Predicting adolescent truancy: The importance of distinguishing between different aspects of instructional quality

Little is known about the association of classroom characteristics with adolescent truancy. A critical question is whether high achievement standards, high workload, and fast pace protect against or increase adolescent truancy. In this study, self-reports from 3491 Swiss grade 7, grade 8 and grade 9 students in 202 classes were used to predict truancy. Multilevel modeling was used to differentiate between the student and the class levels. High achievement standards were associated with a lower truancy rate at both the student and the class level, whereas fast instructional pace was associated with more truancy at both levels. A perception of the workload as being too low was an additional predictor of high truancy at both the student and the class level.     

未来气候变化对鄱阳湖区土地利用变化的影响评估

为了评估未来气候变化可能对鄱阳湖区土地利用变化产生的影响,本文根据IPCC的建议,利用新近建立的基于主体的土地利用变化模拟模型,详细分析了4种气候变化情景下鄱阳湖区1985-2035年的土地利用变化过程。这4种气候变化情景分别为A1B(经济高速增长模式)、A2(区域经济多样化增长模式)、B1(引进更多清洁能源的经济增长模式)和情景4(无气候变化模式)。在这些气候变化情景中,由于耕地的农业生产潜力差异显著,农户主体的收入和他们对土地利用方式的决策也发生了相应的改变。通过对这一过程的模拟和结果分析,发现气候变化可能有利于鄱阳湖区土地利用变化向着环境友好的方向自我调整。与A1B和A2两种气候变化情景相比,B1情景对土地利用变化的影响更具环境友好性。     

Show me the money! An empirical analysis of mentoring outcomes for women in academia

This paper discusses and comprehensively evaluates a mentoring scheme for junior female academics. The program aimed to address the under‐representation of women in senior positions by increasing participation in networks and improving women’s research performance. A multifaceted, longitudinal design, including a control group, was used to evaluate the success of mentoring in terms of the benefits for the women and for the university. The results indicate mentoring was very beneficial, showing that mentees were more likely to stay in the university, received more grant income and higher level of promotion, and had better perceptions of themselves as academics compared with non‐mentored female academics. This indicates that not only do women themselves benefit from mentoring but that universities can confidently implement well‐designed initiatives, knowing that they will receive a significant return on investment.     

Straight sprinting is the most frequent action in goal situations in professional football

The present study aimed to analyse the influence of speed and power abilities in goal situations in professional football. During the second half of the season 2007/08, videos of 360 goals in the first German national league were analysed by visual inspection. For the assisting and the scoring player the situations immediately preceding the goal were evaluated. The observed actions were categorised as: no powerful action, rotation (around the body's centre-line), straight sprint, change-in-direction sprint, jump, or a combination of those categories. Two hundred and ninety-eight (83%) goals were preceded by at least one powerful action of the scoring or the assisting player. Most actions for the scoring player were straight sprints (n = 161, 45% of all analysed goals, P < 0.001) followed by jumps (n = 57, 16%), rotations and change-in-direction sprints (n = 22, 6% each). Most sprints were conducted without an opponent (n = 109, P < 0.001) and without the ball (n = 121, P < 0.001). Similarly, for the assisting player the most frequent action was a straight sprint (n = 137, P < 0.001) followed by rotations (n = 28), jumps (n = 22) and change-in-direction sprints (n = 18). The straight sprints were mostly conducted with the ball (n = 93, P = 0.003). In conclusion, straight sprinting is the most frequent action in goal situations. Power and speed abilities are important within decisive situations in professional football and, thus, should be included in fitness testing and training.     

Determinants of Impact: Towards a Better Understanding of Encounters with the Arts

The article argues that current methods for assessing the impact of the arts are largely based on a fragmented and incomplete understanding of the cognitive, psychological and socio-cultural dynamics that govern the aesthetic experience. It postulates that a better grasp of the interaction between the individual and the work of art is the necessary foundation for a genuine understanding of how the arts can affect people. Through a critique of philosophical and empirical attempts to capture the main features of the aesthetic encounter, the article draws attention to the gaps in our current understanding of the responses to art. It proposes a classification and exploration of the factors—social, cultural and psychological—that contribute to shaping the aesthetic experience, thus determining the possibility of impact. The ‘determinants of impact’ identified are distinguished into three groups: those that are inherent to the individual who interacts with the artwork; those that are inherent to the artwork; and ‘environmental factors’, which are extrinsic to both the individual and the artwork. The article concludes that any meaningful attempt to assess the impact of the arts would need to take these ‘determinants of impact’ into account, in order to capture the multidimensional and subjective nature of the aesthetic experience.     

The effects of time and practice upon culture assimilator trainingLos efectos del tiempo y la practica en el entrenamiento de asimiladores de culturaEffets du temps et de la pratique sur l'entrainement avec l'assimilateur culturel

The culture assimilator is a technique for training persons from one culture to better understand the behavior of persons from another culture. A laboratory test, using 35 white female college students, of an assimilator for teaching Whites about black culture revealed significant improvements in trained subjects' knowledge of black culture and in their enjoyment of an interpersonal interaction with black confederates. Support was found for the hypothesis that assimilator training heightens subjects' anxiety with regard to interpersonal encounters with members of the target culture, but that the anxiety decreases over time. Results suggest a small positive effect of a supportive practice interaction with a target culture member prior to the behavioral measures. Some of the attitude measures were significant in the hypothesized direction, but others were significant in the opposite direction. Possible causes and implications of these results are discussed.     

WHAT IS INTERIORITY AND WHY MIGHT IT BE IMPORTANT FOR HUMAN PERFORMANCE TECHNOLOGY?

Considerations of the inner world of workers and organizations might not fall within the provenance of human performance technology (HPT) practitioners. However, when it comes to being creative, workers need fertile imaginations driven from within. When it comes to productivity, mostly inner energies drive collaboration. When it comes to results, leaders must nurture workers toward wholeness for effective decisions and wisdom‐driven action. For these reasons, HPT practitioners need to know how to engage with the interiority factor.     

An Activist Approach to Sport Meets Youth From Socially Vulnerable Backgrounds: Possible Learning Aspirations

Purpose: This study was a 2-phase activist research project aimed at co-creating a prototype pedagogical model for working with youth from socially vulnerable backgrounds in a sport context. This article addresses the learning aspirations (learning outcomes) that emerged when we created spaces for youth to develop strategies to manage the risks they face in their community. Method: This study took place in a socially and economically disadvantaged neighborhood in a Brazilian city where we worked with a group of 17 boys aged 13 to 15 years old, 4 coaches, a pedagogic coordinator, and a social worker. During a 6-month period, we collected multiple sources of data including field journal entries/observations (38) and audio records of youth work sessions (18), coaches' work sessions (16), combined coaches and youth work sessions (3), and meetings between the lead and the 2nd author for debriefing and planning sessions (36). Results: By using an activist approach, 4 learning aspirations emerged: becoming responsible/committed, learning from mistakes, valuing each other's knowledge, and communicating with others. Conclusion: Findings suggest there is a need for more sports programs that start from young people's concrete needs and life situations and look to create places for youth to see alternative possibilities and take action.