The public's trust in scientific claims regarding offshore oil drilling

Our study examines how individuals decide which scientific claims and experts to believe when faced with competing claims regarding a policy issue. Using an experiment in a public opinion survey, we test the source content and credibility hypotheses to assess how much confidence people have in reports about scientific studies of the safety of offshore oil drilling along the California coast. The results show that message content has a substantial impact. People tend to accept reports of scientific studies that support their values and prior beliefs, but not studies that contradict them. Previous studies have shown that core values influence message acceptance. We find that core values and prior beliefs have independent effects on message acceptance. We also find that the sources of the claims make little difference. Finally, the public leans toward believing reports that oil drilling is riskier than previously believed.     

Prevalence and correlates of physical fitness testing in U.S. schools--2000

Because of the perceived lack of youth physical fitness and/or concerns for increased obesity, physical education teachers are interested in youth fitness and physical activity levels. Statewide mandates are being developed that require school-based teachers to complete physical fitness testing. Data from the nationally representative School Health Policies and Programs Study 2000 were analyzed to investigate the prevalence of fitness testing and the professional characteristics of fitness test users. Data were collected with teachers of either randomly selected classes in elementary schools and randomly selected required physical education courses in middle/junior high and senior high schools (N = 1,564). The prevalence of fitness test use is 65% across all school levels. Variables associated with physical fitness test usage were professionally oriented. Results showed that teachers in secondary schools (odds ratio [OR] = 2.25, 95% confidence interval [CI] = I.18-4.27), those with degrees in physical education/kinesiology-related disciplines (OR = 2.01, 95% CI = 1.11-3.63), and those who had completed staff development on physical fitness testing (OR = 3.22, 95% CI = 1.86-5.60) were more likely than respondents without these characteristics to engage in physical fitness testing. Results changed little when separate analyses were conducted for classes/courses in districts requiring versus not requiring fitness testing. Financial variables, including fitness-oriented facilities available, metropolitan location, and discretionary expenditures per student, were not associated with fitness test use. Results provided national prevalence of school-based physical fitness testing use in the U. S. and conveyed information about those who currently use physical fitness tests.     

Girls' and boys' perceptions of physical education teachers' feedback: effects on performance and psychological responses

In this study, we examined the perceptions of physical education (PE) teachers' feedback patterns with female and male high school students (n = 325). Eight physical education teachers (4 females and 4 males) were involved. We examined (a) whether teachers' feedback was perceived differently by boys and girls, and how the sex of the teacher influenced these perceptions, and (b) the effects of types of feedback (praise, no response-successful, encouragement, technical information, criticism, no response-unsuccessful, and teacher's invested time) on students' perceived competence, effort, enjoyment, and their PE performance. A multivariate analysis revealed an interaction between teacher and student gender on perceptions of teacher feedback. Hierarchical regression analyses highlighted that the perceived feedback significantly predicted students' perceptions of competence (DeltaR(2) = 0.088), effort (DeltaR(2) = 0.119), enjoyment (DeltaR(2) = 0.085), and their PE performance (DeltaR(2) = 0.039) after accounting for the gender of the students and teachers and the students' initial PE performance. The perceptions of praise and teachers' invested time were positively linked with the dependent variables, whereas encouragement and technical information and criticism were negatively linked. The findings are discussed in terms of teaching effectiveness and gender equity.     

Website creation and resource management: developing collaborative strategies for asynchronous interaction with library users

Objective: To make electronic resources available to library users while effectively harnessing intellectual capital within the library, ultimately fostering the library’s use of technology to interact asynchronously with its patrons (users). Methods: The methods used in the project included: (1) developing a new library website to facilitate the creation, management, accessibility, maintenance and dissemination of library resources; and (2) establishing ownership by those who participated in the project, while creating effective work allocation strategies through the implementation of a content management system that allowed the library to manage cost, complexity and interoperability. Results: Preliminary results indicate that contributors to the system benefit from an increased understanding of the library’s resources and add content valuable to library patrons. These strategies have helped promote the manageable creation and maintenance of electronic content in accomplishing the library’s goal of interacting with its patrons. Conclusions: Establishment of a contributive system for adding to the library’s electronic resources and electronic content has been successful. Further work will look at improving asynchronous interaction, particularly highlighting accessibility of electronic content and resources.     

旅游服务供应链信任均衡研究

旅游服务供应链中的业务关系是基于彼此间的信任而形成的,建立良好的信任氛围对于提升旅游服务供应链的绩效具有重要作用。在总结分析供应链信任研究相关文献的基础上,对传统信任度的取值进行拓展,研究了不同信任氛围下信任的传递机制及均衡。得出结论认为：供应链信任均衡不仅受信任氛围的影响,还与初始的信任状态密切相关;信任氛围对供应链信任起着保健因素的作用;供应链信任均衡的稳定性主要受关键关系的影响。并据此从信任氛围的角度给出了我国发展旅游供应链的相关政策建议。     

Parental child abuse potential and subsequent coping competence in disadvantaged preschool children: moderating effects of sex and ethnicity

This study evaluated the effects of abuse potential in parents on subsequent coping competence domains in their children, using a model empirically supported in a high-risk community sample by Moreland and Dumas (2007). Data from an ethnically diverse sample of 579 parents enrolled in the PACE (Parenting Our Children to Excellence) program was used to evaluate whether parental child abuse potential assessed at pre-intervention negatively contributed to child affective, achievement, and social coping competence in preschoolers one year later, and whether these associations were moderated by sex or ethnicity. Cross-sectional results indicated that parental child abuse potential was negatively related to child affective and achievement coping competence, after accounting for variance associated with child behavior problems. However, child abuse potential was not predictive of subsequent coping competence in any domain after controlling for previous levels of child coping competence. No moderating effects were found for sex and ethnicity, but results showed main effects of sex and ethnicity in cross-sectional analyses. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.     

学生自学能力培养艺术研究初探

科技的发展魔术般地改变着世界的面貌,知识的更新令每一位世人惊叹.新科技革命深刻改变着人们关于教育的固有观念.能力培养比知识教育更重要,方法传授比结论教育更重要,未来的文盲已不再是没有知识的人,而是不具备自学能力的人.知识的急速增长要求人们学会学习.因此,培养学生的自学能力无论是现在还是将来都有着极其深远的意义.……     

沙发太软，睾丸受损

现在，坐软沙发的人越来越多，有些人一屁股坐在沙发上看电视，几个小时不挪窝，谁也不会想到这柔软舒适的沙发竟会对睾丸的功能带来损坏。 原因在哪呢?人类本来的坐姿，是以坐骨的两个结节作为支撑点，这时阴囊轻松地悬挂于两大腿之间。然而坐在沙发上时，原来的支点下沉，整个臀部陷入沙发中，沙发的填充物和表面用料就会包围、压迫阴囊，使局部静脉血回流不畅，睾丸附近的血流受阻，淤血严重时可导致精索静脉曲张，患者会出现睾丸下坠沉重，下腹部钝痛感等症状。精索静脉曲张时，睾丸新陈代谢所产生的有害物质不能及时排出，也得不到足够的营养，这就会损害睾丸正常分泌睾丸酮的功能，使睾丸酮分泌减少。睾丸酮是维持男子性功能和产生精子的动力。一旦缺乏，势必导致男子性功能障碍和不育症。 所以，需长时间久坐的坐椅应以硬椅为佳，购买沙发时，应充分考虑沙发的硬度，过于柔软的沙发最好铺一层硬的坐垫。随着汽车的颠簸，长途驾驶者睾丸受压更为严重，所以，不仅坐椅要铺上坐垫，连续驾车一段时间后，还应下车散散步，以活动全身，改善局部血液循环，让睾丸得到放松。 (《健康》2000年第12期)     

Incidental Word Learning in Science Classes

The purpose of the project was to investigate students' incidental word learning in science classes that depended on discussion and hands-on activities. In separate studies, 4th- and 8th-grade students were given pretests and posttests that assessed depth of knowledge of topical words used in a single unit. In both studies, students made significant improvement in their knowledge of topical words; knowledge of nontopical words did not improve. Students who started the unit with partial knowledge of topical words were likely to learn meanings appropriate for the unit. Depth of topical word knowledge also contributed significantly to improvement on a test of applied problems. While significant incidental word learning occurred over the science units, students with little or no understanding of topical words at the outset tended to make limited progress in both word learning and learning the ideas and information of the unit. The educational implications are potentially serious and need to be explored in further studies. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.