Fish and Oceanographers,Scholars and Librarians: Researching Nineteenth-Century Russian Women Writers

This article discusses librarianship and literary scholarship as operating under separate paradigms, or ways of looking at the world, and considers the relationship between them. Each of these paradigms, it is suggested, generates distinctive research tools that combined can expand our ability to help Slavic and other Humanities literary researchers.     

Water,sanitation, and primary school attendance: A multi-level assessment of determinants of household-reported absence in Kenya

This cross-sectional analysis examined the influence of school and household water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) conditions on recent primary school absence in light of other individual, household, and school characteristics in western Kenya. School latrine cleanliness was the only school WASH factor associated with reduced odds of absence. The marginal effect of household characteristics, such as distance to water source, child involvement in water collection, and presence of a latrine, differed by gender. Demographic features were more important predictors of absence, suggesting that interventions to improve attendance must consider existing differentials attributable to gender, socio-economic status, and other household characteristics.     

The use of cross-curricular activity on interactive playgrounds to supplement school-based physical activity: an exploratory study

Childhood obesity and physical inactivity are serious threats to the health and wellness of our schoolchildren. Research has shown that play and physical activity are important in development, behaviour and academic achievement. Through the efforts of coordinated school health program and a Physical Education for Progress grant, a county school system in a southern state was able to construct multiple innovative playground systems at schools and combine them with various academic units in a cross-curricular effort to address the wellness needs of students. Exploratory research using pedometers, accelerometers and an observation method examined physical activity intensity levels during cross-curricular sessions. Results indicated that this type of physical activity might be a viable supplement to daily school-based physical activity needs.     

Cognitive foundations of message encoding: An investigation of message production as coalition formation

In this study participants (N=36) generated simple narratives employing a SITUATION ‐ ACTION ‐ BECAUSE structure. On some trials, all three elements of such triads were provided, and in other cases, participants were required to generate ideational links for SITUATION ‐ ACTION pairs. Consistent with the prediction generated from second generation action assembly theory (AAT2), participants were shown to be significantly faster in producing their messages when all three elements of their narratives were provided. The propensity to experience cognitive failures was shown to speed production of messages, particularly when participants were required to generate ideational links. Thus, although propensity to experience cognitive failures is typically seen to involve mental lapses and forgetfulness, this study produced evidence that people high on this trait actually enjoyed a performance advantage. Speed of information processing was not shown to have any impact on the rapidity with which messages were generated. Implications for future research on message production employing the experimental paradigm developed here are discussed     

Validation of the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: Fourth edition with exceptional black male students

Standard Age Scores on the Stanford-Binet Intelligence Scale: Fourth Edition (SBIV) and WISC-R IQs of 51 urban black males receiving special education services were compared. Correlations between the SBIV Composite scores and WISC-R Verbal, Performance, and Full Scale IQs were 0.803, 0.826, and 0.87 respectively. Correlations between all combinations of scales ranged from 0.612 to 0.888, median r=.723. SBIV Composite mean scores did not differ significantly from the mean WISC-R Full Scale, Verbal, and Performance IQs. Regression analysis of the three subgroups (BD. LD, and EMR) indicated that the SBIV possesses differential validity for each group. Tabular comparison of precision of classification between the SBIV and the WISC-R yielded a 78% agreement. These data suggest that the SBIV possesses utility for assessing the intelligence of black students classified as BD and EMR. However, the use of the scale with LD students is unsupported.