Evaluation of wrist and hip sedentary behaviour and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity raw acceleration cutpoints in older adults

Wrist-based accelerometers are now common in assessing physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviour (SB) in population-based studies, but there is a scarcity of raw acceleration cutpoints in older adults. The study aimed to determine and evaluate wrist-based GENEActiv (GA) and hip-based ActiGraph GT3X+ (AG) raw acceleration cutpoints for SB and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) in older adults ≥60 years of age. A laboratory-based calibration analyses of 34 healthy older adults involved receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves to determine raw acceleration cutpoints for SB and MVPA. ROC analysis revealed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.88 for GA SB and MVPA, and 0.90 for AG SB and 0.94 for AG MVPA. Sensitivity optimised SB and specificity optimised MVPA GA cutpoints of 57 mg and 104 mg, and AG cutpoints of 15 mg and 69 mg were also generated, respectively. Cross-validation analysis revealed moderate agreement for GA and AG SB cutpoints, and fair to substantial agreement for GA and AG MVPA cutpoints, respectively. The resultant cutpoints can classify older adults as engaging in SB or not engaging in MVPA but the sensitivity optimised SB cutpoints should be interpreted with a degree of caution due to their modest cross-validation results.     

An Examination of Classification Accuracy in the Continuous Testing Framework

The continuous testing framework, where both successful and unsuccessful examinees have to demonstrate continued proficiency at frequent prespecified intervals, is a framework that is used in noncognitive assessment and is gaining in popularity in cognitive assessment. Despite the rigorous advantages of this framework, this paper demonstrates that there is significant inflation in false negatives as both passers and failers continually take a test, especially for examinees closer to the passing score. Several passing policies are investigated to control the inflation of false negatives while maintaining low false‐positive rates for fixed‐length tests. Lastly, recommendations are made for testing professionals who wish to utilize the rigorous nature of the continuous testing framework while also avoiding the inflation of qualified examinees failing.     

Letter‐position encoding and dyslexia

This article focuses on applying the SERIOL model of orthographic processing to dyslexia. The model is extended to include a phonological route and reading acquisition. We propose that the temporal alignment of serial orthographic and phonological representations is a key aspect of learning to read, driving the formation of a phonemic encoding. The phonemic encoding and the serial representations are mutually reinforcing, leading to automatic, proficient processing of letter strings. A breakdown in any component of this system leads to the failure to form string‐specific phonological and visual representations, resulting in impaired reading ability.     

Coming alive in school math and beyond

In spite of ever-increasing efforts, the failure of schools to help children learn mathematics in a relevant and useful manner continues. We know that the enforced rote learning is a direct cause of this, so we try to promote better teaching methods. But having given up on the children, believing most of them incapable, we continue teaching everything with drill and testing, thus ensuring the continued rote learning and confirming our beliefs. Thus the children's power of thought, vitality and responsibility remain wiped out.A strong shift in attitudes of students to I can explore, I can control my study and learning is not difficult to obtain, and we have seen many examples of this, with excellent results. In any community where there is sufficient concern, cooperation and communication, this can be achieved. The need is to let better ways come in in little bits, not by trying to stop standard methods. We describe some ways in which such a process may be carried out.     

The subjects of the world’s books: A further examination of Unesco’s book production statistics

The Unesco Statistical Yearbook includes in its annual volumes tables reporting the number of books published by countries in subject classes according to the UDC classification system. These statistics are examined to assess global trends in subjects areas such as pure, social, medical, and applied sciences, and literature. Data from Asia, Latin America, Africa, and North America are found to be highly inconclusive due to nonreporting patterns. Data from Europe and the USSR are more comprehensive. According to these data, social science titles form the largest percentages of the world's production, followed by applied sciences and literature. Overall, literature and medical science titles appear to be increasing in production faster than other subject areas. Gretchen Whitney is an assistant professor at the Graduate Library School of the University of Arizona and author ofLanguage Distribution in Databases. She teache in the fields of information science and information policy.     

Female odors evoke ultrasounds from male mice

Four experiments investigated the stimulus properties of female mice that influence ultrasound production by adult males. Female urine alone was less effective in evoking ultrasounds than was the female in male-female pairs. Visual cues were not necessary, since there was no difference in the incidence or latency of ultrasounds from male-female pairs when tested in light and dark conditions. A presently unspecified chemical cue produced by females, whose effectiveness is mediated by olfaction, was sufficient to evoke ultrasounds from male mice. The role of this chemical cue in a multimodal sequential communicative chain is discussed.     

Online Learning Self-Efficacy in Students With and Without Online Learning Experience

A need was identified for an instrument to measure online learning self-efficacy, which encompassed the wide variety of tasks required of successful online students. The Online Learning Self-Efficacy Scale (OLSES) was designed to include tasks required of students enrolled in paced online courses at one university. In the present study, the twenty-two-item scale was completed by 338 postsecondary students with and without online learning experience. Separate principal components analyses were performed using data collected from participants who had and had not completed an online course. The results were similar for the two groups. A three-subscale structure was selected for use with all individuals. The three subscales represent items concerning (1) learning in the online environment, (2) time management, and (3) technology use. The reliability and validity of scores on the OLSES was explored through group comparisons and correlations. Suggestions for the use of the instrument with other populations are discussed.