A cross-cultural investigation of teachers’ and reporting officers’ self-ratings on teaching and leadership skills across Singapore and Bahrain

Self-rating bias is particularly likely in organizational behavior research as individuals tend to inflate their expertise, skills and character. This study aims to examine how two culturally diverse groups of teachers and their reporting officers respond to self-ratings of their own teaching skills and leadership skills respectively. It is posited that such response may be culturally based. To ensure validity of comparisons, analyses were done using linear Rasch measures in logits rather than the non-linear raw scores. No significant differences were found between the perceptions of Singaporean teachers and their reporting officers on teaching and leadership skills. The Bahraini data however revealed teachers’ perceptions of own teaching skills were significantly higher than that of their reporting officers. The opposite is true for the Reporting officers’ perceptions of our leadership skills. Bahraini teachers’ perceptions of their own teaching skills were also found to be significantly higher than that of their Singaporean counterparts. The findings support the notion that individuals’ thinking and behavior is influenced by how they process social and cultural information.     

Super-twisting observer-based sliding mode control with fuzzy variable gains and its applications to fully-actuated hexarotors

In this paper, we consider the super-twisting observer-based sliding mode control algorithm with fuzzy variable gains (STOSMC) for the fully-actuated hexarotor. Our hexarotor has full actuation due to six titled propellers that allows to control position and orientation (attitude) simultaneously, and resolves the singularity problem of the rotational matrix by using the quaternion modeling framework. We show that the proposed STOSMC for the hexarotor guarantees finite-time convergence of the estimation error and asymptotic stability of the hexarotor. In simulations, we demonstrate the nonsingularity and fully-actuated control performance of the hexarotor by considering extreme position and attitude control scenarios. Moreover, the simulation results show that the hexarotor achieves the fast and precise tracking performance to the desired position and the desired attitude and the chattering phenomenon is reduced compared with the fixed-gains observer-based super-twisting sliding mode control due to the fuzzy mechanism.     

The diffusion of moisture in sorbent solids part II. activated alumina

Ordinary and thermal diffusion of moisture in activated alumina are investigated using a new diffusion cell design and scheme of analysis reported earlier. The specific form of the mass flux equation has a pronounced effect on the magnitude of the associated thermal diffusion ratio. In the case of activated alumina-moist air, if a partial pressure gradient is used, then the thermal diffusion term is small if not zero.Free, Knudsen and surface diffusion all play a part in the diffusion through activated alumina. However, surface diffusion makes the major contribution and for this reason the model in this case can be simplified to a two parameter surface model.The activation energy for surface diffusion is constant and is approximately equal to the mean isosteric heat of absorption. In addition, mean pore radius, turtuosity, and other physical constants are computed from the least square fit of experimental data. Furthermore, the model is theoretically consistent over the entire concentration range (0≦ C_A ≦ C_Asat).A new fact about activated alumina (Grade F1) it that it does not transfer moisture in a nonisothermal condition so long as the partial pressures of moisture on the two sides of the pellet are the same. There appears to be no previous report of this fact in the periodical literature.     

Differences between the sexes in the three-dimensional angular rotations of the lumbo-pelvic-hip complex during treadmill running

The aims of this experiment were to determine whether there are differences between the sexes in the three-dimensional angular rotations of the lumbo-pelvic-hip complex during running and, if such differences exist, to establish whether factors other than sex can explain the observed differences. A cohort of 44 non-injured runners (22 males, 22 females) who usually ran more than 20 km per week were voluntarily recruited. All trials were conducted on a treadmill at a running speed of 4.0 m x s(-1). Reflective markers were placed over specific anatomical landmarks of the thoraco-lumbar spine, pelvis and femur. Data were captured using a VICON motion analysis system. Females tended to display a greater peak-to-peak oscillation for most of the angular rotations. An offset was the main difference between the male and female group mean waveforms for pelvis anterior-posterior tilt. Forward stepwise regression analysis revealed that sex was the most common variable related to the amplitudes of the angular rotations. Given these results, sport scientists conducting future biomechanical studies using angular data to test hypotheses are advised to be extremely cautious about averaging across male and female participants.     

A Mixture IRTree Model for Extreme Response Style: Accounting for Response Process Uncertainty

This paper presents a mixture item response tree (IRTree) model for extreme response style. Unlike traditional applications of single IRTree models, a mixture approach provides a way of representing the mixture of respondents following different underlying response processes (between individuals), as well as the uncertainty present at the individual level (within an individual). Simulation analyses reveal the potential of the mixture approach in identifying subgroups of respondents exhibiting response behavior reflective of different underlying response processes. Application to real data from the Students Like Learning Mathematics (SLM) scale of Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015 demonstrates the superior comparative fit of the mixture representation, as well as the consequences of applying the mixture on the estimation of content and response style traits. We argue that methodology applied to investigate response styles should attend to the inherent uncertainty of response style influence due to the likely influence of both response styles and the content trait on the selection of extreme response categories.     

A moderated mediation model of political collective action in Hong Kong: examining the roles of social media consumption and social identity

Adopting a communication mediation approach, this study explores the role of overall social networking service (SNS) use in facilitating people’s participation in collective political action through the mediation of online and offline political discussions. The study also underscores the moderating effect on the mediation process of both social identity and geographical origin. Moderated mediation analyses reveal that the positive impact of overall SNS use on participation mediated by offline discussion is stronger for people with higher Hong Kong identity and for people from Hong Kong. This moderated mediation model specifies the socio-psychological mechanism of participation in collective political action in an immigrant society such as Hong Kong.     

Reflection on the education policy orientation in post-May 31 reform in Korea

For the last 70 years, since the establishment of the Republic of Korea, Korean education has achieved universal expansion of educational opportunity from elementary to secondary to higher education. Planning, centralized policy making, top-down implementation, and administrative control had been the standards of the first few decades of Korean education. The so-called May 31 education reform implemented in 1995 made a turning point for these approaches to education policy and administration by highlighting autonomy, openness, diversity, accountability, consumer centeredness, market control, and governance for quality education. However, these government-driven education reform initiatives have resulted in limiting the expected outcomes. In this paper, the authors call for a new approach to education policy and administration and propose supporting school innovation, empowering an internal accountability system in governance. The authors also suggest a search for normative values for democratic communitarianism as a new philosophical foundation of education policy framework, beyond instrumental values of education.