Dominance relationships in femaleHerotilapia multispinosa (Pisces: Cichlidae)

Agonistic interactions between all possible pairings of 10 adult female rainbow cichlids (Herotilapia multispinosa) were observed in three round-robin tournaments. Specific behaviors and color patterns were found to characterize winning and losing fish. The outcomes of agonistic encounters were used to construct a hypothetical dominance hierarchy. This hierarchy was consistent over the three tournaments in that (1) the order of animals in the hierarchy remained relatively unchanged and (2) the relationship between the members of a particular dyad tended to remain stable. The latter was especially true for fish of widely different dominance rank.     

Modeling Change and Variation in U.S. News & World Report College Rankings: What would it really take to be in the Top 20?

University administrators may invest significant time and resources with the goal of improving their U.S. News & World Report ranking, but the real impact of these investments is not well known since, as other universities make similar changes, rankings become a moving target. This research removes the mystique of the U.S. News ranking process by producing a ranking model that faithfully recreates U.S. News outcomes and quantifies the inherent “noise” in the rankings for all nationally ranked universities. The model developed can be a valuable tool to institutional researchers and university leaders by providing detailed insight into the U.S. News ranking process. It allows the impact of changes to U.S. News subfactors to be studied when variation between universities and within subfactors is present. Numerous simulations were run using this model to understand the effect of each subfactor individually and to determine the amount of change that would be required for a university to improve its rank or move into the top 20. Results show that for a university ranked in the mid-30 s it would take a significant amount of additional resources, directed in a very focused way, to become a top-ranked national university, and that rank changes of up to ± 4 points should be considered “noise”. These results can serve as a basis for frank discussions within a university about the likelihood of significant changes in rank and provide valuable insight when formulating strategic goals.     

Factors Affecting Achievement in the First Course in Calculus

Three groups of students at Illinois State University (of respective sizes 235, 157, and 397) were used as subjects to determine which factors were significant predictors of success in the first course in calculus. The second and third groups were used to provide replications of the initial study. Academic independent variables considered were: ACT scores, high school rank, high school GPA, high school algebra grades, and the score from an algebra pretest. Biographical independent variables considered were: sex, birth order, family size, and high school size. The dependent variable was a function of the student’s course grade in the first semester of calculus. The use of stepwise and all-subsets regression procedures on the three groups revealed in each case that the best combination of predictors consisted of the algebra pretest and high school rank. From this result, the investigators concluded that the combination of algebraic skills, as represented by the score on the algebra pretest, and long-term perseverence and competitiveness, as measured by high school rank, play a significant role in the prediction of achievement in the first semester of calculus.     

Preferences among Alternative Test Outcomes

To develop a procedure for determining the dominance of various social motives operative in classroom settings and to provide a didactic method for illustrating social motives, college students were requested to rank their preferences among alternative distributions of own and others’ scores on a test covering the content of a course. It was found that outcomes that maximized own scores were preferred by a majority of students, but only in that instance where their highest score was slightly better than that obtained by their classmates. Less than a majority of students preferred the same score which maximized their own absolute outcome when it was slightly lower than their classmates’ scores. Evidence was found in the preference data for the presence of the social motivational orientations of individualism (own gain maximization), competition (relative gain maximization), cooperation (joint gain maximization), and equity (equality maximization). The verbal rationales provided by students for their preferences were strongly consistent with the motivational properties of preferred own and other outcomes.     

Higher-order units in reading instruction

Gibson and her colleagues have presented arguments and evidence suggesting that the most appropriate unit to teach in reading is neither the single letter nor the whole word but a higher-order unit determined from examining grapheme-phoneme correspondences. The present study employed a computer analysis of the most frequently occurring (approximately 18,000) words in the English language. All letter strings from two to seven letters in length (here after called ngrams) were output with all the words in which the ngram appeared printed beneath the ngram. In addition type and token frequencies of each ngram were calculated and printed in separate rank order and alphabetic lists. Preliminary analysis of the consistency of mappings of various ngrams suggests that many are potentially useful for reading instruction. Current research with the computer is designed to extend the preliminary analysis.     

Analysis of digenic epistatic effects and<Emphasis Type="Italic">QE</Emphasis> interaction effects QTL controlling grain weight in rice

Immortalized F₂ population of rice (Oryza sativa L.) was developed by randomly mating F₁ among recombinant inbred (RI) lines derived from (Zhenshan 97B × Minghui 63), which allowed replications within and across environments. OTL (quantitative trait loci) mapping analysis on kilo-grain weight of immortalized F₂ population was performed by using newly developed software for QTL mapping, QTLMapper 2.0. Eleven distinctly digenic epistatic loci included a total of 15 QTL were located on eight chromosome. QTL main effects of additive, domainance, and additive × additive, additive × domainance, and dominance × dominance interactions were estimated. Interaction effects between QTL main effects and environments (QE) were predicted. Less than 40% of single effects, most of which were additive effects, for identified QTL were significant at 5% level. The directional difference for QTL main effects suggested that these QTL were distributed in parents in the repulsion phase. This should make it feasible to improve kilo-grain weight of both parents by selecting apprents in the repulsion phase. This should make it feasible to improve kilo-grain weight of both parents by selecting appropriate new recombinants. Only few of theQE interaction effects were significant. Application prospect for QTL mapping achievements in genetic breeding was discussed. Project (No. 39893354) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China     

Perceptions of Botswana primary teacher educators on selected teaching skills

This study investigates the levels of confidence of several categories of educators in some selected teaching skills. The educator categories comprise of primary school teachers, tutors at the Primary Colleges of Education, education officers and unqualified teachers in the colleges' catchment areas. The results are based on a questionnaire survey involving 504 educators. The educators are seen to influence to some extent the outcomes of the preservice training of teachers at the Primary Colleges in Botswana. The findings firstly suggest that about one-third of the respondents are not at all satisfied with teaching. The majority of education officers and principals of schools are the ones satisfied with their jobs. These differences among educator categories are statistically significant. Secondly, the analysis by location, rank and experience of the educators shows several trends. The analysis by location shows that educators in the urban setting are more confident in the selected skills than those from the rural areas. However, these differences are constant but not significant. The results by rank suggest the education officer respondents as being the most confident group. The college tutors and primary school teachers are more confident than the last category of unqualified teachers. The Pearson chi-square values for the analysis by rank suggest that these differences are significant. The results consistently show that longer experience in years does not lead to higher levels of confidence. The findings are also consistent in showing that there is a drop in levels of confidence with experience of twenty-six years and more. The paper discusses the implications of these results for professional skills training within the primary college catchment areas.     

Modification of Reconciliation Behavior through Social Experience: An Experiment with Two Macaque Species

Reconciliation, defined as a friendly reunion between former opponents shortly after an aggressive encounter, is common in the stumptail macaque (Macaca arctoides) but rare in the rhesus macaque (M. mulatta). Juveniles of the two species were cohoused for 5 months, after which they were observed with conspecifics only. Control rhesus monkeys, matched in age and sex to the experimental subjects, went through the same procedure without exposure to the other species. A threefold increase in the proportion of reconciled fights was measured in the rhesus subjects. The difference emerged gradually during cohousing with the tutor species and was sustained following removal of this species. Other behavior, such as grooming and aggression, decreased over time. It is suggested that the social attitude of the subjects was affected through contact with a species characterized by a more relaxed dominance style.     

A dominance analysis approach to determining predictor importance in third, seventh, and tenth grade reading comprehension skills

The purpose of the present study was to investigate and rank order by importance the contributions of various cognitive predictors to reading comprehension in third, seventh, and tenth graders. An exploratory factor analysis revealed that for third grade, the best fit was a four-factor solution including fluency, verbal reasoning, nonverbal reasoning, and working memory factors. For seventh and tenth grade, three-factor solutions with fluency, reasoning, and working memory factors were the best fit. The three and four-factor models were used in separate dominance analyses for each grade to rank order the factors by predictive importance to reading comprehension. Results indicated that fluency and verbal reasoning were the most important predictors of third grade reading comprehension. For seventh grade, fluency and reasoning were the most important predictors. By tenth grade, reasoning was the most important predictor of reading comprehension. Working memory was the least predictive of reading comprehension across all grade levels. These results suggest that inferential reasoning skills become an important contributor to reading comprehension at increasing grade levels.     

Teaching criteria that matter in university academic promotions

While many universities have taken steps to recognise teaching in academic promotions, debate continues on the teaching criteria to be used and their evaluation. This article analyses the 10 criteria that inform the evaluation of teaching and eventual promotion decisions at a South African university: rationale for teaching, teaching methods, postgraduate supervision, assessment, student evaluations, peer evaluations, ongoing study of higher education, developing courses, sharing teaching experiences and special recognition of teaching. The study investigated which criteria, if any, were significant in the overall evaluation of teaching and in academic promotion outcomes for different rank levels. The unexpected key finding was that each of the criteria demonstrated statistically significant correlations and differences with both teaching evaluations and promotion outcomes. While all 10 teaching criteria mattered in the evaluation of teaching and academic promotion outcomes, postgraduate supervision and sharing teaching experiences were especially important for those who were successful at the rank of full professor. A multidimensional approach that rigorously assesses multiple criteria in evaluating teaching at all rank levels, including the professoriate, contributes to its credence and currency in academic promotions. Analyses of actual assessments of teaching criteria and their relation to promotion outcomes can contribute to consensus on evaluating teaching.     

Analysis of digenic epistatic effects and QE interaction effects QTL controlling grain weight in rice

INTRODUCTIONKilo-grainweight,characteristicallyacom-plextrait,isanimportantcomponentofyieldinrice.QTLmappingforkilo-grainweightofricewascon-ductedusingpopulationsofF2(Linetal.,1996),doubledhaploidlines(Luetal.,1997),recombi-nantinbredlines(Xiaoetal.,1996),backcrosstestcross(Xiaoetal.,1995;Lietal.,1997)andratoonedF2(Lietal.,2000).Consideringthesen-sitivityofkilo-grainweighttoenvironments,Luetal.(1997)andZhuangetal.(1997)comparedthedifferentialdetectionofQTLacrossenvironmentstodetermin…     

Contemporary perspectives on the Australian doctorate: framing insights to guide development

ABSTRACT

The growth of the doctorate in recent decades has spawned concerns about programme quality and external relevance. This article reports findings from research conducted in Australia that was shaped by the view that the doctorate remains in need of educational clarification and design. The research generated insights that can be used to modernise and realign the doctorate. First, this article discusses the development of a doctoral education framework. Next, it presents results from a questionnaire developed using the framework and administered in a national survey to both five-year-out doctoral graduates and to doctoral experts. This identifies the need to design programmes that better orient and align research training with students’ professional aspirations, incorporate more real-world forms of learning, enhance traditional aspects of research training and provide structured reports of doctoral outcomes, experiences and preparations. The results underpin the need for more specific analyses of outcomes and assessment, the nature and distribution of doctoral experiences and the design and management of the resources that go into doctoral education.     

Demonstrating competence within one’s group or in relation to other groups: A person-oriented approach to studying achievement goals in small groups

Two studies investigated students’ adopted mastery and performance goals for group work, with an interest in exploring whether performance-approach goals functioned differently in small groups depending on whether the social comparison target resides outside the group (i.e., between-group comparison; performance-approach between group goals) or within the group (i.e., within-group comparison; performance-approach within goals). Using a person-oriented approach, six achievement goal profiles for group work were identified for middle school students in science (N_Study1 = 309) and upper elementary school students in mathematics (N_Study2 = 218). Some profiles included varying patterns of goal endorsement (e.g., high mastery goals, low performance-approach goals) while others reflected similar levels (high, medium, low) of goals. Across both studies, the six goal profiles were associated with varying patterns of group processes, cognitive engagement, and achievement. Most notably, students in profiles with high performance-approach within group goals had more detrimental outcomes, even when mastery goals were also strongly endorsed. In contrast, students in profiles with high mastery alone or in combination with high performance-approach between group goals had adaptive group process, cognitive engagement, and achievement outcomes. Implications for the conceptualization of performance-approach goals in small groups and cautions for fostering normative standards and intergroup competition when structuring group activities are discussed.     

The Dominance Concept Inventory: A Tool for Assessing Undergraduate Student Alternative Conceptions about Dominance in Mendelian and Population Genetics

Despite the impact of genetics on daily life, biology undergraduates understand some key genetics concepts poorly. One concept requiring attention is dominance, which many students understand as a fixed property of an allele or trait and regularly conflate with frequency in a population or selective advantage. We present the Dominance Concept Inventory (DCI), an instrument to gather data on selected alternative conceptions about dominance. During development of the 16-item test, we used expert surveys (n = 12), student interviews (n = 42), and field tests (n = 1763) from introductory and advanced biology undergraduates at public and private, majority- and minority-serving, 2- and 4-yr institutions in the United States. In the final field test across all subject populations (n = 709), item difficulty ranged from 0.08 to 0.84 (0.51 ± 0.049 SEM), while item discrimination ranged from 0.11 to 0.82 (0.50 ± 0.048 SEM). Internal reliability (Cronbach''s alpha) was 0.77, while test–retest reliability values were 0.74 (product moment correlation) and 0.77 (intraclass correlation). The prevalence of alternative conceptions in the field tests shows that introductory and advanced students retain confusion about dominance after instruction. All measures support the DCI as a useful instrument for measuring undergraduate biology student understanding and alternative conceptions about dominance.     

Analysis of digenic epistatic effects and QE interaction effects QTL controlling grain weight in rice

Immortalized F2 population of rice (Oryza sativa L.) was developed by randomly mating F1 among recombinant inbred (RI) lines derived from (Zhenshan 97B ( Minghui 63), which allowed replications within and across environments. QTL (quantitative trait loci) mapping analysis on kilo-grain weight of immortalized F2 population was performed by using newly developed software for QTL mapping, QTLMapper 2.0. Eleven distinctly digenic epistatic loci included a total of 15 QTL were located on eight chromosomes. QTL main effects of additive, dominance, and additive ( additive, additive ( dominance, and dominance ( dominance interactions were estimated. Interaction effects between QTL main effects and environments (QE) were predicted. Less than 40% of single effects, most of which were additive effects, for identified QTL were significant at 5% level. The directional difference for QTL main effects suggested that these QTL were distributed in parents in the repulsion phase. This should make it feasible to improve kilo-grain weight of both parents by selecting appropriate new recombinants. Only few of the QE interaction effects were significant. Application prospect for QTL mapping achievements in genetic breeding was discussed.     

Gender equality in education: Definitions and measurements

International consensus on education priorities accords an important place to achieving gender justice in the educational sphere. Both the Dakar ‘Education for All’ goals and the Millennium Development goals emphasise two goals, in this regard. These two goals are distinguished as gender parity goals [achieving equal participation of girls and boys in all forms of education based on their proportion in the relevant age-groups in the population] and gender equality goals [ensuring educational equality between boys and girls]. In turn these have been characterised as quantitative/numerical and qualitative goals respectively. In order to consider progress towards both types of goal, both quantitative and qualitative assessments need to be made of the nature of progress towards gender equality. Achieving gender parity is just one step towards gender equality in and through education. An education system with equal numbers of boys and girls participating, who may progress evenly through the system, may not in fact be based on gender equality. Following Wilson (Human Rights: Promoting gender equality in and through education. Background paper for EFA GMR 2003/4, 2003) a consideration of gender equality in education therefore needs to be understood as the right to education [access and participation], as well as rights within education [gender-aware educational environments, processes, and outcomes], and rights through education [meaningful education outcomes that link education equality with wider processes of gender justice].     

The Development of Process Indicators to Estimate Student Gains Associated with Good Practices in Undergraduate Education

The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, the development of psychometrically sound process indicators of student performance is described. Second, the results are reported of a test of the utility of these indicators with six samples of men and women students (n = 911 in each group) from 19 baccalaureate, 27 master's, and 29 doctoral-granting institutions. Process indicators represent behaviors associated with desired outcomes of college and estimate the extent to which students are engaged in these activities. Selected items from the College Student Experiences Questionnaire were used to create measures of three good educational practices: faculty-student contact, cooperation among students, and active learning. Active learning and cooperation among students in that order were the best predictors of gains for both women and men at all three types of institutions. Student background characteristics had only trivial influences on educational gains. Implications are discussed for institutional policy and further research.     

Responding to children's everyday transgressions in Chinese working‐class families

Social justice education, it is argued, is a form of and essential to moral education, especially for dominant group affiliated students. Under this condition, one of the essential goals of social justice education must be raising an awareness of dominance. The meaning of dominance is discussed and it is argued that overly simplistic conceptions of what dominance means may lead to the mistaken assumption that in order to recognise one's own dominance, one has to reject the values of the dominant group. The distinction between the "dominance of values" and the "values of the dominant group" is suggested but found inadequate. What is required is a critical analysis of the complexity, subtlety and systemic interrelatedness and embeddedness of dominant beliefs, values and standards in western, democratic societies. Without a serious approach to the complexities of dominance, future teachers will not be able to tend successfully to all their students, will not be able to contribute to social justice and will be able to hide all this behind good intentions.