Exposure of Taiwanese adolescents to pornographic media and its impact on sexual attitudes and behaviour

This article examines the use of pornographic media by Taiwanese high school students, and explores the effects of exposure to such on their attitudes and behaviour in terms of sexual permissiveness.

The results of this research indicate that more than 90 per cent of the students interviewed had at least some exposure to a variety of pornography, with males reporting significantly higher exposure frequencies than females. The results also show that exposure to pornographic media has significant effects on high school students’ sexual permissiveness and nonexclusive sexual attitudes and behaviour.     

THEORY,METHOD AND PRACTICE OF NEUROSCIENTIFIC FINDINGS IN SCIENCE EDUCATION

This report provides an overview of neuroscience research that is applicable for science educators. It first offers a brief analysis of empirical studies in educational neuroscience literature, followed by six science concept learning constructs based on the whole brain theory: gaining an understanding of brain function; pattern recognition and consciousness; mind maps, mnemonics and other learning devices; concrete multisensory experience; higher-order creative reasoning via a multimedia-infused environment and positive emotion in educational settings. It is vital to the future of results-based education that discoveries regarding the cognitive learning process are taken into consideration when designing instruction. This research offers science educators neuroscience-backed information as a foundation to develop results-oriented curricula and teaching methods. Future research could further extend an empirically driven education system.     

Exploring consumers to buy innovative products: Mobile phone upgrading intention

The fourth generation mobile phone soon will be launched. Marketers are concerned about customer acceptance, and, in particular, about the main factors that determine whether customers will upgrade their mobile phones, which will affect the diffusion of 3G, 4G, and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access phones. We integrated post- and pre-adoption theories, upgrading and value-based theory and chose 2G and 3G users to examine customers' plans to upgrade their current phones, and found that value assessments can affect mobile users' plans to upgrade to next-generation versions. When 2G mobile users were satisfied with their current model, they were not willing to upgrade to 3G mobile phones. They tend to upgrade by leapfrogging the next generation product as an indirect result of their positive satisfaction with their current model. These results suggest that 2G mobile users consider the 3G mobile phone to be a transitional product, and will wait for future options that are expected to perform better than those presently available.     

Building Pre-service Teacher Capacity to Use External Assessment Data: An Intervention Study

In recent years, the use of data to inform instructional decision making has become a particularly prominent facet of K–12 educators' professional practice. However, research estimates limited opportunities for preservice teachers to learn how to use data, including standardized test data, for such purposes. In response, this article describes the results of a pretest–posttest study of a 6-hour standardized assessment data use intervention for preservice teachers. The facilitated, collaborative, and highly structured assessment course-embedded intervention engaged preservice teachers in asking and answering four different kinds of questions (e.g., achievement strengths and weaknesses, instructional implications) at five different student levels (e.g., individual, subgroup, school) with external assessment data presented in tables, charts, and score reports. Findings—which include highly favorable preservice teacher perceptions of the intervention's impact on their data-driven decision making skills, and changes in their self-efficacy and data interpretation skills—indicate that the intervention holds promise as a preservice teacher learning mechanism.     

Factors Affecting High School Students' Academic Motivation in Taiwan

The purpose of this research is to investigate predictive relationships among student characteristics that influence motivation for learning and achievement. A non-Western sample was chosen to test the generalisability of findings outside the Western cultural and social models. The participants were 6,539 students from 14 public high schools distributed across the western half of Taiwan. They were from three grade levels, and were balanced in gender. Correlations, analysis of variance, and multiple regression analyses were conducted. Individual differences predicted classroom perceptions, and perceptions predicted motivation, as did goal structures and group differences. Findings can inform educational policy, as well as teacher professional development and practice.     

Increase in calcium content of erythrocyte and its significance to the function of enzyme calcium activated neutral protease (CANP) activity in β- thalassemia homozygotes and heterozygotes

The enhanced presence of calcium in the erythrocytes of thalassemia homozygotes along with an increase in cytosolic and membrane bound CANP, and a decrease in membrane glycoprotein and total membrane sulfhydryl groups are statistically significant changes.In vitro loading of erythrocytes with calcium in the presence of lonophore A₂₃₁₈₇ caused similar changes pointing to the significance of calcium mediated proteolysis, especially by CANP in preparing erythrocytes for the phagocytic event.     

An analysis of mobility in global rankings: making institutional strategic plans and positioning for building world-class universities

Since the start of the twenty-first century, university rankings have become internationalized. Global rankings have a variety of uses, levels of popularity and rationales and they are here to stay. An examination of the results of the current global ranking reveals that well-reputed world-class universities are amongst the top ranked ones. A major concern for university administrators in many parts of the world is how to use the global rankings wisely in their mid-term and long-term strategic planning for building their institutions into world-class universities. Four major global rankings have been developed: the Academic Ranking of World Universities, the World University Rankings, the Webometrics Ranking of World Universities and the Performance Ranking of Scientific Papers for World Universities. The main purpose of this paper is to explore the most influential indicators in these global university rankings that will affect the rank mobility of an institution. Based on an analysis of correlation coefficients and K-means clustering, a model of strategic institutional planning for building a world-class university is proposed.     

“五四”九秩谈启蒙

今年是五四运动90周年。面对这个深刻影响中国近代思想的历史事件及其带来的思想启蒙,虽然一直有许多讨论,关注也在多种不同的层面,其中自然也有科学对文化思想带来的启蒙,但是由于当代文化对于科学客观性和普适性的高度评价,因此很少有人从文化主观价值方面思考科学的思想启蒙问题。     

A Pilot study to assess the impacts of game-based construction learning,using scratch,on students’ multi-step equation-solving performance

This study examined the effects of students’ construction of computer-based educational games, using Scratch, on their mathematical equation-solving performance and their attitudes towards learning mathematics with the assistance of technology. A one-group, pretest-posttest quasi-experimental study design, was adopted. A total of 89 seventh grade students from three classes at a public school in Beijing, China, offering 9 years of compulsory education, participated in Scratch-based mathematical game-making activities. Data were collected via an equations-solving test, surveys, interviews and member checking, and pairwise t-tests were performed for data analysis. The results indicated significant improvements in students’ equation-solving performance and in their attitudes towards learning mathematics with the assistance of technology.