Public Speaking Anxiety, Test Anxiety, and Academic Achievement in Undergraduate Students

Public speaking anxiety and test anxiety are both psychological difficulties which may adversely influence academic achievement in undergraduate students. Previous research has indicated that both public speaking anxiety and test anxiety are negatively correlated with academic performance, usually measured by grade point average. The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of public speaking anxiety, test anxiety, and their effects on academic achievement in a sample of undergraduate students, and to determine if certain groups of students are more likely to be affected than others. Although test anxiety and public speaking anxiety were both found to be negatively correlated with grade point average, these correlations were not statistically significant. Potential reasons for the lack of statistical congruence with previous studies, as well as implications for future research and treatment, are discussed.

A project-oriented course in probability and statistics for undergraduate electrical engineering students

An introductory course in probability and statistics for third-year and fourth-year electrical engineering students is described. The course is centered around several computer-based projects that are designed to achieve two objectives. First, the projects illustrate the course topics and provide hands-on experience for the students. The second and equally important objective of the projects is to convey the relevance and usefulness of probability and statistics to practical problems that undergraduate students can appreciate. The benefit of this course as to motivate electrical engineering students to excel in the study of probability concepts, instead of viewing the subject as one more course requirement toward graduation. The authors co-teach the course, and MATLAB is used for mast of the computer-based projects

Investigation of the Design of a Bistable Micro-Chemical-Mechanical Device Utilizing Lateral Buckling

The Gracias Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University has developed microgrippers which utilize chemically-actuated joints to be used in micro-surgery. These grippers, however, take up to thirty minutes to close fully when activated biochemicals in the human body. This is very problematic and could limit the use of the devices in surgery. It is the goal of this research to develop a gripper that uses theGracias Laboratory's existing joints in conjunction with mechanical components to decrease the closing time. The purpose of including the mechanical components is to induce a state of instability at which time a small perturbation would cause the joint to close fully.The main concept of the research was to use the lateral buckling of a triangular gripper geometry and use a toggle mechanism to decrease the closure time of the device. This would create a snap-action device mimicking the quick closure of a Venus flytrap. All developed geometries were tested using finite element analysis to determine ifloading conditions produced the desired buckled shape. This research examines lateral buckling on the micro-scale and the possibility ofusing this phenomenon in a micro-gripper. Although a final geometry with the required deformed shaped was not found, this document contains suggestions for future geometries that may produce the correct deformed shape. It was determined through this work that in order to obtain the desired deformed shape, polymeric sections need to be added to the geometry. This simplifies the analysis and allows the triangular structure to buckle in the appropriate way due to the added joints. Future work for this project will be completed by undergraduate students at Bucknell University. Fabrication and testing of devices will be done at Johns Hopkins University in the Gracias Laboratory.

Hooking Up, Alcohol Consumption, and Sexual Assault: Differentially Risky Behaviors

Previous research has demonstrated a significant association between sexual assault and alcohol consumption and between unwanted sexual experiences and hooking up (Flack, Daubman, et. al., 2007). In the present study, we tested these relationships more directly by asking sexual assault victims to indicate the primary reason(s) that their assault took place and the type of hook-up, if any, in which they occurred. Participants were 373 female undergraduate students who completed an online survey that included measures of sexual assault, alcohol intoxication, and hooking up. The overall prevalence rate for any type of sexual assault was 44.24% (Koss et al., 2007). Specific prevalence rates for noninvasive contact, rape, and attempted rape were 39.68%, 22.25%, and 22.52%, respectively. Within all types of sexual assault, the most prevalent type of hook-up was with acquaintances, and the most common reason given across all seven types of assault was incapacitation due to intoxication. These findings replicate previous research on assault and alcohol consumption, and demonstrate for the first time direct relationshipsbetween assault victimization and hooking up. The results underscore the need to investigate further the construct of hooking up, especially as a context for sexual assault.

Attachment and Coping With Two Kinds of Relationship Stressors

This study evaluated the relationship between recalled parental treatment, attachment style, and coping with parental and romantic stressors. A group of 66 undergraduate students completed the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI) (Parker, Tupling, & Brown, 1979), a measure of attachment style (Simpson, 1990), general questions regarding the intensity and frequency of parental and romantic stressors, and their typical ways of coping with each type (Vitaliano, Russo, Carr, Maiuro, & Becker, 1985). Data analysis showed that attachment scores were significantly correlated with coping with both kinds of stress. The most significant correlations were found between attachment and coping with romantic stressors. Overall, high or low use of a specific approach to coping was consistent in the face of parental and romantic stressors. Further, exploratory analysis revealed that the habitual intensity of the experienced stressors could act as a moderator of coping techniques.

Mental Health Problems and Aging: A Short Quiz.

The mental health needs of older adults remain largely unmet. This gap is due, in part, to a lack of adequately trained professionals and paraprofessionals. The sixteen-item quiz presented in this article has two purposes: 1) to present an overview of salient empirical and theoretical issues in the area of mental health and aging, and 2) to promote discussion of these topics. Each item is documented with supporting literature. In addition, average scores, item difficulties, and item-to-total correlations are presented for two groups of undergraduate students.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PARENTING STYLES, LEARNING AUTONOMY, AND SCHOLASTIC ACHIEVEMENT IN UNDERGRADUATE COLLEGE STUDENTS

Throughout the years, the role that parents play with regard to a child’s academic achievement has been the source of considerable research. The type of parenting style employed by parents, whether it is authoritarian, authoritative, or permissive, has and continues to be a major theme in these studies. One area of particular interest that has been overlooked in these studies, however, is the influence that parents may have on a student’s learning autonomy. Learning autonomy is the idea that a student has internal motivation to learn or achieve. The purpose of this study was to investigate therelationship among the three styles of parenting, learning autonomy, perceived parental autonomy support, and scholastic achievement in undergraduate college students. Sixty-one participants were recruited at a small liberal arts college in the northeastern United States to complete questionnaires, which measured perceived parental authority of the participants’ parents, perceived parental autonomy support, and students’ own learning autonomy. The participants were also asked to list their grade point average. The results revealed positive and negative correlations between many of the variables in the study;however, simple regression analyses did not yield any statistically significant relationships between parental authority, learning autonomy, perceived autonomy support, and scholastic achievement.