Causal ascription and evaluation of achievement-related outcomes: A cross-cultural comparison

Three experiments (replications) were conducted under a general program of testing the applicability of social psychological findings obtained in the United States to Brazil. Three samples of Brazilian students (college male undergraduates, lower-class training school male students, and female teachers graduating in education) were asked to ascribe either gold (reward) or red (punishment) stars to examination results. These results could be excellent, fair, borderline, moderate failure, or clear failure; the student's ability (high or low) as well as his or her effort (high or low) were also indicated.The results reproduced only in part those of the original study. As in the United States, effort and good outcomes influence the assignment of rewards and punishments to achievement-related outcomes. However, in the United States, low-ability students, when effort is held constant, are more rewarded for good results and less punished for bad ones than high ability students; in Brazil the opposite was found, that is, high ability students, holding effort constant, are rewarded more for good results and punished less for bad ones. The implications of this finding for individual achievement and nation's development are pointed out.     

Evaluation of a new equation for estimating low-density lipoprotein cholesterol through the comparison with various recommended methods

IntroductionThe accurate estimation of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) is crucial for management of patients at risk of cardiovascular events due to dyslipidemia. The LDL is typically calculated using the Friedewald equation and/or direct homogeneous assays. However, both methods have their own limitations, so other equations have been proposed, including a new equation developed by Sampson. The aim of this study was to evaluate Sampson equation by comparing with the Friedewald and Martin-Hopkins equations, and with a direct LDL method.Materials and methodsResults of standard lipid profile (total cholesterol (CHOL), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) and triglycerides (TG)) were obtained from two anonymized data sets collected at two laboratories, using assays from different manufacturers (Beckman Coulter and Roche Diagnostics). The second data set also included LDL results from a direct assay (Roche Diagnostics). Passing-Bablok and Bland-Altman analysis for method comparison was performed.ResultsA total of 64,345 and 37,783 results for CHOL, HDL and TG were used, including 3116 results from the direct LDL assay. The Sampson and Friedewald equations provided similar LDL results (difference ≤ 0.06 mmol/L, on average) at TG ≤ 2.0 mmol/L. At TG between 2.0 and 4.5 mmol/L, the Sampson-calculated LDL showed a constant bias (- 0.18 mmol/L) when compared with the Martin-Hopkins equation. Similarly, at TG between 4.5 and 9.0 mmol/L, the Sampson equation showed a negative bias when compared with the direct assay, which was proportional (- 16%) to the LDL concentration.ConclusionsThe Sampson equation may represent a cost-efficient alternative for calculating LDL in clinical laboratories.     

A Lakatosian Framework to Analyze Situations of Cognitive Conflict and Controversy in Students' Understanding of Heat Energy and Temperature

The objective of this study is to analyze secondary school students' interactions (conflicts, controversies, and arguments) as they participate in an intact classroom activity designed to facilitate their understanding of heat energy and temperature. The study is based on 32 ninth-grade students in a public school in Londrina, Brazil. Results obtained show that the differentiation between heat energy and temperature constitutes considerable difficulties for the students, and can be considered as part of the hard-core of their understanding (Lakatos, 1970, Criticism and the Growth of Knowledge, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, pp. 91–196). Student interactions (video taped) were classified into an Alternative Model, Transitional Model, and Scientific Model, depending on the degree to which they reflected a progressive transition in their hard-core. Students generally resisted a change in their conceptual understanding. Some students were able to question the hard-core of their beliefs and construct a Transitory Model. Some students experienced a further progressive transition by constructing a Scientific Model, based on the understanding that Temperature only measures the energy of agitation. Methodology used also provided a glimpse of how a particular student grappled with the conflicts in order to facilitate progressive transition in understanding. It is concluded that given the opportunity to discuss, reflect, consider alternative/conflicting situations, students can construct models that increase progressively in their heuristic/explanatory power.     

Teacher counter stories to a citizenship education mega policy narrative. Preparing for citizenship in Chile

The present article focuses on the counter stories of two Chilean social studies high school teachers. Counter stories describe how teachers use their professional experience to confront those mega narratives composed of dominant educational policies that impinge upon their pedagogical practices. The mega narrative described in this study as a citizenship education mega policy narrative is composed by citizenship educational guidelines that have become influenced by other market-driven educational policies, and is not only present in Chile but has also been influenced by policies coming from countries such as England and the US. Therefore, the discussions that emerge from these counter stories on the nature of this mega narrative and the ways through which teachers can confront it through their teaching, and the implications that all this has for the field of citizenship education, do not only fill a gap in Chilean research but also contribute to discussions on counter and mega narratives in the field of citizenship education within a wider international scope.     

Ethnic Identity Development and Acculturation Preferences Among Minority and Majority Youth: Norms and Contact

This article tests a longitudinal model of the antecedents and consequences of changes in identification with indigenous (Mapuche) among indigenous and nonindigenous youth in Chilean school contexts over a 6‐month period (633 nonindigenous and 270 Mapuche students, M_ages = 12.47 and 12.80 years, respectively). Results revealed that in‐group norms supporting contact and quality of intergroup contact at Time 1 predicted student's changes in Mapuche identification at Time 2, which in turn predicted changes in support for adoption of Chilean culture and maintenance of Mapuche culture at Time 2; some of the relationships between these variables were found to be moderated by age and ethnicity. Conceptual and policy implications are addressed in the Discussion .     

Signal constellations in the hyperbolic plane: A proposal for new communication systems

Signal constellations in the hyperbolic plane are provided as an alternative to traditional signal constellations in the Euclidean plane, since channels may actually exist for which the latter signal constellations are not as suitable as the former. A hyperbolic gaussian probability density function, based solely on geometrical considerations, is derived to determine the performance of the hyperbolic signal constellations. Benefits result from an approach conceived in terms of reduced signal-to-noise ratio, needed to achieve a prescribed error rate and equivalent optimum receiver complexity.     

Cross-over, thresholds, and interactions between science and technology: lessons for less-developed countries

Presently, science is an important precondition for the economic development of less-developed countries. This paper discusses the specific roles that science has at initial stages of development, pointing to its contributions for the countries’ absorptive capability. Furthermore, this paper specifies the role of science for initiating a positive interaction with technological development, since initial stages of development and during catching up processes. For less-developed countries, neither the linear model of technology nor an “inverted linear model” would take place: a more interactive approach is necessary for development. Using statistics of patents (USPTO) and scientific papers (ISI) for 120 countries (1974, 1982, 1990, and 1998), this paper analyses some evidences on thresholds levels of scientific production to originate an interactive relationship between science and technology. These data also document that the value of this threshold seems to double from one period to another. Although this paper presents tentative results, some policy implications are discussed: scientific institutional building must be seen as a component of modern industrial policies.     

Paternal Sensitivity and Children’s Cognitive and Socioemotional Outcomes: A Meta-Analytic Review

In a series of meta-analyses, paternal sensitivity was associated with children’s (age range: 7 months–9 years) overall cognitive functioning (N = 3,193; k = 23; r = .19), including language skills (k = 9; r = .21), cognitive ability (k = 9; r = .18), and executive function (k = 8; r = .19). Paternal sensitivity was not associated with children’s overall socioemotional functioning (N = 2,924; k = 24; r = −.03) or internalizing problems, but it was associated with children’s emotion regulation (k = 7; r = .22) and externalizing problems (k = 19; r = −.08). In the broad cognitive functioning, executive function, broad socioemotional functioning, and externalizing problems meta-analyses, child age was a significant moderator.     

Do Mothers or Children Lead the Dance? Disentangling Individual and Influence Effects During Conflict

Are mother–child conflict discussions shaped by time-varying, reciprocal influences, even after accounting for stable contributions from each individual? Mothers were filmed discussing a conflict for 5 min, separately with their younger (ages 5–9, N = 217) and older (ages 7–13, N = 220) children. Each person’s conflict constructiveness was coded in 20-s intervals and data were analyzed using dynamic structural equation modeling, which separates individual and influence effects. Children influenced their mothers’ behavior under certain conditions, with evidence for developmental differences in the magnitude and direction of influence, whereas mothers did not influence their children under any circumstance. Results are discussed in the context of child effects on parent behavior and changes in parenting across middle childhood.