Walking for health in pregnancy: assessment by indirect calorimetry and accelerometry

The purpose of this study was to examine RT3 accelerometer activity counts and activity energy expenditure of 36 pregnant women at 20 and 32 weeks' gestation during treadmill walking and free-living conditions. During treadmill walking, oxygen consumption was collected, and activity energy expenditure was estimated for a 30-min walk at a self-selected walking pace. The number of min it would take a pregnant woman to meet exercise recommendations (i.e., kcal/week) were calculated. Preliminary activity count cut points at a self-selected walking pace were then estimated and applied in interpreting free-living data. For the treadmill walking condition, the self-selected walking pace significantly decreased from 20 to 32 weeks' gestation. Additionally, few women (< 12% each day) met physical activity guidelines in the free-living condition. Encouraging pregnant women to walk for 30-40 min per day at a self-selected walking pace may be an appropriate public health recommendation.     

Educational personnel's perceptions of mainstreaming and resource room effectiveness

Equivalent forms of a questionnaire were administered to elementary classroom and resource room teachers. The questionnaires were designed to elicit teachers' attitudes and perceptions as to the effectiveness and appropriateness of mainstreaming, regular classroom teachers' level of skill competency, assistance from the resource room, and communication between the resource room and regular classroom teachers. Results indicated that resource and regular teachers evidenced differential perceptions as to all factors investigated. Educational implications of the findings were discussed and specific recommendations were proposed.     

Minority status,sex, and school psychological services

The sex and minority status of 355 students referred for psychological services from a random sample of schools in an urban school system were examined in relation to the frequency of referral, type of problem, and the nature of subsequent psychological services. A significantly higher percentage of both minority students and males were referred for psychological services; males were referred approximately twice as often as females. When referral problems were categorized as either academic or behavior problems, there were no differences between majority and minority students nor between males and females on percentage referred for each type of problem. Parent contacts were made significantly more often for majority students and for females, and recommendations to parents of majority students were more varied than those made to parents of minority students. Special Education resource services were recommended significantly more often for minority students. Possible reasons and implications of these findings are discussed.     

Making the Connection Between Formal Human Resource Diversity Practices and Organizational Effectiveness: Behind Management Fashion

ABSTRACT : Formal human resource diversity programs have experienced rapid growth; yet research on how these initiatives influence organizational effectiveness remains insufficient. This research explores formal diversity programs' influence on organizational effectiveness using universalistic and contingency frameworks. Our findings show that universally, diversity practices strongly and negatively relate to turnover. Organizations with innovative strategies coupled with formal diversity practices had improved productivity and market performance supporting contingency notions. Future research should employ both the universalistic and contingency theories in combination for a more in-depth understanding of construct relationships.     

Look to the East to Gain a New Perspective, Understand Cultural Differences, and Appreciate Cultural Diversity

Childrearing and educational practices accurately reflect cultural values. Cross-cultural experiences highlight some ways attitudes about early childhood, parenting, and teaching are influenced by cultural experiences and expectations. The author's experiences in China illustrate interesting ways these programs are very different from their American counterparts. Some of the differences revolve around practices such as residential programs for young children, the nature of classroom interactions, and contrasting approaches to teaching the arts. Identifying and understanding the reasons for some of those differences can sensitize readers to broader issues of cultural pluralism and help teachers celebrate cultural diversity as they work with families from varied backgrounds.     

Relationships between children's birthdates and classification as handicapped: Do they exist?

For years researchers have debated the effect of school entrance age on student achievement and adjustment, and some researchers have attributed many school learning problems to students entering school too early. This study investigated the relationship between students' month of birth and learning disabilities, emotional disturbance, and speech and language delays in 1,951 identified students with these disabilities. Analysis did not find that the late-birthdate children were identified as having disabilities more often, as was suggested in earlier studies. The implications of this finding for school entry practices are presented.     

Validation of Stanford-Binet intelligence scale: Fourth edition abbreviated batteries with college students

This study investigated the relationship between the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: Fourth Edition (SB:IV) abbreviated batteries and the complete battery among a group of college students to determine the suitability of SB:IV short forms in educational planning and counseling contexts when an ability estimate is needed. A sample of 38 college students was administered the full battery SB:1V, and scores for four abbreviated batteries were extracted from the complete battery according to instructions in the test manual. The four abbreviated batteries were SF2 (Vocabulary and Pattern Analysis), SF4 (SF2 plus Bead Memory and Quantitative), SF6a (SF4 plus Memory for Sentences and Comprehension), and SF6b (SF4 plus Memory for Digits and Comprehension). Analyses revealed that all short-form SASs were significantly lower than the Composite SAS derived from the complete battery. Correlations between the complete and short forms were all highly significant. Approximately one third of the sample showed discrepancies of at least three standard errors of measurement between the short-form and complete-battery Composite SAS. These findings suggest a lack of comparability between short-form and complete-battery SASs on the SB:IV. Further implications for the validity of these abbreviated batteries and future areas of research are discussed.