Understanding Students’ Cognitive and Affective Attitude and Attitudinal Structures Toward Physical Activity: A Person-Centered Approach

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the proportions of students who were holding positive, negative, and neutral cognitive/affective attitude and different cognitive-affective attitudinal structures toward moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) using a person-centered approach. Methods: A total of 3949 students participated in this study (1065 middle-school students, 784 high-school students, and 2100 college students). Results: A majority of students were holding positive cognitive (about 94%) and affective attitude (about 85%) toward MVPA. Most students (about 84%) held the Positive cognitive—Positive affective attitudinal structure toward MVPA. School level influenced the proportions of students who were holding different cognitive attitude status, affective attitude status, and cognitive-affective attitudinal structures; gender and body weight status did not significantly influence them. Conclusions: This study furthers our understandings on students’ attitude and attitudinal structures toward PA. It lays the foundation for the development of physical education curriculum or PA programs that aim at promoting students’ PA behavior through changing their PA attitude. Future studies are needed to examine the effects of different attitude statuses and attitudinal structures on PA behavior

Attitude and Attitudinal Structures Toward Physical Education and Their Influences on Physical Activity Behavior

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to examine middle and high school students’ cognitive and affective attitude and their cognitive-affective attitudinal structures toward physical education (PE). The effects of cognitive and affective attitude and attitudinal structures on physical activity (PA) in PE and outside of school were also examined. Methods: 1773 Chinese middle and high-school students participated in this study. SEM, Chi-square test, ANOVAs, and Contingency tables were adopted to address the research questions. Results: The results showed that most students (\u3e90%) were holding positive cognitive and affective attitude toward PE. Students’ affective attitude significantly influences their PA in PE and outside of school. Most students were holding the positive cognitive-positive negative attitudinal structure toward PE. Conclusions: All these findings lay important foundations for future theoretical advancement about attitude toward PE and provide guidance for PE teachers on attitude intervention and PA promotion

Synthesis of dental resins using diatomite and nano-sized SiO2 and TiO2

AbstractThe mechanical properties of dental composites were improved by porous diatomite and nano-sized silica (OX-50) used as co-fillers. The resin composites, filled with silanized OX-50 and silanized diatomite (40:60wt/wt), presented the best flexural strength (133.1MPa), elastic modulus (9.5GPa) and Vickers microhardness (104.0HV). Besides these, TiO2 nanoparticles were introduced to tune the dental resin composites colours which were valued by the CIE-Lab system. The colour parameters (L⁎, a⁎, b⁎) showed that the colour changes of resin composites could be perceived obviously, when 300–400nm TiO2 particles were introduced as fillers. The resin composite, filled with 0.5wt% TiO2, exhibited both clear discolouration (ΔE⁎=3.22) and high mechanical strength. Using scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), the titanium elemental mapping results indicated that the TiO2 particles were distributed evenly in the prepared dental composites

Thermal coupling analysis for a multi-chip paralleled IGBT module in a doubly fed wind turbine power converter

Thermal coupling between adjacent IGBT or diode chips is the result of non-uniform temperature distribution in a multi-chip IGBT module. This affects the junction temperatures and hence the total power loss predicted for the module. The study first investigates the impact of thermal coupling effect on the junction temperatures through finite element method (FEM), and then develops a thermal coupling impedance model to represent such effect. The effect is shown to reduce with the distance exponentially. The model result agrees well with test. The validated model is then used to predict the junction temperature swings during operational power cycling in a DFIG wind turbine, showing the difference between the rotor and grid side converters. The model presented and the results obtained may be important for reliability evaluation and condition monitoring in the wind turbine power converters as well as in other multi-chip paralleled power electronic systems

Silver Orthophosphate Immobilized on Flaky Layered Double Hydroxides as the Visible-Light-Driven Photocatalysts

Flaky layered double hydroxide (FLDH) was prepared by the reconstruction of its oxide in alkali solution. The composites with FLDH/Ag3PO4 mass ratios at 1.6 : 1 and 3 : 1 were fabricated by the coprecipitation method. The powders were characterized by X-ray diffraction, field-emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscope, and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy. The results indicated that the well-distributed Ag3PO4 in a fine crystallite size was formed on the surface of FLDH. The photocatalytic activities of the Ag3PO4 immobilized on FLDH were significantly enhanced for the degradation of acid red G under visible light irradiation compared to bare Ag3PO4. The composite with the FLDH/Ag3PO4 mass ratio of 3 : 1 showed a higher photocatalytic efficiency

Genome-Wide Interaction and Pathway Association Studies for Body Mass Index

Objective: We investigated gene interactions (epistasis) for body mass index (BMI) in a European-American adult female cohort via genome-wide interaction analyses (GWIA) and pathway association analyses.Methods: Genome-wide pairwise interaction analyses were carried out for BMI in 493 extremely obese cases (BMI > 35 kg/m2) and 537 never-overweight controls (BMI < 25 kg/m2). To further validate the results, specific SNPs were selected based on the GWIA results for haplotype-based association studies. Pathway-based association analyses were performed using a modified Gene Set Enrichment Algorithm (GSEA) (GenGen program) to further explore BMI-related pathways using our genome wide association study (GWAS) data set, GIANT, ENGAGE, and DIAGRAM Consortia.Results: The EXOC4-1q23.1 interaction was associated with BMI, with the most significant epistasis between rs7800006 and rs10797020 (P = 2.63 × 10-11). In the pathway-based association analysis, Tob1 pathway showed the most significant association with BMI (empirical P < 0.001, FDR = 0.044, FWER = 0.040). These findings were further validated in different populations.Conclusion: Genome-wide pairwise SNP-SNP interaction and pathway analyses suggest that EXOC4 and TOB1-related pathways may contribute to the development of obesity

Lattice-contraction triggered synchronous electrochromic actuator.

Materials with synchronous capabilities of color change and actuation have prospects for application in biomimetic dual-stealth camouflage and artificial intelligence. However, color/shape dual-responsive devices involve stimuli that are difficult to control such as gas, light or magnetism, and the devices show poor coordination. Here, a flexible composite film with electrochromic/actuating (238° bending angle) dual-responsive phenomena, excellent reversibility, high synchronization, and fast response speed (< 5 s) utilizes a single active component, W18O49 nanowires. From in situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction, first principles calculations/numerical simulations, and a series of control experiments, the actuating mechanism for macroscopic deformation is elucidated as pseudocapacitance-based reversible lattice contraction/recovery of W18O49 nanowires (i.e. nanostructure change at the atomic level) during lithium ion intercalation/de-intercalation. In addition, we demonstrate the W18O49 nanowires in a solid-state ionic polymer-metal composite actuator that operates stably in air with a significant pseudocapacitive actuation