Mathematics in narratives of Geodetic expeditions

In eighteenth-century France, geodesy (the measure of the earth's shape) became an arena where mathematics and narrative intersected productively. Mathematics played a crucial role not only in the measurements and analysis necessary to geodesy but also in the narrative accounts that presented the results of elaborate and expensive expeditions to the reading public. When they returned to France to write these accounts after their travels, mathematician-observers developed a variety of ways to display numbers and mathematical arguments and techniques. The numbers, equations, and diagrams they produced could not be separated from the story of their acquisition. Reading these accounts for the interplay of these two aspects--the mathematical and the narrative--shows how travelers articulated the intellectual and physical difficulties of their work to enhance the value of their results for specialist and lay readers alike.     

Innovative practices for needs assessors

To illustrate contemporary modifications to focus group procedures and survey data, this article reviews a needs assessment commissioned by a nonprofit youth organization interested in determining if a health center should be built. Besides illustrating new assessment techniques and the resulting data for the case study, it shows assessors how to specify concrete benchmarks to obtain indisputable evidence of optimal performance.     

An Analysis of the Accreditation of Transferable Skills in Extra Curricular Activities within Higher Education

This paper examines an established Student Tutoring programme in the higher education sector. In particular it investigates the methods by which the development of key skills in participating Student Tutors may be assessed and examines the procedures available for a Student Tutoring scheme to gain accredited status. In light of the recognised deficit in certain transferable skills amongst graduates, this paper also aims to encourage administrators to take the tutoring framework a step further, giving selected student participants the opportunity to gain management experience through overseeing aspects of a tutoring scheme.     

Student Motivation to Learn via Computer Conferencing

This study investigates why some university students appear motivated to learn via computer conferencing (CC) whereas others do not, exploring the correlations of three key aspects of student motivation—reasons for engaging in academic learning (goal orientation), beliefs that they can acquire the ability to use CC (self-efficacy), and beliefs that learning to use CC will help them learn the course material (outcome expectations)—with satisfaction and with the frequency of CC contributions. Participants (n = 79) came from 4 graduate-level face-to-face courses and 1 undergraduate DE course. The results suggest that students who believe that CC will help them learn the course material are more likely to express satisfaction and to be active online, that students who believe that they are capable of learning how to use CC are more likely to be active online, and that students who are concerned about their relative performance compared to others tend to send fewer messages to conferences where online activity is not graded. Practical implications for instructors and suggestions for future research are described.     

The Impact of Doctoral Study on Marital Satisfaction

The purpose of the study was to determine whether marital relationships of doctoral students were affected while they were enrolled in graduate programs. The stratified sample consisted of 54 participants who completed the Demographics and Structured Questionnaire, Locke‐Wallace Marital Adjustment Test, and Index of Marital Satisfaction. There were no significant differences among the marital satisfaction levels of graduate students at different stages in their program. Significant differences were found in relationship to several of the research questions, however. Specifically, a significant difference was found in the marital satisfaction of couples involved in marital therapy. Spouses who also were students scored significantly higher in marital satisfaction than spouses who were not students. Areas of discord that affected marital satisfaction during graduate school were philosophy of life, demonstration of affection, and sexual relations.     

Public Understanding of Climate Change: Certainty and willingness to act

During a 10-week period prior to the 1997 Kyoto conference on climate change, two parallel studies were conducted: Study 1 examined media portrayals of global warming and the certainty with which information was reported (percentage of 'hedging'); Study 2 was a telephone survey to assess public knowledge about key topics in global climate change, people's certainty about their information, trust in the media, and willingness to take action on global warming. Media reports were found to be scarce, and about half of the references to global warming were found to be hedged. More hedging was evident in the New York Times than in other print media and national television reports, and economic impacts of climate change were reported with the greatest certainty. The audience (N = 139 adults, average age 36–45, with at least a high school education) reported trusting their media sources more than 50% of the time. They were collectively fairly knowledgeable and certain about global warming information (9.1 on a scale of - 20 to + 20), and they appeared to be willing to adopt a range of responsible behaviors seen to be useful in countering global warming (average response 3.0 out of 4). The knowledge/certainty factor was described as 'attitude under uncertainty', and was significantly related to media trust (r = 0.325, p < 0.01) and willingness to act responsibly (r = 0.400, p < 0.01). Comparing Study 1 with Study 2, the research does not support a hypothesis that media hedging is related to uncertainty. Implications for environmental communicators are discussed.     

International alliances as sources of capital: Evidence from the biotechnology industry

This study empirically tested the relationship between three signaling mechanisms (scientific capabilities, firm location and top management team international experience) and the amount of capital raised through international strategic alliances. The number of patents held by the firm, firm location and the number of products in stage III of development were found to be significant. Implications for managers and researchers are discussed.     

Explaining social class differences in growth of reading skills from beginning kindergarten through fourth-grade: The role of phonological awareness,rate of access,and print knowledge

The aim of this longitudinal study was to further ourunderstanding of the reasons for social classdifferences in growth of decoding and readingcomprehension skills from beginning kindergarten throughchildren's fourth grade year. Participants wereenrolled in five public schools in a moderately sizedsouthern American city (n = 197). We examined ifbeginning kindergarten levels of three kinds ofreading related abilities explained social classdifferences in growth of reading skills during thetime periods of beginning kindergarten to children'sfirst-, second-, third-, and fourth-grade years. Thereading related abilities were phonological awareness,rate of access to phonological information inlong-term memory, and print knowledge. We found thatthe reasons for social class differences in growth ofreading skills depended on the time interval that wasconsidered. During the earliest time interval, socialclass differences in growth of decoding skills werecompletely accounted for by performance on the controlmeasures of general verbal intelligence and prior wordreading skills. During the remaining time periods,social class differences in growth of decoding andreading comprehension skills persisted whenperformance on the three kinds of reading relatedabilities and the control measures were accounted for. The greatest attenuation of SES differences in growthof reading skills occurred when beginning kindergartenlevels of print knowledge were taken into account.