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The impact of a multimedia mobile application concerning self-efficacy about personal evaluation on the academic performance is studied with a theoretical model that emulates the interface with a learning and evaluation educational evolution, delivered one after another, with no time separation between them. Our theoretical model offers an introduction of an indicator metric, symbolized in this paper work with acronym PE, as a tool to define a bridge between the time allocated for each of the three stages of an educational process composed by: teaching, practice and evaluation. A dedicated multimedia mobile application was created to be implemented across a sample population of students using a unique theme and four different versions that simulates a decreasing concentration of multimedia contents. In order to start a parallel approach to our indicator metric, PE, we propose utilization of an interpretation supporting vector analysis starting from our assumption that both formal and informal evaluation could be assimilated together with a scalar vector outcome as a resultant force of final evaluation regarding academic performance. This last objective will be considered as a supplementary evidence on behalf of our indicator metric PE. We emphasized two areas in our laboratory experiment, with different patterns regarding educational energy that flows from instructor or teacher reciprocally toward to the learner, with the status of exothermic and endothermic educational activities. Our last educational energy classification will be considered as a teacher person point of view. In this paper the master objective was to observe the moment when an individual learner uses a multimedia mobile application and to explain with multiple regression analysis outcomes observed. We search possible connections between independent variables represented by time coverage of different educational stages and a dependent variable represented by the indicator metric PE and, furthermore, by the resultant of force resulted from formal and informal evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The implementation of comprehensive smoke-free laws has been associated with reductions in second-hand smoke exposure at home in several high income countries. There is little information on whether these benefits extend to low income and middle income countries with a growing tobacco-related disease burden such as India. Methods State and individual-level analysis of cross-sectional data from the Global Adult Tobacco Survey India, 2009/2010. Associations between working in a smoke-free indoor environment and living in a smoke-free home were examined using correlation at the state level, and multivariate logistic regression at the individual level. Results The percentage of respondents employed indoors (outside the home) working in smoke-free environments who lived in a smoke-free home was 64.0% compared with 41.7% of those who worked where smoking occurred. Indian states with higher proportions of smoke-free workplaces had higher proportions of smoke-free homes (rs=0.54, p<0.005). In the individual-level analysis, working in a smoke-free workplace was associated with a significantly higher likelihood of living in a smoke-free home (adjusted OR=2.07; 95% CI 1.64 to 2.52) after adjustment for potential confounders. Conclusions Implementation of smoke-free legislation in India was associated with a higher proportion of adults reporting a smoke-free home. These findings further strengthen the case for accelerated implementation of Article 8 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in low and middle income countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aim In recent years, new non-traditional, potentially reduced exposure products (PREPs), claiming to contain fewer harmful chemicals than the traditional products, have been introduced in the market. Little is known about socioeconomic, demographic and smoking-related determinants of the likelihood of using these products among smokers. The aim of this study was to examine these determinants. Methods Data from the 2006-2007 Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey was used. We limited the analysis to current smokers (n=40 724). Multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to estimate the association between covariates and the probability of the use of PREPs. Results We found that younger age, lower education, higher nicotine addiction and having an intention to quit are associated with higher likelihood of the use of PREPs. The likelihood of using these products was found to be higher among respondents who are unemployed or have a service, production, sales or farming occupation than those with a professional occupation. Smokers living in the midwest, south or west, were found to have a greater likelihood of the use of PREPs than those living in the northeast. Conclusions Because there is little evidence to suggest that PREPs are less harmful that other tobacco products, their marketing as harm-minimising products should be regulated. Smokers, in particular those who are younger, have a lower socioeconomic status, and are more nicotine-dependent, should be the target of educational programmes that reveal the actual harm of PREPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The corrosion of transformers by multiple sulfides seriously affects the safe operation of transformers. However, there is a lack of quantitative characterization of the extent to which temperature and oxygen as well as changes in sulfide species affect the aging of oil–paper insulation. In this study, the aging characteristics of oil–paper insulation systems were analyzed in terms of the moisture in the oil, moisture in the paper, acid value, and furfural in the presence of multiple sulfides, where the temperature and the oxygen concentration are used as independent variables. A strong positive correlation between the acid value and the furfural obtained by means of Spearman’s correlation analysis. The acid value and furfural content in the oil were then analyzed and compared according to a nonparametric test, and it was found that both the oxygen changes and the temperature changes had a relatively obvious effect on the acid value in the oil. The effect of the temperature change on the furfural was greater than the effect of the oxygen change on the furfural. Finally, a multiple linear regression analysis was performed for the change in the acid value of the oil with the change in the oxygen content and temperature to obtain the linear fitting formulas for the effects of the time, temperature, oxygen content percentage, and sulfide groups on the acid value. This study can be used to quantify the magnitude of the influences of the oxygen, temperature sulfide groups, and other factors on the aging characteristic parameters of the oil–paper insulation system and to provide a certain reference for studying the quantitative characterization of the sulfur corrosion degree by using the change in the acid value in oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an empirical study that investigates the role of vocabulary knowledge in listening comprehension with 33 advanced Turkish learners of English as a foreign language. The Vocabulary Levels Test (Schmitt, Schmitt & Clapham, 2001) is used to measure the vocabulary knowledge of the participants and a standardized listening test (Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English) is used to measure the listening comprehension level. The results show that vocabulary knowledge produces a significant correlation with listening comprehension. The 5000-word frequency is found to be the best predictor of the variance in the listening comprehension both of which have valuable implications for listening comprehension in EFL contexts.

In the global movement towards open knowledge society, open educational resources (OER) have become a prominent contributor as a medium of education, research and training. In India, the phenomenon of OER is still in nascent stage. Although the country has been massively investing on growth and usage of ICT, it still requires acceptance of OER as a medium of education, research or training. Particularly, adoption and usage of OER posses several challenges such as accessibility, reliability, copy right etc. There is plethora of research studies on the ICT usage in education in India, but there is hardly any empirical research evidence on OER in India. With this backdrop, at the first instance it is very much essential to investigate the acceptance and usability of OER in India. This paper focuses on faculty perception by applying Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model. Apart from this, the study also identifies the challenges associated with OER. For the purpose of this survey data is collected from 22 Indian universities located pan India. The outcome of this empirical research shall certainly useful and provide guidelines for the policy makers and users of OER in India.

This paper investigated the influence of achievement motivation on Nigerian undergraduates' attitude towards examination. Descriptive survey of the correlational type was employed for the study. One thousand, five hundred and thirty-six (1,536) undergraduates in Nigeria were drawn using purposive and stratified sampling techniques. Four research questions were generated to guide the application of the study, while two null hypotheses were formulated and tested at 0.05 alpha level. "Achievement Motivation Scale" (AMS) and "Attitude Towards Examination Scale" (ATES) were the instruments used to collect relevant data. The findings revealed that majority of Nigerian undergraduates have a high level of achievement motivation. The findings also revealed that majority of Nigerian undergraduates have a positive attitude towards examination. There was a significant correlation between achievement motivation and attitude of Nigerian undergraduates towards examination. The findings also revealed that gender, age, level of study, university and family type had a significant positive influence on undergraduates' achievement motivation and attitude towards examination in Nigeria. It was therefore recommended, among others that counsellors and lecturers should be properly equipped with strategies needed to assist students in developing appropriate achievement motivation level so as to promote positive attitude towards examination.

This paper aims to explore the relationships between educational attainment as expressed in PISA scores and several socio-economic and political variables some of which are sub-indices of Human Development Index. The correlation analysis reveals that there are highly significant associations between educational attainment and civil liberties, political participation, GDP per capita, average years of schooling, expected years of schooling and happiness. However, of these, regression analysis indicates that only expected years of schooling and average years of schooling appear as predictors of educational attainment. The lack of explanatory power of political participation, happiness and civil liberties variables may possibly be due to the inclusion of hard to measure subjective factors in the definition of these, which may not reflect the true state of affairs.

Education system nowadays tends to utilize online learning, including in higher education. Online learning system becomes a major requirement in implementing learning process, including in Indonesia. Universitas Terbuka has implemented online learning system known as online tutorials to support the distance learning system. One interesting issue that needs to be explored is to analyze factors that can influence students' satisfaction in online tutorials. This research aims to analyze factors that determine student satisfaction in online tutorials and what factors that need to be improved. Research procedure includes collecting data via email, validity test, reliability test, and hypothesis test using multiple linear regression. This paper will discuss the results of research procedures to find out what factors are affecting student satisfaction and some improvements required based on the viewpoint of the students.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of service trade globalization on low-carbon globalization. Two newly developed non-radial directional distance functions of UEI (Unified Efficiency Index) and EEPI (Energy-Environmental Performance Index) were adopted to evaluate energy and CO2 emission performances of 30 countries during the period 1980–2013. A multiple regression analysis was conducted based on the Tobit model. Results showed that: (1) Service trade openness has a positive effect on energy and CO2 emission efficiency, and the effect has been intensified with time. (2) Emerging service sectors promoted the improvement of energy and CO2 emission efficiency, while the traditional sectors hindered the efficiency improvement. (3) There existed a "catch-up" effect between less developed countries and developed countries on energy and CO2 emission efficiency. Policy implications are thus drawn on how to promote the improvement of energy and carbon emission efficiency in the context of low-carbon globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In the sorting process of Chinese softshell turtles, it is necessary to classify them based on their weight and accurately identify their plastron and carapace. This process requires heavy manual labor and complex mechanical processing methods. To improve processing efficiency and reduce costs, this article introduces machine vision technology, and a new image processing method is proposed. This method can estimate the weight of Chinese softshell turtles and accurately locate the positions of their plastron and carapace. The automation level of aquaculture can be greatly enhanced, and hardware costs can be reduced through software optimization through this approach. With the rapid development of the turtle breeding industry in China, the demand for automated turtle sorting is increasing. The automatic sorting of Chinese softshell turtles mainly consists of three parts: visual recognition, weight prediction, and individual sorting. This paper focuses on two aspects, i.e., visual recognition and weight prediction, and a novel method for the object detection and weight prediction of Chinese softshell turtles is proposed. In the individual sorting process, computer vision technology is used to estimate the weight of Chinese softshell turtles and classify them by weight. For the visual recognition of the body parts of Chinese softshell turtles, a color space model is proposed in this paper to separate the turtles from the background effectively. By applying multiple linear regression analysis for modeling, the relationship between the weight and morphological parameters of Chinese softshell turtles is obtained, which can be used to estimate the weight of turtles well. An improved deep learning object detection network is used to extract the features of the plastron and carapace of the Chinese softshell turtles, achieving excellent detection results. The mAP of the improved network reached 96.23%, which can meet the requirements for the accurate identification of the body parts of Chinese softshell turtles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of organizational-related variables and the moderating role of career strategies on protean career among employees. Design/methodology/approach: Research data are gathered from a sample of 306 employees in 18 electrical and electronics multinational corporations (MNCs) in Malaysia. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is used to examine the influences of organizational-related factors and the moderating role of career strategies on protean career. Findings: The results demonstrate that organizational-related variables, namely, employability culture and mentoring are viewed as potential predictors of protean career. There are significant moderating effects of career strategies on the relationship between both employability culture and mentoring toward protean career among employees. Research limitations/implications: This paper provides an empirical framework to explain protean career based on the review of career-related literatures. Practical implications: The findings provide implications to both organizations and human resource development practitioners on new career trends of protean career. Practical interventions are suggested to assist individuals and organizations toward protean career development. Originality/value: This paper offers new insight into the predicting factors of protean career and its moderating role on career strategies.

This paper aims to understand which fields of study affirmative action students graduated at the undergraduate level in public universities in Brazil in 2009 and 2010. Public universities began expanding access for underrepresented groups through racial, economic, and social affirmative action policies in 2001. The existing literature on affirmative action policies in Brazil focuses on the impact of affirmative action on the demographic characteristics of the student body, and on students' performance. Using the Higher Education National Exam database from 2009 and 2010, this paper makes an important contribution to this literature by demonstrating that affirmative action students from public universities tend to graduate in less prestigious fields of study. This is likely to translate into less eminent occupational opportunities and lower earnings in the labor market. Drawing on Reproduction theory, this paper provides evidence that, despite affirmative action policies, education continues to reproduce social inequalities in Brazil.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature on effectiveness of entrepreneurship education by empirically assessing the role of university entrepreneurial education in entrepreneurship development and reporting the results. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative method was applied for this study. This research was preplanned and structured. Based on the previous literature, hypotheses have been developed. The sample is composed on the basis of a simple random sampling and consists of 200 students. The method of data collection was face-to-face interview with a self-administered questionnaire. The data were statistically interpreted using factor and regression analysis. Findings: The present paper explores and examines the factors and variables of different kinds of entrepreneurial education at the university level. Specifically, at first, this paper addresses the possible entrepreneurial education factors in terms of generalized, motivational, and augmented entrepreneurial education via comprehensive literature review. Second, the paper focuses on the relationship between entrepreneurial education at the university level and entrepreneurship development. The results of this study show a strong positive relationship between different kinds of entrepreneurial education on entrepreneurship development. Practical implications: The implications of these findings are highly relevant to the universities, policy makers, practitioners, and relevant agencies in regard to their policy-setting process in the entrepreneurship development context. This is because entrepreneurship education at the university level has been recognized to have an impact on student, group, and society. This finding also improves the understanding of donors and development partners about the extent to which a quality entrepreneurship education can play a role in economic development. Wrong specification of research models has a significant impact on research outcome and may even mislead decision-setting process. Therefore, this paper encourages further research that examines the measurement model of these three kinds of entrepreneurial education for entrepreneurship development. Originality/value: This study provides a first step toward generalized, motivational, and augmented entrepreneurial education at the university level in Bangladesh.

Transgender and gender diverse secondary students report routine social and curricular marginalisation at school, factors which have been linked to negative social and academic outcomes. This paper examines data from the "Free2Be?" project, which surveyed 704 same-sex attracted and gender-diverse Australian teenagers (aged 14-18), to examine school gender climate as a potential stressor for the 51 (7%) students who identified as gender diverse. The paper focuses on these students' reports of their teachers' positivity regarding diverse gender expression, as a critical element of school gender climate. Multiple regression analyses revealed the significant predictive impact of teachers' positivity on gender diverse students' sense of connection to their school environment, highlighting the need for educators to be knowledgeable and affirming of gender diversity.

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the impacts of teaching style, English language and communication and assessment methods on the academic performance of undergraduate business students in introductory quantitative courses such as Statistics for Business 1 and 2, Quantitative Methods for Business, Operations and Production Management and Operations Research in a non-Western setting. Design/methodology/approach: Data was collected from 750 undergraduate business students in third- and fourth-year classes at the UAE University (UAEU). Descriptive statistics were used to gain some insights into the demographic and educational characteristics of respondents and their opinions regarding the importance of the three factors of concern to their understanding of quantitative courses material, along with multiple regression analysis that was used to test the hypotheses of the study. Findings: The results of the present study indicate the importance of the teaching style in terms of the way the lecturer speaks and the pace of presenting the material, in addition to the structure of the lecture in understanding quantitative course material. Additionally, availability and contents of the material on the course website play an important role in helping undergraduate business students understand the subjects of quantitative courses. The study revealed that the UAEU undergraduate business students are, to some extent, uncomfortable in reading printed textbooks and writing reports on quantitative topics in English. The results of multiple regression analysis revealed that both teaching style and English language and communication have a great influence on the academic performance of UAEU undergraduate business students. Research limitations/implications: The paper has a number of limitations. For instance, the sample was taken only from students in a single university. Moreover, this study focuses on the business students and in turn, it excludes students of other colleges. On the other hand, it has a number of implications for administrators, instructors and researchers. Administrators should pay special attention when setting admission standards. Instructors teaching quantitative courses should prepare well-structured lectures and deliver them at a reasonable pace to allow students the time to understand them. They should also pay attention to the way they speak. For researchers, this study will indicate the need for further research to confirm or refute the results of the present study. Originality/value: The present study is the first attempt to investigate the impacts of the three factors of concern on the academic performance of undergraduate business students in introductory quantitative courses in a public university setting in the UAE context.

The proposed interactive online group within the cloud computing technologies as a main contribution of this paper provides easy and simple access to the cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) system and delivers effective educational tools for students and teacher on after-class group writing assignment activities. Therefore, this study addresses the implementation of the most commonly used cloud applications, Google Docs, in a higher education course. The learning environment integrated Google Docs that students are using to develop and deploy writing assignments in between classes has been subjected to learning experience assessment. Using the questionnaire as an instrument to study participants (n = 28), the system has provided an effective learning environment in between classes for the students and the instructor to stay connected. Factors influencing students' learning experience based on cloud applications include frequency of interaction online and students' technology experience. Suggestions to cope with challenges regarding the use of them in higher education including the technical issues are also presented. Educators are therefore encouraged to embrace cloud computing technologies as they design the course curriculum in hoping to effectively enrich students' learning.

Factors affecting the loyalty of students in Universitas Terbuka are investigated in this paper. The aim was to elucidate how all the variables such as trust, satisfaction and participation interrelate with one another. Loyalty was the dependent variable; trust, satisfaction and participation were the independent variables. Data were accumulated using instruments in the form of questionnaires. The population was students registered in the first semester of 2014. Respondents were taken purposively from 22 of 37 regional offices throughout Indonesia, representing the western and middle part of the country; 1,099 questionnaires from respondents were finally completed and processed. Two hypotheses were established and then assessed. Statistically, factor analysis, correlation and multiple regression were thoroughly utilized to comprehend the interaction and behavior of all variables engaged. The results showed that loyalty is significantly influenced by trust, satisfaction, participation and interaction between the independent variables. However, three out of four interaction variables contributed negatively to loyalty. Besides, the variances of independent variables, including their interactions, explain 60% of loyalty's variance.

Determinants of educational achievement extend beyond the school environment to include the home environment. Both environments provide tangible and intangible resources to students that can influence science achievement. South Africa provides a context where inequalities in socio-economic status are vast, thus the environments from whence students draw resources vary. This paper investigates school and home environments to determine what resources influenced science achievement. Multiple regression analyses were conducted on data from 11,969 South African Grade Nine students, who participated in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study in 2011. The findings reveal that both the school and home environments play important roles in students' science achievement, with the strongest associations exhibited with: speaking the language of the test at home, home assets, and the condition of school buildings. Implications for policy are discussed.

The present paper is an outcome of research conducted by authors to examine the effect of gender, degree of impairment and type of school on the mental health of students with visual impairment. The study employed multi-stage random sampling technique to draw a sample of 200 visually impaired students from 52 inclusive and 5 special schools situated in different parts of Haryana State, India. Mental Health Battery for students with visual impairment, consisting of 61 items to assess their mental health status. Multiple regression and two-way ANOVA was used to analyse the data. The results revealed that three independent variables (gender, degree of impairment and type of school) made a joint contribution of 22.1% to the prediction of mental health of visually impaired students. Significant main effect of degree of visual impairment on mental health was observed whereas no significant main effect for gender was established.

A major focus of the Louisiana School Effectiveness Study has been the search for characteristics of exemplary schooling in varied economic contexts. In this paper differential results of analyses of effective, typical, and ineffective schools in middle and low socioeconomic neighborhoods are presented. Implications for practitioners and for future research are discussed.

In this paper we examine whether emotional intelligence (EI) can be taught online and, if so, what key variables influence the successful implementation of this online learning model. Using a 3 x 2 factorial quasi-experimental design, this mixed-methods study found that a team-based learning environment using a blended teaching approach, supported by mindfulness instruction to teach these skills, can make learning about emotional intelligence accessible and meaningful to undergraduate students. Using peer emotional intelligence assessment scores as a measure of emotional intelligence growth, the study showed a statistically significant impact on the growth of emotional intelligence skills from using a blended approach including direct instruction in mindfulness techniques. Supporting this finding, students clearly expressed a noticeable growth in their emotional intelligence and in that of their peers in interviews conducted at the end of the study. In light of these findings, we propose the RESET cycle model (Recognizing and regulating Emotions through Social and Emotional Team-based learning supported with mindfulness) as a potential foundation for a program to teach EI skills.

Information and Communication Technologies have influenced the landscape of education sector by changing the way various education activities are being conducted. From the perspectives of Tanzania, this paper provides an integrated model for measuring the impact of e-learning on students' achievements in universities. A Mixed method research methodology involving survey questionnaires and interviews was employed in the collection of quantitative and qualitative data respectively for building the integrated model. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to evaluate the construct validity and internal reliability. Multiple regressions technique was used to analyse the hypothesised relationships conceptualised in the research model. The model was built and validated using structural equation modeling and Delphi technique respectively. Indicators such as student engagement, student cognitive, performance expectancy, students' control, student satisfaction, continue using, student enjoyment, students' self esteem, students' confidence on elearning system have positive significance relationship with students' achievement. The integrated model has the potential to policy makers, universities and other stakeholder to understand the impacts of e-learning after implementation in order to justify the total investment based on that technology. The novelty of this research lies in the extension of the findings in literature with new integrated variables including frequency use and intention to use e-learning.

The variance in students' academic performance in a civilian institute and in a military technological institute could be linked to the environment of the competition available to the students. The magnitude of talent, domain of skills and volume of efforts students put are identical in both type of institutes. The significant factor is the physical training, students undergo in a military college. It is important to couple the dominating factor which is academic perceivable effort under a different environment with each students learning capability. This paper determine whether there is a relationship between students' performance and influencing factors like academic aptitude, military or physical training, and the time spent on training need analysis (TNA) modules. A sample of 242 first year- undergraduate students from four different engineering programs (Marine, System, Civil, and Aeronautical) at Military College was used to explore this relationship. The multiple regression model used for predicting the students' performance is adequate for independent variables of aptitude test score, time spent in physical training, and time spent in TNA modules. The values of R2 indicate that at least one of the predictor variables contributes to information for the prediction of the students' performance. The model makes it possible to predict moderately the possibility of attrition in engineering program. This study verifies that military academy has a very defined and directed core engineering course load and TNA course load which every student must take. Therefore, choice of specific discipline have less impact than at civilian institutions. The early detection of students at academic risk is a useful instrument that can help to design mentoring strategies right from the end of admission process.

The unemployment problem of college students in China has drawn much attention from academics and society. Using the 2011 College Student Labor Market (CSLM) survey data from Tsinghua University, this paper estimated the effects of college quality on initial employment, including employment status and employment unit ownership for fresh college graduates. The propensity score matching method was employed to account for the potential endogeneity of elite college attendance. The empirical evidence suggested that students who attended Project 985 colleges were more likely to find jobs immediately after college graduation. Moreover, students graduated from Project 211 universities gained a competitive edge by entering into public working sectors, such as the government or state-owned enterprises (SOEs), compared with students from non-elite colleges. The results imply the students who graduated from non-elite universities faced labor market segmentation. They not only had obstacles in finding jobs, but also ended up in the secondary labor market.

This paper examined predictors of career adaptability skill among higher education students in Nigeria. A sample of 603 higher education students randomly selected from six colleges of education in Nigeria participated in this study. A set of self-reported questionnaire was used for data collection, and multiple linear regression analysis was used to analyze the data. Results indicated that 33.3% of career adaptability skill was explained by the model. Four out of the five predictor variables significantly predicted career adaptability skill among higher education students in Nigeria. Among the four predictors, career self-efficacy sources was the most statistically significant predictor of career adaptability skill among higher education students in Nigeria, followed by personal goal orientation, career future concern, and perceived social support respectively. Vocational identity did not statistically predict career adaptability skill among higher education students in Nigeria. The study suggested that similar study should be replicated in other parts of the world in view of the importance of career adaptability skill to the smooth transition of graduates from school to the labor market. The study concluded by requesting stakeholders of higher institutions in Nigeria to provide career exploration database for the students, and encourage career intervention program in order to enhance career adaptability skill among the students.

Multiple-choice (MC) items are commonly used in high-stake tests. Thus, each item of such tests should be meticulously constructed to increase the accuracy of decisions based on test results. Haladyna and his colleagues (2002) addressed the valid item-writing guidelines to construct high quality MC items in order to increase test reliability and validity. However, violating these guidelines is very common in high-stake tests. This study addressed two of these guidelines: "AVOID the complex MC (Type K) format" and "Word the stem positively, avoid negatives such as "NOT" or "EXCEPT", respectively. After reviewing a total of 2,336 MC items extracted from university entrance examination (UEE) in Turkey administered over the past 15 years, we investigated impact of the violations of item-writing guidelines on test difficulty using multiple regression analysis. The findings showed that test difficulty was not statistically changed when MC items with negative stem were used in a test. They, however, indicated that the use of complex MC items has a statistically negative influence on the test difficulty. The paper concludes with possible results of the cases whereby items constructed by violating item-writing guidelines are eliminated from the test, and directions for future studies.

The study of business performance has a substantial impact on improving the internal management and economic performance of companies. By analysing the previous literature, this paper chooses to measure the factors affecting business performance at four levels, including R&D investment intensity, human capital, patents, and brand value. The purpose of the study is to find out whether these selected factors work equally well for small and medium-sized enterprises. The sample size was 846 Chinese small and medium enterprises from different industries. The firm performance indicators were ROA and ROE. The data has been collected through National Equities Exchange and Quotations platforms based on updated annual reports in 2019. Finally, a stepwise descriptive analysis and multiple linear regression were conducted and predicted the tendency of business performance. The analysis provided the linear combination of four independent variables (R&D, human capital, patents, and brand value) which are significantly related to the dependent variable (business performance). In conclusion, we found that there is a positive impact of patents and brand value on business performance. In detail, we concluded that only production and highly educated personnel show a positive influence. For R&D intensity, there is no strong connection could be observed. In practical terms, this paper allows SME firms to appreciate the importance of human capital, patents, and brand value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]