THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CIVIC FACTORS AND THE MIDDLE PROFICIENCY LEVEL OF CIVIC KNOWLEDGE

This study explores the relationship between civic and citizenship factors and the middle proficiency level of students’ civic knowledge in the Baltic countries: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The study uses large scale data from the IEA’s International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2016. According to ICCS 2016, 39% of students from the three Baltic countries and only 26% of students from the Nordic countries had a middle proficiency level of civic knowledge. This middle proficiency level is the largest group in comparison to other levels. Therefore, the study aims to recognise the differences between the highest and lowest achievements in the middle proficiency level of civic knowledge and to examine the relationship between factors such as background, values, behaviour, citizenship activities and attitudes. Multivariable linear regression was used for the data analysis, creating several models. The results show that there are different factors associated with the highest and lowest achievements in the middle proficiency level. For example, the results indicate that students with a lower proficiency level participated in illegal protest activities more often and had lower critical thinking skills. Moreover, the research investigates differences inside the middle proficiency level of civic knowledge and between the lowest middle-level students and students from the lower level of civic knowledge

Students’ Perceptions of Threats to their World\u27 Future: An Introduction to ICCS and Global Lesson Plan

This article explains the scope and value of the only international assessment (IEA The International Civic and Citizen Education Study, IEA ICCS) of “Civic Understanding” and a uses data from the international comparative study to create a global education lesson plan for U.S. social studies teachers to have their students consider their perceptions of threats to their world as compared to students in other countries. The lesson would most likely be used with middle and high school students

Two sample empirical likelihood method for weakly dependent data

Darbs ir veltīts Empīriskās ticamības (EL) metodei. Ir aplūkotas dažādas literatūrā atrodamās EL pieejas vāji atkarīgiem datiem vienas izlases gadījumā. Tā kā divu izlašu gadījums šajā kontekstā līdz šim nav pētīts, tiek formulēta divu izlašu blokveida empīriskās ticamības (BEL) metode, balstoties uz \textit{Kitamura} formulēto BEL metodi vienas izlases gadījumā. Tiek pierādīts klasiskais $\chi^2$ robežsadalījums un pētīts interesējošā parametra $\Delta$ asimptotiskais sadalījums. Tiek aplūkota gludinātā BEL metode divu izlašu kvantiļu starpībai, kas neiekļaujas vispārīgu novērtējošo vienādojumu formulējumā. Vēl tiek apskatīta Bārtleta korekciju iespējamība divām izlasēm vāji atkarīgiem datiem. Beigās tiek piedāvāti daži no iespējamiem šīs metodes lietojumiem.This work is devoted to empirical likelihood (EL) method. We look at some of the approaches that can be used to deal with weakly dependent data in one-sample case. Since two-sample problems in this context have not been considered before we introduce two-sample blockwise empirical likelihood (BEL) based on \textit{Kitamura} approach in the one-sample case. Classical $\chi^2$ limit distribution is proved and also asymptotic distribution of parameter $\Delta$ is considered. We look at the smoothed BEL method for difference of two-sample quantiles which does not fit in the classical BEL formulation. We also take a short look at Bartlett corrections for weakly dependent two-sample problems. At the end we propose some potential applications

Spline - based method for solving optimal control problems

Darbs ir veltīts optimālās vadības problēmai, kas reducēta uz nogludinošā splaina konstruēšanas problēmu un tiek risināta, izmantojot splainu teorijas rezultātus un metodes. Šajā darbā tiek apskatīta konkrēta veida optimālās vadības problēma, kas balstīta uz lineāru trešās kārtas diferenciālvienādojumu ar papildus robežnosacījumiem. Atkarībā no diferenciālvienādojumam atbilstošā harakteristiskā vienādojuma saknēm tiek veikta atrisinājumu klasifikācija. Darba mērķis ir katram no vienpadsmit gadījumiem atrast attiecīgās stāvokļu funkcijas un kontroles funkcijas analītisko formulu. Iegūtie rezultāti ir aprobēti, analizējot skaitliskus piemērus.This paper is devoted to the control theory problem, which is reduced to the smoothing problem, considered by using results and methods of the theory of splines. In this paper a special kind of the control theory problem, based on the third order linear differential equation with additional boundary conditions, is considered. Classification is made depending on the roots of the characteristic equation. The goal of this paper is to find the optimal state function and control function for each of those cases. The obtained results are approbated by analyzing numerical examples

Brain activity underlying visual search in depth when viewing volumetric multiplanar images

Abstract The study investigated the cortical activity associated with 3D and 2D image perception on a volumetric multiplanar display by analyzing event-related potentials (ERPs) and power spectral density (PSD). In this study, we used a volumetric multiplanar display to present visual targets, and the brain signals were recorded via an EEG amplifier and analyzed using the EEGLAB toolbox on MATLAB. The study found no significant differences in amplitude between the 3D and 2D conditions across five occipital and parietal electrodes. However, there was a significant difference in latency of the P3 component on the Pz electrode. The analysis of PSD showed no significant differences between the two conditions, although there was a slightly higher alpha and beta activity observed in the 2D visualization. The study concluded that 3D image representation on a volumetric multiplanar display has no more sensory or cognitive load on the human brain than 2D representation, and that depth perception on a multiplanar display requires less brain activity