Estimating the parameters of the latent population distribution

Under consideration is a test battery of binary items. The responses ofn individuals are assumed to follow a Rasch model. It is further assumed that the latent individual parameters are distributed within a given population in accordance with a normal distribution. Methods are then considered for estimating the mean and variance of this latent population distribution. Also considered are methods for checking whether a normal population distribution fits the data. The developed methods are applied to data from an achievement test and from an attitude test.     

帕金森病人的图形辨别障碍

对56名帕金森病人用视觉形状辨别测验(VFDT)进行了测查,44名年龄、文化水平与帕金森组相当的正常人作为对照组。结果发现帕金森病人对图形辨别有明显障碍。对帕金森病人在图形辨别障碍中的特点进行了分析,并对其可能机制进行了讨论。     

The effects of video feedback on running form

Correct running form is important for injury prevention; as such, correct form promotes continued engagement in running as a long-term form of exercise. Researchers have shown video feedback to be an effective strategy to improve athletic form for a variety of sports, but it has not been evaluated in any behavior analytic research as a method for improving running form. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of video feedback to improve running form for regular runners. During baseline, each participant was video recorded while running without any feedback (verbal or video). During intervention, the researcher recorded the participant, then showed them the video and provided feedback on correct or incorrect form, according to a 9-step task analysis. Results show that all three participants achieved 100% correct steps on the task analysis when video feedback was used to maintain their form during follow-up.     

高师学生教学态度研究

对503名高师学生的教学态度进行问卷施测,结果显示:当前高师学生的教学态度是较积极、进步的,倾向人文取向的;性别、学科以及中学教学经验对高师学生教学态度有显著的影响,但当前的高师教育并未能有效促进学生养成积极的教学态度.     

Young Mandarin learners use function words to distinguish between nouns and verbs

Mandarin requires neither determiners nor morphological inflections, which casts doubt on Mandarin‐speaking children's ability to use function words as a syntactic bootstrapping tool to identify the form class of a new word. This study examined 3‐ and 5‐year‐old Mandarin learners' ability to use function words to interpret new words as either nouns or verbs in the absence of the requirement for determiners and inflections in the ambient language. In Experiment 1, 3‐, and 5‐year‐old Mandarin‐speaking children were exposed to eight novel words embedded in sentence frames differing only in the form class markers used. The 5‐year‐olds interpreted the novel words as either nouns or verbs depending on the form class markers they heard, while the 3‐year‐olds learned only the nouns. Experiment 2 confirmed that the 5‐year‐olds understood the function of the verb‐marker. Thus, Mandarin‐speaking children can use function words to distinguish nouns versus verbs, and this ability appears between three and five years of age.     

Strategy choice for arithmetic verification: effects of numerical surface form

Canadian university students (n=48) solved simple addition problems in a true/false verification task with equations in digit format (3+4=8) or written English format (three+four=eight). Participants reported their solution strategy (e.g. retrieval or calculation) after each trial. Reported use of calculation strategies was much greater with word (41%) than digit stimuli (26%), and this difference was exaggerated for numerically larger problems. Word-format costs on reaction time (RT) were correspondingly greater for large than for small problems, but this Format×Size RT effect was bigger for true than for false equations. The results demonstrate that surface format affects central, rather than only peripheral, stages of cognitive arithmetic.     

MCMC estimation and some model-fit analysis of multidimensional IRT models

A Bayesian procedure to estimate the three-parameter normal ogive model and a generalization of the procedure to a model with multidimensional ability parameters are presented. The procedure is a generalization of a procedure by Albert (1992) for estimating the two-parameter normal ogive model. The procedure supports analyzing data from multiple populations and incomplete designs. It is shown that restrictions can be imposed on the factor matrix for testing specific hypotheses about the ability structure. The technique is illustrated using simulated and real data. The authors would like to thank Norman Verhelst for his valuable comments and ACT, CITO group and SweSAT for the use of their data.     

人口老龄化呼唤老年医疗保障

我国人口老龄化进程加快,迫切需要建立健全老年人的医疗保障体系。简述了人口老龄化与老年人医疗卫生问题与支付能力,说明了在我国建立老年医疗保障制度的重要性及意义,并提出：针对社区老年人医药费用的不同负担形式与经济承受能力,建立不同收入、不同需求、不同形式的老年医疗保障制。     

Phenomenological Argumentative Structure

The nontechnical ability to identify or match argumentative structure seems to be an important reasoning skill. Instruments that have questions designed to measure this skill include major standardized tests for graduate school admission, for example, the United States-Canadian Law School Admission Test (LSAT), the Graduate Record Examinations (GRE), and the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). Writers and reviewers of such tests need an appropriate foundation for developing such questions – they need a proper representation of phenomenological argumentative structure – for legitimacy, and because these tests affect people's lives. This paper attempts to construct an adequate and appropriate representation of such structure, that is, the logical structure that an argument is perceived to have by mature reasoners, albeit ones who are untrained in logic.