Testing Alternative Hypotheses Regarding the Association Between Behavioral Inhibition and Language Development in Toddlerhood

Studies have reported an inverse association between language development and behavioral inhibition or shyness across childhood, but the direction of this association remains unclear. This study tested alternative hypotheses regarding this association in a large sample of toddlers. Data on behavioral inhibition and expressive and receptive language abilities were collected from 816 twins at ages 14, 20, and 24 months. Growth and regression models were fit to the data to assess the longitudinal associations between behavioral inhibition and language development from 14 to 24 months. Overall, there were significant associations between behavioral inhibition and expressive language, and minimal associations with receptive language, indicating that the association is better explained by reticence to respond rather than deficient language development.     

理想的图书馆员和信息专家的素质与形象

论述图书情报工作所需的知识、技能和道德。附录部分引介了美国专门图书馆协会提交的“21世纪专门图书馆员必备的素质”的报告。     

The Impact of CMS Quality on the Outcomes of E‐learning Systems in Higher Education: An Empirical Study

Course Management Systems (CMSs) in higher education have emerged as one of the most widely adopted e‐learning platforms. This study examines the success of e‐learning CMSs based on user satisfaction and benefits. Using DeLone and McLean's information system success model as a theoretical framework, we analyze the success of e‐learning CMSs in five dimensions: system quality, information quality, instructional quality, user satisfaction, and CMS benefits. An analysis of survey data collected from students participating in a university‐wide CMS shows that system quality, information quality, and instructional quality positively influence user satisfaction, which, in turn, increases the benefits of CMSs. By providing a comprehensive framework for the critical success factors in e‐learning CMSs and their causal relationships, this study provides practical implications for managing e‐learning courses and resources for a more flexible and effective CMS‐centered, e‐learning environment.     

Utilizing online learning data to design face-to-face activities in a flipped classroom: a case study of heterogeneous group formation

This study investigates the possibility of utilizing online learning data to design face-to-face activities in a flipped classroom. We focus on heterogeneous group formation for effective collaborative learning. Fifty-three undergraduate students (18 males, 35 females) participated in this study, and 8 students (3 males, 5 females) among them joined post-study interviews. For this study, a total of 6 student characteristics were used: three demographic characteristics obtained from a simple survey and three academic characteristics captured from online learning data. We define three demographic group heterogeneity variables and three academic group heterogeneity variables, where each variable is calculated using the corresponding student characteristic. In this way, each heterogeneity variables represents a degree of diversity within the group. Then, a two-stage hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to identify the significant group heterogeneity variables that influence face-to-face group achievement. The results show that the academic group heterogeneity variables, which were derived from the online learning data, accounted for a significant proportion of the variance in the group achievement when the demographic group heterogeneity variables were controlled. The interviews also reveal that the academic group heterogeneity indeed affected group interaction and learning outcome. These findings highlight that online learning data can be utilized to obtain relevant information for effective face-to-face activity design in a flipped classroom. Based on the results, we discuss the advantages of this data utilization approach and other implications for face-to-face activity design.

     

Technology Readiness, Learning Goals, and eLearning: Searching for Synergy

More and more business schools are offering classes online or classes using a mix of face‐to‐face and online elements. In this article, we focus on how technology readiness and learning‐goal orientation influence students' preference toward these mixed classes. We conducted a large‐scale survey to determine whether students who are technology ready would place higher utility on enrolling in mixed classes and/or whether there exists a participation bias such that students with low learning‐goal orientation place higher utility on enrolling in mixed classes. We found that overall students who are more technology ready do place higher utility on enrolling in mixed classes, but that learning‐goal orientation does not influence this decision. We conclude with implications and recommendations for business schools that are interested in offering mixed classes.     

Archival appraisal practice in U.S. state archives and records management programs

The quantity of government records has grown dramatically since the rapid development of information technology starting in the mid-twentieth century. This ever-expanding body of records has challenged the limited resources of government archives. Though U.S. government archivists constantly try to identify valuable government records among the geometrically increasing total, in order to justify spending public money on their preservation, little is known about how U.S. state archives and records management programs go about the process. The study discussed in this paper is the first to empirically investigate nationwide archival appraisal practice in U.S. state archives and records management programs. The study answered two research questions: How do U.S. state archivists and records managers conceptually define archival appraisal? How do U.S. state archivists and records managers practice archival appraisal of state government records? The study used an online survey and interviews for data collection and SPSS software and NVivo8 software for data analysis. This paper discusses the research topic and concludes with recommendations for practitioners and further studies.     

Genetic and Environmental Influences on Negative Life Events From Late Childhood to Adolescence

This multiwave longitudinal study tested two quantitative genetic developmental models to examine genetic and environmental influences on exposure to negative dependent and independent life events. Participants (N = 457 twin pairs) completed measures of life events annually from ages 9 to 16. The same genetic factors influenced exposure to dependent events across time and increased in magnitude during the transition to adolescence. Independent events were less genetically influenced than dependent events in boys, but not girls. Shared environmental influences decreased in magnitude as youth transitioned into adolescence. Nonshared environmental influences were mostly age specific and contributed significantly to both types of events at all ages. Results provide theoretical implications for developmental risk pathways to stress exposure and stress‐related psychopathology.     

Versatile on-demand droplet generation for controlled encapsulation

We present a droplet-based microfluidic system for performing bioassays requiring controlled analyte encapsulation by employing highly flexible on-demand droplet generation. On-demand droplet generation and encapsulation are achieved pneumatically using a microdispensing pump connected to a constant pressure source. The system generates single droplets to the collection route only when the pump is actuated with a designated pressure level and produces two-phase parallel flow to the waste route during the stand-by state. We analyzed the effect of actuation pressure on the stability and size of droplets and optimized conditions for generation of stable droplets over a wide pressure range. By increasing the duration of pump actuation, we could either trigger a short train of identical size droplets or generate a single larger droplet. We also investigated the methodology to control droplet contents by fine-tuning flow rates or implementing a resistance bridge between the pump and main channels. We demonstrated the integrated chip for on-demand mixing between two aqueous phases in droplets and on-demand encapsulation of Escherichia coli cells. Our unique on-demand feature for selective encapsulation is particularly appropriate for bioassays with extremely dilute samples, such as pathogens in a clinical sample, since it can significantly reduce the number of empty droplets that impede droplet collection and subsequent data analysis.     

Political homophily on social network sites and users' poll skepticism

Although many studies have investigated citizens' attitudes toward polls and the political consequences, there have been no studies examining the effects of social network site (SNS) users' opinion environments on their poll skepticism. Based on prior studies on poll skepticism, we examine the relationship between perceived SNS opinion environments, poll skepticism, perceived concerns over the negative influence of the polls, and voting intention in an upcoming election. Using the survey data of the 2012 South Korean General Election, this study found that if the published polls are against respondents' political position, their homophilous SNS opinion environments promote poll skepticism, and augmented poll skepticism leads to concerns over the negative influence of the polls on other voters, which in turn increases voting intention.