Academic incentives for students can increase participation in and effectiveness of a physical activity program

The authors sought to determine whether a greater academic incentive would improve the effectiveness and student adherence to a 12-week voluntary exercise program designed to decrease students' percentage of body fat. They randomly assigned 210 students to 1 of 2 groups with different academic reward structures. The group with the greater reward structure showed better exercise adherence and lost more body fat than those without the additional incentive. These findings suggest that an academic incentive can increase overall student adherence to a voluntary exercise program and can boost the effectiveness of the program in a university environment. The findings also have potential implications for on-campus promotion of physical activity.     

Social representations of diversity: multi/intercultural education in a South African urban school 1

The story of School X started in South Africa in 1875. At that time, the school was built for white children only. More than hundred years later, the 1994 elections demarcated the end of the apartheid era and the school enrolled black Xhosa‐speaking children for the first time. As a result, in 2004, 90% of the students were black Xhosa‐speaking. The theoretical perspectives of our study are based on notions of multicultural and intercultural education, and of diversity. Our study is embedded in a socio‐constructivist inquiry paradigm. Using questionnaires and interviews, we aimed to understand the social representations regarding diversity of a principal, a teacher, seven students and four parents in a K‐7 open school. We examined diversity of values, cultures, religions, languages, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, etc. regarding a multi/intercultural perspective in education. We attempted to discern what the participants’ understandings of diversity were, how they identified diversity, and why they justified their practices and actions with respect to diversity.

The song can only be beautiful if we all play the same tune. (Esmé Goosen, Multimedia, 2004)

This is the title of a painting that is part of an exhibition in Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Museum of Art, Port Elizabeth, South Africa     

Bayesian spatial quantile regression for areal count data,with application on substitute care placements in Texas

Quantile regression (QR) allows one to model the effect of covariates across the entire response distribution, rather than only at the mean, but QR methods have been almost exclusively applied to continuous response variables and without considering spatial effects. Of the few studies that have performed QR on count data, none have included random spatial effects, which is an integral facet of the Bayesian spatial QR model for areal counts that we propose. Additionally, we introduce a simplifying alternative to the response variable transformation currently employed in the QR for counts literature. The efficacy of the proposed model is demonstrated via simulation study and on a real data application from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (TDFPS). Our model outperforms a comparable non-spatial model in both instances, as evidenced by the deviance information criterion (DIC) and coverage probabilities. With the TDFPS data, we identify one of four covariates, along with the intercept, as having a nonconstant effect across the response distribution.     

Against Structure: A Critique of Morphogenetic Social Theory

This article criticises the ontology of Margaret Archer's morphogenetic social theory, arguing that the concept of autonomous social structure on which she bases this social theory is contradictory. Against the ontological contradictions of Archer's work, the article tries to re-habilitate the interpretive tradition which Archer dismisses, showing that only this tradition provides a logically coherent and methodologically useful social ontology, which consists only of individuals and their social relations.     

Integration Between Business Planning and Information Systems Planning: Validating a Stage Hypothesis

This paper proposes and empirically validates a stages of growth model for the evolution of Information Systems Planning (ISP). A questionnaire survey of senior IS executives is used to gather information pertaining to the stages of growth model, which includes measurement of the nature and level of integration between business planning (BP) and ISP. The del test is used to validate empirically benchmark variables for each stage of BP-ISP integration. The results support the stages of growth model of BP-ISP integration and the benchmark variables are generally found to be successful in predicting the stage of integration.     

Media Appropriateness: Effects of Experience on Communication Media Choice

Organizations are faced with a myriad of emerging advanced information technologies. Management may be anxious about the numerous choices while simultaneously yearning for instant realization of benefits promised by the adopted technologies. Management should also be aware that the eventual institutional use of these technologies is dependent upon the learning and training opportunities presented to individuals. Individual approval or established perceptions toward technology appropriateness are mostly idiosyncratic and contingent upon numerous factors such as task goals or prior technology experience. This paper examines the effect of learning experiences with nine communication media, based on perception changes of media appropriateness. Two hundred and ninety-five MBA students participated in a longitudinal quasi-experimental study. Results indicate that traditionally rich media such as face-to-face, group meetings, and telephone were consistently perceived to be more appropriate than emerging new media over time. However, an individual's specific experience with communication media affects perceptions of media appropriateness, and this is particularly evident in computer-based communications. In addition, changes in perception of media appropriateness were directly related to the participants' learning experience and were particularly salient with new media. Furthermore, increased use of some media was found to be associated with decreased use of other media. This study demonstrates that deliberate technology-use mediation can be an effective management mechanism to facilitate an individual's ability to gain experience in the use of new technologies. This paper also suggests that an individual's media experiences and temporal factors are two important but underemphasized factors in understanding and studying technology choice and use.     

Construct Validity of the Emotion Matching Task: Preliminary Evidence for Convergent and Criterion Validity of a New Emotion Knowledge Measure for Young Children

Current emotion knowledge (EK) measures examine only one component of the multifaceted construct. We examined the reliability and the construct validity of a new measure of EK, the emotion matching task (EMT). The EMT consists of four parts which measure the components of receptive EK, expressive EK, emotion situation knowledge, and emotion expression matching. First, we compared the EMT and its parts to two widely used EK measures—the Kusche emotional inventory (KEI) and Denham's affective knowledge test (AKT, 1986) in order to establish convergent validity. The EMT and its four parts were strongly correlated with both measures of EK. Regression analyses revealed moderate to strong predictive validity for EMT. Compared with KEI and AKT, the EMT was a more robust predictor of teacher-rated emotion regulation and parent reported effortful control. Compared with KEI and AKT, the EMT correlated similarly with verbal ability and age.     

The Effect of Graduate School on Identity Issues

Abstract

Objectives: To provide a critical review of the efficacy of brief interventions for alcohol use in college health centers. Methods: Studies were included if (a) they examined brief intervention trials that were conducted in college- or university-based student health centers or emergency departments, and (b) they provided pre–post data to estimate change. Results: Twelve studies suggested that screening and brief interventions in these settings are acceptable, feasible, and promote risk reduction. Conclusions: Findings support continued use of time-limited, single-session interventions with motivational interviewing and feedback components.     

Self-Reported Incidence of Physical Violence in College Students

Abstract

A survey of a college student population indicates that physical abuse is prevalent in our society. The self-reported data were found to be similar to that occurring in the literature on parent-reported child abuse, documenting that approximately one-third of college students had a history of moderate abuse and 5 to 10% had a history of a severe abuse during their developmental years. Through an awareness of its high prevalence, the health care provider will question a history of physical violence when evaluating a student with a medical or psychosocial complaint and appropriately plan a management program including therapeutic counseling to decrease the effect of the prior or current physical abuse.