Global Self-Worth among Adolescents: The Role of Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction in Physical Education

ABSTRACT

Global self-worth is important for healthy development and learning, and is therefore highlighted as a major aim in the Norwegian physical education (PE) curriculum. Based on prior research this study aimed to assess potential differences in global self-worth and contextual basic need satisfaction among 2854 adolescents (47.5% boys, 52.5% girls, ages 13 and 16) participating in different movement contexts, and to determine whether basic need satisfaction in PE relates to global self-worth. Structural equation modeling analyses indicate that basic need satisfaction in PE relates significantly to global self-worth. However, adolescents who do not participate in movement contexts outside school report significantly lower basic need satisfaction in PE compared to their sports-active peers, and could possibly therefore experience reduced global self-worth development through PE. Findings support research showing that sports active youth reap most of the bene?ts of PE, and thus, that PE violates the principles of equal education.     

Fungal genus Hypocrea/Trichoderma: from barcodes to biodiversity

Hypocrea/Trichoderma is a genus of soil-borne or wood-decaying fungi containing members important to mankind as producers of industrial enzymes and biocontrol agents against plant pathogens, but also as opportunistic pathogens of immuno-compromised humans and animals, while others can cause damage to cultivated mushroom. With the recent advent of a reliable, BarCode-aided identification system for all known taxa of Trichoderma and Hypocrea, it became now possible to study some of the biological fundamentals of the diversity in this fungal genus in more detail. In this article, we will therefore review recent progress in (1) the understanding of the geographic distribution of individual taxa; (2) mechanisms of speciation leading to development of mushroom diseases and facultative human mycoses; and (3) the possible correlation of specific traits of secondary metabolism and molecular phylogeny.     

ENSO and Southeast Asian biomass burning modulate subtropical trans-Pacific ozone transport

Trans-Pacific transport of enhanced ozone plumes has been mainly attributed to fossil fuel combustion in Asia in spring, but less attention has been paid to vegetation fires in Asia. Here we show that the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO)-modulated fires in Southeast Asia, rather than Asian fossil fuel plumes, dominate the interannual variability of springtime trans-Pacific transport of ozone across the entire North Pacific Ocean. During El Niño springs, the intensified fires from both the Indochinese Peninsula and Indonesia, together with large-scale circulation anomalies, result in enhanced ozone plumes that stretch over 15 000 km in both the lower-middle and upper troposphere. This enhancement is also observed in the in situ measurements of ozone concentration, with an almost 10% increase at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii, a unique site to monitor the long-distance transport over the North Pacific. This study reports an unexpectedly strong influence of vegetation fires, linked with climate variability, on global tropospheric chemistry and proves once more how complex the interactions in the climate system are.     

Adding Objectivity to Standard Setting: Evaluating Consequence Using the Conscious and Subconscious Weight Methods

Standard setting is arguably one of the most subjective techniques in test development and psychometrics. The decisions when scores are compared to standards, however, are arguably the most consequential outcomes of testing. Providing licensure to practice in a profession has high stake consequences for the public. Denying graduation or forcing remediation has high-impact consequences for students. Unfortunately, tests that classify individuals are subjected to false positive and false negative misclassifications. When determining a standard, standard setting panelists implicitly consider the negative consequences of the decisions made from test use. We propose the conscious weight method and subconscious weight method to bring more objectivity to the standard setting process. To do this, these methods quantify the relative harm of the negative consequences of false positive and false negative misclassification.     

Exploring the Relationships between Employee Burnout,Organizational Dissent and Work-family Culture in Russian Organizations

ABSTRACT

Employees who fail to balance work and life responsibilities are likely to experience job burnout and, ultimately, withdraw their engagement and voice in the workplace. The current study explored the relationships between employee burnout, work-family balance, and organizational dissent. More importantly, these relationships were tested in an under-researched and culturally unique context, Russia. Data collected from 232 full-time employees in the Perm region were analysed using multiple regression analysis. Analysis revealed that employee burnout is negatively related to articulated dissent and positively related to latent dissent. Furthermore, employees who receive managerial support for prioritizing family issues are less likely to experience job burnout. The influences of national culture and macroeconomic factors on the tested relationships are further discussed     

Mentoring and sponsorship in higher education institutions: men’s invisible advantage in STEM?

ABSTRACT

This article is concerned with the source of men’s invisible advantage in the male-dominated disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). It is suggested that this advantage has been obscured by combining sponsorship and mentoring. The research asks: Are men or women most likely to be mentored? Is it possible to distinguish between mentoring and sponsorship? Is there gender variation in either or both of these depending on the source – whether from the academic supervisor, line manager or other senior academics? This qualitative study draws on interview data from 106 respondents (57 men and 48 women) at high, mid and early levels, in four universities: one each in Bulgaria, Denmark, Ireland, and Turkey. It shows that both men and women received mentoring from their PhD supervisor, albeit with slightly different reported nuances. Men were more likely than women to receive sponsorship in that relationship. Both men and women received sponsorship from the Head of Department, whose wider responsibilities may have reduced homophily. Men were more likely than women to receive sponsorship and mentoring from senior men, with most women indicating a lack of access to such senior academics. By distinguishing between mentoring and sponsorship, this article contributes to our understanding of the way male dominance in STEM is perpetuated and suggests the source of men’s invisible advantage in STEM.     

Individual Differences in Interest and Narrative Writing

Two hundred twenty-four undergraduate students wrote about one-half of an inning of a baseball game and about one-half of a soccer game, counterbalanced, for 20 min each. Students then completed two six-item interest inventories—one each on the topics of baseball and soccer—and tests of baseball knowledge and soccer knowledge. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that individual interest in baseball was significantly related to the proportions of game actions and irrelevant-nongame actions, controlling for gender, discourse knowledge, and topic knowledge. Topic knowledge was significantly related to thematic maturity, controlling for gender and discourse knowledge. Students wrote more topic-relevant information on the baseball story—a relatively high-interest topic—than on the soccer story, a relatively low-interest topic. Implications for the Flower and Hayes (1981) writing model and for assigning students writing topics are discussed.     

Integration of Interests at University

University students and instructors constantly correlate their personal interests with generally accepted interests and corporate norms. The process of assimilating organizational norms is not always characterized by the optimum dynamics and focus among all the students and even instructors. Students’ and instructors’ personal interests often do not coincide with corporate norms of a higher educational institution. This fact sometimes has an ambiguous influence on their self-fulfillment, ethical, moral values and professional development. Non-institutional character of some personal interests often generates a mistaken opinion that as a result of long studies or work at university a person fully assimilates the values and ethical behavioral norms stipulated in basic corporate acts of the organization. The resolution of a conflict between personal and public interests is one of the main ways to perform the integration of interests.     

Review:Global nutrient profiling by Phenotype MicroArrays:a tool complementing genomic and proteomic studies in conidial fungi

Conidial fungi or molds and mildews are widely used in modern biotechnology as producers of antibiotics and other secondary metabolites,industrially important enzymes,chemicals and food.They are also important pathogens of animals including humans and agricultural crops.These various applications and extremely versatile natural phenotypes have led to the constantly growing list of complete genomes which are now available.Functional genomics and proteomics widely exploit the genomic information to study the ...