Sibling Dynamics in Academic Socialization Within the Family Context

When it comes to academic socialization in the family context, many studies have addressed how parents influence their children’s educational outcomes (Jeynes, 2003), and a number of studies have shown that the ways in which parents influence their children’s educational outcomes differ by the macro influences of socioeconomic status or culture (Kim et al., 2020; Yamamoto & Sonnenschein, 2016). In comparison, less is known about the dynamics of academic socialization by individual children within a family. Eccles and colleagues (Eccles, Arberton, et al., 1993) proposed a model of family influences on children’s motivation and achievement. The model hypothesized the joint influence of family characteristics and child/sibling characteristics on parents’ beliefs and behaviors, which in turn affect children’s educational development. The model highlighted bidirectional influences not only between parents and children but also between siblings. Whereas most relevant studies and reviews of the model (Eccles, 2007; Wigfield et al., 2015) have centered on effects of family characteristics and parents’ beliefs and behaviors on children’s educational outcomes, the current dissertation alternatively focused on the hypothesized effects of a child’s characteristics on parents and on the child’s own academic self-concept as well as siblings’ academic self-concepts. Drawing from the model suggested by Eccles and colleagues (Eccles, Arberton, et al., 1993), I tested four hypotheses in the current dissertation. First, I constructed hypotheses about each child’s individual experiences as well as a sibling’s shared experiences with their parents in the family. Second, I hypothesized effects of each individual child’s achievement on their own academic self-concepts and their sibling’s academic self-concepts. Third, I hypothesized effects of each individual child’s achievement and motivation on their parents’ beliefs and parental support. Fourth, I focused on effects of sibling resemblance on comparison processes between siblings and parents’ similar or differential support for the siblings’ learning. To address the four hypotheses, the current dissertation included three empirical studies. The first study (Sibling Achievement as an Additional Frame of Reference for Parents’ Beliefs About Each Child’s Academic Ability) focused on parents’ beliefs about each sibling’s academic abilities. To provide empirical evidence for parents’ child-specific ability beliefs, the first study used secondary data (Gladstone et al., 2018) from 95 families collected in two academic-track secondary schools in a rural area of Germany and examined how much variance in parental beliefs could be explained by each parent’s child-specific response compared with the variance present at the child, parent, and family levels. To investigate the formation of parents’ child-specific ability beliefs, the study further addressed effects of siblings’ achievement on parents’ beliefs about each child’s academic ability. We explored whether each parent used the other sibling’s achievement as an additional frame of reference for their beliefs about a child’s abilities within and across domains by applying the internal/external frame of reference (I/E) model (Marsh, 1986b; Möller & Marsh, 2013). The results of a multilevel analysis showed substantial variance in parents’ beliefs at all levels of influence within the family. More specifically, parents’ beliefs about children’s academic abilities varied on the family level, indicating that parents’ beliefs differed from one family to another; varied on the parental level, indicating that parents’ general beliefs about siblings’ academic abilities differed between the mother and father; varied on the sibling level, indicating that both parents’ child-specific beliefs differed between siblings; and varied on the level of each child, indicating that each parent’s child-specific beliefs differed between siblings. These findings newly verified the hierarchical structure of parents’ child-specific beliefs about children’s academic abilities influenced by the multiple levels of influence from different socialization agents within the family. Additionally, the study provided tentative evidence that both the mother and father used each child’s own achievement and their sibling’s achievement as frames of reference for their beliefs about the child’s academic abilities within and across domains, yet the results did not show the clear pattern of the I/E model (Marsh, 1986b; Möller & Marsh, 2013). Overall, the findings of the first study are in line with the hypotheses proposed by Eccles and colleagues (Eccles, Arberton, et al., 1993). The second study (Why Do Siblings Differ in Their Learning Motivation and Perceptions of Parental Support? Reciprocal Relationships Between Parental Support and Each Sibling’s Learning Motivation) investigated whether the reciprocal associations between diverse dimensions of perceived parental support (parents’ expectations, parents’ emotional support, parents’ learning encouragement, and parental control) and children’s learning motivation differed between siblings. Using data from 2,082 school-aged twins collected at age 11 and age 13, we tested reciprocal associations within and between twin pairs across the 2 years, holding individual children’s characteristics of sex, school grades, and personality traits constant. By comparing monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins, we further verified whether the resemblance between siblings affected the reciprocal associations in within- and between-pair regressions. The results showed that there were significant reciprocal associations between an individual child’s perceptions of their parents’ learning encouragement and their learning motivation across ages 11 and 13, but only in the within-twin-pair regression for DZ twins. This means that the reciprocal relationships differed within DZ twin pairs, indicating the siblings’ individualized academic socialization with parents across the 2 years. Such effects were not observed for the other dimensions of parental support or for MZ twins. MZ and DZ twins differed in particular in effects of learning motivation at age 11 on their perceptions of parents’ learning encouragement at age 13. The substantial differences between MZ and DZ twins signified the effects of sibling resemblance on how parents supported the siblings in similar or different ways. Overall, the findings point to motivational dynamics and each child’s individualized interactions with their parents within the family. The third study (What Happens With Comparison Processes When “the Other” is Very Similar? Academic Self-Concept Formation in Twins) investigated effects of individual children’s and their siblings’ achievement on their academic self-concepts, using data from 4,208 twins at age 11 and age 17. Applying the I/E model (Marsh, 1986b), the third study examined whether twin’s and co-twin’s academic achievement affected individual twin’s academic self-concept within and across domains. In addition, the study further compared MZ with DZ twin pairs to determine whether they differed in co-twin’s achievement effects on twin’s academic self-concept to test whether sibling resemblance moderates social comparison processes within twin pairs, in line with social comparison theory (Festinger, 1954). Drawing on the pattern suggested by the I/E model, both MZ and DZ twins used their own achievement as a frame of reference for their academic self-concepts within and across domains (Marsh, 1986b). Yet, only MZ twins further used their sibling’s achievement as an additional frame of reference for their academic self-concept within and across domains, showing the similar I/E pattern in effects of their own achievement on their academic self-concept. This finding provided new empirical evidence for a strong assimilation within perfectly similar sibling pairs, which is referred to and theorized as a mirror effect in the current study. Despite being similar to each other, DZ twins did not show the mirror effect but showed sibling deidentification or nonreferencing (Whiteman et al., 2007; Whiteman, McHale, et al., 2011) because they did not consider their sibling’s achievement as a frame of reference for their academic self-concept within and across domains. Overall, the findings from the three studies showed the reciprocal effects of individual children’s and sibling’s achievement and learning motivation on their academic socialization from their parents and their academic self-concepts. Accordingly, the studies provided empirical support for the four hypotheses and for the model of family influences on children’s motivation and achievement proposed by Eccles, Arberton, et al. (1993). From a theoretical perspective, the studies produced new insights into the effects of children’s characteristics on the diversity in academic socialization between siblings, which has garnered relatively little attention to date. In addition, by conducting interdisciplinary research, the dissertation showed the relevance and usefulness of applying the I/E model and the transactional model of parenting to address how children’s and siblings’ characteristics reciprocally affect parenting and children’s educational outcomes. From a methodological perspective, multilevel analysis, cross-lagged modeling, and multiple-group analyses within a family are suggested to investigate dynamic academic socialization within the family. The dissertation suggests a new perspective on the model proposed by Eccles and colleagues (1993) and the best method to investigate dynamic academic socialization within the family

強度と注入性に優れるβ-TCP基セメントへのジルコニア添加の効果

Injectable calcium phosphate cements (CPCs) exhibit many advantages as bone substitution materials. However, the strength of injectable CPCs after setting are often insufficient. In our previous studies, mechano-chemically modification of β-tricalcium phosphate cement powder through a planetary ball-milling process exhibited simultaneous improvement in the strength and injectability of CPC. Two plausible effects of this process are: changes in the CPC powder properties and zirconia abrasion powder contamination from the milling pot and balls. The objective of the present study is to separately evaluate these two effects on the strength and injectability of CPCs. The calculated injectability of the cement paste with and without the addition of zirconia powder were higher than 65% at 6 h after mixing. These values were much higher than that of the CPC paste without mechano-chemically modification, and similar to that of CPC with zirconia abrasion powder contamination. By contrast, the compression strength of the set CPC with zirconia powder additives were higher than that without the addition, and similar to that of CPC with zirconia abrasion powder contamination. These results suggest that the changes in the CPC powder properties due to mechano-chemically modification mainly affected the injectability of the CPC paste, and the zirconia abrasion powder contamination of the CPC powder affected the strength of the set CPC

eCDT: Event Clustering for Simultaneous Feature Detection and Tracking-

Contrary to other standard cameras, event cameras interpret the world in an entirely different manner; as a collection of asynchronous events. Despite event camera's unique data output, many event feature detection and tracking algorithms have shown significant progress by making detours to frame-based data representations. This paper questions the need to do so and proposes a novel event data-friendly method that achieve simultaneous feature detection and tracking, called event Clustering-based Detection and Tracking (eCDT). Our method employs a novel clustering method, named as k-NN Classifier-based Spatial Clustering and Applications with Noise (KCSCAN), to cluster adjacent polarity events to retrieve event trajectories.With the aid of a Head and Tail Descriptor Matching process, event clusters that reappear in a different polarity are continually tracked, elongating the feature tracks. Thanks to our clustering approach in spatio-temporal space, our method automatically solves feature detection and feature tracking simultaneously. Also, eCDT can extract feature tracks at any frequency with an adjustable time window, which does not corrupt the high temporal resolution of the original event data. Our method achieves 30% better feature tracking ages compared with the state-of-the-art approach while also having a low error approximately equal to it.Comment: IROS2022 accepted pape

Applications and Major Achievements of Genome Editing in Vegetable Crops: A Review

The emergence of genome-editing technology has allowed manipulation of DNA sequences in genomes to precisely remove or replace specific sequences in organisms resulting in targeted mutations. In plants, genome editing is an attractive method to alter gene functions to generate improved crop varieties. Genome editing is thought to be simple to use and has a lower risk of off-target effects compared to classical mutation breeding. Furthermore, genome-editing technology tools can also be applied directly to crops that contain complex genomes and/or are not easily bred using traditional methods. Currently, highly versatile genome-editing tools for precise and predictable editing of almost any locus in the plant genome make it possible to extend the range of application, including functional genomics research and molecular crop breeding. Vegetables are essential nutrient sources for humans and provide vitamins, minerals, and fiber to diets, thereby contributing to human health. In this review, we provide an overview of the brief history of genome-editing technologies and the components of genome-editing tool boxes, and illustrate basic modes of operation in representative systems. We describe the current and potential practical application of genome editing for the development of improved nutritious vegetables and present several case studies demonstrating the potential of the technology. Finally, we highlight future directions and challenges in applying genome-editing systems to vegetable crops for research and product development

Liver-Specific Deletion of Mouse CTCF Leads to Hepatic Steatosis via Augmented PPARγ Signaling

Background & Aims: The liver is the major organ for metabolizing lipids, and malfunction of the liver leads to various diseases. Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is rapidly becoming a major health concern worldwide and is characterized by abnormal retention of excess lipids in the liver. CCCTC-binding factor (CTCF) is a highly conserved zinc finger protein that regulates higher-order chromatin organization and is involved in various gene regulation processes. Here, we sought to determine the physiological role of CTCF in hepatic lipid metabolism. Methods: We generated liver-specific, CTCF-ablated and/or CD36 whole-body knockout mice. Overexpression or knockdown of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)γ in the liver was achieved using adenovirus. Mice were examined for development of hepatic steatosis and inflammation. RNA sequencing was performed to identify genes affected by CTCF depletion. Genome-wide occupancy of H3K27 acetylation, PPARγ, and CTCF were analyzed by chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing. Genome-wide chromatin interactions were analyzed by in situ Hi-C. Results: Liver-specific, CTCF-deficient mice developed hepatic steatosis and inflammation when fed a standard chow diet. Global analysis of the transcriptome and enhancer landscape revealed that CTCF-depleted liver showed enhanced accumulation of PPARγ in the nucleus, which leads to increased expression of its downstream target genes, including fat storage-related gene CD36, which is involved in the lipid metabolic process. Hepatic steatosis developed in liver-specific, CTCF-deficient mice was ameliorated by repression of PPARγ via pharmacologic blockade or adenovirus-mediated knockdown, but hardly rescued by additional knockout of CD36. Conclusions: Our data indicate that liver-specific deletion of CTCF leads to hepatosteatosis through augmented PPARγ DNA-binding activity, which up-regulates its downstream target genes associated with the lipid metabolic process. © 2021 The Authors1

SoccerNet 2023 Challenges Results

peer reviewedThe SoccerNet 2023 challenges were the third annual video understanding challenges organized by the SoccerNet team. For this third edition, the challenges were composed of seven vision-based tasks split into three main themes. The first theme, broadcast video understanding, is composed of three high-level tasks related to describing events occurring in the video broadcasts: (1) action spotting, focusing on retrieving all timestamps related to global actions in soccer, (2) ball action spotting, focusing on retrieving all timestamps related to the soccer ball change of state, and (3) dense video captioning, focusing on describing the broadcast with natural language and anchored timestamps. The second theme, field understanding, relates to the single task of (4) camera calibration, focusing on retrieving the intrinsic and extrinsic camera parameters from images. The third and last theme, player understanding, is composed of three low-level tasks related to extracting information about the players: (5) re-identification, focusing on retrieving the same players across multiple views, (6) multiple object tracking, focusing on tracking players and the ball through unedited video streams, and (7) jersey number recognition, focusing on recognizing the jersey number of players from tracklets. Compared to the previous editions of the SoccerNet challenges, tasks (2-3-7) are novel, including new annotations and data, task (4) was enhanced with more data and annotations, and task (6) now focuses on end-to-end approaches. More information on the tasks, challenges, and leaderboards are available on https://www.soccer-net.org. Baselines and development kits can be found on https://github.com/SoccerNet

Surface structuring on transparent crystalline silicon solar cells for effective light management

School of Energy and Chemical Engineering (Energy Engineering)clos