Psychosocial Predictors of Taiwanese Secondary Students' Self-Esteem

This study investigated the relationships between psychosocial factors and self-esteem 1,672 Taiwanese senior high school students (779 boys, 893 girls). Students from Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, completed a Chinese version of the Secondary Student Questionnaire (SSQ), which measures self-esteem, depression, anxiety, stereotyped thinking, personality, and satisfaction with nonacademic performance at school. Students were categorized into four groups: (a) high academic achievement/low self-esteem (HALS); (b) high academic achievement/high self-esteem (HAHS); (c) low academic achievement/ low-self esteem (LALS); and (d) low academic achievement/high self-esteem (LAHS). Results showed that two variables, personality/satisfaction and anxiety, were predictive self-esteem for all four groups. Depression was predictive for all groups except low achievement and high self-esteem (LAHS). Research recommendations and educational implications are discussed.Cette étude porte sur les liens entre des facteurs psychosociaux et l'estime de soi de 1 élèves taïwanais du secondaire (779 garçons, 893filles). Des élèves de Kaohsiung City, Taiwan ont complété une version chinoise du Secondary Student Questionnaire (SSQ) mesure l'estime de soi, la dépression, l'anxiété, les attitudes stéréotypées, le caractère et la satisfaction quant à la performance nonacadémique à l'école. Quatre catégories d'élèves ont été créées : (a) performance académique élevée/estime de soi pauvre (HALS) ; (b) performance académique élevée/estime de soi élevée (HAHS); (c) performance académique pauvre/estime de soi pauvre (LALS) ; et performance académique pauvre/estime de soi élevée (LAHS). Les résultats indiquent que deux variables, caractère/satisfaction et anxiété, étaient prédictives de l'estime de soi pour les quatre groupes. La dépression était une variable prédictive chez tous les élèves sauf pour le groupe caractérisé par une performance académique pauvre/estime de soi élevée. Nous discutons de recommandations de recherche et d'implications pédagogiques

Microstructural parameter estimation in vivo using diffusion MRI and structured prior information.

Diffusion MRI has recently been used with detailed models to probe tissue microstructure. Much of this work has been performed ex vivo with powerful scanner hardware, to gain sensitivity to parameters such as axon radius. By contrast, performing microstructure imaging on clinical scanners is extremely challenging

Toward autonomous measurements of photosynthetic electron transport rates: An evaluation of active fluorescence-based measurements of photochemistry

This study presents a methods evaluation and intercalibration of active fluorescence-based measurements of the quantum yield (ϕʹ 0 PSII) and absorption coefficient (aPSII) of photosystem II (PSII) photochemistry. Measurements of ϕʹ PSII , aPSII, and irradiance (E) can be scaled to derive photosynthetic electron transport rates (P e ), the process that fuels phytoplankton carbon fixation and growth. Bio-optical estimates of ϕ PSII and aPSII were evaluated using 10 phytoplankton cultures across different pigment groups with varying bio-optical absorption characteristics on six different fast-repetition rate fluorometers that span two different manufacturers and four different models. Culture measurements of ϕʹ PSII and the effective absorption cross section of PSII photochemistry (σPSII, a constituent of aPSII) showed a high degree of correspondence across instruments, although some instrument-specific biases are identified. A range of approaches have been used in the literature to estimate aPSII(λ) and are evaluated here.With the exception of ex situ aPSII(λ) estimates from paired σPSII and PSII reaction center concentration ([RCII]) measurements, the accuracy and precision of in situ aPSII(λ) methodologies are largely determined by the variance of method-specific coefficients. The accuracy and precision of these coefficients are evaluated, compared to literature data, and discussed within a framework of autonomous P e measurements. This study supports the application of an instrument-specific calibration coefficient (KR) that scales minimum fluorescence in the dark (F 0 ) to aPSII as both the most accurate in situ measurement of aPSII, and the methodology best suited for highly resolved autonomous P e measurements

Investigation of chemistry graduate teaching assistants’ teacher knowledge and teacher identity

Graduate students play an integral role in undergraduate chemistry education at doctoral granting institutions where they routinely serve as instructors of laboratories and supplementary discussion sessions. Simultaneously, graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) balance major research and academic responsibilities. Although GTAs have substantial instructional facetime with large numbers of undergraduate students, little is known about their conceptions of teaching or their identities as teachers. To investigate the knowledge that GTAs have regarding teaching in this unique context, their teaching identities, and how these developed, we conducted 22 interviews with graduate students from several universities at various levels in their graduate school career using a modified Teacher Beliefs Interview. Interviews were analyzed for two overarching teacher learning constructs: teacher knowledge and teacher identity. We characterized chemistry GTAs’ teacher knowledge and identity and determined major influencing factors. We found that chemistry GTAs often identified as a tutor or lab manager, which hindered their self‐investment in developing as teachers. The results presented herein contribute to an understanding of GTAs’ teacher knowledge, teacher identity, and their teaching context, from which training can be designed to best support GTA development.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155950/1/tea21618_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/155950/2/tea21618.pd

Using Selectively Applied Accelerated Molecular Dynamics to Enhance Free Energy Calculations

Accelerated molecular dynamics (aMD) has been shown to enhance conformational space sampling relative to classical molecular dynamics; however, the exponential reweighting of aMD trajectories, which is necessary for the calculation of free energies relating to the classical system, is oftentimes problematic, especially for systems larger than small poly peptides. Here, we propose a method of accelerating only the degrees of freedom most pertinent to sampling, thereby reducing the total acceleration added to the system and improving the convergence of calculated ensemble averages, which we term selective aMD. Its application is highlighted in two biomolecular cases. First, the model system alanine dipeptide is simulated with classical MD, all-dihedral aMD, and selective aMD, and these results are compared to the infinite sampling limit as calculated with metadynamics. We show that both forms of aMD enhance the convergence of the underlying free energy landscape by 5-fold relative to classical MD; however, selective aMD can produce improved statistics over all-dihedral aMD due to the improved reweighting. Then we focus on the pharmaceutically relevant case of computing the free energy of the decoupling of oseltamivir in the active site of neuraminidase. Results show that selective aMD greatly reduces the cost of this alchemical free energy transformation, whereas all-dihedral aMD produces unreliable free energy estimates