Separate Constructs Research Articles

Validation of the “short health anxiety inventory” on a sample of school-age children (russian-language version)

IntroductionModern Russian health psychology does not have the necessary tools for studying health anxiety in children, and therefore it is necessary to identify methods aimed at assessing the presence/absence and severity of children’s health anxiety.ObjectivesTo validate the “Short Health Anxiety Inventory” to a sample of school-age children who do not have serious physical disabilities.MethodsThe sample: 193 respondents (average age-12.5; 117-girls). We used: “Short Health Anxiety Inventory” (SHAI; Salkovskis et al., 2002), Children CPQ (Factor C), “Attitude toward Health” questionnaire (Berezovskaya, 2005) (emotional scale), STAI (Spielberger, 2002), EPI (Eysenck, 1963) (neuroticism scale).ResultsCorrelation analysis suggests that “health anxiety” is a separate construct. The discriminativeness criterion shows that each individual statement, as well as the whole inventory, is aimed at measuring the same construct. The retest reliability assessment (4 weeks later) shows the results: the “Health Anxiety” scale - 0.892 (p≤0.01), the “Alertness to bodily sensations” scale - 0.889 (p≤0.01), the “Fear of negative consequences” scale - 0.815 (p≤0.01). Correlations between the scales shows the values: 0.943 (p≤0.01) - for the general scale, 0.392 (p≤0.01) - for the “Alertness to bodily sensations” scale, 0.675 (p≤0.01) - for the “Fear of negative consequences” scale. The original three-component structure of the questionnaire is confirmed. The Russian version of the inventory showed internal consistency (alfa-Cronbach’s coefficient - 0.835), retest reliability, discriminativeness, external and constructive validity.ConclusionsThe results indicate that the SHAI can be used to study health anxiety in children due to its psychometric characteristics, simplicity and ease of use.

The distinct role of body image aspects in predicting eating disorder onset in adolescents after one year.

Recent research suggests specific body image aspects, namely weight/shape dissatisfaction, overvaluation of weight/shape, weight/shape preoccupation, and fear of weight gain, have distinct roles in eating disorder (ED) onset and maintenance. The aim of this study was to investigate unique associations between these body image aspects and ED onset, distress, and quality of life in a community sample of adolescents prospectively after 1 year. Adolescents (n = 1,327; 51% female; age range 11-19 years) who completed Waves 1 and 2 of the EveryBODY Study and did not meet criteria for an ED at Wave 1 completed measures of ED symptoms, distress, and quality of life impairment. Results showed that 18.2% of participants (70% female) met criteria for an ED at Wave 2. Only weight/shape dissatisfaction was prospectively associated with onset of any ED. No other body image aspect was uniquely associated with greater distress nor lower quality of life in longitudinal analyses. However, all body image aspects were independent correlates of ED diagnosis within Wave 2. These findings suggest that dissatisfaction might operate as a risk factor for ED development in adolescence, whereas overvaluation, preoccupation, and fear of weight gain could be more proximal markers of ED psychopathology. Therefore, these body image phenomena should be assessed as separate constructs as they may play unique roles in ED onset and classification. ED prevention efforts in adolescence may need to target dissatisfaction first, whereas a focus on other aspects of body image may be more important for early intervention programs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Relationships among perceived learning, challenge and affect in a clinical context

BackgroundChallenge, sometimes perceived as stress, may be beneficial or detrimental to learning but the circumstances when it may be beneficial are not clear. This study looks at the association of challenge with perceived learning and how this might be influenced by affect, context or the type of learning.MethodThe participants, medical students in their first years of experiential clinical exposure, rated specified learning episodes (LEs) on the perceived learning (low to high), challenge (low to high) and affect (feeling positive to negative). Such learning episodes were self-identified or identified by course organisers. Correlations, using Kendall’s tau-b test, were conducted to explore the associations among learning, challenge and affect. In the second stage the types of LEs were then thematically classified in order to determine those that were positive for learning and challenging and/or associated with positive affect.ResultThere were positive correlations between perceived learning and challenge, and between perceived learning and affect for both types of LEs. The circumstances in which challenge (stress) promoted learning were authentic environments, authentic tasks and simulated clinical activities; most requiring a degree of social interaction.ConclusionChallenge and positive affect are beneficial in the perception of discrete learning, but are two separate constructs. Ideally both challenge and affect need to operate alongside authentic supportive clinical activities, that by their nature involve others, to maximise perceived learning.

Integrating the Literature on Lethal Violence: A Comparison of Mass Murder, Homicide, and Homicide-Suicide

Although mass murder is traditionally examined as a separate construct from homicide generally, few studies have explored their similarities and differences. This study compares the incident, victim, and offender characteristics of: (1) mass murderers and homicide offenders; and (2) mass murder-suicide offenders and homicide-suicide perpetrators. Mass murderers are more likely to be male; commit suicide; kill young, white, and female victims; use firearms; co-offend; operate in public places; and kill as part of drug trafficking and/or gang warfare. The analysis demonstrates that mass murderers are distinct from both homicide and homicide-suicide perpetrators, and represent a unique type of violent offender.

Differential outcomes of tonic and phasic irritability in adolescent girls.

Irritable mood is a transdiagnostic clinical feature that is present in multiple psychiatric disorders. Although irritability is frequently examined as a unitary construct, two dimensions of irritability, tonic (i.e., irritable mood) and phasic (i.e., temper outbursts), have been hypothesized. However, few studies have examined whether tonic and phasic irritability are empirically separable and predict different forms of psychopathology. We utilized data from a longitudinal study of a community sample of 550 girls (age 13.5-15.5years) followed at 9-month intervals for 3years. We conducted exploratory factor analysis (EFA) using items from three self-report inventories: the International Personality Item Pool Anger scale, Temperament and Affectivity Inventory Anger scale, and Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire Anger scale. The EFA identified dimensions that were consistent with tonic and phasic irritability. Tonic irritability at baseline independently predicted the development of depressive disorders and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in subsequent waves. Phasic irritability independently predicted a decreased probability of GAD, but an increased probability of oppositional defiant, conduct, and substance use disorder, and greater risky sexual behavior and relational aggression during the follow-up. Tonic and phasic irritability appear to be separable constructs with unique implications for later psychopathology and related behavior among adolescent girls. It is important to consider this distinction in research on the etiology and pathophysiology of irritability and developing effective treatments.

Role of Gly197 in the structure and function of protein C

We previously demonstrated that heterozygous Gly197 to Arg mutation in PROC is associated with venous thrombosis due to the mutation abrogating both zymogenic and enzymatic activities of protein C and activated protein C (APC). In this study, we investigated the role of Gly197 on the structure and function of protein C by replacing it with Ala, Lys and Glu in separate constructs. Characterization of protein C mutants indicated their activation by thrombin is improved ~5–20-fold with the order of PC-G197K > PC-G197E > PC-G197A > PC-WT. Interestingly, the cofactor function of thrombomodulin (TM) in promoting the activation of zymogens by thrombin followed the reverse order of PC-WT > PC-G197A > PC-G197E > PC-G197K. The thrombin-generation inhibitory profiles of zymogens in a tissue factor-mediated thrombin generation assay using protein C-deficient plasma with or without supplementation with TM followed the same order of zymogen activation in the purified system. Evaluation of anticoagulant activities of APC derivatives by prothrombinase and aPTT assays revealed a normal activity for APC-G197A but dramatically impaired activity for the other two mutants. In the endothelial cell permeability assay, APC-G197A exhibited normal antiinflammatory activity, but the other two mutants were nearly inactive. These results suggest that Gly197 plays a key role in TM cofactor-dependent protein C activation by thrombin. It facilitates the recognition of protein C by thrombin in the presence of TM but impedes it in the absence of the cofactor. In APC, a small residue at this position is required for the proper folding/reactivity of the active-site pocket of the protease, a hypothesis supported by structural modeling.

Does Falls Efficacy Influence the Relationship Between Forward and Backward Walking Speed After Stroke?

Forward walking speed (FWS) is known to be an important predictor of mobility, falls, and falls-related efficacy poststroke. However, backward walking speed (BWS) is emerging as an assessment tool to reveal mobility deficits in people poststroke that may not be apparent with FWS alone. Since backward walking is more challenging than forward walking, falls efficacy may play a role in the relationship between one's preferred FWS and BWS. We tested the hypothesis that people with lower falls efficacy would have a stronger positive relationship between FWS and BWS than those with higher falls efficacy. Forty-five individuals (12.9±5.6months poststroke) participated in this observational study. We assessed FWS with the 10-meter walk test and BWS with the 3-meter backward walk test. The modified Falls-Efficacy Scale (mFES) quantified falls efficacy. A moderated regression analysis examined the hypothesis. FWS was positively associated with BWS (R2=0.26). The addition of the interaction term FWS×mFES explained 7.6% additional variance in BWS. As hypothesized, analysis of the interaction revealed that people with lower falls efficacy (mFES≤6.6) had a significantly positive relationship between their preferred FWS and BWS, whereas people with higher falls efficacy (mFES>6.6) had no relationship between their walking speed in the 2 directions. FWS is positively related to BWS poststroke, but this relationship is influenced by one's perceived falls efficacy. Our results suggest that BWS can be predicted from FWS in people with lower falls efficacy, but as falls efficacy increases, BWS becomes a separate and unassociated construct from FWS. This study provides unique evidence that the degree of falls efficacy significantly influences the relationship between FWS and BWS poststroke. Physical therapists should examine both FWS and BWS in people with higher falls efficacy, but further investigation is warranted for those with lower falls efficacy.

The utility of the International Classification of Functioning construct as a statistical tool – operationalizing mental health as an indicator of adolescent participation

Background The ICF provides a common scientific language for the study of health and functioning. Adolescent mental health, operationalized as engagement in life situations, is one aspect of functioning. Engagement as mental health has a bi-directional relation with environmental factors. Aim To test the statistical utility of the International Classification of Functioning (ICF) classification in coding adolescent mental health and mental health problems. Methods Using data measuring mental health in a representative Swedish sample of 12–13-year-olds linking responses to the classification codes. The internal structure of the classification system constructs was tested using factor analysis. Results A factorial solution could be found for most chapters indicating that the ICF framework and coding system could be used; however, the variance explained was quite low. Linking worked better at code-level, rather than chapter level. Items measuring risk behavior or risk factors are loaded in separate constructs. Conclusions When coding items for statistical purposes, code-level rather than chapter level is to be preferred. Also, participation in risk behavior loads in separate factors indicating that these behaviors are separate from other types of participation. Implications for rehabilitation Considering some challenges with varying level of detail in the ICF-CY’s chapters, the framework can be used to identify the content of mental health questionnaires to be used in rehabilitation. To provide more detailed information in rehabilitation addressing mental health, a code-level solution is more appropriate than a chapter level solution. Despite the use of same ICF-CY codes, negative participation, i.e., risk behavior, measures a different dimension than positive participation, is especially relevant in rehabilitation addressing mental health.

On quantum separation of variables beyond fundamental representations

We describe the extension, beyond fundamental representations of the Yang-Baxter algebra, of our new construction of separation of variables bases for quantum integrable lattice models. The key idea underlying our approach is to use the commuting conserved charges of the quantum integrable models to generate bases in which their spectral problem is separated, i.e. in which the wave functions are factorized in terms of specific solutions of a functional equation. For the so-called “non-fundamental” models we construct two different types of SoV bases. The first is given from the fundamental quantum Lax operator having isomorphic auxiliary and quantum spaces and that can be obtained by fusion of the original quantum Lax operator. The construction essentially follows the one we used previously for fundamental models and allows us to derive the simplicity and diagonalizability of the transfer matrix spectrum. Then, starting from the original quantum Lax operator and using the full tower of the fused transfer matrices, we introduce a second type of SoV bases for which the proof of the separation of the transfer matrix spectrum is naturally derived. We show that, under some special choice, this second type of SoV bases coincides with the one associated to Sklyanin’s approach. Moreover, we derive the finite difference type (quantum spectral curve) functional equation and the set of its solutions defining the complete transfer matrix spectrum. This is explicitly implemented for the integrable quantum models associated to the higher spin representations of the general quasi-periodic Y(gl_{2})Y(gl2) Yang-Baxter algebra. Our SoV approach also leads to the construction of a QQ-operator in terms of the fused transfer matrices. Finally, we show that the QQ-operator family can be equivalently used as the family of commuting conserved charges enabling to construct our SoV bases.

Definitions and Operationalization of Mental Health Problems, Wellbeing and Participation Constructs in Children with NDD: Distinctions and Clarifications.

Children with impairments are known to experience more restricted participation than other children. It also appears that low levels of participation are related to a higher prevalence of mental health problems in children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). The purpose of this conceptual paper is to describe and define the constructs mental health problems, mental health, and participation to ensure that future research investigating participation as a means to mental health in children and adolescents with NDD is founded on conceptual clarity. We first discuss the difference between two aspects of mental health problems, namely mental disorder and mental illness. This discussion serves to highlight three areas of conceptual difficulty and their consequences for understanding the mental health of children with NDD that we then consider in the article: (1) how to define mental health problems, (2) how to define and assess mental health problems and mental health, i.e., wellbeing as separate constructs, and (3) how to describe the relationship between participation and wellbeing. We then discuss the implications of our propositions for measurement and the use of participation interventions as a means to enhance mental health (defined as wellbeing). Conclusions: Mental disorders include both diagnoses related to impairments in the developmental period, i.e., NDD and diagnoses related to mental illness. These two types of mental disorders must be separated. Children with NDD, just like other people, may exhibit aspects of both mental health problems and wellbeing simultaneously. Measures of wellbeing defined as a continuum from flourishing to languishing for children with NDD need to be designed and evaluated. Wellbeing can lead to further participation and act to protect from mental health problems.

Assisted estimation of gene expression graphical models.

In the study of gene expression data, network analysis has played a uniquely important role. To accommodate the high dimensionality and low sample size and generate interpretable results, regularized estimation is usually conducted in the construction of gene expression Gaussian Graphical Models (GGM). Here we use GeO-GGM to represent gene-expression-only GGM. Gene expressions are regulated by regulators. gene-expression-regulator GGMs (GeR-GGMs), which accommodate gene expressions as well as their regulators, have been constructed accordingly. In practical data analysis, with a "lack of information" caused by the large number of model parameters, limited sample size, and weak signals, the construction of both GeO-GGMs and GeR-GGMs is often unsatisfactory. In this article, we recognize that with the regulation between gene expressions and regulators, the sparsity structures of a GeO-GGM and its GeR-GGM counterpart can satisfy a hierarchy. Accordingly, we propose a joint estimation which reinforces the hierarchical structure and use the construction of a GeO-GGM to assist that of its GeR-GGM counterpart and vice versa. Consistency properties are rigorously established, and an effective computational algorithm is developed. In simulation, the assisted construction outperforms the separation construction of GeO-GGM and GeR-GGM. Two The Cancer Genome Atlas data sets are analyzed, leading to findings different from the direct competitors.

Measurement Invariance of Psychotic-Like Symptoms as Measured With the Prodromal Questionnaire, Brief Version (PQ-B) in Adolescent and Adult Population Samples.

Valid measurement of group differences in self-reported psychotic-like experiences (PLEs) requires knowing any group-specific measurement properties of the instruments. We investigated the measurement invariance of the 21-item Prodromal Questionnaire–Brief (PQ-B) questionnaire across gender, ethnic minority/majority status, and presence of depressive symptoms in two different US non-clinical undergraduate samples (N = 1,099). For each item, endorsement of the experience and the associated distress were combined for analysis. A unidimensional model of the PQ-B fit the data well. Across genders, the PQ-B showed configural and metric, but not full scalar invariance; there were statistically significant differences in eight thresholds of six items, most being higher endorsement thresholds for self-identified females. Partial scalar invariance was also found for ethnic status, with five thresholds of three items being higher for the minority participants. For depressive symptomatology, defined as the top quintile by the Beck Depression Inventory–II, partial scalar invariance required dropping one item, after which there were statistically significant differences only in two response thresholds. Overall, a wide range of PLE questionnaire items were found to be robust to gender and ethnicity effects, strengthening confidence in found group differences in PLEs. Although full scalar invariance could not be ascertained for any of the group comparisons, the few found scalar differences across groups were small, with minimal impact on group PLE estimates. However, since PLEs are easily conceptually entangled with depression symptoms, similar items should be considered for exclusion if separable constructs are the target of investigation.

Exploring General Versus Academic English Proficiency as Predictors of Adolescent EFL Essay Writing

Language learning is context-dependent and requires learners to employ different sets of language skills to fulfill various tasks. Yet standardized English as a foreign language assessments tend to conceptualize English proficiency as a unidimensional construct. In order to distinguish English proficiency as separate context-driven constructs, I adopted a register-based approach to investigate academic English proficiency (i.e., specific set of language skills that support academic literacy) and general English proficiency (i.e., wide range of language skills undifferentiated by context that are measured by traditional assessments) as separate predictors of overall essay quality. In the study, students completed a general English proficiency assessment and an academic language proficiency assessment, and essays were coded for academic writing features at the lexical, syntactic, and discourse levels. Beyond the contribution of academic writing features and general English proficiency, academic English proficiency emerged as a significant contributor to essay quality. Findings suggest that academic English proficiency scores more precisely identified a subset of academic language skills that is relevant to essay writing. The article concludes by discussing implications for strategic writing instruction that articulates the key expectations of academic writing used in and beyond school contexts.

Dynamics of e‐Governance in post COVID era: India

India as a country, has made numerous efforts related to launch and adoption of e‐Governance initiatives, which has been introduced in various fields. However, except a few, most of such initiatives have not been able to deliver the desired results over the longer course of time, resulting in underutilization of public funds. Moreover, time and again it has been noted that e‐Governance initiatives adoption and success varies across geography, mainly on account of prevalence of diversity in India. Furthermore, post COVID, the importance of e‐Governance initiatives in the lives of citizens at large, has witnessed a paradigm shift both in applicability as well as acceptance. The enforcement of social distancing by Central as well as Local governments in the past few months has led to enhanced role of e‐Governance initiatives in delivering critical to common services/facilities to the citizens at large. As a result, this study has been conducted with an aim to identify the factors responsible for higher adoption of the e‐Governance services in India. The study also aims to analyze the impact of ongoing pandemic on the adoption of e‐Governance by including a separate construct related to health.

Students’ Continuance Intention to Use Moodle: An Expectation-Confirmation Model Approach

Aim/Purpose: This study aims at investigating the factors that influence students’ continuous intention to use Moodle, as an exemplar of learning management systems (LMSs), in the post-adoption phase. Background: Higher education institutions (HEIs) have invested heavily in learning management systems (LMSs), such as Moodle and BlackBoard, as these systems enhance students’ learning and improve their interactions with the educational systems. While most studies on LMSs have focused on the pre-adoption or acceptance phases of this technology, the determinant factors that influence students’ continuance intention to use LMSs have received less attention in the information systems (IS) literature. Methodology: The theoretical model for this study was primarily drawn from the expectation-confirmation model (ECM). A total of 387 Kuwaiti students, from a private American University in the State of Kuwait, participated in this study. Partial least squares (PLS) was employed to analyze the data. Contribution: This study contributes to the existing scientific knowledge in different ways. First, this study extends the expectation confirmation model (ECM) by integrating factors that are important to students’ continuous intention to use LMSs, including system interactivity, effort expectancy, attitude, computer anxiety, self-efficacy, subjective norms, and facilitating conditions. Second, this study adds on a Kuwaiti literature context by focusing on the continuous intention to use LMSs, which is, to the best of our knowledge, the first study that extends and empirically assesses the applicability of the ECM in the LMSs context in a developing country – Kuwait. Third, this study conceptually and empirically differentiates between satisfaction and attitude, as two separate affect constructs, which were taken as interchangeable factors in ECM, and were disregarded by a large number of prior ECM studies concerned with continuous use intention. Finally, this study aims to assist HEIs, faculty members, and systems’ developers in understanding the main factors that influence students’ continuance use intention of LMSs. Findings: While subjective norms were not significant, the results mainly showed that students’ continuous intention to use Moodle is significantly influenced by performance expectancy, effort expectancy, attitude, satisfaction, self-efficacy and facilitating conditions. The study’s results also confirmed that satisfaction and attitude are two conceptually and empirically different constructs, conflicting with the views that these constructs can be taken as interchangeable factors in the ECM. Recommendations for Practitioners: This study offers several useful practical implications. First, given the significant influence of system interactivity on performance expectancy and satisfaction, faculty members should modify their teaching approach by enabling communication and interaction among instructors, students, and peers using the LMS. Second, given the significant influence of performance expectancy, satisfaction, and attitude on continuous intention to use the LMS, HEIs should conduct training programs for students on the effective use of the LMS. This would increase students’ awareness regarding the usefulness of the LMS, enhance their attitude towards the LMS, and improve their satisfaction with the system. Third, given the significant role of effort expectancy in influencing performance expectancy, attitude, and students’ continuous intention to use Moodle, developers and system programmers should design the LMS with easy to use, high quality, and customizable user interface. This, in turn, will not only motivate students’ performance expectancy, but will also influence their attitude and continuous intention to use the system. Recommendation for Researchers: This study conceptually and empirically differentiates between satisfaction and attitude, as two separate affect constructs, which were taken as interchangeable factors in ECM and were disregarded by a large number of prior ECM studies concerned with continuous use intention. Hence, it is recommended that researchers include these two constructs in their research models when investigating continuous intention to use a technology. Impact on Society: This study could be used in other countries to compare and verify the results. Additionally, the research model of this study could also be used to investigate other LMSs, such as Blackboard. Future Research: This study focused on how different factors affected students’ continuous intention to use Moodle but did not consider all determinants of successful system, such as system quality, information quality, and instructional as well as course content quality. Thus, future research should devote attention to the effects of these quality characteristics of LMS.

Relationships Between Health Promoting Activities, Life Satisfaction, and Depressive Symptoms in Unemployed Individuals

Abstract. Background: Previous research has documented that unemployed individuals who engage in recreational activities, either alone or with others, experience higher levels of mental health and psychological well-being relative to those who do not engage in recreational activities. Aims: In this study, we examined whether engagement in health promoting activities, alone or with other family members, is associated with reduced levels of depression and enhanced levels of life satisfaction in unemployed individuals. Method: We employed a cross-sectional design in which we measured life satisfaction, depressive symptoms, consumption of healthy meals and engagement in physical activities in 203 unemployed individuals (male = 90, female = 113, age= 33.79, SD = 11.16). Results: Independent of age, gender, and partner employment status, hierarchical regression analyses revealed statistically significant effects for social forms of healthy eating (consumption of healthy meals with others) and solitary forms of physical activity (exercising alone) on depressive symptoms and life satisfaction. Limitations: The research design was cross-sectional using self-report questionnaires. The present study does not to explain why and how health promoting activities enhance well-being outcomes among the unemployed. Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of measuring engagement in health promoting activities through separate constructs that capture engagement in social and solitary health promoting activities and suggest that unemployed individuals are likely to experience optimal levels of psychological well-being if they exercise alone and consume healthy meals with other family members.

Типы мотивационной регуляции: теоретическая значимость конструкта и проблема его измерения

This work is aimed at summarizing the theoretical progress made in understanding the role of perceived locus of causality in various activities The problem of the method of measuring the perceived locus of causality is analyzed. It is emphasized that for this design it is a multidimensional approach to measurement, which considers all types of causality locus as separate constructs, turns out to be the most promising one. Particular attention is paid to determinants and correlates, such as motivational regulation, in the context of educational activities, which attracts a multidimensional approach in its measurement oftener than in the analysis of other forms of activity.

НЕРЕГЛАМЕНТИРОВАННАЯ ПУНКТУАЦИЯ ПРИ ВВОДНЫХ СЛОВАХ: ТИРЕ И ДВОЕТОЧИЕ

The article analyzes numerous facts of irregular punctuation with parenthetical words observed in Russian written speech. Setting the theoretical framework of the study, the authors claim that, in modern theoretical sources, the concept “parenthetical words” is defined differently, which allows for different punctuation of such units. The authors compared the extreme brevity of the punctuation rules for parenthetical words in modern reference books and the actual practice of modern Russian written speech. Search results from the Russian National Corpus show that parenthetical words and phrases at the beginning of a sentence, as part of a complex sentence, or as a separate construction are often highlighted using characters stronger than commas: dashes or colons. It is suggested that the dash is used in incomplete sentences, and the colon signals about the explanatory relationship that occurs between the parenthetical word and the rest of the sentence. To test their assumption, the authors turn to experimental data. First, the results of a natural linguistic experiment, namely, the Total Dictation of 2017, were analyzed. The second part of the dictation contains a construction with a parenthetical word ambiguous from the point of view of punctuation. Second, a survey was conducted in which respondents were asked to punctuate sentences with parenthetical words and phrases and justify their decision, that is, to activate their metalanguage consciousness. Comments to the punctuation marks in the Total Dictation and statements of the respondents who took part in the survey confirm the authors' assumptions. For example, the survey participants explained the use of the dash by an omission of a word (notional or functional) or by an intention to emphasize the parenthetical word. When arguing for the colon, the respondents referred to punctuation rules in the asyndetic complex sentence with the explanatory relationship. Thus, the writers' choice was influenced by both the word's actualizing position in the sentence and metatext function. The study shows that the use of dashes and colons with parenthetical words that perform a metatext function is quite motivated and should not be considered a deviation from the punctuation standard. It is proposed to supplement the punctuation rules for parenthetical words and phrases.

Basic human values and sense of community as resource and responsibility

AbstractThe study aimed at exploring the relationship between basic human values and sense of community (SOC). Specifically, it aimed at identifying which types of values exert an impact, whether these values are consistent with SOC as a resource and responsibility (SOC‐R), and whether the values‐SOC/SOC‐R relations change according to some community characteristics (i.e., stability and cohesion). The 1,334 participants in the survey were based in different local communities and completed a self‐report questionnaire containing measures of values, SOC, SOC‐R, perceived community cohesion, and stability. Results revealed a consistent pattern of values‐SOC/SOC‐R relations that support each of the respective theories and confirmed that SOC and SOC‐R are two separate constructs. Values sustaining SOC/SOC‐R (i.e., self‐transcendence and conservation) were also shown to increase SOC/SOC‐R when communities were perceived as low in stability and cohesion. Finally, the implications and limitations of the study are discussed.

Functional separators towards the suppression of lithium dendrites for rechargeable high-energy batteries.

Lithium metal battery (LMB) is considered to be one of the most promising electrochemical energy storage devices due to the high theoretical specific capacity and the lowest redox potential of metallic lithium; however, some key issues caused by lithium dendrites on the lithium metal anode seriously hinder its real-world applications. As an indispensable part of LMBs, the separator could serve as a physical barrier to prevent direct contact of the two electrodes and control ionic transport in batteries; it is an ideal platform for the suppression of lithium dendrites. In this review, the mechanism of lithium dendrite nucleation and growth are firstly discussed and then some advanced techniques are introduced for the precise characterization of lithium dendrites. On the basis of dendritic nucleation and growth principle, several feasible strategies are summarized for suppressing lithium dendrites by utilizing functional separators, including providing a mechanical barrier, promoting homogeneous lithium deposition, and regulating ionic transport. Finally, some challenges and prospects are proposed to clear the future development of functional separators. We anticipate that this paper will provide a new insight into the design and construction of functional separators for addressing the issues of lithium dendrites in high-energy batteries.