The Relation of Career Indecision and Parental Attachment among Iranian Undergraduate Students

Career indecision particularly among college and undergraduate students is a concern of counselors and psychologists. This concern has led to numerous research studies related to career indecision and factors that influence it, such as family relationships. In this regard, several studies have reported a significant relationship between career indecision and parental attachment. However, little research has been undertaken on the influence of this factor in regard to career indecision for Iranian students. For this purpose, 158 Iranian freshmen and sophomores who had completed the ‘Career Decision Scale’ (Osipow et al., Journal of Vocational Behavior 9:233–243, 1976) and had been identified as career-undecided, completed the ‘Inventory of Parents and Peer Attachment-Revised’ (Armsden & Greenberg, Journal of Youth and Adolescence 16:427–453, 1987). The results revealed that a significant negative relationship was found between career indecision and attachment to mother, whilst the relationship between career indecision and attachment to father was not significant. However, regression analysis showed parental attachment did not significantly predict career indecision of students. Implications and recommendations for further research are discussed.     

Building Child Friendly Cities in the MENA region

The notion of Child Friendly Cities (CFCs) was first developed during the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (HABITAT II), held in Istanbul in 1996. The concept is based on four general principles of the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child: (1) fair treatment of every child, regardless of ethnicity, gender, religion, socioeconomic background etc.; (2) top priority of the best interests of the child; (3) the child’s right to a better life and development; and (4) respect of children’s views. In a CFC, children are encouraged to take part in the decision making processes that affect their lives. Instead of starting yet another programme for children, the development of a CFC mobilises and connects existing agencies and actors. Giving examples of some cities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, this paper demonstrates that building CFCs has induced the development of mechanisms and structures which have enabled cities to address children’s issues in a systematic manner. These mechanisms and structures include: a municipal child-friendly legal framework, local development councils and NGO networks and local municipal development offices. The author argues that in building CFCs, the role of municipal authorities is indispensable in responding to the needs of children and young people within the municipalities’ mandates.     

What is the meaning of spiritual health among older adults? A concept analysis

ABSTRACT

The different dimensions of spiritual health among older adults remain unknown to date and no globally acceptable definitions have yet been provided for the concept. To conduct the current study, the databases including Proquest, Medline, CINAHL, Science Direct, Blackwell, Iranmedex, SID, Noor Magazine and Irandoc were searched for the articles published between 1980 and 2014 in both English and Persian using keywords including spirituality, spiritual well-being, spiritual health, geriatric, older adult and old people and their Persian equivalents. The search for articles yielded into 197 titles, 31 of which were repeated and were therefore excluded. The remaining 166 articles were screened based on the inclusion criteria. A total of 29 articles were ultimately selected as the study samples. Rodgers’ evolutionary approach to concept analysis is used to identify the attributes, antecedents, consequences and surrogate terms of “spiritual health” and to provide a more comprehensive definition of the concept. The results obtained showed that spiritual health from the perspective of older adults is a multi-dimensional concept with cognitive, functional, affective and consequential components. Each component was found to be composed of several indicators. The results may help in providing a more thorough definition of spiritual health which can be a solid base for future researchers to develop appropriate tools for the assessment of older adults’ spiritual health and encourage research into this partially neglected subject. Care providers may also benefit from the results through acquiring a better understanding of the concept which can be used in designing appropriate spiritual interventions.     

Adaptive threshold to guarantee both detection and false alarm probabilities in multi-taper based spectrum sensing

The multi-taper spectrum (MTS) estimator enjoys a relatively low computational complexity and high estimation accuracy making it an attractive method for spectrum sensing in cognitive radio (CR) networks. However, it is difficult to guarantee both detection and false alarm probabilities when its design is based on fixed threshold, especially when the noise power fluctuates due to channel conditions. In this paper, a new adaptive threshold method to guarantee both detection and false alarm probabilities for MTS based spectrum sensing is proposed. By means of estimating noise power and signal power, the decision of adaptive threshold is able to adapt the noise fluctuation and achieve efficient trade-off between detection and false alarm probabilities. A closed form expression for the adaptive threshold is derived for both additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel and multipath fading channel. Several metrics are employed to compare the performance of the proposed adaptive threshold method with that of the fixed threshold methods such as: error decision probability, detection probability, false alarm probability and throughput. The obtained results show that the proposed method achieves better spectrum efficiency and high throughput in comparison with the conventional fixed and adaptive threshold methods presented in the literature.     

A new approach for constrained chaos synchronization with application to secure data communication

In this paper, a new technique is introduced for chaos secure data communication. In this approach, in addition to the usually used techniques for data encryption, the concept of carrier encryption is introduced to increase the security level of the secure communication scheme. To fulfill this objective, at the transmitting end, two chaotic oscillators are coupled, and a set of inequality time dependent constraints with time dependent bounds is imposed on the generated chaotic signals. Moreover, to increase system complexity and its security level, the imposed set of constraints and their bounds are allowed to be changeable from one time period to another during the transmission process. As a result, the patterns of the generated chaotic signals are completely changed and the chaotic oscillator is completely encrypted. At the receiving end, the newly developed Constrained Smoothed Regularized Least Square (CSRLS) observer is used to synchronize the received constrained chaotic signals and hence retrieve the transmitted data. Using such an approach, the quality of the received information, measured by the Bit Error Rate (BER), is highly improved due to the superior performance of the developed CSRLS observer. The stability of the observer is analyzed, and simulation results are presented to show the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed secure communication scheme.     

The relationship between anxiety‐stability,working memory and cognitive style

While prior research indicates that relationships exist between anxiety‐stability and working memory, and cognitive style and anxiety‐stability, they have not been considered together. The aim of this study was to consider how anxiety‐stability is related to working memory, gender and style in interaction. The sample consisted of 179 12–13‐year‐old Year 8 secondary comprehensive school pupils in the UK. Teachers rated the level of anxiety‐stability of pupils. Pupils completed an assessment of working memory efficiency, the information processing index (IPI). They also did the cognitive styles analysis to determine their positions on the two fundamental cognitive style dimensions, which were indicated by two ratios: the Wholist‐Analytic ratio and the Verbal‐Imagery ratio. Working memory capacity and cognitive style interacted in their relationship with anxiety‐stability, such that higher memory was associated with a greater increased stability for Wholist‐Verbalisers and Analytic‐Imagers than for Analytic‐Verbalisers and Wholist‐Imagers. The results were discussed in terms of the unitary versus complementary nature of style combinations.     

Individual and collaborative technology-mediated learning using question & answer online discussion forums – perceptions of Public Health learners in Dubai,UAE

This case study provides evidence-based suggestions for the use of Question and Answer discussion forums for improving quality and assessment of online learning. General online discussion forums are accessible at any time to all subscribers, making it possible for some learners to update, concur with or paraphrase discussions posted earlier by their peers or the tutors. Consequently, the usefulness of such forums in individual and constructivist learning is compromised, especially when ‘correct’ responses are posted early on by participants. The Question and Answer (Q & A) version of discussion forums significantly addresses such inadequacies by restricting access to forum subscribers until they have made a post. We focus on Public Health learners’ perceptions of Q & A discussion forums implemented at Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University, UAE. Analyses of learners’ perception surveys of 25 participating Master of Public Health learners and 8 Bachelor of Health Administration learners reveal that the Q & A discussion forum platform offers distinct advantages over general discussion forums in synergising individual and co-operative learning in Public Health training.     

Expectations,realizations, and approval of tablet computers in an educational setting

The introduction of new technologies in classrooms is often thought to offer great potential for advancing learning. In this article, we investigate the relationship between such expectations and the post-implementation evaluation of a new technology in an educational setting. Building on psychological research, we argue that (1) high expectations (ex ante) can undermine the approval ratings of new technologies (ex post); and (2) individuals’ post-implementation evaluations are more likely to exceed their expectations when they can exert power over the introduction of a new technology. We test these predictions on a sample of 750 respondents from primary and secondary schools in Flanders with and without tablet computers. Our findings are supportive of both theoretical predictions.     

The use of lysosomal enzymuria in the early detection and monitoring of the progression of diabetic nephropathy

Recent acquisitions on the early detection and monitoring of the progression of diabetic complications (nephropathy) using the techniques of enzymology (lysosomal enzymes) are reviewed. it appears that the kidney is the principal source of urinary lysosomal enzymes. Urinary samples for lysosomal enzyme determination can be either 24-hour or spot-collection. The use of synthetic substrates (4-methylumbelliferyl substrates) provides an easy, inexpensive, sensitive and highly reproducible method of lysosomal enzyme assay. It is recommended that more than one enzyme be assayed in the process. The use of fractional enzyme excretion (FEE) ratios is further recommended. The urinary lysosomal glycosidases investigated and found to be of particular diagnostic value in the early detection of diabetic nephropathy include N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (β-hexosaminidase, NAG), β-glucuronidase and β-galactosidase, with NAG being the most useful indicator. Urinary NAG can be used in monitoring the progression of diabetic nephropathy. The fluorimetric assay of lysosomal glycosidases is particuarly recommended in developing countries since it is simple, sensitive and inexpensive.     

Inhibitory control,dyadic social behavior,and mental health difficulties in preschoolers

Although inhibitory control is typically associated with positive outcomes, several theoretical frameworks suggest that too little and too much inhibitory control may be problematic. Using a longitudinal, latent variable approach, we examined whether a multi-method index of inhibitory control at Time 1 (N = 105, 52 girls, M_age = 3.50 years, 87% White) predicted observed social behavior with an unfamiliar peer and maternal report of preschoolers’ mental health difficulties at Time 2 (M_age = 4.76 years). Data collection occurred between 2017 and 2019. Inhibitory control displayed a U-shaped relation with prospective outcomes, where high and low levels of inhibitory control were associated with higher levels of avoidant social behaviors and mental health difficulties. The results are discussed in the context of under- and over-regulation in understanding individual differences in children's social behavior and mental health difficulties.