When Parents Ask ... about Preterm Birth, Breastfeeding Success, Breast Cancer, or Waterbirth

IN THIS COLUMN, THE AUTHOR REVIEWS RESEARCH ON FOUR SEPARATE TOPICS: the prevention of preterm birth, the effect of epidurals on breastfeeding success, the possible protective effect of lactation on breast cancer, and laboring in water. In two separate studies-a multisite study in the United States and a second study from Brazil-natural progesterone was shown to significantly reduce the incidence of preterm birth in women at high risk. A third study conducted in the United Kingdom examined the effect of clindamycin on preventing infection that can lead to preterm birth. A group of studies related to lactation found that early breastfeeding was more successful in women who did not have epidural anesthesia. In a Korean study, the lifetime duration of breastfeeding was associated with a significant reduction in breast cancer. Concerning waterbirth, Swiss researchers found that, when a woman labored in water, she regulated both water temperature and bathing duration to ensure that her body temperature and that of the fetus remained within a normal physiological range.     

Coding of feature and no-feature events by pigeons performing a delayed conditional discrimination

Pigeons’ performance of a delayed conditional discrimination with presence versus absence of conditional (sample) stimuli was examined in two experiments. The pigeons showed steeper retention functions with feature (i.e., presence) samples (either food or yellow) than with no-feature (i.e., absence) samples (either no food or no yellow). These results suggest that pigeons code features and respond only by default to test stimuli (comparisons) associated with no features. In contrast, the overall superiority of performance on no-feature-sample trials compared with feature-sample trials in both the food/no-food- and yellow/no-yellow-sample tasks was reversed at a 0-sec delay in the food/no-food-sample group, but not in the yellow/non-yellow-sample group. This difference in results with hedonic versus nonhedonic samples suggests that the crossover in delay performance on food/no-food-sample trials is produced by the formation of backward associations between the food-associated comparison stimulus and the food sample.     

提高计算机上机实验效果的探索

本文主要讨论了影响上机实验效果的三大因素，环境因素、学生因素和教师因素。其中教师因素起主导作用，提高教师的积极性和教师的计算机应用水平至关重要，当然学生、环境因素也不可忽视，只有综合考虑它们的共同作用，才能取得良好的上机实验效果。     

The relative effects of pre- and postattention directing devices on learning from a “walk-through” museum exhibit

Twenty-eight seventh and eighth grade students were randomly assigned to two treatments and a control as they entered the Florida State Museum. All subjects were given set induction materials saying in effect: (1) Treatment-Study the wall panel which is part of the cave exhibit and describes the many biologic relationships and organisms in the cave at the cave entrance. Continue into the cave and study the habitat. When you exit the cave you will be given a test to see how much you learned; (2) Treatment II-Enter the cave and study that habitat. When you exit at the other end, study the wall panel which is part of the cave exit and describes the many biologic relationships and organisms in the cave. After studying this panel you will be given a test to see how much you learned; (3) Control-You will take a walk through exhibits depicting a variety of Florida Habitats and later see a film on the Habitats of Florida that are represented in the museum. Then you will be given a test to determine how much you know about one type of habitat. Both treatments and the control spent equivalent time at their tasks and were confronted with either the cave exhibit as described or the equivalent control experiences. A 25 item criterion test was designed to measure the acquisition of conceptual and factual knowledge and specific attentional factors relative to both the cave and the instructional panel. A Kr-20 indicated that this instrument had a reliability coefficient of 0.80. It was anticipated that the panel, used as an attention directing and controlling device prior to entering the cave (Treatment I) or upon exiting the cave (Treatment II), would function as a forward-shaping or backward review prompting adjunct, hence both should be significantly more effective than the control. This was confirmed (df 2,28; F 8.09) p < 0.01. It was also expected that the forward shaping panel would be more effective than the backward review panel in the tradition of inserted questions in prose research. Although the differences were in this direction, they were not significant (p≤ 0.10).     

高职公共实训基地建设的目标定位及管理体制与机制

公共实训基地是高职教育与培训不可或缺的办学条件,是为高职院校、企业行业提供实践教学、技术培训、技能鉴定和技术服务等活动的重要保障与主要载体。因此,必须充分认识高职教育公共实训基地的重要性及其现实意义,积极探索其建设与管理的体制与机制,在高技能人才和高素质劳动者的培养培训中发挥重要作用。     

实用教学软件的再开发与应用

就计算机系统软件在教学应用中的实际问题给出了一些简单的再开发程序,这些程序对计算机的理论教学和实际操作具有一定的帮助和益处。     

Reducing the prior-knowledge achievement gap by using technology-assisted guided learning in an undergraduate chemistry course

There have been many practical obstacles for teachers to implement evidence-based educational technology, especially in STEM classrooms. By implementing learning principles related to Cognitive Load Theory, we developed an innovative Technology-Assisted Guided Learning (TAGL) approach and its web-based instructional tool, combining expertise from educational research and best teaching practices to enhance guided student-centered learning in chemistry. A total of 185 community college students were randomly assigned to learn stoichiometry through either TAGL or one of two active control interventions, traditional direct instruction and Khan Academy, a widely used web learning platform. We found that the TAGL group significantly outperformed both active control groups immediately after instruction, and furthermore, despite the fact that all groups received additional instruction in stoichiometry, the beneficial effects of TAGL compared to the control groups were maintained a month later. Notably, TAGL was able to eliminate the achievement gap between students with low prior knowledge and students with high prior knowledge. Furthermore, prior-knowledge activation was found to be especially beneficial for students with low prior knowledge. Our work contributes to existing research in learning theories and provides new insight toward the development of more effective and adaptive instructional designs. By translating research into practice, this study demonstrates the great potential of using innovative computer-based technology to improve student learning for all.     

国内外高等教育竞争战略研究综述(二)

文章对国内外高等教育竞争战略的研究内容与研究视角进行总结比较,找出现有研究中存在的问题,提出今后需要深入研究的方向。     

公共图书馆免费开放视野下的古籍读者服务

在公共图书馆免费开放的背景下,古籍读者服务工作也相应发生了变化。在古籍阅览的规定方面减少了手续,降低了收费标准,但相应的古籍服务仍不应该完全免费;针对古籍读者群体专业性、目的性强、地域广泛性等特点,公共图书馆应在古籍原件保护、图书馆员业务水平、古籍数字化、地方文献开发和古籍阅览环境等方面采取措施,做好古籍读者服务工作。     

国外电子政务发展的经验及其对我国电子政务发展的启示

总结国外电子政务发展在指导思想、战略原则、重点内容、系统建设模式、保障措施和前提条件等方面的先进经验,提出国外电子政务发展经验对我国电子政务发展的领导与规划、法规与安全、公众和企业作用的发挥、政务信息资源和门户网站建设、公务员培训和信息技术知识普及等方面的启示。