The issue of whether video games—violent or nonviolent—"harm" children and adolescents continues to be hotly contested in the scientific community, among politicians, and in the general public. To ...date, researchers have focused on college student samples in most studies on video games, often with poorly standardized outcome measures. To answer questions about harm to minors, these studies are arguably not very illuminating. In the current analysis, I sought to address this gap by focusing on studies of video game influences on child and adolescent samples. The effects of overall video game use and exposure to violent video games specifically were considered, although this was not an analysis of pathological game use. Overall, results from 101 studies suggest that video game influences on increased aggression (r = .06), reduced prosocial behavior (r = .04), reduced academic performance (r = -.01), depressive symptoms (r = .04), and attention deficit symptoms (r = .03) are minimal. Issues related to researchers' degrees of freedom and citation bias also continue to be common problems for the field. Publication bias remains a problem for studies of aggression. Recommendations are given on how research may be improved and how the psychological community should address video games from a public health perspective.
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3.
An Effect Size Primer Ferguson, Christopher J
Professional psychology, research and practice,
10/2009, Volume:
40, Issue:
5
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Increasing emphasis has been placed on the use of effect size reporting in the analysis of social science data. Nonetheless, the use of effect size reporting remains inconsistent, and interpretation ...of effect size estimates continues to be confused. Researchers are presented with numerous effect sizes estimate options, not all of which are appropriate for every research question. Clinicians also may have little guidance in the interpretation of effect sizes relevant for clinical practice. The current article provides a primer of effect size estimates for the social sciences. Common effect sizes estimates, their use, and interpretations are presented as a guide for researchers.
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Social scientists continue to debate the impact of spanking and corporal punishment (CP) on negative child outcomes including externalizing and internalizing behavior problems and cognitive ...performance. Previous meta-analytic reviews have mixed long- and short-term studies and relied on bivariate r, which may inflate effect sizes. The current meta-analysis focused on longitudinal studies, and compared effects using bivariate r and better controlled partial r coefficients controlling for time-1 outcome variables. Consistent with previous findings, results based on bivariate r found small but non-trivial long-term relationships between spanking/CP use and negative outcomes. Spanking and CP correlated .14 and .18 respectively with externalizing problems, .12 and .21 with internalizing problems and −.09 and −.18 with cognitive performance. However, when better controlled partial r coefficients (pr) were examined, results were statistically significant but trivial (at or below pr=.10) for externalizing (.07 for spanking, .08 for CP) and internalizing behaviors (.10 for spanking, insufficient studies for CP) and near the threshold of trivial for cognitive performance (−.11 for CP, insufficient studies for spanking). It is concluded that the impact of spanking and CP on the negative outcomes evaluated here (externalizing, internalizing behaviors and low cognitive performance) are minimal. It is advised that psychologists take a more nuanced approach in discussing the effects of spanking/CP with the general public, consistent with the size as well as the significance of their longitudinal associations with adverse outcomes.
► Presents a meta-analysis of longitudinal studies of negative effects of spanking. ► Spanking had a small but non-trivial negative effect on cognitive performance. ► Effects of spanking were largely trivial for other behavior problems. ► Spanking has not only few benefits, but also fewer negative consequences than often assumed.
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Achieving reliably high production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in photodynamic therapy (PDT) remains challenging. Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) hold great promise for PDT. However, the ...photochemical processes leading to GQD-derived ROS generation have not yet been fully elucidated.
Physicochemical characteristics of GQDs were comprehensively investigated, including electron paramagnetic resonance analysis of singlet oxygen production. Dark toxicity was assessed in vitro and in vivo.
GQDs demonstrated excellent photoluminescent features, corrosion resistance, high water solubility, high photo/pH-stability, in vitro and in vivo biocompatibility and very efficient singlet oxygen/ROS generation.
The enhanced ROS generation, combined with good biocompatibility and minimal toxicity in vitro and in vivo support the potential of GQDs for future PDT application.
Global demand to increase food production and simultaneously reduce synthetic nitrogen fertilizer inputs in agriculture are underpinning the need to intensify the use of legume crops. The symbiotic ...relationship that legume plants establish with nitrogen‐fixing rhizobia bacteria is central to their advantage. This plant–microbe interaction results in newly developed root organs, called nodules, where the rhizobia convert atmospheric nitrogen gas into forms of nitrogen the plant can use. However, the process of developing and maintaining nodules is resource intensive; hence, the plant tightly controls the number of nodules forming. A variety of molecular mechanisms are used to regulate nodule numbers under both favourable and stressful growing conditions, enabling the plant to conserve resources and optimize development in response to a range of circumstances. Using genetic and genomic approaches, many components acting in the regulation of nodulation have now been identified. Discovering and functionally characterizing these components can provide genetic targets and polymorphic markers that aid in the selection of superior legume cultivars and rhizobia strains that benefit agricultural sustainability and food security. This review addresses recent findings in nodulation control, presents detailed models of the molecular mechanisms driving these processes, and identifies gaps in these processes that are not yet fully explained.
Legumes form a beneficial symbiosis with soil bacteria, known as rhizobia, which is signified by the production of nodules on the host plant's roots. The host plant prevents over colonization by rhizobia through various molecular mechanisms that tightly control nodule numbers in response to biotic and abiotic factors. Components of these pathways are key to understanding and optimizing nodulation processes and are the focus of this review.
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Conversion of waste heat to voltage has the potential to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of a number of critical energy sectors, such as the transportation and electricity‐generation ...sectors, and manufacturing processes. Thermal energy is also an abundant low‐flux source that can be harnessed to power portable/wearable electronic devices and critical components in remote off‐grid locations. As such, a number of different inorganic and organic materials are being explored for their potential in thermoelectric‐energy‐harvesting devices. Carbon‐based thermoelectric materials are particularly attractive due to their use of nontoxic, abundant source‐materials, their amenability to high‐throughput solution‐phase fabrication routes, and the high specific energy (i.e., W g−1) enabled by their low mass. Single‐walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) represent a unique 1D carbon allotrope with structural, electrical, and thermal properties that enable efficient thermoelectric‐energy conversion. Here, the progress made toward understanding the fundamental thermoelectric properties of SWCNTs, nanotube‐based composites, and thermoelectric devices prepared from these materials is reviewed in detail. This progress illuminates the tremendous potential that carbon‐nanotube‐based materials and composites have for producing high‐performance next‐generation devices for thermoelectric‐energy harvesting.
Advances toward understanding the potential of carbon nanotubes for thermoelectric energy harvesting are reviewed. For low‐temperature thermoelectric applications, the performance metrics of carbon nanotubes and nanotube‐based composites are becoming competitive with traditional inorganic thermoelectric materials, with nanotube‐based materials and devices having the added benefits of nontoxicity, solution‐processability, and flexibility.
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The tissue-level Young’s modulus of trabecular bone is important for detailed mechanical analysis of bone and bone-implant mechanical interactions. However, the heterogeneity and ...small size of the trabecular struts complicate an accurate determination. Methods such as micro-mechanical testing of single trabeculae, ultrasonic testing, and nanoindentation have been used to estimate the trabecular Young’s modulus. This review summarizes and classifies the trabecular Young’s moduli reported in the literature. Information on species, anatomic site, and test condition of the samples has also been gathered. Advantages and disadvantages of the different methods together with recent developments are discussed, followed by some suggestions for potential improvement for future work. In summary, this review provides a thorough introduction to the approaches used for determining trabecular Young’s modulus, highlights important considerations when applying these methods and summarizes the reported Young’s modulus for follow-up studies on trabecular properties.
The spongy trabecular bone provides mechanical support while maintaining a low weight. A correct measure of its mechanical properties at the tissue level, i.e. at a single-trabecula level, is crucial for analysis of interactions between bone and implants, necessary for understanding e.g. bone healing mechanisms. In this study, we comprehensively summarize the Young’s moduli of trabecular bone estimated by currently available methods, and report their dependency on different factors. The critical review of different methods with recent updates is intended to inspire improvements in estimating trabecular Young’s modulus. It is strongly suggested to report detailed information on the tested bone to enable statistical analysis in the future.
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Debate continues about whether personality, both normal and disordered, can change significantly or is mainly stable across the life span. One issue that receives little attention is the degree to ...which personality stability coefficients may be influenced by attenuation due to measurement error. The current meta-analysis examines the data from recent research on personality stability, reporting both uncorrected and corrected stability coefficients. Attenuation due to measurement error was found to cause a significant reduction in personality stability coefficients, raising the possibility that some studies may conflate personality change with measurement error. Overall, corrected stability coefficients suggested that the stability of personality across adulthood is high, with only modest change. By contrast, personality during childhood is significantly more changeable. Both normal personality and personality disorders were highly stable across the life span, and patients in therapy experienced no more personality change than did nonpatients. Cross-cultural comparisons suggested relatively similar levels of personality stability cross-culturally, although personality stability among people in South Pacific nations is slightly lower than among those in the United States, Canada, or European nations.
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During the past decade, time-resolved microwave conductivity (TRMC) has evolved to an established, powerful technique to study photoactive layers. With this feature paper, we aim to fulfill two ...goals: (1) give a full description of the photoinduced TRMC technique, including experimental details and data analysis, and discuss to what extent the TRMC technique differs from more conventional DC techniques and (2) illustrate the potential of this technique for probing charge carrier dynamics in photoactive materials. For these reasons recent studies on conjugated polymer:fullerene blends will be presented and discussed. The findings from these studies have advanced the insight into the mechanism of charge carrier generation and decay in polymer:fullerene blends, which allows us to improve the efficiency of organic photovoltaic cells based on this active layer architecture. In short, it is shown how the TRMC technique can be used as a versatile method to screen the potential of new photovoltaic materials.
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