环球飞行的气球

一旦你已到过月球，你将会做些什么?随着20世纪如爬虫般有些笨拙地向它的暮年临近，航空史上仍然有待完成的重大成就主要集中在人类最古老的飞行发明周围：简陋的气球。随着气球驾驶员率先在1978年乘气球横越大两洋，接着又在1981年横跨太平洋，最后剩下的可让人激动的事就只有不着陆的环球飞行了。     

拼出远古七巧板

把分割成1000块的落基山拼图板拼凑复原还不够令人头疼吗?那么想想你在既不知道落基山是什么样子，也不知道是否所有碎片都在你手中的情况下要完成这幅拼图该有多难。不过且慢，如果这些碎块其实分属几幅不同的拼图，情况又会如何呢?假如这个问题再难一点，碎片是三维的，而且已有4000年历史之久，你还能搞定它吗?     

傅里叶变换

脱氧核糖核酸的双螺旋结构、太阳黑子的周期出现和电子器件的锯齿形信号均可用数学方法简化为一系列波动曲线。这一观念已成为一种极其有效的分析方法的基础。     

无法理解吗？

电子计算机正改变着数学的灵魂。从前，数学证明必须是简短而明白易懂的，以便于人们的理解。这种观念正迅速地为人们所淡忘。例如，1976年，Wolfgang Haken和Kennth Appel曾经报导，一种电子计算机程序检查了1482种图形，这些图形代表了一切可能的地图构形。该程序发现，只要用四种颜色就足以给任何一种地图着色，使得任何两个相邻区域都具有不同的颜色。尽管计算过程花费了1000小时以上，这一结果从理论上讲还是可能用手工计算来进行核对的。     

第三世界的弹道导弹

战略武器在不稳定地区扩散的结果使其投入战争的可能性大大增加了。我们不可能扭转这种趋势，因此须设法控制其后果。     

Understanding caregivers' attitudes towards physical punishment of children: evidence from 34 low- and middle-income countries

Objectives

This article presents findings on caregivers’ attitudes towards physical punishment of children from 34 household surveys conducted in low- and middle-income countries in 2005 and 2006. The article analyzes the variability in attitudes by background characteristics of the respondents to examine whether various factors at the individual and family levels correlate with the caregivers’ beliefs in the need for violent discipline. The article also examines to what extent attitudes influence behaviors and compares groups of respondents to see how attitudes relate to disciplinary practices across caregivers of different socio-economic backgrounds.

Methods

The analysis is based on nationally representative data from 33 MICS and 1 DHS surveys. Questions on child discipline were addressed to the mother (or primary caregiver) of one randomly selected child aged 2–14 years in each household. The questionnaire asked whether any member of the household had used various violent and non-violent disciplinary practices with that child during the past month. Additionally, the interviewers asked the respondent if she believed that, in order to bring up that child properly, physical punishment was necessary. The sample included 166,635 mothers/primary caregivers.

Results

The analysis shows that, in most countries, the majority of mothers/primary caregivers did not think there was a need for physical punishment. Overall, characteristics such as household wealth and size, educational level and age, as well as place of residence were significantly associated with caregivers’ attitudes. The analysis confirms that beliefs influence disciplinary practices to a large degree: in all the countries but two, children were significantly more likely to experience physical punishment if their mothers/primary caregivers thought such punishment was needed. However, large proportions of children were found to be subject to physical punishment even if their mothers/primary caregivers did not consider this method necessary. This discrepancy between attitudes and behaviors is observed, although to different extents, in all the countries and across groups of mothers/primary caregivers with different levels of education and wealth.

Conclusions

The data presented in this article are among the few resources available to help develop a more global understanding of caregivers’ motivation in using violent discipline across a multitude of low- and middle-income countries. As such, the analysis of these data provides important insights for the development of effective strategies that will promote positive parenting practices. However, further data collection and analysis are needed to fully understand the reasons why physical punishment is used – even when caregivers do not think such method is necessary – opening the door for an even sharper programmatic response to change the practice.     

MRSQ Informatics Education columns: past, present and future

This is the last Informatics Education column under the current editors. The outgoing editors identify six key themes that reflect the changes in informatics education over their seven-year tenure. The themes are picked from the 29 previous columns published under their editorship. The first and key theme is technology, and this one theme is the basis for the other five. The incoming editors project what they expect to see as key themes for future columns. Together, this column looks at the past, present, and future state of informatics education in the United States.