Career adaptability and associations with personality traits and pathological traits utilizing network analysis

This study investigated relationships between career adaptability and personality and pathological traits using the network analysis approach. We administered CAAS, BFI-2-S, and IDCP-2 to 630 working adults. We observed positive associations between personality and career adaptability and negative associations between pathological traits and career adaptability. This paper contributes to the understanding of the associations between career adaptability and Big Five personality traits and pathological traits. We found stronger associations between career adaptability and personality traits as compared to pathological traits. Our findings suggest that Neuroticism and Conscientiousness contribute more to adaptation to professional development tasks than do pathological traits.

     

Bayesian network based extreme learning machine for subjectivity detection

Subjectivity detection is a task of natural language processing that aims to remove ‘factual’ or ‘neutral’ content, i.e., objective text that does not contain any opinion, from online product reviews. Such a pre-processing step is crucial to increase the accuracy of sentiment analysis systems, as these are usually optimized for the binary classification task of distinguishing between positive and negative content. In this paper, we extend the extreme learning machine (ELM) paradigm to a novel framework that exploits the features of both Bayesian networks and fuzzy recurrent neural networks to perform subjectivity detection. In particular, Bayesian networks are used to build a network of connections among the hidden neurons of the conventional ELM configuration in order to capture dependencies in high-dimensional data. Next, a fuzzy recurrent neural network inherits the overall structure generated by the Bayesian networks to model temporal features in the predictor. Experimental results confirmed the ability of the proposed framework to deal with standard subjectivity detection problems and also proved its capacity to address portability across languages in translation tasks.     

Antecedents and consequents of professional choice self-efficacy: A study with Brazilian students

This study aimed to test a theoretical model of self-efficacy applied to the context of professional choice, verifying the sources of self-efficacy as predictors of self-efficacy beliefs and self-efficacy beliefs as antecedents of vocational exploratory behavior. A total of 388 high school students from public and private schools in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, participated. The professional choice self-efficacy sources scale (EFAEP), the professional choice self-efficacy scale (EAE-EP) and the vocational exploration scale (EEV)—high school version—were applied. The self-efficacy beliefs were predicted by sources of self-efficacy. Other results are discussed based on the literature.     

I feel,therefore I teach? Teachers’ conceptions of the relationships between emotions and teaching/learning processes / ¿Siento,luego enseño? Concepciones docentes sobre las relaciones entre las emociones y los procesos de enseñanza/aprendizaje

During recent decades a shift in focus has been occurring that questions the historical cognitive-emotional dualism present in our culture and revalues the role of emotions in education. With this situation in mind, we wanted to discover what conceptions teachers have of the relationships existing between those emotions and the teaching-learning process. Given our cultural tradition, we depart from the assumption that it may be possible to differentiate the conceptions according to more or less integrated perspectives regarding the affective and cognitive functions in educational context. With the aim of identifying conception profiles and describing their specific characteristics, we interviewed 32 teachers whose discourses were categorized and statistically analysed using clustering and X². The results are interpreted to account for a progression shaped by four types of conceptions ranging from perspectives that are not concerned with emotions, to others believing inseparability exists between affective and cognitive functions. Implications for future studies are then analysed from the obtained results.     

Analysis of elbow muscle strength parameters in Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners

Upper-body dynamic and isometric maximum strength are essential components for success in Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ). This study was aimed at analysing strength parameters in the elbow flexor and extensor muscles of BJJ practitioners. Participants (n = 28) performed maximum isometric contractions of elbow flexors and extensors to determine peak torque (PT), rate of force development (RFD), and the torque–angle (T–A) relationship at elbow angles of 45°, 60°, 75°, 90°, 105°, and 120°. Additionally, concentric and eccentric PTs were measured at 1.04 rad·s^-1. Student t-test and ANOVA were performed using α = 0.05. Elbow flexors were stronger isometrically (P < 0.001, ES = 1.23) but weaker concentrically (P < 0.05, ES = 0.54) than extensor muscles, possibly because of the extensive grip disputes and pushing of opponents in BJJ. The T–A relationship had an inverted “U”-shape. Torque differences across elbow angles were moderate (ES = 0.62) for the extensor and large (ES = 0.92) for the flexor muscles. Isometric torque was greatest for elbow angles of 105° and 75° and smallest for 45° and 120° for extensor and flexor muscles, respectively. Elbow flexors had a greater RFD than extensors, regardless of elbow angle. The present study provides comprehensive results for elbow muscle strength in BJJ practitioners.     

Removing but not adding elements of a context affects generalization of instrumental responses

Three experiments with rats investigated whether adding or removing elements of a context affects generalization of instrumental behavior. Each of the experiments used a free operant procedure. In Experiments 1 and 2, rats were trained to press a lever for food in a distinctive context. Then, transfer of lever pressing was tested in a context created either by adding an element to the context of initial acquisition or by removing one of the acquisition context’s elements. In Experiment 3, a similar generalization test was conducted after rats received acquisition and extinction within the same context. For Experiments 1 and 2, we observed that removing elements from the acquisition context disrupted acquisition performance, whereas the addition of elements to the context did not. Experiment 3 revealed that removing elements from but not adding elements to the original context improved extinction performance. Our results are consistent with an elemental view of context representation.     

Students with special needs and 1:1 computing: a teacher's perspective

To better understand the growing trend of 1:1 learning, researchers conducted an evaluation of a laptop initiative in 18 North Carolina high schools. The goal of the study was to provide information about the value of the initiative to enhance student learning, as well as to identify challenges to the successful implementation of 1:1 programs, strategies for meeting those challenges, and services and supports needed to enable successful programs throughout the state. This paper focuses on ways in which the initiative enhanced the learning experiences of students with disabilities in areas such as communication, reading ability, assessment, organisation and confidence. Data sources include teacher, student and administrator focus groups, which enable scholars to gain an array of insight regarding technology initiatives and students with special needs. Implications for educators and administrators are discussed.     

Does universities' posting strategy influence their social media engagement? An analysis of the top-ranked higher education institutions in different countries

To ensure the widespread dissemination of information and to foster interaction and dialogue with users, higher education institutions need to develop an active profile on the social networks. This paper analyses the influence of universities' posting strategy on their followers' engagement (reaction, virality and conversation) by measuring the level of activity and type of presence on their social networks. A content analysis was conducted to analyse 90,000 posts by 70 universities from Europe, the United States and Latin America on their institutional profiles on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. The universities' posting activity on their social media is moderate (with an overall mean of 7.04 posts per day), but the interaction rate is very low (0.237), far below the recommended levels of engagement. Notably, increased activity by universities on social networks does not lead to greater engagement but points to an inverse relationship between the two. Our findings also indicate that university-created content (UCC) achieves a higher level of engagement ($\overline{x}$ = 169.41) than university-shared content (USC) ($\overline{x}$ = 126.18). This study explores the effect of universities' posting strategy dimensions on their follower's interaction.