How does openness influence the impact of a scholar’s research? An analysis of business scholars’ citations over their careers

How do the effects of cognitive openness and structural openness on the research impact of business scholars vary over their careers? By analysing a longitudinal sample of 35,296 scholars who published in business and management journals, we show that the cognitive openness and the structural openness of business scholars have non-linear relationships with their research impact. In particular, we found that, whereas moderate levels of cognitive openness and structural openness are desirable for increasing young scholars’ citations, a high level of cognitive openness and a low level of structural openness contribute to senior scholars’ citations. This study contributes to our understanding of different search behaviour across business scholars’ career paths and its implications for scholars’ research impact.     

Korean Science and Engineering Students’ Perceptions of English-Medium Instruction and Korean-Medium Instruction

The purpose of this study was to examine how Korean science and engineering students view English-medium instruction (EMI) and Korean-medium instruction (KMI). The participants were 174 undergraduate students enrolled in EMI and KMI classes offered by the same instructor at a Korean science and engineering school. Interviews and questionnaire surveys were conducted, and students’ course evaluations, English scores and course grades were compared. The results of a campus-wide undergraduate student survey on EMI were also analyzed. The findings of the study show that the KMI-class students demonstrated higher levels of satisfaction and better performance in their classes than the EMI-class students did. Only 22% of the students in both classes found EMI classes helpful for improving their English ability. Nevertheless, the majority of the students supported the school’s maintenance of an EMI policy. In the conclusion, the paradoxical attitude of the students and the implications of the study are discussed.     

Effects of forefoot bending stiffness of badminton shoes on agility,comfort perception and lower leg kinematics during typical badminton movements

This study investigated whether an increase in the forefoot bending stiffness of a badminton shoe would positively affect agility, comfort and biomechanical variables during badminton-specific movements. Three shoe conditions with identical shoe upper and sole designs with different bending stiffness (Flexible, Regular and Stiff) were used. Elite male badminton players completed an agility test on a standard badminton court involving consecutive lunges in six directions, a comfort test performed by a pair of participants conducting a game-like practice trial and a biomechanics test involving a random assignment of consecutive right forward lunges. No significant differences were found in agility time and biomechanical variables among the three shoes. The players wearing the shoe with a flexible forefoot outsole demonstrated a decreased perception of comfort in the forefoot cushion compared to regular and stiffer conditions during the comfort test (p < 0.05). The results suggested that the modification of forefoot bending stiffness would influence individual perception of comfort but would not influence performance and lower extremity kinematics during the tested badminton-specific tasks. It was concluded that an optimisation of forefoot structure and materials in badminton shoes should consider the individual’s perception to maximise footwear comfort in performance.     

Low-cost,disposable microfluidics device for blood plasma extraction using continuously alternating paramagnetic and diamagnetic capture modes

Blood plasma contains biomarkers and substances that indicate the physiological state of an organism, and it can be used to diagnose various diseases or body condition. To improve the accuracy of diagnostic test, it is required to obtain the high purity of blood plasma. This paper presents a low-cost, disposable microfluidics device for blood plasma extraction using magnetophoretic behaviors of blood cells. This device uses alternating magnetophoretic capture modes to trap and separate paramagnetic and diamagnetic cells away from blood plasma. The device system is composed of two parts, a disposable microfluidics chip and a non-disposable (reusable) magnetic field source. Such modularized device helps the structure of the disposable part dramatically simplified, which is beneficial for low-cost mass production. A series of numerical simulation and parametric study have been performed to describe the mechanism of blood cell separation in the microchannel, and the results are discussed. Furthermore, experimental feasibility test has been carried out in order to demonstrate the blood plasma extraction process of the proposed device. In this experiment, pure blood plasma has been successfully extracted with yield of 21.933% from 75 μl 1:10 dilution of deoxygenated blood.     

The impact of conflicting goals on mathematical teaching decisions

This paper describes part of an international project considering graphical construction of antiderivative functions in the secondary mathematics classroom. We use Schoenfeld’s resources, orientations, and goals (ROGs) framework to analyse the decisions made by a teacher, Adam, during a lesson on graphical antiderivatives. We present details of Adam’s ROG and see how this is related to resolution of the conflict between his competing goals and the decisions he makes. The results suggest that a beneficial professional development strategy might be to assist teachers to become more aware of their ROG and its influence on in-the-moment classroom decisions.     

Two-Step Approach to Partial Factorial Invariance: Selecting a Reference Variable and Identifying the Source of Noninvariance

To date, no effective empirical method has been available to identify a truly invariant reference variable (RV) in testing measurement invariance under a multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis. This study proposes a method that, in selecting an RV, uses the smallest modification index (min-mod). The method’s performance is evaluated using 2 models: (a) a full invariance model, and (b) a partial invariance model. Results indicate that for both models the min-mod successfully identifies a truly invariant RV (Study 1). In Study 2, we use the RV found in Study 1 to further evaluate the performance of item-by-item Wald tests at locating a noninvariant variable. The results indicate that Wald tests overall performed better with an RV selected in a partial invariance model than an RV selected in a full invariance model, although in certain conditions their performances were rather similar. Implications and limitations of the study are also discussed.     

Specification Search for Identifying the Correct Mean Trajectory in Polynomial Latent Growth Models

This study investigated the optimal strategy for model specification search under the latent growth modeling (LGM) framework, specifically on searching for the correct polynomial mean or average growth model when there is no a priori hypothesized model in the absence of theory. In this simulation study, the effectiveness of different starting models on the search of the true mean growth model was investigated in terms of the mean and within-subject variance-covariance (V-C) structure model. The results showed that specifying the most complex (i.e., unstructured) within-subject V-C structure with the use of LRT, ΔAIC, and ΔBIC achieved the highest recovery rate (>85%) of the true mean trajectory. Implications of the findings and limitations are discussed.     

Voting for Change: an International Study of Students’ Willingness to Support Measures to Ameliorate Climate Change

Research in Science Education - Voting for various pro-environmental governmental policies is an indirect, but potentially effective, action that citizens can take to reduce global warming (GW) and...     

Social Work in Higher Education: Internships in Opportunity Programs

ABSTRACT

Field education is essential to the development of professional social workers. Despite the significant overlap in social work’s and higher education’s missions and values, there is a scarcity of social work internships specifically in higher education settings. The placement of social work interns in institutions of higher education provides a setting where they can develop new knowledge and skills and increase their capacity to support college students toward academic success. This conceptual article discusses the role of social work in higher education and provides a model social work internship in an opportunity program, including its creation, development, challenges, outcomes, and future direction.     

Searching for an image conveying connotative meanings: An exploratory cross-cultural study

On the basis of the semiotics premise, this exploratory study examined cultural influences that pertain to the image search process when users have connotative needs. The study used the Semantic Differential, a quantitative tool for measuring affective reactions, as well as word-based analysis, to analyze responses to a survey questionnaire administered to twelve Korean and twelve American students. The results demonstrated that even when completing the same task, participants from different backgrounds have different tendencies in expecting and selecting a relevant image. The results supported the semiotics assertion that cultural context results in variations in interpreting the connotative messages of an image, and these variations are restricted by cultural boundaries. The study underlined the potential of using the Semantic Differential to enhance accessibility to connotative messages during the image retrieval process. Based on the findings, some suggestions for image retrieval system design were discussed. This study will broaden understanding of connotative messages in terms of image retrieval and user behaviors. The conclusions will contribute to designing a practical image retrieval system that can provide subject access to connotative messages.