Scoring Neutral or Unsure on an Identity Development Instrument for Higher Education

The use of neutral or unsure on an instrument designed to measure identity development in college students was explored. The nominal response model from item response theory was used to evaluate whether neutral or unsure was used more frequently by those at low or middle levels of development; the results depended on the subscale and sometimes on the item within the subscale. Scoring based on the nominal response model allows for this category to be treated differently for different items.     

The Training of Adequate Leadership for Week‐Day Religious Education

The 51 abstracts of doctoral theses printed below were sent to the Bureau of Research of the National Council of Churches for abstracting in Religious Education since the last series of such doctoral abstracts was printed in this journal (see Religious Education, Vol. 56, pages 359–382, 1961). The abstracts here printed have been substantially limited to studies containing explicit reference to current educational processes, procedures, and personnel in religious institutions. Persons interested in reviewing complete dissertations usually may obtain these in one of two ways. The school granting the degree will either loan complete dissertations to local libraries on interlibrary loan, or it will direct interested persons to ordering that dissertation on microfilm. Readers are reminded that an indispensable library resource for obtaining information on available doctoral theses from many of the major academic institutions is Dissertation Abstracts. Please do not address requests for dissertations to this magazine or to the National Council of Churches     

未来气候变化对鄱阳湖区土地利用变化的影响评估

为了评估未来气候变化可能对鄱阳湖区土地利用变化产生的影响,本文根据IPCC的建议,利用新近建立的基于主体的土地利用变化模拟模型,详细分析了4种气候变化情景下鄱阳湖区1985-2035年的土地利用变化过程。这4种气候变化情景分别为A1B(经济高速增长模式)、A2(区域经济多样化增长模式)、B1(引进更多清洁能源的经济增长模式)和情景4(无气候变化模式)。在这些气候变化情景中,由于耕地的农业生产潜力差异显著,农户主体的收入和他们对土地利用方式的决策也发生了相应的改变。通过对这一过程的模拟和结果分析,发现气候变化可能有利于鄱阳湖区土地利用变化向着环境友好的方向自我调整。与A1B和A2两种气候变化情景相比,B1情景对土地利用变化的影响更具环境友好性。     

The integration experience of hearing impaired elementary school students in separated and integrated school settings

Integration experiences of hearing impaired German elementary school students in separate educational settings (n = 31) were compared with those of counterparts at the same level in integrated settings (n = 26), and evaluated in regard to psychosocial behavior, semantic-lexical abilities, and communicative skills. Analysis of questionnaire responses and intelligence subtests showed that the only difference between the samples concerned perceived well-being in school, and favored the integrated students. Other percentages of variance are explainable by school type (10%), parents' hearing status (12%), and use of bimodal communication (11%). The integrated students demonstrated a higher level of integration experience, associated with fewer psychosocial abnormalities and better communicative skills. The results indicate that educational setting is not the only factor influencing students' perceived well-being. Other contextual factors, e.g., hearing status of parents and communicative skills, have a similar positive impact on integration experiences     

Knowledge exchange in clusters: The contingent role of regional inventive concentration

Geographic clusters confer advantages to collocated firms, in particular access to local know-how. This article argues that the access to local know-how is contingent on the extent to which inventive activity is concentrated in the cluster. We draw on sociological theories of generalized exchange to argue that contrasting logics of exchange emerge in geographic clusters that have opposing effects on the extent to which firms benefit from collaborating with local organizations and source local knowledge. A longitudinal data set of 1903 firms engaged in nanotechnology research is used to examine the relationship between firm co-authorships on scientific articles with firms and public research organizations (PROs) and firm inventive performance. Results indicate that when cluster-level firm inventive concentration is high, collaborations with local firms are associated with lower inventive performance. We also find that firms source less local knowledge for their own inventions when firm inventive concentration is high. In contrast, concentrated inventive activity among PROs increases the positive relationship between collaborations with local PROs and firm inventive performance. Results also show firms source more knowledge from local PROs when local PRO inventive concentration is high. The findings suggest that inventive concentration both helps and hinders spill-over of cutting-edge knowledge.