Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
School and Community Interventions To Prevent Serious and Violent Offending. Juvenile Justice Bulletin.

Although youth who commit serious violent crimes are small in number, they account for a disproportionate amount of juvenile crime. How then can we best intervene with this difficult—even dangerous—population? A major study, funded by the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and conducted by its Study Group on Serious and Violent Juvenile Offenders, sheds new light on promising strategies to prevent and control serious violent juvenile offending.
Why users purchase virtual products in MMORPG? An integrative perspective of social presence and user engagement

Purpose Prior studies on virtual product purchase have focused on external technological factor but have paid less attention to internal user factors. Thus, drawing upon the social presence and user engagement theories, the purpose of this paper is to develop a research model considering both technological factors and user factors and empirically examine the validity of the proposed research model. Design/methodology/approach A survey from 214 World of Warcraft players was conducted to test the proposed research model, and structural equation modelling approach (specifically, PLS) was used to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings The data analysis results suggest that both social presence and user engagement positively influence the intention to purchase virtual products. Furthermore, two technological factors, interactivity and sociability, are found to affect social presence, and two social factors, social ties and social identity, are found to affect user engagement. Originality/value This study proposes a dual factor framework (i.e. technological and user factors) to investigate the factors influencing the intention to purchase by integrating the social presence perspective and user engagement perspective. The findings would be beneficial for service provider of massively multiplayer online role-playing games to recognize that triggering user demand is of equal importance with offering better technologies and suggest new ways to promote users’ virtual product purchase intentions.
Towards a model of international research teams

Many, if not most, academic researchers interested in international business have worked on teams made up of individuals from many different countries. Ironically, there has been little research attempting to explain the unique dynamic of such teams and their advantages and disadvantages. The goal of this paper is to develop a model of international academic research teams with an aim towards understanding how they can be managed more effectively. We highlight some of the important variables that affect team functioning and discuss their relationships with both antecedents and outcomes. Specific propositions are developed and their implications are discussed.
Transferring knowledge to the providers and users of health and mental health services

Communicating evidence-based practices to the providers and users of health services can enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of these services. However, this knowledge is not consistently conveyed to either cohort. To address this issue, this paper identifies didactic methods that facilitate knowledge transfer to providers and users of health and mental health services. A review of level-one evidence suggests that promising strategies for service providers include the use of illustrative and specific information; computer-based methods; and/or information presented in clinical clusters or heuristics. Promising strategies for service users relate to style, content, format, and presentation mode. However, robust evidence is lacking. The paper concludes with a discussion of implications for research, policy, and practice.
General Practitioners’ Intentions and Prescribing for Asthma: Using the Theory of Planned Behavior to Explain Guideline Implementation

Objectives: Limited studies have demonstrated that the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) may be able to help in explaining the variation in physicians’ behavior. We selected the management of asthma as the tracer topic because asthma had nationally known clinical guidelines, and the main medicinal therapies used for asthma had limited applications for the treatment of other diseases, and hence, it was possible to trace the relevant prescribing from routine data. In this study we used the TPB to explain general practitioners (GPs) intentions and prescribing in accordance with asthma clinical guidelines. Methods: We surveyed a stratified random sample of 122 GPs in England. The GPs demographic and prescribing data were obtained from routine sources. The participants completed a TPB questionnaire that was developed based on qualitative interviews and had been tested in a pilot study. Regression methods were utilized for data analysis. Results: Forty-three percent of variance in prescribing intentions was explained by direct TPB measures. Perceived controls were the main predictors of variation in intentions. TPB belief item variables contributed to regression analysis that explained up to 34% of variation in the efficiency prescribing indicators. Effective prescribing indicators were unrelated to TPB variables. Conclusions: Using TPB was helpful in understanding the prescribing intentions of GPs. This could help in promoting the prophylactic usage of inhaler corticosteroids and prevent chronic asthma symptoms and side-effects. However, further empirical and methodological researches are required.
Pakistani religious coping and the experience and behaviour of Ramadan

Previous efforts to demonstrate the coping benefits of Muslim beliefs have yielded ambiguous outcomes. With a sample of 200 Pakistani adults, this project used the Islamic Positive Religious Coping and Identification (IPRCI) subscale within the Psychological Measure of Islamic Religiousness (PMIR) to examine relationships with the experience and behaviour of Ramadan. Preliminary confirmatory factor analyses revealed a need to focus on a Positive Islamic Coping factor within the IPRCI. Positive Islamic Coping correlated directly with Positive Ramadan Experience and Ramadan Behaviour and inversely with Negative Ramadan Experience. Along with other PMIR variables assessing Muslim commitments more generally, Positive Islamic Coping helped mediate relationships between Ramadan Experience and Ramadan Behaviour. Punishing Allah Reappraisal from the PMIR displayed only minimal evidence that it recorded a maladaptive form of religious coping. These data confirmed Positive Islamic Coping as an operationalisation of adaptive Muslim coping and illustrated the importance of examining measures that are relevant within a religious tradition.
The GABA Paradox

Abstract : GABA, which is present in the brain in large amounts, is distributed among distinctly different cellular pools, possibly reflecting its multiple functions as metabolite, neurotransmitter, and neurotrophin. Its metabolic enzymes also exhibit heterogeneity, because glutamate decarboxylase exists in two isoforms with different subcellular distribution and regulatory properties. Moreover, recent evidence points to a more pronounced regulatory role of the tricarboxylic acid cycle than hitherto anticipated in the biosynthetic machinery responsible for formation of GABA from glutamine. Additionally, GABAergic neurons may contain distinct populations of mitochondria having different turnover rates of the tricarboxylic acid cycle with different levels of association with GABA synthesis from 2‐oxoglutarate via glutamate. These aspects are discussed in relation to the different functional roles of GABA and its prominent involvement in epileptogenic activity.
Change of olfactory function as a marker of inflammatory activity and disability progression in MS

Background: Impaired olfactory threshold has been reported in early inflammatory phases of MS, while impaired odor identification was associated with more widespread disability. Objective: To prospectively assess the development of olfactory function and its correlation with relapse and disability progression. Methods: In this prospective, 3-year longitudinal study on 151 MS patients and 30 healthy controls, three different qualities of olfactory function (threshold, discrimination, and identification) were quantified using the Sniffin’ Sticks test. The influence of relapses and disability on olfactory function was analyzed at different time points and in a multivariate model. Results: Discrimination and identification capability significantly worsened over 3 years, while threshold did not. Threshold was markedly impaired in patients with relapse activity within 12 months, recovered in the absence of relapse, and was associated with a 2.5-fold increased risk of relapse. Deterioration of discrimination and identification was irreversible and both strongly associated with and predictive of EDSS progression. Conclusion: Olfactory function changes over time in MS. Threshold impairment is transient and predicts inflammatory disease activity, while odor identification and discrimination are associated with disability progression. Olfactory dysfunction might be a useful and easily obtainable parameter to monitor patients with regard to inflammation and neurodegeneration in MS.
Is happiness different from flourishing? Cross-Country Evidence from the ESS

This paper appeals to novel survey information on over 30 000 individuals in 21 European countries to address an important and controversial question with respect to well-being: Do cognitive, hedonic and eudaimonic measures of well-being reflect very different aspects of individual quality of life? Or, more precisely, do the subjective appreciation of these dimensions by individuals exhibit different patterns? Our empirical results first reveal a very significant correlation between happiness and life satisfaction. Second, someone with high standard "hedonic" well-being (happiness or life satisfaction) is likely to have high eudaimonic well-being as well (flourishing, vitality, resilience and functioning). In addition, the factors that are correlated with the different measures of well-being seem to be very similar at the individual level. For example, marriage, higher income and greater education are associated with greater satisfaction, but also with higher levels of flourishing, vitality, resilience and functioning. This fit is not perfect, however, and men notably report lower levels of standard well-being measures, but higher eudaimonic well-being.
Reasons to Use Virtual Reality in Education and Training Courses and a Model to Determine When to Use Virtual Reality.

Many studies have been conducted on the use of virtual reality in education and training. This article lists examples of such research. Reasons to use virtual reality are discussed. Advantages and disadvantages of using virtual reality are presented, as well as suggestions on when to use and when not to use virtual reality. A model that can be used to determine when to use virtual reality in an education or training course is presented.
Developing and maintaining HIV-related websites: a view from the other side

Technology is an increasingly necessary tool for therapists to maintain a successful practice. Studies have not examined how decisions about the content and format of health-related websites are made, which may help providers direct clients to more credible online resources and provide suggestions of how to most efficiently develop a professional website. As an example, the overall aim of this study was to examine the decision-making processes of persons who manage HIV-related websites. A total of 21 managers representing 19 HIV-related websites completed a semi-structured, telephone interview to understand how decisions are made about the content and design of their websites, the purpose of their website and their educational background. Interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed and imported into N-Vivo for analysis. Results showed that informational clearinghouse websites played a central role in developing content to place on their websites, while research and medical facilities tended to rely on experts in their organizations to develop content. Format decisions were primarily affected by user bandwidth and resource requirements of different formats. Few managers reported receiving feedback from users about their website. Managers described the need for ongoing training of the latest technology developments in their field. Implications for sexual and relationship therapists are discussed.
Playing as Adaptation? Layered Selfhood and Self-regard in Cultural Contexts

The current paradigm shift from realism and humanism to social constructionism and postmodernism has tremendous implications for social sciences, especially for psychology. The idea that not only our knowledge, but also our self, emotions and cognitions are constructed by society and culture is embraced by some cross-cultural and cultural psychologists and postmodernists. While this stance attempts to integrate culture and psychology, it depreciates the part of the self that can stand apart from culture and society and therefore be shared among humankind. This paper proposes a layered model of selfhood to incorporate both universal and existential human experience and the influence of culture and society. Heine, Lehman, Markus and Kitayama’s (1999) cross-cultural study of self-regard serves as an exemplar of the constructionist approach and their data are reanalyzed using the proposed model of selfhood. The notion of ‘play’ is introduced to understand the dynamics at the interface between cultural regulations and individuals. This paper also explores the cultural norms of East Asia and America.
Communication and older people with lifelong disability: A role for speech pathologists?

SUMMARY I have discussed some of the issues that I consider most pertinent to people who are ageing with a life-long disability and speech pathologists. I have not discussed the need to be able to communicate across everyday situations and contexts, as this is important for all people at all stages of their life. Instead, I have chosen to focus on areas in which I believe speech pathologists have an important role to play, but in which to date there is little evidence of speech pathology involvement. I share Duchan's (2001) hope that speech pathology services and research will evolve to a social and participatory model. I believe that those who are ageing with a disability have much to teach us and, that by working with them, we will not only develop better services and more relevant research, but we will also help combat negative attitudes towards ageing and disability that are prevalent in our community. We all hope to age successfully and with dignity. It behoves us as members of a helping profession to support others to attain these same goals.
Being Anxious, Thinking Positively: The Effect of Emotional Context on Respiratory Sensory Gating

Respiratory sensory gating function has been found decreased by induced negative emotion in healthy adults. The increased ratio of the respiratory-related evoked potential (RREP) N1 peak amplitude for the second occlusion (S2) vs. the first occlusion (S1), S2/S1, is indicative of such decreased respiratory sensory gating. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that a positive emotional context would enhance respiratory sensory gating function in healthy individuals. In addition, we tested the modulating role of individual anxiety levels. We compared respiratory sensory gating in 40 healthy individuals by the paired inspiratory occlusion paradigm in a positive and neutral emotional context induced by emotional picture viewing. The results showed that the group averaged RREP N1 peak amplitudes S2/S1 ratios were significantly smaller in the positive compared to neutral context (0.49 vs. 0.64; p < 0.01). Further, analysis showed that the ratio decrease was due to a reduced response to the S2 and an enhanced response to S1 in the positive emotional context (p < 0.05). The subgroup analyses showed that in the positive emotional context, both individuals with low-moderate anxiety levels and those with no anxiety demonstrated a significant decrease of their S2/S1 ratio, but only those with low-moderate anxiety levels showed reduced S2 amplitudes compared to the neutral context (p < 0.01). In conclusion, our results suggest that a positive emotional context is related to better brain inhibitory mechanisms by filtering out repetitive respiratory stimuli in healthy individuals, especially in the presence of low-moderate anxiety levels. Further, investigation on how positive emotional contexts might contribute to improved respiratory sensory gating ability in clinical populations is necessary.
Effect of fatty acyl chain length and structure on the lamellar gel to liquid-crystalline and lamellar to reversed hexagonal phase transitions of aqueous phosphatidylethanolamine dispersions.

The lamellar gel/liquid-crystalline and the lamellar liquid-crystalline/reversed hexagonal phase transitions of aqueous dispersions of a number of synthetic phosphatidylethanolamines containing linear saturated, branched chain, and alicyclic fatty acyl chains of varying length were studied by differential scanning calorimetry, 31P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction. For any given homologous series of phosphatidylethanolamines containing a single chemical class of fatty acids, the lamellar gel/liquid-crystalline phase transition temperature increases and the lamellar liquid-crystalline/reversed hexagonal phase transition temperature decreases with increases in hydrocarbon chain length. For a series of phosphatidylethanolamines of the same hydrocarbon chain length but with different chemical structures, both the lamellar gel/liquid-crystalline and the lamellar liquid-crystalline/reversed hexagonal phase transition temperatures vary markedly and in the same direction. In particular, at comparable effective hydrocarbon chain lengths, both the lamellar gel/liquid-crystalline and the lamellar liquid-crystalline/reversed hexagonal phase transition temperatures vary in parallel, such that the temperature difference between these two phase transitions is nearly constant. Moreover, at comparable effective acyl chain lengths, the d spacings of the lamellar liquid-crystalline phases and of the inverted hexagonal phases are all similar, implying that the thickness of the phosphatidylethanolamine bilayers at the onset of the lamellar liquid-crystalline/reversed hexagonal phase transition and the diameter of the water-filled cylinders formed at the completion of this phase transition are comparable and independent of the chemical structure of the acyl chain. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Attitudes and Issues of Parents of Gay Men and Lesbians and Implications for Therapy

Sixty-two parents of a gay son or lesbian daughter were seen in individual or family therapy, support groups, or interviewed in-depth about their feelings, attitudes, behavior and experiences centering around their child's homosexuality. Five major themes emerged. These were: social stigma, self- and/or spouse-blame, parental losses, fears and concerns for the gay child, and fear of losing their son or daughter if parents di not accept the child's homosexuality. Other prominent issues were those of causality, possibility of change of sexual orientation, and telling family and friends. Therapeutic issues and strategies to foster parental adjustment are discuessed.
Maternal longevity and the sex of offspring in pre-industrial Sweden

Background: Helle et al. (2000. Sons reduced maternal longevity in preindustrial humans. Science, 296, 1085) argued that giving birth to sons reduced maternal longevity in pre-industrial societies due to higher physiological costs of bearing sons and the elevated testosterone levels observed in mothers carrying male foetuses. Aim: The present study examined this hypothesis using a more comprehensive dataset and evaluated the merits of the statistical approach used in previous studies to identify the cost of giving birth to sons in terms of maternal old-age longevity. Subjects and methods: The analysis in Helle et al. (2002. Sons reduced maternal longevity in preindustrial humans. Science 296, 1085) was extended by using a considerably larger dataset of pre-industrial Swedish women, and with careful consideration paid to methodological problems of sample selection and omitted variable bias. We argue that the previous literature has underestimated the difficulties in quantifying the trade-off between parity and longevity due to unobserved heterogeneity in health. However, under less restrictive assumptions, one can estimate the marginal impact of a son for a fixed family size. Results: No evidence was found of a negative relative impact of sons. Neither was any evidence found in favour of the male-biased intra-household resource competition hypothesis proposed elsewhere in the literature, despite the poverty of the study population. These results are robust to a wide range of specifications tested. Conclusion: The failure to reproduce earlier findings and the fact that studies in this area of research seem to continue to yield conflicting results warrant much caution in discussing and evaluating results. It is likely that the negative effect of sons, if it existed, only manifested itself under conditions that are not yet fully understood. We also argue that the previous literature on this topic has not fully acknowledged the inference problems associated with omitted variable bias and sample selection.
Pathway to the identification of C60+ in diffuse interstellar clouds

The origin of the attenuation of starlight in diffuse clouds in interstellar space at specific wavelengths ranging from the visible to the near-infrared has been unknown since the first astronomical observations around a century ago. The absorption features, termed the diffuse interstellar bands, have subsequently been the subject of much research. Earlier this year four of these interstellar bands were shown to be due to the absorption by cold, gas phase molecules. This discovery provides the first answer to the problem of the diffuse interstellar bands and leads naturally to fascinating questions regarding the role of fullerenes and derivatives in interstellar chemistry. Here, we review the identification process placing special emphasis on the laboratory studies which have enabled spectroscopic measurement of large cations cooled to temperatures prevailing in the interstellar medium. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Fullerenes: past, present and future, celebrating the 30th anniversary of Buckminster Fullerene’.
Colombian teachers’ questions about CLIL: Hearing their voices – in spite of “the mess” (Part I)

This, the first part of a two-part paper, focuses on the importance of the voices of teachers in educational research, as they are key stakeholders in any educational endeavor and among the main agents of educational change. Therefore, even in the most learner-centered of approaches to teaching, it is essential to gather data from teachers. However, in examining the educational research from the 1990s to the present day, the focus appears to have shifted from teachers’ voices to students’ voices, which leaves an essential part of the picture missing. To address this absence, data was collected from language teachers on a new MA program jointly offered by a Colombian university and one in the United States, which is described in the second portion of the present article. The third portion of the present article introduces and explores the notion of ‘messy data’, and the final portion looks at the research on CLIL in Latin America in relation to teachers’ voices.