Education and competitive economy: how do cultural dimensions fit in?

Globalization has changed the way people behave in different aspects of life. One of the significant differences is that people are now competing with everyone around the world, not just people within or near their own regions. A good way of remaining competitive is to provide quality education that can help students meet the needs of the competitive economy. However, not all nations are responding in the same way. Using a quantitative approach, this explorative study seeks to discover if, and how, cultural dimensions fit into the process of meeting the demands of the competitive economy by means of education across regions. Forty-three regions with different ratings on the Power Distance Index (PDI), Individualism (IDV), Masculinity (MAS), and the Uncertainty Avoidance Index (UAI) are included in this study. The results show that UAI, PDI and IDV are significant factors relating to this issue.     

Technology and employment: Mass unemployment or job creation? Empirical evidence from European patenting firms

This paper explores the possible job creation effect of innovation activity. We analyze a unique panel dataset covering almost 20,000 patenting firms from Europe over the period 2003–2012. The main outcome from the proposed GMM-SYS estimations is the labor-friendly nature of innovation, which we measure in terms of forward-citation weighted patents. However, this positive impact of innovation is statistically significant only for firms in the high-tech manufacturing sectors, while not significant in low-tech manufacturing and services.     

Penguin Promises: encouraging aquarium visitors to take conservation action

This study investigates the impact of an innovative conservation action campaign called Penguin Promises implemented at uShaka Sea World in Durban, South Africa. Communication tools included interpretive signage, exhibits with and without animals, presentations, and personal interactions, along with a specially designed postcard, on which visitors could write a promise (pledge) to make a change in their daily lives to become more environmentally responsible. Visitors who completed a card were contacted a year or more after their visit and asked about the outcomes of their promise. The results (N = 316) showed that 49.4% of respondents could give an example of something positive they had done for the environment, that they attributed to the campaign. Based on the study, recommendations are provided for the design of effective visitor conservation action campaigns.     

在博物馆、科学中心和展览馆中利用数字技术学习

本文以博物馆和展览馆等利用数字化技术所提供的学习为综述对象,描述了博物馆学习的相关理论及发展;对在博物馆内、外利用数字化技术进行学习的趋势进行了预测;并针对未来发展趋势,对博物馆学习的设计者和开发者提供了相关建议。     

Inducing self-rotation of cells with natural and artificial melanin in a linearly polarized alternating current electric field

The phenomenon of self-rotation observed in naturally and artificially pigmented cells under an applied linearly polarized alternating current (non-rotating) electrical field has been investigated. The repeatable and controllable rotation speeds of the cells were quantified and their dependence on dielectrophoretic parameters such as frequency, voltage, and waveform was studied. Moreover, the rotation behavior of the pigmented cells with different melanin content was compared to quantify the correlation between self-rotation and the presence of melanin. Most importantly, macrophages, which did not originally rotate in the applied non-rotating electric field, began to exhibit self-rotation that was very similar to that of the pigmented cells, after ingesting foreign particles (e.g., synthetic melanin or latex beads). We envision the discovery presented in this paper will enable the development of a rapid, non-intrusive, and automated process to obtain the electrical conductivities and permittivities of cellular membrane and cytoplasm in the near future.     

A Comparison of Autonomic Nervous System Activity between Physically Trained and Untrained Individuals

Abstract

The study is concerned with the comparison of autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity between highly trained collegiate track and field athletes and untrained individuals. An ANS test battery consisting of six individual measures of autonomic activity was used: (a) sublingual temperature, (b) salivary output, (c) volar skin resistance, (d) palmar skin resistance, (e) diastolic blood pressure, and (f) heart period. One group of athletes, track runners, were found to have a mean autonomic balance score significantly higher (at the .02 level) than the norm group of college students. The autonomic scores of field event athletes, however, were not significantly different from the norm. An analysis of the type of ANS activity demonstrated by the runners showed a dominance by the parasympathetic as compared to a mixed pattern demonstrated by the normative sample. It was concluded that highly trained track runners demonstrated a significantly higher autonomic balance score than did normal college students, and that their resting autonomic pattern was predominantly parasympathetic. There was evidence to indicate that equality of performance in the running events in track, and possibly other athletic events, may be partially predictable from autonomic balance scores.     

Why users keep answering questions in online question answering communities: A theoretical and empirical investigation

This study theorized and validated a model of knowledge sharing continuance in a special type of online community, the online question answering (Q&A) community, in which knowledge exchange is reflected mainly by asking and answering specific questions. We created a model that integrated knowledge sharing factors and knowledge self-efficacy into the expectation confirmation theory. The hypotheses derived from this model were empirically validated using an online survey conducted among users of a famous online Q&A community in China, “Yahoo! Answers China”. The results suggested that users’ intention to continue sharing knowledge (i.e., answering questions) was directly influenced by users’ ex-post feelings as consisting of two dimensions: satisfaction, and knowledge self-efficacy. Based on the obtained results, we also found that knowledge self-efficacy and confirmation mediated the relationship between benefits and satisfaction.     

Season of birth is related to child retention rates, achievement, and rate of diagnosis of specific LD

A sizable literature has demonstrated that the achievement of children in early elementary school is related to their season of birth: Those born in summer typically perform less well than those born in the fall. A small literature indicates that more children diagnosed with specific learning disabilities (SLD) are born in the summer. We have begun to explore the possibility that the same processes may account for both outcomes. In order to better understand these processes, the standardized achievement levels and rates of diagnosis of SLD for children born during each season were studied in one geographical area of the State of Georgia served by 28 school districts. Standardized achievement scores in reading, mathematics, and science were reliably lower for those born in the summer. Furthermore, there was a strong relationship between season of birth and the rate at which children received a diagnosis of SLD. Summer-born children were diagnosed with SLD at a higher rate than their peers. Four hypotheses for both the lower performance in the general school population and the greater rate of SLD diagnosis among these children are discussed.     

Modifying the Clarity Behaviours of Experienced Teachers Through Structured Feedback

This paper briefly describes the methodology and results of research which aimed to determine whether or not the clarity behaviours of experienced teachers in regular classrooms were stable over time and whether or not they could be significantly altered through a process of self‐analysis based on feedback of students’ perceptions of their teacher's clarity. The research is an extension of a series of studies of teacher clarity which commenced at The Ohio State University in 1975. It utilised instruments which the author developed for the measurement of teacher clarify and which allowed comparisons to be made between student perceptions of teacher clarify and teachers’ self‐ratings of their clarity. The major finding of the research was that experienced teachers were able to make significant improvements in their clarity when provided with structured feedback about their lessons. The implications of this finding for teachers and for teacher education are discussed.