Integration of Stochastic Differential Equations Using Structural Equation Modeling: A Method to Facilitate Model Fitting and Pedagogy

Stochastic differential equation (SDE) models are a promising method for modeling intraindividual change and variability. Applications of SDEs in the social sciences are relatively limited, as these models present conceptual and programming challenges. This article presents a novel method for conceptualizing SDEs. This method uses structural equation modeling (SEM) conventions to simplify SDE specification, the flexibility of SEM to expand the range of SDEs that can be fit, and SEM diagram conventions to facilitate the teaching of SDE concepts. This method is a variation of latent difference scores (McArdle, 2009; McArdle & Hamagami, 2001) and the oversampling approach (Singer, 2012), and approximates the advantages of analytic methods such as the exact discrete model (Oud & Jansen, 2000) while retaining the modeling fiexibility of methods such as latent differential equation modeling (Boker, Neale, & Rausch, 2004). A simulation and empirical example are presented to illustrate that this method can be implemented on current computing hardware, produces good approximations of analytic solutions, and can flexibly accommodate novel models.     

Artistic Constitutions of the Civil Domain: On Art,Education and Democracy

How can we understand the relationship between art, education and democracy in the contemporary Western political condition? The recent presidential elections in the USA showed that the classical model of liberal representative democracy is shaking on its foundations. The question is how can artists and education respond to this political condition? In this article it is argued that art has a special quality to address political, and especially democratic, issues. It can strengthen education in its lessons in democracy and citizenship. Art has a special quality to walk on an alternative path of democracy, namely that of the civil domain. In the civil sphere artistic qualities and skills of designing and of imagination can play a crucial role.     

La Mesure des Effets Pédagogiques des TIC : Pièges et Illusions du Découpage du Réel et de L'administration de la Preuve

La forte incitation actuelle de la part des autorités scolaires À recourir aux médias numériques en classe pose une nouvelle fois la question des arguments mis en avant. Et comme À l'occasion d'incitations antérieures (télévision scolaire, audiovisuel, informatique éducative), partisans et détracteurs s'appuient sur différents travaux qui attestent ou non de telle ou telle amélioration ou dégradation. Cette contribution se propose de montrer que les concepts et les modèles convoqués dans certains travaux, y compris les nÔtres et notamment le programme IN-TELE (Internet-Based Teaching and Learning), établissent entre les situations d'enseignement-apprentissage considérés comme classiques et celles qui sont supposées innovantes des distinctions parfois non pertinentes, qui se traduisent par des résultats outrageusement significatifs ou non significatifs. C'est donc le schéma modèle-observation-interprétation que nous interrogeons en suggérant que les outils de pensée disponibles et les procédés d'observation mis en m uvre aujourd'hui dans les différentes disciplines académiques qui s'intéressent aux usages pédagogiques des TIC contraignent, voire altèrent, notre compréhension des phénomènes éducatifs induits par les 'nouveaux' médias. Measuring the pedagogic effects of CIT: traps and illusions of cutting out actuality, and the

administration of proof. The strong current encouragement of school authorities to have recourse to digital media in the classroom poses once again the question of the arguments that have been advanced. And, as at the tine of earlier encouragement, (for school television, audiovisual, educational informatics), partisans and detractors rely on different works which support, or not, such-and-such a praise or detraction. This contribution attempts to show that the concepts and the models brought together in certain works, including our own and notably the IN-TEL (Internet-Based Teaching and Learning) programme, which establish between the teaching-training situations considered as classic and those which are supposed to be innovative, distinctions which sometimes are not pertinent, which are translated into results which are outrageously significant – or non-significant. It is, then, the schema of model-observation-interpretation that we question in suggesting that the mental tools available and the observational procedures used today in the different academic disciplines which are interested in the pedagogic use of CIT constrain us to see, may even, alter our understanding of the educational phenomenon introduced by the 'new' media. Analyse der pädagogischen Auswirkungen von ICT (Information and Communcation Technologies) : Fallen und Illusionen aus der Wirklichkeit, sowie die Beweisführung. Die gegenwärtig stark geförderte Umstellung des Unterrichtsmaterials auf digitale Medien durch die Schulbehörden, stellt erneut die bereits vorgebrachten Argumente in Frage. Und wie schon bei vorangegangenen Einführungen (von Schulfernsehen, Audiovision, pädagogische Informatik) beziehen sich Befürworter und Gegner auf verschiedene Studien, die den Nutzen oder Unnutzen attestieren. Dieser Beitrag versucht aufzuzeigen, dass herangezogene Konzepte und Modelle in verschiedenen Arbeiten - einschliesslich der unseren und insbesondere des Programms IN-TELE (Internet-Based Teaching and Learning) - sich zwischen klassischen Bildungssituationen und denen als innovativ angenommenen wiederfinden - auch wenn diese Unterscheidung nicht immer treffend ist. Wir stellen also das Schema Modell-Observation-Interpretation in Frage, indem wir suggerieren, dass die heute applizierten Denkmodelle und Observationsverfahren - der verschiedenen akademischen Disziplinen, die sich für den pädagogischen Gebrauch von ICT interessieren - für unser Verständnis des pädagogischen Einflusses durch Multimedia hinderlich sind, ja wenn nicht sogar deren Gebrauch nachteilig beeinflussen.     

Single cell rheometry with a microfluidic constriction: Quantitative control of friction and fluid leaks between cell and channel walls

We report how cell rheology measurements can be performed by monitoring the deformation of a cell in a microfluidic constriction, provided that friction and fluid leaks effects between the cell and the walls of the microchannels are correctly taken into account. Indeed, the mismatch between the rounded shapes of cells and the angular cross-section of standard microfluidic channels hampers efficient obstruction of the channel by an incoming cell. Moreover, friction forces between a cell and channels walls have never been characterized. Both effects impede a quantitative determination of forces experienced by cells in a constriction. Our study is based on a new microfluidic device composed of two successive constrictions, combined with optical interference microscopy measurements to characterize the contact zone between the cell and the walls of the channel. A cell squeezed in a first constriction obstructs most of the channel cross-section, which strongly limits leaks around cells. The rheological properties of the cell are subsequently probed during its entry in a second narrower constriction. The pressure force is determined from the pressure drop across the device, the cell velocity, and the width of the gutters formed between the cell and the corners of the channel. The additional friction force, which has never been analyzed for moving and constrained cells before, is found to involve both hydrodynamic lubrication and surface forces. This friction results in the existence of a threshold for moving the cells and leads to a non-linear behavior at low velocity. The friction force can nevertheless be assessed in the linear regime. Finally, an apparent viscosity of single cells can be estimated from a numerical prediction of the viscous dissipation induced by a small step in the channel. A preliminary application of our method yields an apparent loss modulus on the order of 100 Pa s for leukocytes THP-1 cells, in agreement with the literature data.     

Effects of gender role and task content on performance in same-gender dyads: Transactive memory as a potential mediator

This experiment was designed to examine the effects of gender role and task content on performance in learning dyads and to test the potential mediator effect of an intragroup process related to transactive memory. A total of 44 same-gender dyads participated in the study and were asked to collaborate on a stereotypically masculine or feminine task in a laboratory setting. Collective performance and transactive memory were measured. As predicted, the results showed an interaction between group gender and task content on group performance, with male dyads showing poorer performance on a masculine task than female dyads. However, contrary to expectations, this moderation effect was not mediated by transactive memory, which appeared as a simple mediator of the relationship between group gender and performance. The results are discussed in the framework of the social role theory, and implications for future research in small learning groups are proposed.     

Development and fertility studies on post-bio-electrosprayed Drosophila melanogaster embryos

Bio-electrosprays (BESs) provide a means of precisely manipulating cells and thus have the potential for many clinical uses such as the generation of artificial tissues∕organs. Previously we tested the biological safety of this technology with a variety of living cells and also embryos from the vertebrate model organisms Danio rerio (zebrafish) and Xenopus tropicalis (frog). However, the viability and fertility of the treated embryos could not be fully assessed due to animal licensing laws. Here we assay the viability and fertility of Drosophila melanogaster (fruit fly) embryos in conjunction with the bio-electrospray procedure. Bio-electrosprayed Drosophila embryos developed into fully fertile adult flies that were indistinguishable from wild-type. Thus, we demonstrate that the bio-electrospray procedure does not induce genetic or physical damage that significantly affects the development or fertility of a multicellular organism. This study along with our previous investigations demonstrates the potential of this approach to be developed for the precise manipulation of sensitive biological materials.     

How French counsellors treat school violence: An adult-centered approach

This article explores characteristics of school violence inFrance and the privileged means by which school counsellors can address this increasinglywidespread problem. In the first section, the status of counsellors in theFrench schools is outlined, and it is shown that counselling activities are reallyonly undertaken for students in junior high or high school. Two importantcharacteristics of the French view of school violence are: The experts in psychology takelittle interest in problems of school violence; and adults, rather than students,are seen as the primary victims. In this context, counsellors try to reduceschool violence primarily through training and reflecting with school staff. Severalempirical arguments suggest, in effect, that the adults' perceptions of the students is adetermining factor in the social regulation of school violence. This violence consistsmostly of incivilities that are only slightly reprehensible but oftenunbearable for certain teachers. Depending on whether the school staff try to understandthe incivilities or can only see them as pure savagery, they either try to controlthem through education or they lose confidence in their professional mission.The goal of counsellors is both to help the personnel develop theircapacities and motivate them to analyze the students' behavior, and to engender a senseof team spirit.     

The influence of trained peer tutoring on tutors' motivation and performance in a French boxing setting

The aim of this study was to examine the potential motivational and behavioural benefits of two peer tutoring programmes for tutors in a sport setting. Differences between the sexes were also explored. Thirty two college-age males and females, all novices on a French boxing task, were assigned to a 2 x 2 [sex x training type: physical practice associated with trained peer tutoring (TPT) vs physical practice associated with untrained peer tutoring (UPT)] factorial design. All participants were given six French boxing lessons of 2 h each. The TPT programme included structured methods to prepare the participants to fulfil their role of tutors, whereas the UPT programme did not. The results demonstrated that the TPT programme resulted in higher scores for coaching skills. Furthermore, interaction effects revealed that the TPT programme yielded better offensive outcomes for males and better defensive outcomes for females. Although the UPT participants expressed higher self-efficacy, no differences emerged for intrinsic motivation and causal attributions. Finally, male tutors displayed higher self-efficacy and offensive outcomes than female tutors. The results are discussed in the light of previous findings in the educational and sport psychology literature.     

A methodological shortnote on measuring and assessing the effects of normative clearsightedness about internality

This shortnote deals with measuring normative clearsightedness about internality and assessing its effects. After raising the issue of how to measure normative clearsightedness, another operationalization of this concept is proposed based on a multilevel model. In an attempt to understand the relationship between pupils’ clearsightedness about internality and their teachers’ judgments of them, empirical data was collected from 404 third-grade pupils and their 19 teachers. The estimates obtained point out the heuristic value of the proposed model.