Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Comparative analysis of teacher trainee students e-learning technology (ELT) readiness towards promoting global curriculum best practice

This study compares teacher trainee students (TTSs), electronic learning technology (ELT) readiness, competence as well as their constraints to ELT readiness using 373 University education students’ from Botswana and Nigeria that are randomly selected. Data was descriptively analysed based on the research objectives and hypotheses using mean analysis, frequency counts, independent t-test and Pearson correlation analysis. Results indicate a significant difference between Botswana and Nigerian TTSs’ in ELT preparation t (371) = -6.26, p<0.05 and competency t (371) = -1.96, p<0.05. However, Nigeria seems better prepared and more competent than their counterpart. Results further indicate a significant relationship r (371) =0.274, p=0.05 between TTSs ELT preparedness and their competence irrespective of their location. This indicates that TTSs mode of preparation influenced their competency in ELT. Students are faced with many challenges ranging from lack of ELT knowledge, technical staff, computers, internet connectivity, power outage, interest among others. This has implications for teacher preparation and global practices. Key words: Botswana, competence, E-learning technology, Nigeria, readiness.
Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Impact of Perceived Self-efficacy in Coping with Stressors on Components of the Immune System

This experiment examined the impact of experimentally varied perceived self-efficacy in exercising control over stressors on components of the immunological system. Immunological changes while coping with phobic stressors were measured within an intrasubject control design that included a baseline phase, an efficacy-acquisition phase, and a maximal-efficacy phase. In each of these phases, perceived coping self-efficacy, level of autonomic and endocrine activation, and several components of the immunological system were measured. Development of strong perceived self-efficacy to control phobic stressors had an immunoenhancing effect. A slow growth of perceived self-efficacy, heart rate acceleration, and cortisol activation attenuated immunological system status during the efficacy-acquisition phase. Rapid growth of perceived self-efficacy also predicted maintenance of immunoenhancement during the maximal perceived self-efficacy phase. The recent years have witnessed a major shift in the perspective on health. The biopsychosocial perspective (Engle, 1977), which focuses on the interactive influence of psychosocial and biological factors on health and illness, is replacing the traditional biomedical model, which focuses on pathogens and so-matic dysfunctions. This broadened perspective has fostered diverse lines of research designed to clarify the role of personal-A major portion of the data of this multifaceted project was collected by Sue A. Wiedenfeld as the basis for her doctoral dissertation. We are deeply indebted to the many people who assisted us in this project: Mike McGratb for his valuable advice on immunological factors , Edgar Engelman and Dennis Sasaki for performing the T cell subset analyses, Helen Hu for performing the cortisol analysis, Betty Berdahl for processing the heart rate data, and for their valuable help with other aspects of the project. One can distinguish between two levels of research on the psy-chosocial determinants and mechanisms of health and illness (Bandura, in press). The more basic level aims to elucidate the mechanisms through which psychosocial factors affect biological systems that mediate health and illness. The second level of research concerns the exercise of behavioral control over modi-fiable aspects of health. Stress has been implicated as an important contributing factor to many physical dysfunctions (Goldberger & Breznitz, 1982; Krantz, Grunberg, & Baum, 1985). Recent investigations with animals identified controllability as a key organizing principle regarding the nature ofstress effects. Exposure to stressors with a concomitant ability to control them has no adverse effects. However, exposure to the same stressors without the ability to control them activates neuroendocrine and opioid systems and impairs various components of the immune system …
Monetary Policy Rules In Accession Countries to EU: Is the Taylor rule a pattern?

I contemplate the Taylor rule as a benchmark for setting monetary policy in some Accession Countries to the EU in the 1998-2003 period. I find that countries with a floating exchange rate regime (the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary) moved short-term interest rates as suggested by the Taylor rule and in a similar way the ECB is doing. On the other hand, the Taylor rule predicts worse interest rate behaviour in the Slovak Republic where inflation targeting is not adopted yet.
What's New in the New Economy?

The "new economy" has become a buzzword to characterize the American economy, with positive connotations but imprecise meaning. Sometimes it is used to refer only to selected high technology sectors, specifically computers, semiconductors, software, and telecommunications. But usually the term implies significant changes in the US economy as a whole. At its most dramatic, the term suggested that the traditional business cycle has been banished, inflation and unemployment have been brought forever under control, US long-term growth rates have increased significantly, and the high-value stock market was not over-valued and indeed would continue to rise. More modestly, it suggests that the structure of the US economy has changed fundamentally, with the implication, inter alia, that monetary and fiscal measures affect the economy differently from the way they did in the past. Finally, it suggests that US productivity growth has returned to, or at least toward, the high levels it enjoyed in earlier years, before the slowdown of the mid-1970s.
Is it time to act? The potential of acceptance and commitment therapy for psychological problems following acquired brain injury

Behaviour therapies have a well-established, useful tradition in psychological treatments and have undergone several major revisions. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and mindfulness-based approaches are considered a third wave of behavioural therapies. Emerging evidence for ACT has demonstrated that this paradigm has promising effectiveness in improving functionality and well-being in a variety of populations that have psychological disturbances and/or medical problems. In this review we first evaluate traditional cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) interventions used to manage psychological problems in distressed individuals who have sustained an acquired brain injury (ABI). We provide an overview of the ACT paradigm and the existent evidence base for this intervention. A rationale is outlined for why ACT-based interventions may have potential utility in assisting distressed individuals who have sustained a mild to moderate ABI to move forward with their lives. We also review emerging evidence that lends preliminary support to the implementation of acceptance and mindfulness-based interventions in the rehabilitation of ABI patient groups. On the basis of existent literature, we recommend that it is an opportune time for forthcoming research to rigorously test the efficacy of ACT-based interventions in facilitating ABI patient groups to re-engage in living a valued and meaningful life, in spite of their neurocognitive and physical limitations. The promising utility of testing the efficacy of the ACT paradigm in the context of multimodal rehabilitation programmes for ABI populations is also addressed.
Efficient algorithms for the data exchange problem under fairness constraints

In this paper we study the data exchange problem where a set of users is interested in gaining access to a common file, but where each has only partial knowledge about it as side-information. Given that the collective information of all the users is sufficient to allow recovery of the entire file, the goal is to minimize the sum of convex functions over the number of bits each user has to transmit in order to achieve the goal. A special case of this objective is the uniform cost, which essentially leads to a “fair” communication load distribution among the users. We consider the following side-information settings: (i) side-information in the form of uncoded packets of the file, where the users' side-information consists of subsets of the file packets; and (ii) side-information in the form of linearly correlated packets, where the users have access to linear combinations of the file packets. We provide a polynomial-time deterministic algorithm that finds an optimal communication scheme w.r. t. the transmission cost. To further lower the complexity, we also give a simple randomized algorithm inspired by our deterministic algorithm.
Product versus region of origin: which wins in consumer persuasion?

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effectiveness of highlighting the geographical area in question – through either pictorial or pictorial-textual formats – in print-advertising messages for European Union geographical indication (GI) quality-labelled products. Design/methodology/approach A 2×3 between subjects factorial design was used to manipulate the type of GI, namely, protected designation of origin vs protected geographical indication, and the region of origin presentation in the advertisement (absent vs pictorial vs pictorial-textual), while measuring participant brand attitude and intention to buy (dependent variables). Findings Results show a significant main effect of the region of origin presentation on brand attitude and purchase intention. Communicating the region of origin through pictorial cues leads to more favourable responses than when there is no reference to it in the advertisement. The presentation of the region of origin through pictorial-textual cues leads to more positive responses than communication based just on pictorial cues. No interaction effect between the type of GI and the region of origin presentation is found. Originality/value The study makes a new contribution in the field of communication about typical food products, since the ability of the geographical area to increase consumers’ purchase intention has not been systematically tested in an advertising context. To date, there is no strong evidence on how effective it is to convey the values of the geographical area through its picture and/or name. On a practical level, the study supports new communication strategies for typical food products in a context where messages tend to use intrinsic advertising cues that emphasize physical product attributes, rather than extrinsic advertising cues that leverage intangible product values.
Integrated Thermal-Energy Analysis of Innovative Translucent White Marble for Building Envelope Application

Marble is a natural material, used in the construction field since antiquity. It has always been used to communicate monumentality and solidity. Nowadays new technologies permit marble to express new languages: particularly, translucent marble technology overturns the concept of solidity. The main issue to address is the lack of thermal-energy performance of such a thin stone layer as the only facade component. Conversely, Bianco Carrara and Statuario marbles, for instance, have intrinsic benefits as natural cool materials, due to their high solar reflectance and thermal emissivity. Thus, this paper analyzes the thermal-energy and environmental behavior of marble facade for a new designed building in New York City. An integrated analysis of the energy performance of the marble skin is performed through a preliminary experimental characterization, carried out for two different types of naturally white marble, for comparative purposes. Then, a dynamic simulation model of the building is developed to evaluate year-round benefits and drawbacks of the translucent marble envelope in terms of indoor thermal comfort and air-conditioning requirement. The analysis showed how the proposed marble facade is able to decrease the energy requirement for cooling up to 6%, demonstrating possible relevant perspectives for marble-based facades, even in energy-efficient buildings.
Effect of Nicotine and Ephedrine on the Accumulation of 18F-FDG in Brown Adipose Tissue

This study evaluated the effect of various β-adrenergic agonists on 18F-FDG uptake in brown adipose tissue (BAT) in rats using ex vivo biodistribution studies. Methods: Caffeine (10 mg/kg of body weight, n = 4), ephedrine (5 mg/kg of body weight, n = 4), nicotine (0.8 mg/kg of body weight, n = 9), or a mixture of nicotine and ephedrine (0.8 mg/kg of body weight and 5 mg/kg of body weight, respectively, n = 9) was injected into the peritoneal cavity of female Lewis rats 30 min before intravenous 18F-FDG injection. One hour after injection of 18F-FDG, the animals were sacrificed, and BAT, other major organs, and blood were extracted. The biodistribution results were compared with body temperature data. Results: In the rats injected with nicotine or ephedrine, the mean uptake of 18F-FDG, in percentage injected dose (%ID)/(g of interscapular BAT) × (kg of body weight), was significantly increased (7.9-fold for nicotine and 3.7-fold for ephedrine), compared to the control rats. Nicotine had the strongest effect on 18F-FDG uptake in BAT. Caffeine increased BAT uptake slightly, but this increase did not reach statistical significance. The combination of nicotine and ephedrine increased the uptake 12.0-fold, compared with control rats; more than either nicotine or ephedrine alone. Uptake of 18F-FDG in most other major organs did not change significantly. The effect of nicotine was blocked by prior injection of β-adrenergic antagonists. A transient decrease in body temperature was observed in the nicotine-injected group, and this effect was canceled by prior injection of β-adrenergic antagonists. No significant change in baseline temperature was seen before or after β-adrenergic agonist injection. Conclusion: Nicotine caused a greater increase in 18F-FDG uptake in BAT than did other interventions, and the effect was increased when nicotine was combined with ephedrine. The effect of nicotine was completely blocked by prior injection of β-adrenergic antagonists, indicating that β-adrenergic agonists increase the metabolism of BAT. These preclinical data suggest that patients should avoid nicotine and ephedrine before undergoing 18F-FDG PET to minimize 18F-FDG uptake in BAT.
History of Economic Ideas History of Economic Ideas As-if Behavioral Economics: Neoclassical Economics in Disguise?

For a research program that counts improved empirical realism among its primary goals, it is surprising that behavioral economics appears indistinguishable from neo-classical economics in its reliance on 'as-if ' arguments. ' As-if ' arguments are frequently put forward in behavioral economics to justify 'psychological' models that add new parameters to fit decision outcome data rather than specifying more realistic or empirically supported psychological processes that genuinely explain these data. Another striking similarity is that both behavioral and neoclassical research programs refer to a common set of axiomatic norms without subjecting them to empirical investigation. Notably missing is investigation of whether people who deviate from axiomatic rationality face economically significant losses. Despite producing prolific documentation of deviations from neoclassical norms, behavioral economics has produced almost no evidence that deviations are correlated with lower earnings, lower happiness, impaired health, inaccurate beliefs, or shorter lives. We argue for an alternative non-axiomatic approach to normative analysis focused on veridical descriptions of decision process and a matching principle – between behav-ioral strategies and the environments in which they are used – referred to as ecological rationality. To make behavioral economics, or psychology and economics, a more rigorously empirical science will require less effort spent extending 'as-if ' utility theory to account for biases and deviations, and substantially more careful observation of successful decision makers in their respective domains.
Stimulant treatment in children: A Dutch perspective

Stimulantia zijn medicijnen geregistreerd voor de behandeling van aandachtstekortstoornis met hyperactiviteit (ADHD) bij kinderen. ADHD is met een prevalentie van 3-5% de meest voorkomende psychiatrische aandoening onder kinderen en wordt gekenmerkt door concentratieproblemen, hyperactiviteit en impulsiviteit in een mate die niet past bij de leeftijd van het kind. De behandeling van ADHD bestaat uit psychosociale behandeling en/of medicijnen. Stimulantia zijn de eerste keus medicijnen bij ADHD. Van de stimulantia wordt in Nederland voornamelijk methylfenidaat (Ritalin®, Concerta®) voorgeschreven. In de jaren negentig is het gebruik van stimulantia in Nederland, evenals in verscheidene andere westerse landen, sterk toegenomen. Deze toename heeft geleidt tot bezorgdheid en discussie over de toepassing van deze middelen bij kinderen. Deze ongerustheid werd echter nog niet ondersteund door gebruikscijfers uit Nederland, maar was vooral gebaseerd op gegevens uit de Verenigde Staten. Dit proefschrift beschrijft onderzoek naar het voorschrijven en gebruik van stimulantia bij kinderen in Nederland, op basis van vragenlijstonderzoek onder zowel ouders en artsen en op basis van onderzoek met apotheekgegevens.
Towards a critical global citizenship?: a comparative analysis of GC education discourses in Scotland and Alberta

Global citizenship has increasingly become common parlance in education curricula internationally. Yet, it can be argued that in many instances, especially in official curriculum documents, Global Citizenship Education (GCE) tends to ignore critical engagement with ethics and complexity that inform global inequities worldwide, and often fails to achieve the self-reflective political consciousness called forth by a critical GCE. In this paper, we compare conceptualizations of GCE in the Alberta Social Studies curriculum, Canada, and in the Scottish national curriculum, Curriculum for Excellence. We consider the extent to which these documents and attending discourses open up critical discursive spaces for complex, ethical understandings and calls to action related to global injustices and political responsibilities, or foreclose important opportunities.
The Trajectory of Coping with Trauma: Meaning Making as a Factor in Determining the Trauma Outcome for Combat Veterans

The Trajectory of Coping with Trauma: Meaning Making as a Factor in Determining the Trauma Outcome for Combat Veterans Rachel A. Spero, M.S. Specific ways in which an individual makes meaning following a stressful life event have been conceptualized as contributing to the emergence of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). However, little is known about how meaning making impacts the trauma trajectory and how that transition affects the outcomes of PTSD, Posttraumatic Growth (PTG), or resiliency. In this study, 166 combat veterans nationwide completed self-report surveys that were analyzed using a multivariate Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) method to create a model of how PTSD, PTG, and resiliency are impacted based upon meaning making. The results suggest that following a stressful life event, individuals who maintain intact world beliefs are more likely to be resilient. Individuals who experience a shattering of their world beliefs are hypothesized to report symptoms of PTSD. Likewise, individuals who experience a shattering of world beliefs and engage in avoidance coping are more likely to experience PTSD. However, individuals who experience a shattering of world beliefs but then make meaning from their experience are more likely to report an experience of PTG. Limitations and future directions of this research are also discussed in relation to the field’s movement toward outlining factors that positively impact PTG following deployment. TRAUMA AND MEANING MAKING iii
Anti-AMPA-Receptor Encephalitis Presenting as a Rapid-Cycling Bipolar Disorder in a Young Woman with Turner Syndrome

Background. Autoimmune encephalitis is a disorder characterised by the subacute onset of seizures, short-term memory loss, and psychiatric and behavioural symptoms. Initially, it was recognised as a paraneoplastic disorder, but recently a subgroup of patients without systemic cancer was identified. Case Description. We describe a 20-year-old woman with Turner syndrome presenting with a treatment-resistant rapid cycling bipolar disorder with cognitive impairment. She was diagnosed with anti-AMPA-receptor encephalitis. She showed marked improvement after starting memantine and valproic acid. Conclusion. This case description emphasises the importance of timely recognition of autoimmune limbic encephalitis in patients with psychiatric manifestations and a possible predisposition to autoimmune conditions, in order to rule out malignancy and to quickly initiate treatment.
The Mass and Structure of the Pleiades Star Cluster from 2MASS

We present the results of a large-scale search for new members of the Pleiades star cluster using 2MASS near-infrared photometry and proper motions derived from POSS plates digitized by the USNO PMM program. The search extends to a 10° radius around the cluster, well beyond the presumed tidal radius, to a limiting magnitude of R ∼ 20, corresponding to ∼0.07 M⊙ at the distance and age of the Pleiades. Multiobject spectroscopy for 528 candidates verifies that the search was extremely effective at detecting cluster stars in the 1–0.1 M⊙ mass range using the distribution of Hα emission strengths as an estimate of sample contamination by field stars. When combined with previously identified, higher mass stars, this search provides a sensitive measurement of the stellar mass function and dynamical structure of the Pleiades. The degree of tidal elongation of the halo agrees well with current N-body simulation results. Tidal truncation affects masses below ∼1 M⊙. The cluster contains a total mass ∼800 M⊙. Evidence for a flatter mass function in the core than in the halo indicates the depletion of stars in the core with mass less than ∼0.5 M⊙, relative to stars with mass ∼1-0.5 M⊙, and implies a preference for very low-mass objects to populate the halo or escape. The overall mass function is best fitted with a lognormal form that becomes flat at ∼0.1 M⊙. Whether sufficient dynamical evaporation has occurred to detectably flatten the initial mass function, via preferential escape of very low-mass stars and brown dwarfs, is undetermined, pending better membership information for stars at large radial distances.
Multimodal perception and production of attitudinal meaning in Brazilian Portuguese

This paper presents a perceptual and acoustic analysis of a set of 12 different prosodic attitudes of Brazilian Portuguese, separated between 6 social, 5 propositional plus a neutral expressions. Audio-visual performances of these attitudes by two native speakers are described as well as their recognition by Brazilian listeners. The results show better performances for the propositional attitudes, particularly in the audio modality, while visual information brings the main indices for social expressions.