Educational assessments tests are often constructed using testlets because of the flexibility to test various aspects of the cognitive activities and broad content sampling. However, the violation of the local item independence assumption is inevitable when tests are built using testlet items. In this study, simulations are conducted to evaluate the performance of item response theory models and testlet response theory models for both the dichotomous and polytomous items in the context of equating tests composed of testlets. We also examine (...) the impact of testlet effect, length of testlet items, and sample size on estimating item and person parameters. The results show that more accurate performance of testlet response theory models over item response theory models was consistently observed across the studies, which supports the benefits of using the testlet response theory models in equating for tests composed of testlets. Further, results of the study indicate that when sample size is large, item response theory models performed similarly to testlet response theory models across all studies. (shrink)

The spatial organization of the genome is intimately linked to its biological function, yet our understanding of higher order genomic structure is coarse, fragmented and incomplete. In the nucleus of eukaryotic cells, interphase chromosomes occupy distinct.

Media guidelines on safe suicide-related reporting are within the suicide prevention armamentarium. However, implementation issues beleaguer real-world practice. This study evaluated the perspectives of the Malaysian media community, persons with lived experience of suicidal behavior, and mental health professionals on suicide-related reporting in terms of the impact, strategies, challenges, and the implementation of guidelines on safe reporting. Three focus group discussions of purposively sampled Malaysian media practitioners, PLE, and MHP were audio-recorded, transcribed, coded and thematically analyzed. Inclusion criteria were: English (...) fluency, no clinical depression or suicidal ideation, no recent previous suicide attempts or suicide bereavement. Three major themes emerged: Unsafe Reporting; Impact; and Safe Reporting. Most described current reporting as unsafe by being potentially triggering to media users and may contribute to contagion effect. Positive impacts identified included raised awareness toward suicide and its prevention. Unsafe reporting was attributed to inadequate awareness, knowledge, and guidance, lack of empathy and accountability, job-related factors, popularity-seeking, lack of monitoring and governance, and information source with unsafe content. Majority agreed on how suicide stories should be framed to produce a safe report. The media community diverged on how detailed a suicide story should be. Safe reporting challenges included difficulties in balancing beneficial versus harmful details, social media ubiquity and its citizen reporters. Participants suggested these safe reporting strategies: stakeholder engagement, educational approaches, improving governance and surveillance, and guidelines revision. Most acknowledged the relevance of guidelines but were unaware of the existence of local guidelines. Implementation challenges included the dilemma in balancing media industry needs vis-à-vis safe reporting requirements, stakeholder engagement difficulties and social media regulation. There is poor awareness regarding safe suicide-related reporting across all groups. PLE and MHP were negatively impacted by current unsafe messaging which aggravated trauma and grief reactions. Postvention support gaps for mental health professionals were highlighted. Safe reporting promotion strategies should include stakeholder engagement to increase awareness on minimizing Werther and maximizing Papageno effects. Strategic re-examination and dissemination of local media guidelines to address new media issues, and effective surveillance mechanisms, are crucial in sustainable improvement of safe reporting practices. (shrink)

The growth of strawberry will be stressed by biological or abiotic factors, which will cause a great threat to the yield and quality of strawberry, in which various strawberry diseased. However, the traditional identification methods have high misjudgment rate and poor real-time performance. In today's era of increasing demand for strawberry yield and quality, it is obvious that the traditional strawberry disease identification methods mainly rely on personal experience and naked eye observation and cannot meet the needs of people for (...) strawberry disease identification and control. Therefore, it is necessary to find a more effective method to identify strawberry diseases efficiently and provide corresponding disease description and control methods. In this paper, based on the deep convolution neural network technology, the recognition of strawberry common diseases was studied, as well as a new method based on deep convolution neural network strawberry disease recognition algorithm, through the normal training of strawberry image feature representation in different scenes, and then through the application of transfer learning method, the strawberry disease image features are added to the training set, and finally the features are classified and recognized to achieve the goal of disease recognition. Moreover, attention mechanism and central damage function are introduced into the classical convolutional neural network to solve the problem that the information loss of key feature areas in the existing classification methods of convolutional neural network affects the classification effect, and further improves the accuracy of convolutional neural network in image classification. (shrink)

This study explored the effect of learning strategies in a student organization on cake art creativity. The participants were 27 student members of a cake decorating art club from one central university in Taiwan. A quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design was adopted, with 90 h of experimental teaching over 16 weeks. The results, which included the use of a questionnaire, classroom observation, and in-depth interviews, suggest that in terms of creativity, the group participating in flipped classroom learning significantly outperformed the group using (...) traditional learning strategies. Furthermore, flipped classroom learning promoted learner motivation and satisfaction. (shrink)

Selective accessibility mechanisms indicate that anchoring effects are results of selective retrieval of working memory. Neuroimaging studies have revealed that the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is closely related to memory retrieval and performance. However, no research has investigated the effect of changing the cortical excitability in right DLPFC on anchoring effects. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can modulate the excitability of the human cerebral cortex, while anodal and cathodal tDCS are postulated to increase or decrease cortical activity, respectively. In (...) this study, we used tDCS to investigate whether effects of increased or decreased right DLPFC excitability influence anchoring effects in willingness to pay (WTP) experiments. Ninety participants were first randomly assigned to receive either anodal, cathodal, or sham stimulation of 15 minutes, then they performed a valuation task regarding WTP. The results showed that anchoring effects were negatively related to activities of right DLPFC: the anodal stimulation diminished anchoring effects while the cathodal stimulation increased anchoring effects. These outcomes provide one of the first instances of neural evidence for the role of the right DLPFC in anchoring effects and support psychological explanations of the selective accessibility mechanisms and cognitive sets. (shrink)

Though genome editing is a powerful technology, germline GE engineering is strongly objectionable for a huge ethical challenge. The after-effects of the genome-edited babies incident have been emerging in China, whether technology or ethics. It is very noticeable that the case has been adverse effects on the application of GE technology in other fields, especially in GE crops. After the incident, research and development of GE crops was affected obviously. It is clear that GE crops and other basic research and (...) application related to GE technology should be encouraged and should not be treated differently. An ethically acceptable development route of GE technology needs to be established in China. (shrink)

Perception of time plays a fundamental role in human social activities, and it can be influenced in social situations by various factors, including facial attractiveness. However, in the eyes of observers of different genders, the attractiveness of a face varies. The current study aimed to explore whether gender modulates the effect of facial attractiveness on perception of time. To account for individual differences in aesthetic standards, the critical stimuli presented to each participant were selected from an image pool based on (...) the participant’s own attractiveness judgments. Using a temporal reproduction task, we measured the perception of time by men and women during viewing of faces of different attractiveness and gender. The results show that attractive opposite-sex faces elicited longer reproduced durations in men than unattractive opposite-sex faces, while facial attractiveness did not affect men’s reproduced durations in the case of same-sex faces. Conversely, women exhibited longer reproduced durations for attractive faces than for unattractive faces, regardless of facial gender. These results suggest that gender difference plays an important role in the effect of facial attractiveness on time perception. (shrink)

Indoor plants can positively impact physical and mental health in daily life. However, the benefits of viewing indoor plants may be enhanced if the plants emit a fragrant aroma. In this crossover-design study, we measured the physiological and psychological effects of fragrant and non-fragrant Primula plants on 50 female college students, and explored whether aroma stimulation had additive benefits for this group. Non-fragrant Primula malacoides Franch was used as a control stimulus, and Primula forbesii Franch, which has a floral fragrance, (...) was used as an experimental stimulus. We measured blood pressure, pulse rate, and electroencephalogram to evaluate physiological responses, and used a mood state profile and the semantic differential method to evaluate psychological responses. We found that mean blood pressure and pulse rate decreased significantly after the experiment in both conditions. EEGs showed that the mean values of high alpha waves, high beta waves, and relaxation scores were significantly higher in the experimental vs. control condition. The average scores on each subscale of the psychological questionnaire improved after the experiment in both conditions, and the vitality subscale and total emotional state scores were significantly better in the experimental vs. control condition. The results of the SD method showed that the sense of relaxation and comfort were significantly higher in the experimental vs. control condition. Compared with the non-fragrant Primula, the fragrant Primula induced relatively better physiological and psychological effects. (shrink)

Integrating stakeholder agency theory with the instrumental corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature, this study explores how award-winning CEOs consider personal interests and balance competing stakeholder demands when they decide between external and internal CSR, or CSR focus. Using a difference-in-differences research design, we find that after winning a prestigious media award, CEOs engage in more external CSR, which is more visible to the public, and less internal CSR, which is less likely to attract public attention. We find that such an (...) influence on CSR focus is more salient for award-winning CEOs with lower stock ownership (i.e. a stronger self-serving motivation) than for CEOs with higher stock ownership. Furthermore, we explore the role of stakeholder salience in modifying award-winning CEOs’ decisions about CSR focus. When external stakeholder salience is higher (e.g. higher media coverage), award-winning CEOs' manipulation of CSR focus by increasing external CSR and decreasing internal CSR is more salient. However, such effects can be dampened when internal stakeholder salience is higher (e.g. higher human capital intensity). Our study contributes to the instrumental CSR literature by demonstrating the underlying processes and boundary conditions of how awards affect CEOs' balance of stakeholder salience. (shrink)

ObjectiveVirtual reality grasping exercise training helps patients participate actively in their recovery and is a critical approach to the rehabilitation of hand dysfunction. This study aimed to explore the effects of active participation and VR grasping on brain function combined with the kinematic information obtained during VR exercises.MethodsThe cerebral oxygenation signals of the prefrontal cortex, the motor cortex, and the occipital cortex were measured by functional near-infrared spectroscopy in 18 young people during the resting state, grasping movements, and VR grasping (...) movements. The EPPlus plug-in was used to collect the hand motion data during simulated interactive grasping. The wavelet amplitude of each cerebral cortex and the wavelet phase coherence of each pair of channels were calculated by wavelet analysis. The total difference in acceleration difference of the hand in the VR grasping movements was calculated to acquire kinematic characteristics. The cortical activation and brain functional connectivity of each brain region were compared and analyzed, and a significant correlation was found between VR grasping movements and brain region activation.ResultsCompared with the resting state, the WA values of LPFC, RPFC, LMC, RMC, and ROC increased during the grasping movements and the VR grasping movements, these changes were significant in LPFC and LMC. The WA values of LMC in the VR grasping movements were significantly higher than those in the grasping movements. The WPCO of the cerebral cortex increased during grasping exercise compared with the resting state. Nevertheless, the number of significant functional connections during VR grasping decreased significantly, and only the WPCO strength between the LPFC and LMC was enhanced. The increased WA of the LPFC, RPFC, LMC, and RMC during VR grasping movements compared with the resting state showed a significant negative correlation with KCs.ConclusionThe VR grasping movements can improve the activation and FC intensity of the ipsilateral brain region, inhibit the FC of the contralateral brain region, and reduce the quantity of brain resources allocated to the task. Thus, ordered grasping exercises can enhance active participation in rehabilitation and help to improve brain function. (shrink)

The conflict of administrative morality among civil servants at the grassroots level arises from the background of China’s long-standing traditional culture, and the current administrative system cannot keep up with the pace of economic development. In the process of grassroots management, due to the lag in the construction of administrative morality, the traditional official standard thinking, the imperfection of the current system, and the restriction of human nature, it is easy to cause the administrative moral conflict of the grassroots civil (...) servants in practice. This paper takes the interpersonal society as the research background, analyzes the influence of the interpersonal society on the environment, and studies the administrative ethics conflicts and governance issues of basic civil servants from the interpersonal background. In addition, this paper conducts a more detailed field investigation based on fuzzy cluster analysis, analyzes the manifestations and causes of the administrative moral conflict of grassroots civil servants in the context of human society from multiple perspectives and levels, and then proposes countermeasures to solve the administrative moral conflict. The administrative moral conflict and governance of grass-roots civil servants under the background of interpersonal relationship is of great positive significance for solving the administrative moral conflict and improving the service awareness and service level of grass-roots civil servants. (shrink)

An accurate determination of an individual’s decisionmaking capacity is fundamental to obtaining informed consent for medical treatment, as it allows clinicians to balance respect for patients’ autonomy with the best interests of patients. Despite the increasing demand for assessments of patients’ capacity, healthcare professionals find this task complex and challenging. Currently, assessments are largely based on patients’ cognitive ability and do not sufficiently take into account other factors that influence patients’ judgment. Furthermore, it is important to assess for and treat (...) modifiable factors that impair decision-making capabilities, and to have guidance on when it is appropriate to delay treatment-related decisions. This article will review current methods for assessing capacity, highlight other factors to consider in the decision-making process, and propose an enhanced framework to guide clinicians in making timely and prudent treatment-related decisions for patients with impaired capacity. (shrink)

Social norms play an essential role in human interactions and the development of the evolution of human history. Extensive studies corroborate that compliance with social norms typically requires a punishment threat as almost always specific individuals have self-interests that tempt them to violate the norm. Neural imaging studies demonstrate that lateral orbitofrontal cortex and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rDLPFC) are activated when individuals decide to increase social norm compliance when punishment is possible. Moreover, rDLPFC is affirmed to be involved in (...) social norm compliance with or without external punishment threats in a series of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) research. However, these neuroscience studies are based on the ultimatum game in which the decision-making power between the proposer and the responder is unequal, and no studies support the causal relationship between rDLPFC and voluntary cooperative norms compliance among the equal decision-making power of subjects. Whether modulating the excitability of rDLPFC, which plays a role in norm compliance, alters the extent of compliance with voluntary cooperative norms under equal decision-making power and how norms from different types with asymmetric endowment influence compliance remain unknown. The present study aimed to provide evidence of a direct link between the neural and behavioral results through the application of tDCS over rDLPFC on compliance with voluntary cooperative norms under equal decision-making power. Results verified that activating rDLPFC altered voluntary cooperative norms compliance of all our participants and significant effect over different initial endowments was observed. The role of norm.own and norm.other in compliance was changed in the anodal treatment. Findings validate that enhancing the excitability of the rDLPFC using tDCS leads to high compliance in voluntary cooperation and this effect is specific to equal decision-making power rather than unequal decision-making power. (shrink)

Entrepreneurship may be taught, and entrepreneurship education is flourishing at colleges and universities. However, previous documents show that entrepreneurship education is inconsistent with the research conclusions of entrepreneurial intention, which is a lack of discussion on the mediating effect of government subsidies from external resources. Based on the cognitive behavior theory, a mediating effect of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial strategy and entrepreneurial intention is built. By collecting the data of 334 questionnaires of college students in Pearl River Delta in China, (...) a structural equation is used for empirical analysis. The result indicates that entrepreneurship education does not have a significant influence on entrepreneurial intention; exploration innovation and exploitation innovation have a positive influence on entrepreneurial intention, and exploration innovation and exploitation innovation have a mediating effect on entrepreneurship education and entrepreneurial intention; government subsidies have a positive regulating effect on exploration innovation, exploitation innovation, and entrepreneurial intention. In this article, the application of the cognitive behavior theory in the field of entrepreneurship research is expanded to provide the theoretical basis for building the entrepreneurship education ecosystem, which is conductive to innovation and entrepreneurship to promote regional economic development. (shrink)

Previous studies showed inconsistent results on the association between searching for calling and its psychosocial functioning outcomes. The link of searching for calling to its psychosocial functioning outcomes may be influenced by the presence of calling because the search for and presence of calling can co-exist within individuals. Thus, the present study employed a person-centered method to identify subgroups combining the search for and presence of a calling and then explore the identified profiles' differences in work meaning and job satisfaction. (...) Study participants were Chinese kindergarten teachers. Latent profile analysis revealed four different groups: actively maintaining calling, unsustainable calling, moderately increasing calling, and actively increasing calling. Subsequent analyses showed notable differences across the four groups on work meaning and job satisfaction. Participants in profile 1 with both the highest searching for and presence of calling would experience more work meaning and job satisfaction than those in the other profiles whose strengths of searching for and presence of calling were relatively low. Participants in profile 4 had higher searching for and presence of calling than those in profile 3, and they experienced more meaningfulness at work and were more satisfied with their job. These findings indicate that actively searching for calling is closely associated with more work meaning and job satisfaction among people who already perceive intensive calling. Implications, limitations, and future directions of the results are discussed. (shrink)

To improve the accuracy and timeliness of the trajectory tracking control of the driverless racing car during the race, this paper proposes a track tracking control method that integrates the rear wheel differential drive and the front wheel active steering based on optimal control theory and fuzzy logic method. The model of the lateral track tracking error of the racing car is established. The model is linearized and discretized, and the quadratic optimal steering control problem is constructed. Taking advantage of (...) the differential drive of dual-motor-driven racing car, the dual motors differential drive fuzzy controller is designed and integrated driving with active steering control. Simulation analysis and actual car verification show that this integrated control method can ensure that the car tracks different race tracks well and improve the track tracking control accuracy by nearly 30%. (shrink)

BackgroundPrehospital delay is associated with non-modifiable factors such as age, residential region, and disease severity. However, the impact of psychosocial factors especially for job burnout on prehospital decision delay is still little understood.MethodThis internet-based survey was conducted between 14 February 2021 and 5 March 2021 in China through the Wechat platform and web page. Self-designed questionnaires about the expected and actual length of prehospital decision time and the Chinese version of Maslach Burnout Inventory-General Survey, Type D Personality Scale-14, and Social (...) Support Rating Scale were applied. A total of 1,039 general participants with a history of perceptible but tolerable body discomfort were included.ResultsThe top six reasons for prehospital decision delay were: endure until self-healing, too busy to ask for leave, process for seeing a doctor too complicated, too tired after work, worry about the expenditure, and fear of being identified as with serious problem. The univariate analyses revealed that older age, type D personality, job burnout, and worrying about expenditure were associated with prolonged prehospital decision time, while engaged in medical-related job and with more social support would shorten the delay. The multivariate analysis using logistic regression model with forward selecting method showed that age [per 10 years, odds ratio 1.19, p 7 days). Mediating effects were analyzed by using bias-corrected percentile bootstrap methods. Social support was found partially mediated the relationship between the determinants and prehospital decision time. The partial mediating effect of social support accounted for 24.0% of the total effect for job burnout and 11.6% for worrying about expenditure.ConclusionPsychosocial factors have a non-negligible impact on prehospital decision delay. The crucial part of prehospital decision delay may be the lack of motivation inside. Job burnout and lack of social support, as two commonly seen features in the modern world, should be given enough consideration in disease prevention and treatment. (shrink)

BackgroundThe prognosis of patients undergoing lung cancer treatment might be influenced by mental health status. Resilience is one of the important predictors to reflect the mental health status. It has been shown that patients with higher levels of social support, self-care self-efficacy, and positive coping have greater resilience. This study aimed to determine the mediating role of self-efficacy and positive coping in the relationship between social support and psychological resilience in patients with lung cancer.MethodThis is a cross-sectional study that was (...) conducted in in the oncology departments and thoracic surgical wards of four tertiary hospitals in Hunan Province, China, between November 2016 and November 2017. Three hundred and three patients who were undergoing treatment for lung cancer volunteered their participation in the study. Participants completed questionnaires, including the Chinese version of the Perceived Social Support Seale Scale, the Chinese version of Strategies Used by People to Promote Health Scale, and the Chinese version of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale.ResultsMediation analysis indicated that self-care self-efficacy and social support partially mediate the effect of social support on resilience. Direct paths from social support to self-efficacy, self-efficacy to positive coping, positive coping to psychological resilience, self-efficacy to psychological resilience, and social support to psychological resilience were significant. The indirect paths from social support to self-efficacy and self-efficacy to psychological resilience were also significant. The chain mediation from social support to self-efficacy, self-efficacy to positive coping, and positive coping to resilience were significant.ConclusionSelf-efficacy and positive coping play an important role in the relationship between social support and resilience in patients receiving cancer treatment. Social support not only directly influenced psychological resilience but also indirectly influenced psychological resilience through self-efficacy and positive coping. (shrink)