Using Resampling to Compare Two Proportions

This article shows that when applying resampling methods to the problem of comparing two proportions, students can discover that whether you resample with or without replacement can make a big difference.     

Effects of timing of signal indicating jump directions on knee biomechanics in jump-landing-jump tasks

A variety of the available time to react (ATR) has been utilised to study knee biomechanics during reactive jump-landing tasks. The purpose was to quantify knee kinematics and kinetics during a jump-land-jump task of three possible directions as the ATR was reduced. Thirty-four recreational athletes performed 45 trials of a jump-land-jump task, during which the direction of the second jump (lateral, medial or vertical) was indicated before they initiated the first jump, the instant they initiated the first jump, 300 ms before landing, 150 ms before landing or at the instant of landing. Knee joint angles and moments close to the instant of landing were significantly different when the ATR was equal to or more than 300 ms before landing, but became similar when the ATR was 150 ms or 0 ms before landing. As the ATR was decreased, knee moments decreased for the medial jump direction, but increased for the lateral jump direction. When the ATR is shorter than an individual’s reaction time, the movement pattern cannot be pre-planned before landing. Knee biomechanics are dependent on the timing of the signal and the subsequent jump direction. Precise control of timing and screening athletes with low ATR are suggested.     

Unravelling the gender bind,uncovering the heterogeneity of domination

ABSTRACT

Gender norms and learned practices of student teachers can influence their performance in practice, either fixing or challenging, gendered social norms and expectations. This paper shares the findings of a multi-year mixed-methods research project that explored the understandings of gender norms and experiences of students and staff within a large teacher-training college in Tanzania. Data was collected to inform a wider gender mainstreaming initiative across the institution. Using a blend of quantitative and qualitative methods, the findings identified a strict and rigid gender binary which seemed to inform attitudes and practices of teaching and learning. Furthermore, it uncovered heterogeneous forms of gendered domination that were experienced by staff and pupils within the institution. The findings suggest that stand-alone ‘female only’ gender mainstreaming strategies may not be sufficient to achieve a gender equitable environment within the institution. Rather, it suggests that a whole-of-community approach is necessary to unravel deep-rooted biases and to tackle diverse forms of domination that affect different members of the college community in different ways. Such findings are particularly important in light of the epistemic power that is conferred on teacher-graduates and that is transferred through teaching practices to communities across Tanzania.     

Testing the mediating role of cognitive responses in the elaboration likelihood model

Cognitive response theories such as the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) have been criticized for lacking appropriate and rigorous empirical testing. As a result, the ELM in particular has little support for the proposed causal mechanism, cognitive responses, as a mediating variable between messages and attitude change. Using argument quality and source credibility manipulations, this investigation examines several causal models to assess the role of cognitive responses in the ELM. In general, the data supported the ELM's prediction that high quality arguments produce more favorable thoughts and subsequently more attitude change for high involvement receivers. Although a structural equation model supports the mediating role of cognitive responses in the ELM, the data are more consistent with a model derived from Information Processing Theory.     

General Mass Communications

Alan Gowans' The Unchanging Arts: New Forms for the Traditional Functions of Art in Society (J. B. Lippincott, $12.95)

Manley R. Irwin's The Telecommunications Industry: Integration vs. Competition (Praeger Special Studies in U.S. Economic and Social Development, $11.00).

Robert Shelton and Burt Goldblatt's The Country Music Story (Arlington House, 81 Centre Ave., New Rochelle, N.Y. 10801, $7.95).

Howard Stephenson (ed.) Handbook of Public Relations (McGraw-Hill, $24.50– second edition)

Scott M. Cutlip and Allen H. Center's Effective Public Relations (Prentice-Hall, $11.95).     

E-Readers: New Opportunities for Hospital Patients and Staff

E-readers provide an opportunity for hospital librarians to reach out to staff and patients with new approaches to library lending. Librarians in four Veterans Health Administration medical centers are using e-readers to enlarge their scope of service in unique ways. The libraries of VA hospitals in Minneapolis, Des Moines, Tampa, and Philadelphia have developed several ways to reach out to new library users.     

The third sector and the governance of education

This article explores the nature, scope and form of third-sector involvement in education in New Zealand as demonstrated through a comparison of its relationship with the state in two distinct periods of state and educational development. It begins with an analysis of the period of state expansion from crown colony to centralised administration in the mid-1870s. It then examines the relationship in the decade following the restructuring of education in 1989, as the neoliberal state negotiated economic changes at the national and supranational levels, and challenges to the existing educational organisation from both the political left and the political right. Although an almost mirror image of nineteenth-century arrangements is identified, the nature of the state/third-sector relationship was vastly different as a smaller, but nonetheless stronger, state retained control over the governance of education and, with it, possibilities and limitations for third-sector involvement.