Does class attendance predict academic performance in first year psychology tutorials?

&lt;p&gt;Student absenteeism is common across universities. Learning through attending lectures and tutorials is still expected in our technological age, though there are major changes in how information in lectures and tutorials can be transmitted via the use of iLearn and related packages, by video streaming of classes and by online technology generally. Consequently, availability of these supplementary resources and, in general terms, the issue of physical absence from classes, raises the question of whether missing class impacts on student learning. Does it matter if students attend classes or not? The aim of the current study was to assess whether student attendance in tutorials in first year subjects in psychology was associated with academic performance, that is, was attendance linked with improved performance? We took data from tutor held records on attendance and on results for article review assignments and laboratory reports for a total of 383 students who completed introductory psychology courses in classes over the years 2012-2015. The hypothesis that class attendance and performance would be significantly related was supported in 13 of the 14 class relationships examined separately, and, in the class that was the exception the correlation was in the expected direction. These results suggest that attending class continues to have a positive impact on student learning in this technological age. The limitations of the current study are discussed as are implications regarding instructor resource applications and/or compulsory class attendance policies.&lt;/p&gt;</jats:p

Incentivising Privacy in Cryptocurrencies

Privacy was one of the key points mentioned in Nakamoto's Bitcoin whitepaper, and one of the selling points of Bitcoin in its early stages. In hindsight, however, de-anonymising Bitcoin users turned out to be more feasible than expected. Since then, privacy focused cryptocurrencies such as Zcash and Monero have surfaced. Both of these examples cannot be described as fully successful in their aims, as recent research has shown. Incentives are integral to the security of cryptocurrencies, so it is interesting to investigate whether they could also be aligned with privacy goals. A lack of privacy often results from low user counts, resulting in low anonymity sets. Could users be incentivised to use the privacy preserving implementations of the systems they use? Not only is Zcash much less used than Bitcoin (which it forked from), but most Zcash transactions are simply transparent transactions, rather than the (at least intended to be) privacy-preserving shielded transactions. This paper and poster briefly discusses how incentives could be incorporated into systems like cryptocurrencies with the aim of achieving privacy goals. We take Zcash as example, but the ideas discussed could apply to other privacy-focused cryptocurrencies. This work was presented as a poster at OPERANDI 2018, the poster can be found within this short document

Computational prediction of splicing regulatory elements shared by Tetrapoda organisms

Background: auxiliary splicing sequences play an important role in ensuring accurate and efficient splicing by promoting or repressing recognition of authentic splice sites. These cis-acting motifs have been termed splicing enhancers and silencers and are located both in introns and exons. They co-evolved into an intricate splicing code together with additional functional constraints, such as tissue-specific and alternative splicing patterns. We used orthologous exons extracted from the University of California Santa Cruz multiple genome alignments of human and 22 Tetrapoda organisms to predict candidate enhancers and silencers that have reproducible and statistically significant bias towards annotated exonic boundaries.Results: a total of 2,546 Tetrapoda enhancers and silencers were clustered into 15 putative core motifs based on their Markov properties. Most of these elements have been identified previously, but 118 putative silencers and 260 enhancers (~15%) were novel. Examination of previously published experimental data for the presence of predicted elements showed that their mutations in 21/23 (91.3%) cases altered the splicing pattern as expected. Predicted intronic motifs flanking 3' and 5' splice sites had higher evolutionary conservation than other sequences within intronic flanks and the intronic enhancers were markedly differed between 3' and 5' intronic flanks.Conclusion: difference in intronic enhancers supporting 5' and 3' splice sites suggests an independent splicing commitment for neighboring exons. Increased evolutionary conservation for ISEs/ISSs within intronic flanks and effect of modulation of predicted elements on splicing suggest functional significance of found elements in splicing regulation. Most of the elements identified were shown to have direct implications in human splicing and therefore could be useful for building computational splicing models in biomedical researc

Facial recognition and visual processing as we age:Using the Thatcher illusion with famous and non-famous faces

This paper reports a study examining preferred visual processes in recognition of facial features in older vs younger age groups, using Thatcherised images of famous and non-famous people in the one study. The aims were to determine whether decline in visual system processing occurs increasingly as we grow older, and whether there is less decline in recognition of famous (or familiar) faces. Three groups (younger, middle-old and older) made up the sample of 73 people (aged 19-82 years). Visual decline in face recognition across the age groups was assessed based on the Thatcher illusion—using four famous and four non-famous faces either with normal features or with distorted features. The faces were presented one at a time on computer screen, and participants were asked to judge whether the face was distorted (eyes and/or mouth not aligned in relation to the face); in addition, time taken to decision (latency) was also measured. Decline was found in visual processing such that older individuals gave limited attention to facial details (processing faces holistically, with detail errors) and they took longer to decide. Whether the faces were famous or not did not have significant effects on the decisions and there was no interaction with age, though famous faces were given longer attention. Our visual system processes decline as we age in that we give less attention to details and more to holistic processing and so make more errors in recognition. Implications for treatment or amelioration of the effects are discussed.</jats:p

Emotional intelligence and optimistic cognitive style in certainty in career decision making

The current study tested whether Trait Emotional Intelligence variables and Optimistic Cognitive Style together predicted feelings of certainty in career decision making. Few studies have examined the effects of trait emotional intelligence or life style orientation on career choice, and no study has been found that combined both the life orientation (optimism) and the trait emotional intelligence domains and facets: this current study examined the relative weights of these facets and lifestyle orientation in relation to career certainty. Participants were from a convenience sample of 142 university students who completed a paper-and-pencil survey containing the following measures: the Life Orientation Test-Revised (assessing optimism, the Trait Emotional Intelligence Scale (TEIQue), and the Career Decision Scale (CDS).It was found that optimism and the four main domains (of wellbeing, self-control, emotionality, and sociability) and several of the subscales of the TEIQue correlated significantly with career certainty. A unique significant predictor of Career Certainty was found to be Stability-Impulsivity (a facet in the Self-Control domain of the TEIQue) but optimism was not a factor in predicting career certainty when the stability-impulsiveness factor was accounted for. Self-control- stability (low impulsiveness) predicted career certainty. It would seem that stability in thinking and action helps career commitment (certainty). Implications are drawn for career development counselling and suggestions made for future research

SoK: Log Based Transparency Enhancing Technologies

This paper systematizes log based Transparency Enhancing Technologies. Based on established work on transparency from multiple disciplines we outline the purpose, usefulness, and pitfalls of transparency. We outline the mechanisms that allow log based transparency enhancing technologies to be implemented, in particular logging mechanisms, sanitisation mechanisms and the trade-offs with privacy, data release and query mechanisms, and how transparency relates to the external mechanisms that can provide the ability to contest a system and hold system operators accountable. We illustrate the role these mechanisms play with two case studies, Certificate Transparency and cryptocurrencies, and show the role that transparency plays in their function as well as the issues these systems face in delivering transparency