Meeting the highly qualified teachers challenge

The moulding of the future of a nation depends on the teachers and the education they provide in schools. Research evidence from the US. National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) confirms this to be the case. Quantitative analysis of data indicates that measures associated with pre-service teacher preparation are by far the strongest correlates of student achievement (Darling-Hammond 2000). The research report of Wilson, Floden, and Ferrini-Mundy (2001) also suggests a strong relationship between teacher preparation and teacher effectiveness. Other research studies similarly indicate that differences in teacher quality are the most crucial for student achievement when compared with variables such as class size, streaming, or the amount of homework (Anderson & Helms 2001; Mendro 1998; Powell & Anderson 2002; Rivkin, Hanushek & Kain 2001; Saunders & Horn 1994; Strong & Tucker 2000) as possible contributory factors. In the pursuit of improved student achievement, we therefore need to examine seriously the role of teacher variables, ranging from teacher qualifications and their subject matter knowledge, to what motivates them to take up teaching as a career and as a consequence, how they teach in classrooms.     

The Role of Community College First-Year Experience Programs in Promoting Transfer Among Latino Male Students

ABSTRACT

A qualitative case study approach was used to examine Latino male students and First-Year Experience (FYE) programs aimed at promoting student transfer. Two FYE programs at two community colleges in California were studied: Bridgetown Community College and Portlake Community College (pseudonyms). Study participants included four groups: Latino male FYE students, Latino male FYE alumni, FYE counselors, and FYE coordinators. Data collection strategies included semi-structured interviews, site observations, and document analysis. Analysis of data involved both deductive and inductive approaches, and resulted in identification of four findings critical to the success of FYE programs and their work with Latino males: (a) the need to support help-seeking behaviors, (b) the need to address the “long journey” to transfer, (c) the need to support students’ work burden and financial constraints, and (d) the need to incorporate approachable and culturally responsive practices. Overall, the study offers insights into how community colleges might strengthen transfer support for Latino males through FYE programs.     

Exercise cardiac power and the risk of heart failure in men: A population-based follow-up study

Background:Little is known about exercise cardiac power(ECP),defined as the ratio of directly measured maximal oxygen uptake with peak systolic blood pressure during exercise,on heart failure(HF)risk.We examined the association of ECP and the risk of HF.Methods:This was a population-based cohort study of 2351 men from eastern Finland.The average time to follow-up was 25 years.Participants participated at baseline in an exercise stress test.A total of 313 cases of HF occurred.Results:Men with low ECP(<9.84 mL/mmHg,the lowest quartile)had a 2.37-fold(95%confidence interval(95%CI):1.68-3.35,p<0.0001)hazards ratio of HF as compared with men with high ECP(>13.92 mL/mmHg,the highest quartile),after adjusting for age.Low ECP was associated with a 1.96-fold risk(95%CI:1.38-2.78,p<0.001)of HF after additional adjustment for conventional risk factors.After further adjustment for left ventricular hypertrophy,the results hardly changed(hazards ratio=1.87,95%CI:1.31-2.66,p<0.001).One SD increase in ECP(3.16 mL/mmHg)was associated with a decreased risk of HF by 28%(95%CI:17%-37%).Conclusion:ECP provides a noninvasive and easily available measure from cardiopulmonary exercise tests in predicting HF.However,ECP did not provide additional value over maximal oxygen uptake.     

Inequities in Japanese Urban Schools

Interviews with Japanese public school educators allow a distinctive view of how the continuing economic decline in Japan has affected educational motivation and decision-making among students and parents. The nature of socioeconomic stratification within Japanese educational opportunity is seen as a continuing situation exacerbated by the costs of education in a context of chronic economic uncertainty.     

Approaches to the study of traditional behaviors of free-living animals

I review literature on four different approaches to the study of traditions in animals: observation of free-living animals, laboratory experiment, armchair analysis, and field experiment. Because, by definition, a tradition entails social learning of some kind, it is difficult, perhaps impossible, to establish that a behavior is in fact traditional without knowledge of how it develops. Observations of free-living animals often provide strong circumstantial evidence of a tradition. However, even in the view of several researchers who have studied possibly traditional behaviors in natural populations, observation alone has not proven sufficient to show that social learning contributes to development of behaviors of interest. The relevance of laboratory experiments to the understanding of the development of behaviors in free-living animals is always open to challenge. Armchair analyses of field data can produce interesting hypotheses but cannot test them. Field experiments to determine how behaviors of interest develop in population members provide a promising way forward.     

对韩礼德“阶和范畴语法”理论的批评

Halliday的“现代汉语语法范畴”揭开了阶和范畴语法理论研究的序幕 ,其主要目的是说明语言是什么 ,语言如何工作。该理论一提出 ,就受到当代数位语言大师的批评 ,该文简要回顾了Postal,Matthews等对级阶理论的批评 ;Butler等对类概念的批评 ;Huddle ston ,Palmer等对结构概念的批评和Postal对分类性质的批评。     

Theoretical solution of a spherically isotrophic hollow sphere for dynamic thermoelastic problems

The separation of variables method was successfully, used to resolve the spherically symmetric dynamic thermoelastic problem for a spherically isotropic elastic hollow sphere. Use of the integral transform can be avoided by means of this method, which is also appropriate for an arbitrary thickness hollow sphere subjected to arbitrary thermal and mechanical loads. Numerical results are presented to show the dynamic stress responses in the uniformly heated hollow spheres. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 10172075, 10002016)     

Product review summarization through question retrieval and diversification

Product reviews have become an important resource for customers before they make purchase decisions. However, the abundance of reviews makes it difficult for customers to digest them and make informed choices. In our study, we aim to help customers who want to quickly capture the main idea of a lengthy product review before they read the details. In contrast with existing work on review analysis and document summarization, we aim to retrieve a set of real-world user questions to summarize a review. In this way, users would know what questions a given review can address and they may further read the review only if they have similar questions about the product. Specifically, we design a two-stage approach which consists of question selection and question diversification. For question selection phase, we first employ probabilistic retrieval models to locate candidate questions that are relevant to a given review. A Recurrent Neural Network Encoder–Decoder is utilized to measure the “answerability” of questions to a review. We then design a set function to re-rank the questions with the goal of rewarding diversity in the final question set. The set function satisfies submodularity and monotonicity, which results in an efficient greedy algorithm of submodular optimization. Evaluation on product reviews from two categories shows that the proposed approach is effective for discovering meaningful questions that are representative of individual reviews.     

The impact of lexical inferencing strategies on second language reading proficiency

Abstract. This study focuses on the source of reading problems of English as a second language learners at the high school level. The results indicate that while reading comprehension is impacted by level of receptive vocabulary knowledge, the ability to select and implement word-appropriate lexical inferencing strategies can compensate for low receptive vocabularies in relation to the demands of the text. The ability to make this selection, however, implies not only sensitivity to word structure, but also the ability to implement morphological analysis in conjunction with contextual guessing, where appropriate. These findings suggest that the development of English as a second language reading proficiency may be accelerated by acquisition of the meanings of the most productive affixes of English in conjunction with instruction in the principles of morphological analysis.