META-ANALYSIS OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF PROJECT-BASED LEARNING APPROACH ON ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION WORLDWIDE

This research study conducted a meta-analysis to integrate the studies that investigated the effectiveness of project-based learning on academic achievement based on a worldwide higher-education population. The researcher explored the variables that previous meta-analysis studies used to evaluate academic achievements, such as student grade point average (GPA), course grades, and test scores, to explore the use of these variables in project-based learning. There were 17 studies in total included in the meta-analysis evaluating the effect size of academic achievement, which was influenced in moderator variable by subject-matter areas, school location, hours of instruction, technology support, and group size. The researcher calculated Cohen\u27s d to measure the effect sizes to investigate the standardized mean difference between the means of two groups and converted it to Hedges\u27s g for an unbiased effect size estimate. The average effect size of 17 articles is 1.64, with a standard error of 0.42. The 95% confidence interval (CI) is (1.56, 1.72). Hence zero is not in the CI, indicating that the average effect size is statistically significant at the .05 level. The research result concluded that project-based learning had a very large effect size on improving student academic achievement in higher education worldwide. Moderator analyses were conducted for Study Design, Conditions, and Institution Type. These analyses were different with statistically significant at .05 level, contributing to the heterogeneity of effect sizes. As the five moderator variables, technology support had a positive effect on improving student academic achievement. There was a difference between an individual or 2-5 students group size and STEM or non-STEM subject-matter areas, effecting project-based learning. Studies from the Southeastern countries had the most effective results of using project-based learning in higher education. To analyze the effect of the instructional hours of project-based learning per week, the dissertation researcher needed more data. Two or fewer instructional hours, however, were more effective than the other groups. In addition to the moderator analyses, additional analyses were performed, investigating the year of publication, study limitations, and sample sizes. All three of these variables contributed to the heterogeneity of the effect sizes as they were statistically significant. Two groupings of the year of publication were assessed for differences using the analysis of variance assuming a fixed effects model. The two groupings of the year of publication, 2011 to 2017 and 2018 to 2020, yielded statistically significant differences. 2011 to 2017 had fewer studies and a very large average effect size. Study limitations were coded as one, two, three, four, or more. Three and four were combined, as there was only one study with four or more limitations. The largest average effect size was for those studies with two limitations, followed by the one-limitation and the two-limitations category. The largest average effect size was for the largest sample-size grouping and that grouping’s confidence interval did not overlap with the two smaller sample-size groupings

Research on the carbon emission reduction effects of green finance in the context of environment regulations

The rise in carbon emissions has significantly aggravated issues related to climate change. In light of this background, there has been a strong focus on using financial methods to reduce carbon emissions. Based on panel data for China for the period 2003– 2019, we examine the effects of green finance on carbon emissions and the moderating effects of environmental regulations. The results indicate that green finance development alleviates carbon emissions. Meanwhile, our findings on the effects of green finance policies suggest that the implementation of such policies will strengthen the carbon-emission reduction effects of green finance. Additionally, the impacts of green finance on carbon emissions are moderated by administration and public-oriented environmental regulations rather than market-oriented environmental regulations. As the biggest emitter of carbon emissions in the world, China should prioritise the consistent and steady development of green finance and facilitate the green finance legislation. Furthermore, China should enhance the role of marketoriented environmental regulations while considering the synergy between environmental regulations and green finance

Can financial capability improve entrepreneurial performance? Evidence from rural China

The capability of individuals to manage their finances is essential to the outcomes of their entrepreneurial activities. Using panel data from the China Household Finance Survey (C.H.F.S.) in 2013, 2015 and 2017, this article examines how financial capability affects entrepreneurial performance in rural China. The results demonstrate that financial capability is positively correlated with the scale, profitability and sustainability of entrepreneurship, which is robust in consideration of endogeneity. The effects of financial capability are heterogeneous for different entrepreneurs. Furthermore, technology, labour and land act as the mediating variables through which financial capability improves entrepreneurial performance. Therefore, to facilitate entrepreneurial success, it is important to provide entrepreneurs with financial education. Meanwhile, improvements to the financial environment should also be considered. Additionally, financial institutions should combine financial services with factors, such as technology, land and labour, to improve entrepreneurial performance

Throughput of Hybrid UAV Networks with Scale-Free Topology

Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) hold great potential to support a wide range of applications due to the high maneuverability and flexibility. Compared with single UAV, UAV swarm carries out tasks efficiently in harsh environment, where the network resilience is of vital importance to UAV swarm. The network topology has a fundamental impact on the resilience of UAV network. It is discovered that scale-free network topology, as a topology that exists widely in nature, has the ability to enhance the network resilience. Besides, increasing network throughput can enhance the efficiency of information interaction, improving the network resilience. Facing these facts, this paper studies the throughput of UAV Network with scale-free topology. Introducing the hybrid network structure combining both ad hoc transmission mode and cellular transmission mode into UAV Network, the throughput of UAV Network is improved compared with that of pure ad hoc UAV network. Furthermore, this work also investigates the optimal setting of the hop threshold for the selection of ad hoc or cellular transmission mode. It is discovered that the optimal hop threshold is related with the number of UAVs and the parameters of scale-free topology. This paper may motivate the application of hybrid network structure into UAV Network.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure

Side-channel attack analysis on in-memory computing architectures

In-memory computing (IMC) systems have great potential for accelerating data-intensive tasks such as deep neural networks (DNNs). As DNN models are generally highly proprietary, the neural network architectures become valuable targets for attacks. In IMC systems, since the whole model is mapped on chip and weight memory read can be restricted, the system acts as a "black box" for customers. However, the localized and stationary weight and data patterns may subject IMC systems to other attacks. In this paper, we propose a side-channel attack methodology on IMC architectures. We show that it is possible to extract model architectural information from power trace measurements without any prior knowledge of the neural network. We first developed a simulation framework that can emulate the dynamic power traces of the IMC macros. We then performed side-channel attacks to extract information such as the stored layer type, layer sequence, output channel/feature size and convolution kernel size from power traces of the IMC macros. Based on the extracted information, full networks can potentially be reconstructed without any knowledge of the neural network. Finally, we discuss potential countermeasures for building IMC systems that offer resistance to these model extraction attack

The relationship between red blood cell distribution width and metabolic syndrome in elderly Chinese: a cross-sectional study

© 2019 The Author(s). Objective: Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a group of risk factors which includes hypertension, hyperglycemia, abnormal cholesterol levels, and obesity. Red blood cell distribution width (RDW) is a parameter that reflects the heterogeneity of erythrocyte volume. But the relationship between MS and RDW is intricate and remains poorly understood. We hypothesized that high RDW was associated with MS via inflammation. Our study aimed to investigate the association between RDW and MS in Chinese elderly large cohort. If RDW had a strong correlation with MS, RDW could become a predictor of MS? Methods: We recruited 10,887 ostensibly healthy participants aged from 60 to 93 (5795 male, 5092 female). Associations between RDW and other variables were assessed by Pearson correlation. Crude and adjusted odds ratio for MS with 95% confidence intervals was calculated by binary logistic regression models. Results: In elderly Chinese, RDW was significantly higher in males than in females. The prevalence of both men and women decreased with the rise of RDW. For both sexes, RDW demonstrated positive correlations with age, systolic blood pressure (0.070 in males,0.058 in females), high density lipoprotein(0.027in males,0.064 in females), negative correlations with triglycerides (- 0.120 in males,-0.074 in females) and fasting glucose (- 0.048 in males,-0.016 in females). Notably, we detected the associated reduced risks at the the third and fourth quartile of RDW in males. In women, there was no statistical significance. Conclusion: We found the adjusted odds ratios of MS was lower at the third and fourth quartile of RDW in males

Novel Quasi‐Liquid K‐Na Alloy as a Promising Dendrite‐Free Anode for Rechargeable Potassium Metal Batteries

Rechargeable potassium metal batteries are promising energy storage devices with potentially high energy density and markedly low cost. However, eliminating dendrite growth and achieving a stable electrode/electrolyte interface are the key challenges to tackle. Herein, a novel "quasi-liquid" potassium-sodium alloy (KNA) anode comprising only 3.5 wt% sodium (KNA-3.5) is reported, which exhibits outstanding electrochemical performance able to be reversibly cycled at 4 mA cm-2 for 2000 h. Moreover, it is demonstrated that adding a small amount of sodium hexafluorophosphate (NaPF6 ) into the potassium bis(fluorosulfonyl)imide electrolyte allows for the formation of the "quasi-liquid" KNA on electrode surface. Comprehensive experimental studies reveal the formation of an unusual metastable KNa2 phase during plating, which is believed to facilitate simultaneous nucleation and suppress the growth of dendrites, thereby improving the electrode's cycle lifetime. The "quasi-liquid" KNA-3.5 anode demonstrates markedly enhanced electrochemical performance in a full cell when pairing with Prussian blue analogs or sodium rhodizonate dibasic as the cathode material, compared to the pristine potassium anode. Importantly, unlike the liquid KNA reported before, the "quasi-liquid" KNA-3.5 exhibits good processability and can be readily shaped into sheet electrodes, showing substantial promise as a dendrite-free anode in rechargeable potassium metal batteries.Z.T. acknowledges the financial support of Maria Curie COFUND fellowship (Grant No. 713640). Z.L. thanks the financial support of China Scholarship Council (Grant No. 201 806 400 066). This project was partly funded by the “Baterias 2030” project through the Mobilizadore Programme by the National Innovation Agency of Portugal (Grant No. POCI-01-0247- FEDER-046109). G.Y. acknowledges the financial support from the Welch Foundation Award F-1861. The authors thank Dr. Artur Martins for his assistance in mechanical property measurement.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio