Was Humpty Dumpty Right? An Exploratory Study of Semantic Priming and Lexical Access

This study investigates the way subjects gain access to their internal lexicon and assesses the effects of context on this process. The focus is on ambiguous words that are homographic but pronounced differently. A total of 35 adult subjects read aloud from word lists containing the same target homographs. In two conditions the targets were primed by words calculated to influence subjects either towards a regular or irregular pronunciation; a third condition without primers provided a baseline check. The influence of primers on subjects’ pronunciations was recorded and calculated. Results confirmed a significant influence of primers on pronunciation for a majority of target words. Further analysis showed groups of subjects were significantly (p<0.001) influenced by semantic primers. However, results are interpreted cautiously and proposals are made for a more rigorous study using this exploratory work as a basis. Finally, the potential of semantic priming studies for future research is outlined.     

Literacy skills of welfare recipients

Illiteracy is considered to be a significant barrier to employment. Programs are being established to require literacy education and work programs of welfare recipients. The purpose of this study was to determine the literacy skills of a random sample of welfare recipients. One-hundred and six welfare subjects were administered theWoodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery and a comprehensive interview form. Using common criteria to separate the sample into the literate and functionally illiterate, the groups were found to differ significantly on intellectual capabilities. It was concluded that illiteracy is associated with subaverage intellectual functioning among persons on welfare. A number of recommendations were made pertaining to policy.     

Continuing professional education and the discipline reviews

Continuing professional education (CPE) is an emerging area of educational provision in Australia for which there is no national policy. However, four single discipline reviews focusing on the law, medicine, engineering and teachers of mathematics and science, have been commissioned at the national level to examine, among other issues, CPE. The four reviews are discussed, using the same five headings relating to the importance given to CPE and its purpose, the relationship between CPE and pre‐service training, the mandatory and voluntary options and the delivery of CPE. General statements about CPE in Australia and possible policy developments in the field are drawn from the review reports.     

(Re)constructing career education as a socially just practice: An antipodean reflection

The author contends that career education has lost its way, and needs to be (re)located within a critical social justice framework if it is to effectively prepare young people to engage with the social, political and economic discourses that inform the shaping of ‘career(s)’. Relating to the New Zealand context, differing versions of social justice are outlined, the challenges for career education explored, and the potential for change discussed.     

Accelerometer and self-reported measures of sedentary behaviour and associations with adiposity in UK youth

This study used accelerometer and self-report measures of overall sedentary time (ST) and screen time behaviours to examine their respective associations with adiposity among UK youth. Participants (Year groups 5, 8, and 10; n=292, 148 girls) wore the SenseWear Armband Mini accelerometer for eight days and completed the Youth Activity Profile, an online report tool designed to estimate physical activity and ST.Stature, body mass and waist circumference were measured to classify adiposity outcomes (overweight/obese and central obesity). One-way between groups ANOVA and adjusted linear, logistic and multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted. There was a significant main effect of age on total ST across the whole week (F(2, 289)=41.64, p≤0.001). ST increased monotonically across Year 5 (581.09±107.81 min·dˉ¹), 8 (671.96±112.59 min·dˉ¹) and 10 (725.80±115.20 min·dˉ¹), and all pairwise comparisons were significant at p≤0.001. A steep age-related gradient to mobile phone use was present (p≤0.001). ST was positively associated with adiposity outcomes independent of moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA; p≤0.001). Engaging in >3 hours of video gaming daily was positively associated with central obesity (OR=2.12, p≤0.05) but not after adjustment for MVPA. Results further demonstrate the importance of reducing overall ST to maintain healthy weight status among UK youth.     

The Media as a Judicial and Police Resource

Abstract

This article examines how media reports of police court trials played an important discursive role in the workings of summary justice and the emergence of the policed society in Scotland in the first half of the nineteenth century. It argues that the dominant messages that trial coverage conveyed were laden with middle-class social and cultural assumptions concerning the accessibility, usefulness and fairness of the courts, and the character and guilt of the accused. Above all, the reports spoke to the intrinsic value of lay magistrates as paternal agents of community conflict resolution and police courts and, more subtly, the police as firm but trustworthy levers of urban discipline.     

Determinants of historic and cultural landmark designation: why we preserve what we preserve

There is much interest among cultural economists in assessing the effects of heritage preservation policies. There has been less interest in modeling the policy choices made in historic and cultural landmark preservation. This article builds an economic model of a landmark designation that highlights the tensions between the interests of owners of cultural amenities and the interests of the neighboring community. We perform empirical tests by estimating a discrete choice model for landmark preservation using data from Chicago, combining the Chicago Historical Resources Survey of over 17,000 historic structures with property sales, Census, and other geographic data. The data allow us to explain why some properties were designated landmarks (or landmark districts) and others were not. The results identify the influence of property characteristics, local socio-economic factors, and measures of historic and cultural quality. The results emphasize the political economy of implementing preservation policies.     

Fiscal pressures,institutional context,and constituents: a dynamic model of states’ arts agency appropriations

This report focuses on state government appropriations to state arts agencies (SAA), a primary figure in arts and cultural policy in the United States. A dynamic panel-data estimator can identify the fiscal, institutional, and demographic determinants on SAA appropriations. Agency budgets are particularly sensitive to past appropriations, past state revenues and NEA grants, some demographic variables, party control of state government, and state budgeting rules. Federal funds attract, rather than crowd out, state appropriations. While the influence of some demographic variables may be shifting over time, income growth continues to explain much of SAA appropriations.