The Use Of Alternative Reasons In Probabilistic Judgment

This dissertation investigates people’s ability to search for and use alternative reasons while making probabilistic judgments, with the goals of devising and testing (1) a new actively open-minded thinking (AOT) measure that assesses thinking behavior by looking at people’s ability to generate alternative reasons/contradicting evidence, and (2) a short online module to train people in actively open-minded thinking. In Chapter 1 we assessed individual differences in actively open-minded thinking on probabilistic judgment tasks by using both belief and behavioral measures. In the first three studies subjects made probabilistic judgments in three-choice almanac questions, while in the fourth study subjects made point and confidence interval estimates for numerical almanac questions. Compared to the low scoring subjects, subjects who score high on the new behavioral AOT measure were more likely to have more accurate probability judgments when they did not know the correct answer to the question. Higher scores on the behavioral actively open-minded thinking measure were also associated with lower overconfidence. In Chapter 2 we tested the effectiveness of making subjects consider alternative reasons and a one-hour long online training module in AOT. Studies 4 and 5 tested whether making subjects consider alternative reasons would improve their accuracy and decrease their overconfidence. In Study 4 we observed that this intervention was successful in increasing the number of alternative reasons and subjects’ accuracy when subjects did not know the correct answer. There was also a slight decrease in overconfidence as a result of this intervention. Study 5, which used point estimate questions, did not show any benefits of the intervention in accuracy or overconfidence. Studies 6 and 7 tested the effectiveness of new online AOT training modules we designed for adults. The training module in Study 6 did not show any improvement in subjects’ accuracy, but the training condition in Study 7 increased subjects’ accuracy scores when subjects did not know the correct answer. We observed some effect of the training on subjects’ overconfidence such that going through the training decreased subjects’ unwarranted confidence. Chapter 3 discusses the relation between the behavioral and belief measures of AOT, their effects on accuracy and overconfidence. We specifically argue that while the belief measure of AOT assesses general AOT tendencies, the behavioral measure of AOT assesses task specific AOT behavior. The results show that considering alternative reasons increases subjects’ accuracy by lowering their overconfidence. We finally discuss our results from training adult population in AOT and suggest potential testing scenarios for our training module

ASSESSING AND ENHANCING PRE-SERVICE PHYSICS TEACHERS’ PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE (PCK) THROUGH REFLECTIVE CORES CONSTRUCTION

The purpose of this study was to explore the effect of Content Representations (CoRes) construction, and reflective peer discussions on pre-service physics teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK). Participants consisted of 16 third year pre-service physics teachers; 12 females and 4 males. The results show that the majority of participants made positive improvements to their initial PCK. Participants became more knowledgeable about students’ misconceptions, developed improved orientations to teaching, and suggested more responsive instructional strategies and assessment strategies along with more elaborate justifications. Discussion focuses on implications of these results for professional development of pre-service science teachers and research on PCK

High School Students’ Critical Thinking Related to Their Metacognitive Self-Regulation and Physics Self-Efficacy Beliefs

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships between ninth grade students’ metacognitive self-regulation skills and physics self-efficacy beliefs and their critical thinking. To this end, 162 students attending the ninth grade participated in the study. Critical thinking scale, metacognitive self-regulation scale and physics self-efficacy scale were used as data collection tools in the study. Data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, pearson product moment correlation analysis, and stepwise multiple regression analysis. According to descriptive analysis results the students’ critical thinking, metacognitive self-regulation and physics self-efficacy beliefs were high. Moreover, stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that the students’ metacognitive self-regulation and physics self-efficacy belief scores were significant predictors of their critical thinking scores, explaining 55 % of the variance of critical thinking scores. In addition, it was also determined that the main variable that best explained critical thinking was metacognitive self-regulation, explaining 53 % of variance

Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus Infection in Cattle - Antioxidant Status and Some Biochemical Parameters

Background: Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) infections in cattle result in significant economic losses due to reproductive performance deficiencies caused by gastrointestinal, respiratory system infections, and transplacental infections. BVDV is one of the most important and widespread pathogens in cattle worldwide, including Turkey. Methods such as virus neutralization, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), reverse transcriptase and polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) are used for the detection of the disease. The diagnosis of the disease in its subclinical form is challenging due to the lengthy and costly procedures involved. Investigating oxidative stress parameters in ruminants with various diseases contributes significantly to diagnosis and prognosis. This study aimed to investigate some oxidative stress and biochemical parameters in cattle infected with BVDV. Materials, Methods & Results: In the study, blood samples were collected from 80 Simmental breed cows aged between approximately 4 and 8 years to determine the presence of BVDV antibodies using the ELISA method. Based on the results obtained, study groups were organized. The study included a group of 10 animals with positive antibody levels as the infected group, and a group of 10 animals with negative antibody levels as the healthy group. Blood samples were taken from the animals, and serum separation was ensured. In the obtained serum samples, levels of vitamin E, vitamin A, β-Carotene, catalase, GSH-Px, and MDA were determined using spectrophotometric methods. In addition, serum total protein, albumin, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), glucose, low-density lipoprotein (LDL), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), calcium (Ca), and phosphorus (P) were measured using commercial test kits and an autoanalyzer. In the study, it was observed that the differences in serum MDA, vitamin E, vitamin A, β-carotene, and catalase levels were statistically significant between the healthy and BVDV-infected groups (P < 0.001). The activity of GSH-Px was also found to be statistically different between the groups (P < 0.01). Among the biochemical parameters, HDL, LDL, and AST levels were found to be statistically significant between the healthy and BVDV-infected groups (P < 0.001). Additionally, ALP and glucose levels were found to be statistically significant (P < 0.01). However, although there were differences in the levels of total protein, albumin, Ca, and P between the groups, these results were not statistically significant.Discussion: Although the diagnosis of the disease was partially made based on clinical observations in BVDV infections, the ELISA method was used for accurate diagnosis. Furthermore, it was found that there was a significant difference in MDA concentration between the healthy and infected groups, indicating oxidative damage caused by the virus. Similarly,significant differences in vitamin E, vitamin A, β-carotene, GSH-Px, and catalase levels were observed between the groups, indicating a decrease in antioxidant values due to the infection. In addition, differences in ALP, AST, glucose, LDL, and HDL levels were found between the groups. This difference is thought to be related to the effects of the disease agent on the liver and systemically. This study demonstrates that, in addition to the viral pathogen, antioxidant and biochemical values are important criteria in the detection of the disease. Keywords: antioxidant, bovine, BVDV, MDA, serum biochemistry

Classification of human motion based on affective state descriptors

Cataloged from PDF version of article.Human body movements and postures carry emotion-specific information. On the basis of this motivation, the objective of this study is to analyze this information in the spatial and temporal structure of the motion capture data and extract features that are indicative of certain emotions in terms of affective state descriptors. Our contribution comprises identifying the directly or indirectly related descriptors to emotion classification in human motion and conducting a comprehensive analysis of these descriptors (features) that fall into three different categories: posture descriptors, dynamic descriptors, and frequency-based descriptors in order to measure their performance with respect to predicting the affective state of an input motion. The classification results demonstrate that no single category is sufficient by itself; the best prediction performance is achieved when all categories are combined. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Determination of Factors Related to Students’ Understandings of Heat, Temperature and Internal Energy Concepts

The purpose of this research is to investigate the relationships between high school students’ learning approaches and logical thinking abilities and their understandings of heat, temperature and internal energy concepts. Learning Approach Questionnaire, Test of Logical Thinking and Three-Tier Heat, Temperature and Internal Energy Test were used as data collection tools in this research. All data collection tools were administered to 120 Anatolian High School students. The data collected through these tools were analyzed using descriptive statistics and stepwise multiple regression analysis. According to the results of this research, the variable that best predicts high school students’ understandings of heat, temperature and internal energy is their logical thinking abilities. Students’ logical thinking abilities and their orientations toward meaningful and rote learning predict 41% of the variance of their understanding scores concerning heat, temperature and internal energy. Results of the research indicate the importance of students’ logical thinking abilities and their orientations towards meaningful learning on their understandings of heat, temperature and internal energy concepts

Effectiveness of Functional Electrical Stimulation - Cycling Treatment in Children with Cerebral Palsy

AimThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of functional electrical stimulation (FES) bicycle therapy system on motor function, gait pattern, spasticity, daily living activities, and aerobic capacity in children with cerebral palsy (CP) and to compare the results with sham stimulation and standard treatment.MethodsPatients with cerebral palsy who received botulinum toxin type-A injections to lower extremities and those with Gross Motor Function Measure Classification System (GMFCS) levels I – III, were included in the study. Twenty-five patients were randomly assigned into three treatment groups for 4-weeks: Group 1, FES-cycling and standard treatment; Group 2, Sham stimulus FES-cycling and standard treatment; Group 3, Standard treatment. Clinical assessment tools included the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS), Modified Tardieu Scale (MTS), Pediatric Functional Independence Measure (WeeFIM), GMFCS, Gross Motor Function Measure-88 (GMFM-88), selective motor control tests, 6-minute walk test, and Visual Gait Analysis (VGA).ResultsIn all groups, there were significant improvements in MAS, MTS, WeeFIM, GMFM-88, 6-minute walk test, and VGA scores. No changes in GMFCS levels were observed in any group. At the end of the study, there was no significant difference among the groups in terms of any clinical assessment parameter.ConclusionsAll groups showed statistically significant improvements in motor function, walking pattern, spasticity, daily living activities, and aerobic capacity in patients with CP following the rehabilitation period. Although FES-cycling demonstrated no superiority over the other approaches and provided no additional benefit to the results, FES appears to be safe and well-tolerated in children with CP, at least as much as standard exercise treatment