Comparison of auditory and visual conditioning stimuli in delay eyeblink conditioning in healthy young adults

Classical eyeblink conditioning (EBC) has been widely used to probe cerebellar function in humans and nonhuman mammals. Although the neural pathways governing behavior in this task are well understood and fairly discrete, it remains unclear in the human literature how conditioned stimuli (CSs) of different modalities (e.g., visual and auditory) influence the exhibition of conditioned responses (CRs). In the present study, therefore, CRs to a visual CS and an auditory CS were examined with the single-cue delay EBC procedure. An initial experiment (N=61) was conducted to identify visual and auditory stimuli that had equal perceived intensities. Using these perceptually equivalent stimuli, a second group of 25 subjects completed auditory and visual EBC procedures in two testing sessions 5–8 days apart. Whereas the acquisition of CRs was similar between the CS modality conditions, the timing of the CRs differed such that earlier CR onset and peak latencies were associated with the visual CS. In addition, CR timing improved across testing sessions, as indicated by the later CR peak latencies exhibited during the second testing session, as compared with the first.     

Common misconceptions of suspension: Ideas and alternatives for school leaders

The use of exclusionary discipline practices in schools has been well documented since the 1970s with the passing of the Safe Schools Act and implementation of zero‐tolerance policies. Despite research indicating the ineffectiveness of exclusionary practices, students continue to receive suspensions and expulsions at alarming rates. Additional research highlights that there may be misconceptions regarding the application of suspensions and their perceived functions and effectiveness on students and their families. The purpose of this article is to discuss common misconceptions regarding the effects of suspension and provide teachers, school psychologists, and administrators with proactive strategies for implementation in local systems to create positive school climates and optimize successful outcomes for all students and staff.     

西双版纳曼旦村人工橡胶林“退胶还林”经济补偿标准研究

热带雨林是地球的生物多样性宝库,近年人类活动导致全球热带雨林面积不断减少,使得保护雨林、保护环境,促进可持续发展成为当今世界各个国家和人民的共同愿望。从20世纪50年代至今,西双版纳森林覆盖面积减少了近30%,大部分转变为人工橡胶林。面对经济发展与不良生态效应之间的矛盾关系,以政府为主导的有偿“退胶”是在一定程度上拯救雨林的直接途径。本研究采用土地期望值理论和复利计算法,估算出西双版纳曼旦村橡胶林的土地期望值和森林价值,进而制定出“退胶还林”经济补偿标准,并采用了以20年为年限分期付款、征收/租赁的补偿方式。这一研究结果在理论和实践两方面为“退胶还林”面临的实际问题提供了科学的解决方案和参考依据。为促进“退胶还林”的实施,本文还建议在大规模“退胶还林”计划实施之前,要采取政策和措施,尽可能缓解大面积橡胶林对西双版纳当地生态环境的负面影响。     

Re‐imagining doctoral education: Professional Doctorates and beyond

Portents of the demise of the Professional Doctorate have emerged in some recent policy and institutional circles in Australia, raising questions about the meaning and relevance of the Professional Doctorate in an era of ‘league tables’ and research assessment in Australia. This article argues that such portents, based largely on narrow market‐driven arguments, are premature, reactive and unhelpful, in that they foreclose on a set of critical questions concerning the future purpose, scope and practice of doctoral education. The article argues that the simple re‐assertion of the PhD as the default award represents a restoration of the logics and imperatives of disciplinarity and of older notions of so‐called ‘real’ research. Further, questions of the changing economies of knowledge and practice within, between and beyond the reach of the university, are subordinated and disavowed. The article presents a re‐reading of the emergence of Professional Doctorates, from the perspective of a decade‐and‐a‐half of development and change. It suggests the need to revisit that history critically in the light of the current developments in doctoral education, in knowledge production and in developing different relations around knowledge between universities and different social and professional domains. Such revisitings can bring out emerging issues for doctoral education at a time when anxieties may inhibit taking up opportunities for innovation and linking with new kinds of knowledge production that go beyond Euro‐centric and university‐centric traditions.     

Successful globalisation,education and sustainable development

This article examines the role of education in ‘successful globalisation’ and how this links with agendas for sustainable development. In the first part ‘successful globalisation’ is defined as economic growth combined with equality and social peace. Japan and the East Asian tiger economies – particularly South Korea and Taiwan – have been uniquely successful in the last half century in achieving both rapid economic growth over long periods and relative income equality and social cohesion. A host of factors have been responsible for this, including fortuitous geo-political circumstances and good timing. However, education has also played a major role. The article, based on a review of international and national research literatures, analyses how far China, India, Kenya and Sri Lanka have managed to develop their own forms of successful engagement with the global economy and what part education policy has played. In the second part we relate our concept of successful globalisation to the parallel discourses of sustainable development and education for sustainable development and reflect on what our notion of ‘successful globalisation’ can borrow from and lend to these literatures.     

Examining teacher ethical dilemmas in classroom assessment

The current spotlight on assessment in education raises ethical issues as practices evolve. This study documents ethical conflicts faced by teachers in the United States regarding assessment of students. Critical incidents generated by practising teachers revealed a majority of reported conflicts related to score pollution, and conflicts frequently arose between teachers’ perceptions of institutional demands and the needs of students. The most frequently mentioned assessment topics causing conflict included grading, standardised testing, and special populations. These findings suggest that explicit guidelines for defining and avoiding unethical behaviour would be helpful to teachers in developing their assessment practices.     

Laterality differences in elite ice hockey: an investigation of shooting and catching orientations

Little is known about the implications of motor asymmetries for skilled performers in dynamic, time-constrained, team-based activities such as ice hockey. Three studies were conducted to examine laterality differences in ice hockey. Study 1 investigated laterality distributions across three leagues of increasing calibre. Among skating players, skill level was related to changes in laterality patterns based on position, while a significant increase in the proportion of left-catching goaltenders was found across the levels of competition. Study 2 examined laterality differences through a 90-year retrospective analysis of player performance measures within an evolving system. Regression analysis indicated right shot preferences were associated with scoring more goals, while left shot preferences were related to assisting more goals. Among goaltenders, right-catching preferences were associated with an increased save percentage compared with left-catching goaltenders. In Study 3, player-goaltender shootout interactions revealed left shooters to be less successful against right-catching goaltenders. Results suggest ice hockey supports models of skilled perception, and provide new information in the area of laterality and strategic frequency-dependent effects in ice hockey.     

Scientific objectivity and E. B. Titchener's experimental psychology

Lorraine Daston and Peter Galison's recent book on the history of scientific objectivity showed that, over the course of the nineteenth century, natural scientists of many stripes became intensely concerned with the issue of the distorting influence that their own subjectivities might be having on their observations and representations of nature. At very nearly the same time, experimental psychology arose specifically to investigate scientifically the nature and structure of subjective consciousness. Although Daston and Galison briefly discussed some basic psychological issues-especially the discovery of differences in human color perception-they did not strongly connect the widespread European concern with scientific objectivity to the rise of experimental psychology. This essay critically examines the theoretical and empirical activities of the experimental psychologist who most energetically strove to discover the structure of subjective conscious experience, Edward Bradford Titchener. Titchener's efforts to produce an objective study of subjectivity reveal important tensions in early experimental psychology and also serve to situate experimental psychology at the center of an important intellectual struggle that was being waged across the natural sciences in the decades surrounding the turn of the twentieth century.     

Gender differences in academic and social behavior of elementary school transfer students

This study describes a tutoring program designed to help children in grades 3 through 5 who underwent an unscheduled school transfer. We examined gender differences in self-concepts, academic performance, teacher evaluations, and peer ratings. Gender differences were found in several measures, although gender did not substantially interact with the intervention. As expected, female transfer students reported lower self-concepts than males; teachers reported that boys were more popular; peers also rated boys as more aggressive and girls as more likable. Findings suggest that preventive interventions for transfer students need to account for effects of gender.