Estimating network effects in China’s mobile telecommunications

1 Introduction 1 Both economic literature and legal literature have focused a great deal of attention on the phenomenon of network effects, or network externalities: “markets in which the value that consumers place on a good increases as others use the good.”[1] Network effects have important implications for structure and competitiveness of underlying market, as well as for regulation policy making. In China, theoretical developments of the concept have been introduced, but it still remains…     

Sexual abuse during childhood and adolescence among Nicaraguan men and women: a population-based anonymous survey

AIMS: The objective was to describe experiences of sexual abuse occurring before 19 years of age among men and women in León, Nicaragua and to explore the possible association to later sexual risk behavior. METHOD: A sub-sample of literate urban men and women 25-44 years of age was selected from a representative sample of households in León. After an invitation to a public health event, 154 men (53% of the invited) and 213 women (66% of those invited) participated in giving written answers to an anonymous questionnaire. RESULTS: Twenty percent of men and 26% of women reported that they had experienced sexual abuse. Women had been victims of attempted or completed rape twice as often as men, 15% as compared to 7%. Thirty-three percent of the abuse towards boys and 66% of the abuse towards girls was committed by family members. Women who had experienced attempted or completed rape were more likely to later have had a higher number of sexual partners compared to non-abused or moderately abused women. CONCLUSIONS: Sexual abuse of children and adolescents of both sexes is common in Nicaragua. The results underscore the urgent need to address this serious problem more openly, and to make more resources available for the prevention of sexual abuse and for support to victims.     

PSYCHOLOGICAL ACCULTURATION: DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW MEASURE FOR PUERTO RICANS ON THE U.S. MAINLAND

Most instruments designed to measure acculturation have relied on specific cultural behaviors and preferences as primary indicators of acculturation. In contrast, feelings of belonging and emotional attachment to cultural communities have not been widely used. The Psychological Acculturation Scale (PAS) was developed to assess acculturation from a phenomenological perspective, with items pertaining to the individual's sense of psychological attachment to and belonging within the Anglo-American and Latino/Hispanic cultures. Responses from samples of bilingual individuals and Puerto Rican adolescents and adults are used to establish a high degree of measurement equivalence across the Spanish and English versions of the scale along with high levels of internal consistency and construct validity. The usefulness of the PAS and the importance of studying acculturation from a phenomenological perspective are discussed.     

Neighborhood Intersections and Hamiltonian property in Claw-Free Graphs

ＮｅｉｇｈｂｏｒｈｏｏｄＩｎｔｅｒｓｅｃｔｉｏｎｓａｎｄＨａｍｉｌｔｏｎｉａｎｐｒｏｐｅｒｔｙｉｎＣｌａｗＦｒｅｅＧｒａｐｈｓＷａｎｇＤｏｎｇｄｏｎｇ（王冬冬）（ＨｕａｉｙｉｎＩｎｄｕｓｔｒｙＣｏｌｅｇｅ，Ｈｕａｉｙｉｎｇ２２３０００）Ａｂｓ...     

Students’ Emotions in the High School Mathematical Class: Appraisals in Terms of a Structure of Goals

Little research in the field of Mathematics Education is directed towards emotions of students beyond their emotions in problem-solving. In particular, the daily emotions of students in a mathematics class have been sparsely studied in the field of mathematics education. In order to fill this gap, this qualitative research aims to identify high school students’ emotional experiences in the mathematics classroom and identify the appraisal structures that support such emotional experiences. Focus group interviews were carried out until theoretical saturation of the data was achieved (N = 53 in nine focus groups interviews). Data analysis is based on the theory of cognitive structure of emotions, which specifies eliciting situations for each emotion and the variables that affect intensity. The emotional experiences in this structure are as follows: satisfaction, disappointment, hope, fear, joy, distress, boredom, interest, pride, reproach, self-reproach, like and dislike. These results show that the emotional experiences of students are based on their appraisals of events, objects and agents in terms of a structure of goals.     

ICT in Portuguese reference schools for the education of blind and partially sighted students

Technology has become an essential component in our society and considering its impact in the educational system, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) cannot be dissociated from the educational process and, in particular, from pedagogical practices adopted for students who are blind or partially sighted. This study focuses on Portuguese reference schools for the education of blind and partially sighted students, regulated by the Decree-Law No. 3/2008, in which are concentrated the human and material resources that can offer an educational response with quality for these students with special education needs. The study intends to analyse the perceptions of the teachers, who teach visually impaired students in middle school and secondary school education in these reference schools, of their knowledge, teaching and training in the area of ICT, as well as of the real ICT integration in the teaching and learning of these students. A survey, which has been applied to these teachers in the 2012/13 school year, was adopted as a method of data collection. The results reveal a sample confident in their technological capabilities, however with little resourcefulness in some tools and software specific to the area of visual impairment and a very significant number of teachers ignoring many of these. The implementation of ICT with students who have visual disabilities is lower compared with the sighted students. The lack of specific training is considered to be the main obstacle for teachers, with regard to the real integration of ICT in the teaching and learning of these students.     

Exacerbated vulnerability in existential changes: the essence of dealing with reduced working capacity

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore people’s experience of reduced working capacity and their encounters with professionals in that life situation. We collected data through in-depth interviews with eight individuals. The main finding of the current research is how illness and accident impairing work capacity exacerbate vulnerability during the recovery process as people experienced uncertainty, depression, anxiety, social isolation, fear and stress. We conclude that counseling and support from respectful, professional, caring and human professionals is extremely valuable in such a context.     

Psychometry of the Teacher's Sense of Efficacy Scale in Spanish Teachers' Education

Our objective was to test the factorial validity of the different versions (TSES-24, TSES-12, and TSES-11) of the Teacher's Sense of Efficacy Scale in Spanish preservice teachers'. The participants were 358 preservice teachers. The confirmatory factor analysis showed inadequate fit indexes for both TSES-24 and TSES-12 but adequate fit indexes for TSES-11, which was invariant across gender. The reliability analysis showed appropriate values. The global factor for teachers' sense of efficacy and the three factors that constitute it positively predicted intrinsic motivation and life satisfaction. The global factor for sense of efficacy and the classroom management and student engagement factor negatively predicted amotivation. The results support the use of the TSES-11 three-factor model, rather than TSES-24 or TSES-12, for Spanish preservice teachers.     

Les représentations graphiques dans la résolution de problèmes: Une expérience d'entraînement d'étudiants dans un club mathématique

Resumé Cet article voudrait aborder un thème précis: l'emploi des représentations graphiques dans les comportements de recherche de problèmes de type Olympiades. Pour ce faire, nous utiliserons deux voies complémentaires: l'étude des copies des participants aux Olympiades Mathématiques Espagnoles (OME) et l'observation des membres d'un Club mathématique constitué dans le but de développer notre recherche. L'analyse des copies des OME a montré l'importance du choix et de l'interprétation de la première repésentation graphique dessinée, pour la réussite ou l'échec de la résolution d'un problème posé, c'est pourquoi nous avons essayé d'apprendre aux participants du Club mathématique à réfléchir aux stratégies de résolution et à réagir de manière critique contre les réflexes dûs aux conditionnements scolaires.

---

Graphic representations in problem solving: a training program for students on a Mathematical Club

The article looks at the use of graphic representation in problem-solving tasks of the type set in the Olympiads from two different points of view. Firstly, an analysis of the answer sheets of participants in the Spanish Mathematical Olympiads (OME), and secondly the observation of the members of a Mathematics Club brought together to help with the investigation. The analysis of a sample of answer sheets shows that the choice and interpretation of the first graphic representation drawn in the problem-solving process plays a decisive role in the discovery of the solution. As a result, a training programme has been established for the members of the Mathematics Club to help them consider the strategies used in problem-solving tasks and to help them approach these tasks in a more critical manner than is expected in a normal school environment.