Gender effects in children's beliefs about school performance: a cross-cultural study

Do young boys and girls understand what leads to academic success (e.g., talent, effort, good teaching, luck) in the same way? Do young girls and boys have equivalent perceptions of their academic competence? Are these beliefs engendered in the same way across sociocultural contexts? In a cross-cultural study of over 3,000 children in grades 2 to 6, ages 7.2 to 13.6, we discovered that boys and girls around the world have very similar ideas about what generally leads to academic success. Moreover, in the few contexts where boys' and girls' academic performances were equal, their beliefs were also equal. However, when girls outperformed boys, their beliefs in their own talent were no greater than boys' beliefs, even though they did have stronger beliefs than boys in other facets of their achievement potential (e.g., putting forth effort, being lucky, getting their teacher's help). Our findings support the generally close correspondence between children's achievement and their competence-related beliefs, with the exception that young girls appear to specifically discount their talent. The effects held regardless of the children's achievement, intelligence, or age (approximately 8 to 13 years). Girls were more biased in some contexts than in others, however, suggesting that competence-related biases are rooted in culture-specific aspects of school settings.     

Conceptual change through vicarious learning in an authentic physics setting

Recent research on principles of best practice for designing effective multimedia instruction has rarely taken into account students’ alternative conceptions, which are known to strongly influence learning. The goal of this study was to determine how well students of quantum mechanics could learn ‘vicariously’ by watching a student-tutor dialogue based on alternative conceptions. Two video treatments were created to summarize key aspects of quantum tunneling, a fundamental quantum mechanical phenomenon. One video depicted a student-tutor dialogue, incorporating many of the common alternative conceptions on the topic, and resolving inconsistencies in reasoning through discussion. The other presented the same correct physics material in an expository style without alternative conceptions. Second year physics students were randomly assigned to one of the two treatments and were tested before and after watching the video during a lecture. Results show a statistically significant (p < .01) advantage for the learners in the dialogue treatment (d = 0.71). Follow-up interviews of students yielded insight into the affective and cognitive benefits of the dialogue video.     

PEMFC分散发电系统的压力控制研究

NomenclatureA-area ( m2)Dw-membrane water diffusivity ( m2/s)F-=96 487I-current (A)M-molecule mass (kg/mol)T-temperature (K)W-mass flowrate (kg/s)cw-water concentration in membrane ( mol/m3)m-mass (kg)n-cell numbernd-electro-osmotic drag coefficientp-pres…     

Interaction of LDL and platelets in ischaemic and ischaemic risk subjects

Platelets play a vital role in the progression of atherosclerosis and thrombosis, a major cause of death worldwide. Platelets are activated by many triggers like elevated LDL in blood resulting in aggregation and formation of plaque. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of LDL and signal transduction inhibitor on the activation of platelets in Ischaemic risk subjects. Platelets from IHD and hyperlipidemic subjects were hypersensitive to ADP, as higher levels of platelet aggregation were observed in these groups. LDL from IHD hyperlipidemic subjects was more effective in activating platelets from any other group. Ox-LDL was more effective in activating platelets than native-LDL as monitored by level of platelet aggregation induced by PAF and thrombin. Calcium channel blocker, nifedipine and verapamil inhibited platelet aggregation at micromolar level. Protein kinase inhibitor, staurosporine was effective in inhibiting ADP induced aggregation at nanomolar level.     

Clinical usefulness of alterations in sialic acid,sialyl transferase and sialoproteins in breast cancer

Sialic acid, the end moieties of the carbohydrate chains are biologically important and essential for functions of glycoconjugates and are reported to be altered in cancer patients. Two hundred and twenty five breast cancer (BC) patients, 100 patients with benign breast disease (BBD) and 100 healthy females (controls) were enrolled for the study. Eight hundred and twenty four follow-up samples of 225 breast carcinoma patients were also evaluated. The association of sialic acid forms, sialyltransferase and α-2–6 sialoproteins levels with presence and extent as well as prognosis of breast carcinoma was studied. Serum sialic acid forms and sialyltransferase revealed significantly elevated levels among untreated breast cancer patients as compared to the controls, patients with BBD as well as cancer patients in remission. Non-responders showed comparable levels of the markers with those found in breast cancer patients at the time of diagnosis. Higher levels of sialic acid forms at diagnosis were associated with poor prognosis. A positive correlation between serum levels of different forms of sialic acids and extent of malignant disease was observed. The changes in serum proteins with terminal α-2–6 sialic acid correlated well with alterations in the levels of sialic acid forms and sialyltransferase. Malignant tissues showed elevated levels of sialic acid and sialyltransferase as compared to surrounding normal tissues. The results suggested potential utility of these markers in evaluation of clinical outcome.     

Effect of obesity and insulin resistance on diabetic control

Diabetes Mellitus in obese and non-obese Indian individuals.AIMS: Effect of Obesity and insulin resistance on diabetic control.SETTINGS AND DESIGN: 50 each groups Diabetic individuals obese and non-obese.METHODS AND MATERIAL: On selected 50 each group diabetic patient and normal, following blood investigations has been performed—Plasma Glucose, Glycohemoglobin and Serum Insulin.STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Individuals patient’s results were analyzed and compared with the normal controls.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: The changes in glycosylated haemoglobin are mainly proportional to the post lunch glucose level (r=0.773) (p<0.01) and not correlated to circulating insulin or the body mass index. However the levels were higher in obese diabetes (Type I and II both) than in non-obese. Mechanism of resistance in insulin receptor interactions due to obesity is well known. However, obesity does not seem to affect directly glycosylated haemoglobin. Under such circumstances, the reduction of weight for a diabetic person can improve sugar control by minimizing insulin resistance and thereby can improve glycosylated haemoglobin levels.     

Locus and nature of perceptual phonological deficit in Spanish children with reading disabilities

The aims of this study were (a) to determine whether Spanish children with reading disabilities (RD) show a speech perception deficit and (b) to explore the locus and nature of this perceptive deficit. A group of 29 children with RD, 41 chronological age-matched controls, and 27 reading ability-matched younger controls were tested on tasks of speech perception. The effect of linguistic unit (word vs. syllable) and type of phonetic contrast (voicing, place and manner of articulation) were analyzed in terms of the number of errors and the response time. The results revealed a speech perception deficit in Spanish children with RD that was independent of the type of phonetic contrast and of linguistic unit.     

Engaging adolescents with LD in higher order thinking about history concepts using integrated content enhancement routines

The understanding and use of historical concepts specified in national history standards pose many challenges to students. These challenges include both the acquisition of content knowledge and the use of that knowledge in ways that require higher order thinking. All students, including adolescents with learning disabilities (LD), are expected to understand and use concepts of history to pass high-stakes assessments and to participate meaningfully in a democratic society. This article describes Content Enhancement Routines (CERs) to illustrate instructional planning, teaching, and assessing for higher order thinking with examples from an American history unit. Research on the individual components of Content Enhancement Routines will be illustrated with data from 1 of the routines. The potential use of integrated sets of materials and procedures across grade levels and content areas will be discussed.     

A meta-analytic investigation of therapy modality outcomes for sexually abused children and adolescents: an exploratory study

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the current study was to investigate the independent effects of different treatment elements on a number of secondary problems related to childhood and adolescent sexual abuse, as well as investigate a number of different moderators of treatment effectiveness. METHOD: Twenty-eight studies that provided treatment outcome results for children and adolescents who had been sexually abused were included in the meta-analysis. Different aspects of psychological treatment, such as specific treatment modalities (individual, cognitive-behavioral, etc.) or secondary problems (behavior problems, psychological distress, etc.) were investigated. RESULTS: The overall mean weighted effect size for the meta-analysis was d=.72 (SE=.02). The results indicate that psychological treatment after childhood or adolescent sexual abuse tended to result in better outcomes than no treatment. There was significant heterogeneity in the effectiveness of the various psychological treatment elements. Play therapy seemed to be the most effective treatment for social functioning, whereas cognitive-behavioral, abuse-specific, and supportive therapy in either group or individual formats was most effective for behavior problems. Cognitive-behavioral, family, and individual therapy seemed to be the most effective for psychological distress, and abuse-specific, cognitive-behavioral, and group therapy appeared to be the most effective for low self-concept. CONCLUSIONS: The choice of therapy modality should depend on the child's main presenting secondary problem. Further research should be conducted investigating other possible moderators and secondary problem outcomes.