Correlations between teacher and student background and teacher perceptions of discipline problems and disciplinary techniques

A survey of elementary school teachers was conducted to examine the relations between teacher perceptions of discipline problems and disciplinary techniques and five background characteristics of teachers and students: (a) teacher education, (b) teacher experience, (c) student social class, (d) student ethnicity, and (e) student grade level. In general, more experienced and educated teachers preferred confronting students about misbehavior, while less educated teachers rated physical or verbal punishments more favorably. Teachers in schools serving lower social classes and/or more minority students reported more discipline problems and more use of physical punishment. Many other significant relations were reported.     

The effectiveness of online instructional videos in the acquisition and demonstration of cognitive,affective and psychomotor rehabilitation skills

The use of instructional videos to teach clinical skills is an ever growing area of e‐learning based upon observational learning that is cited as one of the most basic yet powerful learning strategies. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the effectiveness of online instructional videos for the acquisition and demonstration of cognitive, affective and psychomotor skills among undergraduate students, throughout formative assessments with two different durations of instructional videos. The research suggests that the use of videos to support traditional learning should be encouraged. While a conclusive evidence—base for their usage has not yet been established they are a medium which is likely to benefit a proportion of a cohort, and it is very unlikely that they will be harmful to students' learning.     

The structure and future of the information economy

The structure of the U.S. economy is analyzed to determine whether a shift has occurred from a service to an information economy. National Income Accounting concepts are reviewed to facilitate a critical comparison of the works of Machlup and Porat. Evidence about the future of an information economy is reviewed. It is concluded that the growth of the information economy will not continue at the same rate it has in the past and further that the growth will be in information products, not information services. It is also concluded that it is unwarranted to restructure the National Income Accounts to reflect a change to an information economy.     

The effect of marathon running on carnitine metabolism and on some aspects of muscle mitochondrial activities and antioxidant mechanisms

Carnitine is an essential co-factor in the catabolism of fats as an energy source. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of running a marathon on the metabolism of carnitine by endurance-trained athletes, and to evaluate the effect of carnitine administration on the performance of such exercise. The effects of marathon running on mitochondrial enzymes and cellular anti-oxidants were also examined to assess whether the expression of these activities is altered by exercise. Subjects were 10 experienced male marathon runners aged between 19 and 25 years. Running a marathon caused a fall in the plasma content of unesterified carnitine (37%) and an increase in the level of acetylcarnitine present (288%). Loading of the athletes with L-carnitine for 10 days before running a marathon abolished the exercise-induced fall in plasma-free carnitine (P less than 0.05) whilst amplifying the production of acetylcarnitine (P less than 0.05). Carnitine loading of the athletes studied made no detectable improvement in performance of the marathon (P greater than 0.05). Cytochrome oxidase, succinate cytochrome C reductase and superoxide dismutase activities present in skeletal muscle were unaltered by marathon running. However, such exercise caused a large increase in the tissue content of oxidized glutathione (189%) at the expense of reduced glutathione (-18%).