The contributions of parental management language to executive function in preschool children

This study investigated relations between preschoolers’ emergent executive function skills and their interactions with parents, with particular focus on the verbal utterances parents use to guide children's behavior (i.e., management language). Parent–child dyads (n = 127) were videotaped during a structured play task and the frequency of two types of management language, Direction (high control) and Suggestion (low control), was observed. Children's executive function was assessed using the Head–Toes–Knees–Shoulders (HTKS) task. Latent growth modeling was used to investigate relations between management language and the development of children's executive function. Direction language (i.e., commands) was negatively associated with children's age three executive function but not significantly related to the rate of executive function development over time. Conversely, Suggestion language (i.e., questions and statements that offer children some degree of choice) was positively related to executive function at age three but negatively related to growth. The potential importance of management language as a parenting behavior that contributes to various aspects of children's self-regulation during preschool and kindergarten is discussed.     

Sexuality in Older Adults: Effect of an Education Intervention on Attitudes and Beliefs of Residential Aged Care Staff

The sexual needs and wellbeing of older people living in residential aged care receives scant attention in practice, is easily dismissed by care staff, and remains a significant challenge for aged care service providers. This study reports on the evaluation of an education program delivered to residential aged care nurses to improve their knowledge about, and attitudes towards, older people's sexuality in this context. Participants' attitudes and beliefs towards older people expressing their sexuality in long-term care, including same sex couples and people with dementia, were more permissive following education. Findings further underscore the value of sexuality education as an important factor in dispelling the commonly held negative views of residential aged care staff about older people expressing their sexuality, thereby improving staff responses to this issue.     

Impaired motor control after sport-related concussion could increase risk for musculoskeletal injury: Implications for clinical management and rehabilitation

This review presents a conceptual framework and supporting evidence that links impaired motor control after sport-related concussion(SRC)to increased risk for musculoskeletal injury.Multiple studies have found that athletes who are post-SRC have higher risk for musculoskeletal injury compared to their counterparts.A small body of research suggests that impairments in motor control are associated with musculoskeletal injury risk.Motor control involves the perception and processing of sensory information and subsequent coordination of motor output within the central nervous system to perform a motor task.Motor control is inclusive of motor planning and motor learning.If sensory information is not accurately perceived or there is interference with sensory information processing and cognition,motor function will be altered,and an athlete may become vulnerable to injury during sport participation.Athletes with SRC show neuroanatomic and neurophysiological changes relevant to motor control even after meeting return to sport criteria,including a normal neurological examination,resolution of symptoms,and return to baseline function on traditional concussion testing.In conjunction,altered motor function is demonstrated after SRC in muscle activation and force production,movement patterns,balance/postural stability,and motor task performance,especially performance of a motor task paired with a cognitive task(i.e.,dual-task condition).The clinical implications of this conceptual framework include a need to intentionally address motor control impairments after SRC to mitigate musculoskeletal injury risk and to monitor motor control as the athlete progresses through the return to sport continuum.     

EUROPEAN PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS OF SCIENCE

In this paper we explore the relationships between public interestin, knowledge of, and attitudes towards science and technologyand the level of industrialization in 12 countries of the EuropeanCommunity. Using the 1989 Eurobarometer survey no 31 (N=11,678),we constructed four scales measuring interest, knowledge, generalattitudes to science, and support for EC funded science foreach of the 12 EC countries. We found that overall factual scientificknowledge correlates moderately positively with interest andattitudes to science. For example the Netherlands and GreatBritain have relatively high levels of knowledge, interest,and support for science in general. Spain and Greece have relativelylow levels of knowledge, interest, and support for science ingeneral. However, the simple correlation hides more complexrelationships. First, the variance within and across countriesof knowledge, attitudes and interest increases with nationallevels of knowledge. This indicates greater degrees of polarizationof both support and interest. Second, the data indicates a post-industrialismeffect: knowledge, interest in, and attitudes to science showa curvilinear relationship with levels of industrialization.The decline of interest in science and the less positive attitudesin highly developed countries requires further exploration.Third, we found, that the consistency of the knowledge and theattitude measures declines as the national level of knowledgeincreases. We suggest that this reflects a knowledge-ignoranceparadox and knowledge specialization among informed populations.Support for EC level science follows a different pattern. Wefound that France, Italy, and Spain show high levels of supportfor EC level science. This is not the case in Great Britainand Germany. The pattern suggests that attitudes towards ECscience are formed on the basis of national level scientificstrength: if the national science base is strong, EC scienceinitiatives find less support and vice versa. These findingsrepresent a first step towards a comparative assessment of publicunderstanding of science in EC countries.     

Commuter Students and the Academic Library: A Mixed-Method Study of Space

Abstract

This study discusses the library space assessment of the Stark Campus Library of Kent State University. The commuter student experience is underrepresented in the literature, which often focuses on residential campuses. A mixed-method research approach is used to understand commuter students’ experiences and preferences of an academic library. Researchers used photo-elicitation interviews, hourly floor sweeps, and unobtrusive observation to gather data on student use of the library. The study shares its findings on students study habits and how their commute affects time spent on-campus.     

Trends in Cultural Journalism

Various studies report that cultural journalism increasingly focuses on service and entertainment instead of serious arts coverage. The press prioritizes popular culture over traditional high arts to a growing extent. However, this shift in journalistic attention does not necessarily signify a straightforward decline in aesthetic standards, as popular cultural forms like film have developed along the lines of high art principles in the past decades. This article charts trends in American, Dutch, French, and German film journalism between 1955 and 2005. It demonstrates that coverage is typified by a serious aesthetic approach from the 1970s onwards. The principles of art are seen to steer journalists’ attention to an important degree: the review remains the predominant journalistic genre, and newspapers devote more attention to films by prestigious directors than strictly commercial moviemakers. As such, film’s prominence in the press does not seem to indicate a decline in serious cultural journalism but rather a revaluation of a popular cultural form.     

Do field position and playing standard influence athlete performance in wheelchair basketball?

Improved understanding of mobility performance in wheelchair basketball is required to increase game performance. The aim of this study was to quantify the wheelchair-athlete activities of players in different field positions and of different playing standard during wheelchair basketball matches. From video analysis, absolute and relative duration and frequency of wheelchair movements and athlete control options were examined in 27 national standard and 29 international standard players during entire wheelchair basketball matches. Between-group factorial analysis of variances identified that national players drove more forward (42.6 ± 6.8 vs. 35.4 ± 3.7%; effect size Cohen’s d (ES) = 1.48) and started more often driving forward (33.9 ± 2.6 vs. 31.8 ± 2.8; ES = 0.77) during a match while the mean activity duration for a single driving forward activity was longer (4.3 ± 0.9 vs. 3.7 ± 0.6 s; ES = 0.75) than for international players. Furthermore, national players performed fewer rotational movements (21.8 ± 4.0 vs. 28.9 ± 7.8%; ES = –1.30) and started less often with the rotational movements (35.0 ± 3.6 vs. 40.5 ± 5.5; ES = –1.21) while the mean activity duration for a single rotation activity was shorter (2.1 ± 0.3 vs. 2.3 ± 0.3 s; ES = –0.67) than for international players. Differences in mobility performance among guard, forward and centre players were minimal. The results should help wheelchair basketball coaches specify wheelchair-handling training techniques and means to optimise wheelchair-athlete configurations.