Development of a Clinical Practice Model for Serving Clients with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

There is a lack of systematic research on the training of clinicians toward providing counselling services and support to individuals with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD). The aim of this qualitative project was twofold: (1) to develop and pilot a clinical consultation process that would address clinicians’ reported need for greater communication and information sharing in serving clients affected by FASD; and (2) to build a model of FASD-informed clinical counselling practice by examining this consultation process and by capturing the experiences of clinicians who were involved. Findings from focus groups and meeting minutes are reported with respect to the model’s focus on reflection, communication, and action.     

Channel One Revisited: Prospective Teachers and the Role of American Higher Education

This study examined perceptions of college of education students and their experiences with Channel One, a privately-owned news service used in public education. Given that about one-third of middle and high schoolers in the US view the broadcast every school day, the authors surveyed 172 freshmen to discern their views and attitudes toward Channel One programming and commercials and the role colleges and universities might play in relation to this media service. While most studies on Channel One have been conducted from a K-12 point of view, the goal of this study was to reconsider the topic from the perspective of prospective teachers and post-secondary education. A. J. Angulo  is Assistant Professor of Social Foundations, Winthrop University. He received an Ed.D. and Ed.M. from Harvard University. His research interests include history of education, technology and education, and student rights. Susan K. Green  is Associate Professor of Educational Psychology, Winthrop University. She received a Ph.D. in social psychology from Loyola University, Chicago and a Ph.D. in educational psychology and research from the University of South Carolina, Columbia. Her interests include classroom assessment, motivational and instructional strategies to promote learning, and multicultural issues in education.     

The Effectiveness of a Brief Mindfulness-Based Intervention for College Freshmen Who Have Aged out of Foster Care

This study investigated the effects of a brief meditation intervention on perceived stress, mindfulness, and sleep quality for college freshmen who have aged out of foster care. Thirty-six youth who had aged out of foster care and enrolled at a large midwestern 4-year university (n?=?16 experimental group, n?=?20 control group) participated in a study in which they were assessed three times on the dependent variables. Students also participated in a focus group after the intervention ended. Four sessions of the brief mindfulness intervention resulted in significant short-term reductions in stress levels and increases in sleep quality. Finding effective personal interventions to increase chances for college success for students with histories in foster care can also offer potential insight toward the development of educational models and resources for other vulnerable college student populations.     

Manifest Destiny’s Child: Mary Hazelton Blanchard Wade and the Literature of American Empire

This article discusses how, following in the footsteps of United States imperial children’s writers Jacob Abbott and Edward Stratemeyer, Mary Hazelton Blanchard Wade (1860–1936), the original author of the Our Little Cousins series (1901–1905), contributed to the American culture of empire. Wade was one of the most prolific and popular imperialistic turn-of-the-twentieth-century American children’s authors. Yet, she remains understudied and virtually unknown, except among a few scholars who have examined, briefly, a few of her most prominent texts. Given Wade’s current popularity within certain Christian Evangelical homeschooling circles, and the resurgence of imperialist and othering discourses as part of the War on Terror, revealing her project and understanding its messages and relevance for the twenty-first century, is today all the more urgent.     

空间高精度定位姿柔顺工作平台输入输出模型的研究

A precise micro-location compliant stage with elastics-supported system is enmployed for investigations.The general motion of stage supported by elastic structure is described.The analyses of forward displecement and inverse displacement of stage are formulated.The study of input-output behavior of compliant mechanisms actually belongs to a stress-strain field problem.By using finite element analysis.the compliance coefficients of the stage supported by ring are calculated.Finally,a case is inverstigated to exemplity these formulae.     

A long-term experiment to investigate the relationships between high school students’ perceptions of mobile learning and peer interaction and higher-order thinking tendencies

In this study, a one-year program was conducted to investigate the relationships between students’ perceptions of mobile learning and their tendencies of peer interaction and higher-order thinking in issue-based mobile learning activities. To achieve the research objective, a survey consisting of eight scales, namely, usability, continuity, adaptive content, collaboration, communication, problem-solving, critical thinking and creativity, was developed. A total of 658 students from 38 high schools in Taiwan filled in the questionnaire after experiencing issue-based mobile learning activities. From the exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, it was found that the questionnaire had high reliability and validity. The structural equation model further revealed that the provision of adaptive content in the mobile learning had positive impacts on the students’ tendency to interact with peers (i.e., collaboration and communication), which further affected their tendency to engage in higher-order thinking (i.e., problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity). The findings of this study provide a good reference for researchers and school teachers who intend to promote mobile learning in school settings.     

Financing higher education in Pakistan

A recent shift in the allocation of public expenditure towards higher education prompts several questions: Is this allocation economically justified? Are these resources well utilized? Is there significant cost recovery of these expenditures? If not, who benefits from the subsidy these expenditures represent? Are there alternative means of financing higher education? This paper attempts to provide answers to these questions, which can be briefly summarized as follows: Estimates of social rates of returns do not support the reallocation of public expenditures away from primary towards higher education; low retention rates and high failure rates suggest that the internal efficiency in the utilization of these expenditures is low; currently, almost all public expenditures on higher education represent a subsidy; given the tax burden and enrollment ratios by income group, the lower income groups seem to be gaining most from these subsidies; a start has been made at private sector higher education with the opening of two professional universities, but the prospects of general universities currently opening appears to be dim. Pakistan has a well designed loan program in operation although its quantitative impact is currently limited.     

集群式计算机系统在生物信息学中的应用

1　Introduction　SMP (symmetricmulti processing)andMPP (mas sivelyparallelprocessing)arethetwotypesofstruc tureofparallelcomputing .　Symmetricmulti processingsystemshavemultipleCPUsattachedtothesamebusandsharingRAM .Massivelyparallelprocessingisthecooperated pro cessingofaprogrambymultipleprocessorsthatworkondifferentpartsoftheprogram ,witheachprocessorusingitsownoperatingsystemandmemory .ThechoicebetweenSMPandMPPdependsonthenatureoftheproblembeingsolved .Iftheproblemcanbeeasilypartit…     

Theory to reality: a few issues in implementing problem-based learning

The success of an intervention depends not only upon its theoretical soundness, but also on proper implementation that reflects the guidelines derived from its theoretical conception. Debates surrounding the effectiveness of problem-based learning (PBL) have focused on its theoretical conception and students’ learning outcomes, but implementation is seemingly absent from the picture. This paper attempts to describe what research evidence is needed to fill in this missing information and provide a clearer picture of PBL. The author examines current PBL implementation practices and identifies potentially confounding variables that may play a role in inconsistent or conflicting research results in PBL. For example, various models of PBL have been developed and implemented to afford the specific instructional needs of the institution or learner population. These PBL models are in fact quite different in terms of the nature of problem solving and the degrees of self-directed learning, which theoretically, should result in different types of learning outcomes. Without distinguishing the models used, the results of comparative PBL research could have been confounded. Furthermore, human factors are another set of confounding variables that could influence the students’ learning processes and consequently affect PBL implementations and research results. To remedy these problems and reach PBL’s full potential, as well as obtain a more accurate picture of PBL as an instructional method and its effects on students’ learning, some fundamental changes are needed.     

The Challenges Facing Early Childhood Care,Development and Education (ECCDE) in an Era of Universal Basic Education in Nigeria

Early childhood is a critical period of rapid physical, cognitive, and psycho-social development of a child. The quality of care and education which a child receives at this crucial age will determine to a great extent the level of his/her physical and cognitive development in the future. In Nigeria, Early Childhood Care, Development and Education (ECCDE) is an aspect of Universal Basic Education which was introduced in 1999 to increase the access of children to basic education and improve the state of education in the country. While all hands are on deck to ensure successful implementation and achievement of the objectives of the scheme, it is unfortunate that ECCDE is facing some challenges thus making it unrecognized in Nigeria. This paper examines the challenges of early childhood education in Nigeria. To improve the situation, the following measures are recommended: establishment of more public crèche, kindergarten, and nursery schools by the government; enforcement of the use of mother tongue in the teaching of children; training more personnel in the field of early childhood education in tertiary institutions; and introducing unified curriculum as well as providing more infrastructures.