Fairness And Performance-Enhancing Swimsuits AT The 2009 Swimming World Championships: The ‘Asterisk’ Championships

The use of polyurethane swimsuits at the 2009 World Aquatics Championships resulted in world records being set for almost all swimming events. This paper explores the implications that the use of these performance-enhancing swimsuits had on fairness in relative and absolute outcomes in swimming. I claim that the use of ‘super swimsuits’ unfairly influenced relative outcomes within the competition because not all swimmers used, or had access to, the same types of swimsuit (some of which were clearly ‘faster’ than others). Furthermore, I claim that the use of performance-enhancing swimsuits by current competitors unfairly influences inter-temporal relative outcomes. It is evident that competitors and coaches in elite swimming place great importance on making inter-temporal comparisons on the basis of absolute outcomes in the sport (as measured by a swimmer's race time). A ban on the use of super swimsuits may be justified in order to preserve the fairness of such inter-temporal comparisons, and records set using performance-enhancing swimsuits at the 2009 World Championships should be demarcated from others.     

Exploring Pathways From Television Viewing to Academic Achievement in School Age Children

The author's purpose in this study was to test 4 hypotheses that proposed different paths for the influences of children's television viewing on their academic achievement. Data were drawn from the 1997 Child Development Supplement (CDS) to the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The population for this study included 1,203 children between the ages of 6 and 13 years from the CDS-PSID data set. The author used structural equation modeling to test pathways from children's television viewing to their academic achievement. The author assumed that children's television viewing hindered their academic achievement by reducing certain traits that related to academic achievement. Results showed that 3 hypothetical models fit the data—the time-displacement hypothesis, the mental effort-passivity hypothesis, and the attention-arousal hypothesis. A 4th hypothetical model, the learning-information hypothesis, which proposed that children's television viewing practices stimulate their academic achievement, was not supported. In sum, children who watched more television tended to spend less time doing homework, studying, and reading for leisure. In addition, their behaviors became more impulsive, which resulted in an eventual decrease in their academic achievement.     

论易学"涪陵学派"的形成、特点与深远影响

形成于两宋交替时代而极盛于南宋的易学"涪陵学派",具有悠久的理学传统、庞大的学术队伍、强烈的爱国感情以及浓厚的地域特色等特点.该学派对我国封建社会后期"程朱理学"的形成起到了承传的作用,对四川特别是涪陵的文化与教育有着极其深远的影响.     

中学生个性因素及其与学业成就关系的探讨

研究者基于个性对个体成功具有重要影响的观点,假设中学生的个性对其学业成就具有预测性。采用儿童14种人格因素问卷对145名初中生进行测试,并对14种人格变量进行因素分析,得到了自我控制能力因素、精神状态因素、合作与创新精神因素、社会能力因素和智力性因素等5个因子。再利用这5个因子与学生的期末成绩(语、数、外总成绩)进行全纳回归分析,结果发现:与非智力的个性因素相比,智力性因素对中学生的学业成就可以进行更为有效的预测。     

绩效考核满意度对工作退缩行为的影响:有调节的中介效应

绩效考核满意度对员工工作行为的影响和作用机制一直是组织行为领域研究的重点。本研究采用《绩效考核满意度量表》、《在职行为量表》等研究工具,抽取419名在职员工,考察绩效考核满意度与工作退缩行为之间的关系以及组织公平感、道德型领导在其二者关系上的作用机制。结果发现:(1)绩效考核满意度与工作退缩行为之间存在显著负相关。(2)道德型领导调节绩效考核满意度和组织公平感之间的关系。(3)道德型领导调节绩效考核满意度和工作退缩行为之间的关系。(4)道德型领导和绩效考核满意度的交互作用通过分配公平、程序公平影响工作退缩行为。     

Existential fulfillment and burnout among principals and teachers

The aim of the current study was to determine the prevalence of burnout in primary education teachers and primary school principals and to explore the relationship of existential fulfillment to self‐reported burnout scores. Random samples of 215 teachers and 514 principals participated in a cross‐sectional study using an anonymous, mailed survey. Two questionnaires were used in both studies. The Dutch version of the Maslach Burnout Inventory for teachers was used to assess the teachers’ and principals’ burnout level. Second, existential fulfillment was measured by the Längle, Orgler and Kundi Existence Scale. The results of the present study indicated that teachers’ and principals’ existential fulfillment is related to their burnout level. Lack of existential fulfillment was an important burnout determinant. Unfortunately, this concept has been neglected to date. Existential fulfillment may be a significant and usable point of departure for devising psychological interventions aimed at teachers and principals.     

BALANCING SOCIAL ACCEPTABILITY WITH TREATMENT EFFECTIVENESS OF AN INTRUSIVE PROCEDURE: A CASE REPORT

The debate over social acceptability of intrusive procedures has led some school districts to adopt policies allowing punishment for only the most extreme forms of destructive behavior. We investigated the effectiveness of selectively implementing punishment for only the most severe topographies of aggression and property destruction, while less extreme behaviors were ignored. Results indicated that severe behaviors were reduced to near-zero levels only when both severe and less severe behaviors were similarly punished.     

Need for Cognition and Affective Orientation as Predictors of Sales Performance: An Investigation of Main and Interaction Effects

Two constructs—need for cognition (NFC) and affective orientation (AO)—might be helpful in explaining and ultimately predicting two measures of sales performance: a self-rated behavioral measure and an objective sales measure. Specifically, we hypothesize (1) a positive relationship between NFC and sales performance; (2) a positive relationship between AO and sales performance; and (3) a positive interaction effect between NFC and AO on sales performance. The results of this study revealed both NFC and AO correlated with self-rated behavioral performance but only NFC correlated with both performance measures; suggesting that need for cognition may be the more influential of the two for sales organizations concerned with selling behaviors as well as sales outcomes. The hypothesized interaction effect was not supported.     

Collaboration in Business Schools: A Foundation for Community Success

Business schools are often thought of as being accountable for the individual student’s personal development and preparation to enter the business community. While true that business schools guide knowledge development, they must also fulfill a social contract with the business community to provide ethical entry-level business professionals. Three stakeholders, students, faculty, and the business community, are involved in developing and strengthening an understanding of ethical behavior and the serious impacts associated with an ethical lapse. This paper discusses the ways the business schools may enhance the student’s ethical knowledge and understanding, and proposes a roadmap that business schools may use to develop or strengthen a strong ethical culture. The authors, Leland Horn and Michael Kennedy, are third year doctorate of management students at Colorado Technical University, 4435 North Chestnut Street, Colorado Springs CO 80907.     

Perceptions of Organizational Politics: A Meta-analysis of Outcomes

Organizational researchers during the past few decades have increasingly focused on the role of subjective work issues and their impact on important worker-related outcomes. One of the most prominently studied factors, perceptions of organizational politics, has received much recent conceptual and empirical attention. In an effort to better understand the relationship between perceptions of organizational politics and key outcomes, we apply meta-analysis on 79 independent samples from 59 published and unpublished studies involving 25,059 individual participants. Results indicate strong negative relationships between POP and job satisfaction and between POP and organizational commitment, moderately positive relationships between POP and the outcomes of job stress and turnover intentions, and a non-significant relationship between POP and in-role job performance. Moderator tests show that age, work setting (i.e., public sector or private sector), and cultural differences (i.e., domestic sample or international sample), have contingent effects on certain POP relationships.