Foreign Language Anxiety: Translating and Validating a Scale

The purpose of this study was to validate one of the most frequently used tools for assessing anxiety associated with foreign languages. The researcher translated it into Arabic because there was no Arabic literature on such an instrument. To achieve the goal, a committee approach was followed (Brislin, 1980) to ensure the validity of the translation. A sample of 102 students was purposefully selected from International Islamic University Malaysia. The instrument consists of 33 items to measure communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation. A Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was run to validate the instrument; initially, the PCA produced ten-factor solutions, accounting for 71% of the total variance explained. However, the last nine factors had only two or three loadings each, and they had cross-loading as well. Therefore, only one factor was used in the final, which accounted for 51% of the total variance. The researcher took this factor due to its importance for the Arabic literature, which is also in need of a valid instrument to measure communication apprehension. Due to the lack of convergent validity in the other items, the researcher suggests validating the original instrument.

Introgression Progress for Phenotypic Traits and Parent-progeny Diversity at Advanced Segregation Population From Oryza Barthii and Oryza Glaberrima/oryza Sativa Crosses

Rice is a cereal staple of global fame and importance. Oryza barthii, a wild species holds significant traits and its utilization in rice breeding is rare. This study traced introgression trend of heritable traits in the offspring of O. barthii with an Africa-Asian progenitor to F8 and assessed diversity between the parents and the F8 population. Significant (P<0.05) genotypic variation existed for all the traits except tiller number, panicle/meter squared, grains/panicle and 1000 grain weight. Grains/panicle and days to 50% flowering had respective least (3.34%) and highest (96.32%) broad sense heritabilities. All traits had lower GCV compared to PCV. The least (5.28% and 8.05%) and the highest (90.8% and 98.1%) GCV and PCV were respectively from grains/panicle and tiller number. Clear variations on the panicles and grains include: variations in sizes, shapes, colours, presence or absence of awns. The total variance explained by five principal component axes was 80.1%. Plant height at maturity was the only trait with significant (p ≤ 0.01) correlation and regression between F6 and F7. Progenies resemblance to Parent 1(IRGC 104084) retrogressively declined but parent-offspring to parent 2 (TGS 25) progressively increased from F6 to F8. Three visible groups of rice type in this study were: the O. barthii (11%), O. sativa (67%) and the intermediate group (22%). This research has added to rice genetic resources; an investigation of the nutritional status of the progenies would be an interesting research.

Development and Validation of Digital Literacy Scale (DLS) and its Implication for Higher Education

The study aimes to develop and validate Digital Literacy Scale (DLS) based on Chen’s (2015) theoretical framework which includes nine dimensions: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, citizenship, character, curation, copyright, and connectedness. A question pool consisting of 62 items based on the nine dimensions of digital literacy was generated on a 5-point Likert-type scale. Content validity of the question pool was sought from experts in terms of clarity of items, language understanding, and relevance. SPSS and AMOS were used for statistical analysis. Using a sample of 349 university students, Exploratory Factor Analysis was employed for reliability analysis, construct validation, and factor structure of the scale. EFA confirms the nine dimensions; however, some items were deleted during this process. Finally, Confirmatory Factor Analysis was employed to check the reliability and validity of the factor structure by using a second sample (n=442). CFA showed that all the values were within the acceptable range (Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin 0.886, the total variance explained 62.87%, Cronbach Alpha 0.894, and the goodness of fit 0.924). Thus a standardized DLS consisting of 36 items and 9 factors (communication, copyright, critical thinking, character, citizenship, curation, connectedness, creativity, and collaboration) was finalized. DLS is a psychometrically sound, reliable, and valid measurement tool that can be used to measure digital literacy.

Intra-seasonal oscfffations of radio refractive index during southwest monsoon over India

The study deals with the spatial and temporal variations of intra-seasonal oscillations in radio refractive index during southwest monsoon season over India and islands over Indian seas. Average daily radio refractive index data from 1 June to 30 September and that of the individual years for the period 1969-1986 were subjected to harmonic analysis to investigate the contributions of various periodicities in monsoon radio refractive index. The inter-annual variability of various intra-seasonal oscillations have been studied for each 5° latitudinal strip from 50 oN to 30° N with the help of variance explained by various frequency modes for different years. Variance explained by 30-60 day and 10-20 day modes were studied in relation to monsoon performance. The northward and eastward propagation of30.60 day mod~ was noticed. The 10.20 day mode and seasonal mode dominate at latitudinal belts 5°N.10oN and 25°N-30°N respectively. Between 10°N and 25°N, both 30-60 day and 10-20 day modes occur.

Development of a Questionnaire to Assess Knowledge about and Perceptions of Edible Insects

Edible insects (EI) have been consumed as traditional foods in many parts of the globe, but in other regions, they are not readily accepted, particularly in Western countries. However, because EI are suggested to constitute a more sustainable protein food as compared with other sources of animal protein, they can be considered a future food that could help mitigate hunger and malnutrition. Additionally, new gastronomic trends are already targeting this area for exploring new potentialities. The objective of this work was to develop and validate a questionnaire to assess consumers’ perceptions and knowledge about EI in seven different domains: D1. Culture and Tradition, D2. Gastronomic Innovation and Gourmet Kitchen, D3. Environment and Sustainability, D4. Economic and Social Aspects, D5. Commercialization and Marketing, D6. Nutritional Aspects and D7. Health Effects. The 64 items were subjected to item analysis and reliability analysis for validation, and factor analysis was also conducted to identify a grouping structure. The results validated all the items of the seven subscales with high values of Cronbach’s alpha (α = 0.732 for D1, α = 0.795 for D2, α = 0.882 for D3, α = 0.742 for D4, α = 0.675 for D5, α = 0.799 for D6 and α = 0.788 for D7). However, by eliminating 17 items, the final values of the alpha increased in all subscales. Factor analysis with extraction by principal component analysis with varimax rotation extracted 14 factors that explained, in total, 65% of the variance, although the first two factors were the most important (35.7% variance explained). In conclusion, the confirmed usefulness of the questionnaire has been hereby validated for assessing consumer perceptions of and knowledge about EI.

Different change of direction tests assess different physical ability parameters: Principal component analysis of nine change of direction tests

Change of direction (CoD) ability is critical for the success of athletes in many sports. The purpose of this study was to perform a principal component analysis using 9 CoD tests in order to reveal possible subcomponents of CoD ability, which could aid practitioners in test selection. Male and female kinesiology students (n = 76) performed all CoD tests and a 30-m sprint test in a quasi-randomized, counterbalanced order. Three components for males and two components for females were extracted from principle component analysis (variance explained = 82.3 and 71.4%, respectively). It seems that the CoD test should be subdivided into at least two components: a) “pure CoD tests” (such as 505 test, T-test and 180° turn) and maneuverability tests (such as AFL run, Illinois test and Figure of Eight test). Considering that different factors seem to underlie CoD and maneuverability, our findings have important practical implications for training design. If hopping/jumping CoD is important for a given athlete, it should also be tested separately.

Identification of novel genetic regions associated with resistance to European canker in apple

Resistance to Neonectria ditissima, the fungus causing European canker in apple, was studied in a multiparental population of apple scions using several phenotyping methods. The studied population consists of individuals from multiple families connected through a common pedigree. The degree of disease of each individual in the population was assessed in three experiments: artificial inoculations of detached dormant shoots, potted trees in a glasshouse and in a replicated field experiment. The genetic basis of the differences in disease was studied using a pedigree-based analysis (PBA). Three quantitative trait loci (QTL), on linkage groups (LG) 6, 8 and 10 were identified in more than one of the phenotyping strategies. An additional four QTL, on LG 2, 5, 15 and 16 were only identified in the field experiment. The QTL on LG2 and 16 were further validated in a biparental population. QTL effect sizes were small to moderate with 4.3 to 19 % of variance explained by a single QTL. A subsequent analysis of QTL haplotypes revealed a dynamic response to this disease, in which the estimated effect of a haplotype varied over the field time-points. Two groups of QTL-haplotypes could be distinguished, one that displayed increased effect and one with a constant effect across time-points. These results suggest that there are different modes of control of N. ditissima in the early stages of infection compared to later time-points of disease development. It also shows that multiple QTL will need to be considered to improve resistance to European canker in apple breeding germplasm.

Comparing Measures of Criterion A to Better Understand Incremental Validity in the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders

The Alternative Model of Personality Disorders distinguishes between the severity of personality dysfunction (Criterion A) and individual differences in personality disorder expression (Criterion B). Several Criterion A measures exist, but few studies have compared these measures with each other. Moreover, debates about whether the constructs of Criteria A and B are redundant (i.e., weak incremental validity) should be framed around how different Criterion A measures perform relative to others. This study of 204 undergraduate students evaluated multiple measures of Criterion A. These measures were strongly correlated with Criterion B, but evidenced incremental validity (39% of outcomes, 5% average additional variance explained) with outcomes of psychopathology and interpersonal impairments, and less consistent incremental validity with suicidality, aggression, and mental health utilization. We discuss how these results inform the construct of Criterion A relative to Criterion B and evaluate strengths/weaknesses of Criterion A measures.

The technique “Joint and Individual Variance Explained” highlights persistent aspects of the diet using longitudinal food frequency data

Dietary Pattern analysis is typically based on dimension reduction and summarizes the diet with a small number of scores. We assess “Joint and Individual Variance Explained” (JIVE) as a method for extracting dietary patterns from longitudinal data that highlights elements of the diet that are associated over time. The Auckland Birthweight Collaborative Study, in which participants completed a food frequency questionnaire at ages 3.5 (n=549), 7 (n=591), and 11 (n=617), is used as an example. Data from each time point is projected onto the directions of shared variability produced by JIVE to yield dietary patterns and scores. We assess the ability of the scores to predict future BMI and blood pressure measurements of the participants, and make a comparison with principal component analysis (PCA) performed separately at each time point. The diet could be summarized with three JIVE patterns. The patterns were interpretable, with the same interpretation across age groups: a vegetable and whole-grain pattern, a sweets and meats pattern, and a cereal vs sweet drinks pattern. The first two PCA-derived patterns were similar across age groups, and similar to the first two JIVE patterns. The interpretation of the third PCA pattern changed across age groups. Scores produced by the two techniques were similarly effective in predicting future BMI and blood pressure. We conclude that when data from the same participants at multiple ages is available, JIVE provides an advantage over PCA by extracting patterns with a common interpretation across age groups.

A novel framework for analysis of the shared genetic background of correlated traits

We propose a novel effective framework for analysis of the shared genetic background for a set of genetically correlated traits using SNP-level GWAS summary statistics. This framework called SHAHER is based on the construction of a linear combination of traits by maximizing the proportion of its genetic variance explained by the shared genetic factors. SHAHER requires only full GWAS summary statistics and matrices of genetic and phenotypic correlations between traits as inputs. Our framework allows both shared and unshared genetic factors to be to effectively analyzed. We tested our framework using simulation studies, compared it with previous developments, and assessed its performance using three real datasets: anthropometric traits, psychiatric conditions and lipid concentrations. SHAHER is versatile and applicable to summary statistics from GWASs with arbitrary sample sizes and sample overlaps, allows incorporation of different GWAS models (Cox, linear and logistic) and is computationally fast.