Technique Feature Analysis or Involvement Load Hypothesis: Estimating Their Predictive Power in Vocabulary Learning

Vocabulary learning has always been a great concern and has attracted the attention of many researchers. Among the vocabulary learning hypotheses, involvement load hypothesis and technique feature analysis have been proposed which attempt to bring some concepts like noticing, motivation, and generation into focus. In the current study, 90 high proficiency EFL students were assigned into three vocabulary tasks of sentence making, composition, and reading comprehension in order to examine the power of involvement load hypothesis and technique feature analysis frameworks in predicting vocabulary learning. It was unraveled that involvement load hypothesis cannot be a good predictor, and technique feature analysis was a good predictor in pretest to posttest score change and not in during-task activity. The implications of the results will be discussed in the light of preparing vocabulary tasks.     

Varying Responsibilities Across Job & Home Domains and Employee Well Being

This study is aimed at signifying the importance of the management of employee well being. We identify that when individuals are involved in different roles at job and at home, such interaction affects the wellbeing of employees. Specifically, the effect of work family conflict and facilitation on employee satisfaction is studied. Data was collected from a sample of 291 employees of different organizations in the service sector. Structured equation modeling was used to test the fit of two proposed models and to validate the hypothetical relationships among the study variables. Both, job and home directions, of work family conflict and facilitation were found related to satisfaction at job and at home. The results indicate that the management of work family conflict and facilitation is inevitable for ensuring the well being of employees.     

Analysis of drivers’ behavior under reduced visibility conditions using a Structural Equation Modeling approach

One way to improve safety under reduced visibility conditions (i.e., reduce the chances of visibility related crashes) is to improve drivers’ behavior under such adverse weather conditions. The aim of this paper is to thoroughly examine drivers’ responses under low visibility conditions and quantify the impacts and values of various factors found to be related to drivers’ compliance and drivers’ satisfaction with variable speed limit (VSL) and changeable message signs (CMS) instructions in different visibility, traffic conditions, and on two types of roadways; freeways and two-lane roads.The data used for the analyses were obtained from a self-reported questionnaire survey carried out among 566 drivers in Central Florida, USA. To achieve these goals, Explanatory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approaches were adopted.The results revealed that drivers’ satisfaction with VSL/CMS was the most significant factor that positively affected drivers’ compliance with advice or warning messages displayed on VSL/CMS under different fog conditions followed by human factors. Moreover, it was found that roadway type affected drivers’ compliance to VSL instructions under medium and heavy fog conditions. Furthermore, drivers’ familiarity with VSL and human factors were the significant factors affecting drivers’ satisfaction with VSL/CMS advice under reduced visibility conditions. Based on the findings of the present study, several recommendations are suggested as guidelines to improve drivers’ behavior in such reduced visibility conditions by enhancing drivers’ compliance with VSL/CMS instructions.     

Trait Self-esteem Moderates Decreases in Self-control Following Rejection: An Information-processing Account

In the current paper, the authors posit that trait self-esteem moderates the relationship between social rejection and decrements in self-control, propose an information-processing account of trait self-esteem's moderating influence and discuss three tests of this theory. The authors measured trait self-esteem, experimentally manipulated social rejection and assessed subsequent self-control in Studies 1 and 2. Additionally, Study 3 framed a self-control task as diagnostic of social skills to examine motivational influences. Together, the results reveal that rejection impairs self-control, but only among low self-esteem individuals. Moreover, this decrement in self-control only emerged when the task had no social implications-suggesting that low self-esteem individuals exert effort on tasks of social value and are otherwise preoccupied with belonging needs when completing nonsocial tasks.     

Perception of phosphenes and flashed alphabetical characters is enhanced by single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation of anterior frontal lobe: the thalamic gate hypothesis

Single pulses of transcranial magnetic stimulation (sTMS) restricted locally to the primary cortical areas for somatosensory and visual input, unlike the effects of repetitive stimulation, usually fail to elicit projected sensations. We tested the effect of sTMS over anterior frontal cortex in facilitating phosphenes from preceding sTMS over calcarine cortex, which alone was rarely effective in eliciting phosphenes. The combined sTMS elicited complex phosphenes, which changed with the site of frontal sTMS and the interstimulus interval. Our results show that sTMS over anterior frontal cortex also improved reporting of weakly illuminated, flashed four-letter stimuli, which permitted its statistical validation. We propose that the present demonstration of frontal cortical facilitation of visual awareness, when combined with the previous finding of projected paresthesias and sense of movement (Amassian et al, 1991 Brain 114 2505-2520), provide evidence of a general frontal opening effect on a thalamic gate. Opening this gate facilitates entry of information from primary cortical receiving areas to thalamus. Thereby, the reciprocal thalamocortical interrelations that subserve conscious awareness of sensory stimuli could be fostered.     

Ethical Dilemmas at the End of Life: Islamic Perspective

Many Muslim patients and families are often reluctant to accept fatal diagnoses and prognoses. Not infrequently, aggressive therapy is sought by the patient or his/her family, to prolong the life of the patient at all costs. A series of searches were conducted of Medline databases published in English between January 2000 and January 2015 with the following Keywords: End-of-life, Ethics and Islam. Islamic law permits the withdrawal of futile treatment, including all kinds of life support, from terminally ill patients leaving death to take its natural course. However, such decision should only take place when the physicians are confident that death is inevitable. All interventions ensuring patient’s comfort and dignity should be maintained. This topic is quite challenging for the health care providers of Muslim patients in the Western World.     

The Effect of Holy Qur’an Recitation on Depressive Symptoms in Hemodialysis Patients: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Patients with advanced renal failure often face considerable sociopsychological stress as a result of lifestyle changes due to the disease and its treatment. The aim of the present study is to examine the effect of the Holy Qur’an recitation on depressive symptoms in hemodialysis patients. In this clinical trial, 54 hemodialysis patients were randomized to either an experimental (n = 27) or a control (n = 27) group. Patients completed the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) at baseline and at 1 month after the intervention. Participants in the experimental group listened to recitation of the Holy Qur’an, while those in the control group received no intervention. The mean BDI-II score at baseline was 33.6 (±6.7) for the experimental group and 29.3 (±9.0) for the control group; at the end of treatment, BDI-II scores in the experimental and control groups were 14.5 (±4.8) and 31.6 (±9.2), respectively. Results from the repeated-measures general linear model controlling for baseline differences indicated a significant treatment effect (F = 9.30, p = 0.004, Cohen’s d = 0.85). Holy Qur’an recitation has a significant effect on lowering depressive symptoms in hemodialysis patients. Holy Qur’an recitation is an easy-to-implement and cost-effective strategy that may be used to supplement the treatment of depression in this setting in Iran.

     

Language Learners’ Writing Task Representation and Its Effect on Written Performance in an EFL Context

The present study attempts to give an account of how students represent writing task in an EAP course. Further, the study is intended to discover if learners’ mental representation of writing would contribute to their written performance. During a 16-week term, students were instructed to practice writing as a problem solving activity. At almost the end of the term, they were prompted to write on what they thought writing task was like and also an essay on an argumentative topic. The results revealed that students could conceptualize the instructed recursive model of writing as a process-based, multi-dimensional and integrated activity inducing self-direction and organization while holding in low regard the product view of writing. The findings also demonstrated that task representation was related to the students’ writing performance, with process oriented students significantly outperforming the product-oriented ones. Also, it was found that task representation components (ideational, linguistic, textual, interpersonal) had a significant relationship with the written performance (\(\upbeta =0.59\); Sig.: 0.006). The study can have both theoretical and practical implications with regard to the factors involving the students’ writing internal processes and their effects on written performance.     

The influence of social identity on value perceptions and intention

Despite much research on consumers' brand identification, researchers remain divided regarding the conceptualization of the dimensions underlying social identity and how these dimensions impact marketing outcome variables. Further, previous studies have failed to examine the underlying psychological process driving this effect. The current research is the first to assess the importance of affective social identity as the mediator through which cognitive social identity impacts consumers' purchase intentions by ways of emotional and social value. Results show that affective social identity mediates the relationship between cognitive social identity and emotional value, where affect is the main driver in the formation of purchase intention. This study highlights the need to model cognitive and affective social identity separately and provides insight into how consumers' social identification influences their perceptions of identity‐linked products. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.