Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Measuring the Ways Significant Persons Influence Attitudes Towards Science and Mathematics

Young people's attitudes towards science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) are subject to interpersonal influence of significant persons—defined as those who influence a person's attitudes. This article presents the development of an instrument designed to measure different modes of significant persons’ influence on attitudes towards STEM. The questionnaire used in the pilot study was compiled based on Woelfel and Haller's theoretical perspectives on interpersonal influence, Nauta and Kokaly's instrument Influence of Others on Academic and Career Decisions Scale, and focus group interviews with Norwegian adolescents in an STEM mentoring programme. Drawing on Rasch analyses of data material from the 114 participants in the pilot study, the final instrument—Significant Person Influence on Attitudes towards STEM (SPIAS)—is presented. Based on results from the piloting and development of SPIAS, a conceptual discussion of significant persons and the ways they influence attitudes towards STEM is given, and it is suggested that SPIAS may be used in the process of evaluating and improving interventions aimed at changing adolescents’ attitudes towards STEM.
Algorithms for association rule mining — a general survey and comparison

ABSTRACT Today there are several eAE ient algorithms that ope with the popular and omputationally expensive task of asso iation rule mining. A tually, these algorithms are more or less des ribed on their own. In this paper we explain the fundamentals of asso iation rule mining and moreover derive a general framework. Based on this we des ribe today's approa hes in ontext by pointing out ommon aspe ts and di eren es. After that we thoroughly investigate their strengths and weaknesses and arry out several runtime experiments. It turns out that the runtime behavior of the algorithms is mu h more similar as to be expe ted.
Understanding Materialism Among Youth

As an emerging value, materialism helps explain the consumer behavior of youth. Using a national sample of 9- to 14-year-olds, in this study we developed a Youth Materialism Scale. The findings suggest that more materialistic youth tend to shop more and save less. They are most interested in new products and most responsive to advertising and promotional efforts. Their parents view them as more expert with regard to products and they wield more purchase influence on their parents. Parents who are more materialistic tend to have children who are more materialistic. This study also reveals a modest negative relation between materialism and liking for school and school performance.
Ethical Issues of Placebo-Controlled Studies in Depression and a Randomized Withdrawal Trial in Japan: Case Study in the Ethics of Mental Health Research

Abstract The use of placebo controls in psychiatric research is controversial. In this article, we focus on a troubling Japanese case of a randomized withdrawal trial of the antidepressant sertraline and analyze the ethical issues underlying it. First, we consider whether a placebo-controlled withdrawal trial should, in general, be considered more ethical than a standard placebo-controlled trial. We argue that the use of a placebo arm in this trial is ethically permissible but that there is no good reason to use a withdrawal trial design. Second, we discuss whether our moral evaluation of the use of placebo in this case should change when the special Japanese regulatory environment is taken into account. We argue that it should not and conclude that the use of withdrawal design in this case is ethically unacceptable.
Are Working Women Really More Satisfied? Evidence From Several National Surveys.

Recent articles by Ferree (1976, 1976b) and earlier studies by other authors have argued that women with jobs outside the home are generally happier and more satisfied with their lives than are fulltime housewives. Evidence from six large national surveys conducted by the University ofMichigan and the National Opinion Research Center between 1971 and 1976 consistently fails to support this hypothesis. We conclude that both work outside the home and fulltime housewifery have benefits and costs attached to them; the net result is that there is no consistent or significant differences in patterns of life satisfaction between the two groups.
Theoretical and Experimental Broadband Characterisation of Multiturn Square Spiral Inductors in Sandwich Type GaAs MMICs

Multiturn rectangular spiral inductors in GaAs MMICs have been characterised theoretically and experimentally. The theoretical description developed is suited for layout-oriented CAD. It uses a rigorous multi strip analysis for the spiral substructures combined with a network approach and corrections for three-dimensional effects. Good agreement is obtained with corresponding broadband S-parameter measurements. A detailed consideration indicates that the modelling accuracy achieved is in the order of magnitude of manufacturing reproducibility.
On embedded FIR filter models for identifying continuous-time and discrete-time transfer functions: the RPM approach

For identifying a continuous-time (CT) transfer function model, data filtering is a solution which provides the necessary unmeasurable input--output derivative approximations. In discrete-time (DT) system identification, the well-known ARX model can be used successfully if the estimate is performed with suitable prefiltered data. This article describes the reinitialised partial moment (RPM) model which embeds implicitly a finite impulse response filter in both CT and DT domains. With knowledge of the important role of data prefiltering in standard methods, this RPM model embedded filter gives particular properties to this original tool. Although both the CT RPM model and the DT RPM model present an embedded filter, the formulation and the implementation in the CT and the DT domains are different. Therefore, the aim of this article is to present a tutorial on the RPM models and to give an overview of all the applications.
Factors Influencing People’s Acceptance of Gene Technology: The Role of Knowledge, Health Expectations, Naturalness, and Social Trust

This article aims to examine which factors influence people’s perception of gene technology. Data come from a mail survey in the German speaking part of Switzerland (N = 830). Principal component analyses for acceptance, risks, and benefits of 12 gene technology applications resulted in two factors: one related to medical applications and the other to nonmedical applications. Results showed that three different types of knowledge did not substantially influence perceived risks or perceived benefits of gene technology. Overall results suggest that the experiential system and not the analytical system determines lay people’s perception of gene technology.
Relationship between the use of intuition in clinical practice and the clinical competence of critical care nurses

Introduction: Clinical competency has been the main focus of nurse educational systems. To further it, the concept of intuition was introduced into nursing in the 1970s. Benner's theory proposed that greater use of intuition was linked to higher clinical competence; however, there is still a paucity of data to verify this theory. Therefore, the current study was conducted to assess the relationship between the use of intuition in clinical practice and the clinical competence of critical care nurses. Methods: In this correlational study, 88 critical care nurses were recruited as convenience. The tools included a ‘use of intuition in clinical practice’ scale devised by the researcher, and a ‘clinical competence’ instrument. The gathered data were analyzed by SPSS version 20.0 software, using descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: Of the 88 participants, 73.9% were women and 93.2% were at undergraduate level. The mean and standard deviation of participants’ age and work experience was 32.29 ± 6.75 and 7.40 ± 5.68 years, respectively. The Pearson correlation test revealed no significant connection between the use of intuition in clinical practice and the clinical competence of critical care nurses (r = 0.091, P = 0.398), and produced similar results from the various demographic groups (P > 0.05). Conclusion: In this study, no significant correlation between the use of intuition and clinical competence in critical care nurses was found. This could be attributed to intuition as a nursing skill being almost excluded from the educational curriculum of nursing schools, and some background factors.
The positive side of community interpreting: An Australian case study

Highlighting the negative aspects of a professional activity can be beneficial in identifying matters that need improvement. However, concentrating on the negative side only may lead to a lopsided view of reality. Much of what has been written regarding community interpreting in recent years seems to portray a less than favourable picture of this professional practice in different parts of the world. This paper will present the results of a survey of Australian practising community interpreters who were asked to share positive aspects of their work. The survey concentrated on five main issues which have been debated in recent studies: the interpreters’ satisfaction with their prescribed role, their perceptions of the usefulness of the code of ethics, their evaluations of the training they had received, their impressions of how they were treated by their clients and their reasons for choosing to work as community interpreters. While the findings cannot be regarded as representative, they provide an encouraging picture of the experiences of formally trained Australian community interpreters, who find their work valuable and rewarding and feel they are duly respected as professionals by service providers and service recipients alike.
The accuracy of reported sensitive sexual behaviour in Britain: exploring the extent of change 1990–2000

Objectives: The 1990–1 British national probability sample survey of sexual attitudes and lifestyles (Natsal 1990) was repeated in 1999–2001 (Natsal 2000) to update population estimates of risk behaviours, and assess change over time. We examine whether changes in prevalence estimates may partly result from changes in measurement accuracy. Methods: Taking Natsal 2000 (11 161 respondents) and Natsal 1990 (13 765 respondents aged 16–44) we compared the response rate, sample representativeness, reporting of abortion last year (relative to official statistics), and selected attitudes. Among the common birth cohort eligible for both surveys (aged 16–34 Natsal 1990, 26–44 Natsal 2000), we compared reporting of experiences before 1990. Results: The response rate (66.8% Natsal 1990, 65.4% Natsal 2000) and completeness of reporting abortion were unchanged (84% Natsal 1990, 86% Natsal 2000). Attitudes were significantly changed in Natsal 2000 relative to Natsal 1990—for example, increased tolerance of male homosexual sex, OR (95% CI) 2.10 (1.93–2.29) men and 2.95 (2.74 to 3.18) women. In the common birth cohort reporting of heterosexual intercourse before 16 (OR 1.15 (1.02 to 1.29) men, 1.49 (1.31 to 1.69) women), and homosexual experience (OR 1.80 (1.46 to 2.21) men, 2.00 (1.61 to 2.48) women) were significantly increased. Conclusions: The results are consistent with improved reporting accuracy for some sensitive behaviours in Natsal 2000, in line with greater social tolerance and improved survey methodology. However, the evidence is not conclusive, and may not be generalisable to all such behaviours. The increase found in the reported prevalence of STI risk behaviours between Natsal 1990 and Natsal 2000 is likely to be somewhat overstated.
The Association of Hypovitaminosis D with the Metabolic Syndrome Is Independent of the Degree of Obesity

Background. It remains uncertain whether the metabolic syndrome (MS) or insulin resistance contribute to the association between vitamin D deficiency and obesity. Methods. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 343 subjects who were overweight or obese. We analyzed anthropometric data and the presence or absence of MS. Additionally, we determined 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) and insulin concentrations, and the HOMA index was calculated. Chi-square test,Mann-Whitney U test, Student's t-tests,and logistic regression analysis were used. Results. The mean age of the patients was 42 ± 11 years, and 65.9% were women. The mean BMI was 34.7 ± 8.3 kg/m2 and 25(OH)D levels were 53.7 ± 29.8 nmol/L. Forty-six patients (13.4%) had MS. Vitamin D status was associated with the degree of obesity, especially with a BMI > 40 kg/m2. Patients with MS had lower levels of 25(OH)D than patients without (43.3 ± 29.0 versus 55.3 ± 29.6 mmol/L, resp.), and the odds ratio for hypovitaminosis D was 2.7 (confidence interval (CI), 1.14–6.4) (P = .023) for patients with MS versus patients without MS, irrespective of the degree of obesity. Conclusions. Our data confirm the association between vitamin D and MS and suggest that this association is independent of the degree of obesity.
Evaluating Psychological Preparedness For The Threat And Impacts Of Climate Change Disasters And Its Change After Intervention: An Integrated Modelling Approach

The aims of the present study are 1) to collect data on psychological preparedness and its psychological predictors in the sample in Novorossiysk, a city located on the Black Sea shore in Southern Russia where climate change disasters such as storm wind, flooding and earthquake now occur very often; 2) to use collected data for identification of parameters of nonlinear model of psychological preparedness (PREP model) and its validation; 3) to propose psychological rhythmic movement therapy (RMT) intervention for increasing psychological preparedness; 4) to apply PREP model as an effective assessment tool for evaluating pre-post intervention levels of psychological preparedness. A total of 52 subjects were selected at random and assessed with the appropriate questionnaires. The collected data were used for PREP model’s parameters identification and its validation. After that two groups were formed: 1 (with low and medium, N=12) and 2 (with high, N=40) levels of psychological preparedness. Subjects of group 1 were proposed to participate in rhythmic movement therapy intervention. PREP model was used as the assessment tool of the RMT effectiveness. The results demonstrated significant improvement in psychological preparedness and several other personal variables in subjects of the RMT group.
Case Vignettes of School Psychologists’ Consultations Involving Hispanic Youth

Despite the recognized importance of multicultural issues in school consultation, there has been a paucity of research in the area, especially regarding Hispanic issues. The purpose of this exploratory study was to investigate how school consultation was adapted in cases involving Hispanic youth. The anonymous case vignettes were provided by 49 members of the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP). The 4 thematic categories that resulted from the analyses were (a)Justification, including using cultural norms to justify/explain a behavior or design an intervention; (b) Education of parents and/or school staff regarding differences in cultures and expectations; (c) Language adaptations, such as consultants speaking Spanish, providing interpreters, or otherwise preventing a language barrier; and (d) Culture Recognized But Not Salient, in which the child's Hispanic ethnicity was mentioned, but no specific cultural adaptations were made. Implications of the study are discussed for practice and research. NOTE: Mary M. Clare of Lewis & Clark College is column editor for DIVERSITY IN CONSULTATION. Please submit manuscripts and address inquiries regarding the Diversity in Consultation column to Mary M. Clare, PhD; MSC 86, Counseling Psychology; Lewis & Clark College; Portland, OR 97219; 503–768-6069; henning@ lclark.edu; Fax: 503–768-6065.
Congestion Mitigation by Traffic Dispersion in Wireless Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are event-based systems that rely on the collective effort of several sensor nodes. When all nodes in an area sense an event and transmit that data, it causes sudden traffic bursts, which are spatially-correlated and lead to network congestion. Congestion can cause an increase in the amount of data loss, energy consumption, delay data transmission, and hinder network performance. To improve performance of event-driven applications, there arises a need for protocols that can reduce congestion and energy consumption. Existing protocols for sensing multiple events either handle congestion control or spatially-correlated contention, but not both, which can degrade network performance in terms of packet delivery ratio, latency, and energy consumption. Motivated primarily by the challenge to improve the performance of event-driven applications, we propose an energy efficient protocol to mitigate congestion that improves data delivery and reduces latency. This protocol mitigates congestion by dispersing network traffic using a forwarder selection mechanism that forces event reports from different nodes to disperse along different paths to the base station. Our protocol also reduces spatially-related contention by partitioning the sensors into different groups. All the sensors in a particular group cover the region of interest together, and these groups are scheduled in such that only one group is active to transmit the data at any given time. We implemented our protocol using the NS2 simulator for evaluating its performance. Results show that our protocol has significant improvement in the packet-delivery ratio, latency, and energy savings.
The Getting of the Nganabbarru: Observations and reflections on Aboriginal buffalo hunting in northern Australia

Nganabbarru , or water buffalo ( Bubalus bubalis ), is frequently hunted by Aboriginal men, and buffalo meat is an important food source for many Arnhem Land Aboriginal communities. The experience of buffalo hunting trips with Aboriginal men who reside at Korlohbidahdah outstation in central Arnhem Land is used as a point of departure to consider the relationships between Aboriginal people and megaherbivores in the past and the present, and to explore the complexity of feral animal management in cross-cultural settings. This enquiry raised the question of the cultural conception of feral animals and demonstrates that there is no simple answer to the question: what is a buffalo? Buffaloes have been the focus of a colonial economic industry and are iconic of the Territorian way of life. However, they spread economically significant livestock diseases and cause widespread environmental damage. In the 1980s feral buffalo populations were the target of the Brucellosis and Tuberculosis Eradication Campaign (BTEC) control program. The failure to continue control programs following the cessation of BTEC program and inadequate consultation with Aboriginal landowners has meant that today's land managers are once again faced with conflicting views about controlling feral buffalo populations on Aboriginal land and within National Parks like Kakadu. It is concluded that there are genuine, previously overlooked opportunities for cross-cultural collaboration in managing feral buffaloes. Cross-disciplinary research involving ecologists, anthropologists, linguists, economists and environmental historians is required to help develop sustainable and culturally appropriate feral animal control programs.
Broadband Internet and Political Participation: Evidence for Germany

Previous studies found the introduction of the today well established media radio and television to affect political participation. This paper evaluates the effect of the relatively recent introduction of a new medium, broadband internet. OLS results suggest a positive association between DSL availability and voter participation across German municipalities. However, the roll-out of DSL networks is not random. The paper exploits the fact that DSL availability depends on a unicipality’s distance to the nearest interconnection point to the existing voice-telephony network. Instrumental-variable results using this distance to predict DSL availability confirm the effect of DSL availability on voter participation.
Collaboration for School Improvement

Those with an interest in public sector institutions increasingly recognize the necessity for those institutions to work collaboratively with each other and with other organizations. In part, this trend is based on the acceptance that many public policy problems are interconnected and can only be meaningfully tackled interorganizationally. One such policy area is school improvement, which constitutes the central concern of the article and is currently a dominant feature of education policy in Britain. The article conceptualizes the notion of educational collaboration by developing a framework through a review of the relevant literature. The analytical framework makes a paradigmatic distinction between resource dependency and institutional perspectives on collaboration. It recognizes that, although the perspectives interrelate in practice, the interests they serve are distinct and different. The framework acknowledges that individual actors, such as teachers, those in leadership positions in schools, and managers in local authorities may have different purposes for collaboration and disaggregates the antecedents, the process and the successful and unsuccessful outcomes of collaboration.
The influence of extrafoveal emotional faces on prosaccade latencies

Across three experiments we sought to determine whether extrafoveally presented emotional faces are processed sufficiently rapidly to influence saccade programming. Two rectangular targets containing a neutral and an emotional face were presented either side of a central fixation cross. Participants made prosaccades towards an abrupt luminosity change to the border of one of the rectangles. The faces appeared 150 ms before or simultaneously with the cue. Saccades were faster towards cued rectangles containing emotional compared to neutral faces even when the rectangles were positioned 12 degrees from the fixation cross. When faces were inverted, the facilitative effect of emotion only emerged in the −150 ms SOA condition, possibly reflecting a shift from configural to featural face processing. Together the results suggest that the human brain is highly specialized for processing emotional information and responds very rapidly to the brief presentation of expressive faces, even when these are located outside foveal vision.
Education, professionalism and the quest for accountability: hitting the target but missing the point

Critics of the control of public services via performance targets and audits are not hard to find, both at the level of practice and scholarship. Experts in many different fields – medicine, education and social work – have attacked a succession of policy efforts to subject practice to ‘managerial’ forms of accountability – citing their unintended consequences and negative sideeffects on first order service delivery. Yet, sustained efforts to articulate alternatives are rare, and Jane Green’s Education, Professionalism and the Quest for Accountability is therefore greatly to be welcomed. Her ambition is to go beyond the doubts and frustration of professionals subjected to performance regimes, and to mount an immanent critique that shows their internal incoherence and self-defeating character. Green utilizes a Socratic device that recurs throughout the book; namely, dialogue between the critic of, and the apologist for, performance targets. Her co-travellers in this project are mainly philosophers, such as John Dewey, Gilbert Ryle and Bernard Williams, but above all it is Aristotle’s ethics that is the defining reference point and a basis for a view of practical rationality which is non-managerialist and anti-explicitist. This review deals with both these aspects of Green’s argument before offering some critical remarks of its own.