Similarities and Differences in Math-Related Motivation and Intention to Pursue Math in the Future: A Cross-National Study in the United States and South Korea

Research on adolescents’ academic motivation has examined predictors of academic behavior for several decades. Guided by expectancy-value theories of academic motivation (Eccles et al., 1983; Wigfield & Eccles, 2000), this study examined the relations between motivational beliefs and intentions to pursue math in the future, with a particular focus on the mediating role of current math performance. The study also explored cross-national cultural similarities and differences in these relations, using samples of 15-year-old U.S. and South Korean adolescents. The target sample included a total of three thousand (N= 3,341) 15-year-old adolescents (1,689 South Korean sample and 1,652 U.S. sample), who participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) of 2012. Results provided evidence that expectancy beliefs (i.e., math self-concept) and value beliefs (i.e., math interest and math utility value) were directly associated with future intentions to pursue mathematics for South Korean and U.S. student samples. The mediating role of current math performance in explaining these relations was only documented for the U.S. sample but not South Korean sample. Math self-concept was associated with math performance for both samples; however, there was a positive association between math utility and math performance for only South Korean sample. Consistent with prior research, there was a positive relation between math performance and math intentions, as well as a negative relation between math anxiety and math performance. These predicted relations were found for the U.S. sample of adolescents, but similar relations were not evident for the South Korean sample. This study adds to motivation research by addressing the unique influence of various motivation constructs in explaining adolescents’ academic choices and by providing insights into the accumulation of knowledge in the expectancy-value model of achievement motivation for a cross-national perspective.Doctor of Philosoph

Patterns of Korean Adolescents Delinquent Behaviors: A Latent Class Analysis

The present study identified distinct classes of delinquent adolescents as they relate to risk or protective factors at individual and contextual level. Latent class analysis was employed to examine the heterogeneity of delinquent adolescents by using a nationally representative sample of 1,979 1st year high school students from the 2016 Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey(KCYPS). The results show as follows. Three classes of delinquent adolescents were identified: 'low-level delinquency group'(91%), 'status offenses group'(4.5%) and 'cyber delinquency group'(4.5%). Additionally, the result of multinomial regression employed to examine the relations between risk or protective factors and latent delinquent classes showed that group membership was found to be associated differentially with adolescents' individual and contextual factors. In particular, aggression had a great impact on status offenses group, whereas depression was closely related with cyber delinquency group. Results from the current study imply that because delinquent adolescents present with different risk profiles, schools or communities should meet different service needs for differential prevention and intervention responses

Current Trends in Korean Adolescents’ Social Purpose

In the research presented we investigated the features of Korean adolescents’ social purpose as compared with other life goals in terms of different aspects of psychological well-being (study 1). We also examine the perceptions of high achieving Korean adolescents on social purpose and factors affecting it (study 2).The results of study 1 showed that the pursuit of social purpose significantly predicted psychological well-being compared to the other two life goals. Results of study 2 showed Korean adolescents value and pursue social purpose as a life goal. They explicitly accepted their social responsibility to serve their country in line with idyllic Confucianism values and Collectivistic roles. However, further analysis revealed that they had implicitly pursued individualistic desires of materialistic wealth and fame in parallel with their explicit social purpose. Implications of the results are discussed from the socio-cultural perspective on social purpose in regards to how to understand the features of social purpose that Korean adolescents have and how to foster its development

Embedding Covalency into Metal Catalysts for Efficient Electrochemical Conversion of CO_2

CO_2 conversion is an essential technology to develop a sustainable carbon economy for the present and the future. Many studies have focused extensively on the electrochemical conversion of CO_2 into various useful chemicals. However, there is not yet a solution of sufficiently high enough efficiency and stability to demonstrate practical applicability. In this work, we use first-principles-based high-throughput screening to propose silver-based catalysts for efficient electrochemical reduction of CO_2 to CO while decreasing the overpotential by 0.4–0.5 V. We discovered the covalency-aided electrochemical reaction (CAER) mechanism in which p-block dopants have a major effect on the modulating reaction energetics by imposing partial covalency into the metal catalysts, thereby enhancing their catalytic activity well beyond modulations arising from d-block dopants. In particular, sulfur or arsenic doping can effectively minimize the overpotential with good structural and electrochemical stability. We expect this work to provide useful insights to guide the development of a feasible strategy to overcome the limitations of current technology for electrochemical CO_2 conversion

Dissociation Between the Growing Opioid Demands and Drug Policy Directions Among the U.S. Older Adults with Degenerative Joint Diseases

We aim to examine temporal trends of orthopedic operations and opioid-related hospital stays among seniors in the nation and states of Oregon and Washington where marijuana legalization was accepted earlier than any others. As aging society advances in the United States (U.S.), orthopedic operations and opioid-related hospital stays among seniors increase in the nation. A serial cross-sectional cohort study using the healthcare cost and utilization project fast stats from 2006 through 2015 measured annual rate per 100,000 populations of orthopedic operations by age groups (45–64 vs 65 and older) as well as annual rate per 100,000 populations of opioid-related hospital stays among 65 and older in the nation, Oregon and Washington states from 2008 through 2017. Orthopedic operations (knee arthroplasty, total or partial hip replacement, spinal fusion or laminectomy) and opioid-related hospital stays were measured. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) was used to quantify temporal trends of orthopedic operations by age groups as well as opioid-related hospital stays and was tested by Rao–Scott correction of χ2 for categorical variables. The CAGR (4.06%) of orthopedic operations among age 65 and older increased (P...) (See full abstract in article

Oxygen evolution reaction over catalytic single-site Co in a well-defined brookite TiO₂ nanorod surface

Efficient electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are paramount to the development of electrochemical devices for clean energy and fuel conversion. However, the structural complexity of heterogeneous electrocatalysts makes it a great challenge to elucidate the surface catalytic sites and OER mechanisms. Here, we report that catalytic single-site Co in a well-defined brookite TiO₂ nanorod (210) surface (Co-TiO₂) presents turnover frequencies that are among the highest for Co-based heterogeneous catalysts reported to date, reaching 6.6 ± 1.2 and 181.4 ± 28 s⁻¹ at 300 and 400 mV overpotentials, respectively. Based on grand canonical quantum mechanics calculations and the single-site Co atomic structure validated by in situ and ex situ spectroscopic probes, we have established a full description of the catalytic reaction kinetics for Co-TiO₂ as a function of applied potential, revealing an adsorbate evolution mechanism for the OER. The computationally predicted Tafel slope and turnover frequencies exhibit exceedingly good agreement with experiment

Oxygen evolution reaction over catalytic single-site Co in a well-defined brookite TiO₂ nanorod surface

Efficient electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) are paramount to the development of electrochemical devices for clean energy and fuel conversion. However, the structural complexity of heterogeneous electrocatalysts makes it a great challenge to elucidate the surface catalytic sites and OER mechanisms. Here, we report that catalytic single-site Co in a well-defined brookite TiO₂ nanorod (210) surface (Co-TiO₂) presents turnover frequencies that are among the highest for Co-based heterogeneous catalysts reported to date, reaching 6.6 ± 1.2 and 181.4 ± 28 s⁻¹ at 300 and 400 mV overpotentials, respectively. Based on grand canonical quantum mechanics calculations and the single-site Co atomic structure validated by in situ and ex situ spectroscopic probes, we have established a full description of the catalytic reaction kinetics for Co-TiO₂ as a function of applied potential, revealing an adsorbate evolution mechanism for the OER. The computationally predicted Tafel slope and turnover frequencies exhibit exceedingly good agreement with experiment

Achieving tolerant CO₂ electro-reduction catalyst in real water matrix

In order to achieve practical application of electrochemical CO₂ conversion technologies, the development of durable catalyst in real water matrix is essential because the use of catalysts only showing high performance within a well-refined environment cannot guarantee their feasibility in realistic conditions. Here, we report a design strategy for a catalyst, which shows excellent tolerance to deactivation factors, using a carbon-based material under more practical condition implemented by real tap water. Screening analyses on various components in tap water elucidated that the impurity group, which can be deposited on the catalyst surface and impede the active sites, such as copper, zinc, and especially iron are the main factors responsible for deactivation. Based on these findings, the structural modified nitrogen-doped carbon nanotube (denoted as ball mill N-CNT) was adopted as a catalyst design to secure durability. Consequently, the ball mill N-CNT revealed tolerance to the disclosed deactivation factors and showed stable performance during unprecedented long-time of 120 h in tap water media

Inhibitory Effect of Lycopene on Amyloid-β-Induced Apoptosis in Neuronal Cells

Alzheimer′s disease (AD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disease. Brain amyloid-β deposition is a crucial feature of AD, causing neuronal cell death by inducing oxidative damage. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) activate NF-κB, which induces expression of Nucling. Nucling is a pro-apoptotic factor recruiting the apoptosome complex. Lycopene is an antioxidant protecting from oxidative stress-induced cell damage. We investigated whether lycopene inhibits amyloid-β-stimulated apoptosis through reducing ROS and inhibiting mitochondrial dysfunction and NF-κB-mediated Nucling expression in neuronal SH-SY5Y cells. We prepared cells transfected with siRNA for Nucling or nontargeting control siRNA to determine the role of Nucling in amyloid-β-induced apoptosis. The amyloid-β increased intracellular and mitochondrial ROS levels, apoptotic indices (p53, Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, caspase-3 cleavage), NF-kB activation and Nucling expression, while cell viability, mitochondrial membrane potential, and oxygen consumption rate decreased in SH-SY5Y cells. Lycopene inhibited these amyloid-β-induced alterations. However, amyloid-β did not induce apoptosis, determined by cell viability and apoptotic indices (p53, Bax/Bcl-2 ratio, caspase-3 cleavage), in the cells transfected with siRNA for Nucling. Lycopene inhibited apoptosis by reducing ROS, and by inhibiting mitochondrial dysfunction and NF-κB-target gene Nucling expression in neuronal cells. Lycopene may be beneficial for preventing oxidative stress-mediated neuronal death in patients with neurodegeneration