An Analysis of Personality Traits and Learning Styles as Predictors of Academic Performance

The present study examined the influence of Big Five personality traits and learning styles on cognitive and affective academic performance, and gender differences in learning styles. A survey research was employed to collect the data from the target population of students. Participants (N = 1,529) were students who enrolled in Business Administration and Communication Arts at Assumption University of Thailand.Overall, the results indicated that personality traits found to be better predictors of cognitive and affective academic performance than did learning styles. Conscientiousness was a significant contributor of academic performance. Among five personality traits, Conscientiousness, Openness, Agreeableness significantly predicted cognitive academic performance, whereas Conscientiousness, Openness, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability significantly predicted affective academic performance. Learning styles were also related to cognitive academic performance. Moreover, students in Business Administration reported higher scores in Conscientiousness, Agreeableness, and Emotional Stability than those in Communication Arts. The results showed no significant differences in learning styles between genders

Electrostatic and electrokinetic contributions to the elastic moduli of a driven membrane

We discuss the electrostatic contribution to the elastic moduli of a cell or artificial membrane placed in an electrolyte and driven by a DC electric field. The field drives ion currents across the membrane, through specific channels, pumps or natural pores. In steady state, charges accumulate in the Debye layers close to the membrane, modifying the membrane elastic moduli. We first study a model of a membrane of zero thickness, later generalizing this treatment to allow for a finite thickness and finite dielectric constant. Our results clarify and extend the results presented in [D. Lacoste, M. Cosentino Lagomarsino, and J. F. Joanny, Europhys. Lett., {\bf 77}, 18006 (2007)], by providing a physical explanation for a destabilizing term proportional to \kps^3 in the fluctuation spectrum, which we relate to a nonlinear ($E^2$) electro-kinetic effect called induced-charge electro-osmosis (ICEO). Recent studies of ICEO have focused on electrodes and polarizable particles, where an applied bulk field is perturbed by capacitive charging of the double layer and drives flow along the field axis toward surface protrusions; in contrast, we predict "reverse" ICEO flows around driven membranes, due to curvature-induced tangential fields within a non-equilibrium double layer, which hydrodynamically enhance protrusions. We also consider the effect of incorporating the dynamics of a spatially dependent concentration field for the ion channels.Comment: 22 pages, 10 figures. Under review for EPJ

Nurses' perceptions of aids and obstacles to the provision of optimal end of life care in ICU

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