Predictors of parents' physical disciplinary practices.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined how childhood history of discipline (1) related to ratings of how severe and typical punishments were; and (2) predicted parents' use of discipline techniques. The influence of child culpability on these ratings was also investigated. METHOD: Ninety-nine New Zealand parents rated 12 physical discipline scenarios varying in discipline severity and perceived child culpability. Parents judged how severe and typical they considered the disciplines depicted in the scenarios and reported on how often they had experienced such discipline as children and how often they had used them with their own children. RESULTS: When the child was perceived to be at fault, parents rated the discipline depicted as less severe, considered the technique more typical, reported they had been similarly disciplined more frequently, and applied such discipline to their child more frequently. Childhood history of a discipline was related to the parent's use of that method, and the parents judged techniques they used with their own children as less severe and more typical of methods of discipline. History of discipline and severity judgments were the best predictors of parents' disciplinary practices. CONCLUSIONS: Although the findings support the cycle of violence theory, more complex potential pathways to abusive parenting, including the variables in this study, are proposed.     

Finding process in product: Prewriting and revision in timed essay responses

It is widely assumed that the constraints of timed essay exams will make it virtually impossible for students to engage in the major hallmarks of the writing process, especially revision, in testing situations. This paper presents the results of a study conducted at Washington State University in the Spring of 2008. The study examined the occurrence of prewriting and revision in 890 timed essay responses as well as the impact of writing process on student scores. It was found that both prewriting and revision occur more frequently in timed essays than was previously realized. While prewriting corresponded to higher scores, revision corresponded to lower scores. These results encourage composition scholars to reevaluate their assumptions about both the validity of timed writing exams and the efficacy of current practices in teaching the writing process.     

What should count as worthwhile knowledge in determining a curriculum for supporting out-of-school children and youth？

Due to the increasing number of children and youth dropping out of school, the Malawi government came up with a strategy to address their learning needs through non-formal means in its EFA plan. This resulted in the introduction of a three-year cycle pilot programme known as Complementary Basic Education （CBE）. Funded by GTZ, a German funding agency, the CBE programme has since entered its second year of implementation. This paper reports an evaluation study of the CBE programme so far, with a view of highlighting some of the challenges affecting its implementation. Using a qualitative methodology, the study found that the programme is in many respects, potentially beneficial to various groups of stakeholders including learners, their parents and the community in general. However, the study finds that the major setback in achieving this potential lies in the differences in perception of what should count as curriculum for the CBE programme between providers and beneficiaries. There is a mismatch between ＂needs＂ as perceived by learners and community members on the one hand, and ＂needs＂ as perceived by the providers on the other hand. The paper discusses some of the issues that the providers need to respond to if CBE implementation is going to be beneficial to the livelihood needs of the learners and the immediate community.     

佛名与忏仪——以张荣迁碑和陈海龙碑为中心

6世纪中国佛教忏仪流行甚广,以张荣迁碑和陈海龙碑为代表的造像碑就是最好的例证。考察发现,二碑所刻佛名分别来自《金光明经》、《法华经》和《大通方广忏悔灭罪庄严成佛经》。此文在铭文考释的基础上探讨了佛名与忏仪的关系。     

The effect of towing a range of relative resistances on sprint performance

The aim of this study was to compare sprint performance over 10 and 20?m when participants ran while towing resistances, weighing between 0 and 30% of body mass. The sample of 33 participants consisted of male rugby and soccer players (age 21.1?±?1.8 years, body mass 83.6?±?13.1?kg, height 1.82?±?0.1?m; mean?±?s). Each participant performed two sets of seven sprints over 20?m using a Latin rectangular design. The times were recorded at 10 and 20?m using electronic speed gates. The sprints of 13 players were video-recorded to allow calculation of stride length and frequency. For both sprints, a quadratic relationship was observed between sprint time and resistance as sprint time increased from 2.94?s to 3.80?s from 0 to 30% resistance. This relationship was statistically significant but considered not to be meaningful for performance because, over the range of resistances used in this study, the quadratic model was never more than 1% (in terms of sprint time) from the linear model. As resistance increased, the stride length shortened, with mean values of 1.63?±?0.13?m at 0% body mass and 1.33?±?0.13?m at 30% of body mass. There was no significant change in stride frequency with increasing resistance. The results show that in general there is an increase in sprint time with an increase in resistance. No particular resistance in the range tested (0?–?30%) can be recommended for practice.     

Alterations in Body Size and Composition Consequent to Astro-Trimmer and Slim-Skins Training Programs

Tennis is an activity requiring both endurance and anaerobic components, which could have immunosuppressive effects postexercise.

Purpose

The purpose of this investigation was to determine the effect of a simulated tennis match on apoptotic and migratory markers on lymphocyte subsets.

Method

Male high school (n = 5) and college (n = 3) tennis players (M _age = 18.9 ± 3.3 years) completed 10 sets of a tennis protocol including serves, forehand strokes, and backhand groundstrokes with 1-min rest periods between sets. Apoptosis antigen 1 receptor (CD95) and chemokine receptor fractalkine (CX₃CR1) expression was analyzed on helper T lymphocytes (CD4+), cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CD8+), and B lymphocytes (CD19+) twice, at resting baseline and immediately after all 10 sets of the tennis protocol.

Results

An increase was observed in each lymphocyte subtype (p < .02, effect size = .41), and comparison of absolute changes revealed increases in CD4+/CD95+, CD8+/CD95+, and CD8+/CX₃CR1 lymphocytes following the tennis protocol (p < .01, effect size = .43), but not in CD19+ cells.

Conclusions

A simulated tennis match has adequate intensity to induce immune modulations in terms of increased cell death and cellular migration in T lymphocyte subsets. Lymphocytopenia following tennis play is influenced by both apoptotic and migratory mechanisms.     

Bridging the gap: the challenges of employing entrepreneurial processes within university settings

In Australia and elsewhere, universities face increasing pressure to improve research output and quality, particularly through partnerships with industry. This raises interesting challenges for academic staff with considerable industry experience who are ‘new’ to academe. Some of these challenges were faced by the authors who have been successful in generating research, consultancy and executive education funds since joining academe and been somewhat surprised at being described as successful researchers and entrepreneurs. Taking a reflexive look to identify and make explicit our practice through the lenses of social capital and the entrepreneurial process, we identified 10 practices. However, we remain troubled by the dissonance between organisational rhetoric and its rewards for entrepreneurial activities. We offer some considerations for universities to help bridge this gap.