Mucosal immunity and upper respiratory tract infections during a 24-week competitive season in young ice hockey players

The aim of this study was to examine upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) and their associations with resting saliva and blood immune and endocrine parameters in ice hockey players. Twenty-seven participants (age 16.5 ± 0.5 years) completed the 24-week study period. The counts/concentrations of immune and endocrine markers were compared between healthy-prone athletes (≤2 episodes of URTI during the study period) and illness-prone athletes (≥3 episodes of URTI) and between the URTI state (when athletes had infections) and the healthy state (the time without URTI). There were no differences in concentration/counts of saliva and blood immune and endocrine parameters between the illness-prone and illness-free athletes. Athletes had significantly lower sIgA, sIgA1 and sIgA2 concentrations (sIgA: 119.88 ± 66.88, 144.10 ± 75.0 µg/ml; sIgA1: 90.2 ± 40.64, 108.44 ± 29.8 U; sIgA2: 67.58 ± 30.1, 80.3 ± 25.61 U, respectively) and significantly higher WBC, neutrophil, monocyte and eosinophil count values and IL-1ra concentration at the time when they had symptoms of URTI than in the period without symptoms of infections. There were no differences in salivary cortisol concentration between the period of URTI symptoms and the period without URTI symptoms. In conclusion, we observed lower concentrations of salivary immunoglobulins and higher levels of blood immune parameters during URTI in athletes, which may confirm the suppression of mucosal immunity and initiation responses to pathogenic infections by innate immunity.     

OWL (On‐line Webstories for Learning): a unique web‐based literacy resource for primary/elementary children

Technology resources created for use by children have often been drill and practise or game‐like in approach. For a literacy resource, the use of narrative provides an opportunity for children to become more immersed in an environment rich in print and illustrations that supports the development of reading skills while encouraging the enjoyment of reading. This paper will examine the rationale for the incorporation of narrative in the OWL (On‐line Webstories for Learning) resource, and how the narrative line is supported by on‐line and off‐line activities.     

Communications Technology

M.D. Fagan, A History of Engineering and Science in the Bell System: National Service in War and Peace, 1925-1975 (Bell Laboratories, - Whippany Rd., Whippany, N.J. 07981—$15.00).

Daniel M. Costigan Electronic Delivery of Documents and Graphics (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1978—$21.95)

Konrad K. Kalba, Electronic Message Systems: The Technological, Market and Regulatory Prospects (Cambridge, Mass.: Kalba Bowen Associates, 1978—$30.00, paper),

Starr Roxanne Hiltz and Murray Turoff, The Network Nation: Human Communication via Computer (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1978—$29.50/17.50)

Robert Johansen, Jacques Vallee and Kathleen Spangler, Electronic Meetings: Technical Alternatives and Social Choices (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1979—$15.95)     

空间均匀低温氢气燃烧器开发（英文）

目的:设计制造低温的催化氢气燃烧器,并对其进行相关功能性测试。创新点:成功设计并制造出一个集成流量分配器的催化低温氢气燃烧器。方法:1.基于树状分叉方法,设计燃烧器的流量分配器,均匀分配气体到催化表面,并利用熔融沉积成型技术制备原型样机。2.基于测试结果,利用选择性激光熔化技术对燃烧器进行最优化设计。3.对设计的催化燃烧器的相关功能进行验证。结论:1.设计的低温催化燃烧器与传统的非催化燃烧器相比具有很多优势,尤其是实现了无焰均匀低温(约200°C)的产热;这一技术有望运用于化工领域的增材制造。2.本文不但用选择性激光熔融技术制备了最终产品,而且利用了熔融沉积成型技术进行快速的样机制备。3.催化剂多孔载体的调控和催化剂的负载方式研究有望进一步提升燃烧器的综合性能。     

Moral issues in sport: the child's perspective

Sport offers opportunities for children to identify and resolve moral issues. Moral issues in sport have primarily been studied from the researcher's perspective, with the child's perspective relatively ignored. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore the nature and content of the issues children experienced in sport. Interview participants consisted of 7 boys and 8 girls ranging in age from 10 to 12 years (M = 11.6 years, SD = 1.7) who had competitive youth sport experience. An inductive content analysis revealed that children identified issues surrounding three overall dimensions concerning fairness of adult's actions, negative game behaviors, and negative team behaviors. Specific examples of issues included unfair actions by coaches, disrespecting opponents, and selfish behavior in practice. The self-identified issues both confirmed and expanded upon the content found in hypothetical moral dilemmas in sport.     

The SES equity gap and the reform from modular to linear GCSE mathematics

This article addresses whether the introduction of end-of-course, linear General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examinations changed the socio-economic equity gap in England. The GCSE is a national examination offered in a wide range of subjects and taken by almost the entire 16-year-old age cohort. Between the years 2007 and 2014, it underwent a number of reforms to both the underlying curriculum and the examination structure. At the beginning of the period, examinations were primarily modular in structure where the course was decomposed into discrete units tested in a staged manner. By 2014, all GCSE examinations were linear and the whole course content was tested simultaneously when study was complete. These structural changes and the curriculum reforms mean that the impact of modular and linear testing on the performance of students has been the focus of recent interest. Some educational commentators suggested that modular examinations are more suitable for lower-performing students, including those with lower socio-economic status (SES). This research has been conducted to monitor the socio-economic equity gap in the light of the structural changes. It focuses on GCSE mathematics and concludes that, although there is still a clear gap in attainment between disadvantaged students and their peers, this gap does not seem to be exacerbated by the examination structure. In other words, the linearisation of GCSE mathematics is unlikely to have increased inequity between students of high and low SES.     

The provision of higher education in regional areas: an integrative review of the literature

There is a great deal of literature surrounding the needs of regional Australia. This integrative review of the literature focuses on the experience of nursing academics teaching on a satellite campus, many of which are located in regional Australia. Four themes were identified: (1) challenges specific to regional satellite campuses, (2) student characteristics, (3) student experiences and (4) the academics’ experiences. These themes identified not only significant benefits but also considerable challenges to the provision of higher education on regional university campuses. The experience of nursing academics and indeed their students is remarkably different from the experience of their metropolitan counterparts, and therefore the local context needs to be considered in regional education provision. Australian regional nursing academics need to be multi-skilled to address the workload and social inequity in support service provision.     

Early social communication development in infants with autism spectrum disorder

Social-communication differences are a robust and defining feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) but identifying early points of divergence in infancy has been a challenge. The current study examines social communication in 9- to 12-month-old infants who develop ASD (N = 30; 23% female; 70% white) compared to typically developing (TD) infants (N = 94, 38% female; 88% white). Results demonstrate that infants later diagnosed with ASD were already exhibiting fewer social-communication skills using eye gaze, facial expression, gestures, and sounds at 9 months (effect size: 0.42–0.89). Moreover, three unique patterns of change across distinct social-communication skills were observed within the ASD group. This study documents that observable social-communication differences for infants with ASD are unfolding by 9 months, pointing to a critical window for targeted intervention.     

Recouping and rethinking the effects of summer vacation on reading achievement

Vacations may have detrimental effects on maths and spelling performance, but the findings for reading are less conclusive. The purpose of this study was to analyse the effects of summer vacation on early literacy skills of young children. Participants included rising first and second‐graders, most of whom were at‐risk, struggling readers. No evidence of summer setback was evident for this sample of children; in fact, gains in reading (or, recoupment of any losses) were more common in children performing at lower levels than for those with higher scores at the end of the school year. Our outcomes are different from those reported by other researchers. We explain this with attention to the content of our comparisons, the grade levels investigated and measures used to assess performance, and discuss implications for future research based on our findings.