Reducing Risk for Substance Use by Economically Disadvantaged Young Men: Positive Family Environments and Pathways to Educational Attainment

Using prospective, longitudinal data spanning 10 years (age = 10–20) from a study of 295 economically disadvantaged males, the current investigation evaluated a developmental model that links early family environment and later educational aspirations, extracurricular activities, and educational attainment to substance use in early adulthood. The results indicate that a positive family environment during adolescence (low family conflict, high family warmth, and effective child management) predicted educational involvements during adolescence that promoted educational attainment during early adulthood. Finally, higher levels of educational attainment were associated with less substance use in early adulthood, even after controlling for adolescent substance use. These findings suggest that positive parenting promotes educational achievements that increase resilience to substance use for economically disadvantaged males.     

Modern dietary guidelines for healthy pregnancy; maximising maternal and foetal outcomes and limiting excessive gestational weight gain

Abstract

Maternal dietary habits influence maternal and foetal health, representing a pathway for intervention to maximise pregnancy outcomes. Advice on energy intake is provided on a trimester basis, with no additional calories required in the first trimester and an additional 340?kcal?d^?1 and 452?kcal?d^?1 needed for the second and third trimesters. Energy intake depends on pre-gravid body mass index (BMI); underweight women are recommended an increase of 150, 200 and 300?kcal?d^?1 during the first, second and third trimester, normal weight women an increase of 0, 350 and 500?kcal?d^?1 and obese women an increase of 0, 450 and 350?kcal?day^?1. The recommendations for carbohydrate and protein intake are 175?g?d^?1 and 0.88–1.1?g?kgBM?d^?1, with no change to fat intake. The number of pre-gravid obese women is rising; therefore, we need to regulate weight in women of childbearing age and limit gestational weight gain to within the recommended ranges [overweight women 6.8–11.3?kg and obese women 5.0–9.1?kg]. This can be achieved using nutritional interventions, as dietary changes have been shown to help with gestational weight management. As pregnancy has been identified as a risk factor for the development of obesity, normal weight women should gain 11.5–16.0?kg during pregnancy. While some research has shown that dietary interventions help to regulate gestational weight gain and promote postpartum weight loss to some extent, future research is needed to provide safe and effective guidelines to maximise these effects, while benefitting maternal and foetal health.     

Adapting Active Support Interactive Training to a special school context to upskill classroom staff and increase engagement in pupils

Research indicates that engagement acts as an important precursor for learning, yet sustaining the engagement of pupils with special educational needs can be a challenge for classroom staff. An Active Support staff training package, Interactive Training, has been demonstrated as an effective way of increasing engagement in adults accessing learning disability services. In theory the logic of Active Support Interactive Training could extend to a school environment, with the aim of achieving similar outcomes. The current study evaluated a special school-adapted version of Active Support Interactive Training with the aim of increasing engagement in pupils during group-based learning. Findings showed an increase in engagement in pupils for all three settings (classrooms) immediately after intervention, which continued to either increase or stabilise at three-month follow-up. Further research could test the engagement behaviour of staff pre- and post- training intervention and explore practice leadership within the school leadership team to address maintenance.     

The centrality of teachers’ judgement practice in assessment: a study of standards in moderation

There is a strong quest in several countries including Australia for greater national consistency in education and intensifying interest in standards for reporting. Given this, it is important to make explicit the intended and unintended consequences of assessment reform strategies and the pressures to pervert and conform. In a policy context that values standardisation, the great danger is that the technical, rationalist approaches that generalise and make superficial assessment practices, will emerge. In this article, the authors contend that the centrality and complexity of teacher judgement practice in such a policy context need to be understood. To this end, we discuss and analyse recorded talk in teacher moderation meetings showing the processes that teachers use as they work with stated standards to award grades (A to E). We show how they move to and fro between (1) supplied textual artefacts, including stated standards and samples of student responses, (2) tacit knowledge of different types, drawing into the moderation, and (3) social processes of dialogue and negotiation. While the stated standards play a part in judgement processes, in and of themselves they are shown to be insufficient to account for how the teachers ascribe value and award a grade to student work in moderation. At issue is the nature of judgement as cognitive and social practice in moderation and the legitimacy (or otherwise) of the mix of factors that shape how judgement occurs.     

The determinants of school district salary incentives: An empirical analysis of,where and why

Most public school districts in the United States use a salary schedule to determine compensation for teachers within the district. However, some school districts have implemented incentive pay schemes that allow flexibility at the school or even individual teacher level. These compensation schemes in some ways may more closely approximate a competitive labor market. This study examines the factors that influence a district's decision to offer incentive pay using districts from the 1999 to 2000 Schools and Staffing Survey. The results suggest that school districts that face barriers to recruitment or retention and districts that face competition from non-sectarian private schools are more likely to offer incentive pay.     

From External Regulation to Self-Regulation: Early Parenting Precursors of Young Children's Executive Functioning

In keeping with proposals emphasizing the role of early experience in infant brain development, this study investigated the prospective links between quality of parent–infant interactions and subsequent child executive functioning (EF), including working memory, impulse control, and set shifting. Maternal sensitivity, mind-mindedness and autonomy support were assessed when children were 12 to 15 months old ( N  =   80). Child EF was assessed at 18 and 26 months. All three parenting dimensions were found to relate to child EF. Autonomy support was the strongest predictor of EF at each age, independent of general cognitive ability and maternal education. These findings add to previous results on child stress-response systems in suggesting that parent–child relationships may play an important role in children's developing self-regulatory capacities.     

Validating a shortened form of the ARC for special populations

Autonomy describes cognition or behavior that is self-directed, according to personal interests, and free from external influence. This construct is of importance to students who are deaf because it has been shown to be positively related to their post-school transition outcomes, and this population faces unique challenges in this area. To conduct research with this construct, it is necessary to use measures that are valid and reliable for the population of interest. Therefore, a set of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses validated the unidimensionality of a shortened form of the ARC Self-Determination Scale’s autonomy dimension. A three-factor solution, including a social skills dimension, was measurement-invariant across many groups of students, including those with learning disabilities, emotional disturbances, speech and language impairments, and other health impairments. Although the shortened form of this scale was not unidimensional, as hypothesized, the generalizability of its measurement properties may prove useful. Discussion highlights the differences between these three dimensions and Wehmeyer's theory of self-determination.     

低碳发展方案编制指南(第三部分)——制定低碳发展规划

本节介绍制定低碳发展计划常用的核心步骤。本指南侧重城市层面;同样的步骤也适用于企业、市、省和国家等层级。中国自"十一五规划"起,对改善国内能源强度定出目标,包括各经济部门的节能目标。2009年12月中国政府公布了其碳强度目标,重点放在单位GDP用能引发的二氧化碳排放量。为实现该强度目标以及"循环经济"等经济性目标,制定低碳发展规划尤其必要。     

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Rural Business Clusters: The Relation Between ICT Adoption and Benefits Derived From Cluster Membership

This study examines the relationships between information and communication technologies (ICT) usage, the benefits a company derives from membership in a rural business cluster, and the success of rural companies. Analysis of 333 rural businesses located in northern lower Michigan showed a strong relationship between (a) ICT adoption and benefits derived from the membership in business clusters, (b) ICT adoption and self-reported business success, and (c) benefits derived from business clusters and business success. Although analysis indicates that these relationships may be industry specific, results suggest that ICT adoption by rural enterprises may have advantages for the region's social capital and business success and may help reduce the digital divide experienced in rural communities.