Statistics Anxiety and Self-Efficacy in Psychology Students: A Challenge for Teaching and Learning in STEM

Statistics and research methods are embedded in the university curricula for psychology, STEM, and more widely. Statistical skills are also associated with the development of psychological literacy and graduate attributes. Yet there is concern about students’ mathematical and statistical skills in their transition from school to HE. A major challenge facing the teaching and learning of statistics in HE is the high levels of statistics anxiety and low levels of statistics self-efficacy experienced by students required to learn statistics as part of another course, and the negative impact of these factors on academic performance. The purpose of the current research was to identify the levels of statistics anxiety and statistics self-efficacy in UG and PGT psychology students; identify perceived causes of this; and explore any practical interventions that could be introduced in attempt to alleviate anxiety and increase self-efficacy. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected, using measures of anxiety and self-efficacy in statistics and psychology, and focus group discussions. The results showed that students reported higher levels of anxiety and lower self-efficacy for statistics when compared with anxiety and self-efficacy in psychology. Analysis of the qualitative data suggested various factors that increased statistics anxiety levels, such as assessment, and this anxiety prevented students from revising for exams and attending lectures. Factors identified as potentially reducing statistics anxiety and the feasibility of possible interventions will be discussed in the context of psychology and more widely

Chip-firing groups of iterated cones

Let $\Gamma$ be a finite graph and let $\Gamma_n$ be the "$n$th cone over $\Gamma$" (i.e., the join of $\Gamma$ and the complete graph $K_n$). We study the asymptotic structure of the chip-firing group $\text{Pic}^0(\Gamma_n)$.Comment: 8 pages. v4: added Remark 1.

You Can Help your Country: English children's work during the Second World War

First published in 2011, You Can Help Your Country: English children’s work during the Second World War reveals the remarkable, hidden history of children as social agents who actively participated in a national effort during a period of crisis. In praise of the book, Hugh Cunningham, celebrated author of The Invention of Childhood, wrote: ‘Think of children and the Second World War, and evacuation comes immediately to mind. Berry Mayall and Virginia Morrow have a different story to tell, one in which all the children of the nation were encouraged to contribute to the war effort. Many responded enthusiastically. Evidence from school magazines and oral testimony shows children digging for victory, working on farms, knitting comforts for the troops, collecting waste for recycling, running households. What lessons, the authors ask, does this wartime participation by children have for our own time? The answers are challenging.’ You Can Help Your Country is a stimulating, entertaining and scholarly contribution to the history of childhood, prompting thought about childhood today and on children’s rights, as citizens, to participate in social and political life. This revised edition includes a new preface and illustrations, and offers an up-to-date reflection on the relevance of thinking historically about children’s work for global campaigns to end child labour. It is essential reading for academics, researchers and students in childhood studies, the sociology of childhood and children’s rights. Its engaging style will also appeal to anyone interested in social history and the history of the Second World War

Analysis of the replication of HIV-1 forced to use tRNA(Met(i) )supports a link between primer selection, translation and encapsidation

BACKGROUND: Previous studies have suggested that the process of HIV-1 tRNA primer selection and encapsidation of genomic RNA might be coupled with viral translation. In order to further investigate this relationship, proviruses were constructed in which the primer-binding site (PBS) was altered to be complementary to elongator tRNA(Met )(tRNA(Met(e))) (HXB2-Met(e)) or initiator tRNA(Met )(tRNA(Met(i))) (HXB2-Met(i)). These tRNA(Met )not only differ with respect to the 3' terminal 18-nucleotides, but also with respect to interaction with host cell proteins during protein synthesis. RESULTS: Consistent with previous studies, HXB2-Met(e) were infectious and maintained this PBS following short-term in vitro culture in SupT1 cells. In contrast, transfection of HBX2-Met(i) produced reduced amounts of virus (as determined by p24) and did not establish a productive infection in SupT1 cells. The low infectivity of the virus with the PBS complementary to tRNA(Met(i) )was not due to differences in endogenous levels of cellular tRNA(Met(i) )compared to tRNA(Met(e)); tRNA(Met(i) )was also capable of being selected as the primer for reverse transcription as determined by the endogenous reverse transcription reaction. The PBS of HXB2-Met(i) contains an ATG, which could act as an upstream AUG and syphon scanning ribosomes thereby reducing initiation of translation at the authentic AUG of Gag. To investigate this possibility, a provirus with an A to G change was constructed (HXB2-Met(i)AG). Transfection of HXB2-Met(i)AG resulted in increased production of virus, similar to that for the wild type virus. In contrast to HXB2-Met(i), HXB2-Met(i)AG was able to establish a productive infection in SupT1 cells. Analysis of the PBS following replication revealed the virus favored the genome with the repaired PBS (A to G) even though tRNA(Met(i) )was continuously selected as the primer for reverse transcription. CONCLUSION: The results of these studies suggest that HIV-1 has access to both tRNA(Met )for selection as the replication primer and supports a co-ordination between primer selection, translation and encapsidation during virus replication

Building Relationships With Youth in Program Settings: A Study of Big Brothers/Big Sisters

The success of mentoring programs often relies on ensuring that matched adults and youth meet long enough and often enough to establish a relationship that could generate positive changes for youth. This report draws on P/PV's research on program practices from Big Brothers/Big Sisters of America to provide a better understanding of mentoring relationships and their dynamics. Specifically, it provides insight into what helps good mentoring relationships to form, characteristics of good relationships and why they break up

Understanding How Youth and Elders Form Relationships: A Study of Four Linking Lifetimes Programs

This report describes four projects established by the Temple University Center for Intergenerational Learning. It also uses the mentors' and youth's own words to delineate the various stages their relationships go through and the effects of different strategies on the development of positive relationships. The report includes an early attempt to correlate different mentoring approaches with their effects on relationship formation

Population response of triploid grass carp to declining levels of hydrilla in the Santee Cooper Reservoirs, South Carolina

Approximately 768,500 triploid grass carp ( Ctenopharyngodon idella Valenciennes) were stocked into the Santee Cooper reservoirs, South Carolina between 1989 and 1996 to control hydrilla ( Hydrilla verticillata (L.f.) Royle). Hydrilla coverage was reduced from a high of 17,272 ha during 1994 to a few ha by 1998. During 1997, 1998 and 1999, at least 98 triploid grass carp were collected yearly for population monitoring. Estimates of age, growth, and mortality, as well as population models, were used in the study to monitor triploid grass carp and predict population trends. Condition declined from that measured during a previous study in 1994. The annual mortality rate was estimated at 28% in 1997, 32% in 1998 and 39% in 1999; however, only the 1999 mortality rate was significantly different. Few (2 out of 98) of the triploid grass carp collected during 1999 were older than age 9. We expect increased mortality due to an aging population and sparse hydrilla coverage. During 1999, we estimated about 63,000 triploid grass carp system wide and project less than 3,000 fish by 2004, assuming no future stocking. management, population size Ctenopharyngodon idella, Hydrill

Spectroscopy of Rydberg atoms in non-neutral cold plasmas

The electric field in mm-sized one-component non-neutral plasmas is measured using the Stark effect of Rydberg atoms embedded in them. The plasmas are clouds of cold Rb+Rb+-ions, which are produced by UV photoionization of laser-cooled Rb atoms in a magneto-optic trap. The dependence of the electric field on the number of ions and the Coulomb explosion of the ion clouds have been studied. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87634/2/89_1.pd

The Geometry and Moduli of K3 Surfaces

These notes will give an introduction to the theory of K3 surfaces. We begin with some general results on K3 surfaces, including the construction of their moduli space and some of its properties. We then move on to focus on the theory of polarized K3 surfaces, studying their moduli, degenerations and the compactification problem. This theory is then further enhanced to a discussion of lattice polarized K3 surfaces, which provide a rich source of explicit examples, including a large class of lattice polarizations coming from elliptic fibrations. Finally, we conclude by discussing the ample and Kahler cones of K3 surfaces, and give some of their applications.Comment: 34 pages, 2 figures. (R. Laza, M. Schutt and N. Yui, eds.