Parents’ attitudes toward the perceived usefulness of Internet-related instruction in preschools

Integrating Internet-related applications into preschool instructional activities can enable children to develop multiple aspects of their learning abilities as well as their cognitive, affective, and relevant skills. Because of the trends toward an Internet society and parents’ expectations from preschools, many teachers have considered parents’ perceptions about the usefulness of the Internet in daily life and in workplace settings. This study examined the impacts of parents’ attitudes toward Internet use and their expectations of preschools to use Internet-related applications. We administered a questionnaire in Taiwan comprising five factors: usefulness, work value, preschool expectations, teacher competence, and learning performance. The survey data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The findings revealed that parents perceived the Internet as an innovative and useful tool that enhances their lives and improves their work performance. Their perceptions toward the usefulness and work value of Internet-related practices positively influenced their attitudes toward preschool expectations, and acknowledge the pedagogical advantages associated with integrating Internet-related applications into teaching for developing young children’s learning abilities. The implications of the findings are also discussed in this paper.     

A Polytomous Model of Cognitive Diagnostic Assessment for Graded Data

Pursuing the line of the difference models in IRT (Thissen &; Steinberg, 1986 Thissen, D., &; Steinberg, L. (1986). A taxonomy of item response models. Psychometrika, 51:567–577. doi:10.1007/BF02295596.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), this article proposed a new cognitive diagnostic model for graded/polytomous data based on the deterministic input, noisy, and gate (Haertel, 1989 Haertel, E. H. (1989). Using restricted latent class models to map the skill structure of achievement items. Journal of Educational Measurement, 26, 333–352. doi:10.1111/j.1745-3984.1989.tb00336.x.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]; Junker &; Sijtsma, 2001 Junker, B. W., &; Sijtsma, K. (2001). Cognitive assessment models with few assumptions, and connections with nonparametric item response theory. Applied Psychological Measurement, 25, 258–272. doi:10.1177/01466210122032064.[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]), which is named the DINA model for graded data (DINA-GD). We investigated the performance of a full Bayesian estimation of the proposed model. In the simulation, the classification accuracy and item recovery for the DINA-GD model were investigated. The results indicated that the proposed model had acceptable examinees' correct attribute classification rate and item parameter recovery. In addition, a real-data example was used to illustrate the application of this new model with the graded data or polytomously scored items.     

一种简单有效的Q矩阵估计方法开发：基于非参数化方法视角

摘要：Q矩阵是认知诊断的基础,错误的Q矩阵会影响参数估计和被试诊断正确率,开发一种简单而有效的Q矩阵估计方法有助于Q矩阵的正确界定。相对于参数化的Q矩阵估计方法,本研究将海明距离（Hamming Distance,HD）用于Q矩阵估计,开发出一种简单有效的非参数化的Q矩阵估计方法。采用Monte Carlo模拟方法与实证研究相结合的研究范式,对该方法的科学性与合理性及其效果进行研究,研究结果发现（1）基于海明距离的Q矩阵估计法具有较高的估计正确率,并且该方法不受被试样本容量影响。（2）该方法简单易懂,运算时间短,是一种简单而有效的Q矩阵估计方法。（3）新方法对于Tatsuka（1990）分数减法测验的Q矩阵的估计准确率尚可,说明新方法在实践中具有较好的潜在应用前景与应用价值。     

基于小样本容量的IRT参数估计方法比较研究

目前IRT参数估计方法的研究大多数都是基于大样本容量,而基于小样本容量的IRT参数估计方法的研究较少。通过对IRT参数估计方法的比较分析给出了基于小样本容量的IRT参数估计方法。实验数据表明,恰当的估计方法（如改进初值的BP神经网络）能大大提高小样本的参数估计精度。     

Influence of individual values on attitudes toward corruption: What undermine formal anticorruption effectiveness

The causes of corruption are often researched by scholars from the macroscopic perspectives of institutional and cultural factors. Neglected is scholarship on the relationship between individual values and corruption. People’s definitions and attitudes toward corruption are largely determined by personal values. However, scarce scholarly attention has been paid to what and how value factors exert influence on people’s attitudes toward corruption and how values moderate the relationship between the effectiveness of formal institutions against corruption and people’s anticorruption willingness. Drawing on the first‐hand survey data collected among Chinese civil servants, this research explores the impact of civil servants’ values on their tolerance towards corruption and willingness to engage in anticorruption. Adopting Hofstede’s (1984) four values model (power distance, collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity), this study reveals that respondents high on collectivism or masculinity hold higher corruption tolerance and lower willingness to participate in actions against corruption whereas uncertainty avoidance is negatively related to corruption tolerance and positively associated with the respondents’ willingness to engage in anticorruption. Furthermore, the values serve as moderating roles in the relationship between formal anticorruption effectiveness and civil servants’ willingness to engage in combating corruption. Specifically, both collectivism and masculinity dilute the positive impact of the government’s anticorruption effectiveness on anticorruption willingness.     

关于维特根斯坦《杂评》一书的翻译

前几天偶然在《世界哲学》今年第一期上看到徐志跃先生的"维特根斯担《杂评》的汉译及其宗教思想"一文,得知他对我译的《杂评》一书提出许多批评,十分高兴,也非常感谢!     

Perception of warble song in budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus): evidence for special processing

The long, rambling warble song of male budgerigars is composed of a large number of acoustically complex elements uttered in streams lasting minutes a time and accompanied by various courtship behaviors. Warble song has no obvious sequential structure or patterned repetition of elements, raising questions as to which aspects of it are perceptually salient, whether budgerigars can detect changes in natural warble streams, and to what extent these capabilities are species-specific. Using operant conditioning and a psychophysical paradigm, we examined the sensitivity of budgerigars, canaries, and zebra finches to changes in long (>6?min) natural warble sequences of a male budgerigar. All three species could detect a single insertion of pure tones, zebra finch song syllables, budgerigar contact calls, or warble elements from another budgerigar’s warble. In each case, budgerigars were more sensitive to these changes than were canaries or finches. When warble elements from the ongoing warble stream were used as targets and inserted, out of order, into the natural warble stream so that the only cue available was the violation of the natural ordering of warble elements, only budgerigars performed above chance. When the experiment was repeated with all the ongoing warble stream elements presented in random order, the performance of budgerigars fell to chance. These results show species-specific advantages in budgerigars for detecting acoustic changes in natural warble sequences and indicate at least a limited sensitivity to sequential rules governing the structure of their species-specific warble songs.     

Analyzing Youth’s Activity Patterns in Campus Open Spaces Depending on Their Personal and Social Needs

Campus open spaces play an important role in meeting socialization and personal development needs of youth. Various studies have shown that space use of youth is different from that of general society: particularly their psychosocial nature and the activities they carry out toward this nature differ from those of the children and adults. However, only a limited number of studies have produced findings on the needs of youth toward obtaining gains related to development of psychosocial nature required to carry out the activities aimed at meeting such needs. This study analyzed the use of campus open spaces by youth. The most preferred 3 places in study area have been chosen, and with behavioral observation, the activity types occurred in these places were identified. Which of these activities are for personal development and which of them are for social development were determined.     

Category-selective attention modulates unconscious processes in the middle occipital gyrus

Many studies have revealed the top-down modulation (spatial attention, attentional load, etc.) on unconscious processing. However, there is little research about how category-selective attention could modulate the unconscious processing. In the present study, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the results showed that category-selective attention modulated unconscious face/tool processing in the middle occipital gyrus (MOG). Interestingly, MOG effects were of opposed direction for face and tool processes. During unconscious face processing, activation in MOG decreased under the face-selective attention compared with tool-selective attention. This result was in line with the predictive coding theory. During unconscious tool processing, however, activation in MOG increased under the tool-selective attention compared with face-selective attention. The different effects might be ascribed to an interaction between top-down category-selective processes and bottom-up processes in the partial awareness level as proposed by Kouider, De Gardelle, Sackur, and Dupoux (2010). Specifically, we suppose an “excessive activation” hypothesis.