THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVITIES ON TAIWANESE UNDERGRADUATES' EFL GRAMMAR ACHIEVEMENT

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of social media language learning activities with traditional language learning activities on the development of L2 grammatical competence in two English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classes at a Taiwanese university. The study was grounded in four bodies of knowledge: (a) the Input-Interaction-Output (IIO) model (Block, 2003); (b) the sociocultural/activity theory (Lantolf, 2000); (c) current L2 grammar learning theory (Ellis, 2006); and (d) computer-assisted language learning (CALL) theory (Levy & Stockwell, 2006). A convenience sample of 84 Taiwanese undergraduate students officially enrolled in the college voluntarily participated in the study. A quasi-experimental pretest/posttest design was utilized. An ANCOVA was conducted to assess whether collaborative social media activities can bring about significantly better outcomes regarding EFL grammar usage. Results indicated that the treatment group significantly outperformed the control group when controlling for pre-existing knowledge. Results also indicated that there was a significant difference in students' time devoted to English grammar activities between the treatment group and the control group in favor of the treatment group. Furthermore, there was a statistically significant relationship between the time spent on wiki sites and students' English grammar achievement gains. The time students in the treatment group spent on grammar activities increased when they used the social media, and they self-reported spending more time on task during free time. Overall, treatment group students' devotion to the social media activities brought about effective peer support and collaborative learning

Principles of Stakes Fairness in Sport

Fairness in sport is not just about assigning the top prizes to the worthiest competitors. It is also about the way the prize structure itself is organised. For many sporting competitions, although it may be acceptable for winners to receive more than losers, it can seem unfair for winners to take everything and for losers to get nothing. Yet this insight leaves unanswered some difficult questions about what stakes fairness requires and which principles of stakes fairness are appropriate for particular competitions. In this article I specify a range of different principles of stakes fairness (ten in total) that could regulate sporting competitions. I also put forward a theoretical method for pairing up appropriate principles of stakes fairness with given sporting competitions. Specifically, I argue that the underlying rationales for holding sporting competitions can provide useful guides for identifying appropriate principles of stakes fairness. I then seek to clarify and work through some of the implications of this method for a sample of real world controversies over sporting prize structures. I also attempt to refine the method in response to two possible objections from indeterminacy and relativism. Finally, I compare and contrast my conclusions with more general philosophical debates about justice

Neurocognitive and genetic influences on Eating Disorder and Substance Use Disorder comorbidity in individuals from families enriched with Substance Use Disorders

Doctoral DissertationEating disorders (EDs), including anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and binge-eating disorder (BED) have the highest mortality of all psychiatric disorders with no pharmacological treatment approved for AN in adults nor for any ED in children and adolescents. The prevalences of AN, BN, and BED range from 1-5% and differ between age groups, by sex, and between people of different races/ethnicities. Additionally, eating disorders are often comorbid with substance use disorders (SUDs), complicating treatment and increasing morbidity and mortality. The comorbidity of EDs and SUDs, which has been shown to be more likely in the case of EDs with binge behavior, suggests that other factors, such as neurocognitive, neurobiological, and genetic influences may underlie both disorders. However, no previous work has examined the influence of these factors together. This dissertation study aims to investigate the influence of neurophysiological and neuropsychological function as well as polygenic risk scores on the risk for EDs and co-occurring SUDs. This research will be carried out using data from the Collaborative Study on the Genetics of Alcoholism (COGA) (N= 15,221), a deeply characterized sample of families densely affected with AUD and community comparison families. Overall, the findings from this dissertation demonstrate the importance of considering epidemiological, neurocognitive, neurobiological, and genetic factors together when investigating influences of risk for EDs and co-occurring SUDs. These findings show that the comorbidity of EDs and AUD is especially likely in BN and BED across gender and racial groups, and that females and White individuals are at greater risk of to AN-AUD comorbidity. The necessity of screening Black individuals for developing EDs and comorbid AUD is highlighted, especially in the case of binge-type EDs, due to increased BED prevalence and seemingly equal risk of AUD comorbidity in this population. The findings suggest that AN symptoms may relate to better cognitive performance in specific areas of executive function, especially in females, and that decreased P3 amplitude and increased beta EEG coherence may serve as endophenotypes for the binge-type EDs. Increased beta coherence may be a factor underlying both EDs and SUDs, with males and females showing different coherence patterns. Finally, polygenic risk for EDs may relate to neurocognitive and neurophysiological differences seen in EDs, with more statistical genetic research necessary for BN and BED, and more representative samples needed for all EDs. This work points to the potential benefit of a neuropsychiatric approach, encompassing both epidemiological factors as well as assessment of executive function, P3 amplitude, and beta EEG coherence, in the screening for and management of EDs and comorbid SUDs.VoRSUNY DownstateSchool of Graduate StudiesPhDMeyers, Jacquely

Longitudinal analysis of a long-Term conservation agriculture experiment in Malawi and lessons for future experimental design

Resilient cropping systems are required to achieve food security in the presence of climate change, and so several long-Term conservation agriculture (CA) trials have been established in southern Africa-one of them at the Chitedze Agriculture Research Station in Malawi in 2007. The present study focused on a longitudinal analysis of 10 years of data from the trial to better understand the joint effects of variations between the seasons and particular contrasts among treatments on yield of maize. Of further interest was the variability of treatment responses in time and space and the implications for design of future trials with adequate statistical power. The analysis shows treatment differences of the mean effect which vary according to cropping season. There was a strong treatment effect between rotational treatments and other treatments and a weak effect between intercropping and monocropping. There was no evidence for an overall advantage of systems where residues are retained (in combination with direct seeding or planting basins) over conventional management with respect to maize yield. A season effect was evident although the strong benefit of rotation in El Niño season was also reduced, highlighting the strong interaction between treatment and climatic conditions. The power analysis shows that treatment effects of practically significant magnitude may be unlikely to be detected with just four replicates, as at Chitedze, under either a simple randomised control trial or a factorial experiment. Given logistical and financial constraints, it is important to design trials with fewer treatments but more replicates to gain enough statistical power and to pay attention to the selection of treatments to given an informative outcome

Phase-field modeling of eutectic structures on the nanoscale: the effect of anisotropy

This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Journal of Materials Science. The final authenticated version is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-0853-8A simple phase-field model is used to address anisotropic eutectic freezing on the nanoscale in two (2D) and three dimensions (3D). Comparing parameter-free simulations with experiments, it is demonstrated that the employed model can be made quantitative for Ag-Cu. Next, we explore the effect of material properties, and the conditions of freezing on the eutectic pattern. We find that the anisotropies of kinetic coefficient and the interfacial free energies (solid-liquid and solid-solid), the crystal misorientation relative to pulling, the lateral temperature gradient, play essential roles in determining the eutectic pattern. Finally, we explore eutectic morphologies, which form when one of the solid phases are faceted, and investigate cases, in which the kinetic anisotropy for the two solid phases are drastically different

Interventions for convergence insufficiency: a network meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Convergence insufficiency is a common binocular vision disorder in which the eyes have a strong tendency to drift outward (exophoria) with difficulty turning the eyes inward when reading or doing close work. OBJECTIVES: To assess the comparative effectiveness and relative ranking of non-surgical interventions for convergence insufficiency through a systematic review and network meta-analysis (NMA). SEARCH METHODS: We searched CENTRAL, MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed and three trials registers up to 20 September 2019. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included randomized controlled trials (RCTs) examining any form of non-surgical intervention versus placebo, no treatment, sham treatment, or other non-surgical interventions. Participants were children and adults with symptomatic convergence insufficiency. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We followed standard Cochrane methodology. We performed NMAs separately for children and adults. MAIN RESULTS: We included 12 trials (six in children and six in adults) with a total of 1289 participants. Trials evaluated seven interventions: 1) office‐based vergence/accommodative therapy with home reinforcement; 2) home‐based pencil/target push‐ups; 3) home‐based computer vergence/accommodative therapy; 4) office‐based vergence/accommodative therapy alone; 5) placebo vergence/accommodative therapy or other placebo intervention; 6) prism reading glasses; and 7) placebo reading glasses. Six RCTs in the pediatric population randomized 968 participants. Of these, the Convergence Insufficiency Treatment Trial (CITT) Investigator Group completed four RCTs with 737 participants. All four CITT RCTs were rated at low risk of bias. Diagnostic criteria and outcome measures were identical or similar among these trials. The four CITT RCTs contributed data to the pediatric NMA, incorporating interventions 1, 2, 3 and 5. When treatment success was defined by a composite outcome requiring both clinical measures of convergence to be normal, and also show a pre‐specified magnitude of improvement, we found high‐certainty evidence that office‐based vergence/accommodative therapy with home reinforcement increases the chance of a successful outcome, compared with home‐based computer vergence/accommodative therapy (risk ratio (RR) 1.96, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.32 to 2.94), home‐based pencil/target push‐ups (RR 2.86, 95% CI 1.82 to 4.35); and placebo (RR 3.04, 95% CI 2.32 to 3.98). However, there may be no evidence of any treatment difference between home‐based computer vergence/accommodative therapy and home‐based pencil/target push‐ups (RR 1.44, 95% CI 0.93 to 2.24; low‐certainty evidence), or between either of the two home‐based therapies and placebo therapy, for the outcome of treatment success. When treatment success was defined as the composite convergence and symptom success outcome, we found moderate‐certainty evidence that participants who received office‐based vergence/accommodative therapy with home reinforcement were 5.12 (95% CI 2.01 to 13.07) times more likely to achieve treatment success than those who received placebo therapy. We found low‐certainty evidence that participants who received office‐based vergence/accommodative therapy with home reinforcement might be 4.41 (95% CI 1.26 to 15.38) times more likely to achieve treatment success than those who received home‐based pencil push‐ups, and 4.65 (95% CI 1.23 to 17.54) times more likely than those who received home‐based computer vergence/accommodative therapy. There was no evidence of any treatment difference between home‐based pencil push‐ups and home‐based computer vergence/accommodative therapy, or between either of the two home‐based therapies and placebo therapy. One RCT evaluated the effectiveness of base‐in prism reading glasses in children. When base‐in prism reading glasses were compared with placebo reading glasses, investigators found no evidence of a difference in the three outcome measures of near point convergence (NPC), positive fusional vergence (PFV), or symptom scores measured by the Convergence Insufficiency Symptom Survey (CISS). Six RCTs in the adult population randomized 321 participants. We rated only one RCT at low risk of bias. Because not all studies of adults included composite success data, we could not conduct NMAs for treatment success. We thus were limited to comparing the mean difference (MD) between interventions for improving NPC, PFV, and CISS scores individually using data from three RCTs (107 participants; interventions 1, 2, 4 and 5). Compared with placebo treatment, office‐based vergence accommodative therapy was relatively more effective in improving PFV (MD 16.73, 95% CI 6.96 to 26.60), but there was no evidence of a difference for NPC or the CISS score. There was no evidence of difference for any other comparisons for any outcomes. One trial evaluated base‐in prism glasses prescribed for near‐work activities and found that the prism glasses group had fewer symptoms compared with the placebo glasses group at three months (MD ‐8.9, 95% CI ‐11.6 to ‐6.3). The trial found no evidence of a difference with this intervention in NPC or PFV. No adverse effects related to study treatments were reported for any of the included studies. Excellent adherence was reported for office‐based vergence/accommodative therapy (96.6% or higher) in two trials. Reported adherence with home‐based therapy was less consistent, with one study reporting decreasing adherence over time (weeks 7 to 12) and lower completion rates with home‐based pencil/target push‐ups. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Current research suggests that office-based vergence/accommodative therapy with home reinforcement is more effective than home-based pencil/target push-ups or home-based computer vergence/accommodative therapy for children. In adults, evidence of the effectiveness of various non-surgical interventions is less clear