Telematics and development

Abstract

Developed countries are rapidly evolving into information economies, and given the increasing internationalization of trade and interdependence, developing countries will also have to become information economies if they are to achieve higher economic growth rates. The essence of the information economy is that information is now the main capital input into manufacturing industry and as such is the key input to economic development. The activities of enquiring, communicating, evaluating, and deciding have become the activities absorbing the major proportion of national resources, with the need to know of the business decision‐maker as the main driving force. In developed information economies, industrial firms have become learning systems and a new division of labor in the economic productive system has evolved. The government‐controlled primary information sector is the source of much of the information input and the provider of the means of information transfer. Developing countries must develop their own primary information sectors as an integrated part of the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. The problems of developing countries are highlighted in the isolation on the one hand of their information generating sectors from the productive sector and on the other of the native small firm sector from all sectors of information. Telematics, as the integration of computing, communication, and information services offers the means to integrate national resources with international and supply the required inputs to local agricultural and industrial development.     

The Sport Commitment Model: An Investigation of Structural Relationships with Thai Youth Athlete Populations

Grounded in the conceptual framework of the Sport Commitment Model and previous empirical studies conducted in Western countries, this study was designed to (a) test and validate a Thai version of the Athlete Opinion Survey to assess components of the Sport Commitment Model in Thai youth athletes and (b) examine structural relationships among various constructs of the Sport Commitment Model as assessed by the Thai version of the Athlete Opinion Survey. Survey data were collected from 1,704 Thai youth athletes and analyzed via structural equation modeling methodologies to establish evidence for validity and measurement reliability. Results from various analyses indicated adequate support for the hypothesized factorial structure and acceptable reliability estimates of the Thai version of the Athlete Opinion Survey subscales. Moreover, modeling analyses showed empirical support for the hypothesized structural relationships underlying the Sport Commitment Model in the Thai youth athlete population. The findings from this study have implications for a better understanding of sport commitment in different cultural settings.     

Do peer relationships mediate the association between children’s facial emotion recognition ability and their academic attainment? Findings from the ALSPAC study

We examined whether children’s facial emotion recognition ability predicted their academic attainment over time, and whether peer relationships mediated that association. A secondary aim was to test whether the putative causal pathways would be significantly different for boys and girls. The model was tested using data from The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), a prospective longitudinal cohort population. Facial emotion recognition ability was assessed using the Diagnostic Assessment of Non-Verbal Accuracy (DANVA) at age 8.5 years while academic attainment was measured using data on UK Key Stage 4 (General Certificate of Secondary Education) at 16 years (outcome). The teacher’s version of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire was used to measure children’s peer relationship problems at 10–11 years (mediator). We adjusted for area-level socio-economic status and child’s early academic attainment, and examined whether mediation was moderated by sex. The results showed that low facial emotion recognition ability in childhood was associated with low academic attainment at age 16 years. There was evidence of mediation via peer problems, with an estimated 19% of the total effect mediated by errors in emotion recognition. Further analyses showed that there was no difference in mediation for boys versus girls. The findings suggest that children’s facial emotion recognition ability and peer relationships should be potential targets for programmes that aim to improve children’s educational attainment and their social and emotional competence.     

‘Brown Paper Packages’? A Sociocultural Perspective on Young Children's Ideas in Science

How do we see young children's thinking in science? Is it, as much previous research has led us to believe, that their ideas can be neatly boxed like “brown paper packages tied up with strings” – as the song from The Sound of Music goes? Or are their ideas like “wild geese that fly with the moon on their wings” (Sound of Music): fluid, complex, rich.?.?.? Drawing on the author's research into young children's ideas about natural phenomena such as the rain and clouds, and on Rogoff's three foci of analysis (personal, interpersonal and contextual), this paper illustrates how a consideration of sociocultural theory can be useful in framing research with young children, and allow us to see beyond the boxes. Emphasis is placed on recognising that children's thinking in science is embedded within particular sociocultural contexts, is guided by others and integrated with their use of certain mental and physical cultural tools. Thus, the article aims to present an alternative method for the generation of data on young children's thinking. Specific analysis of this data will, it is intended, be presented in a subsequent article.     

The effect of causal diagrams on text learning

We examined the effect of studying a causal diagram on comprehension of causal relationships from an expository science text. A causal diagram is a type of visual display that explicitly represents cause-effect relationships. In Experiment 1, readers between conditions did not differ with respect to memory for main ideas, but the readers who studied the causal diagram while reading the text understood better the five causal sequences in the text even when study time was controlled. Participants in Experiment 2 studied only the causal diagram or only the text. There were no differences in memory for main ideas or the causal sequences between these groups. Results indicate that causal diagrams are not merely redundant with text and that causal diagrams affect understanding of causal relationships in the absence of a text. These findings supported the causal explication hypothesis, which states that causal diagrams improve comprehension by explicitly representing the implicit causal structure of the text in a visual format.     

当代散文创作发展的几个问题

从大和小、外和内、实和虚、文和野、热和冷等十个字、五对关系 ,总括了当代散文创作发展所面临的一些深层次问题 ,并联系散文的范畴论、特征论、创作论和鉴赏批评论“号脉诊疾”,提出了相应的“治疗意见”,对 2 1世纪散文的顺利发展当有所助益     

The role of social capital in students’ perceptions of progress in higher education

This paper aims to analyse the effects of students’ social relationships at university on students’ success. Specifically, whether a student with heterogeneous relationships obtains better academic results than a student whose relationships are mostly with classmates. Further, the research examines whether students’ social relationships make up for their parents’ lack of human capital. A survey was answered by a sample of 867 students from universities in the metropolitan region of Barcelona. The findings suggest that the effects of social relationships are not always positive. The benefits of social networks at university interact with the type of degree studied, the student’s dedication to studies, and the student’s social class. Perceptions of progress for each category of students is different: It is more positive for those with frequent heterogeneous relations, who do not work or do so for a few hours, and for those who are enrolled in “hard” science courses.     

大学生人际交往团体心理辅导实践的思考

短期的团体心理辅导不是对人际交往任何方面改善都有效，团体心理辅导有其适宜的内容；在大学生团体心理辅导活动中，理论构建是前提，活动内容要注意科学与艺术的统一，活动设计要充分利用游戏机制。就大学生团体心理辅导而言，主动发展意识强、理性探讨多、心理分析要求高是其主要特点。