The psychometric properties of the Slovenian translation of the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity : a study among Roman Catholic undergraduate students

In order to contribute to a growing international research programme concerned with the correlations, antecedents and consequences of individual differences in attitude toward religion, the Francis Scale of Attitude toward Christianity was translated into Slovenian. Data provided by a sample of 808 undergraduate students affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church supported the internal consistency reliability and construct validity of this instrument and commended it for further use in studies conducted in Slovenia

The neural basis of unwanted thoughts during resting state.

Human beings are constantly engaged in thought. Sometimes thoughts occur repetitively and can become distressing. Up to now the neural bases of these intrusive or unwanted thoughts is largely unexplored. To study the neural correlates of unwanted thoughts, we acquired resting-state fMRI data of 41 female healthy subjects and assessed the self-reported amount of unwanted thoughts during measurement. We analyzed local connectivity by means of regional homogeneity (ReHo) and functional connectivity of a seed region. More unwanted thoughts (state) were associated with lower ReHo in right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and higher ReHo in left striatum (putamen). Additional seed-based analysis revealed higher functional connectivity of the left striatum with left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) in participants reporting more unwanted thoughts. The state-dependent higher connectivty in left striatum was positively correlated with rumination assessed with a dedicated questionnaire focussing on trait aspects. Unwanted thoughts are associated with activity in the fronto-striatal brain circuitry. The reduction of local connectivity in DLPFC could reflect deficiencies in thought suppression processes, whereas the hightened activity in left striatum could imply an imbalance of gating mechanisms housed in basal ganglia. Its functional connectivity to left IFG is discussed as the result of thought-related speech processes

Meningkatkan Hasil Belajar Siswa Pada Pembelajaran IPS Dengan Menggunakan Media Gambar Kelas V SDN Osan

Permasalahan dalam penelitian ini adalah rendahnya hasil belajar siswa pada mata pelajaran IPS di Kelas V SDN Osan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk meningkatkan hasil belajar siswa pada pembelajaran IPS dengan menggunakan media gambar.Jenis Penelitian ini adalah penelitian tindakan kelas (PTK). Subjek penelitian ini adalah siswa kelas V SDN Osan sebanyak 25 orang, yang terdiri dari 10 laki-laki dan 15 orang siswa perempuan.Teknik pengumpulan data dilakukan melalui dua cara yaitu:Tes tertulis dan Observasi. Teknik analisis data yang digunakan adalah analisis data kualitatif yang dilakukan melalui tiga tahap, yaitu reduksi data, penyajian data dan verifikasi/penarikan kesimpulan.Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pada siklus I diperoleh Daya Serap Individu (DSI) sebesar 64,88% dan Tuntas Klasikal (TK) sebesar 44% dan nilai rata-rata sebesar 64,88% dan pada siklus II menunjukkan Daya Serap Individu (DSI) sebesar 71,84% dan Tuntas Klasikal (TK) sebesar 80% dan nilai rata-rata (NR) 71,84%. Adapun hasil observasi aktivitas guru dan siswa mengalami peningkatan dari siklus I ke siklus II mencapai kategori yang sangat baik.Berdasarkan hasil penelitian tersebut, dapat disimpulkan bahwa penggunaan media gambar dalam pembelajaran IPS dapat meningkatkan hasil belajar siswa kelas V SDN Osan

Normalized Information Distance

The normalized information distance is a universal distance measure for objects of all kinds. It is based on Kolmogorov complexity and thus uncomputable, but there are ways to utilize it. First, compression algorithms can be used to approximate the Kolmogorov complexity if the objects have a string representation. Second, for names and abstract concepts, page count statistics from the World Wide Web can be used. These practical realizations of the normalized information distance can then be applied to machine learning tasks, expecially clustering, to perform feature-free and parameter-free data mining. This chapter discusses the theoretical foundations of the normalized information distance and both practical realizations. It presents numerous examples of successful real-world applications based on these distance measures, ranging from bioinformatics to music clustering to machine translation.Comment: 33 pages, 12 figures, pdf, in: Normalized information distance, in: Information Theory and Statistical Learning, Eds. M. Dehmer, F. Emmert-Streib, Springer-Verlag, New-York, To appea

Capillary-Wave Model for the Solidification of Dilute Binary Alloys

Starting from a phase-field description of the isothermal solidification of a dilute binary alloy, we establish a model where capillary waves of the solidification front interact with the diffusive concentration field of the solute. The model does not rely on the sharp-interface assumption, and includes non-equilibrium effects, relevant in the rapid-growth regime. In many applications it can be evaluated analytically, culminating in the appearance of an instability which, interfering with the Mullins-Sekerka instability, is similar to that, found by Cahn in grain-boundary motion.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figure

Analysis of the kinetic mechanism of recombinant human isoprenylcysteine carboxylmethyltransferase (Icmt)

BACKGROUND: Isoprenylcysteine carboxyl methyltransferase (Icmt) is the third of three enzymes that posttranslationally modify proteins that contain C-terminal CaaX motifs. The processing of CaaX proteins through this so-called prenylation pathway via a route initiated by addition of an isoprenoid lipid is required for both membrane targeting and function of the proteins. The involvement of many CaaX proteins such as Ras GTPases in oncogenesis and other aberrant proliferative disorders has led to the targeting of the enzymes involved in their processing for therapeutic development, necessitating a detailed understanding of the mechanisms of the enzymes. RESULTS: In this study, we have investigated the kinetic mechanism of recombinant human Icmt. In the reaction catalyzed by Icmt, S-adenosyl-L-methionine (AdoMet) provides the methyl group that is transferred to the second substrate, the C-terminal isoprenylated cysteine residue of a CaaX protein, thereby generating a C-terminal prenylcysteine methyl ester on the protein. To facilitate the kinetic analysis of Icmt, we synthesized a new small molecule substrate of the enzyme, biotin-S-farnesyl-L-cysteine (BFC). Initial kinetic analysis of Icmt suggested a sequential mechanism for the enzyme that was further analyzed using a dead end competitive inhibitor, S-farnesylthioacetic acid (FTA). Inhibition by FTA was competitive with respect to BFC and uncompetitive with respect to AdoMet, indicating an ordered mechanism with SAM binding first. To investigate the order of product dissociation, product inhibition studies were undertaken with S-adenosyl-L-homocysteine (AdoHcy) and the N-acetyl-S-farnesyl-L-cysteine methylester (AFCME). This analysis indicated that AdoHcy is a competitive inhibitor with respect to AdoMet, while AFCME shows a noncompetitive inhibition with respect to BFC and a mixed-type inhibition with respect to AdoMet. These studies established that AdoHcy is the final product released, and that BFC and AFCME bind to different forms of the enzyme. CONCLUSIONS: These studies establish that catalysis by human Icmt proceeds through an ordered sequential mechanism and provide a kinetic framework for analysis of specific inhibitors of this key enzyme

Azimuthal angle for boson-jet production in the back-to-back limit

We show for the first time that the azimuthal angle between a vector boson and a jet, when using the Winner-Take-All recombination scheme, can be predicted at high precision in the back-to-back limit in the transverse plane. Specifically, we present a factorization theorem, and obtain numerical predictions at next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic (NNLL) accuracy. To allow for improved angular resolution, we provide results for track-based jet reconstruction, which only requires minimal changes in the calculation. We also find that linearly-polarized transverse momentum dependent (TMD) beam and jet functions enter at next-to-leading order (NLO) in the factorization theorem, originating from spin superpositions for one gluon, rather than the known case of spin correlations between gluons. We validate the switch from calorimetry to tracks using Pythia, and confirm the presence of linearly-polarized TMD functions using MCFM.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure