Pupillary and Attentional Responses to Infant Facial Expressions in Mothers Across Socioeconomic Variations

Maternal responses to infant facial expressions were examined in two socioeconomically diverse samples of South African mothers (Study I, N = 111; and Study II, N = 214; age: 17–44 years) using pupil and gaze tracking. Study I showed increased pupil response to infant distress expressions in groups recruited from private as compared to public maternity clinics, possibly reflecting underlying differences in socioeconomic status (SES) across the groups. Study II, sampling uniformly low-SES neighborhoods, found increased pupil dilation and faster orientation to expressions of infant distress, but only in the highest income group. These results are consistent with maternal physiological and attentional sensitivity to infant distress cues but challenge the universality of this sensitivity across socioeconomic diversity.     

National Information Infrastructures in Central and Eastern Europe: Perspectives from the Library Community

Information infrastructures (IIs) are a complex arrangement of people, technology, institutions, content, and conduits. Their development is shaped by the environment in which they evolve and the visions ascribed to them by the various actors. This article examines the assumptions, meanings, and definitions associated with IIs in four Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries: Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. In particular, it focuses on how one stakeholder group, the library community, frames the policy debates around IIs. In-depth interviews were conducted in 1999 with 49 library policymakers in 37 institutions. The data shed light on the respondents' collective story and visions and help us gain a better understanding of political and cultural differences in the development of IIs.     

Feedback in Distance Learning Programmes in Languages: Attitudes to linguistic faults and implications for the learning process

In distance learning provision in languages, fault correction and feedback can facilitate teacher–student dialogue. This article examines teachers’ beliefs and assumptions about faults and the attitudes of both teachers and learners towards the correction process, all of which can play a key role in fostering this dialogue. Our findings are based on two surveys, one of 215 students enrolled on an intermediate Open University Spanish course and one of a sample of 18 tutors who teach on this course. The results of the two questionnaires suggest that the strategies currently in use for identifying and correcting faults may not be explicit enough. We conclude that this problem may be addressed if both tutors and students are given the tools to make the process more transparent and are encouraged to see dialogue as an essential component in the feedback mechanism.     

Context-sensitive rules and word naming in Italian children

The present study examines the role of orthographic complexity on Italian children’s word reading. Two experiments are reported in which elementary school children (3rd and 5th graders) read aloud words containing simple or contextual letter-sound conversion rules. In Experiment 1, both groups of participants read words containing contextual rules more slowly and less accurately than words containing simple, non-contextual rules. Experiment 2 showed that the effect of rule complexity held for low but not high frequency words, on both reading speed and accuracy. No interactions with grade were found. This pattern is in line with previous findings on the effects of rule contextuality on adult performance [Burani, C. Barca, L. & Ellis, A. W. (2006). Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 13, 346–352]. Despite the regularity of the Italian orthography, the presence of complex rules influences both reading speed and accuracy of young readers. Moreover, the reading system of readers of a shallow orthography seems efficient from the first years of reading instruction.     

The Effectiveness of Interventions Aimed at Reducing Teacher Burnout: a Meta-Analysis

We conducted a meta-analysis to investigate the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing teacher burnout. Online and reference list searches yielded 513 unique results, and the final sample contains 23 controlled trials (19 journal articles and 4 unpublished dissertations). More than two thirds of the studies had optimal quality, and the risk of bias was not related to the overall effectiveness of the interventions. The overall effects were small, but statistically significant (d = 0.18, SE = 0.05, Z = 3.26, p < 0.001, k = 23). Separate analyses on each burnout component showed similar intervention effects on emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment, but almost null effects on depersonalization (d = 0.03, SE = 0.06, Z = 0.53, p > 0.05, k = 11). Additional moderator analyses suggested that mindfulness interventions had significant effects on exhaustion and personal accomplishment. Interventions on primary and middle school teachers reported effect sizes below the average effect. Similar to previous findings, interventions that lasted less than 1 month had the smallest levels of efficacy.     

Argumentation and Conceptualization in Context: a Case Study on Sunshadows in Primary School

I will analyse the individual and collective activities of fourth grade students while trying to explain a schoolfellow's mistake in the use of a geometrical schema (shared by the class) of the sunshadows phenomenon. The study aims at detecting productive links between context-related argumentation, mathematical modelling (here concerning sunshadows) and conceptualization (inclination of a straight line to a plane), as well as discussing their relevance for mathematics education. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

An application of the Udwadia-Kalaba dynamic formulation to flexible multibody systems

For the transient response analysis of a flexible slider-crank mechanism, the coordinate partitioning scheme and the Udwadia-Kalaba formulation are herein compared. The flexibility of the coupler has been modelled by means of a single Timoshenko beam element. The present analytical treatment can be viewed as an extension of the model discussed by Shabana in his textbook.     

Granite desalination using electromigration. Influence of type of granite and saline contaminant

We describe the results of electromigration desalination of two soluble salt-contaminated Galician granites. The efficacy of electromigration, which had not been previously applied to granite, was assessed for two types of granite contaminated with a 20% NaCl solution and seawater. Desalination effectiveness was evaluated as follows: (1) analysis of anode and cathode ion content during testing; (2) analysis of ions at different distances from the electrodes after testing; (3) pH assessment of the stone surfaces; and (4) evaluation of colour changes. Results were very satisfactory; by the end of testing, chloride was reduced by almost 100% in both the NaCl and seawater contaminated samples. Sulfate reduction was also significant, despite this ion's lower mobility. The granite pH values remained close to neutral and colour changes were minimal. The difference in effectiveness of the process for the two types of stone was associated with their dissimilar pore structure.     

Does sensorimotor training improve the static balance of young volleyball players?

The aim of this investigation is to assess the effectiveness of a 6-week balance training (BT) protocol, integrated in regular training sessions, on postural sway of young female volleyball players (n = 26, age 13.0 +/- 0.2 years) divided into two groups (intervention and control; 13 per group). Trials were performed for bipedal and unipedal stance conditions before and after the BT protocol, using a pressure platform to collect center-of-pressure (COP) time series that were processed to calculate sway area, COP path length, and maximum displacement range in anteroposterior and mediolateral directions. The intervention group exhibited smaller sway areas in eyes closed conditions (intervention = 42.76 mm2, control = 67.60 mm2; p < 0.05) and Romberg quotients (intervention = 1.11 mm, control = 1.82 mm) in bipedal stance, while all the other parameters were unaffected. BT also reduced sway area (intervention = 122.70 mm2, control = 187.18 mm2) and anteroposterior COP displacements (intervention = 20.18 mm, control = 22.38 mm) of the non-dominant limb for single-leg stance. No significant change was found for the dominant limb. Although it is possible to hypothesize a beneficial effect of BT on young athletes, further investigations are required to clarify its actual effect on balance performance with respect to normal volleyball training.