Academic Mentoring in College: The Interactive Role of Student’s and Mentor’s Interpersonal Dispositions

This study examined the interaction between college students attachment orientation and mentors relational style in the prediction of students behaviors and perceptions in academic mentoring and of their subsequent academic achievement. Ninety college students were administered the Adult Attachment Interview and their professors-mentors completed the Attachment Style Questionnaire. Students displayed more adaptive behaviors and perceptions in mentoring and earned higher grades when their attachment orientation was in contrast to their mentors relational style. Implications for the practice of academic mentoring in college are discussed.     

Modeling context through domain ontologies

Traditional information retrieval systems aim at satisfying most users for most of their searches, leaving aside the context in which the search takes place. We propose to model two main aspects of context: The themes of the user's information need and the specific data the user is looking for to achieve the task that has motivated his search. Both aspects are modeled by means of ontologies. Documents are semantically indexed according to the context representation and the user accesses information by browsing the ontologies. The model has been applied to a case study that has shown the added value of such a semantic representation of context.

French secondary school students' perceptions of the education-labor market link

A survey was conducted to examine the strength of beliefs among French school pupils in three perceptions of the education-labor market link traditionally studied in the economy of human capital: ‘productivity’, ‘screening’ and ‘credentialism’. 247 male and female French students aged between 14 and 24 years responded to a paper-and-pencil questionnaire. The purpose of the study is by means of introducing the concepts of ‘productivity’, ‘screening’ and ‘credentialism’ into the field of psychology of education to identify on the one hand the relative dominance of these three conceptions, and on the other hand to study each in relation to classical demographic variables and psychosocial variables such as academic self-evaluation, self-assessment of the range of vocational options and type of education and training sought by the pupils. Results indicate that students are more inclined to believe that the achievement of academic degrees acts more as a ‘screening’ device and as evidence of achievement than a factor enhancing productivity in the workplace. It seems that the variability of the role assigned to education as regards employability depends on the students' social and academic standing and on the way they deal with it.     

Children’s Ecoliterature and the New Nature Study

This essay explores how nineteenth-century nature study principles inform a twenty-first century New Nature Study movement, and gives examples of a trend toward nature writing in recent picture books. The pedagogical principles of nineteenth-century nature study, ascendant at the turn of the twentieth century and implicit in interwar children’s literature, yielded to a model founded on Cold War competition rather than environmental stewardship. In mid-century narratives for children, technological progress prevailed. In the 1990s, the ideals of the first nature study movement reemerged in a call for meaningful conservation to sustain future generations. Like the original nature study, the New Nature Study arises from anxieties about industrial development, habitat loss and extinction, and hazards to childhood itself. The New Nature Study treats children as agents for change and citizens being denied their full human rights when their land, soil, water, and lives are bought and sold.     

What do plastics emit? HS-SPME-GC/MS analyses of new standard plastics and plastic objects in museum collections

In recent years, plastics are designated as a source of indoor pollution and particular attention has thus been devoted to the identification of emitting low molecular weight compounds. Headspace-solid phase microextraction-gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (HS-SPME-GC/MS) has been already successfully applied for screening emissions from synthetic materials. This analytical tool being also non-invasive, it has been already successfully applied in the field of cultural heritage science for the identification of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emitted from various museum objects made of natural materials. In this research, we aimed at assessing the use of HS-SPME-GC/MS as an in situ non-invasive analytical tool for a better knowledge of the volatile organic compounds emitted by plastics in collections. The possibility of characterizing plastics based on their emission signatures was also evaluated. Twelve new standard plastic samples, belonging to seven main polymer families widely present in museum collections as well as three naturally aged museum objects, were investigated. In this paper, we provide a survey of the VOCs emitted, and the use of HS-SPME-GC/MS for identifying volatile marker compounds, degradation products, additives, and monomer residues of the plastic synthesis is evaluated. More than 200 different VOCs were identified from the new standard samples. Two categories of VOCs were distinguished: “non-specific” and “specific” ones. We showed that based on the “specific” VOCs, it was possible to identify the nature of the polymeric matrix itself or at least to unambiguously distinguish a plastic by family. Emissions from the museum objects were then characterised, and main volatile degradation compounds considered as degradation markers of the natural deterioration of polymeric matrices, were identified. This identification procedure could be further exploited for the characterization of VOCs emitted by objects made of multiple synthetic polymers. Complementary to other techniques, this analytical tool is an interesting way to assess the risk for the objects stored in the vicinity of emitting plastics.     

Methodological issues associated with longitudinal research: Findings from the Leuven Longitudinal Study on Lifestyle,Fitness and Health (1969 – 2004)

Abstract

Longitudinal studies provide unique opportunities but are also faced with several limitations. The purpose of this study was to document three of these issues (“imperfect” design, evolution of data collection methods, representativeness) by means of the Leuven Longitudinal Study on Lifestyle, Fitness and Health (LLSLFH). The LLSLFH (1969 – 2004) comprises observations on males between 12 and 18 years and at 30, 35, 40, and 47 years, and on females at 16 and 40 years. In the most recent phase of the study, spouses and offspring were also included. The different phases and evolving research questions throughout the LLSLFH required an appropriate adaptation of the research design. The associated evolution of data collection methods largely reflects the changing ideas about physical fitness, body composition, and physical activity, the continuing search for new and better measurement techniques, and the need for adaptations with age. Ongoing study participants are representative in terms of body composition and, except for adolescence in males, also physical activity. No straightforward answer can be given concerning physical fitness. In both sexes, socio-economic status is above average. When informed about the possible “pitfalls” of longitudinal research in advance, several measures could be taken to prevent or limit them as much as possible.     

Virtual Transgenics: Using a Molecular Biology Simulation to Impact Student Academic Achievement and Attitudes

The transgenic mouse model is useful for studying the causes and potential cures for human genetic diseases. Exposing high school biology students to laboratory experience in developing transgenic animal models is logistically prohibitive. Computer-based simulation, however, offers this potential in addition to advantages of fidelity and reach. This study describes and evaluates a computer-based simulation to train advanced placement high school science students in laboratory protocols, a transgenic mouse model was produced. A simulation module on preparing a gene construct in the molecular biology lab was evaluated using a randomized clinical control design with advanced placement high school biology students in Mercedes, Texas (n?=?44). Pre-post tests assessed procedural and declarative knowledge, time on task, attitudes toward computers for learning and towards science careers. Students who used the simulation increased their procedural and declarative knowledge regarding molecular biology compared to those in the control condition (both p?<?0.005). Significant increases continued to occur with additional use of the simulation (p?<?0.001). Students in the treatment group became more positive toward using computers for learning (p?<?0.001). The simulation did not significantly affect attitudes toward science in general. Computer simulation of complex transgenic protocols have potential to provide a ??virtual?? laboratory experience as an adjunct to conventional educational approaches.     

“Cyberpals!/Les Cybercopains!”: A Look at Online Museum Visitor Experiences

This article examines approaches to creating museum Web sites that offer quality experiences to online users. In six case studies, museum Web developers in the U.S. and Canada describe how they have made the most of available human and financial resources. The development history of each site offers insights into the origins of a design and its subsequent versions, and describes the influence of institutional missions, philosophies, success indicators—and financial and human resources, the most crucial factors. The study found considerable variety in the backgrounds, expertise, titles and training of people developing Web sites within institutions. Web teams developed “exchange” experiences through online discussion, and by creating links among users, or between museum staff and users. In three case studies, Web sites encouraged visitors to cycle between online and on‐site museum visits. Web developers describe using quantitative and qualitative online audience research strategies. WebTrends^TM software has enabled Web teams to report complex log analyses. Creating online experiences in partnership with users is the intention of Web developers.     

Solicitude and Special Education Policies

This paper examines the general context in which special education policies have been implemented in Western societies in order to try to understand the recent changes. It summarises the different meanings attached to the notion of equality, which are central to the question of special education and recent reforms, and finally it attempts to understand the ways in which special education provisions have been implemented into two different contexts, namely France and French speaking schools in Ontario (Canada). The paper draws on policy analysis conducted in France and in Ontario and from two recent research projects conducted in four different elementary and secondary French language schools in Ontario over the last 2 years, through an ethnographic approach involving different methodological tools, such as observation, interviewing and document analysis.     

Confocal XRF depth profiling non-destructively reveals the original blue pigments in a Renaissance painting by Caroto

Recent restoration of The Rest on the Flight into Egypt by Giovanni Francesco Caroto, from the Louvre collections, included a technical examination of the Virgin's blue robe that aimed to characterize the original materials and later additions. The painting was examined using light microscopy and ultraviolet and infrared imaging, and one cross section was taken. None of these methods showed a clear distinction between the layers that were artist applied or modifications made by another hand. To gain information about the paint stratigraphy without taking additional samples, non-invasive confocal X-ray fluorescence (CXRF) analysis was carried out to examine several areas of the Virgin's robe. Using this technique, it was possible to identify the pigments and order of application of paint by the artist. All the pigments identified were considered to be artist applied, and on this basis no further cleaning was carried out and conservation proceeded with retouching of minor areas of loss or damage. This study highlights the advantages of CXRF analysis for the technical study of paintings, used in combination with classical methods for making informed conservation treatment decisions.