Effectiveness of school-based prevention and intervention programs for children and adolescents with emotional disturbance: A meta-analysis

The present study evaluated the effectiveness of school-based prevention and intervention programs for children and adolescents at-risk for and with emotional disturbance. Published outcome studies (k = 29) from December, 1988, to March, 2006, including 1405 children and adolescents were reviewed. Each investigation was coded on several variables describing the child, parent, and teacher samples, as well as reported outcome results. The overall mean weighted effect size was 1.00 at post-test and 1.35 at follow-up. Mean weighted ESs were 0.42 for between-subjects design studies, 0.87 for within-subjects design studies, and 1.87 for single-subject design studies. Prevention programs yielded a mean weighted ES of 0.54 and intervention programs produced a mean weighted ES of 1.35. Findings for specific outcome foci are presented and implications are discussed.     

Concurrent working memory load can facilitate selective attention: evidence for specialized load

Load theory predicts that concurrent working memory load impairs selective attention and increases distractor interference (N. Lavie, A. Hirst, J. W. de Fockert, & E. Viding). Here, the authors present new evidence that the type of concurrent working memory load determines whether load impairs selective attention or not. Working memory load was paired with a same/different matching task that required focusing on targets while ignoring distractors. When working memory items shared the same limited-capacity processing mechanisms with targets in the matching task, distractor interference increased. However, when working memory items shared processing with distractors in the matching task, distractor interference decreased, facilitating target selection. A specialized load account is proposed to describe the dissociable effects of working memory load on selective processing depending on whether the load overlaps with targets or with distractors.     

Burnout and duration of service among Chinese voluntary workers

A survey study conducted among 226 Chinese voluntary workers in Hong Kong showed that satisfaction with voluntary work, integration into the voluntary institution, and burnout syndromes contributed to volunteers' expected duration of service. Regression analyses also showed that different sets of variables predicted different spans of expected duration of service. Work satisfaction was the most salient predictor for expected duration of service from six months to ten years. Lack of personal accomplishment predicted expected duration of service for six to twelve months, whereas emotional exhaustion and depersonalization influenced volunteers' expectation to continue in the service for five to ten years.     

The influence of temporal selection on spatial selection and distractor interference: an attentional blink study.

Both spatial and temporal selection require focused attention. The authors examine how temporal attention affects spatial selection. In a dual-task rapid serial visual presentation paradigm, temporal selection of a target (T1) impairs processing of a second target (T2) that follows T1 within 500 ms. This process is the attentional blink (AB). To test the effects of withdrawing temporal attention, the authors measured concurrent distractor interference on T2 when the distractors were presented during and outside of the AB. Perceptual interference was manipulated by the similarity in color between T2 and concurrent distractors, and response interference was manipulated by the flanker congruency task. Results showed that perceptual interference was larger during the AB. Response interference also increased during the AB, but only when perceptual interference was high. The authors conclude that temporal selection and spatial selection rely on a common attentional process.     

“轴心”“连续”“突破”问题再审视

"轴心""连续""突破"问题分别涉及雅斯贝斯、张光直及马克斯·韦伯等人的理论,覆盖哲学、历史、宗教及文明类型、传统等诸多领域,且其中所延伸出的问题又极为丰富。本文可以视作是作者在此前研究基础上的一个总结或概括性思考。文章共六个部分,各部分标题依次为:一、雅斯贝斯:"轴心说";二、张光直:"连续"与"突破";三、马克斯·韦伯:"传统"与"革命";四、"偶然性"与"特殊性"之于"突破"或"革命"的意义;五、"静止"与"运动",关乎历史合法性;六、"大传统"与"小传统"。希望通过对这些问题本身及其延伸性的思考,能够深化相关问题的研究,或者能够使相关思考更丰富也更具体。     

精子捐赠与伦理

引起男性不育的一个重要原因是无精症、死精症。精子捐赠的出现为这些患者带来了福音,使其享受天伦之乐成为可能,但同时也带来了一系列伦理学、社会学上的问题,包括子代的知情权问题、近亲结婚问题、家庭内部矛盾问题等等。因此要准确认识、运用和完善新的医学技术,并对其进行伦理和法律的规范,防止滥用。     

肝脾CT值分析在非酒精性脂肪肝诊断中的应用

探讨肝脾CT值分析在非酒精性脂肪肝中诊断及严重程度的关系。对163例临床明确诊断的非酒精性脂肪肝患者,分别根据肝脏cT值、肝脾CT值比值及肝脾CT值差值进行分组。结果三种评价方法对重度非酒精性脂肪肝均有较高的灵敏度及特异度,轻度非酒精性脂肪肝样本中出现28例肝脾CT比值〉1,肝脾值差值与肝脾CT值比值在对脂肪肝严重程度...     

Increases in rewards promote flexible behavior

Offering reward for performance can motivate people to perform a task better, but better preparation for one task usually means decreased flexibility to perform different tasks. In six experiments in which reward varied between low and high levels, we found that reward can encourage people to prepare more flexibly for different tasks, but only as it increased from the level on the previous trial. When the same high rewards were offered continuously trial after trial, people were more inclined to simply stick with doing what had worked previously. We demonstrated such enhancements in flexibility in task switching, a difficult visual search task, and an easier priming of pop-out search task, which shows that this effect generalizes from executive tasks to perceptual processes that require relatively little executive control. These findings suggest that relative, transient changes in reward can exert more potent effects on behavioral flexibility than can the absolute amount of reward, whether it consists of money or points in a social competition.     

改变初中生吸烟态度的同伴教育干预研究

目的:检验同伴教育干预实验是否能改变初中生的吸烟态度。方法:通过KAP问卷对实验组和对照组吸烟初中生收集量化数据,评价干预效果。结果:⑴同质同伴教育者在吸烟知识、态度和行为上有明显变化(后测结果显示三组被试在知识、态度和行为上的Z值分别为:9.036、8.278、7.206,P<0.05);⑵实验组比对照组在吸烟知识、态度和行为上有显著提高(同质组与比照组在知识、态度和行为上的Z值分别为:-2.400、-2.206、-2.123,P<0.05;异质组与比照组在知识、态度和行为上的Z值分别为:-2.400、-2.300、-2.430,P<0.05);⑶同质与异质实验组在吸烟知识、态度和行为上有显著提高(同质组前后测在知识、态度和行为上的Z值分别为:-2.919、-2.371、-2.437,P<0.05;异质组前后测在知识、态度和行为上的Z值分别为:2.890、-2.091、-2.419,P<0.05);[4]同质与异质同伴组的比较没有差异。结论:同伴教育干预方法可以在一定程度上改变初中生的吸烟态度,同质团体与异质团体在同伴教育干预中不存在差异。