Business Students' Perceptions of Best University Professors: Does Gender Role Matter?

This study investigated the relationship between the gender and gender-role of students and their “best” university professors. Two hundred and ninety two business students in 2 universities in Atlantic Canada rated their best professors and themselves using Bem's Sex Role Inventory. Male business students were more likely than females to choose a male as their best professor, and female business students were more likely than males to choose a female as their best professor. The study also indicates that a student's own gender and gender role are significantly related to those of his/her best professor. Male professors with low femininity scores (but not necessarily high masculinity scores), and female professors who are gender-neutral (i.e., androgynous or undifferentiated) were more often chosen by students as their best professors. In general, masculinity seems to be valued more by older, part-time students with greater work experience. Implications of these findings for university teachers are discussed.     

Maternal substance use and mother–infant feeding interactions

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of maternal polydrug cocaine use during pregnancy and associated risk factors such as maternal psychopathology and negative infant temperament on the quality of mother–infant feeding interactions at 2 months of infant age. Participants were 45 mother–infant dyads (19 cocaine‐exposed and 26 nonexposed) who were recruited at birth and assessed again 2 months of infant age. Mother–infant interactions during feeding were videotaped and coded with regard to dyadic reciprocity, maternal noncontingency, and dyadic conflict. Results indicated that maternal cocaine use was associated with higher dyadic conflict. Moreover, cocaine‐using mothers were also more likely to use marijuana and alcohol, and use of such substances was associated with lower dyadic reciprocity and higher maternal noncontingency during interactions. Results also suggested that one pathway to higher dyadic conflict during interactions among cocaine‐using mothers was through the impact of cocaine on infant risk conditions like lower gestational age and negative temperament (e.g., higher distress to novelty). Interventions focusing on promoting the quality of mother–infant interactions in combination with substance abuse treatment may be especially promising for this population. ©2001 Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health.     

Effect of local chemistry,structure and length scale of heterogeneities on the mechanical properties of a Ti45Cu40Ni7.5Zr5Sn2.5 bulk metallic glass

We report on distinct variations in local chemistry, structure and length scale of heterogeneous regions in Ti₄₅Cu₄₀Ni_7.5Zr₅Sn_2.5 fully glass rods of different diameters, i.e. rods subjected to different cooling rates. The present investigations indicate that the mechanical properties of the Ti₄₅Cu₄₀Ni_7.5Zr₅Sn_2.5 bulk metallic glass can be modified within a wide range of strength and plastic deformability by controlling the scale of the heterogeneous regions in the glass through appropriate variation of the cooling rate applied for solidification.     

Anomalous agglomeration characteristics observed in iron oxide nanoclusters

Iron oxide nanoclusters, exhibiting unusual and interesting particle characteristics on thermal treatment, have been synthesized and studied. In all samples, a sharp size distribution has been obtained. Initially, the clusters exhibit agglomerated fractal morphology with low compactness but these disintegrate into smaller fragments and then grow in size as a function of the holding time of thermal treatment. The structure becomes more compact at higher holding times. The monodispersed agglomerates are basically clusters consisting of a large number of smaller grains of a few nanometres in size. The fractions of interfacial and bulk components in all samples have been estimated.     

Remediating Reading Comprehension Difficulties: A Cognitive Processing Approach

The efficacy of a cognitive-based remediation program was investigated with 14 English-as-a-second-language (ESL) poor readers in Grade 4 who had significant difficulty in comprehension and 14 normal ESL readers in Grade 4 who received no remediation. Both groups were selected from 2 English-medium schools in India. We examined pretest-to-posttest changes in word reading, comprehension, and planning–attention–simultaneous–successive cognitive processes. Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) showed marked improvement in comprehension and some improvement in simultaneous processing for the treated group. The results indicate that the cognitive-based remediation program has potential for substantially improving comprehension and its underlying cognitive process among ESL children.     

Study time effects in recognition memory

We empirically tested the assumption that study time increases recognition accuracy because the storage of information is better when study time is longer as Shiffrin and colleagues have reported, an assumption common to parallel models of recognition. In the present study with 123 subjects, we examined the effect of item strength on four measures: hit rate, false alarm rate, d', and beta, for a single-word recognition task with longer study times than those usually used in the literature. Analysis indicated significant increase for hit rate and d' and a decrease in false alarm rate, as one goes from weak to stronger study conditions, and a change in ln(beta) when study time is greater than 1 sec. These results suggest that familiarization is one, but not the only, factor underlying the strength-mirror effect.     

Credal imprecision and the value of evidence

This paper is about a tension between two theses. The first is Value of Evidence: roughly, the thesis that it is always rational for an agent to gather and use cost-free evidence for making decisions. The second is Rationality of Imprecision: the thesis that an agent can be rationally required to adopt doxastic states that are imprecise, i.e., not representable by a single credence function. While others have noticed this tension, I offer a new diagnosis of it. I show that it arises when an agent with an imprecise doxastic state engages in an unreflective inquiry, an inquiry where they revise their beliefs using an updating rule that doesn't satisfy a weak reflection principle. In such an unreflective inquiry, certain synchronic norms of instrumental rationality can make it instrumentally irrational for an agent to gather and use cost-free evidence. I then go on to propose a diachronic norm of instrumental rationality that preserves Value of Evidence in unreflective inquiries. This, I suggest, may help us reconcile this thesis with Rationality of Imprecision.     

SIMULTANEOUS-SUCCESSIVE SYNTHESES AND PLANNING IN CHINESE READERS*

The present study investigated simultaneous-successive syntheses and planning as cognitive processing constructs in 66 grade 4 and 63 grade 6 Chinese children. Principal factor and promax analyses provided evidence of the realities of these independent factors. Simultaneous and successive components contributed to composite reading with varying degrees of variance for each grade. The Luria paradigm provides a useful framework for research into patterns of readers.