Enhancing literary understandings through young adult fiction

Young adult literature can be used to enhance students' understanding of literary techniques and concepts, providing a “transition” between children's and adult fiction. Two young adult novels—The Pigman andI am the Cheese—are used to illustrate the use of young adult novels to teach about literary elements such as tome, point of view, characterization, motif, symbolism, style, and structure. Maia Pank Mertz areas of specialization include the teaching of young adult literature, literature study, and the impact of media on adolescents.     

Gatekeepers of science—Effects of external reviewers’ attributes on the assessments of fellowship applications

AimThe scientific norm of universalism prescribes that external reviewers recommend the allocation of awards to young scientists solely on the basis of their scientific achievement. Since the evaluation of grants utilizes scientists with different personal attributes, it is natural to ask whether the norm of universalism reflects the actual evaluation practice.Subjects and methodsWe investigated the influence of three attributes of external reviewers on their ratings in the selection procedure followed by the Boehringer Ingelheim Fonds (B.I.F.) for awarding long-term fellowships to doctoral and post-doctoral researchers in biomedicine: (i) number of applications assessed in the past for the B.I.F. (reviewers’ evaluation experience), (ii) the reviewers’ country of residence and (iii) the reviewers’ gender. To analyze the reviewers’ ratings (1: award; 2: maybe award; 3: no award) in an ordinal regression model (ORM) the following were considered in addition to the three attributes: (i) the scientific achievements of the fellowship applicants, (ii) interaction effects between reviewers’ and applicants’ attributes and (iii) judgmental tendencies of reviewers.ResultsThe results of the model estimations show no significant effect of the reviewers’ attributes on the evaluation of B.I.F. fellowship applications. The ratings of the external reviewers are mainly determined by the applicants’ scientific achievement prior to application.ConclusionsThe results suggest that the external reviewers of the B.I.F. indeed achieved the foundation's goal of recommending applicants with higher scientific achievement for fellowships and of recommending those with lower scientific achievement for rejection.     

青年编辑在科技期刊编辑出版中的人际沟通

科技期刊青年编辑应提高人际沟通能力,在与作者、读者、审稿专家、编委及本部门同事之间人际互动中扮演重要角色。把与审稿专家和编委人际沟通中作为学习相关专业知识和掌握相关学科前沿信息的最好途径,在与作者和读者交流中做好服务工作,在团结本部门同事形成学习型和谐团队中发挥更大作用。     

Should authors suggest reviewers? A comparative study of the performance of author‐suggested and editor‐selected reviewers at a biological journal

To evaluate peer review of author‐suggested reviewers (Ra), this research compared them with editor‐selected reviewers (Re) using 1‐year data collected from Journal of Systematics and Evolution. The results indicated that (1) Ra responded more positively than Re, that is, accepted invitations to review more often, more likely to suggest alternative reviewers, and less likely to neglect a review invitation; (2) there was no statistically significant difference in timeliness between Ra and Re; (3) editors rated Re reviews of higher quality than Ra reviews, but the word count length of these reviews did not differ statistically; (4) Ra made more favourable publication recommendations than Re; and (5) Ra were more often based in the country of the authors than Re, and this correlated with the location effect on reviewer response and publication recommendations. These results suggest that authors should be encouraged to suggest reviewers. However, in terms of policy or procedure based on the results of this study, journals/editors should collect and consult at least one review from other sources than author suggested, and when reviewers nominated by authors are considered, priority should be given to those with different locations from the authors.     

Further Validity Tests of the Grandchildren's Received Affection Scale

The purpose of this study was to further validate the newly developed Grandchildren's Received Affection Scale (GRAS). To that end, young adult grandchildren (N = 317) completed the GRAS, along with two previously established measures of affectionate communication and a social desirability scale. The results of a series of Pearson correlational analyses and an exploratory factor analysis provide support for the concurrent, construct, and divergent validity of the GRAS. Thus, the GRAS is an appropriate instrument to assess grandchildren's received affectionate communication from their grandparents.     

保持积极主动 注重细节管理——论科技期刊青年编辑的职业发展

科技期刊青年编辑在职业发展中应该积极主动并注重细节管理.青年编辑应保持积极的心态,主动学习新知识,掌握新技能,并主动了解同行现状.在细节管理中,应从改善工作流程、强化同理心、珍惜审稿人时间和精力,以及耐心对待初次撰写文章的学生等方面着手,提高青年编辑的职业素养,进而提高期刊质量.     

Relational maintenance and caregiving in the grandparent-grandchild relationship

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between grandparents’ use of relational maintenance behaviors (RMB) and their young adult grandchildren’s willingness to serve as future caregivers for their grandparents. Undergraduate students (N = 209) completed a questionnaire in which they reported on a specific grandparent’s use of RMB and how willing they were to serve as future caregivers for that specific grandparent. Results of a multiple regression analysis provided partial support for the hypothesized positive relationships between grandparents’ use of RMB and grandchildren’s willingness to serve as future caregivers for their grandparents.     

I Give Civil Rights Four Stars

Three recent Hollywood films, The Help (2011), Lee Daniels’ The Butler (2013) and Selma (2014), drew attention for depicting the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. While Hollywood has been scrutinized for its role in racial discourse, less attention has been paid to how film critics discuss race in their reviews. This paper examines the critical response to these films, with an emphasis on the reviewers’ reliance on memory and history in forming their opinions. A textual analysis found that critics were reverential toward the movement and the black experience but still distrustful of the Hollywood system doing a credible job in explaining or understanding the events. The reviewers shaped and shared a memory of nightmarish race relations and prescribed corrections for both Hollywood and America. These reviews illustrate that film critics see themselves as arbiters not only of taste but also of history.     

一类滞审稿件的评审对高校学报审稿专家遴选工作的启示

从《大连交通大学学报》的一类滞审稿件中,选取最具代表性的一篇论文,分析其送审过程和审稿结果,探讨适合刊物自身特点的审稿专家遴选方法。编辑在选择审稿专家时要考虑以下几个方面:选择小同行审稿专家、内外交叉审稿、选择学术水平相对较高的审稿专家,同时注意多关注和挖掘学术活跃度高、精力旺盛的青年审稿人,建设有针对性的审稿专家队伍,以期提高审稿效率和审稿质量。     

What we know about nonfiction and young adult readers and what we need to do about it

Nonfiction for young adults is enjoying a rebirth of interest among publishers, librarians, and teachers with the emergence of an approach that uses facts as information to be shared with children trying to make sense of their world. Reading interest studies disclose patterns in young readers' preferences in nonfiction. Suggestions are offered to encourage the reading of nonfiction, to help teachers use these books effectively in classroom discussion, and to help select nonfiction for reading aloud. He has been president of the National Council of Teachers of English Assembly on Adolescent Literature. He and Betty Carter edited the 1988 edition ofBooks for You: A Senior High Booklist for NCTE, and the two also publishedNonfiction for Young Adults: From Delight to Wisdom from Oryx Press. Address for correspondence: Department of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204. Betty Carter, a former junior high reading teacher and school librarian, is now an assistant professor at Texas Woman's University in the School of Library and Information Studies, where she teaches classes in young adult and children's literature. She has chaired the American Library Association's Best Books for Young Adults Committee and is president-elect of NCTE's Assembly on Adolescent Literature.     

Communication Processes that Predict Young Adults’ Feelings of Being Caught and their Associations with Mental Health and Family Satisfaction

In this study, the degree to which young adults felt caught between their parents was tested as a mediator between marital conflict behaviors and young adults’ mental health and family satisfaction. Participants included 1170 young adult children from first marriage and postdivorce families in four different states. Using structural equation modeling, the results revealed that parents’ symbolic aggression, demand/withdraw patterns, and negative disclosures were positively associated with young adult children's feelings of being caught. Such feelings, in turn, were inversely associated with children's reports of family satisfaction and mental health. Although young adult children from divorced families witnessed, on average, more marital aggression, negative disclosures, and demand/withdraw patterns than those from nondivorced families, the associations in the model were relatively comparable across both family types. Further, tests of mediation revealed that feeling caught served primarily as a partial mediator for family satisfaction and as a full mediator for mental health, though such feelings suppressed the positive effect of parental disclosures on family satisfaction for children in nondivorced families. Finally, children's closeness with both parents moderated the associations in the model.     

医学论文退修的必要性——《中华微生物学和免疫学杂志》从编有感

通过对《中华微生物学和免疫学杂志》部分稿件退修情况的统计分析,论述科技期刊文稿退修的必要性,即:退修是联系审稿专家、编辑和作者三者的桥梁;可提高论文的学术价值;使论文在格式上更规范;提高作者写作水平,储备优质作者资源;提升编辑的业务素质,培养编辑的审稿能力。认为退修时应注意以下问题:重视政治问题;切忌照本宣科;叙述明确,主次分明;尊重作者,体现修养;注明修回日期。     

Scholarly reviews of U.S. history books

This study of reviews in six scholarly journals of books on U.S. history examines the sources of books reviewed; their prices, length, and other characteristics; the affiliations of the reviewers; and the timeliness and coverage of reviews. The findings indicate that, although historians rely on reviews in scholarly journals for information on current publications, these reviews are in some ways inadequate for their purposes.     

论科技期刊责任编辑与同行专家审稿

阐述审稿在科技期刊中的作用,责任编辑与同行专家审稿是保证科技期刊质量的关键,指出审稿专家应为学术造诣精深、学风严谨、为人正直、科学道德高尚的学者,并建议重新编纂一部学科齐全、专业结构和年龄结构合理的审稿人名典.     

Improving access to the international coverage of reports of controlled trials in electronic databases: a search of the Australasian Medical Index

Introduction: Locating reports of trials from journals not indexed in the major databases presents difficulties to systematic reviewers, and may be a factor in improving the reliability of the reviews. Objectives: To identify and make available reports of controlled trials from the Australasian Medical Index (AMI). To measure the quality of indexing of trials in AMI. Methods: Using a highly sensitive search strategy consisting of methodology indexing and free‐text terms, records from AMI were read for reports of controlled trials. Trials meeting the criteria were submitted for inclusion in The Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (CCTR) and assessed for the quality of their indexing. Results: 3621 records were downloaded, of which 512 were identified as reports of controlled trials (317 RCTs; 195 CCTs) and submitted to CCTR. The precision of methodology indexing terms was 60%, but sensitivity just 18%. The quality of indexing of trials was generally poor with only 50 tagged with the RCT/CCT publication type term. 453 reports (88%) were not previously available in CCTR. Conclusions: The large proportion of trials found to be unique to the AMI database increases the pool of studies available to systematic reviewers, and helps ensure CCTR remains the most comprehensive source of trials.     

论英文科技期刊优秀审稿人队伍的培养

审稿人队伍的质量和工作效率直接影响科技期刊的学术质量和出版周期。为此,培养一支优质、高效的审稿人队伍是科技期刊发展的重要保障。本文以《仿生工程学报》为例,探讨英文科技期刊如何建立审稿人队伍,并通过提高稿件初审质量、加强与审稿人的沟通、加大审稿贡献奖励力度、满足优秀审稿人需求等方法来提高审稿人的满意度和审稿积极性,从而留住优秀审稿人乐于为期刊服务。此外,还介绍依托国外同领域优秀期刊,运用Web of Science数据库有针对性地发掘出高学术影响力的作者并吸纳其为审稿人的方法,以不断壮大审稿人队伍,获得优质高效的审稿意见,从而提高期刊的学术质量。