Rats show preference for delayed rewards on the radial maze

Rats on an eight-arm radial maze chose between four arms on which a small reward could be obtained after a short delay and four arms on which a larger reward could be obtained after a longer delay. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that rats preferred the long-delay, large-reward arms over the short-delay, small-reward arms. This preference was particularly marked when the arms were made into enclosed alleys. Experiment 3 showed that this effect was not produced by a preference for staying in enclosed alleys. We argue that the rats endured longer delays to obtain larger rewards when fear of predation was minimized.     

Using Shiny to illustrate the probability density function concept

The transition from the probability mass function for discrete random variables to the probability density function for continuous random variables is not straightforward, especially to students from the health and social sciences. An R Shiny application was created to assist the learning process of probability density function.     

Attributions and Attitudes of Mothers and Fathers in Italy

OBJECTIVE: The present study examined mean level similarities and differences as well as correlations between mothers' and fathers' attributions regarding successes and failures in caregiving situations and progressive versus authoritarian attitudes. DESIGN: Interviews were conducted with both mothers and fathers in 177 Italian families from Rome and Naples. RESULTS: Fathers' attributions reflected higher perceived control over failure than did mothers' attributions, whereas mothers reported attitudes that were more progressive than did fathers. Only the difference in progressive attitudes remained significant after controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias. Site differences emerged for four of the seven attributions and attitudes examined; three remained significant after controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias. Medium effect sizes were found for concordance between parents in the same family for authoritarian attitudes and modernity of attitudes after controlling for parents' age, education, and possible social desirability bias. CONCLUSIONS: This work elucidates ways that parent gender and cultural context relate to attributions regarding parents' success and failure in caregiving situations and to progressive versus authoritarian parenting attitudes.     

And Baby Makes Four: Predictors of Attachment Security among Preschool-Age Firstborns during the Transition to Siblinghood

The present study examined preschool-age firstborns' adjustment to siblinghood, as indexed by security of firstborn-mother attachment, in a sample of 194 2-parent families. Security of firstborn attachment decreased significantly after a secondborn's birth, but the size of the decrease was smaller among firstborns under 24 months relative to 2–5-year-olds. Mothers' marital harmony and affective involvement with firstborns predicted firstborn security before and after the baby's birth, whereas mothers' psychiatric symptoms predicted firstborn security only after the birth. Post-hoc analyses of select subgroups revealed that mothers of firstborns with high security scores before the newborn's birth, regardless of whether scores remained high or dropped after the birth, showed higher levels of psychosocial and behavioral functioning than did mothers of firstborns with consistently low security scores at both time points. However, substantial drops in firstborn security after a secondborn's birth were associated with higher maternal psychiatric symptom scores both prior to and following the birth. Results suggest that quality of firstborn adjustment to siblinghood can be predicted from both structural and familial aspects of the firstborn environment.     

Olympic Stadiums and Cultural Heritage: On the Nature and Status of Heritage Values in Large Sport Facilities

This paper investigates Olympic stadium heritage values and their cultural significance. It outlines the main challenges in stadium conservation through the interplay between bequest and use values. A value analysis of listed Olympic stadiums reveals that these are characterized by a specific heritage profile, related to the uniqueness and singularity of the buildings, of the landscape and of the sporting event. The history of architecture and sport are clearly interwoven in these places, as Olympic stadiums appear as testimonies of the evolution of sport and its status for past and present societies. Such an interpretation of Olympic stadium heritage could allow a better Olympic and sporting heritage evaluation and conservation, especially if the ensemble of existing Olympic stadiums was considered as a World Heritage network.     

Improving health communicationSupporting the practice of health communication

Background: Health authorities, hospitals, commercial enterprises, and mass media all deliver health and medical communication in different forms. With such a vast amount of biomedical and clinical information available, any action to ensure the spread of clinically relevant news items is welcome. Objectives: This paper tries to define a new role for health science librarians in improving medical communication and reporting. Methods: Literature relating to the health and medical reporting is analysed to identify major difficulties encountered by health communicators. Results: There are two areas where health science librarians can develop new roles in health communication: (i) supporting journalists and health communicators in selecting sources and understanding scientific papers, and (ii) directly translating scientific information into news items, supplying a list of products in this direction (i.e. targeted newsletters, media releases, news items). New skills and competencies needed to cope with the new roles are described in detail in a suggested academic curriculum for health communicators. Conclusions: A better understanding of the mass media's needs can provide much needed support in the field of health communication.     

Assessment of predispositions for endurance running from field tests.

Field tests of speed and endurance may be used to evaluate the probability of success and to create efficient training strategies for sports. Currently, both invasive and non-invasive methods are used for this purpose. While invasive methods cause some discomfort to subjects, non-invasive methods may employ practices associated with the sport itself. One such method employs the linear relationship between exercise intensity or running speed and distance covered running at that speed represented on a semi-logarithmic scale. The separation of endurance runners into three different groups can be confirmed by different values for the slope coefficient (b) of this linear relation. According to findings among top Czechoslovak endurance runners, supplemented by the data of other authors, the values of coefficient b in middle-distance runners are in the range -2.166 to -1.700, in long-distance runners -1.520 to -1.050 and in marathon runners -0.836 to -0.436. Similarly, a separation of young endurance runners into groups of middle-distance and long-distance runners must be within the range -2.158 to -1.800 and for young long-distance runners -1.700 to -1.300. Based on these findings, the optimum competitive distance for adult athletes can be established in relation to current training status. In young athletes, it is possible to select gifted runners with predispositions for middle-distance and long-distance running. For both groups of athletes, more efficient training methods can be selected to optimize their predispositions for maximal performance.     

Accountability Reform and Responsive Assessment for Immigrant Youth

Immigrant students, one of the fastest-growing populations in US public schools, have been linguistically and culturally disadvantaged by accountability policies that rely only on standardized tests. Recent changes to these policies allow for the use of performance-based assessment tasks (PBATs) as an assessment indicator to supplement standardized tests. In this article, we explore how 1 highly successful high school that works exclusively with recently arrived immigrant teenagers has incorporated PBATs into its curriculum. We find that school leaders, teachers, and students agree that the use of rigorous performance assessments accomplishes language learning, content mastery, and test preparation simultaneously.