Water-Based Aerobic Training Successfully Improves Lipid Profile of Dyslipidemic Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the effects of water-based aerobic training on the lipid profile and lipoprotein lipase (LPL) levels in premenopausal women with dyslipidemia. Method: Forty women were randomly assigned to: aquatic training (WA; n = 20) or a control group (CG; n = 20). The WA group underwent 12 weeks of water-based interval aerobic training twice a week at intensities ranging from 9 to 15 on the Borg Scale of Perceived Exertion. Total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), high- (HDL) and low- (LDL) density lipoprotein, TC/HDL ratio, LPL levels, and peak oxygen consumption (VO₂peak) were evaluated before and after 12 weeks in both groups. Results: The WA group elicited decreases in TC (9%; effect size [ES] = 0.69; 95% CI [0.05, 1.33]), LDL (16%; ES = 0.78; 95% CI [0.13, 1.42]), and the TC/HDL ratio (17%; ES = 1.13; 95% CI [0.46, 1.79]), as well as increases in VO₂peak (10%; ES = 0.64; 95% CI [0.002, 1.27]) and HDL (10%; ES = 0.28; 95% CI [?0.35. 0.90]), without significant changes in TG (ES = 0.16; 95% CI [?0.46, 1.79]) and LPL (ES = 0.36; 95% CI [?0.27, 0.98]) levels. In the CG, no statistically significant changes in any of these variables were found (TC, ES = 0.19, 95% CI [?0.43, 0.82]; LDL, ES = 0.22, 95% CI [?0.40, 0.85]; HDL, ES = 0.05, 95% CI [?0.57, 0.67]; TG, ES = 0.09, 95% CI [?0.53, 0.71]; TC/HDL ratio, ES = 0.20, 95% CI [?0.42, 0.82]; LPL, ES = 0.02, 95% CI [?0.60, 0.64]; VO₂peak, ES = 0.20, 95% CI [?0.42, 0.82]). Conclusion: Water-based interval aerobic training positively affected the lipid profile in premenopausal dyslipidemic women.     

Discrimination,Parent–Adolescent Conflict,and Peer Intimacy: Examining Risk and Resilience in Mexican-Origin Youths' Adjustment Trajectories

Peer discrimination and parent–adolescent conflict in early adolescence were examined as predictors of depressive symptoms and risky behaviors from early to late adolescence using four waves of data over an 8-year period from a sample of 246 Mexican-origin adolescents (M_{Time 1 age} = 12.55, SD = 0.58; 51% female). The buffering effect of friendship intimacy and moderating role of adolescent gender were tested. Higher levels of discrimination and conflict in early adolescence were associated with higher initial levels of depressive symptoms and risky behaviors in early adolescence and stability through late adolescence. For females who reported higher than average discrimination, friendship intimacy had a protective effect on their depressive symptoms.     

Trajectories of Ethnic–Racial Identity and Autonomy Among Mexican‐Origin Adolescent Mothers in the United States

This study examined trajectories of ethnic–racial identity (ERI) and autonomy development among Mexican‐origin adolescent females in the United States (N = 181; M_age at Wave 1 = 16.80 years, SD = 1.00) as they transitioned through the first 5 years of parenthood. Trajectories of ERI and autonomy also were examined in relation to psychosocial functioning. Unconditional latent growth models indicated significant growth in autonomy, ERI resolution, and ERI affirmation from middle to late adolescence. Conditional latent growth models indicated that autonomy and ERI exploration growth trajectories were positively associated with psychosocial adjustment. Although adolescent mothers are experiencing transitions that are not normative during adolescence, they also engage in normative developmental processes, and their engagement in such processes is linked with better adjustment.     

Analysis of named entity recognition and linking for tweets

Applying natural language processing for mining and intelligent information access to tweets (a form of microblog) is a challenging, emerging research area. Unlike carefully authored news text and other longer content, tweets pose a number of new challenges, due to their short, noisy, context-dependent, and dynamic nature. Information extraction from tweets is typically performed in a pipeline, comprising consecutive stages of language identification, tokenisation, part-of-speech tagging, named entity recognition and entity disambiguation (e.g. with respect to DBpedia). In this work, we describe a new Twitter entity disambiguation dataset, and conduct an empirical analysis of named entity recognition and disambiguation, investigating how robust a number of state-of-the-art systems are on such noisy texts, what the main sources of error are, and which problems should be further investigated to improve the state of the art.     

Chinese and Indian higher education students go abroad: listening to them to determine what their needs are

Tertiary Education and Management - This paper voices the opinions of international students’ from China and India, and highlights the intentional process of integrating their perceptions of...     

The Rating and Matching Item-Objective Alignment Methods

Central to the standards-based assessment validation process is an examination of the alignment between state standards and test items. Several alignment analysis systems have emerged recently, but most rely on either traditional rating or matching techniques. Little, if any, analyses have been reported on the degree of consistency between the two methods and on the item and objective characteristics that influence judges' decisions. We randomly assigned judges to either rate item-objective links or match items to objectives while reviewing the 2004 Arizona high school mathematics standards and assessment. Across items we found moderate convergence between methods, and we detected apparent reasons for divergently scored items. We also found that judges relied on item and objective content and intellectual skill features to render decisions. Based on our evidence, we contend that a thorough alignment analysis would involve judges using both rating and matching, while focusing on both content and intellectual skill. The findings have important implications for states when examining the alignment between their standards and assessments.