Matching anonymous pre-posttests using subject-generated information

Sensitive research issues call for anonymous questionnaires. This makes accurately matching pretests with posttests difficult or impossible. Various subject-generated coding schemes have been developed, but their accuracy has been unknown. This anonymous study, with 745 students, used subject-generated coding to match pretests with posttests. The matching was verified for accuracy with the use of a collateral, anonymous, sticker identification system. The coding system was able to accurately match 75.2% of all the pretest-posttest pairs. An additional 22.1% of the pairs were left unmatched and only 2.7% were matched incorrectly. Subject-generated coding systems can be very effective where confidentiality is important to protect.     

四川绿豆地方品种群体主要农艺性状的因子分析

利用因子分析法,把70个四川绿豆地方品种的13个主要农艺性状分成受7个独立公因子制约的7个性状群。这7个公因子是;f_1,荚粒数因子,它是由单株英数和单株粒数构成的;f_2,粒重因子,由百粒重、英长和英宽构成;f_3,节、枝数因子,由主茎节数,单株分枝数构成;f_4、f_5和f_6均由一个性状组成,分别称之为单荚粒数因子、株高因子和生育期因子;f_7,产量因子,由单株粒重,播种至开花日数和小区产量构成。受同一因子制约的所有性状称为因子群,文中建议在育种过程中按因子群进行性状选择。试验结果的分析表明,因子分析法是处理多种性状,确定数目较少的起主导作用的因子的一种有用方法,文中介绍了因子分析法的统计学原理和具体计算步骤。     

Habitat fragmentation and conservation strategies for a rare forest habitat in the Florida Keys archipelago

Habitat loss and fragmentation are principal causes for population declines and the loss of biodiversity across the globe. In the United States, tropical hardwood hammock is a threatened forest ecosystem that occurs only in extreme south Florida, primarily on the Florida Keys archipelago. This rare forest type is characterized by high plant diversity that is strongly influenced by tropical, mast-producing trees and shrubs of West Indian origin. Tropical hardwood hammocks in the Florida Keys provide important habitat for resident and migratory birds, particularly Neotropical species that rely on suitable stopover habitat during migration. The Florida Keys are under intense development pressure, particularly in higher elevation sites where tropical hardwood hammock occurs. With exception of a survey completed during 1991 in the Upper Keys, information regarding habitat loss and current coverage, conservation status, and how best to conserve remaining patches of this rare forest habitat are lacking. We used a Geographic Information Systems approach to assess the extent of loss and fragmentation of tropical hardwood hammock in the upper Keys during 1991–2004, quantify area and number of hammock patches under private ownership and in conservation status throughout the Florida Keys as of 2004, and evaluate strategies to most effectively conserve large blocks of remaining tropical hardwood hammock. Total remaining hammock habitat throughout the Keys encompassed 3,712 ha and hammock habitat declined by 31% in the upper Keys during 1991–2004. Hammock habitat in the upper Keys encompassed 1,962 ha among 124 habitat patches (median = 1.5 ha, range = 0.1–205.7 ha), of which 1,066 ha (54%) were under conservation status. Hammock habitat in the lower Keys encompassed 1,750 ha among 102 patches (median = 4.4 ha, range = 0.3–96.3 ha), of which 1,283 ha (73%) were protected under conservation status. Approximately 37% of total remaining hammock habitat remained unprotected. However, our analyses revealed that many unprotected areas >20 ha were contiguous with protected hammocks. Safeguarding 22 partially protected patches >20 ha (17% of remaining patches) would protect an additional 750 ha of hammock habitat, which represents 55% of all remaining unprotected hammock habitat in the Keys, and would increase the mean patch size of these larger forest patches from 55 to 89 ha. Consequently, strategically focusing conservation efforts on remaining forest patches of tropical hardwood hammock >20 ha in size and contiguous to existing protected areas represents the most effective use of conservation dollars and would provide greater ecological benefits than conservation of small patches of highly fragmented habitat.     

The effect of mothers’ emotion‐related responses to adolescent disclosures and adolescent perspective taking on the timing of future disclosures

Adolescent disclosure to parents is an important feature of high‐quality parent–adolescent relationships and is associated with positive adolescent adjustment. However, no studies have examined parental emotion‐related responses (ERRs) to disclosures and adolescent dispositional characteristics that may facilitate or inhibit adolescent disclosures during real‐time conversations. The present study tested (a) which maternal ERRs to adolescent disclosures predicted quicker subsequent disclosures during mother–adolescent conversations, and (b) whether adolescent perspective taking moderated these associations. Adolescent disclosures and maternal ERRs were coded moment‐to‐moment during a problem‐solving discussion and adolescents reported on their perspective taking. Multilevel Generalized Linear Mixed‐Effects Models revealed that maternal interest and validation predicted the shortest lag times compared with other maternal ERRs, controlling for adolescent age, gender, total durations of maternal ERRs, and total frequency and duration of adolescent disclosures. Adolescent perspective taking moderated associations between maternal ERRs to adolescent disclosures and lag times. Specifically, adolescents high in perspective taking were most likely to make quicker subsequent disclosures when mothers responded to disclosures with interest. This is the first study to examine how contingent parental responses to adolescent disclosures in real time affect the timing of subsequent disclosures during parent–adolescent conversations.     

Motivations for mobility and settlement of Polish female migrants in Barcelona and Berlin

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on individual perceptions that shape migration decisions and investigates how the process of migration or settlement itself is framed by a variety of personal considerations. It is a comparative study of Polish female migrants in Barcelona and Berlin who moved for the sake of economic and educational opportunities, because of family reunification and formation considerations (‘move for love') – as well as other reasons. It is argued that the factors influencing women's decisions about continuous mobility or settlement are negotiated within social, cultural and economic transnational spheres and exchanges. In most cases, Polish women formed families with foreigners or Polish migrants in the host countries which contributed to their settlement decisions. Complex perceptions of life abroad juxtaposed with previous experiences and present ideas about life in Poland also influence decisions to move or settle. It is argued that the specific cultural, intellectual, economic and professional capital as well as the potential of these privileged EU migrant women accounts for their opportunity to choose and their specific freedom to make migration related decisions. A balancing of premises related to life-projects in both localities is an important aspect of the gendered experience of migration within Europe. It also brings attention to individual agency in a globalized world. The study is based on ethnographic research in Barcelona and Berlin that has been conducted since 2010.     

Prosocial Tendencies among Chinese American Children in Immigrant Families: Links to Cultural and Socio‐demographic Factors and Psychological Adjustment

The present study examined relations between prosocial tendencies (dispositional sympathy and prosocial behavior) and psychological adjustment using a multi‐method and multi‐informant approach in a socioeconomically diverse sample of first‐ and second‐generation Chinese American children from immigrant families (N = 238, M age = 9.2 years). We tested the concurrent associations between: (a) children's dispositional sympathy (rated by parents, teachers, and children, and observed prosocial behavior), (b) psychological adjustment (parent‐ and teacher‐reported externalizing problems and social competence); and (c) cultural and socio‐demographic factors (children's Chinese and American orientations, family Socioeconomic Status (SES), only child status, and children's age, sex, and social desirability). Results from correlations and structural equation modeling suggested that different measures of prosocial tendencies related differently to children's psychological adjustment. Parent‐ and teacher‐rated sympathy were associated with higher child social competence and lower externalizing problems within, but not across, reporter. By contrast, child‐rated sympathy was associated with higher teacher‐rated social competence, and observed prize donation was associated with lower teacher‐rated externalizing problems. Different measures of prosocial tendencies also showed different relations to cultural and socio‐demographic factors. These findings suggest that prosocial tendencies are not a unitary construct in Chinese American immigrant children: the manifestations of prosocial tendencies and their adjustment implications might depend on the context and/or targets of these tendencies.     

Reducing Risk on Machinery: A Field Evaluation Pilot Study of Risk Assessment

A pilot evaluation of the ANSI B11-TR3 Machinery Risk Assessment/Risk Reduction (RA/RR) Guideline was conducted. The TR3 guideline was introduced into five companies on one machinery system in each company with a second machine system serving as a control. A pre-post investigation was performed with safety conditions measured pre and post in both treatment and control and with risk reduction score measured only in the treatment machine system. NIOSH provided a commercially available risk assessment software to facilitate the process. Evaluation measures included avoided injuries, reduced exposure to machinery hazards, pretest and posttest knowledge demonstration, assessment of group processes following training, correct implementation of the guidelines, and degree to which risk reduction recommendations were implemented. The qualitative results of this pilot effort appear to be the best indicators for the way ahead in industrial machine risk assessment. All companies indicated that they derived value in participating in this study and in conducting risk assessments. Quantitative study results suggest that: (1) as measured by the knowledge of the participants before and after the TR3 training, the guidelines can be effective at enhancing employee knowledge of safe machine operations and (2) although the injury reduction trends appear successful, the small sample size in the study size should be considered in interpreting these early results.     

How to Think About Homelessness: Balancing Structural and Individual Causes

Literature on homelessness acknowledges two types of causes of homelessness: structural and individual causes. Cited examples of structural causes include trends in unemployment and poverty, the housing market, the structure of the economy generally, and large-scale social policies. Examples given of individual causes include mental illness, alcoholism, substance abuse, and lack of a work ethic. Virtually all researchers pick either structural or individual factors as the primary cause of homelessness and then argue the unimportance of the other set of factors.