Effects of a Prosocial Skills Curriculum in an Afterschool Program

School-based substance use prevention and prosocial skills-based interventions have demonstrated promise, however, there is less known about the cognitive and behavioral benefits of such programs conducted in afterschool settings. A four-lesson, early intervention program focused on prosocial behavior development and facilitated by community substance use prevention coalition members was delivered to early elementary-aged participants in an afterschool program. Participant prevention knowledge as measured by brief pre-post quiz improved significantly (p < 0.001), but their mentor-observed prosocial behaviors as measured by pre-post behavioral attribute scale did not. A brief afterschool early prevention intervention can change substance use knowledge among early elementary participants. Prosocial behavior change, though, still warrants future investigation in the afterschool setting.

Novel Distance Metric for Touch less Footprint Based Identification Technique

In this fast-paced technology-driven today's era, biometrics is not the new buzzword in the information security domain. Biometrics uses any physiological or/ and behavioral attribute/s of an individual for personal identification and/or verification. In biometrics, so many traits, like a fingerprint, face, palm, retina, iris, ECG, gait, voice, and signature, etc., have been used from ages to uniquely identify a human being. Biometrics based on Footprints is the latest practice for personal identification. Like fingerprints and palmprints, footprints of individuals carry uniqueness; hence can be used in biometrics for personal recognition. This work investigates the powerfulness of footprints by extracting texture and shape features using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) method based upon Eigenfeet and introduces a new distance metric during the matching phase. Experimental results show that the new distance metric shows better results in comparison to the Euclidean, Manhattan and Mahalanobis distances.

Understanding IFRS adoption

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discern the impact of main behavioral factors that could affect the decision of adopting IFRS in developing countries (DCs). In other words, this work looks to identify the different variables that are likely to influence the adoption of IFRS in these countries. Design/methodology/approach The methodological orientation of this research is to highlight and analyze the correlation between the cited factors and the IFRS adoption in DCs. Tested models are functions of logistic regression. To assess the parameters of these functions, the commonly used method is not that of ordinary least square but the maximum likelihood technique. In short, this study followed a hypothetical-deductive methodology by referring to the application of a logistic regression for each of the variables presumed to be analyzed. The authors implement this empirical model by using the neo-institutional approach and basing on a sample of 108 DCs. Findings The empirical results show that there exists a bidirectional causal relationship between the majority of the developed behavioral variables and the decision of whether adopting or unadopting IFRS by DCs. They also indicate through multivariate analysis that the selection of IFRS by DCs is primarily legitimized by institutional and social pressures (institutional isomorphism). Research limitations/implications It is essential to indicate that some limits might be assigned to the study. They are attached principally to the use of a dichotomous dependent variable which presents a restriction in a sense where the robust inequality at the level of the numbers of the countries of sub-samples can relatively weaken the findings. There are also few studies that jointly analyze the behavioral dimensions within a country and the adoption of IFRS. Institutional theory emanated from the research has proved useful in escaping this limit. Practical implications These empirical insights are of particular interest to local accounting standard setters of the selected countries since they can provide a better discernment of factors that can encourage the adoption of IFRS. Indeed, the research can be a reference for governments to better identify the economic, political and institutional obstacles that have an impact on behaviors which could compel countries to flee the adoption of IFRS. This paper will also be helpful for future research studying the links between human behavior and accounting in a general way. It should be noted that the results will be significant for future studies looking for real behavioral factors that drive a country to adopt an accounting framework. The studies will be able to use the empirical variables as a starting point and then they can extract new measures to identify the impact of behavior on decisions to adopt any standards. Originality/value At the present study, the authors strive to provide input to the literature by focusing on the determinants of the choice of an accounting practice in a DC reverberating to a new dimension which is the behavioral attribute.

Social Distance and Behavioral Attributes of Developmentally Handicapped and Normal Children

20 behavioral attributes predicting social distance were examined among 101 junior high school students in six classrooms. The sample included 8 developmentally handicapped students, of whom at least one of each was mainstreamed into each classroom. Subjects were predominantly white, middle-class, suburban midwesterners. A sociometric nomination measure was used to obtain behavioral attribute profiles of the students which were then used to predict a psychometric measure of social distance. Handicapped students were not more socially distant than their normal peers. Factor analysis of the 20 behavioral attributes yielded four factors, three of which were significant predictors of classroom social distance, accounting for better than half the variance in social distance. These were described as Incompetent/Unassertive, Positive/Active/Assertive, and Passive/Unassertive. Social rejection in mainstreamed classrooms is more a function of perceived behavioral attributes than the label developmentally handicapped.