Impact of question-answering tasks on search processes and reading comprehension

This study examined the effect of (a) high- and low-level questions and (b) reading the text before the questions asked on performance, delayed text recall, and deep text comprehension, as well as on specific text-inspection patterns. Participants were 37 undergraduate students who answered either high- or low-level questions using the software Read&Answer to read and answer questions on the computer screen. Additionally, half of the sample read first a text and then answered the questions (reading-first condition), whereas the other half answered the questions without having read the text in advance (no-reading-first condition). All participants had the text available to search for the answer. Results indicated that high-level questions facilitated deep comprehension but not immediate performance or delayed recall of text, independently of the reading condition, and that high- and low-level questions differentially affected text-inspection patterns.     

HPS: High precision stemmer

Research into unsupervised ways of stemming has resulted, in the past few years, in the development of methods that are reliable and perform well. Our approach further shifts the boundaries of the state of the art by providing more accurate stemming results. The idea of the approach consists in building a stemmer in two stages. In the first stage, a stemming algorithm based upon clustering, which exploits the lexical and semantic information of words, is used to prepare large-scale training data for the second-stage algorithm. The second-stage algorithm uses a maximum entropy classifier. The stemming-specific features help the classifier decide when and how to stem a particular word.     

Tracking of physical activity in pubertal boys with different BMI over two-year period

We examined the tracking of physical activity (PA) measured by accelerometers and subjective self- and parental reports in normal weight and overweight and obese pubertal boys over two-year period. In total, 156 boys with mean (±SD) age of 11.53 ± 0.76 at baseline and with mean age of 13.94 ± 0.74 at 2 year follow-up were studied. At baseline and approximately two years later, the boys completed self-report questionnaire and wore an accelerometer for seven consecutive days. On the basis of first year assessment’s body mass index (BMI), the children were grouped as normal weight and overweight and obese groups according to BMI cut-offs. Tracking correlations of objectively measured PA and subjectively measured PA were fairly similar across the 12–14 year-old-boys weight groups over two year period. Tracking correlations of objectively measured PA and subjectively measured PA were not significantly different over two-year period between both BMI groups. The results of the study show that pubertal boys objectively measured PA decreased over two-year period and so the boys started to be less active in their pubertal period.     

User experience of government documents: A framework for informing design decisions

People still use documents in many everyday government processes. From tax payments to passport requests, citizens have to interact with low-interactivity information artifacts such as reports, maps and datasets, among many others. Despite efforts to improve information delivery in the public sector, effective information usage remains a critical topic of action and research. The user experience of government documents has rarely been assessed, despite them being regularly published and frequently used. Considering this, the two following research questions arise: 1) How can government documents be classified (or grouped) in terms of user experience? 2) How can the user experience of government documents be monitored over time in order to inform design decisions? Working with a public agency in Chile, we develop and test a classification and monitoring framework based on two online surveys (N?=?338 and N?=?298). We then propose a framework for understanding user experience of government documents in these three dimensions: interaction goal, volume of information and ease of understanding. Using a graphical representation to classify user experience provides greater visibility of the current status of information produced by a public organization. Furthermore, by monitoring the user experience of a government document at different times, organizations can understand the effect of their design decisions and improve their service quality by implementing user-centered processes.     

The Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey (CLASS) for use in Biology

This paper describes a newly adapted instrument for measuring novice-to-expert-like perceptions about biology: the Colorado Learning Attitudes about Science Survey for Biology (CLASS-Bio). Consisting of 31 Likert-scale statements, CLASS-Bio probes a range of perceptions that vary between experts and novices, including enjoyment of the discipline, propensity to make connections to the real world, recognition of conceptual connections underlying knowledge, and problem-solving strategies. CLASS-Bio has been tested for response validity with both undergraduate students and experts (biology PhDs), allowing student responses to be directly compared with a consensus expert response. Use of CLASS-Bio to date suggests that introductory biology courses have the same challenges as introductory physics and chemistry courses: namely, students shift toward more novice-like perceptions following instruction. However, students in upper-division biology courses do not show the same novice-like shifts. CLASS-Bio can also be paired with other assessments to: 1) examine how student perceptions impact learning and conceptual understanding of biology, and 2) assess and evaluate how pedagogical techniques help students develop both expertise in problem solving and an expert-like appreciation of the nature of biology.     

倾斜金标试纸图像的线宽测量方法

基于显微图像的金标试纸条测试线线宽参数的测量方法具备操作方便、测量速度快、分辨率高等优点,然而图像采集系统采集到的金标试纸条的显微图像不可避免地会发生倾斜,这为后续的图像分割和参数测量带来了困难,因此需要对倾斜的金标试纸条显微图像进行校正。根据霍夫变换法和最小二乘法在直线检测中的优点和适用条件,拟采用一种结合霍夫变换法和最小二乘法的直线检测算法来求得金标试纸条图像的边缘线和边缘线的倾斜角度参数,并采用图像旋转变换算法实现对原图像的倾斜校正。实验表明,所采用的倾斜校正算法具备计算量小、占用内存小、校正精度高的优点,通过倾斜校正可以准确测量倾斜金标试纸图像的线宽参数。     

Child and Adolescent Predictors of Personality in Early Adulthood

This study investigated development of the Big Five personality traits from early childhood into adulthood. An initial group of 137 Swedish children were assessed eight times between ages 2 and 29 years. Initial decreases in extraversion leveled off in early adulthood; agreeableness and conscientiousness increased from ages 2 to 29; neuroticism initially increased, leveled off in later childhood and adolescence, and decreased throughout early adulthood; while openness to experience showed an initial increase, then decreased and leveled off in early adulthood. Individual developmental trajectories varied significantly, particularly in relation to gender. Personality traits became increasingly stable, and the fact that childhood scores predicted scores in adulthood indicated that personalities are fairly stable across this portion of the life span.