Parent–Child Positive Touch: Gender,Age, and Task Differences

This study examined gender, age, and task differences in positive touch and physical proximity during mother–child and father–child conversations. Sixty-five Spanish mothers and fathers and their 4- (M = 53.50 months, SD = 3.54) and 6-year-old (M = 77.07 months, SD = 3.94) children participated in this study. Positive touch was examined during a play-related storytelling task and a reminiscence task (conversation about past emotions). Fathers touched their children positively more frequently during the play-related storytelling task than did mothers. Both mothers and fathers were in closer proximity to their 6-year-olds than their 4-year-olds. Mothers and fathers touched their children positively more frequently when reminiscing than when playing. Finally, 6-year-olds remained closer to their parents than did 4-year-olds. Implications of these findings for future research on children’s socioemotional development are discussed.     

Sexual Education,Gender Ideology,and Youth Sexual Empowerment

Sexual education plays an essential role in preventing unplanned pregnancy and the transmission of sexually transmitted infections (STIs). School-based sexual education programs, in particular, may be well positioned to address social factors that are empirically linked to negative sexual health outcomes, such as traditional social norms surrounding gender and sexuality. However, youth are seldom granted access to sexual education programs that explicitly address these issues. This study presents findings from a pretest–posttest survey of a sexual education program that did. It was designed for eighth graders (N=95) in the context of a school–community collaboration. The study assessed the links between several components of sexual empowerment, including gender ideology, sexual knowledge, and contraceptive beliefs. Findings link participation in the sexual education program to more progressive attitudes toward girls and women, less agreement with hegemonic masculinity ideology, and increases in sexual health and resource knowledge. Structural equation models suggest that traditional attitudes toward women were significantly related to hegemonic masculinity ideology among both boys and girls, which was in turn negatively related to safer contraceptive beliefs.     

Using logic programming to facilitate qualitative data analysis

Conventional word-processing programs and LOGLISP, a system which integrates logic programming with LISP, form the basis for QUALOG, a set of computer programs which facilitates the qualitative data analysis process. These programs aid the researcher's conceptual work in data analysis in four areas: 1) formatting the data as text files; 2) creating, organizing, and storing a knowledge base of information about the data; 3) testing knowledge-base queries relevant to working hypotheses for confirming and for disconfirming information; and 4) creating, organizing, and storing files for the researcher's memoranda.     

油砂开发的环境风险

油砂是由砂、水和重而粘稠的碳氢化合物(常称之为沥青)等组成的一种混合物,可用于提炼石油.在过去的几年里由于传统石油供应量的减少以及油价暴涨使得石油公司开始关注油砂的开发利用.     

是垃圾还是财富?——让燃煤废弃物变废为宝

煤炭是否应该继续成为美国电力供应的主要来源,在这一问题上人们仍争论不休。美国能源信息管理局在《国际能源展望2009》一文中预测到,2006～2030年间,美国以及中国和印度的煤炭消耗量预计将净增加88%。与此同时,单就美国来看,燃煤废弃物——煤炭燃烧后的不可燃残渣——仍然以每年约1.31亿吨的速度在继续堆积,电力公司正在寻找回收这种残渣的方法。     

Five-year all-cause mortality rates across five categories of substantiated elder abuse occurring in the community

ABSTRACT

Elder abuse increases the likelihood of early mortality, but little is known regarding which types of abuse may be resulting in the greatest mortality risk. This study included N = 1,670 cases of substantiated elder abuse and estimated the 5-year all-cause mortality for five types of elder abuse (caregiver neglect, physical abuse, emotional abuse, financial exploitation, and polyvictimization). Statistically significant differences in 5-year mortality risks were found between abuse types and across gender. Caregiver neglect and financial exploitation had the lowest survival rates, underscoring the value of considering the long-term consequences associated with different forms of abuse. Likewise, mortality differences between genders and abuse types indicate the need to consider this interaction in elder abuse case investigations and responses. Further mortality studies are needed in this population to better understand these patterns and implications for public health and clinical management of community-dwelling elder abuse victims.     

Risk, Trust, and Safety Culture in U.K. Train Operating Companies

Organizational safety culture reflects the attitudes and behaviors that individuals share in considering and reacting to hazards and risks. We first argue that trust is an underdeveloped and important concept in relation to theories of safety culture and high-reliability organizations. The article then reports findings from a two-year qualitative study of train operating companies (TOCs) in the United Kingdom, which sought to explore in detail the linkages between safety culture and the postprivatized railway industry. In-depth interviews and focus groups were carried out with a sample of over 500 employees, from four organizations, and representing all key functional levels. Our analysis suggests that the 1993 privatization, and subsequent organizational restructuring of the U.K. railway industry, has had important repercussions for both safety culture and trust relationships. We explore our findings in relation to three key constructs within "safe organizations" theories (namely, flexibility, commitment, and learning), and discuss how the safe organization model might be usefully supplemented by a consideration of trust issues.     

Speech Content and the Emergence of Inequality in Task Groups

We examine how the content of actors' speech and the frequency with which they make contributions affect the emergence and legitimation of inequality in task groups. Previous research has focused on classifying acts, the smallest meaningful units of speech, such as providing opportunities to others to speak, making task relevant suggestions, and positively or negatively evaluating the contributions of others. We also employ a classification scheme based on the cognitive complexity of spoken language in the turn. This scheme is based on an interpretation of the cognitive development model posited by Piaget. In addition to the complexity of language, we analyze speech group members employ to organize to solve the task. These classifications rely on the entire content of the turn rather than the more atomistic act. Data analyzed are from 33 groups of students performing different types of tasks. We employ structural equation models to identify how acts and content are related to one another in the observed interaction patterns in groups. Applications of these insights are explored in the discussion.     

黑色的希望:生物碳

当为了将二氧化碳(CO2)封存于深层地质库,耗资数十亿美元的许多项目还在不断寻求经济资助时,亚马逊盆地肥沃的黑土壤却表明有一种更廉价、低技术的方法同样可以达到这一目的.