“TRUTH” AND “RECONCILIATION” AS SOCIAL INDICATORS

Countries throughout the world are trying to move toward a more democratic future through truth and reconciliation processes, under the assumption that truth causes reconciliation and that reconciliation contributes to democratization. But are “truth” and “reconciliation” concepts that can be measured rigorously and reliability? I present evidence in this article that each can be measured as an attribute of individuals, based on a large survey conducted in South Africa. My findings indicate that truth does indeed contribute to reconciliation. But because reconciliation is quite capable of changing (and likely to change) over time, efforts must be made to track levels of reconciliation as an important social indicator. Many countries in transition would profit greatly from implementing a Reconciliation Barometer to measure movement toward or away from the consolidation of democratic reform.     

Are economic trends associated with child maltreatment? Preliminary results from the recent recession using state level data

The objective of this study is to investigate the effects of the recent economic recession on child maltreatment rates. Specifically, we examine whether unemployment rates, labor force participation, and food stamp usage are associated with aggregate rates of child abuse and neglect (CAN) rates using state-level data. Theory and prior empirical evidence supports the relationship between family and neighborhood poverty and incidence of child maltreatment; however, the relationship between general economic environment and CAN remains unclear.The study uses a multiple case study design at the state level, analyzing administrative child maltreatment and economic data for seven U.S. states. Aggregate numbers for child maltreatment reports and food stamp usage were obtained from state respective agencies and economic data for unemployment and labor force from the Current Population Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Empirical growth plots and OLS regression were used to examine changes in maltreatment and utilization of economic variables as predictors over time. Bivariate correlations and OLS regression results show a weak and inconsistent relationship between the economic indicators in this study and maltreatment rates. Several possible reasons accounting for these results are explored.     

Make Your Work Matter: development and pilot evaluation of a purpose-centered career education intervention

Developing a sense of purpose is both salient and desirable for adolescents, and purpose in people's lives and careers is associated with both general and work-related well-being. However, little is known about whether purpose can be encouraged through school-based interventions. This article reports the results of a quasi-experimental pilot study and follow-up focus group that evaluated Make Your Work Matter, a three-module, school-based intervention designed to help adolescent youth explore, discover, and enact a sense of purpose in their early career development. Participants were eighth-grade students. Compared to the control group, the intervention group reported increases in several outcomes related to purpose-centered career development, such as a clearer sense of career direction; a greater understanding of their interests, strengths, and weaknesses; and a greater sense of preparedness for the future. However, no significant differences were found on items directly related to purpose, calling, and prosocial attitudes. These results inform the ongoing development of Make Your Work Matter and other school-based career interventions and pave the way for larger-scale trials of such purpose-promoting intervention strategies.     

Staging language: An introduction to the sociolinguistics of performance

Staged performance involves the overt, scheduled identification and elevation of one or more people to perform, with a clearly demarcated distinction between them and the audience. It involves the agentive use of language, building on the foundation of existing social meanings. Staged performances tend to be linguistically stylized, pushing the limits of language creativity. They have the potential to trigger significant sociolinguistic effects, circulating novel forms and contributing to language change. The paradigms used in this theme issue for approaching language performance include Bakhtin's notion of Stylization, Bell's Audience and Referee Design, Silverstein's Indexicality, Agha's Enregisterment, and Bauman's construct of Discursive Culture. Themes that run through the articles include: a concept of identity that is part product, part process; the centrality of the audience; the reflexivity of staged performance; and the importance of non‐linguistic modalities such as music and appearance. The language analysis in this collection of papers concentrates mainly on phonological features of varieties of English, finding instances of selectivity, mis‐realization, overshoot and undershoot in their performances of a range of targeted dialects.     

《中国农业大学学报》2009—201O年载文、作者统计分析

用文献计量学的方法来分析统计《中国农业大学学报》2009-2010年载文的学科分布,信息量,基金论文,作者学历和职称,归纳了办刊的优势和特点,剖析其不足之处,并提出相应的改进建议。     

基于数字化技术的《航空发动机结构》课程多元化教学模式探索

《航空发动机结构》是民航机务工程专业本科生的专业核心课,该门课程帮助学生从宏观上认知航空发动机,掌握航空燃气涡轮发动机的基本结构,了解各主要部件系统的工作原理、工作特性和结构拆装,为学生将来从事民航机务维修工作打下必要的理论基础.针对现有教学过程中存在的课程内容繁杂、抽象、难以理解的问题,采用了"线上与线下""虚拟与现实"相结合的基于数字化技术的互补式多元化教学方法,实现过程化考核,为学生随时、随地学习提供更好的支撑,使学生更快地掌握航空发动机结构的相关知识.     

基于语步辨认的学术英语教学研究

研究以国内某医学院校一年级医学硕士研究生为研究对象,设计了一项为期16周的教学实验,以探讨语步教学是否有利于促进学术英语教学,是否有利于提高教师专业能力.研究数据显示,实验组和控制组在M1和M2语步差别最大.实验组95％的学生的概要中有M1语步,而控制组只有55％的学生写了M1语步;实验组98％的学生的概要中有M2语步,控制组是85％.相对于M1和M2语步而言,两组的M3、M4和M5语步的百分比相差不大,分别是80％和72％、60％和53％以及70％和65％.不难看出,实验组的语步教学有利于提高学生的学术英语水平.教学日志和深度访谈显示,语步教学对教师的教学能力和学术英语水平提出了更高的要求,也有利于提高其专业能力.     

熟人社会的性质

从村庄经验层面来考察熟人社会的性质,熟人社会的基础是"自己人认同",其现实表现是人情、面子、信任与规则.与费孝通先生关于"地缘"的论述不同,笔者认为地缘关系也可以通过"内部化机制"形成"自己人认同",进而完善其熟人社会的性质.由此,血缘关系和地缘关系可以形成不同的熟人社会组织形态,但是两者发生作用的机制重点却不同.在河南董北村,以血缘关系为基础的"自己人认同"非常强烈,所以影响农民生活的重要机制并非内部化机制,而是"内部人行为机制",这是因为农民要面对家族大小和姓氏区分的问题,在熟人社会圈和"自己人认同"的框架中如何行为就是农民首先要面对的问题.而在贵州聚合村,熟人社会形成的基础就是以地缘关系为基础的人情往来的进行,这种低成本普遍性的人情往来强化了农民的"自己人认同",这是对于农民日常生活相当重要的"内部化机制".地缘关系不注重家族的大小和姓氏的区分,重要的是如何把没有血缘关系的人转化为自己人,当"内部化机制"完善以后,村庄社区就具有了熟人社会的性质.如此,熟人社会的二维框架就可以作为分析众多村庄政治社会现象的基础.