The role of cultural values in teacher and student self-efficacy: Evidence from 16 nations

Data from a large study (PISA, 2015) involving more than 132,000 children and 22,000 of their teachers, in 16 nations, were used to investigate how teachers convey self-efficacy to students when they teach and whether this is culturally grounded. Using a multilevel data analysis framework, we aimed to: (1) test a path linking teacher and student self-efficacy; (2) examine teaching practices as mediators of the links between teachers and student self-efficacy; (3) evaluate the moderating roles of cultural values on those links. Results indicated that teacher and student self-efficacy were linked indirectly through the use of teaching practices, more strongly through inquiry-based practices. We found cross-cultural differences on the associations between student-perceived teaching practices and student self-efficacy that were moderated by two country-level cultural values: individualism and uncertainty avoidance. This study highlights that, although academic self-efficacy is considered universal, we found cultural differences in its sources and manifestations.     

基于多级构架的模拟电路故障诊断实现

本文利用仿真分析软件采集电路各种故障模式的特征数据,后将采集到的数据构造多层次的神经网络来进行诊断,最后使用虚拟仪器LabVIEW完成对整个流程的编程与控制,通过实际验证故障诊断正确率非常好。     

The effects of Success for All in the Netherlands on the reading achievement of first-grade students at risk of reading problems

This article reports outcomes of a quasi-experimental evaluation of Success for All (SfA), a comprehensive school reform program that has recently been introduced in the Netherlands. The Response to Intervention framework is used to describe how SfA supports students at different Tiers. The effects of SfA on five reading subskills were investigated for first-grade students at risk of reading problems. 299 students from two different cohorts were involved. Multilevel analyses demonstrated a significant effect of SfA on reading comprehension (ES = +0.26) in the first cohort. For the second cohort and the other reading subskills, mostly small positive effects of SfA were found, though these effects were not statistically significant. Furthermore, the relationship between tutoring intensity and reading achievement was examined. In the second cohort, a significant negative association of tutoring intensity with word and text reading skills was found. Implementation issues that may have impacted the outcomes are discussed.     

The validity of student ratings of teaching quality: Factorial structure,comparability, and the relation to achievement

Student ratings are widely used to assess teaching quality in primary and secondary education. This necessitates a thorough examination their validity and reliability in such contexts. To this end, we present validity evidence for using student ratings of teaching quality based on their factorial structure, comparability across grades and subjects, and relation to achievement. Based on data from the 2019 Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and its national extensions in Norway (N = 3951 5th graders and N = 4575 9th graders), we could confirm a theoretically assumed three-dimensional factor structure (i.e., classroom management, cognitive activation, and supportive climate). Moreover, classroom management and supportive climate were more comparable across grades and subjects then cognitive activation. Finally, classroom management was associated with achievement across all groups, whereas other dimensions showed mixed results, especially across grades. Overall, the findings indicate that students, especially in Grade 9, can provide a valid assessment of teaching quality.     

Childhood trauma and neighborhood-level crime interact in predicting adult posttraumatic stress and major depression symptoms

Previous research has identified several individual-level factors that modify the risk of childhood trauma on adult psychiatric symptoms, including symptoms of major depression (MD) and posttraumatic stress (PTS). Neighborhood-level factors also influence the impact of individual-level exposures on adult psychopathology. However, no prior studies to our knowledge have explored cross-level interactions between childhood trauma and neighborhood-level factors on MD and PTS symptoms. The purpose of this study was therefore to explore cross-level interactions between a neighborhood-level factor – neighborhood-level crime – and childhood trauma on MD and PTS symptoms. Participants in this study (N = 3192) were recruited from a large public hospital, and completed self-report inventories of childhood trauma and MD and PTS symptoms. Participant addresses were mapped onto 2010 census tracts, and data on crime within each tract were collected. Multilevel models found a significant cross-level interaction between childhood trauma and neighborhood crime on MD symptoms, such that the influence of high levels of childhood trauma on MD symptoms was enhanced for participants living in high-crime neighborhoods. Supplementary analyses found variation in the strength of cross-level interaction terms by types of childhood trauma and crime, with the strongest associations including emotional neglect paired with personal and property crime. The results provide preliminary support for interventions that help childhood trauma survivors find housing in less vulnerable neighborhoods and build skills to cope with neighborhood crime.     

Technological cooperation,R&D outsourcing,and innovation performance at the firm level: The role of the regional context

Much has been said about the role that technological networking activities play on the innovative performance of firms, but little is known about how the regional context influences the efficiency of such networking activities. In this paper we hypothesize that the transformation of firms’ networking activities into innovation may vary depending on the regional environment in which the firm is located. For Spanish manufactures in the period 2000-12 and through the use of a multilevel framework, we obtain that after controlling for the firm’s characteristics, the regional context has not only a direct effect on firms’ innovation performance, but it also conditions the returns to firms’ networking activities, although differently in the case of cooperation and outsourcing. Cooperating in innovation activities is more beneficial for those firms located in a knowledge intensive region, whereas R&D outsourcing seems to be more profitable for firms in regions with a low knowledge pool.     

Factors influencing electronic health record adoption by physicians: A multilevel analysis

In Canada, the healthcare system remains paper-laden, and EHR adoption by physicians lags behind many other industrial countries. Recent reviews identified individual and organizational factors as having the most important influence on EHR adoption and proposed taking a multidimensional perspective to study these adoption determinants. However, most studies have focused on physician EHR adoption measured at the individual level.ObjectivesFirst, we used a multilevel regression model to assess whether organizations' characteristics influenced physician behavioral intention to use EHR. Second, we sought to identify individual and organizational factors that explain physician intention.MethodsWe conducted a prospective cross-sectional study among physicians in 49 primary healthcare organizations in four regions of the province of Quebec (Canada). We first analyzed relationships between individual and organizational variables and intention. Second, we performed multilevel modeling to explore organizational characteristics' impact on physician intention to use EHR.Results278 completed questionnaires were returned from the 31 organizations that had at least 5 participants (response rate: 39.8%). Questionnaires showed satisfactory psychometric properties. The multilevel modeling found no significant overall influence of organizational level on physician intention to use EHR. Second, six of the individual level constructs had a positive and strongly significant impact on physician intention.ConclusionIn the Quebec context, organization-level seems to have no significant impact on EHR adoption by physicians. Hence, particular strategies are more likely to succeed if they target individual physicians rather than organizations.     

Technological agglomeration and the emergence of clusters and networks in nanotechnology

Research and development at the nanoscale requires a large degree of integration, from convergence of research disciplines in new fields of enquiry to new linkages between start-ups, regional actors and research facilities. Based on the analysis of two clusters in nanotechnologies (MESA+ (Twente) and other centres in The Netherlands and Minatec in Grenoble in France), the paper discusses the phenomenon of technological agglomeration: co-located scientific and technological fields associated to coordinated technology platforms to some extent actively shaped by institutional entrepreneurs. Such co-location and coordination are probably a pre-requisite for the emergence of strong nanoclusters.     

The development of the classroom social climate during the first months of the school year

In this study the mean stability of classroom social climates during the first months of the school year and the deviation of individual classrooms (N = 48) and students (N = 1208) from this general trend were investigated by taping students’ interpersonal perceptions of their teachers. Multilevel growth modeling was used to identify the average development of the classroom social climate and between classroom and student differences in terms of this development. While significant differences between classrooms and students were found, these differences were rather stable over time. Most classrooms showed a slightly u-shaped trajectory. In only very few classrooms the quality of the social climate had increased at the end of the research period as compared to the very first lesson. Differences in the development between classrooms were associated to the emotional distance between teacher and students during the first lesson of the school year.     

多级安全数据库推理通道综述

介绍了多级安全数据库系统中存在的推理通道,推理攻击的种类,推理通道的4种形式化描述方法。在此基础上,介绍了目前国内外最新的检测和消除多级安全数据库中推理通道的最新技术成果和未来研究热点与方向。