加拿大英语的保守性特点及其成因

加拿大英语除了具有鲜明的创新性特点以外,其保守性特点也很突出。18世纪末英国殖民者将当时的英语带到北美。随着时代的变迁,英语在祖国发生了变化,但大洋彼岸因种种因素没有发生同样的变化。因此在今天的加拿大英语中却仍可寻到昔日英国英语的痕迹。这在语音、词汇和语法方面均有体现。加拿大英语保守性特点的成因主要有语言接触因素、社会因素和移民源的心理因素。通过对加拿大英语保守性特点及其成因的分析,有助于英语的学习与传播。     

Modelling home advantage in the Summer Olympic Games

Home advantage in team games is well proven and the influence of the crowd upon officials' decisions has been identified as a plausible cause. The aim of this study was to assess the significance of home advantage for five event groups selected from the Summer Olympic Games between 1896 and 1996, and put home advantage in team games in context with other sports. The five event groups were athletics and weightlifting (predominantly objectively judged), boxing and gymnastics (predominantly subjectively judged) and team games (involving subjective decisions). The proportion of points won was analysed as a binomial response variable using generalized linear interactive modelling. Preliminary exploration of the data highlighted the need to control for the proportion of competitors entered and to split the analysis pre- and post-war. Highly significant home advantage was found in event groups that were either subjectively judged or rely on subjective decisions. In contrast, little or no home advantage (and even away advantage) was observed for the two objectively judged groups. Officiating system was vital to both the existence and extent of home advantage. Our findings suggest that crowd noise has a greater influence upon officials' decisions than players' performances, as events with greater officiating input enjoyed significantly greater home advantage.     

Community involvement in research as a formal and informal mechanism for science education: Project Egret Watch

Specializations: science and environmental education, biology of herons.     

Do judges enhance home advantage in European championship boxing?

There have been many examples of contentious points decisions in boxing. Professional boxing is scored subjectively by judges and referees scoring each round of the contest. We assessed whether the probability of a home win (and therefore home advantage) increased when bouts were decided by points decisions rather than knockouts. Overall, we found that bouts ending in points decisions had a significantly higher proportion of home wins than those decided by a knockout, though this effect varied across time, and controlling for relative quality of boxers was only effective when using more recent data. Focusing on these data, again the probability of a home win was higher with a points decision and this effect was consistent as “relative quality” varied. For equally matched boxers (“relative quality” = 0), expected probability of a home win was 0.57 for knockouts, 0.66 for technical knockouts and 0.74 for points decisions. The results of the present study lend general support to the notion that home advantage is more prevalent in sports that involve subjective decision-making. We suggest that interventions should be designed to inform judges to counter home advantage effects.     

A comparison of pregnant women presenting for alcohol and other drug treatment by CPS status

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to describe the demographic, substance use, and treatment variables of alcohol and other drug (AOD) treatment seeking pregnant women. This study also compared women on these variables based on Child Protective Service (CPS) status. METHOD: Secondary data of all pregnant women with at least one child entering all publicly funded AOD treatment programs (N=678), in a southwest county, over a 3-year period were analyzed to examine the differences between pregnant women also involved with CPS and those not involved with CPS. RESULTS: Pregnant women reporting CPS involvement were similar to non-CPS women on demographic variables but differed on drug use and treatment variables. CPS women were more likely to report marijuana use as their primary problem drug, be mandated to treatment, attend day treatment and be released from treatment unsatisfactorily compared to the non-CPS pregnant women. Those without CPS involvement were more likely to report cocaine or crack as their primary drug, attend outpatient treatment and be found to have a satisfactory release from treatment compared to those with CPS involvement. Results from the multiple logistic regression analysis found that the significant predictors of CPS involvement were mandated status and unsatisfactory treatment release. CONCLUSIONS: Differences in treatment outcomes may be based on AOD agencies' difficulty in working with mandated clients and/or with the multiple demands placed by CPS on clients as part of their treatment plans. Further research is needed to determine reasons for CPS clients' high failure rates in AOD treatment.