Convention on Cultural Diversity

UNESCO has given its Director General a mandate to draft a convention on protecting the diversity of cultural contents and artistic expressions by the fall of 2005. Proponents of the convention view commitments made by countries in trade agreements as weakening their ability to preserve and promote cultural diversity. We review the existing draft wording for a convention, developed before the official involvement of UNESCO, by the INCP, an association representing cultural ministries in favour of insulating their cultural policies from liberalization, and conclude that it fails to meet the necessary conditions for an enforceable rules-based international agreement. In the INCP text, countries are given rights to introduce policies that promote a self-defined cultural diversity. The only obligation is to balance their interests with those of others. No standard of adjudication for balance is offered nor any effective dispute resolution mechanism developed. The ultimate purpose of the initiative may be to form a negotiating bloc within the WTO, but the disparate interests of its members and the lack of tangible benefits from the Convention reduce the credibility of bargaining solidarity. In contrast, the WTO provides a flexible and effective forum for negotiating maintenance of current policy options at a cost of making concessions in other sectors.     

电动高尔夫球车的电池维护

如果你把高尔夫电动球车上的座位掀起来，就能看到一组用电缆链接的六节电池。这个矩形的电池组看上去很简单，无害并且没有任何威胁。电子马达运行时感觉相当安静，但这不代表没有问题。任何电池都需要常规的检测和维修。如果使用得当，维护得法，这些电池能提供可靠的性能并连续使用多年无需更换。随着金属价格的升高，一组电池的价钱可以轻易涨到五千元人民币以上。     

Macbeth: a poetry workshop on stage at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

Keith Park, advisory teacher for Sense in the London Boroughs of Greenwich and Lewisham, has written a series of articles focused on the relationship between communication and access to literature for pupils with learning difficulties. In this article, he turns his attention to poetry. He explores the notion that all of us, to some extent, respond to great works of literature affectively. He describes his use of works by T. S. Eliot, James Joyce and Shakespeare in interactive and experiential sessions with pupils with severe and profound and multiple learning difficulties. In closing this article, Keith Park provides a case study in assessment by evaluating the responses of one student and showing how the Shakespeare workshop enabled her to become an active learner.     

Constraints on dynamic stability during forward,backward and lateral locomotion in skilled football players

The aim of this study was to investigate effects of speed and plane of motion on stability during locomotion in skilled football players. Ten male national-level football players participated in this study to run forward, backward and in lateral directions on a treadmill at 80%, 100% and 120% of their preferred running speeds. The coordinate data of passive reflective markers attached to body segments were recorded using motion capture systems. Time series data obtained from the ankle marker were used for further analyses. The largest finite-time Lyapunov exponent and maximum Floquet multiplier were adopted to quantify local and orbital dynamic stabilities, respectively. Results showed that speed did not significantly change local and orbital dynamic stabilities in any of running patterns. However, both local and orbital dynamic stability were significantly higher in the secondary plane of progression. Data revealed that in running, unlike walking, stability in the direction perpendicular to the direction of running is significantly higher, implying that less active control is required in the secondary plane of progression. The results of this study could be useful in sports training and rehabilitation programmes where development of fundamental exercise programmes that challenge both speed and the ability to maintain stability might produce a tangible enhancement of athletic skill level.     

Portfolio versus syllabus methods in experiential education

The portfolio method of assessing past experience for the award of academic credit is being nationally promoted by the Council for the Advancement of Experiential Learning (CAEL). The portfolio method has evolved since 1974 and is used in a number of colleges and universities. The project-syllabus method was developed by the author in 1969 to support experiential credit for students in sponsored experiences. Beginning about 1973, the project-syllabus method was also used to support credit for past experiences in some areas. These two methods are contrasted, comparisons made to traditional classroom methods, and strengths and weaknesses analyzed.D. Keith Lupton, the Guest Editor for this issue, is the Director of the Off-Campus Term Program, University of South Florida.     

Minor Parenting Stresses with Young Children

The importance of major life stress and minor daily hassles associated with parenting was studied in 74 mothers and their 5-year-old children. Of interest were the relative and absolute contributions of the stress factors to indices of parental, child, and family functioning. Mothers completed questionnaires regarding stressors, aspects of parenting and individual psychological status, social support, family functioning, and child behavioral status. Mother-child pairs were also observed in interactions in a laboratory setting. Analyses indicated that life stress and parenting daily hassles significantly predicted aspects of child, parent, and family status. Hassles, however, proved to be a more powerful stress construct. Further analyses indicated that mothers' social support moderated the influence of hassles on indices of maternal behavior. The results are discussed in relation to the potential for minor parenting stresses to influence microsocial processes within parent-child relationships and contribute to dysfunction in children and families.     

The Contribution of Educational Psychology to Intervention Research and Practice

Advances in psychological theory have made significant contributions to the considerable progress that has been achieved in intervention research and practice, especially in the past two decades. This article presents a discussion of the major conceptual and methodological issues that have arisen in intervention research, with a focus on interventions for children with learning problems, particularly reading problems. Examples from our own research are presented to illustrate how conceptual and methodological factors in intervention research can be taken into consideration in the design of intervention studies.