Self-advocates have the last say on friendship

This study reports the friendship experiences and aspirations of adults with intellectual disabilities. The findings of a larger study were reviewed by an expert group of self-advocates with intellectual disability. The expert group confirmed some of the interpretation of the original data and expanded on issues. Friendship is established as an issue of concern among adults with intellectual disability. Consequently, policy-makers and service providers need to be intentional about providing support for friendships. Participants asserted a positive self-identity of being a person with intellectual disability and how this could be a basis for friendship. Also, people with intellectual disability demonstrated how they should be considered experts in their own life experience and how they can be effectively included in the formulation, implementation, analysis and review of research.     

Overprotection in the lives of people with intellectual disability in Malta: knowing what is control and what is enabling support

A study of overprotection in the lives of persons with intellectual disability in Malta was carried out on the principles of inclusive research. Focus groups were held with people with intellectual disability, parents of people with intellectual disability, and those working with persons with intellectual disability. Overprotection is a disabling barrier. Its effects were identified in employment, leisure time, intimate relationships, and the use of public transport, money, and mobile phones. People with intellectual disability who experience overprotection live very structured lives. They cannot develop their skills, abilities, and potential. Furthermore, they cannot live their life on their own terms, but on terms determined by others. This creates a sustained dependence on others, especially the family. It is important that a balance is achieved between protection and enabling support. Persons with intellectual disability should be given the support they need to express their wishes and act on them.     

选择试剂容器减少废液处理费用以提高实验效率和质量

实验室科学家用于完成研究的工作时间是有限的。在如今现代化、实验仪器密集的实验室里,每年用于一位科学家和实验室场地的开销可能超过＄250000或＄120/h。由于完成研究的成本高,而且时间有限,因此需要考虑许多因素来最优化的利用科学家时间。这篇文章以一个实际调查为例讨论了如下因素,包括实验室工作流程,高效液相色谱(HPLC)分离中的溶剂质量以及如何避免重复性工作,如何使用简单自动化设备来监测实验状态从而除去多步骤和减少工作频率以节省科学家的时间。当将所有小细节纳入考虑范围中时,因节省细碎的时间而对实验成本的节约和实验效率的提升具有非常重要的潜在影响。     

Assessing Critical-Analytical Listening Skills in Math and Engineering Students: An Exploratory Inquiry of How Analytical Listening Skills Can Positively Impact Learning

In this article, the researchers discuss the implementation of the Ferrari, Lynch, and Vogel Listening Test (FLVLT) to two STEM areas: Mathematics and Computer Science. The goal of the present study was to assess the improvement in students’ mastery of critical listening skills and how listening can help students to retain information. After students were introduced to the subject matter, two specifically tailored listening assessment tools were designed. Pretests and posttests were then administered in an introductory algebra (n = 29 students) and a network fundamentals course (n = 13 students). These tests were administered approximately four weeks apart. The data show that the FLVLT model is reliable for judging students’ critical listening skills and curricular knowledge. Furthermore, a 12% and 20% improvement in students’ ability to match the content pattern to a spoken message was found. In addition, a correlational analysis suggested that improvement in critical listening skills helped students’ learning.     

High-cost activism and the worker household: Interests,commitment, and the costs of revolutionary activism in a Philippine plantation region

Theory and Society -     

Shame and Worker Activism: Emotional Dynamics in Face-to-Face Encounters

Shame – a feeling of social inadequacy and (the anticipation of) public humiliation – may inhibit worker activism. This article discusses the role of shame, as an emotion and a behavioral disposition, in face-to-face confrontations between workers and employers, embedded in an authority structure marked by patron-clientage and personal dependency. It explores how shame may function as an obstacle to face-to-face confrontations and claim-making, and how workers and leftwing activists try to overcome this hurdle.

Fostering and Assessing Critical Listening Skills in the Speech Course

In this article we present the results of two listening assessments conducted in spring 2013 and fall 2013. Our primary goal is of a pedagogical nature and is concerned with the design and the testing of a tool that could measure students’ critical listening skill improvement during the span of a semester. A total of N = 370 students participated in two quasi-experimental studies in which we developed a program to foster and measure critical listening skills. Results show that students’ listening skills improved in specific aspects of critical listening at both times. Effects were larger in the second round due to adjustments to both the course curriculum and the assessment tool. Results support the impact of the intervention by modest to high effect sizes and the construct validity of the assessment tool. We consider the improvement that was found in the current study an important beginning and recommend that the practice of listening skills becomes an integral part of the curriculum at the undergraduate level.     

The Relationship Between Box Office and Repertoire: a Case Study of Opera*

This is a study of opera as a performing arts organization. The concept of market is used to explain the selection of repertoire. The box office—an expression of client-centeredness—acts to constrain repertory selections, and affects the content and style of opera production in the United States.     

Carl L. Becker and Secondary Social Studies

The author discusses how high school social studies teachers can have their students investigate local history topics and share their findings by producing Web pages, using a cooperative learning structure. The author discusses his firsthand experiences using this approach with high school students at Warrensburg High School. He emphasizes the need to rethink how technology is being used in the social studies classroom—in particular, by having students share their local history findings with others beyond the walls of the classroom rather than being passive learners with the Internet. In addition, he emphasizes the benefits of having students work together to collaboratively construct knowledge using technology—specifically, by using the PIES cooperative learning structure to ensure there is positive interdependence, individual accountability, equal participation, and simultaneous interaction among group members. Examples of Web pages, produced by his students using the PIES cooperative learning structure, are discussed in the article.