Overview of normal-reference tests for high-dimensional means with implementation in the R package ‘HDNRA’

The challenge of testing for equal mean vectors in high-dimensional data poses significant difficulties in statistical inference. Much of the existing literature introduces methods that often rely on stringent regularity conditions for the underlying covariance matrices, enabling asymptotic normality of test statistics. However, this can lead to complications in controlling test size. To address these issues, a new set of tests has emerged, leveraging the normal-reference approach to improve reliability. The latest normal-reference methods for testing equality of mean vectors in high-dimensional samples, potentially with differing covariance structures, are reviewed. The theoretical underpinnings of these tests are revisited, providing a new unified justification for the validity of centralized -norm-based normal-reference tests (NRTs) by deriving the convergence rate of the distance between the null distribution of the test statistic and its corresponding normal-reference distribution. To facilitate practical application, an R package, HDNRA, is introduced, implementing these NRTs and extending beyond the two-sample problem to accommodate general linear hypothesis testing (GLHT). The package, designed with user-friendliness in mind, achieves efficient computation through a core implemented in C++ using Rcpp, OpenMP, and RcppArmadillo. Examples with real datasets are included, showcasing the application of various tests and providing insights into their practical utility.Accepted versionRI 4/22 ZT

Hands-on consensus building: Leveraging deep learning models to unveil hand gestures in consensus-building discourses

From the lens of embodied cognition, hand gestures emerge as vital embodiments facilitating shared meaning-making among learners in collaborative learning. Despite this recognition, the specific role of hand employment in various consensus-building discourses remains elusive, and there is a lack of quantitative evidence of hand employment in authentic classrooms. This study delves into the nuanced application of embodied cognition through hands across distinct consensus-building scenarios—quick, integration-oriented, and conflict-oriented consensus-building discourses. Forty engineering students from a Singapore university collaborated in dyads to solve design problems in a face-to-face computer-supported collaborative learning environment. Their collaboration process was video recorded. A deep learning-based model was applied to quantify students’ hand movement. The different kinds of individual and collaborative hand gestures were analyzed. The results found a significantly larger quantity and more balanced quantity of hand gesture employment during conflict-oriented consensus-building discourse than other consensus-building discourses. Students most often applied depictive gestures and idea alternations to demonstrate their understanding and build on each other’s ideas. This study quantitatively explores how hand gestures contribute to consensus-building in collaborative learning, corroborating existing qualitative research. It suggests that incorporating hand gestures in classrooms may enhance students’ thought processes and foster shared understanding.Accepted versio

Considerations for crafting a curriculum for teenagers to guard against online falsehoods

Teenagers are among the heaviest users of social media and the internet, and this makes them largely susceptible to encountering and disseminating online fake news. This chapter suggests points for educators to consider when crafting a curriculum to equip teenagers with the skills to combat online falsehoods. Drawing upon research on defining, determining, and dealing with deliberate online falsehoods in Singapore, this chapter suggests lesson objectives, content, learning experiences, and assessments

Enabling highly concentrated tetracycline degradation with tailored FeCo nanocrystals in porous graphitic carbon fiber

Eliminating highly concentrated antibiotic wastewater by transition metal catalyst-assisted AOPs is challenging. Herein, by varying the metal precursor composition (Co/Fe ratios of 1/1, 1.5/2/3), alloyed Co7Fe3 nanocrystals or spinel-like CoFe2O4 can be switched and both confined within the porous N-doped graphitic carbon fibers by electrospinning and controlled graphitization. Impressively, iron precursors played a dual role in working as reactive centers and main activators for the creation of porous carbon networks affording improved accessibility to catalytic sites and easy tetracycline (TC) diffusion effect. The catalytic activity of the resulting materials was closely related to surface metal valence and composition. Notably, the CoFe2O4 exhibited a significant improvement in peroxymonosulfate (PMS) adsorption and activation, explained by the present electron-deficient Co and Fe synergetic sites together with the interesting Jahn–Teller effect. Fe1Co2/CNF demonstrated the highest efficiency in degrading TC, achieving a reaction rate constant of 0.4647 min−1 with a low activation energy of 9.3 kJ·mol−1, nearly a 7.5-fold enhancement compared to Fe1Co3/CNF (0.062 min−1). The reaction mechanism and the role of reactive oxidative species revealed a synergy of ·SO4−, ·OH, ·O2− and 1O2. Wherein, ·O2− plays a more dominant role in the degradation of TC than other reactive species. Additionally, a reinforced electron-transfer pathway in the Fe1Co2/CNF system during PMS interaction was demonstrated. Furthermore, the degradation routes of TC were unraveled, and the toxicity of various intermediate by-products was assessed. Importantly, our continuous flow-type TC degradation process and light-driven photothermal strengthened reaction process demonstrated consistent performance, thereby offering a promising approach for tackling highly concentrated antibiotic wastewater.Accepted versio

The forms and functions of parental control and parental warmth across cultures: Evidence for commonality and Specificity

This concept paper introduces a special section on Parenting Across Cultures: Bridging Commonalities and Specificities in Parental Control and Warmth. In this article, we explore how parental control and warmth manifest and function across diverse cultural contexts, emphasizing both common patterns and culturally specific practices. We acknowledge that contemporary parenting theories and models, even when they were first conceived based on an Anglo White-centric perspective, are increasingly being re-interpreted to describe culture-specific parenting behaviors. To better examine the functions of parental control and warmth across cultures, we advocate for the use of a dimensional approach that will more adequately describe the unique and shared aspects of parenting behaviors. This special section is a collection of four empirical studies that focused on understudied cultures, including families from Indonesia, Singapore, Türkiye, and Chinese immigrants in the United States. The overarching aim is to provide a more nuanced understanding of how parental control and warmth may contribute to children’s development and adjustment. The findings underscore the importance of considering cultural norms and children’s perceptions in parenting research, with implications for theory advancement, practice, and policy design and implementation.Accepted versio

SS3612 Human resource management in sport

Semester 1 Examination 2024-202

The development of gross motor skills in children: Insights from the Motor Assessment Test for Children

This study investigated the gross motor skills (GMS) of 424 children aged 2.5 to 6 years with the Motor Assessment Test for Children (MATCH). Results from multivariate analysis of variance revealed (a) positive age effects in stability, locomotion, and object manipulation; (b) higher stability scores for girls than for boys and higher object manipulation scores for boys than for girls; and (c) GMS differences even within 6-month age intervals for some motor tasks. The positive age effect indicates that GMS proficiency changes with physical development, whereas gender effects may stem from genetic and/or environmental factors. We recommend that educators be aware of pronounced early childhood motor development and implement varied approaches that cater to diverse developmental levels. To facilitate ongoing monitoring, annual motor assessments are advised. Educators should acknowledge gender-type play behaviors with a naturalistic approach while advocating inclusive play opportunities.abstrac

Cityscape and memoryscape: The Cold War and monuments of commemoration in Singapore

From the 1940s to the 1960s, Singapore’s cityscape was dotted with military bases which had accompanying deathscapes devoted to the war dead from both WWII and the Cold War. First there was the establish ment of the Kranji War Cemetery and Memorial to the military war dead of WWII. At the same time in Singapore there were other cemeteries that were created as memoryscapes to the fallen in the Cold War—the Pasir Panjang and Ulu Pandan military cemeteries. With the end of empire and the exiting of the British from their Singapore military bases in the 1970s, the newly independent city-state of Singapore started to contest the use of these spaces by military cemeteries

What distinguishes students’ engineering design performance: Design behaviors, design iterations, and application of science concepts

Engineering design that requires mathematical analysis, scientific understanding, and technology is critical for preparing students for solving engineering problems. In simulated design environments, students are expected to learn about science and engineering through their design. However, there is a lack of understanding concerning linking science concepts with design problems to design artifacts. This study investigated how 99 high school students applied science concepts to solarize their school using a computer-aided engineering design software, aiming to explore the interaction between students’ science concepts and engineering design behaviors. Students were assigned to three groups based on their design performance: the achieving group, proficient group, and emerging group. By mining log activities, we explored the interactions among students’ application of science concepts, engineering design behaviors, design iterations, and their design performance. We found that the achieving group has a statistically higher number of design iterations than the other two performance groups. We also identified distinctive transition patterns in students’ applying science concepts and exercising design behaviors among three groups. The implications of this study are then discussed.Accepted versio

What does it take? Pedagogies and practices in the drama and dance classrooms in special education schools in Singapore

This chapter highlights key findings from a research study conducted between 2018 and 2019 with eleven artists teaching dance or drama in special education (SPED) schools in Singapore. Broadly categorized into visual arts, dance, drama, and music, twenty teaching artists working in these categories were interviewed to understand their pedagogical intentions, how their lessons were enacted in the classrooms, and the perceived outcomes of these lessons. This chapter narrows the focus of the discussion to the drama and dance classrooms because findings from the study showed strong resonances in the pedagogical intentions and performances among the artists in drama and dance. Artists from the two groups articulated similar pedagogical approaches and enactment strategies: Besides having sound pedagogical knowledge and skills to teach, the drama and dance artists highlighted three key beliefs that they expound to be the foundation of their work in the SPED classrooms: (1) having a genuine interest in working in a special education classroom; (2) having the confidence to enable a learning space that is flexible for the teaching artist and the students to explore and make changes; (3) respecting the students and looking beyond the disabilities. The chapter concludes with a short discussion on the possible collaboration between artists and teachers in school to extend the engagement for students outside of the dedicated drama or dance lessons