2,544 research outputs found
Mathematics Self-efficacy in High School Students and the Effects of Interim Goal Setting: How Goals and Efficacy are Linked in the Self-efficacy Goal Spectrum
Research has found that self-efficacy affects how a student behaves in class, how they choose to approach academic work, how long they persevere on a topic, and the type of goals they set for themselves. When students enter high school, opinions of self-efficacy (negative or positive) are strong and it becomes increasingly difficult for teachers to help students change their efficacious beliefs. This is apparent in secondary mathematics classrooms where students have years of previous experiences that have shaped opinions about their self-efficacy. A possibility in altering self-efficacy is by combining goal achievement theory and social learning theory. If more value is placed on interim (or short term) goals, teachers may be able to increase their studentâs self-efficacy through a scaffolded approach to larger achievement and mastery goals.
This study focused on the change in reported self-efficacy in high school mathematics students following a treatment of teacher promoted interim goals. Nine teachers with two classes each (N=377) from a suburban high school in the southeastern United States provided a common goal dialogue promoting short term goals in mathematics classes (ranging from ninth to twelfth grade courses) for four weeks. A survey was given to students to report their self-efficacy before and after the four-week goal treatment. Each teacher had a control class, which did not receive the goal dialogue. At the end of the four weeks a repeated measures ANOVA was conducted and found significance between the control and treatment classrooms. This indicates that students in classrooms where interim goals are promoted daily will have a higher increase in mathematics self-efficacy than students who do not receive daily goal prompts. This study also lays the groundwork for the Self-Efficacy Goal Spectrum (SEGS) which explains how to maximize mathematics self-efficacy through targeted interim goals
Autonomous agile teams: Challenges and future directions for research
According to the principles articulated in the agile manifesto, motivated and
empowered software developers relying on technical excellence and simple
designs, create business value by delivering working software to users at
regular short intervals. These principles have spawned many practices. At the
core of these practices is the idea of autonomous, self-managing, or
self-organizing teams whose members work at a pace that sustains their
creativity and productivity. This article summarizes the main challenges faced
when implementing autonomous teams and the topics and research questions that
future research should address
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Tackling MARCKS-PIP3 circuit attenuates fibroblast activation and fibrosis progression.
Targeting activated fibroblasts, including myofibroblast differentiation, has emerged as a key therapeutic strategy in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). However, there is no available therapy capable of selectively eradicating myofibroblasts or limiting their genesis. Through an integrative analysis of the regulator genes that are responsible for the activation of IPF fibroblasts, we noticed the phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2)-binding protein, myristoylated alanine-rich C-kinase substrate (MARCKS), as a potential target molecule for IPF. Herein, we have employed a 25-mer novel peptide, MARCKS phosphorylation site domain sequence (MPS), to determine if MARCKS inhibition reduces pulmonary fibrosis through the inactivation of PI3K/protein kinase B (AKT) signaling in fibroblast cells. We first observed that higher levels of MARCKS phosphorylation and the myofibroblast marker α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) were notably overexpressed in all tested IPF lung tissues and fibroblast cells. Treatment with the MPS peptide suppressed levels of MARCKS phosphorylation in primary IPF fibroblasts. A kinetic assay confirmed that this peptide binds to phospholipids, particularly PIP2, with a dissociation constant of 17.64 nM. As expected, a decrease of phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-trisphosphate pools and AKT activity occurred in MPS-treated IPF fibroblast cells. MPS peptide was demonstrated to impair cell proliferation, invasion, and migration in multiple IPF fibroblast cells in vitro as well as to reduce pulmonary fibrosis in bleomycin-treated mice in vivo. Surprisingly, we found that MPS peptide decreases α-SMA expression and synergistically interacts with nintedanib treatment in IPF fibroblasts. Our data suggest MARCKS as a druggable target in pulmonary fibrosis and also provide a promising antifibrotic agent that may lead to effective IPF treatments.-Yang, D. C., Li, J.-M., Xu, J., Oldham, J., Phan, S. H., Last, J. A., Wu, R., Chen, C.-H. Tackling MARCKS-PIP3 circuit attenuates fibroblast activation and fibrosis progression
The spatial and temporal variability of Mn speciation in the coastal Northwest Atlantic Ocean
Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2020. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans 125(1),(2020): e2019JC015167, doi:10.1029/2019JC015167.Manganese (Mn) is distributed widely throughout the global ocean, where it cycles between three oxidation states that each play important biogeochemical roles. The speciation of Mn in seawater was previously operationally defined on filtration, with soluble Mn presumed to be Mn(II) and solidâphase Mn as Mn(III/IV) oxides. Recent findings of abundant soluble Mn(III) complexes (Mn(III)âL) highlights the need to reexamine the redox cycling of Mn, as these complexes can donate or accept electrons. To better understand the complex cycling of Mn in coastal waters, the distribution of Mn species at four Northwest Atlantic sites with different characteristics was examined. Diurnal influences on Mn speciation were investigated within a productive site. At all sites, Mn(III)âL complexes dominated, particularly in surface waters, and Mn oxides were low in abundance in surface waters but high in bottom waters. Despite intrasite similarities, Mn speciation was highly variable between our stations, emphasizing the diverse processes that impact Mn redox. Diel Mn measurements revealed that the cycling of Mn is also highly variable over time, even on time scales as short as hours. We observed a change of over 100 nM total Mn over 17 hrs and find that speciation changed drastically. These changes could include contributions from biological, lightâmediated, and/or abiotic mechanisms but more likely point to the importance of lateral mixing at coastal sites. This exploration demonstrates the spatial and temporal variability of the Mn redox cycle and indicates that single timepoint vertical profiling is not sufficient when describing the geochemistry of dynamic coastal systems.This work was funded by grants from the Chemical Oceanography program of the National Science Foundation (OCEâ1355720 to CMH and CHL). VĂ©ronique Oldham thanks Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for the receipt of the WHOI Postdoctoral Scholarship. Thanks also to Kevin Sutherland, Jen Karolweski, Gabriella Farfan, Kalina Grabb, Kaitlin Bowman, Alison Agather, and Lindsey Starr for the shipboard sampling assistance, as well as the captain and crew of the R/V Endeavor who made the sampling for this research possible. All data presented in the manuscript are available through the Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCOâDMO) under Project 756930 at the following link (https://www.bcoâdmo.org/project/756930).2020-06-2
Fractional derivatives of random walks: Time series with long-time memory
We review statistical properties of models generated by the application of a
(positive and negative order) fractional derivative operator to a standard
random walk and show that the resulting stochastic walks display
slowly-decaying autocorrelation functions. The relation between these
correlated walks and the well-known fractionally integrated autoregressive
(FIGARCH) models, commonly used in econometric studies, is discussed. The
application of correlated random walks to simulate empirical financial times
series is considered and compared with the predictions from FIGARCH and the
simpler FIARCH processes. A comparison with empirical data is performed.Comment: 10 pages, 14 figure
Time evolution of the reaction front in a subdiffusive system
Using the quasistatic approximation, we show that in a subdiffusion--reaction
system the reaction front evolves in time according to the formula
, with being the subdiffusion parameter. The
result is derived for the system where the subdiffusion coefficients of
reactants differ from each other. It includes the case of one static reactant.
As an application of our results, we compare the time evolution of reaction
front extracted from experimental data with the theoretical formula and we find
that the transport process of organic acid particles in the tooth enamel is
subdiffusive.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure
Squeezed States and Hermite polynomials in a Complex Variable
Following the lines of the recent paper of J.-P. Gazeau and F. H. Szafraniec
[J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 44, 495201 (2011)], we construct here three types of
coherent states, related to the Hermite polynomials in a complex variable which
are orthogonal with respect to a non-rotationally invariant measure. We
investigate relations between these coherent states and obtain the relationship
between them and the squeezed states of quantum optics. We also obtain a second
realization of the canonical coherent states in the Bargmann space of analytic
functions, in terms of a squeezed basis. All this is done in the flavor of the
classical approach of V. Bargmann [Commun. Pur. Appl. Math. 14, 187 (1961)].Comment: 15 page
Using the fractional interaction law to model the impact dynamics in arbitrary form of multiparticle collisions
Using the molecular dynamics method, we examine a discrete deterministic
model for the motion of spherical particles in three-dimensional space. The
model takes into account multiparticle collisions in arbitrary forms. Using
fractional calculus we proposed an expression for the repulsive force, which is
the so called fractional interaction law. We then illustrate and discuss how to
control (correlate) the energy dissipation and the collisional time for an
individual article within multiparticle collisions. In the multiparticle
collisions we included the friction mechanism needed for the transition from
coupled torsion-sliding friction through rolling friction to static friction.
Analysing simple simulations we found that in the strong repulsive state binary
collisions dominate. However, within multiparticle collisions weak repulsion is
observed to be much stronger. The presented numerical results can be used to
realistically model the impact dynamics of an individual particle in a group of
colliding particles.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, 1 table; In review process of Physical Review
Non-Markovian Levy diffusion in nonhomogeneous media
We study the diffusion equation with a position-dependent, power-law
diffusion coefficient. The equation possesses the Riesz-Weyl fractional
operator and includes a memory kernel. It is solved in the diffusion limit of
small wave numbers. Two kernels are considered in detail: the exponential
kernel, for which the problem resolves itself to the telegrapher's equation,
and the power-law one. The resulting distributions have the form of the L\'evy
process for any kernel. The renormalized fractional moment is introduced to
compare different cases with respect to the diffusion properties of the system.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure
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Diagnostic test interpretation and referral delay in patients with interstitial lung disease.
BACKGROUND:Diagnostic delays are common in patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD). A substantial percentage of patients experience a diagnostic delay in the primary care setting, but the factors underpinning this observation remain unclear. In this multi-center investigation, we assessed ILD reporting on diagnostic test interpretation and its association with subsequent pulmonology referral by a primary care physician (PCP). METHODS:A retrospective cohort analysis of patients referred to the ILD programs at UC-Davis and University of Chicago by a PCP within each institution was performed. Computed tomography (CT) of the chest and abdomen and pulmonary function test (PFT) were reviewed to identify the date ILD features were first present and determine the time from diagnostic test to pulmonology referral. The association between ILD reporting on diagnostic test interpretation and pulmonology referral was assessed, as was the association between years of diagnostic delay and changes in fibrotic features on longitudinal chest CT. RESULTS:One hundred and forty-six patients were included in the final analysis. Prior to pulmonology referral, 66% (n =â97) of patients underwent chest CT, 15% (n =â21) underwent PFT and 15% (nâ=â21) underwent abdominal CT. ILD features were reported on 84, 62 and 33% of chest CT, PFT and abdominal CT interpretations, respectively. ILD reporting was associated with shorter time to pulmonology referral when undergoing chest CT (1.3 vs 15.1âmonths, respectively; p =â0.02), but not PFT or abdominal CT. ILD reporting was associated with increased likelihood of pulmonology referral within 6 months of diagnostic test when undergoing chest CT (rate ratio 2.17, 95% CI 1.03-4.56; p =â0.04), but not PFT or abdominal CT. Each year of diagnostic delay was associated with a 1.8% increase in percent fibrosis on chest CT. Patients with documented dyspnea had shorter time to chest CT acquisition and pulmonology referral than patients with documented cough and lung crackles. CONCLUSIONS:Determinants of ILD diagnostic delays in the primary care setting include underreporting of ILD features on diagnostic testing and prolonged time to pulmonology referral even when ILD is reported. Interventions to modulate these factors may reduce ILD diagnostic delays in the primary care setting
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