Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Differentiating motivation and control in the Theory of Planned Behavior

Ajzen has distinguished between self-efficacy (i.e., confidence, ease-difficulty) and controllability (i.e., control, up to me) item clusters when measuring perceived behavioural control (PBC). Rather than a two-factor control construct, we have suggested that confidence and ease-difficulty items possess measurement complexity between intention and PBC and do not measure Ajzen's PBC construct as cleanly as do control items unless a phrase is included to hold motivation constant (e.g., if I was really motivated…). The purpose of this study was to include PBC items with and without phrases that hold motivation constant and test the effects of measurement redundancy on other TPB coefficients when predicting/explaining exercise intentions. Participants were 241 undergraduate students who completed measures of the TPB. Results supported our theorizing for a single control construct by showing that confidence and ease-difficulty items without motivation held constant displayed factor complexity between PBC and intention, but loaded exclusively on PBC when motivation was held constant. Conversely, control items loaded exclusively on PBC regardless of whether motivation was held constant. In the TPB model where the factor complex items were used to represent PBC, PBC had a very large (β = 0.73, p < 0.01) effect on intention while affective attitude had a small effect (β = 0.12, p < 0.05). In the TPB model where factor clean items were used to represent PBC, PBC had a much smaller effect (β = 0.38, p < 0.01) on intention, affective attitude had a much larger effect (β = 0.42, p < 0.01), and the effect of subjective norm became significant (β = 0.15, p < 0.05). We discussed the results in terms of how PBC measurement with Ajzen's denoted self-efficacy items may bias basic and applied TPB research unless motivation is held constant.
Reconsidering Forced-Choice Item Formats for Applicant Personality Assessment

The effects of motivated distortion on forced-choice (FC) and normative inventories were examined in three studies. Study 1 examined the effects of distortion on the construct validity of the two item formats in terms of convergent and discriminant validity. The results showed that both types of measures were susceptible to motivated distortion, however the FC items were better indicators of personality and less related to socially desirable responding when participants were asked to respond as if applying for a job. Study 2 considered the criterion-related validity of the inventories in terms of predicting supervisors' ratings of job performance, finding that distortion had a more deleterious effect on the validity of the normative inventory with some enhancement of the validity of the FC inventory being observed. Study 3 investigated whether additional constructs are introduced into the measurement process when motivated respondents attempt to increase scores on FC items. Results of Study 3 indicated that individuals higher in cognitive ability tend to have more accurate theories about which traits are job-related and therefore are more successful at improving scores on FC inventories. Implications for using personality inventories in personnel selection are discussed.
MEASUREMENT OF MOTOR FITNESS OF STUDENTS USING THE ROWING ERGOMETER

Purpose. The aim of the study was to develop a mathematical model to determine correlations between selected somatic traits and indoor rowing test results over a distance of 500 m as well as differences in the level of motor fitness of students of the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn. Material and methods. The research was carried out on a group of 274 full-time UWM students with the aid of Concept II Indoor Rower. The analysis concerned the effects of students’ body weight and body height, year of study and the time required to cover the distance of 500 m during an indoor rowing test. Analysis of variance and regression analysis with stepwise elimination of the polynomial degree and form were used. Results. Only 15 subjects (5.5% of the sample) achieved the highest level of motor fitness, i.e. covered the distance under 92.7 s. A mathematical model describing the effects of decisive variables on the dependent variable was a model of regression of multiple variables of the 2 nd degree. The exogenous variables were subjects’ body height and body weight. Conclusions. The proposed mathematical model of regression of multiple variables of the 2 nd degree can be useful for selection of individuals with predispositions to practice rowing at the academic and recreational levels. The proposed method of mathematical model development should be regarded as an algorithm for other, more versatile models involving additional variables.
Locally Linear Support Vector Machines

Linear support vector machines (SVMs) have become popular for solving classification tasks due to their fast and simple online application to large scale data sets. However, many problems are not linearly separable. For these problems kernel-based SVMs are often used, but unlike their linear variant they suffer from various drawbacks in terms of computational and memory efficiency. Their response can be represented only as a function of the set of support vectors, which has been experimentally shown to grow linearly with the size of the training set. In this paper we propose a novel locally linear svm classifier with smooth decision boundary and bounded curvature. We show how the functions defining the classifier can be approximated using local codings and show how this model can be optimized in an online fashion by performing stochastic gradient descent with the same convergence guarantees as standard gradient descent method for linear svm. Our method achieves comparable performance to the state-of-the-art whilst being significantly faster than competing kernel SVMs. We generalise this model to locally finite dimensional kernel SVM.
Prediction modelling for trauma using comorbidity and ‘true’ 30-day outcome

Background Prediction models for trauma outcome routinely control for age but there is uncertainty about the need to control for comorbidity and whether the two interact. This paper describes recent revisions to the Trauma Audit and Research Network (TARN) risk adjustment model designed to take account of age and comorbidities. In addition linkage between TARN and the Office of National Statistics (ONS) database allows patient's outcome to be accurately identified up to 30 days after injury. Outcome at discharge within 30 days was previously used. Methods Prospectively collected data between 2010 and 2013 from the TARN database were analysed. The data for modelling consisted of 129 786 hospital trauma admissions. Three models were compared using the area under the receiver operating curve (AuROC) for assessing the ability of the models to predict outcome, the Akaike information criteria to measure the quality between models and test for goodness-of-fit and calibration. Model 1 is the current TARN model, Model 2 is Model 1 augmented by a modified Charlson comorbidity index and Model 3 is Model 2 with ONS data on 30 day outcome. Results The values of the AuROC curve for Model 1 were 0.896 (95% CI 0.893 to 0.899), for Model 2 were 0.904 (0.900 to 0.907) and for Model 3 0.897 (0.896 to 0.902). No significant interaction was found between age and comorbidity in Model 2 or in Model 3. Conclusions The new model includes comorbidity and this has improved outcome prediction. There was no interaction between age and comorbidity, suggesting that both independently increase vulnerability to mortality after injury.
The Preparation of Administrators: Some Observations from the "Firing Line"

A professor's year-long return to the elementary school principal- ship provides the basis for this paper. Observations concerning the author's experience are reported, questions concerning the content of preparation programs are raised, and recommendations for the im provement of preparation programs are advanced. Jean Hills is a Professor on the Faculty of Education at the University of British Columbia.
Effects of Music Education on Development of Holistic Empathy

To survey the empathy of 6-yr. -old children and the role of music education in developing empathy from two day-care centers 15 children took part for 3 mo. in music activities once a week; the remaining 15 were controls. Children were tested before and after a period of musical activities. The children's empathy was measured with the Feshbach and Roe Empathy Test and the Ikonen-Nylund Test on Sociability. The teachers completed Weir and Duveen's Prosociability Scale and the Kalliopuska Prosociability Scale. In the trained group empathy increased significantly relative to that of the control group. The holistic view of empathy stresses that an optimal empathy campaign should develop affective, cognitive, and kinaesthetic aspects of empathy.
Pictorial Depth Increases Body Sway

This study examines the effects of pictorial depth on postural stability. In our first experiment, two abstract paintings by Maria Elena Vieira Da Silva (1908-1992) were used. Viewing the unaltered paintings induced greater body sway in participants than the cubist transformations of the same paintings in which depth cues were neutralized. In our second experiment, a Renaissance painting by Piero Della Francesca (c.1415-1492) was used due to its strong perspective and sense of a recessed space in the visual field. Participants fixated either the recessed or the foregrounded area of the painting. Body sway was higher in the former case. Thus, body sway can even be modulated within the same painting according to variations of local depth information.
Structural Pluralism, Ethnic Pluralism, and Community Newspapers

This study expanded the conceptual definition of community structural pluralism to include a consideration of community ethnic pluralism, and used that revised definition as a basis for analyzing the relationships among community characteristics and the orientations of local newspaper editors. Findings indicate that editors in more ethnically pluralistic communities are more likely to include ethnic minorities in their lists of influential persons and important news sources. Editors who include ethnic minorities in a list of important news sources are more likely to consider it important to cover stories about ethnic minorities.
'A love/hate relationship': the ideals and experiences of first- time mothers

Motherhood in western societies at the end of the twentieth century is a site of cultural and social contradictions and tensions. Over the past quarter-century, women with children have been encouraged to construct their subjectivities increasingly through activities in the 'public' domain, including through paid labour. Yet they are still also expected to conform to ideals of 'good motherhood'. This article reports on some preliminary findings of a longitudinal study researching first-time parenthood in the 1990s. Drawing on a series of interviews conducted with 25 women just before the birth and over the first six months of their infants' lives, the article focuses on the discourses articulated by the women when describing their ideals of the 'good mother' and their own experiences of mothering. Many women, at least in the early stage of motherhood, found their ideals difficult to achieve. They talked about an ambivalent 'love/hate' relationship with their infants. This ambivalence appeared to emerge from the difficulties they experienced in maintaining an autonomous subjectivity in a socio-cultural context in which they were charged with the primary responsibility for the care of their infants.
Civic Culture as a Policy Premise: Appraising Charlotte’s Civic Culture

ABSTRACT: The importance of a community’s culture—a combination of its political, governmental, economical, and social conditions—is believed important for understanding the power, value, and decision making systems of communities. In this research, using the city of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County as a case example, the goal is to determine not whether a civic culture exists, but what type of civic culture is present. By speaking to political and civic leaders, examining local strategic documents charting courses for the city, and examining data from the national Social Capital Benchmark Survey, a collective identity of the shared perspective of Charlotte’s direction is determined. Based on results from this analysis, Charlotte’s civic culture projects as an “active market culture” that is manifest through a civic culture that embraces tradition, supports the private sector, favors orderly, participatory processes, and emphasizes rational decision-making.
Peer, professor and self-evaluation of class participation

The purpose of this project was to determine the validity of peer and self-evaluations of class participation compared to professors' class participation grades. Students (N = 96) evaluated themselves and their classmates on class participation on a four-point scale and students were required to assign grades in a normalized distribution. Relative to faculty evaluations, the bias and precision of the peer grades were 0.48 points and 36.3 per cent (p < 0.05) and self-evaluations scores were -0.48 and 77.5 per cent (p < 0.05). There was no correlation between a student's grade point average and his/her opinion of this process (R = 0.02). Students did not like peer assessment using forced distribution of grades.
Analysis of thiopurine S-methyltransferase genotypes in Japanese patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Myelosuppression observed in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) treated with azathioprine (AZA) has been attributed to low thiopurine S-methyltransferase (TPMT) activity. TPMT activity is dependent on the genetic polymorphism of high-versus low-metabolizing alleles. We investigated the association between TPMT genotypes and myelosuppression in Japanese IBD patients. METHODS Forty-one healthy volunteers and 70 IBD patients (UC, n = 50; CD, n = 20) were recruited. All IBD patients were treated with AZA. The TPMT genotypes were determined by polymerase-chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analyses. RESULTS One healthy volunteer showed a heterozygous mutation of TPMT*1/*3C. All other volunteers and the 70 IBD patients were of the wild alleleotype (TPMT*1/*1). In the IBD patients, 7 patients developed leucopenia (<3,000/microL). One of them developed severe leucopenia (<1,000 microL) with agranulocytosis on day 14 after drug initiation. CONCLUSION TPMT mutations are not associated with myelosuppression in Japanese IBD patients. Even in IBD patients with a wild TPMT genotype, clinicians should pay attention for the possible development of myelosuppression.
‘Listen to me when I have something to say’: students’ participation in research for sustainable school improvement

This article focuses on student participation in the research process as a contribution to school improvement. The specific aim of this article was to explore students’ participation in different phases of a research process and discuss how their participation can contribute to school improvement. Based on a life-world phenomenological ontology, we used two research and development projects — Full of Value and Arctic Children — to shed light on participation in research. When doing research together with students, we have been inspired by Participatory Appreciative Action Research (PAAR). The methods used in the projects were open writing, group reflection, drawings, and exhibition discussions. This research showed that students were able to explore and express their lived experiences of behaviour and well-being in school, and how this was linked to positive change. We found students trustworthy, capable, and competent, enriching the process of school improvement.
Cigarette smoking trends in adolescents and young adults: the Stanford Five-City Project.

BACKGROUND Data on smoking prevalence from four cross-sectional community-based surveys (1979-1990) are presented for 2,605 adolescents and young adults 12-24 years of age. METHODS The surveys were conducted in two treatment and two control cities in Northern California as part of the Stanford Five-City Project, a multifactor cardiovascular disease prevention study. RESULTS Over the 12-year study period, prevalence of daily smoking declined in all cities by approximately 50% among 16- to 19- and 20- to 24-year-olds but showed little change among those 12-15 years old. Although the declines were especially large in the two treatment cities and in one control city, the declines in treatment cities were not significantly different from those in control cities. During each period, smoking prevalence escalated most sharply between the ages of 12-15 and 16-19, the period of development when students advanced from junior high to high school. CONCLUSIONS Despite impressive secular declines, it appears that the Five-City Project community intervention, which targeted smoking in adults, did not have a diffusion effect on the tobacco use habits of adolescents.
The action of metoclopramide on human gastroduodenal motility

The action of metoclopramide on gastroduodenal motility was studied in 23 subjects: eight symptomless volunteers and 15 patients with varying upper abdominal conditions. The response depended on the basal contraction pattern before the drug was given, irrespective of the clinical diagnosis. The size of the antral contractions was consistently increased and the duodenal contractions became more closely linked to those of the antrum. This demonstrates a mechanism for the increased rate of gastric emptying that is observed clinically after metoclopramide.
Both the Extracellular Leucine-Rich Repeat Domain and the Kinase Activity of FLS2 Are Required for Flagellin Binding and Signaling in Arabidopsis

In Arabidopsis, activation of defense responses by flagellin is triggered by the specific recognition of the most conserved domain of flagellin, represented by the peptide flg22, in a process involving the FLS2 gene, which encodes a leucine-rich repeat serine/threonine protein kinase. We show here that the two fls2 mutant alleles, fls2-24 and fls2-17, which were shown previously to confer insensitivity to flg22, also cause impaired flagellin binding. These features are rescued when a functional FLS2 gene is expressed as a transgene in each of the fls2 mutant plants, indicating that FLS2 is necessary for flagellin binding. The point mutation of the fls2-17 allele lies in the kinase domain. A kinase carrying this missense mutation lacked autophosphorylation activity when expressed in Escherichia coli. This indicates that kinase activity is required for binding and probably affects the stability of the flagellin receptor complex. We further show that overexpression of the kinase-associated protein phosphatase (KAPP) in Arabidopsis results in plants that are insensitive to flagellin treatment, and we show reduced flg22 binding in these plants. Furthermore, using the yeast two-hybrid system, we show physical interaction of KAPP with the kinase domain of FLS2. These results suggest that KAPP functions as a negative regulator of the FLS2 signal transduction pathway and that the phosphorylation of FLS2 is necessary for proper binding and signaling of the flagellin receptor complex.
Ethnic languages in two small communities: Swedish and Russian in Melbourne

Small Immigrant communities provide informative case studies from which we can begin to gain some understanding of the present and future of ethnic languages in Australia. Unlike the languages of the large and highly visible imnügrant communities, the languages of small groups do not achieve the sort of semiofficial Status which results in their being widely used in government Communications and taught in schools. The languages of small communities have a low profile in the host society and are not widely researched. As a result, we have little systematic Information about the majority of Immigrant communities, the rqle their languages play in all aspects of the communal and personal lives of their members, and how the context influences contemporary use of the languages. We can therefore äs yet make few well-informed predictions about the future of ethnic languages in this country. The 'ecology of language' (Haugen 1972 [1971]) provides a framework for the conduct of research into Immigrant communities and their languages. Haugen defined language ecology äs 'the study of the interactions between any given language and its environment' (1972 [1971]: 325). There are two different but overlapping components of the 'environment' of a language in this definition: the psychological and the sociological. The former is concerned with language äs it exists in the mind of the Speaker: making sense of seif and the world; interacting with other languages in thought and speech; representing values of and about the Community and wider society. The latter component — the sociological — is concerned with the language äs it exists within the collectivity: when and where the language is or is not used, and why; its place in the patterns of social behavior among the people who use it. This paper describes some aspects of the ecology of language among the Swedish and Russian communities in Melbourne, äs a small Step toward the gathering of comprehensive Information about small-community languages in
A Vehicle-Intersection Coordination Scheme for Smooth Flows of Traffic Without Using Traffic Lights

This paper presents a coordination scheme of automated vehicles at an intersection without using any traffic lights. Using a two-way communication network, vehicles approaching the intersection from all sections are globally coordinated, by considering their states all together in a model predictive control framework, in order to achieve smooth traffic flows at the intersection. The optimal trajectories of the vehicles are computed based on avoidance of their cross-collision risks around the intersection under relevant constraints and preferences. The scheme efficiently utilizes the intersection area by preventing each pair of conflicting vehicles from approaching their cross-collision point at the same time, instead of reserving the whole intersection area for the conflicting vehicles one after another. The scheme also enables left- or right-turning movements of vehicles under constrained velocity without using any auxiliary lanes. The proposed vehicle-intersection coordination scheme is evaluated through numerical simulation in a typical test intersection consisting of both multilanes and single-lane approaches with turning movements of vehicles. Observations under different traffic flow conditions reveal that the proposed scheme significantly improves intersection performance compared with the traditional signalized intersection scheme.
Preliminary Validity of the Cognitive Function Checklist: Prediction of Tower of London Performance

The objective of this project was to establish the preliminary validation of selected scales of the Cognitive Function Checklist (CFC), a 178-item parent-report screening measure designed to identify executive function (EF) disorders in children and adolescents. Selected CFC scales were assessed using multiple regression to predict Tower of London (TOL) task performance. In a sample of 34 children (aged 6 to 15 years) referred due to suspected learning problems, CFC Impulsivity, Problem Solving, and Initiation scales, along with age, served as the main predictors of the TOL overall raw score (i.e., a composite of planning efficiency, impulsivity, and speed of performance). The CFC Impulsivity scale predicted TOL variables of impulsivity (number of failed attempts), and speed of performance (solution time). Contrary to our predictions, CFC Planning failed to predict TOL performance. These findings, although preliminary, highlight the potential advantage of the CFC as a screening measure of EF, specifically.