The impact of grade inflation on teachers’ evaluation: A quantitative study conducted in the context of five Lebanese universities

Asking students to evaluate teaching faculty by every ending semester in modern education is an established trend. In the higher education circles, it is validated based on a large body of research showing a relationship between these evaluations and students’ achievement. The arising problem is whether this relation is positively associated or not, and the presence of a growing debate pertaining to the many factors influencing this correlation. Most of the cited research shows a link between the attitude of students and their achievement. This research studies the effect of students’ grade point average (GPA), together with the type of university as public or private, and students’ major, on their attitude towards faculty teaching evaluations. The results of the multiple regression show a strong relationship between GPA and students’ attitude towards faculty evaluations, suggesting an ethical duality affecting grade inflation.

The Serra Spanish mackerel fishery (Scomberomorus brasiliensis – Teleostei) in Southern Brazil: the growing landings of a high trophic level resource

In fisheries, the phenomenon known as fishing down food webs is supposed to be a consequence of overfishing, which would be reflected in a reduction in the trophic level of landings. In such scenarios, the resilience of carnivorous, top predator species is particularly affected, making these resources the first to be depleted. The Serra Spanish mackerel, Scomberomorus brasiliensis, exemplifies a predator resource historically targeted by artisanal fisheries on the Brazilian coast. The present work analyzes landings in three periods within a 50-year timescale on the Parana coast, Southern Brazil, aiming to evaluate whether historical production has supposedly declined. Simultaneously, the diet was analyzed to confirm carnivorous habits and evaluate the trophic level in this region. Surprisingly, the results show that from the 1970’s to 2019 Serra Spanish mackerel production grew relatively to other resources, as well as in individual values. The trophic level was calculated as 4.238, similar to other Scomberomorus species, consisting of a case where landings increase over time, despite the high trophic level and large body size of the resource. The results agree with a recent global assessment that has demystified a necessary correlation between high trophic level and overexploitation, but possible factors acting on the present findings are discussed.

Rhythm and Music-Based Interventions in Motor Rehabilitation: Current Evidence and Future Perspectives

Research in basic and clinical neuroscience of music conducted over the past decades has begun to uncover music’s high potential as a tool for rehabilitation. Advances in our understanding of how music engages parallel brain networks underpinning sensory and motor processes, arousal, reward, and affective regulation, have laid a sound neuroscientific foundation for the development of theory-driven music interventions that have been systematically tested in clinical settings. Of particular significance in the context of motor rehabilitation is the notion that musical rhythms can entrain movement patterns in patients with movement-related disorders, serving as a continuous time reference that can help regulate movement timing and pace. To date, a significant number of clinical and experimental studies have tested the application of rhythm- and music-based interventions to improve motor functions following central nervous injury and/or degeneration. The goal of this review is to appraise the current state of knowledge on the effectiveness of music and rhythm to modulate movement spatiotemporal patterns and restore motor function. By organizing and providing a critical appraisal of a large body of research, we hope to provide a revised framework for future research on the effectiveness of rhythm- and music-based interventions to restore and (re)train motor function.

The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Affect, Fear, and Personality of Primary School Children Measured During the Second Wave of Infections in 2020

In relation to the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, a large body of research has identified a negative impact on individuals' affectivity, frequently documented by increased prevalence of anxiety and depression symptoms. For children, this research was less extensive, was mainly based on caregivers' reports and neglected personality assessment. In order to measure the impact of the pandemic, and the fears it caused, on primary school children's affect and personality, 323 (180 boys and 143 girls) Italian third, fourth and fifth graders were assessed between October and November 2020, namely during the second wave of COVID-19 infections in Italy, with validated self-reports of affect (Positive and Negative Affect Scale for Children, PANAS-C), fear of COVID-19 (Fear of COVID-19 Scale, FCV-19S) and personality (junior Temperament and Character Inventory, jTCI). In comparison with PANAS-C and jTCI normative scores collected prior to the pandemic, data obtained from children in 2020 showed unchanged affect scores in the overall sample, a decrease of Positive Affect in girls, and a decrease in the Harm Avoidance and an increase in the Self-Transcendence scales of personality. Fear of COVID-19 scores were positively correlated with Negative Affect scores and negatively predicted by children's personality profile of resilience (calculated using scores on the Harm Avoidance and the Self-Directedness scales of personality). These results suggested that Italian primary school children, especially boys, maintained their pre-pandemic levels of affect (or restored them after the first COVID-19 wave) and partially diverged from the typical development of personality in an apparently positive sense, namely toward more courageous/optimistic and spiritual profiles. This sort of children's post-traumatic growth might also be attributed to children's family and education systems, which should continue to be supported to promote and maintain community mental health.

How causal is a reciprocal effect? Contrasting traditional and new methods to investigate the reciprocal effects model of self-concept and achievement

The relationship between students’ subject-specific academic self-concept and their academic achievement is one of the most widely researched topics in educational psychology. A large body of this research has considered cross-lagged panel models (CLPMs), oftentimes synonymously referred to as reciprocal effects models (REMs), as a gold standard to investigate the causal relations between the two variables and has reported evidence for a reciprocal relationship between self-concept and achievement. However, more recent methodological research questioned the plausibility of assumptions that need to be satisfied in order to interpret results from traditional CLPMs causally. In this substantive-methodological synergy, we aimed at contrasting traditional and more recently developed methods to investigate reciprocal effects of students’ academic self-concept and achievement. Specifically, we compared results from CLPMs, from full forward CLPMs (FF-CLPMs), and from random intercept CLPMs (RI-CLPMs) with two weighting approaches developed to study causal effects of continuous treatment variables. To estimate these different models, we used rich longitudinal data of N = 3,757 students from lower secondary schools in Germany. Results from CLPMs, FF-CLPMs, and weighting methods support the reciprocal effects model, particularly when considering math self-concept and grades. In contrast, results from the RI-CLPMs were less consistent. Implications from our study for the interpretation of effects from the different models and methods as well as for school motivation theory are discussed.

Mobile Health App for Adolescents: Motion Sensor Data and Deep Learning Technique to Examine the Relationship between Obesity and Walking Patterns

With the prevalence of obesity in adolescents, and its long-term influence on their overall health, there is a large body of research exploring better ways to reduce the rate of obesity. A traditional way of maintaining an adequate body mass index (BMI), calculated by measuring the weight and height of an individual, is no longer enough, and we are in need of a better health care tool. Therefore, the current research proposes an easier method that offers instant and real-time feedback to the users from the data collected from the motion sensors of a smartphone. The study utilized the mHealth application to identify participants presenting the walking movements of the high BMI group. Using the feedforward deep learning models and convolutional neural network models, the study was able to distinguish the walking movements between nonobese and obese groups, at a rate of 90.5%. The research highlights the potential use of smartphones and suggests the mHealth application as a way to monitor individual health.

Detection and Functional Evaluation of the P2X7 Receptor in hiPSC Derived Neurons and Microglia-Like Cells

A large body of evidence suggests the involvement of the ATP-gated purinergic receptor P2X7 (P2X7R) in neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. While it is well-described to be present and functional on microglia cells contributing to inflammatory responses, some reports suggest a neuronal expression of the receptor as well. Here, we present experimental results showing P2X7 receptors to be expressed on human hiPSC-derived microglia-like cells, hiPSC-derived neuronal progenitors and hiPSC-derived matured neuronal cells. By applying cell surface protein detection assays, we show that P2X7R is not localized on the cell membrane, despite being detected in neuronal cells and thus may not be available for directly mediating neurotoxicity. On hiPSC-derived microglia-like cells, a clear membranous expression was detected. Additionally, we have not observed differences in P2X7R functions between control and familial Alzheimer’s disease patient-derived neuronal cells. Functional assays employing a P2X7R antagonist JNJ 47965567 confirm these findings by showing P2X7R-dependent modulation of microglia-like cells viability upon treatment with P2X7R agonists ATP and BzATP, while the same effect was absent from neuronal cells. Since the majority of P2X7R research was done on rodent models, our work on human hiPSC-derived cells presents a valuable contribution to the field, extending the work on animal models to the human cellular system and toward clinical translation.

Conceptualizing the Contextual Dynamics of Safety Climate and Safety Culture Research: A Comparative Scientometric Analysis

Safety climate and safety culture are important research domains in risk and safety science, and various industry and service sectors show significant interest in, and commitment to, applying its concepts, theories, and methods to enhance organizational safety performance. Despite the large body of literature on these topics, there are disagreements about the scope and focus of these concepts, and there is a lack of systematic understanding of their development patterns and the knowledge domains on which these are built. This article presents a comparative analysis of the literature focusing on safety climate and safety culture, using various scientometric analysis approaches and tools. General development patterns are identified, including the publication trends, in terms of temporal and geographical activity, the science domains in which safety culture and safety climate research occurs, and the scientific domains and articles that have primarily influenced their respective development. It is found that the safety culture and safety climate domains show strong similarities, e.g., in dominant application domains and frequently occurring terms. However, safety culture research attracts comparatively more attention from other scientific domains, and the research domains rely on partially different knowledge bases. In particular, while measurement plays a role in both domains, the results suggest that safety climate research focuses comparatively more on the development and validation of questionnaires and surveys in particular organizational contexts, whereas safety culture research appears to relate these measurements to wider organizational features and management mechanisms. Finally, various directions for future research are identified based on the obtained results.

Higher-Level Language Strategy-Based Intervention for Poor Comprehenders: A pilot single case experimental design

In contrast to the large body of research investigating intervention for poor decoding skills, far fewer studies have evaluated interventions for reading comprehension. There is even less research on children with more specific difficulties with reading comprehension, often referred to as “poor comprehenders”. Levels of effectiveness have varied for interventions targeting lower- and higher-level language, including inference making, on trained measures, with little transfer to generalised reading comprehension measures in both skilled and less-skilled readers. Outcomes have been more positive for poor comprehenders, however findings have been inconsistent as to which programme components have led to gains in reading comprehension. This pilot study utilised a case series design to explore whether a novel intervention targeting oral inference making and comprehension monitoring was effective in improving the targeted skills and reading comprehension of 11 children, aged 9;2–12;3 years, with average-for-age phonological and lower-level language skills but weak inferencing. All participants improved on the primary inference subtest post-intervention and continued to score higher at maintenance than at pre-intervention. Results on the remaining higher-level language tasks were more varied, as were the results for reading comprehension, with fewer participants demonstrating generalisation to these tasks, particularly the nonfiction texts. While the results are preliminary and descriptive, they suggest that improvements can be made in higher-level language in a 10-session intervention, and provide directions for future research.

Large Body Movements on Video-Polysomnography are Associated with Daytime Dysfunction in Children with Restless Sleep Disorder

Restless sleep disorder (RSD) is a newly defined sleep related movement disorder characterized by large muscle movements (LMM) in sleep. We examined the sleep study, clinical characteristics, and daytime functioning in children with RSD and compared them to children with Periodic Limb Movement Disorder (PLMD) or Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS). Video polysomnography from 47 children with restless sleep was retrospectively reviewed for LMM and age- and sex- matched to 34 children with PLMD and 12 children with RLS. Data examined included PSG characteristics, ferritin, Pediatric Quality of Life (PedsQL), and Epworth Sleepiness Scores (ESS). Fourteen children met the clinical criteria for RSD with a LMM index of 5 or more per hour of sleep . Mean ESS was elevated in RSD patients compared to either the PLMD or RLS groups though the result did not reach statistical significance (RSD = 10.20 ± 6.81, PLMD = 6.19 ± 4.14, RLS = 6.25 ± 4.90). The PedsQL score was significantly decreased in the RLS group compared to RSD and was reduced overall in all three groups (PedsQL Total RSD= 70.76 ± 18.05, PLMD = 57.05 ± 20.33, RLS = 53.24 ± 16.97). Serum ferritin values were similar in all three groups (RSD= 26.89 ± 10.29, PLMD = 33.91 ± 20.31, RLS = 23.69 ± 12.94 ng/mL, P= NS). Children with RSD demonstrate increased daytime sleepiness compared to PLMD or RLS and all three disease groups decreased quality of life. Further studies are needed to examine long term consequences of RSD.