Shaping the Web: Why the Politics of Search Engines Matters

This article argues that search engines raise not merely technical issues but also political ones. Our study of search engines suggests that they systematically exclude (in some cases by design and in some, accidentally) certain sites and certain types of sites in favor of others, systematically giving prominence to some at the expense of others. We argue that such biases, which would lead to a narrowing of the Web's functioning in society, run counter to the basic architecture of the Web as well as to the values and ideals that have fueled widespread support for its growth and development. We consider ways of addressing the politics of search engines, raising doubts whether, in particular, the market mechanism could serve as an acceptable corrective.     

电脑游戏--如工作般上瘾

电脑游戏狂热爱好者不应该被称为上瘾者,尽管许多玩家声称他们沉迷于游戏,而且这种嗜好正在影响他们的社交生活。在这里举行的世界首届跨学科游戏大会上,与会的心理学家、社会学家以及其他学科的专家得知有一些迹象表明游戏所刺激的大脑区域,与酒精和其他毒品所刺激的区域相同。     

Persistence and withdrawal by students in a preservice science and mathematics teacher education course

At a time when recruitment into preservice teacher education courses in mathematics and science is difficult, one strategy to increase the number of graduates is to minimise the number of students who fail to complete their university courses. This study sought to determine factors which distinguish withdrawers from persisters in the first semester of a B.Ed course. Discriminant analysis was employed; a discriminant function employing seven factors resulted in correct classification in 81% of cases. Further analysis distinguishing between dropouts and transferees resulted in two discriminant functions with some common variables. Specializations: Science Education, Pedagogy. Specializations: Science Education, Inservice Teacher Education, Metacognition     

Periodic water,interwater interval,and adjunctive behavior in a 24-hour multiresponse environment

To examine the generality of the interreward response effects shown by rats under periodic food delivery, we presented .10 ml of water at minimum interwater intervals that ranged from 8 to 512 sec. Use of a 24-h multiresponse environment allowed evaluation of interdrink responses with respect to their excessiveness, patterning, and functional relationship to the interwater interval. In contrast to the extensive activity-inducing effects of periodic food, the only major excitatory effect of periodic water was increased attention to the water source. Although there were a few bitonic and direct relationships between interwater interval and changes in responding, the great majority of functions were inverse or inconsistent. Further, unlike the increase in drinking under periodic food, total eating decreased under periodic water. The major similarity with food reward was the apparent separation of interreward behavior into three general classes of reward-appropriate foraging responses: area-restricted search after reward, more general search (and waiting), and focal search preceding the next reward delivery.     

Career adaptability and associations with personality traits and pathological traits utilizing network analysis

This study investigated relationships between career adaptability and personality and pathological traits using the network analysis approach. We administered CAAS, BFI-2-S, and IDCP-2 to 630 working adults. We observed positive associations between personality and career adaptability and negative associations between pathological traits and career adaptability. This paper contributes to the understanding of the associations between career adaptability and Big Five personality traits and pathological traits. We found stronger associations between career adaptability and personality traits as compared to pathological traits. Our findings suggest that Neuroticism and Conscientiousness contribute more to adaptation to professional development tasks than do pathological traits.

     

“I’m Not the Science Type”: Effect of an Inquiry Biology Content Course on Preservice Elementary Teachers’ Intentions About Teaching Science

Inquiry Into Life Science is a content biology course expressly for the fulfillment of the General Education life science laboratory course requirement of elementary education majors at this university. The course is modeled on the Teaching Standards and Content Standards of the National Science Education Standards [National Research Council. (1996). The national science education standards. Washington. DC: National Academy Press]. The change in intentions of 61 Fall 2002 enrollees were studied using triangulated quantitative and qualitative techniques to seek specific changes regarding self-perceived effectiveness as a biology teacher, self-perceived subject matter command, curriculum development competence, and pedagogical skills, all linked to developing intentions. Significant growth in all four domains was observed. These findings contribute to the research-based call for inquiry-oriented college science coursework for preservice teachers.     

Initial conditioned solutions of a second-order nonlinear conservative differential equation with a periodically varying coefficient

The exact solution of the equation

$\text{d}{}^2\text{x}\text{dt}{}^2\text{+dx+d′f(wt)x}{}^3\text{=0,}$

where d, d' and w are positive constants, and ?(wt) is a rectangular periodic function of time is discussed. The equation describes approximately the transversal movement of a particle in an alternating gradient accelerator. The exact solution is obtained in the form of a composite recurrent relation containing five particular solutions. Each of these solutions corresponds to a specific well-defined area of the phase plane of the initial conditions. The dynamical behaviour and the stability of the movement are examined analytically.     

Enriching students’ language skills and confidence through a university mentoring scheme

University can be a challenging learning environment for students entering with a lower level of English. This report focusses on a mentoring scheme which aims to enhance undergraduate students’ English language skills so that they gain the most from their studies. Around 200 students participate in this mentoring scheme each academic year and the programme involves around ten university English teachers who act as mentors. In this report, we describe the programme and reflect on our experience as mentors.