What goes on when tertiary students are engaged in an online academic writing course?

The learning process is a complex one with many intertwining variables. The learners’ characteristics could be a defining factor and so is prior learning experiences and knowledge, which are the manifests of metacognitive, socio-affective and cognitive systems. A learning task engagement calls for an exertion of personal control and the fulfillment of efficiency expectations. In learning, the learner activates a number of processes such as those that concern attentional, retrieval, metacognitive and rehearsal strategies. McCombs (1988) sums up these complexities in his multimodal model of learning with certain underlying assumptions. Among them is that learning success can be manipulated. In promoting learning, the teacher can promote strategy learning such as self-directed learning. Learners if trained can select and be their own judge as to the efficacy of strategy use for the learning task. Lessard-Closton (1997) identified several basic characteristics to describe language learning strategies: they are learner-generated, they enhance language learning and competence, they may be visible or unseen and they involve the processing of information and the use of memory

Research protocol for the exploration of experiences of aboriginal Australian mothers and healthcare professionals when using the Edinburgh postnatal depression scale:A process-oriented validation study using triangulated participatory mixed methods

INTRODUCTION: Adopting a process-oriented framework for test validation can help to establish whether this tool has the potential to be an acceptable, valid and reliable indicator of depression for mothers and mothers-to-be. This mixed-methods research protocol seeks to explore the views and experiences of Aboriginal mothers and healthcare professionals in relation to the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and is intended to highlight potential barriers in perinatal mental health conceptualisation, engagement and response style. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Thematic analysis will be applied to interview transcripts of Aboriginal Australian mothers (n=6+) and healthcare professionals (n=6+) to identify key themes. The process-focused validation model will use narratives about experiences of using the EPDS as the priority point of analysis. Item-level data and process-level (experience) data are key phenomenological data. The interview-based narratives will be then compared with EPDS scores to check for points of congruence and divergence. This will be done at two time points, antenatally and postnatally, to assess changes in assessment processes and perceptions. Bridging evidence-based research with clinical practice in an Aboriginal Australian context will be facilitated by an investigation of the perceived cultural relevance and likely clinical effectiveness of EPDS. Such evidence is critical to understanding whether the EPDS fulfils its intended purpose. The guiding principles in designing this research protocol is to benefit the well-being of young Aboriginal families and communities through partnership with Aboriginal women. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethics approval was obtained from Human Research Ethics Committee of Murdoch University and from Western Australian Aboriginal Health Ethics Committee (WAAHEC). Participating healthcare sites and services have provided letters of support. Results of this study will be submitted for publication in a peer-reviewed journal

Travel Intentions among Foreign Tourists for Medical Treatment in Malaysia: An Empirical Study

AbstractThis study essentially attempts to discover the underlying factors that might affect the foreign tourists’ intention to obtain medical treatment in Malaysia. The applicability of Theory of Planned Behaviour model provides the possibility to investigate the foreign tourists’ intention and to measure tourists’ general antecedent attitudes and feelings towards travelling abroad to seek medical treatment. The quantitative research approach has been used to conduct this study. A survey was carried out at four locations nationwide (Northern Region, Central Region, Southern Region and Eastern Region). The first generation technique was used to test and estimate the complex relationship among the variables. The proposed research model is expected to contribute to an understanding for scholars, marketers, policy makers, and practitioners on how these medical tourists formulate their intention to travel to Malaysia as a medical travel destination in order to increase the inbound market in medical tourism. This adds another contribution to the literature in the medical tourism field, reshaping the definition of medical tourism and having a more inclusive view in medical treatment highlighting the conceptual value of this study. Based on the analysis result, it can be confirmed that only attitude and subjective norm significantly influence the intention to visit for medical treatment in Malaysia, but is not significant for perceived control behaviour. The study concluded with several recommendations and insights that are useful to relevant parties such as Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Ministry of Health, Policy Maker, Public and Private Hospital Management teams as well as Travel Agencies or Companies

Multifactor Productivity and Idea Transmission Channels in the Malaysian Economy

This paper examines the contribution of multifactor productivity (MFP) growth to output per worker growth in Malaysia from 1961-2000. MFP growth is found to contribute about 74 percent to output per worker growth from 1987-2000, but has only minimal or negative contribution to growth in the earlier years. This paper then attempts to explain why MFP growth has such a large contribution to output per worker growth in the period 1987-2000 by looking at international trade as channel of technology or idea transfer from the G5 countries into Malaysia. MFP grows because ideas from these advanced nations are transferred into the economy through this channel. Regressions using OLS are carried out on the log-linearized idea production function. The time frame for the regressions is from 1980 to 2000. The empirical results suggest that trade is an important channel through which technology or ideas are transferred into Malaysia, even when other possible channels - foreign direct investment and tertiary education of workers - are controlled for

Neural Basis of Working Memory Enhancement after Acute Aerobic Exercise: fMRI Study of Preadolescent Children

Working memory lies at the core of cognitive function and plays a crucial role in children’s learning, reasoning, problem solving, and intellectual activity. Behavioral findings have suggested that acute aerobic exercise improves children’s working memory; however, there is still very little knowledge about whether a single session of aerobic exercise can alter working memory’s brain activation patterns, as assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Therefore, we investigated the effect of acute moderate-intensity aerobic exercise on working memory and its brain activation patterns in preadolescent children, and further explored the neural basis of acute aerobic exercise on working memory in these children. We used a within-subjects design with a counterbalanced order. Nine healthy, right-handed children were scanned with a Siemens MAGNETOM Trio 3.0 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging scanner while they performed a working memory task (N-back task), following a baseline session and a 30-min, moderate-intensity exercise session. Compared with the baseline session, acute moderate-intensity aerobic exercise benefitted performance in the N-back task, increasing brain activities of bilateral parietal cortices, left hippocampus, and the bilateral cerebellum. These data extend the current knowledge by indicating that acute aerobic exercise enhances children’s working memory, and the neural basis may be related to changes in the working memory’s brain activation patterns elicited by acute aerobic exercise

Differential impact of affective and cognitive attributes on preference under deliberation and distraction

Two experiments were designed to test the hypothesis that affective information looms relatively larger than cognitive information when individuals are distracted for a period of time compared to when they engage in deliberative thinking. In two studies, participants were presented with information about 4 decision alternatives: An affective alternative that scored high on affective attributes but low on cognitive attributes, a cognitive alternative with the opposite trade-off, and two fillers. They were then asked to indicate their attitudes toward each of four decision alternatives either immediately, after a period of deliberation, or after a period of distraction. The results of both experiments demonstrated that participants significantly preferred the affective alternative to the cognitive alternative after distraction, but not after deliberation. The implications for understanding when and how unconscious thought may lead to better decisions are being discussed

Mutation of SLC35D3 causes metabolic syndrome by impairing dopamine signaling in striatal D1 neurons

We thank Dr. Ya-Qin Feng from Shanxi Medical University, Dr. Tian-Yun Gao from Nanjing University and Dr. Yan-Hong Xue from Institute of Biophysics (CAS) for technical assistance in this study. We are very thankful to Drs. Richard T. Swank and Xiao-Jiang Li for their critical reading of this manuscript and invaluable advice. Funding: This work was partially supported by grants from National Basic Research Program of China (2013CB530605; 2014CB942803), from National Natural Science Foundation of China 1230046; 31071252; 81101182) and from Chinese Academy of Sciences (KSCX2-EW-R-05, KJZD-EW-L08). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A comparison on the factors that shape linguistic variation in chat room discourse of UiTM Sarawak students / Chan Ai Nyet and Linda Sim Yian Hua

The rapid development in computer technology and the Internet has increased the popularity of Computer-mediated Communication (CMC) in chat rooms for interaction in all domains. The study on various types of CMC discourse is not new but the characteristics of and the variation within CMC are in flux. Many studies done on CMC have revealed contradictory findings. Besides, many researchers are unable to conclude that CMC should be labelled as speaking, writing, a combination of both, or neither. The need for research in this area, therefore, is ongoing. While the number of users of chat rooms is increasing, little is known about the reasons behind the wide variation in chat styles that chat users exhibit. This study aims to shed some light on the variations, first, the linguistic features and variation in chat room discourse of UiTM Sarawak students, and second to examine the contextual and individual factors influencing these linguistic features and variations found in the chat messages of the students. This study will analyse the chat room discourse of 22 UiTM Sarawak students. The data will be collected using three instruments - survey, online chat room, and interview. The survey will be used to gather background data on the participants. The transcripts of the chat room discussions will be analysed to find out what kind of linguistic styles and forms each individual uses in his or her discourse. T-Unit analysis and frequency analysis will be used to analyse all the participants' CMC transcripts. The face-to-face interview serves to garner information related to the individual and contextual factors affecting the language style and variation. The data gathered through the interviews will be analysed using the constant comparison method to identify the emerging contextual factors

Convergence of TOR-nitrogen and Snf1-glucose signaling pathways onto Gln3

Carbon and nitrogen are two basic nutrient sources for cellular organisms. They supply precursors for energy metabolism and metabolic biosynthesis. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, distinct sensing and signaling pathways have been described that regulate gene expression in response to the quality of carbon and nitrogen sources, respectively. Gln3 is a GATA-type transcription factor of nitrogen catabolite-repressible (NCR) genes. Previous observations indicate that the quality of nitrogen sources controls the phosphorylation and cytoplasmic retention of Gln3 via the target of rapamycin (TOR) protein. In this study, we show that glucose also regulates Gln3 phosphorylation and subcellular localization, which is mediated by Snf1, the yeast homolog of AMP-dependent protein kinase and a cytoplasmic glucose sensor. Our data show that glucose and nitrogen signaling pathways converge onto Gln3, which may be critical for both nutrient sensing and starvation responses