What Do You Mean I Got a D+? Effects of Feedback on Metacognition, Motivation and Academic Performance in High School Students

Numerous studies have established feedback as being among the most effective ways to improve student achievement. However, not all studies have defined feedback in the same way. This means that the effectiveness of feedback has depended on how it is defined and the context in which it is provided (Hattie & Timperely, 2007). This project investigates if changes in student academic achievement, motivation, and metacognition vary based on the type of feedback students are provided on assignments. Students were given either grades alongside traditional forms of minimal written feedback, or no grades alongside elaborate but targeted written feedback. The students in the study were enrolled in two sections of a high school world history class at Hartford Magnet Trinity College Academy. All feedback was provided by Ms. Debra Avery over the course of a four-week instructional unit. The effectiveness of the type of feedback was assessed before the unit began and at the end of the unit by measuring scores from a comprehension-based test, and by questionnaires that asked about student metacognition and motivation. Student perceptions on the usefulness of feedback were also collected to assess the level of engagement students had with the feedback they received. Students were able to learn more effectively by the end of the unit when given no grades alongside enhanced feedback; however, students did not necessarily perceive their own growth within the four-week span of the study

STATISTICAL ANALYSES TO DETECT AND REFINE GENETIC ASSOCIATIONS WITH NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES

Dementia is a clinical state caused by neurodegeneration and characterized by a loss of function in cognitive domains and behavior. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia. Although the amyloid β (Aβ) protein and hyperphosphorylated tau aggregates in the brain are considered to be the key pathological hallmarks of AD, the exact cause of AD is yet to be identified. In addition, clinical diagnoses of AD can be error prone. Many previous studies have compared the clinical diagnosis of AD against the gold standard of autopsy confirmation and shown substantial AD misdiagnosis Hippocampal sclerosis of aging (HS-Aging) is one type of dementia that is often clinically misdiagnosed as AD. AD and HS-Aging are controlled by different genetic architectures. Familial AD, which often occurs early in life, is linked to mainly mutations in three genes: APP, PSEN1, and PSEN2. Late-onset AD (LOAD) is strongly associated with the ε4 allele of apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene. In addition to the APOE gene, genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in or close to some genes associated with LOAD. On the other hand, GRN, TMEM106B, ABCC9, and KCNMB2 have been reported to harbor risk alleles associated with HS-Aging pathology. Although GWAS have succeeded in revealing numerous susceptibility variants for dementias, it is an ongoing challenge to identify functional loci and to understand how they contribute to dementia pathogenesis. Until recently, rare variants were not investigated comprehensively. GWAS rely on genotype imputation which is not reliable for rare variants. Therefore, imputed rare variants are typically removed from GWAS analysis. Recent advances in sequencing technologies enable accurate genotyping of rare variants, thus potentially improving our understanding the role of rare variants on disease. There are significant computational and statistical challenges for these sequencing studies. Traditional single variant-based association tests are underpowered to detect rare variant associations. Instead, more powerful and computationally efficient approaches for aggregating the effects of rare variants have become a standard approach for association testing. The sequence-kernel association test (SKAT) is one of the most powerful rare variant analysis methods. A recently-proposed scan-statistic-based test is another approach to detect the location of rare variant clusters influencing disease. In the first study, we examined the gene-based associations of the four putative risk genes, GRN, TMEM106B, ABCC9, and KCNMB2 with HS-aging pathology. We analyzed haplotype associations of a targeted ABCC9 region with HS-Aging pathology and with ABCC9 gene expression. In the second study, we elucidated the role of the non-coding SNPs identified in the International Genomics of Alzheimer’s Project (IGAP) consortium GWAS within a systems genetics framework to understand the flow of biological information underlying AD. In the last study, we identified genetic regions which contain rare variants associated with AD using a scan-statistic-based approach

Hikikomori: A Qualitative Study on Social Withdrawal of Japanese Adolescents

This thesis discusses the hikikomori phenomenon in Japan. Hikikomori is a Japanese term describing young people in the current Japanese society who have socially withdrawn, living in isolation for 6 months or more. The problem has developed in the last 30 years and the estimated case numbers are said to be from several hundred thousand to 1.2 million. The purpose of this qualitative study is to introduce the hikikomori issues accurately to the international experts in the field of psychology and to attempt to reconstruct the new theoretical framework of hikikomori in order to establish the theoretical notion, reveal the clear cause factors and explore possible preventions. The author emphasizes that this work is significant since the investigations of past researches have resulted in confusion regarding the definition of hikikomori and they have not revealed clear cause factors and thus, no prevention. The researcher of the current study interviewed two ex-hikikomoris and one of the important findings showed that medical treatment and counseling are not necessarily the most significant interventions for hikikomori. This finding supports the author's argument of viewing hikikomori issues holistically, that is, to regard hikikomori issues holistically, that is, to regard hikikomori not only as a social phenomenon but also as an abnormal psychological disorder while seeking for various interventions, not only medical or clinical treatments