gout, ABCG2 represents an attractive drug target. Our study completes the chain of evidence from association to causation and supports the common disease-common variant hypothesis in the etiology of gout.
In vitro development and nutrient uptake by embryos derived from oocytes of pre‐pubertal and adult cows

The present study compared the developmental potential and uptake of nutrients by embryos from pre‐pubertal and adult cows. Oocytes retrieved from ovaries of 5 to 7 month old calves and adult cows were matured and fertilized in vitro. Embryos were cultured in SOFaa to the blastocyst stage (7 days post‐insemination). At successive stages of development, rates of glucose and pyruvate uptake were measured non‐invasively by microfluorescence for individual embryos. Fertilization was equivalent in embryos from pre‐pubertal and adult cows (P > 0.05), however development to blastocyst was significantly lower in embryos from pre‐pubertal cows (9.8% versus 33.7%, respectively; P < 0.05). Total blastocyst cell number was not different between pre‐pubertal and adult material (P > 0.05). Glucose uptake was exponential (pre‐pubertal, r = 0.82; adult, r = 0.82; P < 0.05), with an increase in uptake beyond the 8‐ to 16‐cell stage. Glucose uptake was significantly lower in embryos from pre‐pubertal cows at the 2‐ to 4‐cell stages (1.5 versus 3.0 pmoles/embryo/hr; P < 0.05), but was equivalent to the adult cow at all other stages of development (P > 0.05). Pyruvate uptake was low until the blastocyst stage. Pyruvate uptake by embryos from pre‐pubertal cows was significantly different to adult cows at the 1‐cell stage (2.7 versus 4.6 pmoles/embryo/hr, respectively; P < 0.05) and 2‐ to 4‐cell stages (4.9 versus 3.6 pmoles/embryo/hr, respectively; P < 0.05). Pyruvate uptake was equivalent in the two groups in the later stages of development (P > 0.05). Perturbations in the uptake of nutrients by embryos from pre‐pubertal cows were most likely due to the presence of a high proportion of developmentally incompetent embryos. Further, embryos from pre‐pubertal cows that did develop to the blastocyst were as viable as blastocysts from adult cows with respect to nutrient uptakes and total cell number. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 54:49–56, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.
Conflict, Conflict Resolution and Peace-Building: The Role of Religion in Mozambique, Nigeria and Cambodia

Confounding the expectations of secularists, religion has a strong – perhaps growing – significance as a key source of identity for millions of people, especially in the developing world. In recent years, religion has made a muted but tangible impact in Western development circles, most commonly reflecting the view that religious hatreds and differences are central to many recent and current conflicts in the developing world. This paper argues that religion can both encourage conflict and build peace, reflecting growing evidence that religious forces can play a constructive role in helping to resolve conflicts. Religious individuals and faith-based organisations, as carriers of religious ideas, can play important roles, not only as a source of conflict but also as a tool for conflict resolution and peace-building, providing early warnings of conflict, good offices once conflict has erupted, and contributing to advocacy, mediation and reconciliation. Brief case studies of religious peacemakers – from Mozambique, Nigeria and Cambodia – demonstrate attempts, characteristically partially successful, to reconcile previously warring communities, thereby helping to achieve greater social cohesion, and providing a crucial foundation for progress in enhancing human development.
Clinical Epidemiology Dovepress Open Access to Scientific and Medical Research Open Access Full Text Article Childhood Obesity: a Comparison of Health Habits of Middle-school Students from Two Communities

Objective: To assess whether children's diet and physical activity patterns differ between neighboring communities with differing resources. Study design and setting: We compared the health behaviors of middle-school students in two Michigan communities; Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti; median household income of US$46,299 and 28,610, respectively. Self-reported diet and physical activity habits were collected. Participants: A total of 733 middle-school students from two neighboring communities (five Ann Arbor and two Ypsilanti middle schools) participated in the study. Measures: Data on age, gender, and racial/ethnic factors were collected as part of the baseline assessment. Students were also measured for height and weight. Body mass index was calculated. Information on diet and physical activity in addition to amounts and types of sedentary activities was assessed via questionnaires. Results: More Ypsilanti schoolchildren were obese compared to the Ann Arbor schoolchildren differed for Ypsilanti schoolchildren vs Ann Arbor children. Sedentary behaviors were higher in the Ypsilanti children. Conclusions: Differences in diet and physical activity habits among children from two neighboring communities with varying resources suggests a need for school-based interventions to promote healthy behaviors among middle-school students.
Workplace Sexual Harassment Perceptions in the Turkish Context and the Role of Individual Differences

The major purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of workplace sexual harassment in the Turkish context. In Study 1, 53 working women were interviewed to identify culture‐relevant behaviors that are considered to be sexual harassment. In Study 2, the factor structure of perceptions was explored. In addition, the way in which these perceptions are related to personal variables (i.e. gender role attitudes, self‐esteem, and negative affectivity) was investigated. Participants were 353 women currently employed at various organisations. Five factors were identified: sexist hostility, insinuation of interest, sexual hostility, physical sexual offense, and sexual bribery and coercion. Each factor was regressed on the personal variables. After controlling for relevant demographic and organisational variables, gender role attitudes, self‐esteem, and negative affectivity predicted sexual harassment perceptions. Specifically, negative affectivity predicted milder forms of harassment, attitudes predicted factors that are considered more severe, and self‐esteem predicted all factors but sexist hostility. The extent to which sexual harassment manifestations are universal and how certain manifestations that appeared in the Turkish context broaden the scope of sexual harassment are discussed by referring to the US literature. L’objectif central de cette recherche etait l’etude de la perception du harcelement sexuel au travail en Turquie. Dans une premiere phase, on a interviewe 53 salariees pour determiner les comportements relevant du harcelement sexuel dans ce contexte culturel. Dans une deuxieme phase, on a recherche la structure factorielle des perceptions. On a aussi etudie les liens de ces perceptions avec des variables personnelles (Attitudes en rapport avec le role decoulant du genre, estime de soi et affectivite negative). Les sujets etaient 353 femmes employees dans diverses organisations. Cinq facteurs sont apparus : hostilite sexiste, attirance sous‐entendue, hostilite sexuelle, agression sexuelle physique, coercition et corruption sexuelles. Chaque facteur a subi une analyse de regression sur les variables personnelles. En controlant de facon appropriee les variables demographiques et organisationnelles, les attitudes en rapport avec le role decoulant du genre, l’estime de soi et l’affectivite negative predisent la perception du harcelement sexuel. En particulier, l’affectivite negative predit les formes legeres de harcelement, les attitudes predisent les facteurs consideres comme plus graves et l’estime de soi predit tous les facteurs sauf l’hostilite sexiste. On discute a partir de la litterature americaine de l’universalite du harcelement sexuel et du fait que certaines manifestations propres a la Turquie elargissent le champ de ce harcelement.
The Impact of Group Size and Social Presence on Small-Group Communication

This study evaluates the impact of varying group size and social presence on small-group communication. It compares key communication factors—faceto-face (FtF) without computer-mediated communication (CMC) support, FtF with CMC support, and virtual with CMC support—on two different small group sizes (3 and 6). Results indicate that smaller groups establish and maintain higher levels of communication quality, and FtF with CMC support groups have higher levels of communication quality than virtual with CMC support groups; however, no significant difference between traditional FtF groups and virtual groups with CMC support was found. Also, CMC minimized the impact of increased group size. Process losses that a larger FtF group might ordinarily experience can be reduced through the use of CMC. These results should help project managers plan for and deal with the difficulty of communication between project group members in virtual environments.
Improved Chinese-Japanese phrase-based MT quality using an extended quasi-parallel corpus

State-of-the-art phrase-based machine translation (MT) systems usually demand large parallel corpora in the step of training. The quality and the quantity of the training data exert a direct influence on the performance of such translation systems. The lack of open-source bilingual corpora for a particular language pair results in lower translation scores reported for such a language pair. This is the case of Chinese-Japanese. In this paper, we propose to build an extension of an initial parallel corpus in the form of quasi-parallel sentences, instead of adding new parallel sentences. The extension of the initial corpus is obtained by using monolingual analogical associations. Our experiments show that the use of such quasi-parallel corpora improves the performance of Chinese-Japanese translation systems.
Police Work and Culture in a Nonurban Setting: An Ethnographic Analysis

This article represents the findings of an ethnographic analysis of police patrol activity in a nonurban setting. A growing body of research describes differences between urban and nonurban police work. However, the way officers think about their work in nonurban settings is relatively unstudied and is the purpose of this research. Data were collected through descriptions of the patrol setting and interviews of deputies. Findings showed support for themes of policing widely described in literature derived from urban-based research. However, the meanings associated with those themes sometimes differed from urban-associated research. At least in regard to the research setting considered here, generalizing from research conducted in urban settings would have resulted in the exclusion of meanings that capture important local dynamics.
Predictors of marital satisfaction in North Cyprus: exploring the gender effects

Using ecosystemic theory, we evaluated marital satisfaction among 501 married individuals living in Northern Cyprus by analyzing socio-economic, attitudinal, psychological, contextual, and relationship-specific factors. In addition, we tested whether the correlates of marital satisfaction vary between men and women. Using ordered logistic regression analysis, we found that relationship-specific indicators are the most important correlates of marital satisfaction. Specifically, higher levels of marital interaction and sexual satisfaction, no presence of physical and verbal aggression, higher satisfaction with the division of household labor, and better communication with one's spouse are significantly and positively correlated with higher marital satisfaction. In addition, respondents who were born in Northern Cyprus report higher marital satisfaction compared to immigrants, whereas those who have been married at least once before and those with poor mental health report significantly lower marital satisfaction. When we test differences in the correlates of marital satisfaction between males and females, the results suggest that among women only, native North Cypriots report higher marital satisfaction than immigrants do.