The war of the words: The rhetoric of ‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’ (an informal survey)

The political, military and media rhetoric of the March–April 2003 invasion of Iraq is interpreted as a phenomenon of power in relation to an understanding of culture as a site of denegation. Patterns of tautology, euphemism and equivocation are identified and their rhetorical appeal analysed in terms of the denegational structure of each of these figures. The essay is thus governed by an understanding of figuration as instrumental, not ornamental; it shows how rhetoric can be studied as a cultural phenomenon and argues by example that a pragmatics of troping is crucial to such a study.     

互联网关键技术创始人对话CNGI-ETF论坛

IPv6：部署比等待更容易 问：IPv6的一个巨大问题是与IPv4不兼容,可以设计一个新的协议取代现有的IPv4,那么会不会对IPv6进行重新设计？     

Physician opinions about an anatomy core curriculum: A case for medical imaging and vertical integration

Pre‐clinical anatomy curricula must provide medical students with the knowledge needed in a variety of medical and surgical specialties. But do physicians within specialties agree about what anatomical knowledge is most important in their practices? And, what is the common core of anatomical knowledge deemed essential by physicians in different specialties? Answers to these questions would be useful in designing pre‐clinical anatomy courses. The primary aim of this study was to assess the importance of a human gross anatomy course by soliciting the opinions of physicians from a range of specialties. We surveyed 93 physicians to determine the importance of specific anatomical topics in their own practices. Their responses were analyzed to assess variation in intra‐ and inter‐departmental attitudes toward the importance of anatomy. Nearly all of the topics taught in the course were deemed important by the clinicians as a group, but respondents showed little agreement on the rank order of importance of anatomical topics. Overall, only medical imaging received high importance by nearly all respondents, and lower importance was attached to embryology and lymphatic anatomy. Our survey data, however, also suggested distinct hierarchies in the importance assigned to anatomical topics within specialties. Given that physicians view the importance of anatomy differently, we suggest that students revisit anatomy through a vertically integrated curriculum tailored to provide specialty‐specific anatomical training to advanced students based on their areas of clinical interest. Integration of medical imaging into pre‐clinical anatomy courses, already underway in many medical schools, is of high clinical relevance. Anat Sci Educ 7: 251–261. © 2013 American Association of Anatomists.     

Darwin’s Difficulties and Students’ Struggles with Trait Loss: Cognitive-Historical Parallelisms in Evolutionary Explanation

Although historical changes in scientific ideas sometimes display striking similarities with students’ conceptual progressions, some scholars have cautioned that such similarities lack meaningful commonalities. In the history of evolution, while Darwin and his contemporaries often used natural selection to explain evolutionary trait gain or increase, they struggled to use it to convincingly account for cases of trait loss or decrease. This study examines Darwin’s evolutionary writings about trait gain and loss in the Origin of Species (On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. D. Appleton, New York, 1859) and compares them to written evolutionary explanations for trait gain and loss in a large (n > 500), cross-cultural and cross-sectional sample (novices and experts from the USA and Korea). Findings indicate that significantly more students and experts applied natural selection to cases of trait gain, but like Darwin and his contemporaries, they more often applied ‘use and disuse’ and ‘inheritance of acquired characteristics’ to episodes of trait loss. Although the parallelism between Darwin’s difficulties and students’ struggles with trait loss are striking, significant differences also characterize explanatory model structure. Overall, however, students and scientists struggles to explain trait loss—which is a very common phenomenon in the history of life—appear to transcend time, place, and level of biological expertise. The significance of these findings for evolution education are discussed; in particular, the situated nature of biological reasoning, and the important role that the history of science can play in understanding cognitive constraints on science learning.     

Limited Fine Motor and Grasping Skills in 6‐Month‐Old Infants at High Risk for Autism

Atypical motor behaviors are common among children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). However, little is known about onset and functional implications of differences in early motor development among infants later diagnosed with ASD. Two prospective experiments were conducted to investigate motor skills among 6‐month‐olds at increased risk (high risk) for ASD (N₁ = 129; N₂ = 46). Infants were assessed using the Mullen Scales of Early Learning (MSEL) and during toy play. Across both experiments, high‐risk infants exhibited less mature object manipulation in a highly structured (MSEL) context and reduced grasping activity in an unstructured (free‐play) context than infants with no family history of ASD. Longitudinal assessments suggest that between 6 and 10 months, grasping activity increases in high‐risk infants.     

Opportunity costs associated with the provision of student services: a case study of web-based lecture technology

Universities aim to provide services that are not only beneficial to students but also efficient relative to possible alternative services. Using opportunity cost, this study considers staff and student perceptions of the usefulness and valuation of web-based lecture technology (WBLT). It reveals that a quarter of students did not use WBLT while many staff members thought WBLT had a negative impact on their face-to-face teaching. Further, over a third of students sampled said they would not be affected if WBLT were not made available and many staff members felt constrained by WBLT technology. Some staff members spent a lot of time preparing WBLT while others eschewed the technology altogether. Nevertheless, a relatively small number of students place enormous value on WBLT, as do some staff, even if only simple audio of lectures are provided. The academic policy implications of this study suggest that university provision of WBLT could take into account the opportunity cost of WBLT use as a valuation-basis, possibly recovering costs through extra fees. This would allow for improved decision-making by university administrators and facilitate a move towards a useful measurement basis of WBLT. A wider academic policy implication is to consider whether all universities should produce and deliver WBLT at all and to what extent it should encourage staff to develop enhanced WBLT. Provision of sophisticated WBLT or any other service for students bears an opportunity cost in terms of less preparation by staff for face-to-face lessons or other effective teaching or research.     

Racial/ethnic differences in Medicaid expenditures on psychotropic medications among maltreated children

This study quantifies racial/ethnic differences in Medicaid expenditures on psychotropic drugs among a national sample of children with suspected maltreatment. We linked 4,445 child participants in the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW) – consisting of children investigated for suspected abuse and neglect – to their Medicaid claims obtained from 36 states. We used propensity score matching to construct a comparison group of children without known child welfare involvement, and estimated two-part generalized linear models to examine differences in annual psychotropic drug expenditures per child between children of different races/ethnicities. When compared to a matched sample of children, African American and Latino children incur $292 and $144 less expenditures on psychotropic drugs, respectively, than white children. Among NSCAW children alone, African American children display $614 less spending on psychotropic drugs when compared to white children. Racial/ethnic differences in expenditures on psychotropic drugs occur among all children on Medicaid, but the differences are especially pronounced among African American children in contact with the child welfare system. These findings demonstrate that policymakers will need to pay special attention to the needs of children of color as Medicaid expansions proceed nationwide.     

HIP HOP for HIV awareness: using hip hop culture to promote community-level HIV prevention

The goal of this paper was to determine the effectiveness of the HIP HOP for HIV Awareness intervention, an innovative model utilising an exchange of an HIV test for a hip hop concert ticket, in a metropolitan city among African American youth and young adults. A subset of intervention participants participated in standardised testing, sex education and pre/post test administration. Data were analysed to identify changes in knowledge and attitudes with respect to HIV and sexually transmitted infections pre/post the educational session. An analysis of knowledge revealed variance in the pre- and post-assessment findings among participants receiving the intervention. Level of education and gender significantly influenced the variance in knowledge discerned from the pre- and post-assessment among participants. Two three-level significant interactions emerged from the analysis of variance: knowledge, education and gender; and knowledge, education and race/ethnicity. Programme findings suggest that an increase in knowledge and improved self-perceptions related to attitudes are the result of a brief, HIV-focused community-based intervention among young adults.     

Diving

The purpose of this study was to compare the reverse two and one half somersault dive in a tuck position (305C) performed by females (n = 24), and the reverse two and one half somersault dive in a pike position (305B) performed by males (n = 21), to determine changes required by females to successfully perform 305B. Key performance variables in reverse dives were also compared to those of forward dives. Video data of the dives performed at the 1999 FINA World Diving Cup were captured and digitised to obtain times and postures of the divers at specific events including hurdle landing, takeoff, and entry. Estimates of hurdle flight height and mass‐normalised work done on the springboard were obtained from hurdle and flight times. The males did more work on the springboard to achieve greater height and rotation than females. Females performing 305C had less hip and knee flexion at hurdle landing than males performing 305B and took longer to achieve maximum hip flexion after takeoff from the springboard. To progress from 305C to 305B females need to adjust their techniques to put more energy into the system. Desirable changes include increased height in the hurdle and increased hip and knee flexion prior to hurdle landing. Comparison of results for reverse dives with data previously presented for forward dives indicated that divers are more limited in the number of somersaults and dive position in reverse dives than forward dives despite equivalent or better height in reverse dives than forward dives.