Implications of legal and organizational issues for urban digital government development

This paper discusses implications of the convergence of legal and organizational issues in the context of developing and implementing digital government projects in large urban settings. By the convergence of legal and organizational issues we refer to two important aspects of urban government: (1) the close relationship between legal/policy structures and the way government is organized and functions, and (2) the way the legal/policy elements interact with organizational dynamics and work cultures to influence digital government projects (and government activities generally). It is our contention that convergence in the organizational and legal/policy context is a powerful determinant of how these projects develop and how likely they are to succeed. Therefore the understanding of this convergence and related dynamics is critically important to planning and designing both policy to promote digital government and particular digital government projects themselves. Illustrations of this convergence and its consequences are presented. They are based on research involving two digital government projects in urban settings: development of a management information system for homeless shelter administration and a developing a system for sharing information among New York City agencies.     

A Review of Borderline Reviewing

Borderline reviews, in which the work of candidates who have just failed to achieve particular grades is reconsidered, are carried out by all but one of the GCE examining boards. The objective is to improve the reliability of such candidates’ grades. In particular, to prevent marking errors from causing candidates to be awarded worse grades than they deserve. It is argued in this paper that the procedures generally adopted for this purpose suffer from considerable theoretical and practical defects. Alternative procedures are proposed which are shown to be more likely to lead to the desired improvement in the reliability of candidates’ grades.     

The convergent and discriminant validity of burnout measures in sport: A multi-trait/multi-method analysis

Abstract

Athlete burnout research has been hampered by the lack of an adequate measurement tool. The Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ) and the Maslach Burnout Inventory General Survey (MBI-GS) are two recently developed self-report instruments designed to assess burnout. The convergent and discriminant validity of the ABQ and MBI-GS were assessed through multi-trait/multi-method analysis with a sporting population. Overall, the ABQ and the MBI-GS displayed acceptable convergent validity with matching subscales highly correlated, and satisfactory internal discriminant validity with lower correlations between non-matching subscales. Both scales also indicated an adequate discrimination between the concepts of burnout and depression. These findings add support to previous findings in non-sporting populations that depression and burnout are separate constructs. Based on the psychometric results, construct validity analysis and practical considerations, the results support the use of the ABQ to assess athlete burnout.     

Can Teachers Enter Candidates Appropriately for Examinations Involving Differentiated Papers?

The ability of teachers to enter candidates for appropriate combinations of differentiated papers is considered. The results of experimental work suggest that teachers would be able to predict their pupils’ examination performance accurately enough to enter almost all pupils at appropriate levels of such examinations; and that they would be able to do this as early as the January preceding the examination. However, they will be able to enter candidates effectively only if the standards required for the overlapping grades are the same at all levels of an examination. There is some evidence to suggest that this condition may not always hold. In addition, results from some Joint 16+ examinations suggest that there may be a considerable number of inappropriate entries to GCSE examinations which use differentiated papers.     

Motivation and Burnout in Professional Rugby Players

Abstract

A survey of the literature on the development of physical education tests reveals little of value to the researcher confronted with the problem of assessing the gross motor ability of manpower pools and predicting success in related tasks. Flexible instructions, subjective scoring, limited concepts of validity, and other factors involving a disregard or misinterpretation of principles of test construction have greatly reduced the usefulness of research in this field (1, p. 1).     

减少和抑制核HDAC5对骨骼肌细胞GLUT4基因表达的影响

验证收缩骨骼肌细胞葡萄糖转运蛋白4（GLUT4）基因的表达在转录水平上是否受转录抑制子Ⅱ型HDAC5蛋白（简写为HDAC5）的调节。研究运用运动模拟信号5-氨基-4-甲酰胺咪唑核糖核苷酸（AICAR）和HDACs抑制剂SCRIPTAID孵育骨骼肌细胞。用蛋白印迹技术测定HDAC5蛋白表达,定量RT-PCR法检测GLUT4 mRNA表达。与无AICAR的对照组相比,AICAR组骨骼肌细胞内HDAC5减少了29%,并伴随有124% GLUT4 mRNA的增加,但肌细胞内HDAC5的蛋白总量无变化;使用HDACs抑制剂SCRIPTAID刺激骨骼肌细胞能够明显增加核心组蛋白乙酰化水平和上调GLUT4基因的表达。这些结果提示,通过AICAR和SCRIPTAID分别减少或抑制核HDAC5均能上调骨骼肌细胞GLUT4基因的转录,HDAC5可能在转录水平上对肌肉收缩引起的GLUT4基因的表达起着重要的调节作用。