Effects of mat characteristics on plantar pressure patterns and perceived mat properties during landing in gymnastics

Shock absorption and stability during landings is provided by both, gymnast ability and mat properties. The aims of this study were to determine the influence of different mat constructions on their energy absorption and stability capabilities, and to analyse how these properties affect gymnast's plantar pressures as well as subjective mat perception during landing. Six mats were tested using a standard mechanical drop test. In addition, plantar pressures and subjective perception during landing were obtained from 15 expert gymnasts. The different mats influenced plantar pressures and gymnasts' subjective perception during landing of gymnasts. Significant correlations between plantar pressures at the medial metatarsal and lateral metatarsal zones of the gymnasts' feet with the different shock absorption characteristics of the mats were found. However, subjective perception tests were not able to discriminate mat functionality between the six mats as no significant correlations between the mechanical mat properties with the subjective perception of these properties were found. This study demonstrated that plantar pressures are a useful tool for discriminating different landing mats. Using similar approaches, ideally including kinematics as well, could help us in our understanding about the influences of different mats upon gymnast-mat interaction.     

Influences of Witnessed Affect on Information Processing in Children

Children between the ages of 5 and 10 years watched a videotape of a child having a routine medical exam. Embedded within the scenes were systematic variations of depicted facial affect shown by doctor and child. Measures were taken of autonomic reactions and information-processing errors in response to positive, neutral, and negative affective cues. For 5-6-year-olds, processing errors were greatest in the negative affect condition. Additionally, peak increases in heart rate (HR) and skin conductance level (SCL) were demonstrated by 5-6-year-olds in response to negative affect shown by the witnessed child; increases in HR were in turn predictive of processing errors. Older children (9-10 years) showed trends reflecting reduced processing errors in response to witnessed negative affect. It was suggested that younger children respond to salient threat cues with a "defensive" response pattern that is relatively adaptive at younger but not older ages.     

The firstborn's adjustment to the birth of a sibling: a longitudinal assessment

41 middle-class families were interviewed at 1 month prepartum and 1, 4, 8, and 12 months after the birth of a second child to assess the reaction and adjustment of firstborn children to this event. Family members were also observed in a semistructured play session in order to obtain information concerning changes in familial interaction patterns. A log linear analysis was conducted to fit a hierarchical model to a 2 (child gender) X 2 (infant gender) X 4 (time of measurement relative to birth of infant) X 2 (presence or absence of problematic regressive behavior) X 14 (type of problematic behavior reported) matrix. A model with 2 statistically significant effects was found to fit the observed frequency matrix quite well, goodness-of-fit (GF) chi 2(312, N = 2,296) = 97.47, p less than .99. This model suggests (1) that the type of response displayed by the firstborns varied as a function of time since the birth; that their initial responses were either imitations of the infant or confrontations with the mother or infant, whereas responses at 4 months postpartum were characterized by numerous anxiety behaviors but fewer imitations or confrontations, and later responses were primarily confrontations with the increasingly intrusive and independent infant; and (2) that a greater frequency of problematic behavior was reported by the mothers of same-sex sibling dyads, especially at the 1- and 8-month postpartum assessments. Observational data indicated that mothers dramatically decreased their interactions with the firstborn children over time but that fathers tended to remain relatively stable in their frequencies of interaction.     

Teachers' Awareness of the Learner–Teacher Interaction: Preliminary Communication of a Study Investigating the Teaching Brain

A new phase of research on teaching is under way that seeks to understand the teaching brain. In this vein, this study investigated the cognitive processes employed by master teachers. Using an interview protocol influenced by microgenetic techniques, 23 master teachers used the Self‐in‐Relation‐to‐Teaching (SiR2T) tool to answer “What are you focusing your mind on throughout the process of teaching?” A number of emergent themes were identified in participants' responses and one, awareness of interaction, is discussed here. This theme refers to teachers' recognition of the learner–teacher (L‐T) relationship as a separate entity or system. Within interaction, at least three types of awarenesses emerged in teachers' responses: (1) connection, (2) collaboration, and (3) mutual effects. Furthermore, some teachers described a sense of synergy with their students due to this L‐T interaction. The results suggest that a teacher's awareness of interaction plays an important role in the teaching brain, and support the implications of the proposed teaching brain framework.     

Commercial ethnicity: Language,class and race in the marketing of the hispanic audience

This essay examines the historical construction of the Hispanic audience and analyzes how contemporary Hispanic audience researchers/marketers have disrupted that unitary, essentialist construction by segmenting the Hispanic audience by class. The principal tool in this effort is language: the Spanish language is proxy for the “mass” of lower socioeconomic class Hispanic audience; English language usage by Hispanics is the sign of a higher class of Hispanic audience. The clearly defined panethnic conceptualization of the Hispanic audience, the nexus of which is the Spanish language, has been blurred. The study draws on interviews with Hispanic media marketers and audience researchers and on analysis of Hispanic market research reports.     

The effectiveness of appeals used in Cambodian and Vietnamese magazine ads

In this two-part study, a content analysis of advertisements published in Cambodian and Vietnamese magazines was first conducted to determine the kinds of advertising appeals (functional, individualistic, and collectivistic) that were most frequently employed. The findings indicated that across product types, the Cambodian ads contained more individualistic appeals. The Vietnamese ads, on the other hand, depicted more collectivistic and functional appeals. Next, an experiment was conducted to determine audience response to the use of three appeals in ads that promote four product types (informative, affective, habit-forming, and self-satisfaction). Vietnamese participants responded more positively to functional appeals across product types. They also preferred collectivistic rather than individualistic appeals for ads that promote habit-forming and self-satisfaction products. Cambodian consumers, on the other hand, registered more positive attitudes toward ads with individualistic and functional appeals.     

Perspectives on learning to teach science: insights and dilemmas from a collaborative practicum project

In this article we discuss the theoretical and practical rationale for establishing a collaborative science practicum project and report on the findings of the first two years. The project was designed to strengthen the communication links among the school‐based educators, the pre‐service teachers, and the university‐based educators, in order to address the seemingly intractable problems associated with initiating new science teachers into the varied social practices of the teaching profession. Our findings are organized and discussed in the form of three dilemmas (Cuban 1992). These dilemmas are associated with the difficulties the pre‐service teachers had in connecting the propositional knowledge presented in the university setting with the procedural knowledge required in the school setting, and the lack of familiarity by the university and school‐based educators of each other's practice setting. We describe results that resonate with similar issues reported in other collaborative projects, and propose an alternative approach for preparing science teachers. This approach is based on conceptualizing learning to teach as a cognitive apprenticeship (Hennessy 1993) which prepares pre‐service teachers to enter the ‘community of practice’ called teaching. We argue that the success of such an approach requires the development of a collaborative community in which all participants engage in meaningful and supportive discourse concerning what, when and how science is taught in the classroom.     

Analog of parental empathy: Association with physical child abuse risk and punishment intentions

Objectives

Current research has been inconsistent in corroborating that parents’ compromised empathy is associated with elevated physical child abuse risk, perhaps in part because of an emphasis on dispositional empathy rather than empathy directed at their own children. Research has also relied on self-reports of empathy that are susceptible to participant misrepresentation. The present study utilized an analog task of parental empathy to investigate the association of parental empathy toward one's own child with physical child abuse potential and with their tendency to punish perceived child misbehavior.

Methods

A sample of 135 mothers and their 4–9 year old children were recruited, with mothers estimating their children's emotional reactions using a behavioral simulation of parental empathy. Mothers also provided self-reports on two measures of child abuse potential, a measure of negative attributions and expected punishment of children using vignettes, as well as a traditional measure of dispositional empathic concern and perspective-taking.

Results

Findings suggest that parental demonstration of poorer empathic ability on the analog task was significantly related to increased physical abuse potential, likelihood to punish, and negative child attributions. However, self-reported dispositional empathy exhibited the pattern of inconsistent associations previously observed in the literature.

Conclusions

Parental empathy appears to be a relevant target for prevention and intervention programs. Future research should also consider similar analog approaches to investigate such constructs to better uncover the factors that elevate abuse risk.     

Fostering Cross‐Cultural Learning and Advocacy for Social Justice through an Immersion Experience in Puerto Rico

Our country's increasing social diversity, the richness and complexity of cultures, diversity of self‐defined individual identities, and complexity of cross‐cultural interactions make effective diversity teaching a challenging but critical need. In addition, for services to be provided in culturally competent manner educators must prepare social work students to understand and address the causes, dynamics and consequences of oppression in the life experiences of diverse populations. This article will describe a graduate travel study social work course designed to provide a cultural immersion experience in Puerto Rico. Anecdotal evidence of the students' transformative learning experiences and commitment to social justice advocacy are offered.