High Performance Group Research Articles

Social capital from online discussion forums: Differences between online and blended modes of delivery

<p class="AJET-Abstract">This study explored the concept of social capital in higher education contexts by investigating student discussion forum activity and academic performance. To address these aims online discussion forum logs, student marks and teaching delivery method (blended or fully online) data were extracted from the universities learning management system (LMS). Student social network centrality measures were then calculated from the course discussion activity and correlated against student academic performance for each delivery mode. Drawing on social capital and social network theories the analyses identified that in comparison to low performing students the high-performing group held more central positions in their networks and tended to establish dense social connections with students of a similar academic ability. It was also observed that the relationships formed in blended teaching units were of a greater intensity and reciprocity than those established in fully online teaching units indicating a higher level of social capital was reached. This difference in the amount of available social capital between the two teaching modes suggests that students in blended units have comparatively greater access to resources embedded within the network, which in turn can be mobilised to assist them in their academic endeavours.</p>

오퍼레이션스 성과와 재무성과 간의 인과관계에 대한 실증분석

While many previous studies investigated the effect of operations performance on financial performance, most studies considered only a few performance indicators and ignored the characteristics of industries. Therefore, this study intends to analyze the effect of operations performance on financial performance, by selecting a rather comprehensive operations performance indicators from financial data. In doing so, we used operating efficiency and supply chain performance indicators for operations performance and a firms profitability and future value indicators for financial performance. For the analysis, we collected 544 operations and financial performance data belonging to eight key industries from the Forbes Global 2000. We first analysed the differences in operations and financial performance among high, medium and low supply chain performance groups based on the quantitative criteria of Gartners Supply Chain Top 25 ranking procedure. Then we analysed the effect of operations performance indicators on financial performance for both entire industry and individual industries, using multiple regression. Based on the results, we provided practical insights into key operations performance indicators to focus on and manage in order to improve financial performance.

Work coordination and collaborative knowledge construction in a small group collaborative virtual task

Interest on how students organise and coordinate their work in virtual collaborative groups has increased in recent years, both from research on computer-supported collaborative learning and collaborative writing. Our study aimed to explore possible relationships between the types of organisation and coordination of work used by small groups dealing with a complex collaborative writing task and the levels of collaborative knowledge construction they reached. A case-study was conducted, and four small groups of undergraduate students in an “Instructional Psychology” course at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) were analysed. Results showed differences between the types of organisation and coordination of work used by high and low performance groups, and a relationship between organisation and coordination of work and collaborative knowledge construction. These results suggest that teachers should assist group processes of organisation and coordination of work as a condition to enhance collaborative knowledge construction and collaborative writing.

Synchronous and Asynchronous e-learning Styles and Academic Performance of e-learners

It is important to keep in mind that every individual is a unique learner. Educators have, for many years, realized that some learners prefer certain methods of learning. These methods, referred as learning preferences or learning styles. This study was aimed to ascertain the learning styles of students in mode of synchronous and asynchronous e-learning and to compare the learning styles of e-learners with their academic performance. Synchronous or asynchronies e-learner determiner test and the Kolb's Learning Styles Inventory (KLSI 3.1) were conducted to identify differences in the learning styles among 731 e-learners from six virtual universities which were confined in Tehran and categorized in three different academic performance groups including low, mediocre and high. The sample was selected by multi-stage sampling based on Cochran formula and researchers conducted Kruskal-Wallis test to assess whether there is any significant difference within synchronous and asynchronous e-learners’ learning styles based on their academic performance groups. The results revealed that in synchronous e-learners while, synchronous e-learners in low, mediocre and high academic performance groups preferred Assimilating and Diverging styles. In contrast, the results demonstrated that asynchronous e-learners in low, mediocre and high academic performance groups preferred Assimilating and Converging styles. Researchers conducted Mann-Whitney U as Post Hoc and their effect size value was calculated for significant Post hoc tests.

Can Selected Functional Movement Screen Assessments Be Used to Identify Movement Deficiencies That Could Affect Multidirectional Speed and Jump Performance?

The Functional Movement Screen (FMS) includes lower-body focused tests (deep squat [DS], hurdle step, in-line lunge) that could assist in identifying movement deficiencies affecting multidirectional sprinting and jumping, which are important qualities for team sports. However, the hypothesized relationship with athletic performance lacks supportive research. This study investigated relationships between the lower-body focused screens and overall FMS performance and multidirectional speed and jumping capabilities in team sport athletes. Twenty-two healthy men were assessed in the FMS, and multidirectional speed (0- to 5-m, 0- to 10-m, 0- to 20-m sprint intervals; 505 and between-leg turn differences, modified T-test and differences between initial movement to the left or right); and bilateral and unilateral multidirectional jumping (vertical [VJ], standing long [SLJ], and lateral jump) tests. Pearson's correlations (r) were used to calculate relationships between screening scores and performance tests (p ≤ 0.05). After the determination of any screens relating to athletic performance, subjects were stratified into groups (3 = high-performing group; 2 = intermediate-performing group; 1 = low-performing group) to investigate movement compensations. A 1-way analysis of variance (p ≤ 0.05) determined any between-group differences. There were few significant correlations. The DS did moderately correlate with between-leg 505 difference (r = -0.423), and bilateral VJ (r = -0.428) and SLJ (r = -0.457). When stratified into groups according to DS score, high performers had a 13% greater SLJ when compared with intermediate performers, which was the only significant result. The FMS seems to have minimal capabilities for identifying movement deficiencies that could affect multidirectional speed and jumping in male team sport athletes.

The Effect of Cooperation-Strategy Fit on the Performance of Subcontractors-Focused on Samsung Electronics’ Subcontractors

This study examines the effects of the relationships between cooperative relationships and competitive strategies in domestic companies, as well as of such cooperation-competitive strategic fit, on subcontractors. Toward this end, 90 primary subcontractors of Samsung Electronics were examined based on hypotheses. The findings of this study revealed that primary subcontractors of Samsung Electronics, similarly to the predict-tion of the contingency theory, adopted competitive strategies fit for their cooperative relationships. Also, compared with low-performance groups, high-performance groups had higher levels of cooperative relationship-competitive strategy fit. These findings imply that the cooperative relationship-competitive strategy fit has positive effects on corporate performance. Thus it is argued that for subcontractors, their cooperation with their principal contractor companies have important effects on their competitive strategy and on their business performance.

Looking at both sides: how specific characteristics of academic research groups and firms affect the geographical distance of university–industry linkages

This paper examines factors that affect the geographical distance of university–industry linkages by analysing specific characteristics of both sides of the collaboration – firms and universities. Previous studies have provided important evidence related to this issue; however, they have used data from either firms or universities. Therefore, this paper contributes to existing research on this issue by using information on both collaboration partners. For this purpose, data from the Directory of Research Groups in Brazil are used to estimate an empirical model. The main results indicate that firms with higher absorptive capacity and larger firms tend to collaborate with research groups that are more geographically distant. Further, on the university side, high-performance and larger research groups tend to attract firms that are more geographically distant as collaboration partners. Long-distance collaborations therefore usually occur when firms require high absorptive capacity and when they cannot find high-quality local universities.

Bilingual children's use of lexical strategies under narrative monologue and dialogue conditions.

This study examined lexical strategies produced by Spanish-English bilingual kindergartners across two different narrative elicitation tasks. Fifty participants (M = 67.24 months) produced narratives in English under monologue and dialogue conditions. Participants were placed in high and low language performance groups determined by results from a bilingual language screener. Per parent report, children were matched by age, current language use, and age of first exposure to English. Analyses examined strategy types across participants' performance levels and task condition. Further evaluation compared strategy usage with general language productivity measures. Child learners access similar lexical strategies as reported for adult second language learners. Performance level did not differentiate strategy type and frequency of use. Overall, participants relied more on all-purpose words and code-switching in the monologue condition, while employment of word approximation and literal translation increased during the mediated dialogue sessions. Application of all-purpose words, word approximations, and literal translation influenced utterance length and lexical diversity. Participants adjusted lexical strategy use according to narrative condition. The application of mediated learning serves as an instructional model that reveals information specific to young second language learners. Application of all-purpose words, word approximations, and literal translation influenced utterance length and lexical diversity. Insight to the characteristics of bilingual children's language processing skills guides evidenced-based instructional decisions.

The predictive performance and stability of six species distribution models.

BackgroundPredicting species’ potential geographical range by species distribution models (SDMs) is central to understand their ecological requirements. However, the effects of using different modeling techniques need further investigation. In order to improve the prediction effect, we need to assess the predictive performance and stability of different SDMs.MethodologyWe collected the distribution data of five common tree species (Pinus massoniana, Betula platyphylla, Quercus wutaishanica, Quercus mongolica and Quercus variabilis) and simulated their potential distribution area using 13 environmental variables and six widely used SDMs: BIOCLIM, DOMAIN, MAHAL, RF, MAXENT, and SVM. Each model run was repeated 100 times (trials). We compared the predictive performance by testing the consistency between observations and simulated distributions and assessed the stability by the standard deviation, coefficient of variation, and the 99% confidence interval of Kappa and AUC values.ResultsThe mean values of AUC and Kappa from MAHAL, RF, MAXENT, and SVM trials were similar and significantly higher than those from BIOCLIM and DOMAIN trials (p<0.05), while the associated standard deviations and coefficients of variation were larger for BIOCLIM and DOMAIN trials (p<0.05), and the 99% confidence intervals for AUC and Kappa values were narrower for MAHAL, RF, MAXENT, and SVM. Compared to BIOCLIM and DOMAIN, other SDMs (MAHAL, RF, MAXENT, and SVM) had higher prediction accuracy, smaller confidence intervals, and were more stable and less affected by the random variable (randomly selected pseudo-absence points).ConclusionsAccording to the prediction performance and stability of SDMs, we can divide these six SDMs into two categories: a high performance and stability group including MAHAL, RF, MAXENT, and SVM, and a low performance and stability group consisting of BIOCLIM, and DOMAIN. We highlight that choosing appropriate SDMs to address a specific problem is an important part of the modeling process.

The impact of sports on above-the-average and high-performing students achievements in Hungarian and Romanian higher education institutions

In this paper, we apply such a complex indicator of student achievement to study the effect of sporting habits on higher education students achievement in Romania and Hungary in the Partium region. We created a complex indicator based on 12 dimensions and re-coded the index to a binominal variable: measuring above-the-average and high-performing student achievement. Consequently, our main research question is whether sporting habits contribute to becoming a member of the above-the-average or high-performing student groups. In our analysis, we control for the effect of social background variables and examine also the effects of subjective wellbeing (happiness and life satisfaction), self-assessment on health and resilience (mental fitness, flexibility, adaptability to changed conditions) as the positive influence of these latter factors on student achievement has been verified by others and our previous studies as well. In the frame of our research, Higher Education for Social Cohesion Cooperative Research and Development in a Cross-border Area (HERD, HURO/0901/253/2.2.2.) a survey was carried out in the three countries of the Partium region (Hungary, Romania, Ukraine). The Ukrainian subsample was eliminated from the current analysis due to low headcounts and biased effects, thus our database included 2619 students. According to our results free-time sporting, subjective health status and resilience increase the likelihood to belong to the above-the-average group, while the two regular forms of sporting and mental fitness promote students to belong to the high-performing group. The level of subjective well-being decreases the likelihood to belong to both student groups. These support the assumption that sporting students are more engaged towards their studies and work as well and consider their studies as more meaningful. Such an attitude serves as a motivational factor for finishing their studies even more successfully, continuing their studies even at the doctoral level. These positive personality traits, values and attitudes that are also related to sporting define advantages in academic and personal lives and the labour market through the transfer-effect of sports.

The effect of experience on environmental sound identification

The perception of environmental stimuli was compared across normal hearing (NH) listeners exposed to an eight-channel sinewave vocoder and experienced bilateral, unilateral, and bimodal cochlear implant (CI) users. Three groups of NH listeners underwent no training (control), one day of training with environmental stimuli (exposure), or four days of training with a variety of speech and environmental stimuli (experimental). A significant effect of training was observed. The experimental group performed significantly better than exposure or control groups, equal to bilateral CI users, but worse than bimodal users. Participants were divided into low, medium and high-performing groups using a two-step cluster algorithm. High-performing members were only observed for the CI and experimental conditions, and significantly more low-performing members were observed for exposure and control conditions, demonstrating the effectiveness of training. A detailed item-analysis revealed that the most accurately identified sounds were often temporal in nature or contained iconic repeating patterns (e.g., a horse galloping). Easily identified stimuli were common across all groups, with experimental subjects identifying more short or spectrally driven stimuli, and CI users identifying more animal vocalizations. These data demonstrate that explicit training in identifying environmental stimuli improves sound perception, and could be beneficial for new CI users.

The development of early numeracy skills in kindergarten in low-, average- and high-performance groups

In this study, we investigated how early numeracy skills develop in kindergarten-age children. The participants were 235 Finnish children (111 girls and 124 boys). At the time of the first measurement, the average age of the children was 6 years. The measurements were conducted three times during 1 year of kindergarten. We used a between-group repeated-measures analysis of variance and post hoc group comparisons for three measurement times on two related mathematical scales. The results showed that differences in mathematics skills among children are already visible in kindergarten before formal primary education in mathematics starts. The early numeracy skills measured, namely, relational skills in a numerical context and counting skills, were weaker over the kindergarten year in low-performing children, and, although their skills improved, they did not catch up to their average peers.

Germanium Nanowire Based Lithium-Ion Anode Exhibiting a Stable and High Capacity Over 1000 Cycles

Ge nanowire (NW) based materials have emerged as viable candidates for next generation rechargeable lithium-ion battery anodes with energy and power densities that are multiples of current graphitic based electrodes.1-3 The key advance is the capability of NWs to overcome the well-known pulverization problem that is detrimental to the cycle life and hence viability of their bulk counterparts. NWs also provide good electrical conductivity along their length, have a high interfacial area in contact with the electrolyte, have an optimal short diffusion distance for Li-ion transport and can be grown directly from current collectors, eliminating the need for binders and conductive additives 4,5 Here we demonstrate stable cycling over 1100 cycles of Sn seeded Ge NWs grown directly from a current collector via a solvent vapour growth system. We show by ex-situ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and high-resolution scanning electron microscopy studies that the NW array transforms into a robust, porous network structure within the first 100 cycles.6 Once this network is formed it is highly stable, maintaining a capacity of ̴ 900 mAh/g over the following 1000 cycles. The electrolyte additive, vinylene carbonate (VC), was found to play an important role, facilitating the formation of this stable network morphology. The electrode material described here has several advantages as it is formed in a low energy, wet-chemical process with Ge NWs nucleating and growing from an evaporated Sn layer on stainless steel. Sn also has a high maximum theoretical capacity and we show both physically (HRTEM) and electrochemically (differential capacity plots) that the Sn seeds at the end of the NWs reversibly alloy with lithium and contribute to the electrodes overall specific capacity. The NW electrode architecture performed exceptionally well in rate capability tests achieving a discharge capacity of 435 mAh/g after 80 cycles at a discharge rate of 100C. Considering the low cost and low energy required, especially when compared with CVD systems, we believe our synthetic protocol to be an attractive and scalable synthesis approach for high-performance group IV nanowire based electrodes.Chan, C. K.; Zhang, X. F.; Cui, Y. Nano Lett. 2008, 8, 307-309.Chockla, A. M.; Klavetter, K.; Mullins, C. B.; Korgel, B. A. ACS Appl. Mater. & Interfaces 2012, 4, 4658-4664.Yuan, F.-W.; Yang, H.-J.; Tuan, H.-Y. ACS Nano 2012 , 6, 9932-9942.Choi, N. S.; Yao, Y.; Cui, Y.; Cho, J. J. Mater. Chem. 2011, 21, 9825-9840.Wu, H.; Cui, Y. Nano Today 2012, 7, 414-429.Kennedy, T.; Mullane, E.; Geaney, H.; Osiak, M.; O’Dwyer, C.; Ryan, K.M. Nano Lett. 2013, DOI:10.1021/nl403979s

Image changes of paraspinal muscles and clinical correlations in patients with unilateral lumbar spinal stenosis

This is a retrospective study. To compare the morphometric parameters of the psoas major and lumbar multifidus muscles in lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) patients exhibiting different functional performance. LSS refers to symptoms related to size reduction of the lumbar spinal canal; however, the degree of stenosis is poorly related to symptom severity and functional impairments. Morphometric changes in the paraspinal muscles have been correlated with chronic lower back pain in previous studies. However, correlations between the functional performance of LSS patients and the morphometric changes in paraspinal muscles have seldom been reported. Sixty-six LSS patients without mechanical back pain or segmental instability were enrolled in the study. A review of their medical records and MRI images was performed. Morphometric parameters, including the fatty infiltration (FI) of the lumbar multifidus muscle as well as the relative cross-sectional area (RCSA) of the psoas major and lumbar multifidus muscles, were measured. Subjects were divided into high and low functional performance groups according to their Japanese Orthopedic Association (JOA) scores. The male LSS patients exhibited a larger psoas RCSA than the female patients, whereas the older patients exhibited a smaller psoas RCSA and higher multifidus FI than the younger patients. LSS patients in the high functional performance group exhibited a significantly larger psoas RCSA and lower multifidus FI. The psoas RCSA and multifidus FI can be used as predictive factors for functional performance in LSS patients.

An Investigation into the Effect of L1 ( Persian ) Reading Product on the Product and Process of Reading in EGP and ESP

This study investigates the effect of reading product in L1 on EGP and ESP reading product and process. Thirty nine tertiary level students took part in this study. They were divided into two groups of high and low performers based on L1 reading test scores. Then they were given tests of reading in EGP and ESP, which were immediately followed by reading strategies questionnaire as well as an interview as retrospective measures of their reading behavior. Analysis of data evidenced that there was no significant difference between the two L1 reading ability groups in reading process in EGP and ESP as well as the reading product in ESP. But in EGP reading there was a significant difference in the reading product for high and low groups of L1 reading ability. Cook (2007) maintains the cognitive processing of information is slower and less efficient in a foreign language. As the L1 reading product is no good predictor for L2 reading success, it is recommended to get tertiary students more familiar with the L2 code so that they become independent in text processing of different general and specific genres.

Revealing the brain's adaptability and the transcranial direct current stimulation facilitating effect in inhibitory control by multiscale entropy

The abilities to inhibit impulses and withdraw certain responses are critical for human's survival in a fast-changing environment. These processes happen fast, in a complex manner, and sometimes are difficult to capture with fMRI or mean electrophysiological brain signal alone. Therefore, an alternative measure that can reveal the efficiency of the neural mechanism across multiple timescales is needed for the investigation of these brain functions. The present study employs a new approach to analyzing electroencephalography (EEG) signal: the multiscale entropy (MSE), which groups data points with different timescales to reveal any occurrence of repeated patterns, in order to theoretically quantify the complexity (indicating adaptability and efficiency) of neural systems during the process of inhibitory control. From this MSE perspective, EEG signals of successful stop trials are more complex and information rich than that of unsuccessful stop trials. We further applied transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), with anodal electrode over presupplementary motor area (preSMA), to test the relationship between behavioral modification with the complexity of EEG signals. We found that tDCS can further increase the EEG complexity of the frontal lobe. Furthermore, the MSE pattern was found to be different between high and low performers (divided by their stop-signal reaction time), where the high-performing group had higher complexity in smaller scales and less complexity in larger scales in comparison to the low-performing group. In addition, this between-group MSE difference was found to interact with the anodal tDCS, where the increase of MSE in low performers benefitted more from the anodal tDCS. Together, the current study demonstrates that participants who suffer from poor inhibitory control can efficiently improve their performance with 10min of electrical stimulation, and such cognitive improvement can be effectively traced back to the complexity within the EEG signals via MSE analysis, thereby offering a theoretical basis for clinical intervention via tDCS for deficits in inhibitory control.

Humans use social information to adjust their quorum thresholds adaptively in a simulated predator detection experiment

Quorum sensing is used in many biological systems to increase decision accuracy. In quorum sensing, the probability that an individual adopts a behavior is a nonlinear function of the number of other individuals adopting this behavior. From an optimal decision-making perspective, individuals should adjust their quorum threshold to the particulars of the decision problem. Recent work predicts that a key factor here is the quality of social information. In particular, it is predicted that individuals should adjust their quorum thresholds such that it lies in between the average true and false positive rate of the other group members. We here test this prediction with a predator detection experiment. First, human groups observed a group of animals (projected on a white screen) in which a predator was present or absent, and each individual made an independent decision to escape or not. Second, individuals received social information on the decisions of their group members, after which individuals decided again. This social information, however, did not represent their own decisions but consisted of responses that either came from a high-performing group (i.e., many individuals detecting the predator) or from a low-performing group (i.e., few individuals detecting the predator). We found that individuals adaptively adjust their quorum threshold to the quality of the social information: when receiving social information from high-performing groups, individuals employed higher quorum thresholds than when receiving information from low-performing groups. Our study demonstrates that humans can quickly evaluate the quality of publicly available information and adaptively adjust their decision rules.

Tailored instructor feedback leads to more effective virtual-reality laparoscopic training

Laparoscopic novices begin at different performance levels, and studies on tailored training concepts are warranted. The effect of verbal instructor feedback has been investigated with varying results, and its effectiveness in virtual-reality laparoscopic (VRL) simulations still is unclear. This study aimed to determine whether laparoscopic novices with lower initial performance statuses may profit from training with intensive instructor feedback. A prospective, single-blinded study was performed within a week-long curricular course. In this study, 20 medical students performed a complex bimanual maneuver on a VRL simulator. There was a division in performance levels, with a high-performer group (HPG) that received a better median score and a low-performer group (LPG). During the training phase, only the initial LPG received standardized instructor feedback in a one-to-one setting. The final assessment of skills for both groups involved performing the task without feedback at the end of the course. The HPG and LPG showed significantly different initial performance levels according global and categorized (time, economics, error) scores (p < 0.005). This difference disappeared quickly throughout the instructor feedback phase. The final assessment demonstrated that both groups were at the same level of performance. This is the first study to use a tailored training concept with instructor feedback limited to the LPG. The tailored training was effective and economic for the laparoscopic novices and their teachers.

An EAP curriculum design of a content and language integrated learning program for hospitality students in Taiwan

Although there are many pedagogical approaches to teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP), most share the objective of preparing second language (L2) learners to engage academic study. This paper reports the findings of a case study that explores the approach to the development and features of a content-and-language integrated learning (CLIL) program at a hospitality university in Taiwan. The study describes the theoretical basis of the program and its relation to background and study rationale. Additionally, program development and implementation processes are described. The data were collected during an academic year with a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods including pre- and post- tests, a student questionnaire, field notes, and semi-structured interviews. The research results show that students in the higher performance group (HP) and the lower performance group (LP) have different opinions regarding selected materials, assigned homework to content knowledge learning, English instruction to content knowledge learning, and difficulties with the written tests. The research results are also consistent with previous studies. Practical implications for theory, practice, and future research are also discussed.

An EAP curriculum design of a content and language integrated learning program for hospitality students in Taiwan

Although there are many pedagogical approaches to teaching English for Academic Purposes (EAP), most share the objective of preparing second language (L2) learners to engage academic study. This paper reports the findings of a case study that explores the approach to the development and features of a content-and-language integrated learning (CLIL) program at a hospitality university in Taiwan. The study describes the theoretical basis of the program and its relation to background and study rationale. Additionally, program development and implementation processes are described. The data were collected during an academic year with a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods including pre- and post- tests, a student questionnaire, field notes, and semi-structured interviews. The research results show that students in the higher performance group (HP) and the lower performance group (LP) have different opinions regarding selected materials, assigned homework to content knowledge learning, English instruction to content knowledge learning, and difficulties with the written tests. The research results are also consistent with previous studies. Practical implications for theory, practice, and future research are also discussed.