University students' depression: a cross-cultural investigation

Australian, Iranian and Portuguese university students (n?=?967) completed the University Students Depression Inventory (USDI) in English, Persian and Portuguese languages, respectively. A series of MANOVA analyses were used to examine differences in depression symptoms as an effect of the country and demographic variables. Interactions were also examined. The results indicated that country, gender and year level had some impact on the depressive symptoms of the university students. Australian students were more depressed than the Iranian and Portuguese students, while Iranian students were more depressed than the Portuguese students. Sub-scales of USDI – Lethargy, Motivation and Cognitive/Emotional – were also used to compare the depressive symptoms of students. The Australian female students reported a significantly higher level of lethargy than their male counterparts. Similarly, the first-year male students from Iran were significantly more lethargic than the first-year Iranian female students. Iranian and Portuguese male students, compared to the female students of these countries, experienced a lower level of motivation. The Australian and Iranian students, compared to the Portuguese students, reported a significantly higher level of cognitive and affective symptoms. The scores on the Cognitive/Emotional sub-scale increased with the year level. Differences among students' depression are described and implications discussed.     

Distinguishing Between Multicultural and Global Education: The Challenge of Conceptualizing and Addressing the Two Fields

This qualitative study examines how a group of social studies teachers working in a suburban middle school with a predominantly affluent and white student body conceptualize multicultural and global education. The data reveals that several of the teachers experienced difficulties conceptualizing multicultural and global education, used them interchangeably, and did not articulate their importance to their students. In addition to interviews with teachers, classroom observations were conducted to see how they addressed multicultural and global education in class. The outcomes of this study indicate that pre-service and in-service teacher education should pay attention to delineating the distinct purposes of multicultural and global education and how these concepts can be infused into a social studies curriculum.     

Persistence and withdrawal by students in a preservice science and mathematics teacher education course

At a time when recruitment into preservice teacher education courses in mathematics and science is difficult, one strategy to increase the number of graduates is to minimise the number of students who fail to complete their university courses. This study sought to determine factors which distinguish withdrawers from persisters in the first semester of a B.Ed course. Discriminant analysis was employed; a discriminant function employing seven factors resulted in correct classification in 81% of cases. Further analysis distinguishing between dropouts and transferees resulted in two discriminant functions with some common variables. Specializations: Science Education, Pedagogy. Specializations: Science Education, Inservice Teacher Education, Metacognition     

电脑游戏--如工作般上瘾

电脑游戏狂热爱好者不应该被称为上瘾者,尽管许多玩家声称他们沉迷于游戏,而且这种嗜好正在影响他们的社交生活。在这里举行的世界首届跨学科游戏大会上,与会的心理学家、社会学家以及其他学科的专家得知有一些迹象表明游戏所刺激的大脑区域,与酒精和其他毒品所刺激的区域相同。     

Workers with disabilities in sheltered employment centres: a training needs analysis

The work presented is part of a study that the research group CIFO (Research Team in Training for the Labour Market, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Barcelona) has carried out, relating to the training needs analysis and basic competences and skills in the environment of sheltered employment centres (SECs) in Catalonia (this study was undertaken in collaboration with the Coordination of Workshops for People with Mental Disabilities in Catalonia). The analysis and assessment of needs is useful from the perspective of training, as a starting point for planning adapted to the reality of disabled workers in SECs. To do this, various elements such as skills, knowledge and attitudes of individual and social nature have been considered from a systemic approach. By placing ourselves in clearly defined contexts (SECs), we bear in mind the characteristics of workers, the features of the job context, the types of activities performed, the skills related to work activities carried out, the definition of competence profiles required on the basis of the essential skills and the real training needs, through the characteristics of workers and those skills related to the labour activities that are performed as well as the needs for training perceived by workers. Identifying training needs in relation to basic skills and job requirements allows us to meet the challenge, as a trend that supports a competence basis for any worker, of raising general actions that may govern and underlie the training proposals, yet without undermining the specific competences. The importance acquired by what workers themselves have considered about their positioning is understood from the standpoint of its validity, so as to assume conclusions through triangulation processes.     

Periodic water,interwater interval,and adjunctive behavior in a 24-hour multiresponse environment

To examine the generality of the interreward response effects shown by rats under periodic food delivery, we presented .10 ml of water at minimum interwater intervals that ranged from 8 to 512 sec. Use of a 24-h multiresponse environment allowed evaluation of interdrink responses with respect to their excessiveness, patterning, and functional relationship to the interwater interval. In contrast to the extensive activity-inducing effects of periodic food, the only major excitatory effect of periodic water was increased attention to the water source. Although there were a few bitonic and direct relationships between interwater interval and changes in responding, the great majority of functions were inverse or inconsistent. Further, unlike the increase in drinking under periodic food, total eating decreased under periodic water. The major similarity with food reward was the apparent separation of interreward behavior into three general classes of reward-appropriate foraging responses: area-restricted search after reward, more general search (and waiting), and focal search preceding the next reward delivery.     

The scientometric world of Keith Pavitt: A tribute to his contributions to research policy and patent analysis

Keith Pavitt has made pioneering contributions to the study of science, technology and innovation. This paper aims to examine some of them on the basis of a bibliometric analysis of Keith Pavitt's work and the impact that he has had. First the paper follows how Pavitt's publication profile develops over time. Then we trace his most cited works and explore the sets of references in his papers. Author and journal co-citation maps illustrate the intellectual environment associated with Pavitt and the central role Research Policy played in this context. An analysis of the most frequently cited authors in Research Policy and Scientometrics underlines Keith Pavitt's role as both a shaper of, and a bridge between, science and technology policy and bibliometric analysis.     

Initial conditioned solutions of a second-order nonlinear conservative differential equation with a periodically varying coefficient

The exact solution of the equation

$\text{d}{}^2\text{x}\text{dt}{}^2\text{+dx+d′f(wt)x}{}^3\text{=0,}$

where d, d' and w are positive constants, and ?(wt) is a rectangular periodic function of time is discussed. The equation describes approximately the transversal movement of a particle in an alternating gradient accelerator. The exact solution is obtained in the form of a composite recurrent relation containing five particular solutions. Each of these solutions corresponds to a specific well-defined area of the phase plane of the initial conditions. The dynamical behaviour and the stability of the movement are examined analytically.     

For Better or Worse? System-Justifying Beliefs in Sixth-Grade Predict Trajectories of Self-Esteem and Behavior Across Early Adolescence

Scholars call for more attention to how marginalization influences the development of low-income and racial/ethnic minority youth and emphasize the importance of youth's subjective perceptions of contexts. This study examines how beliefs about the fairness of the American system (system justification) in sixth grade influence trajectories of self-esteem and behavior among 257 early adolescents (average age 11.4) from a diverse, low-income, middle school in an urban southwestern city. System justification was associated with higher self-esteem, less delinquent behavior, and better classroom behavior in sixth grade but worse trajectories of these outcomes from sixth to eighth grade. These findings provide novel evidence that system-justifying beliefs undermine the well-being of marginalized youth and that early adolescence is a critical developmental period for this process.     

The fatigue effect of a simulated futsal match protocol on isokinetic knee torque production

The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of a simulated futsal match protocol on isokinetic knee torque production. Twenty-one young futsal players participated in this study and performed a futsal-specific protocol comprising two blocks of 20-minute activities to simulate the match demands. At pre-protocol, half-time, and post-protocol, the concentric and eccentric isokinetic peak torque of the knee flexor and extensor muscles, the angle of peak torque, and the conventional and functional torque ratios were assessed. ANOVA was used to compare the variables (significance level p < 0.05). A decrease of knee flexor and extensor eccentric torque and knee flexor concentric torque was found, in which the pre-protocol levels were higher than those at half-time, with both being larger than those at post-protocol. The knee extensor concentric torque reduced at half-time. The angle of eccentric torque of knee flexors increased, and the conventional and functional torque ratios decreased at post-protocol. In conclusion, the protocol produced a time-dependent reduction of knee flexor and extensor torque in both concentric and eccentric actions. These findings suggested a possible impairment of performance and the emergence of risk factors for hamstring strains during a futsal match.