Cognitive Distortions and Depression among Undergraduate Students

Dysfunctional thoughts manifest themselves in regular moods of depression. This study explored the relationship between cognitive distortions and depression among undergraduate students. The study also examined the influence of students’ personal characteristics (gender, age, and educational level) on cognitive distortions and depression. A total of two hundred undergraduate students from the University of Ghana responded to both Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI) and the Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire (ATQ). Analyses of data reveal a positive and significant relationship between cognitive distortions and depression. However, no relationship was found between age and cognitive distortions and depression. Again, there was no gender difference in depression and cognitive distortions. Finally, there was a significant impact of educational level on depression but not on cognitive distortions. The findings of the study are discussed. Keywords: Cognitive distortions, depression, undergraduate students, age, gender, and educational leve

Optical nanolithography using a scanning near-field probe with an integrated light source

An ultracompact near-field optical probe is described that is based on a single, integrated assembly consisting of a gallium nitride (GaN) light-emitting diode (LED), a microlens, and a cantilever assembly containing a hollow pyramidal probe with a subwavelength aperture at its apex. The LED emits ultraviolet light and may be used as a light source for near-field photolithographic exposure. Using this simple device compatible with many commercial atomic force microscope systems, it is possible to form nanostructures in photoresist with a resolution of 35 nm, corresponding to λ/10. © 2008 American Institute of Physics

Interrogating the Teaching and Learning of English in Nigeria: Still in Search of an Enabling Principle

With the understanding that effective communication is the central goal in any second language situation, this paper examines how best to achieve this in the light of the current curriculum for the teaching of English in Nigeria. The way the English language is taught at all the levels of education in Nigeria leaves a lot to be desired, and therefore does not hold a promise of actualising the very end of language teaching and learning, which is the development of learners' communicative competence. The teaching and learning of English in Nigeria today is largely grammar-based, so that learners only take grammar lessons, leaving out the colour of language, which is literature. If literature is the colour of its language, teaching any language without its literature is teaching a bleached language. Any teaching method that adopts this antiseptic learning of the target language may not achieve much, as literature presents the best examples or manifestations of language use, and would serve as a veritable point of encounter with the language. The position of this work is that the divorce between ‘language' and ‘literature' in our educational curriculum is an anathema

How is Immigrant Entrepreneurial Opportunity Formation Influenced by Interactions Between Home and Host Countries?

This study examined how the entrepreneurial opportunity formation process among different ethnic groups was influenced by their origins and the cultural values accustomed to them. Using a qualitative phenomenological approach, data was collected from 20 participants (five each from four different ethnic groups) using an in-depth interview technique. The study found that the interactions between an immigrant\u27s home and host environments can take different forms (i.e., enablers and threats) which will influence their career choices in diverse ways. The study model framework showed that participants are influenced distinctly subject to their ethnic backgrounds and the nature of their interactions with the families

Why not just Google it? An assessment of information literacy skills in a biomedical science curriculum

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Few issues in higher education are as fundamental as the ability to search for, evaluate, and synthesize information. The need to develop information literacy, the process of finding, retrieving, organizing, and evaluating the ever-expanding collection of online information, has precipitated the need for training in skill-based competencies in higher education, as well as medical and dental education.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The current study evaluated the information literacy skills of first-year dental students, consisting of two, consecutive dental student cohorts (n = 160). An assignment designed to evaluate information literacy skills was conducted. In addition, a survey of student online search engine or database preferences was conducted to identify any significant associations. Subsequently, an intervention was developed, based upon the results of the assessment and survey, to address any deficiencies in information literacy.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Nearly half of students (n = 70/160 or 43%) missed one or more question components that required finding an evidence-based citation. Analysis of the survey revealed a significantly higher percentage of students who provided incorrect responses (n = 53/70 or 75.7%) reported using Google as their preferred online search method (p < 0.01). In contrast, a significantly higher percentage of students who reported using PubMed (n = 39/45 or 86.7%) were able to provide correct responses (p < 0.01). Following a one-hour intervention by a health science librarian, virtually all students were able to find and retrieve evidence-based materials for subsequent coursework.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study confirmed that information literacy among this student population was lacking and that integration of modules within the curriculum can help students to filter and establish the quality of online information, a critical component in the training of new health care professionals. Furthermore, incorporation of these modules early in the curriculum may be of significant value to other dental, medical, health care, and professional schools with similar goals of incorporating the evidence base into teaching and learning activities.</p