Personality Traits Are Associated With Cortical Development Across Adolescence: A Longitudinal Structural MRI Study

How personality traits relate to structural brain changes in development is an important but understudied question. In this study, cortical thickness (CT) and surface area (SA), estimated using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), were investigated in 99 participants aged 8–19 years. Follow‐up MRI data were collected after on average 2.6 years for 74 individuals. The Big Five personality traits were related to longitudinal regional CT or SA development, but limited cross‐sectional relations were observed. Conscientiousness, emotional stability, and imagination were associated with more age‐expected cortical thinning over time. The results suggest that the substantial individual variability observed in personality traits may partly be explained by cortical maturation across adolescence, implying a developmental origin for personality–brain relations observed in adults.     

Student attitudes that predict participation in peer assessment

Peer assessment has been widely applied to actively engage students in learning to write. However, sometimes students resist peer assessment. This study explores reviewers’ attitudes and other underlying factors that influence students’ participation in online peer assessment. Participants were 234 Chinese undergraduates from two different academic backgrounds: engineering majors (n = 168) and English majors (n = 66). Gender, academic background and prior experience with peer assessment were all related to participation levels. Moreover, factor analyses revealed three attitudinal factors: (1) positive attitude (a general endorsement of the benefits of peer assessment), (2) interpersonal negative (concerns about the negative effects on interpersonal relationships), and (3) procedural negative (doubts about the procedural rationality of peer assessment). Among the attitudinal factors, procedural negative was negatively associated with participation, as expected. Interestingly, interpersonal negative was associated with greater participation, and positive attitude was associated with lower participation, in part because students worked hard on each review rather than doing many reviews superficially. Implications for instruction are discussed.     

The climate for entrepreneurship at higher education institutions

While the importance of a supportive context for entrepreneurship is widely acknowledged, its antecedents are rarely investigated. We apply the concept of organizational climate to higher education institutions and examine the drivers of students’ perceptions of the entrepreneurial climate in their university. Combining data from two unique datasets and using multilevel techniques, we analyze the relationship between university characteristics and such climate perceptions of 8009 students at public universities in Germany. We find university entrepreneurship measures to have a positive effect on students’ climate perceptions, which also depend on students’ background and gender. In addition, we find evidence for different peer effects, depending on students’ affinity for entrepreneurship. For the general student population, including entrepreneurship content in their normal studies seems to be required to initiate a social process of sensemaking. However, students’ perception of the entrepreneurial climate only depend to a certain degree on intentional entrepreneurship measures. In our study, general university characteristics have the strongest influence on climate perceptions. Overall, our study adds to our understanding of which parameters are important for establishing a more favorable and inspiring climate for becoming an entrepreneur at higher education institutions.     

Sozialer Status und Spendenverhalten Ehrenamtlicher in Sportvereinen

While much research has been done to analyze whether socioeconomic status influences prosocial behavior in the form of donations, no consensus has yet emerged in the relevant literature. We contribute to this research by studying, based on a dataset from a questionnaire of volunteers of sports clubs in Palatinate (part of Rhineland–Palatinate, Germany) whether social status affects donations. We measured social status of volunteers of sports clubs along the dimensions income, vocation, education and we considered status crystallization. Results showed that social status has a positive effect on the likelihood of donations. We report similarities and differences across different categories of donations (donations to one’s own sports club, to other clubs, to aid projects, and political parties).     

Engines at top speed! Using the adventures of a comic book motorsports hero as an approach to understanding recent French history

Jean Graton created a series of comic books called Michel Vaillant, and its motorsports hero bore the same name. Michel Vaillant made his first appearance in 1957 in the weekly Tintin. Young French boys who loved adventure, sports and car racing greeted this publication with great enthusiasm. We studied the first series of Michel Vaillant, composed of 16 comic books produced in the 1960s. We have departed from traditional approaches and have based our method on the analysis of the sources of Graton’s inspiration. We link these sources to the comics’ text bubbles, visual signs and iconic meanings of the drawings. Our analysis of the comics’ iconography based on the establishment of a mass culture dedicated to the automobile brings to light the existence of an urge to go beyond the limits of tradition. Our research highlights that the success of Michel Vaillant is due, in the main, to the series’ detailed knowledge of the automobile sports industry, and to the myths of speed, youth and progress that it promulgates – myths in which its young male readers could see themselves reflected and which would also prepare them for the future.     

Weekday–weekend variations in mother-/father–child physical activity and screen time relationship: A cross-sectional study in a random sample of Czech families with 5- to 12-year-old children

This study assessed the associations between these factors in a random sample of Czech families with preschool and school-aged children. A nationally representative sample comprised 185 families with preschool children and 649 families with school-aged children (dyads; both parents and child n?=?365, mother and child n?=?730, and father and child n?=?469). The participants wore Yamax Digiwalker SW-200 pedometers at least four weekdays and both weekend days and completed family logbooks (anthropometric parameters, daily step counts (SC), and screen time (ST)). When a parent (fathers at weekends and mothers both on weekdays and at weekends) achieved 10,000 SC per day, their children were also significantly (OR?=?2.93–6.06, 95% CI?=?2.02–9.26) more likely to meet the daily SC recommendation. On the contrary, the involvement of fathers in organized leisure-time PA reduced their children's odds of meeting the SC recommendation on weekdays (OR?=?0.53, 95% CI?=?0.31–0.89) and at weekends (OR?=?0.41, 95% CI?=?0.24–0.72). The excessive ST of parents at weekends reduced the odds of their children meeting the SC recommendation (mother–child dyads: OR?=?0.44, 95% CI?=?0.26–0.72; father–child dyads: OR?=?0.63, 95% CI?=?0.37–1.06). High levels of parents’ PA contribute to the achievement of the recommended daily PA in children on weekdays and at weekends. Excessive weekend ST of parents reduces their odds of their children achieving the recommended daily PA; however, the influence of parents’ PA on their children’s achieving the recommended daily PA is stronger than the inhibitory effect of ST.     

Improving Silent Reading Performance Through Feedback on Eye Movements: A Feasibility Study

This feasibility study investigated if feedback about individual eye movements, reflecting varying word processing stages, can improve reading performance. Twenty-five university students read 90 newspaper articles during 9 eye-tracking sessions. Training group participants (n = 12) were individually briefed before each session, which eye movement parameter(s) (fixation count, first fixation duration, regression, and/or skipping) to address, and informed about changes achieved in preceding sessions. Control group participants (n = 13) were told that self-instruction to read faster would produce training gains. Total fixation times decreased significantly more for training than for control group participants. Important to note, faster reading did not impair comprehension. Results are interpreted as first indications for a possible applicability of the feedback approach to silent reading. In addition to implications for future studies, alternative result interpretations (e.g., motivational effects, reduction of mindless reading) are discussed.     

A hybrid microfluidic platform for cell-based assays via diffusive and convective trans-membrane perfusion

We present a novel 3D hybrid assembly of a polymer microfluidic chip with polycarbonate track-etched membrane (PCTEM) enabling membrane-supported cell culture. Two chip designs have been developed to establish either diffusive or convective reagent delivery using the integrated PCTEM. While it is well suited to a range of cell-based assays, we specifically employ this platform for the screening of a common antitumor chemotoxic agent (mitomycin C – MMC) on the HL60 myeloid leukemia cell line. The toxic activity of MMC is based on the generation of severe DNA damage in the cells. Using either mode of operation, the HL60 cells were cultured on-chip before, during, and after exposure to MMC at concentrations ranging from 0 to 50 μM. Cell viability was analysed off-chip by the trypan blue dye exclusion assay. The results of the on-chip viability assay were found to be consistent with those obtained off-chip and indicated ca. 40% cell survival at MMC concentration of 50 μM. The catalogue of capabilities of the here described cell assay platform comprises of (i) the culturing of cells either under shear-free conditions or under induced through-membrane flows, (ii) the tight time control of the reagent exposure, (iii) the straightforward assembly of devices, (iv) the flexibility on the choice of the membrane, and, prospectively, (v) the amenability for large-scale parallelization.